Celine Rosseau has just left her past behind in France to start a new life in America, boarding a
boat to the city of New Orleans. There’s a dark secret she’s keeping under wraps, and in an
attempt to start a new life, she joins the Ursuline covent. As she continues to adjust to life there,
she’s also introduced the the city’s mystical underworld (also known as the Court of Lions).
There, Celine meets Sébastien Saint Germain. However, Celine quickly becomes involved in the
magic and danger of New Orleans, after being embroiled in the pursuits of a serial killer. Now,
she must battle her own secrets and suspicions if she wants to uncover the killer. But the mystery
goes a lot deeper than she could’ve imagined, threatening the entire city of New Orleans.
I enjoyed this book greatly, but there were some issues that took my four star review down to
three stars. First, however, I want to start with praise. Renée Ahdieh is an pretty good writer, and
the book was incredibly written. She painted a vivid picture with each scene in the book. I also
enjoyed the twist towards the end and loved the ending. I also loved the mystery. However, the
romance didn’t seem necessary to me and the love triangle even more so. It didn’t take away
from the plot, it just felt unneeded and rushed. In addition, the setting (time-wise) didn’t seem to
matter in the story. There was no strong influence from that period of time, and the book just
gave a very modern feel. The characters behave like modern characters. I also didn’t enjoy the
pacing, as it seemed like the plot could’ve taken less time. There were parts in the book that just
seemed to drag on. In addition, the feud wasn’t really explained. Overall, this book was decently
good, but not great. I would recommend it to people who like vampires, mysteries, and a bit of
romance. ⅗