Title: Heartless
Author: Marissa Meyer
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance
First published: November 8th 2016
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Finished reading: September 28th 2017
Pages: 453
“It is a dangerous thing to unbelieve something only because it frightens you.”
I’m a big fan of Marissa Meyer ever since I first I first started The Lunar Chronicles, so adding Heartless to my wishlist was a no-brainer. I’m still surprised it took me this long to pick up one of my most anticipated releases from last year… Although I did hear some mixed things about it that made me wonder. And guess what? Here’s another unpopular opinion coming up. Again. Because despite my initial expectations and feelings, I didn’t end up loving Heartless like I thought I would. Don’t get me wrong, when I started reading this I was sure I was absolutely going to love this story. The writing is wonderful and simply enchanting and had me hooked right from the first page. I dived right into this magical retelling and had a blast reading about Cath and her baking. A little warning there: this story will make you crave both baking and eating all those sweets and tarts! Seriously mouthwatering… Everything went perfect up until the love triangle was introduced. Oh yes, Heartless is yet another YA fantasy story that suffers from the dreaded romance trope. Unfortunately things went downhill fast after that and I was really frustrated by all that romantic blabbering and love triangle related nonsense. It nearly broke my heart because I absolutely loved the story before that! So it’s easy to say the love triangle business put a mayor damper on what could have been a delightful and positively delicious read. The final part was a bit of a surprise, although I’m not sure what to think of it. All in all not the reaction I was hoping to have after finishing Heartless…Trust me, I’m feeling disappointed as well to feel this way.
Catherine has been dreaming for years to open her own bakery one day and sell the pastries everybody seems to love. She is a very talented baker, but her parents have other plans for her in store. The unmarried King himself seems to show a special interest in Cath and it is her mother’s dream for her daughter to be queen one day. Even though Catherine doesn’t agree and wants a different future for herself. And then she meets the mysterious Jest at the ball where the King is about to propose to her… And things take a different turn.
I really wanted to love Heartless and I was sure I was going to after reading the first couple of chapters. The writing is wonderful and take you right to the magical world these famous characters live in. I just loved Cath and her baking; I’m craving to start baking something myself right now (and eating it afterwards of course!). Everything was going great until the love triangle, which positively ruined Heartless for me. After the introduction of this romance trope, the main focus was on this relation and I felt kind of betrayed. Oh well, most people seem to love this story, so I guess this will be yet another unpopular opinion to add to the mix… If you dislike love triangles as much as I do, consider yourself warned though.
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I didn’t think you’d be a fan of this one due to the focus on the romance. I am slightly confused though as I think I missed the love triangle. It always seemed all Cath and Jest to me.
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There was always the King being clumsy in the background and the threat of Cath having to marry him? Bothered me considerably, although then again I’m not a romance fan in the first place haha.
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This one wasn’t my favorite, either. It will always hold a special place in my heart, though, because it was on a book tour for this book that I got to meet Marissa Meyer.
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That is definitely a wonderful event to remember it by!
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I loved this book because of Jest! He is unforgettable. I didn’t see the love triangle though. May be the poor king wasn’t that noticeable to me. The presence of Jest with Cath was so overwheming that all other characters seem to vanish except for Hatta 😀 He was my second favorite.
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I agree Jest was a very interesting character! And maybe it’s just me being allergic to love triangle so any hint at it already bothers me… The whole clumsy King and the threat of Cath having to marry him just really annoyed me. Although I agree most characters fade away next to Cath and Jest.
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I didn’t really see it as a love triangle because I never saw the King as a love interest, exactly? I guess when I think of a love triangle I think of the person in the middle being torn between the other two, or at least being a bit conflicted, which Cath never was. But the Jest/Cath stuff didn’t bother me because I wasn’t expecting anything other than a romance from the summary
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Yeah that is true… Still, the whole clumsy King thing with the courting and Jest writing those letters really bothered me. I guess it’s probably due to the fact I’m allergic to romance in the first place; since I don’t read the blurbs before starting a story I didn’t realize there was going to be so much of it either.
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This is an honest question, because I can’t imagine not reading blurbs but I know a lot of people don’t: what do you make your decision to read a book on? I know in this case, you had enjoyed previous books by the same author, etc, but say it’s someone you’ve never heard of before. Just reviews?
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I do read the blurb before I add it to my goodreads shelf and then trust myself I made the right decision back then when I decide to start reading it. It can go both ways I guess, but that way I mostly avoid the spoilers in the blurb (since I won’t remember what I read by the time I actually pick up a title) and the surprise effect is nice as well. Author love and reviews do help make the decision as well.
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Ahh that makes a bit more sense! It never seemed like you were just going in completely blind every time so I was a tad confused! As I said, I’d seen other people say the same thing but they probably do something similar, I assume.
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It would give me too much food envy!!! Great review!
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Ah yes it definitely makes you crave food, even worse is that I’ve been trying to eat healthier and really prefer not eating all those delicious sounding cakes and macarons right now. xD
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I’m glad I’m not the only one who felt underwhelmed by Heartless, especially after the Lunar Chronicles. As soon as the romance took over the plot, I began struggling. Great review!
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Yeah the romance was one of the main reasons I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would after reading the first couple of chapters. But then again, it’s really hard to live up to the Lunar Chronicles series in the first place. 😉
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Ha, you and love triangles realllyyy don’t get along 😀 I haven’t read anything by Meyer yet but someone told me I would enjoy the Lunar Chronicles… maybe… but at the moment, I’d pick a dark/grim fantasy with gore and swearing over the YA, I think 😀
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I’m definitely epipen serious allergic to them haha. I did love The Lunar Chronicles though so I can recommend that series! Although it’s not exactly dark fantasy so definitely wait until you are more in the mood for YA. xD
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