In 1791 London, 41 year old Nella Clavinger runs an apothecary for women’s maladies. Her mother ran it before her. 12 year old Eliza Fanning comes looking for a poison to kill her head of household, Mr. Amwell. Eliza’s mistress, Mrs. Amwell, sent little Eliza. Mrs. Amwell and Eliza are successful in their endeavor of killing creepy old Mr. Amwell. Mrs. Amwell takes a vacation and tells housemaid Eliza to go somewhere to take a rest as well. She goes back to Nella as she finds a pull to the shop and the magic within. Eliza is desperate to learn from Nella and help with her tinctures. Lady Clarence comes in asking for something to kill her husband’s mistress. This murder goes awry and someone else is killed instead. Because of a teeny tiny mistake on Eliza’s part, the apothecary is now under hypothetical fire.

In present day, Caroline Parcewell is meant to be visiting London with husband James for their 10 year anniversary. She just found that he’s been cheating on her. She still goes to London to get some space from him. Unfortunately he decides to chase after her and fight for her. Admirable but she wants space to figure things out. On a mudlarking tour, Caroline finds a small blue vial with an etching of a bear on it. She researches it and uncovers that it was a vial from Nella’s apothecary. She eventually finds *The Lost Apothecary.*

I love the book cover and love the idea of the book. I was hoping for a big reveal at the end that Caroline may be a relative of Nella or Eliza but no such luck. It was an easy read but only a 2/5.

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