I enjoyed this book and I could not put it down. I really enjoyed the characters and the writing was really well done. It made you want to keep reading.

I really, really wanted to like this book. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy it. The synopsis was promising and I couldn’t wait to start this book, but the pacing felt very slow.

The characters were good, but I didn’t really care for any of them until the last third of the book. The writing was great and I think if the book was better paced, I’d have really loved it. It just felt like things were dragged out that didn’t necessarily need to be. However, the last third of the book was actually very good. I don’t know if it was enough to get me to read the next one, but I might pick it up just to find out what happens next.

Overall, I didn’t care for this one. I do think there are people out there who would really love this, it just wasn’t for me. Thank you NetGalley and publishers for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

My favorite genre is fantasy, but I had a hard time following this book. Sadly, this book was a bit of a disappointment. We did order a copy for the library just incase it finds it way into the hearts of others.

The foxglove king is an impressive start to a new series. Hannah Whitten has continued to grow in her writing style and I liked this even more than I enjoyed For the Wolf.

I felt very connected to the characters and I believe they were very well fleshed out and enjoyable to read whether “likeable” or not.

We were given a strong female MC open to love which lead us to the perfect level of angst with her potential interests. But most of all we were given an intriguing fantasy with court politics/machinations.

If you enjoy a lush fully realized fantasy world with political intrigue, betrayal, secrets & lies and of course a sprinkle of romance then I suggest picking this one up!

Thank you so much to Orbit Books and NetGalley for this ARC of The Foxglove King! This book starts super slow, and it just takes a while to really get into. I think this book is definitely a start to a series and it shows, giving me a lot of hope for the second book. I really enjoyed the premise of this book, but I think it half succeeded in its execution, more focused on setting up than following through. I'm still excited to continue though!

I wanted to love this book so badly, as the concept aligns with everything I adore— religious trauma, angst, love, a different spin on another retelling; but just like For the Wolf, this book fell flat and didn’t live up to my expectations.

The world building felt haphazard and generally all over the place. There was too much modern slang in a world that was meant to be reminiscent of Versailles and 1500s France.

Also, the characters just are not quite likable— or maybe even compelling enough to make me want to read further in the story. Lore is spiteful to the point of ridiculousness, and her behavior reminds me of a spoiled child 90% of the time. I despise the love-triangle. Is there times where it’s well done? Yes. Is this one of them? Not really. None of the characters are likable, so why would I care who Lore ends up with? I’m not rooting for a single one. It also adds an uncomfortable element that ruins what little romance there is.

Overall, this book took me forever to read, and I will not be continuing the series. It’s so disappointing, because the ideas are there, and it feels like with a couple changes, this could be a really good series. But the characters need a lot of work.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book.

Foxglove King should be an instant win for me. Death magic, love triangles, and mysterious pasts. However, the book struggles to actually capture momentum. There is a lack of movement in the story, and all the big twists are all too predictable. I'm just curious enough to read the sequel but also a bit tired of the word mortem.

Thank you for a eArc in exchange for an honest review. The Foxglove King was an unexpected delight by Hannah Whitten. Filled with an easy to understand magic system and dark love triangle romance, this book was an easy 4 star read for 2023!

While this was said to be a romantic fantasy, the romance was really not there. There was lots of pinning and told of feeling but that's not romance to me. The book started with a ton of info dumped at the reader and I had a bit of a hard time following along for a while and I wondered if I would keep plowing through and I did. There were some twists and turns that I liked and others I saw coming. I'm not really sure how this will be a trilogy and I kind of worry about the book 2 slump as this first one was a bit "meh" but we shall see where the author takes us.

Arc from netgalley.

This book claims it’s adult, but it felt so YA. The writing, how the characters acted, the entire vibe really. I wanted to like to this. I really enjoyed the previous books by this author. I wanted things to be more “grown up” and it all felt childish knowing this is marketed as adult.

Really great book, very intriguing. High fantasy and makes you wonder “will they make it?” I enjoyed it. Can’t wait to read more books from this author

The Foxglove King, by Hannah Whitten

I’m torn, y’all. This novel was a combination of old-world style living, however the characters’ language use/choices often seemed disjointed, and too modern — it just seemed a bit incongruous with the rest of the tale. The tale itself was spectacular, with excellent world-building. Can’t wait to read The Hemlock Queen (book 2) in April of 2024!

Much thanks to @Netgalley and @orbitbooks_us for this free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Personally not my style and was hard for me to find something to keep me reading, but my students will like the sardonic voice of the strong female MC and the elements of magic.

***Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book for review.***

I loved this book! I also love this author. Everything she writes fills my soul with happiness.
It is always a little dark, a little grime-y and absolute perfection.

This novel follows Lore, who's sassy and attitude and reminds me of another young female who is a bad ass!. I am so thrilled to continue to read the story of Lore and to watch her grow into an amazing female role model.

Thrilled, loved it, CAN NOT wait for more.

This book was so dark and fun. It reminds me a lot of The Bobe Shard Daughter, so if you're a fan of that one, definitely check this one out. Or vice-versa.

I loved the friends to enemies and the taken from the streets to work for the king aspects. It's fun seeing this rag-tag team overcome their differences in order to find the truth and save the Kingdom. The banter between them all is pure gold!

The whole magic spilling from dead gods was such a cool thing, and it was written well, so you're not questioning what's going on or how things work.

I have a feeling I know what's going on with the King, but I'm curious to see if I'm correct in my assumptions. I also absolutely NEED to know what's going on with Lore, Gabe and Bastian. What a way to end a book!

I can't wait to find out more to this story!

First, thank you to NetGalley and Hannah Whitten for the opportunity to read this book and give my opinions freely and honestly.
This is the 2nd book I have read from this author, and each time I’ve struggled through. The premise is intriguing and I feel like a lot of potential could have been made in Lore’s character development, and the entire world development. But, starting the book felt like you were thrust into the middle of a conversation you knew absolutely nothing about. You were thrown into this entire world that kept growing and expanding, but there really wasn’t any explanation of how it tied together, or basic descriptions of who most of the people were.
I wanted to love this book, but it just wasn’t for me.

Loved this so much! Hannah Whitten has become one of my favorite writers and I will read anything she puts out.

I LOVED THIS!

This was everything it promised to be. I need book two now. I love that the characters are morally grey and it's executed really well.

My only qualm is that the world building could've been stronger. I know many authors tend to do stronger world building in book 2, but this one could've used just a bit more.

If you ask me how I would describe The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten, I would describe it as a juxtaposition of the exquisite, the opulent and the religious, with the dark, the rotting and the macabre. The way Hannah Whitten took something so luxurious and so delicate, resembling the Versailles period, and successfully turned it into a place where death is power to be wielded, into the story of a necromancer coerced into serving a corrupt kingdom, a monk with religious trauma and a prince with familial trauma is nothing short of stellar. This is definitely one of my favorite reads of the year and I cannot wait to learn more about this beautifully haunting world, to further explore these characters I’ve grown to love and see where Hannah Whitten takes this story.

I loved the Foxglove King! I think it was very well paced and riveting, and I loved Lore! I’ve been in a reading drought lately, but I had a hard time putting this book down! I look forward to reading book two.