He collected beautiful things.Rare things.Ripped them out of their natural environment and preserved them in all of their dead splendor.The problem was I wasn’t beautiful. I was all of the hideous and ugly realities of the world packaged into one broken human being.He came to kill me.That was his business.Death.He ripped me out of my natural environment, the prison I’d created, and locked me away … I’d created, and locked me away with all of his beautiful dead things.
I hated him.
I still hate him.
But if I was given the choice and the ability to leave this cage, come back to life, I’d stay dead.
In all of my hideous splendor.
Because my murderer can only possess dead things.
And I can only be possessed by someone more broken and ugly than me.
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Okay so I have now read this book twice. I binged it once, and then I savoured it. I loved absolutely everything about it and it’s not even the kind of book I usually read. I have decided that I will call it an #UglyBeautiful Story.
The circumstances in the book are so very ugly. The brutality that Elizabeth suffers. The complete despair she goes through. Her first meeting with “Him” and their subsequent dynamic. Everything is awful and ugly – I won’t sugar coat it.
BUT….
Anne Malcom somehow manages to also make this story and these characters beautiful. Her writing style is a favourite of mine (this is no surprise), but her imagery and dialogue in this book – well it just blew my mind.
It’s hard to write a review without giving away the storyline and this is one you really need to go in blind. The sexual chemistry in this book is vicious. Their romance is not your average HEA love story. It’s raw, it’s violent and it feels so very real.
It’s definitely not an easy read but if you enjoy your books with a plot that makes you uncomfortable at times, with characters that are definitely flawed, but you still find yourself loving them, then this book is for you. I cannot recommend it enough and I already know it’s going to be in my Favourite Reads of 2018.
If you enjoy Amo Jones and BB Reid you are likely to enjoy this book. Equally if you enjoy Poe and Dante you will enjoy this book. It is something of a long form exploration into the themes of life and death yet it still remains a romance. This book proves that romance is a vastly underrated genre by many as it does what many strive to do but fail; take a close look at the human condition, life, death and twisted minds and turns that into something beautiful that resembles poetry at times. It’s one of those very rare books that changes you as you read it; makes you look at yourself and your perceptions and re-evaluate them. This is not an easy or a comfortable read but it was never designed to be. It is also a departure from the kind of romance we have seen from Anne Malcolm before. It is dark and it is gritty and it isn’t easy on the reader. It does contain the usual hallmarks of hers though; a beauty and grace of prose that pulls the reader in to the story until the very end. Although it’s not an easy read it is very much worth it. The subject matters are difficult. The characters vastly complex. The story is infinitely rewarding to the reader despite the darkness it contains. If you love a dark romance this is a good read for you. If you love the desolation of late Victorian authors then this is also the book for you. If you enjoy the lyrical way Anne Malcolm writes prose this book is also for you. It’s beautifully complex and I fully recommend taking the chance on it even if this kind of book is not your usual kind of read.
My absolute top read of 2018 thus far. This darkly beautiful stand alone shows how far Anne Malcom has pushed herself. And let me tell you, SHE OWNED IT.
The writing was absolutely PHENOMENAL. It’s definitely her best work yet. I felt like I was watching a movie rather than reading a book.
The story was so original. Definitely one of a kind.
The characters are strong, both in their own right. They both grew beautifully and it was such a thrilling sight to see. Their relationship is one of the most interesting that I’ve seen, and I mean that in the best way. They are EXACTLY what each other needs.
There was an absolute roller coaster of emotions. My heart was bruised and battered one second, then it was healed in the next breath….
I can’t say enough about this book. I absolutely, highly recommend it!
Haunting, Dark, Gut Wrenching, Soul Breaking, Poetic, Gritty, Beautiful..Bird of Paradise is unlike anything I’ve ever read. This book was not like any other Anne Malcom book; it was so different but it’s the kind of different that’s such a game changer. Ms. Malcom stepped way outside of the box for this one then proceeded to crush the box and pave her own way as only she could.
“She wore her pain like a crown, wore broken like a doll and damaged like a warrior”
Elizabeth and Lukyan are anything but ordinary and this is their story. Lukyan is a ghost, existing & collecting his rare dead things; until he meets Elizabeth and is able to see beyond her pain. Elizabeth is broken and trapped within her own nightmare until Lukyan rips her from her false sense of security . Their story isn’t sunshine and rainbows but instead it’s a gritty, soul crushing fight to not overcome their demons but to exist alongside their demons together. I strongly recommend this book to any and everyone; this hauntingly beautiful story will stay with you long after you’ve finished it. Birds of Paradise is one of my top reads for 2018 and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did
Intense, Haunting, Beautiful Words from Anne Malcom
I have read several of Anne Malcom’s books and they are good. I mean really good. As I sit here, attempting to find the words to describe the feelings I have about her latest story, Birds of Paradise, I know I cannot do it justice.
Intense: each page I read had my stomach clenching, my thoughts running wild, trying to determine what was going on in Elizabeth’s mind. Which man would she face, as she bravely, reluctantly, kept growing in both mind and body? How would we know what were the right choices for her? Who is she, really?
Haunting: the level of emotional baggage Elizabeth and her relationships claim on her soul is overwhelming. It is painful and beautiful and every nuance in between. The ghosts of her past, along with each moment wretched from her captivity, reach a world within a world status, that we can only view through a veil of horror and, at times, peace.
Where is the beauty in this painful, ugly, sinful, love story?
It is in every written word.
This book is consuming. It is a world apart from Ms. Malcom’s others, actually from every other book I have read. I want more. I need more.
A beautifully brutal love story. Definitely not your typical hero saved the damsel in distress book . Both the hero and the damsel were monsters it their own right. At times I wanted to jump in the book and comfort Elizabeth, to help her see she could live. I loved that this book was so different from anything I have read, it proves that love can be equally beautiful and painfully ugly at the same time. This is a must read.
As if she had not blown me away in the past with her books, this one hits it out of the ball park for me.
This book was different than her previous books but it was FANTASTIC and I loved that she wrote something that was different for her and took a chance on it. This story was hauntingly BEAUTIFUL all the way through. You don’t really know how much your body and mind can handle until it is put to the test. Elizabeth and Lukyan’s relationship is messed up but when 2 people understand what they have both gone through in their lives it works for them.
I do hope Anne keeps going outside of what she normally writes what is singing to her soul as I know it will be brilliant. She is an amazing writer and I am always excited to read her words.
Wow! This book is a dark and intense read. Not what I was expecting at all. This is the story of Elizabeth. Broken beyond repair. Dead inside. Soul blackened from years of abuse, torture and rape at the hands of her husband. A family whom gave her to this madman. When death comes knocking she has no fear as she looks death in the eye and challenges him to take her. Death, Lukyan the monster there to take Elizabeth to her grave. A killer with no soul decides that death is not ready for her and kidnaps her. Elizabeth has went from one cage to another. Her prison is four walls and she cannot escape. But what happens when he makes her live? What happens when you fall in love with the darkness that he brings?
This book is dark on many levels and you really need to go in with an open mind to really grasp what the author is portraying. The characters are deep and disturbing with sadistic sexual tendencies. Pain! A pain that heightens the drive between these two characters, making this book a difficult read at times. A dark story that pushes the readers limits.
A haunting story of despair that will grab the reader’s attention. I had a hard time putting this book down. I was like a train wreck waiting to happen as I continued reading, never knowing the intentions of the characters or their outcome. A nail-biting disaster waiting to happen. It was intense and soul shattering. Poetic Justice! A unique story that is hard to put words to describe how incredible this book is.
If I could give it more I would
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What have I just read? First of all with the hype surrounding this all over Facebook and beyond and with the Blurb and cover, I truly opened this book expecting another dark romanc, except that’s not what’s happened instead my heart is torn up, my insides feel like Jelly and I am sitting in total silence with my soul tossing around around inside me.
Birds of Paradise isn’t my first book by any stretch of the imagination of Anne Malcom my first been Making the Cut (THE SONS OF TEMPLAR SERIES) which is bloody fantastic, and it won’t be my last..I will keep going back to this book again and again. After seeing the everyone and his mother coming on Facebook or here at Goodreads saying what a great read it was I just knew I was in for a belter of a story,—I’ve now read this book twice, first time I always skim, but this was so good I went straight back to the start again but also because after the first time I was a bit like scratching my head and rubbing my eyes, thinking this is a complete mind F%%k, And I don’t mean MIND F&&K in the usual sense of the word, there is definitely some of that going on, but what I mean is that there was a lot to take in and a lot of heavy topics. I am quite an emotionally person,I feel things deeply so certain books I need to read in daylight never at night time because my mind won’t shut down, and hand on heart I was on the brink of going insane with this one. I don’t say that lightly…there is nothing remotely light about this story and I actually struggled with the content because of how on edge and uncomfortable it made me feel in my own skin. I mean that in a good way because Anne Malcolm writes books that are terrifyingly real and her style of writing is nothing short brilliant. Phenomenal. That on its own deserves more than the 5 measley stars I am allowed to give.
I’ve never experienced a story that is so emotionally detached or even devoid of emotion that reels me in like this story did. I know that some people will struggle with it because it is one of those where you need to read between the lines and some will find it not easy to do, but if you are like me and you embroil yourself in,so you become buried deep within each line and word, this is for you…if you can handle a lot of very sensitive and very harrowing topics. I will not go into it too much because this is a story that you need to go in blind into and completely submerge yourself in its deep, dark waters. My advice is not to read any reviews until after you have read it yourself, I tend to avoid the reviews, even though I am a blogger, I find that it enriches my reviews more and makes the story so much more engaging. Even after reading this a second time I am still struggling. It was just as brutal on the second round as the first if not more so because I knew what was coming and the twists being just as shattering. I truly believe Anne Malcom has such a clever and conniving way of keeping us the readers at arms length from the characters so that you can see the bigger picture, but at the same time it allows you to see every single string that winds around them throughout the story.
The characters themselves are not easy to gel with but I found that I actually loved it that way because it really reflected to me any way how truly broken and scarred they were, and allowed you to see just how damaged and how deep they were hurting. The deeper into the story you go the more you get to understand how their cogs work. I slowly fell in love with two people that as you are reading you don’t think they thought love was possible.
Birds of Paradise is by definition a dark romance. does it need warnings ? YES !!, it needs warnings…well, not that any kind of warning will ever prepare you for it, but WARNINGS ALL THE SAME. I personally love the element of surprise, but others are not hence the warnings I love that adrenaline rush and that emotional choking sensation you get from it. But this story is deep and it’s reckless…brutish. It takes no prisoners when it comes to how it obliterates you mind, heart and soul. Everything around me ceased to exist and I just could not put it down.TWICE the tension is overwhelming and I can guarantee that if you are a lover of dark romance this is the book to read this year. It’s raw, gritty and dark. It’s crazed and it has bite. It’ll grab you and never let you go.Birds of Paradise
5 PAINFUL AND BEAUTIFUL STARS!! OMG, OMG, OMG!! This book was painful and beautiful, this author takes us to a whole new level. It took me a couple of days to read this book because I was sick, otherwise I would have devoured in a day. This story is dark, broken characters, twisted and beautiful. Anne Malcom has turned dark into light for me and I can’t wait to read more by her. I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.
WOW! WOW! WOW!!!
This book was crazy good. It was DARK, it was GRITTY, it was INTENSE, it was RAW, it was MESSY, it was UGLY, and it was BEAUTIFUL! Phenomenally perfect.
55 highlights… I couldn’t stop.
Absolutely EVERYTHING Anne created in this book was masterfully written.
“I want you to be ugly,” he continued, watching the knife as he used it to play with tendrils of my hair. “Anyone can be beautiful. It’s so common. Effortless. Empty. I need you to be ugly so I can be too. I need to see your ugly because that’s the only thing I want. That’s real. That, I can possess.”
This book is going to keep you on your toes, your heart will go into constant heart palpitations and doubled with anxiety. You’re going to dive in, expect one thing and come out with something else in all of its ugly beauty. You will try to guess the plot, don’t. Anne Malcom knows how to keep you guessing. There were certain twists there, I had to take a moment to myself and regroup before I continued. Things coming out of left field that had me in a state of shock, mouth gaping open, with a flashing #MindBlown above my head.
There are certain authors that have a hard time pulling you in and pull out certain emotions with really tragic and dark moments. Some just can’t get the proper feelings, actions, words to truly have the reader experience the same motions as the characters. This is NOT the case with Anne Malcom. I promise, you will feel EVERYTHING the main heroine feels. You will go down with her, you will lose the fight with her, you will get stronger with her, you’re going to experience everything with her as if you were her. Anne Malcom will take you on this ride as not as an outsider looking in, but as a part of the story itself.
There is so much beauty in all the ugliness in the world and this book will say it all.
I can’t say enough how much I loved this book. Loved absolutely every single little and big thing about it.
Get the book, read the words, experience this dark rollercoaster, and fall in love with everything that is Ugly/Beautiful. #BestDarkReads2018
“The rarest of all the remarkable things are the ugliest and most broken of things. They can only be possessed in death too[…]But there is more than one version of a corpse. Some can be stuffed and preserved and put into frames. Others can walk, talk, and breathe[…]Which one are you going to be, Elizabeth?”
Seesawing between love and hate, good and evil, life and death…this book from Anne Malcom is every dark romance lovers Holy Grail!
Anne has danced with precision in the shadows and the edges of the darkness with her previous books but with Birds of Paradise she has dived into the darkest depths and made it her b!tch.
This author has such an incredible way of drawing out her imagery that you, along with her characters, taste the blood, feel the pain and the blows, and see the grotesqueness humanity is capable of at the most visceral level.
And she builds it so it’s layers add stifling weight to the mood of each scene, taking you further into the dark.
In saying so, I love how she so cleverly and poetically began our tortured heroine in an environment of all white so that her transition to blackness could be so severely differentiated.
Having escaped one torturous cage, Elizabeth finds herself dragged into another by a different type of villain to her former one. This one infinitely more dangerous to not only her life but more vitally her soul.
And oh, what a delicious and brutal villain he is, and Anne does not give us much to warm to in the beginning, but his is an evil that grows on you and ultimately on our heroine, as she does on him.
“I’ve been the villain from the start Elizabeth”…”You met me as the villain, got to know me as the villain…” “You fell in love with me as the villain.”
“Make sure you remember that I’m not going to turn into the hero just because I love you back.”
What starts as passive fascination on both parts morphs into these characters sizing one another up like fighters in a ring.
Their sparing is measured and controlled before they collide spectacularly and begin to tear one another open to reveal each their own depravity and pain, breaking down that which held them apart and ultimately exploding with passion, but this is a fight that is protracted by secrets and has the potential for a disastrous outcome.
But the fight is rarely only within the ring and once the alliance is forged, the true enemies come knocking.
The ensuing battle is epic, the finale is fitting and yet not complete, but perfect nonetheless.
This book was eye opening, amazing, emotional, deep and beautiful! Sometimes you have to think with an open mind to really see what the story is all about; Elizabeth’s and Oliver’s (Lukyan) story was touching and their connection was more than surface deep. I loved this story and all it portrayed! This author never ceases to amaze me with her abilities to seep into the unknown and allow her darkest thoughts come to life!
oh my, what can I say about this book to give it the credit that is due?
I finished an ARC of this book over two weeks ago and I still don’t know how to put the emotions it left with me into words. It has stayed with me more than any other book I’ve ever read, but when the most shattered and broken of a soul finds a way to crawl out of a hole, I fall completely in love. The Hero in this story is really anything but, by most “normal” standards, but in those of us who have been in the darkness he was the strongest hero of all. He proved that total and complete love is sometimes not butterflies and rainbows. Sometimes there is so much heartache and pain that those rainbows and butterflies will swallow you whole. sometimes you need darkness to survive. This book consumed me!! Though it is much darker than I normally find myself comfortable in, as well as a darker style of writing for this Author, she did it exquisitely!! Anne Malcolm drug me in and wouldn’t let me go. Not only, did Anne drag me in with the story itself, but she also had me going through and researching all the tiny details that really brought the shimmers of light into this story. I’m going to stop babbling, but please do yourself a favor and give this #uglybeautiful story a try!!
I can’t even begin to label this book! It’s just extraordinary! Anne Malcom has given us an anti-hero we don’t know how to feel about! Love him? Hate him? And the heroine? She has her own issues! Anne has gone dark and twisted with this book and it couldn’t be better! Must add to your TBR!
I know that my review isn’t going to do the book justice! I am completely speechless with the intensity and depth that Anne Malcom has gone to.
It is not like any of her previous work and let me tell you she nailed it! Wow!!
We meet Elizabeth who has suffered violence and brutality throughout her life and ‘him’, with both having dark pasts and ghosts that haunt them.
Birds of Paradise is a dark romance that is warped,ugly, full of pain, emotional and hauntingly beautiful.
I have never read a story like this and I found myself wanting to devour it but savour it at the same time.
Birds of Paradise is one of my top reads for 2018. Thank you Anne Malcom for this phenomenal story!
I highly recommend Birds of Paradise!
I’m sorry but I’m not going to give away any spoilers of any kind because I’m not the type that does that.
So all I’m going to say about this book is holy moly it’s absolutely amazing! So amazingly brilliant in a dark slightly twisted way. Anne Malcom just keeps showing that there’s so many levels to her ways of writing. This story was definitely a intense roller coaster ride so much that I had to take breaks every once in awhile and take a small breather because it would overload my mind. But oh how I loved this book which is also another reason I took my time reading it because I wanted to savor it and make every second to last.
Birds of Paradise isn’t for the faint hearted and I do recommend you read the reviews of it basically do a little research to see if you can handle it. But yes I freaking do recommend this book to anyone who’s not afraid to step into this story and getting lost within its pages. I recommend it to someone who’s definitely not afraid to step off the side of that cliff knowing that there is nothing below no harness or net to stop their fall!!
My rating for Birds of Paradise is most definitely five huge ’s!!
Birds of Paradise by Anne Malcom what can I say. Reading this book was hard. Its definitely not your mushy sweet romance. This book is beautifully tragic. Elizabeth is broken so bad its absolutely heartbreaking. The things she has been through have left her a shell. Lukyan is also a broken soul sent to kill her. He takes one look at this pitiful creature and is mesmerized he must capture her. I don’t do spoiler so you will have to read the book. Anne Malcom writes beautifully. I honestly love to read anything she writes. Malcom is so very talented. She writes smart, sexy, and keeps you enthralled with her words.
Absolutely Brilliant! It’s dark, somewhat twisted(but in a good way), yet absolutely beautiful! It’s not your typical kind of HEA, but it is the only kind that could be worthy of Elizabeth and Lukyan. Two beyond broken people, that find some resemblence of happiness in each other. Lukyan is sent to kill Elizabeth, but as he watches her he sees into her soul, one that has been shredded by abuse and a terrible loss at the hands of her estranged husband. So broken she is ready for death and welcomes it. This lack of any emotion intrigues Lukyan and finds he can’t kill her. Returning at a later date he rips her from the world, the insulated bubble of safety she created. She suffers from agoraphobia, and by taking her the way he did she suffers a mental break. He nurses her back to health and along the way teaches her to fight. Fight for herself, for him, for them. He also feels things for her, things and feelings he never knew he had or could have. She begins to grow, and moves back from the ledge of death she once embraced. She finds herself in love with him and he in love with her. This isn’t your typical romance, far from it. Darkness,blood,evil,apathy is all they both know. They both find their pleasure in pain, trading one darkness for another. They accept each other, down to their marrow. He knows everything about her, knows her better than she knows herself. She has seen him at his worst, accepts him for the cold,caculating hitman he is and loves him despite all that.
This is probably one of the most beautiful love stories I have ever read. I had so many emotions reading this. At first I thought “Wow, they’re two messed up people”, but as you read you realize that Elizabeth and Lukyan are perfect for each other. They could never find love, or their kind of happiness in anyone but each other. They are like the last two pieces of the puzzle. They fit together perfectly, filling in the whole picture.
When an author gives you a Hero who is anything but a Hero, and a wounded broken heroine, you’d expect to not like them. How could they have a story worth reading, right? Wrong. So, so wrong. The most unlikely Hero, the broken but survivor of a heroine captured me. Totally and completely captured me.
Birds of Paradise is poetic. And even though this is completely different than anything Anne has written before, her style shows through exquisitely. The imagery, the brutality, the emotion… and ultimately the hope and the love.