Feature Friday ARC Review: Black Rose by Karina Halle

*Feature Friday ARC Review is a meme hosted by The Tattered Page to review books not yet released.  

*Warning: This review may contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

Publisher: Self-published 
Release Date: March 19, 2023

Pages: 410 

Genre: Adult Romance

Source: E-ARC 

THE STORY:

From the New York Times best-selling author of River of Shadows and Black Sunshine comes a new dark gothic romance duet about how love can transcend the ages, but at a deadly cost.

Is it her destiny to love him?

Or is it her destiny to die?

Valtu Aminoff is no stranger to tragedy. Though many know him as the enigmatic vampire that inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Valtu’s complex life is far more horrific than any fiction could imagine. When you lose the love of your life over and over again, it can do more than break your heart—it can corrupt your soul.

It's up to his new lover to decide if Valtu's damaged soul is even worth saving.

But destiny isn’t done with Valtu yet. And tragedy is always around the corner.

Black Rose is the sequel to Blood Orange and is not a standalone. 

Please check inside the book for content warnings.

LINK: Goodreads 

RATING: 

ONE-WORD REVIEW: SPICYYY

TAG LINE: Every vampire has a sad love story to tell.

OPENING LINE: "She is dead."

REVIEW:

Huge thank you to Karina Halle and her PR team for an ARC of BLACK ROSE!

BLACK ROSE is a dark romance retelling of Dracula and the sequel to BLOOD ORANGE. It mostly takes place in modern-day times but twenty-one years after the ending of BLOOD ORANGE. Like its predecessor, BLACK ROSE follows the sad love story of  Valtu "Dracula" and his reincarnated Mina who is Rose in this lifetime. But get this, this time she is a vampire too! And she immediately remembers all of her past lives with Valtu when she turns. But will their undying love story finally have its happily ever after or is this their final chance to beat death? 

𝐼𝓈 𝓂𝓎 𝒹𝑒𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓃𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝒶𝓁𝓌𝒶𝓎𝓈 𝒷𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝒽𝒾𝓂? 𝒪𝓇 𝒾𝓈 𝓂𝓎 𝒹𝑒𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓃𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝒶𝓁𝓌𝒶𝓎𝓈 𝒹𝒾𝑒? 

Valtu remained the sad boy character who tiddled on the line between bloodthirsty, angry, grief-riddled Dracula and the "man" Mina and the humans deserved and needed.

Rose was a complex character who was interesting to read because she was so many people built-in-one. Takes skill to write an FMC like this with individualism—without all of her selves melding together. 

𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝓈𝒶𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝑔𝓇𝒾𝑒𝒻 𝒾𝓈 𝒶 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝑒𝒻 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝒶𝒾𝓃 𝑜𝒻 𝓁𝑜𝓈𝓈 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝓈𝓉𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓈 𝓈𝑜 𝓂𝓊𝒸𝒽 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓈𝑜 𝓂𝓊𝒸𝒽 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝓁𝒾𝒻𝑒.

BLACK ROSE was well written and immersive. The pacing was fast-paced and Karina didn't dally on jumping right into the story. And I love watching how Valtu and Rose's gut-wrenching, enduring love story unfolded between two characters who have gone through so much grief, change, and a world bent on keeping them apart.

𝑀𝓎 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝒻𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒶𝑔𝒶𝒾𝓃. 𝐵𝓊𝓉 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝒹𝑜𝑒𝓈𝓃’𝓉 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑒.

And don't get me started on the SPICE! If BLOOD ORANGE left you hot and bothered, BLACK ROSE will have you ready to rip your clothes off. Karina didn't shy away from the smut. What made it so much more delicious was Valtu's darker, more dangerous character this go around.

𝒲𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓅𝓇𝒾𝓂𝒶𝓁, 𝓌𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓇𝒶𝓌, 𝓌𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑒𝒹.

All in all, BLACK ROSE was a great sequel to BLOOD ORANGE and I had such fun reading it—so sad seeing their story end. I recommend this spooky, spicy romance of reincarnated love to fans of Dracula and Mina and supernatural romance.

TROPES:

- Reincarnation

- Supernatural creatures

- Dual alternating POVs

- Dracula re-telling

- High spice

- Dark Academia

- Gothic Setting

- Vampires vs Witches

- Spooky vibes

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Karina Halle is a former travel writer and music journalist and The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling author of The Pact, Love, in English, The Artists Trilogy, Dirty Angels and over 20 other wild and romantic reads. She lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband and her rescue pup, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of books. Halle is represented by the Root Literary and is both self-published and published by Simon & Schuster and Hachette in North America and in the UK.

Connect with Karina

Facebook: https://bit.ly/3LCSTIw

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2vo9pq4

Instagram: https://bit.ly/3LHKB21

Join her Reader Group: https://bit.ly/3wAzpQt

Stay up to date with Karina by signing up for her newsletter here: 

https://bit.ly/3PAEqQy

Website: http://authorkarinahalle.com

Happy Reading!