Truly enjoyed reading about Lenobia leading up to the events before she was marked as a fledgling vampire. At her mother's insistence she takes the identity of her half sister before others know of her sister's death. Traveling by boat to New Orleans from France, she is planning to follow through on an arranged marriage to a complete stranger. While traveling she meets her soul mate who is bi-racial. Society at that time would frown on such a union but the attraction is very strong. Meanwhile, the local bishop has been forced by the church to relocate to New Orleans and is on the same boat. The rumors of the bishop having strange powers prove to be true. He has lusted after Lenobia for some time (part of the reason her mother also insisted on her taking a new identity and going on this trip). Lenobia is shocked to discover the bishop is on the same journey and successfully stays away from him until one day letting her guard down and runs into the bishop by accident. He realizes who she is and plots to have her for himself. Before he can fully put his plan into place, Lenobia is marked making her life with her soul mate a possibility. However the bishop cannot stand to lose his desire and will pay the ultimate price. Good read and helps put the House of Night series in a new prospective from the backstories of the main characters. ( )

I really liked the negative portrayal of the Catholic Church in this one as I thought it was accurate... how many times have we seen when evil/bad priests and bishops are just sent somewhere else for someone else to deal with?

Adrianne ( )

Unlike the last short story I read set in this world, this book does not strike me as entirely pointless. Lenobia isn’t dead, she’s a semi-important character and this story is useful. After all, a plot point in the main series is that Neferet has introduced a horse-loving human (that sounded wrong, especially in a series with the shagging of evil bulls) in order to get under Lenobia’s skin, especially since she has sworn an oat never to love a human again.

That begs several questions! That needs expanding and explaining! That can give us a great insight into Lenobia’s past and the no-doubt epic circumstances that have shaped her and caused her to swear such an epic vow that is causing her so much trouble to this day…

…except it kind of undermines all of that.

Because the whole set up made me picture Lenobia having an epic, tragic, terrible love affair. Perhaps she loved someone over years of great passion but, alas, the aging of the vampire inevitably took him away from her. Or the prejudice of the mortal world wouldn’t let them be together. Some epic reason why she had lost all faith in humanity as potential love interests – either human society or human frailty has convinced her that this would never be possible.

Which turns out not to be true at all! Instead it turns out that she fell in love with someone after knowing them for a few weeks (no more than 6, in fact considerably less) when she was 19 and then they died due to magical means. And she hasn’t sworn her oath because she thinks love between a human and a vampire is impossible – but because she is FAITHFUL to this dead man.

The man in question was a mixed race Black man (referred to as “mulatto” and “quadroon” in this book due to the era) who was convinced there love could never be because of racism. Lenobia continually dismissed this (which came across as a complete inability to listen to the world he was describing) and to try and convince him she decided to epicly declare she would love him or no other man! (So he better run away with her or she would be lonely forever – which, by the way, is coercive and gross).

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It was AMAZING to see Lenobia’s strength at such a young age. It’s also easy to see why Lenobia doesn’t fall into the darkness that Neferet brings to the House of Night. Her love interest is a really sweet person, and overall explains why she has the feelings she does towards relationships with humans. He is a Creole, and I swear every time he talked I heard the voice in my head as Renee Lanier from True Blood. Yes I know lame, but the voice fit with his personality. I definitely recommend this book to the fans of the House of Night series. You won’t be disappointed, I promise!
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Lenobia's Vow is a short story about the life of the horse keeper, Lenobia, in The House Of Night series. It tells about lenobia's life before she was marked.
Lenobia is the daughter of the Baron and her mother. The two parents were divorced and she was known as the "bastard daughter of the Baron". She worked around the castle like a slave with her mother. The cherished daughter Cecil, died the morning she was supposed to travel to the new world, New Orleans. The driver hadn't gotten the message yet. Lenobia's mother couldn't give her a good life so she had Lenobia dress up as Cecil and go to New Orleans on the ship. She hesitantly agreed for her mothers sake. Lenobia got onto the ship and locked herself in her room for the first two weeks because a bishop she knew was on the ship. She finally ran into him one morning and everyone found out she was lying, even Martin. Martin was a black man who worked on the ship. He groomed the horses and one morning he discovered Lenobia grooming one of the horses. At that moment it was "love at first sight' even though he knew they couldn't be together. They admit that they love each other. Do they get to be together? This is a good book if you have read the House of Night series and want to know the background stories of some characters.