Amber and I are BACK this August for a fun new readalong! We're about to start our monthly discussion for our July YA book, Garden Of The Cursed by Katy Rose Pool!
As a reminder, from now on, our monthly discussions will be both here on the OwlCrate blog AND on The Nest! Go check out Amber's discussion that will be full of fun extras like bookish charades, shelf scavenger hunts and coloring pages!
On each day we'll read a section of Garden Of The Cursed both on the blog and in The Nest's group, and then discuss in the comments our theories and predictions. This means there will be spoilers for each section! Beware!
Just a reminder that this will be a SPOILER discussion for chapters 13-15 of Garden Of The Cursed, so make sure you read or are finished this section before continuing.
Move over Silver In The Bone and Divine Rivals, this may be my new favorite YA fantasy this year - shhhhhh
Chapter Thirteen:
The woman presses Marlow about her mother, insisting that Marlow must know something about her mother's location, but Marlow does not and suggests that she cast a truth spell on her. The woman hesitates but disappears once she hears someone is coming.
It's Adrius and Marlow asks him to cut her down with the knife she keeps in her garter. Adrius obliges and Marlow returns to the party to look for the woman.
She finds her playing cards with a few other nobles and joins the group. Marlow learns the woman's name - Viatriz and asks Marlow if she's seen the play, suggesting that she goes to the matinee the next day.
Marlow loses the game and is then cornered by Silvan Vale who tells her to stay away from Adrius. They argue and Silvan tells her that Adrius has become bored with her because Adrius is across the room at the party...kissing another girl.
Marlow leaves and runs into Hendrix who offers to take her home. Marlow declines and takes a cable car instead.
Chapter Fourteen:
Marlow goes to the theatre for the matinee and speaks to Viatriz in a private box. They discuss Marlow's mother who was hired to steal the spellbook from Falconrest Library for Viatriz.
Viatriz asks Marlow what she thinks the world would be like if the Five Families weren't the ones in power, but if power was shared and people could practice magic or make their own spells.
Marlow isn't convinced but Viatriz asks her to spy for her. Marlow declines the offer but Viatriz tells Marlow where she can be found if she changes her mind.
After the play, two Copperhead gang members are waiting for Marlow outside the theatre. They threaten her but Adrius shows up and punches one of them, telling them to leave.
Adrius explains that the curse made him kiss Cerise because she demanded he do so on a dare and that someone bet her to, likely it was Amara. Marlow worries that Amara may know about the Compulsion Curse so she tells Adrius they're going to see her. 
Chapter Fifteen:
Marlow and Adrius go to the club and she confronts Amara and her friends, demanding to know who dared Cerise to kiss Adrius. Marlow talks to Cerise and Gemma, and learns that Adrius defended Marlow when she disappeared from Evergarden and that Hendrix had been making crude jokes when he did so.
Marlow considers that the person who dared Cerise to kiss Adrius wasn't trying to humiliate her, that they were trying to humiliate Adrius. All of a sudden, Marlow hears Adrius begin talking to the crowd and she realizes he's acting under his Compulsion Curse.
He tells the crowd about how Amara isn't in love with her fiance and that she's in love with Gemma instead. Marlow notices that the one person who does not look shocked is Hendrix, who looks very happy instead.
The crowd then asks Adrius why he is dating Marlow and he almost admits why before Amara tells him to shut up.
Hendrix finds and asks Marlow if they can talk. He admits that he's noticed that giving Adrius suggestions will result in him doing what he's asked. Hendrix then tells Marlow that Adrius doesn't deserve her and Marlow accuses him of casting the curse.
Hendrix admits to Marlow that didn't, but that he overheard Amara and Silvan speaking. Amara brought up concerns to Silvan that Adrius had been acting odd, and Silvan told her not to worry about it - aggressively.
After that Hendrix decides to test the spell on Adrius by asking Cerise to kiss him, and is adamant that Adrius deserved it. Marlow interrupts Hendrix and threatens him by telling him to not speak of the curse to anyone.
Marlow finds Adrius and tells him to be careful around Silvan. Adrius disagrees because Silvan is his best friend. They then argue before Adrius interrupts her to remind Marlow that they need to get back together to keep up appearances. Adrius apologizes to her, but Marlow feels overwhelmed and runs.
She runs into Gemma who is upset about Adrius's comments and they decide to get drunk together. They drink and dance until Adrius finds her and sweeps Marlow into a dance before suggesting that he take her home.
They board a private boat and Adrius takes her home. He helps her get dressed into sleep clothes and puts her to bed. 
Well that was three whole chapters of "will they or wont' they" lol...
Questions:
-
💋What did you think of Adrius kissing Cerise? -
💭What do you think of the Black Orchid's ideology? -
💏 💖 Well, i think we all saw it coming about Marlow and Adrius having feelings for one another. Do you think they are going to be able to sort it out?Never miss a box! Subscribe to OwlCrate today with code OCBLOG15 to save 15% on a new subscription!
