I received Queen Of Roses as an ARC through NetGalley.

Other than knowing it was a loosely inspired retelling of King Arthur's legend, I went into this book blind, not even reading the synopsis tbh. But, Oh am I glad I did. Because who doesn't love a dark romance fantasy with FAE?

The world building, the magic, the lore, the extremely SLOW-BURN romance, the banter, I loved everything. Though, it was a little tooo slow for me. You know the author is a good one when she makes you love a character slowly then fall in hate quickly. (*cough*Vesper*cough*).

The characters have a fun promising journey ahead(with a lot more spice, I hope) and I cannot wait to dive into the next book already!

Some of my favorite quotes:

"He was the air I breathed. I could not live without him."

"He's proud, arrogant and utterly detestable."

"I burn for you, Morgan. You've set me aflame..." "Then let the flames consume us"

This is a mix of a dark fantasy romance centering Fae and a retelling of the Artuhrian legend. Two things I often don’t enjoy in books, but here it did work for me.

In the beginning we’re introduced to the world the story is set in. We learn a lot about the customs and politics that are present in the country and we see how the court works. It takes a while before we really get into the story, but that didn’t bother me. I liked learning about worldbuilding, about Morgan and her past.

Around the halfway point the story picks up pace and there’s a lot more action. It always feels like there is a plotline hidden behind everything that’s going on and we just scratch the surface when the book ends.

I’m excited to see where this story goes and what we’ll find out in the next book.

What a brilliant read!

You follow Morgan through the book who is a half fae and a complete gem of a character. I’ve already started the next book!
I definitely recommend reading!!

This twist on a King Arthur retelling was exceptionally captivating. I found myself loving and also being exasperated by the main character, Morgan, in her decisions throughout the book. I found the changes in the original tale to be refreshing and brought a new zest that I haven’t seen in many fantasy reads lately. If you’re a fan of the plot of the Plated Prisoner series then you’ll probably enjoy the storyline here as well. I can’t wait to start reading the next book in the line up! I do wish we could have gotten a bit more POVs through other characters especially in the final chapters. I will add as a note to the publisher as well that I found a handful of grammar mistakes and misedits as well. But overall I very much enjoyed this story.

This book has so much potential! I really enjoyed the storyline, but it felt like it took a very long time for the story to begin and I didn’t feel like I gained much in the way of depth of character in the first quarter of the book.. The prologue felt unnecessary and I just wish things moved more quickly in general. I often found myself skimming some of the areas that were more descriptive than they needed to be. I think the story is creative, the writing itself is good, and I enjoyed the premise so much. Hoping the next book finds a bit more of a groove! Thank you for the chance to read this one

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book free. This was SO much better than I expected! I did not have high expectations for a Robin Hood retelling. I was happily so wrong. The story follows Morgan- sister of King Arthur through an epic journey. This story had the perfect amount of tension, romance, and action. Boleyn does a fantastic job of incorporating a Fae-verse into the Camelot world. She does a beautiful job of giving the reader just enough details to keep them on their feet, reeling for more, without losing interest or being overwhelmed. The ending was 🤌🏻 just enough of a cliff hanger but not enough to make you upset as the reader. I ran to request the second book!

Arthurian mythos x bodyguard romance trope = OMG YES PLEASE

Princess Morgan Pendragon is 20, and the older half-sister of King Arthur, ruler of the Rose Court of Camelot and the kingdom of Pendrath. Her late father feared that Morgan inherited fae blood from her mother, so he named Arthur heir to the throne, and dedicated Morgan to serve as an acolyte to the goddesses beginning on her 21st birthday. Morgan chafes at the idea of being shut away in a temple to perform religious rites, and she fears her brother as she observes his increasingly cruel machinations to grow his power.

Kairos Draven is a mercenary soldier who arrives in Pendrath to join Arthur’s Royal Guards. Morgan soon learns, however, that Kairos’ true mission is to protect her on a dangerous quest. Arthur commands Morgan to locate and extract the mystical sword of Excalibur from the legendary, abandoned fae kingdom of Valtain. Morgan is sickened by the idea of Arthur obtaining a weapon of untold magical power, but she learns that she has no choice but to comply when she is threatened with the lives of her younger brother, friends, and innocent Pendrath citizens should she disobey his wishes.

This is the first book of a medieval fantasy romance series that remixes a number of different tales from the Arthurian literary tradition. Building on this foundation, the author has created her own mythological fantasy realm and original characters. To this point, I disagree with those reviewers who have criticized the author for not being faithful (or faithful enough) to canon in the narrative. This is because there isn’t any such canon in the first place. The Matter of Britain, in which King Arthur figures, is a body of literature created over the 12th-16th centuries. The tales changed throughout that time period, and many of the characters (e.g. Uther Pendragon, Lancelot, Galahad, Merlin) and stories (Excalibur, Lady of the Lake) that appear in this novel were developed in Europe centuries after Arthur first appeared in British text. Arthurian legend continues to be reimagined today, as is the case with this novel.

And I loved it. Absolutely loved it from beginning to end.

Morgan has been a victim of physical, verbal, emotional, and psychological abuse throughout her entire life. She has been conditioned to question all of her thoughts and emotions. What other reviewers have perceived as being weaknesses in her character, I saw as self-doubt, disassociation, and emotional capitulation resulting from years of persistent victimization by her family of origin. One of the main themes of the novel is the development of Morgan’s emotional intelligence and self-awareness.

I love Kairos. We are not supposed to know everything – or really anything of importance – about him as far as his backstory in this novel. For the romance tropes to work over the course of a series, we need to learn who he is as slowly as Morgan does. The fact that this author makes us want to know him, thereby feeling frustration that we don't, is a testament to her writing ability. She is able to intrigue us by seeing Kairos only as Morgan herself sees him. Morgan wants more. So do we!

This is not really a criticism as much as it is curiosity to know why this book is targeted as an adult romance and not as a YA. All of the characters except Kairos read as older teenagers to me. I did not think that the sexual content was spicy enough to warrant "spicy romance" or "only one bed" descriptors. If the sexual content in only a couple of scenes was toned down, this would fall squarely in the YA category, and I think I would have enjoyed it even more going into it with that expectation. The coming-of-age storylines (Morgan, Lancelet, Galahad, Kaye, and even Arthur) are not what a reader of adult fantasy or spicy romance is typically looking for. I think that might be the primary reason that some of the reviews have been more lukewarm than I believe this novel deserves. I am downloading book #2 as we speak!

Romance tropes: bodyguard romance, slow burn, enemies to lovers, hurt/comfort

TW/CW: Thank you to the author for your thoughtful consideration to provide this for the reader. The page number is located in the ToC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Starwater Press for the opportunity to read and review this novel. All opinions are my own.

This book has everything that I love; fae, a strong heroine, and a morally-grey love interest.

I loved the in-depth world building during the first part of the book. It honestly felt like I was watching a movie in front of me.

I loved the King Arthur retelling aspect and the political turmoil that took place.

The slow burn romance had me screaming at them to JUST KISS ALREADY. The tension between the two of them was unbearable.

It felt like I was on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading this. It left me hanging on the most amazing cliffhanger that drove me wild.

I would like to begin by expressing my gratitude to Starwater Press, Briar Boleyn, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Queen of Roses is a promising start to an Arthurian-based fantasy tale with a modern twist, enriched by the inclusion of the ever-popular fae element that captivates readers today. The story introduces us to Morgan, the main character, who, though interesting, left me wanting a bit more spunk in her personality. While she showed enthusiasm for fighting and acquiring combat skills, I found her too submissive and meek in front of her brother's advice. At times, I wished she had stood up for herself.

Promoted as a dark fantasy fae series, the book starts as a slow burn, focusing heavily on world-building, which took some time to immerse myself into. However, it eventually lays the groundwork for what I hope will evolve into a deeper and more engaging plot in future installments. At about 70% the book really starts picking up, and I'm excited to see where this story goes further.

Overall I rate this 3.5 stars, and am hoping in further books the spice picks up.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the ARC.

I didnt think I would be enjoying this as much as I did. The writing style of this was really great, very whimsical and beautiful. You could really tell the author is one to keep an eye out for details.

One thing I really loved in this book was the slowburn enemies to lovers. A lot of the times when books are marketed as enemies to lovers its barely a dislike but this book really plays in hate to lovers / enemies to lovers on the scale.

Morgan is a really beautiful fmc and even though quite a few people seem to dislike her I thought she was really well written. Her insecurities werent pushed onto the reader but also werent forgotten about two pages in. Draven was kept so very mysterious until the end which I really enjoyed, too.

My only criticism on this book is going to be the rather hectic end. I wouldve liked if the book had around 50 pages more to explain some situations more in depth. It still added to the charme of the book and made me wanna continue the second part.

Loosely based on the stories of Camelot, Morgan is a half-fae princess, hiding the fae part of herself. Her evil king brother, sends her off on a mission to find the sword in the stone. Whether she comes back alive, he doesn’t seem to care.

This book had a lot of potential, but it wasn’t all there for me. The romance felt forced, some parts were confusing, and I wanted more magic. Maybe I’ll pick up the next one, I’m not sure yet.

Okay this book blew me away. I'm not I newbie as a fantasy romance reader, and so after a while the stories can start to get, well, repetitive. This book however was absolutely AMAZING. It was a breath of fresh air, and exactly what I needed. The characters, the plot, the worldbuilding... everything was lush, well-written and gripping.

Cannot wait to get into the next book.

4.5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

I read both this book and the second in the series and I enjoyed the second quite a bit more than the first.

Having read both, I’m still not quite sure what is going on with the King Arthur angle. Obviously the characters share names—there is an Arthur, a Lancelot, a Galahad, a Merlin, etc—and there are some shared characteristics with the grail and Excalibur. But there are so many differences that the references just end up creating moments of cognitive dissonance. It serves to signal that an important character is about to be introduced which feels a little lazy. Ultimately I think the series would be better severing the more overt ties to King Arthur and just sticking with the general inspiration of some of the legends.

Regarding the first book, honestly most of it could have been cut and the whole thing turned into a 0.5 backstory novel for the second book. That’s not to say it’s unenjoyable; I liked Morgan as a character, and the backstory of Camelot. But ultimately if you just told me, “oh yeah one of Morgan’s brothers is super evil and the other is sweet, she is really motivated to get back to her homeland to save her youngest brother,” that’s…. probably all I really needed for motivational backstory.

The first book does drag a bit with the horrors of Arthur and the journey to Excalibur. I’m not saying you don’t learn about Morgan’s backstory and character, or that Vesper wasn’t an interesting addition to explain why she is so distrustful. There’s also the development of Morgan and Draven’s relationship that you see throughout that. But a lot of it felt unnecessary, especially when I felt like book 2 gave so much more information, moved the plot along so much more, did a lot more work in developing the relationship.

The characters
The trauma
The story
The TWISTS

Can we give Morgan a break please, she’s been though so much.

King Arthur’s retelling, it’s about his sister Morgan who is half fae, (I don’t know much about King Arthur) and he sends her on a quest to retrieve an item for him that he needs to win a war.

Morgan has been through A LOT, and still pushes through and does the best she can with what she has. Watching her be more herself as the book went on was so nice.

Draven, I feel like I don’t know much about him personally yet, just that he was set to protect Morgan while retrieving the item. He is essentially though a very grumpy man, who seems to have a way with cats. Do I love him though? Yes.

The world building is incredible, everything was described so beautifully and perfectly it was easy to imagine how everything was looking. I am so excited to read the Court of Claws and continue this story.
I am HOOKED. I need more, I never want it to end.

Definitely a favourite read of 2023.

Tropes:
Enemies to lovers
Who did this to you
Found family

First off, thank you NetGalley and Starwater Press for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

Queen of Roses is a dark fantasy romance with a loosely inspired King Arthur retelling with a Fae twist! The story has an EXTREMELY slow burn romance with a top notch enemies to lovers trope and is filled with magic, mythical creatures, tension, banter, forced proximity, sibling love, friendships, self discovery, love, betrayal, adventure, action and unexpected twists! While I enjoyed the world building, character development and plot I could have used a little more fire and spice. Hopefully, that will be the case in the next book in the series😉! OKAY, OH MY GOSH, what a cliffhanger ending!! Overall, I was completely immersed from start to finish and I am super excited to start reading the second book!! 🥀🥀🥀🥀

✨Because of the nature of this being a dark and twisted fantasy story please check the trigger warnings before reading the book.✨

français :

J'ai reçu un arc via net Gallery en échange d'une honnête critique.
3 / 5 sympas mais sans plus
si je devais décrire cette histoire en une phrase ce serait :
prévisible mais lisible
À lire si :
- vous aimez réécriture arthurienne
vous aimez l'aspect politique dans les livres fantaisie

Points forts :
-le monde
la politique

points faibles :
les personnages
la violence parfois inutile ( après mon niveau de tolérance vis à vis de la violence est extrêmement bas )

queen of Rose est une réécriture des légendes arthurienne, ce que j'adore. Malheureusement je n'ai pas réussi à m'attacher aux personnages.
J'ai trouvé morgane bien trop naïve ce qui je trouve ne va pas trop avec son passé et avec le ton de l'histoire.
Kairos est basique
vesper aurait pu remonter le niveau des personnages, il aurait mérité plus de profondeur et aurait pu être utilisé d'une autre manière,
petit spoiler





comme un vrai personnage au lieu d'un moyen de rajouter du choc
( qui au final n'a pas vraiment choqué puisqu'on s'y attendait)







fin petit spoiler

j'ai aussi parfois trouvé les dialogues trop forcés, surtout ceux de vesper.
Je pense qu'il n'y avait pas assez de passage parlant des traumas de morgane, elle vit de nombreux événements traumatisants au cours du livre et elle s'en remet tout de suite surtout dans la deuxième partie, dans la première le sujet avait commencé à être abordé.

Sinon la construction du monde est très intéressante, nous avons envie d’en savoir plus

D'un point technique je pense qu'il aurait fallu utiliser le chapitre I en prologue, le prologue actuel n'est pas mémorable contrairement au chapitre I.


english :

I received a bow via net Gallery in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 / 5 nice but nothing more
If I had to describe this story in one sentence it would be:
predictable but readable
Read it if:
- You like Arthurian rewriting
- You like the political aspect in fantasy books

Strengths:
-world
-Politics

Weaknesses:
-Characters
-Violence that is sometimes unnecessary ( but I have a really low level of tolerance toward violence )

Queen of Rose is a rewrite of Arthurian legends, which I love. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get attached to the characters.
I found morgane much too naïve which I find does not go too much with her past and with the tone of the story.
Kairos is basic
Vesper could have gone up the level of the characters, he would have deserved more depth and could have been used in another way,

little spoiler




as a real character instead of a way to add shock
( wich in the end did not really work since we expected it)








end of little spoiler


I also sometimes found the dialogues too forced, especially those of Vesper.
I think there was not enough passage talking about Morgane's traumas, she experiences many traumatic events during the book and she recovers immediately especially in the second part, in the first part the subject had begun to be addressed.

Otherwise the construction of the world is very interesting, we want to know more

From a technical point I think we should have used chapter I in prologue, the current prologue is not memorable unlike chapter I. (less)

This was such an amazing read and I'm already eager to start the next one!

I loved that this was a retelling of the story of Camelot and that we follow Morgan who is half fae! I really liked her character and loved watching her character grow throughout this book!

There were soooo many of my favourite tropes in this one and I honestly had so much fun reading this one!

I definitely recommend picking this one up!

As a retelling- I loved this book, a romance, not so much. I went into this book and immediately loved it. I haven't read a king Arthur retelling before, and this one had such an amazing plot line and so many twists and turns. I loved how the story was so original yet an amazing retelling. However, the romance, which I thought would be a large part of this, was lacking. The initial chemistry the two had was amazing and it was easy to tell they were perfect for one another. However, as the story went on, the chemistry began failing-and for specific reasons. Now, this isn't to say that the lack of romance made this a bad book. All I'm trying to say is that it was my understanding that there would be more romance-and the end outcome was disappointing. Overall, the plot of this book was just amazing, the friendships and connections that were so emotional to read.

Morgan Pendragon is the elder sister of King Arthur, prevented from taking the crown by her father when he feared she was too Fae. Despite this, she is not vengeful over her loss of her right to rule but she worries for her younger brother Kaye as he grows up under the cruel rule of Arthur who is growing increasingly violent. Her brother the King suddenly reveals she is going on a quest to find something, and while she experiences hardship romance also blooms.

This was my first retelling of Camelot that I've read, and I loved it! It's fantasy forward with romance that feels very 'will they, won't they'. All the (good) characters were very loveable from Morgan to her brother Kaye to her friend Lancelet and the bad characters were written very well. This was a bit of a classic YA/NA fantasy and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys the genre.

There are quite a few dark themes so I recommend reading the trigger warnings - however it doesn't get too graphic.
I read the ARC of this, however it has already been published, with the second book out soon. Thank you to Netgalley and Starwater Press for this copy in exchange for an honest review 💕

There was so much potential for this to be a 5 star read and I'm so upset that that's not the case! The heavy Camelot/King Arthur/Merlin influence was a lot of fun to read and definitely something I haven't really seen before - especially with a fae spin on it. That definitely gives this book a 'From Blood and Ash' feel to it, as this book is set in a dark/twisted Camelot

Unfortunately I found that the story needed more depth. The characters needed more development and there was so much happening with the plot, especially for the religious aspects, that it was hard to remember and keep up with it.

I think this story needs to avoid the cliches and take more inspiration from the rich myth it's inspired from, and if it could have been either been refined or given more depth then I really feel like this could have been a winner!