This is a great read. Super spooky and fast paced, it is thoroughly enjoyable for young people and adults alike. Shepard does a great job of hooking the attention of her reader, she sucks you in and makes the book incredibly difficult to put down. From the very first chapter I was totally riveted and couldn’t wait to find out what happens next. Great start to the trilogy, I can’t wait to see where Shepard goes with the story in part two!
After her father’s disgrace and her mother’s death Juliet makes due cleaning the medical school at night after the students have gone home. A far cry from the only daughter of London’s premier surgeon, but at least her father’s connections have afforded her this job.
Unfortunately, as a servant, she’s subject to the wandering hands of the less savory senior staff members. Unfortunately for those who cross her, Juliet is well-trained in anatomy and has little trouble rendering a wandering hand useless against further transgressions. Of course, protecting her virtue costs her her job, and would probably mean prison time if she couldn’t make herself scarce.
Thankfully Juliet has discovered an old diagram of her father’s in the possession of some young medical students. Tracking the diagram back to its source she finds that her childhood friend and family servant, Montgomery, is in London collecting things for none other than her father. Throwing herself at the mercy of Montgomery and his strangely misshapen companion, Juliet soon finds herself on her way to her father’s island.
What awaits her there is nothing she expected. Her father is cold, distant and more than a little mad. Now it seems like the very inhabitants of the island are a threat and Juliet doesn’t know who to trust. Can she make it out alive? Will the handsome and brooding Montgomery survive long enough to come back to London with her?
Shortish and Bookish 