You ever read a book that had one large feature that ruined the book for you?

That’s what happened to me with Everything is Poison. 

Every chapter of this book had a poem before it (chapter one would end and there would be a poem before chapter two, etc). I’ve seen this storytelling tactic work before, to great effect. Not here, however, because the poems were bad. This is solely my opinion and I know poetry is one of the most subjective written mediums out there but I just thought every single one was a waste of page count and storytelling space. If they were even marginally better I could’ve rolled my eyes a little and just dismissed them as amateur attempts, but these poems were truly bad. I completely question why McCullough thought they were a good idea. 

This book is marketed as a YA book but I don’t really feel like teenage girls will appreciate it as the target demographic due to the emphasis on listening to your elders, not being able to match people’s energy, and having to hide your rage against men because of the consequences it might bring to your doorstep. At the same time, the target demographic might appreciate the attention to historical details when it comes to herbal remedies and reading anything related to Guilia Tofana (which is why I wanted to read this book). 

It just wasn’t a good book for me. I suspect it’ll be a great book for some, though. 

I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Reviews rated three stars or under will not appear on my social media. Thank you.