Stalking Shadows
Seventeen-year-old Marie mixes perfumes to sell on market day in her small eighteenth-century French town. But her perfumes are more than sweet scents in cheap, cut-glass bottles: a certain few are laced with death. Marie laces the perfume delicately—not with poison but with a hint of honeysuckle she’s trained her sister to respond to. Marie marks her victim, and Ama attacks. But she doesn’t attack as a girl. She kills as a beast. Marking Ama’s victims controls the damage to keep suspicion at bay. But when a young boy turns up dead one morning, Marie is forced to acknowledge she might be losing control of Ama. And if she can’t control her, she’ll have to cure her. Marie knows the only place she’ll find the cure is in the mansion where Ama was cursed in the first place, home of Lord Sebastien LeClaire. But once she gets into the mansion, she discovers dark secrets hidden away—secrets of the curse, of Lord Sebastien . . . and of herself.
Beauty and the Beast is my favourite fairy tale, which has led to me being quite particular about what retellings I enjoy. Panin certainly made this retelling her own by flipping the gender of the beast. I loved the sisterly bond between Marie and Ama. As a reader, you knew from the very beginning Marie would do anything to save her sister from her beastly fate, even if it meant selecting villagers for Ama to hunt.
Panin touched on tough subjects in this book, including but not limited to race, poverty, and addiction. Lord Sebastien’s experience as a biracial child, watching his mother face the racist villagers, was powerfully written. Marie learned a lot from what he shared about his experience. In turn she taught him what it was like growing up in poverty, and still living it in today. He had no idea what kind of struggles she and Ama went through in their little cottage, especially with an alcoholic father who had practically abandoned them.
In regard to Marie’s father, I did appreciate that he started to redeem himself near the end of the book. It didn’t make up for the harm he had caused his daughters, but it was a starting point.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Panin released a companion book or sequel, as she left the reader curious enough at the end to see how Marie’s relationship with Sebastien developed, and if she ever found a way to reverse the spell that turned her and Ama into beasts. But this book works wonderfully as a stand-alone, too.
Stalking Shadows is gothic tale that will send shivers down your spine.
Stalking Shadows Rating: ★★★★★
Beauty and the Beast is my favourite fairy tale, which has led to me being quite particular about what retellings I enjoy. Panin certainly made this retelling her own by flipping the gender of the beast. I loved the sisterly bond between Marie and Ama. As a reader, you knew from the very beginning Marie would do anything to save her sister from her beastly fate, even if it meant selecting villagers for Ama to hunt.
Panin touched on tough subjects in this book, including but not limited to race, poverty, and addiction. Lord Sebastien’s experience as a biracial child, watching his mother face the racist villagers, was powerfully written. Marie learned a lot from what he shared about his experience. In turn she taught him what it was like growing up in poverty, and still living it in today. He had no idea what kind of struggles she and Ama went through in their little cottage, especially with an alcoholic father who had practically abandoned them.
In regard to Marie’s father, I did appreciate that he started to redeem himself near the end of the book. It didn’t make up for the harm he had caused his daughters, but it was a starting point.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Panin released a companion book or sequel, as she left the reader curious enough at the end to see how Marie’s relationship with Sebastien developed, and if she ever found a way to reverse the spell that turned her and Ama into beasts. But this book works wonderfully as a stand-alone, too.
Stalking Shadows is gothic tale that will send shivers down your spine.
Stalking Shadows Rating: ★★★★★