R is for Rotting

I’m doing folklore and book review posts to reach and please a larger audience. Previous years have shown select interest in both and to minimise blogging throughout the year, I’m focusing my efforts on April.

Focusing on an A to Z of my TBR (to be read) list, each letter will have books starting with that letter on my list, a book I’ve read and reviewed (with the review!) and one of my books matching the letter with a link about more info about the book.

I chose the books this year quite randomly from my Goodreads Want to Read page. Some are quite creatively added to letters.

If you’d rather check out my folklore post for today, go here.

You can read reviews for from previous years for this letter here, here and here, and my year-end reviews here, here, here, here and, most recently, here and here.

My TBR

About the Book I’ve Read

This Rotting Heart by Celeste Baxendell

A princess without a heart. A dying land. A king who will do anything to save his people, even force an alchemist to marry him.

Princess Hellebore loves nothing more than she loves decay. It is her specialty as an alchemist, and she expects her skill will serve her well when she one day takes her aunt’s position and becomes her brother’s alchemist.

When she risks crossing into Sun Elf territory and breaking the law to steal a Sunrise Iris for her studies, she’s caught red-handed and carried off to their capital. However, the last thing she expected upon arrival was to be thrust into a marriage with their king.

Their people’s animosity towards hers is a centuries deep wound, and there is no one who hates the alchemists more than King Taiyo. But something is deeply rotten, and when an alchemist is the only one who can save the Sun Elves, Hellebore has no choice but to be her husband’s alchemist.

The only benefit is that it means she is his wife in name only. She might give the charming elf her skills, but she will never give him her heart. No matter how hard he might try to win it.

This Rotting Heart is the third book in the Seasons of Legend series, a multi-author collection of romantic fantasy novellas designed to be read independently. Each standalone features a different season and retelling with an enemies to lover’s twist. In this spring tale you will find a Hades and Persephone reimagining full of alchemy and swoony no-spice romance.

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

Wow. Just, wow. This Hades and Persephone retelling packs a punch. Hellebore refuses to feel, to love, she only wants to be an alchemist. But being among the Sun Elves, doing what she loves even if it means being married to the Elf who’d abducted her, slowly changes her and makes her feel.

The development of the relationship between Hellebore and Taiyo is sweet. I like how he protected her when she needed it, encouraged her to do what she’s good at, and willing to die to save his people. The way he lit up whenever he saw her in his colours… swoon!

There are secrets and mysteries Hellebore has to uncover. Instead of freaking out when she learns uncomfortable truths, she approaches it rationally. She even asks her husband to be angry at her the next day. LOL.

I liked how it was never clear who was on Hellebore’s side and who wasn’t, who she could trust and rather shouldn’t.

The worldbuilding is interesting and I would like to read more books set in this world.

The only problem I had with this book was the letter she received that was all in italics. I had a problem with the italics as it messes with my eyes and head, making it difficult to read and enjoy the book. Authors and publishers: please consider the neurodivergent when making decisions about italics so books are accessible to all.

An easy-to-read romantasy with a swoonworthy hero, a feisty heroine, and enough intrigue to keep one guessing until the end.

*I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest opinion.

My Book

Russian Roulette (Irascible Immortals #4)

Remember that you can request all of my books from your local library!

I hope you enjoyed this. For more books I’ve read and reviewed, check out either my Pinterest board about reviews or my Goodreads profile. Alternatively, you can check out my reviews on BookBub. Have you read any of the books? Loved or hated any of them?

You can now support my time in producing book review posts (buying books, reading, writing reviews and everything else involved) by buying me a coffee. This can be a once-off thing, or you can buy me coffee again in the future at your discretion.

*FYI, my reviews are my honest opinion and if something bothers me, I tell it straight. How else will anything change? My opinions are based on being a voracious reader and book buyer, not an attack on the author.*