Week 27 Review: Garden of the Cursed

From Goodreads:

In this thrilling YA fantasy/mystery duology from award-winning author Katy Pool, cursebreaker Marlow Briggs reluctantly pretends to be in love with one of the most powerful nobles in Caraza City to gain entry into an illustrious—and deadly—society that holds clues to her mother's disappearance. Perfect for fans of Veronica Mars, These Violent Delights, and Chain of Iron.

Since fleeing the gilded halls of Evergarden for the muck-filled canals of the Marshes, Marlow Briggs has made a name for herself as the best godsdamn cursebreaker in Caraza City. But no matter how many cases she solves, she is still haunted by the mystery of her mother's disappearance.

When Adrius Falcrest, Marlow's old friend and scion of one of Caraza's most affluent spell-making families, asks her to help break a life-threatening curse, Marlow wants nothing to do with the boy who spurned her a year ago. But a new lead in her mother's case makes Marlow realize that the only way to get the answers she desperately seeks is to help Adrius and return to Evergarden society—even if it means suffering through a fake love affair with him to avoid drawing suspicion from the conniving Five Families.

As the investigation draws Marlow into a web of deadly secrets and powerful enemies, a shocking truth emerges: Adrius's curse and her mother's disappearance may just be clues to an even larger mystery, one that could unravel the very foundations of Caraza and magic itself.

My Review:
I utterly loved reading this book! I loved her first series, and I was looking forward to this one, and yeah, it was just as good as I was thinking! This world of magic and curses and spell makers, and these characters like Marlow and Adrius, I had to read more!

Marlow wants to find out what happened to her mom. Which is understandable. But she's also left the world that she was in, of wealth and privilege, to go back to the Marshes. When the chance to follow a new avenue of investigation, that also means taking on a case for her former friend, well, her investigation needed to progress after not having anything to go off of in so long.

The situation that Adrius is in, with under a curse that means he has to do what people tell him, yeah, that's pretty awful. That they start fake dating, when there were real feelings, well, of course we know what's going to happen, but it was further complicated by the politics of this world, which I loved to read about! 

Oh, but that ending? There were so many emotions, what Adrius was commanded to do, and her response, as well as those two final bits of information, well, its going to make the sequel very interesting to read, to find out what's going to happen next! 

Loved reading this book and I can't wait for the sequel! 

Author: Katy Rose Pool
Series: Garden of the Cursed #1
Read: July 1st, 2023
Source: Bought 
Reason Why: Love her writing and it sounded really great, and it's a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2023 Book and a WoW Book! 
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Published: June 20th 2023

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars