Indie Book Review: Birth of a Phoenix

Birth of a Phoenix By Candice Snow

Florence Nightingale lived the perfect life. She had loyal friends, loving parents, and comfortable living conditions in one of Brooklyn's better apartment complexes. Then the Half War—a violent fight between races—broke out and her life was changed forever. 

Forced to leave her home in New York, Florence flees to North Carolina where she is reluctantly taken in by a mysterious rural community called the Colony. Ruled by a self-appointed King and Queen, the Colony is divided from within. Women are raffled off at the age of sixteen, breaking the law means certain death, and under no circumstances are races to be mixed.

But Florence has never been one to follow rules. It isn’t long before she has secured a home for herself in the Cabin where servants are raised. Secluded just outside the confinements of the Colony, the Cabin allows Florence to mature in a peaceful environment. Here she establishes lasting friendships, bitter rivalries, and her first love.

When her father is publicly executed for a crime he didn’t commit, Florence focuses her attention on rebelling against the monarchy and uprooting the truth behind the Colony's darkest secrets. The only problem is that her marriage raffle is looming near, and the more Florence uncovers about the Colony—including the death of her father—the more it endangers both her safety and her sanity.

My Review

This book is brutal, in a beautiful way. It will tug on your heart and bring a multitude of emotions boiling to the surface. It deals with racism and oppression, the terrors that come from living under the rule of a monarchy. Readers follow the strong and relentless Florence as she maneuvers the atrocities of The Colony. Forced from her previous life in New York as a result of the Race Wars, she finds that brutality and war are not easy things to escape. Accepting the retched way of Colony life is inexplicably difficult for her to do. Her personality is as fiery as her hair and she resists the Royals to the best of her ability. Through everything Flo carries her hope for a life beyond the mountains. A place where she can live and love the way she chooses. 

The characters are fantastic, readers will connect with them instantaneously. You will be swept up in this story and left hungry for the next one. 

The author is bold in her storytelling, creating a perfect example of why I love Indie books.

Birth of a Phoenix is not for the faint of heart, but a definite gem in the independent literary world.

You can find the author on:

GOODREADS / FACEBOOK