This is the first book I’ve read by Chokshi. I didn’t know what to expect, but I did think this book was fantasy. It’s not; it’s a gorgeous, dark, haunting gothic story of fairytales, nightmares, toxic friendship, secrets and obsession. I don’t have words to adequately express how much I love this book! If I could give it more than 5 stars, I would.

The story is told from the Bridegroom’s POV, which is present day, and from Indigo’s childhood friend Azure, which is past. The Bridegroom and Indigo have a whirlwind, intoxicating courtship and are soon married, with the condition that the Bridegroom must never pry into Indigo’s past. When Indigo is called to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, because her aunt is dying, it becomes impossible for the Bridegroom to keep his vow. The House knows Indigo’s secrets and wants to share them.

I don’t want to give anything away because the best way to enjoy this book is by going into it with no expectations or assumptions. This is a story to read and savor slowly on quiet, dark days, and you won’t want it to end.

"All marriages possess their own tongue. It is a lexicon discovered in that space between clipped sentences. Its poetry can be heard in the rustle of blankets as you shift to curl around the other in silent apology."

The story of Indigo and Azure. Childhood obsessive to coming of age friendship.
A compelling dark gothic novel that is centered around myths and fairytales. Fairytales woven throughout, some I was unfamiliar with.
The character relationships are toxic, yet fascinating.
The tale captures the dangers of reality and fantasy.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.

This is the gothic/horror/fantasy/romance mashup of your dreams. Roshani Chokshi’s lyrical (some might even say flowery) writing style has appealed to me since my first read of The Gilded Wolves. In those books, sometimes her writing almost distracted from the plot, or indeed, covered the lack of it at times.

In this book, that style is used to full effect in telling the story of a mysterious bridegroom and his bride, Indigo. As is to be expected from a gothic romance, this story has layers to be revealed throughout, and the experience of reading it is less about being SHOCKED by twists and turns than it is about the experience of reading and being chilled.

I think Chokshi perfectly achieved what she sets out to in this book, and I highly recommend to fans of the genre.

A beautifully written love letter to fairy tales and how they reflect our world. Roshani Chokshi’s prose is lush, building a gothic world hiding living buildings, fairies, and princesses just out of sight.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for an ARC of The Last Tale of the Flower Bride.

Roshani Chokshi's adult debut is a rich addition to the gothic thriller genre. The story was beautifully written and hauntingly calls back to mythology and fairytales. This is the type of story that works best if you go into it not knowing anything or even reading the synopsis. However, that is somewhat where the positives end. The narrative leaves you as an outside observer into the characters lives. While this is a typical tread for the genre, it left me disinterested in the main characters and where they end up. I enjoyed reading this book for the gothic vibes and references to mythology. But, there is not much going on with the plot. I think Chokshi intends for this book to be read as a distant fairytale rather than an immersive novel.

Overall, I enjoyed reading it for the gothic vibes. I give this book 3.5 stars. I also advise picking up this story with the intent of reading it like a Grimm's fairytale. The synopsis leads you a bit astray with how this story is actually structured.

Btw shoutout the cover artist because this is one of the most beautiful covers I have ever seen!

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a genre blending story of gothic mystery, fairytales and coming-of-age that alternates between now told from the perspective of Indigo’s husband and her best friend Azure during her adolescence. Like fairy tales, both Azure and Indigo’s husband willingly make promises and commitments to be a part of her world-one beyond the world many of us live in everyday. For Azure, it is a life with a soul sister that is fey, and they are only counting the days where they have to live in a human world before returning to the world they believe they came from. For her husband, it’s a world of opulence and love and leaving a lonely and average life behind. But both eventually become increasingly uncomfortable with Indigo’s world, and her demands. It could be deadly for both of them. Chokshi demonstrates the ease in which both get sucked into Indigo’s world, where it’s so much easier to leave the life you have and don’t like behind. Many teenagers exist in a state where it feels like they can’t wear the world just right on their frame, and in this story, with unlimited resources, the reader sees just how dangerous it can be to suspend reality to find a place to belong. Indigo’s house feels like a character in and of itself, much as DuMaurier mastered in Rebecca. I feel like the story of Azure and Indigo is the stronger of the storylines, and I wish that Chokshi had delved more into the relationship between Indigo’s husband and his brother, and how his relationship with her plays into his search for answers. This is an enjoyable and fast-paced read. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Beautifully lush language with unique characters and story. I always appreciate Chokshi's ability to write with such imagery that is unlike any other.

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a beautifully written story of marriage. It’s complex with a touch of gothic. I honestly didn’t expect anything less of Roshani Chokshi.

I think there is no better way to describe this book other than enchanting.

I cannot wait to recommend this book to everybody.

#TheLastTaleoftheFlowerBride #NetGalley Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this novel. I encourage you to check this one out!

Here's the thing: this book is beautifully written.

It's one giant metaphor when you really get down to it, and every chapter started out with an elaborate metaphor or comparison to stories. I liked this; I just didn't feel like I truly understood what this book was even after I finished it.

It straddles the line between complex literary fiction, gothic, and fantasy. Typically I'd eat this up--flowery prose and fantastical language really does get me in a book. But the entire time I read, I found myself a little lost in the narrative. Why should I care about Azure, Indigo, or the Bridegroom? Honestly, I had trouble even picturing the things in this book because I was really just...confused. This confusion took me out of the book so many times that I ended up losing my way, you know, when you have to read the same sentence over and over because it isn't registering for you.

This happened more often than I'd like to admit.

I love Chokshi's work usually, and I was really anticipating this to be a five star book. Unfortunately it didn't hit the mark for me. I think a bit more explanation and fewer metaphors would've lent itself to understanding the text instead of feeling like I was flailing around.

The prose is so lyrical and beautiful. I cannot express just how lovely it is. That being said, I think the plot and the forward motion suffers for it. I started the book a month ago and only made it 10%. I didn't feel drawn to pick it back up, forgot about it, and now after a couple weeks, I couldn't remember anything I read or anything about it. After a quick refresher, I am going to leave this one as a DNF.

Definitely disappointing since I absolutely loved both Mexican Gothic and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC.

This was one of my most anticipated books of 2023. Roshani Chokshi is an absolute genius and I love her middle grade and YA books. While I did enjoy Flower Bride, I was a bit disappointed in it overall. No one is more devastated about this than I.

The writing is lyrical to the point where I found it distracting and at times bordering on incoherent. This is definitely an "all vibes, no plot" book. There is a bit of a plot but it was so dragged out through a slow build-up that sometimes I forgot there was an actual story going on behind the purple prose. I think this will appeal to a lot of people but it was just too much for me.

I did enjoy the characters, and this is a character driven book for sure. The atmosphere was really well done as well. It gave me the gothic vibes of my dreams. I think RC's lyrical writing really lends itself to deep atmospheric building.

Overall, I was disappointed just because I had built this book up in my head to an unrealistic degree (which is my own fault! Not the author's) but I still think this was a decent book! I will definitely recommend it to people and Roshani will always be someone I look forward to reading.

While I like some of Chokshi's YA, and her adult debut wasn't a painful read or anything, this book didn't work for me because the writing is lazy in a subgenre that I don't love enough for that not to matter. I love Du Maurier and Jackson and Carter, because like all enduring classics, the classics that created the modern Gothic are defined as such partly because they transcend genre; similarly, I love how Mexican Gothic did something exceptional to reinvent it. Unfortunately, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is more like... just vibes, and not the right ones to hold my interest. The mystery is predictable, and even on the sentence level, the gorgeous lushness of the language is undercut too often for my taste by multiple allusions and metaphors that could have been better chosen and/or edited--and I say this as someone who wholeheartedly appreciates a lot of writing that could objectively be described as overwrought or purple! I also suspect I would have preferred a sapphic version of this story, because that is a sub-sub-genre that *does* interest me (eg. Rose Lerner's recent f/f Jane Eyre retelling, which--while by no means perfect--kept me engaged throughout). But BookTok will probably like it, and the cover is truly gorgeous, and people who can't get enough of this particular kind of feminist or pseudo-feminist Gothic will find a lot here to enjoy. Thanks as always to the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

THE LAST TALE OF THE FLOWER BRIDE by Roshani Choksi is an exquisite fever dream of dark fantasy. Faery and fairy tales weave through the story of Indigo and Azure as girls, believing they are halves of a whole soul, waiting for the day they can re-enter Faery. It’s also the story of Indigo and her groom. Full of glittery and dark fairy tale tropes - bargains, identity, promises made and broken, and secrets.

This book is a gorgeous fairy cake that once read, leaves you aching for more. The writing is enchanting and haunting as it draws you in, slowly revealing dark secrets as past and present converge. While I wanted to savor this, I couldn’t stop reading and devoured it in a day.

Beautifully written and strikingly haunting, the last tale of the flower bride will leave you wanting more and craving your own twisted tale. This was amazing. It’s nothing short of the Roshani Chokshi that we know. Roshani has a way with words. She’s amazing at incorporating the most devious characters that you can’t help but root for. The intense friendship, the twisted marriage, everything about this book was layered with so much intensity and so much drama, I loved it. No I devoured this.

This book reads like a dream. The flashbacks to the girl's friendship was the most interesting. I did feel like the intensity of the friendship was a bit far fetched until I remembered watching the movie Heavenly Creatures based on a real like intense friendship between teen girls that lead to murder. Now I cant help but think that this book was heavily influenced by that story as there are so many similarities.
I think you would need to have a good foundation in fairy tales to catch all the references. Although the narrator tells his bride some of the fairy tales, there are many other allusions to fairy tales throughout the book.

Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow Books for the e-arc.

A beautiful, fascinating story. Roshani Chokshi has woven curiosity, darkness, and dedication into these pages. I found myself craving more from the character's words with every turn of the page. Chokshi is an excellent writer and this newest title is surely to take readers on a journey unlike any other.

If you enjoy dark secrets and lavish fairy tales this book is for you. There is something special about reading how magic occurs all around us and whether we believe in its existence or not. This book is for adults and does carry some heavy themes that some younger readers might find uncomfortable. Be prepared if you choose to embark down this gothic tunnel.

This book will appeal to fans of the new trend of gothic novels such as Mexican Gothic or The Hacienda, although I feel it does not excel quite as much as those titles. The writing is extremely lush and descriptive, but to me veered on the side of purple prose and distracted from the story. I also found the characters to be rather flat and not engaging enough to hold my interest. Gothic novels are powered by atmosphere and descriptions, and for those that enjoy style over substance, this might be the right pick. However, I believe the author might have been better served improving her characters and plot.

I love anything that Roshani Chokshi writes and this book is no exception. It was beautifully gothic and mysterious. I enjoyed the back and forth of the narrative. It really helped build the suspense. It may not be my favorite of Chokshi's work but I enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it to others. It was a great October read as well.

I've been a fan of Roshani Chokshi for many years now. She has a way with words and description and seeing the world that brings so much wonder and curiosity to the reader's senses. Naturally I scrambled to get my little gremlin hands on her Adult debut.

No regrets.

This book demands your time. It demands you to savor it with every word that drips off the page. The way it's written is somewhere between a fairytale narration and a confessional. It was incredibly intimate in the way that the story is told as if you are the speakers' confidant, their only way to get their story to the world. It is both haunting and romantic, a cautionary tale of your identity as yourself and within a pair.

I really don't want to say too much about this book. While the description gives you the base of the plot, it really doesn't cover what the heart of the story is and I think readers will do best going into it knowing that and diving in ready for a long haul. This would be best served with a glass of wine and some candles.

There is a content warning I can give. Primarily, there is a familial side character who is predatory and pedophilic. There is no sexual assault, but scenes and circumstances with this character can be triggering.

This is an Adult novel. While not graphic, please keep in mind this is very different from Chokshi's Middle Grade and Young Adult titles.

Still, I absolutely adored this book, and I can't wait to reread it in final form next year!