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3.27 AVERAGE
3.27 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
dark
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I have really mixed thoughts on this one. The writing was beautiful, lots of lovely sentences and visceral metaphors. There’s a blending of Phantom of the Opera and Beauty & the Beast and Hades & Persephone in the plot. But the first 40-45% of the book doesn’t technically have any fantasy elements, and when the fantasy elements finally DO show up, it’s unclear to the reader if the main character is dreaming, drugged, or hallucinating. So that made it difficult to set expectations. I also had confusion on the magic system. Overall, I came away with a sense of disquiet.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Gaslighting
Minor: Eating disorder, Gun violence
Thank you to the publisher, Del Rey snd NetGalley for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.
I finished the book early this morning and am torn between 3 stars to 4. I enjoyed the story overall. But I didn’t really get the Beauty and the Beast aspect of it other than the fact that our main character, Grace was send to live with someone against her will. Every time Master La Rosa was referred to as a beast, I felt it was a bit forced to further make that comparison between Beauty and the Beast and this story. I’d probably likened him more to a monster than a beast. The story had more of a Hades and Persephone meets Phantom of the Opera vibe rather than a B&B vibe.
The book doesn’t have romance as a descriptor on Goodreads and it makes sense as there wasn’t much romance between the Master and Grace. I would have enjoyed seeing their relationship develop more throughout the story.
I did find myself racing to the end to find out where the story world go. but I tried to finish it after a long day at theme parks and a long drive home and late at night so maybe that’s why the ending was a bit confusing to me? I May have to go back to reread it again.
The first half of the book did have a lot of descriptions but it felt excessive. One or two sentences would have been fine but sometimes I felt like it dragged on. I only noticed this in the first half of the book. Writing style over all was very pretty.
An enjoyable read that I feel could be even better with additional editing before publication.
I finished the book early this morning and am torn between 3 stars to 4. I enjoyed the story overall. But I didn’t really get the Beauty and the Beast aspect of it other than the fact that our main character, Grace was send to live with someone against her will. Every time Master La Rosa was referred to as a beast, I felt it was a bit forced to further make that comparison between Beauty and the Beast and this story. I’d probably likened him more to a monster than a beast. The story had more of a Hades and Persephone meets Phantom of the Opera vibe rather than a B&B vibe.
The book doesn’t have romance as a descriptor on Goodreads and it makes sense as there wasn’t much romance between the Master and Grace. I would have enjoyed seeing their relationship develop more throughout the story.
I did find myself racing to the end to find out where the story world go. but I tried to finish it after a long day at theme parks and a long drive home and late at night so maybe that’s why the ending was a bit confusing to me? I May have to go back to reread it again.
The first half of the book did have a lot of descriptions but it felt excessive. One or two sentences would have been fine but sometimes I felt like it dragged on. I only noticed this in the first half of the book. Writing style over all was very pretty.
An enjoyable read that I feel could be even better with additional editing before publication.
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Nocturne takes place in 1930s Chicago, and it has all of the atmospheric presence you’d expect a book set in this time and place to have!
Some things I enjoyed:
🩰 This feels very much like a Beauty and the Beast type story, with all the tragedy and whimsical mystery and infuriating trauma of the original story.
🩰 The artistic expression (both through music and dance) was quite lovely!
🩰 Parts of the book kind of felt like a delicious fever dream, like the ballroom scenes from the movie Labyrinth or the book Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.
Some things I didn’t:
🩰 I picked up this arc because it sounded so whimsical, but it has a lot of those dark romance vibes, and that’s definitely not my kind of book. I think that maybe I wasn’t the target audience for it, and that’s okay! Dark romance just isn’t for me.
🩰 I was torn on the prose. Much of it was beautiful and evocative, but it did feel like there were overly-drawn out descriptions and larger-than-necessary words used in places where simplicity may have been better for the story.
🩰 The ending felt a bit confusing, and it went from feeling like a Beauty and the Beast retelling to some sort of Phantom of the Opera situation, but more tumultuous and macabre. It didn’t feel in sync with the rest of the book, though I can’t really put my finger on why.
Overall I thought it was a decent story even though it wasn’t really my style. If you’re into dark romance retellings, you’ll probably enjoy it!
Thanks to Del Rey and Netgalley for the advanced copy!
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced