Autumn Rose by Abigail Gibbs

Title: Autumn Rose (The Dark Heroine, 2)
Author: Abigail Gibbs
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: HarperVoyager (30th January 2014)
Blurb:

Her fate is set in stone . . .

Autumn Rose lives in a sleepy seaside town in the south-west of England, but buried deep under the surface of her quiet life are dark secrets. Swirling marks on her skin mark her out as having extraordinary power, but at school she is shunned and condemned by the very people she is sworn to protect.

The appearance of a handsome young man at her school – who has the same curious markings as Autumn Rose – sends her world into turmoil. Plus, there is the fact that Autumn keeps dreaming of a human girl who is about to be seduced by a very dark Prince . . . and Autumn must figure out how to save her before it is too late.

The exhilarating sequel to The Dark Heroine: Dinner with a Vampire, the incredible online sensation.

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

AUTUMN ROSE by Abigail Gibbs is the second book in THE DARK HEROINE series. It narrates the story of Autumn Rose a Sage who lives in a sleepy seaside town in south-west England but attends school in London, where she acts as a guardian to protect the pupils and teachers of the school.

To call AUTUMN ROSE a direct sequel of DINNER WITH A VAMPIRE (review) would be a little misleading. For a start, AUTUMN ROSE is narrated by Autumn Rose herself. The other reason I would suggest that it is not a direct sequel of DINNER WITH A VAMPIRE is because the events in AUTUMN ROSE take place at about the same time as DINNER WITH A VAMPIRE and it is therefore more like a parallel story.

Having really enjoyed DINNER WITH A VAMPIRE I have been looking forward to reading AUTUMN ROSE, and I was not disappointed. In AUTUMN ROSE Gibbs has created another brilliant and compelling addition to THE DARK HEROINE series. Although I did not quite fall as in love with AUTUMN ROSE as I did with the first book in the series, I did love reading it and found the story itself to be quite compelling.

Gibbs continues the narrative style she used in DINNER WITH A VAMPIRE, with Autumn Rose being given the bulk of the novels narration and the occasional chapter is narrated by Prince Fallon. I think splitting the narration like this really worked as it allows us into Autumn’s head – she is a much more reserved character than Violet – and with the addition of Fallon’s voice we gain a slightly broader picture of the situation.

The plot of the book was pretty much what I expected it to be following the events of DINNER WITH A VAMPIRE, although Gibbs did throw in a few twists that I wasn’t expecting. In a lot of ways the plot of AUTUMN ROSE was pretty stagnant – plot wise we don’t really move much further forward than the events of the first book, however we do gain some interesting insights into the situation within THE DARK HEROINE universe and just how dangerous things are politically.

I really enjoyed following Autumn Rose’s journey through the book, and I think she was a good narrator. I also really enjoyed Autumn Rose’s interactions with the other characters in the books, especially when she had to act more grown up – it was nice to see how ‘human’ she was, and that made her quite a compelling character for me. Prince Fallon was suitably enigmatic, and yet at the same time very much approachable. Although, I think my favourite character was perhaps Edmund. There was just something about him.

Overall I think that AUTUMN ROSE was a good addition to THE DARK HEROINE series, and I look forward to seeing more books set in this world. If you are a fan of paranormal romance and you haven’t had a chance to check this series out yet, then I highly recommend that you do. If you’re read DINNER WITH A VAMPIRE and enjoyed it but haven’t had a chance to read this book yet, then you should get to it. AUTUMN ROSE adds another dimension (no pun intended) to the story told in DINNER WITH THE VAMPIRE.