Ok, so I gave the first book 4 stars, but I had a really hard time with the sequel. I forgave several things in Anatomy and just chocked it up to the book being a quick read with historical flavor. But nothing was fixed the second time around, and so the grains of sand became a huge stones that irritated me throughout Immortality. I just feel like a lot of times and locations are vague - and not in reference to the writing style but to the actual content. Like one place will be a walkable distance one time and then it will be a horse ride away another. There are frequent historical inaccuracies, which I originally just shrugged off, but it kept happening, so now I'm annoyed. And I'm all for inserting modern feminist ideals into historical fiction, there absolutely were women who chaffed against the constraints of their time, but Hazel has consistent disregard for just about every social convention. I don't really understand why, instead of having empathy for or seeking to understand the other women trapped by family, or class, or the conventions of the day, she just seems to be baffled that no one else has dared to strike out as she has (ya know, just leave their family castle behind)...I guess that isn't totally true since she does end up helping a woman in the end, but that whole thing is kinda rushed and wild and a bit baffling.

I don't really understand what the first part of the book had to do with the second half and I do think that editing could have alleviated the time I spent being annoyed by things. Look, there are some good ideas in here, and I know some avid YA readers who really enjoyed the duology. I will still recommend this book because it is an interesting concept, it features a strong female character, and I don't think that the details that grated on me would bother every potential reader. I do love Mhairi Morrison's narration, so it's almost worth checking out the books just to hear them read out loud. Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Immortality: A Love Story picks up where Anatomy: A Love Story left off. Several months after Jack's hanging, Hazel is still in Hawthornden Castle working as a doctor. While her patients consist of Edinburgh's poor, Hazel occasionally is called to tend to the medical needs of the city's important people. Despite her willingness to help whoever needs medical care, she is considered a social pariah. However, Hazel believes her luck is beginning to change when an old friend sends an invitation to a social event and before the opera begins, Hazel is arrested.

Hazel is promptly convicted for a crime she didn't commit, but is saved from the gallows at the 11th hour by a special request from the royal crown. Hazel is to be the personal doctor to Princess Charlotte, the daughter of King George IV. From prison to palace, Hazel now has to identify the mysterious illness that has been plaguing Princess Charlotte and perplexing the other physicians.

Hazel adapts to life in England quickly. She makes friends, attracts male suitors, and is even invited to join a secret society, but things are not as they seem. Can Hazel figure out these mysterious illnesses and save the British Monarchy?


I had no intention of reading the sequel when I finished "Anatomy" last summer. I preferred to believe that Jack had lived but had gone on to prepare a life for him and Hazel and would eventually return. I was fine just letting them live on in my imagination. Then I saw the cover...and it is just breathtaking.

Dana Schwartz is a very poetic and lyrical author and she does atmosphere very well. If you want gothic vibes and maybe even a touch of dark academia, this duology checks those boxes. The audiobook is performed by Mhairi Morrison and Tim Campbell and they both did a phenomenal job.

My biggest issue with this book and the reason it is not a 5-star read is that it is just too long. There were times when I felt like we must have gone for a walk in the weeds and that the path we were supposed to be following was long gone. I mean, we don't even know if Jack is alive or dead until about halfway into the book. It took a long way to get where we were going and then all the loose ends tie up in the last 20% of the book. I just needed less day to day life and more plot.

Content and Trigger Warnings (will contain spoilers)

Hazel helps a woman who took herbs to perform an abortion and almost dies.

Straight Relationships: Basically everyone

Queer Relationships: Princess Charlotte is faking her illness because she is in love with her lady-in-waiting.

Sexual Content: Hazel walks in on Princess Charlotte and her Lady-in-Waiting.
Hazel and Jack have sex, not graphic, but also not implied.

Misc. Content: Stealing bodies in the graveyard, faking deaths, dismemberment, maiming

I absolutely loved the first book in this series! Being in the medical field plus my love for romance stories - this first book hit him - so I was SUPER excited to be able to read/listen to the next book! (plus can we give mad props to the cover art on both?). For Immortality, we return to Edinburgh, where Hazel Sinnett, a rare woman surgeon, is working on real people instead of dead bodies this time around. At least until she's arrested and soon after sent to attend as doctor to the ill Princess Charlotte. She discovers many secrets while at court, including a magnetic society filled with interesting people who are a little different than than others. She also meets handsome doctors and pompous royalty, all while her mind continues to stray to one person. After all, this is...: a Love Story. This book was an incredible sequel to Anatomy: A Love Story which I also gave 5 stars to. I adore Hazel as a character. Like many woman of her time period, she's constrained by society's rules for what is believed to be a woman's purpose, but she doesn't let it stop her (also not much has changed for women in medicine in 2023 so it hits home). She utilizes her intelligence to help people, even when it's dangerous. I enjoyed seeing her grow more in this book, where shes not as afraid of societal obstacles and she fights harder for what she believes in and cares for. All of the new characters we were introduced to were super intriguing as well. Each interpretation of real people was incredible and I feel like I could honestly imagine some of them in the situations we get to see them in.

Thank you to MacMillian audio and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this ARC

I hate when I download a book not realizing it's a sequel.

That being said, I've not read the first book and therefore can't give an honest review. I will update my reviews when I can read both.

Thanks for your patience and for allowing me this review.

What a great narrator! Her accent is delightful and true to the story’s setting, and I appreciated hearing all the names pronounced in her accent. I listened to the first book and was so happy to receive this audiobook so I could listen to this sequel with the same narrator.

I went into Dana's first book with no expectations or understanding what I was getting into. I was so pleasantly surprised that I knew I needed this second book. And while not as action-packed and dramatic and dark, it felt like a good clean conclusion to such a fun little Mary Shelley-esque love story.

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
This is a sequel to Anatomy: A Love Story. Hazel's life continues to be in upheaval because of her desire to practice medicine. She struggles with the question of choosing love or medicine and she meets more immortals.
I think the story was good, but it left me feeling like there was something lacking. Part of that was the emphasis on romance and love. While I know the question of marriage was period appropriate, the focus on love seemed like it was forced on the character just like it was in the last book.
This book is good for anyone who is a fan of historical science fiction or Frankenstein.

I enjoyed the first in this series but this one I could not get in to. It felt very different from the first. There was a lot of filler and I felt the romance was really stilted. The writing was very rough in places. This one wasn't for me.

While I didn’t LOVE the first book, I had high hopes for this one, since I enjoyed many of the concepts of the first. That said, almost none of the concepts were well utilized, and truly, the book doesn’t justify its length. The book doesn’t seem to be a sequel, except for the fact that you would understand nothing. None of the plots are carried through until 60% through the book, and that is not an exaggeration. A solid ten percent of this book is dedicated to a plot that exists only so that later in the book the lead character can recognize the smell of mildew, TWICE. Also, to call this a love story is a gross exaggeration. Eliza and Charlotte are more interesting characters than Hazel and Jack, and Jack treats Hazel poorly until the very end.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for an advanced readers copy to Immortality.
While I enjoyed the first book, the second book fell a little flat for me. I think Anatomy would have been fine as a stand-alone as the second book didn’t really expand or develop the characters or the story.
Although the title says it’s a romance I didn’t really believe or fall for the romance between Hazel and Jack. I think I would have liked this book a lot more without the romance and without Jack. I just don’t think he added anything to the story or to Hazels character.
Overall this is a fun historical YA!

Huge thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for allowing me to listen to the early for an honest review!

I absolutely loved this book! This was such a fantastic end to the duology. The story was compelling and kept me on my toes! I wasn’t expecting any of the twists and turns but loved every minute of it.

I was given the opportunity to listen to the audiobook version narrated by Mhairi Morrison and Tim Campbell. They both did a fantastic job at making the characters distinct and bringing them to life!

This was a very creatively told tale. I liked how many places the characters traveled. I don’t know of another book I’ve read that I could compare it to. Part historical fiction, part medical journal, with an addition of science fiction. It causes one to ask the question, “If a person could live forever, would it be a blessing or a curse?” The lesbian relationship was unexpected.

I received an opportunity to listen to this audiobook through NetGalley.

5 stars!

This book was a perfect conclusion to the first one. I absolutely loved this duo and the characters in it! I can’t give it high enough praise. And…I don’t usually like historical books all that much. I’m so picky when it comes to that genre, but this duo was interesting and I couldn’t get enough of them! And the audio narrator did an excellent job as well.

I was halfway through Anatomy when I saw Immortality available on NetGalley and knew I would be dying to have it. I was not disappointed with this sequel. I loved the new characters and how everything ended up. What an enjoyable read!

Well, this sadly went like I thought it would (and hoped it wouldn't), which is to say, it doubled down on the things I liked least from the first book, and there was way less of what I loved. This wasn't a bad book at all, but the author and I clearly had different ideas for what kind of story she was going to be telling. I know that's Mistake #1 of going into a book, imposing your wants and ideas on it, but I couldn't help myself. And I'm still salty from the ending of book one.

So this picks up several months after the ending of ANATOMY. Hazel is still practicing medicine. Jack is still gone and Hazel doesn't know if he's still alive. After she treats a woman who terminated her own pregnancy with dodgy poisons, Hazel is arrested and imprisoned, soon to be executed. Her execution is only stayed when someone from the royal court in London arrives with a pardon for Hazel if she will come and try to heal the Princess Charlotte, who is suffering from a mysterious illness no doctor can diagnose.

So the two things I liked least in the first book were the speculative twist at the end where SPOILERS it was revealed that Dr. Beecham had an immortality serum that he could also dilute to perform organ transplants and aid healing END SPOILERS, and the romance (which was fine and all, but not the most interesting part of the book for me). So of course, this book is 75% about both Hazel's feelings about Jack and about the speculative element that I hated.

Basically, the author built this book on the stuff I disliked, so I was never going to love it. I did really like all the parts where Hazel does treat people from mysterious ailments, but those were way too infrequent to make me happy. I'm glad I read it, though, for the closure.

A great send off for Hazel Sinnett, 4 stars. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an AudioARC in exchange for an honest review.

Picking up where Anatomy left off, Hazel Sinnett is practicing medicine in Scotland when she finds herself in trouble with the law after helping a stranger. Her only way out comes in the form of a medical mystery plaguing Princess Charlotte of England. Shipped off in hopes of avoiding jail time, Hazel does her best to not only help the princess, but navigate the courts of England. Will she be able to properly diagnose the princess, or will this medical mystery get the best of Hazel? And when a secret society taps Hazel for help will she accept, even if it goes against her given directive?

Hazel is one of those character you can't ever be mad at. She is outspoken and well-spoken, a great medical practitioner as well as fantastically charismatic, and eager to learn everything she can about a certain elixir that she gave a handsome grave robber in her previous adventure. I love how the author makes her story so well rounded that it has something to appeal to every reader, not just those who like mysteries or romance. The pacing in this novel is even better than the first, and the supporting cast feels more rounded than the first. My one gripe is that the ending felt a rushed, I wish we got more about what happens in the society after Hazel's story concludes, but it's not their story.

4 stars and a proper send off for Hazel and co. I recommend this story to lovers of women who don't fit their mold, mystery lovers, and those who enjoy a will they/won't they romance. Age recommended for readers 14+ as with medicine it can be a slight bit graphic, but nothing unsettling.

Dana Schwartz knocks it out of the ballpark again! A fantastic literary chimera of fantasy, historical fiction, and romance. Lady Hazel Sinnett works past her losses and continues on with her work as a surgeon. Thing look to be taking a turn for their worst when fate takes a hard left. Plenty of thrilling plot twists and mystery in this volume. I heartily look forward to the next!

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan audio for sending me an early copy of this audiobook! All opinions are my own!

Where do you start when a book disappoints you more than you ever imagined? This was one of my most anticipated releases of next year, and it just simply fell flat. For starters, it was way to slow at the beginning. It felt like the first third of the book was slice of life with Hazel just being a doctor. Then when the action does pick up and she goes to treat the princess, that feels like a whole different book, then when Jack returns, that's a whole different book itself. It was so disjointed and felt like there was never a true plot for this book, but rather a bunch of things thrown together so that a full-length book could be published.

Calling it a love story and then not having the love interest show up until over halfway through the book feels like they shouldn't go together. I do love Jack and once he was back, I really enjoyed the storyline. It felt more like the Hazel I knew from the first book and more like what I was expecting. I did enjoy the writing but felt as though it was not at all the vibe of the first book with mystery and high stakes.

Definitely check this duo out if you're a fan of historic fiction, though!

Schwartz provides readers with the perfect ending for this duology with IMMORTALITY wrapping up the loose ends left from ANATOMY while also expanding upon the world and Hazel's story. Taking Hazel's world to court with Princess Charlotte and mad King George was a great addition to the overarching plot of Hazel trying to find a place in the world being a woman studying to be a doctor in a society where women didn't have a place within medicine. I need a whole book that focuses on the Companions to the Death!

The ending might be a little too nice and clean, but I didn't mind it. My one complaint is that Hazel (and Jack) read way older than the teenagers they are supposed to be.

I was happy to see Mhairi Morrison and Tim Campbell back as the audiobook narrators.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Macmillan Young Listeners in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

I loved _Anatomy_, so I could not wait to jump right into this conclusion to the duology, and the only disappointment I have is that it's all over. We need more!!!!!

Hazel, the m.c., is in a transitional state (word to the wise: read the first novel in the duology. It's excellent, but it's also important for really appreciating this m.c. more than just reading this book as a standalone will allow). She goes from one extreme location to another near the start of the novel, and frankly, she's so interesting that I almost don't care where she is. Her assuredness, sense of rebelliousness, and especially her love for what she does (and CAN do) all make her a compelling character whose adventures could really go far beyond even these two great reads.

In addition to an intriguing historical setting and fun-to-read characters, there's some nice work with a variety of social issues. This never feels didactic: just relevant to the characters' and audiences' experiences. It's not surprising (though it remains depressing) that so many of the issues present in this text are still ubiquitous today. I think the target audience will continue to find the connections meaningful and surprisingly familiar to their own experiences.

I have so enjoyed this duology and really look forward to more YA, specifically, from Schwartz!