The Heartstring Duet, Liv Zander

Story Blurb

Wed me. Bed me. Slit my throat.

Born in dirt, raised in rot,

I dig graves for the dead,

While the living decay around me.

When my brother coughs blood,

He appears.

A man too polished for the graveyard,

With a bargain too cruel for the light:

Seduce the King. Become the Queen.

Die. And my brother lives.

Kael is a nightmare of living ruin,

The rotting ruler of a festering realm.

And Vale is his shadow,

The cold architect of my demise.

One man needs my heart to beat.

The other plans to stop it forever.

They think I’m a pawn.

But I’m the gravedigger's daughter.

And I know exactly where to bury them.

Welcome to the funeral.

My Thoughts/Opinion

When my daughter who rarely cries told me to read this completed duology I immediately downloaded it in KU. Excellent writing, quite poetic given that the first book is essentially a dark Beauty and the Best retelling (kind of.) But I have to tell you that I was most of the way through the second book before I got it. Let me be clear, the books were fantastic and I read them in two days. But I didn't understand why they were powerful enough to make her cry until I did. I totally did. And I am not a crier in my normal reading experience. I truly truly cannot recommend this duology enough. If you're up for it, I promise you will not be disappointed.

Favorite Quote:

“Because love and loss are on the same coin - one side warmth, one side ache - but the value never changes. And to carve out the grief would be to erase the love that made the memory worth living. A thousand times over.”