A review by bak8382
The Poison Diaries by The Duchess of Northumberland, Maryrose Wood
4.0
Jessamine has lived a sheltered life in the English countryside with only her father and plants for company. Despite being 16 years old her father still treats her as a child, and will not allow her to enter his "poison garden" where the deadliest plants are housed. While her father spends his time seeking knowledge of medicine that has been lost Jessamine dreams of traveling beyond the world she knows. When the mysterious and perhaps aptly named Weed comes to live with them Jessamine finds her life changing in unexpected ways.
This was an extremely quick and entertaining read told from Jessamine's point of view until towards the end when Weed takes over the bulk of the narrative. I found the world and characters to be believable all the way up until the end which is when things started to fall apart for me. I'm still not sure I buy the father's motivation, the Oleander character was a bit over the top, and the ending was quite abrupt. I read on the author's blog that there will be two more books though, so I'll withhold final judgment until they come out.
This was an extremely quick and entertaining read told from Jessamine's point of view until towards the end when Weed takes over the bulk of the narrative. I found the world and characters to be believable all the way up until the end which is when things started to fall apart for me. I'm still not sure I buy the father's motivation, the Oleander character was a bit over the top, and the ending was quite abrupt. I read on the author's blog that there will be two more books though, so I'll withhold final judgment until they come out.