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mariahistryingtoread's review against another edition
1.0
I'm going to (try to) keep this short.
If you read the synopsis for This Poison Heart outside of maybe 1 or 2 smaller story beats, you have read the entire book.
The whole time, I kept wondering when a new development or twist was going to happen, but nothing of consequence occurred until 60% into the book when Briseis hangs out with Marie for the first time. And the revelation regarding her was meaningless to me because it was super easy to guess what it was from my outsider point of view.
It's a slow slog through plot points you already know are coming. Several characters make a point to tell Briseis that she better watch out for strange characters coming by her house because of the revitalization of the family apothecary business yet no one weird ever actually comes by there aren't even any interesting people to, at least, read about in passing. When she opens it back up - at 63% into the book, I might add - only one person comes. The guy is an alchemist, to be fair, but he can't actually do magic himself, so that's a bust.
Without a cast of zany characters to spice things up, this book was a retread of Briseis scouting the same secret garden half a dozen times, occasionally venturing into town, and thinking to herself ad nauseum about how she doesn't know if she's ready to accept this burden or the legacy of her birth family.
Marie was not a compelling love interest. I didn't ship Briseis with new friend Karter, but he definitely had a better foundation on the basis that we saw him like 4x as much as Marie.
They don't talk about anything that isn't specifically plot related, have nothing in common, and share no interests or hobbies. Briseis is at least drawn to Marie because she's beautiful. There is absolutely no reason why Marie should be so into Briseis that she can't stop raving about her to her bodyguard. Not to knock Briseis' appeal, but like come on, what does Marie even have to be twitterpated about when at that point they had spoken one time for 2 minutes? The age gap only sealed the deal. She's old enough to have experienced legitimate, serious love affairs. Simple attraction should be old hat to her.
I get it. It's a thing in romances primarily directed at women to have an older, worldly person fall for little old you (ie the protagonist). I just disagree with the trope being in young adult books specifically because they don't have the capacity most of the time to recognize why it'd be a problem in real life. Adults can be manipulated into harmful power dynamics based on age gaps as well, but an adult, in theory, is able to separate their enjoyment of the trope from active desire for it in their personal life.When so many young women are still preyed upon and exploited by older figures I don't think there's space to depict any significant age gap as no big deal when so many of them actively model themselves after the media they consume. Especially when you consider the fact that queer young adults are even more vulnerable to predatory behavior because they often don't have the support network to fall back on that a heterosexual young adult might have. Why can't she merely be magical? Why does she have to be ridiculously older, too?
Ifis a creep for pursuing then Marie is a creep for pursuing Briseis.
Even if the synopsis did not spoil everything, I would have felt similarly about the book. It was just too slow, and it was obvious Barron was stalling for time constantly.
For example, Briseis gets in contact with a professor friend of Mo's (nickname for one of her moms) who specializes in Greek mythology. Greek mythology is all over the house, and Briseis thinks it's the key to some answers. She gets on the phone for like two seconds and then asks to email her instead.
Why would Briseis email her questions when she literally is on the phone and can get answers immediately? She has no responsibilities at this moment, and no one calls her away. She also has the questions ready instantly, so it's not like she had to come up with them. Plus, despite the woman being available in the moment - we know because she was just on the phone - she doesn't respond to the email until days later. It's only done to ensure Briseis doesn't get intel 'too quickly'.
The last quarter is completely off the rails in its sudden absurdity. The heel-faced, cartoonish turn a character takes is mind-boggling. The actions of said character completely contradict the tone and internal logic established up until this point. I'm not opposed to the twist existing, even if it was a bit predictable, the execution was a massive misstep.
In the most egregious example of Bayron forcing the story down a particular path, Mrs. Redmond decides to just evict the family from the house to take it over and get to the titular poison heart.
The poison heart is hidden in a secret garden that no one without magical plant powers can get through. Even if Mrs. Redmond takes the house back; she wouldn't be able to get to the heart. Which she knows because she's the one who set this entire phony baloney house acquisition up in the first place. The reason she did this was explicitly because she couldn't get in on her own. She literally had the keys before giving them to Briseis as part of her plan, so if she could just get in on her own, why wouldn't she do that from the beginning?
When she shows up, it's immediately after she clearly tried to force her way through the magical plant path as she's all banged up from the attempt. Why did she even try when, again, she knows for a fact that she literally cannot get in? That was the whole reason she made the plan in the first place.
Speaking of the plan, it's silly because for whatever reason, Mrs. Redmond is just biding her time when she literally had all the power from day 1 to force the issue. She waits weeks before making her big move when all she had to do was pull a gun on Briseis' mom from the get-go and force her to open the pathway. There's a special key to get to the actual heart, but Mrs. Redmond had no way of knowing that, so from her perspective, Briseis should have been all that was required. If she did know about the special key (no indication that she did) then I also have to question how she found out about it when she couldn’t get into the inner sanctum to find out another key was needed.
Previously, in the book, Karter and Briseis are on the run from these wannabe kidnappers at the movies. It’s revealed Mrs. Redmond was behind that. This makes her entire plan make even less sense.
Why did Karter help her to escape? He could have simply tripped Briseis, and she would have been kidnapped. What does it matter if she knows he’s evil when if they had succeeded, it would have been revealed either way? He actually did not have to work that hard anyway. She already trusted him. If he invited her to see a cool thing out where no one could find them, then she would have gone, making it easy to grab her then. Why aim for the potentially populated movie theater/town courtyard where literally anyone could see or thwart the attempt?
If she was going to try to kidnap Briseis, then why didn’t she do that from day 1? Why wait weeks to randomly hold her and her mom at gunpoint? She literally could have been lying in wait for Briseis and her moms the moment they entered the home, then kept them hostage while she and her team forced Briseis to figure out how to get into the poison garden. She’s already a murderer. Keeping people prisoner for a while should be small potatoes.
The fact that her love interest is not there to support her during the grand climax is inexplicable. She literally low-key has super powers, and that's utterly irrelevant to the end 'battle'. It was bizarre how inconsequential her character was to any aspect of the book when she has magic. Briseis' plant powers are a constant. The book fundamentally does not work if she doesn't have them. Comparatively, if you remove Marie wholesale, nothing would be lost.
Before the sharp nose dive I would have left this book not particularly moved, but content with the story I got. By the end, it was like getting my teeth pulled - painful and exhausting.
If you read the synopsis for This Poison Heart outside of maybe 1 or 2 smaller story beats, you have read the entire book.
The whole time, I kept wondering when a new development or twist was going to happen, but nothing of consequence occurred until 60% into the book when Briseis hangs out with Marie for the first time. And the revelation regarding her
Spoiler
she was made immortal by the special poison plant Briseis' family has protected for generationsIt's a slow slog through plot points you already know are coming. Several characters make a point to tell Briseis that she better watch out for strange characters coming by her house because of the revitalization of the family apothecary business yet no one weird ever actually comes by there aren't even any interesting people to, at least, read about in passing. When she opens it back up - at 63% into the book, I might add - only one person comes. The guy is an alchemist, to be fair, but he can't actually do magic himself, so that's a bust.
Without a cast of zany characters to spice things up, this book was a retread of Briseis scouting the same secret garden half a dozen times, occasionally venturing into town, and thinking to herself ad nauseum about how she doesn't know if she's ready to accept this burden or the legacy of her birth family.
Marie was not a compelling love interest. I didn't ship Briseis with new friend Karter, but he definitely had a better foundation on the basis that we saw him like 4x as much as Marie.
They don't talk about anything that isn't specifically plot related, have nothing in common, and share no interests or hobbies. Briseis is at least drawn to Marie because she's beautiful. There is absolutely no reason why Marie should be so into Briseis that she can't stop raving about her to her bodyguard. Not to knock Briseis' appeal, but like come on, what does Marie even have to be twitterpated about when at that point they had spoken one time for 2 minutes? The age gap only sealed the deal. She's old enough to have experienced legitimate, serious love affairs. Simple attraction should be old hat to her.
Spoiler
Marie is really 376 years old. If a 40 year old woman has no business sniffing around Briseis, then that goes quintuple for someone not even born in the last century. Also, I'm expected to believe that a woman that old is interested in a sheltered 17 year old who has never once stepped out of line and keeps to herself for non-controlling, not nefarious reasons? Yeah, okay. Especially when she's apparently done this before seeing as she had a love affair with the funeral parlors grandfather when he was young as well.I get it. It's a thing in romances primarily directed at women to have an older, worldly person fall for little old you (ie the protagonist). I just disagree with the trope being in young adult books specifically because they don't have the capacity most of the time to recognize why it'd be a problem in real life. Adults can be manipulated into harmful power dynamics based on age gaps as well, but an adult, in theory, is able to separate their enjoyment of the trope from active desire for it in their personal life.When so many young women are still preyed upon and exploited by older figures I don't think there's space to depict any significant age gap as no big deal when so many of them actively model themselves after the media they consume. Especially when you consider the fact that queer young adults are even more vulnerable to predatory behavior because they often don't have the support network to fall back on that a heterosexual young adult might have. Why can't she merely be magical? Why does she have to be ridiculously older, too?
If
Spoiler
EdwardSpoiler
BellaEven if the synopsis did not spoil everything, I would have felt similarly about the book. It was just too slow, and it was obvious Barron was stalling for time constantly.
For example, Briseis gets in contact with a professor friend of Mo's (nickname for one of her moms) who specializes in Greek mythology. Greek mythology is all over the house, and Briseis thinks it's the key to some answers. She gets on the phone for like two seconds and then asks to email her instead.
Why would Briseis email her questions when she literally is on the phone and can get answers immediately? She has no responsibilities at this moment, and no one calls her away. She also has the questions ready instantly, so it's not like she had to come up with them. Plus, despite the woman being available in the moment - we know because she was just on the phone - she doesn't respond to the email until days later. It's only done to ensure Briseis doesn't get intel 'too quickly'.
The last quarter is completely off the rails in its sudden absurdity. The heel-faced, cartoonish turn a character takes is mind-boggling. The actions of said character completely contradict the tone and internal logic established up until this point. I'm not opposed to the twist existing, even if it was a bit predictable, the execution was a massive misstep.
Spoiler
Mrs. Redmond, the lawyer overseeing the house acquisition, is revealed to not be a lawyer but a descendant of the family that are enemies to Briseis' family line. She's after the immortal elixir mentioned in the synopsis.In the most egregious example of Bayron forcing the story down a particular path, Mrs. Redmond decides to just evict the family from the house to take it over and get to the titular poison heart.
The poison heart is hidden in a secret garden that no one without magical plant powers can get through. Even if Mrs. Redmond takes the house back; she wouldn't be able to get to the heart. Which she knows because she's the one who set this entire phony baloney house acquisition up in the first place. The reason she did this was explicitly because she couldn't get in on her own. She literally had the keys before giving them to Briseis as part of her plan, so if she could just get in on her own, why wouldn't she do that from the beginning?
When she shows up, it's immediately after she clearly tried to force her way through the magical plant path as she's all banged up from the attempt. Why did she even try when, again, she knows for a fact that she literally cannot get in? That was the whole reason she made the plan in the first place.
Speaking of the plan, it's silly because for whatever reason, Mrs. Redmond is just biding her time when she literally had all the power from day 1 to force the issue. She waits weeks before making her big move when all she had to do was pull a gun on Briseis' mom from the get-go and force her to open the pathway. There's a special key to get to the actual heart, but Mrs. Redmond had no way of knowing that, so from her perspective, Briseis should have been all that was required. If she did know about the special key (no indication that she did) then I also have to question how she found out about it when she couldn’t get into the inner sanctum to find out another key was needed.
Previously, in the book, Karter and Briseis are on the run from these wannabe kidnappers at the movies. It’s revealed Mrs. Redmond was behind that. This makes her entire plan make even less sense.
Why did Karter help her to escape? He could have simply tripped Briseis, and she would have been kidnapped. What does it matter if she knows he’s evil when if they had succeeded, it would have been revealed either way? He actually did not have to work that hard anyway. She already trusted him. If he invited her to see a cool thing out where no one could find them, then she would have gone, making it easy to grab her then. Why aim for the potentially populated movie theater/town courtyard where literally anyone could see or thwart the attempt?
If she was going to try to kidnap Briseis, then why didn’t she do that from day 1? Why wait weeks to randomly hold her and her mom at gunpoint? She literally could have been lying in wait for Briseis and her moms the moment they entered the home, then kept them hostage while she and her team forced Briseis to figure out how to get into the poison garden. She’s already a murderer. Keeping people prisoner for a while should be small potatoes.
The fact that her love interest is not there to support her during the grand climax is inexplicable. She literally low-key has super powers, and that's utterly irrelevant to the end 'battle'. It was bizarre how inconsequential her character was to any aspect of the book when she has magic. Briseis' plant powers are a constant. The book fundamentally does not work if she doesn't have them. Comparatively, if you remove Marie wholesale, nothing would be lost.
Before the sharp nose dive I would have left this book not particularly moved, but content with the story I got. By the end, it was like getting my teeth pulled - painful and exhausting.
juliebob's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
zgreyz's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
ciaram12's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
thesimplereader's review against another edition
4.0
3.75⭐️ rounded up
A slow burn of beauty. Can't wait to read the second one!
A slow burn of beauty. Can't wait to read the second one!
ck11's review against another edition
Saw that it had Greek mythology on it. Instant DNF. Nope thank you
loquitacass's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
_shanwood's review against another edition
medium-paced
3.0
This is a great addition to the world of teen fantasy. The writing style used lots of current language which for me takes me out of the book a little bit but over time it grew on me and suited the tone of the book and the characters are super loveable so you grow used to their voices. Has a very - come back for the next book - ending. I think it’s not something I’ll continue but I enjoyed it and it broke a reading slump for me! Easy to read and enjoyable none the less.