J. T. Geissinger will put you through the ringer with her latest dark romance book “Blackthorn.”
I dove headfirst into this 368-page inception fever dream. It involves religion, occult and the possibility of incest themes. This was not something I ever thought would be up my alley, but Geissinger is a mind-bending dark paranormal romance genius.
I know this book is probably not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you enjoy a slow burning start with moments of “I’m sorry, what just happened?” and extremely detailed spicy scenes that seem like they just came out of the adult version of “Beauty and the Beast,” then I highly recommend you try it out.
Maven Blackthorn is the main female character that is just trying to get herself and her daughter through one hell of a funeral and a family reunion: with her two wicked aunts and a creepier version of Alfred from Batman.
But as she returns to her small hometown, strange and unexplainable things begin to happen. Her grandmother’s body has vanished, new clues pertaining to her mother’s “accidental” death come to light, and she comes face-to-face with the only man she has ever loved and who happens to be the son of her family’s arch nemesis, Ronan Croft.
Things become a little sticky when she discovers the forbidden passion they once shared is as alive—and dangerous—as ever. Maven has a hard time keeping her hands to herself and not blurring the lines when it comes to the matter of the heart and the matter between her legs.
This and the bitter blood feud with the Crofts escalating reminds her why she fled home twelve years ago.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the only mystery that plagues her family or her mind, and I mean that more literally than you may think. It is a game of inception. Can you tell before Maven what is real and what is seeping into her brain, is it witchcraft or is Maven truly going insane?
As generations of buried family secrets claw their way to the surface, things aren’t as cut and dry as they appear to be. The deeper Maven digs for the answers she has longed for, the more danger she is in. And the one man she can never seem to escape is hiding a truth that could burn their whole world down.
Will love conquer all or are some secrets best kept in the grave…literally.
It felt like I was inside the movie “Inception,” the Leonardo Decaprio film where he was in a dream, inside another dream and was trying to figure out what is real and what is just in his head.
While the story builds up to this inception, if you aren’t paying attention, it will pass you right by. I did have to go back and reread a couple of chapters because I thought I had missed something vital. I suppose that is my biggest complaint. The last 20% of the book, like the majority of authors these days, jams everything and then some at the ending.
While it didn’t take away from my overall experience, it did add to the rush of what I was feeling, I think I would have rather a 100 more pages than to rush through to get to the point.
It does make it unclear if we do indeed get the answers or just another false reality and that is something I loved about the ending. I know that won’t be a fan favorite, but I implore you to keep an open mind. It can be hard to follow at first. However, it added so much more depth to what I thought was originally just going to be just another dark romance book.
However, the dark romance portion of this book did not disappoint at all! I wondered if it was going to be too much given the triggers, but Geissinger does paranormal occult spicy scenes with a certain finesse and classiness that leaves you wanting her to push the boundaries just a little bit more.
Geissinger did not dumb the language down to make it a quicker read, like I find a lot of authors do. It didn’t feel forced and flowed well. I enjoy being challenged when reading and having to look up words from time to time. Just because it is a romance novel doesn’t mean we can’t have a little advanced vocabulary.
The characters had depth and mystery to them as well. While the religion did hit heavier than I expected, it also flowed with the occult and paranormal theme of the story. It made me feel like I needed to dive straight into Antarctica to cleanse myself. It is most definitely not a closed-door spice.
This is a touch her and die, revenge with a side of Beauty and the Beast graphically detailed intimacy scenes (not always with humans) and it is full of plot twists and an ending that will make you question your own sanity the entire time.
I give “Blackthorn” five stars and five chili peppers and beg Geissinger to change her mind on this being a standalone book. If only because one was most definitely not enough.
This book contains potentially disturbing content, including but not limited to graphic sex, noncon and dubcon sex, explicit language, possible harm to a child, human sacrifice, disturbing imagery, the occult, religion, violence, murder, horror, incest, blood, death, grief, and gore.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this amazing book!
★★★★★
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ / 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
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