Hello, bookworms!
I can't believe the first month of 2023 has already ended. In my yearly goals I said I wanted to read less, but I actually ended up reading a lot nonetheless, because I was picking up lots of quick books, and lots of books I wanted to know the end of. Nevertheless, I still managed to watch some movies and TV shows, and even do some journaling and hang out with friends, so I consider this month a winning one, as far as hobbies are concerned.
Sadly, today we are here to review a book I did not like, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi. It was one of my most anticipated releases of the year, and I was so excited to have the chance to read an e-ARC for it before publication date…
But without any more spoilers, let's get this review started.
Disclaimer
I received an e-ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review via Netgalley; this does not affect my rating nor my opinions in any way. Everything you'll find in this review is what I actually think and it wasn't influenced by anyone. Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read and review this book.
About the book
Title: The Last Tale of the Flower Bride
Author: Roshani Chokshi
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Publication date: February 16, 2023
Pages: 304
Plot, as stated on 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 rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Review
The only reason why I am giving this book 2 and not 1 star is because the writing was stunning. Other than that, it was definitely not a book for me, and not what I was expecting. I can see why other early readers are loving this, but it felt like tortutre to me, to be honest.
My main issues with the book lie with the characters and the plot, or lack thereof. I did not care for a single one of the characters, they didn't feel flashed out enough, and maybe that was the whole point, making them feel a bit fairytalesque, but it just wasn't what I enjoy in books. There were two different points of view, but the voice felt always the same, I could not tell them apart and they just felt very repetitive, even if they were set in two different timelines and different things were happening. It just felt very dragging, I wanna say.
Also, the plot was supremely basic. I have no idea if the twist at the end was supposed to be shocking, because I could have told you what had happened the moment a certain storyline was introduced. It was so extremely obvious to me, I think it will be for everyone. If you've read the book, please do let me know if you found the reveal surprising, I need to know.
Moreover, please don't be tricked by the blurb. This is not a "darkly romantic page-turner"; all the relationships in the book felt extremely toxic to me, and I wouldn't ever call them romantic. I know dark romance is a thing — which I don't understand, honestly — but in this case there was no romance, and there were just toxic dynamics. And I am not saying this to judge the author, because she actually does a great job at making you feel that they are toxic and not right, I am just saying not to trust blurbs and synopsis for this one.
As I said, the writing style is the only redeeming factor about this book. It's very different from both books I've read by Chokshi — The Gilded Wolves and Aru Shah and the End of Time — but you can still tell it's the same author. I really liked the dream-like quality of the craft, it felt really fitting with the book and the inspiration behind it. People have been comparing this book to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, but in my opinion it was more like The Starless Sea, writing wise, especially given that both these titles deal with stories and the power of storytelling itself. Which is why I though I was gonna love Flower Bride.
Unfortunately, this was a huge disappointment to me, but I would still recommend it to people who really like that no plot just vibes thing and like toxic relationships, stories and magical realism. Now that I think about it, the reason why I think I ended up not liking this book is because it really read like a magical realism novel, and I have been known not to vibe with them. I literally just occurred to me while writing this. So, if you are a fan of Isabel Allende and The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina, maybe this is the book for you!
This is going to be all for today, I will talk to you soon with a brand new Romancing the Reader review.
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