strictly literary: keeper of the bees by meg kassel

the beekeeper's curse is particularly terrible. the beehive at their core one they coexist with. the horror of what they are, what they do, something they are too conscious of. dresden is a unique beekeeper, however. as tortured as the other's we have met, but he's got something of a soul still.

he has a friend, another harbinger of death. one who he's been with since the end of the napoleonic wars. it's not a friendship that makes sense. it's not a friendship he welcomed or intended. but nonetheless, it's a connection. it's a bit of humanity. most of the time dresden feels like a monster. his form generally ignored by others.

when he arrives in concordia, in the opening pages of keeper of the bees, hungry and needing to sting, he's originally drawn to a girl. but something keeps him from allowing his bees to sting her. she sees him. she sees the shifting faces, the horror that is his presence and she doesn't run. and that intrigues him.

essie is kind of out of her mind. a wickerton descendant, her family has been cursed with incurable madness for generations. and essie is the latest lucky recipient.

the connection that sparks between dresden and essie is rooted in the past. in magic and curses. but oh the way these two talk to each other, all that feeling and love and emotion that is packed into every interaction. i just loved it. i seriously loved everything about this book.

even the little glimpse of angie and reece. it's just so, so good.

**keeper of the bees will publish on september 4, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/entangled publishing (entangled teen) in exchange for my honest review.