A great title and so was the sequel! I recommend this one all the time to fantasy readers, especially those interested in LGBTQIA titles.

This book is good I liked the premise of the book. But didn't really grab me and wanted to keep reading.

Fairytale retellings are always hit or miss for me. Malice was a nice, new take on Sleeping Beauty. I enjoyed that it is a sapphic retelling versus the typical retelling.

Magic is regulated in Briar. The graces are provided group homes to live in, and they provide their services to the nobles. Alyce, the Dark Grace, provides hexes and end of life services that nobles want, but everyone scorns. She lives her life in the shadows. And then she meets Princess Aurora, full of life, beauty, and love. Together, they try to find a way to break Aurora’s curse, to find a future. Touching story of love, magic, good and evil.

First book in a new series by a new author. With Vila heritage and abilities, Alyce is compelled to serve the crown as a dark Grace. Reviled by the general populace and shunned by the other Graces, she accepts the mistreatment until she meets another of her kind. Then she meets Princess Aurora who treats her with dignity and who appreciates her differences. Compelling storyline with a sympathetic antiheroine.

I received an advanced copy of this ebook from the publisher for an honest review. This book is well written and the characters are described well. The graces are described well. The world building sucks you in from the first page. This is a fast paced science fiction fantasy book, with great LGBTQIAP representation. I enjoyed Alyce's character. I highly enjoyed this authors writing style and plan to read more books by her soon. This book is in stores for $27.00 (USD).

I haven't read many fairy tale retellings, but typically when I do, they're sapphic. This was one of those and I really enjoyed it. It's a fantastical retelling of Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of the villain. It often takes me a while to get into any kind of fantasy story, and that was the case here, but once I was able to view the world and its characters more clearly, I was pretty immersed in the story. I thought it was written well and the story itself was really cool. The ending was pretty killer and I'm looking forward to reading the second book.

I've never read anything by this author, but was intrigued by the premise of this.

Alice, a part veela is one of the Graces who has magic and works to assist those of her kingdom. Unfortunately, as a part veela, Alice is considered an outcast because her people cursed the royal line to die unless they can find a true love's kiss. Princess Aurora, the last living royalty meets Alice by chance one day and somehow they are drawn together, trying to find a way to break the curse that set all those years ago. Little did they know that the power to break it was closer than it seemed.

Firstly, I actually really loved having the story of Sleeping Beauty told from this perspective. I think it was even better than Disney's half-hearted Malificent because you were able to see the story so deeply within Malice/Alice's head. I think it lent so deeply to an understanding of her character and the world she inhabited. I also really liked the idea that essentially we had the anti-hero telling the story. It's such a satisfying viewpoint.

And TWIST. Aurora's true love being Malice. LOVED IT. My little bi-heart was like, YES. I am here for this. Because honestly the fact that this world already embraced love between different sexes so openly, why couldn't her true love be a woman? Screw the 'natural' order.

I do wish that things had kind of went differently with the patriarchal characters in this book. I still feel like they go away with a lot more than they should have. I also don't know if I really like some of the overall issues with the Graces and how they're treated.

But mostly, it was a good tale.

Thank you for the ARC.

Malice was amazing, I was sad to hear that it was only going to be a duology because these are twisted and messed up fairytale characters that I love to read about. I love the relationship aspect between her and Aurora and just the banter. It's very dark and twisted, excited to read the next book.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book had an amazing plot, but I felt the characters were a bit hard to connect to.

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

5 STARS ALL AROUND!!! THE WRITING IS GORGEOUS. I JUST LOVED EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE IN IT, ESPECIALLY ALYCE AND AURORA. <3 UGH CAN'T WAIT TO READ EVERYTHING HEATHER WRITES!!

Pretty, amazing, and queer equals pretty amazing! The only word I can think of to describe this book is beautiful! The fairytale part wasn’t very clear at the beginning but the end made up for it! I will highly recommend this one!

What a wonderful retelling / re-imagining of these characters and story! our heroine is the villain...but is she? the characters are well developed for the most part especially the heroine. other characters are developed enough to move our heroine along...and to keep secrets for later revealing. I enjoyed the book and although not a fantasy reader or an LGBTQ reader in general i found the book caring, tasteful and romantic. I'll be looking for the second volume!

I liked this spin. I really enjoy fairytale retelling and this one was done pretty well. I also like a villain origin story. I just wish the relationship wasn't as rushed as this felt.

I just couldn't get into this one. It presented as a mean girls story, and I hate the flatness that "mean girls" necessarily have. For those into fairy tale retellings though, this may hit the spot.

This was really good, but didn't quite live up to the hype for me. I loved the relationship build-up between Alyce and Aurora, and the world itself was built really well, too.
The highlight of this book was the characters, namely Alyce. Walter's ability to show her progression into the villain that we are all familiar with was fascinating, and I couldn't help but root for the morally gray heroine as I followed her through the story.
My biggest issues were with the villain monologues, and how it was a fairytale retelling in the exact sense, where the story felt like it never truly deviated from the source material. Really the only "twist" was the romance between Aurora and "Malificent."
In the end, I thought it was just an average read overall. With Sleeping Beauty being one of my all time favorite fairytales, I had really high expectations for this one and they just didn't quite reach it. However, I would still recommend this to anyone who loves a good fairytale retelling, even if it follows the original story just a bit too closely for my taste. (Also, I always appreciate a sequel, but this doesn't really need one and stands pretty well on its own.)

A slow setup narrative to a thrilling and satisfying end. An amazing retelling of Sleeping Beauty, complicated, romantic, doomed and tragic.
Alyce is half Vila - abhorred and shirked by society, as well as her house Sisters. Graces are blessed by a light magic, used by those who can afford their services. Alyce shares a house with Rose - a beauty Grace; as she is valued as the opposite of beauty, Rose and Alyce share a mutual disdain for each other.
Alyce is used for her magic as well - vials to give warts, ugliness. Alyce hates every day.
Until she meets Aurora - the last Briar Princess, waiting for true love's kiss to release her from the curse of death at the age of 21.
Their friendship grows as together they search to end the Briar Curse - Alyce finally feels worthy, valued. Until they are torn apart.
This complex plot cannot be summarized without giving anything away.

Absolutely loved this book it gave magic, meets sleeping beauty meets maleficent and everybody had me sing for more

Great book! Thank you for sharing the ARC. Will definitely be adding it to our library collection. This book will be enjoyed by YA readers in our community.

This was definitely not how I expected it would be. Darker than I'd hoped. It was well written and a good story. However, I didn't love it. Too dark for me.