3.75 stars

This was an atmospheric Sapphic tale with major dark fairy tale vibes and an entertaining storyline. I remember reading this super fast as I just wanted to know what was going to happen next! The writing was super atmospheric and enthralling. Kat Dunn is a great author and I can't wait to see what she does next!

4.5/5 stars

sapphic, gothic and inspired by beauty and the beast. need i say more?

this book is so beautiful and so raw that i was literally compelled to annotate it. the book deals with loss, grief, loneliness and love in such a heartbreakingly perfect way that my breathe left my lungs and my heart broke several times over. it was the perfect mix between fantasy, gothic and romance that i could. not.put. it. down.

from start to finish it's nothing short of a masterpiece

Bitterthorn is a lyrical and gothic tale about loneliness and love, sure to pull on all your heartstrings. Atmospheric, transportive and invoking a fairytale feel, this sapphic romance will hook you from page one and not let go.

I don't think I've ever read a book quite like this before and I don't know if I ever will.

i have never read a book which leaves me heart broken in areas and then on the next page in tears of happiness, its such a weird emotion to feel as you read, but its so wonderful written you can get over the heartbreak. heavy on world building but its so worth it as Kat Dunn is an amazing word smith and uses her words to drag you in to a story which stays with you for days after you finished the book. please note i have this book in all formats now thank for that net galley

I found this book so refreshing to read, I haven't read many retellings but this has changed my perspective completely. It is reminiscent of old storybook fairytale settings with witches and castles but with a modern twist on the characters.
The language used throughout is so beautiful, it reminded me of classic literature with its wonderful prose that leapt off the page and created all kinds of vivid pictures in my mind. The plot kept me guessing the entire time, just when I thought I had figured it out I found I was completely wrong which I loved. This, mixed with the rich and vibrant characters made for an epic story.

I thought that the author dealt with important themes of depression, loneliness and even self harm (trigger warnings for that) really brilliantly. It was woven into the story in a way that felt natural and only caused to deepen the characters and I felt that it really spoke to me and helped me to connect much more overall.

I highly recommend this book its one of my favourites of the year so far! Who doesn't love a good sapphic, gothic, fairytale?

Oh and I don't know if anyone else will get this but if you are a big classic literature fan there are some fun little hints to books of the time period (1800s ish) that the characters are reading and I just found it weirdly fun to guess which ones they were.

Rating: 4 out of 5.
4 Stars!

Synopsis: Every 50 years the Witch descends from her castle and claims a companion, never to be seen again. Mina, desperate to escape the loneliness of her life, gives herself to the Witch. But the truth behind the companions fates may be too much for her to handle.

CW/TW: Murder/Violence/Death/Fire/Neglect/Blood/Self-harm/Grief

Rep: Lesbian MC | Sapphic LI

Bitterthorn by Kat Dunn is a gorgeous tale that blends fairytale-esque elements with gothic motifs to create a story of loneliness and love with a dark streak.

Bitterthorn is a beautifully written story that creates rich and evocative images of the scenes and settings Dunn has crafted. I particularly loved the woodland settings and the castle – from the wildness of the woods to the darkness and magic of the castle, it all worked so well together to create vivid scenes that tapped in to the gothic and magic of the story.

The actual story was a gorgeous slow-burn. Mina may be daughter of a Duke but she is lonely, unwanted. The Witch is a solitary creature who descends to find a companion once every 50 years but the reason is unknown, all they know is that the companions are never seen again. When the Witch descends, Mina volunteers to be her companion. This leads Mina to try and discover what happens to the previous companions – but no-one seems to want to tell her. The plot seems to blend classic fairytale elements from beauty and the beast – among others – with gothic motifs to create a suspenseful story of mystery, tension and intrigue.

I enjoyed the slow-burn of the plot, despite being slow-burn the story moved quickly. The tension between Mina and the Witch, the magic of the castle, and the fate of the companions created a story that was engaging and kept you intrigued from start to finish. I really enjoyed the story- it drew on the gothic motifs and techniques for storytelling to create a rich dark plot.

The characters are equally compelling. Mina is a strong headed character who is scared and lonely but also passionate. I really loved her love of geology, plants and life, I also loved how her tenacity towards the witch played out – it was amusing and created tension between the two. The witch is equally alone, colder, more reserved than Mina, but the cracks in her armour show more to her that we get glimpses into over the course of the story – working well alongside the plot.

Overall, Bitterthorn is a gorgeous gothic tale of loneliness and love written in beautiful and compelling prose.

https://kbbookreviews867789450.wordpress.com/2023/08/01/book-review-bitterthorn-by-kat-dunn/
*I received an eARC via Netgalley from Andersen Press in exchange for an honest review – thank you!*

‘A monstrous witch demands a companion. A grieving girl offers herself up. In a castle in the woods, life-changing truths will be revealed.’ This description hooked me in and I just knew I had to be apart of this tour! Coupled with a terrifying curse, I honestly couldn’t put this book down.

This absolutely perfect and sweet queer romance held my heartstrings to ransom right from the very start. I absolutely adored the gothic setting; the atmosphere in this book was haunting but beautiful. Mina, our main character, was so relatable to me. The feelings she had and her experiences is not unlike something we could and have felt in our lives. She was just absolutely perfect. I cannot honestly critic this book as it was pure perfection to me!! It is a definite must read for everyone in 2023 ❤️

I absolutely adored this! From the world, to the mysteries, to the gorgeous romance - everything was perfect.

Mins joins the lonely witch as her companion for reasons detailed in the book, it is a gothic fairy tale that I really loved and bought for work when it was published

I feel like I’m in the odd minority for not loving this quite so much as everyone else seems to have 🥲

Don’t get me wrong, there was a lot to love about this book! It’s a sapphic romance with dark fairy tale vibes and the atmosphere was on point!

There’s this really beautiful and evocative prose that just builds up the world around you and pulls you in while making it super atmospheric into the bargain.

Mina was a great strong character, she had a most unladylike hobby of collecting rocks and had a quiet kind of strength to her that grows more as the book goes on, I felt.

There’s mystery regarding what happens to the companions that slowly gets revealed and there’s also the developing romance.

I personally, wasn’t fully on board with the way the Witch treated Mina and it was kind of glossed over. It had big Beauty and the Beast vibes but I felt like they were kind of together at the end because there was no-one else.

I don’t know, I would definitely say this is just me not the book because loneliness kind of blankets this book and is drenched into every page and I wasn’t really vibing with that at this current moment in time!

A thoughtful, intricate and refreshingly sapphic exploration of loneliness and found family told through the poetic language of a dark fairytale.

I devoured the gorgeous macabre imagery: bones in the earth adorned with vines, moth-eaten blood-stained shirts. Dunn evoked every sense in every description, I felt the itchy stockings on my skin and smelled the musty damp of the castle.

The sinister effects of loneliness were explored expertly in both main characters, realistically presenting in their motivations and actions. For me, this book had the perfect balance of fantasy in the setting and relatability in the characters. There were moments of delicious romantic tension that were elevated by the time Dunn had dedicated to making both Mina and the Witch sympathetic, complex characters.

If you love a gothic moment, absorbing atmosphere and morally grey love interests, pick Bitterthorn up. You really don’t want to miss this one.

Thank you so much to the publisher for the e-arc, I’m ever so grateful.

Bitterthorn tells the story of Mina, a young woman, and daughter of the duke of Blumwald. Once in a generation, Blumwald is terrorised by the Witch, who comes to take a new companion. Once taken, a companion is never seen again. When Mina is herself taken as the new companion, she finds herself living in a remote castle, strangely drawn to the Witch. But with so many secrets, will she find out the truth behind the disappearance of the previous companions?

I absolutely loved Kat Dunn’s Battalion of the Dead series so this was one of my most anticipated releases. As soon as I picked this one up I was immediately drawn into the story. The story is full to the brim with atmosphere and beautiful, lyrical writing. It has a very fairytale-like feel to the story and I couldn’t help devouring Bitterthorn in a single sitting. The story is well paced and there is plenty of mystery and intrigue to keep the reader wanting more. I really liked the setting and the remote castle really came to life in Dunn’s writing.

Mina is an interesting protagonist and I really enjoyed seeing her relationship with the Witch develop. Mina is struggling to find a place she belongs and is determined to uncover the secrets in the castle. The Witch is similarly interesting and I loved seeing the dynamics in their relationship change and adapt as the story progressed. Bitterthorn definitely has some twists and turns and more than a few moments I wasn’t expecting. If you’re looking for a captivating, fairytale story, Bitterthorn is an absolute must read and has such a stunning cover. I completely adored this story and cannot wait to see what Kat Dunn writes next.

Blumwald is a town with a curse. Every fifty years or so, she comes to claim a man of the town and he is never seen again. No one knows what happens except that they're gone forever.
Mina is the daughter of the duke and she is Lonely. Her mother died when she was twelve, her stepmother wishes she just weren't here and her dad doesn't have time for her. So, when the witch arrives to take her claim, Mina just says fuck it and volunteers, she doesn't have anything to lose and her dad doesn't even try to stop her. So into the witch's castle she goes...

Bitterthorn was everything I had hoped it would be and more. The writing was lyrical and beautiful, the characters were flawed and captivating and the plot had me hooked from beginning to end. I loved the depressed golden retriever x black cat pairing, I loved how this mixed a lot of different fairy tales. I honestly don't know what else to say, this was just really great and I love Kat Dunn's writing. I loved it in the Battalion of the Dead series and I loved it here and I cannot wait for whatever she writes next. I will be here to read it all. Over and over again.

This was just magnificent! Bitterthorn by Kat Dunn gave me instant sapphic Beauty and the Beast/Sleeping Beauty vibes. Swap Beast for a sinister witch hated by all who know of her who steals a companion once every fifty years, but this time she has a volunteer.
Mina is lonely and grief-stricken and is desperate for a life other than the one she was dealt. Once she finds herself within the witch's castle, she's determined to discover what fate befell the previous companions.
The mystery of this story grips you from the very first page. It's been a while since I've read a book I could not put down, but Bitterthorn is a phenomenal page-turner! I can not describe the excitement I felt when I realised I'd devoured the first 25% of this book with hardly a glance away from the pages. I have to agree with all the glowing reviews I've seen for Bitterthorn.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Andersen Press for the e-ARC copy.

I'm not sure if I'm just kind of love the enemies-to-lovers trope, but this book was simply "okay" to me. As a sapphic retelling of Beauty and the Beast, there were a lot of beats that I noticed were really similar to the Disney version of the movie, which were okay but didn't particularly thrill me. What did thrill me was the legend of the Witch and how she chose her victims. I also enjoyed the twists in this book. Mina's character was a bit fun as a rebel of current German conventions, but she "really was a funny girl" to her village, and to them, it was better off when she was gone. Okay, a bit of an ouch to anyone that feels similar to Mina, but it does work out in the end.

At times, it felt that there were plot points or tidbits of the story that should have been expanded upon (the wolves, Wolf's involvement there, what happens to the Witch's family, and why she was specifically chosen), and that lowered my rating of the story. Strangely enough though, her father felt a bit more fleshed out than everyone else, despite being quite selfish. Well, not so much selfish, but understanding the weight of his duties, but I won't delve too deeply into that.

If enemies to lovers with sapphic retellings are your thing, I highly suggest this book. Happy reading!

Kat Dunn is a powerhouse of historical fiction. She takes your hand and shows you a very real, grounded time period, one that you may be familiar with and then says “now, watch this”. She takes the familiar history and spins it out into believable fantasy. Fantasy that means so much more because it is ground in the history that we know and love.

With Bitterthorn, she introduces us to a pre-unification Germany, grounds us there and tells us a tale of what it means to belong, what it means to love and what it means to experience loss.

Mina is an outsider in town of Blumwald, she is cursed with the grief from the loss of her mother, she is tolerated by his father and his new blended family and lonely. She is getting pressure from her family and her community to be like her step sisters, but she isn’t. She is struggling to figure out who she is whilst shouldering her grief and trying to make her way in the world.

Blumwald is also a town cursed with grief. Once a generation a witch comes to town and chooses a companion to remain with her and for the rest of that generation the town grieves that loss until the cycle repeats. The witch is lonely too, concealed in a castle in the forest that no one can find, living her life, shouldering her own grief and holding on to her secrets. It is no surprise then, that she chooses Mina. Bowing to no one’s pressure and thinking clearly for the first time in ages, Mina goes.

The resulting story is first and foremost beautiful. Dunn paints setting and scenery so realistic that the book plays out like a film in your head. The characters are complex and layered and real. The story is dark, romantic and clever and the words will dance in your head long after you finish the book.

I was going through a similar situation as Dunn when she was writing the book and those experiences have obviously deeply shaped the book for the better. The only thing more to say is thank you Kat Dunn.

Bitterthorn is a dark standalone fantasy novel with strong fairytale elements. This is a wonderfully atmospheric and suspenseful tale about two lost and lonely souls finding each other. The book completely took my breath away. The writing is haunting and beautiful and I was completely entranced with every page. I could not put it down.

The setting is superb from the crumbling castle located in a German forest in the 19th Century filled with secrets waiting to be discovered, to the sumptuous descriptions of the scenery and nature. The central characters are complex and interesting and the sapphic romance was beautifully portrayed with such emotion and tenderness.

I adored this book and it’s beautiful and haunting story with stay with me forever. Highly recommended.

Thank you to the publisher for the eARC via Netgalley

Bitterthorn is a dark fantasy story about love, loneliness, belonging and finding your place in the world.

A town called Blumwald is overshadowed by a dark ancient curse where a witch visits from her isolated castle in the wild woods to claim a human companion once every fifty years to join her and never return. As the time draws near for the witch to approach the town for a new companion, we meet Mina, the daughter of a duke, who is grieving for the loss of her mother and feels a real sense of loneliness. She has no hope for the future so when the witch arrives, she volunteers to be the witch’s companion. As the witch’s prisoner, she uncovers the dark and terrifying secrets of this curse - can she ever be free or stay alive?

The writing is beautiful and haunting. Without giving anything away, the story takes an unexpected and unconventional turn that was emotionally captivating and alluring to read. It challenges our perceptions of first impressions and judgments on people we don’t understand and therefore fear and there is a lot of compassion in the storytelling. There is queer romance and love which unfolds delicately and sensitively in the story. I really loved how the central characters are seen for who they are inside and that they are worthy of love.

A wonderful dark tale that has a lot of emotional depth to it exploring the basic needs of the human condition. I highly recommend!

I adored this book, it’s evocative, beautiful, incredibly moving and gorgeously written. This book ensnared me at the start and it didn’t let me go at all, I don’t think it ever will, it’s going to be with me forever, the sapphic love story is wonderful the characters fantastic, I loved every part of this book and I am unable to do it justice with this review, just buy or borrow this now

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

A gothic fairytale with a dark mystery which will keep you frantically turning the pages.

Mina is lonely: her mother died, her father seems to cast her to one side and her step mother has little time for her.

The Witch needs a companion: she appears once every fifty years to take a companion. Nobody know what she does with them, all they know is the companion never returns.

Stumbling across the Witch and her father, Mina decides to volunteer herself as companion. Little does she know just how deep loneliness can run. Determined to solve the mysteries of the confusing, mind-meddling Schloss and the melancholy Witch, Mina learns not to give up - but at what cost?

I really enjoyed this book! The mystery of the Witch was haunting, the setting of the Schloss had the hairs raising on my arms as I devoured such gorgeous, creepy imagery and tried to unravel the mystery for myself.

“I felt every place where her skin touched mine like an iron brand”

A gorgeous, slowburn sapphic romance which absolutely enraptured me. I was egging them on whilst simultaneously afraid of the consequences.

Beautifully written; a modern fairytale.

Thank you to Andersen Press, Kat Dunn and NetGalley for my early review copy in exchange of a fair and honest review.