Add this book to my list of personality traits and prepare for me to never shut up about it, because OH MY GOD, it was BRILLIANT.

I didn’t know much about this book when I started reading it, because I read the synopsis when it was first announced and never looked at it again. All I knew was that the cover was gorgeous and the title intrigued me. I thought it would be a fun stand-alone story and that would be that. Joke’s on me.

As soon as I started the first chapter, I was hooked. Bayron’s writing is captivating, and the more I read, the more interested I was. I loved Briseis and her relationship with her fun, loving moms. Bri's botanical magic fascinated me, even more so when the complexities of it were revealed. The manor she inherited was not what it seemed, nor was the small town it was located in. We’ve got plant magic and poisonous plants and lots of secrets and even more Greek mythology, which, for someone who grew up with the Percy Jackson books and never grew out of my Greek mythology phase, was so much fun. All of this together made for a story that I never wanted to stop reading, despite not being in a huge reading mood.

Add in Bri’s new friends—the sweet, clumsy boy that grew up in town, and the beautiful, mysterious girl that might be interested in more than friendship—and it was like I’d fallen down a rabbit hole.

Although most of the book is rather slow, I was never bored. The stakes slowly but surely got higher as more secrets were unearthed, and then so much happened in the last fifty pages, my mind was blown at least five times. I was maybe twenty pages from the end when I did a bit of research and learned that there’s going to be a sequel, which is good, because holy donut holes, Batman, I NEED MORE. Things went from 0 to 200 about as quick as I can blink, and those last couple of lines were such a tease. This Wicked Fate can’t come fast enough.

All in all, Kalynn Bayron has completely stunned me and I can’t wait to read more from her, both related to this book and not. In the meantime, I plan to shove this book at everyone who will listen, because it deserves much more love and hype. Don’t sleep on This Poison Heart, y’all!!!

Representation