Don't drink that! Aw, she went and did it again. Review of Such Pretty Flowers

 I wanted to see if roses really would drink blood. Unfortunately, I passed out before the experiment was completed. No, I didn't!

We do have some blood-drinking roses in Such Pretty Flowers. Got some body horror, a dastardly villainess, things growing inside of people and a mouse, and tea and wine our protagonist would be better off not drinking. I shouted at her, "Don't drink that!" but shouting at fictional characters does no good.

Speaking of the protagonist, she isn't very interesting. I wanted her to take up a hobby beyond drinking questionable tinctures. Well, she had a fear of irregular circles, but that's a lousy conversation starter. Maybe not. I'd probably talk to somebody who is afraid of lily pad pods.

So, we have this original idea, but the characters keep doing unoriginal things. Every character managed to roll their eyeballs, smirk, bite their lips (one of them until she tasted blood which I swear is in every book I read lately.) Even a statue of a cherub had a smirk!

I have crawled on my knees to beg editors to erase all the eyeball rolling, smirking, and lip biting. I have burned out two smirk-o-meters and three eyeball-roll-o-meters. And yet, it continues.

Four stars for originality of plot, but one star for the use of the same ol' same ol' that everybody seems to be using.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bantam for allowing me to read and review an eARC of Such Pretty Flowers.

Nice cover. It was actually roses that were the trouble makers.