e-Audio, 09:35:09
Narrated by: Mhairi Morrison & Tim Campbell
Release Date: January 18, 2022
Published by: Macmillan Audio
Read from: January 19-21, 2022
Stand-alone
Source: Netgalley (I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW: Corpse Mutilation, Dug up Graves, Medical Procedures, Blood
For Readers Interested In: Historical Fiction (1800’s), Romance, World Travel (Set in Scotland), Celebrity Book Clubs (Reese Witherspoon), Sparkly Covers, YAA gothic tale full of mystery and romance about a willful female surgeon, a resurrection man who sells bodies for a living, and the buried secrets they must uncover together.
Edinburgh, 1817.
Hazel Sinnett is a lady who wants to be a surgeon more than she wants to marry.
Jack Currer is a resurrection man who’s just trying to survive in a city where it’s too easy to die.
When the two of them have a chance encounter outside the Edinburgh Anatomist’s Society, Hazel thinks nothing of it at first. But after she gets kicked out of renowned surgeon Dr. Beecham’s lectures for being the wrong gender, she realizes that her new acquaintance might be more helpful than she first thought. Because Hazel has made a deal with Dr. Beecham: if she can pass the medical examination on her own, the university will allow her to enroll. Without official lessons, though, Hazel will need more than just her books – she’ll need bodies to study, corpses to dissect.
Lucky that she’s made the acquaintance of someone who digs them up for a living, then.
But Jack has his own problems: strange men have been seen skulking around cemeteries, his friends are disappearing off the streets. Hazel and Jack work together to uncover the secrets buried not just in unmarked graves, but in the very heart of Edinburgh society.
* MY THOUGHTS*
Most times, when I hear a book is historical fiction, I will leave it right on the shelf. But this time, I just couldn’t. There were so many “me” things that have come up in this book. The grave robbers thing. And then the romance part. And ugh it just sounded so good. So I gave it a shot. And I was correct. It was a me book.
Hazel is a woman who wants to be a surgeon. In the 1800’s. All the men in her life have told her not to even dream of it, but she knows she can do it. Jack is a resurrection man (grave robber). They meet when Hazel is kicked out of the famous Dr. Beecham’s lecture because she’s a girl. She gets in touch with him again to see if he can help her out. Add on to this the fact that Hazel has to try to stay involved in society and make sure her (hopeful) husband to be is happy. What can go wrong?
Normally I don’t like historical fiction because I don’t find myself enjoying them. I look too much into the events or things they’re talking about and I have to do research into them. I of course also did this with this book too. But it was on the resurrection men. I didn’t know they were a real thing. (Whatever lol) But I found out this was a large thing. I was able to learn a lot from this book. It was pretty cool to see Hazel taking charge of her interests and doing whatever it is she wanted. Hazel was a boss and I loved getting to know her character.
As for Jack, he seemed super quiet. But it was obvious he was into Hazel. I was cheering for them from the beginning. Which was weird because there was already someone that Hazel was supposed to be with? I ended up hating them. (You’ll understand why when you read it!) I also was super scared for Jack. He was so sweet and trusting. It opened him up to so many bad things.
The plot was what I didn’t care for about this one tho. There was WAY TOO MUCH going on. There was a mystery on who the men that were coming for the bodies were. Then there was the mystery on the missing people. There was the romance between the person she was supposed to marry. The budding relationship with Hazel and Jack. Jack’s POV with getting the bodies and getting the money for them. It was a lot. I know it was setting the tone for the 1800’s, but listening to this as an audiobook made it hard to keep some things together.
Speaking of the audio, I really liked the narrators. They didn’t try using any overly dramatic accents or anything like that. They sounded legit and I loved that. I also liked the way it was atmospheric. They made it dark and it seemed scary in certain parts. And of course, any time there is two different POVs and there are two different narrators, it’s always better than just one person doing both with a terrible voice for a male character.
The ending tho? EPIC. I knew where it was going at a certain point, and I got a bit upset. But then once I finally read it, I had to go back and re-listen. It was so sweet. I hated that it meant that it was separate, but I was also happy that it all came together. Definitely wasn’t what I thought it would end on, but it was amazing nonetheless.
This ends on an “opening” for a sequel. If not a sequel, more like a companion. Especially on this person’s next location. I think it would be cool to see. So Schwartz, here’s my formal ask for another lol Let’s see what she decides!
Overall, I give this
