Kira Dennis's Reviews > Flowerheart

*Thank you to Netgalley and Harpercollins Children’s Books for providing me with an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review*

2.5-3/5 stars

This book was very much just okay. It had a cute premise, but it lacked real stakes and a satisfying conclusion. The prose and dialogue were nothing to write home about, and the world building is fairly nonexistent, though for such a small scale story, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It was just… okay.

We’re introduced to Clara Lucas, a young witch who is struggling to control her untamable, dangerous magic. She’s had several teachers in the past who’ve tried to help her, but none have succeeded. So now a council of witches and wizards (who may or may not be the only thing that passes for government and/or law enforcement in this world, we don’t really know) has decided to either painfully suppress her magic with a spell, or take it away altogether.

Enter the love interest and Clara’s former childhood friend, Xavier Morwyn, who is supposed to be cold and distant… except this boy is overflowing with emotion. Every time Clara describes him as stern and unfeeling, I was like, who? Who are you talking about, Clara?? There’s no one like that here?! He’s very obviously trying to hide the chronic pain he’s in, but he’s definitely not a stone pillar. Or Mr. Darcy.

Their relationship, like every other problem in this book, felt like it was resolved too easily for me. The only source of real tension going on was what exactly Xavier was hiding, and then once that was revealed, it left me going… okay?

(view spoiler)[The boy was trying to find a cure for depression (which is illegal in this world, the cure that is, not depression, though that might as well be too for all the almighty council of magicians is willing to do about it) and his first human trials went horribly wrong. Someone, one of his patients maybe, replicated the potion and started distributing it everywhere, and now people all over the place are taking this experimental drug to cure their depression, and it’s backfiring. Since the council got wind of this, Xavier, under a painful magical suppression spell bestowed by the council, has been working night and day to find a cure.

It’s not until after he tries combining his magic with Clara’s, and then gets both that and his own magic taken away (permanently, btw, which was the thing Clara was afraid of happening to her this whole time), that Clara decides, ‘hey you know what? It’s actually pretty not okay that the council doesn’t want to help people with depression. I should help Xavier with his cure instead of yelling at him about breaking the law.’ And she adds her ‘confidence’ to the cure he already invented, and only then does it work, for girl power reasons. And then she practically tells a member of the council to her face that she’s going to start curing depression, and the council lady is like, ‘oh that thing we just took away this wizard’s magic for, permanently? The reason I’ve been telling you he’s dangerous and untrustworthy this entire book? Yeah okay, I’ll help you break the law.’

And yeah, Clara basically takes credit for all of Xavier’s work. Not willingly, of course, because she very graciously tells anyone who bothers to listen that Xavier was the one who came up with the cure, but really? He loses his magic forever, his seat on the council, and even his home after his father kicks him out for standing up for Clara. She gets to be a witch recognized by the very council that is dictating who can and can’t have magic and who can and can’t be cured, she gets to start her own potion shop (with Xavier as her employee/assistant, bleh), and she apparently gets to go behind the council’s back to make cures for depression (which, again, are illegal) with the express knowledge and permission of one of the council members themselves. Tell me how any of that is fair?? (hide spoiler)]

Anyway, if you’re looking for a quick and easy, good-vibes-only read, this might be for you so long as you don’t start questioning the frustrating double-standards or the subplots that never went anywhere: Clara’s mother’s criminal gang. The council made up of magic fascists. Y’know, stuff that’s totally not relevant at all. I went into this thinking it was a standalone, but now I wonder if there is going to a sequel, considering the things that were left to wallow.