Nightshade by Maryrose Wood

The dark and dangerous just got more twisted...

Jessamine Luxton's love, Weed, has disappeared without a trace, leaving her questioning the depth of his love for her. Suspecting her own shifty father, Jessamine digs into a world full of lies, she can no longer choose to believe that her father was the lonely man that watched over her...

The poison has seeped into Jessamine's soul, destroying her innocence and naivety. No longer is she the clueless child, for now she has been poisoned and has gained a new view of the world... a world full of lies, manipulation and death...

Jessamine's been good all her life, and now it's her turn for vengeance.

---------o_O--------

Ok. So that summary may not have made sense, sort of rushing at the moment. Things to do, people to see.. etc. Still...

So I'll start with the characters, oui?
Ok, so Jessamine, I am so conflicted on her character. In the previous book she's all cutesy and helpless, and yes, I do recall asking of her to grow a backbone, well, I think it's safe to say that she did... partly.
I feel quite hmmm... what's the word? --I like her, but at times I don't? someone help me!!-- yes anyway, I feel that unreachable word about her character, I don't know why, well I do, but still...
Firstly, how quickly she can shift from an innocent girl to such a Poison-ess (Is that the word? Like with enchantress but with poison? meh.)
Yes the circumstances were dire, yes there was much at risk, so you'd think she'd try to find a second to ponder the bigger picture! argh! so reckless.

She might have become shadier and more twisted, which I might add is epic, but she's still got a very naive quality about her. After all, she still listens to and trusts the "Poison prince" Oleander. You would think that she would at least stop and think "Hm, who is this fella? Why'd he give-a-damn about me?". I suppose, now that I think about it, she is very desperate, after all, her true love is missing.

Ah yes, now we come to the Love, the reason behind the entire book, Jessamine loves Weed, Weed loves Jessamine..."True Love", at least that's what the book states the relationship is between them. But I can't say that it is completely correct, well from Weed's perspective I can see that he truly loves Jessamine, that he'll do anything for her including committing the worse crimes... But Jessamine, oh Jessamine, Jessamine, Jessamine, whatever shall we do with you? At first, she loves Weed, and you can tell that she really does, but then she begins being corrupted, poisoned by her own sick thoughts and the ideas that Oleander plants in her head, and she begins to waver, she becomes unfaithful... and then...**dun dun dun dramatic music**

Jessamine's sense of what is good and bad is also really disoriented, I mean seriously, make up your mind girl! One moment she's moping over the people she has murdered and then BABOOM she becomes a mindless killing instrument. This, added onto her desire for revenge really mixes things up. I believe that at times, Jessamine was a little hasty and didn't think things through and her will was just too weak, though in the end she managed to diverge at little from "The Plan". Though I must comment this was partly because of her own selfishness and a little **cough** a lot cowardly. I really don't know what to think of her, but her warped character is actually one of the most appealing things about this book, you really don't know what she'll do next, although she's a tad annoying at times...

Aha! there is hope for dear Jessamine yet! One of the most memorable scenes in the story is when Jessamine refuses to abandon the young Persian girl to die, despite endangering her own "mission", Jessamine still tries to heal her, putting herself at risk, that is one of the most selfless things that she's done. And now I'm back to liking Jessamine's character. AH! Now do you see my dilemma? She's both good and bad! WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO THINK!?!

Now Oleander, yes, the supposed villain of the story, the evil prince, come to poison the world. If you can recall my previous review, the one on the Poison Diaries, you'll recall that there was this mysterious fella that suddenly popped up out of nowhere is the complication... well this is him. But Halleluiah! He's actually present throughout the book this time! Oh the joy! He is the one that leads Jessamine astray, who forces Weed to leave, he is the reason for it all... But Oleander, in a way, is one of the most alluring characters of the entire book! He's dark and mysterious, and one of my favourite things about him is that he keeps his promises, though they may not turn out as expected. He's like one of those mischievous genies that we hear about, only evil. hahha

Weed, yeah he's still here. He's completely and utterly faithful, he's the type that writes cute poetry about their girlfriends and awkwardly tries to recite it to them. So cute. Ahem, and now to turn on the melodramatic: His love for her would withstand the heat of a thousand suns, their passion would last for a lifetime, and more. Yeah, and Cut! Weed would literally travel the world for Jessamine, which he indeed does, going all the way to one of the oldest gardens to try to learn of Jessamine's whereabouts. Weed really opens up in this book, as opposed to the previous book where he doesn't trust humanity and doesn't know how to feel about them. He truly is an admirable character, an inspiration and another excellent addition to the character list.

The story idea, I really can't get over this, is really really original. I don't think I've come across another story that used poisons and talking plants like this. seriously. The writing style was fitting and the plot was short and quick. At times the perspective shifted mid chapter and it was a little difficult to discern who was speaking. But other than that, I had not problem with the setting of the story.

Overall, very easy to read, I'm sure Maryrose Wood will astound us all with the next book.

:)