This is one of the most rushed “romances” I have seen in fiction, especially as we don’t even know what X-factor brings the two of them together except that each finds the other attractive. He wants to keep this wedding vow but when Indigo’s aunt gets close to her deathbed and they have to go to the House of Dreams, he starts to notice certain things about his wife that don’t add up. Chokshi's prose overflows with metaphor and lavish imagery, adding to the decadent, gothic feel as the mystery of Indigo's past intensifies. What really makes this story work is how seemingly effortlessly Chonski transports us into the realm of fairy tales. The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a fine addition to the shelf of novels about ordinary people being seduced by wealth and glamour-but its real strength is the way magic emanates from every exquisitely crafted sentence.

Agree that maybe Indigo and Azure have swapped places – at first I thought they were sisters when the lady in the hotel mistook Indigo for Azure, but now I know they were just friends I wonder if Azure was jealous of Indigo and swapped with her? It is a novel where the less you know going in, the better as there are some well executed twists and the whole book is dripping in foreshadowing, so I’ll avoid spoilers but continue at your discretion. The fact that the dual POV doesn’t include the main female character up to this point was a twist that I need to know more about the “why” of it. There are plenty of references to fae elements in the plot, but we never know whether they were actual or just in the imagination of the characters. These spaces that seem to hunt, seem to dream, seem to offer up possible rewards if only we are pure of heart and motives to grasp our destinies.

It’s a book about hurt and broken people, and the lengths they will go to find and keep the ones they love. What I can say, though, is that this is not a book for everyone; it's confusing, at times, spooky without being scary, with a purple prose that only works in books like this one and that not all readers appreciate. Chokshi absolutely dazzles, with poetic prose and the kind of fairytale spinning only she could bring to fruition.

My previous experiences made me hesitant to pick up The Last Tale of the Flower Bride, but Chokshi outdid herself this time.

A few years ago, an unnamed man married Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada, a beautiful, wealthy and mysterious woman. THE LAST TALE OF THE FLOWER BRIDE is a sexy, mysterious, creepy fairy tale for adults, with all the gauzy, sultry atmosphere of a Guillermo Del Toro movie. It is admirable how Chokshi reconciles the bridegroom’s relationship with Indigo and Azure’s relationship with Indigo. Really, hidden beneath all the florid writing of The Last Tale of the Flower Bride, there is a fantastic story. Sometimes the door holds row upon row of indignities plucked and preserved like fruit out of season.