From Goodreads: "Elizabeth Lavenza hasn't had a proper meal in weeks. Her thin arms are covered with bruises from her "caregiver," and she is on the verge of being thrown into the streets . . . until she is brought to the home of Victor Frankenstein, an unsmiling, solitary boy who has everything--except a friend. Victor is her escape from misery. Elizabeth does everything she can to make herself indispensable--and it works. She is taken in by the Frankenstein family and rewarded with a warm bed, delicious food, and dresses of the finest silk. Soon she and Victor are inseparable. But her new life comes at a price. As the years pass, Elizabeth's survival depends on managing Victor's dangerous temper and entertaining his every whim, no matter how depraved. Behind her blue eyes and sweet smile lies the calculating heart of a girl determined to stay alive no matter the cost . . . as the world she knows is consumed by darkness."

Thank you to Rockstar Book Tours and Delacorte Press for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for review! All opinions are my own.

This book was fantastic. I can't even form complete and cohesive sentences to describe how much I loved this book with all of my soul. 

Plot:
This was definitely a slow-burn book, there's no doubt about it. The beginning was kind of tough for me to get through at first, despite the opening line being one of the best I've ever read, but once I got past it, I could not put this book down. If you're looking for a fast paced, action filled book, you won't find that here. Instead, you will find a girl desperate to survive at any cost and the story that unfolds from her making the decision to be what she thinks this boy needs her to be. You will find a character that is morally grey, and manipulative, but also smart and brave. And most of all (and probably my favorite) you'll question just who really is the monster in this story? There are strong female characters, madness, creepy atmospheres, monstrous humans, and a few plot twists that will have you reading the page again just to make sure you read that correctly. Yes, the start is slow, but once it picks up, you'll keep reading until you've finished the last page. Which is my favorite part of the book, I do believe. Best opening line and best closing line in any book I've ever read, hands down.

Characters:
I absolutely adored Elizabeth, oh my goodness. There were so many times throughout the book that I just sat there in complete and total awe of her. She's so cunning and so incredibly brave and there wasn't a page that I turned that I didn't find myself loving her more and more. I loved that you could quite literally watch her "descent" as the book progressed. It was such a great slow build-up with some amazing character development sprinkled in there. I also really appreciated that we as readers got to see her come to the realization that she was in an abusive relationship that she needed to get out of, and fast. It showed so much about her development as a character and I just really appreciated seeing her rise above and get herself out of a bad situation. A really, really, really bad situation. We need more characters in YA that are like Elizabeth Frankenstein.

I also really liked Victor, despite him being bad and horrible and abusive and, well, insane. There was always something about him from the very beginning that just wasn't right, and I loved how Kiersten White really played that up and made his madness more and more present as the book continued. Even as a child, you could tell that he wasn't normal and I loved following along as he grew up and eventually became completely insane. His motivation was love, but it was his twisted view of it that drove him to become the way he was. I really liked the slow build-up with his character as well, and seeing more of his insanity present itself the farther along the book went.

Just as a side note, Kiersten White absolutely killed it with the slow and steady character development with this book. All of the snaps for her!

Writing:
I'm going to start this off with some of my favorite lines and quotes from this book. Be prepared, because there are quite a few.

"I needed Victor back, and I would not let him abandon me again."

"The house appeared in the trees like something from a fairy tale. Lying in wait and ready to devour us."

"I might have been his, but he was mine."

"I had become this girl in order to survive, but the longer I lived in her body, the easier it was to simply be her."

"I would like silent and still, like a corpse, as he studied me. His careful, delicate hands explored all the bones and tendons, the muscles and tracings of veins that make up a person. "But where is Elizabeth?" he would ask, his ear against my heart. "Which part makes you?" I had no answer, and neither did he."

"You are mine, Elizabeth Lavenza, and nothing will take you from me. Not even death."

"You are mine. You have been since the first day we met. You will be mine forever."

"I knew what it was to be rotten to the core- to hide sharp teeth behind a serene smile."

"Death is never allowed to touch you."

"They had stripped us of everything we were taught made us women and then told us we were mad."

Personally, that last one is probably my favorite. Kiersten White has such an eerie and haunting way of writing that makes you love the words on the page while also getting chills up and down your spine. She has a talent for drawing you in to the world that she's created and making you want to stay...forever. Insert creepy laugh here. But seriously, I never find myself disappointed when I'm reading one of her books. Her writing is so descriptive and lyrical while also being the right amount of creepy that makes you crave more. Both her words and her characters come to life right before your eyes and by the time you've finished one page, you'll be hooked for the entire book.

Hands down, The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein is one of my favorite books that I have read this year. The atmosphere present in these pages is enough to keep you going, but the spooky writing and amazingly strong and powerful female characters will easily make this a favorite for anyone who reads it!

About the Author:

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Giveaway!

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Tour Schedule

Week One:

10/15/2018- Under the Book Cover- Review

10/16/2018- Simply Daniel Radcliffe- Review

10/17/2018- Novel Novice- Review

10/18/2018- My Fangirl Chronicles- Review

10/19/2018- Pandora's Books- Review

Week Two:

10/22/2018- Jessica Writes- Review

10/23/2018- Tween 2 Teen Book Reviews- Review

10/24/2018- Here's to Happy Endings- Review

10/25/2018- Savings in Seconds- Review

10/26/2018- Vicky Who Reads- Review

Week Three:

10/29/2018- Smada's Book Smack- Review

10/30/2018- YA Books Central- Interview

10/31/2018- For the Lover of Books- Review

11/1/2018- Malanie Loves Fiction- Review

11/2/2018- Oh Hey! Books.- Review

Week Four:

11/5/2018- The Hermit Librarian- Review

11/6/2018- Tales of the Ravenous Reader- Interview

11/7/2018- BookHounds YA- Review

11/8/2018- Eli to the nth- Review

11/9/2018- Portrait of a Book- Review
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Thank you so much to Rockstar Book Tours for allowing me to take part in this tour! I absolutely adored The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein and I'm so happy that I was able to share my thoughts on it. Let me know in the comments if you've read this book and what you thought of it! I'd love to talk about it so let's talk books! Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you in the next chapter! Stay spooky!

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White

The book re-imagines Mary Shelley’s Gothic 1818 horror novel from the point of view of Elizabeth, a girl who is taken in by the Frankenstein family to be a companion for their son, the volatile and mysterious Victor. Publication is set for fall 2018, to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Frankenstein.

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A genderbent Beowulf re-imagining in which four mercenary girls chase glory and honor by battling a monster that's been terrorizing a nearby earldom.

The erratic decisions of a prophecy-obsessed king have drained Innis Lear of its wild magic, leaving behind a trail of barren crops and despondent subjects. Enemy nations circle the once-bountiful isle, sensing its growing vulnerability, hungry to control the ideal port for all trade routes. The king's three daughters—battle-hungry Gaela, master manipulator Reagan, and restrained, starblessed Elia—know the realm's only chance of resurrection is to crown a new sovereign, proving a strong hand can resurrect magic and defend itself. But their father will not choose an heir until the longest night of the year, when prophecies align and a poison ritual can be enacted. Refusing to leave their future in the hands of blind faith, the daughters of Innis Lear prepare for war—but regardless of who wins the crown, the shores of Innis will weep the blood of a house divided.

Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trade she uses to get by—palm readings, zars, healings—are all tricks, sleights of hand, learned skills; a means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles. But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to accept that the magical world she thought only existed in childhood stories is real. For the warrior tells her a new tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire, and rivers where the mythical marid sleep; past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises, and mountains where the circling hawks are not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass, a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound. In that city, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences. After all, there is a reason they say be careful what you wish for.