Review: Good but Familiar
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 25, 2013
All in all, I found this to be an enjoyable but sometimes slow read. So first, let's talk about the positives.+I love the details of Sera's heritage that are woven into the novel. I admittedly know next to nothing about Filipino culture, and I think that Ava Zavora does a great job of educating the reader, without making it like a text book or history lesson, and without taking away from the main plots of the story.+Jumping off of that, I appreciate that when a word wasn't in English, it was in italics. I've had issues with that in the past, and this approach was used well.+Another thing that worked well in this novel was the use of flashback-like sequences to tell a broader story. In no part was I confused by the timeline or by what was going on.+The settings and descriptions are both beautiful, making the reader want to travel alongside Sera and see what she wants to see. Even down to the colors of the flower petals, a vivid portrait is painted.+I really like the concept of this book: secrets and lies run rampant. It makes for a dramatic, intense read that emotionally pulls at the reader. I was left questioning things and pondering characters' choices. I like a novel that isn't predictable.There were only a few minor things that didn't rest so well with me. At parts, it seemed a little boring, almost as though I'd heard it before. This wasn't often, and not enough to "break" this story for me. Going off of that, this book slightly reminded me of Beautiful Creatures (a book that I couldn't even finish). The mansion, Rosethorn, along with a character named Serafina stirred up this novel, through no fault of the author or her story. This was merely my own skewed thinking.For all of the above reasons, along with a twisting, romantic, dramatic plot filled with secrets and lies, I give this book four solid stars. Thank you so much to Ava Zavora, for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.