Cat’s homecoming isn’t a good one. Her mother, a coroner, has died at 40 and the hot, youthful looking, coroner brought in by her father is saying it’s from heart failure. Cat doesn’t believe it. The search for the truth leads her some rather unexpected truths about herself.
This book boasts fantastical creatures like fairies and and fairy hunters and an extremely slow burn romance that will have you reading until book three for the DTR moment.
There are a few things I had problems with, including the fact that she is 19 and in medical school… ugh I’m not pre-med but I am almost positive that’s not right. Also, please…someone tell Cat to tone down being a word that rhymes with witch. She can reason away all she wants, but Ace didn’t deserve half the 💩 she put him through. I wanted to shake her regularly and thoroughly. She literally kills Faith’s mom and then becomes friends with her. And don’t get me started on how much Cat doesn’t deserve Cass. She is going to have A LOT of explaining to do when Cass finds out all the crap her supposed best friend has been lying and hiding.
In all, and because I did actually really enjoy the story line, I am giving this 3 ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️‘S

First I would like to thank Netgallery and publisher for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was first attracted by the pretty cover. This was a YA fantasy story featuring the fae. I did find the beginning of the book a bit hard to get through but the more I read on the more it all came together, and I loved the ending. I had never read anything written by Olivia Wildenstein but this book won’t be my last I will definitely be reading the second book of this series!

Thanks to Netgalley and publishers for this audio book of Rose Petal Graves

I really wanted to like this audio and I preserved with it so much, However I just couldn't get into it as much as I tried.
Each chapter merged into one and to be honest I have no clue what was happening. The only thing I can be certain of is the guy who pretended to be the mortician is actually a Fae and he uses magic to trick people.

I'm not sure if it was the actual story that made me not get wrapped up in it or if it was the narration that made me confused with all the characters. Either way this audio just wasn't for me.

The story premise it's self sounded really good and on that basis I will try again but with the ebook, it may turn out to be a fantastic read. So this rating is based solely on the audio book.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for an audio ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed listening to Rose Petal Graves. I know this is the first in a series but I feel the book stopped in a odd place. I know there's more, but it felt abrupt. The magic system was interesting and I'm sure we'll find out more in the upcoming books. I thought the narrator did a good job. Looking forward to the next installment.

This review of the audiobook of Rose Petal Graves by Olivia Wildenstein is courtesy of NetGalley.
Rating 3/5 #RosePetalGraves #NetGalley

This is audiobook is the first time I've encountered any of Olivia Wildenstein's work.

From an audiobook standpoint, one thing that annoyed me was that chapter headings and titles were read at a much lower volume. There were however a distinct voices for various characters including ones with various accents. I'm not sure who provided the voice, but I'd be happy to listen to them again.

From the standpoint of story, there are a lot of elements found in a YA fantasy novel with a young woman, Catori discovering things about her ancestry that she didn't know. Being YA, there's also the requisite love interest or two or three. What was different or unique however, was the mix of fairies and Native American lore. I'm not sure how much of the lore is accurate as I've only read about characters such as Coyote who is a trickster. Not sure if that's a different tribe, but Coyote was nowhere in this.

Speaking of different or unique, there was definitely the occasional odd phrase. When talking about her cousins playing with tablets, they were specifically mentioned as "electronic tablets". I'm not sure where the author has been, but most people these days when hearing mention of tablets would automatically think of iPads or similar Android tablets. Saying "electronic tablets" seemed odd and unnecessary. The story is told in the first person where we follow along Catori's thoughts. At one point, Catori describes a cousin who has just introduced themselves and goes "she didn't look that much older than me. If she had a decade on me, that was it." I can't imagine someone who is college age (she's home from college due to her mom's funeral), not thinking that a decade wouldn't be a lot older.

Beyond that, there's definite uncertainty as to which characters are the "good guys" versus the "bad guys". The book ends in a hopeful manner but there's also clearly more mystery/unknown things to come. It's definitely the first book of a series.

I don't know exactly what it was about this book, but it was so good. The storyline was so interesting, and the characters had dimensions and personalities. I listened to it whenever I had the chance because the story just sucked me into the world, and I needed to know what happened next. I almost cried a couple of times, but it's okay... :') Anyways, if you're into witchy-type books with faeries and such, definitely recommend this book!

Native American folklore and faerie tales converge in this suspenseful mystery novel. I was drawn into the Rowan Woods and I am eager to see how the story ends. I highly recommend this novel for readers eager to read fantasy mashups where the fae walk among humans in a realistic novel.

This book took me by surprise! I was pulled into this world of fae and Native Americans and a story that was crazy and wonderful all at once. I really enjoyed the world building and characters and cannot wait to continue the series!

I'm kinda lost for words with this one. I will be succinct as I can feel that this review may make me waffle.

I enjoyed the fantasy elements and fresh take on native-American elements. YA is full of greeko/urban mythology when there is a treasure trove of stories and folklore in other cultures and traditions. The story and the suspense was good but this is where it went downhill.

The MC, Catori was utterly insufferable. She did illogical things which made no sense. I know people do out of character things when they are grieving but blimey, did she do weird things. She said she didn't like the stranger in town and then goes on to trust him. She did the same thing with potential murders. Even the people around her couldn't understand her behavior.

If the story did not start immediately after her mom's death or perhaps a little more monologue was given (it had a first person narration) so to the thoughts behind the MC's actions, perhaps it would have been easier to swallow. The climax was anti-climatic and I knew the story was going to pull a Sarah J Mass on me.

Frankly out of all the potential love interests around, I liked Ace best, who was not even a love interest but I can see him being one. Also the audiobook narration was well done and the characters sounded distinctly different.

I'm not sure I'll continue reading the rest of the series and it is unlikely that the heroine will change nor am I fully invested in the characters or world.

Catori wasn't the type of girl to believed in fairytales, much less tales about faeries, but that changed the day the fae walked into her life.

Staying away from her lakeside hometown was the plan, until Catori’s Mom died suddenly. The doctors said she suffered a stroke, just hours after she dug up one of the ancient Native American graves in their backyard.

Creepy, I know. Creepier still, there was no corpse inside the old coffin, only fresh rose petals.

As Catori made preparations for the burial, unnervingly odd and beautiful newcomers poured into the small town; a coroner with emerald eyes and black hair, much too young for the job, an arrogant blond socialite, who lived to get under my skin and a tattooed Native man, who wasn’t supposed to be alive.

By dying, Catori’s mother had inadvertently revived an age-old feud between the fae and the tribe that hunted them.

A feud that was about to tear Catori’s world apart.

I thoroughly enjoyed this audio book! It was a super fun and extremely quick read! I did think the audio narration was rather slow but I didn’t mind because I just ended up listening on a faster speed! Although this read was super entertaining, in my opinion it just wasn’t 5 star material, it is definitely an audio book worth the listen but i think it’s important to have in mind, that it is a fae fantasy romance, so neither the fantasy or romance elements are too deep! Definitely a great summer read, super fun and intriguing! I definitely want to read the sequel and possibly the rest of this series ASAP!

Rose Petal Graves is the first book by I have read by Olivia Wildenstein. I found the book to be intriguing and not at all what I expected. I like the fantasy and of course the fae world! I had difficulty pinpointing the character's age. She felt too young at times for the age she is presumed to be. However, the overall plot of the book is good.
Thank you to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an audiobook for review.

I really wanted to like this book. I had never encountered a book that combines fairy and Native American lore before and was looking forward to it; however, I found it very disappointing. The biggest objection I had to the book were the characters, both their personalities and their actions. Cat's "best friend" Blake is jealous, narcissistic, and sexist. He was constantly trying to manipulate her feelings and gaslight her because she was hanging out with another boy. Blake obviously had romantic feelings for her, and because of that thought that he had a right to her. Indeed, after catching Cat kissing another boy, he acting so abysmally and emotionally manipulated her so badly that Cat spent the next few pages asking Blake to forgive her (I spent the entire time yelling that she had nothing to apologize for). My dislike for Blake was so great that when he died I cheered. Speaking of death, the grief that the characters showed was so cliche and maudlin, I found it entirely un-relatable and unbelievable. I found it a bit much that not once, but twice one of the characters fell to their knees in grief when someone died. Cat's father, much like Blake, was overprotective and oblivious. It also rubbed me the wrong way that he called every female character that was younger then him "sweetheart". There was so much angst in this book that seemed wrong for a main character that is 19. Sure, she's still young and her mother just died, but it her thoughts were irrational, she never really tried to figure out the truth of a situation but sort of just believed what anyone told her, and she jumped to conclusions faster then she had time to process the information. 2/5 stars.

I just don't know where to start with this one; while I was so grateful to be able to listen to this, it ultimately was just not for me.

I think it could have used some help in the editing process - it just felt like it moved too quickly and too many things were happening for it to feel like an authentic story. I never felt like I knew the characters because the action moved so quickly, so I think there needed to be a bit of balance there.

And, for anyone else interested in reading, I do enjoy YA and YA fantasy - but the writing style of this just read very, very young.

I did enjoy the use of folklore and magic.

I won't be posting my thoughts on retail sites or my Bookstagram, because I know the author worked hard on these and there are many people with glowing reviews!

I received this audiobook from NetGalley to listen and review.

Anyone who listens to audiobooks knows that the right narrator can make or break the audiobook. Overall I think the narrator did a good job. She did try to have different voices for every character. Most the male characters sound the same with the exception of Cruz and Kajika so sometimes I had trouble keeping up with which male character was being read. Other than that the narrator did a great job bringing the characters to life.

I absolutely loved this book especially weaving in Native American folklore, tribal languages, historical information with Fae folklore. It worked so well and that with Cat a strong female MC made this book for me. I'm a huge fan of fantasy but when it's linked with history to make a historical fantasy fiction hybrid I adore it. This book had all the elements I was looking for in a new series including love, loss, discovery, bravery against all odds. A cast of characters you can't help love even the ones who are roguish. A must read for fans of Fantasy.

I am addicted. I loved listening to the novel. I enjoyed the storyline and the characters, well most.

There is Catori, who has just lost her mother. But her being an aspiring healthcare professional knows her mother couldn't have died of a heart attack but what else could it be?

The loss of her mother causes strange events to occur in Catori's life. While dealing with grief, she also deals with the secrets her mother unearthed, secrets of her ancestry, inexplicable revelations and discovery. As she is cast out into a world of fae and fae-hunters.

The world is not as it seems, as are people. Who can she truly turn to when everyone is keeping secrets from her or are very good at telling lies?

This novel gripped me from the beginning, it was such a fun read and concept. I love the way the author creates Catori to be a no-nonsense empowered, and inquisitive female. Not only that but each character is flawed and carries a wounding knowledge of their pass which in my opinion really gave each character depth.

All in all it was a fun, one day read. Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to listen to this novel.

I'm going to be honest here in the written review and then explain my star rating.

Truthfully, I DNF'd this book. I made it to Chapter 8. Please see my notes why.

I understood based on the description and summary that a death of a parent was involved (despite not hearing any trigger warning noted in the introduction of this audio version - Roseann A. Brown does a fantastic job listing triggers warnings not just in the physical copies of her books, but audio as well.)

As someone who has lost their parent, I figured it would be something that would be glossed over and then get into the plot. This was not the case, I kept finding myself having to fast forward and skip over parts. I wanted to get to the plot and substance of the book, but with the continual focus on the parents body, the morgue, the what felt like graphic description from it. I kept trying to make myself push past it and like mention fast forward, but it's so integrated into the first part of the chapters

Perhaps if it was a different point in my life, pre-death of a parent, I would've pushed past it.

Unrelated to the personal experience, the narrator's voice seemed so shaky compared to others I'm used to. It made it difficult to follow. As mentioned, it wasn't as if I gave the book a chapter. I was eight chapters in before I decided to give it a pass based on my own experiences.

Typically when I DNF books, I give a one star rating. However, my personal experience and triggers I do not want reflected on the author so I am giving two stars. The two stars are based on the quality and content of what I read onto this point, including my triggers. It did seems like I was getting some "Deal with the Elf King" vibes.

Please also note I finished reviewing because I didn't want my rating to be impacted even more on NetGalley. Thanks!

Actual rating: 3.75 🌟

I'm trying to read a lot of my ARCs recently. One I'm most stressed about and wants to get rid off my shelf is the audiobook of Rose Petal Graves from NetGalley. I don't usually listen to audiobooks, I feel like I tend to 'read' longer or slower compared to just my usual which is reading on my Kindle app. But then the cover and synopsis was so interesting that against my better judgement, I downloaded this one from NetGalley. And again I realized that audiobooks are really not my thing.

Since I can't seem to listen to the audiobook, I decided to just read it on Kindle format. I managed to finish this on one seating after I switch to reading on eBook format. So this review is for a Kindle eBook and not an audiobook. I also realized while reading this that fantasy is a genre that I can't easily get into.

The book has some sort of Glossary of terms at the start of the book which was not helpful for me. Lol. The book started with how Cat and his dad is trying to move on after the death of Cat's mother. Then came in the faes which I was not aware is a theme of this book. I have this weird opinion or feeling about faes, I feel like they are not believable/realistic(?) in a book. I thought this one is a story about immortals or vampires basing it on the synopsis but it is not and this one is New Adult not YA.

The world building is very shaky and a lot of plot holes and loopholes are in the story which confused me. Also in case you are trying to avoid this trope, there's also a love triangle (or is it square?) in this story.

I still gave it an okay rating because it was a quick read for me. Things got interesting on the latter part and I somehow got transported to Rowan. It is also an atmospheric read. I feel like I was in the town described on the book. It is still an enjoyable read. :)

TW/CW: death of a love one, grief, suicide

*Thanks to the publisher for making this audiobook available for review via Netgalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest thoughts and opinions of the book.*

I have mixed feelings about this book.

The beginning was so incredibly...boring. then it turned into something that I wasn't expecting at all and got quite exciting. But every time I thought I knew what was happening, there came a curveball. And not your regular story twist, but a new piece of information that contradicted something Cat had been told before.

I feel like half the problems could have been solved if they'd all just been up front with each other in the first place.

Then, the ending? It was SO forced to cause a love triangle drama. And let's not even start with the fairy/hunter rivalry mess because no one knows who's on what side or what the sides even are because no one wants to talk about what's happening.

I'll probably finish the series at some point, but right now I'm just mad at it for forcing the characters to make stupid decisions.

Rose Petal Graves by Olivia Wildenstein is a great start to a series. This book about a girl who loses her mother under mysterious circumstances, and returns home to her small town where her father is the undertaker to take care of the funeral and subsequent matters, was rife with native lore and mystery. The suspense of each chapter kept me listening long past my bedtime. This is not the type of book I would normally have picked up, but I'm glad that I did. I give it 3 stars.