Thank you to author and publisher for the arc!

I was so extremely excited to see I got accepted for this arc but I noticed very quickly that this book had some flaws.

Don’t get me wrong, it had really good parts. The world-building was amazing and it was super cozy, I just really missed some more depth to the story.

I was annoyed with some of the decisions made by the fmc and it was just quite annoying. I think if you’re looking for a simple cozy book with ghibli vibes I’d definitely recommend it.

The premise of this cozy fantasy is really intriguing. The main character, an ordinary village girl named Foss Butcher, has her heart unexpectedly snagged by a sorcerer named Sylvester. As a result, a peculiar bond forms between them—one that Foss is determined to break at all costs. There's also a talking sidekick cat named Cornelius and a magical house. What could possibly go wrong?

There were several aspects of this book I really enjoyed. First, the concept of the world, where magic comes from harvesting hearts, is both intriguing and creative. The stakes feel appropriately high, so the plot doesn’t revolve around trivial problems.

That being said, the execution fell short in some areas. First, the book feels too long for the amount of story it has to tell. Despite the characters being constantly busy, the pacing still feels slow, especially in the beginning and middle. Second, I had issues with the main characters. It’s not just that they embody typical cozy fantasy tropes, but the dynamic between them feels underdeveloped. It's clear the author was inspired by the relationship between Sophie and Howl from *Howl’s Moving Castle*, but that effect isn’t achieved when the heroine spends three-quarters of the story obsessing over her perceived unattractiveness. Unfortunately, we don’t see much character growth in Foss, and the story ends with the male lead simply deciding she’s beautiful after all. Sylvester had the potential to be a fantastic male lead, but we don’t get to know him well enough, which is a shame.

I also had issues with the romance plot. For most of the book, Foss’s feelings for Sylvester seem to stem solely from their magical bond. As a result, when "real" feelings finally emerge, they feel unsupported by the plot and even unjustified. I believe this is the book’s biggest flaw—if the pining between the two characters had been more palpable, I could have overlooked the other shortcomings. Ironically, the best-developed relationship in the book is the one between Foss and the cat.

In the end, I had higher expectations for this book, though there were still elements I enjoyed. Fans of cozy fantasy might appreciate it more than I did, and I'd still recommend giving it a chance.

A Harvest of Hearts whisks you away into a whimsical world full of lush detail, gorgeous magic-workers and dark secrets. I have had the best time reading this book over the past couple of days, Andrea Eames has a vivid way of storytelling, her characters are very likeable and this is a story that will bury it's way into many peoples hearts.

The sentient house and Cornelius have to be two of my favourite aspects from this book (come on guys... a talking cat?!), not once did the pacing feel off for me, I found it to be very constant and relationship between Foss, our FMC and Sylvester develops excruciatingly slow at times, but the romance is worth the wait - I only wish we saw a bit more.

We don't really see a lot of the sorceresses, apart from Clarissa - I would have liked to delve a bit deeper into their backgrounds and making but the concept of the story was fascinating and the way magic was used within the book was done very cleverly.

I'm sad to have finished this book so fast, the beautiful writing from Andrea and the development of her characters was very special to read. I hope we get more like this in the future.

Please read this book, its whimsical, magical, dark, and wonderful.

A Harvest of Hearts is described as a cosy fantasy and whimsical in the blurb, so I was expecting a light-hearted, cosy fantasy. I wasn't expecting something darker and more emotional, but those ended up being the qualities I enjoyed the most.

I definitely connected to Foss' character and to her relationship with Sylvester, the sorcerer who magically snagged her heart. I didn't find her insecurities/negative self-talk about her appearance and body irritating because it felt believable. It was also balanced out by her father's unwavering love and support for her and how he had always seen her as beautiful, which was also reflected in Foss' otherwise confident personality. It resulted in her feeling like a well-rounded character, and the emotion of Foss's insecurities and the ensorcelled love that Foss feels towards Sylvester made me cry several times.

The characters, the plot that wasn't afraid to go a bit dark, and the emotional impact were definite highlights. The only reason I didn't go five stars for this book was because there was a noticeable downturn in pace near the end, right when things had been really ramping up, and the first few chapters felt a bit stilted compared to the rest of the book. Sometimes this happens in the world building chapters, and the first few chapters were dealing with that as well as laying down the tone of Foss' personality. Because it was trying to do both things at once, it came across as a bit blunt and clipped at the start. Once those first few chapters were over though, the book didn't feel like that at all for me, and Foss' personality naturally came through as honest and funny, while still self-deprecating.

So, although it wasn't exactly the whimsical, light tone that I was expecting, I really enjoyed it and binged it in one evening. The emotional aspects of the book definitely hit me and it was a great standalone.

Disclaimer: I received an Advance Reader Copy from NetGalley but this is my voluntary and honest review.

Ah yes, may we live in a kingdom where we are free from fear, where we care about our fellow human beings...

I think some of the themes of this book can be interpreted as being quite topical: what do we actually need and how does that differ from what we want, it is also about the way we look at beauty and makes us wonder if that affects our opinions and behavior towards others, is it okay for someone to do something bad for a good cause, can people change and/or do they deserve a second chance?

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.