I enjoyed this book and it was a good book to read on a rainy day. What I didn't like was one of the main characters Queen Vivian and I couldn't place my finger on why I didn't like her. The other main character Carina was a little more likable than Queen Vivian. I did love the side characters a lot better Max and the two princes.

Now the story starts off with Queen Vivian becomes queen but soon is infected by the Immortality Virus by a would be assassin. Her and her brothers set off to find someone to save her. Then we meet Carina and her sister living at a brewery in the mountains with 'Sister' (Like nuns). They were brought there when their parents died. Carina can't control her magic and soon is on the run.

I really liked the world building but I just wish there was more about the characters that I liked. The magic system was really interesting and maybe the next book we can learn about it more. I will be buying a physical copy of this book and I will be recommend this book to my friends.

**My thanks to the Author and Publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. **

Sisters of the Perilous Heart is a multi-POV Fantasy/Sci-Fi where we are introduced to Vivian, a newly crowned queen who made it all of two minutes into her coronation before an almost assassination infects her with what they call the Immortality Virus, and an orphan by the name of Carina who is on the run from people who wish to kill her as well.

The story is interspersed with news articles and logs and diary clippings, which were all very creative in their own way and lent some idea to the world. That was desperately needed, as Kelper, the world itself, came off as an oxymoron more often than not. There was an emphasis on royalty and titles, yet had very modern elements that did not fit with that aspect. It was hard to enjoy the protagonists as they came off as spoiled and self-centered. Vivian spent her introduction both dying and judging everyone around her—as those could have very well been her last thoughts ever, it was sad to see how that was what she chose to focus on and did not endear her to me. Even her brothers, who were attempting to help her. Carina had a one-track mind that did not serve her or her sister well and would often ignore the poor thing as a result, even though, again, she was trying to help her.

While imaginative, the plot fell flat for me. Threads were created and promptly dropped, or simply not followed to fruition. The intertwining plots alone would drag through and I believe part of the issue was simply a lack of focus as to what the plot should have come to. Bas and Nate were by far my favorite characters and their dynamic was truly interesting, even if I thought Nate was ill-treated. Unfortunately this book was too discordant for me overall.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What to say.. what to write. Sisters of the Perilous Heart was interesting. I honestly have so many questions after just finishing this. It also doesn't help that I didn't know who to trust throughout the entire book either. Well, unless you count the MC - Vivian. She is the only one that I truly understood and could tell was herself throughout the entire thing.

As for everyone else, man that's a toss up for sure. Of course, you get little bits and pieces about them in certain chapters and at one point - things definitely start to make sense or click together. Yet, I still have no idea what to say about any of them. All I want to say, is that I hope that what happened at the end didn't actually happen. Ya know?

The only reason I'm thinking or wanting this is because that would make book two so good. I mean, after that cliffhanger-ish ending, we are left questioning everyone and every little thing. So, yeah.. I don't know what to expect in the next book but I'm wondering about certain possibilities..

I apologize in advance for the mess that is my review. I've just finished reading this book and I am still processing everything that I read. Overall, just know that I really liked it and I can't wait for the next book! I'm never really good at explaining things and this time, it's no different especially since this world and the magic is a little complicated and confusing at first.

I don't know what my expectations were going into this book but there is no way I could have imagined this world or the plot. I felt like this book's world-building was original and mixed fantasy with sci-fi but also dystopia. The story is set on Kepler, another planet populated by "Kepler mortals" and Immortals. These Immortals have red eyes and don't possess any empathy. That obviously causes problems. The best way to fight the virus turning people into Immortals is with magic. Therefore, the Immortals are hunting any magic-users.

And in this book you'll follow two perspectives : Vivian, who was recently crowned and Carina, a girl who lost her family in an attack and is hidden by "Sisters" in the mountain with her younger sister Miguela. Both girls have incredible amounts of magic and 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. When Immortals finds her, she has to run away with her little sister in order to survive.

At the very beginning, Vivian is attacked and almost dies from an arrow. While the wound healed, the virus got to her and her magic is trying to fight it. Unfortunately, even with the help of her two younger brothers, she needs more magic or she will either die or become an Immortal. Both possibilities are unacceptable and that's why the three of them go on a quest to find someone that could help her.

Their paths will cross, a couple of romances will happen in-between, and the ending gave so many reveals that I did not expect and left me wanting to know more.

I also need to mention that I never knew what to feel or where to stand with most of the characters (both Princes, Max and even Carina's sister). It felt very weird to not know if I liked them or not or if I should suspect them. I was very unsure about them and I still don't know how to feel to be honest. I think the only two characters I knew for sure I liked were Carina and Vivian.

Random thought: I feel like the cover isn't going to attract many readers but I hope people will give this book a chance and enjoy reading it <3

(Thank you for letting me review and read an ARC via Netgalley)

The story is set in a planet named Kepler, where people from Earth travelled to many years ago. The world building and character building was excellent. The two main protagonists of the novel are - Vivian, an 18 year old newly coronated queen, who was attacked by immortal assassins, which resulted her being infected by the immortality; and Carina an orphan girl who was brought up by the sisters in a convent.
The story is a mix of science fiction and fantasy. So, it may seem confusing at the beginning. But as on reading more, the reader get immersed in the book. Also, the story is somewhat slow-paced. However, on reading me, he story picks the reader's curiosity. Especially the second part of the story is very interesting as it gains more speed and there are numerous twists and turns. In short, this book exposes us to a new world full of adventure, fantasy, science, problems, betrayals and heartbreaks.
I am really looking forward for the next book in the series to know what happens next. I thank NetGalley and the publisher for giving me this wonderful opportunity.

Lets just say, throw all your conceptions right out the window and enjoy the amazing ride.

Sisters of the Perilous Heart was nothing at all what I was anticipating but I was completely blown away by Vasher's imagings. Amazing world building but then you realize the world they live in insist what you thought it was and still it was fabulously contrived. It’s a mash up of scifi and fantasy with space travel, viruses, immortality, a dystopian but modern feel.

You are introduced to a newly crowned, 18 yr old Queen Vivian and her two magical brothers, Nate and Bas, as she is crowned and then immediately attacked and infected with the immortal virus. The attack makes you think you are in a time of long ago with arrows and swords.

Then you meet Carina and her sister Miguela, who are hiding in a convent of sisters. Carina is a magic user hiding from the “red eyes” and her sister Miguela hates magic. The convent is under siege because the “red eyes” have found them and they go on the run to the “north”. During their travels they quickly run into Max, who isn’t at all who you and Carina think he is.

There is horse travel and vans, dinners and old inns, you almost feel like Camelot meets an urban fantasy world.

Along the way, Vivian’s family and Carina and crew keep crashing together, somewhat hostile, somewhat intrigued and ultimately required for their survival.

The storytelling was somewhat convoluted or confusing but overall I found myself hooked. I will be reading on and I can’t wait to see where Vasher is taking this next.

I received this ARC copy of Sisters of the Perilous Heart from Morton Ink Press, LLC. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Sisters of the Perilous Heart follows two yound women - one royal and one orphaned - on an alien planet where magic exists and a flu-like illness has the power to make you immortal... At a cost.

To begin with, the book was a little confusing, with minimal world building and a lot of jumping around with no explanation. However, once I got into it and started to wrap my head around what was going on, I found it far more enjoyable.

The magic system was really interesting, and I would have loved more of a focus on it. Instead, the plot felt a bit confused, with a mix of magic and science that didn't fit particularly coherently.

The characters were pretty average - I didn't dislike any of them particularly, but I didn't feel any sense of connection with any of them either. The relationships, especially between siblings, were well written, but the romance fell a bit flat.

The last few chapters were really well constructed and, I thought, the highlight. I'm interested to read the next book and see what happens.

I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Sisters of the Perilous Heart has one of the most interesting premises I’ve ever read. I loved the main characters and side characters: they were all well fleshed out . Like another reviewer said, reading this was like a breath of fresh air. Would recommend to anyone but especially those interested in a original fantasy.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

In The Sisters of the Perilous Heart we follow two main storylines. One of newly coronated Queen Vivian who is attacked within minutes of her coronation with a terrible virus that either turns you immortal without empathy or kills you. Together with her two younger brother, Nate and Bastian, she is on the search for a cute before this virus turns her into a monster or kills her. The other side of this story belongs to Carina, an orphan who lives with her sister Miguela at a brewery in the mountains. Carina has a magic ability she has never learned to control, but when the immortal army attacks the brewery in search of magic Carina and Miguela must flee and rely on Carina's abilities to stay safe.

These two stories weave in and out of each other throughout the novel, however it feels anticlimactic and almost pointless by the end. O would give this 2.5 stars, but have rounded it up to three as there were components of this story I enjoyed. I really liked the magic system and how each person was grouped into one of two kinds with ranging abilities within those factions. It made the magic easier to embrace and follow as once the magic user identified which of the two factions they belonged to you could understand how they react to combat situations. I enjoyed all the characters, but honestly feel underwhelmed with the story. It could have been put into 100-200 pages as a novella and we could have been up to speed for the next installment which (hopefully) will have a more complete story.

This was a good read, it just didn't have enough happening in it to warrant over 300 pages. I would recommend this book to fans of modern magic tales and sci-fi stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers of this book for sending me a free copy for an honest review.

Sisters of the Perilous Heart follows to point of views. One is Queen Vivian and the other is Carina, an orphan girl and then throughout the story there are excerpts from logs, journals, poems, etc. that give context to the world of Kepler.

Very quickly you realize this world is not Earth but a planet called Kepler that years ago people from Earth traveled to. There is a virus called the Immortality Virus that many humans took back on Earth but quickly realized it causes red eyes and lack of empathy that turned people into violent versions of themselves. On the planet of Kepler humans adapted and some gained magic.
The magic system in this book was the best part. It was very interesting and fun to read. Especially since you are basically learning about magic with Carina who has lived most of her life not knowing how to use her gifts while in contrast reading about Queen Vivian and her two brothers who have very good grasps on their magic.

Okay but let’s talk about the story in general and why I did not really care for it and only gave it three stars instead of two which it would have been given if not for the last two chapters of the book and the magic system.

Overall this YA fantasy novel read more middle grade. The world, while an interesting concept, was lacking and the characters mindlessly wandered and were a bit lackluster.

Let’s start with the world. I felt so confused about this place. For part of the book these people are using carriages, horses, swords but then other parts of the book there are trucks, TVs, and guns and it is only explained way later why this is and not even very clearly but it’s something to do with a mortal commitments that state taking care of the planet, or something like that. Really all it seemed to do was make for a confusing setting that wanted to be modern but with an old-times vibe.

The wandering plot line.
The whole story could have been resolved halfway through the book if the characters would just talk to each other. I don’t want to give any spoilers away but let’s just say that I am not a fan of “keeping pointless secrets”. This causes a boring, pointless, story line in my opinion. However sometimes it can be really well done, this was not one of those times. Carina even states in the last chapters that if she had known she could have done more.
Overall I was very bored and put the book down multiple times. I even found myself thinking why is this happening multiple times.

The characters.
This is the part I had the biggest problem with. I can be fine with a wandering plot line in a world that could use a little more work if the characters are great. These ones were not. Their was a lot of unneeded “sibling rivalry” that felt more like he is stupid and that is that. And a lot of “she doesn’t love me enough” or “your my favorite” it was all just very petty.
The romance was also very hard to read. I never fell in love with any of the characters. The romance felt forced because it’s YA and there has to be romance I guess? I don’t like being told “they made out”. I guess the big problem was the description was more telling versus showing.

Anyway, I don’t know that I can really convey my thoughts without someone having read it. But honestly I wouldn’t recommend unless you like middle grade or that Graceling book... this felt similar to that which I also did not care for much.
But just because something wasn’t for me doesn’t mean you won’t like it. Give it a chance if you want and be sure to leave a review for others so they know your opinion.

Sisters of the Perilous Heart (Book 1 of the Mortal Heritance) by Sandra L. Vasher drew me in by its cover and premise, which sounded like it would be a great fantasy adventure. The beginning caught my attention, and the world-building was done pretty well. But then the story waned during the middle, and I noticed I lost interest in what was going to happen next. I liked the characters and the relationships between Vivian and her brothers. But after a time, I felt the story began to get repetitive and wasn't moving forward in action. I found myself not caring about what was going to happen to them. The story did pick up toward the end, and the book obviously leaves the reader with a cliffhanger for Book 2.

The story and writing were good, but I wasn't involved with the characters. My favorite character was Nate, and it seems he will be a prominent character in the next book. I may put the next one on my TBR list.

I rate this a 3.5 out of 5 stars for some solid characters and good writing style, but I had difficulty getting involved in the storyline and felt it lacked action in several places.

#SistersofthePerilousHeart #NetGalley

The story follows Carina and Vivian, the orphan and the queen. They’re both jerks, but Vivian is also a spoiled brat. There’s not a lot of character development, and the little they grow happens in bursts forced by other characters, not by inner conflict or motivation. It doesn’t help that they’re rarely called out on their shit or that, when they are, we’re supposed to disagree. They’re almost always right, except that not really. I couldn’t stand either of them.
Very little happens that has an actual impact on the story. It just drags and drags and drags. It pretends to have a plot, but it’s just a bunch of scenes strung together.
Carina is running away from people who want her captured or dead. It’s full of action scenes, harrowing escapes, and moments when the characters decide to take a detour for no logical reason.
Vivian, on the other hand, is searching for a cure to her illness, or she’ll die. She says she’s very sick and weak, but she doesn’t show it. It’s all very dire, but they have time to go shopping and have a pretend-to-be-a-commoner day. She’s supposedly dying soon, but there’s no urgency or sense of impending doom.
Their world, Kepler, is uncreative and it makes no sense. It has the things we associate with monarchs, like castles and carriages, but also jeans and burger joints. It’s set hundreds or thousands of years into the future, when humans have colonized other planets, but it has the same clothes we do and the most advanced technology is spaceships, while everything is at our current level. They have religions, names and languages very similar to our own, when those things should’ve evolved and changed over time. There’s nothing new or interesting there.
The land itself is divided into four. For most of its history, each part was ruled by a royal family, i.e. the family with more powerful magic. That’s very elitist with a might-is-right vibe.
Native Keplerians are treated almost as zoo attractions that must be protected. Given real life colonialism, this has some unfortunate implications, to say the least.

Sisters of the Perilous Heart is very flawed in almost every aspect. I couldn’t find anything I like in it, except for Miguela and Nate (but not how Carina and Vivian treat them). It’s not enough for more than one star.

Rounding up to 4 stars because I enjoyed it a lot despite the issues I had with it. The world building was what got me the most, as I would've loved to see it developed further. Character development was also really solid!

I requested Sisters of the Perilous Heart by Sandra L. Vasher from NetGalley on a whim because the premise sounded interesting. It was fairly decent tale, and I’ll tell you all about it in a little bit.

Have you ever seen a Zonkey?

A Zorse?

A Liger?

Some of these animals sound like pure myth, but no one would dare say the same about my mother-in-law’s Yorkie Poo.

We get them from cross-breeding two animals of the same scientific family, but of completely different species. Such is the case with the Zebra and the Donkey, or the Zebra and the Horse.

Well, Science Fiction and Fantasy are both under the umbrella of Speculative Fiction, but they are two distinct beings.

Sisters of the Perilous Heart cross-breeds the two to make a very interesting take on viruses, immortality, and space travel.

Sisters of the Perilous Heart Review

Sisters of the Perilous Heart starts with a diary log of a space traveler. And if you just read the blurb and were expecting a fantasy book, but got this space traveler diary entry, you might be really confuse.

I sure was.

But it quickly goes by and you’re greeted with newly crowned Queen Vivian of South Kepler with an arrow in her heart that infected her with the Immortality Virus.

Wait a second. Hold up.

The book started with an arrow in her chest?

Yup, it sure did.

Usually one for starting in the middle of it, I think I could have used a little bit of a rewind. Perhaps the moment the crown hits her head and watching the arrow zip to her heart.

Just a minute or two earlier was all I needed.

But hey! It didn’t start off boring like so many other books I’ve read lately.

Fantasy Elements

There’s a couple quite obvious from the start. We’re talking about a Queen, so there must be a kingdom. And she’s got an arrow in her chest, so we’ve got medieval weapons.

Queen Vivian and her brothers, Bastian and Nathaniel, are all Cardinals. That means they’re 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.

Pretty nifty concept.

At first, I felt like they had too much magic, but it really wasn’t overly burdensome by the end of the book.

Science Fiction Elements

Well Kepler is another planet in our solar system. And the first people to travel there came from Earth on Nanny ships that took thousands of years to arrive.

The nanny ships had robots on them that would raise humans naturally without interference. But they also had adult immortals onboard that had been infected with the immortality virus.

Except Vasher doesn’t really tell you why it’s bad to be immortal until about halfway through. And I don’t think it ruins anything to say that the virus makes immortals unable to show empathy and very mean and vicious.

It’s also deadly to anyone who has magic. So when Vivian gets it, she’s going to die unless she finds a cure.

There’s trucks, TVs, jeans, guns, and all sorts of stuff in this world, on a faraway planet, that is also still medieval in many other ways.

My Thoughts?

Sisters of the Perilous Heart is told with two main POV characters and the back and forth between them in not even. Sometimes you’d go 5 chapters without a switch.

It was long enough that I didn’t care for the new POV I was switching to and only wanted to get back to the other POV.

Which by the way the other main characters are Carina, an orphan girl at a convent, and her sister Miguela. Carina is a magic user, but she’s terrible at it and no one will teach her, and her sister hates magic.

The immortals are chasing her because they don’t like people with magic and want to kill them all.

Shortly in the story she’s on the run, and they bump into Vivian and crew along the way as Vivian and her brothers try to get Carina to lend them her magic to help heal Vivian.

That being said, I wasn’t much a big fan at the rate of POV changing, but I feel that with any POV swapping book. I just want to continue the view I was reading.

Sisters of the Perilous Heart is a decent story. It’s nothing earth shattering, and I saw a lot of the twists coming a mile away, but the story was still fun.

I didn’t much care for the tone of the story. It felt very middle-grade, instead of YA. But once I got over that, I started to enjoy it more.

My biggest beef with the story is how the character aimlessly wandered around.

They either cared about people that we’ve never met and wanted to rush off to find them for no reason, or they wandered around the map needlessly. Only to be redirected multiple times when they could have gone to Point D from the very beginning.

Final Thoughts

If you’re looking for a unique and different take on Fantasy, give Sisters of the Perilous Heart a shot.

I’ve docked a few half stars for the things I’ve mentioned above, and I’ll consider reading the second book when it comes out.

Because, be aware, Sisters of the Perilous Heart does end on a bit of a cliffhanger.

3.5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My opinion was not affected by the free copy.

This book surprised me by how little it felt like a YA novel. I'm not sure if I can adequately explain what I mean by this, but something about the tone and style wasn't at all like a lot of other YA I've read lately. It is something I would've read as a teen, but then again I was reading stuff like the Pern novels and the Star Wars EU. Reading this felt more like reading those books than modern YA, and that benefits the book a lot in my mind.

The world-building was done pretty well. I still feel like some information was kept from the reader, but that might've been the writing style. I would've loved more on the Immortals. Still, I understood the various places and people the characters encountered along their journey and the way the narrative explained things didn't feel like too much "tell" rather than "show".

The plot was pretty straightforward, but the characters were dynamic and interesting. I really enjoyed Vivian and her brothers-- they really talked and acted like siblings. Nate was probably the most intriguing of the trio, but I'd be happy to see more of Bast and Viv as well, and also get into their mother's head if possible. There were definitely some points I wanted to smack Carina for being so oblivious and ignoring her sister, so I would love to get more from Miguela in the future. I guess one reveal was supposed to be a twist, but honestly I saw it coming from the blurb.

I won't go much into the love interests. Carina's felt pretty forced and typical YA of getting too involved with someone you don't know, but Viv's was sweet and paced reasonably well. I'm not usually one to hope for romance, but getting some focus on Bast and Nate in that area would be cool. The narrative introduced some things in that vein I would love to see explored more.

Overall I think this is a very promising series. I am intrigued by the world and I like the characters enough to want to follow them into the sequel.

In a future time, a young queen is seeking magic to heal a grievous injury. Their paths tangle with two young girls who possess their own magic. The race is on to heal the queen and find a path forward.

What a heart wrenching tale. This is never how I imagined the future. You always think of flying cars and teleportation. What a marvelous story with various twist and turns. How everything came together was magical in itself. I loved this book and look forward to more of its story!