Rating: 4.5⭐️
I don’t read much romance books lately but this one totally grabbed my attention, starting with the description.
By the way, there’s a long list of trigger warnings by the author who put them at the beginning of the book and I’ve listed them below for you to read. This is a dark fantasy novel, FYI.
Every part of me wants to say “In fair Verona there lived two families…”. So close.
Masterson’s world is narrowed down to two small completely walled-in towns, twenty miles away from each other. Separated by a grim woods and landscape. Those woods are filled with monsters, the Drained, who attack the city walls with increasing frequency.
Each city/town is ruled by one family. The city of Lunameade is ruled by the Carrenwells, of which Harlow Carrenwell is the youngest of nine siblings in powerful political magical family.
The other, Mountain Haven, is ruled by the Havenwood family. Its surviving heir, after a Drained massacre nearly destroyed everything and everyone, is Henry Havenwood. Now they’ve rebuilt. And they have new goals.
When the story opens, Harlow is already a widow, having poisoned her husband, per her family’s request, and has been ordered to attend the family’s dinner.
Each family member has its own personal power, but they act as a team unit, ordered by their father. For the “good” of the town. Harlow also has her own plans she’s been acting on.
Of all her siblings, only one does she care about, her sister Aidia. The one who is almost her twin, and as we learn, is in a severely abusive DV relationship with her mayor husband. That no one is doing anything about in the family.
Violence, stark physical horrific abuse is a constant thread here. And there is a real danger of mental abuse/non consensual abuse as well, as one of the powers is the ability to control people against their will.
Harlow uses her poisonous powers against those who she sees as abusive, especially when she feels helpless to aid her sister.
This narrative starts dark and then turns violently darker as Masterson introduces Henry with his competing abilities and agendas to Harlow, who has her own secret plans and aspirations. Two houses, a forced political marriage with so many hidden agendas.
It’s instant hate, passion, murderous rages, and the start of the author’s taking Harlow and Henry on a journey through a complexity of storylines of about heinous abuse, abject pain, deep loss , despair and suffering.
And yes, lots of blood and death. And sex. With a wolf thrown in. If that feels random, it feels like it in the story too.
There’s so much I feel is fantastic here and well done. The religious and magical system is entwined with the city’s history and culture in a powerful role.
The Seven Divine, their gods of Pleasure, Fortune, Stars & Darkness, Endings, Malice, Protection, and Strength, are the ones that provide the families and others with their magical powers. How that’s achieved is a defining feature of the story, and an extremely dark element. If you look at the maps, and really you should, you will see that Blood Well in the middle of the city of Lunameade and realize things aren’t quite right there. Take a clue.
Still won’t prepare you for what’s coming.
And that’s the other thing, the author has some wonderful/shocking revelations towards the end of the book, twists that come out of nowhere. Perfect! One especially outstanding!
What keeps me from raising my rating is the lack of foundation for certain plot lines in the last quarter of the book, that mostly centered around Henry and his actions.
One is that I don’t believe that the author allowed her story enough time to explain the Drained history and recent events to develop it into the aspect that emerged. That needs further exploration. Trying hard for zero spoilers here.
The other thing that bothers me is about Gaven. I won’t go into detail. I just thought it was handled in a way that was unnecessary in the story (for me at least) or underwhelming, especially for Harlow.
My overall experience with this story is that it’s fantastic. I love the dark atmosphere, Harlow is a memorable character and the magical system is so well crafted that I wanted to explore it further. The weaker, lesser known elements are the Havenwoods. They don’t have enough page time or orcas well defined.
The stronger, best defined elements are the most heinous , the Carrenwells. We get to know them and see how they operate together. Usually for the worst.
I recommend spending time with them both. But definitely read the trigger warnings first.
Cover: Charlotte Sloggers
Case Cover: Alice Blake
Maps: Shepengul . Great maps!
From the author:
THE POISON DAUGHTER deals with some difficult subjects including ableism, violence, murder, blood, references to sexual assault, poisoning, death, references to domestic violence, child abuse and neglect (historical), grief, depression, PTSD, brief suicide ideation (historical), primal play, voyeurism, and explicit consensual sex. I’ve attempted to treat all sensitive topics with the utmost care, but this content might still be challenging for some readers. Please take care of yourself.
Buy link
Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.comThe Poison Daughter: Masterson, Sheila: 9781638935971
Blurb
To err is human. To avenge is Divine.
Every person Harlow Carrenwell kisses dies immediately, and that’s the way she likes it. The poison-lipped youngest daughter of Lunameade’s magical founding family has used her power to annihilate their opposition.
Her first husband is in the ground. Her new betrothed is next.
But the merry widow has a secret. When she’s not acting as an assassin at her parents’ whims, she moonlights as a vigilante for abused women in their walled-off city.
Meet a man. Lure him in. Kill him with a kiss. Until one night Harlow kisses a mark and he doesn’t die.
Worse, her invincible partner in passion is her new betrothed, Henry Havenwood, and now he knows about her double life. Instead of selling her out and bringing the rival families to blows, he does something much more sinister—whisks her away to wed in his wild mountain fort.
Harlow doesn’t trust Henry, but the only way to protect her family and the city of Lunameade is to figure out what his family is planning.
Cursed with a husband she can’t kill and trapped in a fort miles of vampire-infested woods from home, Harlow’s survival requires her to do the impossible: Make the man who knows she’s a killer fall in love with her anyway.
The Poison Daughter is a standalone dark fantasy romance that combines the vigilante justice for abusive men of Promising Young Woman with a romantasy arranged marriage and a dash of vampires.
October 3, 2025
Language
English
Print length
668 pages
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 