ARC REVIEW: Assassin's Heart by Sarah Ahiers
Author: Sarah Ahiers
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publishing: February 2nd, 2016
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | TBD
Rating:
Goodreads blurb:
In the kingdom of Lovero, nine rival Families of assassins lawfully kill people for a price. As a highly skilled member of one of these powerful clans, seventeen-year-old Lea Saldana has always trusted in the strength of her Family. Until she awakens to find them murdered and her home in flames. The Da Vias, the Saldanas’ biggest enemy, must be responsible—and Lea should have seen it coming. But her secret relationship with the Da Vias’ son, Val, has clouded her otherwise killer instinct—and given the Da Vias more reason than ever to take her Family down.
Racked with guilt and shattered over Val’s probable betrayal, Lea sets out to even the score, with her heart set on retaliation and only one thought clear in her mind: make the Da Vias pay.
With shades of The Godfather and Romeo and Juliet, this richly imagined fantasy from debut author Sarah Ahiers is a story of love, lies, and the ultimate vengeance.
The story revolves around Lea Saldana and her revenge for the murder of her family. In Lovero, Family is always above family. There are assassins families in this city and they all kill for money. I loved the idea of this story. Plus a pretty badass and strong female lead made it so much better for me. You want to be liked by Lea Saldana and you don't want to be her enemy. If you were living in Lovero, you would definitely don't want to be in her black list. The Da Vias family is in that list. And Lea wants only her revenge above all.
She takes this amazing journey throughout the cities in the search to get help from her missing uncle and take that revenge in the name of her family. She encounters new enemies, old enemies, new friends and old ones. This book has love, secrets, passion, blood and many, many amazing assassins.
Ahiers's writing is easy to get into. It has a sort of soft but yet passionate feel to it. You can feel the anger Lea holds. Her grieve. You can see her mind working and setting up goals to get what she wants. When something gets in her head, she never backs out. I cried with her, for her - I smiled and laughed whenever she felt everything was starting to become better. Lea Saldana is such a great character and I wish more from this story and her.
I was born on a February afternoon 2 minutes before my twin sister. Angels wept or something, I suppose.After a happy childhood filled with fun and family, I obtained a BA in English with an emphasis in fiction writing from the University of Minnesota, during which I was a bookseller. I also spent a semester as the fiction editor of The Wayfarer, the literary magazine for the U of MN.
I am currently enrolled in Hamline University's MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults and am repped by Mollie Glick of Foundry Literary + Media
I live in a suburb of St Paul, MN in a house I own with my twin sister. We share the house with our brother, 3 dogs, 4 guinea pigs, 2 cockatiels, fish and occasional foster animals from the shelter.
Besides writing and reading, I enjoy dogs, animals, my family, board games, yard games, video games, cooking, gardening and dressing up for the MN Renaissance Festival.
3 comments
Ooh, great review! I totally agree about Sarah's writing; it was so easy to get lost into and the words really flowed. I really enjoyed this title, and I'm glad you liked it too!
ReplyDelete-Alice @ Arctic Books
I've heard great things about Ahiers's writing, but I probably won't be picking this one up due to the world-building and characters. (I've read complaints for both that make it feel like I wouldn't enjoy this one that much.) But I'm so so glad you guys enjoyed it though!!
ReplyDelete- Aila @ One Way Or An Author
YEEEEEES SIL! I loved the world so much too and it was so vivid. I actually didn't feel like Lea was that bad-a? I mean, sure, she comes from an assassin family and there are some parts where she's super amazing in what she does, but she made so. many. rookie. mistakes. I was shaking my heada lot at some of the things she did. THOUGH! I must say that it was refreshing to read about an assassin who screws up a lot and doesn't know it all, because it made her more human. Totally agreed that the writing was good and I can't wait to see what the companion brings :) Great review, Silvana!
ReplyDeleteSiiri @ Little Pieces of Imagination