Tuesday 3 February 2015

✪ The Raven ✪ Sylvain Reynard ✪ Florentine Series 1 & Gabriel Series 3.6 ✪

© Bianca Janeane
    

SYLVAIN REYNARD
THE RAVEN
• release day: 3 February 2015
The Florentine Series #1

• 496 pages

“The Raven” can be read as a standalone but readers of The Gabriel Series may be curious about the connection between The Professor’s world and the dark, secret underworld of The Prince of Florence.

Reading Order:

Gabriel's Inferno
Gabriel's Rapture
Gabriel's Redemption


The Prince
The Raven

★★★★★
5 Stars



From the New York Times bestselling author of the Gabriel Series comes a dark, sensual tale of romance in a city shrouded in mystery…

Raven Wood spends her days at Florence’s Uffizi Gallery restoring fine works of Renaissance art. But an innocent walk home after an evening with friends changes her life forever. When she intervenes in the senseless beating of a homeless man, his attackers turn on her, dragging her into an alley. Raven is only semi-conscious when their assault is interrupted by a cacophony of growls followed by her attacker’s screams. Mercifully, she blacks out, but not before catching a glimpse of a shadowy figure who whispers to her…

Cassita vulneratus.

When Raven awakes, she is inexplicably changed. She returns to the Uffizi, but no one recognizes her and more disturbingly, she discovers that she’s been absent an entire week. With no recollection of the events leading up to her disappearance, Raven also learns that her absence coincides with one of the largest robberies in Uffizi history – the theft of a set of priceless Botticelli illustrations. When the baffled police force identifies her as its prime suspect, Raven is desperate to clear her name. She seeks out one of Florence’s wealthiest and elusive men in an attempt to uncover the truth about her disappearance. Their encounter leads Raven to a dark underworld whose inhabitants kill to keep their secrets…

Florence, Italy

He was magnificent. He was powerful. He was dangerous.





The Prince and The Raven connect our beloved Gabriel Series to Sylvain's brand new paranormal Florentine Series.

The Prince is a Vampire. An about 800 year old Vampire who rules the city of Florence.
(Every italian city is ruled by a Prince - and then there's an italian King too...but we will learn about all that and more in The Prince & The Raven)

How are the non-paranormal Professor Emerson and his wife connected to the Vampire Prince, you ask?
Remember Gabriel's beloved Botticelli illustrations? He gave them to the Uffizi museum for a showing. But the Prince... he wants them. Because they have been stolen from him over a hundred years ago.
And he hates Gabriel for possessing them. Enough to want to kill him.
But fortunately for the Emersons, the Prince is disturbed in this goal by a group of enemy Vampires who are trying to kill him.



All that ^^^ happened in THE PRINCE.

Now, it's two years later and The Prince is done with his little war with the Venetians, and now all is back to how it's supposed to be. And now that the Emersons are back in town, he finally has the opportunity to kill them - for owning his beloved illustrations.
But, again, something, or rather someone, comes between him and the Emersons.
Raven Wood.
A nice, chubby, not very pretty girl, with a bad leg - who works in the Uffizi, restoring art.
One night she comes upon a homeless man being attacked by a bunch of drunken idiots. And because she interferes, the bad guys attention is on her now. Seconds before they can rape and possibly kill her, she is miraculously rescued by a dark stranger, but that's all she knows, until she wakes up 10 days later ready to go to work.
Only she thinks it's the next morning. And the worst - or best thing about it all....
Her bad leg is not bad anymore. She's not chubby anymore - she's pretty.
She has no idea what could've happened - she doesn't believe in the supernatural, she's a scientist. But because she's late for work, she hurries to the museum without giving her new looks another thought, only to find the museum surrounded by police. Because the precious Botticelli Illustrations have been stolen - 10 days ago - the night she disappeared.
Now she's supect number 1.
Because the police can't prove anything, they let her go.
But she can't give up. She needs to clear her name. She needs to find out what happened to those amazing illustrations, and she needs to understand why she's changed so drastically in only 10 days. Was she somehow drugged? And who is this mysterious William York who she's hearing talk about in connection with the Illustrations???

Then there's also Professor Emerson, who is trying everything to find out who stole his illustrations.
And of course The Prince. He still wants to kill the Professor, and he feels that he might've made a mistake in rescuing Raven. She might smell like the sweetest nectar on the planet, and he might even start to feel a tiny bit of his lost humanity again - but lots and lots of problems will come up for him and her, now that he's in her life.

"I'm no one special."
"That's where you're wrong."


Plus one of his 'friends' and council-members; Aoibhe [A-vah] - she wants him. She wants to be his partner, so that, once he's dead, she can take over the city. Because he will die one day - his kind can only live for so long... and he's verrrrry old already.


What will happen to The Prince & Raven?
What happened to Raven when she was young?
Will she be able to light the Prince's long-dead heart on fire?
What will happen to Gabriel & Julianne?
Will everybody die at the end? o.O
Or will there be a horrible Cliffhanger?


I'm not telling you that of course ☺


I don't want to spoil too much ☺

well, there's not really a Cliffhanger - well maybe there kinda is...but not a really bad one ☺
 ____________________________________________________

Sandro Botticelli - Primavera



Great new series!!!
 

First I have to say that I'm not really a fan of supernatural books. But since I love Sylvain's Gabriel series and Gabriel has a little part in here too, I really wanted to read this.
And I really enjoyed it. It was even better than I expected, after reading the introduction novella.
It's not like all those vampire books or tv-shows you always see. We don't have guys running around with blood dripping all over their faces, no bloody fights all the time. It's a real classy story. It's about love, and pain and loss and the past and the future. About Art and the city of Florence. There's suspense and intrigue and mystery and romance. And it's so wonderfully written by Sylvain - he has this amazing writing-style that's just so different from other books ☺

Even though the Prince is a bit of a bad guy (mostly because he wants to kill our beloved Gabriel ☺)
we still really like him. We want him to get a happy ever after - preferably with Raven.
There were some moments where we feel really sad for him - for whatever he went through in his past - back when he was still a human. The dreams and hopes he had ....


There was a time when he would have done anything to have a wife and a child. That possiblity had been stolen from him

And Raven, she's a really great person too. Terribly nice to just everybody - even strangers on the street.
She's been through bad things too in her younger years.... we slowly find out more about her as the story goes along.
The Prince & Raven would be so perfect for each other - they both love art more than anything. And they're horribly attracted to each other - but there are so much problems standing between them. The least of all is him being a non-human ☺ But we wish and hope that they will fight their way through everything and have a chance at a happy life together.... Even though they both say that love is not something they ever wanted or thought they could have - they do want it. Just like everybody else, they don't want to spend the rest of their lives alone.


What he craved most, however, was a lively mind and a noble soul. Someone with whom he could talk about art and beauty.

... the way Sylvain writes and explains everything, and the beautiful background of Florence and all that beautiful Art ... The Raven was such an amazingly beautiful story. Suspensy, sexy, romantic, frustrating, dangerous and dark.
I just loved it. I couldn't put it down.

Now I can't wait for the next book in the series!!!!!! I need to know what will happen to William & Raven next - and of course we want to see the Emersons again ☺


If you loved THE GABRIEL SERIES and EVEn if you're not a HUGE fan of vampYres - you need to read thE FIRST BOOK IN THE Florentine Series - IT'S AMAZING!!!!!  



I can totally see this series as a TV show - set in this beautiful city, with sexy Professors & Vampires - #BringItOnKevinWilliamson





ARC received for an honest review

You will need to have read the introductory novella The Prince first to understand all of The Raven

I have said it before and I will say it again - I am not a big reader of supernatural/paranormal books, and I am very fussy about what I do choose to read.

I absolutely adored Sylvain Reynard's Gabriel series, so I was pretty sure that I was going to like The Florentine Series.

I more than liked The Raven - I loved it. Yes, The Prince is a vampyre, but it is not just about vampyres doing vampyrey things.  The Raven is more of a love story than anything else.

I really do like The Prince.  Yes, he is kind of a bad guy, but you can't help but want him to be happy.  But that happy has to be with Raven Wood.  It just must!

The attraction between The Prince and Raven is undeniable.  Both have been hurt in the past, neither of them wants this attraction, but it is what it is, and the heart (if you have one) wants what the heart wants.

I adore Sylvain's writing style.  I get caught up in the imagery of Florence.  I can imagine myself walking around the Uffizi, gazing at the amazig Botticelli artworks, walking the streets of the city.  I may or may not have on more than one occasion whilst reading, Googled the places named, the artworks talked about.

 Sandro Botticelli - Birth of Venus

The Prince and Raven are absolutely perfect for each other.  Their imperfections are what make them beautiful to the other, and you just want them to be together.  Need them to fight for each other.

We also get a little more of the Emerson's in The Raven.  Gabriel and The Prince's lives have unwittingly crossed, and there are some issues .  But I don't want to say too much about these as I don't want to spoil anything!

The Raven is a suspenseful kind of read.  There are things going on in the Vampyre world, things going on in the art world, things going on in Raven's world that you are not quite sure where they are going to go.

What will happen to the Emersons?  Will The Prince and Raven find their happiness?

Nope, not telling!

Just a heads up - The Raven does end on a bit of a cliffy, but nothing too bad!

I am really looking forward to where Sylvain Reynard takes us next in the world of The Prince and The Raven.  I hope it is not too long before we find out because



 

LINKS TO THE BOOK AND AUTHOR



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I am honoured to have had all three of my novels appear on the New York Times and USAToday Bestseller lists. I was a Semifinalist for Best Author in the 2011 and 2012 Goodreads Choice Awards. "Gabriel's Inferno" was a Semifinalist for Best Romance in 2011 and "Gabriel's Rapture" was a Finalist for Best Romance in 2012, in the Goodreads Choice Awards, as well. The final novel in The Gabriel Series, "Gabriel's Redemption," debuted at #6 on the New York Times Bestseller list.

My next book is "The Raven," and it releases from Berkley press on February 3, 2015. It's already available for preorder

I'm interested in the way literature can help us explore aspects of the human condition - particularly suffering, sex, love, faith, and redemption. My favourite stories are those in which a character takes a journey, either a physical journey to a new and exciting place, or a personal journey in which he or she learns something about himself/herself.

I'm also interested in how aesthetic elements such as art, architecture, food, drink, and music can be used to tell a story or to illuminate the traits of a particular character. In my writing, I combine all of these elements with the themes of redemption, forgiveness, and the transformative power of goodness.

I try to use my platform as an author to raise awareness about the following charities: Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Foundation, WorldVision, Alex's Lemonade Stand, and Covenant House.