Bring Me Their Hearts by Sara Wolf

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Title: Bring Me Their Hearts
Author: Sara Wolf
Series: Bring Me Their Hearts #1
Published by: Entangled: Teen
Release Date: June 5, 2018
Format: Kindle Book, eARC
Pages: 338
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Source: NetGalley
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge, Lenoreo's 2020 Fraterfest Readathon, Lenoreo's 2020 Netgalley and Edelweiss Challenge, Lenoreo's COYER Quarantine Edition
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

Zera is a Heartless – the immortal, unageing soldier of a witch. Bound to the witch Nightsinger ever since she saved her from the bandits who murdered her family, Zera longs for freedom from the woods they hide in. With her heart in a jar under Nightsinger’s control, she serves the witch unquestioningly.

Until Nightsinger asks Zera for a Prince’s heart in exchange for her own, with one addendum; if she’s discovered infiltrating the court, Nightsinger will destroy her heart rather than see her tortured by the witch-hating nobles.

Crown Prince Lucien d’Malvane hates the royal court as much as it loves him – every tutor too afraid to correct him and every girl jockeying for a place at his darkly handsome side. No one can challenge him – until the arrival of Lady Zera. She’s inelegant, smart-mouthed, carefree, and out for his blood. The Prince’s honor has him quickly aiming for her throat.

So begins a game of cat and mouse between a girl with nothing to lose and a boy who has it all.

Winner takes the loser’s heart.

Literally.

My Review:

4.5 stars — You know what?  That was totally lived up to my high expectations for a fantasy book from Ms. Wolf.  I was honestly worried it wouldn’t, which is why I kept avoiding reading it.  But nope, it was chock full of the same fantastic snarkiness that I’ve come to expect…mixed with a fascinating and horrifying world.

Honestly, the concept of Heartless is just freaking crazy!!  I mean, who thinks up this stuff?  Oh yeah, authors.  But seriously, it was a fascinating world.  I kind of loved how it was a blend of made up things mixed with real things.  Like they’d be talking about rose bushes as well as some made up plant that doesn’t exist (I know cause I’m a googler).  So it was just close enough to my reality that I could draw parallels.  And it wasn’t just the world, it was also the state of the kingdom, and the use of fear to control populations…it all struck just a little too close to home at times, you know?  It was kind of masterful.  I mean, I’m sure some snob is probably calling it heavy handed, but it worked for this reader.

Zera was both so easy and so hard to love.  She was so wrapped up in who she was, and what she’d done, and what she had to do.  She was like a big ball of conflict, and it pervaded her entire journey.  It was hard to read about, because my heart ached for her.  I wanted her to make one decision, but she really could only see so many options in front of her.  But I got it, I really did.  I got it based on how her life had been the last 3 years, and the demands of the hunger, and just…all of it.  But my heart broke for her, especially near the end.

It was fascinating to watch her waffle between resolute in her quest, to feeling bits of her humanity come back.  I loved the way her relationships with other characters played into that as well.  Obviously her developing relationship with Lucien was a component, but in some ways I don’t even think it was the most important one.  But I am champing at the bit to move on to book 2 to find out where things are going to go after that ending.

The relationship that had the most impact in my opinion was with Lady Y’shennria.  I LOVED the way that developed, and how far it had to go.  I feel like you got to see most of Zera’s heart with her longing for a relationship with her.  And it wasn’t just Lady Y’shennria, it was Reginall as well.  It was…just something I wasn’t expecting.

Obviously I also enjoyed the friendships she sort of developed with Fione and Malachite.  They both brought something unique to the story, though it was Malachite I was most in love with as a friend.

So yeah.  Loved it.  I can see it not being for everyone, but I just seriously LOVE the snark that permeates everything that is Zera.  It’s what I was expecting and hoping for, and I wasn’t disappointed.