#BookReview: Wicked Like a Wildfire (Hibiscus Daughter #1) by Lana PopovicLit #Fairyloot

  All the women in Iris and Malina’s family have the unique magical ability or “gleam” to manipulate beauty. Iris sees flowers as fractals and turns her kaleidoscope visions into glasswork, while Malina interprets moods as music. But their mother has strict rules to keep their gifts a secret, even in their secluded sea-side town. Iris and Malina are not allowed to share their magic with anyone, and above all, they are forbidden from falling in love. 

But when their mother is mysteriously attacked, the sisters will have to unearth the truth behind the quiet lives their mother has built for them. They will discover a wicked curse that haunts their family line—but will they find that the very magic that bonds them together is destined to tear them apart forever?

Lana Popović studied psychology and literature at Yale University and law at Boston University. She is a graduate of the Emerson College publishing and writing program and works as a literary agent with Chalberg & Sussman, specializing in YA. Her books include Wicked Like a Wildfire and Fierce Like a Firestorm.

Lana was born in Serbia and spent her childhood summers surrounded by the seaside and mountain magic of Montenegro. She lived in Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania before moving to the United States, where she now calls Boston home, subsisting largely on cake, eyeliner, and aerial yoga. Visit Lana at www.lanapopovicbooks.com or follow her on Twitter @LanaPopovicLit.

I really really tried to love this one. I try to give books via my review books and my book boxes a few more pages than I normally do just because well it's from some amazing boxes. But this one just didn't work out for me.  The book is full of very in-depth descriptions that are a pretty much like info dumping.  It really slowed the story down.  The other thing that just didn't work out for me was the characters. Their names are hard to remember and with so many people running around even though this book was only in one POV. It made it very hard to keep everyone straight. I ended up starting this book over again and trying it from the start because I had no idea who anyone was. A name would pop up and I would think it was one person and realize it was someone else. So that just didn't work out in this book's favor for me.  I really loved the magic system, the use of flowers was wonderful and the gleams were great. I wish that the author would have focused more on that and less on so many people going in and out of the cafe as well as the many descriptions that we just didn't need.  So unfortunately for me, this one just fell very short and I would not recommend it. 

Please note that we had a review eARC for this title but this is a review of a finished copy. 

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Posted in: 1 Star, Edelweiss, HarperCollins, Jessica P., Review, Subscription Boxes, Young Adult