{Review+Giveaway} The Black Lotus by Claire Warner @clairewarner5

It's 1752 and Melissa meets the man who will change her life forever.

At her disastrous debut, Melissa meets the handsome Justin Lestrade and finds herself falling into his world. But Justin has secrets and many enemies. His dark past will not only ensnare her, but damage everything she knows and understands. Join Melissa as she sinks into a world of old feuds and ancient magic.

The Black Lotus is the first book in the Night Flower series by Claire Warner. The night flower series is what I would classify as new adult historical romance. (with a paranormal twist, as the summary puts it.) The story takes place in the eighteen century, and this is one humdinger of a book, coming in at well over 500 pages. I enjoyed The Black Lotus. It has been quite some time since I have read a book that was simply too long for me to finish in a day. In fact, this book took me three nights to completely read, which is pretty long for me. I also love the cover for The Black Lotus, I think it simply beautiful.

I loved the way the story started out. We are in the middle of the story, and we see the main character waking up. We don’t know much about what is going on other than the fact there is some kind of curse referenced. Then the story flashes back to some months before. I really love it when stories start out this way because it wets my appetite for something very cool to come. In this case, the curse. However, it felt like a very long time before we actually got back to the curse. And even then, it feels like there are so, so many things that are still unanswered. Which is not the end of the world, but The Black Lotus felt like a novel that was on the longer end, so I was left hoping that we could have explored more of the mysterious and paranormal aspect of the story than we actually did.

The characters, Melissa and Justin were a hit for me. I really liked Melissa’s spunky, take no prisoner attitude. This girl was not going to back down from anyone. And while Justin struck me as selfish at times, I liked him as well. Another highlight of the story for me was the time frame. I loved the way Claire Warner captured the regency era. She has a real talent for scene setting and her attention to detail was brilliant, which is such an important factor when you are writing a time period book. I could easily picture not only the setting and clothes but also language and customs added to the overall ambiance of the story.

Bottom line: I will be interested to see what is going to happen in the next book. I really hope it focuses more on the curse and paranormal aspects. I was a little disappointed we didn’t get to learn more about them in The Black Lotus, especially given the length of the book, but I am hopeful that the next book will more than make up for it. Fans of period novels, with a paranormal twist should check out The Black Lotus. It is a nicely done story.

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