Here’s the setup for the fourth “Gunnie Rose” novel: Magic and alternate history have transformed the America we know into a handful of nations, the West Coast being dominated by the Holy Russian Empire, its capital being San Diego. Felicia (half-sister to Lizbeth Rose, the hero of the first three) is a granddaughter of Rasputin and one of the few people alive whose blood can keep Tsar Alexei alive. This has earned her a place at an exclusive school for magically talented kids, although she’s treated as a nonentity and a charity case. Felicia, who grew up in extreme poverty in Mexico, nevertheless thinks of the school as heaven…until she’s the target of a kidnapping attempt. With Spanish influenza raging through the school, she’s got to escape and then figure out who’s after her and why.

Told in first person, Felicia’s intrepid personality shines through and makes the book a joy to read. That’s apart from the dramatic action and hints of romance.

Take this to the beach and you’ll end up with a sunburn from reading too long.

I was surprised to see that the latest entry in the Gunnie Rose series was not centered upon Lizbeth, the previous protagonist in these books. However, I've always had a challenging time connecting with Lizabeth as a character so this was a pleasant surprise. Felicia is such a spunky character and I enjoyed spending time with her considerably more than Lizbeth. The story is very well-paced and is a fun teaser to learn more about Felicia's magical abilities. It was fascinating to learn more about Felicia's extended family, and, in turn, more about the magic that is obscured in previous volumes. Harris's world building is more nuanced than in previous volumes (and other series). I highly recommend this book and I hope we continue to follow Felicia more in future books.

Interesting and well written I just personally couldn’t get into the story. Difficult to follow at times and a little slow. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I've been loving the Gunnie Rose series about Lizbeth Rose and enjoyed this one about her half sister Felicia as well. It was fast paced and had lots of adventure. The world in this series is so different from what we know today...there's part old west, fantasy and magic. I've loved every minute of this and was very excited to see that a fifth book, All the Dead Shall Weep, is expected to be published in September 2023.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Publication date: 22 November 2022

I was worried when I found out that the book would be from Felicia's point of view instead of Lizbeth's. But I really liked this book. It held my interest the entire time and not once did I want to put it down to do something else. My only complaint is that I have to wait for the next book in the series!

Gunnie Rose’s-sister Felicia has secrets. She is attending Rasputins school and serving as a donor for the tsar. When she is kidnapped her secrets are being revealed. ARC from NetGalley.

This was fun! Certainly a wild ride for sure. I didn't read the other books in the series, but I was able to follow this pretty well, although I think there is some character backstory that would have been helpful. I'm not sure if this one is "for me" really but just objectively it's a great story that is very well done. It's good enough that I am compelled to go back and read the rest of the series.

I loved the first three books and couldn’t wait until the 4th book. I was a little disappointed to find out it wasn’t about Lizbeth and Eli. I feel like this book should have been a spin-off book since it was about Felicia, Lizbeth’s sister. I still would have read it, especially because Felicia is an interesting character. This book takes place at the Grigori Rasputin School, a school that helps students develop their magic. Felicia gained entrance because she provides blood transfusions for the Tsar Alexi, but after several attempts on her life, Felicia learns that her magic is powerful as the danger that surrounds her intensifies.

I big thanks to #gallerybooks and #netgalley for giving me the chance to read #theserpentinheaven by#charlaineharris. This book is the forth book in the Gunnie Rose series from one of my favorite authors. This story is the adventures of Felicia the half sister of Lizbeth. I will be telling friends about this one.

Book Summary:

Felicia is the half-sister of the famous (or infamous) Gunnie Rose. Yet that isn't the only thing that makes Felicia stand out. She's a distant relative of the Tsar, Alexie. Given his hemophilia, she is kept nearby should he need her blood, in a very literal sense.

On the bright side, this means Felicia has been granted opportunities she's never had before, such as attending boarding school and learning about the magic within her bones. Ironically, when danger comes calling, it is not due to her connection to the Tsar.

My Review:

First, can I just say that I love it when a series has multiple perspectives? The first three novels in the Gunnie Rose series were based on, well, Gunnie Rose. If we're lucky, this means two more novels will follow Felicia.

The Serpent in Heaven is the first of Felicia's stories, and she is a different leading character. She's accepted her connection to the Tsar, for one. For another, she has magic – though she is understandably hesitant at first.

I enjoyed the change of perspective and setting for The Serpent in Heaven. It was a refreshing change of pace while still getting to see more of this alternate history world. I'll admit that it took me a couple of chapters to get into the swing of things, but I was hooked once I did. Seriously, this book bounced around in my head for days after I put it down. I love it when that happens.

Highlights:
Dystopia
Alternative History
Historical Fantasy
Urban Fantasy
Series with multiple POV

Trigger Warnings:
Death
Illness
Animal Death

The Serpent in Heaven is the fourth book in Charlaine Harris's Gunny Rose series. Because of a change of main character and the way Charlaine Harris writes such wonderful, wholly contained books, you could read this one as a standalone if you really wanted to. You would miss out on a few details from the first three books, but the story makes sense and is a very, very good read even if you haven't read the rest of the books.

This book gives us the story of Gunny Rose's half sister, Felicia, while she attends the Grigori Rasputin school in San Diego. Naturally, all does not go well and Felicia has some pretty big hurdles to overcome.

I love the worldbuilding in every Charlaine Harris book, and The Serpent in Heaven is no exception. The worldbuilding is immaculate - she knows when to describe something in detail and when to give a broader description that lets the reader's imagination soar. It had been a while since I had read this series, and as soon as I finished The Serpent in Heaven, I immediately went back and re-read all four books!

Pleasantly surprised! I didn't want to like it without Gunnie Rose, but I did! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this novel. I encourage you to check this one out! Must read.

Such a pleasure to return to Charlaine's alternate San Diego and get to know Felicia and her strengths and quirks much better.

The Serpent in Heaven is the fourth book in the Gunnie Rose series by Charlaine Harris and this series is one of my favorites. It’s an interesting mix of alternate history, magic, adventure and a bit of romance. The story takes place in the decades after the USA fell apart, some time in the first half of the twentieth century. What used to be the USA is now divided into different countries: Britannia, Dixie, Texoma, New America, and the Holy Russian Empire or HRE. The main character in the first three books, Rose (or Lizbeth Rose) is mostly absent from this book, and I missed her. She is a hired gunslinger, generally hired to protect cargo. Her adventures in the first three books eventually brought her to Mexico where she discovered her younger half-sister, Felicia, who is the focus of The Serpent in Heaven. The action takes place in San Diego, which is part of the HRE (what used to be California and Oregon, basically) and where the Tsar lives. Felicia is in a boarding school for training “grigori” - people who possess magical powers.

Felicia is a very complex young lady and she’s learning how to use her magical abilities. Harris does a great job showing how Felicia is gradually figuring out how powerful she can be. There are some well-drawn side figures, like Peter Savarov and Tom O’Day, as well as some of the teachers in the school and her roommate Anna. Felicia doesn’t really know her full family background and this gradually gets revealed over the course of the book, while Felicia finds herself in danger more than once.

As in many series, this book will work best if you’ve read the others in the series. Harris does a good job of providing some backstory, but I’m pretty sure you’d be lost without having read at least one of the other three first. I liked getting the backstory refreshed for me, as it’s been a while since I’d read the other books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery / Saga for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Felicia, Elizabeth Rose's little sister has been enrolled in the Grigori Rasputin school in San Diego the capital of the Holy Russian Empire. Felicia is a granddaughter of Rasputin and is kept safe and close to Tsar Alexei, who is a hemophiliac who needs transfusions of her blood to stay alive.
Felicia is kidnapped on her way to dinner with friends. This sets off a string of adventures and spying and deaths.It seems that Felicia's mother's family,powerful witches from Mexico have found her and have other plans for her. However none of her friends and families are quite prepared for the strength of Felicia.
This was an exciting read. This is book 4 in wonderful series, I have enjoyed reading them all

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book, in return for a fair and honest review.

I really enjoyed the first 3 books in the Gunnie Rose series, and I definitely like the shift in focus here. The previous books focused on Lizbeth and Eli, her husband San Diego in the Holy Russian Empire. In the last book, The Russian Cage, Lizbeth had to go to San Diego to rescue Eli from imprisonment, and there we saw another area in this alternate history of the U.S. We also began to get acquainted with Felicia, Lizbeth's half sister.

This book focuses on Felicia, as well as several characters we met in the Russian Cage. Lizbeth and Eli are off living in Texoma and running their business, and, while often mentioned, are not involved in the actions of this book. We learn a lot more about Felicia's background and about the systems of magic in play, both in Mexico where she lived before being rescued by Lizbeth and Eli, and in the HRE. The grigori magic system is complicated, and it's further explained here.

Felicia is a fascinating character to build a book around. There's a lot more to her than anyone realized, including herself, and that lead to a rapidly developing story. There are a lot of story possibilities appearing here, maybe more than with Lizbeth and her activities, and I'm eager to see where this story goes next.

This turned out to be an excellent read. I was disappointed at first when I realized that this book's main character was Felicia rather than her sister Lizbeth, but I should have had more faith. Felicia is at least as tough and interesting as her big sister, and possibly more ruthless. Pretty soon, I didn't want to put the book down. She kept surprising me.

The setting is an alternate USA that is broken up in regions. The west coast is under the control of Russia, and in this world, their royal family is still living and afflicted with hemophilia. Felicia is a remote relative of the current Russian Tsar, and is one of the few who can provide blood transfusions for him. Felicia has been magically kept very small for her age, partly for her own protection.

When the book opens, Felicia is expecting to be taken to her sister, but is instead taken to an elite boarding school where she finds that she is a charity student. She is very poorly dressed, and does work around the school to contribute for her room and board, such as work in the kitchen. Then some of her other talents are discovered and she is assigned instead to tutor other students. Periodically she is also taken to provide a blood transfusion for Tsar Alexei. There is romance in this book also, although Felicia was much more interesting. Felicia is not a romantic, to put it mildly.

I enjoyed this book immensely, and can hardly wait for the next book. I'd recommend reading the series in order, as the world building is unique and complex. The world building alone, even without the standout characters, is worth reading this series.

My thanks to the publisher Gallery Books and NetGalley for an advance reader copy of this book. It was a pleasure to voluntarily read and review it.

Omg I loooved this book. I’ve read the previous ones with her sister and she has made a heroine that is complex and strong it has a touch of romance and a huge mystery. Finding out why everyone was after her was fascinating and only thing I feel is needed is more interaction with her sister and I hope her next one deals with accepting that she is loved and can’t wait to see her grow into the strong women that she is shaping up to be. I love how she accepts that she is not quite a grown up and is taking her time to come to terms with her new life. Waiting for the next one.

I have to admit, I went into this installment of this series with a bad attitude. My thoughts were very much:

"How can it be a Gunnie Rose book if it's not about Lizbeth?! There's no point! Felicia is such a meeeeeh character."

I was wrong. So wrong. While I still prefer the adventures of Lizbeth, Charlaine Harris has already told her story and given her a good 'ending.' In fact, I hardly ever get very far in many series because at some point in the middle, I feel like the plot drags out unnecessarily and becomes convoluted. Giving Lizbeth and Eli a "happily ever after" and then adding more to that story would likely have made the series take a downward turn. Moving forward with Felicia was a rewarding read, especially as she started to age up and become a more interesting character.

Felicia is Lizbeth's half sister and granddaughter of Rasputin. Because of her blood, she is a blood source for the tsar. She has also been placed in grigori school, a school for magic users. She has been underestimated- she is perceived as plain, poor, and without power. As the story progresses though, Felicia shows that she is more than what people think of her. She has magic of her own and she is determined to hold on to the good things that she has in her life.

I am now anticipating book #5! Although Lizbeth and Eli don't have screen time in this book, I'm hoping that their paths will cross more in the future. Obviously, since this is book #4 in a series-- read the first 3 first for a better background understanding. And because the first three books were amazing :).

Thank you Netgalley and Saga Press for a free e-copy of this book. The Serpent in Heaven was published on November 15th, 2022- it's ready to read! The Gunnie Rose series is set in an interesting world, and the series continues to be a solid read.

The Serpent in Heaven is the 4th book in the Gunnie Rose series, which takes place in an alternate history where the United States has fallen and been replaced by multiple smaller countries. While it probably can be read without reading the previous books, I highly recommend reading them first. I really love the mixing of genres in this series: fantasy/magic, western, alternate history, action, mystery, and romance.

Unlike the first 3 books that are from Lizbeth's perspective, this book follows Felicia, Lizbeth's younger half-sister. While I initially missed following Lizbeth and Eli, I enjoyed this new perspective, which gave us a lot more insight into Felicia and her background. Since Felicia is around 15 years old, this book has a "younger" feel to it than the previous books, but I don't think it took away from the story at all. The book is engaging with plenty of action and good flow that kept it hard to put down. I'm hoping this series will continue since I have really enjoyed it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the free review copy of this book. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.