I was surprised that I ended up abandoning this book before the half-way point, as I am usually a strong reader of anything that Chokshi writes. I had a really hard time connecting with these characters and found the writing more convoluted than typical. The flip-flops in the narrative were not very clear for me as well. If looking to read your first Chokshi novel, I would recommend picking up Gilded Wolves instead.

Gothic, weird, unsettling, romantic, and with lush prose. If you want to read something that feels unique and different, yet with something that seems familiar in a way that you can't quite grasp, this book is for you.

ATMOSPHERIC!!! This book isn’t really plot or character driven but the atmosphere of the book absorbs you and doesn’t let go! It made me feel like I was dropped in the middle of the fairy tales that are sprinkled throughout the story. I would recommend this book if you like to be engulfed by the setting of a story. The writing is also beautiful!

I'm a sucker for fairy tales and Chokshi did an amazing job with this tale. Told from two different narrators, The Bridegroom who is discovering who Indigo truly is in the present, and Azure, who was on that same quest in the past. Both are mesmerized by the Indigo before them, but the truth is, fairy tales very often have dark sides. The tale absolutely reads as a fairy tale, but also as an escape for the characters from their lives of abuse and neglect. The flowery prose can be a bit difficult to read sometimes and I had to double back a few times to understand what's happening but it's overall a beautiful fairy tale about love and what exactly are we willing to sacrifice for it.

This story was magical, enchanting, and a little bit dark and twisted. Indigo and the Bridegroom get married and the one condition of the marriage is to not look into Indigo's past. When they are brought back to Indigo's childhood home, life unravels and the Bridegroom can't help but search for answers. What happened to Indigo's childhood friend Azure? I was transported into this world of mystery and loved every minute of it. This was my first book by Chokshi, but it won't be my last. Thank you, for the review copy. 5 stars.

How do I even begin to talk about The Last Tale of the Flower Bride? It’s one of those stories that felt deeply personal, both in the actual telling of the tale and in the experience of reading it. It’s whimsical and odd; beautiful and unsettling; relatable and raw. It comforts, challenges, charms and, dare I say, consumes the reader lured in by the promise of the prologue.

I’ve read this novel twice now: first, devouring the author’s eloquent, arresting prose on the page; second, listening to the same stunning sentences delivered by our two audiobook narrators. The first time felt like a race - to discover the truth behind the magic, to arrive at the culmination of these complex relationships, to fit the pieces of the puzzle that is the past and the present together. The second time felt like an invitation - to sit with the sentiments so truthfully declared, to understand more deeply the way the fantastical can give us a lens with which to view the world, to reflect on the way life, in all its glory and guts, is filled with the darkness and the light. Both experiences left me reeling from the visceral reactions I had to having things I’ve felt or thought or experiences put into words; both experiences also left me soothed, simply for the way I felt seen and understood.

Can you tell that this story gave me the most contradiction-filled reading experience I’ve had in a long time (and one that I doubt I’ll stop thinking about anytime soon)? The contrasts are stark - between the whimsy and horror of fairytales, between what comes to light and remains in the shadows (at least, until such time as the light reveals all), between the fanciful and the factual, between Indigo and Azure even. The truths bared - about growing up, about marriage, about secrets and pain and identity, about magic - are all at once exquisite and horrifying. The way Chokshi was able to portray these things side by side through the tale of Indigo and her Bridegroom was enough to stop me in my tracks, so unlike anything I’ve read before and entirely unexpected in the way it hit the bulls-eye again, and again, and again.

This novel isn’t going to necessarily be everyone’s cup of tea. It certainly still feels impossible to fully capture the way I personally connect to it with my own words. But, for me, Chokshi’s adult debut is a masterpiece. The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a fairytale, but it is also a true story. If this is the type of adult work we can anticipate from her going forward, I know I, for one, will be eager to pick up whatever comes next.

This was beautiful and haunting, terrible and magical. I did not know what I was getting myself into with this one and man was I in for a ride. It was so incredibly good. It was so evocative - I loved the very weird relationship between Indigo and the Bridegroom, how they spoke in riddles and fairytales. And I loved the build up of the relationship between Azure and Indigo and how messed up and odd it was - the magic of it and the sheer badness there too.

Chokshi built a beautiful and magical world in this novel. But it is the characters and the complexity of their relationships that really got to me. They are so incredibly messed up but also intricate. I highly recommend this!

I recently had the opportunity to read "The Last Tale of the Flower Bride" by Roshani Chokshi and was excited to dive into this highly anticipated novel. The story is a beautiful, lyrical fairy tale that seamlessly blends fantasy and romance. Chokshi's writing is enchanting and poetic, bringing a dream space to life in vivid detail. The characters are complex and well-developed, and I loved the characterization of Indigo. Overall, "The Last Tale of the Flower Bride" is a stunning novel that will appeal to fans of fairy tales. Chokshi's rich storytelling make this a must-read for anyone looking for a captivating and magical story.

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a beautifully written modern fairy-tale composed of sparkling, vivid descriptions of the lives of a married couple as they strive to love each other while hiding their traumatic pasts from each other while also denying that past within themselves. It is a story of fear, anxiety, family, friendship, wanting to belong and be seen in this world, while longing for a different world when this life and reality become too much. The author expertly weaves in many older fairy-tales, showing that these themes are present across time and world culture, to not only provide a cautionary tale, but also to provide hope for an eventual happy ending. The wording and phrasing, although beautiful, poetic, and fanciful, was sometimes so extravagant, that it clouded the story and weighed it down in parts, often unnecessarily. I loved the twists and turns of the plot, and although I was able to discern what would likely happen, I enjoyed the journey there and couldn't put the book down until the end.

”Myths are but lies breathed through silver.” -C.S. Lewis

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is the type of book that I go koo koo over. I want to collect all the editions of it (ebook, hardcover, and audiobook, check check check), hoard all the special editions and cover art, and make it my entire personality. Couple that with the fact that Roshani Chokshi is a national treasure and we should protect her at all costs, I can safely say that this book will be in my Top 10 of 2023 round up. It’s gorgeous prose, lush atmosphere, and gothic horror elements are cream of the crop, and each time I was able to listen to the audiobook or open the ebook felt like an escape, even though it isn’t a story I’d want to physically be drawn into. ;)

You warned me that knowing your secret would destroy us.

At first, it sat in our marriage like a blue-lipped ghost, hardly noticeable until a trick of the light drew it into focus. But you could always tell the days when it gnawed at my thoughts. You tried to comfort me. You stroked my face and curled my fingers to your heart.

You said: “If you pry, you’ll destroy our marriage.”

But oh, my love, you lied.

The less you know going into this story the better, and while I did have it mostly sorted before the reveal, it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the story. In fact, I feel like it added an element of suspense, building up to the climax to see if I was right and the journey of how we got there. There are many dark elements to this book, and I encourage you to check out trigger warnings before diving in if you need to, but otherwise, definitely go in blind. If you enjoy sensual and sumptuous tales that straddle the line of magical and grounded, this should be at the top of your TBR, and consider the audiobook if you enjoy a good male narrator. *swoons in Steve West*

This was a beautiful ethereal book. I felt like there was a dreamy quality to the writing. I really loved this story and this world.

This book didn't check the boxes for me. Overall, I found it to be excessively abstract. Both storylines had their strengths and weaknesses. Throughout the entire book I found that I couldn't stay on track and my mind kept wandering off. The author did incorporate plenty of fantastical elements and I did enjoy the fairy tale elements. The twist at the end was a good way of tying it all together.

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley.

"The Last Tale of the Flower Bride" was a Gothic and mysterious story. It is told with multiple timelines and points of view, weaving together this story along with fairytale stories. The magic of Roshani Chokshi 's writing and world building kept me immersed and I couldn't put this book down! Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow! All thoughts and opinions are my own!

Chokshi crafts a rich, luxurious, and utterly decadent Gothic fairytale about the nature of friendship and love that goes down like the smoothest of dark chocolates. True, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a bit on the dark side for the just-in-front-of-Valentine’s-Day release window in which it arrives, but its story is also achingly beautiful, a cautionary tale about losing ourselves in the things we love, and a strangely hopeful ode to the possibility of allowing others to see us for who we are. A seemingly slim, delicate story about the secrets at the heart of a marriage, this is a novel that holds surprising hidden depths.

This book was wild and I loved every second of it. The Last Tale of the Flower Bride takes place during two different time lines. In the first, a man meets a beautiful woman named Indigo and they fall in love. While Azure tells the story of growing up being friends with Indigo. When the two stories merge, we find out the truth of what happened between them.
This was so beautifully written with a little bit of horror and fantasy. I could not put this book down because I desperately wanted to know what would happen next.

This book did not disappoint. Every sentence felt like it was chosen with such care. There’s a lyrical quality to this novel, like the words have been lifted from a song and laid bare on the page just for us to hear. The imagery of every scene is so specific that I had no trouble seeing exactly the picture Chokshi was painting for us—and not only that, but I enjoyed every moment of it, even when the story turned dark.

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a love letter to the stories that have withstood the tests of time. Pulling from mythology and folklore from around the world, Chokshi weaves a common thread of love and loss among them. Just as we are taught that Melusine’s husband broke his oath to never look at his wife while she bathed, lest he learn a truth he cannot forget, we understand that the Bridegroom will not keep his promise to Indigo. And so, with the anvil hanging over our heads as the rope stretches thinner, we gather pieces of the puzzle, knowing the world will come crashing down around us as soon as the last piece is fitted into place.

The cast of characters in this book is small, and as such, each of them has a level of depth and complexity that is refreshing and adds to the story as a whole. Despite the fact that most of his story is focused on his relationship with Indigo, we also learn that the Bridegroom is searching for a missing brother that may have never existed. It provides yet another mystery to be solved and rounds out his character in the most intriguing ways. Indigo is as alluring as she is insufferable, and as such, I was as caught up in her gravitational pull as the others. Azure is, undoubtedly, the most sympathetic character in this book, fighting the tragedy of her own life to carve out a piece of the world just for herself.

If you love dark fantasy and/or romance, fairy tales and storytelling, or literary fiction in any capacity, then I highly recommend The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi.

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi
Published: February 14, 2023
Netgalley Digital ARC
Genre: Magical Realism; Realistic Fiction, Folklore/Fairy Tale
Trigger warnings: Death of a parent, implied abuse by a stepparent, parental abandonment, emotional abuse
Rating: 4/5
Amazon Summary: "Chokshi's tale is as sweet as a piece of fairy fruit, and just as wicked. Every bite is velvet, every swallow is gold, and the taste lingers like a fever dream." — V. E. Schwab, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
"A delightfully meta fairy tale. . . . Magic emanates from every exquisitely crafted sentence. . . . It feels like the best conjuring trick ever." — Charlie Jane Anders, Washington Post
A sumptuous, gothic-infused story about a marriage that is unraveled by dark secrets, a friendship cursed to end in tragedy, and the danger of believing in fairy tales—the breathtaking adult debut from New York Times bestselling author Roshani Chokshi.
Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada. He was a scholar of myths. She was heiress to a fortune. They exchanged gifts and stories and believed they would live happily ever after—and in exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past.
But when Indigo learns that her estranged aunt is dying and the couple is forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, the bridegroom will soon find himself unable to resist. For within the crumbling manor’s extravagant rooms and musty halls, there lurks the shadow of another girl: Azure, Indigo’s dearest childhood friend who suddenly disappeared. As the house slowly reveals his wife’s secrets, the bridegroom will be forced to choose between reality and fantasy, even if doing so threatens to destroy their marriage . . . or their lives.
Combining the lush, haunting atmosphere of Mexican Gothic with the dreamy enchantment of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a spellbinding and darkly romantic page-turner about love and lies, secrets and betrayal, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.
Review: This is a gothic and gorgeous dark contemporary fairy tale that will haunt you with its magical realism. At one point, I questioned whether the novel was a fantasy or not, the magic of the narrative will captivate you as it captivated me. Richly drawn from multiple character perspectives, you may grow uncertain of where you are in the timeline of the story as you flash back to the past – part of the allure of Indigo and Azure’s tale is the way that you are an omniscient presence to events, and I love how the timeline keeps you in this unsure universe of dreaminess. Indigo and Azure are memorable characters as is the fairy tale professor husband who provides some gravity to the Gothic magic. Delicious, mysterious, and captivating for those who love reading magic. You may find yourself searching for Bluebeard’s tales and drawing some comparisons. I loved how Chokshi wove the truth and terror of reality with the magic of the unknown in this story. Watch out for delicious twists and turns and enjoy this enchanting book.

THE LAST TALE OF THE FLOWER BRIDE is a gorgeous and terrifying adult fairy tale from @roshanichokshi, out this month.

This was an extremely atmospheric work of fiction, with quite a bit of assumed magical realism involved. I thought it would read more like a fantasy, but it was very much based in real life with some very interesting characters and long buried secrets. There is a delicious twist at the end. The writing is lush and beautiful, but it's definitely a very odd book, and like nothing I've read before. I did enjoy it, though.

Denser than Chokshi's YA and Middle Grade books, this is a dark fairy tale with allusions to Blodeuwedd and various Grimm tales in which a spouse goes against their spouses wishes and finds out more than they would want to know about their past. Rich and very visual prose marks the tale of Indigo and her "sister" Azure.