Innamorata

Overall Rating: 5/5

Garishly dark, gothic, and unique.... Innamorata is nothing like what the talented Ava Reid has brought us before. And as a warning to any readers potentially wanting to pick this up, this uniquely beautiful, haunting dark gem is grim, and it is a work of gorgeously morbid gruesomeness that reads like some long-forgotten eldritch tale longing to be reawakened again...

Hail the House of Teeth...

Once, they were the most powerful of the Seven Houses, the best in practicing the necromantic arts... The rulers of this island of death... until the Seraph came and toppled their way of life. Burned their secrets... killing their rulers... stamping out their powers.... With the death of Madame Adele-Blanche, now all that remains of the once-powerful House of Teeth are two.

The ever-beautiful Marozia, heir apparent to the House of Teeth, and her fair cousin, Agnes... Agnes... who has been quiet for seven years...

Agnes, the anointed... the one secretly charged with ensuring the future of the House of Teeth.

With ensuring the will of Adele-Blanche is carried forward... and with that comes one rule, she may never find love. Until she does, and all that she once knew, all that she once carried out is swept away as she suddenly finds herself in love with the one person who she had least expected to find love with. The prince who is meant to be her cousin's husband....

Weaving hints of necromancy, forbidden magic, vengeance, and soul-burning romance... with a good amount of cheek-reddening romance... (Yes... there is a FAIR BIT more spice than I had expected when I got approved for this.) ... Reid takes this book and quite literally runs with it, throwing in the perfect dash of beautiful chaos to end this book in a fiery finish.

With the expansive world-building, the drama, and the relationship that seems to grow tenser with each page of this novel, I am now eagerly waiting for book 2... be warned again though, this book may not be for you due to its grisly nature...