Beautiful and lush writing style. While it was a smidgen too slow for my liking, I'll definitely be watching be watching out for more of the author's works in the future!

I was excited to come across this on Netgalley and even more so when I was approved to review it.

I want to be careful not to deceive too much of the plot as I don’t want to spoil it. This book was dark and gothic, it had a really eerie feel to it right from the start. The friendship between Azure and Indigo was beautiful and sweet, until it wasn’t. I was so intrigued by their friendship, it was a little confusing as it flits between POV and at times, alongside everything else it was quite difficult to follow. It was clear both girls have very different lives and needed each other in different ways.

I thought the book was cleverly written so that it wasn’t scary but definitely kept you wondering what was coming next and waiting to see how the next part of the book unfolded.

It was an enjoyable read, I binged it. This may not be for everyone so I would recommend checking out some reviews if you’re unsure.

An academic who has made a career of myths and legends falls for the heiress of a glittering fortune. But there is more to their tale than happily ever after. This is a beautifully written book rooted in fairytales. Some people might find the lyrical style verging on purple prose but I felt like it perfectly fit the otherworldliness of the story itself. With shades of Dare Me and The Virgin Suicides, I couldn't put this down.

I received this book for free on netgalley in exchange for a review.

A lushly written gothic novel drawing you into magical worlds alongside very real experiences of bruising trauma that lead people to seek escape. Too much information would spoil the book for new readers but this unsettling fairytale is worth the time needed to settle down by the fire and get stuck in.

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride
by Roshani Chokshi

A gothic fairytale with a contemporary setting, this is the story of a toxic, obsessive friendship and a marriage defined by an oath never to pry. Told through two perspectives, we have Indigo's husband, spellbound by his wife's precarious love, her excesses and singularity, he knows it is wise to fear her. And Azure, a loner, seeking refuge from her disengaged mother, drawn to the beauty and strangeness of Indigo, flattered by the heiresses interest in her. They become more than friends, more than sisters, more than twins.

"I exhaled, she caught my hand, and we transformed. I could not tell you where that magic came from, whether it was some unseen element insinuating itself into our atoms or if I served as mirror and moon to Indigo's incandescence. All I knew was that together we were lustrous"

Most of the story occurs in The House of Dreams, a rambling mansion with extensive grounds and secret gardens. With it's Room of Secrets and walls of taxidermy, turrets and hallways the house has a menacing presence throughout, whereby "carpets newly flattened bunched, rolling ankles at every hour of the day. Curtains unraveled from their hooks...", comparisons to "Mexican Gothic" hold up.

This book is all character and atmosphere and very little plot. There is a final twist, but there are so many clues that it is almost a relief when it is finally confirmed. The writing is breathtakingly whimsical and poetic, as though told through hushed urgent whispers at times, languorous mesmeric feverdream at others. High on melodrama, I was never sure whether I was enjoying it or not. While I was reading it I found it difficult to put down, but then when I did, I felt reluctant to pick it up again. I found myself rolling my eyes at certain parts, but other parts touched me deeply and brought me right back to childhood feelings of wonder and awe of magical concepts. The adult in me scoffs slightly at all the angst, so it's likely aimed at the less cynical. Which leaves me torn about how to rate this. There is nothing incorrect in the marketing blurb, yet it is so unexpected. How to rate this; my emotional response, which is normally what I rely on, is not an accurate gauge. I can't ignore the skill of the author and her mastery of language, which is outstanding and I know will be appreciated by a huge audience, but just not me.

Publication date: 16th February 2023
Thanks to #netgalley and #hodderandstoughton for the eGalley

The life of Indigo is examined through the lens of two characters, that of her bridegroom and Azure. Azure, who was her other half, whose lives were so intertwined until they weren't. The bridegroom who is drawn to and disgusted by Indigo's opulent life-style in equal measure ends up making a promise that he cannot keep. When Indigo's aunt is dying, her return with her groom to her estate, leads to the past and the present unravelling.

This book is glorious. It is a lush, decadent tale of the price that we are willing to pay for the life that we choose. It twists spectacularly and as you wink deeper into the tale, the line between the reality of what happened and the fairy-tale version blurs beautifully. This is one of those books that does dark magical realism perfectly, with every perception we think we have feeling like a trick of the light. It is a story of what it is to lose ourselves totally in someone else.

For me it's a 4/5 stars. It is very much worth reading.

This is a fantastic book but it's just not the right book for me. The descriptions and the setting are eerily gothic and tense, and it's a beautifully written story, alternating between the perspective of the bridegroom and Azure. I personally found the story pretty but a little dull, as I tend to lean towards more action packed plots.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher Hodder and Stoughton for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

TW: death, abuse, mental illness, (implied) sexual abuse, blood, gore

Roshani Chokshi wrote one of my favourite YA trilogies so I was delighted to get the chance to read her adult debut, "The Last Tale of the Flower Bride". This entire book felt like a fever dream of rich, gorgeous language and beautifully dark worldbuilding. This is a story of obsession and fairytales, of wanting to believe in magic even when life shows you otherwise, and I think it's one of the best things I've read in a long time.

The story follows the Bridgegroom who goes unnamed for the entire story, and his Bride Indigo, a mysterious woman with deadly secrets that he swears to never look for. The descriptions of their marriage are exactly like an old tale, as they turn their lives into retellings of the stories he so loves. After her aunt is on her deathbed, Indigo must go back home to the House of Dreams, a place that is alive and waiting for her. The Bridegroom grows curious and breaks the rule, not realising that there's another story to be told- that of Azure, the girl who was the other half of Indigo's soul.

I'm absolutely in awe of this story and don't want to give anything away because of a brilliant twist near the end. The writing is engaging and the content is dark, tragic and gothic to the core. If I thought that the "Gilded Wolves" trilogy couldn't be topped, I was wrong. This book is a triumph.

Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for giving this ARC book! Here is my honest review.

I have big expectation from this book, I know the author, I knew her works before so the idea of her new adult debut is so exciting! But turns out the book not as I expected. I love how the author narrate the story, use beautiful phrase, feels like I was reading a fairy tale book and there are so many tales that told in this book. But still it can't lessen my disappointment.

I'm confused with the fantasy element here, is it real with the house, the Otherworld, all the things that happen in the book or it just on these characters mind? I can't differentiate between the reality and their imagination. And the character is so toxic. Toxic friendship and relationship, I'm not really enjoy this kind of story but the way this book synopsis tell us make me believe there's something interesting happen with this bridegroom. Well it's unique when we never knew what is his name.

The book happen in two timeline, first from Azure POV and the second from the bridegroom. The book tell us more about the past than the present, so it really like the title, it is a tale, so nothing really happen on the present except the bridegroom slowly know her wife secret. Just it. But I love the twist in this book, I kind of predict it at the beginning but slowly the author drove my prediction to others.

The book is not for me but still recommend it for everyone who like gothic fairy tale story.

Unfortunately I really did not like the writing style of this book. It's very flowery and for me, got in the way of what was actually happening. I found it very slow and overly long, which is strange for what is a fairly short book. I didn't like constantly questioning whether magic was actually real or not, was the house a real character or not and I saw the 'twist' coming a mile away. I also don't agree with the way this is being marketed as a romance, it's more to do with the friendship between the two women when they were younger. Maybe if you like this type of writing it could be for you.

I received an arc from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this book was a DNF for me. I don't normally review books that I don't finish but I will because it's a netgalley one.
I can see objectively that the writing is beautiful and filled with poetic metaphors. I was intrigued by the two mysteries of azure and the narrator's brother but in the end that intrigue wasn't enough to sustain my interest. Ultimately, I felt no love for the characters and found the writing style difficult..

I was offered this book as an ARC via NetGalley and it is another easy read. It was an intriguing exploration of how children and young adults can immerse themselves in a fantasy world of their own. My biggest issues with it were that I didn't actually like the characters and didn't find myself resonating with any of them and for me there didn't feel to be any significant character growth. I did guess the twist fairly early on but didn't find this reduced the enjoyment of the rest of the novel.

my rating: 3 out of 5 stars
There are a lot of TW for this book, but I should've seen that one coming since this is an adult gothic book.
TW: child abuse, child neglect, toxic friendship, gaslighting, gore, domestic abuse, cheating, unsettling vibes, murder, animal death, human deaths.

The book’s description said that this is a dark romantic story with a secret behind marriage. But when I read it, it wasn’t entirely like that.

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride has 2 POVs, the bridegroom, and Azure. I'm not going to lie the first 5 chapters of The Bridegroom were really intriguing, but after that, I don’t really care about The Bridegroom’s POV anymore. We don’t really know his name, and to me, he doesn’t have much personality we know nothing about him except that he is the husband of Indigo and loves fairytales.

Azure’s POV however got me hooked from the start until the end. The plot twist at the end caught me by surprise. The only character I like is Azure, Indigo is irritating and is a toxic friend and The Bridegroom has no personality.

The writing was really good, but the plot can be a drag at some point. Although I love the author’s previous books such as Aru Shah and A Crown of Wishes, sadly this book was not for me.

This was an interesting book to read. Overall I really enjoyed the story, I was always thinking about picking up the book, it was engaging and drew me in instantly. I felt the book did a really great job of delving into the complexities of certain types of female friendship specifically the cases where it's all-consuming and toxic with very strong sapphic energy! I have rarely seen this portrayed in media and I found it to be a really interesting dynamic.

The character of Azure was by far my favourite. I loved all her chapters and I enjoyed seeing the world through her eyes. I found myself connecting with her a lot. But I found Indigo to be a very unlikable character. I do believe she is meant to be written that way so it's not really a critique.

That being said, I will be critiquing our main male character as that man was boring. I didn't really feel that he brought much to the story apart from being the force that allows us to find answers. I was far more invested in Indigo and Azure's relationship than I was in his and Indigo's.

I will also say that I found the constant reference and discussions of fairytales and folklore to be great at the start but it got old very quickly. It was over-saturation by the end of the book and I found myself skimming those paragraphs so I could get to the actual meat of the story.

The bridegroom and his secretive wife return to her childhood home where their fairytale connection is tested when those secrets and the truth behind her best friend’s disappearance begin to unravel. Written in dual PoV across dual timelines this lyrical novel had me entranced. The mystery is crafted beautifully in woven similes and personifications that had me just as middle as the main MMC. Highly recommend for those who love a hint a magic shimmering in their reality with a sprinkling of sinister secrets that keep you guessing at what comes next.

So… I was very lucky to recieve both the audio and kindle copy of this one via NetGalley. I buddy read this with the lovely @lauraslittlebooknook in 24hrs… yes! You read that right! TWENTYFREAKINGFOURHOURS! It was my favourite read of January!

I adored how it was pieced together, it was so beautifully written. I felt like I could see the book like a film, there were no ends to my imagination with this one. It wove just the right amount of something something and I just couldn’t put it down.

I did click the twist, but it in no way played out how I expected it! It was also narrated via audio well, I enjoyed the two POVs!

Thank you to @hodderscape and @netgalley for both the audiobook and the kindle copy. 🫶🏻

I went into this book expecting something quite different from what I got ... and I am not mad about it!

This story is told to us through two POVs. Our MC, 'the bridegroom' is married to his mysterious wife Indigo. They have a very unique relationship which starts to slowly crack when her aunt takes ill and they have to travel to the 'House of Dreams'. We hear about her friendship with a girl called Asher as the second POV, and it's a story like one I haven't read before. The language used brings us to a gothic and fairytale-esque atmosphere while simultaneously there is an eery and almost paranormal feeling to the story which brings the story along beautifully.

I will be honest - I was SO royally confused for the first 25% of this book. Flat out - there were times I thought this would end up being a 3 star based solely on my inability to understand what was happening despite the lovely use of language. Everything felt almost like the narrator (at the time only 1 POV) was speaking in code. But the payoff of this *absolutely* works out; the way it is written makes complete sense and is an artistic choice I genuinely think is justified.

Saying much more than this will spoil a story I genuinely think is better to go into blindly so I will say the confusion you will experience is worth it, things make sense in retrospect, and I absolutely loved the twists and turns we went on!

I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book by Hodder & Stoughton through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, which I leave voluntarily

Thank you for NetGalley for providing me with this book for review. Wow this book is haunting and yet delightful, I'm going to be thinking about it for sometime. Highly recommended.

A beautiful book with gothic undertones and an air of fairytales and mythology.
Fascinating premise and Chokshi weaves fairytales into the main narrative so delicately amidst childhood dreams, broken promises and a myriad of complex themes. Highly recommended reading this unique book.

Indigo is an incredible example of being ~ that girl ~. She is terrifying, powerful, beautiful and mysterious. I found myself yearning for the stories of her and Azure in their house of dreams. Their childhood felt like it was properly a fairytale, with equal parts magic and horror as Indigo became increasingly controlling and secretive. This is also a lovely romance and the writing is absolutely stunning.