⚠️ Update: March 2026 So I learned a few more things about this author, and have brought my original review from when I read this in May 2024, down from 3 stars to 0. Found out she was rude to readers at one of her book signing events, found out she called people “vanilla” for asking why she incorporated a random rape scene in this book yet didn’t disclose it in a trigger warnings page, and also she allowed a few artists to use AI for artwork in this ongoing series. I will not be reading book 2, or anything else by her ever again nor will I be supporting her. If you want to read this, please go on her website and check the TW page she has finally updated it (probably due to so many readers calling her out) but it is NOT non-con it’s straight up graphic rape for countless pages. Do with this information what you will.

Modified review from May 2024: THE POISONER by IV Ophelia 0.5 stars (because the indie cover was pretty)

Amidst the gaslight alleys and cobblestone streets of Victorian London, two killers find themselves entangled in a waltz they cannot escape.

Alina Lis, botanist & hobbyist poisoner, has a pastime of killing unsavoury men in her own twisted sense of poetic justice. When she targets the conceited & overly confident Silas Forbes, only to find him in her apothecary the following week, she discovers human men are the least of her problems. The pair’s unlikely association sparks gossip among affluent society, and as their bond deepens, a chilling truth emerges — concealed identities, lurking foes, and questions as plentiful as the hydra’s head brew within this Gothic tale of violent passion.

So here’s the thing: I was dead set on rating this five-stars from the get-go because of the idea for the plot: a vampire man falling in love with a woman who tried to poison him? Score. I truly thought Alina was going to be like Giulia Tofana who helped women in the 1600s get rid of their husbands in the most convenient way possible that it could be done back then. It was not like that, and I guess that’s my fault for anticipating and expecting something… perhaps it was just the marketing of the book haha? The actual poisoning of men is barely mentioned, and it’s more towards the beginning of the book. Once she discovers Silas is not human, it focuses more on their relationship and her research to discover why he is the way he is and what are the properties of his own blood & venom. Again, she’s a STEM girlie, so I was like “ok this is fine it’s still interesting I wonder where this is going I guess I’ll see.”

THEN the author made some questionable choices in the plot, including a very graphic torture / SA scene that honestly did not fit. There was no trigger warning about this either… which I did not appreciate from the author, you cannot call that scene anything but rape. There was nothing “romantic” or “good” about it so idk why we are romanticizing women being abused but that’s not something I want to read about. It was there for shock value, misery-porn type of thing. It held zero purpose, it did not aid the plot at all in my opinion, and while it was not Silas that SA’d her, he’s not redeemable in my eyes. Actually, no one is. And quite frankly, for such a “strong” character, I found Alina to be quite irritating and weak through the second part of the book when she was conversing with multiple characters. I also despised her “best friend” for a multitude of reasons, mainly because she’s a fraud & didn’t bother trying to protect her or save her from her predicament, when she obviously could have tried something.

I disliked the ending because there’s a jump between the cataclysmic event & the end…theres a second book coming which I hope will put things into perspective and provide more clarity on the turn of events.

A pity, I was so very excited for this one. The marketing was well done in a sense that it made me buy her book, but honestly, this story was not it, the TWs were not properly disclosed, and the characters became so out of tune with how they were the first few hundred pages.