Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered a reprieve. She'll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace, and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia. And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly's Dust, and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison. As Yelena tries to escape her dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and she develops magical powers she can't control. Her life’s at stake again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren’t so clear! 

Yelena, Valek and all the characters had such a personality it was hard to decide who I liked best. The story is unique and twisting and as you see the love interests unfold you are immediately rooting for the man in Yelena’s life. The cook was a fun character as the magicians from the south and the two guards who made it their personal mission to guard the food taster. Food tasters usually do not have many friends given the life expectancy. No reason liking someone who will fall down dead at a table sometime in the near future.

The training of a food taster really surprised me. She was forced to sample a lot of different poisons so that she could recognize them in the Commander's meals, some of which leave her so ill she's incoherent for days. And even if she survives her training, there's a good possibility she won't survive a plot to murder the Commander.

What would you choose... A quick death, or slow poison?