Female rage, Greco-Roman mythology, the lost colony of Roanoke, all mashed up together - I was intrigued by the book's description, but unfortunately the reading experience fell flat for me. Thelia was banished with her sisters to live as Sirens on Scopuli when they failed to protect Proserpina, the goddess of spring and Thelia's lover, from her assault and kidnapping. The story alternates between Thelia's history and her present, where she is posing as a princess in the colony of Roanoke, while falling for a woman who looks like her lost lover. I could try to explain more of the convoluted plot, but honestly it just makes me feel exhausted thinking about it. It was all I could do to drag myself through the pages the first time. This really didn't work for me, which always makes me feel bad with a debut especially. The best sections of the book were the flashbacks to Scopuli. Props for an innovative idea, but the colonist setting, and the colonists themselves, just did not work in this case. To totally leave out the indigenous population made no sense to me. If the author didn't feel like it was her place to write an indigenous character (!), then either get a co-author, or pick a different setting. Don't set your story in a colony and then gloss over all the evils of colonialism to solely focus on the evils of powerful men against white women. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Dell for a digital review copy.

This was an interesting book. The premise drew me in but, unfortunately, the execution didn’t quite work for me.
I’ll start with the good. The premise was unique and interesting, which lead to a unique plot. I liked in the authors note how Shannon Ives explained more how she came up with the premise. I liked the main character, Thelia, and rooted for her to find happiness.
A few things stood out as not as good to me. First, to have a book set during colonial times but barely even mention Native Americans was strange to me. Native Americans were mentioned in passing but that was it. It makes me wonder why Ives chose colonial America and not some other time period/location for this story. All of the man hating in the book seemed a bit excessive. Not just from Thelia’s POV as it’s clear she’s prejudiced at the beginning and seems to learn that “monsters are made not born” by the end. But that every single man in the story apart from one was a horrible person seemed excessive. And even then Will was no saint either. Lastly, the romance plot didn’t make sense to me. I get why Thelia was initially attracted to Cora but it didn’t make sense that they would fall in love, especially since Thelia took a lot away from Cora. Thelia is motivated the whole plot by her first love but in the end it feels like she just moves on?
I will say that the plot was interesting enough that I kept reading to see what would happen at the end. It’s clear that Ives is a talented author, so I look forward to seeing what she writes next.

ARC by NetGalley and the publisher.

Those Fatal Flowers tells the tale of Thelia and her curse of living as a siren, a half winged bird and woman creature. Not only is she left in this manor but banished as well to the island of Scupoli away from her goddess whom she loves deeply. Her only way of redemption is to atone for her past transgressions that leads her on a dangerous quest for freedom in a new strange land called Roanoke.

What initially intrigued me about this alternating timeline tale was the mix of Greco-Roman mythology and the ever elusive missing colony of Roanoke. I mean how could I not as a lover of mythology and history it just felt that these two worlds combining was a unique spin that brought both these interests together. However, once I started to really get farther into the book I was felt myself losing interest and questioning certain aspects. For example the language and manor of speech that the the colonist of Roanoke displayed felt far too modern for the era in which the book takes place. Now I can understand that this is obviously a loose interpretation of this time in history but this aspect just ended up taking me out of being fully engaged in the story. And while there is sapphic romance in this and representation of this, there surprisingly was a lack of Native American characters. Considering this took place in the Americans I found this as a missed opportunity by the author to shine light on awful prejudices, particularly since much of the book focuses on women being oppressed… why not also do so for Native Americans as well. It just felt weird as once again as a long time lover of learning from our pasts to have a book prominently feature Roanoke yet leave this aspect out especially considering one of the actual historical beliefs of what happened to the missing colony is that they left with the local Native American tribes. Overall while there were some interesting plot points and I do love a good female rage narrative there were just too many creative liberties that just ended up not personally working for me.

Those Fatal Flowers comes out January 21st, 2025.

Thank you again NetGalley and Random House Publishing-Ballantine for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I received a digital advance copy of Those Fatal Flowers by Shannon Ives via NetGalley. Those Fatal Flowers is scheduled for release on January 21, 2025.

Those Fatal Flowers combines Greco-Roman mythology with the vanished Roanoke colony. It centers around Thelia, one of Proserpina’s (Persephone in Greek mythology) handmaidens. In Ives’ vision of the story, Thelia is in love with Proserpina. This love ended centuries ago with Proserpina pulled into the underworld and Thelia banished with her two sisters to the island of Scopuli. They are fated to spend their lives as sirens, luring men to their deaths with their songs as half-bird creatures. Thelia is granted an opportunity by Proserpina and sets off to Roanoke (masked as a normal woman) to bring back a boatload of men as sacrifice to lift the curse.

This story is told from Thelia’s point of view, with alternating timelines. We see her in Scopuli leading up to Thelia setting out to save her sisters, and in Roanoke as she works to lure sacrifices back to their island lair. As we spend the most time with Thelia, she is the character we get to know best. I found the characters in Roanoke to be better developed than the mythological characters, as Ives relied on readers having some familiarity with the myths she was drawing from.

In addition to the two timelines, we get two different settings. Scopuli is a remote island, which contrasted well with the struggling settlement of Roanoke. Scopuli seemed warm and lush, full of resources (though those resources are hidden from the women) compared to the cold and barren Roanoke that threatens to kill off its inhabitants.

I did struggle a bit with the plot of this novel due to the structure Ives chose. We essentially have three different times at play: the initial event that led to Proserpina being taken away (shown only in the prologue, but referred to throughout), the events on Scopuli leading up to Thelia’s travel, and the events in Roanoke. I had a difficult time connecting these timelines, particularly early in the novel. Again, I think this was due to Ives assuming reader familiarity with the myths. For me, a more thorough showing of the Proserpina’s disappearance and the banishing of the sisters would have helped to piece the whole story together.

Overall, Those Fatal Flowers is an interesting resetting of Greek/Roman myths in an early American setting. While I would have appreciated a bit more focus on the mythological elements, it was an enjoyable read.

I wish I liked this book as much as I thought I was going to! I'm a sucker for mythology, and the concepts were bangin', but the execution ended up falling flat for me. I wish there was more to the story!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance reader's copy of the book. This ended up being a fast read for me. The writing and world building was so good that I was sucked in and had to finish as soon as possible to know what happened next and find out the ending. I enjoyed the fact that this used primarily Roman myth aspects over Greek. I also enjoyed the alternative fate of the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Bravo to the author for writing such a captivating book especially since it's the author's debut.

3.5/5 stars

I agree with many others that this was hard to get into, which made it hard to continue and finish. However I can’t ignore how unique this plot was. I think it needed a bit more editing to focus a lot more. There is definitely something there and i genuinely appreciate this idea!!

I wanted to love this, because I love almost every book I read inspired by Greek and Roman mythology, but I just couldn't. The concept was very cool - I liked the idea. The execution fell flat for me, and there was a lot of out of place discourse about indigenous suffering that the author had no right to implant when she herself stated a disclaimer that she didn't include an indigneous MC because it "isn't her story to tell".

Thank you to Shannon Ives, Random House Publishing - Ballantine, and NetGalley for giving me an eARC of Those Fatal Flowers in exchange for my honest review.

Those Fatal Flowers is a historical fiction meets Greek mythology in a way I loved. I would be lying if I did not admit that I was nervous going into this book. I am a fantasy and romance reader, so Greek mythology and historical fiction is a bit outside of my comfort zone. But Ives does such a good job bringing the reader into the story. I felt Thelia's rage, her heartbreak, her desperation to save her sisters. I was right there alongside her feeling what she was feeling. One topic that I really appreciated was how she brought light to sexism and how prevalent it was in the past. Let me tell you, my blood was boiling and I had to put the book down at times, which I believe is what Ives wanted the reader to feel when they read those sections. This book will not be for everyone. If you are a historical fiction lover I do think that there will be portions of this that will upset you. Parts are left out or not included, such as prominent Croatoan characters. I understand that Ives felt like it was not her story to tell, but if that is the case, the setting needs to be one where those characters would not be mentioned, and you really should not bring in the Native women who were kidnapped by the French. It feels wrong to pick and choose which sections of that history you want to include, and that it is only being included because of the sexism themes that Ives is trying to get across. Comparisons were attempted to be drawn in moments where it might have been better to just leave it be. However, if you are a lover of Greek mythology, I think that this book is something that you will really enjoy. This is such a unique take on mythology blending it in with modern history that I think those readers will truly enjoy this book. Overall, I think that for a debut novel this book was great, Ives is a talented writer, and it is clear that she will go far.

Man, this was one of the most unique and ambitious books I've read this year, and for it to be a debut, too! Hats off to Shannon Ives for thinking of such a unique blend: what if one of the sirens from Greco-Roman legend found their way to the lost colony of Roanoke? And what if she happened to be a former handmaiden of Proserpina, pining for her lost love? And what if she found--in this colony--a woman who's a dead-ringer for said lost love, and began an ill-fated round of sapphic pining?

Told in dual timelines--one that takes place in Roanoke when siren Thelia washes ashore, and the other that takes place during her banishment centuries before--Those Fatal Flowers was excellently crafted. I loved the way the mystery of Thelia's journey to Roanoke unfolded, and I particularly loved the "Before" scenes on the island of Scopoli with her sisters. Feminine rage abounds throughout this book, both in the Before sections and in the Now sections, and I loved that so, so much. I also loved the love story with Puritan woman, Cora, strange as it was. Because Thelia's main attraction to Cora is the fact that she looks EXACTLY like Proserpina, it could've given way to insta-love easily. But Ives builds the tension beautifully, with longing glances and sly hand-brushes, and I actually found myself buying their attraction. Their love story was easily the backbone of Those Fatal Flowers, and it's wonderfully done. I also liked the supporting characters in the Now setting, from Cora's Bible study group, to the devious man she's engaged to (he's particularly easy to hate because he's not cartoonishly villainous at all -- he's an everyday breed of terrible, and that makes him all the worse).

I know other reviewers have noted the strangeness of choosing a colonial setting while deliberately leaving out Native characters. I think either way you dice it, it'd be messy: include prominent Croatoan characters and do them absolutely dirty (and get bashed for it), or omit them because it's not your story to tell (and get bashed for it). I do think Ives nodded to the difficult history decently well (there are mentions of the violence inflicted on the nearby tribes by the colonists, as well as a mention of French settlers kidnapping Native women to "civilize" them, and Thelia is reasonably disgusted by both incidences), but a good compromise could've been a bit less black-and-white "bad men do bad things" thinking and more of "oh my god, this whole colony--men and women--is perpetuating this awful system."

Nuanced observations in general seem to be something Thelia struggles with as a character throughout, though, and it's a bit annoying. I didn't mind Thelia's hatred of men, since it's fairly justified by everything she's been through, but in the end (spoiler), all she really learns is that...one man is good. One woman is bad. That's it. For a feminist retelling, the feminism here felt fairly surface level, especially because I can tell Ives is capable of diving deeper. The scenes with Cora's brother, Will, where both he and Thelia are secretly pining for others yet finding solace in each other, were such GOOD explorations of queer characters moving throughout a homophobic society in the best way they possibly could. It was heartbreaking; it was beautifully done.

All that being said, I did actually enjoy this book. I'm hard on my myth retellings for a reason: I find so few authors actually do them well, and yet SO MANY of them flood the market. This one was, despite its flaws, good. The blend between Puritan times and ancient Greco-Roman lore was strange enough that it actually worked, and Ives' writing was fluid and flexible enough to feel timeless and yet accessible, without even slipping into that purple prose I DESPISE in a myth retelling. While not perfect, it's far from forgettable and far from mundane. I don't think it'll work for everyone--hell, half of the time, it didn't work for me, and I'm giving it 3.5 stars rounded up--but those who like it will love it.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Dell, and Shannon Ives for gifting me this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for an advance copy of this new novel that combines myths, vengeance and angry gods in a story of love and redemption from the Old World to the New World.

Outside of maybe Marvel Comics and Neil Gaiman, there have not been many stories that mix myths, at least that I am aware of. In comics Thor and Hercules team up regularly to fit monsters from myth, legend, and of course comic born. Which adds to the freshness of these story. Mixing the myths of Greek and Roman culture with one of the great American mysteries, a story that has been granted many different endings, but one that still confounds many, is a a very good idea. The different plot, the beautiful writing, and the love story at the heart of this well just adds ambrosia to this book. Those Fatal Flowers is a novel by Shannon Ives that combines the myths of the underworld, the Sirens, and of the lost American colony of Roanoke.

The book begins in the gardens of Ceres, goddess of grain. Thelia, is a handmaiden of the goddess of spring Proserpina. Proserpina is also something much more ot Thelia, and Thelia is furtively moving through the gardens to meet Proserpina by a spring, when Thelia is attacked by a god who demands to know where Proserpina is. Thelia scared points the way, and Proserpina is kidnapped by the god of the underworld, changing the world and leaving Thelia in disgrace. Thelia along with the other handmaidens are exiled to Scopuli, their bodies changed into Sirens, half birds-half humans, with a song that leads sailors to their doom, in hopes the gods will take notice. As the fortunes of the world change, so does the shipping lanes, and soon there are no sailors to sacrifice, and Thelia again has a difficult choice, one that makes her human again, but leaves her scarred in different ways. After months at sea Thelia finds she has left the old world, and sailed to the New World, and to a colony that will soon be famous, Roanoke.

A very different story, told in a way that is both lyrical and poetic. A little warning, this is a strong book in many ways. Even the author admits to this. There is a lot of violence, a lot of violence to women, and some scenes that might unsettle readers. Or in many ways challenge the reader. There are many things I liked in the story. I really enjoyed the mixing of thoughts and beliefs from other places. I really enjoyed he writing, the author seemed to find the right words to describe situations, and to illuminate the inner character as much as detail what they were doing. The book does move a bit in time and space, but careful reading shouldn't make this difficult to follow. I love to see an author aim high, and Ives does very well at reaching the goals Ives set for the novel.

A different book, one that has a lot of subject matter that will bother some, and as I said challenge others. The book is worth the challenge. A story that satisfys on so many different levels, even while sometimes making one squirm in one's seat. I look forward to more by the author.

What an interesting combination of themes to encorporate mythology with the legend of the Roanoke colony. I was really enamored with the writing style and couldn't put this book down! Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Dell for a copy of this book for an honest review.

I found it very difficult to get into this book. The beginning was confusing and the connections between Greco-Roman Myth and the Roanoke colony were tenuous at best.

Thelia as a character fell flat for me as she seemed to have a singular goal that there was no justification for.

All of these issues pulled me away from this story before I even realized that the author set the story in the midst of colonialism and proceeded to erase the indigenous people that were most affected by it. In the author’s note she says that their story “wasn’t hers to tell.” So, perhaps colonial America wasn’t your setting to use.

I tried really hard to finish this book but just couldn’t get into it.
The story was just not for me. The three stars are for originality and writing quality.

Before I start my review, I want to note that there is a graphic on page second term miscarriage. The scene lasts several pages and I just want other readers who may be sensitive to that kind of thing to be aware.

This book wasn't for me. I love a good retelling, but to me this was more like taking a myth and growing it, not a true retelling. This book tries to do too much and ends up being really heavy handed. It's hard for me to put into words how much I didn't enjoy reading this. I liked the sapphic love story sort of, but even that I didn't love. The author is trying to say so much about sexism, classism, and homophobia not just throughout time, but as it relates to current times. To have so much to say about so many topics but completely ignore the massacre of Native Americans by colonists is something else. There is only a brief mention as to how the colony got started and that there are natives outside the boarders of the village. There is not a single native character. It felt more like erasure than respect for a culture that isn't the authors.

Again, this book felt like it was trying so hard to have a message and it just came across as messy. The women in the story have almost no agency. Even Thalia and her sisters act within the confines of their punishment, never really questioning for centuries. They lure sailors to their death and sacrifice them to Ceres in hopes of abating their punishment. Which I get, in the scheme of a lot of mythology women are punished for men's actions. But I wish there would have been more of a feminist twist or any change to the story. Most of the character's actions are just in reaction to men's violence with the acceptation of Agnes who is like the prodigal white woman in power.

This just wasn't for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

*Those Fatal Flowers* is an epic, emotional ride that mixes Greek mythology with the mystery of the Roanoke colony, and I couldn’t put it down. Thelia’s journey—full of love, revenge, and a whole lot of female rage—really hits hard, and the sapphic romance adds an extra layer of tension and longing. The pacing can slow down here and there, but if you love stories about powerful women fighting for freedom, this one’s definitely worth the read.

This tale of love lost and found in Greek Mythology is really fascinating in scope. Being cursed to kill men by their voices Thelia and her sisters only task. Until Thelia breaks the rules by saving one man. Now Thelia must search for treacherous men that will return with her. Thelia didn't expect to fall in love again which made things harder for her. Can Thelia return home? Find out in Those Fatal Flowers.

I would like to thank Dell for this ARC via Netgalley.

This story was well written if you want feminine rage meets Greek mythology. I think maybe this time of year I am just not in the mood for this type of book. It just wasn’t quite it for me.

A mix of Roman/Greek mythology mixed with American history that is filled with tons of feminine rage and bits of sapphic love.

Though beautifully written, I will admit that due to the detailed writing, the first half of the book takes time to work through and feels very slow but eventually picks up in the last quarter that I ended up enjoying, but in the end I just wasn't quite in love with this story as I thought I would be. I wasn't too big a fan of the involvement of the Roanoke Colony, especially the exclusion of the indigenous tribes; it felt unnecessary and kind of threw me out of the ancient mythology vibes, but I will admit it's a very unique setting that just didn't work for me. The author is a talented writer, and I look forward to seeing what else she writes in her future.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳, 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘦-𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺.

I have always been a lover of Greek and Roman mythology, the history of things, and why things are the way they are. The mythology retellings I've read usually cast a hero or heroine as the lead roll, this is the first I've read where the heroine was a "villain." It was a fresh take.

Usually I fly through books, but Shannon Ives' writing style forced me to slow down and savor the story and I really appreciate that.