Reviews

Roses de printemps by Dot Hutchison

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godofwar's review against another edition

4.0

a really impressive sequel. I didn't expect the two narratives to flow together as well as they did, and I continue to appreciate how Dot refuses to romanticize what her characters have been through, focusing instead on their healing, strength, and the bonds they form with the people they love. like the first, it's not a perfect book, but it's near enough as you can get in the genre

shanlaz's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

kawther's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

Let’s start off with the positives:

1) I liked that we have a different case, but still continue to get updates about the butterfly case from the previous book. The theme of the trilogy also seems to be that while we’re following specific cases and the individuals involved with those cases, we’re also equally following the Quantico three. So book 1 we got Hanoverian’s pov, and this one gave us Eddison’s. I quite liked learning more about who the agents are over and above being just FBI agents.
2) We have another interesting protagonist which is always great.
3) The case which was the focus of this book was quite good at illustrating that no matter how criminals try to justify their actions, crimes against women are always perpetrated because of the fact that we are women. Period. And while society loves to tell girls that the only way to avoid danger is to dress and act a certain way, Dot Hutchinson very clearly underscores that that isn’t the case; you can follow all the rules to be “safe”, and there will STILL be a man who wants to murder you.
4) Second person pov was a nice touch, putting the reader in the literal shoes of the killer.

Now, for the negatives:
1) Like the first book, dialogue was yet again confusing; there would be three or more people conversing and no indication of who was saying what. Had me re-reading sections so I could try and figure out the pattern of communication in order to deduce who was talking, before I ultimately gave up.
2) I found it extremely hard to suspend my belief at one particular plot point. I make it an effort to keep my reviews spoiler free, so I won’t say what it was specifically. But I’ll just say that I found it difficult to believe that a mother would agree to having her daughter do something so blatantly life-threatening.
3) The book was incredibly slow, and nothing really happened until the end. I understand that it may have been a more character-focused story, but that did not justify how slow it was in my opinion.

karagruver's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

zutsie's review against another edition

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3.0

I gave The Butterfly Garden a read quite some time ago, and while I liked it, I didn't love it. It requires a lot of suspended belief before you can get into it, but if you picture it all happening in some alternate reality, it works. I was interested to see how Hutchison would continue the story of the escaped butterflies and all the trauma that followed, so I picked this up at the first opportunity I got.

The Roses of May is completely different from what I was expecting. For one, the butterflies are not the focus of this one or the aftermath of the explosion. This is not a bad thing at all, just unexpected. In a series titled The Collector, I was expecting more of... I don't know, the Gardner collecting more girls? His trial? Anyway. The story focuses of a young girl named Priya, whose sister was brutally murdered years ago by a serial killer, and it is likely he is stalking her. We get a long look into Priya's life and mind and relationship with her mother Deshani, and it is something I quite enjoyed.

The agents of The Butterfly Garden return, and we learn so many more things about Eddison, Hanoverian, and Ramirez. I find that really interesting, as in the first book they were just there as the officials getting the story out of Inara, whereas here they are characters with lives and emotions and everything. I was interested in how Hutchison brought Priya, Bliss and Inara together, too, and thought it worked quite well.

The Roses of May is a little predictable, but the writing (I feel) is more solid this time around. It reads faster and with less drag. I know there is a lot of comparison in this review between this and the first book, but the first book essentially set things up that this was to continue, and made the agents minor characters, etc. so the expectation going into this was totally different. While predictable, it does not take away from it being an entertaining read nonetheless. I enjoyed reading about Priya in the park with the veterans playing chess, and it was nice to read about the relationship between Priya and Eddison, too.

The Roses of May is worth the read, that's for sure. Hutchison polished up some of the issues from the first book, and gives us another compelling story to get into.