Genre:
#Historical, #Fantasy, #YoungAdult

Blurb:
​Many are called...
She alone can save the world and become Death's bride.

Cobweb Bride is a history-flavored fantasy novel with romantic elements of the Persephone myth, about Death's ultimatum to the world.

What if you killed someone and then fell in love with them?

In an alternate Renaissance world, somewhere in an imaginary "pocket" of Europe called the Kingdom of Lethe, Death comes, in the form of a grim Spaniard, to claim his Bride. Until she is found, in a single time-stopping moment all dying stops. There is no relief for the mortally wounded and the terminally ill....

Covered in white cobwebs of a thousand snow spiders she lies in the darkness... Her skin is cold as snow... Her eyes frozen... Her gaze, fiercely alive...

While kings and emperors send expeditions to search for a suitable Bride for Death, armies of the undead wage an endless war... A black knight roams the forest at the command of his undead father ... Spies and political treacheries abound at the imperial Silver Court.... Murdered lovers find themselves locked in the realm of the living...

Look closer — through the cobweb filaments of her hair and along each strand shine stars...

And one small village girl, Percy—an unwanted, ungainly middle daughter—is faced with the responsibility of granting her dying grandmother the desperate release she needs.

As a result, Percy joins the crowds of other young women of the land in a desperate quest to Death's own mysterious holding in the deepest forests of the North...

And everyone is trying to stop her.

My Thoughts:

COBWEB BRIDE is the first book in the trilogy of the same name. It is old-school fantasy with a touch of mythology thrown in for good measure. Some parts of it are quite graphic but then, that's what happens when you describe a battle with swords and arrows!

One of the things I really enjoyed about it is that Percy, the plain, unordinary, middle child, is the one who comes into her own. She makes no false images, she is what she is and she's okay with that. She is supported by a great cast of characters - some of whom may be just for this part but others, I hope, will be seen in the later two books.

There was one thing that jarred me though, and that was halfway through the book, Spain and France were mentioned. Up until that point, I had falsely assumed that this was a completely imaginary fantasy world. I guess next time I really should look at the map provided!

I found this to be a great story that has plenty of hooks for the next book. It doesn't go the way you imagine and that is perfectly fine by me. I love fantasy and being surprised raises it to a whole new level for me.

Absolutely recommended!

Kiss Me, Curse Me is the first book by Kate Shay I have read, and I think I like the blurb of the book more than I liked the book itself, I'm sad to say.

I found this book quite difficult to get into, as the story seemed to flit from one occasion to the next. There is a multitude of characters involved, some of whom seem to have connections, although it's not very clear. The story itself is convoluted and twisting, with new characters and situations being brought in right the way through. The book didn't end, as much as it just stopped. I would think that it's the first in the series, but nothing has been released since so I don't think the author is continuing with this.

I wanted to like this book, but it fell rather flat for me. I think it's probably like a marmite book - you will love it or hate it. As for me, I didn't hate it, I just felt disappointed when I'd finished.