This books has:
- One of the best covers of 2021
- Plant magic
- Total Charmed vibes
- Loads of Greek mythology references
“Your mother, Selene, tried to spare you this responsibility, but fate has a way of catching up to us. You must decide if you can continue this work, because you are the only one left who can, and it is more important than you can possibly imagine.”
This Poison Heart follows Briseis, a young girl who works in her two mothers’ flower shop and has a magical ability when it comes to plants—they basically bow to her will. Drawn to her, they grow at super-speed and tend to envelop her whenever they can. When Briseis finds out that her biological mother left her a house in Rhinebeck, a quaint little town in stark contrast to her life in the city, Briseis and her two mothers decide to move there for the summer to escape money troubles and give Briseis a chance to let her magical abilities flow free. But the house is no ordinary one—beyond an apothecary and a huge garden, it holds secrets about Briseis’ family and their dark activities away from the prying eyes of society…
This book was absolutely spell-binding. I was hooked by Briseis’ unusual magical ability—I don’t think I’ve ever read about plant magic before—and Rhinebeck as a town holds so many secrets that are slowly unravelled as the story goes on. Some people from the town are friendly and cannot wait for Briseis to open up shop again—since they apparently relied on her mother and aunt’s help with plants—while others are downright worrisome and have their own agenda. There’s rarely a moment of peace for Briseis and her two mothers but there are loads of fluffy moments that aptly balance the dark journey Briseis gets tangled up in with Briseis’ mother burning pancakes or embarrassing her in front of the town’s resident cutie Karter. Briseis also meets a girl who has secrets of her own and I loved how all these elements came together in the end.
One of the elements of this story that struck me the most was that Bayron introduces a new way of approaching security and safety. With police brutality at an all-time high and the call for the disbanding of police especially in the US, I was pleasantly surprised by the book introducing a town where the local police department has been defunded and instead civilian Public Safety Officers have taken responsibility in their hands in Rhinebeck. While this model of public safety comes with its own issues—which is to be expected—I was enamoured with the idea of introducing readers, especially younger ones, to this concept. Life imitates art and vice versa, and I can see readers feeling as awestruck and encouraged by this representation as I was.
It’s quite tough to discuss this book without spoiling too much, but for anyone who’s familiar with Greek mythology, I think this one’s a must-read. There are so many things to love in this book—the LGBTQ+ rep, the gorgeous and downright atmospheric descriptions of the plants and poisons Briseis works with along with the town of Rhinebeck, and the pacing will keep you on your toes as you try to figure out just how all the different parts of the story connect to each other.
I feel a disclaimer is in order, though: the last fourth of this book is absolutely brutal when it comes to cliffhangers. Things happen in such rapid succession that it’s hard to take a breath and the wait for the sequel will be excruciating after you’ve flipped the last page, so be warned.
With a strong Black heroine, extraordinary magical abilities and Gothic vibes, This Poison Heart introduces readers to a dark world of family secrets with a heart-wrenching spin on Greek mythology!
This Poison Heart is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of June 29th 2021.
Will you be picking up This Poison Heart? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
Darkness blooms in bestselling author Kalynn Bayron’s new contemporary fantasy about a girl with a unique and deadly power.
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.
From the bestselling author of Cinderella Is Dead comes another inspiring and deeply compelling story about a young woman with the power to conquer the dark forces descending around her.
