I have slowly been making my way through THE HOUSE OF CRIMSON AND CLOVER series for a few years, mostly because money was tight for a while. I have enjoyed every novel in this series. I love the southern gothic genre! The atmophere of this novel is taught with darkness and danger but, most importantly, (and this keeps me reading the series) HOPE. I detest reading novels, making friends with the characters, only to have the author kill them off. It was sad to read about Aidric’s murder. But I have a feeling Anasofia will avenge his murder, which she did in part in EMPIRE OF SHADOWS. I’m looking forward to reading about the whole lot of dictators being destroyed. The plot of this novel was tightly-woven and polished. The characters were life-like and empathetic. Although the novel ended on a cliff-hanger, I have the next book and will be starting it tonight. I just loved this novel and was fully engrossed in it. Will evil Margarethe be destroyed? Will Jon and Finn be reconciled in the next book? Will Finn and all his allies find and rescue Anasofia? Will Estella’s positive transformation into a person of honor and integrity be permanent? Will Quillan act like a man instead of Estella’s doormat? Out of all the colorful characters in this novel, I abhorred Estella! However, she bagan to redeem herself after she touched little Stella and, hopefully, this behavior will become permanent.
Ms. Cradit is an outstanding author. I’ve pre-ordered book 1 of her new series.
