Toxic Heart

Toxic Heart by Theo Lawrence came out Tuesday, which is the sequel to Mystic City. Mystic City is about Aria Rose she is a part of the Rose family one of two ruling rival families in Mystic City. She wakes up one morning betrothed to Thomas Foster, the son of her parents' sworn enemies. Her marriage to Thomas will end the generations-long political feud and unite all those living in the Aeries. Because of the gaps in her memory Aria can't remember falling in love with Thomas and she doesn't understand why her parents would want to unite the two rival families. Only when Aria meets Hunter, a gorgeous rebel mystic from the Depths, does she start to have glimmers of recollection and to understand that he holds the key to unlocking her past. 

Toxic Heart picks up a few weeks after the rebellion broke out in Mystic City pitting the ruling elite against the magic-wielding mystics. SPOILERS AHEAD: The death of Hunter's mom and the leader of the rebellion, leaves Hunter to take over his mom and family's life work and lead the rebellion, fighting for equalization for all mystics. Understandably Hunter has a lot of power and responsibility thrust upon him, but lets face it he turns into a jerk. He dumps Aria at a safe house to be trained by Shannon (who is a rude and blames Aria for everything). And yeah he has a lot to deal with but Aria understands and wants to help fight against her parents and create a better place to live. Yes they do Skype or whatever it's called every night but that's not the same as being together. 

During the book Aria becomes closer to Hunter's best friend Turk who is protective and supportive of everything Aria does. He says he does this because Hunter asked him too but come on he's totally in love with her! Now I am currently on team Turk because Hunter is a major jerk! I mean instead of trusting Aria to help him bring privileged city people onto the side of the rebellion he tricks her into saying what he wants during their Skype calls then records it and airs it to the world! Seriously she would have helped create propaganda if you had just asked her! And don't even get me started on when they get in a fight and he says "You're a pretty, rich girl from the Aeries. What hardships have you ever experienced?" How horrible is that? Plus he locks her in the safe house, so not okay buddy! Your her boyfriend no her father!

I'm glad Aria takes another path from both her parents and from Hunter and breaks off onto her own. She has the power to stop the war and save peoples lives while creating equality in the city. I'm also happy she told Hunter they couldn't be together considering he didn't trust her to be there for him, or to help him lead. He also didn't believe in her and what girl wants a boyfriend like that? I'm excited for the next book to come out. Hopefully Aria realizes Turk loves her and that she can become a great leader even if she came from a crappy racist family.

A.B.