My biggest issue regarding the plot was the poor pacing. The main character didn't even arrive at the primary setting until about 25% of the way through. The exposition dragged on for a huge chunk of the beginning, and it made it hard to get through. Because of how slow thing were at the start, it seemed like suddenly everything was happening in the last chunk of the book, especially in the last few chapters. This book suffered major finale syndrome. I don’t know the people selling it,” she said flatly. “I have no idea what they intended when they cultivated the plants.” Nope. That kid is a whole demon. He told his grandma to shut up the other day and nobody said anything. He’s mad disrespectful. My grandma would’ve snatched my soul right out my body.”

When strangers begin to turn up at the house, asking for various herbs and potions, Briseis realizes that she has a natural ability for creating these special products. Marie is one of the first visitors to show up on Briseis’s doorstep—she is a gorgeous and enigmatic young woman and Briseis is happy to befriend her. But Briseis finds out that Marie is keeping a ton of dark secrets about her family’s unique history, the house and her strange connection to the surrounding community. Briseis knew that her inheritance was too good to be true and she wants to get to the bottom of all the secrets that go hand in hand with the estate… until a malicious group comes after her because they believe she can make a precious and hazardous immortality potion. Kalynn Bayron is the bestselling author of the award-winning YA fantasy Cinderella Is Dead. She is a classically trained vocalist and when she's not writing you can find her listening to Ella Fitzgerald on loop, attending the theater, watching scary movies, and spending time with her kids. She currently lives in San Antonio, Texas with her family.She nodded. “I think so. I imagine plants are kind of like people. Tell a person they’re worthless, hurt their feelings everyday—they’d wither, too.” She let her delicate fingers dance over the surface of the counter, then up to her lips. Her eyes were like the centers of Velvet Queen sunflowers, brown and blazing. She held my gaze. “But imagine telling someone they’re beautiful, magnetic, stunning. Every single day. Imagine how they’d flourish.” First of all, I love the representation of sapphic elders in this book. It's so rare that I see an LGBTQ couple in the spotlight over the age of... say 35? Reading the beautifully casual representation of that couple was so healing for me, as I have no queer "elder" role models, and it's sometimes so hard to imagine myself in a queer, lifelong relationship.

He looked at me quizzically. Iglanced at my mom for a second longer than I needed to. Her face grew tight with concern. Being wound up all the time, constantly watching my every move, and being careful not to provoke a response from a red oak or potted fern was exhausting. Ignoring them was the only thing that worked—and sometimes, that didn’t even help as much I wanted it to. The worst part was that it felt wrong to ignore them, like I was denying something that was as much a part of me as anything else. But in the confines of my cramped bedroom, I could let go, and the relief that came with that was something I looked forward to more than anything else. Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide. Get started CloseAnd that number is insane when you think about it. I’m sure there are thousands of plants that we haven’t discovered or really taken the time to explore the true properties of it. I’ll tell her,” my mom said. “And you don’t owe us anything—except maybe some of your world-famous peach cobbler.” N othing-special. This story had a lot of potential if I'm being honest. maybe a quarter through the book, I was really in deep. IT was getting interesting. Bayron had a chance to make something fresh and new. But it was a typical YA kind of book. I'm not saying I wasn't expecting it to not be YA, but do we really have to toss a beautiful plot in the trash for cute giggly w/w moments and angst. There could have been something. The story, the history, it was all amazing. But Baryon dimmed it down a bit. Okay,s eh dimmed it down ALOT. Lights out for sparkly potential, candles lit for cheesy romance.