The Last Tale of the Flower Bride

September 1, 2022

When a mythology scholar marries the intriguingly enigmatic Indigo Maxwell-Caste�ada, she makes him promise never to ask about her past. Then a family emergency sends them to her childhood home, and the husband must choose between reality and fantasy. The adult debut of a New York Times best-selling author whose Aru Shah and the End of Time was one of Time's Top 100 Fantasy Books of All Time.

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November 7, 2022
Bestseller Chokshi (best known for the YA novel The Gilded Wolves) makes her adult debut with a lush and haunting modern fairy tale about the nature of friendship and love. Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada, the heiress to a fortune, wants for nothing but love. She finds it in the unnamed narrator, a man who embraces all things mysterious and unexplained. Their marriage is built on sharing fairy stories, playing fantastical games, and maintaining a no questions asked policy about Indigo’s past. But when Indigo’s dying aunt and onetime guardian forces them to return to the House of Dreams, Indigo’s childhood home, secrets bubble to the surface. The ghost of Indigo’s childhood best friend clings to the House of Dreams and begs to be acknowledged. Soon fantasy and reality blur, testing the strength of the couple’s love, and even threatening their lives. Chokshi’s prose overflows with metaphor and lavish imagery, adding to the decadent, gothic feel as the mystery of Indigo’s past intensifies. The result is equal parts dizzying, dazzling, and foreboding. Agent: Thao Le, Sandra Dijkstra Literary.

May 1, 2023

This novel begins with the wealthy and famous recluse Indigo Maxwell-Caste�ada's husband narrating as he meets and falls in love with her. It is almost a fairy tale of love at first sight, but from the beginning they keep secrets from each other. Over time he learns about Indigo and her childhood, while their own tangled web of secrets grows. Then Indigo's best friend, Azure, tells of their wonderful yet obsessive friendship, and the magical world Indigo created for them. Fairy tales are infused into every aspect of the story, but slowly shift from Disney fantasy to Brothers Grimm mash-ups. Elements of "Snow White" dominate at first, like the girls' pale skin and long silky black hair, so alike they are often mistaken for each other. But then notes of "Bluebeard" rise and forbidden rooms, forbidden memories, and forbidden futures seep in to build the tension to a breaking point. This twist on a contemporary fairy tale is a page-turner and culminates in a surprise ending. VERDICT A gripping addition to the reimagined fairy-tale genre; give this to fans of Melissa Bashardoust's Girls Made of Snow and Glass, Sarah J. Maas's "A Court of Thorn and Roses" series, and Margaret Owen's Little Thieves.-Gretchen Crowley

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2022

DEBUT Once upon a time, a man who studied fairy tales fell in love with a woman who believed she lived in one. The story centers on an unnamed groom who has promised not to question his beautiful, mysterious wife about her shrouded past. They enjoy a lush, sensual romance of delights, games, and illusions, cocooned from the real world by her wealth and his ability to tell stories. At least until circumstances carry them back to her childhood home, where an entirely different fairy tale played itself out over the days of her youth. When he breaks his promise and delves into his wife's true heart, he expects that truth to be deadly. And so it is--but it still manages to set them both free. The gothic atmosphere of this fairy-tale romance, mixed with heartbreaking tragedy, creates a story that hovers between fantasy and illusion. It begins with an enchantment and ends with its breaking. In between, a dream becomes a nightmare--until they both wake up. VERDICT Chokshi's (Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality) adult debut is recommended for lovers of gothic romance, magical realism, and stories where fairy tales come true, especially when they shouldn't.--Marlene Harris

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 1, 2023
A historian seeking to locate a thirteenth-century grimoire has a fateful meeting with the wealthy and mysterious Indigo Maxwell-Caste�ada in this gothic fairy tale. Soon this historian becomes the Bridegroom, the narrator for half of the book, and Indigo's husband. The other half is set in Indigo's past and narrated by Azure, her childhood best friend. Indigo, an heiress, took the lonely and poor Azure under her wing, and the girls were inseparable. As they age, Azure comes to realize that the closeness they share can be suffocating and limits her choices. The Bridegroom, already holding secrets of his own, agrees to Indigo's request that their marriage be a starting-over point for both of them and no questions will be asked about the past. Much like Bluebeard's wife, the Bridegroom's curiosity overcomes him, and he tries to discover his wife's secrets, threatening their marriage in the process. Equal parts fairy tale, friendship story, and an examination of marriage, this gothic tale is lush and haunting. Chokshi, already a best-selling author of children's and YA books, returns to the adult world (after the novella Once More Upon a Time) in this winning, original work. Highly recommended for all fantasy collections.

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Starred review from February 15, 2023
In Chokshi's gothic fairy tale, a poor academic marries a glamorous heiress who makes him vow not to search for her secrets. A fairy-tale scholar known only as "the bridegroom" meets the mysterious, fabulously wealthy Indigo Maxwell-Caste�ada when he asks to see a rare book from her family's private collection. Almost immediately, he and Indigo embark on a whirlwind romance fueled by their mutual love of stories. But despite her passion for him, Indigo keeps the bridegroom at a distance, making him promise never to dig into her past. Then, when Indigo gets word that the aunt who raised her is dying, she and the bridegroom return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams. The mysterious mansion is bursting with Indigo's secrets, making it harder and harder for the bridegroom to keep his promise, especially when it comes to the question of Indigo's childhood friend Azure. Azure, a working-class girl from the neighborhood, was like a sister to Indigo until they had a fight and she completely disappeared. As the bridegroom dives further into Indigo's past, he realizes he may be at risk of disappearing, too. Chokshi's novel is a true fairy tale, both in its poetic, fantastical imagery and its thematic interest in the price people pay for freedom and love. The parallels between the bridegroom and Azure as mere mortals faced with Indigo's impossible privilege, and the connection between Indigo and Azure as young girls enamored with creating their own magic, make the tension bubble higher and higher until it boils over. And as in the best folktales, the issues at the crux of the otherworldly struggles here are simply, and painfully, human. A singular, unforgettable tale of love and magic.

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