Thursday, May 23, 2019

REVIEW: RoseBlood by A.G. Howard


RoseBlood

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. 


NOTE: I reviewed this book on Goodreads during my hiatus, so it is not a recent review, but I wanted to post it onto my blog.

MY THOUGHTS
Oh boy. I loved LOVED the Splintered series! I was so excited to hear that A.G. Howard was writing another book! But I so very disappointed by this book. It was a strange read, as I was expecting, but the characters were dull and the plot was annoyingly cliche.

The book mostly follows Rune, a girl who is being sent to RoseBlood, a boarding school for opera students in Italy. Rune has an opera talent, one that she hates. She can't help but sing, but she gets ill every time she sings. At her school, she is bullied right away from peers and others. And she keeps seeing a masked man, one that she might have a connection with. She'll figure out (very slowly) how everything is coming full circle and realize the truth behind her ability.

Okay, so like her Splintered series, this book is not an actual retelling of the original story. Rune is familiar with the Phantom of the Opera tale and this takes place after the events in the original story. Despite my issues, I do think that A.G. Howard portrayed the tale in a unique way. Maybe not good unique, but certainly interesting. There was a lot of info-dumping though because apparently, Rune couldn't figure things out for herself.

Speaking of Rune, boy was she dull! She was a complete Mary Sue! I don't know anything from her personality, if she even had one. Just that she sings and that she has a tragic past. And she makes so many stupid decisions. There's a masked man following me around, leaving creepy clues for me to follow! I better follow the creepy clues! What the hell?! And her compulsion to sing! I understand that her singing can break glass, but couldn't she sing in the untended garden or something? [highlight to view spoiler] I seriously don't understand why she had to burst into the auditorium and interrupt the try-outs! She knew they were happening, she knew people would be pissed off! Again, go sing in the frexing garden where no one is and there is no glass she can break! [end of spoiler] Maybe I don't understand how opera works, but I still think she could've done things differently.

Now, the romance was the worst part. Thorn was our love interest and while he had an interesting backstory, he was also dull and I don't care how tragic his backstory is, that does not give him an excuse to be a creep. We get to see multiple chapters from his perspective, which was annoying. He is the Phantom's "son" and does his bidding. Which means he's cruel to Rune (for stupid reasons) but he lwves her so much because soulmates. He also stalks Rune throughout the entire book, watching her sleep and all that jazz. Rune even knows this and she's so chill because soulmates. I don't believe in soulmates, not one bit, and I didn't believe it in this book.

I mentioned how there was a big info-dump? Rune literally has to get everything explained to her all at once, not until the last hundred pages. Yes, it takes that long to get the party started. While I found some things unique, a lot of things were just ridiculous. [highlight to view spoiler]For some reason, I am stuck on the Aunt. So, she was the one who was bullying Rune? WHAT THE HELL?!! So, you want your niece to leave the school, I'll place a dead bird in front of her! I'll destroy her uniforms! Are you five???? Also, didn't Rune get into the school because of her Aunt? Rune mentions several times that there was a waiting list to get into the school and she was number one because her Aunt works there. If you didn't want your niece to go to the school can't you just, I don't know, not put her in the number one spot![end of spoiler]

Honestly, this book had so many cliches that I felt like I could tick off a bunch of YA paranormal tropes. Boarding school? CHECK. Dead parent? CHECK. Creepy romance? CHECK. "True love"? CHECK. Tragic backstory? CHECK. Attractive but misunderstood love interest? CHECK. Mean Girl? CHECK. Makes sudden friendships (even though life doesn't work that way)? CHECK. I could go on and on. I think the only cliche that isn't in there is a love triangle.


IN CONCLUSION
When I first started this review, I gave this book 2 stars but I am having such a hard time finding positives. There are so few. I am so disappointed in this book. I am such a fan of Splintered and I hope that A.G. Howard's next book will be in the vein of Splintered, not this. Do I recommend this book? Definitely not! But it looks like readers will either love it or hate it, so good luck to you!
I hereby give this book
1 Star
Meaning: I did not like it

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