The Lost Apothecary

This was more a 3.5 for me honestly; I think my expectations were too high. The cover is so lovely and the subject (apothecaries, herbs, alchemy) is one I find so interesting–and I think that's what tripped me up!

The story itself is familiar, a woman in the present investigating some women in the past with whom she feels a connection/shares similar issues. In this case, the issue is crime and cheating husbands–which eventually rang a little hollow to me, like it had been overplayed, perhaps. It's not unbelievable at all, but I also didn't strongly relate to any of the female characters, so it kind of came off as a “some people (mostly men) are awful and some people (mostly women) are victims” story. Again, not untrue by any means. But it felt a little flat.

I don't mean to scare people away–I think if you like women's coming-of-age/quarter-life crisis stories, historical women's fiction, or atmospheric drama, you'd definitely enjoy this. It was just a little out of my wheelhouse, I think!