A review by ailsaod
This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

hopeful mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

 Was very excited by the basic premise but wasn't really a fan of the execution. I don't read much low/urban fantasy so the presence of copious pop-culture references was more than a little jarring. I am also very much not the target audience of this book, i.e. I am not a black teenager from New York and this book contains many little things to appeal to these groups that just left me cold (if you wanted to read about the main character's haircare routine then boy do I have the book for you!). I am pleased for the people that can read this book and see something familiar but I just spent a lot of time being confused about America and wondering if New Yorkers do indeed speak like that? Another thing that may be cultural differences is that if I had a random person appear outside my house but not make any effort to cause issues I personally wouldn't immediately call the police? It just seemed like a weird reaction but I guess America has very different trespassing laws. I've read books set in America before but I don't think I've ever had such a sense of confusion about whether the characters are being weird or if this is accurate.

This book also features some borderline insta-love but luckily this doesn't feature too heavily. Briesis really is very ride or die about people she met like two days ago though.

The main positive is that the plant magic that drew me here was pretty cool. It was a bit heavy on aesthetic over specifics for my taste but very pretty nevertheless. I liked that Briesis' Moms were actual functioning human beings that occasionally would get to interact with the plot, unlike literally every other YA parent. Not sure what I think of the greek mythology aspect but it certainly wasn't bad and the climax of the book was nice and exciting! 
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