Tropes: guy falls first, friends to lovers, fake relationship, second chance, hate to, sarcastic witty banter, “court” intrigue, jealous guy, girl falls first, slow-burn fantasy romance. Hi there,” Marlow said as her mark stepped into the hallway. He glanced at her, surprised but not scared. Not yet. 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 Katy Rose Pool’s inventive and engaging Garden of the Cursed opens, a potential client turns up in the form of Adrius Falcrest, Marlow’s former friend and scion of one of the wealthy and powerful Five Families. Despite their now-frosty relationship, Adrius implores her to break a curse that threatens the lives and fortune of his family. His cronies guffawed. Marlow’s fingers closed around what she deeply hoped was a temporary Blinding hex.

I lied,” she said, nudging his arm with her boot as he groaned in pain. “I’m not going to ask a second time.” For a moment Marlow’s fear dulled the edges of her mind. She swallowed it down and forced herself to meet Bane’s cruel gray eyes with another smile. Marlow heads into the theatre and finds Corrine. Marlow asks her to come with her and they go to find Vivian, Corrine's replacement for a prima ballerina. Marlow accuses Vivian of cursing Corrine so that she could get the lead role instead of her, and Marlow breaks Corrine's curse by burning the card she stole from Flint.

PDF / EPUB File Name: Garden_of_the_Cursed_-_Katy_Rose_Pool.pdf, Garden_of_the_Cursed_-_Katy_Rose_Pool.epub Caraza sits poised on the edge of chaos. Tensions rise between the Five Families and trouble brews in the Marshes—and Marlow is at the center of it all. In the tragic aftermath of the Vale-Falcrest wedding, Adrius refuses to speak to her, publicly vowing to find a wife before the year is out. Despite her heartbreak, Marlow is still intent on breaking his curse. To do so, she’ll have to play loving daughter to the man who cast it. But the closer she gets to her father, the more she starts to question if he’s really the villain she’s made him out to be. Nothing short of genius .”—Jennifer Lynn Barnes, #1 New York Times -bestselling author of The Inheritance Games series

He spat in Marlow’s face. A glob of saliva landed wetly on her cheek, and for a moment Marlow was stunned into silence. Slowly, deliberately, she wiped her face and said, in a taut voice brimming with violence, “You’re really going to regret that.” Nothing short of genius.” —Jennifer Lynn Barnes, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Inheritance Games series So many thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan for this advanced reader copy. My review is voluntarily my own. 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. On each day we'll read a section of Gardens Of The Cursed, both on the blog and in The Nest's group, and then discuss in the comments our theories and predictions. This means there will be spoilers for each section! Beware!This book opens in a speakeasy with magic cards, and I knew immediately that I was going to adore this book. One of my favorite time periods to read about is the roaring 20s and this book gave off those vibes, especially with The Marshes and all the counterfeit spells and more. Not to mention I've always loved the idea of spell cards, or magic cards that can do different things since my friend played a character that relied on that in one of our dnd campaigns. It was incredibly cool and so when I learned that this book had both curses and magic cards, I was even more excited. The narration by Jennifer Blom was enjoyable and I thought she did a wonderful job as Marlow. Some of the characters were voiced similarly though and there were times when it was challenging to distinguish between characters. Thus, the fake relationship has a certain degree of tension underlying it, not just because of the unresolved feelings between the two of them but also because with it, Marlow has to return to a world that reminds her of her mother. She can’t help but feel even more out of place now. Everyone also seems suspicious, possibly having a hand either in Adrius’s curse or in her mother’s disappearance.