Her Dark Curiosity by Megan Shepherd Review

Her Dark Curiosity by Megan Shepherd
(The Madman's Daughter, #2)
Release Date: January 28, 2014
Publisher: Balzer + Bray; 368 pages

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.

If you have NOT read The Madman's Daughter, please read with caution. There are some spoilers that were unavoidable. Proceed with caution . . .

 Anyone who knows me or has asked me for a book to read knows the first book I'm going to recommend is The Madman's Daughter. I freaking love this book and I couldn't wait to read this one - I needed more of these characters and this dark, creepy world Megan has created. And the time period, it's one I love reading (and one I wish I were born in to) so when I was approved for this book, I may have danced around the room with glee. It took everything in me to resist reading it right then and there.

Now, I wasn't very familiar with the tale of The Island of Dr. Moreau for the first book and I really enjoyed it. So, to me, it was an original story. Not the case with this book, the story of Jekyl & Hyde is one I'm familiarized with. Even so, I was looking forward to it because, even though I'm more of  Montgomery girl, I really like Edward and to find out more about him and his Monster, yes, I wanted that. I know one thing this book has helped do was secure my love for Montgomery. Edward is alright but even as himself, Monster not present, he's creepy and bit obsessive. A little too much for my liking. I actually find the monster side of him more interesting but still, not a good enough match for Juliet, in my book.

This book was filled with lots of death, lots of bloodshed and a heck of a lot of mystery. There is a murderer on the loose and all the deaths lead back to one person. They are tied to one persons history.

I love that Lucy, one of Juliet's best friends, has a much larger role in this book, as she should since we're back in England. Many, many times she annoyed because she is your typical rich, upperclass girl from an important family. Stuck up is the way I'd describe her but you know what? She surprised the hell out of me throughout the book. By the end, I am so glad that Juliet has someone like her there.

There is definitely romance there with both guys, actually - if we want to be honest, it's like this love . . . square? It's almost like her and three other guys because technically, Edward is like two guys, right? It's really weird but yet, really fascinating. *highlight to view spoiler* I was kind of surprised with how quickly things progressed with Edward, to be honest. A little hurt by it too but it made sense. Montgomery abandoned her and it was he who followed Juliet to England, but it was Edward. I get it but it doesn't mean it still didn't bother me that it happened. *end spoiler*

 I haven't talked about my love for Montgomery yet, have I? What is wrong with me? I love this man. He is everything I would want, especially in this time period. He's clearly in love with Juliet but he knows he has an obligation to the creatures he helped create with her father. We may not have understood this at the end of The Madman's Daughter, we understand it now. He wants to fix what he did to her but is that possible? He hurt her more than she can admit to but underneath it all, she knows it's him she loves. But there's still so many factors that have to be fixed before any type of future can form with them, right?

While there's a heavy focus on Juliet's love life, and I'm certainly not complaining, there's also a heavy focus on the King's Club and what they're really about. There's so much that's left unsaid and to be discovered in this book and while some was easy to see coming there were many parts that weren't. Some blew my mind and others, while blowing my mind, made me cringe.

The ending . . . oh my gosh, the ENDING! The lead up for the next book and what happens at the end of this book - I can't even. I was half tempted to throw my brand new kindle across the room but that would've been silly. Had I been reading a physical book, it might have happened. Now the year long wait for the next book and I don't know how I'm going to manage.

While I can't say this book was a great as the first book, it was still a fantastic read and still will probably be a favorite of mine. It may also be because I'm not the biggest fan of the tale of Jekyl & Hyde and whether I wanted this to effect my opinion or not, I think it did - no matter what. Megan's writing is beautiful, her creativity is mind blowing and the way she takes us from one tale to the next is seamless.

Thank you so much to Harper for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review!