Book Review: The Foxglove King (The Nightshade Crown #1) by Hannah F. Whitten

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: NA Fantasy Romance
Length: 467 pages
Author: Hannah F. Whitten
Publisher: Orbit
Release Date: March 7th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

When Lore was thirteen, she escaped a cult in the catacombs beneath the city of Dellaire. And in the ten years since, she’s lived by one rule: don’t let them find you. Easier said than done, when her death magic ties her to the city.

Mortem, the magic born from death, is a high-priced and illicit commodity in Dellaire, and Lore’s job running poisons keeps her in food, shelter, and relative security. But when a run goes wrong and Lore’s power is revealed, she’s taken by the Presque Mort, a group of warrior-monks sanctioned to use Mortem working for the Sainted King. Lore fully expects a pyre, but King August has a different plan. Entire villages on the outskirts of the country have been dying overnight, seemingly at random. Lore can either use her magic to find out what’s happening and who in the King’s court is responsible, or die.

Lore is thrust into the Sainted King’s glittering court, where no one can be believed and even fewer can be trusted. Guarded by Gabriel, a duke-turned-monk, and continually running up against Bastian, August’s ne’er-do-well heir, Lore tangles in politics, religion, and forbidden romance as she attempts to navigate a debauched and opulent society.

But the life she left behind in the catacombs is catching up with her. And even as Lore makes her way through the Sainted court above, they might be drawing closer than she thinks.

In this lush, romantic new epic fantasy series from New York Times bestselling author Hannah Whitten, a young woman’s secret power to raise the dead plunges her into the dangerous and glamorous world of the Sainted King’s royal court.

Thank you to Orbit Books for the free copy.

VERY INTO THIS.

Uh, y’all. I was not expecting to love this as much as I did and I’m so excited it blew my expectations out of the water. What a twisty romantic tale that left me needing the second book nowwww.

I loved Lore. I thought the whole general plot of the book was interesting too. A mash of things I’ve read before but filled with a lot of nuance that kept me listening and intrigued by what was going to happen next.

The romance has me doing some major side eye. I don’t know who I want and I don’t know who’s I need to run from. Gosh I love morally gray men with magic. It’s very much a slow burn romance with just the right level of love triangle for me.

Betrayals and turns kept coming and every time I thought I was going one way I was yanked another way. I love fantasies like this. I loved the atmosphere and vibe and all the things in between. I’m going to go pick up book two ASAP.

Overall audience notes: