Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - House of Roots and Ruin

I wanted to like this book as much as I liked the first one. I suppose part of my issue is that I didn't read the synopsis and just assumed it would pick up where it left off with the same narrator. The book starts off well, and up until the last 100 pages, I was really enjoying the book.

The climax- Amazing.

Everything is downhill from there. It felt much too fast and then somehow the true villain (objectively) of the story is no longer the villain and it all resolves too quickly. It is intense and overwhelming and messy. The writer is amazing, but the pacing on this one was just too fast at the end to be satisfying.

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bookcaptivated's review against another edition

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dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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wrensreadingroom's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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piperclover's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I don't know if I've ever gotten such bad emotional whiplash from a book before. I ended the first book really angry because I disliked a fair amount of elements but I was excited for this book because it's a new main character and I am a sucker for anything plant/garden related so I was intrigued by the cover. I have so many thoughts.

The first few chapters were fairly slow and I was worried about the pacing but it quickly got good and I was hooked. This book does a fantastic job at introducing elements that you think will be the spooky clues in the overall plot but then you learn it has a normal explanation so you're lulled into false security until its later revealed that it was actually something bad all along. I absolutely loved that because it kept me on my toes and second guessing everything.

In the summary you are told that Camille has to finally tell Verity that she's been seeing ghosts and she does it in such a callous, cruel way that I don't understand. She was afraid of Verity being institutionalized for her curse but then weaponizes it to drive Verity away. It makes me think that the author used that conflict as a catalyst for the real plot bc it doesn't really make sense for Camille's motivations.

I think everything I have to say from here on out are spoilers.

I was so invested by Verity and her struggle to find reality. I loved the fake out plot twist of Alex walking in the middle of the night and I was even invested in the reveal that it was one of his unknown twin brothers Victor. I was good with the secret triplets bc the symbolism of threes had been a constant theme for the father Gerard so it explained that compulsion.

Where it went wrong for me was when Verity cheated on Alex. This was at 79% of the way and my enjoyment crashed hard and swiftly bc of it. I was annoyed by the stupid thing where the female mc questions her chemistry and attraction for the "good guy" in favor of the sizzling, on sight lust for the "bad guy". Thats such an obnoxious over used trope and I find it harmful to perpetuate the idea that girls and women only ever *really* want a mildly toxic bad boy over the genuinely good to and good for her good guy.

This only lasts about 2 chapters and Verity shuts Victor down hard so I hope the author meant it as a dismissal of that above trope but I cant forgive that she voluntarily kissed him AFTER she knows its not Alex and she has dreams about him while daydreaming while awake. It's disgusting and I hate cheating. I'm not sure if I should rate this really low bc I hate cheating so much and it made me so angry or if I should weigh the parts I did enjoy a little more positively. It makes me dislike Verity a little bc her morals are so weak she willingly, with no coercion or force, cheats on her fiance. I also really dislike that Victor is characterized when we first meet him as the hot headed super sexy charming man that sweeps a Verity off of her feet and tries to convince her that she can have more than settling for "boring" or "safe" but ditching Alex and marrying him instead.

Victor is the root of all of my problems with this book. If he didn't exist, I would probably give this 5 stars. If he was characterized differently, again probably 5 stars. I despise that he is a one tone, evil for no reason villain who wipes everyone he can out. He could've been so interesting bc his emotions, powers, link to Julian, dismissal from the manor, and desire for approval could have been so compelling but the author gives up and instead writes a cliche villain archetype with no depth at all.

The last 15 or so percent of the book is so rushed, shallow, and obvious that it ruined the ending.

Victor is straight evil so he overtakes Julian's mind with rage which compelled Julian to kill Gerard, Victor kills Julian bc ofc he would, and then tries to kill Alex in order to get the Dukeship. The bitter grandmother Marguerite is the one who escaped the twins from the other house to join Victor in ruling the God children he and Verity would make.

. Its all one note bc its not new or interesting for a book that was so new and interesting for me.

I'm simultaneously compelled by and annoyed by the last sentence of the last chapter where Alex "unconsciously" crossed his ankles because it means 1) Victor is the one who actually lived and is therefore actually married to Verity, 2) that somehow the fall fixed Alex's paralysis and he didn't tell Verity yet or 3) it means that Alex was not actually paralyzed the whole time or at least for a portion of the book. I hope its not this last option bc I'd really despise an author using the "he faked a severe disability" thing as a means of a twist.

I'm annoyed by this because I want this to be a wrapped up duolog but that sentence and the epilogue is a obvious set up for a third book and I just don't know if I care for a third book. I feel like everything that I need answered has been answered and there's nothing to go from here except to continue making up plot for a third book.

In the epilogue you're seeing the corpse preparers ready the bodies for the ceremony that the people of the petal do when someone dies. At first I thought that was a cool because it was definitive finality that the bad guys are dead and the story is over but then the last sentence of the epilogue is presumablyVictor's body twitching on the table. While I do find this compelling and interesting I just keep going back to the fact that I don't think there's anything to do with it in a third book. If Victor is alive then it means somehow Alex's paralysis has been fixed but if it's actually Alex on the morgue table, it means the Victor is the one who is married to Verity and the third book is going to have to be her untangling herself from him and defeating him.

I don't even know if any of this makes sense but there was just so many things happening and I didn't like the entire character of Victor which really clouded my enjoyment and if the next entire book is going to be about Victor again I don't know if I want to read it.

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bri4484's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

We have the sheltered, hidden away MC who automatically latches onto the character she's meant to paint. Of course with all good books we expect growth from the MC, don't expect that here.

The story is about a sister who sees ghosts but the plot is loosely based around this premise. It causes the character to question her judgement most of the time and she's usually wrong.

Without giving anything away, a struggle ensues, injuries are had death occurs. And our MC questions none of the weird things that happen after that battle and takes everything at face value like she's learned nothing from this experience.

There's a hopeful epilogue but who knows if this will be a trilogy and what can be done now?!

It's cool that we learn a bit about the Victorian flower language, that I was down for.

I'd like to know what was actually happening with the "peacocks", that we never actually see in the daylight I might add. And for some other things like the moans from the other home to be cleared up? What did her sisters actually respond to her letters with?

And girl Verity I'm glad you weren't in the movie signs bc they hit you in the face and you still asked for water and had no idea what hit you.

Due to some of the topics discussed I'm not sure I'd recommend this as YA, at least not the younger spectrum when talking about the true young adult demographic. There are a couple of graphic sexual things discussed in this book.

I'd give it 3.75 ⭐⭐⭐ the plot wasn't awful but didn't stick to the trueness of the character as I was expecting. The sisters were very minimally involved which was sad. And Verity didn't grow in any way.

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fictionaladventures's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

OMGGGGGGG!!!! This one is a slow burn. It’s marvelous from the beginning, but you truly don’t even get a glimpse of what’s really going on until at least halfway through. Everything was set up so perfectly and the reveals had me literally screaming. Each reveal was more shocking than the ones previous, even until the literal last sentence. AAAAAHHHHHH. I was excited for just one HOSAS sequel, but after that cliffhanger I am sure there’s more and that makes me absolutely ecstatic!!!!

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