3.5
Law of the Jungle
ByPublisher Description
Rowena Aldus is a British scientist living in the Amazonian jungle of Venezuela where she is studying spider venom which may prove a cure for ED. She meets an angel investor and falls in love, only to have her dreams and her life shattered.
Guy Westerphal, venture capitalist and startup consultant, has tracked down Rowena and arranges to meet her. His interest in her research and his stated desire to fund it seems a dream come true to Rowena. He travels with her back to her primitive research station in the jungle and throws himself into understanding her work.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesLaw of the Jungle Reviews
3.5
“This novella started off so promising, unfortunately the chapters are too disjointed and the story doesn’t have much flow. The first two parts were my favourite, they were connected and moved the story along. Part 3 was the longest but also the least useful and felt like a whole different story altogether. It also just lasted way too long time wise .
Sadly this just reads like a couple separate ideas that the author didn’t know how to connect.
The writing itself IS quite good and easy to read.
I received a copy from book sirens & am leaving this review voluntarily.”
“I enjoyed listening to this story. It was very interesting. The narrator was not my favorite.”
“This was a short read taking place in the jungle. It had enough going on that it could be a movie. A quirky read. Thanks for the chance to read this book”
“The book had a nice plot, and I enjoyed reading it, but some details were a bit unconvincing and contradictory. For instance, why is a pharmacology student suddenly attending lectures in French literature? At one moment we are told that the protagonist doesn't drink, but shortly after and then for the rest of the book she is drinking various different alcoholic drinks.
More importantly, I had difficulty suspending belief that a researcher would do years of field work and not make any backups of their data to a secure location, nor show any interest in publishing their results. Publishing is what researchers live for! Although I understand it was necessary for the plot, it was also a bit unlikely that she would be working all alone, unfunded and unaffiliated for years. And why did she not make any friends or at least social contacts with the people in the village very close to her fieldwork site? If she was so lonely, surely she would have done that.
That meant that I struggled for the first half of the book, I just had too much difficulty suspending my disbelief. But after that, it picked up. Perhaps because the typical thriller type plot elements were further from my personal experience, it was easier to accept them and get caught up in the thrill of the chase. The plot had some nice twists and I raced through the short book in no time at all.
Disclaimer: The publishers provided an advance copy of this book via Book Sirens in return for an honest review.”
“Rowena is a scientist in the Amazon jungle. Primarily working with the venom of the Brazilian wandering spider studying its effects on libido and ED, Rowena has spent years researching with little funds and dwindling support from any scientific institutes. Then after a chance meeting with Guy, an enthusiastic fan with seemingly unlimited funds and unlimited charm, Rowena's scientific research may be able to finally go somewhere. But, will the law of the jungle be right this time?
This was my first time reading anything by Christina Hoag and after finishing Law of the Jungle, I'm excited to read more. Law of the Jungle was such a fast paced, quick, enjoyable read. I very rarely like a character in a book completely, but I can honestly say that I adored Rowena. I found myself having such sympathy for her, even when she was making stupid, naive decisions. And I was rooting for her the entire time. There was just enough science and scientific jargon included that I was interested, but not overwhelmed. The vengeance, the twists, and the jungle adventures were incredible and I loved reading every second of this novella.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.”
About Christina Hoag
Christina Hoag is a former journalist who has had her laptop searched by Colombian guerrillas, her phone tapped in Venezuela, was suspected of drug trafficking in Guyana, hid under a car to evade Guatemalan soldiers, and posed as a nun to get inside a Caracas jail. She has interviewed gang members, bank robbers, thieves and thugs in prisons, shantytowns, and slums, not to forget billionaires and presidents, some of whom fall into the previous categories.Christina's noir crime novel Skin of Tattoos was a finalist for the Silver Falchion Award for suspense, while her YA novel Girl on the Brink was named one of Suspense Magazine's best for young adults. She also co-authored the nonfiction book, Peace in the Hood: Working with Gang Members to End the Violence, which is used as a textbook at University of California Los Angeles, University of Southern California and other academic institutions.She has won several awards for her short stories and creative nonfiction essays, which have been published in anthologies and literary journals including Shooter (UK), San Antonio Review, Santa Barbara Literary Journal, and others.She's a former staff writer for the Miami Herald and Associated Press and reported from 14 countries around Latin America for Time, Business Week, New York Times, Financial Times, Sunday Times of London, Houston Chronicle, and other news outlets. She is a graduate of Boston University.Born in New Zealand, Christina grew up in seven countries. She now lives in California, where she has taught creative writing at a maximum-security prison and to at-risk teen girls. She is a regular speaker at women's conferences, writing conferences and organizations, book clubs and stores, and libraries.
Other books by Christina Hoag
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