This was the second book I have read by this author and her first one blew me away. This one not so much but was still so wonderfully good. Highly recommend

This book was disappointing to say the least. There was to much non important detail given in this book and not enough stuff to make it an enjoyable book. It really didn't get interesting at all until I was around 80% finished, and that isn't really saying much either. I would not recommend this book.

It has taken me a few days to write this review because I haven’t been totally sure how I wanted to rate it. I think I have finally settled on 3.5 stars. It wasn’t as good as Butterfly Garden, so it had to be a lesser rating than what I gave that, but I still really enjoyed it.

I think the best thing that you could possibly know about Roses of May is the fact that it is not a continuation of Butterfly Garden. I have read many reviews of readers being disappointed that this was not part of the same story. Connected, yes, continuation, no.

The series is more of a focus on Vic, Eddison and Ramirez solving serial crimes involving young girls. However, even though Roses of May focuses on a different set of girls and a different killer, Hutchinson does a nice job of keeping you up to date on Maya & Bliss and their lives after the garden.

Having said all of that, Roses of May was just not nearly as captivating as Butterfly Garden. As it happens, I read these in quick succession and I wasn’t nearly as engrossed in RoM as I was BG. However, I still enjoyed the story and the slow burn and development of the story. It is tense and suspenseful, as it wraps into a crescendo in the final pages. One of the downsides for me was I was able to figure out who the killer was very early on, so there was no surprise there.

Since this is a trilogy, and I will definitely be on the lookout for book 3. If you read Butterfly Garden, then I definitely recommend continuing the series and picking up Roses of May. However, I would not recommend this as a stand-alone book. But I definitely recommend going "all in" on the series!

I loved The Butterfly Garden and how strong Inara/Maya was and is, but this main heroine was just as wonderful. I loved how Priya was so smart and aware of herself. I loved how her mother was there for her daughter in both their pain but not a helicopter mom. It wasn't the conventional mother/daughter relationship. That it was ok to no be ok. That it was ok to not have to put on a happy face and pretend things are just fine when they are not. I loved the relationships of the Quantico 3, the Veterans and Inara and Priya. I am looking forward to more from this authur.

I absolutely LOVED the Butterfly Garden. It was one of my favorite books of last year; however, the follow up novel, Roses of May, was not quite as spine chilling. There is a serial killer that is murdering teenage girls and putting flowers around them after he kills them. One of the victim's sister knows that this killer is after her as well and tries to find the killer.
If you are looking for a true follow-up to Butterfly Garden, this novel is not quite it. It was a bit confusing in the beginning, and I found myself re-reading some parts so that I was understanding better. I did end up enjoying the book but not as much as the first. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Okay SO. Let's start by informing everyone that this is the second book in 'The Collector' series, so don't start with this one first as you may not know what is going on. Even though it begins with a newer story, there is a lot of follow on and characters from the first book - which by the way, was insane! Insane in a good way that is. I haven't forgotten the first book as it was delightfully creepy and not something I have ever read before. The Roses of May however, just didn't hit those high notes I was expecting, that the first novel had. Whilst it was an interesting story, it ran very slow and at times repetitive. It didn't pick up really until just after 50%, when you really would have wanted to be invested way before then.

Don't get me wrong, it was a good follow up, it just wasn't GREAT like the butterfly garden. The writing is still brilliant and I do recommend reading if you have read the first novel, just to jump back into that world again.

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Not as good at the first book in the series. It picks up the pace about 50% in. Good follow up to the first book which was a,axing!

I received an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

When I saw that the The Butterfly Garden was a part of a series, I was ecstatic! I absolutely loved he first book, and was hooked after reading.

I was so excited to read this book.. but I'm not going to lie, it doesn't have the same impact. The book was well written and definitely interesting, I just didn't find myself as drawn in as the first book of the series.

First I want to start of this review by saying thank you so much NetGalley for letting me review Roses of May. I loved The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchinson. Her writing in that book was amazing and it was great to see there was a book 2 in the Collector series.

This book followed Priya, who lost her sister 5 years ago to a killer who was never caught. Like the girls of the Butterfly Garden she is taken under the Quanitco 3 like family and looked after while they try and find her sisters killer. The chapters are told mainly from the killer and Priya's points of view although at times also from the FBI team too.

I don't want to say too much about the story bar that I worked out who the killer was as soon as they were mentioned in the book. I was gutted I was right in many ways. I loved that we got more closure on the Butterfly Garden girls and the court case too although i do wonder if Dot will do a third book maybe which will have the court case in the background and maybe more of Priya too?

The writing as always is good. Dot is very clever at what she does. Whether its setting a scene, discussing a murder, being a killer or talking about food. You really do feel like you are there, seeing things through her eyes or even the characters. I enjoy her writing style immensely and am a huge fan. The book was just the right length, had just the right ending and kept me avidly reading throughout it. I did struggle putting it down and did this in 2 sittings over 2 days. Please understand this is an unbiased review even though the book was provided for me by NetGalley. I had this book marked on Amazon to purchase and its currently available on Kindle Unlimited too, so I could have just as easily reviewed it that way.

I give Roses of May 4 stars and the series as it stands a solid 4 stars. I look forward to Dot's next book and can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

Having greatly enjoyed The Butterfly Garden, I was very excited to read its sequel, The Roses of May. Sometimes sequels (especially when a third book will be coming out) are not as good as their predecessor, but I was very happy that The Roses of May kept me just as captivated and enthralled as The Roses of May did. We get to learn more about the victims and I loved getting to know Eddison better. This had a lot of suspense as the FBI continue to search for the killer and wonder when they will find the body of another woman. I love how Hutchison makes the victims such strong characters. They have gone through unspeakable atrocities, but still manage to go on. I'm anxiously awaiting the third book in this trilogy.

This second book in the series focused more on the detectives rather than the victims which made it a little less creepy but still just as enjoyable. I really enjoyed the connection between book one and two.

Dot Hutchinson's Roses of May is the thrilling follow-up to The Butterfly Garden. I absolutely loved The Butterfly Garden and was very much looking forward to Roses of May. Dot Hutchinson is a great storyteller and creates a suspenseful novel that I just couldn’t put down. I do wish the climax had a bit more going on to satisfy the long build up but otherwise this was a brilliant story. I look forward to the final book of The Collector Trilogy and anything else that Dot Hutchinson writes.

I LOVED every minute of TBG and have been looking forward to the sequel. It took be a bit longer to connect and get into this story. Not having the butterflies as the main characters was disappointing at first. However, it didn't take much time for me to fall for Priya, the main character of Roses of May. I also appreciated that I also got to know the FBI agents a bit more. The relationship Priya has with the agents and eventually with the butterflies made it come full circle for me character wise.

As for the plot, it was definitely interesting and had me guessing what was coming next or who would be next. The only thing is, I kept looking for something a bit more darker and thrilling. I didn't feel on edge as much because their weren't as many twists. This seemed much more toned down than the sometimes gut wrenching TBG events. I wanted it to be just as dark and it wasn't however it doesn't take away from an interesting plot that at the end had me thinking, I should've known that all along.

I was so excited for the opportunity to read this book. It was interesting that it contained some of the same characters as the first book, but had a new main character. I guessed the murderer pretty quickly, but enjoyed how the book played out.

Had a love/hate relationship with this book, and I think I have myself to blame for that!

As soon as I saw the follow up to [book:The Butterfly Garden|29981261], I knew I had to grab this, hoping for another 5 star read. I honestly don't think I even bothered to read the description-I just had to know what happened to the captive Butterflies! I don't think I am the only person who felt this way either.
So here is where the disappoint comes into play and my expectations fell apart....

While there are some mentions of the Garden and some of the more memorable 'Butterflies', it's clear the author has moved on. Book 2 introduces us to a new victim, a new serial killer, and a police procedural story line that just fell flat for me. The pace was soooooo slow, especially in the middle, that even when there were attempts to tie the Butterflies into the plot it just didn't work.

I also had a hard time believing the relationships that these FBI agents had with their victims. How are they able to solve any cases when their time is so wrapped up in checking on them and staying in their lives? It's very sweet, but completely unrealistic.

I do wonder how this book would have read on it's own, without having any ties whatsoever to The Butterfly Garden. Would I have enjoyed it more without the disappoint of it not being what I wanted it to be? Hard to say...but I'm thinking it would have fared better that a 3*.

My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC

I really had a hard time reading this book.

A lot of reviewers were disappointed that this book was so different to “The Butterfly Garden”. I must admit that I read it exactly because of that. I was not a huge fan of the Butterfly book. It was a very creepy read with a lot of weird characters and a very unrealistic story. But at least it was entertaining. This one here was such a slow burner. I thought about quitting multiple times. It was just so boring. Nothing really happens. It is all repetition. Flower deliveries. Agents traveling back and forth. All the same over and over. And you can easily figure out who the killer is. The characters are also again very weird. I disliked them all and none of them felt actually natural. I never felt “the force of nature” Prya’s mum allegedly should be. I also disliked Prya herself. And I could have done without the “butterflies”.

It a very slowly developing book with a boring story. The characters were all too edgy and creepy. I am very sorry because NetGalley and the publisher provided me with a copy but I must honestly admit that I did not enjoy it. I think I will not read another book from this author. Her idea a good story is not my cup of tea.

The storyline and characters get 2 stars but the writing gets a sold 4.

This takes place a few months after The Butterfly Garden ended. It really shouldn't have continued, in my opinion. This is a different kind of story with familiar characters and not necessarily what I would call the second book of a trilogy. There is a thin line between a strong woman and a rude bitch. The line was crossed a few times by all the female characters, and it took away from the story instead of enhancing it. Speaking of the storyline, it doesn't take an addiction to the ID channel to figure out who the killer is from the first chapter he makes his appearance. Not to mention the similarities to each murder were ridiculously unrealistic for girls their age.

The writing however, was a big improvement from the first book. It has definitely matured into something that stood out. I won't be reading the third book in this trilogy, but I would be willing to read a standalone book by this author.

<i>The Butterfly Garden</i> was one of the best books I'd read in the past couple of years. It seemed like a standalone novel at the time, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that it was actually the start of a trilogy. I was very excited to read this, the second book in the trilogy.

This book was quite good. It didn't quite match the heights of the last one, and there were a couple more flaws in this one than the last, which is why I'm giving it 4 stars instead of the 5 that I gave the first.

We spend some more time with the FBI agents in this one, which is a good idea bc I think as a trilogy, the agents would be the biggest connector for all 3 books. In the first, the time we did spend was largely focused on Vic with a little bit of Eddison's backstory. In this one, Eddison is the FBI agent whose viewpoint we see the most. Which makes me wonder if the third book will focus on Ramirez bc she's the agent we've seen the least although there have been hints of her own backstory which sounds interesting.

A couple of the butterflies from the last book, Inara & Bliss, are in this one. While they were good characters in the previous book (Inara especially since she was the main character) and it was nice to get updates on how they (and their captors) were doing and also still see the two girls interacting with the agents, it also felt a little forced. It felt a little bit like they were wedged into the story, and it also took some time away from Priya's story which was interesting in its own right.

As for the new serial killer case and our new main character, Priya, both were great. The killer and murders described in this book were just as creepy and unsettling as the last. We get even shorter descriptions of the victims besides Priya's sister, but again Hutchison does a fantastic job of making a character feel whole and real in their description in sometimes just a span of a few paragraphs. I did wind up guessing who the killer was not long after they were introduced, but that's ok. This book is more about Priya and her mind, less so about whodunnit. Also it meant it wasn't out of left field. The ending was pretty good too. Oh and it was also really cool to have the main character be Indian. I don't see that many books with Asian protagonists, especially in books that aren't in large part about being Asian.

I look forward to reading book #3 when it comes out!

Thanks to NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer, and Dot Hutchison for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. :o)

Brilliant book, just as good as the butterfly garden. I would highly recommend this book and author to others

The Roses of May by Dot Hutchison is book #2 in the Collector Trilogy following on the heels of book #1, The Butterfly Garden. The characters from the first book in this series have stayed with me ever since I finished reading The Butterfly Garden and I was extremely curious to see how book #2 would play out. Luckily it doesn't disappoint. This story features Priya and her mom who are grieving the loss of Priya's sister. She was killed by a serial killer who appears to focus his unwanted attention on teen girls. The FBI agents that we all know and love from The Butterfly Garden are repeat characters along with a couple of the Butterflies from book #1. This is a dark mystery that will have you staying up late so that you can finish it all in one sitting. I am looking forward to seeing what Hutchison has in store for us with book #3. Read and enjoy!