"Petals and Poison" by Cara E. Ruegg

About this book:

  “He was born to marry wealth. She was born to be invisible. But fate—and a magical wolf—have other plans.
    Nicholas is the privileged heir to a powerful estate, with a future as carefully arranged as the marriage he’s expected to make. Mira is a commoner—the quiet, strange servant who disappears into the forest, returns with mysterious herbs, and keeps company with a magical wolf. To Nicholas, she’s nothing more than a witch in disguise, and when his father is poisoned, she’s the perfect suspect.
    Determined to expose her, Nicholas sets out to prove her guilt. But when a hunting trip ends in disaster and leaves him wounded, it’s Mira who finds him, tends his wounds, and risks everything to bring him home.
    As suspicions clash with undeniable truth, Nicholas begins to see the girl he thought he hated in a very different light. But with an arranged marriage on the horizon, a village quick to accuse, and a family name on the line, love between a nobleman and a servant is not just forbidden—it’s dangerous.
    And the real murderer may still be closer than either of them realizes.”


Series: Part of the “Realms of Lurin” series, but does not seem to be connected to any other book.


Spiritual Content- A few prayers & reading form a prayer book; ’H’s are not capital when referring to the Creator; Nicholas hasn’t prayed since his mother’s death, *Spoilers* but talks to his mother and asks for her to speak to the Creator for him and beg Him to forgive him *End of Spoilers*; Mentions of the Creator; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of a book of prayers; A mention of a church; 
             *Note: Seeing magical creatures (including dragons, wolves, and fire birds) & mentions of them and tales of what some can do (including potentially curse someone); Mira meets a magical wolf and while tales say that if someone is bitten by one, they would be cursed forever, Mira is bitten and sees two visions of future events in her life (later, she says the future isn’t for her to know and if the Creator wanted her to know, she would know); Because of her interest in the woods and plants, Nicholas often calls Mira a “witch” and accuses her of being one (dabbling in the “dark art of divination”), but she is does not practice anything like that; Mentions of other mythical/magical creatures (including goblins and sirens); Mentions of witches, possible curses, & others possibly being bewitched/enchanted/under a spell; A few mentions of someone possibly being a ghost or spirit (not seriously); A few mentions of luck, being lucky, & luck saving Mira once; A couple mentions of a man’s “devilish screams” & later wondering if the man is possessed; A mention of superstitious people.
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: two ‘dumb’s and a form of ‘stupid’; Some lying; Eye rolling; Eavesdropping; Two near-death moments with serious injuries, Being poisoned, Being in a forest during a storm (and thinking she’s going to die), Being bitten by a wolf, Helping someone who was shot and is bleeding, Injuries, Pain, & Blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Seeing deaths and dead bodies (on-page and a flashback, including someone being burned alive by a dragon; including someone who was poisoned and killed; border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Shooting at mythical creatures (while hunting and in self-defense); Nicholas wishes to destroy Mira and see her hanged (believing her to be responsible for a murder); Nicholas and his friend used to terrorize Mira when they were children; *Spoilers* After she saves him about half-way through, Nicholas feels guilty over his past actions and comments towards Mira and apologies *End of Spoilers*; Mentions of deaths, illnesses, & grief (including for parents and a brother); Mentions of poisons, a murder, attempted murders, & a murderer; Mentions of a suicide (*Spoiler* It’s revealed at the end that the brother of the young man was threatened by their sister to make it look like their brother committed suicide (the reason is not given) *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of hangings, prisons, & criminals; Mentions of fires & a death; Mentions of gunshots, someone being shot, injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding; Mentions of alcohol, drinking, & someone possibly drinking too much; Mentions of hunting & shooting animals (implied more for sport than food); Mentions of nightmares & trauma from past events; Mentions of hatred; A few mentions of lies & lying; A few mentions of a wolf biting someone; A couple mentions of body waste & the smell; A mention of a war; A mention of manipulation from a family member; A mention of throwing up; A mention of smoking & pipes. 
 
 
Sexual Content- A hand kiss, two cheek kisses, a not-detailed kiss, and a barely-above-not-detailed kiss; Touches, Dancing, Hand holding, Warmth, (barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (barely-above-not-detailed); Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); *Spoilers* Toward the end, when Nicholas confesses his romantic feelings to her, Mira doesn’t believe him and think it’s a prank; At the very end, Mira confesses her feelings after Nicholas has a near-death moment and she realizes her feelings *End of Spoilers*; Mira is glad that she doesn’t possess her mother’s beauty as her “common” appearance keeps men from noticing her; A young woman comments about being “tainted” because she’s already kissed a man before marriage; Mentions of kisses, kissing, a couple being caught kissing, & a vision of kissing someone; A couple mentions of an unmarried couple being left in a bedroom together with the door open; A mention of a woman’s virtue; A mention of a young woman’s “seductive eyes”; A mention of a widowed man fancying a widowed woman (but nothing coming from it); Light love, falling/being in love, & the emotions.
 
-Mira
-Nicholas Lockwood
                                P.O.V. switches between them 
                                        Regency-inspired fantasy setting
                                                        184 pages
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

As someone who enjoys learning about plants and their medicinal benefits, I really liked Mira. She was very sweet and reminded me of Snow White at times with her kindness. She definitely made the book better and was a great main character who perseveres through hardships. 

 

Nicholas on the other hand: he was absolutely horrible at first. I’m not a fan of the enemies-to-more romance trope, so I was a little leery about this book because of it. Nicholas was a terror to Mira for their entire lives, basically, and it took a good shock to realize how awful he has been to her. I liked the character development—especially because it was muchneeded for him—but I wish we could have seen some scenes leading up to his change with feeling a prick of guilt for his actions and mean comments to her. I think it would have been more natural then as I was questioning how they could even fall for each other. 

 

Rather than a find-out-who-the-murderer-was kind of mystery, it was more of a get-evidence-of-the-murder kind of mystery. The answer seemed obvious to me, but I enjoyed the setting of a regency-like fantasy time-period. There’s magical creatures, but no magic per se. I would have liked a bit more in the faith content regard regarding the magical creatures—did the Creator make them for a special purpose? Or are they just animals to hunt like deer? I think there could have been more with the world-building, but for the page length of the story, I mostly enjoyed it.

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review! 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

*I received this book for free from the author for this honest review.

"Frozen Hearts" by Cara E. Ruegg

About this book:

  “Dark magic is at work.
    A strange sickness plagues the land.
   Aksel must learn to control his powers before they control him.
   Twelve-year-old Aksel doesn’t want to be different, he doesn’t want fingers that glow with ice, doesn’t want powers that freeze whatever he touches. He’s terrified of being found out, or worse—hurting someone with powers he can’t control.
   But when a strange illness overtakes his town and claims those he loves, Aksel has to face more than just coming to terms with his strange abilities. With the help of his younger sister, Cathrine, and some unexpected friends, he must journey to the tip of the mountain and go find The Snow Queen who is believed to be responsible for the curse.”


Series: Book #1 in “European Fairytales Retold” series. 


Spiritual Content- Prayers (including a prayer by a child thinking she might die and asking forgiveness so that if she “appears before you today, may [she] appear worthy enough to enter through the gates” and another prayer said to“prepare his soul for the death he felt was coming”); Talks about God, trusting Him, forgiveness, & confessing to Him; Most 'H's are capital when referring to God; A Christmas-like event is celebrated (Juleaften); Aksel believes in God and Heaven, but still finds death to be scary; A woman says that she couldn’t wait for God to avenge her, so she took matters into her own hands; Aksel’s grandmother tells him that she believes that even a murderer could be forgiven by God as long as the person is truly sorry; Mentions of God, Jesus, & trusting in Him; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of churches, church going, a monastery, & monks; Mentions of the Christ child, nativity sets, and Christmas trees; Mentions of sins; A few mentions of crucifixes/crosses in a church; A mention of Providence guiding Aksel and Cathrine on the journey;
             *Note: Aksel has “powers”/”abilities” where he can shoot ice from his hand (used for safety and/or self-protection, up to semi-detailed); Aksel wonders if his powers are superpowers or a curse and feels like a monster at times (also thinking that he could be experiment on or even used as a weapon); Dark magic is used for a magic mirror (The Snow Queen, Zabina, uses dark magic once for this and while she knows it is forbidden, the dark does not scare her, or at least, she won’t admit it; Dark magic is looked as wrong and always having consequences); Zabina comments on evil queens have a magic mirror to not only admire herself but also to be “like an all-seeing god”; There are hobgolins (called little demons), faes, julenisse (gnomes), nisse (elves), & mentions of them throughout this book (some are helpful and others like the hobgolins are masters of black magic); *Major Spoilers* Due to the dark magic mirror breaking, the magic leaked out and caused the illness where people’s hearts are freezing; Aksel tells the Snow Queen this and it’s up to her to confess her sins to God for the illness to be lifted; She offers him to use the mirror, but Aksel wants nothing to do with black magic; She is told that only the Light Itself can eliminate the black magic and if she does confess to Him, she’ll lose her powers; She doesn’t think God will forgive her, but Aksel tells her to ask God to help her be sorry for her actions; She goes to confess and “made [her] peace with God” *End of Spoilers*); Aksel has always feel like the mountains are calling to him (but knows it’s forbidden to go there); Aksel’s friend teases him about being the descendant of a god because of Aksel never being cold (they laugh at this, but Aksel says “There’s only one God, Mikkel, and we are both his sons”); Many mentions of spells, curses, powers, feeling like a monster because of them (including Aksel), & using the powers for good; Mentions of someone being accused as a witch & being run out of town (the Snow Queen); Mentions of some grandparents believing that fairytale stories and creatures are real; A few mentions of evil, someone looking evil, & it being said that the Snow Queen is evil and has little demons (hobgoblins) at her lair; A mention of some saying that elves are devilish; A mention of a color being the color of someone’s spirit; A mention of luck; A mention of an alien.
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dumb’, a ‘stupid’, and a ‘wimp’; Fighting, a fire, close-calls with frozen ponds cracking, being attacked by wolves, being tied-up and threatened with being eaten, seeing someone choked & being scared (up to semi-detailed); Pain, Injuries, & Blood/Bleeding (barely-above-not-detailed); Nightmares (about loved ones dying, up to semi-detailed); Aksel doesn’t want to tell his parents about the close-call with a frozen pond because he used his powers and doesn’t want to worry them; Aksel is concerned about death & his loved ones dying; Aksel wants to see his friend in the hospital and plans to sneak in to see him (his father helps sneak in since he doesn’t think they’ll break any rules); Hobgoblins threaten to eat our main characters and their friends (going as far as putting them into a fire); A flashback to witnessing murders & causing/committing murders (Zabina’s point of view, up to semi-detailed); *Spoiler* Zabina nearly kills an elf who attacked her, but ends up not killing him since she has learned that vengeance is God’s *End of Spoiler*; There is an illness that is freezing people’s hearts and they fall into a deep sleep for days (mentions of them needing IVs to survive and trying to find the cure); Mentions of murders, murderers, & revenge (*Spoiler* Zabina pushed a group of people off of a ledge after witnessing them murder her husband; She says she did it on purpose, but feels relieved when it turns out that someone else pushed them as well, so it wasn’t just her actions; We see this as a flashback and mentioned *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of deaths & possible deaths (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of an illness with people’s hearts freezing, those with the illness being in a deep sleep and not waking up, hypothermia, injuries, blood/bleeding, (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of jail, crimes, & a possible death sentence; Mentions of gossip & rumors; A few mentions of a family member disappearing suddenly; A few mentions of nightmares; A few mentions of lies & lying (done mostly by hobgoblins); A couple mentions of wars; A couple mentions of hatred; A couple mentions of bars & drinking; A couple mentions of decaying animals & the smell (barely-above-not-detailed); A mention of a thief; A mention of wine (a sip by Aksel’s father); A mention of cheating at a game; 
             *Note: Aksel starts to wonder if he came from another family because he’s always felt different from them with his family doesn’t understand him or have the same powers/abilities he has (*Major Spoilers but Important Note about Biological Families and Comments* Aksel is the son of the Snow Queen and wonders if he is dangerous like she is; He calls her his “real” mother a couple of times; Cathrine wonders if Aksel is “even her brother”; At the end, Aksel tells his adoptive parents that he knows he’s not their son and they both say that he is because “blood doesn’t change that” and that he belongs in this family *End of Spoilers*); In a flashback, Zabina thinks about unleashing her powers on those who call her names so that they will fear her like she fears herself; There are mentions of a murder that happened because the man was different than everyone else (an elf surrounded by humans); Aksel calls his mother “uptight” once because of company coming (he and his grandmother joke about it); Askel feels guilt over his father having an injury because of his disobedience; A few mentions of those with powers/abilities being called ‘freak’, ‘monster’, and ‘witch’ by others.
 
 
Sexual Content- N/A.
 
-Aksel, age 12
-Cathrine, age 9
                                P.O.V. switches between them & a few others
                                                        181 pages

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

This was a really interesting fairytale retelling! It had Danish influences and no romance at all, so it was different from my normal retellings, but I liked it because of those aspects. 

 

My only two little things I didn’t care for were more minor. I thought it was a little bit of a quick jump for our main character to think that the snow queen was his mother and then quickly accepting it. Also, the illness aspect of the plot did feel a little too reminiscent of a certain event we all went through within the last few years, so I wasn’t the biggest fan of those parts, but it did compel our sibling duo to action. 

 

My favorite part of the story was the sibling content and how much our main characters cared for each other. The ending felt a little bit rushed especially with that short epilogue, but I bet that’s because we’ll see these characters again and other books in the series. At least that’s what I’m hoping! 

 

There are a couple notes/comments that could be triggering for those who were adopted or do not live with their biological families, just as a heads up.

 

Overall, this was a really creative and imaginative retelling. I think I would’ve liked a few things to be fleshed out just a little bit more, but I overall enjoyed it.

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review! 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

*I received this book for free from the Author for this honest review.