Bloodrose (Nightshade #3) [Hardcover]

Andrea Cremer (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 3, 2012

The third and final installment of the international bestselling Nightshade trilogy!

Calla has always welcomed war. But now that the final battle is upon her, there's more at stake than fighting. There's saving Ren, even if it incurs Shay's wrath. There's keeping Ansel safe, even if he's been branded a traitor. There's proving herself as the pack's alpha, facing unnamable horrors, and ridding the world of the Keepers' magic once and for all. And then there's deciding what to do when the war ends. If Calla makes it out alive, that is. In this remarkable final installment of the Nightshade trilogy, international bestselling author Andrea Cremer crafts a dynamic novel with twists and turns that will keep you breathless until its final pages.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The last installment in the Nightshade trilogy suffers from the weaknesses common to multivolume finales: the need to compress plot summary and character development from earlier titles into the opening while building a story that not only stands on its own but ties up loose ends. Still, Cremer’s many fans will be willing to overlook these flaws in exchange for another fast-paced romp with shapeshifters Calla, Ren, and Shay as the fight between Keepers and Searchers comes to a bloody end. Calla is drawn to both Ren, her original intended, and Shay, who turned werewolf for her in the first title (Nightshade, 2010). She tries to remain neutral while maintaining her alpha status, protecting her traitorous brother, and navigating the many familial revelations presented as Cremer ties up plot details. Although the writing is frequently overwrought—with constant growling, fighting, and lusting—Cremer’s device of focusing on the werewolves’ sense of smell to describe their emotions remains a clever touch in this crowd-pleasing finale. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Author appearances, a fat advertising budget, and a dedicated website are all lined up to promote the final book in the internationally best-selling Nightshade series. Grades 7-11. --Debbie Carton

Review

Fast paced and full of action, the Nightshade trilogy comes to a howling conclusion. With abundant action and sexy heavy breathing, the trilogy ends in a nifty resolution that readers won't see coming. The author sustains the pace throughout by filling even her peaceful scenes with aggressive behavior, and she keeps romantic pulses constantly pounding. She briefly returns to her earlier underlying theme of freedom, but this series finally becomes more about action scenes and sexual tension than about lofty ideals, a development that should keep its many fans briskly turning pages. Yet the saga's clever surprise ending intimates that Calla's long-sought freedom comes with limitations. Fans will eat it up. -- Kirkus Kirkus --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Philomel; 1st ptg edition (January 3, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399256121
• ISBN-13: 978-0399256127
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (169 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #103,844 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Andrea Cremer is a New York Times and international bestselling author. She spent her childhood daydreaming while roaming the forests and lakeshores of Northern Wisconsin. She now lives in Manhattan, but at heart she will always be a small-town girl.

Andrea has always loved writing and has never stopped writing, but it took a horse and a broken foot to prompt her to finally write the novel she'd always dreamed of writing. Prior to becoming a full-time novelist, Andrea resided in the academic world where she taught early modern history.

When she's not writing, Andrea tries to master difficult yoga poses, wanders through Central Park, and hunts for new music to provide the soundtracks to her novels.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 70 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Such a disappointment January 4, 2012

By Fall Into Books

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This was the most depressing ending I have ever read. There are a few ways that ending could have played out that could have been much less depressing, but Cremer chose the saddest one. That being said, I did cry, so I guess the ending at least caused a cathartic reaction in me. I'm glad it's the last in the series because I could barely finish reading the book after a certain thing happened. I skimmed over the last 20% honestly because I just didn't care anymore.

Calla went from being strong and unique in the first book to manipulative and cold-hearted in this book. Her emotions fell flat for me. I felt that Cremer told instead of showed us what Calla was feeling. Also, Calla bounced back from big events way too easily. None of her feelings seemed real. She was indecisive and weak. By the end of the book I hated her and was hoping an anvil would fall out of the sky and squish her or something. She was that bad.

Shay... I have never hated a literary character as much as I hate Shay. NEVER. He is obnoxious, not funny (even though he seems to think he is), annoying, whiny, weak, and selfish. He was even worse in this book than he had been in previous ones. I just couldn't stand him or the fact that if he said "jump," then Calla would ask, "how high?" As I said, Calla was no longer a strong character in this novel, and that had everything to do with Shay. I wish Calla had let the bear kill in him the first book.

Ren even fell flat for me in this novel. He was reduced to fighting over Calla and making the same "terrific plan" for war over and over again. None of his personality shined through. It was disappointing. Also, Ansel annoyed me and I used to love Ansel. Bryn was also obnoxious, and she, too, was a former favorite. Nev and Mason were very two-dimensional, as Connor and Adne. Sabine was just bitter and weak in this novel.

There was a lot of action, and the plot was fast moving, but it seemed like the same thing over and over again. I almost felt as if Cremer just copied and pasted the fight scenes in each section. I skimmed over a lot of it because it didn't hold my interest. There was nothing to keep me on the edge of my seat. I just didn't really care, which is odd because I cared about the characters in the last two books.

Bottom line: If you have already started the Nightshade series, then read this because you need to know how it ends. However, I am sorry for how depressing it is. If you haven't started the series, don't. Otherwise you'll have to read this depressing book that falls flat in order to see the ending. It's better just to avoid it all together.

49 of 57 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars The worst characters get the happy ending January 11, 2012

By Katerina

Format:Hardcover

Spoilers for Bloodrose are in this review.

I haven't written a review on a book before but I hated this one so passionately that I felt I had to so I could get it out of my system. I'm still so angry I probably would have given it half a star if that was possible. In short, I liked it to start off with but then the ending ruined it for me, and as a result I never want to read or be reminded of this series again.

I have to admit that I enjoyed Bloodrose up to the point where Ren died. To me, the story was about hope. When Ren died, I found that all hope I had was lost and the outcome of the war no longer really mattered to me. Before then, Bloodrose was exciting and difficult to stop reading. Cremer managed to make the quest for the Elemental Cross varied and engaging. I especially liked the different forms Guardians took and the places she took us to across the globe. The side relationships also added to the depth and interest. I have to say I was pleased with these far more than with the major love triangle.

Ren's death ruined the book for me and not because I liked him and wanted Calla to end up with him (although afterwards I decided that he was way too good for Calla). He deserved at least an honourable death, and to be remembered and mentioned for the rest of the book, after having tried his best and done all he could for Calla, letting her leave at the end of Nightshade, being tortured in Wolfsbane, and then forgiving her for leaving and fighting for her throughout Bloodrose. All he got after he died was a couple of paragraphs. He wasn't even mentioned in the epilogue. Calla grieved for and wanted to avenge Silas more than for Ren, someone she supposedly loved. Calla didn't even try that hard to save Ren. It became clear to me that Calla became manipulative and self-centred in Bloodrose, because she obviously was leading Ren on the whole time and never gave him a second chance. Although she said she wouldn't choose either boy until the war was OVER, she clearly chose Shay long before, sleeping with him the first night and then just before the war saying he was her alpha and she'd chosen him since she rescued him from the grizzly in the first book. Her decision not to choose was a blatant lie just so that Ren could help them win the war. Calla should have been a strong, admirable role model but instead she faded away in this book and was not the alpha she should have been. She couldn't handle her feelings about either boy and ran away from them and was far too intimate with them considering she was meant to be neutral during the war.

Ren, meanwhile, although he made his mistakes, explained why he did what he did, apologised, and tried to do everything for Calla he possibly could. Even Shay admitted Ren had loved her forever and was for real. Shay, in contrast, who was almost as manipulative and selfish as she was. He pushed her into having sex and I believe he only told her about the plan with Ren to get her mad with Ren and to make her reassure him that she loved him more. And after Ren died all Shay cared about was whether Calla still loved him and whether that meant he got to be her mate or not. Shay annoyed me in Bloodrose as he kept pressuring Calla and he only appeared strong because he had the Elemental Cross on his side. Maybe Cremer thought Ren represented the life of oppression that Calla used to have where she had no choices and Shay represented freedom and that's why she did this. However, she constructed Ren to be a better person morally than Shay in Bloodrose, and made him a natural, charismatic leader and courageous fighter. If Calla had chosen Ren, that wouldn't mean that her fight for freedom had been pointless and she was conforming to the destiny she was always meant to have. She would still have made her choice, and it would be only hers to make. Calla wasn't strong enough to choose Ren and leave Shay (the start of Bloodrose where she's continually worried about Shay's feelings proves this), and I don't think she was strong enough to be worthy of Ren, either, but Cremer could have written her to be a noble alpha.

Another criticism I have is that Cremer didn't make the final battle seem epic enough or emphasise the loss of life, apart from the characters we were already knew. But maybe this was just because after Ren was killed (I still can't believe she wrote his death so that Emile ended up killing the whole family) I skimmed the rest because I simply didn't care anymore, unless Ren magically came back to life, which he didn't. It just seemed like the book was pointless, having the bravest, most self-sacrificing character killed and having the 'heroine' and 'hero' get their happy ending when both of them hardly deserve respect.

I think Andrea Cremer could have made this book easily 5 stars for me and for everyone after Nightshade and Wolfsbane, but she failed when she wrote a resolution that was meant to be happy but instead meant that Calla was not really faced with a choice at all or any consequences of her decision. Cremer killed one of the main characters so she would not have to deal with him after the war was won. It meant that the only concern after Bosque's defeat was what would happen to Shay, and then Calla could get her happy ever after without any problems or conflict. This ending ruined the whole series for me and I am never revisiting it and probably won't read any other books by this author. All I can say is, based on how Cremer wrote Bloodrose and the characters in it, Calla and Shay deserve each other as they are both selfish, weak 'alphas' who do everything for themselves.

Ren will always be my favourite character from this series and my only comfort is that he didn't end up being the mate of a horrible girl who lied to him and used him. I don't recommend this series to anyone as the characters who get the happy ending are those who least deserve it, and it is completely unsatisfying to read such an awful conclusion to what was a promising beginning.

34 of 39 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Calla should have let the bear have him. January 5, 2012

By BMW

Format:Hardcover

*mild spoiler alert*

What the effery. I am now officially Team Bear. As in Calla should have let the grizzly have him. What.The.Hell. Honestly, there are no words. This ending was so predictable I was shocked an author would actually take the route. I was expecting some shocking, twist, didn't-see-that-coming, what an ending, let's all dance because for once a YA author dared to step outside the pre-designed mold of the ever stereotypical love triangle. I mean, it was set up perfectly, from what I could tell Ren was by far the fan favorite. Which is unusual since going in to the first book it was obvious Calla would choose Shay. But the fact that the author made Ren such an deep character and always kept him in the spot light gave me hope that there was going to be some turn around. But alas, this is what disappointment feels like. And disappointed I am, it wasn't just that Calla didn't end up with who I thought she should, in honest Ren might have escaped easy as the ending all of the characters got sucked. And I am a tear jerker, tragic romance, lover. Honest. The more heartbreak the better (I know that sounds terrible) but somehow this just felt different. Wrong, somehow.

Seriously though, all I can think is there is nothing in life more frustrating than having an in your face unforgettably epic ending set up perfectly only for it to be squandered away in such a manner. AARG! I haven't been this pissed since 'Mockingjay', but perhaps less passionately since I saw it coming. And that is not a compliment, by the way. And even then my utter disdain for the third in the trilogy didn't taint or take away from my love for the first two. Bloodrose did. The ultimate sacrifice is right. I know I'm not explaining my feelings for this book very eloquently but at the moment I'm still reeling from the slap in the face, thankyouverymuch. And no, I do not have a flourish for the dramatic *sniff* I might come back and edit this once I've wiped the tears from my eyes and can see the computer screen. Also a good nights rest and sweet dream of my Renier might help. But honestly, I doubt it. My love of this series has been tainted, and that might be what I find most tragic of all