What the actual f*CK did I just read?
Ok. As a disclaimer, I received this book at Romchella, a romance readers retreat, as a free ARC from Bramble. They did not ask us to review it at all, let alone influence that review. I thank them for the early access! I’ll keep the spoilers out of it, though I’d dearly love to talk about them, due to the fact this book isn’t even released yet (edit – it is now, but I wrote this before it was).
Blackthorn is, as advertised, a gothic romance. You’ve got the possibly haunted house of the FMC, who is part of a mysterious family of strange women in a town that fears them. The tone is dark, the environment appropriately gothic. There’s a pretty decent forbidden romance between the FMC and MMC. The characters are darkly quirky in a way you’d expect from the gothic label.
Maven Blackthorn returns home upon the death of her grandmother, bringing her daughter along with her. Her two very strange aunts and their even stranger caretaker/groundskeeper/etc Q are glad to have her back, but the Crofts are never happy to see the Blackthorns. Except for Rowan, an old flame Maven tried to leave in the past. The story revolves around Rowan and Maven’s relationship and a series of ever weirder mysteries that Maven attempts to solve.
I was game for the first 75-80% of this book. Some of the dialogue was a little repetitive, but most of the character work was good. I don’t think the dual POV was used well here at all – it barely exists and when it does, it’s not enough to justify itself. I don’t mind being in Rowan’s head, but I have no idea why we were if it was only to be used so sparingly. Still, I love a good mystery and there are a LOT of mysteries here. I also think the chemistry between Rowan and Maven was great. Being mean to each other is one of my love languages, so the barbed witticisms worked for me.
Where this book really went off the rails was the end. I’m still not entirely sure what happened, and not in an “Inception” kind of way. The reveals come dizzyingly fast and in such a way that nothing is reliable. We were already led to question the reliability of our narrator, which I’m fine with, but the way they tore apart her credibility in the end leads you asking more questions than you answer about what is real. And the final sex scene goes so far off the rails in a way that I found both gross and offensive (I’m not here for dubious consent or “her body responded so she must like it” vibes). So the wrap up left me cold and knocked another star off.
Feels like a book that needed another draft – there’s definitely good there, but as a whole it didn’t quite work for me.
