Review: Assassin's Heart by Sarah Ahiers

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***I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my opinion. The review below reflects my open and honest thoughts.***

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In the kingdom of Lovero, nine rival Families of assassins lawfully kill people for a price. As a highly skilled member of one of these powerful clans, seventeen-year-old Lea Saldana has always trusted in the strength of her Family. Until she awakens to find them murdered and her home in flames. The Da Vias, the Saldanas’ biggest enemy, must be responsible—and Lea should have seen it coming. But her secret relationship with the Da Vias’ son, Val, has clouded her otherwise killer instinct—and given the Da Vias more reason than ever to take her Family down.


Racked with guilt and shattered over Val’s probable betrayal, Lea sets out to even the score, with her heart set on retaliation and only one thought clear in her mind: make the Da Vias pay.

With shades of The Godfather and Romeo and Juliet, this richly imagined fantasy from debut author Sarah Ahiers is a story of love, lies, and the ultimate vengeance.

My Thoughts:

I love assassins. Maybe that makes me a little messed up in the head. I wish I could be an assassin. That probably makes me a lot more messed up in the head. I don't actually want to kill someone. I just want to be badass enough that I could if I needed to? Does that sound normal? Probs not, but since when have I ever been normal. So any book with the word Assassin in the title is going to grab my attention. 

I really enjoyed the religious aspect of this book. 

Basically these assassins are doling out this one god's justice for her. It reminded me of Grave Mercy, a book I love so I was immediately hooked on the idea of religion being the purpose of the deaths. I also loved that the assassins were highly esteemed. People were afraid of them, but they also respected them. 

The crime-mob family feeling was interesting.

So all the assassins are a member of a different Family. And yes, the F is capitalized for a reason. You have your family and then you have your Family. And Family comes before family. This was very mob-esque and I loved the loyalty and the rivalries between the families. It gave the book that extra feeling of danger. 

The plot line was interesting, albeit a bit slow. 

Basic gist of the story: the main character's Family is completely wiped out by a rival Family. She escapes and goes into hiding. Her ultimate goal is to find her long lost uncle and get him to help her seek revenge against the Family who destroyed hers. The plot line was interesting, but it was really slow paced. I found myself unable to get into the story. I would read for a bit, put it down and then have no motivation to pick it up again and that's what killed my rating of this book. 

The characters were meh.

I didn't dislike the characters. In fact I liked them. I thought they had depth. But I didn't love them. I didn't connect with them. When there was an intense fight scene, I wasn't on the edge of my seat praying that my darlings made it out. They were enjoyable to read about, but they were just characters on a page to me. They never came to life. 

Assassin's Heart was an okay story, but I probably wouldn't recommend it.

In the sea of fantasy books popping up in the YA market, I don't think this one stands out. Although it wasn't terrible and I did enjoy it for the most part, I didn't love it enough to want to continue with the series. 

Have you read this book yet? Did you find the plot to be slow? Did you feel more connected to the characters than I did? What was your favorite aspect? Mine was definitely the religion.