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A review by themermaddie
Islands of Mercy by Rose Tremain
4.0
i finally get the regency appeal because this book made me feel like a gossiping housewife and i loved it. i thought the writing was lovely, the depiction of jane and her comphet was very accurate, julietta (while a bit irksome at first) grew on me eventually, william was such a wholesome dad, and i really liked the imagery of emeline's golem. stan ashton for clear skin. this was the (eventual) polyamory rep i wasn't expecting but loved anyway (sorta).
i picked this up bc i heard the audiobook was narrated by katie mcgrath (<3) who did not disappoint.
i took a star off bc i found the borneo story difficult to follow and thus much less engaging, and it felt very disjointed at times bc i didn't feel like the two stories intertwined enough to make it worth telling both in the same novel. julietta and jane were very insta love, which wasn't exactly jarring, i think i just would've liked a little more reason for them to have fallen in love than just julietta liking jane's height and jane liking julietta's beauty.
i also thought that Ross's personality switched up very abruptly and that it felt quite out of character. sure he was kind of annoying and pathetic beforehand but murderously violent? i thought the build up to it could've been done better.
i picked this up bc i heard the audiobook was narrated by katie mcgrath (<3) who did not disappoint.
i took a star off bc i found the borneo story difficult to follow and thus much less engaging, and it felt very disjointed at times bc i didn't feel like the two stories intertwined enough to make it worth telling both in the same novel. julietta and jane were very insta love, which wasn't exactly jarring, i think i just would've liked a little more reason for them to have fallen in love than just julietta liking jane's height and jane liking julietta's beauty.
i also thought that Ross's personality switched up very abruptly and that it felt quite out of character. sure he was kind of annoying and pathetic beforehand but murderously violent? i thought the build up to it could've been done better.