I see whimsical and I must read🧎🏼‍♀️ and this is a truly whimsical story. It's magical and quirky, the writing is fun and witty and the characters are likable and feel authentic. This is possibly blasphemy but it was compared to Howls Moving Castle and I actually might have preferred this

A Harvest of Hearts starts off in a small village where Foss Butcher lives. The imagery the writing of this books presents is brilliant. Everything written is so easily and vividly imagined.

While there is romance in this book it is minimal, this doesn't feel like a loss but if you are looking precisely for romantasy, this may not be what you're looking for.

The magic system is fun and unique and the characters believable.

If your a fan of Howls moving castle, then you HAVE to read this book! it's grim dark, intense, filled with horrifically beautiful settings that will give you chills, and leave you in awe. a dark telling of what really happens when a sorcerer steals your heart. it's very much an adult tale, filled with a morbid humor, and paired well with flawed and brilliant characters who you will adore, and in the case of the antagonists, hate. between the world building, the magic system, and the ending, this book is going to be an absolute obsession. an almost cozy horror blended with a dark fairy tale twist and heavy ghibli vibes, this is a definite must read!

Before we get started on the review portion I wanna give a big thank you to NetGalley & Kensington Publishing for an arc of this book. The thoughts and feelings are my own.

Yall I was so excited for this book. And I can’t believe the review I’m about to write is not going to be all that positive. This book was pitched as a cozy fantasy book version of Howls Moving Castle. Which for those that don’t know is one of my all time favorite piece of media. So with that pitch line I was sold, however the execution was not there at all. That plus the amount of times I almost DNFd is depressing.

Our book follows our MFC Foss, the butcher’s daughter with massive self esteem issues. She’s noticed and has her heart snagged by our MMC Sylvester a sorcerer who practices heart magic. Feeling a void she decides to follow him home and become a housemaid. While she’s there she discovers a talking cat and something more sinister that can potentially threaten her entire village. of uncovering something sinister.

The only positive I have for this book remember that talking cat I mentioned. Yep that talking cat. Cornelius is literally the only good thing about this book. And if it wasn’t for him I would’ve DNFd this book.

Our MFC Foss is the most “pick me girl” energy I’ve read in a while. And that’s not a positive. The amount of times she says she’s ugly is atrocious. To make matters worse she isn’t even freaking ugly. And of course she doesn’t start to truly feel pretty until the hot sorcerer tells her she’s beautiful. I cannot stand characters like this and it honestly degrades women. And I wish authors would stop using this as a character personality trope.

We can’t forget our MMC, Sylvester. I’ve read some immature men in books in my life. But I think Sylvester took a new low for me. The amount of times mentioning being so hot and perfect made me want to barf.

Character issues aren’t the only problem. The book is extremely slow and way too drawn out. The magic system definitely had potential but unfortunately fell completely flat. ,


Overall, this book had so much potential but lacked execution. I honestly can’t recommend this to everyone. However, if you do decide to brave it. Just remember Cornelius is where it’s at. I would ride or die for that cat.

Final Rating: 3.5

I enjoyed reading A Harvest of Hearts, but I think it probably could've been a little bit shorter because it felt a little too slow for me, and it felt like there was not really a lot happening for a lot of the book. I also struggled a bit with Foss constantly calling herself ugly for having red hair, large hands and being "sturdy" (meaning fat), but like, that doesn't make you ugly? And I know it's all in her image of herself because she was bullied when she was younger, but it felt a little unnecessary to point it out as often as it was. As someone who has struggled with feeling insecure, I get it - but at the same time she would bring it up CONSTANTLY. Other than that, I did really like Foss as a character. She's kind and thoughtful and often goes out of her way to help others even when it puts her in danger.

I adored Cornelius the cat, he was definitely my favorite character by far! And Sylvester was interesting, although I don't really feel like I got to know him as much as the others, and I'm not quite sure if the chemistry between him and Foss was really there, and the real romance only came in in the last maybe 20% of the book, so in that sense I felt like it only just got started seeing the two of them starting to fall in love.

I do think the last third was the most interesting of the entire book, as that's really where things got going and we learned more about the magic and all the politics, which was the most interesting part of the story to me.

I'm a big fan of whimsical stories with darker aspects (like T Kingfisher) and while I liked those aspects of this story, it felt kind of...superficial? In fact, the entire book kind of felt just surface level, and we never really got deeper into the characters or the plot.

This wasn't a bad book by any means, it just wasn't for me. I hope it finds its audience because I know there are going to be people who absolutely love this one!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this e-Arc in exchange for an honest review.

Overall I felt this story fell flat from my expectations. I really wanted to like this book, but it didn't do it for me.

In theory this book should have had everything to be an absolute showstopper it had everything I love mystical setting, gothic fairytale vibes, a talking cat, love a whimsical but sinister vibes book but unfortunately thats not enough for it to be a good book.

The pacing was so off, incredibly slow and so boring at the beginning I almost Did not finish. It then sped up and felt rushed towards the end.

I also felt the characters were so bland, especially the king, like he was just a villian for the sake of being the villian there was no substance. I hated that the only thing we really learnt about Foss was that she was "ugly" like how does being sturdy make you ugly... I will tell you what, it doesn't like I don't understand that! What fat phobic bs is that.

I truly appreciate what the author tried to do with this book, but it just wasn't as well executed as I would have liked.

2⭐️ Strictly for the cat.
———————————————
The story follows Foss, a butcher’s daughter with incredible self-esteem issues who has been “snagged” by a perfect sorcerer who practices heart magic. She follows him to his magical home and meets the most wonderful talking cat Cornelius. Cornelius is the only character in the book with a good personality and any sort of sense. Foss spends most of her narration time lamenting about how ugly she is (newsflash: she is not actually ugly!). The incredibly hot sorcerer eventually falls in love with her and he makes her realize that she is not ugly. If there’s one trope I hate in a book, it’s the “I’m ugly until a beautiful man tells me I’m not” trope.

Foss’ issues aside, the story itself is very drawn out for something that lacked a lot of depth. The magic system had a lot of potential to be interesting but fell flat with the wandering prose. The world was very immersive, but with no explanation of the magic system or greater motives of our villains, it felt like a giant echo chamber.

Our sorcerer, Sylvester, is incredibly immature and lacking depth but that doesn’t matter because did I mention before: he’s just so beautiful and perfect and hot!?

Overall, for a book with so much potential I am quite disappointed

I was given an advanced copy to read by Netgalley. All opinions in this review are completely my own. I am thankful for the opportunity to read A Harvest of Hearts by Andrea Eames.

Comparing A Harvest of Hearts to Howl's Moving Castle is right on the money. While there are many similarities between the two books, the whimsy and magic that is created in Howl's Moving Castle is very much present throughout A Harvest of Hearts. However, Eames' book stands on its own spine for having a unique, magical, and intriguing story of its own that is different in many ways. Fans of Howl's Moving Castle will enjoy A Harvest of Hearts. Eames did wonderfully building her world of magic-workers, the snagged, the harvested, and the mysteries surrounding a king and his kingdom built on stolen hearts.

My favorite character was hands down, Cornelius the cat. He was a supportive companion for Foss throughout the book. I often enjoy sidekick animal characters. I found myself rooting for Foss to overcome her self doubt and insecurities. I enjoyed the character development of Foss, Cornelius, and Slylvester. I do wish Sylvester's character development delved even deeper perhaps into his creation or even more into the person he was becoming as the story unfolded. I am not unhappy with his development or in his ending, I just feel he had much potiential that could have been explored further.

While having Foss as our main point of view worked well given that this is her story to tell, I feel it would have been intriguing to have Sylvester tell his perspective in addition. I believe A Harvest of Hearts is a stand alone novel, but dual point of views would be nice for future books if Eames decided to expand on this world she has created.

The overall pace is good. At the beginning I was really intrigued and could not put the book down. Somewhere after reading the middle, I felt the pace slowed greatly. The pace did not affect my overall enjoyment.

My only complaint with A Harvest of Hearts is the ending. I found it predictable and the solution too easy of a fix for such a large problem, especially a problem that has been ongoing for centuries. It wasn't a terrible ending, but it wasn't great either; it did fit the storyline.

I highly recommend reading A Harvest of Hearts. It was an enjoyable, whimsical, and well written story. I look forward to reading more from Andrea Eames.

This book gave me the perfect Howl and Sophie vibes! I won't lie, about 13-16% in I really thought about DNFing. The writing style was hard for me, and it felt very info-dumpy. However, I'm glad I gave it until 20%. The book really picked up, and I became interested in what was going on. I love Cornelius SO MUCH, 10/10 would give him all of my bacon. Honestly, this ended up being a perfectly fun, cozy read.

I would say this book is for lovers of cozy fantasy. It definitely relies heavily on vibes and is atmospheric. I was interested from the start but it takes a bit to get moving. The magic kingdom is intriguing. I think younger readers would definitely connect most with the main character. I think if you want a magical escape that isn’t crazy high stakes, this is a win.

I loooove the cover and especially the version with pretty sprayed edges. The publisher did a great job with this, it certainly stands out amidst a sea of similar looking fantasy books.

3.5 ⭐️

This is a cute cozy fantasy story with slow burn romance and a main character that has a lot of self esteem issues. Foss, our main girl, has a sidekick called Cornelius. And he's a cat!! I loved him, Foss and Sylvester, what a great trio.

A lot happens, but this story never feels complicated. Maybe the book could've been shorter, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

Now, I was a little scared this book only had 24 chapters, meaning they would be looooong and I do not vibe with that. However, Andrea's writing style is very easygoing and smooth, I flew through this one!

This was an original and unexpected gem of a book. I found myself rooting hard for Foss. Loved her. I liked how she opened the sorcerer's eyes to what he was blind to. A very good book and I am excited to read what the author puts out next.

First of all I would like to say thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for this Arc in exchange for an honest review.

After finishing this book I can say that if you are a fan of Howl's moving castle then this is the right story for you. Its a cross between a romance and cozy fantasy with a well written slowburn romance included, however there was some deeper emotional level than I was expecting from the blurb.

Also the biggest bonus is Cornelius the talking cat who is the ultimate snarky companion to the main characters.

Really enjoyed this book and will be waiting to see what the author produces next.

I really wanted to like this more but there was no connection with the main characters and the only one I enjoyed was the talking cat.

Thank you NetGalley and Erewhon Books for the eARC! Foss Butcher knows she's not pretty. From harsh pranks and abusive words thrown at her from fellow villagers, she knows she's not the sort that others will fall for. Though her heart is wounded, there is some benefit as she feels certain that she would also never fall victim to the soceresses that some to town and steal the hearts of the villagers. But when a young and handome male sorcerer comes to town, Foss is angered to discover that he has taken part of her heart. Unable to live her normal life, Foss leaves home to seek out the sorcerer and reclaim her heart, but when she arrives at his home, she discovers a world of dark and dangerous magic. With a house that is made of magic, a cat that can talk, and a surly sorcerer, Foss uncovers the secrets of hearts and the dangerous plot that could destroy her home and sets out on a quest to defeat the dark magic and get back her heart.

3 stars. Not bad, but not great either, this one landed somewhere in the middle for me.

First off, it took me forever to finish this book, and I’m not sure if that’s on me or the book itself. Either way, I did finish it, and... it’s okay. I never felt truly invested, but it’s not a bad book per se. That said, this was marketed as an adult fantasy, but it felt very juvenile, closer to young adult at best.

The magic system had potential and was definitely interesting, but it wasn’t explored as deeply as I would’ve liked. As for the characters, I don’t have strong feelings about the main ones, which is a shame. Especially, the MMC who barely interacts with the FMC, which made the supposed romance fall flat for me. However, I did love the cat! I didn't really like the pacing and felt that it dragged in several places, making it hard to stay engaged. Plus, a lot of the plot felt repetitive. This book could've been shorter but oh well, whatever.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing the ARC! Wishing the author the best of luck with the release!

It has taken me months to finish this book. It was a genuinely gruelling experience.

First of all, I beg you: do not believe the comparisons with "Howl's Moving Castle"! This is a much darker book, and not whimsical at all. Not only because of the actual contents of the story, but also because of the main character, Foss. She spent most of her page time lamenting her ugliness, and how her appearence made her unlovable and hardly worthy of being alive; reading about her constant self-hatred was exhausting. Of course, her relationship with beauty and how she's viewed by others (and how she, in turn, views herself), is a big theme in the book, but I don't think it was particularly well handled. I've realised that, while I'd love to see more characters in fiction that look average or even ugly according to conventional beauty standards, I'd want them to be at least neutral about it.

The characters in general were pretty weak. Foss felt quite passive throughout the story, and her love interest didn't fare much better: Sylvester spent most of the novel lounging neutrally, which didn't make for the most exciting story. I found him extremely bland, and in turn their romance suffered quite a lot: not only did I not believe in it, but I also simply did not care about it. Too bad, considering I actually find the idea of a character like Sylvester (no spoilers) pretty interesting. Anyways, the only characters I liked were Da (Foss's father) and Cornelius (the talking black cat).

The worldbuilding and magic system were vague and inconsistent.

The writing was alright, even though at times it tried a little to hard to sound folksy and old-fashioned. The author was also clearly trying to inject some humour into the story, but it didn't quite work for me (still, it definitely wasn't as bad as The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels, and I know that humour is super duper subjective).

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review! I'm genuinely sad I didn't like this, but I think there might be an audience for it out there? If you're not super picky about your romances, you don't need the worldbuilding to always make sense, or are just desperate for a talking black cat, maybe give it a try!

This is a heart-warming fantasy with characters and magical setting reminiscent of studio ghibli stories. Foss is a homely butcher’s daughter in a kingdom that harvests its inhabitants hearts to maintain prosperity. Everyone is fine with this sacrifice as hearts are usually taken in increments by the city’s Sorceresses, that is until Foss is entranced by a Sorcerer. She is not okay with the annoying heartsickness, thank you very much. Foss leaves to travel to the city to find for the Sorcerer, Sylvester, and get her heart back. She ends up staying as his housekeeper since the close proximity makes her heart hurt less. Foss soon discovers there’s much more to the Sorcerer (and his sister Sorcereresses) and the heart magic than she originally thought.

The books is written in a fun vernacular that is both easy to read and the harsh no-nonsense of the assumed “lower” class. Sometimes Foss will break the fourth wall. I really enjoyed the overall story. The world was crazy unique but similar to other stories (studio ghibli, specially Howl’s Moving Castle). It was mostly cozy until it’s really not… but still a fantastic plot. The romance was absolutely precious. I was literally in tears over one scene. It was so fun to watch Foss realize her true beauty.

I absolutely recommend this book. It’s cute, fast, sweet, intense, and absolutely magical.

Thank you Erewhon and NetGalley for the egalley.

🌟🌟🌟 [3]
🌶🌶 [FTB]
𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦.

I loved the concept, and I'll be honest and say that it is the reason why I requested to read the ARC. The premise was intriguing, and the promotion, suggesting it for fans of Howl's Moving Castle, was not too far off the mark. A Harvest of Hearts tells a story about Foss, an ordinary and plain girl, having her heart Snagged by a Sorcerer who came to her village. From there, she travels to the city to work as a housekeeper for the Sorcerer in hopes to free her heart.

The main characters are Foss (the butcher's daughter), Sylvester (the sorcerer), and Cornelius (the wonderfully witty talking cat). You could also count the sentient house as part of the cast too.

Foss's character is strong and resilient. There's no doubt that she shows a lot of determination in doing things her way. She's got this amazing "now or never" attitude, but sometimes she gets so focused on herself that she doesn't think about how her actions affect others. It would’ve been cool if we got to see her grow and mature more throughout the book. She also has a habit of repeating questions which could be subtly adjusted for a smoother narrative flow, as it was quite exasperating, even for Cornelius. Her morality also seemed situational at times.

I can't say much on Sylvester as we spent half of the book having him distant. He's not as eccentric as I expected him to be, which is truly a shame, and I would've liked it if we got to spend more time with him. Maybe a heart-to-heart scene would've been a nice addition. But he is a pretty endearing character.

Cornelius is without a doubt my favourite. His wit and outspoken nature was a delight. He's not afraid to express his annoyance—especially when Foss repeatedly asks the same questions. He's perceptive and often sees the best path forward, a stark contrast to Foss's impulsive nature.

Foss and Sylvester had a very wary interaction with each other throughout the book and so, while anticipated, their romance felt underdeveloped. I think having more scenes illustrating the evolution of their feelings would significantly enhance their romance and feel less abrupt. The writing of Foss's repetitive descriptions of the "snag magic" and its tugging sensation felt redundant. The pacing had a good flow, but the ending felt quick. Maybe some struggle would've been nice to see, or maybe a little fight or tussle between characters.

In the end, A Harvest of Hearts is an enjoyable read with a compelling premise. Despite my complaints, I didn't have a hard time reading it. I can see this book being a good read for readers who enjoy fantasy with dark undertones, but not so for those expecting heavy romance.

𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺, 𝘌𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘯 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢 𝘌𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴.

A Harvest of Hearts was one book I was so incredibly excited to sink my teeth into, it was such a refreshing story and I was able to really get into this headspace where I was just pulled deeper and deeper into the story with the characters. Thankyou so much for giving me the opportunity to read this story!