This was a 4.5⭐️ read for me. The first 15% I found a little bit confusing but that is normal in a new fantasy world. I was drawn in to the characters and to the action, mystery and hints of romance that are suggested.

By 25% I had been sucked in and struggled to put the book down. The betrayals, plot twists, mystery and action were all there.

There are unanswered questions at the end of the book but not a huge cliffhanger which is good. This series has a lot of potential I think and I just hope book 2 doesn’t take too long to release.

A promising start to what could be a great series! Overall I really enjoyed this book, devouring it - it has phenomenal world-building, interesting characters and good writing.

The magic system is really unique and interesting, it was so refreshing and intriguing. I particularly enjoyed the portrayal of the main characters and how they interacted with each other.

I really can't wait to read the next instalment!

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit books for the chance to read this fantastic gem!

I was given this Arc Copy in exchange for an honest review of the book. Thank you @netgalley and @hwhittenwrites for this opportunity.

Wow. I enjoyed this book! The beginning was a little slow but what book isn't when you're introducing a new world? However, once the action started I was hooked until the end!

I'm getting Serpent & Dove vibes but if Serpent & Dove had a love triangle. Well, a hinted-at love triangle anyways. So if you enjoyed S&D, you'll more than likely enjoy this book.

I love the whole concept of the book. The world, the characters, the magic. It was definitely up my street. This is the first book I've read by this author and I've got to say, I want to read more. I've heard that this is going to be a duology which has me extremely excited!

Do I recommend The Foxglove King? Yes, definitely. It's an amazing book to get your fantasy fix from! The cover is absolutely beautiful as well.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to the author and publisher for my ARC copy!

I was unbelievably excited for this book and it did not let me down, from the relatable main character to the twists and turns of the story, I was gripped.
I loved the authors enigmatic writing style and world building skills, I could truly picture locations and characters throughout the book which made for a very enjoyable read.
Highly recommend to lovers of ACOTAR and The Cruel Prince series

There’s little I didn’t love about this book; if anything, I loathe the fact that book two isn’t out already, and I’ve even read the book in advance!
Gosh, this book. I have no words to describe the turmoil it left within my poor heart. Suffice to say, I have channelled my inner Katherine Pierce at one point, which has been a new development in recent years, but only when it comes to love triangles when I could really see the heroine loving both. It is okay, after all, to love them both :’(
First off, the world Hannah throws the reader in is one of French-sounding names, a dark world ruled by the Crown and the Church… though more by the latter. I love it because it reminds me of how it was in Italy, when the Church had more importance than a crown. In this case, there’s a pantheon of gods that are related to nature but certainly recall Greek mythology, both with names and powers - and yes, I love that, too.
I adored the setting, but what I adored the most were the characters and the connection between them.
Our main character is Lore, and I love her: she’s the perfect example of a badass heroine who follows her instinct even when scared to death. I loved a particular passage of hers toward the end of the book, something many writers don’t attribute to their heroes and heroines. It was refreshing, really. Plus, I love how sassy she is, but also how good.
Gabe, wow, Gabe is the most complex character among the entire cast, his heart torn between his faith and Lore. This is not strictly romance, romance is just a part of the whole book, and I’d love to get more into his head than just a few sentences here and there. I can’t wait to see more of him. I need him. I want to wrap him in a blanket and protect him from the world - I’d do it for all three of them, but he needs it more!
Bastian is your royal fuckboy with a heart of gold. In the beginning, I didn’t know what to make of him, precisely due to his behaviour. But then he revealed himself, and whilst I’m still side-eyeing him a bit - hey, his actions are understandable consequences of other people’s actions - I’ve fallen for him, chapter after chapter.
The bond they have is both frail and strong, it draws them together but can be easily broken given their differences. To me, they’re the perfect example of a threeway in a polyamory light: though I might have a bit of a preference, it would make so much sense and be honestly so, so good and innovative - dare I say, even long-awaited - if they all fell in love with one another.
It really is bittersweet how The Foxglove King ended, with so few answers and many, many, many new questions, so many unsolved dynamics I really can’t stand and want a solution to, like, yesterday. This is definitely one of the best reads of 2023, and I will not so patiently wait for book two - hoping, of course, that it won’t end the same way as this first instalment (all the while, I’ll be hugging my babe Gabe).

4.5⭐

Eek! Well that was bloody good fun. Lurking beneath that gorgeously gothic cover, is a world full of deliciously dark magic, poison and necromancy, and high stake secrets. Hannah Whitten effortlessly immerses her reader in amongst the court nobles, religious orders and power-hungry politics of her newest romance fantasy series, and BOY will you struggle to put it down!

Welcome to The Nightshade Kingdom: every character has a motive and there's an ever foreboding threat of war. With it's enthralling magic system and complex yet captivating characters, The Foxglove King is a chillingly dark fantasy where love, loyalty and power are truly put to the test. And, at the centre of it all, is one bad ass woman with a dark gift but a big heart, trying to untangle and control the chaos that surrounds her.

Like any high fantasy novel, the court politics and magical system are intriguing, there's poisoning and death powers which are utterly intoxicating, but it's the characters motivations and connections that made the book such an thrilling read. In my eyes, understanding what drove each character, brought the novel's story to a whole new level, making the big reveals all the more intense.

I also really enjoyed the forbidden romance, all the sexual tensions and the almost love triangle that is formed between our three "heros". It's fair to say, I'm hoping for some real relationship develop in the next book! I'm SO excited to see what direction Whitten takes the story in next, The Foxglove King is a brilliantly haunting start, to what surely promises to be an epic series and I CAN NOT wait to get my hands on that next book!
👑💀🥀

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an eARC.

I don't know where to start with this book but I can say that whilst the book was enjoyable there were times where I did want to put the book down due to the characters.

This book follows Lore (a necromancer) who doesn't have a choice but to work for the king and the priest, Gabe who acts as a cousin to Lore and the Prince who is being spied on by both Gabe and Lore. As the story unravels we find out that there is more behind the spying and that there is in fact something sinister going on.

The character I liked the most is in fact the character that I ended up feeling very indifferent about- I liked Gabe from the start; however, there were points where I wished he'd stop being annoying. In fact when he does get his "taste of his own medicine" I was satisfied. As we got to the end of the book, though he did annoy me 50% of the way, I ended up loving him even more.....

Overall, the book was a 4 star read to me; mainly because the end did pick up its pace and the plot twists towards the end was juicy enough for me to consider reading the series. I wish to see what happens between the love triangle and whom or what is behind the mass murder.

I haven't read a fantasy novel in a while so this was a real treat to given this advance review copy from an author that is new to me. This was dark, full of intrigue and magic, great characters and worlds and loved the court based setting. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown for the arc!

“Opposites are not always in opposition; the day and night are equals. One isn’t good and the other bad. But one does illuminate things, while the other obscures. And that has to mean something, too, I think.”

Hannah Whitten is an expert at worldbuilding that sucks you in straight away, and that was the same for the world of The Foxglove King. I was instantly drawn into the story and throughout the book, I was constantly left with questions and curiosities that just made me want to keep reading.

Our three main characters, Lore, Gabe and Bastian, all had very distinct and different personalities but they all complimented each other so well and the dynamic between all 3 of them was so fun and addicting to read. There were also a lot of interesting hints dropped about all of them and their relationship that made me very intrigued about how deep the relationship between all three of them goes. I'm really invested in all of them and it will be interesting to see how they all react in the second book to the ending of this one.

"She and Bastian and Gabe, comets that couldn't help colliding."

I really loved the themes of religion, good vs bad, light vs dark etc that were explored in this book and it feels like those are topics that Whitten will continue to write about. They were heavily explored in the For The Wolf/For Throne duology and I'm curious to see how they'll add to the story in this trilogy too.

I really enjoyed The Foxglove King and I'm very excited to see how the following books play out!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book has solidified the fact I will read anything that Hannah Whitten writes, because I adore the worlds she weaves. The Foxglove King feels darker than For the Wolf/Throne, and that could be because it deals with death magic - Mortem - and those who can wield and sense it.

Things I liked:

- Lore was an FMC I immediately liked - a bit bolshy and headstrong, outspoken and a gifted liar
- The magical system is really interesting and well thought out
- I loved all the religious aspects, the idea of these gods that really walked the earth, the idea of one buried beneath the city
- All the court intrigue and politics
- The dresses Lore wore!

Things I loved:

- Gabe and Bastian! I'm not usually a fan of a love triangle-esque situation, but I really adored both these characters
- The Versailles inspired setting
- The whole idea of Mortem and Spiritum and how they worked
- Lore's back mysterious back story

There wasn't really a thing I didn't like and I'm already desperate to get my hands on the sequel!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book I have read by Hannah Whitten and while I appreciated the intricate world-building, intriguing concept, and witty dialogue between characters, this book failed to fully engage me. Unfortunately, the story fell somewhat short of my expectations. Nonetheless, I remain curious about the author's other works and am eager to give them a try.

Thank you Netgalley for the copy!

I will not stop talking about this book anytime soon. Infact in it’s pages contains all the right elements: an intriguing plot , a gothic and well constructed world-building, a magic system that I adored,political intrigue and well characterized characters who turn out to be very realistic.
All the characters are morally gray with their own fears, scars,flaws and goals..starting right from the main character :Lore,as she herself admits,is a selfish person who aims only at survive . At the same time, however, she holds a lot of anger and pain that will only fortify her.
Bastian and Gabe, on the other hand, are spectacular characters. Bastian is my favorite (maybe): he is a person who under the mask he has built for himself hides a whole world that made me melt and smile.
Gabe , with the guilts of his family on his back and the vows he made to the Church,is unable to understand who he has become and who he would like to be.
I'm not normally a fan of triangles...but Gabe and Sebastian are so beautiful! I loved how both l their relationships with Lore, page after page, evolved despite the two being completely different! Plus the dynamic between the three of them was beautiful because, in order to protect Lore and the country, the two of them were able to pass over their past problems.So why choose?!
In conclusion it was a dark,ironic,funny read,full of plot twists and with the constant theme of the Church-Politics relationship treated in an excellent way. I personally found this book perfect and I look forward to the day when you too can meet Lore,Bastian and Gabe!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the world building and magic system.

It took a while but I began to really like the 3 MCs. The banter between them was fantastic.

However, the religious terminology did create a disconnect for me and while the story was interesting, it didn’t grip me.

I also feel like Bastian’s behaviour at the end of the book was completely out of character and such a 180, it was hard to believe.

A very well-written, immersive world building and compelling characters. The magic is deliciously dark, that was one of the best aspect of the book with the characters. Very soon, I couldn't put it down . At first I was worried the world building was going to be complicated but it's immersive and I smoothly integrated all the elements. Recommend!

I really enjoyed the For the Wolf duology and was accordingly excited to read Hannah Whitten‘s new release the Foxglove King. Her strengths - the wonderful world building, immersive atmosphere and well-developed character dynamics - all transferred to this book, and some of the aspects that bothered me in For the Wolf - the tropes, lack of a map, too trusting female lead - were redeemed here.

Although I definitely liked the existence of a map, I think it could have been done better. The current version (remember, this is an advanced copy I’m talking about) has a map of the whole fantasy world the story is set in, but the complete plot plays out in the capital of Dellaire. So instead of having a not very detailed map of the world, I would have much preferred having a map of the city.

I also observed that both the atmosphere of the docks where Lore previously worked with so-called poison runners and spying for her mothers’ enterprise and the map itself reminded me of Ravka/Ketterdam in the Shadow and Bone universe. So if you’re a fan of those books, this one might just be for you!

The world building lived up to my expectations, especially in terms of the magical system. I have the biggest aversion to fantasy novels that fail to explain how magic works and/or have that one scene where the main character suddenly is able to do so much more magic than they ever could before without any repercussions. The complete opposite can be said about this book and I liked how believable that made the story.

It’s really the characters that made this book stand out for me, however. I expected three-dimensional characters with very well written interactions and relationships, and the author delivered just that.

Lore is a very strong female lead, she is clever and I found her to be very relatable. I enjoyed getting to know her and experiencing the story from mostly her point of view, although I would have wanted for her to show more emotions about the notion that her magic was considered evil. I did adore her quick wit and sense of humor as well.

“‘As someone who was maybe one degree removed from being a pirate,’ Lore said, ‘I would like to disabuse anyone of the notion that it’s a great time.’”

Gabe, who became a member of the Presque Mort after coming close to death when his father was murdered but also is a Duke by title, is a very conflicted character who struggles with choosing between Lore’s side and that of Anton, the Priest Exalted, who became some sort of a father figure for him after falling from grace due to his family history. I liked how important he was to many crucial twists in the story, and I really hope he will not be brushed aside in the sequels.

Then there’s also Bastian, heir to the throne and notorious flirt. I adored him, he didn’t take himself too seriously, had all the right morals and was quite hilarious in the role that he played at court to hide how much he actually cares for his country.

“Bastian stood so the four women could have the chairs - ‘I will lean fetchingly against the wall instead, and if any of you feel the sudden inspiration to paint me, I won’t even charge a modeling fee’ - while Alie and the others sipped their wine and idly gossiped.”

I would normally criticise the existence of a love triangle, but quite honestly I don’t feel like the situation can really be described as a love triangle. There‘s definitely lots of chemistry between Gabe and Lore, but not so much between Bastian and Lore. Yes, Bastian is extremely flirty and I love that for him (as I said, I adore his character), but the bond between him and Lore seems to be more of a “I just met you but it feels like I‘ve known you forever“ thing, a soulmate connection if you will, or just a side effect of the powers they inherited from two Gods who were literally married.
That being said, looking at the history between Gabe and Alie, I feel like that’s an easy way out that the author has left open to pair Lore off with Bastian instead of Gabe after all, and if we’re following the classic fantasy tropes then that is the likely outcome, but I have to say that I wouldn’t be too thrilled about it. It gets boring and repetitive after a while, you know? Well, we’ll have to wait for the sequels and find out!

Finally, a last point of criticism would be that I didn’t find it to be very believable how much Anton and August stayed out of Lore’s business after the first chapters. If I was Lore, that would have made me very suspicious of maybe being manipulated, and on the other hand it left so much room for Lore to do whatever she was up to.

I can’t wait for the sequels to this one!

4.5/5 stars.

3.5 stars
Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Books UK for a copy of this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

Initial Thoughts
I'm going to preface this as I don't think I'm entirely the right reader for this book. Whilst I knew religion would have a place in this book, given the mention of monks and church in the synopsis, I didn't realise how heavily it would weigh on everything and the entire plotline. Because of this aspect, it took me some time to get invested in this world and it made it quite a chore to navigate at times. I don't follow a religion, but I often find when fantasy books heavily focus on a religious path, especially when the following feels cultish and leads towards a darker Church state that goes against the needs of the people, I get uncomfortable. This is a me problem, and so I wanted to establish this point before getting further into my review.

What's great about this book?
- I was intrigued by the magic system in this book. Mortem, the power that is born from death and has a lot of constraint upon its use (especially outside of members of the Presque Mort), was very fascinating to me, especially with how the main character Lore wields it. I enjoyed watching her discover more about the power she possessed, and how necromancy shaped her survival in the citadel of Dellaire. Lore's warring feelings over what she could do, and how it made her feel when viewed by others, were well-presented. I enjoyed the companying Spiritum, the magic of Life, and how Death and Life played a vital part in royal court politics. The further the book progressed, the more I loved this element, even if this was precariously balanced around a corrupt royal court, and further, a rather sinister Church.
- I enjoyed what Lore and Bastian offered in this book. Bastian was the first character I came to enjoy. I loved that despite the outwardly indolent debauchery of the Sun Prince's persona, he was calculated, bold enough to fight for what he believed in, and wasn't apologetic when he took was he could to survive. I loved the moments this mirrored in Lore, and it helped with the author's desire to link the pair together (spoiler, not romantically) with this feeling of each being one-third of a piece on the game table. I came to enjoy Gabriel, the duke-turned-monk, though he felt like the staple do-gooder among two more morally grey characters, and whilst some temptation loosened him up to Lore and Bastian, it still wasn't enough for me to place merit in him.
- I did like some of the latter plot twists. Whilst I guessed several, I still appreciated how they played out. The last quarter of this book had me so invested, and made me want to know what happens next; something I wasn't expecting with how uninterested I felt for the first 40% ish of this book.

Things I didn't quite enjoy
- Aside from the heavy religious placement in this world, a bit of an issue I faced was trying to envision the world correctly. Clothing, building structure, and court politics do lend the imagery of something periodic and French - I imagined Versailles a lot, especially with the heaviness of the church - but a lot of the language is quite modern and Americanised. It would often contradict itself, one moment sounding entirely modern, the next it would lead me back to my perceived European imagery. At times this was jarring to the scene or character and it irked me. As a historian, I appreciate when fantasies that take a historical element stick closer towards that setting than poorly mimicking what we already know of our own history in the attempts of making a whole new world.
- Another observation was around Gabe's eyesight. The author made it very obvious about him only having one eye at the beginning of the book, but there would be many moments, especially in the latter half, where the wording would go from his eye to eyes. I don't think this would have been as apparent if it hadn't been heavily drilled in about his blue single-eyed stare from the start. I am unsure if the ARC copy I received has since had alterations that led to the final copy, but it did stand out a lot to me. Nitpicky? Perhaps, but it felt like poor editing to me.
- The romance sub-plot and loose love triangle was a bit pointless. Whilst I appreciated the author taking her time to build the connection between Lore and Gabe, and Lore and Bastian, the whole, "I feel like I've always known you" concept that she felt towards both of them wasn't fully convincing to me. For the majority of the book, we're just told this without any explanation, and when it comes to light why they feel as they do, it wasn't overwhelming enough to make it work. Further, I knew that author would use the plot device of trust and betrayal between Lore and Gabe, so when they did have a romantic moment, I couldn't believe in it enough to last.

Final thoughts
Despite my criticism of this book, I did enjoy the latter pathways of the story and wish to know what happens next. However, it was a very slow build-up and with several inconsistencies, my overall rating isn't representing that final portion that I thoroughly loved as I cannot overlook how hard it took me to get to the point of enjoyment.

This book revolves around 3 characters, all with an intricate back story, motives and trauma. There is magic, life, death and an unraveling mystery throughout. This was a unique concept and I can't wait for future ones

This book wasn’t as good as I’d hoped it would be, it was better ! At the beginning of the story I was and it just was so hard to put down, I found it very hard to just stop after a few chapters. When I needed to go to bed. I loved the ideas of death magic , Hannah Whitten’s writing is just brilliant and by the final part of the book I was gutted to be near the end, but it was a great set up to the next book , but I just wish I had it now

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for the advance copy of this book to read for an honest review.

The story follows Lore who at 13 escaped a cult in the catacombs beneath Dellaire. 10 years later Lore is a poison runner hiding her power of Mortem which is magic from death, however one accident and a job gone wrong leads to her powers being revealed. She is taken by the Presque Mort a religious faction sanctioned to use mortem working for the King. She is given a choice either use her magic to find out why entire villages have been dying overnight or be sent to the Burnt Isles.

Lore is sent undercover in the King's court under the guard of Gabriel a duke turned monk to keep an eye on the Prince Bastian. Romance, a love triangle and plenty of debauchery ensue. However Lore's past life in the catacombs is catching up to her even closer than she thinks.

This is the first book I have read from Hannah Whitten and I thoroughly enjoyed it I love a well crafted fantasy with a dash of romance and the hint of a love triangle.

I really enjoyed the interactions between the three main characters Lore, Gabe and Bastian. The dialogue was witty and I felt the relationship between the three was well crafted.

The world building was also well done and I was hooked on the premise and the storyline of life and death magic.

The story was well paced and I didn't want to put the book down.

I am looking forward to reading the sequel!

Perhaps I should have figured from the blurb alone that The Foxglove King would never be a book for me. Perhaps, after so many years of reading, I should know my own taste better. Alas. It was not to be.

As I said, this should have been clear from the blurb. As it was, it was clear from the first chapter, and still I persevered in reading the whole book. Mistakes were made. If you think this might be a book you enjoy, stop reading this review now! Let’s chalk it all up to, it’s not for me. That’s enough.

If you’re not bothered, then let’s continue.

First thing you noticed about this book is just how much of a personality vacuum the main character is. I’d say she’s a Mary Sue, but that feels mean to Mary Sues. Nothing about Lore stands out except two things: she’s sooooo special with her most powerful death magic, and every man loves her (okay, a couple don’t, but they are Old and Villainous, so they don’t count). It feels like the author’s sole idea for her was “girlboss” and she never thought much beyond that. She acts exactly the same regardless of the situation she is in. Case in point: when she first meets the king, she makes snarky remarks at him in exactly the same way as she does with her ex-fake-boyfriend, her putative love interest #1, her putative love interest #2, the head honcho priest who holds her life in his hands — to name a few. First of all, these remarks aren’t even funny. They’re so unfunny as to be painful. Secondly, it’s the way her behaviour felt exactly the same regardless of the situation she was in. Like she’s been written and everything else built in later around her.

Further, it makes the worldbuilding feel pretty flimsy. You’re telling me that this king has given Lore an option, life and spying for him or death, and she responds to him by chatting away as though he’s any other bloke? She might as well just turn and walk out of the door because I can’t believe the king has any sort of authority in this situation. It’s tissue-paper-flimsy worldbuilding, just in general, but it also feels very childish. Like oooh there’s this death magic it’s called Mortem. Like wow. This death magic is also never really explained within the world (something about a god dying and this is like? Flakes of god skin? I have probably butchered the attempted explanation spectacularly here. Just goes to show how clear it is). And yet, Lore, ultra-special most powerful (but untrained!) practitioner of this magic, knows a lot more about it than people who’ve actually been trained in it. Because she’s just so special!

The twist, when it comes, is so entirely predictable too. You spend so long telling a character not to trust someone and, lo and behold, they’ve been against you all along — truly, what a shock! The author attempted to disguise it by having something of a mini-twist beforehand, but it didn’t work. Really, it felt more like a twist to position putative love interest #1 on opposing sides to our protagonist and putative love interest #2 for the next book, to have them all hate each other (and yet yearn for one another… Yawn!).

Speaking of our putative love interests, they’re hardly more fleshed out than our main character, Mary Sue. It’s like the author thought, okay, we’ll have the flirty prince and the stoic priest, that’ll create a nice archetypal love triangle. But it never makes it beyond the archetypes. Of course the flirty prince has depth beyond his apparent bimboness. Of course the stoic priest questions his faith. These facts are supposed to bring further realism to the characters and yet, somehow, they feel just as shallow as they ever did.

Part of this, I’m sure, comes down to the writing. This is a book for primarily YA-reading fans. The fans of adult books with “YA crossover appeal”. Frankly though, I’m starting to see this as a not particularly generous description of a book. At the very least, I think it’s a descriptor that should be an instant red flag for me. Of course YA fantasies can have depth (and, clearly, adult ones can lack it), but in general they have less than adult fantasies, and the depth, in part, is what I come to adult fantasy for. On top of this, the writing style feels like it wants to be full of yearning and romance but it fails. It’s trying too hard because it can’t fight against the blandness of all the rest of it. Actually, it might even be the cause of the blandness. To me, Hannah Whitten is just not a very good writer.

All of this, as I said at the start, should have been blindingly obvious to me from the blurb alone. But it seems I am possessed, for once, of eternal optimism: it could prove to be better! Except, in this case, it could never do so.