Assassin's Heartby Sarah Ahiers
Series: Assassin's Heart #1
Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult
Publication Date: February 2, 2016 by HarperTeen
Format: eARC
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Source: Publisher via Edelweiss
In the kingdom of Lovero, nine rival Families of assassins lawfully kill people for a price. As a highly skilled member of one of these powerful clans, seventeen-year-old Lea Saldana has always trusted in the strength of her Family. Until she awakens to find them murdered and her home in flames. The Da Vias, the Saldanas’ biggest enemy, must be responsible—and Lea should have seen it coming. But her secret relationship with the Da Vias’ son, Val, has clouded her otherwise killer instinct—and given the Da Vias more reason than ever to take her Family down.
Racked with guilt and shattered over Val’s probable betrayal, Lea sets out to even the score, with her heart set on retaliation and only one thought clear in her mind: make the Da Vias pay.
With shades of Game of Thrones and Romeo and Juliet, this richly imagined fantasy from debut author Sarah Ahiers is a tale of love, lies, and vengeance.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Oleander Saldana, Lea for short, is the daughter of the First Families who are clippers (assassins) and worship Safraella, a goddess of death and resurrection. These First Families are very respected and not to be messed with. One night Lea goes home to sleep then wakes up to find her house in flames and her family dead by the Da Vias, her suitor’s family, a First Family who strayed from Safraella’s path. Lea is seeking revenge and she won’t stop until the Da Vias are dead.
Lea seemed an odd assassin for me seeing as in the first chapter she gets poisoned… Anyways, she is a really good fighter, she’s very strong and she still honors what her family stood for. The characters she meets along the way added a nice touch to the story, especially Les, whose character added a fun tone to the book, in my opinion. While I do think there was some kind of insta-love with him, I still liked them together but to me, the romance wasn’t something important in the story. Yes, it was…kind of present but the rest of the story, it had so much going on that I wasn’t fully invested in the romance, which I was grateful for because I got to enjoy this book a lot.
This story had quite a few cliché moments that didn’t help with my enjoyment of the story but overall, it was good. There could have been more to the ending since it was quite fast but apparently this is a series so I’m really hoping the second book is better and we get to read more about Lea’s adventure and what’s to come for her and her new-found family.
About Sarah Ahiers
Sarah Ahiers is working towards an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults and lives in Minnesota with three dogs and a house full of critters. She has a collection of steampunk hats and when she’s not writing she fills her time with good games, good food, good friends and good family.
Sarah writes Young Adult and Middle Grade novels and occasionally dabbles in Picture Books. Fantasy is her favorite genre, though she sometimes can be found playing around with Horror and other things that go bump in the night.
Sarah’s debut novel, ASSASSIN’S HEART (HarperTeen, February 2nd, 2016) is a Young Adult Fantasy. In the Kingdom of Lovero, where families of assassins lawfully kill people for the right price, seventeen-year-old Oleander “Lea” Saldana sets out on a path of vengeance against the most powerful assassin family of all.
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I’m not sure I’d love this book from what I’ve seen from some reviews so far. But I think I will give it a shot sometime. 🙂
I don’t think this book is for everyone but if you give it a try, I hope you like it 🙂
I have this one to read and I was really excited for it. I’ve seen some meh reviews, so now I’m not getting my hopes up too high. I’m glad you didn’t dislike this one Gen, but I am sorry it didn’t quite do it for you either.
I steered clear from reviews for this one surprisingly and I was able to enjoy it. Afterwards, I read the negative reviews and it did made me realize a few flaws but I still liked it 🙂
I agree, Les was a fabulous addition to the story! I liked the romance, it was sweet 🙂 I also kind of liked that Lea wasn’t your typical assassin- kind of made the story unique for me. I do agree with the cliched moments, but overall I enjoyed this one, and I am glad you did too for the most part 🙂 Great review!
I’m glad you liked this 🙂 She really wasn’t the usual assassin lol But it changed things for the story so I guess that’s good. Thank you!
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