In Renaissance Italy, love, lust, intrigue and secret societies converge to stunning results!
In the second in the stunning Secrets of the Eternal Rose series, Cassandra Caravello is trying to forget Falco, the wild artist who ran off with her heart, as she grows closer to her strong, steady fiancé, Luca. But Luca seems to have his own secrets. When he’s arrested by soldiers in the middle of the night, Cass’s life is once again thrown into chaos. She must save Luca, and that means finding the Book of the Eternal Rose—the only evidence that will prove he’s innocent.
So begins her journey to Florence, a city haunted by whispers of vampirism, secret soirees and clandestine meetings of the Order of the Eternal Rose. And home to Falco, who is working for the Order’s eerily stunning leader, the Belladonna herself.
Can Cass trust her heart to lead her to the truth this time?
Nothing is as it seems in this seductive thriller, where the truth may be the deadliest poison of all.
MY THOUGHTS
I enjoyed reading Venom years ago, but for some reason, it took me seven years to get to this book. I did end up liking this book, but it had a hard time keeping my interest. In Belladonna, Cass is still living with her aunt and Cass’ fiancé, Luca. Falco has since left Venice. When Luca is arrested for hearsay, Cass is convinced that someone is trying to make Luca disappear. Especially since he was arrested shortly after confronting a powerful figure about the deaths of the girls from book one. In order to help prove Luca’s innocence (and stop his execution), Cass travels to Florence and encounters the powerful woman called Belladonna and the mysterious group of the Order of the Eternal Rose (which Cass’ parents may have been involved in).
There are a lot of details in this book, a lot happens, but I had to keep taking breaks from this book. I am not sure why, I think that even with all of the strange events in the book, the pacing still felt slow. Most of this book was Cass trying to figure out what the Order of the Eternal Rose was and kind of wandering around Florence, around Belladonna’s place, and getting into some trouble. The last part of the book really picks up, but it was very different from the rest of the book. I did like that the Order is actually in this book. In Venom, we saw the excerpts from the Book of the Eternal Rose and some symbols, but it was never explained or part of the story. So, I did like how this book focused more on that mystery.
I did find this one more difficult to place in terms of genre. I loved that Venom was a mystery taking place during the Renaissance. We continue that here, but sometimes I worried that it was venturing into paranormal territory. Part of this is likely just because, in the time period, there were a lot of superstitions. Things we consider fictional now were not considered fiction then. For instance, in this book, Florence is being overrun by vampires and women are being killed for having puncture wounds on their necks. With this, we also see how the superstitions balance with the emerging science at the time. We saw this a little in book one, but it is very clear here. So, this part is not what I wondered if it were paranormal, because this did feel historical and I liked how it was included. But the Order felt slightly paranormal. [highlight to view spoiler] The Order is trying to gain immortality, or at least youth. Belladonna bathes or uses young blood to remain youthful, so is she an actual vampire? Because she has actually gained a youthful appearance? This did not feel in the vein of history as the rest of the series has so far. [end of spoiler]
There is of course romance in this book but it is not as involved as the first book (yet, there is still the love triangle). I was confused at the beginning because it seemed like Cass was actually romantically with Luca and there was little mention of Falco. It seemed like Cass had made a choice when she really had not. It does not take long for Luca to get arrested so Cass spends a majority of the book without Luca. It is really hard to understand sometimes how Luca and Cass are together because we saw very little of him in Venom and very little of him in this book. He does seem to care for Cass though. It takes a while for Falco to show up, but he does come into the book eventually. He is working for Belladonna, mainly painting pictures of Belladonna for Belladonna (some of which she is nude in). This, of course, makes Cass jealous. This frustrated me because this seems to happen in every single sequel or middle book in a trilogy--bring in an attractive girl for the MC to be jealous of. I could understand why Cass was jealous as Falco is painting mostly nudes of this woman, but this is his job. Just because he was painting these pictures did not mean he was sleeping with her. Art students paint nudes all the time in class, it is not a sexual thing! Not that Falco is in the clear because he did a terrible job explaining things and he was a bit rude in this book. He also gaslighted Cass a few times, which I was not a fan of.
While we had the two guys, I do feel like most of the book focused on Cass. There was not as much romance in this book because she was oftentimes on her own. I liked that the romance was not as big in this book. As you could probably tell from above, I had some issues with the guys when they did show up. I kind of liked seeing Cass solve mysteries on her own (although she did have some friends helping her) and it really showed her growth from the last book where she only explored the city with Falco.
Overall, I did like this book. I liked the historical details in this book and I liked how it explained more about the Order of the Eternal Rose. There were a couple of things that bothered me. I was not a fan of the jealousy in the book or the fact that people were questioning Cass’ sanity, but Cass was a lot stronger character and I can really see her becoming independent. I do want to complete this series. There is a lot I am curious about, like Cass' parent's connection to the Order, what will happen to our characters, and (view spoiler) Unfortunately, the last book is no longer at my library! It used to be there but they got rid of it! That’s what happens when you wait seven years to finish a series. Here’s to hoping that it comes in from interlibrary loan!
There are a lot of details in this book, a lot happens, but I had to keep taking breaks from this book. I am not sure why, I think that even with all of the strange events in the book, the pacing still felt slow. Most of this book was Cass trying to figure out what the Order of the Eternal Rose was and kind of wandering around Florence, around Belladonna’s place, and getting into some trouble. The last part of the book really picks up, but it was very different from the rest of the book. I did like that the Order is actually in this book. In Venom, we saw the excerpts from the Book of the Eternal Rose and some symbols, but it was never explained or part of the story. So, I did like how this book focused more on that mystery.
I did find this one more difficult to place in terms of genre. I loved that Venom was a mystery taking place during the Renaissance. We continue that here, but sometimes I worried that it was venturing into paranormal territory. Part of this is likely just because, in the time period, there were a lot of superstitions. Things we consider fictional now were not considered fiction then. For instance, in this book, Florence is being overrun by vampires and women are being killed for having puncture wounds on their necks. With this, we also see how the superstitions balance with the emerging science at the time. We saw this a little in book one, but it is very clear here. So, this part is not what I wondered if it were paranormal, because this did feel historical and I liked how it was included. But the Order felt slightly paranormal. [highlight to view spoiler] The Order is trying to gain immortality, or at least youth. Belladonna bathes or uses young blood to remain youthful, so is she an actual vampire? Because she has actually gained a youthful appearance? This did not feel in the vein of history as the rest of the series has so far. [end of spoiler]
There is of course romance in this book but it is not as involved as the first book (yet, there is still the love triangle). I was confused at the beginning because it seemed like Cass was actually romantically with Luca and there was little mention of Falco. It seemed like Cass had made a choice when she really had not. It does not take long for Luca to get arrested so Cass spends a majority of the book without Luca. It is really hard to understand sometimes how Luca and Cass are together because we saw very little of him in Venom and very little of him in this book. He does seem to care for Cass though. It takes a while for Falco to show up, but he does come into the book eventually. He is working for Belladonna, mainly painting pictures of Belladonna for Belladonna (some of which she is nude in). This, of course, makes Cass jealous. This frustrated me because this seems to happen in every single sequel or middle book in a trilogy--bring in an attractive girl for the MC to be jealous of. I could understand why Cass was jealous as Falco is painting mostly nudes of this woman, but this is his job. Just because he was painting these pictures did not mean he was sleeping with her. Art students paint nudes all the time in class, it is not a sexual thing! Not that Falco is in the clear because he did a terrible job explaining things and he was a bit rude in this book. He also gaslighted Cass a few times, which I was not a fan of.
While we had the two guys, I do feel like most of the book focused on Cass. There was not as much romance in this book because she was oftentimes on her own. I liked that the romance was not as big in this book. As you could probably tell from above, I had some issues with the guys when they did show up. I kind of liked seeing Cass solve mysteries on her own (although she did have some friends helping her) and it really showed her growth from the last book where she only explored the city with Falco.
IN CONCLUSION
I hereby give this book
3 Stars
Meaning: I liked it
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