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A review by ravenclaw_28
The Roses of May by Dot Hutchison
4.0
<<<< WARNING CONTAINS TRIGGERS/SPOILERS >>>>
The Roses of May is the second book in Dot Hutchison's The Collector series. Set four months after the destruction of The Garden, we follow Priya Sravasti and her mother as they attempt to heal and move on five years after the gruesome murder of her older sister Chavi. Not only do the FBI agents have their hands' full managing Priya and her mother but, they also have a full-time job protecting and shielding the world from the ever-burning rage of Inara and Bliss.
I loved The Butterfly Garden despite its horrific story. I could not put this down. In ways, I felt that I too was going to end up encased in glass and resin. Looking back on this, I had forgotten just how much I loved Inara in all her calm, passionate wisdom and Bliss' fiery temper and foul mouth. So, when I was introduced properly to Priya I knew this was another character that was going to worm its way into my heart.
Even though 'The Roses of May' is a story within a story, you could very much read this as a standalone but I wouldn't recommend it. I found the start of this book to be quite slow but once it began speeding up, I realised I wasn't ready for this to end.
Dot Hutchison's female character writing is exceptional. The women are strong, independent fighters and they are the type of women I would have loved reading about as a child - maybe without all the serial killers though. These women are survivors in all sense of the word. They have gone through some of the worst experiences a person could and come out alive, still fighting, and refusing to let the world tell them differently.
The one minor theme that I really struggled reading about was Priya and her Oreos. I genuinely don't think I'm going to be able to look at an Oreo again without thinking about this book. In a way that's a good thing. It shows that Dot Hutchison has made an impression on me as a reader. That's what great authors do. In this instance, the impression is negative. The Oreos are the main characters go to when things get so overwhelming, that she'll stuff herself until she's physically sick. I have always struggled reading about characters with an eating disorder only because I've known people who suffer from this, and it's very harrowing watching people do exactly this.
Even though this is part of a series of books surrounding The Garden and the FBI agents assigned to it. This book has a very different feel to it. A lot of that I think has to do with the entires told by Chavi's murderer. Dot Hutchison opts to use italics when speaking as the villain of the piece which, in my opinion, is a very clever technique. It helps keep us focussed on Priya, to reinforce the horror behind his motives and to properly introduce us to his other victims.
In relation to the villain himself, Dot Hutchison almost gives the game away very early on when Priya visits Starbucks to get out of the cold. Hutchison uses a very minor secondary character to try and take our attention away from the killer, and she succeeded to do so for me for a moment. Unfortunately for her, the unnoticeable chess player failed to hold my interest in order for me to consider them to be behind the murdered teenage girls that appeared in the spring.
I am very hesitant to recommend this book only because coming from someone who has mental health issues and knowing people who are struggling with more complex disorders, that this series could be very triggering. I don't want to be responsible for someone relapsing or causing harm to themselves in any way.
I definitely think we need more people like Deshani Sravasti in our lives. She is the ultimate tiger mum. Fierce. Loyal. Doesn't give a fuck. Forget the serial killers in this book. I don't think I'd want to come across Deshani in a dark alley. This is a character that makes grown men cower with just by walking into the room before she's even opened her mouth.
The ending of the book felt a little too neat. Like a bouquet left on the doorstep, beautiful to look at but with unanswered questions. It was always going to happen. I just hope we get to see more of Priya, Inara and Bliss in the third book The Summer Children because I am so not ready to say goodbye.
The Roses of May is the second book in Dot Hutchison's The Collector series. Set four months after the destruction of The Garden, we follow Priya Sravasti and her mother as they attempt to heal and move on five years after the gruesome murder of her older sister Chavi. Not only do the FBI agents have their hands' full managing Priya and her mother but, they also have a full-time job protecting and shielding the world from the ever-burning rage of Inara and Bliss.
I loved The Butterfly Garden despite its horrific story. I could not put this down. In ways, I felt that I too was going to end up encased in glass and resin. Looking back on this, I had forgotten just how much I loved Inara in all her calm, passionate wisdom and Bliss' fiery temper and foul mouth. So, when I was introduced properly to Priya I knew this was another character that was going to worm its way into my heart.
Even though 'The Roses of May' is a story within a story, you could very much read this as a standalone but I wouldn't recommend it. I found the start of this book to be quite slow but once it began speeding up, I realised I wasn't ready for this to end.
Dot Hutchison's female character writing is exceptional. The women are strong, independent fighters and they are the type of women I would have loved reading about as a child - maybe without all the serial killers though. These women are survivors in all sense of the word. They have gone through some of the worst experiences a person could and come out alive, still fighting, and refusing to let the world tell them differently.
The one minor theme that I really struggled reading about was Priya and her Oreos. I genuinely don't think I'm going to be able to look at an Oreo again without thinking about this book. In a way that's a good thing. It shows that Dot Hutchison has made an impression on me as a reader. That's what great authors do. In this instance, the impression is negative. The Oreos are the main characters go to when things get so overwhelming, that she'll stuff herself until she's physically sick. I have always struggled reading about characters with an eating disorder only because I've known people who suffer from this, and it's very harrowing watching people do exactly this.
Even though this is part of a series of books surrounding The Garden and the FBI agents assigned to it. This book has a very different feel to it. A lot of that I think has to do with the entires told by Chavi's murderer. Dot Hutchison opts to use italics when speaking as the villain of the piece which, in my opinion, is a very clever technique. It helps keep us focussed on Priya, to reinforce the horror behind his motives and to properly introduce us to his other victims.
In relation to the villain himself, Dot Hutchison almost gives the game away very early on when Priya visits Starbucks to get out of the cold. Hutchison uses a very minor secondary character to try and take our attention away from the killer, and she succeeded to do so for me for a moment. Unfortunately for her, the unnoticeable chess player failed to hold my interest in order for me to consider them to be behind the murdered teenage girls that appeared in the spring.
I am very hesitant to recommend this book only because coming from someone who has mental health issues and knowing people who are struggling with more complex disorders, that this series could be very triggering. I don't want to be responsible for someone relapsing or causing harm to themselves in any way.
I definitely think we need more people like Deshani Sravasti in our lives. She is the ultimate tiger mum. Fierce. Loyal. Doesn't give a fuck. Forget the serial killers in this book. I don't think I'd want to come across Deshani in a dark alley. This is a character that makes grown men cower with just by walking into the room before she's even opened her mouth.
The ending of the book felt a little too neat. Like a bouquet left on the doorstep, beautiful to look at but with unanswered questions. It was always going to happen. I just hope we get to see more of Priya, Inara and Bliss in the third book The Summer Children because I am so not ready to say goodbye.