Hot House Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire

by: Margot Berwin

Published by: Pantheon Books

Reviewed by Diane Keyes

The dust jacket on Hot House Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire by Margot Berwin may be the best marriage of art and text that I’ve ever seen. Worthy of its own place of honor on an art gallery wall or your coffee table, its hot colors, bold tropical flowers and gold leaf design give you your first glimpse of the steamy, passionate, and sumptuous world that awaits you within. The book and its cover are hot! However, I want to be clear. Although the book is both sensuous and sensual, Berwin writes beautifully, not explicitly.

There’s a part of me as a reviewer that wants to dissect this book, as reviewers are inclined to do. I do find holes in the plot of Hot House Flower and a not very sympathetic protagonist in Lila Nova. However, much like a poodle that’s been bred with a pug to create a pugapoo, the resulting pup, albeit an unusual genetic mix, is utterly irresistible. And the truth is that I found this book un-put-down-able.

It’s got everything anyone could ask from a good book. It’s a purely delightful concoction of adventure, passion, romance; the bliss and burden of marriage; spirituality; science lab; and nature’s own pharmaceuticals, stirred, not shaken with the sensibilities of the sixties and an object lesson to boot.

Lila’s journey to the Yucatan peninsula in search of the nine plants of desire is as much a journey to her own center, encouraging and sometimes forcing her to confront both her physical and emotional fears and brokenness. But Berwin’s amazing ability to transport the reader seamlessly from one locale to another make it seem more like 2009’s equivalent of a magic carpet ride.

So if you’re looking for a little danger, a little mystery, the feel of warm sand between your toes, crystal clear turquoise water lapping at your feet, the oxygen-rich air of the rain forest, and the heat of a new romance Hot House Flower is your ticket to ride.

Armchair Interviews agrees.