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casquette girlsWhat: The Casquette Girls (The Casquette Girls #1) by Alys Arden

Who: Skyscape

When: November 17th 2015

How: A copy of this novel was provided by Skyscape and Two Lions for review via Net Galley.

After the Storm of the Century rips apart New Orleans, Adele Le Moyne and her father are among the first to return to the city following the mandatory evacuation. Adele wants nothing more than for life to return to normal, but with the silent city resembling a mold-infested war zone, a parish-wide curfew, and mysterious new faces lurking in the abandoned French Quarter, normal will have to be redefined.

Events too unnatural – even for New Orleans – lead Adele to an attic that has been sealed for three hundred years, and the chaos she unleashes threatens not only her life but everyone she knows. Mother Nature couldn’t drain the joie de vivre from the Big Easy, but someone or something is draining life from its residents.

Caught suddenly in a hurricane of eighteenth-century myths and monsters, Adele must quickly untangle a web of magic that links the climbing murder rate back to her own ancestors. But who can you trust in a city where everyone has a secret, and where keeping them can be a matter of life and death – unless, that is, you’re immortal.

3cats2This book is so close to being four stars, but there were three things that stopped it from getting that rating.

The first is kind of my fault. For some reason, I thought that The Casquette Girls was going to be historical paranormal. I don’t know why, I think it might have had something to do with the fact that I’d read The Diviners recently. Anyway, I thought that it was going to be set in the past, so when a 1981 BMW was mentioned on, like, the first page, I was totally thrown. I kind of wanted this book to be set in ye olden days, but I did eventually get used to the fact that it was contemporary paranormal.

The second is the beginning of the book. I felt like this part of the book was kind of shaky. It took quite some time to get into the story, and the writing style also wasn’t as good as it was later on in the book.

The third thing was the romance. There’s a love triangle in this book, but the main character (Adele) never actually touches on the fact that she has feelings for two guys. The first guy is mysterious, dark Nicco, who I wasn’t a huge fan of, to be honest. I don’t really know why Adele fell for him after they only met a couple of times, because he seemed pretty seedy to me. The second guy is Isaac, who is ridiculously precious and I adore him. He was so much more than Nicco, and I was like: why is Adele not in love with Isaac? Instead, she just uses him, which I did not like at all.

So on the one hand, there’s instalove with Nicco, and on the other hand there’s a bit of hate-to-love with Isaac, but also no mention of the fact that she likes both of them. I just thought this was totally weird. It was as if when she was with one boy, the other did not exist. And besides, since I like Isaac, we all know Adele won’t end up with him, and he’ll likely be pawned off to some secondary character.

The rest of the book, I liked. I liked how intense the descriptions of New Orleans were, without being an info-dump. I wonder if that is really what New Orleans is like, because it sounds pretty darn fabulous, and my kind of place, for sure.

The story was interwoven really well, and I actually did get some historical parts from a diary that Adele found. There were things I guessed, but there were also things I didn’t, which was great! I love not being able to fully predict where a story is going.

I am most definitely looking forward to the next book in this series, as I like the storyline and most of the characters, and I can’t wait to see what happens.

© 2015, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.

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Posted on: November 20, 2015 • By: Chiara

10 Responses to Three Reasons Why The Casquette Girls by Alys Arden is Three Stars

  1. This one sounds good so I may just have to add it to my forever growing TBR. The romance thing does sound like something I would be a little put off by, but it still sounds like an overall really good read. Lovely review :)

  2. Oh, I’ve got this one to read and I thought it was a historical paranormal too. I would have been so disappointed when I discovered that so thanks for saving me! And I’m so angry to hear there’s a love triangle. Least I know that before going into it though…

  3. Oooh interesting – I totally get that whole historical fiction vibe as well! I think it might just be the setting of New Orleans, not sure why it just gives off the vibe of an old city for me.

    Ugh to the two romances, but the plot sounds pretty interesting! Glad you liked it overall Chiara :D

    • Chiara says:

      Me, too! It was a bit of a shock to read about the modern day when I had expected a historical book XD

      The romance isn’t my favourite, but it was an enjoyable read overall! :D

  4. Romi says:

    Hmm, maybe it’s the title? Knowing nothing about it at all, I came into your review with the same time period presumtpion. A mix of the cover and title, I think, is what did it for me, so possibly you unwittingly had the same experience? Anyhow, I’m sorry it ended up being not so great when it had the potential to be remarkable. The instalove and whole romance aspect sounds like it’d frustrate me to no end, especially when you’re rooting for one half of it and the MC goes for the other one WHO IS JUST A SNOT. Which he totally sounds like. I’m hoping things turn around in the second book, though. GIVE CHIARA HER DESIRED ROMANCE.

    • Chiara says:

      There are historical flashbacks, but the actual story is set in the modern day, so I was a tad confused, haha XD

      Yeah, I really would like the MC to pick this much nicer and more adorable boy, but I have a feeling my ship won’t happen *wails*

  5. The cover also screams’historical’ to me, so I would also be surprised. I don’t think I could deal with that romance. It’s an aspect I don’t care about most of the times anyway, and the way you described it.. I don’t think it would work for me, at all.

    • Chiara says:

      I know, right? I was expecting it to be a full-on historical novel! The romance was very love-triangle-y, and I fear that the guy I prefer won’t end up being picked D:

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