Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Review: The Black Lily (Tales of the Black Lily) by Juliette Cross

Book Blurb:

Cinderella like you’ve never seen before…

With the threat of the vampire monarchy becoming stronger every day, the Black Lily must take drastic measures. As the leader of the underground resistance, Arabelle concocts the perfect idea to gain the attention of the Glass Tower. Her plan? Attend the vampire prince’s blood ball and kill him. Fortunately for Prince Marius, her assassination goes awry, and Arabelle flees, leaving behind only her dagger.

Marius is desperate to find the woman whose kiss turned into attempted murder, hunting for the mysterious assassin he can’t push out of his mind. But what he uncovers could change the course of his life forever…

My Review:

3.5 Out Of 5 Stars

Genre: Fairytale, Mystery, Romance, Royal-Court, Supernatural, Vampires--

Arabelle is a peasant girl working for a wealthy domineering family, an orphan ever since a vampire murdered her mother. Most of the villagers love the Vampire Royalty who rule the land with their enhanced skills and longevity, but Arabelle despises them. When a ball presents it's self as the perfect opportunity to kill the Vampire Prince Marius as part of the rebellion, Arabelle takes the chance. Little does she know that she does not kill him like she thought, but instead he now has her scent and a desire only she has stirred in him.

When I started this book, I honestly thought that this was a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, which I absolutely love and will always read retellings of B&TB. So color me surprised when I started reading the book and realized that it was a Cinderella retelling (loosely- but I really don't like the Cinderella story in general) and a romance (which I guess I should have been able to tell from the cover, but in this situation, I did not see the cover before starting the book) not the sci-fi/fantasy book I anticipated. That being said, after a rocky start where I was slightly miffed at my wrong misconceptions, I found that the more I read in the book, the more I enjoyed the story. I really hope that this is the first in a series of fairy-tale inspired books that deal with the Vampire Lords and Ladies, as well as the mystery and destruction that was only glimpsed at the end of the story here.

I thought Arabelle and Marius were sweet together and most certainly full of passion, but I have a lot of questions about their future together (especially the feeder dealio with the lust, but whatever) that will hopefully be addressed in another book to come. But I absolutely loved Nicolai and the keeper of the wolves Sienna (who were so cool on their own, I want to know more about the wolves!) so I can't wait to see if they get a story because hands down they were my favorite and I want to know more...and about the last Vampire Princess Vilhelmina...she was a great character.

Overall this was a good paranormal romance that hints at it's fairy-tale origins, but in darker much more adult way with a twist ending. I look forward to more from this world.

I received this title in return for my honest review.

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