Rating: 4 stars
Cover Rating: 4 stars (I really like the font for the title.)
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: July 20, 2010
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Page Count: 278 p.
Jessamine's father leaves her at home alone, when he ventures to London with his satchel full of flowers and remedies. In his absence she cares for the belladonna seeds, that he will never let her plant.Upon his return a man from the local crazy house drops off an unexpected gift. The gift is in the form of a young man who goes by the name of Weed. Weed has a special gift and with such he knows how to use plants to help people. This is a very valuable trait to Jessamine's father, who himself is a botanical healer. Since Jessamine is the one to care for Weed, they end up spending a lot of time together and getting very close. Neither one of them knows the secrets that her father keeps though, nor the secrets of his locked up Poison garden.
This was a very fascinating read. I really love any book that brings in elements of horticulture, plants are so fascinating, especially how some can be so deadly. Each chapter starts off with an excerpt from Jessamine's Garden Diaries. The excerpts tell of weather and how the planting is going along with some other things on her mind. I really liked Weed, even though he was really odd. He seemed like such a peaceful, down-to-earth guy and it was very dreamy. There was certainly peril and secrets brewed into this tale, that made it that much more interesting. When Jessamine falls ill, the narrative is taken over by Weed, along with the Garden diary. It is a nice change of pace to see what Weed has to go through, instead of just Jessamine's delirious dreams of Prince Oleander, a poison. It struck me a little odd that Jessamine, aided by Oleander, could actually witness the events that unfolded in Weed's and her father's lives whilst she was sick. I'm not sure how this is possible, but it's not really any more improbable then some of the other things in the book. I certainly recommend this to fans of Madapple by Christina Meldrum or anyone who likes tales about floral remedies.
First Line:
"Gray skies; the rain came and went all morning."
Favorite Lines:
"Death is real, make no mistake. But it is also an illusion. An interesting paradox, is it not? Why do you weep, my lovely?"
Favorite Lines:
"Death is real, make no mistake. But it is also an illusion. An interesting paradox, is it not? Why do you weep, my lovely?"
This sounds really good, and your favorite line makes me want to read it! Great review :)
ReplyDeleteoodles of books.
This has been on my shelf for a little while, now i'm excited to read it!
ReplyDelete