Blood on Her Tongue A Novel

Zuerst denkt man, man hat es schon durchblickt. Aber nein, meine Freunde. Man hat es nicht durchschaut. Es ist doch ganz anders, als man anfangs denkt. Und die Art und Weise, wie es alles erzählt ist, ist ne schöne Mischung aus Gothik Vibes und leisem Horror. Und ich liebe das Ende!

In a society where women shouldn't think for themselves and men dictate their lives, Lucy tries everything to save her beloved twin sister Sarah from an unknown sickness that is starting to consume her. I really liked the setting and atmosphere and how the story starts taking different turns the more you read.

Thanks NetGalley for the arc! Read this one if you love The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe, Dracula, T. Kingfishers works and books like Leech by Hiron Ennes. Summary: Sarah, Lucys twin sister, discovers a bog body on the grounds of her estate. Fascinated by the morbid and in love with with science, she becomes obsessed with the "bog woman", watching her autopsy and mentioning her frantically in writing to her sister. Two weeks later, Lucy receives a letter letting her know that her sister is plagues by a sickness - similar to a burst "insanity" that has befallen her once before. After the commitment of their aunt to a mental asylum, Sarah and Lucy are deathly afraid of the same future awaiting Sarah. Lucy rushes to Sarahs sickbed, but it becomes more and more clear that some kinds of sickness cannot be healed - if you could even call Sarahs state of mind a sickness... This one was fabulous. Lovely writing fitting for a novel set in the 19th century, a moody atmosphere found in the wetlands of the Netherlands, enticing, yet not always likeable characters and a healthy heap of eeriness made this book a lovely blend of everything slightly unsettling. I would not say this book is gruesome psycho horror, but it is definitely not for the faint of mind (or stomach.) Between the chapters, we often find letters or articles giving us more insight in the characters and their surroundings. Whilst the twins were generally very loving towards each other, they both had huge flaws which made the book even more believable and interesting. Intersected with thoughts of the pull between whats wrong and what feels right, mostly our main characters have a lot of depth. Be warned that men, especially in the nineteenth century, were awful, so if you feel uncomfortable reading about a man thinking of an independent woman as unnatural, maybe skip this one (but remember that this also entails reading about badass independen. I loved this slightly different interpretation of vampirism and enjoyed discovering every piece of information we could get our hands on. This book was moody, eerie, fascinating and creepy - and I loved all of it!

Despite the good setup, the actual plot of this book makes everything fall apart. As the reader finds out that a parasite has been taking over the body of Lucy's sick sister Sarah (which is driving her insane), the writing is atmospheric and the gory moments feel positively sickening. This unfortunately does not hold up throughout the book. The writing and plot become uninteresting, Lucy never faces consequences and brought-up issues are solved in the most superficial ways (that never make sense). This is not a clever commentary on history or womens' relationships, especially as it turns into a "girlboss-against-the-patriarchy-story". Spoilers: After Sarah's death (caused by the parasite), the parasite fully takes over her dead body. Instead of driving it out, Lucy decides, she'd rather have an evil parasite, which is faking Sarah's behavior (badly) and that wants to eat people, as her sister than to face the reality of her death and to finally let her rest. This especially annoyed me, because it was clear how much Sarah suffered because of the parasite. For someone that supposedly loves her sister, Lucy acts really selfish throughout the story. The reader never sees any type of connection between the sisters, it's always just flashbacks of them being shitty to each other (and of Lucy not being able to communicate at ANY point in time). At this point the book becomes a "girlboss goes on a killing spree and finally takes revenge on all the bad men of the world because patriarchy is definitely everything that's wrong here!" instead of focusing on the interesting possible plot points, like the complicated dynamic between the sisters or Lucy's affair with her sisters husband. This development also takes all of tension out of the story. It isn't possible for Lucy to fail anymore, nothing she does matters. Some of the plot points I've talked about in this review actually sound interesting but its execution is really lacking. Even the things that do get some more attention are never handled in a thoughtful, interesting way and never reach a satisfying comclusion because the author almost always presents a superficial explanation that stops making sense once you think about it for more than a second. There is basically no character development and the historical commentary never goes farther than "men are bad because they think women are stupid". The main charcter herself never seriously reflects on any of those views and the only independent woman in the book is constantly framed as a stupid, noisy hag. I'm sorry if this review is kinda messy, but I really wanted to love this book and it was just such a disappointment!

I really enjoyed this book. At first, Lucy, the “good” sister, got really on my nerves - but not in a bad way. She changes a lot over the story and grows as a character. Funny enough, I actually liked the “bad” sister more. The relationship between the two sisters feels real and complex. There are a few gory moments, but the main focus is on the real struggles women faced back then - being called too emotional or hysterical, and always fearing that a husband or family member could have them sent to an asylum. The ending felt very satisfying. I would recommend this book if you like stories like this