A Sapphic gothic tale? Easy way to sell me, especially since I enjoyed Blood on her Tongue (although the Sapphic relationship wasn't the main character, but her sister and her sisters husbands cousin?) 

 Anyway. 

This was both haunting and frustrating, like a creaky old house you’re dying to explore but wish had better lighting and you're probably a little worried about the flooring giving out under you. 

This sapphic horror debut lured me in with its promise of ghostly vibes and forbidden romance, and for a bit, it DID deliver. 

Picture this: me, curled up with a cup of tea on a stormy night, fully ready to be spooked by Roos and her spectral gal-pal Ruth. The prose is lush, dripping with that Edgar Allan Poe-esque melancholy... crumbling estates and bog bodies that gave me chills in the best way.

But then, somewhere around the halfway mark, it’s like the story tripped over its own two feet. Or Roos' petticoat. The slow burn of Roos and Agnes’s romance, which I was rooting for despite the age gap (I’m not usually a fan, especially when Agnes is twice the age of Roos, but I let it slide), started to feel more like a flicker than a flame. And the pacing? It went from a deliciously eerie crawl to a rushed stumble toward the end, as if van Veen realized she was late for work, or a Jason Rothenburg Bury Your Gays meeting. I wanted to linger in the dread, not sprint through it.

Speaking of the BYG trope rearing its predictable head...

Without spoiling too much, let’s just say one of our queer leads doesn’t make it to the final curtain. 

SIGH. 

It’s 2025—can’t we let the gays live happily ever after in a haunted manor for once? 

Still, there’s a twisted beauty here, and the trauma woven into Roos’s story hit me harder than I expected, like when I cried over a cracked teacup because it reminded me of my grandma. It’s not perfect, but it’s got heart, guts, and a gothic charm that’ll stick with me, even if I’m grumbling about the ending. Worth a read if you’re into spooky vibes and don’t mind a sting.