A Harvest of Hearts

This was an absolutely delightful and charming novel. Foss spends her days happily in the butcher's shop working alongside her father. When a sorcerer comes to town and inadvertently snags her heart (literally), she must follow him to get it back.

I appreciated the slower pace of this book. It's not action-packed by any means. Things unfold slowly and leisurely. It's a slow-burn that is very satisfying by the end of the book. I really enjoyed all the characters, especially Cornelius the talking cat. And, yes, as others have said, Foss's constant harping on her (to her) inadequate looks can get repetitive. However, it didn't bother me too much.

This was such a cozy, atmospheric read. Well done.

This clearly wasn't a cozy fantasy. It's more like a character-driven dark-ish fantasy that leans into the fairytale side. The book's over 425 pages, but I had a fun time listening to the audiobook while doing chores around the house and didn't really feel like it's too long.

The plot itself is fairly predictable but that’s not necessarily a flaw if you’re reading for the atmosphere and character dynamics. I enjoyed Eames' worldbuilding. In fact, it reminded me a lot of T. Kingfisher’s work.

"The older lady with the fancy clothing cupped her face in her hands and started to weep. And I do mean weep, not cry. Crying was a low-bred thing to do, but weeping was higher-pitched, and involved a lace handkerchief and small, ladylike

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sniffs."

The protagonist, Foss, is a refreshingly real character. She’s blunt, practical, and quietly wrestling with self-worth and self-perception throughout the book. The male lead, Sylvester, unfortunately, was so underdeveloped that I couldn’t bring myself to care much about him. The romance is slow-burn but I also didn't really care about it.

But Cornelius, the talking cat? Absolute scene-stealer. Honestly, I’d read a whole book just about him! show less

I’m not sure about the comparison with Howl’s Moving Castle, but — I loved the House, Cornelius cat, Foss and her sorcerer and her wonderful Da. The characters are excellent, the book is weird and bloody and pretty dark. Good and maybe not what I wanted in my brain at this precise moment in time. But good reading, good storytelling.

I also really loved that Foss is one of those girls (like me) who the world calls ugly at a tender time in their lives and needs to learn her worth. That theme is beautiful, and needed.

Foss Butcher lives in a kingdom protected by sorceresses. The only catch? They have to take hearts, usually just a piece here and there, from villages on the outskirts of the kingdom in order to keep everyone safe from war, famine, death in childbirth and the rest. When a sorcerer appears and snags Foss's heart, she is forced to journey to find him because the separation is unbearable. First she works as his housekeeper and cook to stay in proximity, but eventually she comes to believe that perhaps the heart magic isn't as inevitable or as innocent as she originally believed.

The description from the publisher suggests this is like Howl's Moving Castle or The House in the Cerulean Sea, neither of which I thought was really a fair show more comparison. This has much more of a dark fairy tale feel, and though Foss is a great heroine and I very much enjoyed Cornelius the talking cat, the rest of the characters - including the sorcerer love interest, Sylvester - fell really flat. Overall it was simply... fine. show less

Decent story, not exactly what I would call cosy, though. It's for a good length of the book a rather grim and dark story, more horror-ish than cosy. Reminds me in some ways of Stephen King's & Peter Straub's The Talisman, just very attenuated, when it comes to the general vibe.

I found the character pretty flat, the only ones that stood out where Cornelius the Cat and, ironically, the House (in the first half of the story). The plot was rather interesting, but the writing style took me a while to get used to and it dragged on a bit in the beginning.

All in all I would say it's a decent book, for the most parts, that suffers heavily from being wrongly labelled. It's more a magic/witchcraft-centred MG/YA (low) fantasy story, as long as the show more kids can cope with some swearing, some horror elements, and a few hints at sexual activities (it's really just lukewarm, nothing really spicy, not even mild - in my opinion (but I am not American)), than cosy fantasy aimed at adults.

What it is definitely not: 'Literary Fiction' (it is categorised as such on NetGalley, I am not making this up), and if it can be called cosy is at least highly questionable.

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Transparency disclaimer: Receiving a DRC of this story did not influence my review in any way, shape, or form. show less

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an eARC of this book, this is my objective review. Our reluctant heroine is the plain-faced and sensible Foss Butcher, who lives in a village in a kingdom protected by sorceresses. In exchange, the sorceresses go from village to village harvesting small pieces of the villager's hearts in order to maintain their magic powers. During one of these visits, Foss's own heart is ensnared by a rare sorcerer and she is magically compelled to seek him out in the big city. She believes that the means by which he has be-spelled her has also cursed her to be attracted to him. Once in the city she finds a bewitched and sentient house, a talking cat named Cornelius, and an awkward sorcerer named Sylvester who's show more full of secrets. Will Foss ever be able to return home safely, or will she be forever ensnared in the perilous city and its dangerous secrets? I enjoyed this book so much, and it had an interesting premise with enough going on to keep you hooked, especially in the main plot. Foss was delightfully cranky and capable, but I thought Sylvester was much harder to pin down as a character and so it took me a long while to fully invest in him. The story has a slightly uneven flow, it dragged a bit in places. Although the pace was sluggish in places for me, it definitely picked up towards the end and I was glad I persisted. The romance seemed under-developed for most of the book, and didn't really come to fruition until late in the book. For those looking for a romantasy book, this wasn't that so much as a fantasy/mystery with a romantic sub-plot. That said, I enjoyed all aspects of this story and I would definitely read this author again. Publishes 3-4-25. show less

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the chance to read and review this book!

I actually really liked A Harvest of Hearts! I think Foss is a very good character and I adored that she wasn't magically made beautiful by the end of it. As someone who has been pouring an unholy amount of money down the beauty industries throat this last year, I really do want more characters who don't magically become sirens, but are loved for who they are and beautiful to those who love them. The anger towards pretty girls was also interesting; I don't think you're allowed to often talk about that in books and I'm very sure some people will criticise the author for doing it; but I think it made Foss a more well rounded and extremely capable show more character.

The plot is also pretty good; the heart magic and the darkness around it were very well done. Some elements like the mist we saw earlier in the book were very well tied in with things that happened later.

I do do unfortunately feel like the author made some rookie mistakes that will leave a lot of people disappointed; namely that so many elements were rushed. Some things do need to happen quickly, like when the magic wielders attached Basil and his group, but the end of the book and the way Sylvester releases the spell could have been done better. I also know that she feels really bad, but it was a stupid immature MC mistake to go back for Millie and hang on to Colin like that. Da and how easily he lives is also strange. The book could have been made a duology.

Cornelius is my favourite, obviously, and I honestly would have picked a fight if something had happened to him.

Well deserved 4 stars. show less