A woman whose kiss kills every man she touches, until it doesn’t. If that premise doesn’t immediately make you want to drop everything and read this book, I genuinely don’t know what to tell you.
Hulu is developing a drama series based on The Poison Daughter, Sheila Masterson’s dark enemies-to-lovers romantasy novel, with 20th Television producing. The author is set to executive produce the adaptation, which is currently looking for a writer.
The announcement dropped this week, and the romantasy corner of the internet has been absolutely buzzing ever since.
Who Is Sheila Masterson?
Sheila Masterson is living proof that you don’t need a traditional publishing deal to build a devoted readership or to catch Hollywood’s attention.
Masterson is the USA Today bestselling author of The Poison Daughter, a dark enemies-to-lovers romantasy standalone about a vigilante who uses her poison kiss to take revenge on abusive men in her community until she’s unwittingly thrust into an arranged marriage with the only man immune to her magic.
Her other works include the gothic fairy tale fantasy romance Song of the Dark Wood, the angsty epic romantasy quartet The Lost God Series, and its next-generation standalone spinoff, A Legacy of Stars.
When she’s not writing fantasy romance or stabbing beloved side characters, you can find her dreaming up new ways to make her readers cry, drinking fancy cocktails with friends, or curled up reading books and tarot.
She lives outside Philadelphia with a small army of under-watered houseplants that survive out of spite.
The Viral Book That Started It All
Self-published in October 2025, The Poison Daughter went viral, selling more than 250,000 copies and hitting the USA Today Bestseller list three times before it was acquired by Slowburn in April 2026.
The novel now has hardcover and audiobook editions set to be released in the U.S. and U.K. on August 18, 2026, alongside translations into 20 languages.
With over 100 million Kindle Unlimited page reads, more than 17,000 Amazon ratings, and over 34,000 Goodreads ratings, this book has been hotly anticipated by readers everywhere.
What Is The Poison Daughter About?
Here’s the official synopsis of the book:
Every person Harlow Carrenwell kisses dies immediately, and that’s the way she likes it. The poison-lipped youngest daughter of Lunameade’s magical founding family has used her power to annihilate their opposition.
Her first husband is in the ground. Her new betrothed is next. But the merry widow has a secret.
When she’s not acting as an assassin at her parents’ whims, she moonlights as a vigilante for abused women in their walled-off city.
Meet a man. Lure him in. Kill him with a kiss. Until one night Harlow kisses a mark and he doesn’t die.
Worse, her invincible partner in passion is her new betrothed, Henry Havenwood, and now he knows about her double life. Instead of selling her out and bringing the rival families to blows, he does something much more sinister — whisks her away to wed in his wild mountain fort.
Harlow is the kind of heroine that readers have been going absolutely feral over, and honestly, it makes complete sense. She is relatable, fiercely strong, and relentlessly driven. Moreover, her love and need to protect her sister Aidia from her abusive husband is the driving force behind everything she does.
What follows is a delicious battle of wits, with both characters trying to outsmart the other. They’re fighting for the same thing, just from opposite sides of the fence.
What About Hulu’s The Poison Daughter TV Series?
The series is very much in its earliest stages, which means we have quite a bit of waiting to do.
The adaptation is currently looking for a writer, and no director or cast has been announced. Given the development timeline typical of projects like this, a premiere date of 2028 at the earliest feels realistic, though nothing is confirmed.
It is worth noting that Hulu has a complicated history with romantasy adaptations. The platform’s long-running attempt to bring A Court of Thorns and Roses to the screen ultimately fell apart after years in development.
That history is not irrelevant, but neither is Hulu’s track record with prestige drama more broadly. The Handmaid’s Tale, Normal People, and We Were the Lucky Ones are all reminders of what the platform can do when a project finds the right team.
Masterson herself shared the news on Instagram and said she was “over the moon” about the adaptation. Her involvement as executive producer means the creative choices will have the author’s eye on them, which, for a story this specific in its tone and its heroine, matters enormously.
The romantasy wave continues to build as Fourth Wing is in development at Prime Video, and the genre shows no signs of slowing down. The Poison Daughter joining the conversation is a very welcome addition.
You Have Until the Premiere to Read It!
Here’s some good news for you, my dear bookworm: The Poison Daughter is a standalone, meaning that there’s no series to catch up on, no cliffhanger demanding a sequel before you feel satisfied.
It’s just one complete, dark, twisty story with a heroine who kills with a kiss and a hero who really, really shouldn’t have survived.
Read it now, while the Hulu series is still in development and Harlow and Henry live only on the page. The world Masterson built in Lunameade—its walled cities, its monsters in the woods, its Seven Divine gods, its politics of poison and power—deserves to live in your imagination before anyone else gets to interpret it.
By the time casting is announced, you’ll want to have opinions. And trust me, you will.
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