Katy Rose Pool

Garden of the Cursed by Katy Rose Pool is the first in a new series from the author who gave us the fabulous Age of Darkness series. (Seriously, if you have not read that one, do yourself a favor and do so immediately. Then come back and add this one to your TBR list.)

Set in a world that reminds me of a cross between Venice and the bayous of Louisana, this new series follows the adventures of Marlow Briggs. She grew up among society's wealthiest, only to have it all taken away when her show more mother mysteriously disappeared. Marlow is understandably bitter about her circumstances. She is also brave, determined, and the teeniest bit reckless. Underneath her bravado are a tender heart and a lonely soul. You want nothing more than to see Marlow earn her happily ever after.

Like her previous series, Ms. Pool's world-building is par excellence. You instinctively sense the seediness of Caraza City and the surrounding Marshes, the danger they hold, and the odors that emanate from the muck and grime. Against this backdrop, we understand the desperation that causes Marlow to take chances she shouldn't, just as we better comprehend the scorn she holds for the elite living in Evergarden.

At the same time, one cannot ignore the tension between Adrius and Marlow. It is a massive part of the story. (Personally, I think it is the star attraction.) Because you recognize that some massive form of miscommunication caused their first break, you want to shake Marlow and tell her to open her eyes to the obvious feelings she has for him and him for her. Adrius has some of the BEST lines toward Marlow, reminding older readers of the power of that first rush of love.

However, Garden of the Cursed is not all swoony declarations of love. No matter how much I enjoyed those parts, the essence of the story is the mystery of Adrius' curse and Marlow's mother's disappearance. You know from the start that the answers will not be that easy to uncover, and they are not. Ms. Pool, once again, excels at keeping you guessing and forcing you to follow Marlow from clue to clue. What Marlow discovers, however, is a massive game changer - the kind that makes you wish the story didn't end because you don't want to wait to find out what it will mean for our heroes.

Garden of the Cursed is not as ambitious in scope as Ms. Pool's first trilogy, but that in no way diminishes what she accomplishes here. The world of Caraza City and Evergarden is cozier, and the cast of characters is smaller, allowing readers to be more intimate with the world and those with whom Marlow interacts. This increases the suspense and heightens the stakes for Marlow to solve the mystery.

Garden of the Cursed was by far my favorite book among those I read in May. It had a little bit of everything I love and nothing that I didn't. I admire Marlow's take-no-shit attitude and continue to swoon at Adrius' charm, but it is the mystery behind Marlow's fall from grace that kept me turning the pages as fast as I could. There are so many directions in which the story could turn, and I have no way of knowing which path Ms. Pool will take. Stories like Garden of the Cursed are the reason why I love to read. All I want to do is share this intriguing story with as many people as possible. show less

I loved the first two books in the series, but Katy Rose Pool’s series finale, Into the Dying Light, left me feeling flat. The semblance of Hollywood ending struck the wrong chord with me. In general, the ending is too happy for a story during which the author had no problems killing off characters. While I am all for happily-ever-after endings, they have to fit the rest of the story. To me, this is one example where the ending does not fit.

Plus, I never could get behind the relationship show more of two of the main characters. To me, this relationship is nothing but desperation and hero-worship masked as love and affection. If the relationship were heteronormative, we would say how dangerous such a relationship is, so I struggle to accept it for a homosexual one.

Into the Dying Light strikes me as very anticlimactic given the overall story’s grandiosity. It is too neat and tidy for a story that was epic and messy and complex. One of the things I loved about the rest of the series is the fact that it was so complex and messy. It brings a level of realism to a story steeped in fantasy. The way Ms. Pool chose to end her series undoes all of that to give any character of importance a happy ending, and that seemingly ruined the story for me. show less

MASQUERADE OF THE HEART by Katy Rose Pool is a fantastic ending to a duology that melts your heart. Once you get past the self-sacrifice for your love trope, the rest of the story is exciting and full of surprises. Ms. Pool’s resolution to the many problems Marlow faces may be a little too clean, but it still satisfies as it also shows that you can’t win them all. I particularly love how Marlow truly acts her age. She is very much still a teenager making rash decisions and creating many show more avoidable mistakes. However, she shows her growing maturity in taking ownership of those mistakes and seeking to rectify them. At the end of the day, however, my heart belongs to Adrius, who once again is as golden, as melancholic, and as hopelessly in love as he was in the first book. MASQUERADE OF THE HEART ends Ms. Pool’s second series, and with it she becomes a must-read author for me. Her ability to create fantasy that is somehow realistic in feel despite any magic is excellent. I can’t wait to see what she has for us next! show less

Y'all, this is so fun, in the "f is for fire, n is for no survivors" kind of way. Marlow Briggs is a good curse breaker (the best if you ask her) but she is perfectly okay refusing to help Adrius rich-boy-who-used-to-maybe-be-her-friend Falcrest with his curse problem, but when she finds a clue about her mother's disappearance, she agrees to investigate. Come for the sass, fake dating, mysterious figures with murder vibes, and friendly neighborhood shopkeep with a shotgun named Josephine. show more There's also some Tragic Miscommunication, a not uncommon thing, but after I got over the urge to throttle Briggs and make her have proper conversations, the tension was generally worth it.

Especially recommend this book for folks who love Margaret Owen's characters (100% attitude, 0% regrets) and the romantic tension in Violet Made of Thorns.

Can't wait for the sequel.

(For some reason, the cover made me think there would be vampires? There are no vampires.)

**Thanks to BookishFirst for the ARC** show less