I wanted to like to like this book but I just couldn’t. There are many things wrong with it. The world building is sketchy and it can’t really decide what it wants to be. There are different planets, designer products like Prada, hamburgers but all in a medieval type society, huh?. My problem with some YA books is they feel they have to dumb it down for their audience. No, YA readers like well written books not silly dialogue and unlikely situations. The characters are caricatures of people.. The dialog was not believable either. The best thing about this book was the cover. Overall, I didn’t like this book. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Sisters of the Perilous Heart follows two very different girls on the colonized planet Kepler. One is the newly crowned Queen Vivian, a telekinetic and fire mage, who has to escape Assassins trying to murder her. The other one is Carina, an orphaned girl living with her sister at a convent, trying to hide her fluctuating telekinetic abilities. Both their lives are threatened by the Immortal Ones, humans who have an unending lifespan, but eyes that turn red and other kinds of more serious problems.

The book was self-published 2018 as Sassafras and the Queen, but was re-released 2020 by Mortal Ink Press. I received an ARC on Netgalley and Booksirens in exchange for an honest review.

Worldbuilding:
I would categorize this book as science-fantasy YA, because science-fantasy is about the only description which fits the setting. The world has burgers, jeans and mascara, but people live in almost medieval villages without any technology. There is magic, but there is also genetic engineering, spaceflight and robots.

I think science-fantasy settings are very intriguing and terribly hard to pull off. Sandra L. Vasher did not succeed with this. The whole universe is not designed very carefully, it reads more like it was changed as the author saw fit to change the story. I really stumbled at the mention of contemporary designer brands like Prada, Gabbana and Levi’s, that did not fit at all.

Storytelling:
The chapters are split between Vivian and Carina, with the occasional diary of an Immortal or a textbook excerpt scattered in between. I liked the writing style, even if I did not like much else. The first part of the story is mainly motivated by cliches, while the later part of the story builds on misunderstandings, with no character progression in between. The plot “twists” and “reveals” can be seen miles away, I doubt anyone will be surprised, especially since there are so many hints dropped.

There are also some really dumb scenes, for example a piece of underwear falls out of a backpack directly in front of a male love interest.

Characters:
The characters start as walking cliches and idiots, and mostly stay that way. Yes, they are teens, but, as always, teens that are described as bright enough to study chemistry at university level should learn from their mistakes and avoid them in future. I think that Sandra L. Vasher has a talent for showing the reader the emotions of the characters, but I think there is still some way to go in terms of individuality and character development.

ARC Rating:
Overall, I will rate this book with 2.49/5 stars, which will result in a Goodreads rating of 2. There are some very decent bits hiding in the book, and the potential is there. The author just has to decide to use it, detach from YA cliches and focus on realistic character development. The cherry on top would be a slightly more ordered worldbuilding.

Thank you Mortal Ink Press, LLC and NetGalley for providing me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. My review is my own and not influenced by others.

This book got my attention because of the cover which I like very much, the description sounded good so I was eager to start reading. However, after several times trying to read this book, I finally decided to DNF it.
I coudn’t get into this story, I found it confusing from the beginning, there was no connection that I was feeling with any of the characters and to be honest, I got frustrated by reading this book.

I ended up really liking this book. The political intrigue, world-building and magic was done so well. I also loved the sibling banter/relationship and the two main characters!

Sisters of the Perilous Heart is the first installment in author Sandra L. Vasher's Mortal Heritance series. This story takes place on the planet of Kepler. The backstory is that once upon a time, scientists on Earth apparently discovered the Immortality Virus by combining HIV with Influenza. Now, I'm not a virologist, but this seems kind of absurd to me. But I digress. Even though the story primarily focuses on two separate young women, Queen Vivian Wellington and Carina Grace, you cannot ignore in-between chapters or the secondary characters.


2 minutes into her reign as Queen of the Southern Kingdom of Kepler, assassins target the new queen with an arrow infected with the Immortal Virus. Thanks to Vivian's magic, she's able to stay mortal and not turn into one of the Red Eyed Immortals who have no emotions except hatred for mortals. As her life fades, she and her bickering brothers (Bastian & Nathaniel) hunt desperately for the magic they need to cure the virus. Time is not on their side. If she tries to use her magic, she will die.


The Sisters of Novi Dupree make the best beer on planet Kepler, and 16-year-old Carina, who has lived with the Sisters since her parents died, only wants a taste of sassafras. But when her increasingly use of telekinetic magic lands her in trouble, she and Miguela are forced to flee the only place they felt safe. With the mysterious Max alongside, and the dangerous, immortal Red-Eyed Ones after her, Carina must figure out a way to stay under their radar until she can reach a safe destination.


There is a backstory to Carina and her sister as well. The sisters were smuggled to Novi Dupree by a stranger with a purple scar from his left ear to corner of his mouth. Nothing is known about this stranger or where he disappeared to until the sisters meet him again later in this story. The author is keeping this man's identity a secret for some reason. Maybe we will learn about it in the next installment. The question is also about the sisters who raised Carina and Miguela as well. Especially Sister Agda. I'm hoping to learn more.


It's fair to say that Vivian doesn't get enough of her own story to tell. She's always on the edge of scenes where it is her brothers who bicker and argue and attempt to keep her alive until they can find a cure for the virus. A Virus that nobody has seen before. She does have a curious romance with Captain Brandon Thurlow who is supposed to be protecting her. There are also questions as to those response for targeting Vivian in the first place. Was it her own mother, Constance, who seems to control the Southern Kingdom of Kepler? Or, the Immortal Empire who wants to take out the remaining Cardinal family?


Vivian and her brothers are all Cardinals. That means they are magic users blessed with three kind of magic. Telekinesis (they can move stuff), thermodynamics (they either control hot or cold), and a special ability unique to each individual. Vivian can see relationships between people in colored threads that bind people. Bastian can tell if someone is lying, and Nate talks to animals. The immortals are trying to eliminate anyone with magic because they don’t like people with magic and want to kill them all. Simple. Or is it?


When Vivian meets Carina, she sees an opportunity. Is this girl with too much magic someone she can trust? And can Carina trust Vivian? She's been busy enough trying to keep her sister safe and contending with Max who somehow carries a weapon that is supposed to be outlawed. Vivian is powerful, but she doesn't want to live as an Immortal. She'd rather die than turn into an unfeeling scourge. So, the question becomes, how much would you sacrifice to protect yourself and the ones you love the most?


Certain Mortals in the Cardinal families have strong abilities in telekinesis and either heat or cold, while most people have some mild telekinetic skill. Carina has a duality of magic that makes her run on the cold side. While Vivian knows everything about her powers, Carina knows almost nothing. She's been hidden from the world for her own protection and has been forbidden to use her magic. Yet, when push comes to shove, her magic may be the one thing to say her and her sister who also has magic but has kept it quite for fear of luring the Red Eyes to them.


This is a book that mixes fantasy with science fiction. The setting is very much like Earth but 4,000 years into the future. There are many unanswered questions left after you turn the final page. What will happen next for Bastian who seems so angry and so set on taking his anger out on everyone around him including Brandon? What is up with Nate? He's supposed to be the next in line for the throne, but he has lots of questions about whether he is strong enough. Can we really trust what happens to Carina in the end, or is this another rope a dope to lure readers into picking up the sequel to find out?

DNF'd due to the info dumping and just the whole premise really not being able to stick in my head. I feel lost but like the characters. Please do not let my singular review influence you. Check out a few others who may have enjoyed it more.

I just feel kind of meh about this book and I hate that. I haven’t read a lot of fantasy lately, but this month has kind of fell flat for me.

Humans have escaped to the planet Kepler to escape those with the Immortality Virus – which is a mixture of influenza and AIDs. (This I thought was super interesting). Immortals are here though – and they’re fighting to take over the planet. This isn’t a cute immortality virus like vampires normally have. This makes you go crazy and lose empathy.

Queen Vivian has just been crowned. And less than an hour later, someone tries to take her life. She is infected with the immortality virus, so she and her two brothers go off in search for a cure.
Carina has been hidden at a convent for most of her life with her sister. She has magic, but isn’t allowed to practice. Someone figured out where she is, so they are trying to capture her to put her powers to their use.
Paths cross. Stuff happens.

I don’t remember much of this book. I’m thinking back on reading it, and I can’t really remember anything? There was a romance, but it’s not jumping out at me. I think the last 15% or so picked up. It was enough to make me want to read book two, but not like RIGHT NOW.

I know this review has like, nothing really but a synopsis, but I swear to you guys. Nothing is sticking out about this book. I’m so sorry!

I would say give this a try if you like fantasy/sci-fi. It wasn’t bad by any means.

This book is just doing <I>too much</I>. I appreciate the author for taking risks and trying new things. But this was just plain overwhelming. The author tries to juggle many different concepts at once. There’s Earth and this humanoid planet Kepler, and there’s Earth humans turning immortal with red eyes, and there’s magic, and kingdoms, and modern science but it’s in a medieval setting.... it’s just too much. It’s a big jumbled mess of rampant ideas. It reads like a fantasy story but it is more along the lines of science fiction, a very wishy-washy science fiction. I have so, so, so, so, many questions about the setting that went completely unanswered.

I also had issues with the overall writing of the tale. The style of writing hops around a lot, it’s not a continuous flow of words. There’s a lot of scene changes; it’s written like a movie more than a book. The constant hopping of scenes felt a bit amateur to me, something that a younger writer would do. There were very random flashbacks that were not incorporated into the story smoothly. Just choppy writing that bounced around so much it left me dizzy.

That said, the characters are engaging and complex. I am not giving it one star.... because I have read worse. I don’t think the author is a terrible writer or the ideas in this were completely outlandish, it just needs a lot of maturing. I think the author needs to refine her ideas, focus on one element of the story and make THAT element stand out. This is just a lot of concepts hastily thrown together with no heart or real complexity.... not my cup of tea.

This ARC was provided for review, but in no way affects the following impartial and unbiased review:
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3,5*
Pros: A refreshing mix of scifi and fantasy. Multi-dimensional and complex characters, even secondary ones. Fun magic system. Flowing and well-written multiple PoVs. Interesting design pieces interspersed with the story. Fantastic and realistic view of relationships between siblings. Emotional and not sugar-coated.
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Cons: Slow to begin. Disappointing lack of world-building. Dropped plot lines.

I need book two!! I have so many questions after finishing this one!!! This book will have you guessing who you can trust and man it was crazy. I am really not sure what to say about this one. It was just full on nuts!! The twists and turns were amazing and man I need two have I mentioned that yet?


Go Into This One Knowing: Questions will not be answered!

I really wanted to like this book... truly I did. I'm not one to DNF a book, but this was a close call; I had a difficult time finishing it. Some elements of the story were interesting, but overall, it fell flat for me. The biggest issue I had was the pacing and the amount of characters you need to follow. Overall, if I had to describe the book in one word it would be: inconsistent. Sometimes the author sensors out swear words and the next chapter uses said curses. Sometimes characters behave in the way that they are described to do, but then completely turn their actions around in a way that doesn't make sense by the next page. We get glimpses into moments of the past that should have meaningful impact to the storyline, but they don't seem to connect any of the dots. We start out with a concept that is fresh and unique, but then they lapse into overplayed cliches.

There are so many points of view going on, and the story is constantly bouncing between present, past, textbook entries/mission logs, flashbacks and dream-like states. The textbook entries and past mission logs were particularly disconnected from the story and often left me feeling like I was jolted out of place before being thrown back in again, with more questions than answers. A lot of the information gleaned from these sections would have been better suited to explanation by characters in the present set of the story, and it may have helped things flow more smoothly.

The emblems at the top of each chapter help somewhat with differentiating where you are and with whom you're with, but again, the amount of characters was giving me whiplash. I had a hard time connecting to any of these characters because they seemed so disingenuous. The only character I truly liked by the end was Captain Brandon Thurlow, a royal guard that had a very minor role (at least to the extent of this installment).

I had a particularly hard time wrapping my brain around the time period/setting. We're on an alien planet, clearly far into human future, and yet one group resorts to using swords and bows with arrows while another has televisions, cars and guns? I just couldn't stay routed in the story because I didn't feel a definitive sense of space or time. I understand that this is only a first installment in a series, but there really wasn't any progression to the story line. We get one big revelation by the end of the book, but it still doesn't explain the majority of the book's events, and doesn't exactly entice me to come back for more in a second book.

I absolutely hate giving books negative reviews because all books, all writing, has purpose and value. The author independently published her work and put it out into the world and I wholeheartedly respect and admire that. It takes a lot of courage! Based on the other reviews I see here, there are plenty of others who enjoyed the story and that's awesome. I'm simply putting this out there in case any of the issues I described above bother any of you personally, as a reader, because then this one may not be for you.

Sisters Of The Perilous Heart is a YA science fantasy set in the distant future after cancer researchers on Earth discovered an Immortality Virus that significantly slows down the ageing process. After the newly crowned Queen Vivian is infected with a mutated strain of the virus, she and her two brothers set out to find a cure. Unfortunately for Vivian, using any sort of magic may just kill her. Can you see why I was intrigued by this book?

Alongside Vivian, we also have Carina's story. Carina is another magician, but unlike Vivian, she can't control her magic. Because of this, she's squirrelled away in an ancient, warded location to protect her from Immortal assassins. When she's discovered and send on the run, she meets up with Max, who may just have secrets of his own.

I loved both of the main characters, to be honest. Vivian is the calm, collected queen, in complete contrast to Carina being a fiery, hotheaded orphan. Their paths don't cross until the halfway mark, and it's not a friendly union. Carina has a whole lot of magic that could help save Vivian's life, but she's unwilling to cooperate due to her belief that the Cardinals are not good people. Both of these characters add a lot of depth to the book, and I genuinely loved both of their stories.

The world-building is one of the better parts of this book, that's for sure. I was pretty confused at the beginning, but everything started to make sense after a while. Immortals, mortals, the magic, the world, the history, the royal family... I was intrigued by it all. Not only that, but Vivian's time begins running out from the very first page, and that gave this story a high stakes feel throughout.

Unfortunately, that's as far as my love for this book went. In a lot of ways, the writing felt a little mediocre and I ended up with a lot of mixed feelings. I'm not saying I didn't like it, but after all was said and done, I was just a little underwhelmed. It's hard to explain, but despite my enjoyment of a lot of aspects of this book, I just didn't end up loving this story as much as I expected to.

Look, I'm a sucker for romance. But if it isn't written well, I'd rather it just not be included at all. The romance in this book was all over the place. There are two separate relationships happening here, and I cared about neither of them. It was very much "they kissed, then they kissed again, then they did some more kissing." The way it was written was just... not good. There was no connection between the characters, no chemistry. I can see what the author was trying to do, and it was cute. But save cute for the contemporaries, y'know? Especially if the rest of the story is full of tension and high stakes. I just need the romance to reflect the rest of the book, I guess, and unfortunately that wasn't the case here.

With all that being said, however, the last quarter or so was actually pretty great. It felt exciting and like all the tension from the rest of the book finally mattered. Though I ended up guessing a lot of secrets, things also happened that I could never have anticipated. It's clear that the author is setting up for an explosive sequel, but I'm just not sure this book stands up on its own. Nevertheless, I'd definitely recommend this to younger teenagers wanting to read more YA. Like I said, I didn't dislike this book by any means, it just didn't particularly impress me, either.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review

This is a great book and I'm definitely ready for the next one.

I tried to keep going with this book several times, but I didn't feel it was the kind of story for me. I'm not ure if it was the plot or the writing style, although the idea is interesting.

This unfortunately was my first DNF book. I could not get into the story. It sounded as though something I tend to reach for when choosing a book hence why I chose to try to read it.

I am sure the author is very good but this book was not my cup of tea. I will say though that the cover is beautiful.

Received ebook from netgalley in exchange for an honest review
UGH!!! SPACE NOVELS.... no no no no. this looked so good but I just cannot get into a "space epic"

*Actual rating 3.5 stars*

This was one of the easiest books to read with writing that allows you to just sit back and really enjoy the drama. Filled with witty dialogue, the writing in here was really funny, and made the experience very enjoyable.
I enjoyed the world and the concept of a disease that causes immortality. The small excerpts throughout give us the more scientific side, which made everything feel more real and possible.

In terms of the world building itself, I don't feel as if it was very developed and was just average for me. I also didn't connect with any of the characters which made it difficult for me to care about their fates. Finally, i didn't get a huge sense of danger whilst reading. We know lives are at risk. yet there doesn't seem to be a great deal of urgency to really figure out what to do.

Overall., I really did enjoy the writing style, particularly the witty dialogue between characters. I do however think that the world building and atmosphere could have been better developed. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the pubisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Many of you probably know I'm obsessed with not-traditional styled books but in case you didn't, I'm obsessed. Books filled with logs and textbook pages and new paper clippings? My life force. Sisters of the Perilous tells its story through expertly weaving together it's 2 main perspectives and a variety non-traditional narrative stories to masterfully introduce you to the characters and world without making you feel overwhelmed with info dumps. It's hard to ramble about books you love without getting into spoilers so I'll be brief.

I really like how much this book trusts you to stay invested in the two alternating perspectives. Instead of feeling obligated to switch back and forth every chapter, Sisters of the Perilous Heart lets you spend a few chapters with each main character in chunks which really helped me stay involved and invested. Also, the world building? *chef's kiss*. Beautiful. Loved it. Loved this whole thing and you should definitely read it. (and it came out yesterday on May 5th so you totally can!)

This is my first Sandra L. Vasher book. Sisters of the Perilous Heart was interesting. It embedded all that is the sci-fi fantasy genre. You feel like you are reading a high fantasy but it is actually a future/dystopian novel.

I enjoyed this book and rated it 3 stars. It wasn't the best sci-fi fantasy I have read but it was decent for the set up of a series and the author writes well.

I did not, however, enjoy the switch of POV's. I think this book only needed one POV or earlier switching then say 5 chapters.

All in all a decent set up to a new series and world.

3 stars

This book was confusing. I struggled to understand the virus and what it actually does. The characters were jumbled and disorganized in my opinion. I liked certain ideas but couldn't get behind this story at all.