Lenobia's Vow

Lenobia's Vow

by P.C. and Kristin Cast

A House of Night novella

A great journey…

A new love….

A dark secret revealed.

Evreux, France, 1788: Before she is Zoey’s favorite professor and the House of Night’s powerful horse mistress… Lenobia is just a normal 16-year-old girl – with enough problems to last a lifetime. As the illegitimate daughter of a powerful baron, she has never quite belonged, and instead has to watch her spoiled half-sister, Cecile, get anything she wants. As if that’s not enough, her remarkable beauty draws unwanted attention wherever she goes. For once, she would like to just fit in.

But when fate intervenes, Lenobia suddenly finds herself surrounded by other girls, on a ship bound for New Orleans, where they will be married off to the city’s richest Frenchmen. And they’re not alone…. An evil bishop who is skilled in Dark magic makes the same journey. His appetite for lovely young women makes him dangerous – most of all to Lenobia, who caught his eye back in France. So she remains hidden, making secret visits to the ship’s stables, where a handsome young man and his beautiful Percheron horses soon capture her attention.

Will they make it to land before the bishop discovers her true identity and a powerful evil breaks loose? And will Lenobia follow her heart, even if it puts lives at risk? (description from Amazon.com)

I really enjoyed this novella.  While I still feel that the Casts are perhaps just cashing in with this series of novellas, I really liked this one a lot more than the one featuring Dragon. Lenobia was an interesting character and the Bishop was skin-crawlingly creepy. 

The love story was great and heartbreaking and tearjerking and totally fun to read.  The time period was interesting and I loved that most of the story actually took place on a boat.  I, of course, will also read just about anything related to New Orleans, so this book was also really exciting in that they are headed there and that Martin is Creole. 

*Side note - I listened to this one on audio. It was great.  Not only was it short and sweet, but the narrator did a great job tackling the French and Creole accents.  A fun listen.

I still won't buy these novellas, but I do like to read them!

Full disclosure: Audio book received to review for AudioFile magazine.