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 (5 reviews)

7 editions

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 …

Review of 'Juniper and Thorn' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This book was so weird. Haha. I think most readers are going to hate it. I kind of loved it though. I don’t think it’s really YA. It’s actually more like lit fic, and it reminds me of films and art I’ve seen that explore what it means to be a woman with elements that seem like they come from fairytales, but are so much weirder than that. This fits in with some of the weird horror we’ve been seeing lately, but it’s more of a romance than a horror, where the romance focuses more on partnership than lust or desire, although there’s plenty of that as well. I don’t think we have a category for this book, which means it’s going to be hard for it to find an audience. I for one found the experience of reading it to be strange but worthwhile.

Review of 'Juniper and Thorn' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

JUNIPER &THORN is a story built on a complicated tangle of self harm and exploration as Marlinchen, now a young woman, finally starts to defy her controlling father’s dictates. Especially early on, she has a variety of maladaptive behaviors including but not limited to self harm, disordered eating, and intrusive thoughts (ranging from negative self-talk to hypersexual fantasies). These are symptoms of and reactions to the ongoing all-pervasive abusive atmosphere which consumed her childhood and is set to rob her of normal adulthood as well. She and her sisters live in fear of their father, but as he’s made himself the only allowable source of affection in their lives they are desperate to retain his favor. As he’s also a wizard he’s threatened their bodies and lives if they disobey him, and can back up his threats with intimations of what happened to their mother before them. He controls their …

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2 stars