Review: Poison Diaries: Nightshade

Title: Nightshade

Author: Maryrose Wood & The Duchess Of Northumberland

Released Date: October 25^th, 2011

Series: Poison Diaries #2

Number of Pages: 288

Publisher: HarperCollins Teen

Source: NetGalley

A dark, gothic tale of romance… and murder.

The latest book in the grippingly dark series, The Poison Diaries.

Our heroine, Jessamine, has lost her faith in the men she loved, and her innocence as well. She turns to the dark side and plots to kill her father, using his own poisons, before becoming an assassin, a poisoner for hire. Can she recover from her heartache and reunite with her true love, Weed? Find out in this thrilling story where poisons, darkness and horror are a part of everyday life, and love is the only cure

I didn’t really enjoy this book as much as I had hoped. I didn’t love the first book, but enjoyed it enough to read the sequel. Yet, I felt kind of bored through the pages. The story simply didn’t captivate me enough to really love it. That’s the thing. I was waiting for something that never came.

I felt like this was just the story of Jessamine going to the dark side, influenced by the Prince Oleander. Honey, are you really listening to the voice in your head. We all know it never ends well… Weed is away, hearing a couple of things here and there about the girl he loves. Yet, he never really goes to her. I felt like the beginning was promising me something entertaining. I just didn’t find it in here.

I don’t have much more to say that I was disappointed. Maybe I was expecting too much. It just didn’t work for me. I know a lot of people who did enjoy it. Well, in the end we can like everything. It wasn’t the writing, or anything like that. Simply the story didn’t work for me.

Review: Poison Diaries

Title: Poison Diaries

Author: Maryrose Wood and The Duchess of Northumberland

Release Date: July 20^th, 2010

Series: Poison Diaries #1

Number of Pages: 288

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Source: Bought

Jessamine Luxson lives with her father, Thomas, an apothecary, in an isolated cottage near Alnwick Castle. Thomas’s pride and obsession is his locked garden full of dangerous plants, which Jessamine is forbidden to enter.

When a traveler brings an orphan to their cottage, he claims the boy has special gifts that Thomas might value. Jessamine is drawn to the strange but intriguing boy, called Weed. Soon their friendship deepens into love. Finally, Weed shares his secret: He can communicate with plants. For him they have distinct personalities—and some are even murderous. From the locked garden the poisonous plants call to Weed, luring him with promises of deadly power.

When Jessamine falls inexplicably ill, only Weed’s relationship with the Poisons can save her. But Thomas is determined to exploit Weed’s abilities, even if it risks Jessamine’s life—or drives Weed to the brink of madness.…

I’m kind of on the fence with this book. It was enjoyable, but I have to say I didn’t love it. I simply couldn’t love it. There was something stopping me from loving the story and the characters.

There was a lot of interesting information about poisons and plants (I know nothing about those kind of things, so I’m guessing it’s right.)  Still, I felt like it took a big part of the book that was already short. I like the idea of the plants having their voices. It gives the book a poetic side.

Yet, I just didn’t really like the characters. I fell Jessamine was too weak of a character, and Weed slightly freaked me out. There is something really creepy about it. I also felt like Jessamine was supposed to be this so innocent and good girl, a counterpart to her father. Weed seemed simply lost between the two opposites.

I will definitely read the sequel, because I’m curious about what will happen next in the series. I have the eARC for the sequel, so you’ll probably hear about it soon.

Still, what I really want to know is what you thought about it! Any opinion?