"In the right dose, everything is a poison. Even love . . .
Jessamine Luxton has lived all her sixteen years in an isolated cottage near Alnwick Castle, with little company apart from the plants in her garden. Her father, Thomas, a feared and respected apothecary, has taught her much about the incredible powers of plants: that even the most innocent-looking weed can cure -- or kill.
When Jessamine begins to fall in love with a mysterious boy who claims to communicate with plants, she is drawn into the dangerous world of the poison garden in a way she never could have imagined . . ." -Goodreads.com
I admit to having really low expectations when it came to this one. Part of it was that it didn't seem to be stirring up a mass of excitement among the other YA bloggers, but the rest was that there was just something off about the synopsis. Even looking at it now, I can't quite pinpoint what exactly it is, but nothing about this book screams read me!
Thankfully though, I ignored these instincts and opened it up anyway. I told myself I would give it a one-hundred page chance to prove itself interesting, but I was hooked long before that!
This story is not action-packed or suspenseful, adventurous or quick-paced. There was nothing specifically alluring. The writing itself wasn't even that great. But it was still beautiful. Something about the way the story wound itself through the plotline, the introduction of new ideas that baffled me even as my mind accepted them as completely plausible. It was such a strange tale, yet somehow managed to make complete sense.
And that ending! Yeesh, what a shock when before I realized that this was only the first in a series. I got to the last page and then did a double-take, to really make sure that it was the last page. I sat in shock that this was truly how the story was ending until I realized that there had to be more (and after a quick investigation on Goodreads, sighed in relief that I was right).
I can't wait for the next installment. Though technically I'll have to...til October....
Plot: 3/5
Writing: 4/5
Ending: 5/5
Overall: 4/5
Cover: 3/5
Thankfully though, I ignored these instincts and opened it up anyway. I told myself I would give it a one-hundred page chance to prove itself interesting, but I was hooked long before that!
This story is not action-packed or suspenseful, adventurous or quick-paced. There was nothing specifically alluring. The writing itself wasn't even that great. But it was still beautiful. Something about the way the story wound itself through the plotline, the introduction of new ideas that baffled me even as my mind accepted them as completely plausible. It was such a strange tale, yet somehow managed to make complete sense.
And that ending! Yeesh, what a shock when before I realized that this was only the first in a series. I got to the last page and then did a double-take, to really make sure that it was the last page. I sat in shock that this was truly how the story was ending until I realized that there had to be more (and after a quick investigation on Goodreads, sighed in relief that I was right).
I can't wait for the next installment. Though technically I'll have to...til October....
Plot: 3/5
Writing: 4/5
Ending: 5/5
Overall: 4/5
Cover: 3/5
