Here is the story of a poor professor of fairy tales, named only the Bridegroom, who manages to wed the unfathomably wealthy and mysterious Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada, a fellow lover of tales, who promises him unending happiness and security if he vows to never pry into her past. I find it interesting that the names of Indigo and Azure both mean blue, it definitely hints at the two of them being inseparable and/or interchangeable.

I also think that his “lost” brother has something to do with it as well, like both the brother and Azure went to the same place?

Much in the way fairy tales are easy to relate to and superimpose the messages over our own lives by using archetypal characters and narratives, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride sort of superimposes itself over the genre by incorporating many recognizable archetypes to reconfigure them for its own purposes. I was thinking a lot about Bluebeard, and how his wives who met their tragic ends remain unnamed and only the villainous character is remembered.

I find the incorporation of magic, or the semblance of magic interesting and I’m hoping we get a little bit more of it. An opulent, engrossing tale with all the power of a myth and all the truth of a parable—reading a story like this reminds you why we tell them in the first place. I do have another adult book I have been turning over in my mind, which I hope will be another gothic piece.Having just lost my paternal aunt, someone I loved dearly, I wanted to read a book with a niece-aunt relationship. The Last Tale of The Flower Bride is a deliciously gothic fairytale that seems full of magic, but it's filled with secrets and damaged people, instead.