Saturday 28 December 2013

(ARC) Book Review (288): Her Dark Curiosity (The Madman's Daughter #2) - Megan Shepherd


Her Dark Curiosity (The Madman's Daughter #2)

Publication: 28th January 2014
Publisher: Balzer+Bray
Pages: 368
Genre: Historical Fiction/Fantasy
Age Appropriate: Young Adult
To defeat the darkness, she must first embrace it.

Months have passed since Juliet Moreau returned to civilization after escaping her father's island—and the secrets she left behind. Now, back in London once more, she is rebuilding the life she once knew and trying to forget Dr. Moreau’s horrific legacy—though someone, or something, hasn’t forgotten her.

As people close to Juliet fall victim one by one to a murderer who leaves a macabre calling card of three clawlike slashes, Juliet fears one of her father’s creations may have also escaped the island. She is determined to find the killer before Scotland Yard does, though it means awakening sides of herself she had thought long banished, and facing loves from her past she never expected to see again.

As Juliet strives to stop a killer while searching for a serum to cure her own worsening illness, she finds herself once more in the midst of a world of scandal and danger. Her heart torn in two, past bubbling to the surface, life threatened by an obsessive killer—Juliet will be lucky to escape alive.

With inspiration from Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, this is a tantalizing mystery about the hidden natures of those we love and how far we’ll go to save them from themselves.
My Thoughts.
Her Dark Curiosity is the second book in The Madman's Daughter trilogy by Megan Shepherd.
Megan has crafted an extremely amazing sequel that easily surpasses her debut novel, and sets the stage to what should be an epic conclusion to this fantastic series.
Everything about this book is well done, from the astoundingly beautiful cover to the engrossing writing, the well-written characters and the carefully thought out and developed plot that will keep you entertained the whole way through.
This won't be a long review, I say that because I don't want to give away any spoilers and in discussing this book I'm afraid I'll do just that, there's just so much I want to write about that happened in this story, but I want people to read this book themselves and discover everything without any warnings beforehand, and trust me, it's all good!
The book opens after the conclusion of the last one, Juliet is back in London, secretly trying to find a cure for her condition now that her drugs aren't working that well anymore, there have been murders occurring by a serial killer nicknamed the "Wolf Of Whitechapel", these murders are all linked and once Juliet figures out just what that is, she then discovers just who it is, it seems someone/something has followed her from the island to London, and the one thing they're after is Juliet!
I can't praise this book enough, it's just fabulous and the fact that it's loosely based on the 'Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde' story adds another layer to the tale.
For those of you who like books featuring: action/adventure and suspense all put together in a historical setting then this is the series for you.
I'm highly anticipating the third and final book in this series, I'm desperate to know how this will all end.
I give this 5/5 stars.


I’ve been many things, like a professional exchange student, park ranger in Montana, and LOST enthusiast, but what I am now is a writer.
I think it’s fair to say I was born into it. I grew up in the mountains of North Carolina, raised behind the counter of my parents’ independent bookstore, Highland Books in Brevard. Ah, so many free books. But I never thought being a writer could be a real career. After college I thought I’d end up as a foreign service officer somewhere dashing and exotic, like Canada. I studied French, Spanish, German, and Russian and still speak a few of those. Then I joined the Peace Corps and spent two years in Senegal, where I learned a few more languages I’ll never speak again and lived in a mud hut with no electricity or running water. You can probably imagine how that experience went, but if you’re curious, here are the dirty details
It wasn't until a chance aquaintance read something I wrote and said, "have you ever considered being a writer?" that something clicked and I realized it was possible. My husband encouraged me, and I quickly fell head-over-heels in love with writing and children's literature in particular. I started out writing articles, which have appeared in Faces, Appleseeds, and Calliope magazines, and stories for younger children. I soon realized I wasn’t sweet enough to write fiction for that age and found myself writing young adult literature instead, which doesn’t require nearly as many tender moments and includes a lot more cursing.
When I'm not writing, I can usually be found horseback riding, day dreaming at coffee shops, or hiking in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina. I love to hear from readers, so please drop me a line!

2 comments:

  1. Wow, I really need to get started on this series! Everyone's loving this book. I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I'll definitely be reading these books before the third one comes out :)

    Richa @ City of Books

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