You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
Honestly, this book just didn't have my interest. Parts of the book were okay, just at the moment it wasn't for me.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I can't remember which reviewer it was, but to paraphrase: "if this is the return of the vampire novel, I'd rather it stayed in the coffin!". Dead on. This is a string of pretty scenes with zero plot to tie them together. It's not even a serious attempt to drop Twilight into Interview With The Vampire, that might have been enjoyable (or at least ridiculous enough to be funny)...it's soulless and empty, and the characters are flatter than the paper they're written on. I do wonder how some books get the green light.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
A new universe for a familiar author, this time with vampires. I liked the main character, Celine. Her journey from France to New Orleans more than a hundred years ago was quite the adventure. She has traveled all this way to get a new start away from the bad history in France, living with nuns in a convent while the sisters attempt to find suitable matches for the girls with dubious pasts.
On her way to the convent, she sees a weird shadow drifting across the street. It's the first hint of the paranormal element. Then Celine and some of the other wayward girls from the convent get asked to sew dresses for some mysterious young woman who wants them to meet her after curfew. They get permission from the head nun, but danger lurks around the corner.
This story reminded me a little of The Historian in that it was about vampires but suffered from not enough scenes with actual vampires. The atmosphere is great, the characters and well drawn, and it was a good store. But, I could have used less wondering about the paranormal and more of actually seeing it.
On her way to the convent, she sees a weird shadow drifting across the street. It's the first hint of the paranormal element. Then Celine and some of the other wayward girls from the convent get asked to sew dresses for some mysterious young woman who wants them to meet her after curfew. They get permission from the head nun, but danger lurks around the corner.
This story reminded me a little of The Historian in that it was about vampires but suffered from not enough scenes with actual vampires. The atmosphere is great, the characters and well drawn, and it was a good store. But, I could have used less wondering about the paranormal and more of actually seeing it.
1.5 Stars
This read like the first draft of a more interesting novel.
Let's start off with the positives. I am generally a Renée Ahdieh fan. Her writing is flowery and (to a lot of people) probably overly descriptive, but I quite like that about her. She has an eye for atmosphere that certainly shines in this book, which does have that air of mystery, darkness and decadence that we would expect from Vampires in New Orleans.
As is very typical for an Ahdieh book (and don't get me wrong, this is precisely why I read her books): there is a Broody™ Love Interest, some beautiful gowns, and an ugly start to a steamy relationship.
Unfortunately, that's where my interest in this book peaked (with one VERY notable exception towards the end). Her main character, Celine, was an insufferable bore who could not stop talking about her "inner monster." This line struck me as I was reading:
It was a particularly bad attempt at writing Catholic guilt, which appears again and again and again ad nauseam. Please get a personality beyond thinking you're deep and dark and evil because you killed a man...for self-defense???
(Also, there's a scene towards the end when Sébastien tells her that he's killed countless of people without remorse and Celine dares to say that they're the same. PLEASE.)
The romance was overly tropey without any attempts at doing anything interesting with said tropes. I thought when we decided to bring back YA vampires, we would update them for 2019. Not bring back the entire genre to 2002. A lot of sighing and staring into eyes that tempt them into sin (again, more badly written Catholic guilt here). At some point, an entire conversation about a man getting murdered gets derailed because Celine and Sébastien cannot keep themselves from making out. They literally met two weeks ago. Please. Get a grip on your hormones and solve the mystery.
Speaking of the murders in this book, I know this is primarily a romance book. But when THERE'S A DEAD GIRL ON THE PAGE, I expect it to be the topic of conversation for quite a while. Ahdieh seems to think differently, however, and scene after scene post-dead-girl-discovery...had nothing to do with said dead girl. I was confused, I was bored, I wanted my time back.
The one saving grace in this novel was Nicodemus Saint Germain. Will someone please explain how he had more chemistry with Celine in his first scene on-page than Sébastien had with her for 200 pages? I know he's Sébastien's amoral immortal uncle and age gaps and all, but that's a plus and not a minus in my book. I'm on board the Nicoline ship, even if I will not be reading the sequels.
This read like the first draft of a more interesting novel.
Let's start off with the positives. I am generally a Renée Ahdieh fan. Her writing is flowery and (to a lot of people) probably overly descriptive, but I quite like that about her. She has an eye for atmosphere that certainly shines in this book, which does have that air of mystery, darkness and decadence that we would expect from Vampires in New Orleans.
As is very typical for an Ahdieh book (and don't get me wrong, this is precisely why I read her books): there is a Broody™ Love Interest, some beautiful gowns, and an ugly start to a steamy relationship.
Unfortunately, that's where my interest in this book peaked (with one VERY notable exception towards the end). Her main character, Celine, was an insufferable bore who could not stop talking about her "inner monster." This line struck me as I was reading:
But no. In the darkest of her dreams, she'd known the truth. In Celine, evil had found the perfect vessel.
It was a particularly bad attempt at writing Catholic guilt, which appears again and again and again ad nauseam. Please get a personality beyond thinking you're deep and dark and evil because you killed a man...for self-defense???
(Also, there's a scene towards the end when Sébastien tells her that he's killed countless of people without remorse and Celine dares to say that they're the same. PLEASE.)
The romance was overly tropey without any attempts at doing anything interesting with said tropes. I thought when we decided to bring back YA vampires, we would update them for 2019. Not bring back the entire genre to 2002. A lot of sighing and staring into eyes that tempt them into sin (again, more badly written Catholic guilt here). At some point, an entire conversation about a man getting murdered gets derailed because Celine and Sébastien cannot keep themselves from making out. They literally met two weeks ago. Please. Get a grip on your hormones and solve the mystery.
Speaking of the murders in this book, I know this is primarily a romance book. But when THERE'S A DEAD GIRL ON THE PAGE, I expect it to be the topic of conversation for quite a while. Ahdieh seems to think differently, however, and scene after scene post-dead-girl-discovery...had nothing to do with said dead girl. I was confused, I was bored, I wanted my time back.
The one saving grace in this novel was Nicodemus Saint Germain. Will someone please explain how he had more chemistry with Celine in his first scene on-page than Sébastien had with her for 200 pages? I know he's Sébastien's amoral immortal uncle and age gaps and all, but that's a plus and not a minus in my book. I'm on board the Nicoline ship, even if I will not be reading the sequels.
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
3.5 stars... I think?
I really enjoyed this, but the pacing, especially of the romance, felt off. I felt like the balance between plot and character was weirdly tipped in a way that I haven’t felt in Ahdieh’s other work. The way this ended left me hopeful that everything could even back out in the next book, though.
Also, there was a love triangle in this that I felt like I could have gotten really fired up about if it were executed differently. Le sigh.
I really enjoyed this, but the pacing, especially of the romance, felt off. I felt like the balance between plot and character was weirdly tipped in a way that I haven’t felt in Ahdieh’s other work. The way this ended left me hopeful that everything could even back out in the next book, though.
Also, there was a love triangle in this that I felt like I could have gotten really fired up about if it were executed differently. Le sigh.
