The Poison Diaries (Book 1) by Maryrose Wood
Based on a Concept by the Duchess of Northumberland
YA Historical/Gothic fiction, Published 2010
YA Historical Fiction Challenge, RIP VI Challenge
Read September 2011, 278 pp
Verdict? 4/5
Book Blurb:
Even the most innocent looking plants can kill, and no one knows that better than Jessamine Luxton.
Jessamine has lived all her sixteen years in an isolated cottage near Alnwick Castle with her father, Thomas, a feared and respected apothecary, who has taught her much about the incredible powers of plants. Still, Thomas forbids her from entering the locked garden that is his pride and obsession – a poison garden, containing the most dangerous plants in the world.
But Jessamine’s life changes for ever the day a traveler brings an orphan to their cottage, claiming that the young man has special gifts that Thomas might value. Jessamine is intrigued by the stranger, who goes by the name of Weed. His sensitivity to the natural world is extraordinary, and he seems to have even more rare and specialized knowledge about plants than Thomas does. As Jessamine begins to fall in love with Weed, she learns his extraordinary secret – and is drawn into the dangerous world of the poison garden in a way she never could have imagined…
Thoughts:
I love the concept that the Duchess of Northumberland has created based on the surrounding gardens of her Alnwick Castle. I would absolutely love to visit all the gardens there. There is even the book’s namesake – a poison garden with over 100 varieties of poisoned plants. The book has a great pace about it – ever slowly unwinding a very evil spiral that one obsessed mad man has put into action.
Jessamine lives with her apothecary father outside the walls of Alnwick Castle. She keeps house for him and attends to the regular garden and even a few of her father’s projects, but overall she is terribly alone. Her father is either away on business or locked up in his study or out in the locked garden. He does not trust Jessamine with any of his knowledge. When a stranger tries to unload a young vagrant with a knack for plants, it is Jessamine who lures him out of his shell. It soon becomes apparent to her that he has a way with the plants and her father is extremely jealous of this knowledge that he possesses.
It is her father’s obsession with the poison garden that leads Jessamine and Weed down a dangerous spiraled path. Jessamine becomes suddenly gravely ill and Weed will do anything to make sure she survives her illness. Here is where the book takes a very dark and poisoned path. In her delusions of fever, Jessamine starts to talk to Oleander, the self-professed prince of poisons, and while he tries to trap Jessamine in her snare forever, he also persuades Weed to do many cruel acts to gain the knowledge of a cure for her. All the while, Jessamine’s father laps up the knowledge for his books. Will Jessamine ever survive the poisoned path and will Weed ever be able to undo all that he has done? And what about Jessamine’s father? What would he really do to gain Weed’s knowledge? Perhaps the same fate of her mother awaits her….
image from google images
Quotes:
“Nature,” he says softly, “makes so many beautiful things.” He leans close to me, as if he would catch my scent. “But I did not know – until you – that nature could make a girl so beautiful.” -p. 108
image from google images
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Recommended that you do not read if you have not yet read Book #1 – The Poison Diaries
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Nightshade (Book 2) by Maryrose Wood
Based on a Concept by the Duchess of Northumberland
YA Historical/Gothic fiction, Published 2011
YA Historical Fiction Challenge, RIP VI Challenge
Read September 2011, 288 pp
Verdict? 3/5
Book Blurb:
Sixteen-year-old Jessamine Luxton has fully recovered from the illness that brought her to the brink of death. But her true love, Weed, the mysterious young man capable of communicating with plants, has disappeared, and Jessamine’s heart is broken. How could he have left her so suddenly, with no farewell and no word since?
What Jessamine doesn’t know is that Weed was forced into hiding. His disappearance was the hefty price exacted from him by Oleander, the Prince of Poisons, in exchange for the antidote that saved Jessamine’s life. Jessamine may not know why Weed vanished, but she does suspect that her brush with death was caused by no strange virus, but by poisoning — at the hands of her own father, Thomas, who was so obsessed with Weed’s secret knowledge of dangerous plants that he would do anything to learn it. This suspicion — and her experiences with Oleander — have made her a changed girl.
She is no longer innocent, and now she has her own intimate knowledge of the power of the plants. So when Jessamine learns that Weed is alive and in danger, she will do whatever it takes to be reunited with him. She is, after all, her father’s daughter…
Thoughts:
Nightshade starts off right where The Poison Diaries left off. The poisoned spiral is still spinning out of control and continues to get worse and worse. I think many YA readers will love the Gothic feel of this book. Overall, I enjoyed finding out what becomes of Jessamine and Weed. I was, however, turned off a little by the overwhelming feeling of doom and gloom. I didn’t want Jessamine to be so willing under Oleander’s seduction.
Jessamine has barely been cured from her near death experience, thanks to Weed’s deals with Oleander, but he will never forgive himself for what he had to do in order to save her and has ultimately started running away from her and himself. Jessamine, meanwhile, lost and alone starts her own dealings with Oleander to find out where Weed has run off to. Through various circumstances, she can never return to her father’s cottage, and runs away from all that she has ever known. But where can a young woman go? She joins a troupe of vagrants and lowlifes, but Oleander is in control – keeping her drugged up to do all of his evil deeds.
Will Oleander completely consume her before she can ever see Weed again? And can Weed find someone who just might be able to save them all…
Quotes:
I thought love was a rare orchid that bloomed only once – but once it bloomed, it bloomed forever.
I have tried for so long to be good, but there is no need to fight my destiny anymore. I am my father’s daughter, after all.
“Your name is Weed?” She laughs, a free, rolling laugh from the belly. “That would be a terrible name for a gardener. I hope you did not come here looking for a job.”
Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins/HarperTeen for providing me with a copy of Nightshade in exchange for my honest review.
The Poison Diaries was purchased.
