This audiobook took me a bit to get through. I was highly anticipating this one, but it was a bit of a letdown and a bit slow.
The narrator, Jodie Harris, did a great job on the characters, bringing them to life and the world too. I think part of the issue for me was that I was expecting and hoping for more of a mystery/thriller and this is more of historical fiction. This audiobook was very well done, but I didn't quite click with this story.

Here's the summary from Goodreads: Saffron Everleigh is in a race against time to free her wrongly accused professor before he goes behind bars forever. Perfect for fans of Deanna Raybourn and Anna Lee Huber, Kate Khavari’s debut historical mystery is a fast-paced, fearless adventure.
London, 1923. Newly minted research assistant Saffron Everleigh attends a dinner party for the University College of London. While she expects to engage in conversations about the university's large expedition to the Amazon, she doesn’t expect Mrs. Henry, one of the professors’ wives to drop to the floor, poisoned by an unknown toxin.
Dr. Maxwell, Saffron’s mentor, is the main suspect, having had an explosive argument with Dr. Henry a few days prior. As evidence mounts against Dr. Maxwell and the expedition's departure draws nearer, Saffron realizes if she wants her mentor's name cleared, she’ll have to do it herself.
Joined by enigmatic Alexander Ashton, a fellow researcher, Saffron uses her knowledge of botany as she explores steamy greenhouses, dark gardens, and deadly poisons. Will she be able to uncover the truth or will her investigation land her on the murderer’s list?

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for letting me listen to this audiobook ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book- I’m typically more of a cozy reader in terms of mysteries, and I didn’t know if it would be too dark/gruesome. I am happy to say that while it does have some very close calls with death, I was hooked on this audiobook. As someone who works at a university and hopes to go back for a PhD, I am hyper-aware of the power-dynamics at these institutions (even a century later). Khaveri weaves that element perfectly into the story without taking any of the attention from the actual murder, and I loved it!

I would recommend having google handy when the plant info comes in; you won’t miss out on anything storywise if you don’t, but I found it fascinating to look up the plants that I wasn’t familiar with (most of them…). With so many people becoming plant “parents” with various lockdowns, I think that a lot of people will love this book for that alone!

Jodie Harris was a fantastic narrator- she handled both female and male voices easily, and really conveyed how fraught situations were.

Thank you Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for this advance listener copy in exchange for my honest review.

I didn't like this book. It just wasn't my cup of tea. It was marketed as a thriller/mystery and it just felt like historical fiction to me, and I'm not a huge fan of historical fiction. I was hoping for a good mystery, but I got a lot of flowery prose and a story that just didn't resonate with me. I found myself day dreaming and drifting away from the story a lot because it just wasn't catching my interest. I would have loved some more information regarding the poison, other than just the name of it.

I do want to say that there will be a huge audience for this book. Especially among those who are looking for a historical fiction piece set in this time period. I just didn't like it.

The narrator was great.

Saffron Everleigh is a research assistant to Dr Maxwell, a botanist at University College of London in the post-war year of 1923. While attending a dinner party to celebrate a much anticipated and controversial expedition. At the conclusion of the dinner, Mrs. Henry, a professor and head of the expeditions wife, suddenly collapses during a champagne toast. She seems she's been poisoned and Dr Maxwell becomes the chief suspect. Can Saffron prove the police are wrong about her mentor? Was Mrs. Henry the intended target? Is someone trying to sabotage the expedition? Who can Saffron trust? So begins the investigation both by the police and Saffron. What follows is a who done it with a love story in the background.
I very much enjoyed the historical period and detailed backdrop of this story as well as the information on botany. Saffron feel a bit reckless unnessasary at times where as an educated researcher I would have expected something different. I did like how she is painted as a capable, intelligent women amidst the predigest of her colleges of the time period in hight education. I did feel like the story began to drag in points and felt like the story was slowed down needlessly in points. Overall an enjoyable read.
I received an arc of this new mystery from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

If I was rating on cover art along this book would get five stars no questions asked, it is gorgeous. Of course, just as important is whether what's inside the cover holds up. The good news here is it does. This is a cozy mystery meets historical fiction, with a good does of science and romance thrown in too. The audio narration provide by Jodie Harris set the tone admirably. Saffron is an intelligent and snappy protagonist with a great name. The setting - Oxford in the 1920s was a setting I haven't seen much in my books. It was refreshing to see something different. It was a strong debut and I am looking forward to the follow-up next summer.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ALC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Im going to be honest this took me quite some time to get through. I kept putting it off and going back. I am so glad I kept going though. What a fantastic read. I love saffron and her wit and intelligence. In another life I bet we would have been great friends. 😉 My biggest complaint is that I wish she would have been stronger from the beginning while she definitely has some growth, I would have loved to see her standing up for herself from the beginning. If you stick through the slow bits you will love this too, it is so worth it in the end. The narrator brings a lot to the story and does an exquisite job being the voice of Saffron.

A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons is a fun tour of 1923 academia with a cocktail of scandal and suspense. Saffron Everleigh's first outing was a delightful introduction to a new character that is both charming and unpredictable. The cozy mystery reminded me of Agatha Christies's Tommy and Tuppence or Rhys Bowen's royal spyness with the added mix of the love interest Alexander Ashton. I eagerly look forward to the next book in this series.

Jodie Harris did a good job narrating this story. Jodie spoke clearly and did a great job of individualizing each characters voice. As a bonus, I loved hearing her accent while she narrated this story.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable, debut novel from Kate Khavari. I am normally hit or miss on historical fiction but I loved Saffron's character and I am looking forward to reading future books in this series, because I need more of these characters in my life.

The narrator is perfect for this story. While some parts were interesting, other parts felt slow. I would have liked for scientific data as to the poisonous plants. Giving us the name alone doesn’t provide a lot of information.

The premise of this book was so interesting and I really enjoyed the story and characters.
I listened to the audiobook version of this title and thought the narration was great and really kept the story engaging.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

A fun historical read which flirts with the cozy genre while not following the standard roadposts. Definitely falls into the more recent feminist historical fiction with an interesting botanical science bent.

More 2.5 stars - I wanted to like this more. The idea and setting were intriguing but it always felt just shy of good, like there wasn't quite enough substance to the characters or plot somehow. However, there's enough here that is interesting that I would be inclined to read the next installment hoping the author delves a bit deeper.

It’s odd having just finished a book and already feeling hazy on the plot details, particularly when a story is being sold as a period thriller in which you’d expect some kind of Edwardian twists and turns. The Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poison is a mystery - and a romance - but leans most heavily into the genre of historical fiction in the end. It’s a factor that's emphasized to an extent where I’m not sure I would have picked this one up if I was more aware of how prevalent the “history” parts of this would be. The investigation itself never felt particularly high stakes to me, perhaps because we never get an actual body from the get-go. Instead we follow Saffron as she snoops through the offices of various professors whose “Dr. Generic Last Name” titles all seemed to blend together as the story progressed.

Kate Khavari has obviously put a lot of time into the research behind the setting here, and really tried to dial in on the historical accuracy of the time period. That atmosphere shows. The campus setting itself is richly envisioned, as is the author’s real love for botany which she elucidates on in the author’s note at the end. I do think the discussion on women in academia could have gone farther, however. It did capture these incredibly relatable moments of the kind of casual sexism that, while rampant in this time period, is still very much present in STEM fields today. Being the designated “note-taker” at meetings dominated by much older men and falling into a pseudo-secretarial role regardless of technical qualifications is something that unfortunately that a lot of women are still shoehorned into in professional workspaces. There are these fleeting moments of clarity that I think could have just been expanded on, especially since the book itself was moreso a period piece than a true thriller.

In the end, I think an audience that comes to A Botanist’s Guide for a low stakes mystery that focuses less on the investigation and more on the early 20th century London environment could have a good time of it. For me, the lack of memorability made this an unsuccessful thriller but a perfectly fine period piece and I acknowledge that I may just not have been the target demographic here.

Thank you to the publisher Dreamscape Media for providing an audiobook ARC via NetGalley for an honest review.

If there's one thing I'm gonna jump to read (besides a romcom obvi), it's gonna be a fun cozy mystery. This one also had some historical fiction and was so enjoyable. I loved all the plants and science and LOVED Saffron, I hope we see more of her family in future books. I felt the parts written from Alexander's POV were good but I felt like they were used so sparingly that they felt a bit out of place. Overall so great and I'm very excited for the next in this series!

A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons is middle of the road for me. It is an interesting premise with some interesting and fun characters, but it just didn't keep my interest. I can't say I disliked it - I did really enjoy Alexander's character, as well as parts of Saffron's character. I liked the narrator, and the story overall was cute and fun. I did however think that the pacing was slow. I didn't really feel like much was happening through the middle. The events seemed a little silly on occasion. For all Saffron was an intelligent woman, who was supposed to be logical and intellectual, she did some ridiculous things that didn't really seem to make sense. Overall, this was a decent listen, but I don't know that I would pick up any more like this.

This book and I did not click at all.
I was so excited by the premise, it sounded like a beautiful combination of all my favorite things. However, the writing style was overly complicated and weirdly flowery without being descriptive enough? I think this is a classic case of wrong book for the wrong person. I know this is going to be someone's cup of tea, but it was more like my cup of poisoned champagne.

In this historical fiction set in the 1920’s, Saffron Everleigh is the only female botanist at the University College of London. One of her professors is accused of poisoning the wife of one of his colleagues at a fancy dinner just weeks before they are scheduled to journey to the Amazon for a research expedition. Seeing that the police are not doing the job correctly, Saffron and her mate, Alexander Ashton set out to see if they can solve the crime themselves and prove his innocence. In doing so, Saffron and Alexander go to various lengths to find out who the real culprit is and why someone would want the expedition hindered.
Saffron is a likable and strong willed protagonist and her banter with Alexander made the story enjoyable and lighthearted at times. It moved along at a good pace and I liked seeing a woman succeed in a man’s world. I could definitely see more stories in a series with Saffron and Alexander solving mysteries.
I very much enjoyed the audiobook as well. It was easy to listen to and did a great job of differentiating between characters without making any of them super cheesy.
Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for this audiobook arc in exchange for my review.

Botanist's Guide To Parties And Poisons by author Kate Khavari is an historical fiction mystery filled with intrigue and a bit of romance.

1920s university research assistant Saffron Everleigh (Great Name!) tries to find the truth when her boss is accused of poisoning the wife of another professor at a party. She's so dedicated she takes the same poison to see its effects. Luckily handsome researcher Alexander finds her before it all goes awry.

Narrator Jodie Harris is perfect as Saffron who's self assured about botany yet naively curious about her attraction to Alexander. Also, what an awesome cover!

I received a copy of this audiobook from Dreamscape Media via #netgalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Here we have a historical fiction crime novel that takes place in 1923, London. Saffron Eveleigh is our hero in this novel but honestly, she annoys me. She has to deal with the misogynistic attitudes of the time and comments that today are considered sexual harassment and would see her superiors out on the street or at least the University sued.
The wife of one of the scientists is poisoned at a party Saffron attends, and when her mentor is suspected and arrested she sets out to prove him innocent and find the real culprit. But of course a woman, even a scientist can not manage any f this without a man to come and save the day. And of course, we must have her feel romantic toward him because...well because! He's a man! He's her hero! He saves her as she constantly does dumb things like poison herself to prove it wasn't her mentor's plant!
Please.
Saffron has to be intelligent and probably in the genius category to even be in this male-dominated world, yet she continues to do things that are so dumb I want to scream. Saffron poisons herself; she breaks into university offices and one professor's garden; she steals things; she treats her friend Elizabeth (who keeps house with her. Yeah I went there but the author didn't..) poorly; she treats her new acquaintance Alexander Ashton poorly. For as smart as Saffron is, common sense is not her strong point.
The mystery itself is fairly good and has a nice satisfying ending but the characters took me out of this novel very quickly.

The narrator, Jodie Harris, does a very good job here with the reading of the novel.

Thanks to @netgalley, Crooked Lane Books, Dreamscape Media, Jodie Harris, and Kate Khavari for the opportunity to read this eArc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

I enjoyed this historical fiction. The story was a little slow but that’s not a bad thing. The characters are well rounded and developed.

The narrator was wonderful.