A review by anna_hepworth
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This is an interesting book, and I can see why some of the plot points happened the way they did, but I didn't enjoy the way that the story came together. What did work was the alternating time points with the historical story of the apothecary, and then the modern day search. And I'm sure for some people the echoing and mirroring of details between the two will be an important part of reading, but it did rather start to feel forced

I did like the characters--even the shitty husband--in terms of writing and plausibility, and even their stupid decisions made sense. I didn't necessarily think that the majority were people I would have wanted to have anything to do with. 

In general, the writing shows great promise, and if the unevenness of the plot is something that this debut author works out, their future books will be fantastic. 
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