i know in my heart that this isn’t a three star read, but i’m simply going to will it into existence, because i really wanted to love this book. the concept is so good, botanist and taxidermist victorian couple living in a greenhouse and creating a botanical daughter. it quickly falls apart from there.

the plot meanders around and never really finds its feet. there’s no solid storyline, which then really suffers because none of the characters have any strong motivations or character development. they all feel so flat. gregor’s character is the only one who really goes through any development, and even that doesn’t make sense. he kind of just goes feral, is terrible to everyone, and we pretty much pretend it’s not happening. like please, we have to do something about your off-leash dog, he’s terrorizing the town.

if this book is going to go absolutely off the rails, then i wish the body horror would have been amped up too. i would be more forgiving. it reads very YA with the exception of one sex scene that felt unearned and it was just….there. thanks, i guess.

last minor complaint, couldn’t stand the audiobook choice for gregor’s voice. it was actually upsetting to me.

gonna go mourn what could have been.

told the book club this book felt like playing a game of crusader kings and reading all the pop ups before i realized these were real historical figures. anyway, sorry for hating you eleanor, you were really going through it.

i don’t know if it connected for me. for a book about marie, it feels like we spend so little time with her. part two blazes through such a large chunk of marie’s life at such a neck-breaking speed that by part three, it’s hard to read this older marie as the same character in part one. we really skip past the biggest accomplishments of marie de france’s life and what we do know about her. i would have really liked this if we spent the time focusing on one time period in marie’s life versus her whole life.

i do just love marie though. there’s lesbians, nuns, and religious ecstasy, everything you’d want. the writing is beautiful and even with the issues i have, it’s enjoyable.

i liked this better than the first book and i take back part of my review of the first one. this one tied together more of the plot and i enjoyed the pov's a lot more. i do feel pretty ambivalent about the romance, but i didn't dislike it.

the worldbuilding continues to be excellent and is the reason i'll be finishing this series. despite reading this book almost immediately after the first, i was shocked by the very obvious reveal and it did in fact make me feel like an idiot. so big day for those who can't read and think (me).