Dark, haunting, and intense - it won’t be until the last page that you’ll know the difference between the truth and the lies. With intense worldbuilding, political intrigue and secret agendas, and the uncertainty between reality and hallucination, this novel provides a gorgeously intense atmosphere that feels perfectly suffocating.

I adored the worldbuilding within this novel. The presence of these unique grave flowers - and how they reflect both our main character, and the world around her - was beautifully done. I also loved the notes/journal entries from the past of the exploration of each type of grave flower, as it provided important context about what each flower’s purpose was, as well as the history of their country themselves.

Speaking of the countries, I loved how the locations of each of the nations mentioned was shown to directly affect how the politics and the society present operated. Rather than having one single flat historical fiction setting, we have an intricate world filled with varied cultures and beliefs, and I really loved the differences between the two main countries present in this novel.

The characterization, the romance, and the political intrigue present within the narrative kept me on my toes until the last page. At no point was I certain of the actions that our main characters would take - because they were both so realistic with their motivations that either action would make sense. Do they obey the wishes of their country…or their heart?

While I was familiar with the story of Hamlet and recognized similar plots and characters, this novel was its own unique story that took its own journey to the ending. There were certain twists I never saw coming, and even while everything was crashing down I was hooked until the end to see where the pieces would finally fall into place.

A huge thank you to the author, Netgalley, and Peachtree Teen for providing me this e-ARC.

4 ★

Thank you to Peachtree and Netgalley for the ARC!

This was a darkly fun, captivating read, and it definitely brought me back into my Tudor era! From the beginning I was intrigued about the political landscape, the grave flowers and their capabilities, and stayed for the chaos of the characters playing chess against one another.

I really loved the development of Madalina's character and the growth of her courage. Also, I'm obsessed with her name, I think it's really pretty ♥ Seeing her grow into her own throughout the events that transpired had me liking her more throughout the book. Was she completely innocent? No, she felt like a morally grey heroine to me, but she was put in an impossible situation by someone cruel and viewed her as weak.

Something that bothered me was the romance. Yes, Madalina is sent to kill the prince, Aeric (that's the tagline for the book), but as Madalina and Aeric fight their feelings for one another, I just didn't find their connection believable. I just wanted more from them -- more scenes, more vulnerability, something to make their dynamic more convincing that'll make the climax of the book all the more intense.

Overall, I did enjoy this! It slowed down a little for me near the middle, but it picked up again towards the end. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone that loves:
♥ Dark fantasy
♥ Eerie flowers
♥ Tudor-inspired aesthetics
♥ Chess & checkers amongst characters

This was one of my most anticipated reads this year. This book snuck up on me in the best way. I picked it up thinking it’d be your standard dark fantasy, and by the end I was fully obsessed, pacing my living room like, “What did I just read?”

Grave Flowers is sharp. And unsettling. And kind of beautiful in the most messed up way. It doesn’t hold your hand, it lures you in slowly with all this lush imagery and then absolutely wrecks you with its emotional depth and unflinching look at power, control, and the way people learn to survive in cruel systems.

Madalina isn’t your typical fantasy princess. She’s quiet. She watches. And honestly? That made her dangerous in a way I didn’t see coming. Watching her slowly unravel the truth of her life and claim space for herself was one of the most satisfying arcs I’ve read in a while. She’s not loud about her strength, and I loved that.

Aeric?? I wasn’t sure what to think of him at first. But the layers?? He’s not just broody for the sake of it. There’s this slow, aching kind of grief to him that caught me off guard. And the way their relationship unfolds? It’s not fireworks, it’s a slow, deliberate burn that hurts in all the right places.

Also, the worldbuilding? Dark academia meets royal court meets creepy plant magic?? Yes. Absolutely yes. The lore isn’t just decoration, it’s essential to the plot, and the experimental sections added this really eerie depth that made everything feel even more real.

This story doesn’t flinch away from hard topics, but it handles them with nuance. Abuse, generational trauma, political manipulation, it’s all in there, and it’s all done with care.

Highly recommend if you want something atmospheric, character-driven, and quietly devastating.

Autumn Krause’s GRAVE FLOWERS is compulsively readable YA horror romance (is this a genre now?) and I loved it fiercely. Krause has done the unthinkable in an often saturated market by creating a magical world and story that is both unique and unforgettably good. Do yourself a favor and read this book!

Withholding reviewing this arc until a Send to Kindle or Send to Kobo option. My eyesight is not great and I will not be able to read this on my laptop or phone.

Thank you NetGalley for the book preview.

I loved the suspense and the gothic tropes of the book. One of the best YA reads of the year for me personally.

I kinda wish I liked this more, because it does have some interesting worldbuilding potential and character moments, but, as a whole, the good never really gave into great for me.

Stand alone fantasy novels are really hard to do, and writing only one historical, heavily Victorian inspired fantasy could not have been easy. Don't get me wrong. The world we do get in this book are really interesting. The journal entries about the different type of grave flowers and the contrasts shown between the cultures of Radix and Acus, particularly by Madalina and Aeric, were some of the best parts of it. But there are also two other nations we don't really get to know a whole lot, and there's a vague implantation of religion that isn't fully taken advantage of despite it supposedly being the foundation of the world. I dunno, I just wanted that to be explored a bit more.

Madalina was realized character for the most part. As the "weaker" twin, she tried mimicking her sister a lot when carrying out her goals throughout the book, which got her into more trouble than not. She eventually does realize she didn't need to be her sister, just herself, but there wasn't much reflection on her part that made the character arc satisfying. As for Aeric, he really felt like the poor man's Hamlet. Krause acknowledged the heavy Shakespeare influence in the book, but this prince makes it way too obvious. The "play to reveal his uncle killed his dad" plot point is just a straight rip-off. I'd be more forgiving if Madalina was terrified and put through some hell by Aeric like how Hamlet was with Ophelia, only Madalina's point of view would show how scary that sort of madness is from a man as a woman. But no, Aeric is just so watered down and is strongly characterized by his alcoholism. The only character I was slightly invested in besides Madalina was Inessa, who had a lot of cards up her sleeve that made learning about her so interesting.

All in al, I liked this, but I kinda wished there was more for me to like.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was drawn to the novel Grave Flowers by Autumn Krause, author of Before the Devil Knows You're Here, by its Title along with its beautiful cover which features Madalina, the main character of the story.

The relationship between two sisters can be a complicated one. When your sister is your identical twin, you are both princesses, and you are the weaker of the two in a kingdom where cruelty is king--well, it gets even more complicated.

Madalina prefers to spend her time alone among her macabre, magical grave flowers.

In this "twisty ghost story of vengeance" (as described in the Author's Note), Madalina is sent to fill her sister Inessa's shoes and complete her mission to not only marry but also murder the new king of rival Kingdom Acus.

This intriguing dark royalcore story, inspired by Shakespearian plays and the history of the Tudors, explores discrimination and prejudice through the mixed-race heritage of Madalina.

While the pacing of the narrative was a bit slow for me at times, I enjoyed this Gothic fantasy and found the grave flowers and the plot surrounding them themselves to be fascinating.

Peachtree Teen
an imprint of Holiday House Books
September 2, 2025

Reviews are posted on Goodreads, then
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This book pulled me in more than I expected. The writing is rich and really leans into the eerie, gothic atmosphere without feeling overdone. It has that quiet kind of intensity that builds as you go, and I found myself completely wrapped up in it.

Madalina isn’t your typical fantasy heroine, and I liked that. She’s thoughtful, more subtle in her strength, and her connection to the grave flowers added this haunting, emotional layer that stood out. The garden setting gave the whole book this almost dreamlike feeling, and I loved those scenes most.

The romance is there, but it doesn’t take over the plot, which I appreciated. My only real issue was that the ending felt a little rushed — I wanted just a bit more time to sit with everything before it wrapped up.

Still, a really unique and beautifully written story. I’d recommend it for anyone who enjoys dark fairytales, vivid imagery, and stories that take their time building tension.

"A twisty, dark royalcore fantasy that takes the courtly intrigue of Hamlet and infuses it with the vicious ambition of the Boleyn family. For readers who love Holly Black and Sarah J. Maas.

Marry the prince, then kill him.

Princess Madalina and her twin sister, Inessa, were born attached at the hand and separated right after. That's the only time the sisters ever held hands. The girls' personalities have been shaped in the Sinet family's drive to make their kingdom more than what it is: unrespectable and loathsome, a damp place where deceit fills the palace walls like mold.

Madalina is different from her family. She's considered the weak one and only finds peace in the garden, tending her magical flowers, which are pejoratively called grave flowers because they are ideal for torture and torment. Secretly, she dreams of escape and a new life.

Then Inessa, who was betrothed to the heir of a wealthy kingdom - Prince Aeric - gets trapped in Bide, a terrifying purgatory, and begs Madalina to set her free. Now, not only must Madalina take her sister's place as Aeric's bride-to-be, but she also must finish Inessa's secret mission: Inessa wasn't just sent to marry Prince Aeric, but to kill him, too, and solidify a profitable pact with his traitorous uncle.

On behalf of her family, Madalina will need to resist the infuriatingly clever prince - as well as her own heart - if she's to free her sister and finish the job."

I've been lately deep in Boleyn territory, and if this cast of characters is even half as ambitious and cunning, you are in for a ride.

4/5 stars
Recommended if you like: historical fantasy, bloodthirsty flowers, ghosts, arranged marriage

This review has been posted to Goodreads as of 7/25 and will be posted to my review blog 8/14 and to Instagram 8/18.

The world the book is set in is definitely interesting. The religion is based around the Primeval Family (Mother, Father, Son, Daughter), with each kingdom being granted a divine gift. Radix, the kingdom Inessa and Madalina come from, has the divine gift of grave flowers, bloodthirsty flowers that each have their own magical properties. Other kingdoms have the gift to manipulate metal or cloth, etc., with each gift bestowed by one member of the Primeval Family and applicable only to that kingdom. As interesting as this is, it's actually not really touched on throughout the book. We know Radix's gift, and we hear of Crus' and Acus' gifts, but we never actually see those two in play. Likewise, we get a vague sketch of the religion and magic, but not much more than that. Radix doesn't adhere, but we don't really get a chance to find out why, especially when the other kingdoms have remained devout.

Likewise, the political environment is unclear. We know of Acus, the sunny kingdom Inessa is marrying into and where Madalina eventually ends up, and we hear of Crus, but in nothing more than whispers. Crus is apparently an enemy of Radix, but beyond that and their knowledge of metalwork, we don't get any information on whether it's a recent conflict or an age-old one, on how the two polities interact and whether trade is impacted. Frankly, it kind of seems like Radix doesn't trade at all...which, well, no wonder they're broke, but is also just generally confusing because the kingdom is craggy and damp, so there's no way they're able to produce all their own cloth and food. While these might seem like unimportant topics, this book is supposed to have political intrigue at it's core, but without a good sketch of what the other kingdoms look like, it's kind of hard to believe or be interested in the intrigue.

That being said, we do get to learn a good amount about Radix, Acus, and the grave flowers. The flowers were particularly interesting to me, and I like that we got the pages from an older king's journal where he documents his experiments with the flowers and their magic. The flowers are magical on their own, but there are ways of enhancing that magic to deadlier effect, and I liked reading about it. I also liked the format of having journal pages between some of the chapters. I always like 'extra' material in books, and here it serves as a fun bit of insight into the grave flowers and some of Radix's past.

Madalina is known as the 'weaker' twin of her and Inessa. And by 'weaker,' she really just means non-psychopathic. Because Inessa is not just your average morally gray character, she's mean and she has vicious plans. I'm sure a lot of readers would probably like her if this book was her POV, but as it stands, I think Inessa is awful.

Madalina, however, is not a traditional Sinet. She doesn't relish in bloodshed and revenge. In fact, she'd rather be left alone to tend to the grave flowers, with no crown or intrigue to bother her. Understandable, since her father and sister are both a lot and really model for Madalina what royal life is supposed to be. But once Inessa dies and Madalina is on the path to discover her killer and kill Acus' prince, she has to harden her heart. We see a lot of Madalina doing what she thinks needs to be done and thinking she needs to act more like Inessa. This actually gets her in trouble more than once, but I never really see her acknowledge it, which I wish she had done. Madalina just eventually realizes she can be herself, but she never really reflects on how being herself from the start could've saved her some trouble. One thing I will say....how does she not realize what the play is about? The king-to-be is obsessed with a play and is being mysterious about it, I wonder what it could be about? Hm.

Aeric is the prince of Acus and...frankly, I've read too many princes like him in the past year. His father died, leaving him to the crown, and he's left to drink himself silly and deal with conspiracies and a potentially murderous fiance. Sounds like Leo from The Thirteenth Child ...and Aimé from A Treachery of Swans , among others. There's a lot of drunk, blonde princes about apparently. And frankly that seems to be Aeric's sole personality trait. Drinking and being silly and obviously there's more to him and he's sly and whatnot...but I'm so sick of that trope. At least Leo and Aimé had other personality traits going for them, Aeric really does not for most of the book, and really still doesn't even at the end.

All in all, I think this is a decent read, but I wanted more from the characters and more from the worldbuilding. It's still entertaining, and I didn't dislike it, but I also had higher expectations.

*enchanted flowers

*royal court

*reads like a Shakespearean tragedy featuring Anne Boleyn

*unpredictable and unnerving

*world building

*slow burn

*beautifully written

I very much enjoyed this.



Thank you to Peachtree Teen and NetGalley for the PDF

I was unfortunately unable to read this ARC successfully as it was only showing up for me in a format that had very tiny print. Once this comes out I will come back and properly review it, as the other reviews seem to consist of positive feedback on the writing and story.

If you are looking for a powerful historical fiction novel that involves sisterhood this is the novel for you. This novel has all the elements of Hamlet and Anne Boleyn rolled into onem I will admitb wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading it but once I gor started I was hooked. I enjoyed reading the characters in this historical setting and I found them to be interesting and brave.
We are introduced to two princesses Madalina and Inessa who couldn't ne more different. Ineessa is bold and adventurous while Madalina prefers solitude. She takes deep pleasure in tending to her beloved flowers that are ideal for torture and torment.
When Inessa finds herself a hostage it is up to Madalina to take her sister's place in the wedding to her bethrothed. From there she will go against all the elements of her personality in order to fulfill a prophecy that was meant for her sister.

Autumn Krause weaves a captivating dark royalcore tale where the lines between love and hate, duty and personal desire become blurred. The work has a Hamlet-like feel to it in court intrigue, but reimagined through a modern theological lens. Krause deals with the theme of identity crisis in a profound way as Madalina must become someone else to save her sister. The “grave flower” symbol is not only a fantastical detail but also a subtle metaphor for the dual nature of beauty - it can both heal and destroy. The author demonstrates impressive world-building skill and the ability to organically combine genre elements, creating works that transcend the boundaries of a single genre.

Krause is such a master of moody, disturbing descriptions. Never quite horror, but definitely unsettling in the most beautiful way. The whole concept of grave flowers and their uses/magic was absorbing. I liked Madalina and her strength and loyalty to those she loved despite the difficulties of her youth. The romance was also enjoyable without overshadowing the more interesting plot, but parts of it felt rushed at times. Overall, I would highly recommend this for the descriptive writing alone.

When Princess Madelina's twin sister is found dead in the kingdom of her betrothed, Madelina's mission is to not only take her revenge but do the job her sister was sent to do, kill the Prince. She must now go as the new betrothed to a house full of power and secrets.

Anne Boleyn meets Hamlet, yes, please!

The idea of the creepy flowers and the slowburn between the couple was intriguing. This book also had its twists and turns.

Autumn does it again with her poetic way with words and her passion for fashion and love.

I really enjoyed this one! The writing had a kind of dreamy, eerie vibe that pulled me in right away. The setting was super atmospheric, and I loved how it blended grief, beauty, and a bit of the strange in such a haunting way. The characters felt layered and real, and the whole story just had this quiet intensity that stuck with me. Definitely worth a read if you’re into slightly gothic, emotional stories with a touch of the surreal.


*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of this book.*

This is my new favorite book of 2025!
It starts with vicious flowers. Then with a missing princess and a sister's revenge. Once the heart-melting prince shows up, the twists and turns starts and they DON"T stop! There are ghosts, and poisons, and scars, political intrigue and forbidden kissing, in the bloodiest royal court since Hamlet.
Easy five starts, and I only wish this book has a sequel!

Thank you Netgalley and Peachtree Teen for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

“Grave Flowers” by Autumn Krause is a lush and emotionally charged story that combines court intrigue, magical horror, and generational trauma into something both spellbinding and deeply human. At the heart of this dark royal fantasy is Madalina, a princess whose gentle heart and floral magic make her an outsider in a palace ruled by power plays and cruelty. Her journey through deception, betrayal, and transformation is the emotional core of the story, and it is told with both elegance and brutal honesty.

Krause’s world-building is stunning. From the haunting grave flowers to the fashion-laced court, every detail feels alive with menace and beauty. The enchanted blooms, each with deadly properties, serve as both plot devices and symbolic touchstones. Scattered field notes about these flowers appear throughout the book, adding a unique and chilling touch that enhances the lore without pulling away from the story’s momentum.

The book plays with familiar tropes in thrilling ways. There are echoes of Hamlet and Anne Boleyn, but the story carves its own space with floral horror and a morally complex assassination plot. Madalina agrees to marry a prince and is expected to kill him, all under the shadow of diplomacy. It is a political powder keg of a plot, filled with sharp twists and emotional unraveling.

What truly sets the book apart is its exploration of identity and legacy. Madalina is often told that her softness is weakness, and much of the story follows her grappling with this belief while surrounded by a court that demands blood over compassion. Her internal conflict, as she struggles to reconcile her nature with her family's expectations, is written with a subtlety that feels both painful and authentic.

The romance between Madalina and Aeric is slow-burn and gorgeously restrained. It is more about longing and emotional vulnerability than physicality, which suits the book’s tone perfectly. Aeric himself is a broken, wary character who feels real in his pain and guarded hope. Watching these two carefully inch toward trust, even as they both suspect betrayal, is one of the book’s most rewarding arcs.

Krause's prose is lyrical and immersive, pulling you into a world of velvet-draped dread. The atmosphere feels thick with secrets and the weight of unspoken pain. There is humor and banter, particularly from the more eccentric characters, which offers relief without breaking the spell of the darker elements.

While the book is dense with lore and magical history, some of that richness can feel a bit uneven. Certain elements are introduced early with intrigue, only to return later in ways that may confuse readers who do not recall their original context. The resolution of the mystery plotline also arrives a bit suddenly, which may divide some readers, though it arguably adds to the sense of chaos that defines much of the book’s final act.

Still, these are small imperfections in an otherwise powerful and beautifully crafted story. Overall, “Grave Flowers” is perfect for readers who crave dark fantasy with heart, haunting magic, and protagonists who dare to be kind in a world that rewards cruelty. It is a story of grief, resistance, and the courage to become the person your lineage warned you against. A standout addition to the genre, and one that will linger long after the final page.