The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi - Book Review

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

Publication Date: 16th Feb 2023

Genre: Gothic Mystery, Romance 

1.8 Stars 

One Liner: Fantastic premise… below par execution with too much prose 

He was obsessed with fairytales and mythologies, always looking for answers. She was an ultra-rich heiress with too many secrets. They meet and get married. However, the happy-ever-after of their marriage is threatened by the past. 

When Indigo’s estranged aunt is on her deathbed, the newlywed couple moves into The House of Dreams, a place with too many things buried and hidden in the dark. His naturally inquisitive nature makes it hard to keep his promise of not asking about Indigo’s past. 

What happens when the secrets are revealed? 

The story comes from two POVs. 

What I Like: 

The blurb is enticing and paints the picture of a gothic story with dark romance, danger, and maybe betrayal. Sadly, the blurb is a lot better than the book. 

The covers (yes, both) are eye-catchy and super attractive. I could use the cover with the girl’s face to tick off a reading challenge prompt. Small mercies! 

The toxicity of the characters and their relationships comes out really well. It would help people explain red flags by discussing these characters. 

The ending is rather good, despite everything. I’m glad for the characters. 

What Could Have Been Better for Me: 

Oh, well… this could be lengthy. 

First, the excessive prose tries too hard to create a dark atmosphere. It succeeds in some places, but most of the time, it nudges the reader to zone out and think of anything else but the book. I could concentrate only after I started speed-reading. I requested the book after being impressed by the author’s work in Three Kisses, One Midnight. This promised something more but left me feeling highly disappointed. 

Second, the house is vital in gothic fiction. Giving it a character isn’t enough, though. The house should actually have a role to play. Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey makes the house an integral part of the plot, and I couldn’t help but feel claustrophobic when reading some scenes. Here, the setting has great potential but drowns in the excessive purple prose. Let it breathe and establish itself. 

Third, the plot is wafer-thin and almost non-existent. It doesn’t have to be new (there are only so many plots available), but it has to be effective. Personally, I love books that have a touch of magical realism. Here, it’s more of an illusion of magic. So much can be done with a setting like that, and we end up with a tangled mess of characters who need immediate medical help. (As much as I love lush prose, I want a plot too. One reason I dislike Where the Crawdads Sing.) 

Fourth, the nameless bridegroom ends up as one of the most underdeveloped and underutilized characters most of the time. Even his POV merely acts as a tool to advance the plot. This is clear in the bare minimum attention he gets. The other track looks like the author’s favorite. Having that track alone would have worked better, IMO. More space to present the sick and twisted minds of the characters. The dual POVs don’t help either, and those plot holes… Ahem. 

Fifth, the twist is painfully obvious. I would have rated it higher if this aspect was also dealt with a smoke screen to come up with a double twist. I could guess almost all developments after the 35% mark. While I don’t mind that in cozy mysteries, I do mind it in atmospheric and ‘dark’ novels. 

Sixth, with so many references to fairytales and mythologies, the book has tremendous scope to dive deep into the paranormal aspects. You can’t have characters obsessed with faeries and faes and not use them in a gothic novel. It’s confusing to determine the actual intent of the book. It is supposed to be ‘magical’ or ‘delusional’? Of course, a book can have both, but the intent has to be clear (at least by the last page). 

Seventh, the romance isn’t exactly dark, especially if we refer to Indigo and the nameless man. I still don’t understand how he became a scholar. And whatever happened to his research? The hints of sick love are mostly found in the past track (in which case, the blurb is rather misleading). 

To summarize, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride could have indeed been a breathtakingly dark romance of fairytales, secrets, and betrayals. But it ends up much below the expectations it set for the readers. 

Thank you, NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton, for the eARC. 

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