3.5 🌟 If you like Howl’s Moving Castle and old fairytales you might enjoy this one! At first the story started out a bit too much like Howl’s Moving Castle and was a bit off putting with how similar they are. However, the story slowly morphed into its own and became something unique. The harvesting of hearts and corrupt sorcery gave the story an old fairytale feel which I enjoyed. My favorite character was without a doubt the talking cat, Cornelius. I have a feeling he will be a lot of reader’s favorite character. For me the romance was a good subplot and a good slow burn. I do think this book was too long for what it is. It could’ve been trimmed down about 100 pages. FMC annoyed me at times but I think that’s because she has a younger voice. Her thoughts and feelings make sense for her age and I do recall feeling some of things she did when I was 18. However, her negative self talk and low self esteem felt a little repetitive. I do think we needed more world building in the beginning of the novel. I felt like I didn’t truly get a grasp on the world until the very end. Overall, it was a charming and quick read!

I’ve never had the privilege of being the first to review a book on Goodreads, but I am delighted at the fact that it is, at least, a very genuine and positive review.

A Harvest of Hearts initially caught my interest at the mention of Howl’s Moving Castle. Immediately, my eyes ran through the synopsis with a quickness and decided to request an ARC right then and there. And as soon as my request was approved, I sat down and devoured the book in just one sitting.

Andrea Eames’ delightfully endearing fantasy novel follows Foss Butcher and the subsequent adventure that her Snagged heart leads her on. Along with a talking cat, a house that comes to life on a whirlwind of whims, and Sylvester — the Sorcerer who unknowingly Snagged Foss’s heart, we begin to unravel this strange magical world and the toll it puts on the kingdom.

We experience the story through the eyes and mind of Foss with her flat humor, gritty charm, and reluctant disposition. And as far as ensorcelled main characters go, Foss definitely manages to endear me while still maintaining true to her character. This, I found, made it incredibly easy to love and connect with her. Along with this, Foss’ heartfelt relationship with her father, her complicated relationship with her mother, her warm connection to Cornelius, and her warring feelings for heart magic make her a fleshed out character worth rooting for.

And it wasn’t too hard to connect with other aspects of the story either. With a whimsical writing style, Eames’ can make towns and buildings come to life with their own personality just by a few well placed similes and metaphors. The world feels lived in in a way that whisks you away until you don’t realize that you’re still reading at 1AM (I speak from experience).

With an assortment of characters, it is often hard to find balance between different relationships. However, this book manages it well. With Foss and Sylvester, their connection only takes one glance to begin their story. And oftentimes that would be annoying in its quickness, but with the marvelous combination of Foss’ stubborn reluctance and Sylvester’s wide eyed naivete, their relationship takes its time to morph into something beautiful. It genuinely had me giggling to myself by the fifth chapter and those giggles turned into laughter, cheesy grins, and even tears.

With the romance aspect leaving me breathless with giddiness, the fantasy aspect totally immersing me, there is the slight mystery to it all that makes you keep turning the page. Now I won’t say what this mystery is but there are a lot of intriguing hooks left deliberately in various chapters; mostly easy sentences that branch of into a myriad of questions that you immediately want answers to. In addition to this, I love that Foss is quick with piecing all of these things together. It doesn’t leave her hanging about while the reader is already miles ahead. It quickly advances the story while adding merit to her character.

Now, I have said a lot but I feel like it isn’t enough because I am sat here still brimming with a lot of leftover love and emotion that this book has made me feel. And I do not say this lightly seeing as I have found myself growing pickier and pickier with the books i read each passing month.

Though I will add that there is a noticeable shift in the tone from the first half of the book to the second. Where one is whimsical and eccentric, the other is darker and grittier. So this is a fair warning that there is some gruesome stuff ahead of that 50% mark!

All of this to say, A Harvest of Hearts has easily climbed my top reads for the year and I am now on a mission to recommend it to anyone who listens.

I REALLY hope this book will be available in my country so that i can snag (Get it?) a copy for myself! It would be a shame not to own a delightful read such as this.

Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington Publishing for the ARC!