Review : Mortal Heart by R.L LaFevers

Summary (from Goodreads) 

Title : Mortal Heart (His Fair Assassin #3)
Author : R.L LaFevers
Publication Date : November 4th 2014
Publisher : HMH Books for Young Readers
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Annith has watched her gifted sisters at the convent come and go, carrying out their dark dealings in the name of St. Mortain, patiently awaiting her own turn to serve Death. But her worst fears are realized when she discovers she is being groomed by the abbess as a Seeress, to be forever sequestered in the rock and stone womb of the convent. Feeling sorely betrayed, Annith decides to strike out on her own.

She has spent her whole life training to be an assassin. Just because the convent has changed its mind doesn't mean she has...  

Personal Thoughts 

This has been a series that has consistently remained strong for me. I loved the first book, Grave Mercy and then Dark Triumph came along and completely blew me socks off. You can imagine with how much excitement I dove into Mortal Heart. My  expectations were undoubtedly sky high, but while Mortal Heart wasn't my favorite book in the this trilogy (Dark Triumph has that crown), it was a solid conclusion according to me.

Annith has always been a bit of a mystery to me, so I was curious to find out more about her character and her story. Annith lived up to all my expectations. Like her sisters at the convent, she was a naive character who completely bloomed throughout the book into this strong and resilient woman I couldn't help but love. Annith had a lot of aspirations and she really sweat in order to achieve her goals no matter how far she had to go. I admired her for her fortitude and was cheering on her all the way through. As Annith's love interest was a mysterious and intriguing character who went by the name of Balthazaar. He and his band were an interesting cast and I was enamored by them because of how cryptic they were. I flew through the pages expecting to find out more and more about them and R.L LaFevers did not disappoint. While both Annith and Balthazaar were lovely characters, I was more excited for Annith, Sybella and Ismae to be reunited. Individually, they were powerful, but together they were a hurricane. I loved the bond that existed between them. R.L LaFevers excels at portraying strong female relationships in her books.

Mortal Heart was full of twists and revelations that took me by surprise and figuratively punched me in the force. There is one revelation in particular that had me gasping out loud because of how unexpected it was. I will admit that it made me feel a bit wary of the romance despite loving Annith and Balthazaar together, but things all worked well at the end. Speaking of the romance, the chemistry between Annith and Balthazaar was smoking. While the huge revelation in the book did creep me out a bit, I thought they made a complementary couple and Balthazaar was a man that Annith deserved. The plot was much slower than in the first two books, but Mortal Heart never turned into a boring read. I actually enjoyed the slow pace because there was more focus on the politics and the world building. Everything about this book was so exciting and I found myself devouring every single word. There are lies, scandals, twists and turns that will have you on the edge of your seat! There is so much I want to say about the story line, but you honestly have to experience it by yourself so that you don't up being spoiled.

R.L LaFevers is without a shadow of doubt one of my favorite authors. This trilogy as a whole was brilliantly executed and gorgeously written. Saying goodbye to a group of cherished characters is always hard at the end of a trilogy, but this is a series that I will one day revisit because it is an all-time favorite.

Rating 

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 5/5
Characters : 5/5
Writing : 5/5

Thank you to Edelweiss and HMH Books for the e-ARC of Mortal Heart.