Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore

 Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholtz, 368 pages.

Violet Thistlewaite has spent her whole life as the fearsome Thornwitch, right-hand to the dark sorcerer Shadowfade. But after Shadowfade is killed by a hero, and the hero tells her to "be good," Violet has to reinvent herself. She wants to be someone better, and the town of Dragon's Rest is the perfect place to set up a flower shop and try to make up for some of the evil she did in her life. But when a mysterious blight strikes the plants of the town she will have to work with her landlord (a grumpy, but handsome, former alchemist) to save the town that is becoming her new home. 

This book was good enough, but it ended up being a strangely generic book for how unique and interesting it's premise was. The book was cute and fairly well-written, and I quite liked the supporting cast. However, I felt like the drive to preserve this cute and cozy vibe rather undercuts the frankly massive death count in Violet's backstory in a way that wasn't particularly balanced. This was a fine book, but I'm afraid it didn't quite live up to the great book it could have been.