This is equally confusing when it comes to the herbs used within the book, which have traditional names, as used by Savva, and Latin names, as used by Ophelia. Some of those names are very modern American, others belong entirely to the fantasy realm, and the two brothers don’t even have names with a consistent heritage. Other names include Azamar, Evanora, Mistress Goodsong, and Sir Rollins – essentially, there’s just no internal consistency.

Our main characters are Ophelia, the heroine, royal brothers Xavi and Rye, foreign princess Quinn, and Ophelia’s mentor, Savva. I liked the focus on the female MC’s platonic relationship with her male best friend, and I liked that the book focused on cleverness rather than martial solutions to international issues, but what let this down for me was some very messy worldbuilding, which left me confused and uninvested in the politics that were occurring. The plot is perhaps a little cliched, but still exciting, and the romance is sweet enough. And I really tried! The bones of this story are good.

Oh, how I wanted to love this book! That cover, for starters, is easily one of the most beautiful covers I’ve ever seen, and the blurb promised my favourite thing – a feisty heroine who uses herbs to heal. Ownership: Proof copy sent by Harper360 free of charge.

I was so excited for this story of herblore and hidden magic, but I felt pretty let down by the worldbuilding in the end, which was a shame.

The Antidote by Shelley Sackier