Garden of the Cursed by Katy Rose Pool

The quick cut: A girl who makes money as a curse breaker takes on a case with upper class access, hoping it can help her solve her mother's disappearance a year ago.

A real review:

Life is rarely fair and in many cases, the upper echelons of society have access and opportunities that others can only dream of. What would you do to even the odds for those in the lower class? For curse breaker Marlow, she gets a close look at how far some will go in her newest case.

It's been a year since Marlow's mom disappeared and no one has seen or heard from her since. In the meantime, Marlow has learned to provide for herself by taking on cases from people who have been cursed and figuring out who did it. The role has paid well enough to pay the bills when a boy from her upper class past shows up: Adrius. He's been cursed with a strong curse and needs her help to figure out who did it. Can breaking Adrius' curse help her find her mother? Or will it put her in even more danger?

From the outside, this story has so many elements to it's world building that it should be confusing. However, the author has done such an impressive job at creating this fantasy society that all the pieces work together perfectly. It's a tale of the upper class and it's strangle hold on magical resources, playing out in its own ways for the two sides of the land: the upper class Evergarden and the lower class marshes.

Marlow's a unique girl in the way she's never been upper class, but her mom's job gave her access to the Evergarden society. Her life went from upper class experience to lower class scraping by. She's learned to depend on herself and by resourceful. Seeing her do what it takes to find her mom makes you want to see her win on every level.

Adrius is a guy I still feel conflicted about. He's so mysterious but truly seems to care for Marlow. His life is complicated and messy and his relationship with his father is intense.

The ending is so surprising and definitely sets up a fascinating sequel. It almost feels like it pulls the rug out from under you.

A powerful fantasy story that pulls you in.

My rating: 5 out of 5