poison in their hearts

Rating: ★★★
Audience: YA Fantasy Romance
Length: 544 pages
Author: Laura Sebastian
Publisher: Hodderscape
Release Date: June 18th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Follow three princesses and the destiny they were born for: seduction, conquest, and the crown.

Promised for marriage, now destined to die.

Since Sophronia’s murder, princesses Daphne and Beatriz have discovered the truth: they are pawns in their mother’s bid for the throne of Vesteria.

Separated with enemies on all sides, Beatriz and Daphne’s only hope are the few allies who stretch across the borders of Vesteria: Sophronia’s husband, the deposed King Leopold; Violie, a former spy for Empress Margaraux; and Beatriz’s missing husband, Pasquale, and his lover, Ambrose. But whispers of an ancient prophecy and secrets from their past follow every move they make.

With the magic of the stars, the princesses are ready to make their final stand.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN A DUOLOGY.

Mehhhhh. I admit to never feeling FULLY invested in this series, but I did feel it enough to want to finish it out. But for 600 pages I think this really should have been a duology. Many of the story lines seemed dragged out and you’d think with all of that page time the romances would have been more developed but I kept waiting for more and never found it.

There were some good scenes and I did love how fiercely loyal all of these sisters were to each other. I love good sister relationships like this. I enjoyed the characters and thought there were some good character arcs written in too. I just think the length really kept me from feeling these books.

Overall audience notes: