Oleander: A Great Expectations Reimagining

Beautifully written, this modern MM retelling of Dicken's 'Great Expectations' is more accessible to the contemporary reader than the original, more direct, but still has the power of the classic story. A bildungsroman, it follows young Jude from 15 to 28 as he develops his obsessive love for Caspien, a relationship that calls into question sexual identity, moral obligation to family, friends and society, and his own hopes for his future, for the kind of man he wants to become. This is a story for those of us that had an epic first love, one that made us question everything that we thought we knew, our relationship to society and to ourself, out place in the universe. It encompasses tender burgeoning love, horrible first heartbreak and numbing pain, despair and the realignment that ensues as we find new ways to cope, hopefully new ways to live and be ourselves, the new self, the one that goes on. You do not need to have read the original, you already know the story, it is in our culture, Dickens is part of our collective subconscious. I confess I was reminded of the 90's film with Gwyneth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke, but only because of the beauty of it's young stars in a contemporary setting (I fell in love with both of them at the time, but that is just me); the story is universal and relatable. My point is you know this story, and it will remind you of what it is to be young and in and out of love, to feel that first pain and isolation, that claustrophobic fear of existential…

Rating: 4.5⭐️ Format: 🎧📖 Spice: 🌶️🌶️.5 This is painful. It’s like who can be the biggest martyr x1000. As an aromantic person, this story took a whole other perspective to really understand. From the moment of act 2, I couldn’t quite understand the overlying feeling of heartbreak and how it overshadowed every aspect of Jude life. The push and pull and the feeling of inevitable pain. Jude wholly knew that pain would come letting Cas in but he just couldn’t help it. Knowing the person that you loved would be the one to break and remold you over must hurt. I wondered through everything, how forgiveness would look like in the end. They got their HEA in the end but this story showed me so many pathways that this could’ve gone and it would’ve still been an HEA. It was excruciating and drawn out to the point you’ll ask yourself, how can one person be the cause of such devastation and solution all at once? I do not envy this kind of love but I can say I can respect the tenaciousness of it. I will say that this is one of the best storytelling that I’ve experienced, the prose captured me from the very beginning and created a very memorable feeling for me. I do believe this is the type of story that will stay with me for awhile, it had me questioning parts of myself I didn’t know existed. Throughout this whole story, the way that I view love as a concept was brought up a lot and I learned a lesson from this. I’ll have to give props to Scarlett, this is a fantastic piece of…

⭐️ ♾️/5 🌶️ 2.5/5 Main characters: Jude & Caspien Side characters: Gideon, Luke, Finlay Honorable mention side characters: Jasper & Nathan Page count: 599 Single POV, told from Jude’s perspective. This story is stunning. One of my favorite books of all time. It is so painfully heartbreaking and beautiful in equal measure. The writing is gorgeous. The audiobook narration is the best I’ve ever heard. Shout out to George Naylor for absolutely killing it. This is a story about love. Against all odds. Enduring love. Pure love. Even when it is so painful. When I first read this book I wasn’t sure Caspien deserved to be on the receiving end of Jude’s love, but the more I sat with it, I realized how misunderstood he was and how broken. And that he was very much deserving of forgiveness. I really can’t say enough about how much I love this book. Not for the faint of heart, but so so worth it. 🤍

This book…. Initially it was hard to get into, the writing felt pretentious (and in some ways it very much is, as tho the author believes herself to be Dickens) but then I got past the prologue and into the story. I usually dislike enemies to lovers because they’re never truly enemies but she nailed the genre - I’ll give her that. Then the awful thing happened (no spoilers) and I hate-read part 2 and then it got better again, tho how manipulative Cas is was nearly unbearable, I thought that while I wanted a happy ending for Jude I never believed he could truly have one with Cas- HOW could he ever trust that man?? But part 3 was a redemption I didn’t see coming (tho I always knew who Jude’s benefactor was- that was obvious) the author skillfully assuaged my worries about Cas by using his POV for the epilogue- that was a very smart choice and I was thankful for it! I don’t think many readers could have ever trusted Jude’s HEA without it.

5⭐️ Scarlett Drake knocked it out of the park with this book! It surpassed my expectations by a long shot. I was hesitant to read as I've never read Great Expectations, though I had a good idea of what it was about. My worry was for nothing. The storytelling was amazing, I simply could not put this book down from start to finish. There is great character development, interesting prose, and compelling dialogue. There is much angst and the story overall dealt me some emotional trauma but it was well worth it in the end. I will recommend any reader to read this book. *********************** After a second read, it’s solidified as my #2 favorite read of 2024. Oleander is an incredible, beautiful, and deeply complicated story that completely captivated me. Spanning 13 years, it follows the messy, enthralling relationship between Cas and Jude, including their connections with others along the way. This book won’t be for everyone, but for me, it was absolute perfection—a stunning and unforgettable journey that I’ll treasure.