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A review by brandypainter
A Crown of Bitter Orange by Laura Florand
5.0
I LOVED this. This series is just so good and I feel like the books keep getting better with each one.
Tristan is so very different from his cousins. He is so full of life and heart and happiness. Its his life's work to bottle of that and give it to people as gifts. Malorie is walled off, independent, and prickly. She hiked out of Grasse at the age of 19 and built a life for herself far from the disgrace of her family name and heritage. They are so perfect for each other, opposites in the ways that make them stronger together, but with commonalities in all the ways that truly matter. Tristan's care in approaching Malorie and his careful courting of her is wonderful and I thoroughly appreciated it. Because they've known each other all their lives and have recently been butting heads in the business world there was this perfect amount of tension and familiarity. This keeps from being the annoying and disturbing sort of story that many long time concealed crush stories are in how the relationship develops and the way both of them view it. It helps that they were BOTH pining for the other from afar for years and it wasn't one sided. Their final conflict, which was avoidable if Tristan had listened to good advice from just about everyone, was resolved quickly and with minimal drama because they just KNOW each other (and themselves) so well.
The family dynamics continue to be delightful and are even better in this volume than previous ones. I like how this is not a match their interfering elders could have succeeded in setting up. I really like how that aspect of the story played out. The cousins together are always some of my favorite parts of these books, as are all the parts with Tante Colette and their grandfather. I enjoyed the glimpses we got of Tristan's parents too. His father is the only male of that generation we've seen, and even though it was through Malorie's eyes and from afar, it is clear there is a reason Tristan is the cousin with the most level head when it comes to dealing with women. He managed to get out of his childhood with no parental issues. And his relationship with his mom is THE BEST.
I'm putting my thoughts on the Epilogue and Antoine behind a spoiler cut:
Okay. Now Antione. I suspected in a Wish Upon Jasmine he was going to turn out to be Damien's half brother. I think the way he acts at the end of this confirms that. He was mildly amused by Matt. He is actually friends with Tristan. Damien is the only one we've seen really draw a reaction out of him. I think there is misdirected anger there. And it makes sense given what Damien revealed about his parents' marriage in the last book too.
But let's talk about how Antoine is still friends with Tristan. Like meets with him to have drinks and actually tries to give him good advice about not messing things up with the love of his life friends. He may have been helping Colette because sticking it to the Rosiers (and her paying him) was fun. But he didn't have to pick back up his friendship with Tristan. And I like what it says about him that he did. I really can not wait for his book. (Which Laura sort of told us in a roundabout way might be happening.)
Tristan is so very different from his cousins. He is so full of life and heart and happiness. Its his life's work to bottle of that and give it to people as gifts. Malorie is walled off, independent, and prickly. She hiked out of Grasse at the age of 19 and built a life for herself far from the disgrace of her family name and heritage. They are so perfect for each other, opposites in the ways that make them stronger together, but with commonalities in all the ways that truly matter. Tristan's care in approaching Malorie and his careful courting of her is wonderful and I thoroughly appreciated it. Because they've known each other all their lives and have recently been butting heads in the business world there was this perfect amount of tension and familiarity. This keeps from being the annoying and disturbing sort of story that many long time concealed crush stories are in how the relationship develops and the way both of them view it. It helps that they were BOTH pining for the other from afar for years and it wasn't one sided. Their final conflict, which was avoidable if Tristan had listened to good advice from just about everyone, was resolved quickly and with minimal drama because they just KNOW each other (and themselves) so well.
The family dynamics continue to be delightful and are even better in this volume than previous ones. I like how this is not a match their interfering elders could have succeeded in setting up. I really like how that aspect of the story played out. The cousins together are always some of my favorite parts of these books, as are all the parts with Tante Colette and their grandfather. I enjoyed the glimpses we got of Tristan's parents too. His father is the only male of that generation we've seen, and even though it was through Malorie's eyes and from afar, it is clear there is a reason Tristan is the cousin with the most level head when it comes to dealing with women. He managed to get out of his childhood with no parental issues. And his relationship with his mom is THE BEST.
I'm putting my thoughts on the Epilogue and Antoine behind a spoiler cut:
Spoiler
THAT EPILOGUE. At first I was all wedding, sweet, romantic, blah blah blah. Then my mind was a fast moving jumble: Ohhhhh. Antione is trying to kill a particular older Rosier dead with a look. GEE I WONDER WHY. Who is this chick? Oh, some people owe her a huge THANK YOU, but notice how she paused about finding that last person. I think we've met Lucien's girl. AND OH MY GOSH THERE HE IS. Dude. You just rode into the most important moment of this wedding on the back of a motorcycle looking all badass and tortured. Drama much? Even without the DNA you are clearly very much a Rosier. And yep Elena's reaction is strengthening my suspicion that she is your heroine.Okay. Now Antione. I suspected in a Wish Upon Jasmine he was going to turn out to be Damien's half brother. I think the way he acts at the end of this confirms that. He was mildly amused by Matt. He is actually friends with Tristan. Damien is the only one we've seen really draw a reaction out of him. I think there is misdirected anger there. And it makes sense given what Damien revealed about his parents' marriage in the last book too.
But let's talk about how Antoine is still friends with Tristan. Like meets with him to have drinks and actually tries to give him good advice about not messing things up with the love of his life friends. He may have been helping Colette because sticking it to the Rosiers (and her paying him) was fun. But he didn't have to pick back up his friendship with Tristan. And I like what it says about him that he did. I really can not wait for his book. (Which Laura sort of told us in a roundabout way might be happening.)