This was a seductively dark tale of the blurred lines between fantasy and reality, twisted co dependency and obsession, and childhood dreams turned into adolescent nightmares.

The writing was beautiful and magical and every bit as lyrically captivating as you'd expect in a story such as this one.

I don't want to give too much of the plot away, as it's definitely one you want to see unravel yourself, but essentially the story is about two childhood friends, Indigo and Azure, and their beliefs in fairytales and magic, and a shared delusion that spirals wildly out of control.

I wasn't entirely taken with the Bridegroom pov in the present, it was simply to drive the plot to it's reveal (one I'd guessed early on, but I wouldn't say that hurt the story for me anyway) but he felt very flat and I mostly felt confused by his personal story and just wanted to be back with Azure.

But the girls story? I loved it. Absolutely loved it. The creeping obsession, the sometimes less than innocent love, their wild and wonderful fancies. I was truly gripped and wanted to see their story through.

Overall, if you like an atmospheric, gothic fairytale/ mystery, with beautiful prose, then I'd definitely recommend this one!

"Curses are made to be broken. They aren't so static as one might think."

Once upon a time, there was a man who believe in fairy tales and fell in love with a mysterious woman named Indigo who find him, she said, “If you pry, you’ll destroy our marriage.” But she lied!

"the secret to everlasting love was fear. Fear tethered love in place. Without the terror that came from imagining a life without your beloved, there was no urgency in loving them."

By the end of their third year of marriage, Tati, Indigo's aunt, was dying and they leave for her childhood home, the House of Dreams, an enchanted house, full of old, creepy and scary secrets.

And now is a time for the bridegroom to shiver at his wife's secrets, uncertain of knowing the woman he married, as someone who had his own secrets, he begins to think that all maybe is unreal, imagination!

"In the end, a fairy tale is nothing more than a sense of hope."

House of Dreams want the bridegroom to find his wife's secrets and see a shadow, a girl from the past, Azure, Indigo's best friend, they played fairy tale in this house and were Inseparable. Azure disappeared years ago! What should he do, pry and destroy his marriage or run?!

"Once, I had let someone I loved go into the dark without me. I did not know if I could survive that again."

A mind-blowing and astonishing story, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a hunting and toxic tale with a dark atmosphere about poison's love, betrayal, loss and buried secrets that reveal and destroy!

I push hard my teeth when was reading this amazing book and couldnt stop myself. Shocking and Tempting as hell! Why there are only five stars?!

My huge thanks to Hodder & Stoughton Audio via NetGalley for giving me the chance of listening to The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi, beautiful and emotionally Narrated by Steve West (I already search for his other books!) and Sura Siu, I have given my honest review.
Pub Date: 16 Feb 2023

An original story with some gorgeous writing and ideas but I struggled with caring about what was going on.

That said, it could've just been me.

The narration was pretty good. I liked both narrators and they were able to keep my attention. It's definitely a well done audiobook.

Chokshi's adult debut certainly stands out though and even though I didn't like this one, I'd be eager to check out another adult book by her.

Thank you Netgalley for this Arc in exchange for an honest review.

"The Last Tale of the Flower Bride" by Roshani Chokshi is, a Gothic tale of this couple a mysterious heiress and a man who believed in fairy tales and a scholar of myths they return to her childhood home which puts them on a journey that causes them to learn more about themselves and many other things.

I would give "The Last Tale of the Flower Bride" by Roshani Chokshi a 3-star review because, 1; the plot and theme are soo intriguing 2; what drew me in was the description and the cover 3; I really loved the idea of this being told in more of the male pov and the fact that he believed in fairy-tales and is, a "scholar of myths" plus that his wife to be his very illusive but he is still in love with her but 4; it might just be me since I'm a weirdo who has elective taste but I just didn't enjoy it/connect with it.

3.5 stars rounded up

This is a book of contradictions for me. It is told from dual points of view - in the present, the Bridegroom, Indigo’s husband; in the past, Azure, Indigo’s childhood best friend. As it’s a story about intensely codependent and manipulative relationships, it was interesting to see the same enchanting women from the perspective of two people who obsessed over and loved her. (The blurb describes the book as “darkly romantic” and I genuinely can’t tell which relationship it refers to — Indigo/Bridegroom or Indigo/Azure or both? But I don’t know that I would call it romantic, just intense.)

The thing this book does best is atmosphere. It’s the pinnacle of Gothic (the Bridegroom’s relationship with Indigo, and the fact that we don’t know his name, only his relationship to his wife, gave me strong REBECCA vibes.) However the different POVs had very distinct voices and for me they didn’t complement each other, leaving me feeling like they were two separate books squished together rather than one cohesive story, enough though the plots were tied.

The Bridegroom’s narration was lyrical and luscious, which suited the atmosphere of the ‘House of Dreams,’ Indigo’s childhood home. However were more vibes than plot, with some quintessentially gothic activities — looking around a creepy house, meeting a secretive housekeeper and an ever more secretive relative — but it was more focused on the suspense of the Bridegroom’s internal monologue than any external activities. On the other hand, Azure’s POV had plenty of plot, but felt so tonally different as to be jarring: it starts with the girls as kids, and follows them through to high school, all while they mess around with the Otherworld. So the chapters flipped between this gothic, flowery voice and a much more straighforward teenage voice, and I struggled to reconcile the two.

I adore Steve West as a narrator, and his performance for this audiobook was marvellous - the perfect cadence and timbre for the Bridegroom’s POV, which is interspersed with musings on fairytales and mythology.

the flowery writing, the melodramatic characters, and the tumblrersque dialogues are not for me. maybe 14-yr-old me would liked it. present-day me does not. i can like, even love, stories that prioritise the vibes and the atmosphere but not if they do so at the sake of substance. and this novel sadly struck me as all flash...

idiomatic's review brilliantly expresses much of what i felt/thought towards this novel so i recommend you check that review out.

if you are interested in this novel i suggest you read some more positive reviews as i recognise that YMMV.

I find Steve West such an easy voice to listen to and relax with. He has a comforting, gravelly tone which I think is suiting to this dark fairytale. I preferred listening to the audiobook than reading myself as I think I appreciated the descriptions and atmosphere a lot more.

‘There are two kinds of love, one born from smiles and the other from screams. Ours sprang from the latter.’

This is a wonderfully gothic fairytale full of grief, denial, self preservation with a lyrical story flowing through it.

It must be mentioned that the writing and descriptions in the story were beautiful and poetic. I would say that due to this, it is a slow paced story that leaves you entranced to the very end to find out about Indigo’s secrets in her past. It feels haunting at times.

Thank you to the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this in advance in exchange for my honest review.

I have to admit that I hadn’t heard of the author, Roshani Chokshi, before. I was initially drawn to book because of the cover’s fascinating artwork.

Then, after reading the blurb with fairytale overtones tinged with secrets - I thought that The Last Tale of the Flower Bride sounded intriguing. The bridegroom marries the exotic Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada but can never ask her about her past. The premise in itself leaves you wondering just how that could possibly work. Is it just confirmation of an unconditional love? Is it possible to make such an enormous leap of faith? Can a relationship be based on so many unanswered questions? Is the past not important? Wouldn’t there always be the curiosity of wanting to find out what your wife doesn’t want you to know?

The story unfolds alternating from “The Bridgegroom’s” point of view anchored in the present and then Azure’s perspective chronicling her friendship with Indigo in the past when they were growing up. I felt like I never really got to know Indigo, but got to know the versions of her told from the two people who were absolutely besotted by her. I think that added to the mystery of Indigo.

The book is expertly narrated by Steve West and Sura Siu. The language is very poetic at times and I have to say that I had to re-listen to some of the chapters just to make sure I’d completely followed the thread. The description of the House of Dreams reminded me at times of South American magical realism.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publishers Hodder & Stoughton Audio for making this audio-ARC available to me in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I can’t deny this book is beautifully written but I’m afraid the whimsical writing was lost on me, as much as I kind of understood what was going on most of the time I didn’t necessarily understand what was being said.
I found myself reading paragraphs over and over again trying to gain the meaning but it almost felt like reading Shakespeare.

We start by following a man and woman falling in love both having a common interest in fairytales and stories however the wife Indigo has told the man to never ask about her past but she then proceeds to take him with her to her childhood home as her aunt is dying.
If you want your secrets hidden and your husband to not know your past I wouldn’t recommend taking him on a trip to your childhood home but I digress.

In other chapters we are following the story of a girl called Azure who was Indigo’s childhood best friend and their story is filled with magic and whimsical writing but from what I could gather they had an obsessive toxic friendship in which they never wanted to be apart and spoke of wanting to go to/originally belonging to a faerie world.
Which made sense when they were 9/10 years old when they first met but this fairytale talk continues up until they’re 17/18 years old which was bizarre to me especially with the aunt Tati encouraging it.
Speaking of the aunt character, she never made sense to me, what happened to her? and was she psychic or psychotic?

Overall I liked the ending but I’m not sure what to make of this book, I didn’t love or hate it and there’s a strong possibility it all just flew over my head

This had very detailed descriptions but it was hard to connect with the characters, it felt a little disjointed between slow and fast paced, but there wasn't enough to really keep me engaged with the book. If you're into poetic books this would suit you though.

This book gave me some serious Mexican Gothic vibes ! I really enjoyed it. I listened to the audiobook and read the book alongside. Audiobook is narrated really well. I did guess the twist really early on but I still enjoyed it. The writing is very beautiful and immersive.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for approving me for an ARC of this book. I was initially drawn in by the gorgeous cover and then the blurb peaked my interest even more.

The story is told from two POV, flipping between two timelines. Our first narrator is ‘The Bridegroom’, who has found himself helplessly in love with Indigo. There is something about her that pulls him in and soon the pair are married and living relatively happy lives. I felt this part of the story moved quite quickly, they didn’t seem to be ‘courting’ for very long and I would have liked to see more of that part. When Indigo’s Aunt is taken ill and the pair are called back to the house ‘The Bridegroom’ sees this as his opportunity, to betray his promise and discover his wife’s secrets. It is then that we learn about our second narrator, Asha.

Asha’s story is about her complex friendship that she had with Indigo. Desperate to escape from her own home and her mother’s sleezy boyfriend, she finds herself integrated more and more into Indigo’s family. These two young girls were glued at the hip but there was a dark underlying tone to their friendship that showed the toxic side to female solidarity. At times I could see the danger that Asha was in and desperately wanted to reach in and pull her back but it seemed the alure of Indigo was strong, even then. The question is, what happened to Asha?

With a lyrical prose and the intertwining of magic, fantasy and folklore we find ourselves in two different worlds. I sometimes struggled to separate the two and see how both timelines worked with each other, but I could appreciate what the author was trying to convey in doing this. The element of mystery surrounding Asha kept me on my toes and I thought I had figured it out but I was definitely wrong.

By then end I honestly felt like my head had been seriously messed with, which I’m assuming is the point. We see the dark inner workings of Indigos and Asha’s minds as well as solving a few mysteries along the way. There were moments of plot twists and this definitely had a gothic vibe running throughout. It’s hauntingly beautiful and definitely left its mark.

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is fantastic gothic mystery dark romance story about coming age and relationship between spouse. The stories was following two characters pov with dual timeline, someone called him/her self as bridegroom (the author very talented with the words and make the story could fits for any gender) and girl name Azure, both telling their dreamy twisted unimaginable experiences with a mysterious woman name Indigo Maxwell-Castenada.

This is not my first ride with the author but her skill to spinning multi mythology, fairytales, exotic cultures into one modern plot story always amazes me. The proses are lyrical and mesmerizing, it is almost feel like you are Alive who jump into magical otherworld. I don't felt the narrative over describe but enriched the experience with the characters, eerie hunting atmosphere and all untangled mysteries.

It is not easy reading for everyone. Slower pace, flowery prose and simple plots with intense layering overshading facts will challenge some readers who want different style writing. I appreciate how author approaching such toxic and sensitive issues in relationship with very gentle and beautiful ways.

Sigh.. I think I found new favourite narrators. Both narrators working so wonderfully to deliver this story. Steve West bring perfect romantic intimate delicious vibes into his role as bridegroom. His longing, intriguing, and desperate for his mysterious wife is help me get through the difficulty part of the stories. Sura Siu did amazing performance as young and lonely girl who mesmerized with her dreamy friends. She make all the emotions rollercoaster felt real, beautiful also haunting. I gave 5 stars for the narrator team.

Thank you Netgalley and Hodder &Stoughton for provided me with this copy. I truly enjoyed my time with this book and my thoughts always be mine.

I should've written this review sooner after finishing the book, but here's what I gathered from the notes I took while reading.

What I liked:
The premise. The whole idea of the book is absolutely intriguing.
The beautiful writing. Roshani Chokshi has a gorgeous writing style and the book is atmospheric as hell.
The plot twist was better than what I've read in most other thrillers or mysteries lately.

What I didn't like:
I felt misled by the blurb. I had assumed that the book would follow Indigo's POV, and that wasn't the case.
There were parts of the book that i just didn't get, to be honest. Maybe I didn't pay enough attention while reading though.
The lack of plot. There really isn't a lot of plot, so "no plot, just vibes" kind of applied.
The characters. They just weren't great. They weren't likable, and I also didn't find them layered enough to make up for that.

Overall I did find the book nice to read, but lacked the "wow factor" I'd been looking for.

I was lucky enough to also receive an audiobook ARC through Netgalley.

And well if you don´t know, I loved this book in the first read, and I absolutely loved the audiobook too. The male was so so stunning, I absolutely loved Steve West voice, it was honestly so yummy, I can´t even. I desperately want to listen to more audiobooks narrated by Steve West, because his voice is utterly heavenly!

I really enjoyed the female narrator Sura Siu too, she has a really nice voice.

I have nothing negative to say abbout the narrators. They were both very good, and really pulled me into the story.

Absolutely amazing book. I love this so much!

Evocative
- Dark
- Suspenseful
- Otherworldly
- Secretive
- Deliciously gothic

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride was an utterly intriguing story full of otherworldly insinuations. It started with a relationship between Indigo and a man who became her significant other. He never really quite knew Indigo and so he longed for her secrets...that became a runaway train of suspense.

The story was told in some past and present and it tracked Indigo's friendship with Azure during their teenage years. This past and present worked really well and each time the narrative switched I got swept up in that phase of time.

Did I like Indigo? I'm not sure, I did like the man of the piece and I did like Azure and some of the side characters. Despite the foreshadowing, that ending blew me away and I closed the book with a wow feeling and a sense of completion.

The writing in this piece is evocative, sometimes through a mist. The narrative was alluring, sensual but also twisty with an underlying evil at times. I loved the experience with this book and I think fans of A Dowry of Blood will love this.

If you're an audio fan, Steve West narrates this absolutely brilliantly and brings such atmosphere.

Thank you to Hodderscape for the review copies.

A book with stories within stories and plot within plot and an ending that you just can't guess!⚡

The plot is gorgeously constructed with tales of found family, friendships and love. And not to mention the gigantic descriptions of mansions gardens and secretive place. A peculiar thing about the book that was a big yes for me was: before introducing an important clue of the big mystery a mythological tale related to it is told and then both get intertwined like 2 branches of a creeper plant. Some plots were expected but most of them were not, making it a unique reading experience and giving me so many topics to research upon. ( One of them being the Catskin story )

An amazing fantasy book with portions of gothic horror and paranormal incidents.

Genre: #fantasy #mystery #gothic #horror #paranormal #adultfiction
Rating: 4.5/5 ⭐

Thankyou @netgalley @roshanichoksi and @hodderbooks for the Digital ARC

#TheLastTaleoftheFlowerBride #NetGalley