Juniper and Thorn

A Novel

Hardcover

English language

Published April 16, 2022 by HarperCollins Publishers.

ISBN:
978-0-06-297316-0
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4 stars (3 reviews)

7 editions

Brutal

5 stars

Ava Reid is a master of gothic horror, her prose takes root deep within you and doesn’t let go. I’ll read anything she writes and I trusted that even when I wanted to grief quit the book, that the payoff would be worth it.

I don’t care to reread this particular book, but it was an excellent read. Check the trigger warnings, they are no joke in this one.

A dark and thrilling read

5 stars

I came to this book through a Twitter thread by the author explaining the difficulties she had in getting it published and promoted: as it centers on a young woman and has a romance in it, it was assumed to be YA and was seen as problematic for depicting parental and sexual abuse, which frustrated Reid as she as writing gothic horror for adults. I had been perceiving it as YA myself and so avoided it, but knowing the above, I sought it out.

The Books That Burn review on this page is an excellent summary, so I won't bore you by repeating it! I'll just tell you all the things I loved about the novel.

The heroine. So often, female protagonists in fantasy/historical fiction fall into the same stereotypes. Marlinchen defies them. She is quiet, weak, oppressed; her instinct is to placate and obey. She is afraid much of …