The Taxidermist’s Lover by Polly Hall [book review]

About The Taxidermist’s Lover

The Taxidermist’s Lover is a gothic tale that follows a woman who is obsessed with her husband’s taxidermy creatures. When Scarlett meets Henry they have passionate love. One year later she starts trying to unravel her obsession. The only person she thinks could help her is her twin brother Rhett. He’s the only person that can help her make sense of her past and the reason why she is like she is now. Will you get dragged into this eerie world?

DNF (Did Not Finish)

What I thought about The Taxidermist’s Lover

I picked up The Taxidermist’s Lover because I thought it would be a cool concept. On top of that, the cover intrigued me even though it’s not one of my favorite covers out there. The plot kind of made me wonder what exactly the book was going to be like and what creatures Henry mixed up together.

Well, I got close to fifty percent through the book and it just wasn’t for me. For one I wasn’t really a fan of the point of view. This type of point of view isn’t something I read often and I just wasn’t that interested.

The Character(s)

On top of the point of view, I thought Scarlett was just weird. This whole story felt more like a love story to Henry and all that he does. I get that everyone has something weird about them and that’s okay but there are times you get bad vibes from people. Well, I get lots of bad vibes from Scarlett and she would definitely be someone I would avoid if she were real. That is saying a lot. Even though I’m not really a people person I have always felt the need to be inclusive towards everyone.

Other than that Scarlett has a weird obsession with her brother. Mild spoiler ahead. What struck me as odd is the fact that she somewhat hid when her brother was having sex and watched for a few minutes. It was around that part I decided that the book wasn’t for me. I can do books with evil characters because there are tons of books with evil characters that are likable or readers love to hate. For me, I just don’t like bothering with books where the main character is super weird (not in a good way) and doesn’t seem to have any likable characteristics.

I do have to give those of you who might read it a trigger warning. I didn’t read the book all the way through so I don’t know all of the potential triggers of this story but one does deal with a miscarriage.

What turns you off from a book?

If you enjoyed this review then you might like my review for The Lost Village.