"Fate will tell. Fate tells all."

Queen of Roses - Briar Boleyn
Pub date: Apr 15, 2023
★★★★☆

(Thank you to Netgalley for the free copy in exhange for an honest review!)

Morgan Pendragon never felt belong, neither in her family or in the kingdom hierarchy, even when she titled as a princess only because she's a part-fae. She was stripped from the sucessor line and basically got banished by forced to be presented to the temple. When she tought it was the end of her little freedom, Morgan was given task to fetch some mythical powerful weapon. Alongside her, a mysterious yet dangerous guard known as Kairos Davern was sent to escort her on the mission.

I sure have many things to say about this book. First of all, i would categorized this one in the middle to high stakes side if fantasy genre considering how complex the world bulding is and how it's heavy with political intrigue. Plot wise there's a lot of layers in the story and they never failed to get me surprised as the story went through. I love the world building, the back story of Morgan and how much she suffers, the dynamic between her and Kairos (bodyguard x princess dynamic in all we trust), and my personal favorite part of course the whole adventure to Valtain to fetch the sword. There's grim, humor, spark and spice in well-balanced amount resulting a pleasant and enjoyable journey. Even until the end, Queen of Roses still left us reader with unanswered question and untold tale, succesfully keeping me excited to continue the story. Gotta grab the sequel fast!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/ 🌶️ 🌶️

A dark, retelling of King Arthur and Camelot, but with faes? Yes, please! You’ve never read they quest for Excalibur like this before! It was familiar, but new and exciting.

Morgan is on a quest for her father, King Arthur, and her half-brothers. She starts out a bit naïve, but her character development throughout the book is amazing and I can’t wait how she continues to grow throughout the series.

One things I wasn’t prepared for, but am here for, is how much I disliked the king! Walking in assuming he would be the loveable King Arthur like always, was my bad though. It’s a retelling, I should have known better. Kaye is super sweet and I hope to see him grow throughout the series as well.

We also meet Draven and Vesper. You can feel the tension between Draven and Morgan during their interactions. I am very curious to see what will grow between these two!! But Vesper seems to get in the middle of them. What Vesper ends up being is… wow!

The twists and turns that happen in this book kept me intrigued, on the edge of my seat, and up way to late (but very much worth it). Briar gives us a retelling that I am here for! I will say this… I am glad I started reading it when the whole series is already out. The cliffhanger on this book, immediately had me starting Book 2.

As always review trigger warnings before reading.

Tropes:
🌹 Slow-burn romance
🌹 Enemies to lovers
🌹 Morally gray MMC
🌹 World Building
🌹 Epic Quest
🌹 Found family
🌹 "Who did this to you?" With a hint of Touch her and ☠️

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Themes/Genre: Retelling, Arthurian Fantasy, Dark Camelot, Forced Proximity, fae, fairytale, Dark Fantasy, Forbidden Love
Author: Briar Boeyn
Book Publication date: April 15, 2023
Page Count: 361
Book Cover first thoughts: I do love the cover, it drew me in

Book #1 of 4 Series

Review / Summary:
This started out slow, a lot of world building. I honestly stopped reading and picked up something else because I got bored but I came back because I really want to read the other books in this series. I know world building takes time and is common in some series fantasy books.

However, the story does pick up halfway through and I did start to enjoy it. I am excited to get to the next set in the series. I already have it downloaded on my Kindle :)

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Thank you to NetGalley and Starwater Press for the ARC (Advance Reader Copy) of #QueenofRoses
All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date was April 15, 2023. This review is being shared on NetGalley and Goodreads
#BloodofaFaeSeries #NetGalley

This Arthurian retelling with a fae twist was an unexpectedly good read! The book offers fresh takes on classic characters, like an evil King Arthur and female versions of Lancelot and Merlin. I appreciated the LGBTQ+ representation through Lancelet and Galahad, and the pronunciation guide was a thoughtful addition. The female lead is strong and relatable, dealing with insecurities authentically and gradually going through her own arc on a begrudging hero, while the male lead, Kairos Draven, exudes protective "touch her and die" vibes that kept me hooked. The dialogue, particularly between Morgan and Draven, was sharp, and the world-building was smooth and engaging. If you enjoyed "From Blood and Ash," you'll likely love this book for its similar tropes and atmosphere. Highly recommended for fans of Arthurian legend, fae, and slow-burn romance.

To be honest, this book took me a while to get into, but that ending, that ending kept me wanting more talk about a twist! If you’re a fan of Arthurian retellings, adventures, morally gray characters and fae this is the story for you. In the Queen of Roses, we follow Morgan Pendragon who is half fae/half human who has been tasked with retrieving Excalibur for her brother King Arthur. She is accompanied on this journey by Kairos Draven who is sarcastic, mysterious, and on a mission of his own devices. Throughout the book we have a slooooow burn and development and it makes me that much more invested and thankful that the next book of the series is already available!

This isn’t your run of the mill King Arthur and Camelot retailing. You have fae and spice and I promise you it is worth the read! Thank you, Net Galley and Briar, for the ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.

**Thank you so much, NetGalley, for the ARC**

It took me a moment to really get into this novel, but I am glad I stuck it out!

Our main character, Morgan, is a half-fae Princess that belongs to a kingdom with an extremely stern ruler. These lines of rulers have determined her fate, and she is ready to break free from those weighty chains and craft her own destiny.

This whole novel is about finding oneself, defying expectations, and growing to trust in one’s own intuitions and strength.

There are enough twist, turns, and burning questions to keep you entertained and wanting to read more!

Slow to start. World building was handled really well. Love the dynamic between the main characters. Definitely reading the next in the series. This was a decent book kick off a series. Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author for this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was definitely something. An easy read and lots of world building. I felt like Morgan had so many trials thrown at her in this book and honestly kept me on my toes. I really wanted to slay all the people who did Morgan so wrong and can’t wait to see her comeback!

Thank you for this Arc, I really loved this book. It took me a while to get to it because I was busy and it was a little bit slow at the first but once you get into it, YOU GET INTO IT. I loved it and look forward to the rest of the series

Thank you so much to Netgalley, the author and publishing team for allowing me to read this arc!

While this book was slow in the beginning, it really picked up once they went on their journey. I really liked the dynamic between Morgan and Draven and loved seeing their relationship grow throughout the book. Morgan's backstory was so tragic, but seeing how she reacted to it was very realistic. Definitely read trigger warnings!!!!

All in all I enjoyed this book and plan on reading the rest of the series. I definitely want to see how Morgan and Draven's relationship evolves in the rest of the series!

Amazing! Love love love! Genuinely couldn’t put this book down it was a book that just had me hooked! From the story to the characters it was everything i needed in a book! Definitely worth the read!

Thank you net galley for the arc. I got into a major fantasy slump when I got this arc but finally got around to it. I did enjoy the story I just thought it could have been written a little bit better. I also wasnt in the biggest fantasy mood which could have swayed my opinion, but if you like the plot definitely give it a try, I will definitely be reading the next book to continue the story. But I love fantasy but definitely check the trigger warnings.

This book is pleasantly fun and absolutely enthralling. I read it all in one sitting and could not put it down.

TW: Domestic abuse, stalking, physical and mental abuse

I have to call the fmc Morrighan in my head to make her name less stupid for a fantasy book. She also is not very bright and is full of self-pity. That is the main reason I have given this three stars, the other reason is the amount of filler. You could skip entire chapters and be no worse for wear. Absolutely every scene has so much inner-dialogue and rerunning through of the same things we already know. I’m also unsure how this is marketed as steam when there was only one scene and it wasn’t much.

What a great fast paced fantasy! I didn't realize this was a Camelot retelling, which was a surprise but I thought it was done so well! The world building was easy to follow and the book was overall fast paced and kept my attention the entire time. It was also the perfect amount of spice! I would definitely recommend this to a fantasy loving friend!

Love Love Love Love. Cant say enough good things about this book. Highly recommend especially if you like dark romance and dark fantasy.

What a great read the pacing was great and has me itching for more. As a die hard merlin watcher in my youth this was such a fun take on a king Arthur retelling. And I love a slow burn
This was a great read

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book!*

There were a lot of things that I liked about this book:
- changing the gender of people from the Arthurian legends
- making the story queer/feminist to a certain extent

But sadly the majority of the book did not appeal to me:
- the world building was thrown in and nothing really made sense
- the pacing was off, the beginning was super slow, the ending especially was terribly rushed
- the main character was a super annoying Mary Sue and none of her story was surprising
- the 'romance' had no appeal at all
- the plot is pretty predictable and that was especially annoying

I will not read a sequel, I really struggled skim reading this one... Sorry.

Can’t wait to finish the series! Hit all my favorite tropes while still feeling fresh. I felt is was well written and well paced.

3 ⭐️

I struggled getting through this, I mean it was beautifully written but I don't think fantasy is for me!