... deliciously macabre ... Anatomy is a love story, so you can guess that Hazel and Jack soon begin developing a slow-burn romance, although I'd argue that the love story of the subtitle is not only theirs but also Hazel's love affair with medicine and the lengths she'll go to be able to practice it ... Some readers familiar with the mystery genre will likely guess quite a few of the twists as they're signaled pretty early on, but the journey there is nevertheless fun—and, occasionally, squelchy and gruesome, in just the right amount for a gothic love story.
Schwartz’s magical novel is at once gripping and tender, and the intricate plot is engrossing as the reader tries to solve the mystery. She doesn’t miss a beat in either the characterization or action, scattering clues with a delicate, precise hand. This is, in the end, the story of the anatomy of the human heart.
With an elegantly macabre touch, Schwartz stitches a haunting romance with the gritty realities of corpse-related medical practices in 19th-century Edinburgh ... Though Hazel is all but engaged to her viscount cousin, her unlikely, secret friendship with Jack blossoms as delicately curated details decorate an intricately woven, unsettling plot that is occasionally overwhelmed by Hammer-like atmospherics.
The novel contains elements of mystery, horror, romance, and feminist historical fiction but unfortunately does not quite succeed at any. The science is only as accurate as the story requires. Hazel’s romance with her body-stealing companion is complicated by her long-standing betrothal to her boring cousin...who plays a minor villain role. Hazel treats the poor from her dungeon surgery and plans a takedown of medical patriarchy, which slows the unfolding of a mystery that is signaled in the prologue. The enjoyably creepy elements and grandstanding main villain are largely relegated to the final chapters. Characters default to White ... Unlikely to steal readers’ hearts.
