A Fierce and Subtle Poison by Samantha Mabry

Title: A Fierce and Subtle Poison

Author: Samantha Mabry

Series Status: Standalone

# of pages: 278

My rating: 2.5/5 stars

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From Goodreads

Legends collide with reality when a boy is swept into the magical, dangerous world of a girl filled with poison.

Everyone knows the legends about the cursed girl—Isabel, the one the señoras whisper about. They say she has green skin and grass for hair, and she feeds on the poisonous plants that fill her family’s lush Caribbean island garden. Some say she can grant wishes; some say her touch can kill. Seventeen-year-old Lucas spends summers with his hotel-developer father in Puerto Rico, and he’s grown up hearing the stories. When letters from the cursed girl mysteriously appear in his room the same day his girlfriend disappears, Lucas turns to Isabel for answers—and finds himself lured into her strange and enchanted world. But the more entangled Lucas becomes with Isabel, the less certain he is of escaping with his own life.

*I received a free copy in exchange for a honest review*

I have to say I was really disappointed with this read. The plot sounded intriguing and it was taking place somewhere that isn’t usually in YA. But I was so sad to find out that I did not really enjoy this story.

For me the main character was underdeveloped and I did not feel any connect to Lucas or even Isabel. This caused the story to be lacking and the underdeveloped characters combined with the execution of the plot made this hard for me to even finish.

The main excitement I had for this story was for the plot because it sound different and unique but the execution was not there. It was almost boring for me and most of the story focused on Lucas not knowing what to do. On top of the poor plot execution the pacing was erratic and made the story feel like it was falling apart.

One of the things I did love from this story was Mabry’s writing style. Her writing was beautiful and I loved the way she described everything but overall that may have been one of the only positives from the story.

Overall I did not really enjoy this story all that much and found there to be some major issues with it.

2.5/5 stars