Blood on Her Tongue (Standard Edition)

By Johanna van Veen

Book Overview

"I'm in your blood, and you are in mine..."

The Netherlands, 1887. Lucy's twin sister Sarah is unwell. She refuses to eat, mumbles nonsensically, and is increasingly obsessed with a centuries-old corpse recently discovered on her husband's grand estate. The doctor has diagnosed her with temporary insanity caused by a fever of the brain. To protect her twin from a terrible fate in a lunatic asylum, Lucy must unravel the mystery surrounding her sister's condition, but it's clear her twin is hiding something. Then again, Lucy is harboring secrets of her own, too.

Then, the worst happens. Sarah's behavior takes a turn for the strange. She becomes angry... and hungry.

Lucy soon comes to suspect that something is trying to possess her beloved sister. Or is it madness? As Sarah changes before her very eyes, Lucy must reckon with the dark, monstrous truth, or risk losing her forever.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1464244928
• ISBN13: 9781464244926
• Release Date: March 2025
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.6" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Disturbing yet fascinating!

Quite the macabre story! The time period that this is set in was plenty dark for women, especially if they deviate from the strict expectations of the men which usually means a one way trip to the nearest asylum. It was interesting to hear the fact that when a blood transfusion was needed back then, it was taken only from men in most cases and they are stronger and hence their blood is superior to that of women. So when you add in a mysterious woman dug up the bog buried in the way to make sure it could not rise again then a strange illness and almost death, you get a tale full of visceral gore but also a bond between sisters and Lucy's struggle to find out what happened with Sarah and why and also deal with the men in her life. This was fun to listen to and the narrator did a great job of bringing the characters to life, even if it made me go EWWWW! a few times with the lovely gory descriptions. I was quite satisfied with the ending. Sisters before Misters! And finding freedom to choose your path!

4 stars

BLOOD ON HER TONGUE by Joanna Van Veen Dark gothic vibes with loads of body horror, (toxic) codependent twin sisters, characters that are messy AF, and a bog body - what more could you want? While this is a horror, it also raises philosophical questions; What makes a person a person? Who/what are we without our memories, our lived experiences or emotions? I appreciate the nods to “Carmilla” and “Dracula” and the use of “parasite” in lieu of vampire. The coffin scene felt a bit campy, but it did make me laugh so there’s that. I have one caveat… I felt the tone and dialogue did not quite match up with the 1887 Netherlands setting. I kept having to remind myself of the time period which prevented me from being fully engaged in the story. If you liked Van Veen’s previous book, “My Darling Dreadful Thing”, you may enjoy this as well. It’s a solid follow up to her first novel. Rating: 4/5 ⭐️ Pub Date: 03.25.25 **ARC courtesy of Goodreads & PoisonedPenPress giveaway.