Lenobia's Vow: A House of Night Novella [Hardcover]

P. C. Cast (Author), Kristin Cast (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 31, 2012 | Series: House of Night (Book 2)

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? Find out more about one of your favorite professors in Lenobia's Vow, the next heart-thumping House of Night Novella by PC Cast and Kristin Cast.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Caitlin Davies gently balances the emotional tenors of her journey with convincing French and Creole accents…Listeners will find themselves most captivated, though, by the tender love that Lenobia develops with a Creole horse hand named Martin.” – AudioFile Magazine

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

 #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author P.C. CAST is an award-winning fantasy and paranormal romance writer, as well as an experienced speaker and teacher. Her novels have been awarded YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, and have received the prestigious Oklahoma Book Award, as well as the PRISM, Daphne du Maurier, Booksellers Best, Holt Medallion, Beacon, Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice, and Affaire de Coeur awards. She lives in Oklahoma with lots of dogs, cats, horses, and a burro. KRISTIN CAST is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who teams with her mother to write the House of Night series. She has stories in several anthologies, as well as editorial credits. Currently Kristin is working on her first stand-alone novel, a dark, mysterious fairy tale.

Product Details

• Age Range: 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; First Edition edition (January 31, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9781250000248
• ISBN-13: 978-1250000248
• ASIN: 1250000246
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (136 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #275,180 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars engaging biographical fiction January 31, 2012

By Harriet Klausner #1 HALL OF FAME

Format:Hardcover

Today Lenobia is the horse mistress of the House of Night in St. Louis and Zoey Redbird's favorite teacher. She and her mother were servants in 1788 at the Chateau de Naverre in Evreux, France. Her father the baron seduced her mother, impregnated her and cast her and their offspring aside. That child Lenobia looks identical to her spoiled half-sister Cecile.

When Lenobia is sixteen years old, the legitimate daughter dies from ague. Leonia's mother arranges for her daughter to masquerade as Cecile in order for her to marry an affluent aristocrat. The plot works perfectly as Lenobia and other unmarried young ladies travel by ship to New Orleans to marry rich French aristocrats. While traversing the Atlantic, evil sorcerer Bishop Charles recognizes and announces the fraud as he coveted her back in France and plans to make her his mistress. A nun protects her and she decides to go to the cargo hold on the last level of the ship where she meets Quadroon Martin in the stables. She falls in love with him and the Percheron horse that his employer bought. He sent Martin to go to France so that he could take care of them over the long sea voyage. n The Bishop soon makes his move to rape Lenobia using all means available to him while Martin vows to keep his beloved safe.

The latest House of Night Novella (see Dragon's Oath) focuses on the teen years of a secondary but popular character. Readers learn what shaped Lenobia's present mysterious life as the child is the adult even if two centuries have passed. At sixteen, Lenobia displays the same traits she shows as a teacher: courage, honesty and inner strength. She wanted to be happy, but her choices were limited to be or not to be until a third option was offered.... This is an engaging biographical fiction as the Cast crew entertains their fans.

Harriet Klausner Read more ›

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the $$$. February 7, 2012

By Mel

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

The story was good. But, I will no longer be buying the short stories that compliment this series. I just paid $10 for about $2 worth of story.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved reading Lenobia's story. April 22, 2012

By BiblioThoughts

Format:Hardcover

In Lenobia's Vow, we see Lenobia's past and the events that eventually brought her to the House of Night and Nyx. Lenobia's story is full of hopefulness, terror, and heartbreak.

(SPOILERS)We see the hope of a young woman wanting to find love and happiness in the New World; but that hope is threatened by an evil man, steeped in Darkness, stalking her every move. But Lenobia finds a Light in that Darkness that keeps her hope from burning out. Upon arrival in New Orleans, Lenobia falls terribly ill and is left in the care of the evil bishop. His unholy plans are thwarted when a Vampyre Tracker Marks Lenobia as a fledgling. But he doesn't give up that easily, and when Lenobia's Martin comes to her aid, he meets a heartbreaking end. But to ensure Lenobia's safety, he makes sure to take the bishop with him. Heartbroken over the loss of her love, Lenobia leaves for the House of Night, and as she leaves the burning city behind, she reinforces her vow to never love another man for as long as she lives.

We get a peek at how the world was in the 18th century. Slavery was going strong and the Catholics lead with and iron fist. But we also see that in the New World, New Orleans specifically, that there was more leniency in the acceptance of different peoples. Those traveling to the New World in the 18th century were like those who came to America in the 20th century hoping to live the American Dream. The hope for a better and happier life.

I loved reading Lenobia's story and finding out why she refuses to feel anything for another man and what she meant when she said she's encountered Darkness before. We also get to see that her love for horses came well before she was ever Marked.

(SPOILERS)Then there's Martin! He's just so sweet!... I loved the vow they made to each other to only love the other and no one else. It was really heartbreaking at the end when he promised Lenobia that he would love her forever and that he would find her again. But if my suspicions are correct, he has! In the form of Lenobia's cowboy (sorry, I can't remember his name) who we met in Destined. It can't be a coincidence that he arrived with a Percheron and sporting those gorgeous green eyes. The appearance may change, but the eyes never do. I can't wait to see if I'm right and if Lenobia will figure it out or continue to push him away.

One thing I was kind of disappointed about was that, unlike in Dragon's Oath, there wasn't a clear connection from the past to the present. Read more ›

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars I don't mind prequels February 28, 2012

By S. Schairer

Format:Hardcover

LENOBIA'S VOW by PC & Kristin Cast

LENOBIA'S VOW is the 2nd story in PC and Kristin Cast's House of Night novella series. Each novella delves into the background and younger lives of the resident professors and vampyres at the current day House of Night. Dragon's Oath was the first storyline, followed by Lenobia's Vow and in July 2012, the release of Neferet's Curse. As with most novellas, the story is both quick and easy, but the information into the past lives and loves, is always welcome.

It is 1788 and Lenobia Whitehall is the 16 year old bastard daughter of Baron D'Auvergne. She and her mother work as servants on her father's estate. When her half-sister Cecile suddenly dies, her mother risks everything to send her only daughter away. Forcing Lenobia to assume the identity of her dead sister, Lenobia becomes one of the `fille a la casquette'-known historically as casket girl, refers to one of the women brought from France to the French colonies of Louisiana to marry.

When Lenobia arrives at port to board the sailing ship Minerva, she is stunned, when Bishop Charles, the parish priest who has eyes only for Lenobia, is granted passage on the same ship. The Bishop has an evil reputation, one filled with sudden and terrifying injuries and deaths, especially by fire. But word about his dalliances had reached Rome, and as suspected, the Holy Father has sent Charles to his new parish in the Louisiana, hoping to curtail the rumors about his `demonic' personality.

Throughout the 8-week voyage, Lenobia remains secluded in her cabin, feigning sea sick, fearing Father Charles will recognize her as an imposter.... But cabin fever forces her to wander through the cargo area, where she meets a young `mulatto' servant named Martin, who tends the horses on board. Martin is the bastard son of a rich New Orleans merchant and his black slave, and has accompanied his father's prized geldings homeward. But as a man of mixed race, he is unable to marry or enter into a relationship with a white woman, but the heart knows NO color, and Martin and Lenobia (or Cecile) quickly fall in love.

Upon return from one of her visits with Martin, Lenobia is discovered by Father Charles, who reveals her identity as a bastard child, and demands that she be put into his care. But Sister Madeleine, the girl's chaperone, recognizes that something isn't right with Father Charles. Sister Madeleine, admonishes Charles, but not before she takes Lenobia under her wing. When Martin realizes that Lenobia has not been truthful about her identit , the young woman must come clean with her story.

But soon, everyone onboard, recognizes that Father Charles has eyes for Lenobia, and the crew does their best to keep her safe. When Charles realizes that his attempts to keep Lenobia to himself have been thwarted, he takes revenge on all those who stand in his way.

Upon arrival in Louisiana, Lenobia is suddenly ill, but a visitor, a Tracker for the House of Night name Medusa, tells her that she has been chosen as one of the daughters of the goddess Nyx, and has been marked as a fledgling vampyre. Father Charles recognizes the vampyre and vows retribution. Martin pledges his protection to Lenobia, and vows to be her consort when she reaches full status as a HON vampire. But Charles exacts revenge and in the end, Lenovba vows, that she will never love another man as long as she lives.

Lenobia's Vow is a short story, that explains the circumstances of Lenobia's life. As the resident House of Night horse-trainer, Lenobia's affinity with animals was recognized early on her voyage to the New World. Like all vampyres at the House of Night, each has an affinity, something that is special to each. Lenobia's Vow is a sad reminder, about the history of slavery and racism in the 18th century, and the power of the Catholic church over their parishioners. Although they say love conquers all, love cannot stop the evil that was bred into the minds of the time.

Read all of my reviews at : thereadingcafe.com Read more ›