It’s been a year since Dana Schwartz released Anatomy: A Love Story, but I had no trouble slipping right back into the world she’s created when I picked up Immortality: A Love Story.

And it starts at the cover. It’s a wow just like its predecessor, making it hard to pass by without picking it up. Immortality’s cover also foretells some of what will take place.

Schwartz’s prose is again inviting and compelling. And her characters — Hazel at the head — are perfectly cast and realized.

Anatomy A Love StoryThe main difference between the two books in this duology is how Hazel is perceived. In Immortality, no one wants her to become a surgeon and rarely is she a welcome help, even in the direst circumstances.

In Anatomy, Hazel has become a novelty of sorts. People welcome her gifts as a doctor, but she still lives on the outskirts of society. But once Hazel finds herself at the British court, things change. She finds a group of people who truly value her abilities, and that changes everything.

Immortality: A Love Story is a Gothic historical fiction novel with hints of Frankenstein-like science-fiction and romance. Schwartz deftly intertwines these elements, creating a world that’s believable. It’s a page-turning read that should be read in conjunction with its predecessor.

Thoughts: I was not blown away by the first book but wanted to finish the series out and was offered an advanced copy. I was PLEASANTLY surprised at how much I enjoyed this one and really think the author honed in on her skill to write about this particular time. I found myself wanting to pick it up often and finished in just a couple days!

Picking up almost immediately where ANATOMY ended, you find Hazel, now a surgeon in 19th century Edinburg. Women doctors/surgeons are still not seen as respectable and here is where Schwartz really had me - Hazel was such a trailblazer and romantic period feminist that it really spoke to the parallels we have in women’s and reproductive rights today. Another strong part of the story (and perhaps my favorite) was the nod to all of the political historical pieces of that time including Whigs and Tories, the French Revolution and the poetry, music and passion for life at that time.

My only qualms are 1) the love story was very meh (much like the first) and TBH, I would have rather seen her with (slight spoiler!) the other guy instead! And 2) there are a few plot holes that never got cleared up - especially a HUGE one dealing with abortion, arrests and jail time and it just kind of …went away?

Overall, a great Romantic period story with themes of women’s rights, feminism, lgbtq+ love and revolution!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

A stunning conclusion to Dana Schwartz’s Anatomy Duology, Immortality: A Love Story follows Hazel in the wake of Anatomy: A Love Story’s conclusion as she finds herself ensnared in the British court and the mysterious Companions to the Death.

When I reached Anatomy’s cliffhanger, I was absolutely distraught. There were so many loose ends, and I couldn’t wait to find out the answers to all my questions. Thankfully, Immortality answers all those questions and more. I think I honestly found this book more entertaining and engaging than Anatomy, though the story had a shallowness to it where Anatomy had more richness. Ultimately I’m pretty satisfied with the way things played out in Immortality, and I am positive that this duology is one I will be coming back to in the future for all the gothic vibes and interesting historical setting.

This book is the second part of The Anatomy Duology. I had been waiting for it for so long. This is an excellent cover (brain on this one, heart on the first). It's a delight that these two book covers share a common theme. For me, it was sad that this book ended. I would like it to be endless, so I can enjoy it for much longer than 400 pages.

I just love this world and will miss it. It was one of the most anticipated books of 2023. The characters here were as amazing as they were in the first one. This book stole my heart and I couldn't put it down until the last page. This story is well-written and perfectly crafted. There was an atmospheric writing style and a marvelous plot that made this story stand out. 

Another beautiful aspect of this story is its setting. Creating an ideal Gothic atmosphere was possible in England because of its mysterious nature. Hazel will have to face her past and make critical decisions. You will see these settings, and these streets, and smell these smells. It will be impossible for you not to feel her emotions when you are with her. It was so impressive, I liked it.  

Thank you NetGalley and St.Martin’s Press for this book.

Immortality: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz

This is book 2 of The Anatomy duology. I am glad Dana Schwartz wrote this book because book one leaves Jack in a cliffhanger. The writing is beautiful and flows nicely through the pages. Hazel has been arrested and gets the opportunity of a lifetime to get out of prison. She gets to be the Dr. for the princess. I like how intelligent Hazel is and people need to take her seriously with the medical knowledge she has is top notch.

There is so much happening in this story and the title has meaning within the story. Can you imagine being immortal and living forever. We get closure with Hazel and Jack's relationship and that is important from the previous book cliffhanger.

Narrated by Mhairi Morrison and Tim Campbell which made listening to this book so enjoyable. The characters came to life and it was easy to follow. I recommend reading book one to follow along with the two books to get the full story. I think both books deserve the praise they are getting.

Thank you to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio and St. Martin's Press for a free copy of Immortality: A Love Story for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I loved Anatomy (book 1 in the duology) so much that I admit to coming into this one with some reservations, but Schwarts manages to replicate the magic of the first book and one-up herself with even greater storytelling.
We rejoin Hazel as she buries herself in her work in an effort to forget her heartbreak and worries about Jack's ultimate fate. She's continuing to work as a surgeon and writing a treatise that she hopes will make medical terms and healing methods more accessible to the masses. She's living half a life but is content with it until her kindness in saving the life of a woman lands her in a very serious situation. Things are not looking good for Hazel until a very unexpected savior arrives, the Crown Regent wants a female surgeon to help his daughter heal from whatever mysterious ailment is troubling her. All the most famous and skilled doctors have tried and failed, so it's up to the oddity that is Hazel to give it a try. Thus begin Hazel's adventures in London.
The people Hazel meets as she maneuvers around what the Regent is asking of her, what the princess actually wants, and the unexpected feelings she's developed for the Crown's doctor are as fascinating as the problems she has to solve. It's not just the princess and her illness she has to figure out or her feelings for kind, understanding Simon, but the unexpected appearance of a group of immortals who want her to join their ranks. So many revelations and excellent surprises await Hazel and readers that I'm loath to describe more of the plot for fear of ruining anything.
The big revelations are once again plainly obvious almost as soon as the first seed is laid out for them, yet Schwarts manages to make the way things are revealed almost as good as if they weren't.
I do caution that this book really needs to be read after Anatomy to fully get the enjoyment and understanding it deserves. It's not that you wouldn't get a great reading experience from it, it's just that the background will give you a better understanding of the character's motives and expectations.

Delighted thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the most excellent read!

Possible spoilers alert.

I loved Anatomy: A Love Story and was so excited to pick this up. But I think this ended up being a case of setting my expectations too high.

I was so excited for Hazel and Jack to reunite. It felt super lackluster when it actually happened. And of course they tried to spice this one up with a love triangle that I was not jiving with.

This just felt like it was missing the spark that Schwartz created in the first book. It was okay. I kind of wish I had just ended with book one.

I adored Anatomy: A Love Story - it was a near-perfect gothic horror story with a beautifully ambiguous ending. I loved it. So I was curious to see what the author would do with a sequel. And the first 1/3 of the book was fantastic. I felt that it captured the same vibe as the first book.

Then the middle seemed to drag for a bit. I wasn't sure where the plot was even going until I hit just past the halfway mark. Luckily the pace picked back up at around 70%.

There were elements that I really loved - the dark tone at the beginning of the story, the Companions to the Death, the Princess Charlotte storyline, and even just the horror of how the immortality tincture actually works. I also found the way the author blended fantasy into history - it's my favorite kind of fantasy and the author does it very well.

What I loved about the first book was the story of a girl fighting to find her place in a world dominated by men. And also the graverobbing. I just didn't feel that in this story after that first 1/3. There were way too many coincidences to make me give this 5 stars, unfortunately. I definitely preferred the gothic settings and ambiguous ending of the first book. I also feel that this story leaned way more toward romance than the first book did. Where Anatomy feels like a gothic horror with a bit of romance, this felt more like historical romance with a touch of fantasy/horror. But all that said, I still really enjoyed getting to visit with these characters again.

I had mixed feelings about the first book in this duology, Anatomy - particularly the way it ended on such an ambiguous note. So I was thrilled when it turned out there was going to be a sequel after all, if only so it could clear up some of that vagueness that the first book left us with.

In the end, my reaction to this book was fairly similar to the first. The writing was solid and the plot mostly delivered, particularly in the first half. I'm not a huge fan of revisionist history, so those elements frustrated me a bit, but I still felt like the scenes with Princess Charlotte worked well enough, as did that plotline as a whole. The Companions of Death, too, were intriguing and chaotic, and generally fun to be around, even if they did have an ultimately sinister vibe about them. And like in Anatomy, Hazel was a true star, managing to be both likable and complex as she struggled to find a place for herself in a world not yet ready for her.

However, like the first book, the romance elements didn't quite work all the time. Hazel and Jack have incredible chemistry, it's true, but the moment I stepped away from reading, I realized that I didn't have any real sense of what drew them together beyond that combustible attraction. There was also a vague attempt at a love triangle involving Dr. Simon von Ferris (whom I adored and tbh would have chosen, but that's just me), except it never rang true to me. Poor Simon never really had a chance and because of that, I wondered if the romance element needed to be there with him at all.

I will say that, since this book committed to the immortality element much more fully than the first, the existence of that ability and the Tincture that causes it felt much more organic in this book than in the first. I didn't at all get that sense of whiplash when the plot point came up again and again.

Ultimately, I enjoyed reading this book, maybe even more than the first installment, but I still didn't quite feel like it stuck the landing on everything that it was trying to do.

3.75/5

While I enjoyed this book MUCH more than the first one. It was still just a ok read for me.

I truly loved hazel and I found the plot more intriguing BUT For me this is easily a read, enjoy, forget kind of book.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing the ARC of Immortality: A Love Story. The narrator for the audiobook was perfect! The book itself was fantastic. I loved the new characters. I liked this one even more than I liked Anatomy: A Love Story. 4.5 stars.

***ARC received from Wednesday Books and NetGalley in exchange for honest review, opinions are all my own. Thank you!***

I was somewhat surprised to here Dana Schwartz mention on her podcast that she had written a sequel to Anatomy. While the book did set up for a potential sequel I thought that it ended Hazel’s story fine but wanted to see how it really concluded.

Immortality takes place shortly after Anatomy and Hazel is continuing her work as a doctor in her town. Most of the story though takes place in Britain to care for the ailing Princess Charlotte. I found that I liked the first half of this book the most, not much is going on plot wise but its still enjoyable. In the first half much is driven by Hazel’s interactions and growing friendships with the other new character, Eliza and Simon. Eliza brings a female friendship into Hazel’s life that she was missing previously, especially as they are supportive of Hazel’s want to practice medicine. Simon was probably my favorite of the new characters. He doesn’t subscribe to the belief that women can’t practice medicine as a man can, he is fully on board with supporting her.

I also liked the inclusion of the Companions to the Death, they give Hazel another thing to think of but are also fully supporting on her position as a surgeon. Its with the Companions of the Death that the author’s love of history and exploring history events and people really shine through. I think that’s why I liked the first part the best, it felt like the author was in her element and while it didn’t really go anywhere it was still an enjoyable read. Unfortunately at about the 70% mark a plot suddenly emerged that completely lost me. It also felt incredibly rushed as there is no real set up for it making it feel like an afterthought as the book felt like it needed to set up a resolution it hadn’t been working toward.

Hazel is a force to be reckoned with just sounds like an excuse for her to get whatever she wants no matter how improbable. Like people don’t even question it to the point it felt ridiculous and just an excuse to keep the plot moving, particularly at the end. Also it made Hazel’s decisions at the end so frustrating, it ran counter to almost everything she had stood for in the first half of the book and left me feeling that the ending was unsatisfying. For a book titled A Love Story, I wasn’t as invested in the love story aspect as others and wished that Hazel had dedicated herself more to her passion for medicine instead of making the decision that she did at the end.

The writing is good, I’d say a little better than her previous book. I found it most enjoyable as previously stated when she was delving into history, studying the people of the time. Unfortunately with a slow start came a rushed ending that left for an unbalanced feeling conclusion to Hazel’s story.

Still fighting the norms, Immortality follows Hazel Sinnett in the aftermath of Anatomy, navigating the world without the boy she loves and in a society where being a female doctor is shunned upon.

It follows her from practicing what she loves to being imprisoned to treating royalty and becoming a member of a club that isn't what it seems.

Immortality is in part, a filler with the same atmospheric energy as the first book, filled with more history, secrets and of course, death.

Needless to say, it was easy to read, easy to understand, entertaining and with the perfect ending, even if it did feel somewhat rushed.

I loved Hazel and Jack, and what Ms. Schwartz did with all the other characters, fictional or not.

DNF'd at about 30%
I just couldn't bring myself to care.
There seems to be either no plot or just way too many plot points, I'm not sure what they were going for here. The pacing was so slow, and the characters were boring.
This kind of put me in a reading slump honestly.

i read the previous instalment in this duology last year and i enjoyed it quite a lot – it was a fun read and i truly liked hazel and jack as protagonists. “immortality”, however, was quite the disappointment to me as i didn’t quite get what was the point of it. it felt messier than the first one, plot wise and i didn’t like a certain character that appeared in this one. i feel like his character was changed a bit too much for my liking, compared to how we acted in “anatomy”.

i loved the simon and hazel together and i’m kind of sad they weren’t end-game, as they fit a lot better compared to the character hazel ends up with. i still liked hazel and how strongly she wanted to be a surgeon – i’m glad hazel’s character stayed coherent to how she was described in the first book.

the plot was lacklustre and i think many things happened for no reason at all, which made everything a bit confusing. some plot points were thrown in just to fill the space and they had nothing to add to the story – i truly believe that the story would’ve been fine without them. truthfully, the action is contained mostly in last 20% and the rest is mostly filler. i also kinda disliked how little of the actual surgical stuff we got, as i expected more gore-y scenes.

at the start of the story – and by that i mean a good 20% of it, hazel gets into a bit of trouble with the law and she gets arrested and there’s absolutely no consequences to that. we just move on and it isn’t spoken of again. also, why does nobody from hazel family cares that she was in jail??

the way the author explored the immortality trope that was introduced in the first book was definitely…interesting. i didn’t find the ending to this plot point satisfying and i think the ending was a set-up for a third novel. the idea was fun and the characters involved in this were truly well-crafted – their personalities were fun and i liked the parts when we were showed a bit of the secret society, but they were severely misused as plot devices.

the book simply tried to do too much and it fell flat in all aspects because of it. jack’s character was butchered compared to the first story, there was none of the “doctoring” that happened in the first book, the companions were an interesting addition to the cast of characters that, eventually, did absolutely nothing for the story. granted, the writing was consistent and the dialogue didn’t feel forced at all and i loved the chemistry between simon and hazel. perhaps this book will work for someone else, but it hasn’t for me.

Warning : A few spoilers from the previous book Anatomy : A Love Story.

Immortality : A Love Story is the sequel to one of my favorite reads from last year Anatomy : A Love Story. The first book follows Hazel Sinnet in her quest to become a surgeon in early 19th century Edinburgh. Hazel was one of the most well-written young heroines that I had read in a long time. Her quest for her dreams and her love story with the one and only Jack Currer stayed with me long after I put the book down. The Gothic setting with a supernatural and fantastical twist consumed me from the start. However, the ending was left so ambiguous that I was left quite unsettled. And then the announcement for Immortality : A Love Story came. My excitement began to build again.

Immortality follows in the wake of Anatomy. Hazel builds her life as a surgeon to the poor and the secret doctor in the shadows to the wealthy. She's is growing as a surgeon, but she's lonely. Jack has left a hole in heart that will not go away. Her reputation builds and certain happenings come to pass, leading Hazel to the job of attending to the Princess of England who has a mysterious illness that no doctor can crack. Hazel is spirited away to London with its secret societies and court intrigue. She uses what she has learned to try and do good while figuring out the loose threads within her own life.

To put this simply, it was wonderful. Dana Schwartz whisks the reader back into such a romantic, yet sinister atmosphere with complex characters and a love story that will truly melt your heart. Every puzzle piece fits into place, which gives a much more satisfying feeling in the end than the last book did. The characters that enter this stage of Hazel's story are such intriguing takes on people that have graced the history books. The discourse on being a woman in this time period was thought-provoking and well put. I was worried that this book would try to do too much. But it continued the story and maintained the same air and tone of the first. The ending was a little too fast, but that could probably be attributed to me not wanting it to end.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC; all opinions are my own.

Dana Schwartz just gave me everything I didn’t know I needed. Continuing with Hazel wondering if Jack is alive or not, and handling royals. It has so many twists and turns to keep you turning pages!
Love this book and will be recommending it to my class to read for sure.

First, thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book early in exchange for my review!

I was interested in reading this book because I enjoyed the first novel and found it so unique. Immortality was equally unique and had some fun moments and some moments that I felt were lacking.

The beginning felt as though it dragged on and it took me quite a while to become invested, but once I had reached the halfway point, I finished within a day.

The new setting of the majority of the book was a very fun change and I enjoyed the royalty aspect. The mystery plot line was fun and the new love interest was intriguing.

I am rating it 3/5 stars because I felt as though the storyline didn’t know where it was going. Reading it felt chaotic and I had a difficult time connecting.

Thank you to Wednesday Books/MacMillian Publishers and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

I am absolutely obsessed with Hazel Sinnett. She is inspiring, intelligent, daring, and brave. I could read a dozen more books with her as the main character, I love her!

Author Dana Schwartz deserves a lot of credit for the way she expanded this series and developed a second novel with such an intriguing, addicting plot that managed to be so different from the first book. I was fascinated by the story and had a difficult time putting this book down. I especially loved the Companions of Death- they were hilarious- and the concept of Beecham's vial of immortality.

Schwartz paints a descriptive picture of the history of medicine throughout this novel. Even though I don't have much of a science or medical background, it's all very easy to understand. The reader is able to learn about medicine through Hazel's eyes as she perseveres despite the obstacles others want to place in her way because of her gender.

This book was phenomenal, but I strongly recommend reading the first novel, "Anatomy," before reading this one. You will miss out on so much of the plot and connections if you read "Immortality" first.

Lastly, this COVER! It's gorgeous and so eye-catching.

This was the perfect sequel to the first book, Anatomy. I love Jack and Hazel so much. Dana Schwartz created a masterpiece with this duology. Immortality takes you for a wild roller coaster of emotions. Hazel is thrown through the wringer. She is by far my favorite female main character. No matter what she comes out on top and even more determined.