This book you guys! I loved it and I can't wait for more! Garden of the Cursed is the first book in a new series by Katy Rose Pool and if you don't have this on your TBR shelf, I recommend you add it right now.

Marlow Briggs grew up amongst the rich and privileged and when her mother mysteriously disappeared, she fled to Caraza City. Ever since, she has made a name for herself as a cursebreaker...she's also garnered a few enemies along the way. As she does her work, she always has her mother in the back of her mind and she's determined to figure out what happened to her.

When Adrius Falcrest, Marlow's old friend and scion of one of Caraza's most affluent spell-making families, asks her to help break a life-threatening curse, Marlow wants nothing to do with the boy who spurned her a year ago. But a new lead in her mother’s case makes Marlow realize that the only way to get the answers she desperately seeks is to help Adrius and return to Evergarden society—even if it means suffering through a fake love affair with him to avoid drawing suspicion from the conniving Five Families.

I love Marlow as a character. She has her flaws for sure but in the end, she is smart and determined and willing to do whatever she needs to in order to find the answers she's looking for. She does push the limits of some of her friendships but she's loyal and willing to do anything for those she cares about. This is partially what has created her pool of enemies and I couldn't truly hold that against her. Once she found herself back in the fold of the elite, she stood on her own.

The world that Pool developed here was interesting and engaging. There's magic, lots of danger, and gangs. As the investigation draws Marlow into a web of deadly secrets and powerful enemies, a shocking truth emerges: Adrius’s curse and her mother’s disappearance may just be clues to an even larger mystery, one that could unravel the very foundations of Caraza and magic itself.

If you're looking for a new YA series to pick up, choose this one. I couldn't put this one down and am excitedly waiting for the next book.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the review copy!