I really want to read this, but £11.32 is shockingly expensive for a paperback. Plus, there are no reviews. As a book blogger, I don't trust books with NO reviews.

I have read the series so far, including the mini-stories, and I've also read the two "Little Book of..." non-fictions, but even that doesn't instil enough confidence in me to shell out what I'd usually pay for a hardback or two paperbacks for one 300 page book.

Bloomsbury/Duchess I'd be chuffed to read and review this book. Just not at a rip off price. Maybe I'll pick it up cheaper at my next visit to the Gardens?

The Poison Diaries is probably the most unique story I have read in a while. The plot was mysterious and kept me wondering. The characters were unique and often times seemed to be a shade of gray - neither bad nor good. What really made this book for me was the writing. The writing made this book come alive with it's beautiful descriptions and often times lyrical flow. Every mbook has something special whether it be an amaxing plot or outstanding characters but in the case of The Poison Diaries the writing is what makes everything else seem extrodinary. Overall I would recommened this book.

Expectations...

I confess that i wasn't able to appreciate this book.

 

The writing is okay, it has a fluidity to it, that makes it easier and compelling to keep on reading, even when i wasn't enjoying the story.

 

The main character Jessamine is a naive young girl who lives alone  with her eccentric father. A person who is obsessed with all the botanical knowlegde he can adquire.

 

Her father has created a garden filled with dangerous plants, and Jessamine is forbidden there to enter. 

 

She feels abandoned, and alone, and of course than when a strange young man appears, she falls in love with him.

(Don't they always?)

 

Weed, the name of the young man, is...strange...bottom line. he can understand plants. And the "poisonous" garden scares him to the death.

 

But...

There'll be a person willing to do almost everything in the name of knowledge...

And Jessamine and Weed will be forced into a crazy game where to fail is to die.

 

The point that lost me in this story, was the fact, that after a certain point, the "plants" have a lot of spotlight. Some plants, like Oleander for instance, who plays the part of "Prince of poisons" will be given a role, and while trying to achieve a certain task, Weed will enter in conversations with other plants. This level of thing, was just too much for me. I like magical realism, but not this one.

And then the characters were just too weak...

Not my kind of book.

I bought this book at Alnwick Castle, where the gated Poison Garden really strikes you as powerful - even more so once you have read this book. Visiting the Poison Garden at Alnwick Gardens can only increase your enjoyment and understanding of this young adult historical tale. This is a fantastic quick read which will leave you impatient for the next instalment.

I liked Jessamine's spunk and nature, Weed's weirdness, and her father's evil plots. The characters are passionate to a flaw: Jessamine in her growing love for Weed and her need to impress her father; Jessamine's father in his obsession in knowing everything about plants, particularly those in his poison garden; and Weed with his love for Jessamine and his distrust of the poison garden. Oleander is a sly, poisonous character, which fits absolutely perfectly as that's what he is - poison.

In the darkness I let myself melt, so he has no choice but to catch me and lift me, cradling my body against his. His mouth finds mine. After the first kiss I arch so his lips brush the tender skin of my throat instead.

I did get exasperated at some points, but I think that as a reader you were meant to - it added to the characters and plot.

This book is filled with passion and energy and a hint of the supernatural. The romance is subtle and builds slowly, the crucible in this intense story.

This book appeals to my love of all things local and tea. Especially tea. Jessamine makes her own teas a tissanes, and I smiled as I recognised ingredients of my own mixtures. I have a pot of lavender by the front door and some lemon balm on the kitchen windowsill - which, by the way, is excellent for your skin and smells divine, I pop it in salads all the time.

I take my metal canister of tea off the shelf. It is my own mixture of dried lavender blossoms and lemon balm, harvested from my garden and hung in the storeroom to dry. Weed helped me hang these stalks, I think. His hands touched these tender leaves, just as they touch me.

And isn't that cover just gorgeous?

Drink tea with this book - nettle would do well.