Hideous Love by Stephanie Hemphill

[hayleyb1]

Hideous Love by Stephanie Hemphill is a historical fiction novel written in a freestyle poetic form. The storyline is emotional and captivating while telling the life story of one of the most influential female writers of the 1800s. While falling in love with Mary Shelley's infatuation with Percy Shelley and their romantic elopement and adventures together, you are transported to other countries and times. Reading poems about Mary's views of the world, you also begin to see the doubt and fear of her partner/husband's infidelities throughout their relationship.

As a reader, you also feel the heartache of Mary Shelley losing almost all of her children from soon after birth up to three years old. You feel her pain and abandonment by her father and family, as well as the betrayal of her sister's affair with Percy Shelley. The story carries the reader through the ups and downs of Mary Shelley's life from falling in love to losing her love and all the happiness and heartache between.

This poetic novel held my attention enough so that I finished reading Stephanie Hemphill's book in an afternoon. I felt her all-encompassing love, her heartache, her loss, and her dedication to her craft. Hideous Love is romantic in all the good and bad ways that a hypnotizing novel can be. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and look forward to other books by Ms. Hemphill.