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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
To start off - this is not my normal genre at all, so I might be a little harsh. I thought the story was way longer than it needed to be and was just .... well, meh. Pretty straight forward and predictable. It didn't get grabbed enough to continue with the series.
However, I thought the narrator was fantastic. That's worth mentioning since I listened to the audiobook version.
However, I thought the narrator was fantastic. That's worth mentioning since I listened to the audiobook version.
Idk guys lots of different thoughts on this on
This is a great read for all my students whom are fond of the Twilight series. Vampires and witches, magic and mayhem. All set in post storm New Orleans.
I would like to start this review off by saying that I grew up in southern Louisiana, about 40 minutes away from New Orleans. I am going to say that this is just from my experience and that everyone else’s experience is different, so I’m not saying that I’m completely right or whatever. This is only me, talking about how I personally feel.
For one thing, near the beginning of the book our protagonist, Adele, has to go to a private school for the first time. Adele than starts talking about how she has never had to wear a school uniform before, which doesn’t make sense because uniforms are a big thing in southern Louisiana, even in public schools. I lived in Louisiana from 2005 to 2016 and I lived in several different parishes(or county's), but I have never seen a public school not have uniforms. Unless the school Adele went to specifically for some reason doesn’t have uniforms, Adele should have wore a uniform and seen them as the norm.
Another is the French thing. Most people know that Louisiana was a french colony and that some of that culture is still strong there. What a lot of people don’t know is that Cajun french and “real” french are significantly different. If you speak one, it’s going to be very hard to understand the other. The Cajun culture that developed over the years is vastly different from France's current culture.
There’s also the fact that the actual Cajun part of Louisiana is really glossed over. Large parts of this book are dedicated to France and Adele is friends with some french store owners. I’m not saying that there aren’t actually french people in New Orleans but in my experience there is so much more interesting cultures to discover. Where’s the Haitian and creole culture? I once knew a tarot card reader in New Orleans who was from Colombia. It’s not the fact that there’s a lot of French culture, it’s the fact that most of it is just the french culture, which frankly is unrealistic to New Orleans.
Also, why did Adele hang out in Bourbon Street? I’ve been quite a few times and it’s just a dirty street lined with bars and drunken tourists. It’s easily one of the least interesting parts of New Orleans if you cant drink. Wouldn’t Adele be more drawn to some of the side streets of the French quarter? With all the artists, fortune tellers and street perfumers?
(and yes I do know that none of this would be happening after a hurricane, but seriously if you’re not there to drink bourbon street is not that fun.)
I have personally had to evacuate for a hurricane and have stayed for a few and Adele’s experience with it was just so different from I remember that it’s hard to relate. Like Adele just flew away to Paris for a few months, so she didn’t have to deal with the most difficult stuff, the days right after the hurricane. Like how you have to line up for hours in the heat just to get some food and water. Or like how the food that you do get are MRE’s, ready to eat pre-packaged meals, that taste like garbage and can make you throw up. Or having the pipes in her house break, so you can’t even flush the toilet. The author does a disservice by just skipping over some of the worse parts of living after a hurricane.
I’m not going to go into detail about some of the other things that bothered me—because we could be here all day—but, the New Orleans in this book feels like a sanitized, postcard-esque shell of the real New Orleans.
Finally getting away from my New Orleans Rant, in terms of writing this book was really disjointed. Like it was somehow extremely convoluted and extremely cliche at the same time. There was so much going on all at once and yet everything that was going on felt wholly unoriginal. The author tried to mesh together a lot of New Orleans legends and folklore and personally I felt that most of it was just so...boring. In almost every situation I could predict exactly what was going to happen, it’s like the author went with the first thing she thought of that could explain everything.
I will say though, without giving away anything, that I did really like what happened with Adele’s mother. The mother's part was the most interesting and original part in my opinion and it just kinda sucks that it’s the storyline we see the least.
I know I ranted about the New Orleans stuff a lot, and those are just my personal experiences with living in Louisiana, but it was constantly taking me out of the story. And honestly, outside of complaining about how I felt New Orleans was portrayed, there is just not the much for me to talk about. The best word to describe this book is hollow. There were so many interesting concepts, yet almost everything played out in the most predictable way possible.
With such a neat premise, this book could have had so much going for it, but when it came to the execution, it fell fantastically flat.
For one thing, near the beginning of the book our protagonist, Adele, has to go to a private school for the first time. Adele than starts talking about how she has never had to wear a school uniform before, which doesn’t make sense because uniforms are a big thing in southern Louisiana, even in public schools. I lived in Louisiana from 2005 to 2016 and I lived in several different parishes(or county's), but I have never seen a public school not have uniforms. Unless the school Adele went to specifically for some reason doesn’t have uniforms, Adele should have wore a uniform and seen them as the norm.
Another is the French thing. Most people know that Louisiana was a french colony and that some of that culture is still strong there. What a lot of people don’t know is that Cajun french and “real” french are significantly different. If you speak one, it’s going to be very hard to understand the other. The Cajun culture that developed over the years is vastly different from France's current culture.
There’s also the fact that the actual Cajun part of Louisiana is really glossed over. Large parts of this book are dedicated to France and Adele is friends with some french store owners. I’m not saying that there aren’t actually french people in New Orleans but in my experience there is so much more interesting cultures to discover. Where’s the Haitian and creole culture? I once knew a tarot card reader in New Orleans who was from Colombia. It’s not the fact that there’s a lot of French culture, it’s the fact that most of it is just the french culture, which frankly is unrealistic to New Orleans.
Also, why did Adele hang out in Bourbon Street? I’ve been quite a few times and it’s just a dirty street lined with bars and drunken tourists. It’s easily one of the least interesting parts of New Orleans if you cant drink. Wouldn’t Adele be more drawn to some of the side streets of the French quarter? With all the artists, fortune tellers and street perfumers?
(and yes I do know that none of this would be happening after a hurricane, but seriously if you’re not there to drink bourbon street is not that fun.)
I have personally had to evacuate for a hurricane and have stayed for a few and Adele’s experience with it was just so different from I remember that it’s hard to relate. Like Adele just flew away to Paris for a few months, so she didn’t have to deal with the most difficult stuff, the days right after the hurricane. Like how you have to line up for hours in the heat just to get some food and water. Or like how the food that you do get are MRE’s, ready to eat pre-packaged meals, that taste like garbage and can make you throw up. Or having the pipes in her house break, so you can’t even flush the toilet. The author does a disservice by just skipping over some of the worse parts of living after a hurricane.
I’m not going to go into detail about some of the other things that bothered me—because we could be here all day—but, the New Orleans in this book feels like a sanitized, postcard-esque shell of the real New Orleans.
Finally getting away from my New Orleans Rant, in terms of writing this book was really disjointed. Like it was somehow extremely convoluted and extremely cliche at the same time. There was so much going on all at once and yet everything that was going on felt wholly unoriginal. The author tried to mesh together a lot of New Orleans legends and folklore and personally I felt that most of it was just so...boring. In almost every situation I could predict exactly what was going to happen, it’s like the author went with the first thing she thought of that could explain everything.
I will say though, without giving away anything, that I did really like what happened with Adele’s mother. The mother's part was the most interesting and original part in my opinion and it just kinda sucks that it’s the storyline we see the least.
I know I ranted about the New Orleans stuff a lot, and those are just my personal experiences with living in Louisiana, but it was constantly taking me out of the story. And honestly, outside of complaining about how I felt New Orleans was portrayed, there is just not the much for me to talk about. The best word to describe this book is hollow. There were so many interesting concepts, yet almost everything played out in the most predictable way possible.
With such a neat premise, this book could have had so much going for it, but when it came to the execution, it fell fantastically flat.
Thoroughly enjoyed this urban fantasy. I liked that New Orleans was a character in itself and Adele was a cool, quirky, and artistic lead. I also like Arden's emphasis on the importance of community. The magic was interesting and unique. I also appreciated the portrayal of Adele and Desiree's powerful, yet imperfect female friendship. Not as important as the book itself, but I love the cover artwork of this book!
I loved this book so much I really loved how it depicted vampires as monsters not just something to romance although a love interest is a vampire that is neither here or there. I loved the characters especially Adele she was at first just a girl that had finally came home for her only to end up in something she did not understand at first involving a curse and vampires she was a really well written character. I loved the plot it starts with a couple people finally coming home after a hurricane moves on to being about witches and vampires a curse involving them and the MC's ancestor I really loved how the story played out and I enjoyed reading the ending looking forward to reading more soon.
I stumbled upon this series while visiting New Orleans and fell in love! Full of witches, vodoo, ghost stories, vampires, and shapeshifters. The author pays tribute to New Orleans by combining the history and legends that make the city unique. Casquette Girls is the first with 4 books currently out in the unfinished series.
Read this if you are a fan of The Originals, Charmed, Buffy, and/or Supernatural.
Read this if you are a fan of The Originals, Charmed, Buffy, and/or Supernatural.
This one popped on Kindle unlimited, so I figured no harm, no foul, If I didn't like it, I would just turn it back in. And so I will...after reading ever page! The Casquette Girls is a riveting story. I see some folks thought it slow to start and perhaps they are right, but actually, I was fascinated to see New Orleans in the days after a massive hurricane (just called The Storm rather than date it with a specific named event...but the similarities to Katrina are evident.) How does one get a city back on its feet when the infrastructure is gone? How do the people cope?
I enjoyed getting to know the characters before life started crashing down on them. The hints are all there. Some are totally obvious, which was fine. It shouldn't come as a surprise that those gorgeous men with superhuman strength might just be vampires. But other parts of the story unfold gradually and I enjoyed the ride.
The second part of the book starts showing the back story in a series of diary entries. This story too is interesting and, again, full of clues if you want to look for them.
The book wrapped up nicely, no massive cliffhanger, but plenty of scope for a sequel...which I will, no doubt, be reading.
I enjoyed getting to know the characters before life started crashing down on them. The hints are all there. Some are totally obvious, which was fine. It shouldn't come as a surprise that those gorgeous men with superhuman strength might just be vampires. But other parts of the story unfold gradually and I enjoyed the ride.
The second part of the book starts showing the back story in a series of diary entries. This story too is interesting and, again, full of clues if you want to look for them.
The book wrapped up nicely, no massive cliffhanger, but plenty of scope for a sequel...which I will, no doubt, be reading.
This is a fascinating story that gradually becomes revealed. It is closely tied to the place - the feel of New Orleans is very evocative. At first, I wasn't sure where it was going, as there are a lot of pieces and players, and the main character is just as clueless as readers are about some critical information. It slowly builds up to a lot of action and reveals, although there remains a key missing piece at the end of the book, which I certainly hope is addressed in the sequel!