The Poison Diaries: Nightshade by Maryrose Wood

Jessamine Luxton has lost faith in both men she has ever loved. Her dear Weed has left her even though he professed to love her. This has left her alone with her father, a man whose desire for knowledge is so powerful that he will stop at nothing to learn and know. With no one else to turn to, Jessamine looks to Oleander, Prince of Poisons and her would-be-murderer, for help. She knows that once she allies herself with Oleander, she will be irrevocably changed for the worse, but she no longer cares. She won’t be satisfied until she has her revenge. But is her immediate satisfaction worth the price of becoming Oleander’s deadly tool—and truly losing Weed forever?

I was truly swept away by the imaginativeness and swooning romance in this novel’s prequel, The Poison Diaries, and its tragic ending made me impatient for Nightshade. I wanted to see more of Jessamine’s independence, Weed’s sometimes misguided loyalty, and the treachery of the Poison Garden. However, what Wood delivers in Nightshade is not quite that. Jessamine’s anger and grief transform her into an unrecognizable girl who is really Oleander’s puppet. It bothered me that Jessamine could go from such a strong character to one so easily manipulated and willing to deceive. That combined with her prolonged separation from Weed made me not like this story very much. I won’t deny that Wood still knows how to tell a very good story and that I enjoyed how the narrations alternated between Jessamine’s and Weed’s points of view, but I was a little disappointed with the plot itself.

Nightshade will be enjoyed by fans of its prequel The Poison Diaries as well as by readers who liked Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder.

Rating: 3.5

Review copy from BEA