Thank you NetGalley and Recorded Books for this ARC Audio Copy!

I was really intrigued with the premise of this book and the magic system was quite interesting. I really enjoyed the relationship with talking cat, and the house, that was probably my favorite part of the story. I wish the FMC would spend less time talking about how plain or ugly she was, I feel like we got the point pretty fast on, especially when we have literal examples of her being bullied because of it. Definitely something I feel like should have been caught in the edits, but I guess it's better than saying how tiny and skinny she is every 5 min. The romance was a bit lack luster as well, but all in all it was a cute little cozy story.

A fantasy novel about an ordinary girl who falls under a love spell accidentaly cast by the only male sorcerer in the kingdom. The young lady leaves her family, following him to his home, offering her services as a housekeeper. With help of the magic house and a talking cat, the butcher's daughter gets into the sorcerer's heart, helping him overcome his traumas and troubles.
The book is read by Jessie Elland, who differentiates between the characters by lowering her voice when necessary. Her accent really enhanced the narration. The narration and writing compliment each other well.

Overall, 4 stars.

Don't let the description fool you, this isn't the lighthearted fantasy you might expect.

It carries a darker vibe, almost like a more grown-up, less fairytale-ish 'Once Upon a Time' (American tv drama). The story is a bit of dark fantasy mixed with some romance, but I definitely wouldn't call it whimsical as the description mentions. The promised romance simmers with a closed-door intensity, taking a backseat to the unfolding drama and the descriptive acts of violence from the sorceresses and King Darius.

Cornelius, the snarky talking cat, is an absolute delight and instantly became my favorite! His dry wit provides welcome moments of levity. Foss's struggle with body dysmorphia, though a significant aspect of her character, was a bit repetitive. The world itself has some interesting elements, including Sylvester's mansion, despite feeling like nostalgic fairytale worlds.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of the audiobook!

3.75/5⭐️

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. All opinions are my own!

This was so cute!!

Such a comforting warm fun book. The stakes didn’t feel overwhelming (even though it felt like it should’ve been?) and the atmosphere is so eerie but warm.

Couple of things:l that couldn’t make this 5 stars:

There was one plot hole that stood out and immediately irritated me (minor spoiler warning) ⚠️
Foss is visiting the other snagged and says she has whittled down she has about an hour before the curse kicks in and she needs to go back home, yet she watches (REDACTED) due for over an hour and is still fine??

Foss also grated on my nerves quite a few times because she unfortunately suffers from “I’m so ugly and different” syndrome. Not conventionally attractive characters are some of my soul characters, but when at least once a chapter she must mention it, and dosnt see value in herself until a man isn’t repulsed by her (aka the last 20 pages of the book).
Had she had some sort of self discovery without a man or even just sooner- it would’ve honestly changed this book for me.

Predicable plot, but comforting setting, and an animal companion‼️

I was fortunate enough to receive an ALC from RBmedia and got to listen to Jessi Elland bring this story to life. She does a fantastic job of giving each character their own voice so it’s always clear who’s speaking.

This book was a solid fantasy read that had an intriguing magic system, a dastardly villain, and a touch of romance. It was very enjoyable.

Easily digestible fantasy, it had a few dark moments but it was mostly pretty whimsical with a unique premise.

In this kingdom, the townspeople are selected at random by sorceresses in power to take their heart. The king and his sorceresses claim that they use the heart magic to protect the kingdom and its people…and the people are magicked into submission.
When Foss’s heart gets snagged by the only male sorcerer by mistake, she follows him home to try and get her heart back. She gets hired as his housekeeper and starts to discover more about him, the king and the other sorceresses than she imagined.
The sorcerers home is sentient which was a really cool element, there’s also a snarky talking house cat who I loved.
Thank you NetGalley for this ARC for review.

Tropes: reluctant hero, cursed love, magical mayhem, small town secrets, found family(ish)
Vibes: charmingly chaotic, wildly original, emotionally grounded with a side of spell-slinging

This book completely caught me off guard — in the best, most chaotic, most spell-splattered way. It was FUN. It was weird. It was heartfelt. It felt like someone gave Studio Ghibli a dark sense of humor and let them loose in a magic-saturated town.

The magic system is a delicious mess — unpredictable and totally unique. The characters are so vivid and endearing, and the romance?? Soft and slow and so emotionally satisfying by the end. And THE CAT. The CAT. Adorably unbothered, slightly menacing, very much reminded me of the cat from Coraline — knows things it shouldn’t, silently judging, still weirdly comforting.

Read this if you want:
🐈 A mysterious, scene-stealing cat
💥 Magical misfires and cursed consequences
📖 A story that keeps you guessing, laughing, and lowkey emotional
🎯 A totally fresh take on magic, love, and what it means to choose your own fate

The audiobook was absolutely fabulous- so well done, and it immediately transported me to the magical little world that it was set in.

A total gem. I didn’t want it to end — I just want to hang out in this chaotic little world forever.

A Harvest of Hearts truly had swept me away for almost the entire book! I loved how unique the world felt, how whimsical and humorous the writing was. It lost me a little towards the end with wrapping everything up. I finished the booking wishing there was less time spent on learning the magic house and more time on the plot, as well as a deeper exploration of the 'perception of ugly' theme.
I'd love to read the novella version that this story was originally!

A whimsical and emotional journey I won’t soon forget

This book has been compared to Howl’s Moving Castle—while I’m not entirely convinced the comparison is spot-on, I do believe it stands proudly on the same tier of magic and heart.

It’s a beautifully written rollercoaster of a story, filled with emotion, charm, and unexpected twists. The ending left me giggling, crying, and smiling all at once.

Favorite character? The cat—hands down.
Least favorite? The obvious one… the king (you’ll understand when you read it).

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this early copy. This review is 100% my honest opinion.

I really liked this. The first quarter feels like a rehashing of howl’s moving castle but then it finds its feet with its own story.

In Andrea Eames' "A Harvest of Hearts", main character Foss Butcher is a down to earth, hardworking butcher's daughter living in a small town. When she gets drawn into a situation she has no interest in being part of, she goes to the ultimate lengths to make things right for herself and her community. Narrator Jessie Elland does an excellent job at bringing the character's honest, backwoods manner of speech to life and truly draws you into her, which made me really root for her. The story is written from Foss' point of view, but each of the characters she interacts with is easily distinguishable with their own accents and speech patterns, which is always a skill I find impressive when an audiobook has only one narrator. "A Harvest of Hearts" is a perfectly cozy read and I'm pleased to see a female main character who truly owns her adventure.

Title: A Harvest of Hearts
Series:
Author(s): Andrea Eames
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, YA
Date Published: March 4, 2025
Date Read: March 19-21, 2025
Format: Audiobook
Free?: This book was received as a an eARC audiobook courtesy of NetGalley.

Spice Rating*: 🔥/5
Fantasy Rating: 🦄🦄🦄🦄/5
Tear Rating: 💧/5
Humor Rating: 😆😆/5

-ˋˏ✄ᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧ⇢

🔍 TL;DR
⤷ A quick, cozy romantasy with a magical house and a unique magic system, complemented by whimsical characters and a delightful cat with a fresh writing style that is sure to delight.

📣 Favorite quote
⤷ It never occurred to me that women like me—plain, forgettable, sensible women—aren’t allowed to want things, although that seemed clear as cold water to everyone else.

🎥 Synopsis
⤷ When plain and practical Foss Butcher is cursed after a chance encounter with the kingdom’s only sorcerer, Sylvester, she’s forced to tend his enchanted House—where even the walls have moods and her only friend is a talking cat. As she unravels the secrets of magic, Foss discovers that both she and Sylvester are bound by dangerous spells, and to break free, she must confront the dark magic threatening the kingdom.

📋 Review
⤷ This book was adorable, cozy, and such a fun read. I read this after having just finished a 2-star book and it was just what I needed to cleanse my palate—a unique magic system, an interesting fantasy world, and lovable, relatable characters.

⤷ I usually ignore when books say "for fans of…" because they can be an incorrect assessment or feel like they’re pandering to readers, but the comparison of this book to Howl’s Moving Castle is an excellent choice, and the magical House gave the same enchanted vibes as the Castle.

⤷ I wish that the romance between Foss and Sylvester had more time to grow and develop, as their attachment was focused largely on the curse that bound them.

👍🏻 Recommend?
⤷ Honestly? Yes. If you want a cozy read, this is it. I was entertained, interested, and invested in the story, and it was an overall fun read. Would recommend!

-ˋˏ✄ᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧᐧ⇢

*About Spice scale:
🌶️ BELL PEPPER
Low heat: sweet love story with romance that is closed door or fade to black. Mostly fluff or implied spice.

🌶️🌶️ JALAPEÑO
Smoldering: sexual tension, at least one (not especially graphic) sex scene, not much coarse language.

🌶️🌶️🌶️ HABANERO
Hot: generally two to three extensive/detailed sex scenes, and increasing use of coarse language.

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ GHOST PEPPER
Scorching: four to five explicit sex scenes, much description and detail, lots of coarse language.

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ CAROLINA REAPER
Erotica: is the plot in the room with us? Lots of sex scenes, explicit descriptions. Heavy kink/trigger warnings and/or pure smut.

Wow. 🤯

I did not expect this to be one of my top reads (listens?) of the year, as it sounded like a cozy little adventure a lá Howl’s Moving Castle, but as it stands, definitely in the top 5 for 2025!


My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🫑


This is a proper fantasy, with a small romantic plot line throughout that could be removed without any change to the tone or plot. I feel so wonderfully dazzled by this book and I am immediately grabbing a physical copy from the store (a signed copy if I can find one - note to self: check out the author’s insta bio).

If you like Howl’s Moving Castle and Stardust vibes, talking black cats 🐈‍⬛ with attitude, a grumpy oblivious MMC, a dash 🤏🏼 of Assistant to the Villain, and a non-traditional FMC (not a great beauty, not the CHOSEN ONE, no ultimate power up, etc), then this may be the book for you.

As I listened to the audiobook, let’s gab a bit about the narrator: Jessie Elland. Jessie did an AMAZING job. She gave so much personality to Cornelius (🐈‍⬛) and her accent was so pleasant throughout the book. All her pauses seemed super natural and with even small inflections, she gave every character their own voice and personality. The King Darius voice gave me the super creeps (in a good way 👀).

Thank you to NetGalley, Andrea Eames, and RBmedia for the gifted ALC of A Harvest of Hearts. I really enjoyed it and it was an absolute pleasure to offer my honest review.

There was was something missing in this cozy fantasy. There wasn't enough plot or chemistry between the couple.

The vibes:
Witches
Magical house
Talking cat
Invisible string spell
Cozy fantasy

Everything about this premise seemed so fun and enjoyable, but there was a lot of humor missing.

I found myself so annoyed with the sorcerer and his lack of personality. I didn't connect with the characters and found myself wondering what the plot and motivations were.

I enjoyed the narrator's accent and thought she did a good job with the storytelling and dialogue.

This is a unique and unusual romantasy that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys the genre. It features a reluctant sorcerer, a talking cat, a sentient house, a butcher’s daughter, and a grotesque magic system. It was a bit of a slow start, but it was worth it in the end. I would read more stories set in this universe.

Despite having many similar elements to other prominent fantasy stories, A Harvest of Hearts feels like a wholly unique story, and I believe that is largely due to the tone of the novel. A Harvest of Hearts is set in a world where literal hearts are plucked out of people's chests (a la Once Upon a Time) and used for magic. Our main character finds her heart taken, and herself quite literally lovesick, so she ventures to get it back. In doing so, she meets the materialistic sorcerer who stole it, the sentient house he inhabits, and his talking cat. All of these elements sound very whimsical, and while they are, that doesn't mean the novel's tone is lighthearted. Two of the most prominent themes are the loss of autonomy and insecurity. A lot of people seem to have disliked these themes, but personally, I found that they made the story more well rounded. I think the first chapter or two of the book is a little heavy handed in it's depiction of Foss's everyday misery and self-esteem issues, but once the novel picks up, I really loved reading about her and her growth. I also loved every scene with Cornelius, who might I add, felt like an incredibly realistic depiction of what a cat would act like could it talk. Overall, I understand that this book may not be what everyone expects, but personally, I really enjoyed how the whimsical, cozy fantasy elements mixed with the darker themes and scenes of horror.

A very cozy fantasy romance with a magic system at the same time familiar and fresh.

About the audiobook:
Great narrator; loved her voice and accent. As someone who listens at 3x speed (because that matches the speed I read at when I read physically, and I like to follow along with the ebook), it took me about 4 chapters to get used to it. I would say '''non-native-english-speaker issue'' but let's be honest: lots of native english speakers still have trouble with some UK accents. Still, I got used to it quite fast.


About the book itself:
I might not remember the actual plot forever, but I'll remember the whole Heart-Magic or at least the way people in this world describe it. The characters are nice enough, not memorable enough, though. I'd recommend this to anyone who loves cozy fantasy in general, but more specifically to those who love sentient houses, ominous talking animals and whimsy.

Pretty much for a Coraline fan who wants something a bit more cheerful but still creepy when you write down the facts.

I enjoy reading about FMC who make decisions that move the plot along, and not just have things happening to them. It only took a few chapters for our main character to take matters into her own hands, which I appreciate (both the action itself but also the fact that we did not waste time thinking and pondering about what to do). Plus, the cat. Always something to enjoy there.
I would've liked to get to know the MMC a bit better, to get me to care about the romance in general. Even with that being said, I feel like the story went on for a bit too long for me to absolutely love it.

This is a 7/10 for me, a 3.5 star if you will

A heart snagging cozy fantasy perfect for anyone who loves Howl’s Moving Castle. Easy to follow storyline with an interesting magics system & clean romance.

***3.0 Stars***

Overall,
There were quite a few good things about this book that I enjoyed and there were quite a few things that left me wanting. The book was fine. The main character, a cynical young woman who has gone through life shunned and being told how ugly and unwanted she is by everyone except her father finds herself snagged by a Sorcerer who is not the most talkative young man. For much of this book I was honestly confused about the magic system, I think the author was going for we only know what the main character knows since everything is being told from her perspective, which I understand, but I am not a big fan of being just as confused as the main character for 75% of the book. When we do get more understanding there is a lack of actual detail about how things are done, which again I felt lacking. The story is refreshing and new, the overall plot is does not feel like a carbon copy of anything else. I would recommend this book to those who are interested in a more gothic fantasy genre (though not really a gothic setting it gives off the same vibes). The Audiobook was done well the voices and narration was good, I was reading it tandem and found that the audio did not always match the ebook, as these are arcs it could be due to some editing.

I received an eARC and an Audio Arc of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my free and honest review.

Conceptually, a very interesting book. Execution was incredibly flat.

There were a lot of frustrating things about this book. First, the constant emphasis on the FMCs appearance and appearance of others. It added nothing and was grating by the end. There was also this overwhelming need to continually remind us that she was under a spell. These things bothered me to no end and pulled me out of the story 80% of the time.

The characters had a lot of potential. Neither really had much personality though, which made it incredibly difficult to connect the love interests together let alone give them any growth.

Honestly this isn't a whimsical fantasy, it's just thin and underdeveloped. A true shame. I wish I could have liked this one.

Thank you so much to the author and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this title. I attest that I am leaving my review honestly and voluntarily.