Blackthorn

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Synopsis

The return of a prodigal daughter. A mysterious town and even more mysterious house. Buried secrets. A missing body. Feuding families. And a truth so explosive, it could destroy them all.

Twelve years ago, Maven Blackthorn fled her small hometown, leaving behind the wreckage of her mother’s suspicious death. In New York City, she built a new life—one without the shadows of the past and the whispers of “witch” that always haunted her. But now, drawn back for her grandmother’s funeral, Maven and her daughter, Bea, step onto Blackthorn soil once more, only to find themselves thrust into a fresh nightmare: her grandmother’s body has vanished.

The Blackthorns immediately suspect the Crofts—the ruthless titans of Croft Pharmaceuticals, whose bitter blood feud with the Blackthorns has spanned generations. But when Maven comes face-to-face with Ronan Croft, the son of her mother’s suspected killer and the only man she ever loved, the past and present collide with explosive consequences.

As long-buried family secrets claw their way to the surface, betrayal lurks behind every whisper, and old vendettas ignite anew. The deeper Maven digs for answers, the more dangerous the game becomes. And in a town where the dead won’t stay buried, neither will the truth—no matter who it destroys. 

Synopsis source: The StoryGraph

Review

Genre(s): Dark / Gothic Romance, Paranormal, Horror
HB&W Rating: 3 stars, 5 flames
View on StoryGraph, Goodreads
Buy on Barnes & Noble, Amazon

I finally got around to reading Blackthorn, which has been languishing on my NetGalley shelf since…well, let’s not talk about it. It’s long past its publication date, but the synopsis intrigued me enough to give it a shot.

Marketed as dark romance/gothic romance, this felt far more like erotic paranormal romance with a horror edge. It was more unhinged than I was expecting and it caught me off guard. I wasn’t mad about the horror elements at all; in fact, I may be slowly converting thanks to my horror-loving friends. What I was less thrilled by was the heavy reliance on the miscommunication trope, which is always a hard sell for me. The banter is sharp, funny, and overflowing with snark, but despite all that talking, the characters never actually communicate, and it drove me a little nuts.

Also…I absolutely did not see the monster sex coming. And yet, come it did. ? It was equal parts train wreck and can’t-look-away chaos—deeply unsettling, weirdly compelling, and leaving me with more complicated feelings than I expected. I don’t know whether to applaud the book for committing so hard to the bit or side-eye it forever.

All that said, the plot itself is genuinely interesting, and for all my frustrations, I can’t deny that it worked on me more than I want to admit. This is a definite love–hate read: entertaining, frustrating, shocking, and oddly memorable. I’m undecided on my final rating, but I may end up picking up the sequel…if only to see where this absolute madness goes next.

Thank you to Bramble and NetGalley for an eARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

Until next time,

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