A princess must marry then murder a prince in this dark YA romantasy featuring gorgeous prose, twisty reveals, and untraceable murders.
Radixan Princess Inessa Sinet was poisoned. The princess had attempted to save her monetarily floundering kingdom by marrying then killing Aeric, the prince of the powerful yet "haughty and detestable" Acus. She accomplished neither. Now, Inessa's twin sister, Madalina, must attempt the same task. Inessa, trapped in the purgatorial Bide, haunts Madalina, demanding her sister avenge her. Madalina knows Aeric may have murdered Inessa and she suspects he has sinister aims for her, too, but Aeric, "so hedonistically lighthearted, as though he were made from feathers and sparkling wine," offers "unabashed faithfulness" to Madalina. As Aeric wears at Madalina's resolve, perplexing clues surrounding Inessa's murder lead Madalina to the bleak history of the magical and deadly grave flowers for which Radix is known.
Grave Flowers by Autumn Krause (Before the Devil Knows You're Here) is a Hamlet-inspired tale that twists the heart with serpentine betrayals and tenderly wrought romantic and familial love. Madalina is a compellingly dynamic first-person narrator: she refuses to be weak despite being "the soft spot in our family's mortar" but hates channeling her sister's and father's murderous natures. Moments of vulnerability between Aeric and Madalina are filled with tense longing while grotesque horrors, like carnivorous flowers feasting on fresh corpses, unsettle. A multifaceted cultural backdrop, lyrical writing, and excerpts from the chilling "Guide to Grave Flowers for Tortures and Torments" add layers to the already impressive read. An enchantingly grim tale of duty, desire, and the darkness in between. --Samantha Zaboski, freelance editor and reviewer