***5 'You Are Not What I Expected' Stars*** 
 When I heard that Juliette Cross was going to be putting her own paranormal twist on some very well loved fairy tales I started making grabby hands, while doing a lot of the practicing patience thing and though it did take me a little longer to dive in that I intended, I wasn't disappointed. She has created a vibrant world and filled it with characters that I need to know more about, even the baddies and woven humor, heart, suspense and a good dose smexyness into it that had me turning the pages until there were no more to turn. 
 I adored Marius. He is a vampire and a prince, but he's nothing like you'd expect him to be. He believes in the superiority of his race and status within it and though the arrogance that comes with that belief is woven into his very being, it doesn't suffocate. He's all kinds of charming, confident, intelligent, smexy alpha male goodness and all of that combined with his compassionate heart makes him all kinds of swoon worthy. 
 Arabelle and I had an interesting go of it. Overall I loved the girl. She genuinely cares for her people and though she is just a servant she is willing to do all she can to better their lives, even if it mean sacrificing hers. She could have turned her back on the problems, and even turned callous and cold, but didn't. But for all I admired her, her tunnel vision in the beginning had me twitching. She has just cause for her feelings, but the soapbox she put herself on was not as sturdy as she believed. 
 Marius and Arabelle's road to their HEA was a bumpy one for many reasons, but it was a fun and smexy one as they forced each other to open their eyes to the true reality of the world they lived in. I enjoyed the push and pull between them because it not only made the sexual tension between them that much hotter, but it forced them to get to know each other beyond their station in life and come to realize that they had much more in common than they could have ever imagined. 
 It's not secret I'm a huge Juliette Cross fangirl and a good portion of that has to do with how well she builds the world her stories are set in. They are vibrant, even in their darkness, and she has a way of making you want to explore every nook and cranny of it. She creates a history of the world that is believable even though you know in your logical mind that there is no way it can exist and yet you want to get lost in it and that's what she done once again with The Black Lily. On top of all of that she brings to life characters that you want to know more about and spend time with, even the ones you want to gut with a spoon and there are many I'd love to cozy up to here. As this is the first in series, there is a lot of information being thrown at you, but it's done in a more show not tell way so it isn't overwhelming. I do have one, well, two bones to pick with Ms. Cross, but neither are about the overall story arc of the series, which I thought was well done and cannot wait to see how everything plays out down the road! 
 ~ Copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley ~