Definitely a step up in storytelling from Cinderella is Dead! This Poison Heart is a cross between Little Shop of Horrors and Greek mythology with Black girl magic. While not a perfect book, there is a lot to like here and I think this will be a hit with a lot of readers. It's fun, creative, mysterious, and has pretty great family dynamics.

Briseis was adopted by her two moms, and I LOVE her moms and their relationship with each other- one of the best parts of the book in my opinion. They live in Brooklyn and Briseis is struggling to keep a lid on her secret plant magic. Then they find out that Bri's aunt by blood has left her a mysteriou estate in rural New York, and they decide to visit for the summer. There are family secrets and a poison garden, filled with deadly plants that Briseis is immune to.

I love the atmosphere of this book and the way that it wove Greek mythology together with some really cool ideas and tons of information on poisonous plants. The mystery elements are interesting and the ending is pretty intense with a lot of big reveals. I think the one issue I had is there's a lack of foreshadowing for many of those revelations which can make the story feel more meandering than propulsive. This is the sort of book that could have been a page-turner, but instead spends the first half feeling like a slightly magical, introspective coming of age story before eventually shifting to a high-stakes mystery/thriller with mythological elements. And I like that there are quiet moments with the family or discovering things about plants or the house, but I think a little more tension and foreshadowing early on would have made the ending feel less abrupt. Note that this is the start of a series and there is a cliffhanger ending as well! Overall, a solid book and worth a read. I received an advance copy of this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Content warnings include violence, gore, depictions of blood, rituals, death of a loved one.

Wow! Just wow! What a great story! Everything was great

Bri as a gift with plants a very special and unique gift. Bri and her moms work hard to keep it hidden when she's in Brooklyn.

She has been gifted a home from her birth mom and that's where things get interesting. Bri is discovering new friends, her family history and things about her gifts she's never known

I was engrossed couldn't stop reading I was just needed to know what was gonna happens and was the story

I loved the mythological aspects and it was so easy to keep up with the hoary and storyline.

I am super excited for this series to continue

Poison Ivy is my all time favorite "villian" - so This Poison Heart was a must have. I was blown away, not all all what I was expecting and loved the "underrated" mythological twist.

This Poison Heart delivers all the Black girl plant magic. But even more so, it's a story about accepting the love we deserve. Calling out friends who don't see us for who we are. It's a story about family and the love that defies danger. I was entirely immersed in This Poison Heart from the beginning and my obsession only grew! The internal narration of Bri is endearing and engaging as Bri begins to uncover even more secrets. There is intrigue layered from the beginning and there is so much I want to scream about, but I can't!

So besides the botany magic which is seriously fascinating, This Poison Heart is an emotional story. Featuring doors we shouldn't always open, centuries old secrets, and high action, This Poison Heart captured my heart. Bri is a fantastic narrator who learns how to show herself to those she loves. I barely took any notes because I was so engaged with the book.

Plants, magic, and poison. Need I say any more? This book had a lot of great aspects and a few I didn’t like as much, so here we go, traveling into the thoughts of me.

First off, I adored the Bri and her moms. Bri was irritating sometimes but I loved her spunk and how she just went at it with everything she had, and her moms were so fun! The family dynamic was great, but it seemed a little unrealistic in my opinion. When it came out that Bri had been lying to her moms and hiding potentially life threatening information from them they just went “well we love you and support you no matter what so it’s all okay!” Really? Pretty sure that no parent would react that way if their teenage daughter hid that much from them, especially when it put both her and their lives at risk. So that felt a little off.

Second, the magic system and world building was so fascinating! I loved the way the plants reacted to Bri and the how they tried to protect her. I enjoyed seeing her try to learn to control her power and stop fighting herself.

The one thing that seemed really weird to me was how much they emphasized that in a town of over six thousand people there were only about six Black people, and then almost every single person they met in the town was Black? I loved that almost every character was Black, but it seems weird to joke about how white the town is and talk about how they don’t fit in because there’s no Black people and then have everyone be Black. The inconsistency there bothered me.

Overall I loved reading this and I’ll definitely be waiting for book two.

I have been trying to get back into fiction (in a slump) and this is a read that did that. Really nicely done. To me there were no drags which is great.

After enjoying Cinderella is Dead, I thought I might enjoy this book as well, but honestly, Bayron has kicked her writing up to near perfection. This book breezes through while also creating a layered, dense plot that has seeds in The Secret Garden, sure, but also Greek Mythology and Little Shop of Horrors and Gothic suspense and horror and and and...I only put down the book to sleep and work, finished it in two sittings, Will be eagerly awaiting the sequel.

A book as beautiful as its cover. I was expecting strong fairytale vibes but got Greek mythology, black girl magic, poison gardens, and found family instead. Absolutely delightful.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for providing me with an e-ARC of This Poison Heart in exchange for an honest review.

This Poison Heart is a retelling of The Secret Garden, however, there are also homages to Greek mythology and Little Shop of Horrors. The book combines some of the best classic stories and creates something so fun and unique.

Briseis Greene lives a seemingly ordinary live in Brooklyn, NY with her two adoptive moms who own a flower shop. However, she possesses secret elemental magic. Plants are drawn to her, she can grow them at unnatural speeds, and she is also immune to poison.

One day, Bri's mom gets a phone call from an estate lawyer who informs them that Briseis is set to inherit a large property from her deceased Aunt Circe (given that Briseis is Circe's only living relative). However, Briseis will soon learn that there is so much about the house and her family that she doesn't know.

One of my favorite things about this book is the relationship that Bri has with her moms. They have such a sweet and genuinely loving relationship, which we don't often see in YA novels. I also genuinely enjoyed the way that Kalynn Bayron managed to slip in pop culture references without making me cringe - there's references to TikTok that made me laugh instead of want to shut the book.

I also enjoyed the dynamic between Bri and her love interest. There is obvious attraction and interest between the two, but it doesn't present too much like insta-love (which is a trope I'm a bit iffy on). It feels more like an honest teenage relationship.

The book had a nice flow to it and the ending did feel a little rushed at times, however, once I finished the book I felt like that was how it should have been written as it felt like I was right with Bri while everything was happening instead of learning about it after the fact.

Overall, I loved this book. I have a soft spot for retellings and elemental magic (especially Earth magic) but I think this is something most people will enjoy. I am anxious to read the sequel and see how Bri's story continues.

This Poison Heart is the first book in a new series from Kalynn Bayron, the author of Cinderella is Dead. It follows a teenage girl named Briseis who has a natural affinity for plants. She has always been able to make plants grow, and they’ve always gravitated toward her. However, Briseis has never fully understood this power, because she is an adoptee who never knew her birth parents. Just when her family’s financial situation is starting to get concerning she finds out that her birth mother left her a house when she died – a house with an apothecary and a garden full of poisonous plants that Briseis alone can handle. Briseis moves her family into this new house, and begins the process of uncovering the mysteries of her birth family and her own power. This was one of my most anticipated books of 2021, and I am very grateful to Netgalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest revie.

Inspired by Greek mythology, by The Secret Garden and by Little Shop of Horrors, This Poison Heart is a fun and lighthearted YA novel that puts a refreshing spin on a lot of classic stories. It captures the wonder of The Secret Garden and incorporates Greek mythology in a way that I didn’t expect at all but really enjoyed. Also, almost every single character is Black, gay, or both. The characters’ identities are never the focus of the narrative, but they are explored, and they do make the story more interesting. For instance, the protagonist’s sexuality is never labelled or treated like a big deal, but her main love interest is a woman. It’s a great example of casual diversity – non-white and non-straight characters just being allowed to exist within a fantasy story.

Bayron’s writing is smart and engaging. The book is full of twists and turns, with never a dull moment as our protagonist unravels the mystery of her parentage and her own magical abilities. The story is really easy to follow, too, and I found myself instantly interested in every single character and invested in their relationships with each other. The main romance is a sapphic twist on a very popular trope in fictional straight couples, and I loved it, but the emotional core of the book really lies in Briseis’s relationship with her adoptive moms. I absolutely loved the family dynamic, and I especially appreciated how the story explored the complicated dynamics of a character trying to learn more about her birth parents while maintaining a really close relationship with her adoptive parents. It was so interesting and heartwarming and probably my favourite part of the book.

My one small complaint about This Poison Heart is that it sometimes feels like the story doesn’t have much direction. There’s a lot happening, but it’s not always entirely clear why the central mystery is important or where the story is going. This book very much exists to set up a fantasy series, and it does a good job of that, but it does unfortunately fall into the trap of spending so much time laying the foundation of the series that things don’t really start happening until the last 100 pages. It took me about a week to read the book; I was never bored while reading it, but it was never at the forefront of my mind that I needed to find out what happens next. It was overall a nice reading experience, though, and after the ending, I’m very excited to see where the series goes!

This Poison Heart comes out June 29th, 2021.

Although this starts out slow, it was overall a good story. It picks up and hooks you right in. Definitely looking forward to book two.

"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."

Grade school me would have reveled in this as my summer reader. Adult me feels the same.

If you like:
👩🏿‍🦰 Kick ass Black heroines with magic
🌿 Botany/poisonous plants
🏚 Creepy old houses
🌹 Secret gardens
⚡️ Greek mythology & ancient goddesses
🤬 Millenia-long grudges
❤️ Slow burn romance
Then you will love this book.

CW for violence and on page death of a parent.

Also - major cliffhanger ending!

Thank you Net Galley and to the publisher for a e-reader and a physical ARC of this book.

I absolutely love this book.

I did not know what I was getting into when I started this one. All I knew was that the main character could grow plants, aka a dream power I would love to have. Little did I know that there would be LGBTQ+ representation through out the book, the most healthy relationship between a daughter and her mothers I have ever seen, a girl trying to learn more about her biological parents with the support of her moms, and also a twist involving greek mythology.

So Briseis works in a flower shop with her moms that is actually named after her. They know about her power, they help with her power and they don't use her power to help their shop (which honestly made me weep at the consideration of their daughter). They are having some money issues (and still not exploiting her powers) when all of a sudden.. Briseis inherits this big house and loads of land from her biological aunt that she has never met in her whole life. Her mom passed away and she never expected anything from her biological family.. but she just realized something new about her power and she is eager to see if it is just her, a family trait, a weird coincidence or something else entirely.

I will say that the only thing I wish was fleshed out more was the romance. It isn't the main focus of the story, and it absolutely shouldn't be. BUT, it felt a little forced and I wish we had a little more.. feeling in it I guess?

Over all, FIVE STARS I LOVE IT PICK THIS BOOK UP I NEED BOOK 2!

Briseis and her moms run a flower shop in Brooklyn. Briseis has a special a gift when it comes to plants. When in her presence, drooping plants perk up, dying plants get healthy again and when she really focuses she can grow an entire plant from just a leaf or seed. Neither she nor her moms understand this ability, they just accept it. The family gets unexpected news – Briseis’s birth mother, who died when Briseis was very young, had a sister who no one knew about. The aunt just died and Briseis learns she has just inherited a house on 40 acres of land in Rhinebeck, upstate NY. She and her moms take the plunge and move there. It seems everyone in town knew Briseis’s late mother Selene and Aunt Circe. And it seems her gifts with plants is a family trait – and the locals expect her to follow in her Selene and Circe’s footsteps. As Briseis unravels the mysteries surrounding her new home and her abilities, she learns there is far more to her heritage than she ever imagined.

Selene and Circe ran an apothecary, sourcing plants from their expansive gardens and greenhouses to provide locals with natural medicines. One section is full of rare and dangerous plants. Though Briseis is immune to them, she is not immune to the danger threatened by people who would stop at nothing to get to them.

This story is inventive and clever, weaving Greek mythology and dangerous botany into a tale of family secrets, deceit and power. The BIPOC and queer representation is strong. The emerging romance between Briseis and Marie, a local who somehow knows more about Briseis's family than anyone, enhances rather than distracts from the plot. The narrative twists and turns add even more drama and suspense. Another winner from the author of "Cinderella Is Dead."

Thank you Bloomsbury YA and NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

This Poison Heart, the sophomore follow-up to Kalynn Bayron's Cinderella is Dead, is nothing short of masterfully unique.

Briseis was born with a gift: the ability to will plants to bloom and thrive with just her touch alone. Plants are drawn to her, leaning toward her as if she was the sun when she gets too near. Her moms don't know why it is or where it comes from and neither does Bri, but they do their best to manage it. When they're visited by an attorney to tell them that Bri has inherited her birth mother's old home after her aunt passed away, they're stunned but excited. When they get to the house, however, they soon find more questions than answers to Bri's past and a lot more magic than they can handle.

I have to say, the way this story weaves together greek mythology with the plant magic is brilliant. Bayron did such an excellent job of making it seem believable in a completely unbelievable setting. We see the goddess Hecate as a central figure to the story, and I love that it's a goddess we rarely see given page time in books. The plant magic is interesting and whimsical, while also possessing an absolute deadly air that reminds us everything isn't always as it seems.

I love the characterization of Bri and her moms. They're funny and sweet but also fiercely loyal. When they're put into situations that don't make any sense, they always have a moment of NO. NOPE. BYE. and I can't tell you how much I loved seeing them absolutely done with the nonsense.

The book is sapphic and Bri is bisexual. The main LI is a sweet, slow one that doesn't burn too hot in this book. It's a slow ember that glows when the two are near but doesn't ignite completely. Marie is an interesting character with a lot of secrets, and I can't wait to see what happens in the next book.

Fantastic storytelling in this book!

I love absolutely everything about this book. The mystery, the mythology, the relationships, and ESPECIALLY the heartbreaking betrayal at the end I already need the next one immediately.

Breakdown:
Characters: Believable, realistic, lovable, I would die for almost each and every one of them

Plot: I love the mystery and the plot, and the underlying theme of trying to find your roots even if you are happy where you are really resonated with me.

Diversity: I mean, there was tons. POC characters, non nuclear families, lgbtq rep, yes please!

Would I have it on my shelf: yes, absolutely, no questions asked.

Would I buy it for others: ABSOLUTELY I WOULD, NO QUESTIONS ASKED.

This Poison Heart follows Briseis, a teenaged girl with a gift for growing plants! She isn't sure where this gift came from, or how to control it, but together with her moms she moves to an estate in the country to figure it out. The estate is left to her by aunt, and comes with what seems to be more questions than answers.

First of all, I want to say that the LGBT representation in this book, as well as the POC representation, was great! It's always refreshing to see a book explore new angles and push boundaries, getting away from the same old narrative. The premise was unique, and had really great potential, and I did love the Greek mythology aspects, but I had a few issues with it as well.

Unfortunately, this book didn't quite hit the mark for me. I felt like the book dragged too much. It went pretty slowly throughout, and then all of a sudden the end threw a ton of information at me. Also, the time of day was written so oddly. There were times when a lot was happening, and then I was told that basically only a couple of hours had gone by. It's hard to explain, but it just didn't seem realistic and was kind of confusing.

In terms of characters, I liked the moms. They were funny and cute, and had so much love for Bri and for each other. Briseis herself was ok... I liked her well enough but there were times when she kind of annoyed me. The supporting characters were also alright - not great not terrible.

Ahhh I really did want to like this book, and I can definitely see the appeal, but I just didn't love it. I would give the second book a try, however. I am curious to see what happens and I hope that I like it more!

THIS POISON HEART is about a Black girl coming into her own in a place made for her, and taking on the strange power and responsibility of her birth family's history in the process.

I like the world building and backstory in terms of place and history, but where this really thrives is in its characters. Bri's relationship with her moms is complex and nuanced, conveying years of personal history between the three of them without crowding the page with in-jokes. Her lapsed friendships have enough detail to feel like they matter to her, and maybe mattered a great deal more previously, but they don’t take up too much space with characters who will barely appear in this story. The cast of named townspeople is numerous enough to feel full, but it’s a manageable number of characters (something that felt especially important as the various lies and half-truths start to become evident). Bri herself is glorious, thriving in a strange and unexpected place. The focus is on her as she explores the house and town, starting to make a space for herself where she isn’t constantly hiding.

Given that this is the first book in the series, I think the pacing is great. For the first 75% of the book the felt like it could maybe be standalone in the sense that plot flows really well, I understood why characters were where they were and were doing what they were doing, and the bits that I didn’t understand were obviously part of the mystery at the core of the story. There’s a reveal that happens late in the book that turns the first part of it from good to brilliant. It takes choices by various characters which seemed to Bri to be illogical or contrived in some way and gives them a new weight and context. The text handles that transformation smoothly, making the whole book better without invalidating the first impression.

I liked this and I'm excited to see where the rest of the series goes!

The gorgeous cover of this book grabbed my attention immediately and demanded that the book be read. Upon reading the synopsis, I was even more intrigued because it sounded incredibly interesting and unlike anything I had ever read before. Unfortunately, the book wasn't as good as I hoped, but I still enjoyed many elements of it.

The representation in this book was fantastic. I enjoyed reading both a Black and LGBT perspective on the issues touched upon in this book. I especially enjoyed seeing a family with two moms presented in such a loving and real way. The portrayal and interactions of this family was one of my favorite things about the book. Furthermore, the main character's struggles with anxiety and accepting her powers, and herself, without fear were compelling. The author also adeptly handled current social topics, such as defunding the police, by interweaving them throughout the narrative in ways that made sense. It made me think about some of the topics in a different way than before, which I always appreciate and enjoy.

The premise of this book was fascinating. The powers of the main character were really cool and unique, and I loved every bit of getting to explore them with her. I was captivated by the imaginative re-telling of certain Greek myths and I greatly enjoyed how the author used them to explain the history of the main character's family. However, I felt like I walked away from the book without a clear understanding of how Briseis's two powers were related; it seemed the author treated them as one thing when they came across to me as two separate types of magic (nurturing the plants vs. protection of the host). The mystery of the house and garden, as well as the town and its residents, were riveting and kept the tension high, especially toward the end of the book. The plot twists, however, were fairly obvious. So obvious, in fact, that it made Briseis seem somewhat unintelligent for not picking up on things quicker.

The pacing of this book was a major problem for me. A majority of the book was incredibly slow. There were several points in the first half that I considered DNFing the book because I was bored. Then things swung in the other direction, with the ending of the book being so fast that I had trouble keeping up and was confused by some of the plot elements that felt really rushed. For example, out of nowhere the house is being foreclosed even though they said several times that the house was paid for. Then somehow a bank got involved even though there was no mortgage, which didn't make any sense. It wouldn't have been such a big deal if so much of the plot and forward movement at the end of the book hadn't been tied to what happened with the bank.

I enjoyed some of the characters and relationships in this book. I particularly liked Mo and her relationship with Briseis. She just really came to life for me in a way many of the other characters didn't. Her humor, and the genuine way she interacted with Briseis, made her stand out. Briseis's other mom, and Briseis's new friends, came across as one-dimensional, and I did not find myself caring much about any of them. The relationships between Briseis and her new friends, including the romance elements, seemed forced and rushed, with Briseis missing some pretty obvious red flags in those relationships that any sane person would have given more attention. Despite the flaws, though, Briseis was an interesting character, and I enjoyed seeing her thoughts on many of the issues the book covered, including dealing with accepting herself and being a kid in a family struggling to make ends meet.

Overall, the book was not bad. It just was not as good as I wanted it to be. I have no doubt many people will love this book because of its refreshing perspective on timely issues, interesting re-imagining of old myths, positive LGBT representation, use of plant magic, and mysterious undertones. If these things sound like something you'd be interested in, I suggest you give it a shot. However, the book just didn't really work for me despite all of the good elements, and I probably won't be picking up the sequel. Therefore, I rate it 3 out of 5 stars.