Review: Toxic Heart by Theo Lawrence

Title: Toxic Heart
Author: Theo Lawrence
Series: Mystic City #2
Genre: YA/Dystopia/Science Fiction/Romance
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: April 8th 2014
Edition: Hardcover, 368 pages
Source: Purchase
Purchase: Amazon US | Kobo | Barnes and Noble | Book Depository | iBooks | BAM

Synopsis:

A city in flames. A trust betrayed. A perfect love destroyed. Has Aria lost Hunter, her one true love?

     Ever since rebellion broke out in Mystic City, pitting the ruling elite against the magic-wielding mystics, Aria has barely seen her boyfriend. Not surprising, since Hunter is the leader of the mystic uprising, and he'll do whatever it takes to win freedom for his people—even if that means using Aria.

     But Aria is no one's pawn. She believes she can bring the two warring sides together, save the city, and win back the Hunter she fell in love with.

     Before she can play peacemaker, though, Aria will need to find the missing heart of a dead mystic. The heart gives untold powers to whoever possesses it, but finding it means seeking out a fierce enemy whose deepest desire is for Aria to be gone—forever. 

Review:

It's been about a year since I read the first book. I enjoyed that book but at the same time, it almost seemed like a whole lot of nothing happened in that book. It felt that way sometimes, that it was taking too long for things to start happening.

Anyways, this book starts off with a lot more action, and Aria is really starting to take initiative in being an active part of the rebellion, and getting equality for all. She still makes some rash and stupid decisions, but that tends to happen a lot when your MC is 16-17 years old.

I never really liked Hunter in the first book, the romance seemed pretty forced, but that might've had more to do with Aria having no memories of Hunter for most of the first book. Those kinds of stories are tricky to do with out being a little cliche. But in this book he was kind of a dick. Yeah, he lost someone but that's no excuse for what he did.
There were a few characters added to this book, and one of them I was not a fan of hers. She just always went out of her way to be mean or hateful towards Aria. It kind of felt like a pointless thing to add to the story. It wouldn't have been that bad if it was more obvious as to why she was hateful towards her, besides the fact that none of the Mystics were fans of Aria's family.

I am really glad to say that there ins't any kind of live triangle in this book, there's a hinting at an attraction from another character but it never goes further than that.
The ending of this book was pretty intense, and I am really looking forward to the third book, when ever that comes out. Right now there's not even a cover.