A review by nightc0urt
Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz

3.0

This is one of those books where the premise was way better then the execution * le sigh*.

Anatomy: A Love Story is set in 1800s Edinburg, during a time where women were just meant to be sitting pretty on a shelf and had almost zero rights. Hazel has other plans for her future though. She wants to be a surgeon and quite possibly be the one to find a cure for Roman Fever, a nasty plague going around. However, being a women, she’s not allowed to take any classes but was able to make a deal. Pass the anatomists test, and a very famous doctor will promise to teach women. The catch? He won’t teach her himself, she must learn on her. So, insert Jack, a man who digs up dead bodies for a living and sells them to whoever wants to experiment on them. But.. strange things are happening in Edinburg. People are going missing and coming up with missing limbs, or are never seen again.

This all sounded amazing to me, also there was a promise of a love story, after all, it’s in the title. But there really were so few scenes of them actually connecting and something kindling between them. Most of the focus of this story was Hazel (the MC) experimenting on bodies and hoping to be a surgeon one day. So I was definitely a bit let down. ALSO, I feel the need to mention the casual incest that was brought up several times in this book, it was just so strange to me. Like I know that might have been popular during that time, but like NO ONE batted and eyelash whenever it was mentioned *insert swearing emoji*. So strange to me.

Another thing, the ending left me wanting so much more, like what??? Is there going to be a sequel, I have no clue. Like was it suppose to be open ended, I just don’t know! I also knew who did what from the very beginning.

I ultimately gave this book three stars because the authors writing style was very easy to read for me and I really enjoyed the gothic, stalking Jack the Ripper-esque setting. But I was definitely let down a bit.