Review: Venom by Fiona Paul

Title: Venom

Author: Fiona Paul

Reviewed by: Cassie

The Fairies Say: Delicious and dazzling!

Summary (from Goodreads.com)

Cassandra Caravello is one of Renaissance Venice's lucky elite: with elegant gowns, sparkling jewels, her own lady's maid, and a wealthy fiance, she has everything a girl could desire. Yet ever since her parents' death, Cassandra has felt trapped, alone in a city of water, where the dark and labyrinthine canals whisper of escape.

When Cass stumbles upon a murdered woman-practically in her own backyard-she's drawn into a dangerous world of courtesans, killers, and secret socieities. Soon, she finds herself falling for Falco, a mysterious artist with a mischievous grin . . . and a spectacular skill for trouble. Can Cassandra find the murderer, before her finds her? And will she stay true to her fiance, or succumb to her uncontrollable feelings for Falco?

Beauty, love, romance, and mystery weave together in a stunning novel that's as seductive and surprising as the city of Venice itself.

I didn't expect Venom to be historical fiction/murder-mystery. I kinda have a pet peeve for historical fiction (I know, boo me) and so usually I end up fuming 10% in and annoying the hell out of my dad. I'll admit, I got 75 pages into this and was ranting to my dad already. Thankfully, it did manage to turn around.

Venom starts out at Cass's very close friend's funeral. Livi, the girl, was only 14 when she died, and Cass is taking it badly. She steps out to get a breather, and BAM! A mysterious artist boy (Falco; btw I love that name) falls on her.

You would expect me to be raining praise on Cass because, hey! I have a namesake now! Well, I didn't really like Cass for a lot of the book. All I got from her was that she was a whiny, spoiled, rich brat who wanted to 'live'. Ha. Does that include endangering your life just because you're dared to? Yeah, Cass isn't the strongest of women. She'll claim she's "not like the other girls" (THAT IS A QUOTE!)

She made me want to pull out my hair at times like this.

Seriously.

The other characters were actually decent. I enjoyed erm... Siena. Luca could prove very interesting.

HOWEVER. Venice really wowed me. Completely made up for Cass. It was beautiful beautiful beautiful! (somewhat overdone but SO PERTY!) The setting is great, and even though it's historical fiction I ended up liking it!

THAT IS A BIG FIRST GUYS.

Thus, if you don't have a prejudice against hist. fiction, go! Go for this! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

Cassie