DNF’d at 40%. I was really excited for this one sadly. The cover, title, and marketing of it were all appealing. I expected some grandiose and intense romance, yet I feel like this book tried to accomplish too much by throwing in way more than just lack luster romance. It did give off Stalking Jack The Ripper vibes, but this one is a miss for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC

<i>What were miracles, but science that man didn’t yet understand?</i>

Arc received from NetGalley for an honest review
3.5 stars

Hazel Sinnett has a peculiar hobby. Fascinated with the macabre, she spends her days reading books on anatomy when she should be doing truly anything else. With a tenacity boarding on lunacy, Hazel finds her way into a physicians course and begins her studies for the Royal Physicians Exam.

But of course, physicians need bodies to practice on. Enter Jack Currer, dashing and endearing Resurrection Man. Jack is a theater’s work man by day and by night he is digging up graves and stealing the recently deceased.

Anatomy: A Love Story is a charming mix of regency society and gore. I almost feel like this was a sort of Jack the Ripper tale in a twisted way.

I enjoyed the overall story and the characters quite a bit. Hazel is daring and charming but she a bit of a hero complex. Though most doctors are ailed by that, are they not? Jack is the classic YA love interest with his grey eyes, curly dark hair, and sharp tongue. There are a few repeated side characters that work in Hawthornden Castle who are mostly their to serve the plot but they have some personality at least.

I didn’t enjoy the amount of plot holes. It was established that Hazel had relatively absent parents but the sheer amount of time that passes without any question from them is kind of alarming. Also her fiancé (HER COUSIN) is both overbearing but also absent. And I would have loved if anyone had any concern about her marrying her first cousin. I get that was a common thing of the time but still, gross.

The book came to a close far too quickly when other parts dragged on. It didn’t feel like there was any real resolution to the major plot reveals either.

All that aside, Anatomy: A Love Story was a quick and easy read. It’s a YA historical romance with a fun and bloody twist that I would certainly recommend.

It's 1817 Edinburgh and Hazel wants nothing more than to become a physician. She's 17 and a woman so the odds of that happening are pretty slim. Except that she's determined and she's met Jack, who is willing and able to bring her bodies to dissect. He's got an interesting back story of his own (no spoilers) and while he's happy to help Hazel, there's something odd afoot out there. And then Hazel must deal with weird things as well. This ia a genre crossing YA crossover novel that's well written and paced. And, it's atmospheric! Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

Gloriously dark, gothic romance…I was immediately enamored with Hazel, a delightfully determined heroine who tragically suffers the affliction of all tenacious young women of the 19th century - the direst of curses, the most horrific of horrors…which is, that of not being a man…but still, never lets it stop her and valiantly pushes forward with her desire to be a physician despite the obstacles of her time.

The romance is a very slow burn and not of the very in your face type of romance vibes but the more subtle, melancholic yearning kind of feel, which I felt was in line with Hazel’s independent and fiercely determined personality.

I really appreciated how while she is so confident and persistent most of the time…she also has such real, and extremely relatable, moments of being wildly overwhelmed with the reality of trying to learn something so vast and apply that knowledge on her own without support, while being thrust into such consequential situations.

I wouldn’t have minded a bit more clarity at the end, a lot happens very quickly in the last bit, but I also kind of like that the ending is a little ambiguous…the somewhat open ended-ness leaves room for imagination and has kept me coming back to it in my head and pondering what I think may have happened after.

Thank you to St Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for providing me with this eARC!

Hazel is an aspiring physician living in 1800s Edinburgh. The novel centers around her ambition to become a physician during a time woman were solely thought of as wives. A chance encounter with a grave body robber, Jack, propels the plot to this gothic novel.

I found this to be a fast read. I really enjoyed the story and could definitely see it being adapted to screen. I’d have like a bit more gothic and macabre scenes added but overall I liked it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy.

Wow. This book has a little bit of everything -- science, Scotland, colonial times, gothic horror, mystery, intrigue, and romance! Also, the cover is absolutely gorgeous.

Hazel is a well-born teenage girl who only wants to study anatomy and become a surgeon - which, back in 1817, is not as noble a profession as it is considered today, with them being viewed as little more than butchers. However, it being 1817, academic pursuits are almost impossible for Hazel. Instead, she is expected to become formally engaged to and marry her cousin (ew) Bernard Almont, a future viscount. When her attempts to attend anatomy lectures as a man are thwarted, she makes a deal with the famous Dr. Beecham - if she's able to pass the Physcian's Licensing Examination, he'll give her an apprenticeship. However, in order to learn all she'll need to know in order to pass the test, she'll need bodies to dissect.

Enter Jack Currer, a young resurrection man. Working two jobs (theater by day and body snatcher by night) to make ends meet, he meets Hazel one day when she is trying to sneak into the anatomy surgical theater to attend a lecture by the famed Dr. Beecham. He runs into her after she strikes her deal with the doctor, and agrees to bring her a dead body.

During all of this, poor people throughout Edinburgh are dying from the mysterious Roman Plague, which had ravaged the city two years previous. However, some of these victims may have been felled by something more nefarious...

Due to circumstances, Hazel and Jack team up to procure her bodies, and they grow closer. There's a graveyard makeout session and everything! Hazel also ends up using her family manor as a hospital for the poor, helping patients with various ailments (including the plague) while continuing her studies.

This was an excellent YA book. Hazel is a strong young woman who is determined to get what she wants despite the entire world telling her she can't have it. The book is largely about her journey and her love of anatomy and treating sick people. Jack is also the ultimate co-conspirator/love interest, as he is very supportive of Hazel and is willing to help her achieve her dreams.

To avoid spoilers, I won't go too much into the mystery part of the book, because I don't want to ruin it. While I did guess who was ultimately behind things, I did not expect everything that was revealed. The ending was also very unexpected and surprising.

Overall, this was a very engaging story. My main quibble with it is that parts of it seemed a bit rushed and not as fully developed as other parts. The ending was also a bit rushed, with things happening very quickly, which was a little jarring after the slower build of the rest of the book.

I encourage people to read this book, as it was very good. I can't wait for what the author does next! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the book. This review is honest and all thoughts are my own.

“Hazel Sinnett, you are the most miraculous creature I have ever come across, and I am going to be thinking about how beautiful you are until the day that I die.” – Chapter 26
 
I went into this book knowing zero about it, but the cover caught my eye (which is stunning).  I thought it was a love story, and while it does have a beautiful, slow-moving one woven throughout, it’s also a mystery, a bit of a thriller, and what I could best describe as a Regency era gothic story with macabre elements.  Was I unhappy about this?  Not at all.
 
The first scene opens up to Edinburgh, Scotland, where men are digging up graves in order to sell bodies to physicians in the name of science.  Those who practice this “profession” are called resurrection men.  This is integral to the story.  Shortly after we meet our main character, Hazel.  Hazel wants to be a physician, or, to be more precise, a surgeon.  The book states it perfectly, because in that era, there was a marked societal difference in class between a physician and a surgeon: “The Physician works with his mind. The surgeon works with his hands, and his brute strength.”  Physicians were usually from wealth and had a higher social standing.  They only gave advice and administered medicine to provide and aid in relief.  Surgeons were looked down upon because they primarily worked with the destitute and those not in the higher echelons of society.  They also worked with the gory and macabre, performing surgery which was too gruesome to be spoken about in high society’s circles.

The book takes place in 1817, and in that time period women were not allowed to practice medicine or even attend medical school.  High society women (or women in general)  were not allowed to entertain such a thought.  Hazel is definitely more interested in learning medicine than the ways of a debutante. Hazel has been raised from birth knowing she will be married to Byron, Lord Almont’s son.  There is also another man who unexpectedly comes into her life: Jack.  Jack is a resurrection man.  It’s best if I let that be all that is revealed regarding that part of the story.

Hazel’s sole “occupation,” as it was for women of that time and in her social class, was marrying well. This is not what she wants.  She wants to learn and to be educated in medicine.  Hazel manages to sneak into watching an amputation, and immediately decides she had to learn more, that she has to find a way to attend class.  How does she do this?  She disguises herself as a man.  This is just one part of the story and with all mysteries and all books that you want other readers to discover as you did, you really try not to give too much information, but just enough to explain why you should read a book when it’s recommended.  That being said, I definitely recommend this book.  If you go into this book expecting it to be pure romance, you may be disappointed.  If you are looking for a super romantic happy ending you may be disappointed.  This is a mysterious and twisted tale, filled with a spunky, headstrong main character, creepy villains, elements of both science and science fiction, side characters that epitomize the word “gumption,” and a little bit of love thrown in the mix.  To sum it all up, this book was well worth my time and I think it would be worth yours too. I give it 4.5 stars/5 stars.


Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my review.

4.5 stars

This is not the love story you think it is. But this gothic tale will take you on a journey filled with gore and Victorian mad science akin to Frankenstein.

In this YA novel we follow Hazel, a well born girl who is destined to marry her cousin and become the wife of a future Viscount. Unfortunately, Hazel would rather be a surgeon which is completely out of her reach since women aren’t allowed to pursue science in 1817 Edinburgh Scotland. So she hatches a plan to get the training she needs to pursue her dream which leads her to a resurrection man, well boy really, who digs up bodies for the anatomists, and together they uncover a sinister plot that targets the town’s poorest inhabitants.

I loved this book. Hazel was such a refreshing character, pragmatic, driven by logic, she is not your typical romance heroine, but of course that’s because she loves anatomy more than any boy. The relationship between Hazel and Jack definitely takes a back seat to the rest of the plot, but the way that Hazel’s character was written to be so driven to achieve her goal of becoming a surgeon, it would not have made sense if she abandoned her goals for him. The only thing I didn’t like about this book was that the big reveal of the mystery didn’t feel earned, it felt like the solution was just handed to Hazel which was disappointing.

I definitely recommend this book to any YA readers who like Frankenstein, or Gothic stories with paranormal twists.

THANK YOU NETGALLEY FOR THE FREE REVIEW COPY IN EXCHANGE FOR MY HONEST REVIEW.

Special thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my own opinion.


First, the cover of this book drew me in, then I read the words love story and was like urgggh, not my favorite topic. But happy to say it was in a way a bit of a love story but very little bit. I loved Hazel, the 16 year old character we meet who loves the human anatomy, but in 1817 Edinburgh, there are not many women interested in anatomy and there are definitely no jobs for women in this interest, and if they are not very attainable in Scotland in those times.

Then we meet Jack, perfect for Hazel because he is a grave digger selling cadavers to hospitals for medical research. They meet in the most unlikely places (graveyards, for instance), although she is engaged to a Viscount (also her cousin....hmmm) and to become a Viscountess.. But Jack and Hazel are thrown together too for the most part to fight a dark plague in some dark days, and maybe worse than the plague ripping through town.

I liked this book. It was a surprisingly good read and the beginning and ending were my favorite parts. Gothic and historical, but not in the way its thrown in your face and ah yes! the love story which took a back seat in this book, I'm happy to say. 4 solid stars. A definite keeper and A good book to read in 2022!

I really did enjoy this Gothic tale, much more than I thought I would have. Its less a love story and more a study in anatomy and thank goodness for that, I prefer to not read love stories, but Jack is vital to the ending

My soft spot for grave robbing heroines who just want to be doctors knows no bounds. Any historical fiction book that has those elements I am completely here for, and when you throw in the supernatural, I am sold. I really loved a lot about this book, but I will say the weakest part was the romance. It's a fun read, even with a bit of a slow start but it very firmly fell into dark academic, and I really really love how completely nerdy Hazel is about science. Very into it, worth a read.

I received an ARC from the publisher and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
Anatomy: A Love Story is odd…but in a good way. Upon reading the blurb, and hearing an author I follow describe the initial setup, I thought it felt a bit reminiscent of the Kerri Maniscalco Jack the Ripper series, as the leads of that one are also in the medical field and they also wind up solving mysteries with odd twists. But given the way this one progresses, that comparison does feel a bit less apt in retrospect.
Dana Schwartz conveys the setting of 19th century Scotland and the Gothic/mystery vibes beautifully. I was swept up in the atmosphere, and then sucked into the sometimes wacky sequence of events.
Characters may be the weakest point of the book. I did like Hazel…I admire her determination to succeed in a profession that has barred women, as well as her compassion when she sees things that disturb her, which ultimately becomes an asset, even if it doesn’t seem to be the case at first. But Jack doesn’t have much to define him beyond his admittedly cool occupation and his interest in Hazel, and the latter was the only reason I felt any fear at tense moments when he was in jeopardy.
I liked the story overall, and I like how it starts off establishing what Hazel and Jack want, and then seeing them dive into the chaos with all the death going on. While there’s a supernatural twist that I didn’t see coming as part of the Big Reveal, it’s done in a way that feels plausible. I did have a lot of questions about the ending, given how vague it is, and Schwartz has been a bit mysterious in regards to whether that means there will be a sequel or not.
This is a delightfully odd and appropriately creepy book. If you’re looking for historical fiction with a dash of romance, a bit of mystery, and a gradual sprinkling of the supernatural, I recommend picking up this one.

Anatomy: A Love Story had so many good ideas propelling it forward, but simply could not stick the landing. I loved the vibe of a young and fiercely independent woman in 19th century Scotland chafing at the confines of social propriety in hopes of achieving her ultimate goal of becoming a surgeon. I loved the setting of the surgical theaters and surgery classes. I loved the little bits of magic sprinkled into the story.

However, my love started to wane about halfway through the book. In an effort to study human anatomy in a practical sense for her impending examination, Hazel opens her home to the poor and injured and begins to treat them. I understand that she had some book-based training. And I understand that the other hospital in town meant for the poor was bad and was prone to sticking a bandage on the issue before booting them back onto the streets. Hazel's providing medical treatment for these penniless individuals is bathed in a gracious and rosy light, framed as an altruistic act. If you take a step back, while Hazel's intentions are well-meaning, she is essentially experimenting on people, taking advantage of their situation for her own gain because their other option is reportedly worse. And that is kind of messed up. I'm honestly surprised that more people didn't die, but this is fiction so...

And that ending. There is a hormone-fueled part in which Hazel falls in love with a very mediocre resurrection man named Jack, who two personality traits include procuring dead bodies and falling in love very quickly. And boy, does the latter tank this book. Not only does Hazel quickly fall in love with Jack, but she gives up all of her hopes and dreams, literally everything she has been working toward in this book, in order to save him. My jaw was on the floor because I was FURIOUS. And now Jack gets to live forever being kind and but ultimately, mediocre, because she fell in love with him. Jack is basically the the male version of Addie LaRue.

Ultimately, I really wanted to like this book, but I feel like all of Hazel's hard work was completely derailed by her feelings surrounding Jack. Considering the message about female empowerment and individualism the book aimed to send in the beginning, the end was extremely disappointing.

Thank you, St. Martin's Press for sending me a copy of this book to review.

I requested a review copy of Anatomy: A Love Story after hearing Dana Schwartz’s guest appearance on the podcast You Are Good. Sarah Marshall, one of the podcast’s hosts, called it a “grave-robber YA book,” and I was in.

It helps that cover is absolutely gorgeous. It features a red-haired white young woman in a long red gown, viewed from above so that her skirts make an anatomical heart. The font is bold and gothic.

Unfortunately, though I liked the book, it didn’t quite live up to the expectations I had based on the podcast and cover.

The book is set in Edinburgh, 1817, and told through the alternating perspectives of lady Hazel Sinnett and resurrection man Jack Currer.

Here’s my first problem: At first, Schwartz sticks to the convention of maintaining one consistent perspective per chapter, but later, Jack will get a few paragraphs or even just a single sentence in the middle of a Hazel chapter, and vice versa. Either approach (alternating between or within chapters) would be fine, but I found the lack of consistency both confusing and frustrating.

On the other hand, I loved Hazel as a character. She’s a fiercely independent and powerfully lonely young woman trying to delay what she sees as an inevitable marriage to her cousin because she wants to be a surgeon.

This is doubly embarrassing for her cousin/future husband. Ladies aren’t supposed to have professions, and surgeons are regarded as the lowest kind of medical professional:

“If you wanted to pretend that you were going to become a physician–or a nurse–I suppose that would be one thing. But surgery–Hazel, surgery is the field for men with no money. No status. They’re butchers, really!”

Which, fair. Anesthesia hasn’t been invented yet, and surgeons won’t even start routinely washing their hands for another fifty years.

When we meet her, she’s gathering a dead frog and some makeshift lightning rods to see if she can harness the electricity of a gathering storm to reanimate the dead. She’s ruthless and a little cold in a way I don’t think I’ve ever seen from a female protagonist. Definitely not a young female protagonist that the narrative regards as uncompromisingly good.

When the local surgeon refuses to teach Hazel because of her sex, she makes a wager with the famous Dr. Beecham:

“The conditions: You will sit the Physician’s Examination at the end of this term. If you pass, I shall open the course to any women who wish to attend, although I warn you there may not be quite so many with your peculiar predilection as you seem to believe. And, in the unlikely event that you do pass, I will also offer you an apprenticeship–with me–at the university hospital …

“Let’s say that if you do not pass the Physician’s Examination, you’ll be unable to sit it in the future. This larger experiment, of a female surgeon, will be considered concluded.”

But Beecham warns Hazel that it will not be possible for her to pass the practical examination with only theoretical knowledge. She needs hands-on experience.

Enter Jack Currer, a poor boy who lives in the rafters of a theater and steals corpses (but never their belongings, which is a more serious crime) to make ends meet. Medical schools require stolen corpses to teach anatomy and surgery because it’s illegal to practice on anyone but executed criminals, and there aren’t enough of those to go around.

Their star-crossed romance is painfully Romeo and Juliet. When he first meets Hazel, Jack believes he’s in love with the prima ballerina at his theater. Hazel is engaged to her cousin. Their families aren’t at war (Jack doesn’t have any family.), but there’s plenty of blood and death, anyway. They share their first kiss in a graveyard, sitting on top of a coffin. Hazel’s horse is named Rosalind.

It worked for me because Jack challenges Hazel, and I appreciate a narrative that recognizes what a relief it is to have someone take you seriously enough to argue with you. They have some cute banter early on:

The boy grinned and winked, although it might have just been him squinting against the setting sun … “I don’t find myself cavorting with high society ladies like yourself too often, so doesn’t strike me as an introduction one needs to make.”

“We’ve already met. Twice.” Hazel reasoned.

“Aye, but is it really meeting if I haven’t given ye a name?” he said, and this time he winked for real.

I also liked their interdependency. Neither Jack nor Hazel can achieve their goals without help from the other, and neither exists purely to help the other grow as a character. At first.

Then, it abruptly stopped working for me. Jack lost all agency. He became a prop in Hazel’s story in a way that felt a lot like a superhero’s girlfriend alternately nagging him and needing to be rescued. It wasn’t even like that loss of agency pushed Hazel to make any significant changes, it just made it hard to remember why Hazel supposedly cared so much about Jack in the first place.

Around this time, the book took a hard shift for the gothic. I don’t know if I can say it was surprising, given the cover, but the first three-quarters of the book are solidly historical fiction. There are no obvious speculative elements, and while there’s obviously suspense, it isn’t moonless night on the foggy moors with a wailing that might just be the wind suspense. The tone is pretty standard for a historical YA.

None of this felt like a twist. Instead, it felt like I was suddenly reading a different book, and I didn’t care what happened because the characters shared only surface details with the characters of the book I had been reading, and everything I had liked about them was gone. I really struggled to finish the book, and I found the ending profoundly unsatisfying.

It’s so frustrating. I enjoyed the majority of the book, and I think putting Jack into the role of the gothic damsel and making Hazel a gothic hero could be interesting, but it just didn’t come together for me.

Cute, lovely book! CWs: medical procedures described in detail, pre-story sibling death

What I liked:
- The cover is absolutely beautiful and fits the story perfectly.
- Hazel is such a compelling character - rich girl dressing up as a boy to pursue dreams is super overdone, but she makes it interesting.
- Resurrection men! That's new for me, despite reading a lot of necromancy books, which this is not. More historical romance with a touch of magic or just some advanced science.
- Up until the end, the pacing was really good. I did read this in one sitting.
- Lots of funny moments!

What I didn't like:
- The book was too short! I wanted more development of Jack especially. As soon as he meets Hazel, his thoughts are mostly focused on her.
- The only people we get to know really at all are Hazel, Jack, and Dr. Beecham.
- The ending was a little abrupt, and I wasn't a huge fan.

Not what I expected but decidedly interesting.

Hazel is a young sixteen-year-old girl from a well-off family, who is expected to marry her soon-to-be eighteen-year-old cousin Bernard in order to maintain her station and keep the wealth within their family. Instead, despite her station and gender, she has ambitions to pursue a career in medicine - specifically surgery.

Surgery, however, is a profession deemed crude and for men without means. Still, that does not stop Hazel, along with countless others, from pursuing an education in it, under the instruction of the acclaimed Dr. Beecham. After all, sickness is sweeping across Edinburgh and someone needs to discover the cure.

But soon enough Hazel and Jack, a young resurrectionist who sells bodies to institutes for study, discover that nothing is as it seems and that sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. A gothic, romantic, mystery I'd say it's a good pick for fans of Stalking Jack the Ripper.

The ending is pretty open-ended and while I did not love it, I found it somewhat fitting.

Though it began with a slow start, Anatomy: A Love Story turned out to be a cunning and brilliantly feminist novel set in 1817 Edinburgh. Hazel, is a brilliant young woman with a dream of becoming a surgeon during a time when women were expected to marry, take care of their family, and do little else. Where doctors and physicians are respected and wealthy, surgeons are considered little more than butchers in society. Hazel seizes an opportunity to masquerade as her deceased brother George and attend medical lectures with notable surgeons. When kicked out of the lectures upon being discovered as a woman, Hazel makes a wager—to pass the Physicians Exam and be allowed to practice medicine as a woman, or abandon all medical endeavors forever. The only problem is, she has no anatomy subjects upon which to practice. After an unexpected encounter with a "resurrection man" named Jack, Hazel is given a rare opportunity for her anatomy studies—not only to examine actual corpses, but to examine the Roman Plague and open a “schooling hospital” within the confines of her home while her family is on holiday.
Initially, the story began with a slow start but once it picked up, there was much to devour—mystery, intrigue, and eventually a sweet love story between Surgeon and Resurrection Man. I read this book in one sitting and was wholly surprised at how deeply feminist and forward thinking the novel was, especially for the time period in which it was set.
The ending was unique, and I believe the author left it a bit ambiguous (will there be a sequel? —was it meant to leave us guessing?), but all in all the story was well crafted and a delight.

After a slow start, I really enjoyed this historical fiction!

Hazel is a brilliant young woman living in Edinburgh, Scotland during a time when women were expected to marry, take care of their family, and little else. She yearns to study science and wants to become a surgeon at any cost. Where doctors are respected, surgeons are considered little more than butchers. Hazel has an unexpected encounter with "resurrection man" Jack who gives her rare opportunities for her anatomy studies. There are several mysteries interwoven with our main characters and finally a love story.

4.8 stars

Wow this was REALLY GOOD! This was so dark, compelling, and highly entertaining! Couldn't put it down!

CW(*): Body snatching, organ trafficking, kidnapping, human experimentation, maiming, and murdering.

This book had science, the occult, romance. murder mystery... everything!

You'd like this book if you like Dark Academia Historical Fiction with strong female characters, feminist and dark themes (pseudo-science and alchemy), paranormal/SFF elements and a sprinkle of romance like The Alienist. Frankenstein, Ninth House, The Diviners, and Hidden Figures,

FIRSTLY - I TOTALLY ADORED HAZEL. She's into... books! So beautifully nerdy and passionate about medicine and science! There is something irresistible about a character so passionate about a dream that totally ignores social conventions, like Hazel. She's determined to pursue her dream of becoming a physician even though she is expected to get married and "behave like a lady".

More than expected she is bullied into getting married

"'Do you know what happens to unmarried women?” Hazel knit her eyebrows together. “I suppose . . . I mean—” Lady Sinnett cut her off with a sad, rueful chuckle. “Nowhere to live. At the mercy of your relatives. At the mercy of your little brother and whomever he deems to marry. Begging your sister-in-law for scraps of human decency, praying that she’s kind'.”

"force women to live at the mercy of whichever man wants them but shame them for anything they might do to get a man to want them. Passivity was the ultimate virtue. Be patient, be silent, be beautiful and untouched as an orchid, and then and only then will your reward come: a bell jar to keep you safe."

"I wouldn’t object to teaching the rare woman who had a mind capable for natural philosophy and the study of the body. Yes, on the whole, the female brain is smaller, more susceptible to hysterics and emotion, less inclined to reason. But there’s no reason to believe that a specimen might emerge from the female sex able enough to be taught.”


SECONDLY - Alchemy and the occult! I loved that the antagonist's purpose was the quest for eternal life through alchemy and occult science.

THIRDLY- Dark academia! Loved all the themes around body snatching, anatomy studies with cadavers, surgical procedures and 18th century science!

“They’re trying to get the body to sell it to the doctors. The students up at the uni. They needs bodies to study on and stuff. A body goes for two guineas and a crown. If it’s pregnant, it goes for three guineas, but that’s harder, seeing as they rarely hang a woman with child.”

"The difference between the eighteenth-century surgeon and the physician is stark and distinct. A physician may be a gentleman of social standing and considerable means, with access to medical college and a proper education in Latin and the fine arts. It is his role to consult and advise on a matter of all ailments, internal and external, and provide whatever poultices or medicines may provide relief. A surgeon, by contrast, is more often a man of lower social status who understands that a genius in the study of anatomy may provide him a pathway to elevated rank. He must be prepared to work with the poor and deformed, the monsters unloved and made gruesome by either war or circumstance. The physician works with his mind. The surgeon works with his hands, and his brute strength."


Then was the unorthodox romance, just the way I like them!

And, last but not least, I loved the depiction of the times and all social commentary about classism, sexism and other social inequalities

"Body snatchers were a vital organ of the living city itself. It was filthy, and the fancy folks liked to look away, but they were essential nonetheless. Everyone knew they were doing it; police hardly cared, so long as you didn’t take clothes or jewels from the graves. Wealthier families had iron cage mortsafes, or solid stone slabs, above the graves to protect them from people like Jack. Poorer families sometimes had someone sitting and watching, a sentinel who would stay beside the grave for three or four days, until the body decomposed enough to no longer be valuable to doctors for study. Mostly, though, it was the unloved who made Jack’s living, the bodies buried shallow and forgotten. They would be invaluable to Jack, and to the doctors he sold them to. Whatever little those poor souls did in life, they did plenty in death."


And how Hazel used it to her advantage!.


"Being a woman had closed many doors to Hazel Sinnett, but it had also revealed to her a valuable tool in her arsenal: women were almost entirely overlooked as people, which gave her the power of invisibility. People saw women, they saw the dresses women wore on public walks through the park, and the gloved hands they rested on their dates’ elbows at the theater, but women were never threats. They were never challenges worthy of meaningful consideration. The footman might have refused entry to a beggarwoman or even a strange or foreign man, but Hazel—dressed like wealth—would be free to walk past him if she did so swiftly and feigning confidence. And so she did. Dr. Beecham was sitting"

This was my first book by this author and now looking forward to MANY more!

A dark and interesting story of a girl learning to be a doctor. An interesting take on women looking to break from their societal rules and help those around them. A great debut for 2022.

I was provided an ARC via Netgalley, all opinions are my own. This is set to be published on January 18, 2022. Thank you to SMP and Wednesday books for the early copy, I really enjoyed this.

Initially I was expecting this to be more on the horror side based on the cover, but it is more on of a historical fiction and sci-fi story. It is set in 1817 Edinburgh, Scotland where the thought of a female doctor, let alone a surgeon is unheard of, so when Lady Hazel Sinnett has her heart and mind set on taking the Physician's Examination everyone thinks she it is a joke. Hazel is brilliant, but her father is a distinguished Navy man away on an important assignment and her mother is the sister of a Viscount. Her station insists she follow the rules of propriety and get married, but no one really pays Hazel much attention. Her mother is drowning her her grief over the loss of Hazel's older brother George from the fever that has been plaguing the town for months, so she puts her efforts into protecting her other son and ignores Hazel most of the time.

Jack is a resurrection man, his main source of income comes from what he earns from the physicians at the local Anatomists society who pay good money for the recently deceased. Jack delivers the corpses so the doctors can learn from them, but technically it is against the law so he's good at not getting caught. When a chance encounter brings Hazen and Jack together, she enlists his services to help her learn anatomy from a real specimen as she has been dismissed from the courses she was taking the the Society. Despite her aptitude in the courses, she is not permitted to continue, however she makes a bet with the head that if she passes the examination on her own they will allow women to enroll in the future. Hazel is determined to become a doctor despite her station as a Lady and what it might mean for her future inheritance. She also wants to find a cure for the fever that is making everyone sick. Unfortunately Jack isn't able to bring her more bodies to study because local resurrection men keep disappearing, and if they do turn up they are missing vital parts of themselves.

This has a bit of everything. The historical aspect speaks to the very real and still true fact that the poor are seen as less than and those with status and money get what they want. It also speaks to the fact that women were and sometimes still are seen as fragile and unequal to men. They were supposed to be seen and not heard. The sci-fi element ties nicely into the mystery element. The title indicates that this is a love story, and there is a romance, but I felt that Hazel's love of medicine was the main plot and the actual romance was a smaller part of the story. This is definitely a little on the darker side, but if you like something with a more gothic feel this is for you.

I really enjoyed this. If you liked Stalking Jack the Ripper, I think you'd like this. This has similar vibes to that, so if you enjoyed that you might like this. They aren't the same by any means, but I was reminded of that series while reading this.