A very interesting retelling of the story of Proseperina's handmaidens, who became the Sirens. This story centers the story of women - and highlights the many ways they had/have to pay for being who they are. Ives draws vivid scenes and characters, and we're drawn into their lives as if we were part of the story. There's an interesting angle and connection to colonial-era America as well, and I appreciate how Ives tied together the ancient Greek tale with much later history.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher (Random House) for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this novel. I recommend this read if you like stories of strong women, enjoy mythology and appreciate speculative fiction.

🌸✨ "Those Fatal Flowers" by Shannon Ives is an absolutely mesmerizing read! If you’re into stories where mythology meets historical mystery with a twist of sapphic romance and fierce female power, this one’s for you. Thelia’s journey from cursed siren to her adventures in Roanoke is so gripping—I couldn’t put it down! Ives’ writing beautifully captures the longing, rage, and resilience of women, and the dual timelines are handled masterfully. It's like Madeline Miller's "Circe" meets Jennifer Saint's "Ariadne" with a touch of Natalie Haynes’ wit. A must-read for anyone craving a fresh, empowering take on myth and history! 💫📚❤️

I enjoyed Those Fatal Flowers much more than I expected to. While I love Myth retellings, I'm not sure I'd classify this book as one since it doesn't focus on that aspect of the characters history. I wasn't sure how the plot would work, but surprisingly it came together well. This was a relatively quick read with an interesting premise that contains strong feminist undertones.

I did not finish this book. Some of the reviews about glamorizing colonization were a bit concerning so I stopped reading.

I am so into retellings of greek myths right now, and this was up there with the best of them. Fans of Circe, Stone Blind, troy, and others will love this.

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC copy gifted in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Publishing for the ARC.

Not bad but just not great...it was hard for me to become engrossed in this story. Idk what it was because I enjoy Greek mythology. The book is a short and easy read and maybe the next person will enjoy it more than I did.

The author of this book says in her ending notes that she didn't include a central Indigenous character because she felt that "wasn't her story to tell". Yet at multiple points, she attempts to draw a line between the suffering of the white women within Roanoke under the patriarchal colony leaders and those same leaders' enslavement and slaughter of Indigenous women. Beyond a single line of dialogue, there is no commentary on the specific racial dynamics behind the history of this. She is clearly hesitant to question whether even her "good" settler characters should be here at all, often waving it aside with that they were forced to by their husbands and it therefore doesn't matter what role they're playing in the theft of native land - even going so far as to frame the portion of forest lived in by a woman who is exiled from Roanoke as being 'hers'. I would ask where on earth the sensitivity reader for this book was, except I suspect any such reader would have told the author what a disastrous premise this is. The lost colony of Roanoke was a colony, and it does not exist divorced from its subsequent legacy of colonization and genocide. Letting white women have revenge while the only Indigenous bodies on the page are corpses who their actions killed isn't any story about "female rage" that I find compelling or subversive.

Those Fatal Flowers by Shannon Ives was really interesting! I enjoyed the writing a lot, very good book.

The story flows well and keeps the reader invested in the main character's journeys. While hesitant about the two interwoven timelines, I ultimately found that they provided intrigue and the right amount of background knowledge. I also recommend reading the Endnotes for an explanation of specific Greek names used within the Roman mythological story.

Wow, I loved Those Fatal Flowers! The plot line is a mythological retelling of the sirens, specifically focused on Thelia. It gave background information of what happened in the past, going back in time and then back to the present, to show readers how Thelia and her sisters became cursed and what they are now trying to do to change their fates. The “now” portions of the book are set at the settling of Roanoke Island by white colonists. I liked that the author mentioned the brutality of the colonists and didn’t try to gloss it over, and I also liked the LGBTQ representation within the story. Overall, I loved how the story showed how the corruption of man leads to consequences for victims, and how we all need to fight against this corruption to make real change.

This really didn't work for me. The split timeline was really distracting, and it felt kind of like the author wanted to do both historical fiction AND greek mythology but couldn't decide, so they decided to do a mish-mash of both... meaning the story didn't stand out in either genre. I didn't feel for any of the characters -- the sirens themselves were pretty unhinged. I couldn't get behind the Cora romance because Cora felt kind of like a mean white lady. It felt kind of abrupt to go from "we're suffering women" to "let's murder all our husbands" too.

I also wish that the indigenous voices were more present as part of this narrative. It felt wrong to have them be a part of the backdrop but not include their story in detail.

Greco-Roman mythology with a historical fiction twist? SAY LESS. The cover grabbed my eye first, and then I stayed for the story and ended this book being very pleased with the end result.

It took a little bit to sort through the names of the characters not on Roanoke, as it was a mixture of the two (Greek and Roman) I would have liked to have seen only one being used as it would have allowed for an easier entry into the story. Less mental gymnastics at least.

That said….this was an absolutely beautiful sapphic story that I was not expecting. The characters were so well written, and I found myself raging at moments, crying in the next, and just truly pleased with how everything was wrapped up. I didn’t know how the legend of Roanoke and the story of the Sirens of Scopuli would combine, but goodness it just came together in such a beautiful and authentic way that honestly left me wanting this to be the true history.

4.5 ⭐️, but rounding up to 5

Thank you Penguin Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for this ARC read.

I’ll be the first to admit I burnt myself out on Greek retellings a while ago, but I couldn’t not pick this one up. I really enjoy the tales of the “villains” in mythology like Medusa and Scylla or in this case, the Sirens.

I’m so glad I did.

This was beautifully written in the way a lot of the retellings I read are. It flows and the descriptions are musical almost, which is nice as this is a book about the Sirens of Scopuli. The plot is split into two timelines, a before and a now. This is actually one of my favorite ways to keep me hooked in as I appreciate putting together the pieces of the puzzle myself. I also LOVE that she used a colony that mysteriously disappeared and has plagued historians ever since, it has a realness seeped into it I haven’t seen in other retellings.

The characters. Thelia’s development is top notch, truly. I love that she gets to have her cake and eat it too instead of the tragic ending I’m used to in these books. The revenge is sweet and Thelia’s ruthlessness (rightful at that) is perfect.

This book is very anti bad men. Not all men, but bad men. It was a fun journey to see Thelia realize the difference.

I’m very happy for the opportunity to read this ARC through Netgalley. 4.5⭐️

This overall was lovely. Admittedly, I have no real mythology knowledge but I appreciated how easy I was able to follow along with the mythology and enjoy the story and characters.

Link to full Good Reads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6652962463

WHEW.

Let's start with what I'm sure many others will say: I was immediately drawn in by the gorgeous cover and synopsis. Sapphic? Female rage? Historical in not one, but two different eras? SIGN ME UP. Once I started though, I wondered if this would be more than my current brain bandwidth could handle right now: it's been a long time since I read alternating timelines, and between that and the Greco-Roman mythology (that I recognize but am not super well-versed in) I just wasn't sure.

But this was so, so beautifully done. The writing itself is absolutely poetic, and Ives manages to make the mythology accessible while maintaining all of the gravity, tragedy, and beauty we're drawn to in the first place. There's a realness and depth to Thelia that makes her feel like a dear friend in need, and so I raged, cheered, and cried right along with her. Despite the moments that I wondered how she'd get out of her mess (as well as the moments that felt comfortably predictable), I was never bored. If you support women's rights but also their wrongs, please pick this up. When all is said and done, it is an absolutely satisfying read.

Oh, and I had no idea this is Ives' debut novel; I can't wait to see what else she does!

(Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing me with a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review.)

Defiantly a 5 star
In Ceres palace a huge banquet has been made to find a suitable husband for her daughter Persephone. Persephone & her handmaiden Thelia, are lovers, something Ceres had tried to put an end to with making sure they aren't alone. With the feast so not so guarded, Persephone has left a note to Thelia to tryst at unspoken old rendezvous spot next to a pool. Thelia is attacked & Persephone kidnapped by a God. Thelia flees to palace for help though wrath will be on her head as well as her two sisters Raidne & Pisinoe, all daughters of a Muse. They have been cursed for actions of Persephone, becoming Harpies to look for Persephone for years to not be able to get into Hades so cursed to be the Sirens in same form around the islands to lure sailors to their deaths to gorge on. Proserpina now, whispering hope of salvation to Thelia through signs & on the wind.
Thrust in the present, in a boat dying laying on jewels & found more dead than alive in the form of a woman. A wild tale concocted to lure men to the island for big enough sacrifice to give the sister life not Taratas. Why should we feel guilt for the actions of others we can't control & what depths of depravity exists in some & especially in a group situation against vulnerable & defenseless? Is there even any room for absolution in those ruled by greed & lust to abuse power? Another note based on erroneous pop psych peddled as spirituality is that people go through the same trauma time & again until they learn to get over or release it: no they don't this is another conscript, it is an indulgence & self-mortification. Don't accept guilt that isn't yours & assign the punishment to those that deserve it.

2.5 stars

Beautiful writing and a fascinating concept, but it was still lacking something. It never really grabbed my attention and I found myself feeling a bit...apathetic the entire time.

This book is not at all what I was expecting. I’m not a huge fan of split timelines- I had the same issue in which I would forget what happened in the alternate timeline with the switch between chapters. However, the two stories on their own were interesting. I was expecting Greek mythology similar to what you’d expect from Madeline Miller or Natalie Haynes. The secondary story in a newly settled Puritan colony added some depth to the story because it’s a new story unfolding. You can’t just look up what happened in the original myth, and I think that drew me further into the story, even if I didn’t love the jumping back and forth.

This story begins as Thelia and her two sisters, formerly lady maids for Persephone, are punished for her kidnapping. They find themselves trapped on an island and dependent on the deaths of passing sailors to stay alive. In the alternate timeline, Thelia washes up on the shore of the newly established Roanoke colony, sent to free her sisters from their island prison. Her arrival and the announcement that she is a lost princess in search of a husband sends the small community into a frenzy. As she gets to know the settlers, she figures out fairly early who she can and cannot trust.

The characters and the development they experience are incredibly written. Thelia’s continuous guilt for not stopping her first love from being dragged to the underworld and the compassion of some and cruelty of others in Roanoke are masterfully interwoven throughout this story. It was an interesting take on two fairly well-known elements of myth- Persephone and Hades as well as the terrors inflicted by sirens.

Thank you to the publisher and net galley for letting me read an early copy of this book! Those Fatal Flowers is , lightly, a retelling of the Prosperina (Persephone) myth that also delves into the disappearance of Roanoke. It follows Thelia who was one of Prosperina's handmaidens and was present when Prosperina was taken.

I really liked the concept of this novel, and I did quite enjoy the elements that followed Thelia and her sisters, and the way that Thelia connected to the human women of Roanoke. I was grateful that this book did not take the approach of making her enemies of most of the women. However, parts of this book fell flat for me. This book glanced over themes of anti-colonialism, but did not delve deeper into the mistreatments of native Americans. I understand the writer did not feel that it was her story to tell, but it could have been expanded upon in a sensitive way.

I also did not enjoy the element of "not all men" that got slipped in towards the 3/4 mark of the book, however that is likely me being a bit sensitive to that portion. Overall I did enjoy the book and I think a lot of people who love Greek/Roman myths will enjoy this!

Thank you to Penguin Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book early.

Those Fatal Flowers follows Thelia, a former handmaiden to Proserpina, the goddess of Spring, as she navigates Roanoke Colony in the hopes of returning to her former mistress.

This book was an interesting look at a few familiar tales, that of Hades and Persephone and the colony of Roanoke. While it feels like it lacks some context because it is such a short book I really enjoyed reading it and getting a glimpse into the lives of Thelia and her sisters as well as Cora and the lives of those in Roanoke.

I was a bit confused with how some Roman names of gods were used and some Greek but an enjoyable and intriguing read all the same.

Thank you Penguin Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley again for the chance to read this early.