Author: Tracey-anne McCartney
Published: October 17, 2015
Pages: 360
Source: NetGalley
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Bea lives a simple life residing in a SW London second-hand bookshop. It'd been an especially difficult year, first with Bea's uncle dying, then splitting up with Brandon, her philandering, druggie boyfriend. The shops trivial daily conversations, local faces and ordinary calm was all she desired but that was all about to change. No-one expects to bump into supernatural beings, let alone two opposing sects of a forgotten race. Bea's quiet existence turns into turmoil as she slowly starts to unravel a secret past, a lost history in which love, revenge, betrayal, magic, power and karma are not mere cycles of a soul, but a sacred journey upon a web of many possibilities. The future is not set in stone, and the choices that Bea makes ripple through the cosmos. As the secret unfolds she realises that no matter what form your soul takes there are consequences for your actions in which time has no relevance we call it karma, they call it Vororbla.
Will she cope with the heartbreak and truths revealed before her? What would you do if your very existence came into question?
Join Bea on her journey as she uncovers the truth of her past via A Carpet of Purple Flowers.
Will she cope with the heartbreak and truths revealed before her? What would you do if your very existence came into question?
Join Bea on her journey as she uncovers the truth of her past via A Carpet of Purple Flowers.
My Thoughts
*ahem*
I'm gonna start this review by saying that I really didn't like this book. I was really interested within the first couple of chapters and the synopsis seemed good enough but oh man was I wrong. I'm just going to put this as a really quick review. I'm not going to really break it down to characters--well no, I will break them down but not as extensively I do with other books. This is mostly because I don't really have much to say other than I really disliked it. I really didn't like it. Let's just start with something.
The Good:
Um. I guess the first couple of chapters were good? I really liked how Bea was at first and I liked how Karian was introduced and I thought it was going to be like a dark-Holly-Black kind of fey story but that didn't happen. I really liked how things were going for Bea and Karian for a little bit and then they had a date, he stood her up, he apologized, and then he left again. Like um. What?
The Bad:
-rubs hands together- oh boy. Where do I even start? Let me just preface this part by saying that I love slow burning romances. I love romances that take like three books for the ship to kiss. I love that shit. It's why I read shojo manga so frequently. I love romances that grow and it's two people finding more and more things to like about each other. I think it's genuine, cute, and really heart warming.
This had none of that.
This had that bullshit instant love. The bane of my bookish existence.
Of course there has to be a love triangle right? Of course. But here's the thing. Remember how I said Karian just disappeared? Well that's when new hottie comes in. His name is Chance (but not actually Chance I actually forgot his real name oops). He literally appears for like five seconds in real time and suddenly THE PLANETS HAVE ALIGNED AND THE HEAVENS OPENED UP BECAUSE THEY'RE IN LOVE. I'm sorry how ridiculous does that sound? I'm not even joking. He's Fey and he uses his glamour but somehow Bea can see him (oh I forgot to mention that's how she saw Karian too. She just happened to see him but none of the other Fey. How does that work?) and suddenly they make eye contact and it's supposed to be like this instant fire and passion and I'm just sitting here like, "Romeo and Juliet at least had a party to fall in love. Y'all fall in love the second you look at each other? What is this?!"
So Chance and Bea have this whole thing happening and they're in love and Bea can't stop thinking about him, etc. etc. and then he disappears. Yup. Just like Karian. He just *poof* gone. Okay, not really gone that way but to Bea's perspective he just disappears. He goes back to his realm and all that without a word. Don't worry I have a point here. When Chance disappears guess who reappears?
If you guessed Karian you're right!
Yeah.
I know. Great right? Not at all convenient. And then suddenly Bea is drawn back to Karian again. Like girl what? Honestly all feelings of Chance just went out the window and suddenly she's all about Karian. I just. I can't.
The Ugly:
Alright, I got like three things to say in this category.
1. This book was melodramatic as -bleep-. Oh yeah. I don't know how anybody feels about my dropping the f bomb but there it was.
I think I'm going to pull up the quotes I highlighted in this book for reference because holy hell I could not take how melodramatic it was. Let's look at some quotes:
"Bea's mouth flew open, aghast, and her hand grasped her chest, as if trying to save the heart from breaking its way out of the surface."
"It wasn't a piece of heaven that you showed me...but hell."
"Bea heard her name spoken aloud, the sound pierced through her heart like a blasting gun, on target, but the rhythm of the war drum within kept her feet walking without any form of acknowledgement."
I mean that last quote alone is just... what? This book was melodramatic that I almost laughed at some parts because it was just so ridiculously dramatic. It was like it was trying to be dramatic without actually being dramatic.
2. The sex.
I had no idea there was going to be so much sex in this book. I mean I'm not knocking it for the sex it was just. I suddenly thought I was reading an adult romance novel all of a sudden. Granted I'm not sure this is listed as Young Adult, but a lot of the sex seemed unwarranted and just out of the blue? And this was pretty explicit. Not details explicit but very much the "oh I know what's going on and I'm a bit uncomfortable about it right now" feeling because it doesn't build up to it. It just suddenly happens and you're left to recover.
3. The characters.
I will be honest, I didn't care for any of the characters. I didn't. They all could've died at the end and I honestly wouldn't even care. They were flat and they had one purpose and one purpose only. You couldn't think "oh that's so Bea" when something happened it was just like "oh alright".
Overall:
Overall I didn't enjoy this book. I finished it because I didn't want a dnf on my record. I hate not finishing books even if they're terrible. I've only dnf'd one book and it was New Moon. Couldn't get into it. The phase passed. There's a lot of things that are just wrong and not fun in this book. The pacing was weird. Backstory? What backstory? Plot holes everywhere. I just. I don't know how this book has such high ratings, but I guess other people liked it.
Rating:
Disclaimer: I was given a free ARC in return for an honest review.
