What I liked
- magic
- LGBTQ+ ( Sapphic)
- strong female characters
- Slow-burn romance
- Twist on Briar Rose/Sleeping Beauty
- Dark and ominous feel

What I didn't like
- Some parts are slow moving and I almost DNF.


Overall I really enjoyed Malice and am looking forward to the next book by Heather!

Thank you Netgalley, Del Rey and Heather Walter for the opportunity to read this phenomenal book! All opinions are my own.

I really liked this book and I think it's very interesting the characters were so original and the attention grabbed my attention from the start

If there are two things I love, it's a fairy tale retelling and a villain love interest. This book has both. Sometimes, though, retellings can start to feel a little stale. This book just took the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty and shook it up so beautifully! Alyce is a badass. I loved the slow burn sapphic romance between the cursed princess and the witchy and wonderful "villian".
There is unique world building, it's original, breathtaking, well-developed, and smart. A fairy tale retelling for a modern generation.

I really enjoyed Malice since it is a villain origin story with a twist. Malice follows Alyce, a dark grace who along with her "sisters" is paid for her elixirs to any who can afford it. Alyce is disliked by all since she is half Vila. Vilas are dark Fae who bucked light fae rule and are said to be truly evil. One day, Alyce meets Aurora. the crown princess. Alyce and Aurora become friends even while knowing that Aurora is set to die that year due to a curse by a Vila. All the women in the royal line have a mark that will kill them by age 21 if they do not find their true love. Aurora has already lost 2 sisters, kissed countless men, and wants to find a way to break the curse without the help of man. Alyce starts to help Aurora while also practicing her own newly discovered Vila magic. Her magic is being helped along by a shadowed man, Kal who is magically chained to a dilapidated castle.
There were so many elements that I loved in the book that make it memorable to me. Alyce is a "villain" since she is Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty but is she? She is isolated and looked down upon while someone with ulterior motives starts to show her attention. I absolutely hated the kingdom since they use the graces for vanity while draining them from magic as if all they are is a service. Aurora is also a victim of her circumstances since she retells that she has been forced to kiss men since she was a little girl all to break the curse. I think this book is a solid 3 stars since there were a few things I didn't like but ultimately giving it a 4 since the lore and dragon were amazing.

This was an extremely unique fairy tale retelling. I am always fascinated by stories such as these, and through Malice, Heather did not disappoint. By following Alyce, the dark one, instead of the traditional princess, the reader gets a look at what it is like to be the dark one.
The plotline was well built. While the story didn't seem to take place over a long period of time, the buildup was gradual and not too wordy. I enjoy books like this. Overly descriptive books lose my interest. This book did not. However, once the book reaches the end everything explodes. And then is abruptly ended. By reading other's reviews, I see that there is a sequel, but I usually don't prefer such an abrupt ending when the story has progressed at a much slower speed. It was fast, vivid, and to the point.
I enjoyed Malice. I enjoyed seeing her grow into the creature everyone knew her to be. And I look forward to seeing what Heather does to expand on the story in her sequel.

Alyce is evil. Everyone says so. She has the green blood of the wicked Vila, rather than the gold of her sister Graces, and the potions she crafts for her avid (albeit ashamed) customers bring only misery. Then she meets someone who understands how it burns to be defined and confined by the role she's assigned: the cursed princess Aurora, who has one year to find true love or die. The unlikely pair grow close as they conspire to break the curse and improve their kingdom for all its inhabitants. But no fairy tale ends well for the villain. Solid world-building and fleshed-out characters. That ending will give you whiplash.

It took a while for this book and I to finally have our true love’s kiss. That was my fault; that was on me.

Once I let go of the chip on my shoulder and enjoyed this book for what it was, it was great. I was more than impressed by the time I finished reading it. For a F/F [YA?] retelling of Sleeping Beauty, I think this could be enjoyed by almost any reader of fantasy.

I found the focus on emotions in the book to be a little bit too heavy and it initially took me quite a bit of time to just let go of what I considered silly fairy tale things, but I came to actually appreciate both aspects of the novel after deciding to roll with it.

Speaking of emotions, this book will have you go from angry to sad to happy to relieved to just about everything the main character feels, with a fantastic climax that had me on the edge of my seat. The latter half of Malice was great and the last 1/10th of it was both true love’s kiss AND a chef’s kiss. No ambiguity in the way I felt about the ending- incredibly satisfying. All of the worldbuilding, character development, and the twists and the turns as the story progressed were perfectly punctuated by the cherry-on-top ending.

I hope this novel gets the recognition it deserves once it is released; I will certainly be looking out for the sequel. I think lesbian/queer femme fantasy might be my thing this year. It’s 2021; no more men in my books please.

Fantastically developed characters. Superb dialogue and slow building excitement to a spectacular finale. Couldn’t believe how well done this was! Highly recommended

4.5 stars, would've been 5 stars if the ending was a little different.
I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this book, but I never felt bored, it was entertaining, the main character was really interesting, and I loved the romance. The pace was pretty good, it didn't drag but for the most part it wasn't rushed either. It was definitely more character heavy than plot heavy and there wasn't a ton of action for most of the book, but that's not something I particularly dislike in books, and I thought there was a good balance between plot, worldbuilding, characters, and romance. Alyce is a really cool character and it's super interesting to watch her battle between the different people she thinks she's supposed to be based on her upbringing, her ancestry, and how other people expect her to act. Aurora is also great, they have great chemistry, and I absolutely loved her. Alyce's relationships with her sisters, her house mistress, and the various other royals and citizens of Briar are really well done (her kestrel, Callow, is also amazing).
The world is well explained, thought out without being too complicated, and unique enough that it still feels like a fairy tale world but isn't a complete copy of one. On that note, this book puts a really cool twist on Sleeping Beauty, you can tell what it's a retelling of, but is different enough to be it's own story as well. I didn't love the end just because it's not where I saw the story going since I was looking forward to that fairy tale happy ending and not a massive cliff hanger (although since I've learned this is probably going to be a duology, I'm willing to forgive that for the most part). That's the one part that did feel a bit abrupt and rushed to me, but it wasn't awful.
My last thing is that besides Aurora, Alyce, and Endlewild, the rest of the characters don't get good, thorough physical descriptions beyond maybe their hair and eyes, since those are part of the magic system. This created two white main characters and about a dozen side characters that were racially ambiguous at best.
Overall, I had a great time, I loved the romance, and I'll definitely be picking up the sequel.

To quote ACOMAF
"If you stare long enough into the darkness, you find that the darkness begins to stare back"
This is a new retelling of sleeping beauty.but told from what is her version of Malificent.
Alyce is a dark grace who instead of making people pretty her blood curses people. She begins a journey of finding who she is, who she loves and can trust and finds out her powers.
I dont think the ending is resolved so I hope its not a standalone

Thank you for sharing this title with me! I included it in a roundup of must-read LGBTQ+ books coming out in 2021 for Cosmopolitan.com https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/books/g35283160/lgbtq-books-2021/

A new take on Sleeping Beauty. If you like variations on light and dark Fae, this is for you. The Graces who are blessed with golden blood, but chained to serve the nobles. The Dark Grace who suffers the insults and degradations of a society who doesn't understand. The Princess who loves her.

What if the evil fairy wasn't evil? What if True Love isn't what it is expected to be?

Neither Alice or Aurora expect what happens in this retelling of Sleeping Beauty. They are both locked into the roles expected of them by society, but as the story progresses they are able to break free from society's expectations and chart their own paths.

this was a very interesting take on a classic tale. It took a while to get going, but after a couple of chapters, I was hooked

Wow was this the sapphic villain story I've been waiting for. I loved Alyce, I loved Aurora, I loved the plot and the world building. All in all, I am super excited for this book to come out and for the sequel.

This was so great! The sapphic villain sleeping beauty retelling i've been hoping for. I can't wait for the sequel.

An amazing retelling of Sleeping Beauty with an emphasis on the “making” of the villain. An extremely misunderstood girl. She’s very much a square peg. She finds true love only to slam into a wall of interference

The first half of this book was very slow for me. I think the story was great overall, but this just wasn’t the book for me.

Dragon’s teeth said every other page was very annoying. Great writing otherwise though.

The majority of people loved this book so don’t let my opinion make you not read it!

This was such a rich retelling of Sleeping beauty. So much love was giving to the world and I honestly hope one day to revisit the world.
I loved all the characters, expect Aurora. I didn't feel attached to her and wish we spent more time with her.
I love that ending was dark and ominous because this how Villian origin stories should be.

Malice
By: Heather Walter

A princess isn’t supposed to fall for an evil sorceress. But in this darkly magical retelling of “Sleeping Beauty,” true love is more than a simple fairy tale.

Once upon a time, there was a wicked fairy who, in an act of vengeance, cursed a line of princesses to die. A curse that could only be broken by true love’s kiss.
You’ve heard this before, haven’t you? The handsome prince. The happily ever after.
Utter nonsense.
Let me tell you, no one in Briar actually cares about what happens to its princesses. Not the way they care about their jewels and elaborate parties and charm-granting elixirs. I thought I didn’t care, either.
Until I met her.
Princess Aurora. The last heir to Briar’s throne. Kind. Gracious. The future queen her realm needs. One who isn’t bothered that I am Alyce, the Dark Grace, abhorred and feared for the mysterious dark magic that runs in my veins. Humiliated and shamed by the same nobles who pay me to bottle hexes and then brand me a monster. Aurora says I should be proud of my gifts. That she . . . cares for me. Even though a power like mine was responsible for her curse.
But with less than a year until that curse will kill her, any future I might see with Aurora is swiftly disintegrating—and she can’t stand to kiss yet another insipid prince. I want to help her. If my power began her curse, perhaps it’s what can lift it. Perhaps together we could forge a new world.
Nonsense again. Because we all know how this story ends, don’t we? Aurora is the beautiful princess. And I—
I am the villain.

WOW!!!! I did not expect this book to pull me in like it did. This is an awesome retelling of Sleeping Beauty. It is a game changer. I have read a few retellings and watched a movie or two but this one must be at the top of the list. This book spans the spectrum from darkness and loneliness to love and happiness and back again. I felt so many different emotions reading this book. I did not expect that it would end the way it did. I am crossing my fingers that there is a sequel in the works.

**Thanks to NetGalley and Heather Walter for providing me with a complimentary copy of Malice in exchange for my honest review. **