This book sounded really good so I was excited to read it. Unfortunately I didn't end up enjoying it. I was really bored and didn't care for any of the characters and just felt everything happened so easily and conveniently that there was no build up or tension.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this new fantasy book by Hannah Whitten. The world building in this book is well thought out and detailed enough to immerse you in the story. I really enjoyed the morally grey characters in this book and how I felt myself empathising with their decisions and character traits. They are an interesting and unique set of characters and I look forward to seeing them develop even further in future books. There were plenty of twists and turns in the book and a brilliant sense of suspense building throughout the story.
I can’t wait to read further instalments in this series!

The Foxglove King is an enchanting, dark, and thrilling beginning of a new series by Hannah Whitten.
The story gives me the vibes of Belladonna, Six of Crows, and The Cruel Prince. The storytelling is simply beautiful and the graphic side of the book is phenomenal - the map, the font, and the cover are very nice and correspond with the atmosphere of the whole story. The main characters are morally grey, they have their fears and needs which sometimes collide with the interests of others, everyone here wants to be the main character, which is refreshing. The story is full of plot twists, some of them were expectable, and some of them come like lightning from a clear sky. We can see a lot of character development, and how everyone mentally grows. My only bigger objection is that interesting characters don't need to look perfect. Not every man has to be insanely beautiful and perfect. I do not count the eye patch, because it is badass and pirate-like, let's be honest. Bastian is sometimes too much handsome.
Let's sum this up. The Foxglove King is a promising start to a new series, dark, sarcastic, sometimes funny, and surprisingly there isn't much of foxglove (which I didn't know what it is, but now I know). In my opinion, this book is a good pick for lovers of dark romances with an interesting magic system (but I am looking forward to more world-building in the sequel). At this moment I would tell the story is completely fine for young adult readers because we do not get any explicit spicy or truly brutal scenes. I have a soft place in my heart for a one-eyed monk and I can't wait for the moment when will readers divide into teams, because I think this will be the hardest pick from the times of The Twilight. I am really curious about how will this continue. I need answers, I need a sequel.
Thank you NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK, Orbit because this book was sometimes torturing and I really enjoyed that.

I absolutely adored this book, a mix of dark magic, fantasy, conspiracy, cults, kings and monks all woven together to create not only a brilliant world but also an addictive story.

Death is something that Lore knows about, she is able to work the essence of death. She was born in the dark catacombs and doesn't remember too much. As she gets older she is taken up into the world above where she becomes a spy, a runner of poisons. In this fantasy world poison is something to help prolong life.

When Lore is caught she is taken to the citadel where she is asked to spy on a traitor. Who is the traitor, well that becomes more confusing as there are differing opinions, theories, religious interpretations and also the quest for power. With the eclipse coming up time starts to become more important as answers need to be found. When everyone is hiding something it is difficult to know who to trust.

This is such a wonderful first book in The Nightshade series by this author, who is new to me. A world where death and life are in the balance just as much as truth and conspiracy. The differences between life outside the citadel and that inside are something that doesn't sit well with some, and I do like the way the author touched upon the differences and how expendable people actually are. Having theories and differences is something that I really enjoy within a story as it pits characters against each other and creates such a mysterious element for the reader.

The way the author has described her characters, the realm, the religion and the way of life is wonderful. The imagery was great so I was able to visualise certain things as I read. There are some major characters and while I am not going into too much detail about them, they all have a reason for being there.

There is a sense of action and adventure in this story and I like this search for the truth as well as people being slightly less honest. It helps to build intrigue and suspicion in a setting that works well with the storyline and the characters.

I really enjoyed this book and I am definitely looking forward to following this series. An addictive fantasy story that I would definitely recommend.

I am so intrigued by this world that Hannah Whitten has created. The Foxglove King is a world of poison, scheming nobles, brooding princes, dark powers, and heart-breaking choices. Lore’s story has so many secrets, so much betrayal and darkness weaved into it that I couldn’t stop reading.
I was desperate to know the answers to her murky past and her ever complicating and grim looking future.

This book is the first of a series and sup a world that I can’t wait to learn more about. Forbidden romance and the hints of a love triangle begin to emerge throughout the book. I haven’t read a love triangle trope for a long time and wasn’t too sure about it, but actually its quite refreshing and different to the ‘Morally grey fae’ romance (a trope I’m still die hard for for by the way, but a refreshing change non-the-less).

This is a four star read for me and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a world full of intrigue, dark magic and corruption where you really don’t know who you can trust.

The Foxglove King is a really strong first book in a trilogy and was such a fun read.

I absolutely loved Hannah Whitten’s Wilderwood Duology and, although The Foxglove King didn’t hold quite the same magic for me, I still really enjoyed it.

The Foxglove King is really fast-paced and you’re thrown right into the action. Lore is a great POV character and I really enjoyed her voice. She had a really good balance of humor and sass and relayed information well. At times, I did find the world-building a little info-dumpy but I think that was down to the sheer amount of info there was. The religion, courts, magic, etc. are really intricate and well done.

I liked Gabe and Bastian a lot, but I do think this book missed having their POVs. I don’t feel like I connected with either of them as much as I would have liked, and I think having the three POVs would have elevated the reading experience a lot.

Plot-wise, I did enjoy The Foxglove King, but my main issue came with the familiarity: this book was incredibly similar to other books I’ve read. Not necessarily in the setting, but in the characters and plot beats. That’s not always a bad thing but, in this case, it made the story very predictable for me and took away from my enjoyment a little. Nothing happened that I wasn’t expecting, and the characters all acted exactly as I thought they would within the first 25%.

I absolutely love Hannah Whitten’s writing and I’m excited to see where the rest of the trilogy goes. I would absolutely recommend picking The Foxglove King up, even if you didn’t enjoy For the Wolf—they’re so different.

Content warnings, as noted on the author’s website: Death of a child (off-page, though we see the aftermath and lots of time is spent with the body,) Parental abuse (emotional, physical,) Sexual content, Adult language, Religious abuse, Animal death, Some scenes that may be triggering to those with emetophobia, Gore/violence (fairly severe,) Talk of child neglect and terminal illness.

Thank you to Orbit for the review copy. All reviews are 100% honest.

This book. I have discovered that a recent development is that I cannot read my netgalley on my phone: I haven't got tablet or the like so it means I can't keep going with this-I can't get the text big enough to not mess with my terrible eyesight. However, what I have read of this book? My goodness I am intrigued and invested and I will be right down the book shop to buy a copy as soon as it's out in the UK! Alluring and captivating for sure.

💀The Foxglove King💀

By Hannah Whitten @hwhittenwrites

Description:

Lore has been living by her wits since she was a child, running poisons for the cartel that took her in, avoiding the attention of the law, and keeping her illicit affinity for death magic a secret.

When a job goes wrong and Lore is captured by the Sainted King's warrior-monks, she expects death. But King August has a different plan. Entire villages on the outskirts of the country have been dying overnight, seemingly at random. Lore can either use her magic to find out what's happening - or face the pyre.

Thrust into a lavish court where no one can be believed and even fewer can be trusted, Lore must navigate an intricate web of politics, religion, and forbidden romance and solve the King's mystery. A mystery more dangerous and twisted than Lore can even imagine.

💀💀💀💀💀

February has clearly been all about the necromancy. From The Locked Tomb series I moved straight onto The Foxglove King!

Set in a word where the Gods were a physical presence but have long since departed, the political jostling between Crown and Church is reaching a crisis point. Main character Lore finds herself thrust into this delicate balance, with both sides hoping to use her powers to further their cause.

I really enjoyed this fast paced story. The relationship between the main character and the two main male characters is tense and intriguing and it was one of my favourite things about this book.

There are lots of twists and turns and secrets and betrayals, all the hallmarks of a very fun read.

I am really looking forward to the next book!

Thanks to @netgalley and @orbitbooks_uk for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Foxglove King will be released on the 7th of March.

I was super excited to receive a copy of The Foxglove King to review, it was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and it did not disappoint!

The foxglove king follows Lore, a poison runner with a secret talent for forbidden death magic, at least, she thought it was secret until the King is made aware, and plans to use Lore for his own purpose, Lore must use her magic to solve the mystery surrounding the deaths of the people in the kingdom as well as figure out who can and cannot be trusted.

The writing is beautiful, full of detail with enough information to allow the reader to really picture the scene and understand whats happening, the development of the relationships between characters is well written and feels natural allowing readers to really understand the thoughts and feelings that drive Lore. The mystery aspect of the story keeps the reader guessing and results in a book you just cant put down, I had more than 1 'just 1 more chapter' moments while reading this book, throw in a touch of forbidden romance and i'm sure this book will be a 1 sitting read for lots of readers. The story is filled with plenty of court intrigue similar to other fantasy books but The foxglove king doesn't feel at all like just another fantasy book, the combination of the magic, the plot and the world building makes this story feel like no other, the FMC Lore is likable and interesting, a person that knows her own mind and i cant wait to see where it takes her.

There is a lot of different aspects for readers to learn as part of the story, such as the magic system, the positions in court, the religious orders, however, at no point is the reader made to feel overwhelmed with information, the story gently guides the reader through the world learning along with Lore. There is on occasion the feeling that the story is prioritizing detailed description and information giving over progressing the story which may lead to some readers feeling un-immersed, however this doesn't happy often and can easily be overlooked.

Thank you to Netgalley, Orbit and Little Brown Books for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this ARC, i cant wait for the next one.

Wow. I really loved The Foxglove King.

I haven’t read any of Hannah Whitten’s previous work so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but this had me enraptured from the start. The necromancy magic was something wholly different to anything I’ve read before, and it really didn’t shy away from the visceral nature that accompanies raising entities from the dead.

I usually do anything I can to avoid love triangles all together, but I surprisingly didn’t mind this one (though I definitely have a preference.) This wasn’t just your stereotypical naive girl with two boys fighting over her; there were layers to it and Gabe and Bastian had their own relationship and issues to work on that didn’t involve Lore. Speaking of, Lore herself was independent and confident, and she openly acknowledges the complicated feelings between the three of them. All three main characters were well fleshed out, with varying motivations and personalities.

I really enjoy political storylines paired with court intrigue in books, and the plot of The Foxglove King definitely delivered. There are some slower scenes in which seemingly nothing happens, but I personally didn’t mind as we got to get to know the characters a little bit more. The final 20% of the book was plot twist after plot twist, reveal after reveal, and I had to somehow keep quiet reading it at 2am next to my sleeping boyfriend. I NEED Book 2 in my hands, and Book 1 isn’t even out yet.

An easy 5 stars. Thank you to Little, Brown Book Group UK, Orbit, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC. All opinions are my own.

"The Foxglove King" has a completely different feel to the "Wilderwood" series. I wasn't sure I was going to like it at first, but with each page I became more and more invested in the story and the characters (all delivered brilliantly). It's a great read and I'm hoping it won't be too long before book 2 is available. Adult fans of YA will adore this book.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

I have to say I think this was the first Hannah Whitten book I just couldn’t get into of find myself enjoy. I was skimming, getting confused and paging back, and just couldn’t connect with the FMC at all. This whole love triangle thing also annoyed the heck out of me, with both the interests only reason for basically liking them being something between the lines of ‘I just feel like I knew him before’
With both Gabriel and Bastian. Blegh. It felt so superficial.

I can however say the world building was done beautifully, and the magic system really unique. The whole Mortem concept, a power to raise the dead which is regulated and thoroughly controlled was interesting enough. So when Lore practiced it without authorization and is caught , she now has to work for the church and the crown as a spy of sorts to figure out what caused some mysterious deaths which might be linked to suspected magic use.

Cool plot, uninteresting writing style.
And I hated the cliffhanger. WHY. Basically feels like a set up to the stage of book two. Could really have been a standalone.

I really wanted to love this, because I loved For The Wolf series, so maybe this will get better as the series continues? Fingers crossed.

I really enjoyed this story, with great world-building especially the catacombs. This characters were intriguing especially Lore with her background.
There is a low romance love triangle, lots of magic and religious clergymen.
I Definitely will be looking out for the sequel when it is written.

My thanks for NetGalley for the chance to read and review this book.

The Foxglove King is the first in Hannah Whitten's new fantasy duology. I've not read this author before but I found the plot intriguing and thought I'd give it a go. The writing was good and the plot developed at a steady pace, the book sets the scene for the next book.

I loved Hannah Whitten's For the Wolf series, so I was highly anticipating reading The Foxglove King. And I was not disappointed. The characters were great, likeable and were fleshed out enough to feel like real people.
The world building was well written, and the magic system was new to me and intrigues me a lot. I can't wait for the next book in this series! So happy I get to have a nice edition of this book to come!

The foxglove king is a dark, gothic, lore inspired story perfect for fans of Leigh Bardougo and V.E. Schwab. This book was enchanting and the magic system was intricate, unique and beautifully executed. However the book was a bit slow to pick up and felt a bit confusing and dragged out in some parts though towards the end it does keep you on your toes trying to figure all the plot twist and clues given scattered throughout the book and I'm eager to see where the author takes this story as I do have a list of theories.

Rating 3.5/ 5 stars

The Foxglove King is the first book in The Nightshade Crown series and the first book I’ve read by Hannah Whitten. The concept of the book is quite unique - a dark magic system, court intrigue, and the main character going from rags to riches - definitely not like anything I’ve read before. Unfortunately, none of these aspects felt fully developed and to me the writing was rather simplistic at times with some cliché tropes that made it hard to stay interested.

I started to struggle when no consideration was given to the main character’s clothing, manner, accent or anything really after she was taken off the streets and made to impersonate a noble, they didn’t even do her hair or ensure she knew how to dance. Yet no one noticed at all.

The world building was easy to follow and the plot moved at a good pace. Although there are hints of a love triangle I did not feel much chemistry between the characters and that aspect fell flat for me personally.

Although I wasn’t blown away by the first book, I’d be keen to find out where the story goes and I’m sure many will enjoy the book.

3.5

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown/Orbit for providing me an eARC to review!

This was a lot of fun! Whitten has combined the best parts of some popular books to make a story which entertains from beginning to end - the devilish prince of The Cruel Prince, the repressed religious man of Serpent & Dove, the plus-sized 'witch temptress' of Six of Crows, and the magic system predicated on near death of Vicious.

I found the plot quite predictable, and some of the characters were a bit slow on the uptake at times, but it was still an entertaining read. Sure a lot of this book is about an angsty love triangle and pretty dresses, but there's also some stunning religious imagery, discussions about privilege and the abuse of power, and some pretty neat magic weaving.

Not sure if I'd continue the series but I would recommend this to anyone looking for a fun read with plenty of scheming, magic, and repressed emotions xx

This story reminded me a lot of Serpent & Dove. In fact, there are so many similarities that after the first wuarter of the book I doubted that Hannah Whitten had ever read S&D, because to copy it this much would've been embarrassingly obvious.

Lore is similar to Lou, being just as flippant. She's also curvy, proud of her body and gladly uses it to make young men blush with her lewdness. But with Lou it was something new and fun, something different from all the slim "I don't even think I'm pretty, but all the guys seem to think so"-girls from so many YA novels. With Lore, it just seemed cheap. Her character felt really flat. She wasn't half as cheeky as she wanted to be and whereas Lou was trying desperately to survive in enemy territory, Lore felt perfectly happy in enemy territory and spent more time making googly eyes at the boys than doing her actual job.

Gabriel was Reed's perfect counterpart, also being part of the church, kind of awkward, but very sweet and chivalrous, with a close relationship to the head of church. She even calls him "Mort" like Lou calls Reed "Chass". But he was boring and his character was all over the place, behaving completely, well, out of character in comparison to other scenes.

It took quite some time for the plot to start picking up, but when it finally did, it was fine. I enjoyed the death magic and I did like Bastian as a character. There was a lot of mystery and detective work and it was quite exciting.

The romance, unfortunately, was boring. There's a love triangle that's not solved in a satisfactory way and the romance is both barely noticeable and feels very forced into the story at the same time.

The ending was... disappointing. I kept waiting for something great to happen and it just never did.

If you want to read S&D but a bit to the left, this book might be for you. If not, I'm probably not going to recommend this one to you.

Thank you NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, I think this may be the beginning of a new favourite fantasy series.

The world building in this book was flawless and the magic system is unlike anything I've ever read before. Fallen gods? The ability to channel life and death? Religion and cults? Politics and betrayal? I absolutely devoured each piece of this story. This book wasn't particularly long but managed to establish the world, as is always needed in the first book of a new series, without it feeling like an information overload. There's the perfect balance of being completely gripped by the current story and timeline, while also learning enough about the history of Dellaire and characters to avoid any confusion.

I love our main trio. Lore, Gabe and Bastian were all so wildly different but worked so well together as a cast. There's nothing I find funnier than the cocky, charming character and the brooding, quiet character being forced to work in close proximity; get's me every damn time. There was enough hint at romance to have me hooked and shipping characters HARD, but without it being the main plot point. I also think Bastian may be my knew obsession? If you see me posting about him constantly... mind your business.

It's safe to say I will be SPRINTING to the store to buy a hard copy of this book on release day, and will already be counting down to a book 2 announcement.

If you're already a fan of Hannah Whitten's writing then this latest installment won't disappoint. However even if For The Wolf never tickled your fancy, I highly recommend giving this new series a try as although her writing is still just as wonderful, the feel of this book is completely different and I think it will pleasantly surprise you.