Violet Sterling has spent the last seven years in exile, longing to return to Burleigh House. One of the six great houses of England, Burleigh's magic always kept the countryside well. And as a child, this magic kept Violet happy, draping her in flowers while she slept, fashioning secret hiding places for her, and lighting fires on the coldest nights to keep her warm.
Everything shattered, though, when her father committed high treason trying to free Burleigh from the king's oppressive control. He was killed, and Vi was forced into hiding.
When she's given a chance to go back, she discovers Burleigh has run wild with grief. Vines and briars are crumbling the walls. Magic that once enriched the surrounding countryside has turned dark and deadly, twisting lush blooms into thorns, poisoning livestock and destroying crops. Burleigh's very soul is crying out in pain.
Vi would do anything to help, and soon she finds herself walking the same deadly path as her father all those years before. Vi must decide how far she's willing to go to save her house—before her house destroys everything she's ever known.
Oh, man, this was a really wonderful book! I absolutely loved the world, with these Houses and their magic! Such an incredible story, so lush and beautiful and dangerous. Not that it means to be, but this is an incredible complex and dire situation!
The fact that this is a magic slanted version of history, it's set in England around the 1800's, so I'm not quite sure if the king in this book is the same as in our history books or not, or if his circumstances changed, because while I'm not familiar with that time period, I don't believe that this king and his exact family was in real life. I could be wrong. But it also could be that it's a magical world so things were changed a bit!
I felt really badly for Vi, Wyn, and Burleigh House. It's not their fault they're in this situation, it's because Burleigh was bound all those years ago, and we're just learning why that was a bad idea. And Vi is torn between her childhood best friend and her present maybe something more, and her childhood home, her family's legacy. It's really tough on them all!
Sometimes I raged at the unfairness that the king would just let things get worse and worse, and then, do something so bad just to keep his power. If he'd done the right thing, then maybe all these bad events wouldn't have happened. But his daughter did mention that once people had power, they didn't tend to let it go. But yeah, because of him, it meant that there was that pretty intense ending, which was so wonderful to read, but it still could've turned out so much worse, and that would've been because he wanted to keep his power. Bah.
Loved reading this book, it was a wonderful read, and I can't wait to read more by Laura E. Weymouth!
Author: Laura E. Weymouth
Read: November 28th, 2019
Source: Edelweiss
Reason Why: Sounded really great, and it's a SAC 2019 Book and a Sophomore Challenge Book!
Publisher: Harper Teen
Published: September 10th 2019
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| 5/5 Hearts |
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| 5/5 Books |
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| 5/5 Stars |
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