My book reviews for the This Poison Heart Duology by Kalynn Bayron, including This Poison Heart and This Wicked Fate. Please be aware that the review for the second book contains spoilers.

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 dies and wills her a dilapidated estate in rural New York, Bri and her parents hope that surrounded by plants and flowers, she will finally learn to control her gift. But their new home is sinister in ways they never expected-it comes with a mysterious set of instructions, a walled garden filled with the deadliest botanicals in the world, and generations of secrets. There is more to Bri's sudden inheritance than she could have imagined, and she is determined to uncover it.

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

Content Warnings:

Please note
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Before I begin, I have to start with talking about the cover of This Poison Heart. I’m well aware of how monumentally important it is to have more people of colour on the cover of books; however, the cover of this book was important for another reason too: a character wearing glasses. Other than a couple of male wizards, there has only been one female character in fantasy that has been on a book cover, and that is Trisana Chandler from Tamora Pierce’s Emelan series (specifically on the cover of Tris’ book in the Circle of Magic quartet and Shatterglass in The Circle Opens quartet). Even then, she’s only shown on some of the covers, and when the covers for the Circle of Magic quartet were redesigned, her glasses are shown hanging around her neck rather than on her face, which is entirely pointless, as her eyesight is so bad that she wouldn’t take them off.

The point I’m trying to make is how important it is for a young adult book to not just have a female character wearing glasses, but to have her featured prominently on the cover, actually wearing her glasses. And it’s not just a gimmick for the cover; throughout This Poison Heart, Briseis’s glasses are there in every scene. She touches them, she moves them, and that might not seem like much to someone who doesn’t wear glasses. To me, to someone who has grown up wearing them since I was seven, it was amazing to see all those movements, all those habits as a glasses wearer be finally seen and represented.

Of course, This Poison Heart is much more than a book about a girl wearing glasses. I just had to get that out there, as it was the first thing I noticed.

There is so much going on in This Poison Heart, and it’s glorious. The world-building and how it ties into Greek mythology are just perfection, and the characters are all brilliant. It’s a book that has so much darkness, and also so much light and goodness, too. As Briseis finds out about her abilities and her birth family, she’s anchored by her family and their love, and it’s a thing of beauty. Her moms are amazing, and the way they have just accepted Briseis’s ability and work with it is wonderful to see. This book is all about acceptance, and that includes accepting the things you don’t have a choice about. Briseis finds out a massive secret, a dark one that she isn’t sure she can handle and one she doesn’t really have a choice about.

One thing I feel that I should mention is that this book ends on a huge cliffhanger. Thankfully, the second book, This Wicked Fate, is now out, so you can just pick it straight up and find out what happens next!

An instant New York Times bestseller!

Would you tempt even the most dangerous fate to save the ones you love?

Briseis has one chance to save her mother, but she'll need to do the impossible: find the last fragment of the deadly Absyrtus Heart. To locate the missing piece, she must turn to the blood relatives she's never known, learn about their secret powers, and take her place in their ancient lineage.

But Briseis is not the only one who wants the Heart, and her enemies will stop at nothing to fulfill their own ruthless plans. The fates tell of a truly dangerous journey, one that could end in more heartache, more death. Strengthened by the sisterhood of ancient magic, can Briseis harness her power to save the people she loves most?

Bestselling author Kalynn Bayron continues the story of Briseis and her family's unique magic in the sequel to This Poison Heart.

This book was provided for free by NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book!

Content Warnings:

At the end of the previous book, Briseis’ mom, Thandie, died, and her soul was taken somewhere safe by the goddess Hecate to prevent it from going to the underworld. However, Hecate can only keep her soul safely hidden for one moon cycle. During that time, Briseis has been given an impossible task: bring all the pieces of the Absyrtus Heart back together and thus resurrect Hecate’s son. On top of all that, her aunt Circe, who she had been told was dead, had literally just walked in the door demanding to know what was going on.

This Wicked Fate continues the themes of family, identity and love that began in This Poison Heart, and Bayron delves deeper into the Colchis family legacy. Through Circe, we learn more about the family’s legacy as she teaches Briseis, and there’s lots more Greek mythology in this one as they hunt down the last piece of the Absyrtus Heart. I’ll be honest, I am beginning to get a little jaded with so many authors using Greek mythology (there are more pantheons out there, just saying!); however, the way that Bayron weaves it into her story feels so much more genuine. It’s not the same old myths being rehashed. Medea is a figure who often gets overlooked because she’s a part of so many other people’s stories. She’s the daughter of someone important, the wife of a hero, the niece of a powerful witch and so on. Making her and her descendants the centre of a story is different to the many stories of demigods and other retellings I keep seeing.

Then there’s the magic system of this duology, which has been fabulous from the start. Circe’s presence means we also get to learn more about the Colchis family’s powers. As the ladies set out to find Briseis’ mom, she needs to be on top of her game, so she gets some lessons from Circe. Of course, these are emotionally fuelled, considering the circumstances. The whole of This Wicked Fate is, to be honest, and one moment my heart was swelling with love, then bursting with emotion and another moment it was thumping with emotion. This book is a total rollercoaster, which is to be expected.

I loved every minute of it. I felt so much for Briseis because Bayron gently tips the reader off to some things which Briseis doesn’t quite catch up on. We have to watch as she realises what has happened, and it’s heartbreaking. It feels like the poor girl can’t catch a break, and from the events of the first book, it’s clear that Bayron doesn’t pull her punches. You’ll be on the edge of your seat throughout This Wicked Fate, and if you’re a crier like me, tissues are definitely a must.

Thanks for reading my book reviews for the This Poison Heart duology by Kalynn Bayron!

Don’t forget to check out the rest of my reviews if you’re looking for some more book recommendations 🙂 You can also now sign up for my newsletter to get an email each month with a list of my new reviews!

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