Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
Released: 16th of February 2023
A sumptuous, gothic-infused story about a marriage that is unraveled by dark secrets, a friendship cursed to end in tragedy, and the danger of believing in fairy tales—the breathtaking adult debut from New York Times bestselling author Roshani Chokshi.
Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada. He was a scholar of myths. She was heiress to a fortune. They exchanged gifts and stories and believed they would live happily ever after—and in exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past.
But when Indigo learns that her estranged aunt is dying and the couple is forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, the bridegroom will soon find himself unable to resist. For within the crumbling manor’s extravagant rooms and musty halls, there lurks the shadow of another girl: Azure, Indigo’s dearest childhood friend who suddenly disappeared. As the house slowly reveals his wife’s secrets, the bridegroom will be forced to choose between reality and fantasy, even if doing so threatens to destroy their marriage . . . or their lives.
Combining the lush, haunting atmosphere of Mexican Gothic with the dreamy enchantment of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a spellbinding and darkly romantic page-turner about love and lies, secrets and betrayal, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.
TW: blood, violence, gore, animal death, paedophilia, harassment, child abuse, death, forced starvation, forced self-harm
What I Have to Say
I enjoyed this book for the most part, but do not go into it without reading the trigger warnings. This is not a book to go into with preparing yourself for what you have to face.
As usual, I loved the fairy tale aspect of the book. I loved the Azure chapters and I loved the constant metaphors that the main character made between the mythology and fairy tales he knew and the events of the stories. It was perfect. It led to a general vibe of the mysterious and fantastical.
However this vibe was not always there and when it wasn't, the book kind of fell flat. Before the Azure chapters started, I was honestly a bit bored. I hadn't warmed to the story yet and I was impatient for the story to start. I also found it went away at the end when the characters had to return to reality as it were.
It was only really the first half an hour of reading and the last half an hour though, other than that the book was fantastic.
(4 stars)
My thanks go to Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton for providing me with this copy for review.
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