czarczar 's review for:

Oleander: A Great Expectations Retelling by Scarlett Drake

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

• Cas irritated me greatly throughout part 1 but I never forgot that he was a victim and I cried at the end of part 1 over the fact that Gideon didn’t even care at all to try and do something about the situation after finding out. His nephew that he raised and was supposed to be the protector being by his lawyer that he thought was his friend and his reaction was so mild. Cas was truly failed by him and he deserved a better parental figure. Gideon is as horrible as Xavier.
• I wrote that part right after finishing part 1. Finishing part 2 and finding out Gideon had intended for Xavier and Cas to get involved………he truly is scum.
• I read this book in one sitting. Stayed up all night until 6 forty something AM. Not sure how I’d rate it though. I’m not sure I would ever read it again. My stomach was in knots throughout so much of it. There were few sections where I could say I “enjoyed” reading it as in felt happy in what was going on. Those moments were when Jude was feeling happy with Finn and Nathan. At the end when he is making up with Cas, I kind of had mixed feelings. I was happy that Cas had finally got out of that relationship and was glad that they would be happy together and have so much of their lives ahead of them as they’re only in their late twenties. But I was convinced early on in the second part that this book wasn’t going to have a happy ending so I was just wishing that Jude would get over Cas until the last part. I’m not unsatisfied with the ending though. (I do wish we got to see something from Beth and Jude though, even if they didn’t make up). Idk. It was a good reading experience in the way that it kept me hooked, but some parts definitely could’ve been shorter mayybeeee. And yeah although I couldn’t put it down I don’t think I’d pick it back up again lol.

Oh and I haven’t read Great Expectations at the point of reading this book.