The Garden of the Cursed follows Marlow, a curse breaker who is trying to find her missing mother at all costs. To start with, the magic system was unique, especially the physical playing card aspect, but I wish there was a little more history behind it. Hopefully the next book will touch upon this more. And this was more mystery than fantasy, which was not a problem for me. As for the characters, I really enjoyed Marlow. She’s tough and knows she’s good at what she does, but she is also flawed and sometimes selfish, which I feel deviates from the normal YA heroine. Adrius was a little cliché as the rich bad boy with a secret heart of gold, but I found their love/hate relationship interesting, especially because the fake dating trope is so fun. It is definitely a slow burn romance with a few spicy moments. I loved Marlow’s best friend. He is a loyal friend and wasn’t afraid to call out Marlow when she wasn’t making the best decisions. Overall, I liked this book enough to read the next installment, but I didn’t love it.
3.5 stars
3.5 stars