"Follow three princesses and the destiny they were born for: seduction, conquest, and the crown. Promised for marriage, now destined to die."

When I first starting this series, I dont have any expectations. But now at the conclusion of Castle in Their Bones trilogy, I felt such melodramatic moment that I will lost one of my favorite characters from this amazing series.

Let's we remind why I love this series so much, shall we? This trilogy gave me more than what I expected from the synopsis. The plot suprisingly wild with twist and unpredictable turn, every event gave me real high stakes we can lost everyone we love at here. I am not a fans of multiple POV1 but at here we will following story from each princess (triplet) face different challenges and adventure with their skill, brain powers and magic skill at their goal kingdom and husband wannabe. It make us get three different stories from 1 book!

And the sisters! Reading them felt like I am really close to them, know their dream, their prophecy, their heartbreak and bond between sisterhood. And off course I love author's story telling style. Her narrative make some confusing details such as stars and constellation prophecy become easier to follow.
And the third book wont offer rainbow and sprinkles but the ending of the princess quest will worth our reading time.

Thank you Netgalley and Hodderscape from Hodder and Stoughton for providing copy of this ebook. I have voluntarily read and reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Expecting release date : 18 June 2024

This was the perfect ending to an incredible trilogy it picks up from where it ended in book two was just great I loved it I don’t want to give to much away with regards to the story but this was just the cherry on top of the cake finish Laura’s incredible story I absolutely loved this whole trilogy will have my heart!

An enjoyable fantasy romp. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I'd previously read the first two books in this trilogy - there was a LOT of backstory to catch up and there were a LOT of characters to get to know!

Not what I would call literary, but very acceptable as a casual read. It did however suffer from a few errors by the editors (e.g. words with no spaces, that sort of thing - nothing major but just slightly careless), I give it 3 starts out of 5.

This was a very solid ending to this great trilogy! I definitely enjoyed it, but there were moments when the story was quite slow for me, and it took me a little bit of extra concentration to keep going. All in all a great read though!

Sorry for the late review! I was dealing with some health issues the last few months and I'm just catching up on my reviews!
I thought this was the perfect conclusion to an amazing and unique fantasy trilogy! Laura is such a great storyteller and I loved this whole series! It picks up right after the second book ends. I don't wanna spoil anything, but it was very well written and had my attention from the start! I can't wait to read more from Laura in the future!

POISON IN THEIR HEARTS is an action-packed finale that sees Daphne, Beatriz, and Violie square up against the Empress in a bid to defeat her, free the countries, and survive.

The Empress is determined to finish her plan, and the girls are determined to stop her. This book wraps up all the schemes and complicated loyalties with aplomb as friends and enemies try to use one another for power. A few people are very surprising in how selfless and self-aware their decisions, when pushed to the wire, are.

There is a lot of magic in this book as Beatriz explores what she can do as well as the cost it comes with. The final battle use was very fun (and now I have questions about how the galaxy is set up in this world!) plus I really liked how the magic let pieces of Sophronia remain in the story, given she is so central to it still.

I really liked that it didn't come down to an armies-against-armies final battle. It was the girls and their allies against their mother in a personal fight (that gets very vicious - I loved how the Empress decided to fulfil the prophecy about her daughters' deaths as it is gory and underscores her ruthlessness!)

I have very much enjoyed this series over the past few years, a great fantasy with schemes and betrayals and three princesses raised to destroy countries - but whose loyalty to those they love is just as dangerous as their skills. It's a great series I recommend to all fantasy lovers!

Laura Sebastian is such a wickedly gifted storyteller, weaving characters so complex you're not totally sure who you're rooting for. This series has been an absolute favourite and I'm so gutted it's over!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

I have loved this series from the first book, which I picked up on a whim and fell in love with.
Poison in their hearts picked right up where the story left off in Stardust in their veins.
I really enjoy this world and the magic system. Drawing power from stars.
The characters are engaging and the plot developed so much in this book.

This book is a lovely conclusion to a lovely young adult fantasy series.

A truly enchanting and epic finale to a series that my students have truly adored in every way - highly recommended.

Anyone who likes their YA on the darker side, love some good political scheming, and a magic system that grows with each book, I can’t recommend this enough, and I can’t wait to see what

Poison in Their Hearts is the third and final book of the trilogy. It’s a series I have loved since the first book, and I have both anticipated and feared reading this book. Like in the previous books there’s lush world building, an intricate magic system connected to stars and prophecies. Not to mention it’s filled to the brim with relationships of all different kinds.

There’s also a really big cast of characters, and with the plots very intertwining with each other, much more than earlier books, it ended up becoming hard to keep track of everyone. Especially since half the characters are introduced and then do a triple bluff. Which isn’t a bad thing in itself, if you have a political court intrigue then there’s going to be plotting involved. But the problem here is that there are so many characters and so much back and forth that it’s hard to get a grip on them as characters.

The last big show-down went down with more of a fizzle than a bang, which was a bit of a disappointment. But the very last few chapters were really emotional and sweet, and made the book still feel like a nice send-off to this world and characters.

The thrilling conclusion to Castles In Their Bones.

I have loved this series from the start. Sophronia was my favourite sister with Beatriz following at a close second. I admit I didn't like Daphne but with the second book I started to love her. Daphne had the biggest growth of all three sisters and her bravery really shone through with this book.

I was rooting for Violie and Leopold too — it was so obvious how they felt about each other and I kept thinking to myself just tell each other how you feel!

I'm a little sad that the story has concluded but all good things have to come to an end. Sophronia, Beatriz and Daphne, I love you all the way to the stars ✨️

There's so many series where I could say they would likely be better as a duology, but this series truly needed to be a duology. For most of Stardust and Poison, the story moves forward at a snail like pace, and this was hampered by the page count of both books totalling over 500 pages each. I started Poison thinking that we would finally see some action, but it actually felt slower than Stardust.

I don't think I've ever read a book where so little happens. Violie and Beatriz make moves towards Bessemia, and Daphne waits there in her mother's castle for the final showdown. When this finally arrived in the very last chapters, it was over so quickly if you had blinked you'd have missed it. After this, the story was quickly wrapped up and done.

I was so disappointed by the lack of character growth, and I wanted more of Daphne and Beatriz spending time with each other. They've been apart for three books, losing their sister, and I barely registered when they finally met again. The romance, story and background characters all felt lacking, and I left feeling like I wasn't rewarded for the time spent reading this series.

The time for hiding and sneaking is done. It’s time to show Empress Margaraux exactly who she raised her daughters to be.
“And make her regret it.”

At this conclusion of Castles in Their Bones trilogy, it is time to revenge on the one poisoning our girls' hearts.

"None of us are the worst decisions we’ve made."

This is a very unique and I think gravely underestimated trilogy, with many betrayals and lies, twists and turns, a fantastic storyline, great characters building and I love the magic in this world!

Here it is, look at the three covers, Beatriz, Daphne, Sophronia, three daughters of Empress Margaraux who were born and raised to help their mother conquer all of Vesteria.

I very much enjoyed adventuring with the three, getting to know them, seeing them grow and change, when I reopened again their story they were like old friends, knowing the sisters I never had and wondering this is how it would be a sisterhood relationship...

Although, technically I did not physically open anything as it was a digital book, thank you so much Hodder & Stoughton via NetGalley for ARC. I received the first two books of this series in 2022 and here the last, I am truly grateful.

The publication date is 18 Jun 2024, so I highly recommend starting the whole series now!

I have loved this series from book one. Through the trauma and danger, heartbreak and happiness and all the wondrous twists the author has thrown at us. With a series like this, one that has been building and building to it's inevitable climax, there's always that little worry that it wont hit the way you want it to, but Sebastian blew this one out of the park, and I thought it was the perfect ending to the sister's story.

Pretty much every character in this book endears themselves to the readers in some way and, despite how many there are, we never loose focus or get confused, even those who don't get a POV have their own voice and presence within the story. But the stars of the story are without a doubt our three POV's Daphne, Beatriz and Violie. I have loved following these characters on their journey of self discovery, even with Sophronia in book one. Sebastian makes them all wondrously complicated, and she does call them out for their double standards in this book, which I loved. But I think all of their more morally grey traits just make them seem more human, more relatable and realistic. They may have started this journey to save their own necks, but it quickly became about so much more than that. Something that they would actually risk themselves, their lives for. Daphne, for me, was definitely the more complicated of the characters, and the one I had the hardest time empathising with at first, but she really shines in this book and shows who she can be out of the shadow of her mother.

The magic system has always been something I've found interesting, and we get an even deeper dive into it with this book. The magic comes from stars and stardust, stardust being able to deal with smaller wishes, but those called Empyrea have the ability to call down the stars themselves, which is how our Princesses' came to be in the first place. I wont go into too much detail about what we learn in this book because it would give away some pretty big plot points, but it's safe to say that Sebastian knows how to foreshadow, and I adored how the magic almost went full circle from the start of the sisters story to the end. Sebastian really knows how to use her magic, not only to create wonder and intrigue, but also add depth and some pretty big emotional reveals, and I really loved how she ended up weaving the magic into our MC's lives.

Relationship wise, this book is filled to the brim with all sorts. We have tension filled and heartbreaking romance, tenuous alliances, familial relationships and friendships born out of trauma and self respect. I really love how Sebastian wove all of these together, making our bunch of misfit characters somehow work together when they just shouldn't. But the stars of this book were Violie and Leopold. We get hints of their romance in the second book, but it's only in this one that they start admitting to themselves how they feel. I loved them together, but I also enjoyed how Sebastian dealt with the death of Sophronia that was hanging over their heads. I also just want to shout out to my faves Daphne and Bairre who I have adored since book one and just lived for any scene they had together.

I mentioned it above, but Sebastian really does know how to foreshadow with her books. There were so many plot points from the first two that popped up again here and ended up being vitally important to the story. From the get go, this series has been filled with twists and turns and, even though I didn't think anything could beat the twist at the end of book one, Sebastian still managed to shock me with this one. The twist towards the end broke me, in the best way, and I pretty much sobbed (both sad and happy tears) my way through the last part of this book. It's political and scheme-y at it's best, but there's also a few action scenes for those who prefer their fights at sword point.

I love this series so much and have been invested in these characters since book one, so I was happy with how Sebastian decided to write their endings. It's happy, but also bittersweet, they may get their ending, but they also suffered plenty of loss and betrayal along the way. Anyone who likes their YA on the darker side, love some good political scheming, and a magic system that grows with each book, I can't recommend this enough, and I can't wait to see what Sebastian writes next.

Poison in their Hearts
Castles in their Bones #3
Fantasy
Laura Sebastian
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

• ʙᴇᴛʀᴀʏᴀʟ • ᴘᴏʟɪᴛɪᴄꜱ • ᴍᴀɢɪᴄ •

It took me a little while to remember what had happened in the previous book. I liked the family trees at the beginning, they helped me quite a bit.

I've always loved the world building in this series, as well as the magic, the prophecies and the action.

The political scheming and the twists were woven together beautifully. The pacing was more of a slow burn and I wished it was a little faster at times.

Sometimes I did find it a little tricky to keep track of all of the characters, where they were and what their plans and schemes were.

The characters were so well developed and I loved seeing Beatriz and Daphne finally start to become their own people, rather than what their mother, the Empress, tried to mold them into.

I did prefer the POVs from Beatriz and Daphne, though. Violie was interesting and she had an important role to play but I found myself skimming paragraphs when reading her POV.

I really liked the brief appearance of Sophronia. It was nice to read her character again and I'm glad that she found peace.

The ending was sweet and emotional. I'm glad that the Empress got what she deserved, although I wish it was more public and more painful 😂.

This is the final book in this series and I am sad to see it end. Laura Sebastian has a beautiful writing style and I hope she releases some more books soon 😂.

*Thank you to @Netgalley, the author, and the publishers for providing this ARC. This is my own opinion and an honest review, which I am leaving voluntarily*