emendelowitz 's review for:

Oleander: A Great Expectations Retelling by Scarlett Drake

4.75

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Wow. I read Oleander by Scarlett Drake like a mad man in less than 24 hours. I came home from work, read, went to sleep, woke up and finished it. I think it may be a true 5 stars for me.

Oleander is not a typical romance, I’d honestly say it resembles a lot of my favorite literary coming of age novels while still containing the romance aspect. I honestly think you will enjoy it better if you go into it knowing it’s not going to read like a traditional romance novel, but it will absolutely still appeal to romance readers. 

While it is a Great Expectations reimagining, I could honestly compare it to everything from The Goldfinch to Normal People to Foster Dade Explores the Cosmos to Leta Blake’s 90s Coming of Age series while containing those gothic themes I loved in classics like Wuthering Heights and Rebecca and newer gothic romance like Never Leave, Never Lie. Scarlett Drake just really hit the nail on the head with what I would like in a book.

Oleander follows Jude Alcott from 15 into his 20s and his fraught relationship with Caspien Devereaux. Jude is such a sweetie and I was always rooting for him even when I wasn’t always proud of him. The character work in this book was really excellent. Caspien is a bit of a prickly one, he has been poisoned from a young age to believe he’s unloveable and it really shows, but I loved him nonetheless. 

This book put me through the emotional wringer but I genuinely loved every second of it. There were times when the writing had me feeling wistful and nostalgic and others where I was breathless and anxious. I was very impressed with the writing overall.

Honestly my only complaint is that I wish it was longer haha it was 600 pages on kindle and I’d probably have read 1000.