This Poison Heart

Happy Friday!  Today I will be reviewing This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron.  It is the first book in a planned duology.  Here is the synopsis:

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

When Briseis's aunt dies and wills her a dilapidated estate in rural New York, Bri and her parents decide to leave Brooklyn behind for the summer. Hopefully there, surrounded by plants and flowers, Bri will finally learn to control her gift. But their new home is sinister in ways they could never have imagined--it comes with a specific set of instructions, an old-school apothecary, and a walled garden filled with the deadliest botanicals in the world that can only be entered by those who share Bri's unique family lineage.

When strangers begin to arrive on their doorstep, asking for tinctures and elixirs, Bri learns she has a surprising talent for creating them. One of the visitors is Marie, a mysterious young woman who Bri befriends, only to find that Marie is keeping dark secrets about the history of the estate and its surrounding community. There is more to Bri's sudden inheritance than she could have imagined, and she is determined to uncover it . . . until a nefarious group comes after her in search of a rare and dangerous immortality elixir. Up against a centuries-old curse and the deadliest plant on earth, Bri must harness her gift to protect herself and her family.

If you're a fan of Greek mythology, The Secret Garden, Little Shop of Horrors, or all three, then this book is definitely for you.

This Poison Heart is about a girl named Briseis.  She works in a flower shop with her two moms and she has a green thumb, literally.  This gift that makes them approach her like friends and grow at super-speed. Also, she's immune to the most poisonous plants in the world.  When I read this, I was thinking to myself, "She's like a mini Poison Ivy" and was delighted when one of the characters in the book comes to a similar conclusion.   One day, she learns that the aunt of her deceased biological mother has left her her old house.  To escape the bustling city, Bri and her parents go up to check out the estate.  As they settle in, strange things begin to happen.  Random people begin showing up on the property, a garden that holds more secrets than answers, and a mysterious group whose intentions seem malignant.  The deeper Briseis delves into the history of her family and her garden, the more she learns about who she really is and what's really at stake.

I really enjoyed this book.  It's the sort of light and breezy YA novel that I crave.  The last quarter was brutal and I can't wait to see where the author goes from here in telling Briseis's story.  There's a lot to love in this book: beautiful descriptions of plants and nature, elemental magic, mythology, a main character who loves and will do anything for her family, and a really driving sense of pacing that kept me turning the pages even as part of me wanted to make this last so I could hold onto the story longer.

In conclusion, read this book.

The sequel, This Wicked Fate, is expected to be released next year.

XOXO, Michaela

Pssst!

Down here!

Hi everyone!  I wanted to let you know that I'm working on a very special project that's coming this October.  Stay tuned! 😉