Lilibet Bombshell's Reviews > A Botanist's Guide to Society and Secrets

I’ve adored the previous two Saffron Everleigh books, so I was incredibly excited to read this one, especially with the title! Society! Secrets!

Sadly, this installment of Saffron Everleigh just didn’t gel for me and I ended up only being able to really engage with certain parts of the book and only liking certain aspects of the book instead of engaging with and liking the whole of it.

What did I like? The characters, mostly. How can you not love Kate Khavari’s colorful and unique cast of characters? She writes them all so well in all of their complexities, gives them all a full voice, and lets them all play their parts in the story. You can’t help but to become invested in them and delight in the delicious dialogue Khavari writes for them.

What did I have issues with? Really, it was the pacing, of all things. Society and Secrets not only takes time to get going, but it takes time to really engage fully, and even once it’s going fully the story is full of stops and stutters that just made this story feel really uneven.

Do I still recommend Society and Secrets despite the low rating? Yes I do, because I’m not going to give up on Saffron Everleigh due to one book that didn’t meet my standards. For all I know I’m just not having a good reading day. Since I know we’re getting at least one more book (if not more) out of Khavari about Miss Saffron, I recommend reading it because you need to read these books in order to understand the overall story arc.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. This review is rated three starts or less so it will not be appearing on my social media. Thank you.

File Under: Book Series/Historical Fiction/Historical Romance//Mystery