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Monday, 28 June 2021

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron


Darkness blooms in bestselling author Kalynn Bayron’s new contemporary fantasy about a girl with a unique and deadly power.

Briseis has a gift: with a single touch, she can grow plants from tiny seeds to rich blooms.

When Briseis’s aunt leaves her a dilapidated estate, Bri and her parents head there for the summer. Hopefully surrounded by plants and flowers, Bri will finally learn to control her gift. But their new home is sinister in ways they never imagined--it comes with a specific set of instructions, an old-school apothecary, and a walled garden growing the deadliest botanicals in the world.

When strangers begin to arrive on their doorstep, asking for tinctures and elixirs, Bri learns she has a talent for creating them. One visitor is Marie, a mysterious young woman who Bri befriends, only to find that Marie is keeping dark secrets of her own. 

Up against a centuries-old curse, Bri must harness her gift to protect herself and her family.

From the bestselling author of Cinderella Is Dead comes another enchanting story about a young woman with dark forces descending around her.

Bri was adopted by her moms. She never knew her real mother and hasn't thought about her much...except to wonder if she had the same strange abilities that Bri does, if she could grow plants from seeds and bend trees without even trying.

A surprise inheritance from an aunt Bri didn't know she had sends her on a dangerous scavenger hunt. At the end, she hopes, are answers about her abilities. But along the way there's a girl, and a boy, and a lot more questions...


Kalynn's last book took on the Cinderella story. This one focuses on the little known Medea and her better known husband, Jason of the Argonauts. I'm intrigued by the new stories woven into the myth...I couldn't tell the difference between the new bits and the old, if that reassures you at all.

It does feature instalove - or insta attraction, anyway - which is one of my least favorite tropes, but it wasn't overwhelming, which was nice. And there was also a lovely male-female friendship, which doesn't happen a lot. I don't want to give any spoilers, so I won't say more about the characters, except that I liked Bri; she was clever and brave and just the right amount of reckless for a story like this.

I'm excited to read the next book in the series - I think this is a duology, but I'm not sure. There's a lot to sort out so it could very well be a trilogy. I can't wait to see how the problems at the end of this one will be solved - and given that last twist I think there'll be plenty more surprises in store. I can't wait to read about them. 



This Poison Heart publishes on the 29th of June, 2021. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review. 

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