Juniper & Thorn

First, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

In this retelling of The Juniper Tree, we follow the youngest of three sister. Their father is a wizard who has had a curse put on him. He has an insatiable hunger and can't feel love for his three daughters. Each of the daughters has their own magical power which he exploits to bring in money for their family. When the youngest daughter, Marlinchen, goes to the city and meets a dancer, a romance ensues.

This book is very dark and graphic. It is definitely a horror story. I want to preface this whole review by saying there should've been trigger warnings provided by NetGalley and the publisher. There are a lot of graphic scenes in this book. I will list trigger warnings below.

I really liked the fantastical story telling devices used in this book. I've always liked a dark fairy tale, and this fit the bill. It was so atmospheric and scary. However, I really feel like the entire story was over-sexualized. There was so much emphasis on nipples and boobs, like constantly. A lot of it was really hard to read. I think that that was probably the author's intent, but it was still tough. I felt like we could've cut back on some of the sexualization and the story would've still be successful.

This story definitely isn't for the faint of heart. I really did enjoy the story and the ending, but please go into this with caution.

TW: gore, body horror, child sexual abuse, incest, cannibalism, antisemitism, xenophobia, scientific racism, physical and psychological abuse by family members, gaslighting, self-harm and suicidal ideation, bulimia, graphic descriptions of vomiting, animal death