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3.15 AVERAGE
3.15 AVERAGE
"At home, I have a poster on my wall of a rose that's bleeding. Its petals are white, and red liquid oozes from it's heart, thick and glistening warm. Only, if you look very close, you can see the droplets are coming from above, where a little girl's wrist-camouflaged by a cluster of leaves-has been pricked by thorns as she reached inside to catch a monarch." -RoseBlood, A.G. Howard (pg. 1)
The Characters
Rune Germain: Oh my goodness, I love her so much. I loved her character growth through the story, it was just phenomenal. Damn, I love her. I went into the story with a careful eye on Rune because a friend of mine that recommended me the book said she reminded him of me. I wanted to see what it might be that did and kept an eye out for her. Let's just say, I ended up loving her.
Etalon 'Thorn' Laurent: Oh my goodness, my baby! I love him so much, probably even more than I loved Rune. I fell in love with him the first time we got to actual meet/see (whatever you want to say) him and my love only grew for him from there. He is a character that was beautifully written and the character development was absolutely amazing. I want him to be my maestro.
Erik: I have conflicted feelings for Erik. I like him most of the time and he is a fantastically written character but some of the actions that he does sometimes make me want to hit him over the head with a Stradivarius violin (those that have read the book: see what I did there?). Overall I do love the character, mostly.
Diable: Oh my goodness, I love that cat. I am not a cat person by damn did I love this cat. I want a cat like him, except maybe in dog form.
Aunt Charlotte: I was suspicious of her in the beginning. And the middle. Really I was suspicious of her until the end of the book. But anyways, I did enjoy reading about her.
Sunflower 'Sunny' Summers: I liked Sunny, she is a good friend to Rune and she is also really fun to read about. I love her accent.
Jackson 'Jax' Reynolds: Jax is a cool dude, I really liked him. He was also a good friend to Rune as well. I'm glad that him and Audrey go together in the end.
Katarina 'Kat : I honestly thought that she would have a bit bigger of a role in the story, but I am just fine with how much she was apart of the series.
Quan: We didn't see a whole lot of him, but what we did see, he was great in. I love him, he is absolutely hilarious too.
Audrey Mirlo: Audrey was amazing. Audrey had a goal that she was striving towards and she was going to go after it no matter whatand she did reach that goal and got the part. I am also glad that she got together with Jax (I ship it!) .
Other Characters: The teachers were all pretty cool and well written. Professor Tomlin I was shocked about by the end and same goes for Professor Bouchard. Jippetto was alright too.
Synopsis
The Plot: I love the plot. It was put together phenomenally. I love The Phantom of the Opera and I loved being able to read a book based on it.
The Ending: Great, the ending was great. Enough said.I would love to have a novella or something where we get to read about Rune and Etalon living in Paris together and everything. Etalon meeting Rune's family and friends and how Etalon is adjusting to live above ground and without a mask.
What I Loved: Everything. absolutely everything. I could go into everything that I loved about this book, but then we would be here all day so i am just going to leave it at everything.
What I Didn't Love: I loved everything, there wasn't anything that I didn't love about it. Except maybe the fact that I don't own my own copy of the book just yet.
Final Thoughts: Damn, I love this book. It got me out of my reading slump and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of the book to be able to put on my bookshelves and I can't wait to maybe revisit it in the future. This book as also gotten me obsessed with The Phantom of the Opera, I have been singing the songs all day, I am probably not cut out to be an opera singer, but oh well.
Final Rating: 5/5 stars no doubt.
The Characters
Rune Germain: Oh my goodness, I love her so much. I loved her character growth through the story, it was just phenomenal. Damn, I love her. I went into the story with a careful eye on Rune because a friend of mine that recommended me the book said she reminded him of me. I wanted to see what it might be that did and kept an eye out for her. Let's just say, I ended up loving her.
Etalon 'Thorn' Laurent: Oh my goodness, my baby! I love him so much, probably even more than I loved Rune. I fell in love with him the first time we got to actual meet/see (whatever you want to say) him and my love only grew for him from there. He is a character that was beautifully written and the character development was absolutely amazing. I want him to be my maestro.
Erik: I have conflicted feelings for Erik. I like him most of the time and he is a fantastically written character but some of the actions that he does sometimes make me want to hit him over the head with a Stradivarius violin (those that have read the book: see what I did there?). Overall I do love the character, mostly.
Diable: Oh my goodness, I love that cat. I am not a cat person by damn did I love this cat. I want a cat like him, except maybe in dog form.
Aunt Charlotte: I was suspicious of her in the beginning. And the middle. Really I was suspicious of her until the end of the book. But anyways, I did enjoy reading about her.
Sunflower 'Sunny' Summers: I liked Sunny, she is a good friend to Rune and she is also really fun to read about. I love her accent.
Jackson 'Jax' Reynolds: Jax is a cool dude, I really liked him. He was also a good friend to Rune as well.
Katarina 'Kat : I honestly thought that she would have a bit bigger of a role in the story, but I am just fine with how much she was apart of the series.
Quan: We didn't see a whole lot of him, but what we did see, he was great in. I love him, he is absolutely hilarious too.
Audrey Mirlo: Audrey was amazing. Audrey had a goal that she was striving towards and she was going to go after it no matter what
Other Characters: The teachers were all pretty cool and well written. Professor Tomlin I was shocked about by the end and same goes for Professor Bouchard. Jippetto was alright too.
Synopsis
The Plot: I love the plot. It was put together phenomenally. I love The Phantom of the Opera and I loved being able to read a book based on it.
The Ending: Great, the ending was great. Enough said.
What I Loved: Everything. absolutely everything. I could go into everything that I loved about this book, but then we would be here all day so i am just going to leave it at everything.
What I Didn't Love: I loved everything, there wasn't anything that I didn't love about it. Except maybe the fact that I don't own my own copy of the book just yet.
Final Thoughts: Damn, I love this book. It got me out of my reading slump and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of the book to be able to put on my bookshelves and I can't wait to maybe revisit it in the future. This book as also gotten me obsessed with The Phantom of the Opera, I have been singing the songs all day, I am probably not cut out to be an opera singer, but oh well.
Final Rating: 5/5 stars no doubt.
I was so excited to read this and sadly it fell flat for me. Whilst I liked parts of the book there were several key things changed that ruined it for me and it became a bit of a ya trope-filled mess.
Alright... so this one seems to have gotten some mixed reviews in the past, and to be honest, it sat on my shelf because of that for a long long time.
I am a huge Phantom fan. I love the musical... the book, the story... even the movies. I've seen it on stage, on Broadway and off... So I had high, very high, expectations.
And to be honest, I really enjoyed this story.
It's new and different. Exactly what a re-imagining of a well-known story should be. This is not the same old Phantom... and yet, it could have been the continuation... maybe...
I won't spoil the big twist for this book, so I can't go into too much detail... but if you want to chat about it, I'm always up for that!
Anyway, Rune surprised me as a great character. At first, I was sure I was going to hate her introverted nature because she seemed too inward... but slowly, she starts to find her stride at the new school, RoseBlood... even her past starts to click into place, and her worries are slowly answered, and then conquered throughout the book. And for that, I appreciated the story so much more.
Then there is the Phantom... well sort of...
Thorn, the masked man who accidentally/on purpose spooks, Rune on her first day at school starts to walk Rune through the struggles she has, all while sharing his own past with her. His character develops and becomes more and more complex in a way I never expected...
And then there are all the students at RoseBlood, and their focus on music, singing, and how to get the careers of their dreams... it felt very high school, in all the right ways. As a choir geek in high school and college, I could totally picture each one of the friends, and frenemies Rune makes throughout her time at RoseBlood.
Around the halfway point of the story, the plot started to speed up, and I was so worried about the ending... and the twists kept coming... and I got sucked in. So if you are on the fence, I'd suggest picking this one up. It might surprise you.
I am a huge Phantom fan. I love the musical... the book, the story... even the movies. I've seen it on stage, on Broadway and off... So I had high, very high, expectations.
And to be honest, I really enjoyed this story.
It's new and different. Exactly what a re-imagining of a well-known story should be. This is not the same old Phantom... and yet, it could have been the continuation... maybe...
I won't spoil the big twist for this book, so I can't go into too much detail... but if you want to chat about it, I'm always up for that!
Anyway, Rune surprised me as a great character. At first, I was sure I was going to hate her introverted nature because she seemed too inward... but slowly, she starts to find her stride at the new school, RoseBlood... even her past starts to click into place, and her worries are slowly answered, and then conquered throughout the book. And for that, I appreciated the story so much more.
Then there is the Phantom... well sort of...
Thorn, the masked man who accidentally/on purpose spooks, Rune on her first day at school starts to walk Rune through the struggles she has, all while sharing his own past with her. His character develops and becomes more and more complex in a way I never expected...
And then there are all the students at RoseBlood, and their focus on music, singing, and how to get the careers of their dreams... it felt very high school, in all the right ways. As a choir geek in high school and college, I could totally picture each one of the friends, and frenemies Rune makes throughout her time at RoseBlood.
Around the halfway point of the story, the plot started to speed up, and I was so worried about the ending... and the twists kept coming... and I got sucked in. So if you are on the fence, I'd suggest picking this one up. It might surprise you.
I DNFed this book at 65%. It was not engaging me unfortunately (which is annoying, I really wanted to like it!), and I struggled with the switch from first person to third person. To me it felt like it was too long for what it was??? It's well written, but not very well plotted. Ultimately, though, I just couldn't get through it, and now have to return it to the library. I hate not finishing books, but I'm afraid that this is one of them.
No rating because I feel bad about not finishing it, and I don't like rating things I haven't finished. Who knows - maybe the ending is fabulous and I'll love it! But I'm really not going to make it there, sorry :(
No rating because I feel bad about not finishing it, and I don't like rating things I haven't finished. Who knows - maybe the ending is fabulous and I'll love it! But I'm really not going to make it there, sorry :(
I think I would have liked this book a lot more ten years ago. It felt a bit too juvenile, particularly since the protagonist was 17.
Pretty good for a book I probably would have never bought for myself.
I was in the mood for an instalove romance and that's what I got. I did enjoy it. Thinking critically though... this book was all "tell" and little "show". The first bit of the book I wished the author had chosen to let us know these details as they occurred instead of in a big lump of exposition. Also she uses a racial slur throughout and maybe she didn't know that it is one? but editors should have.
Sigh. I'm not really sure what to say about this.
I was so excited for this book when A.G. Howard announced that she was writing a PotO-retelling. I suppose that I should have been a little more wary, though, considering the style of her Splintered series. I liked Splintered and the "weird"ness of it fit with the crazy nature of a Wonderland retelling, but it doesn't really work with a Phantom retelling. Often I found the writing to be over-convoluted, so much so that I would just have to skim because there were so many parts that felt unnecessary.
Also, can we please talk about the twist? Why psychic vampires? Why vampires at all? Did Miss Howard just really want to set this in the modern-day, and for that she needed to give Erik some sort of immortality? While true, the idea of vampires would suit a gothic story like Phantom, there was something off about the way it was executed. The concept of psychic vampires was too whimsical for me and I just couldn't take the book seriously.
The romance was bland. That tends to be the problem when you have thesoulmates trope. Who needs genuine connection, anyways? Thorn had an interesting backstory but was a fairly boring character. Rune (what leads a parent to name his/her child "Rune"?) too was flat. There were no stakes with this romance, and no chemistry. I'm not particularly upset that the romance was between Rune and the Phantom's adopted son (t'would be awkward to read an Erik/not-Christine story), but the execution was just so poor. It's a story of beauty and the... beauty? Thorn is pretty, but "beastly" inside. I use quotes because there wasn't much that was actually bad about him, except for the angst. Such angst.
At least there was representation at RoseBlood. A Latina and an Asian and a gay character! I was pleasantly surprised to see all three of these characters in this book. Alas, why were Rune's friends and enemies more interesting than Rune herself? Speaking of enemies, I actually liked Kat, the obligatory YA mean girl, more than I liked Rune, simply because Kat worked hard to get where she was. She might have been mean, but I'd be more than a little prickly if I had spent my whole life training my voice only to be upstaged by someone just born with a magical singing voice. I sympathized with the Carlotta-character more than I did with the protagonist.
Honestly, the overall story felt like it was all over the place. The fact that the author spent so much time being vague about Erik's grand plan just frustrated me. Why does Erik own a nightclub? *shrug* I feel like he'd be way too old-fashioned and classy for that, even if it serves his purposes. Why does the Phantom own a red swan? Where did he get the red swan from? Why are there always feline sidekicks in A.G. Howard stories? At some point it stopped being a PotO story and turned into a dark, paranormal, special-snowflake-protagonist YA book with faint traces of PotO.
In short, I was disappointed by this book. I guess the author's overall style just didn't fit with this type of book, even if it worked so well for her other series.
I was so excited for this book when A.G. Howard announced that she was writing a PotO-retelling. I suppose that I should have been a little more wary, though, considering the style of her Splintered series. I liked Splintered and the "weird"ness of it fit with the crazy nature of a Wonderland retelling, but it doesn't really work with a Phantom retelling. Often I found the writing to be over-convoluted, so much so that I would just have to skim because there were so many parts that felt unnecessary.
Also, can we please talk about the twist?
The romance was bland. That tends to be the problem when you have the
At least there was representation at RoseBlood. A Latina and an Asian and a gay character! I was pleasantly surprised to see all three of these characters in this book. Alas, why were Rune's friends and enemies more interesting than Rune herself? Speaking of enemies, I actually liked Kat, the obligatory YA mean girl, more than I liked Rune, simply because Kat worked hard to get where she was. She might have been mean, but I'd be more than a little prickly if I had spent my whole life training my voice only to be upstaged by someone just born with a magical singing voice. I sympathized with the Carlotta-character more than I did with the protagonist.
Honestly, the overall story felt like it was all over the place. The fact that the author spent so much time being vague about Erik's grand plan just frustrated me. Why does Erik own a nightclub? *shrug* I feel like he'd be way too old-fashioned and classy for that, even if it serves his purposes. Why does the Phantom own a red swan? Where did he get the red swan from? Why are there always feline sidekicks in A.G. Howard stories? At some point it stopped being a PotO story and turned into a dark, paranormal, special-snowflake-protagonist YA book with faint traces of PotO.
In short, I was disappointed by this book. I guess the author's overall style just didn't fit with this type of book, even if it worked so well for her other series.
Wow, I sure have the best luck picking absolute clunkers, don't I?
This book absolutely REEKS of "unusually well-written self-insert OC fanfiction from 2005." Honestly, if I didn't have better things to do I'd just finish the damn thing for the hilariousness of it all. This book made me laugh out loud, and not for the right reasons.
How terrible is this book? Well...
- Magical Mary Sue named Rune who has ~~~ special abilities ~~~. Namely, whenever she hears a female aria, she feels COMPELLED to sing it perfectly, otherwise, she faints. Sometimes, she faints even when she sings it, because it's just ~~so stressful~~. One of the opening scenes of the book is Rune hearing Renata's aria from The Fiery Angel , feeling so damn COMPELLED that she runs into an open room on her first day at a new school so she can sing, which just so happens to be the audition room, cuts off a soloist who's auditioning for the part and belts it out perfectly, before promptly fainting and having to be carried away by a handsome hunk, who of COURSE the soloist was involved with. On her first day of school. This doesn't scream "my parents sold me to One Direction for drinking money" to you?
- Rune is also supernaturally pretty because of COURSE she fucking is. And she doesn't know it, because that's how things work!
- Rune gives advice to professionals on how to do their jobs. Of course, despite having had no previous experience, she's just so damn insightful that they bow down to her vastly superior skill.
- The school she goes to is called Roseblood. Sorry, what the fuck? Who names a dramatic conservatory 'Roseblood'? That detail alone is so funny to me that it almost justified finishing the book.
- Her grandma tried to drown her when she was younger because of her demonic singing powers. Because, God, of course, she fucking did.
- Alright, more about this dumb bitch Rune: she a) dreams about her love interest before she meets him, b) has immensely amazing supernatural powers that she had no training for, c) says she doesn't want friends but everyone except the bitchy blonde "sluts" adore her, d) is Not Like Other Girls.
- Okay, skipping ahead a little bit, her love interest is the Phantom's adopted son named Thorn. Who lives beneath the school in the sewers and wears a mask even though he's Hot As Hell. He stalks Rune and visits her in her dreams and - sorry, I'm bored already.
- But the best fucking part has got to be this: the reason the Phantom's alive 100-odd years later? You ready?
He's a PSYCHIC VAMPIRE. And so are Rune and Thorn and their voices lure people to them and they suck energy from them by singing. And the Phantom owns an underground rave where he lures people to feed off their energy (??)
I swear to God I'm not making this shit up. It's too fucking good.
- And then it gets better/worse because Rune and Thorn are ~~twin flames~~ (soulmates), meaning they have the same soul. But then! You know whose soul is split between the two of them? Christine fucking Daae's. (Christina Nilsson in this universe because ??) - she died before she and the Phantom could have some ~~bonding ritual ~~ so her soul reincarnated into the two of them. Ignoring how fucking weird it is that the Phantom's adopted son has the same soul as the girl he wanted to bang, this is just TOO GOOD.
- AND THEN! Christine apparently returned to the Phantom after he husband died and fell in love with him and they had a daughter, who died, and the Phantom tried to resurrect. Christine leaves him, and the Phantom now wants to capture Rune and take her voice (never explained how) to resurrect his dead daughter (???)
- So then Thorn saves the day and the Phantom goes to live in Canada (I swear, you can't make this shit up) but not before the Phantom locks everyone in a room and drops chandeliers and land mines because, in addition to being a vampire, he's also an arms dealer now!
- The End. Thank FuCKING GOD.
- A few other things: the author consistently uses "g--sy" as a slur which ? Aight. Also, the book's set in this truly ugly red typeface which, honestly, should've been a warning sign.
- Do NOT READ THIS BOOK. This is genuinely one of the most bafflingly terrible books I've ever read. 0 stars
This book absolutely REEKS of "unusually well-written self-insert OC fanfiction from 2005." Honestly, if I didn't have better things to do I'd just finish the damn thing for the hilariousness of it all. This book made me laugh out loud, and not for the right reasons.
How terrible is this book? Well...
- Magical Mary Sue named Rune who has ~~~ special abilities ~~~. Namely, whenever she hears a female aria, she feels COMPELLED to sing it perfectly, otherwise, she faints. Sometimes, she faints even when she sings it, because it's just ~~so stressful~~. One of the opening scenes of the book is Rune hearing Renata's aria from The Fiery Angel , feeling so damn COMPELLED that she runs into an open room on her first day at a new school so she can sing, which just so happens to be the audition room, cuts off a soloist who's auditioning for the part and belts it out perfectly, before promptly fainting and having to be carried away by a handsome hunk, who of COURSE the soloist was involved with. On her first day of school. This doesn't scream "my parents sold me to One Direction for drinking money" to you?
- Rune is also supernaturally pretty because of COURSE she fucking is. And she doesn't know it, because that's how things work!
- Rune gives advice to professionals on how to do their jobs. Of course, despite having had no previous experience, she's just so damn insightful that they bow down to her vastly superior skill.
- The school she goes to is called Roseblood. Sorry, what the fuck? Who names a dramatic conservatory 'Roseblood'? That detail alone is so funny to me that it almost justified finishing the book.
- Her grandma tried to drown her when she was younger because of her demonic singing powers. Because, God, of course, she fucking did.
- Alright, more about this dumb bitch Rune: she a) dreams about her love interest before she meets him, b) has immensely amazing supernatural powers that she had no training for, c) says she doesn't want friends but everyone except the bitchy blonde "sluts" adore her, d) is Not Like Other Girls.
- Okay, skipping ahead a little bit, her love interest is the Phantom's adopted son named Thorn. Who lives beneath the school in the sewers and wears a mask even though he's Hot As Hell. He stalks Rune and visits her in her dreams and - sorry, I'm bored already.
- But the best fucking part has got to be this: the reason the Phantom's alive 100-odd years later? You ready?
He's a PSYCHIC VAMPIRE. And so are Rune and Thorn and their voices lure people to them and they suck energy from them by singing. And the Phantom owns an underground rave where he lures people to feed off their energy (??)
I swear to God I'm not making this shit up. It's too fucking good.
- And then it gets better/worse because Rune and Thorn are ~~twin flames~~ (soulmates), meaning they have the same soul. But then! You know whose soul is split between the two of them? Christine fucking Daae's. (Christina Nilsson in this universe because ??) - she died before she and the Phantom could have some ~~bonding ritual ~~ so her soul reincarnated into the two of them. Ignoring how fucking weird it is that the Phantom's adopted son has the same soul as the girl he wanted to bang, this is just TOO GOOD.
- AND THEN! Christine apparently returned to the Phantom after he husband died and fell in love with him and they had a daughter, who died, and the Phantom tried to resurrect. Christine leaves him, and the Phantom now wants to capture Rune and take her voice (never explained how) to resurrect his dead daughter (???)
- So then Thorn saves the day and the Phantom goes to live in Canada (I swear, you can't make this shit up) but not before the Phantom locks everyone in a room and drops chandeliers and land mines because, in addition to being a vampire, he's also an arms dealer now!
- The End. Thank FuCKING GOD.
- A few other things: the author consistently uses "g--sy" as a slur which ? Aight. Also, the book's set in this truly ugly red typeface which, honestly, should've been a warning sign.
- Do NOT READ THIS BOOK. This is genuinely one of the most bafflingly terrible books I've ever read. 0 stars
A.G. Howard was a new author to me; I haven’t read her Splintered series, but I’d heard good things about RoseBlood, so I was hoping for a good book, and I got it. RoseBlood was a cracking read. Howard has a beautiful voice and is reminiscent of Lauren Oliver. If you liked her Delirium series, I suspect you would like RoseBlood too. Howard's voice is dominated by her beautiful and detailed descriptions that are perhaps a little heavy for what I am used to in YA fantasy, and remind me a little more of an older school fantasy style, but I am seeing more and more YA fantasy authors writing in a heavy descriptive style.
Nonetheless, I adored her style of writing, which were particularly suited to describing the synaesthesic-like powers the characters have. Her style creates rich images in my mind, and that very quickly drew me into the story. I adored the characters powers and the concept of drawing energy from different living beings. That’s not a power I’ve seen done before, so it felt fresh and novel.
The characterisation was good. I was a little confused about the twins in the book especially early on. I don’t think there was enough clarity on their relationship and at one point I almost thought the siblings had incestuous feelings. Clearly, I’d misunderstood, but it’s something to note.
The other thing that confused me initially was that the book is written from two different Points of View. When in chapters written from the protagonists POV, it’s written in the first person. When from the love interests POV it’s written in the third person. At first, I struggled with the swapping about, but after a few chapter swaps I soon got used to it and found it very easy to jump between the two. Perhaps my only real criticism is that when writing in the third person, I did find myself occasionally confused between who things referred to: Thorn or Erik.
I liked all the characters; I think they were unique and individualised and with the exception of the twins, I remembered them all and quickly distinguished them all. I also liked the complexity, depth and rich detail to the history of the antagonist; this was quite exceptional.
For me, the end didn’t quite live up to the rest of the book. I’m trying not to add any spoilers here, but while I loved how it ended between the two main characters, the third main character kinda just rolled over and played dead and after 460 odd pages of doing the exact opposite I was surprised, to say the least. I might well read the follow ups to this book if there are any as I’d like to see whether there are some consequences to the rollover and play dead reaction of this particular character.
Nonetheless, I adored her style of writing, which were particularly suited to describing the synaesthesic-like powers the characters have. Her style creates rich images in my mind, and that very quickly drew me into the story. I adored the characters powers and the concept of drawing energy from different living beings. That’s not a power I’ve seen done before, so it felt fresh and novel.
The characterisation was good. I was a little confused about the twins in the book especially early on. I don’t think there was enough clarity on their relationship and at one point I almost thought the siblings had incestuous feelings. Clearly, I’d misunderstood, but it’s something to note.
The other thing that confused me initially was that the book is written from two different Points of View. When in chapters written from the protagonists POV, it’s written in the first person. When from the love interests POV it’s written in the third person. At first, I struggled with the swapping about, but after a few chapter swaps I soon got used to it and found it very easy to jump between the two. Perhaps my only real criticism is that when writing in the third person, I did find myself occasionally confused between who things referred to: Thorn or Erik.
I liked all the characters; I think they were unique and individualised and with the exception of the twins, I remembered them all and quickly distinguished them all. I also liked the complexity, depth and rich detail to the history of the antagonist; this was quite exceptional.
For me, the end didn’t quite live up to the rest of the book. I’m trying not to add any spoilers here, but while I loved how it ended between the two main characters, the third main character kinda just rolled over and played dead and after 460 odd pages of doing the exact opposite I was surprised, to say the least. I might well read the follow ups to this book if there are any as I’d like to see whether there are some consequences to the rollover and play dead reaction of this particular character.