This took a miniute to read because I didnt realize it was book two, so I had to go back and listen to book one. I really enjoyed it but to be honest, i really hate this cover art. other than that, everything is so dynamic and pulls you into the story!

DNF @ 60% - ARC provided by NetGalley

Well, its been 4 months since i started this one and I haven't touched it since that first month so I think it is officially time to mark this one down as a DNF, which is really sad. I absolutely adored the first book, but with this one not as much. I liked the part that I read but then one of the characters did the most stupid thing and I just could not, so I set it down and just never picked it back up. Like I got about 60% of the way through and I am just not interested in finishing it out, not a very promising thing for a book by that point I want to be invested. Kind of bummed but I am confident enough at this point that I won't be coming back to this one.

This exceeded my expectations on every level. [book:Garden of the Cursed|61317668] was a great mystery and a whole lot of fun - but the sequel goes above and beyond. This picks up right where the first one ended - no time jump. So all of the drama already in progress is still unfolding, but now we're into the details. There are some surprisingly deep looks at the concepts of consent, justice, trust, family, and other things that are not the usual YA fantasy ingredients. As with the first one, audio is the perfect format for this kind of story - the narrator feels like a librarian or teacher reading it to you, which matches up well with the tone. But however you read, put this series on your list - it's a good one.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I missed Marlow. Holy moly. The first book in the series left off on a HUGE cliffhanger: Marlow was on trial for murder. I am glad this novel picks up in the middle of the drama. I adore Adrius. This story makes me happy. I loved all the twists and turns. The romances were sweet. The curse breaking was top notch. The ending brought me joy.

What I loved the most:
the masquerade - it was smoldering.
the boat scene - it melted.... (not my heart) - it was gruesome in the best revenge kind of way.
Swift. I adore Swift.
the scathing social commentary.
Adrius's mom -> love how it ends for her.
Marlow: she's flawed, sassy and smart -> best heroine moments.

As far as sequels go, this one was top-notch!

"Masquerade of the Heart" by Katy Rose Pool is an engaging audiobook that immerses listeners into the politically charged city of Caraza. Following the disastrous Vale-Falcrest wedding, Marlow finds herself entangled in a web of secrets and betrayal, determined to break the curse binding her. Jennifer Blom's narration skillfully distinguishes between characters, adding depth to Marlow's emotional journey and the complex dynamics of the Five Families.

Katy Rose Pool expertly weaves a tale of intrigue and romance, with Marlow's quest for truth at its heart. The audiobook captures the tension and moral ambiguity of her struggle, keeping listeners hooked with each twist and turn. The blend of magical elements, found family dynamics, and intense romantic tension make this a captivating continuation of the series. Fans of character-driven fantasy will find "Masquerade of the Heart" a must-listen, leaving them eagerly anticipating what comes next.

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.

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.

this book was a shock. I don't know what I was expecting going in. but it was really good! I wish I had read the first one. but i'm really glad I read this one!

Book 1 grabbed me with the story of an impossibly difficult curse. The drama that happened because of it left a strong ending, hooking me for book 2.
The aftermath of book 1 left Marlow scrambling to make up for it and convincing people of her worth. This involves clearing the curse, and making up with Adrius to the point of aligning herself with evil—her father.
What follows is a string of betrayal, secrets and lies. The battle for power between the 5 power families is high. Marlow is right in the middle of it all, navigating her way while keeping her father close.
There was a lot of action perfectly mixed with great character moments. The romance was a great addition that helped endear the characters to me just a bit more. The entertainment factor was high with this one, even if I loved the first book just a bit more. I highly recommend this duology!

AUDIO REVIEW: Jennifer Blom did a great job with the narration and the multiple voices. Her cadence accentuated the intense moments and it complimented the sensitive ones. Great job!

Thank you to @macmillanaudio for the copy!

This is an exciting YA duology. It’s very much its own original story, but bits and pieces of it reminded me of other stories like Veronica Mars, Warehouse 13, and Cinderella. It’s almost Dystopian, but not quite. Caraza reminds me of Gotham City. It’s home to both the affluent upper echelons of Evergarden and the violent gangs of the Marshes. However, unlike Gotham City, Caraza doesn’t have a Batman. Just lowly curse breakers like Marlow.

I liked the magic system. There were a few squishy points that didn’t quite make sense, but since Marlow and Adrius have a limited understanding of how magic works, this wasn’t a major issue. I was intrigued by the idea of pre-created spell cards that anyone could activate and how that might affect the ingredients needed. Kind of like boxed cake mix as opposed to creating a cake from scratch.

Marlow and Adrius are both compelling characters. It was nice to see Adrius’s POV in this book, even if it was just short glimpses. Marlow is very much a product of the way she was raised: determined, ingenuitive, and slow to trust. It was interesting to see her trying to find a balance between what has helped her survive in the past and what may help her to have a better future.

The audiobook is narrated by Jennifer Blom. I thought she did a good job. I also appreciated the fun intro and outro music. I felt it set the tone well.

Note: This is the second book in a duology and the books need to be read in order. Book 1 is Garden of the Cursed.

"Masquerade of the Heart" by Katy Rose Pool is a captivating audiobook that plunges listeners into the turbulent city of Caraza, where the precarious balance of power between the Five Families teeters on the brink of chaos. Narrated with compelling intensity, the story unfolds amidst the brewing troubles in the Marshes, placing Marlow at the center of the storm. The aftermath of the ill-fated Vale-Falcrest wedding leaves Marlow heartbroken as Adrius, once her closest ally, now distances himself and seeks a new bride. Yet, Marlow remains resolute in her quest to break the curse that binds her, even if it means confronting the man she believes to be the architect of her misery—her own father.

Katy Rose Pool masterfully crafts a world steeped in secrets and deception, where Marlow's journey is fraught with moral ambiguity and difficult choices. As Marlow navigates her complex relationship with her father, the narrative delves deep into themes of trust, betrayal, and the often blurry line between good and evil. The audiobook's narrator brings each character to life, enhancing the emotional depth of Marlow's internal struggle as she grapples with her growing doubts about her father's true nature. The tension between Marlow's duty to her family and her personal quest for truth keeps listeners engaged, making it hard to discern friend from foe in a city where alliances shift like sand.

"Masquerade of the Heart" is a richly woven tale of intrigue and emotion, earning its four-star rating with a blend of well-developed characters, a plot full of unexpected twists, and a vividly imagined setting. The audiobook format amplifies the storytelling, drawing listeners into Caraza's labyrinthine streets and political machinations. As Marlow confronts the high cost of uncovering the truth, listeners are left eagerly anticipating each new revelation, making this audiobook a must-listen for fans of gripping, character-driven fantasy.

An EXCELLENT close to a delicious duology. This book kept up the pace of a mystery to solve, a ticking clock, and a fractured romance. There are crocodile fights, masquerades, and sizzling tension between Adrius and Marlowe while she tries to save their city from a terrible fate. The world-building is opulent and dazzling, the descriptions of food and dress building out a fantasy world I would love to set foot in.

I had a much better time with this one than the first one. There is a bit of a pacing issue in the middle but easily looked over.

That being said, the overall plot felt a bit rushed at times. I wanted to spend more time getting to know some of the side characters, but I enjoyed the story and would recommend this to anyone looking for an easy to follow who-done-it ya fantasy mystery.

Thank you Macmillan audio for gifting me an alc in exchange for an honest review!

3.75 stars

Well thank goodness for the epilogue because I was about to throw things 😅

So while I do think this is a super enjoyable and entertaining duology, this second book didn’t hit me the same way the first book did. In the first book, the angst was delicious and heart achingly beautiful, but in this book I found it more frustrating. Marlow and Adrius somehow seemed more YA with their decision making and secret keeping than before.

The plot itself was good, but did seem to lack the same urgency as the first book, even though the stakes seem higher. I think a little trimming would have been an improvement too.

In general, this was entertaining and I’d definitely recommend the duology as a strong YA fantasy with great characters and a unique magic system.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the preview. All opinions are my own. I’d also highly recommend the audiobooks for great narration.

Caution: Spoilers ahead for Garden of the Cursed. Don’t read past this sentence if you don’t want to be spoiled.

I was pretty impressed with Pool’s Garden of the Cursed last year, so I jumped at the opportunity to listen to an ALC of the concluding installment of the duology. I wasn’t quite as impressed with the sequel, unfortunately. The book-long build up to finding Marlow’s mother and the bombshell reveal at the end that left readers hanging from a steeeep cliff fizzled out in this one. One conflict turned into a whole new one and the solution to another was suddenly solved in the background and very suddenly. I am not satisfied with my care.

Garden of the Cursed presents the premise of a young girl living in the swampy, backwoods part of a city where she ekes out a living breaking curses while simultaneously searching for her missing mother. Her reputation as a curse breaker filters up to high society, and the boy she had a crush on about a year ago, Adrius Falcrest, who holds a membership to one of the ruling, rich five families of the city, seeks her help breaking a curse that was placed on him. The two fake date each other so she can worm her way into the upper echelons and figure out who cursed him, but they have a bit of a romantic history, and it culminates in rekindled feelings. By the end of the book, we have a bit of a resolution for one conflict and none for the other. Oh, and surprise! Marlow the Cursebreaker is the lovechild (adulterous) of her mother and a scion of one of the—you guessed it--five ruling families.

Now, I really liked Garden of the Cursed. It had a lot of twists and turns, and it stayed pretty much within the respectable bounds of content that should be in a YA novel. I don’t mind a good cliffhanger, either. This one was one of the better ones. HOWEVER.

Masquerade of the Heart opens right after Garden leaves us. Marlow now lives at her father’s house, where she hopes to find how to break the curse he placed on Adrius. But now we have an entirely new conflict—and suddenly one of the big problems from Garden has been magically solved out of the blue. It doesn’t make sense, and I even had to back the audiobook up a couple of times to make sure I heard and understood correctly that one of the main, if not the main, issues of the whole story arc was just glossed over with a shrug and some passing hand washing of the whole thing that boils pretty much down to a sentence. What was the whole first book for, then?

Narration for this one was middle of the road for me also. Though the character voice differentiation, dramatic effect, and good inflection were there, there was a stilted pacing to it that sounded like nearly every sentence had several periods in it. If you’ve heard Captain Kirk speak, it was kinda like that but for 12 hours straight.

Overall, I’m going back and forth between 2.5 to 3 stars out of 5. I don’t feel that there was due diligence given to explaining how that major conflict was resolved. The conclusion left me with a bit of a bait-and-switch feeling, though I did enjoy the first one quite a bit. I was let down, hard. Additionally, this book is marketed to children but has some serious adult content and language in it. It really should be on the New Adult or Adult shelf.

Listened at 2-2.5x speed with no issues. Narrator did a nice job.

I didn't know this was a sequel, but it was easy to pick up on that just from the references. I feel like there was enough context provided to make me feel like I could still follow along, without rehashing every element from the first book (so I could still go back to read that without feeling like I already know everything).

Jumping in blind, I thought this was enjoyable. Characters were fine. I liked trying to figure out the nuances of relationships. The pacing was good and kept things moving swiftly.

Overall: 3 stars (I liked it)

**Thank you to NetGalley & Macmillan Audio | Macmillan Young Listeners for the free ALC. All opinions expressed are my own.**

Really enjoyed this! The narrator was great and easy to listen to but kept me engaged. A great conclusion to the duology!

Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely devoured Garden of the Cursed and the same can be said of Masquerade of the Heart. At the beginning of the book, we have Marlow still trying to break Adrius' curse. At the same time, she is doing what she can to avoid being tried as guilty at her upcoming trial. She is still convinced her dad, Lord Vale, is responsible for the curse and is determined to prove it.

Marlow is searching for her friend, Swift, who has been taken by one of the gangs. She is also still strongly disliked by the Copperheads and continues to have to avoid them. Without giving too much away, Marlow discovers their is more secrets and lies among the five families and that the city of Credenza is on the cusp of destruction. Marlow seeks out old friends, new friends, and gains some unlikely allies in order to create a spell that will hopefully save the city from being taken over.

Marlow and Adrius are not at odds for the whole story, so for those of you like me who are invested in the romance, don't worry! The plot is fast paced and events from the previous book that were left open all culminate in the final book as the different families, gangs, and allies all merge together.

I enjoyed the audio and would recommend it to read alongside the novel.

This serious was did not disappoint. The second book was equally, if not better than the first book!

This novel was high on my list of anticipated sequels this year, and it didn’t disappoint. My review will be brief to avoid spoilers – it’s an especially challenging task with this one.

After the events of the Vale-Falcrest wedding at the end of the last book, the fate the head of the Falcrest family is uncertain, and tensions are high between the Five Families. Adrius’s father named him heir, a title Adrius doesn’t want, and his sister is determined to prove she’s the better choice to lead the family. Marlow learns the identity of her father, but he’s also the same man who cast the compulsion curse on Adrius in the first novel. As she gets closer to her father, Marlow begins to question if he’s the villain she’d believed.

The main focus of book one was the breaking Adrius’s compulsion curse before it became permanent. In this follow up, the curse is broken early in the story, and Marlow is unsure exactly how it happened. I was surprised that plot line wrapped up so quickly, but I can see how its resolution impacts the direction of this story. The MCs are now on a suspenseful quest to gather items for a spell. Marlow is put in some impossible situations, and she certainly makes mistakes, but her strong moral code guides her decisions. From the gangs in the Marshes to certain aristocrats, there’s no shortage of people who’d like to see her dead. I was happy to have some chapters in Adrius’s POV this time and rooted for him every step of the way. Since he and Marlow finally admitted their feelings for each other, their romance takes up a larger portion of the story, but doesn’t overshadow everything else going on. I have to admit another relationship caught me by surprise, but I fully supported it and enjoyed the dynamics.

The conclusion of this magical high stakes fantasy is very satisfying, but I’ll miss these characters. Recommended for fans of magical mysteries, found family, and enemies to lovers.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I loved reading this book! I loved the first one, and after the ending, I needed to know what was going to happen next, so I basically pick this one up as soon as I could, and I'm glad I did, because it was an excellent read!

I loved watching Marlow deal with the events of the last book, with the reveal of her dad-and her dad being the one to lay the curse of Adrius. So that was really complicated, and so good to read. Plus she was dealing with the upcoming trial, the gangs, and a plan to stop her father's plot. There was a lot going on! Oh, and plus her and Adrius. I was really scared that he actually meant that he would find a wife, that he didn't want to be with her anymore.

Not to mention, things about her mom continue, as well as conflicting emotions. I mean, Vale did have a point, but he went about it in the worse way possible. He's her father, and that's new to her, and the Five Families have a lot of power and a lot of corruption, it's only a good system for those on top. But his methods, his plan, the costs? Too high.

This is a world where things don't always end well, don't have a happily ever after. And I loved that about this world, and in this book in how it ended. It was just such a great ending, and where we left these characters!

This was an amazing read and I can't wait to read more by Katy Rose Pool!