Review by starrysteph - This Poison Heart

starrysteph 's review for:

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

3.5

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I love stories that creatively integrate Greek mythology, and this was exactly that - what a cool premise & unique take on the history of Medea!

What I liked:

Interesting magic system - I was super into the idea of "power over plants" and Briseis' living relationship with each plant comes into contact with
Detailed imagery of all the plants and language evoking plants and nature throughout the book ... again, super cool
Really healthy + positive family dynamic between Bri and her moms
As mentioned above, all the Greek mythology!
Queer representation (though as another reviewer mentioned, I didn't quite understand the avoidance of using any words to describe sexuality)
It's inspired by The Secret Garden? This is way better. ;)

What I didn't love:

Huge age gap / immortal love interest (I assume there will be more of this in book 2) - total ick for me
Really poor pacing at the beginning. It took WAY too long to get to the house, and then again WAY too long for the juicy action to begin
Some of Bri's decisions were like ... wha? She talks about being wary of new places, but then heads off with just about anyone to just about anywhere. She brings two new friends into the most poisonous garden in the world and says "hold your breath and run"
The stakes seemed to be described higher than they were in actuality at the start. I just ... didn't quite believe that Bri's powers ruined her life THAT much

Overall, I would recommend!

CW: death of parent, death/murder, blood, violence, grief, medical content, child abuse