Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana SchwartzMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Stealing a body was against the law, but if they actually took any property from the grave, that would make it a felony.
Hazel Sinnett comes from a wealthy family, is almost engaged to her cousin who is in line to become a viscount but she still dreams of becoming a surgeon. It's 1817 in Edinburgh, though, and Hazel is forced to dress as a boy when she finagles a way to attend classes at the Royal Edinburgh Anatomists’ Society, taught by the leading physician at the time, Dr. Beecham. Hazel has read and reread, Dr. Beecham's grandfather's medical treatise book and is excited to learn from him.
And so Jack Currer became a resurrection man.
Jack Currer has managed to survive on the streets by working at the local theater and making some needed side money by digging up freshly buried bodies and selling them to the Anatomists' Society for the students and doctors to learn from. When he helps a society girl sneak into a medical demonstration, neither realize how it will change their lives.
The boy in the shadows looked up, and for a moment Hazel locked eyes with him, the hairs on the back of her neck standing at attention.
Anatomy: A Love Story, was a Gothic toned story that also added in some mystery, suspense, paranormal, historical fiction, and romance. Hazel and Jack are both seventeen, so I can see their ages being the reason this is getting tagged as young adult but I can see this being enjoyed by adults maybe even more. The pace is gradual and while Hazel leads us, the story is more about the plot swirling around her and Jack than the actual characters themselves. I could see younger readers getting restless while older ones would sink in more. Readers who enjoy the series, Veronica Speedwell, Lady Sherlock, and Wrexford and Sloane, might want to check this out. This first book doesn't quite deliver the romance genre HEA but gives an ending that could easily lead to a series and I could see it falling into the essence of the other series mentioned, just with younger protagonists.
“Gentlemen, I give you ethereum. Or, what I have taken to calling in the laboratory, the Scotsman’s dodge.”
After her older brother died from Roman Fever (malaria), Hazel's mother slipped into depression and only cares about coddling and protecting the younger brother Percy. With her military father off guarding Napoleon, Hazel is pretty much left to her own devices. She occasionally goes out with her cousin Bernard, who shows flashes of possessiveness and is slowly trying to get Hazel to give up her dream of being a surgeon, nevertheless, Hazel realizes the importance of marrying him, having security. Hazel's focus on her quest to become a surgeon has her a bit naive at times, it feeds certain plots but this also makes it feel forced. There were times that it was obvious that the author was driving the plot, instead of a naturalness from the characters. All the threads involving the medicine of the day, ether being introduced, were intriguing and a little gory, adding to the Gothic tone and I liked how it tied into the mystery plot of people disappearing; is it a resurgence of Roman Fever or something more sinister.
“And how much do you charge for something like that?” she asked. “A body.”
“That depends. Are you in the market for one”?
“That depends,” Hazel replied. “Do you make deliveries?”
The romance doesn't really get going until around 50% and even then it's not the focus. Hazel and Jack start to spend more time together when Hazel gets discovered as a girl at the Society, enters into a deal with Dr. Beecham, and ends up paying Jack for bodies to study on. We get to know Hazel pretty well but Jack didn't feel as flushed out as there were other focuses in the story. These two were sweet together but their youth and circumstances keep the story from giving them too much of relationship development. The secondary characters were utilized well and if this does continue on into a series, I definitely want to see more of Jack's friend Munro and the Dr. Straine.
It was easy to die in Edinburgh, but Jack had made it seventeen years because he knew how to survive.
As I read an advanced reading copy, I don't want to give too much away but the ending does provide some revelations I saw coming and one that was a surprise and changed, if made into a series, where I thought it was going to go. This had a Gothic tone, some mystery, romance, and a twist of paranormal, I'd definitely pick up a second book to see where the plot takes the characters next.
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