If anything, I really admire what Ashlee Cowles tried to do with The Poppy and the Rose. There are a lot of promising elements here – we follow two main characters, whose journeys are mirrored and echoed in two different timelines – but there is such a thing as way too many promising elements.

Taylor is a teenage girl who gets a spot in a journalism summer program at Oxford in out own time. But she is also there to maybe sneakily find out more about a photograph in which the father she is still grieving is holding a mystery woman. But, for someone who wants to be an investigative journalist, she doesn’t really have to do much investigating, because she is approached by the driver of a mysterious Lady Mae Knight right as she gets to her Oxford lodgings.

Through a series of events, Taylor ends up reading the journal of Ava, a privileged young woman who writes an account of her transatlantic journey on the Titanic.

This seems simple enough, but there are way too many elements at play in the novel that don’t really coalesce into a focused story and I’m not going to give details about them, just enumerate. We have a society of psychics, we have an assortment of real life Titanic characters, we have two blooming romances, two mothers who are apparently mentally unstable (and rather judged for it), namedropping of Freud and Jung in a pretty awkward way. Then there are two father suspected of cheating on their wives, a gothic manor, a Miss Havisham like mysterious old woman, not one but two whodunnits that aren’t investigated all that much, grand foreshadowing of World War I, and a Serbian plot to… maybe bring about a communist utopia? Which yeah, historically speaking didn’t turn out so well in Eastern Europe, but also is treated a bit strange in the context of what we are living right now in 2020.

“But if you fail, Lady Ava, I cannot protect you from the coming clash that is sure to dismantle Europe’s class system, once and for all,” says one of the characters, ominously and not at all subtly.

Then there’s stuff about freewriting and the occult, Glastonbury Abbey, curses on the males of a family, treasure hunts, and a very intriguing concept called vesica pisces, which as a Pisces I feel morally obligated to research further.

I feel like all of the details present don’t manage to recreate the texture of a significant historical event – the sinking of the Titanic and the era it took place in -, but quite the opposite, they seem like references being ticked off a list. And the kind of hindsight wink wink jokes peppered all over the 1912 timeline. There was one that made me groan, about little dogs that belong to wealthy women and how “Soon they’ll be carting them around in specialty-made handbags”.

But time and time again, when I read, there is one thing that makes or breaks a book for me, and that’s compelling characters. If they were vivid enough to ground all of the disparate elements that make up the book, then I would shut my yapping and be very into it. Unfortunately, for me, neither Taylor nor Ava works as a lived-in, breathing, of course she would do that character. For much of the book, things seem to just happen to them. And I’m not going to say anything else, because I don’t want to spoil anybody, but there is not much agency or spark there.

I appreciated the use of the Titanic as a setting for this book. That aspect kept me reading to the end. Though Ava did not come across as a likeable character for a large part of the book, her presence in the Titanic tragedy was an interesting storyline. However, Taylor never really connected for me. Descriptions of the UK seemed stereotypical and her storyline not entirely believable. Perhaps this would appeal more to a YA reader.

In 1912, socialite and photographer Ava Knight is departing for the Titanic with her father, when she’s approached by a strange lady with a horrifying premonition, and an even stranger soldier with a glass eye who promises to make her wishes come true, as long as Ava becomes his spy. Torn between figuring out who to trust, and what to do, Ava embarks on an investigation of her own.

In 2010, Taylor Romano arrives for a summer journalism program at Oxford, with the secret agenda of solving a mystery of her own: who is the lady in the photograph with her father? It’s not a question she can ask her father, who passed away in the war a few years prior, or her mother, who is still grieving. She’s invited to tea by a mysterious benefactor, Mae, who promises to tell Taylor about her father. Against better judgment, Taylor decides to skip out on orientation for the journalism program, and go to tea instead. What she doesn’t realize is that Mae passed away the night before, leaving Taylor with a single clue -- A Titanic survivor by the name of Ava’s memoir, with the words “Find Will” scrawled in haste script on the inside. With this memoir as her only clue, Taylor must take a trip into the past to find out the link between Ava’s and her father’s, as well as Mae’s death.

The Poppy and The Rose is told in two narratives -- Ava’s, which mostly takes place in 1912, and Taylor’s, which takes place in modern day. I felt like the two narratives were weaved seamlessly, and loved reading Ava’s story, how Taylor reacted to it, and how it was all part of the bigger mystery. While I’m not usually much for mysteries and thrillers, I’m a sucker for historical fiction, and more so, the Titanic. I’ve always been fascinated by the history of the Titanic, and absolutely loved that aspect of this book. I found Ava’s story incredibly compelling -- much more so than I did Taylor’s, even if I found Ava to be a little unlikeable at times. The three overarching mysteries: The woman in the picture, Mae’s murder, the happenings on the Titanic, were all captivating, although I was mostly interested about the Titanic, and felt like the woman in the photograph, and Mae’s murder were more so background side plots. Even so, I found myself holding my breath along with both Ava and Taylor, hoping that everything would turn out alright in the end, and being shocked again and again at all the different twists and turns.


I found The Poppy and The Rose to be a quick read, and didn’t want to put it down.
Unfortunately, I felt like everything was a little rushed near the end. As I’m not British, I can’t speak from experience, but I felt like a lot of stereotypes were drawn for the side characters, and it felt inauthentic. Overall, I found The Poppy and The Rose an easy read, and would recommend it to any lovers of The Titanic, or anyone looking for a nice mystery novel!

Holy cow! I totally read this on a whim because it sounded interesting and I was blown away. I've always been fascinated by the story of the Titanic and this was such an intriguing take on some possible "what ifs." The mystery aspect of this book was so well done with the pieces coming together throughout the story and still surprising me in the end. The overall message of love and hope for the future was also beautiful and honestly brought me to tears a few times. I would highly recommend this to fans of mysteries and historical fiction.

"Death can take a lot of things, but it can’t take your memories."

Taylor, an American teenager arrives in Oxford for a journalism program, and finds herself immediately drawn into a mystery from a century ago, a young English aristocrat named Ava, who survived the Titanic.

This was a fast-paced read with a fun story - actually, two stories, with Taylor’s taking place in 2010, and Ava’s in 1912. Ava’s takes place as a story within the story, and being a passenger on the Titanic, hers has a foregone conclusion. I did enjoy the sense of foreboding throughout, as she and the other characters moved towards an ending that we are all too familiar with. Taylor’s is filled with a little more mystery, and it is fun seeing how her story will tie to Ava’s in the end, although Ava’s was, for me, the highlight of the two.

I did find that it lays it on a bit thick with how English the setting is - the modern scenery is built with stereotypes of England, and not just in the manor house in which the majority of Taylor’s story takes place. The pace, while compelling, did mean that the events in the modern day felt a little too rapid, such as the romance, and that if a character wasn’t present as the plot kicked off, we weren’t going to see much of them. I was fully ready to see a lot more of Dalia! Ava’s story, being set on the Titanic and over the course of more time, felt more natural.

Overall, an enjoyable, brisk read, with its setting in history making it stronger.

Thank you to NetGalley and Owl Hollow Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A book that brings in historical details driven by mystery, is my kind of book. Split between a flashback from the past and a present day story, with two main characters linked in a way that kept me reading to find out more. There were some twists that had me surprised, historical references that left me with new knowledge, and interesting character development. While some parts were melodramatic, I thoroughly enjoyed this book as a quick read that I couldn't put down.

Didn't finish. I was looking forward to reading this, but just the first chapter had too many overdone tropes.
Maybe I'll pick it up again later.

This story jumps between 1912 and the sinking of the Titanic to a common teenager's life in 2010. Teenage Ava Knight a British heiress, and her father board the Titanic in 1912, bound for New York City. Ava hopes to become an award-winning photographer. Just how her life intersects with the life of teenage Taylor Romano , who aspires to be an investigative reporter in 2010, is what the entire book is about. We jump from one time and point of view to the next. I really enjoyed the chapters about the Titanic and the details provided by narrator Ava as she walks around the ship and the very important people that she encounters. I;m only taking a star off of this review because of the very rished ending, which wasn;t satisfying at all after the lush details provided throughout, A great story and mystery linked to the sinking of the Titanic.

The Poppy and the Rose is historical fiction that weaves together the sinking of the Titanic, early 20th century spiritualism, and a modern girl's search to uncover the meaning behind a mysterious photograph of her father taken before he died.

In 1912, we follow Ava, spoiled aristocrat and aspiring photographer, onto the Titanic. She is pressed into helping a Serbian revolutionary spy on a fellow passenger in exchange for promised help with her mother's laudanum addiction and declining mental health.

These adventures unfold in Ava's memoirs, read by Taylor in the present after her elderly aristocratic scholarship benefactress, Lady Knight, winds up dead in suspicious fashion. Taylor is hoping that the memoirs will shed light on some secrets in her father's past.

My thoughts on the tale are this: the Titanic never fails to enthrall me even as it terrifies me and leaves me in tears. These emotions all came to pass right on schedule. However, the supernatural elements of the story seemed unnecessary and generic, bogging down the plot with forced urgency (I'm saying this as someone who loves a well-told paranormal angle). Additionally, the storyline in the present did not keep pace with the echoes of Ava's memories. While Taylor has a sympathetic story, most major revelations take place in the memoirs with the only action in the present serving as an interlude before Taylor picks up the next chapter to read. The plot and side characters are significantly less interesting than in the past. Ultimately, a book distilled down to Ava's story on the Titanic told in one timeline with no supernatural aspects would have been more powerful if less catchy in the synopsis.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC! This was a phenomenal book and one that I wasn’t too sure about. The story follows Ava, who we meet boarding the Titanic with her father and Taylor, who is in England studying at Oxford for the summer. These two women’s lives are intertwined but you’re not quite sure how. Taylor meets Mae, her “benefactor” for the summer in England, but the night she meets her, Mae ends up dead - starting a game of “who done it” while Taylor tries to figure out who Mae is to her story. This story has so many twists and turns and thoroughly kept me enthralled and on the edge of my seat!! Highly recommend this one!!

3*

I wish I was a bigger mystery fan, because this book has so much to offer!

I admit I was hungering for a Titanic book more than anything and so this cover grabbed me immediately, and I am happy to say that there is indeed a strong narrative set on the Titanic that completely scratched my itch. That storyline is interwoven with a modern day plot that I admittedly liked a lot less, but I think a lot of that was down to my being British. The slang the author applied to the British ensemble was real stereotypical stuff that doesn't actually get said here, and it took me out of the story every time.

Otherwise, however, this book was well written with strong voices for both protagonists. I really liked Taylor and Ava both, they certainly appeal to fans of independent and headstrong women!

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC

The Poppy and the Rose is captivating—historical fiction mixed with gothic mystery. Taylor is a likable heroine, with her wit, drive, and flaws. Most of the book read at a good pace, and its crafted descriptions created a pleasant story to be engulfed within. The end wrapped up cleanly and happily, albeit quickly.

I won't be able to rate this book as I was not able to read it. The way it downloaded made it look like one sentence was on top of another.

Loved it! I just read practically non-stop from 60% on because I couldn’t put the book down! I love time-slip novels and I love YA fiction, but there aren’t many YA time-slip novels published at this time (at least not that I know of). I’m happy to say that this is an amazing YA time-slip novel and I’m so glad I read it! It can be hard to balance both the contemporary and historical sections of time-slip novels, but this book is beautifully done. I liked the main characters, the writing was evocative, and the storyline was gripping, all of which contributed to my enjoyment of this book. I also really appreciated that the romance was sweet and that there was only mild swearing in the book. I highly recommend this novel, and I look forward to reading more books by this author!

Content:
Mild swearing
Sweet romance with a few kisses

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

It was a very fast-paced book, I liked the dual POV and I think it was done very well, I especially loved the flashbacks, it has a great plot that keeps you turning the pages and without noticing it you have finished the book, I think the characters were well developed and in the end, this is a very well written book with interesting characters and a great mystery, I would recommend this to my friends or anyone who likes dual POV comparing the past and the present.

This was a good book in many ways, but I didn’t really like the dual timelines in it. Ava’s story was interesting and well told but Taylor’s story couldn’t keep my interest. When there’s multiple storylines, the more modern ones tend to lose my interest quickly unless it’s really excellent, and Taylor’s story was pretty standard fare without any exciting twists and turns in the plot. But the historical timeline in 1912 was more original and entertaining and I really enjoyed Ava’s character and most of the historical details seemed to be pretty accurate.

If this book had a single narrator I would have rated it much higher.

“The Poppy and the Rose” follows Taylor as she visits London to participate in an exchange program at Oxford but her real focus is to uncover the truth behind the photo of her late father with another woman. Along the way she meets her older benefactor who claims to know who the woman is and will share that information at the cost of listening to her story but when that older woman is found dead a larger plot is revealed.

This story is spilt between modern day Taylor and Ava a young woman as she boards the ill fated Titanic and apart from their daddy issues they don’t have anything else in common. These two stories are set up to parallel each other as both women try to figure out if their parent is having an extramarital affair only the former spends her chapters reading the memoir which features Ava’s story and doesn’t do much else.

Where Taylor’s narrative fades in and out of the details surrounding the sinking we never really get anywhere with her up until the ending where it’s all a rather basic and boring reveal and I hate to say it but this is the first time I actually read a large section of a multiple POV book by skipping over her chapters entirely as they offered nothing to the much larger story. I did eventually go back and read it through like it was written but all it did was cement the fact that you could jump over any chapter featuring Taylor and the end result would be a pretty great story and that’s not at all something you would achieve if you read it the opposite way.

Ava has a lot going on both with the pressure of society on a young woman and the lingering doubts she has about her father and the new friend he seems to have made onboard. Furthermore she is brought in by a mysterious figure to play spy for his purpose all the while it offers her a chance to obtain evidence and confront her father outright. This is so much more exciting than anything offered in the modern day as it touches upon the lengths one will go to protect their children, class warfare, the horrors of war and how history is shaped by people more so than the tragedies whether they are cowardly enough to jump into a lifeboat taking the seat saved for a child or smart enough to blackmail survivors into doing what’s right for victims. Each component of her story offered a lot of insight not only into that point in history but offered a new side to the story that we all know and love by letting us see the pure hatred of those left on board toward the elite who made it to a lifeboat as Ava is very much part of that group and her facing that hatred was an interesting foil to that of Rose Dawson going down with the ship.

This is such a hard book to rate because if I’m just going off Ava’s story it’s a solid 5 stars where Taylor’s would be a 1 but seeing as I have to judge the work as a whole piece it brings it down a considerable amount which is unfortunate.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

I read an advanced copy of, The Poppy and The Rose, by Ashlee Cowles. This story weaves between 1912 with Ava on the Titanic, and 2010 with Taylor in Oxford. Family secrets come to light in this great book, I loved the characters and the settings.