REVIEW; Crown Of Ivy

Title: Crown Of Ivy
Author: Victoria Audley 
Genre: Re-telling, romance.
Type: E-book
Publisher: Victoria Audley

A curse lurks in the waves lapping on the shores of Crete. When an opportunity to break it arises, the princess Ariadne is faced with a choice: betray her family and her people, or continue to suffer. She takes a hopeful chance — and loses everything.

Abandoned on a strange island, she meets a mysterious stranger who just might have the key to a brighter future. But he’s keeping secrets, and Ariadne must decide if she can afford to take another risk.

Let me start by saying I am in absolute love with the way Victoria writes. There is something so captivating about the turns of phrases she uses, the pictures they paint, the emotions they evoke. Absolutely stunning.

I knew very little about the characters of this particular part of the Greek pantheon going in so I will admit I did a Wikipedia search about Ariadne after starting the novella. But nothing could prepare me for the way Victoria wrote her. She was strong and stubborn and real. She cried and feared and bled and fought – her characterisation was full-fleshed and human, and it made her ascension seem so earned.

The fact that we see everything from her point of view makes the story that much stronger. Makes it very much her story, and how the choices of those around her have shaped her. Dionysius and Thesus being seen from just her point of view paints the two relationships in stark difference – where she tries to be what she thinks Thesus wants so that she can find her freedom from Crete through him versus simply being with Dionysius because she doesn’t have anything left to lose – and he just wants her anyway.

I will definitely be rereading this down the line.

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