Lisa Reviews: Megan Shepherd's – “The Madman’s Daughter”

“Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father’s gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true.

Accompanied by her father’s handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward—both of whom she is deeply drawn to—Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father’s madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island’s inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father’s dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it’s too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father’s genius—and madness—in her own blood.”

The Madman’s Daughter came out a while ago, and when everyone was picking it up and reading it, and raving about it, I knew I had to jump on the bandwagon! Just like everyone was claiming, this one was creepy, but I loved it!

This book was already had me scared within just the first few chapters, especially with the bunny scene! I don’t want to say too much, because I want you all to experience what I did, but it was absolutely bananas. I started feeling nauseous and dizzy while reading it, and that’s never happened to me before. I don’t know how or why this scene affected me so much, but I felt sick to my stomach.

The Madman’s Daughter was such a peculiar story. I can’t think of anything that can even slightly compare to this book. Obviously, this book is based off of another story, but I was still in complete awe. Her dad, who he was, what he did…it was mind blowing!

Alongside the main idea of the book, the characters were strange and intriguing too. Juliet is a teenage girl struggling to make small living and her father was a scientist who was shamed by society when he started these strange set of experiments on animals.

Montgomery is Juliet’s childhood servant and friend, who she reconnects with after her horrifying experience with the bunny rabbit. He isn’t the little boy Juliet knew all those years ago, but has grown into man. When Edward arrived at the ship on his wooden plank, he was this mysterious character who I wanted to learn more about. When these two (very cute) guys were introduced and Juliet seemed to be interested in both of them, I feared a love triangle. But, lucky me, there wasn’t much of that. There were a few small scenes here and there (which didn’t bother me at all), but they didn’t outshine or wash over the most important elements of the story!

Overall, The Madman’s Daughter was one of the weirdest books I’ve ever read. It even gave me goose bumps a few times throughout the story, and it was such an outstanding read. I’ve already picked up the second book, Her Dark Curiosity, and I’m excited to start it!