Book Review: Poison Heart by S.B. Hayes.

Product details:
Publisher: Quercus.
Release date: March 1st 2012.
Paperback, 352 pages.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Ages: 12+
Source: Received from publisher for review.

An idle glance through the window of a bus changes everything for Katy Rivers.

A mysterious girl, with luminous green eyes, stares back and from that moment on she haunts Katy and appears to know her every move, even what she is thinking. What is the strange connection between them? And what is the power of the emerald pendant which the girl bestows on her?

‘I’m everything you’re not and I’m going to take over your life… I’m your worst nightmare.’

These chilling words mean that Katy is gradually backed into a corner, alienated from everyone she holds dear, even her own mother. Only her best friend Luke, keeps faith and together they must find a way to defeat the girl who is determined that she will be with Katy...even until death.

POISON HEART combines psychological suspense with teen romance and makes for a thoroughly chilling read.

Have you ever felt like someone was out to steal your life?

That’s exactly how Katy feels as soon as beautiful but deadly Genevieve Paradis walks into her life one day and refuses to leave.  Everything that’s important to Katy is now under threat, from her friends, to her school work, to her boyfriend Merlin, and the worst thing is that everybody seems to be totally charmed by Genevieve. Nobody can see her for what she really is.  Katy has no idea why Genevieve has singled her out or why she wants to ruin her life, but she does know that she’s not going to go down without a fight. Genevieve is hiding something in her past, and Katy, with the help of her journalist friend, Luke, is determined to find out what it is.

My interest was immediately piqued when I read the synopsis of Poison Heart. For a start, I love a good psychological thriller and the synopsis of this one has a little of the Beautiful Malice or Choker about it.  All three books deal with crazy ass girls with dark secrets, and I for one can never get enough of that stuff!

But while I loved the premise of Poison Heart, and while it’s definitely a page turning debut that shows a lot of promise, this book fell a little flat in terms of characterization.  I never warmed to Katy, while Genevieve, who is undoubtedly a little strange, never totally creeped me out. I never got those all important shivers down my spine when I was reading this book.  Then there’s the love interest, Merlin, who might have an interesting name, but as a character, he was as bland as could be.  I wanted these characters to make me care about them, I wanted to be invested in Katy and Merlin’s romance so that when Genevieve came along and tried to split them up, I’d be positively seething at her actions, but Genevieve’s games never got that kind of response from me.  I was interested in the secrets Genevieve was hiding, for sure, but the cast of characters in this book just didn’t appeal to me.

Poison Heart is a fun entertaining read, all the same, and there are plot twists galore as Katy begins to delve into Genevieve’s past and uncovers some very strange information indeed. Is Genevieve just a normal, if slightly crazy girl with a vendetta, or is there something much more sinister, something supernatural at work here?  I bet you want to know the answer, but you’ll just have to read Poison Heart to find out those dark secrets that lie behind Genevieve’s disarming smile.