I was contacted directly by the publisher on this title and it just isn't something that I am typically drawn to.

My attention was instantly drawn to "Those Fatal Flowers" because of its connection to Greco-Roman mythology, which is a passion of mine. While I enjoyed that aspect of the novel, I found the pacing inconsistent—sometimes rushed and at other times slow. The writing truly shone when it delved into mythology or created an ominous atmosphere; however, much of the narrative felt drawn out and a bit tedious.

I appreciated the portrayal of the female characters overall, but at times they seemed unrealistic. Given that the story deals with female suffering throughout history, I found it strange that there was no mention of Indigenous peoples or women, particularly considering the historical context. The ending left me feeling unsatisfied; certain characters seemed to escape the consequences they deserved.

In summary, while the novel is a beautiful homage to mythology, it falls short in terms of pacing and plot. Thank you to NetGalley and Dell for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately this was not for me. The premise immediately called to me but I thought the execution was lacking a bit. The story was choppy and did not flow as well as I would have liked for it to go from past to present.
I also could not get by with this being "female rage" and the men characters being cardboard cutouts of just "men bad". It was very superficial and so the rage was just eh.
The sapphic romance was the one thing I was holding onto but was unfortunately what lacked for me the most. Insta love is just not for me.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me an early copy in exchange for my honest review.

Respectfully, this book did not land for me. It took a very real historical event and made a bit of a mockery of it under the guise of gay romance. She was hiding the inert racism and classism behind a message of women empowerment. This author could definitely have used myriad of sensitivity readers for this one. I'm sorry, this was a real miss for me in the same way I felt Bable was.

As for the story, the author blended the alternating timelines pretty well, and leaned heavily into the Hades/ Persephone lor. I found myself most interested in the harpies/ sirens storyline. I really enjoyed it When I could pull myself away from the morally questionable aspects and live in the fantasy of it all.

I liked the description and comps for this book, but overall it wasn't for me. It was a little gory and it bothered me that there was no Indigenous character(s) considering the Roanoke setting. I understand that the author didn't feel like that was her story to tell, but there are ways to approach that thoughtfully, in my opinion.

I wanted to get on board with the "women empowerment" of it all, but that's hard to do when the empowerment is in question is only for white women. While I do appreciate a sapphic love story and some good ole yearning, I'm not sure this was the best setting/backdrop for such a story.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I found the concept of combining Ancient Greek mythology and Roanoke fascinating, and the writing was beautiful!

Unfortunately this books is not for me. The subject matter just ended up being a little problematic for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Shannon Ives makes the combo of fantastical and history work so well in this stunning debut.

We follow Thelia, one of Proserpina’s former handmaidens turned siren, as she navigates two timelines—ancient myth and colonial America. The blend of past and present gives us a deep look at her growth, especially as she sheds black-and-white thinking and starts to embrace nuance and healing.

Ives does an incredible job exploring themes like feminine rage, resilience, and the power of storytelling (seriously, the oral symbolism in here is chef’s kiss). And yes—Thelia gets a love story that’s messy and beautiful and hard-won.

If you liked Circe or The Song of Achilles, you need to read this one. It’s got teeth, heart, and something new to say. Huge thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC—this was a powerful ride.

This book was all over the place. Greek/Roman retelling of Persephone (or Proserpina in this one) and Thelia (a siren) juxtaposed with the mysterious disappearance of the colonists of Roanoke. How these two ended up in unholy matrimony is still a mystery to me as it simply did not work.

I will preface by saying I thoroughly enjoyed all of the Greek mythological scenes. They were well-written and I felt like I was on the island along with them. The 16th century Roanoke storyline however was a hot mess. The language, the actions of the colonists, the queer love stories were all just wrong for that time period. The breaking of betrothals, the acceptance of some distant foreign queen looking for a suitor - none of it made any sense whatsoever. Also the fact that there wasn't a single Native to be found was strange - even if the author felt it wasn't her story to tell, then don't use a colony on Native land as your setting. Having multiple queer Puritans was also eyebrow raising as Puritans are going to be...well, puritanical. The love stories themselves were highly confusing and everything about the Roanoke chapters just felt like a headscratcher.

Overall, this felt and read like poorly constructed fanfiction and was not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dell, and Shannon Ives for an advanced readers' copy in exchange for an honest review.

what an interesting book about flowers and gods and trying to find someone. loved that she lost her memory and in this town and finds what she is looking for.

The novel is about transporting figures from Roman mythology to the lost colony of Roanoke. In the timeline labeled “Before,” Thelxiope and her sisters are handmaidens to Proserpina, Ceres’s daughter and the goddess of spring. Thelxiope, called Thelia, has a special relationship with Proserpina that grows into a romance. When the women sneak away from Ceres’s home for a tryst, Proserpina is stolen into the Underworld, leaving Thelia and her sisters to face Ceres’s wrath. She transforms them into sirens and traps them on the island of Scopuli. In their new forms, the women spend centuries feeding on the men who shipwreck on the island and sacrificing them to Ceres in hopes of appeasing her. These scenes are intercut with the timeline labeled “Now,” in which Thelia lands in Roanoke hoping to bring help to her sisters. The colony is starving, and Thelia figures out a way to use that to her advantage, though she must first face the of a cruel man’s schemes and his crueler mother. Complicating things is Cora, a colonist who looks uncannily like Proserpina and threatens to pull Thelia from her purpose. Why?

The author blends old and new legends while lovingly crafting a characterized cast of women. I liked the story detailing the lives of Thelia and her sister sirens on the island of Scopuli. Much of this novel is brutal and bloody. This adventure is filled with sapphic longing and female rage.

I was really interested in the concept especially I always love a good retelling, and this one seemed especially unique. The idea of linking sirens to the lost colony of Roanoke had so much potential, and the first few pages actually drew me in. The writing was decent and it was interesting to see how the sirens came to be and how they ended up there. But as the story went on, I found myself struggling to stay engaged.

Most of the middle felt overly drawn out, and I just couldn’t bring myself to care. The pacing dragged, and I grew anxious for the story to simply end. The romance also didn’t land for me especially since it leaned into instalove, which felt unearned since Thelia’s supposed centuries of wisdom.

Then there’s the handling of Roanoke itself. The book tries to critique patriarchal violence but completely sidesteps the larger implications of colonization. There’s an attempt to draw parallels between the suffering of the white women under the colony’s men and the treatment of Indigenous women, but it feels shallow and unexamined. The only Indigenous presence in the story is as nameless victims, which makes the whole revenge narrative feel uncomfortable at best.

That being said, I did mostly like how the ending came together. It made me wish the rest of the book had maintained that same level of engagement. But overall, while the concept was intriguing, the execution left me wanting more.

This book may have taken me longer to read than a typical book, but not in a bad way. The writing was languid and gave such rich detail that it wasn't a book I could easily come in and out of, wasn't a book I could just put down and move to another task. The characters were believable and relatable, and the way of dealing with trauma was definitely relatable. Definitely a book I'll recommend to others!

I have more familiarity with Greek mythology than the Roman renaming, so it took a while to realize that Proserpina is Persephone. That is the name of one of my dogs, so I have a bit of familiarity with the myth but not with the role of her handmaidens and their curse.

Thelia and her sisters are cursed to become Sirens on an evermoving island after Proserpina is taken to the underworld. After many centuries of luring men to their deaths, she is able to become human and leave the island. She plans to bring men back to sacrifice directly to Proserpina instead of her mother. She lands in the lost colony of Roanoke. Having grown up in North Carolina and regularly taken vacations in the Outer Banks, I am familiar with the lore. This was an interesting twist.

This is truly about feminine rage. There are good men depicted in the book but they are few and far between in times when there was nothing to hold them accountable. The bubbling rage is justified and sings throughout the book.

The duel timelines were surprising, I preferred the Roanoke timeline but the other brought in all the pieces. I loved the ending.

All in all, a reader must be ready for feminine rage and be ready to suspend disbelief fully!

Thank you to Net Galley, Random House Publishing- Ballantine, and Dell for the DRC. All opinions are my own and are influenced by my own rage.

Those Fatal Flowers by Shannon Ives is a unique blend of dark mystery and complex characters, but unfortunately, it doesn't quite live up to its full potential. The novel centers around an intriguing premise involving secrets, danger, and blossoming relationships, which keeps the plot engaging enough to pull you through. However, the pacing can be a bit uneven at times, with some moments dragging while others rush too quickly.

Ives does a commendable job of building a moody atmosphere, and the writing style is rich, though at times overly descriptive. Some of the character developments felt a bit forced, leaving certain relationships feeling flat. The ending, while satisfying, left me wanting a little more clarity in terms of emotional payoff. Overall, it's an enjoyable read for fans of atmospheric thrillers but lacks the depth and momentum to make it truly unforgettable.

I was close to DNF. I really struggled through the first 35% Everytime I opened the book I would fall asleep shortly after. The beginning was also a little confusing with the character hierarchy. It does make sense after a while and the dual timelines sometimes got annoying (the one back in time was a lot slower than the other). After halfway it does pick up and the end is ok.

“The divine, the profane. They’re two sides of the same coin.”

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for an eARC in exchange for my honest review. This is a queer Greek/Roman/colonial retelling with “sapphic longing and female rage” in the byline. The prose is descriptive and engaging, living up to both the title and cover art. By all accounts, this should be right up my alley.

I just can’t get over the Roanoke storyline. Most retellings with Greco-Roman Gods work best in a specific culture, time, and place. The violence of the Gods and their byproducts (re: the sirens) are a direct foil to humanity. Removed from their mythical context and placed in a historical settler colony, the siren’s violence is suddenly equated with the tangible violence of English colonizers. While I believe the author meant for the two storylines to illustrate “female rage,” where then are the Native American characters? Surely they would be more entitled to rage when encountered with men colonizing their shores? Why are they relegated to narrative devices?

There are also elements of misandry that felt misplaced throughout the story. The one that comes to mind is the scene around pregnancy loss. I won’t go into details, but Thelia is a very complex character. For better or worse, I’m still piecing through this one.

I really enjoyed this take on the mystery of the lost colony of Roanoke. Unfortunately, I was not as familiar with the mythology so found some parts confusing. However, I appreciated the creativity and enjoyed the narrative throughout the “Now” chapters. I really enjoyed the idea of “female rage” and hope to continue reading more books with this theme. Thelia endured a lot in her human form and the reader can really sympathize with that perspective on the female experience.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing, and Shannon Ives for the opportunity to read this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is an intriguing mash-up of mythology and a colonial mystery full of female rage. Women, cursed to live forever as monsters, the struggle and the journey of one who tries to save her family.

Incorporating the mysterious disappearance at Roanoke with Thelia’s story, it gives the reader a fantastical view of what might have happened if vengeance were a person (if, indeed, vengeance was needed to be paid).

My thanks to Ballentine for this gifted DRC

I loved the mythology tied in with the mystery of Roanoke and the women ultimately getting their revenge. It was occasionally hard to follow and there were a ton of trigger warnings but I really enjoyed overall. Thanks to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC!