It’s such a relief when the second book of an author you love turns out to be excellent. Cruel Beauty immediately became one of my favorite books, and now that I’ve read Crimson Bound, I can trust that Rosamund Hodge is going to be an author I can trust to create beautifully haunting worlds of remade fairy tales.
I love Hodge’s darker spins on classic stories and the incredible amount of creativity she infuses into her story. Although undeniably Little Red Riding Hood, the necessary elements of seductive danger and innocence stolen are laid on top of a rich fantasy world of sometime-France and faeries. It is so good.
One of my favorite things about Hodge’s romances is that she refuses to play into “happily ever after” tropes where good wins and bad loses. Although there is definitely pathos to the end of her stories, Hodge insists that there is good and bad in all of us. It is when her characters accept their badness and cling to their goodness that the plot starts moving. People fall in love with each other’s whole self–there is no fairy tale princess here, just broken people needing and loving each other. This is exactly the kind of romance I like to read.
I cannot wait for her next book, and I encourage everyone to read both this and her first book, Cruel Beauty, as quickly as possible.
Book Jacket
When Rachelle was fifteen she was good-apprenticed to her aunt and in training to protect her village from dark magic. But when Rachelle was fifteen she was also reckless–straying from the forest path in pursuit of a way to free her world from the threat of eternal darkness. After an illicit meeting goes dreadfully wrong, Rachelle is forced to make a terrible choice that binds her to the very evil she had hoped to defeat.
Three years later, Rachelle has given her life to serving the realm, fighting deadly creatures in an effort to atone. When the king orders her to guard his son Armand–the man she hates most–Rachelle forces Armand to help her hunt for the legendary sword that might save their world. Together, they navigate the opulent world of the courtly elite, where beauty and power reign and no one can be trusted. And as they become unexpected allies, they discover far-reaching conspiracies, hidden magic, and a love that may be their undoing. In a palace built on unbelievable wealth and dangerous secrets, can Rachelle discover the truth and stop the fall of endless night?
Inspired by the classic fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, Crimson Bound is an exhilarating tale of darkness, love, and redemption from Cruel Beauty author Rosamund Hodge.
Release Date: May 2015
It Is Trish 