Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to be able to read and review this book!

4/5

I'm so sorry. I appreciated the ARC read but I couldn't finish it because I had to DNF about 50% through. It just wasn't for me unfortunately

I looooved the first so I couldn't wait for this sequel. It was good, but I thought it could be better. It felt a little like filler? Like this was the second book of a trilogy. I do love the character of Marlow and how fierce she was.

While the first book was much better, the ending was solid. I think I just wanted a bit more.

Just as one issue gets solved, another bigger problem falls into Marlow's lap. Not only is she being charged for the murder of Adrius's father, her own newly revealed father has even greater plans for the future of Evergarden and the Marsh. Good thing Marlow has plenty of grit, determination, and hex cards to go around. She has a really good friend in Swift (with his side story it was cute and he deseves it after all the pain he went through with being coerced to work for the Copperheads) and others play a bigger part, from Silvan, to Gemma, and the useful Fisher. I definitely would want her on my side, even if sometimes she should be paying more attention instead of sneaking off to meet Adrius (though they still have their issues). But I mean since they are both eighteen, I guess that makes sense. And she really is quite mature in most respects (especially with that decision at the end!)

Many curses in this book and of course the Grimoire plays a big part because it has more than just compelling people spells. It was a great sequel (picking up right where the first book ended) and a satisfying conclusion that does not include the destruction of the city, corrupt though it may be. And I really enjoyed reading it (no slow parts in this book!)

“Because,” Marlow said, without taking her eyes off his. “Because I love him. Because no matter what happened in the past between us, I forgive him. Because if the choice were mine, if there was nothing standing in our way, I’d want to be with him. Because I will always do everything in my power to protect him.”

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you Netgalley and Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) for a copy of this book for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

After Garden of the Cursed surprised me with how much I loved it (4.5 stars!), I was checking Netgalley every week waiting for the ability to request this ending to the duology! I'm glad, too, because I don't think I would have recognized by the cover alone. The art style/aesthetic seemed different.

Masquerade of the Heart finds Marlow desperate to continue to end the Adrius' curse. Time is almost out before it become permanent. On top of that, she must also reconcile the news regarding her family and her new living arrangements. Can she save the day without knowing who to trust?

The characters in this book are some of my favorites of the year again, and I was thrilled to be back in the universe. Even the side characters, such as Swift and Silvan (sp? I mainly listened on an audiobook from my library) were so fun. My main gripe with this book is how the plot seems to evaporate? The MC just shows up one day and everything is fixed and -- surprise! -- we're moving onto a new plot! That threw me off quite a bit. The rest of the plot seemed to be Marlow getting into trouble, getting caught or tortured or about to be killed by some big bad or other, and then being saved. It didn't entirely bother me as it was nostalgic to 2012 The CW shows that certainly brought about shippy scenes like "who did this to you?" or wound tending, but it also felt a little.... off in 2024. 😂

At the end of the day, I really enjoyed the audiobook narrator, and wanted to pause most of my other reads to find out if Adrius and Marlow could *finally* break their doomed lovers narrative! The final scene had me squealing in the shower while I washed my hair. 😂

I would recommend this series to people who enjoy slow burn romance, the idea that love may not be enough of a reason to be together, and found family.

Will love prevail?

Marlow watches as Adrius announces his engagement and her heart breaks. She knows that Adrius has to marry someone from a rich and powerful family to appease his own family but it hurts all the same. Marlow wants to stop the person who cursed Adrius because that person is wanting to control everyone and everything in Caraza, just as Adrius was controlled by the curse. Marlow gets help from Adrius and a few of their most trusted and clever acquaintances. Together they work together to hopefully put a stop to the tyrant before he takes over.

Likes/dislikes: I enjoyed the intensity of the conflict between good and evil. The curse and the story behind it are so interesting. I love the ending!
Mature content: PG-13 for kissing.
Language: R for 39 swears and 8 f-words.
Violence: PG-13 for bloody death.
Ethnicity: falls to white. Adrius has warm brown skin. Corrine has dark skin.

Thank you for the advanced copy! I reread the first book so it was fresh in my mind before I read this one. I really enjoyed everything but the ending. I definitely think this series should be talked about more. It was great.

Masquerade of the Heart is the second book of duology, but I didn't feel that it continued the story of Garden of the Cursed. It felt like it was a different story. Garden of the Cursed ended on a cliffhanger and Masquerade of the Heart picks up with the same events, but then it veers sharply into a different direction and a completely different plot with different stakes. It was just...jarring. While I still enjoyed the characters, I wasn't that into the new plot points and it took me forever to finish this book with lots of stops and starts. It still ended up being a 4 star read, but it missed the oomph of the first book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Henry Holt & Co. for the arc for review purposes.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed Masquerade of the Heart. It did a good job of recapping the Garden of the Cursed while continuing the story. The characters were fully developed, and I liked getting to know a few more that played a smaller role in the first book. I also like that is a completed duology. If you liked the first one you have to follow up with this one. If you didn't read Garden of the Cursed, read that and then this one. I will be purchasing it for our high school library.

My rating is 4 and a 1/2 stars rounded up to five

I really devoured this and I had forgotten how much I loved Garden of the Cursed until I finally picked up the sequel.

It wasn't a perfect five because having her mom just suddenly show up towards the very end of the book out of nowhere felt entirely out of left field. I don't feel like there was enough build up for this to happen, especially when we have no reason to think she was actually alive based on Marlow. We didn't even get a chapter of Adrius searching for her.

Pushing that aside, I really loved everything else. I love the relationship between Marlow and Adrius. I loved the villain and how he tries hard to justify his grab for power. His motivation made a lot of sense to me.
I also appreciated the fact that Marlow herself was not immune to the temptation of infinite power. It was a realistic aspect that I found refreshing. A main character having to actually fight off a very real temptation for a power that, in the end, would only ever corrupt its user.

I think this was a really well constructed sequel. It kept me engaged the whole time to the point where I didn't want to stop reading. If a book can achieve that, it's worthy of high praise. Especially in today's world where many books follow similar themes and throw in popular tropes.

Garden of the Cursed and Masquerade of the Heart are two of the most original YA books I've read in the past year. I will forever recommend this duology and I'm really excited to keep an eye on this author and see what she writes next.

This was such a great ending to the duology! I'd been looking forward to it and it ended up being even better than I'd hoped!

I never felt bored at any point in the story, the twists were surprising and made sense, and the relationships between characters made total sense.

I also loved how this didn't simplify moral questions and made Marlow truly wrestle with what the right thing to do was. I really like that kind of story!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for the ARC.

While I liked book 1 better than the sequel, I did find the conclusion very satisfying. That said, I think the duology could have worked really well as one book.

This book was the perfect conclusion in this duology! It was a bit more political and slow building at the beginning, but it built to an extremely satisfying conclusion. I loved this book and thoroughly enjoyed the series.

I found the first book in this duology to be far more interesting. The author seemed to struggle with tying up some of the plot points and resolving things in this book. As a fan of the author's other works this book was a bit disappointing. I wish that the ending given to these characters and world felt more satisfying.

A big thanks to NetGalley and MacMillian for providing an eARC and an advance audio book in exchange for an honest review.

Loved the first book, maybe not so much this one.

Masquerade of the Heart by Katy Rose Pool is a YA fantasy novel following the events of Garden of the Cursed. Cursebreaker Marlow Briggs must deal with the aftermath of her fake romance with one of the most powerful nobles in the illustrious—and deadly—Evergarden society, all while uncovering the mystery behind her mother's disappearance. The city of Caraza sits poised on the edge of chaos—and cursebreaker Marlow Briggs is at the center of a deadly struggle for power. In the tragic aftermath of the Vale-Falcrest wedding, Marlow is spurned by Adrius, who refuses to speak to her and publicly vows to find a noble wife before the year is out. Despite her heartbreak, Marlow is still intent on breaking his compulsion curse. To do so, she’ll have to play loving daughter to the man who cast it—the man who’s hellbent on reshaping Caraza in his own image, no matter the cost. But the closer she gets to her long-lost father, the more Marlow starts to question if he’s really the villain she’s made him out to be. As the lines between enemy and ally blur, Marlow must decide if she’s willing to sacrifice her heart’s desire to save a city that wants her dead.

The main problem I had with this book, was there was so much hype surrounding it (and I blame most of it on how amazing the first one was). That it didn't really pay off. It was a good book, don't get me wrong. Just not what I was hoping for.

Excellent work from Katy Rose Pool. I hadn't read the first book, so I bought it, and then read this one. Now I'm on the hunt for more.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Selling Pitch:
The CW’s generic fantasy Veronica Mars X Gossip Girl continues in a sequel that definitely could’ve just been a few chapters tacked onto book one.

Pre-reading:
The first book was exactly fine, and I expect the sequel to be exactly the same, if not a little worse. The first cover was so good. The sequel’s cover is heinously ugly.

Thick of it:
For some reason, Garden of the Cursed and Threads That Bind are the same book in my head.

Alright, let’s see if my unhinged summary from last year can refresh me enough to read the sequel-
First things first, I’m the realest. Second things first I write immaculate unhinged summaries. Plot refreshed. Vibes refreshed. Characters identities, I got nothing. My dumbass renamed them all with gossip girl characters. Very lols, but also, I have no idea who anyone is.

Proposition for series that are coming out nowadays: how about we just start including a skippable recap chapter right at the beginning of the book? If you can trigger warn me, you can write me a recap.

That's a WACK dedication.

Here’s the thing- girlypop is legally the worst detective in the world and last book I was like ha ha, it’s so obvious whodunit, and I was right, but now that they’re harping on it so much- that he’s definitely the one who cursed the boyfriend- I’m like is everything a lie? Is it someone else? (I gave this book way too much credit.)

OK, did the wife do it because I’m having strong the wife did it vibes? Also, I literally don’t remember her being in the first book.

Somehow, nothing is happening, and we’re like vaguely recapping the old book but like we’re not actually recapping the old book, so all of this is pointless.
It’s kind of like hey, do you remember why the last chapter of book one was bad? And the audience is like fuck no. And the book is like too bad! We’re moving on.

This scene is so bloated for what it needed to accomplish. I get that she’s trying to add a cool action sequence and scenery and atmosphere, but I’m like just get to the fucking point. (This book has strong written for TV episode vibes. Very like oh, here’s a cool moment we can use CGI on so people remember this is a fantasy.)

How are you such a bad detective that you can’t even find the clues in your own house when you’re investigating your mom’s disappearance until it’s convenient for the plot?

Does she need to hold the journal up to the illusion mirror and it’s like some decoder shit? (No. We have this mirror just for the vibes.)

It sounds like a record of how much she’s doctoring the books or skimming off the top.
-Oh, the book also just made that leap, so I must be wrong. (I was not wrong.)

This book is so bad. It’s so CW.

I think this book annoys me so much because the author writes like she can’t trust her audience to figure out anything for themselves. They just have to be spoonfed all the answers and like, I guess it’s a YA, but like even young readers aren’t this dumb.

This is the Met Gala.

Who is this girl, Iris? I don’t trust her. (She literally wasn’t worth the word count.)

Don’t give me a submissive boy. I hate this trend. (SIGH)

We do not need all these scenes of 17-year-olds making out. This is not a good romance. I don’t care about it. Please move the plot forward.

I look in people’s windows🎶

Why does YA always think I care about people’s fashion?

I may be stupid, but Bianca and Beatrice as names for two interchangeable crime lord ladies are way too similar.

I know this is a YA, but imagine an adult introducing you to a room of career criminals and having them be psyched that a 17-year-old is going to go murder their rivals because they can’t do it.

Wow, we do not need this chapter at all.

I know it’s YA, but dear lord, the melodrama.

Why can’t they just use the blade they used to stab Daddy Bass? (Adrius’ dad for those of you that are new here. They’ll get there eventually.)

I’m way more invested in Silvan and Swift’s relationship than Marlow and what’s his face.

Dude, keep it in your pants

Yeah, in between the making out, you had plenty of time to tell him his mom was alive.

me: who?
the book, sighing and absolutely giving up on me: daddy bass’ guard
me: oh Shego! Why didn’t you just say that?

Literally every other name they introduce I’m like who? I sound like a goddamn owl.

This romance sucks. He reads like a fuck boy. He sucks.

This could’ve been a way shorter book if we had just communicated with everyone in like a group Zoom call in Chapter 1.

You’re telling me for all their magic cards, they don’t have a truth spell for court? C'mon now.

But like that’s so plotholey. If he has ultimate control over reality, he doesn’t need to go chase them down in the library. He can just say there’s no magic but mine, or like this curse is unbreakable, and it would work. Like what the fuck? He could just say teleport all their spell ingredients to me. Like girl, this is LAZY.

OK, but homeboy can rewrite reality so literally just say he doesn’t die and then the day is saved.

I’m just saying, if you have all the powers of reality in your hands and control over your boyfriend, maybe you could’ve said some rules like unlimited orgasms, unlimited money, and we’re both immortal. Like think bigger. He's alive but he's two inches taller. (If you didn’t know, Samantha’s a Capricorn.)

Wow, what an epiphany. People are good AND bad. I hate it here lol. (I think I might retire my YA reading next year. I'm too old for this shit.)

Girlypop could’ve been like I choose to end world hunger. I choose world peace. But no no-

Love how her boyfriend’s like thanks for saving the city, babe. I’m gonna fuck off to the Hamptons. Let me know how cleanup goes.

Wow, imagine ending your book with the love interest saying I’ve been cursed to love you, but I hear you can break curses and thinking that’s romantic. Homeboy ain’t shit.

Post-reading:
This book is exactly what I thought it would be.

We have got to stop letting these authors or publishers bloat their novels into two books for the sake of sales. There was maybe six chapters worth of content in this book. The charm of the first book is that there was a mystery for the audience to solve. this book doesn’t have that. There’s no long-game plot twist. There’s nothing to figure out. There’s nothing to keep you engaged.

I think the romance in this series is such a failure. Adrius is an ass. I never wanted them together. It truly just seemed like he wanted to use our main character girlypop for his own gain. He runs away literally every time things get hard. He doesn’t want to publicly claim her or take any accountability for his own actions. He has to be forced into it. He sucks. He reads like a situationship fuck boy, and I want better models for young readers.

The parents in this book suck. The ending really doesn’t wrap anything up. The city is still a mess. The politics of the world are still a mess. Her mom’s still an absentee deadbeat.

I’d give the author another chance. I think she knows how to come up with fun visuals. It’s just a matter of learning to execute them and having them contribute to the plot instead of just being there for the vibes.

The series isn’t so awful that I would put it on my do not read shelf, but I don’t think it’s worth your time. I think there’s way better books out there. If you love the concept, if you wanna read CW Veronica Mars fan fiction, it’s fine. I want better than fine.

Who should read this:
YA fantasy girls
YA mystery girls
Gossip Girl fans
Veronica Mars fans
Buffy fans

Do I want to reread this:
Nope. I’d give the author another chance, but I don’t think she’s for me.

Similar books:
* Threads That Bind by Kika Hatzopoulou-YA urban fantasy mystery, family drama
* This Dark Descent by Kalyn Josephson-YA urban fantasy, ensemble cast, family drama
* Nightbreaker by Coco Ma-YA dystopian urban fantasy, family drama
* A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson-YA mystery thriller
* Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo-YA urban fantasy, heist
* Dance of Thieves by Mary E. Pearson-fantasy romance, enemies to lovers
* Sing Me to Sleep by Gabi Burton-YA fantasy romance, enemies to lovers
* Wings Once Cursed and Bound by Piper J. Drake-fantasy romance, enemies to lovers, curse breaking
* Blood Debts by Teryy J. Benton-Walker-YA fantasy romance, eventually enemies to lovers, curse breaking
* A Crown of Ivy and Glass by Claire Legrand-fantasy romance, enemies to lovers, curse breaking
* Silver in the Bone by Alexandra Bracken-YA fantasy romance, enemies to lovers, curse breaking
* A Fragile Enchantment by Alison Saft-YA fantasy romance, enemies to lovers, mystery
* Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare-reads like YA fantasy romance, enemies to lovers, mystery

This was a really satisfying conclusion to the duology! I love that we got a little bit of a deeper dive into the underbelly of the politics, more depth from Marlow, and even more of Swift. I didn't love the "will they, won't they" because sometimes it just felt wishy-washy rather than circumstances actually pulling them apart. But I absolutely recommend the audio! Great upper YA duology, closed door, with strong language.

Thanks so much to Netgalley for my complimentary e-arc and MacMillan for my ALC. All opinions here are my own.

Magic and mysteries are as plentiful as the curses and spells that are cast and broken in this beautifully haunting conclusion to Garden of the Cursed.

To say this audiobook sucked me in would be an understatement, I found myself wanting to listen, needing to know what happened next and most inportantly if Marlow would have her questions answered before it was too late.

I will say that up until that very last sentence I was torn as to what I thought would happen, I'm so very glad I was wrong.

Jennifer Blom is fantastic and I've become such a fan, there's just a certain something to her voice that makes even the unbelievable seem possible.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for providing an advance copy, I have voluntarily read and reviewed it and all thoughts are my own.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing a copy of this Audiobook, I have voluntarily listened to it and all thouhts are my own.

I am still new to NetGallery and didn't realize I could leave reviews here too! I left my review on Amazon, Goodreads and social media! Updating it now!

Thank you for the advanced copy!

I am so glad to have my hands on it since I was ready to dive in right after the first one. I loved this series and enjoyed every minute of this book!