Week 17 Review: The Last Tale of the Flower Bride

From Goodreads:

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.

My Review:
I had such a fantastic time reading this book! I really enjoy her writing, but this is her first book for adults, and I was interested to see what it was going to be like. And it was pretty great and if she writes more, I'll definitely read them! 

All her YA books to this point (at least that I've read and I think I've read all of them) and probably her middle grade books, are fantasy or have fantastical elements. This was set in the present, with very vivid imaginations, that brought to life some fantasy elements, but I don't think it was real, the house wasn't alive. It just felt like that, with the atmosphere. 

Basically this book is a modern fairy tale, with a rich heir, her poor friend, and, years later, the bridegroom. I really enjoyed how this story was told, between his perspective and hers, to find out what happened so long ago.

There's the mystery of what happened to Azure, and there was the story of these two girls who were convinced that they were fae, but had been left as changelings, and were doing the best to get back to the fae realm. It was all so good, and the way it came together was fantastic! I loved how it wrapped up! 

This was such a wonderful story and I can't wait to read more by Roshani Chokshi! 

Author: Roshani Chokshi
Read: April 28th, 2023
Source: Ebook.bike
Reason Why: Love her writing and this series, and it's a SAC 2023 Book and a WoW Book! 
Publisher: William Morrow
Published: February 14th 2023

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars