Review: RoseBlood by A.G. Howard

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

In this modern day spin on Leroux’s gothic tale of unrequited love turned to madness, seventeen-year-old Rune Germain has a mysterious affliction linked to her operatic talent, and a horrifying mistake she’s trying to hide. Hoping creative direction will help her, Rune’s mother sends her to a French arts conservatory for her senior year, located in an opera house rumored to have ties to The Phantom of the Opera. 

At RoseBlood, Rune secretly befriends the masked Thorn—an elusive violinist who not only guides her musical transformation through dreams that seem more real than reality itself, but somehow knows who she is behind her own masks. As the two discover an otherworldly connection and a soul-deep romance blossoms, Thorn’s dark agenda comes to light and he’s forced to make a deadly choice: lead Rune to her destruction, or face the wrath of the phantom who has haunted the opera house for a century, and is the only father he’s ever known.

My Thoughts:

Creepy yet Beautiful!!

I think what drew me in toward this book is the beautiful yet eerie cover of the book. I know, I know, don't judge a book by it's cover, but this books' cover is truly exquisite. That added with the fact that I love the color red sealed the deal for me. I went into this book completely blind, knowing only the fact that this is based on the Phantom of the Opera. Given that I have never read it I knew fairly little about what to expect from this book.

So basically there is this girl named Rune and she has a kind of singing disorder which makes it impossible for her to resist the urge to sing opera. You'd think that wouldn't be such a bad thing, but get this- the songs actually haunts her and leaves her fatigued at the end. Now you wouldn't want that, would you? ( I wouldn't know, I can't sing if my life depended on it ;D) So she gets send off to this boarding school in Paris called RoseBlood, which is actually the Opera House underneath which the Phantom lives with his adopted (?) phantom son.

It gets all kind of creepy from there. I don't want to spoil so let's just say there's creepy animals, a SORT OF vampires, a cemetery with an unmarked grave, auras, gypsies, secret passageways, Frankenstein inspired "stuff" and a lot of stalking. Personally I loved all the weirdness and the creepy stuff, but if any of these bothers you, this book's probably not for you.

The setting is also really dark and gloomy with a lot of rain and an abandoned castle vibe. The theme being mostly unrequited love and soulmates or "twin flames" as they call it. The romance between Rune and the Phantom's son Thorn is absolutely fascinating. Both of them has a tragic past with both of them losing a parent, which brings them even closer. Their romance is outright steamy. I love the whole meant to be yet separated by fate thing going on between them.

Both their point of views are laid out through out the book, and I just loved how their love/longing for each other is portrayed. Rune also has to go about hiding an important part of her from her friends, which makes her feel rather lonely. Though at times I felt like I did not relate to her that much. At the beginning of the story Rune and her mom seemed to be really close despite the fact that she was insisting her to go to a boarding school when Rune really didn't want to. Their relationship was really sweet. But after Rune's mom leaves, there wasn't much interaction between them. I get that she didn't feel that her mom wouldn't understand everything that's going on, but there was not much mention of her revealing other aspects of her life to her mom either. There was no mention of Rune missing her mother or writing to her often, which strikes to be kind of out of character.

The story is all about fate and how the phantom's destiny intertwines with Rune's family's in his search for unconditional love all through his history. It also shows how Thorn deals with having to inevitably choose between his savior/mentor and his soulmate. It was stunning how everything falls into place in a tragic and beautiful end. Although the ending felt rushed as though the author was trying to explain too much too fast. It felt like the book climaxed and then when straight downhill from there, which was sort of disappointing.

Apart form that, the writing is all in all really beautiful with alluring descriptions of nature as well as the opera house. Like I said, if you love the creepy and the weird as much as I do, definitely READ THIS BOOK!!

My Rating: Exceeds Expectations