{Review} Of Fire and Roses (Erlanis Chronicles #1) by Danielle Belwater

Posted by Melanie 
Release Date: February 15th, 2014
Finished Date: June 15th, 2014

Publishers: Evernight Teen 
Genre: YA Paranormal, Romance
Source: For Review
Format: eBook

Pages: 130

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

Nate West’s mother is dead, his dad a lost cause. Anger has become a way of life, until he meets and falls in love with Cora Ewell. But Cora has a secret, one that could kill them both.

Nate moves from the big city to a small, forest town with his father after his mother’s tragic death. Alone and angry, Nate feels even more isolated by his father’s inability to communicate and relate to his only son in the wake of their loss. 

Nate takes to the forest in an attempt to find some peace, but instead finds a beautiful girl with flaming red hair. But before he can speak with her, she vanishes. Unsure if the girl is a vision or real he searches desperately for her.

When Nate finally meets Cora, his world is turned upside down and inside out. 

Dreams of his own death plague his sleep as old dark magic, hidden for centuries, resurfaces and has its sights clearly set on Nate.

The Review: 3.5 Stars! 

Of Fire and Roses is the first book in the ‘Erlanis Chronicles’ introducing us to a cursed family legacy…. We meet Nate West as he and his father make the move to a small town a year after losing his mother. Relations are strained between Nate & his father because Christopher – Nate’s dad – couldn’t cope with his grief and blocked Nate out; emotionally, building a rift between them so hopefully the move will give them both a fresh start. On Nate’s first day at the new house, he goes for a run and sees something from the corner of his eye, a red blur, like flames and then nothing. On further investigation, he meets the owner of the flame coloured hair - a girl named Cora – and feels an instant connection, when they touch it’s like sparks ignite…… but Cora has a secret and it could lead to their deaths. So, I enjoyed this book and thought the story gave a very mysterious feel. It was strange for me to have the book voice to be told through a male point of view – not a bad thing, just I’m not used to it – and it took a bit of getting used to. All of the characters are likable particularly Nate, Cora and Josh- Nate & Cora seemed more mature and serious for their age but that was understandable with everything that is facing them and their home lives too, Josh was the fun guy of the story and that gave some energy to the group so that everything wasn’t always so serious. I thought Cora’s mother was a very interesting character too and would have loved more from her because I know she has more going on than appears to be. The storyline is one that’s been done before but I liked that it wasn’t all about reincarnation as family curses so often tend to be. Cora’s family is cursed, we know that very early on and we know that it is because of a lover spurned but we don’t know the full story behind it or who is behind it and as the story unravels – it all becomes clear. There was a magical element to the story but it wasn’t overdone and it really added to the ambience of the book, be it from old magic to ghosts and of course magic being used for evil, it all brought a different feeling to the book when it came up and added to the story so well. It all becomes a race against time to find out what is going on with numerous life threatening situations trying to split the pairing up and the way the clues were found became very unusual but sort of genius, I liked the conclusion a lot because even if you thought you knew what would happen, there are still a couple of surprises to be had leaving me very satisfied. I’m curious to see where the series could go from this because it was concluded well, so I’d definitely have a read of book two.