I enjoyed the storytelling and the politics!

I felt for Thea as she has to navigate losing her memories and learning about the world and the mystery surrounding her situation. The relationship she has with Iris is precious but I didn't really feel invested in her relationship with Clay, it didn't seem like a healthy one and I wished he was more kinder to her but he came off very abrasive with no reason.

WOW!
My first title from this author and now I cant wait to dive into the rest of the books!
This was an such an easy read! The plot, banter and the tension between Thea and Clay was so good!
Thank you so much NetGalley for this ARC

Theodora shows up at Athenia lost, confused and with uncontrollable powers. She is finally subdued by Clay, the Crown Prince and Kent who is a warrior and mermaid. She is told that the symbols on her breastbone belong to a long lost ancient family, the House of Hyrax, God of the Dead. They are all descendants of Gods and therefore have their own special powers. As Thea begins to learn about herself and her powers, she will see how life at court works and how she may not like it. All the power struggle, the politics, the lies and the plotting will make Thea reconsider her position there. After several attempts on her life and her developing feelings for Prince Clay, Thea will have to figure out how to control her powers and find out who wants her dead.

The Rose In The Shadows is a great fantasy story with strong characters, magnificent world building and a love story that I can't wait to read more about!

Thank you Netgalley and Victory Editing!

“This court will challenge you, but you can never let them see you cry. Strength is sometimes noticed, but weakness is never forgotten.”

This is the first book I’ve read by Arcadia Raine and I can assure you it won’t be the last, because holy shiet. This world building? Amazing. The characters? Lovely.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly and devoured it within DAYS. I’m such a sucker for the enemies to lovers trope, and bonus points when an author sprinkles in a lil one bed trope. 🤭

Overall, I enjoyed this so much and I’m counting down the days until I can get my hands on book two.

This is a very intricate and detail oriented book. It's written very well and is very plot driven. The court politics are VERY heavy which is a bit difficult for me to get through. However; the relationships and action around the politics were interesting enough to keep me entertained. My only major critique is that the characters themselves felt flat the stories and relationships were not but the personalities themselves were lacking to me. Overall I liked it, I didn't love it but it was a baseline good fantasy book.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ARC Review ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

This romantasy by Arcadia Rayne checks all of the boxes of a great romantasy. The story begins with an attack on the kingdom, and then we’re thrown into the POV of our main character, Thea. Thea has no memories of her past, but she contains the mark of Hyrax, god of the Underworld. She is the last known descendant of Hyrax. The story continues from there and develops beautifully as we watch Thea grow and learn more about who she is and who she wants to be. This story has so many of our favorite romantasy tropes. One bed, “who did this to you?”, found family, untold power, forbidden love, slow burn romance. All of the great tropes we love to kick our feet over. This story was a 5 star read for me and I can’t wait to read the next installment.

This story does contain some SA, so be mindful of your triggers when diving into it.

Thank you to Arcadia Rayne, Victory Editing, and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A fun and twisted story for sure. With no memory, but proof of her former life, we go through with the main character as she tries to find her way without those memories. Not knowing who to trust or what information is true, each decision weighs heavily.

The Rose in the Shadows was one of those books that pleasantly surprised me on many levels. When I first started reading it I felt somewhat sceptical... but after a couple of chapters I found myself hooked!.

The story had many layers of magic, politics and character growth which really does capture your attention entirely. I enjoyed this read!

*Thank you to NetGalley and the Publishers for providing me with an ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

"I couldn’t put this book down! The story was gripping, the characters felt real, and every chapter pulled me deeper. Totally worth the read!"

I would like to start by saying thank you for the arc! Any thoughts and feelings are just my honest opinions and I share them in hopes they're helpful!

This book had a plot that kicks into gear straight away so it's great for anyone who needs their attention grasped quickly. I do appreciate that the author was trying to world build and develop the plot. However I find the characters fell short for me, they weren't all that interesting and I found our main character Thea didn't inspire much emotion. I felt pity for her but not anything else.

The side characters (like Iris) were fun and I would've actually like to follow Iris because I found her to be quite interesting. Camilla is set up to be the generic mean girl, which I'm not a fan of. I was low key rooting for her because yeah I'd probably dislike Thea in real life too lol.

Clay was by far the worst part. He was so awful and I don't understand why Thea would ever fall for him except for him being the lesser of other evils. He flip flopped between being nice and understanding to being a meany who pulled rank for no reason. Like yes you're a prince, we know. You don't have to mention it every five minutes or whenever Thea says something you don't want to hear. They 'relationship' felt borderline abusive as he grabbed her and shouted at her. It seemed as though he liked having authority over her and controlling what she can say even when she wasn't saying anything bad or when others weren't around. Personally I didn't enjoy him as a MMC and I think that ruined the reading experience for me.

The memory loss trope is a fun one and I liked Thea trying to piece together who she is however the overall court and the king felt kind of bland. The king was a generic villain who was just you know...evil. The court and the council didn't feel fleshed out enough for me to actuvly care what was happening. I honestly just wanted Thea to jump ship and run off...maybe with Deminti lol. What can I say I prefer guards over a prince!

The Rose in the Shadows was a great twist of the usual romantasy, it has all the popular tropes but somehow managed to make it feel fresh and new.

The romance in this book had me hooked and the dynamics between every character all felt very deep and thought out

10/10

I loved the concept of this book and its unique magic system, however I just struggled to immerse myself in the story. I felt throughout the book there wasn’t really a main goal - was Thea wanting to be a council member? Or was she tracking down her memories? I always felt the romance went from 0 to 100, without much tension which there was supposed to be. Towards the end I did start to get into it more so I most likely will continue the series.

Forbidden Romance. Slow Burn. Dragon Shifters. Gods and Witches. Found Family. Yes Please.

Memories lost and full of unknown power, Theodora Moore tries to find answers from the mark on her chest, those within the Kingdom and her dreams, all while trying to battle with her feelings towards Prince Clayton Vail.

I thoroughly enjoyed getting lost in the world building and connecting with the characters in Arcadia Rayne's debut novel. The world building was done perfectly where I wasn't overwhelmed in description and information, where I could picture everything so clearly.

The prologue started off action packed, with questions I was dying to find the answers too. If you are looking for a fast-paced romantasy then this is definitely one to pick up. Perfect for first time romantasy readers.
The plot overall kept me turning pages needing answers and that final chapter done the job in wanting me to pick up book 2 ASAP. Talk about a cliffhanger. The intricacies of this world and power systems was not overwhelming for a fantasy but done to a point where you won't get lost or confused.

The slow burn, the banter... was everything I need from a romantasy. Then a the forbidden aspect. I was giggling and kicking my feet. I can't wait to see more of Clay and Thea in book 2.
I will say, I wish we had more training scenes of these two!

Please make sure you check the content warnings before reading.
Thank you Victory Editing Netgalley Co-op and Arcadia Rayne for the eARC of this book for an honest review.

This is such a wonderful debut novel. From the very beginning, we are thrown right into the story. Every chapter continued to be fast paced and action packed. And I loveddddd the magic system. As a long time fan of Percy Jackson, I am a sucker for stories involving gods and allllll the drama that comes with them.

Our FMC has wonderful character development throughout the book and by the end, I couldn’t help but truly admire her strength and resilience.

“But I did it then. I bowed to my people. Because who is it that truly rules a land, if not the people within it?”

This is a very slow burn romance. And a forbidden one at that. I am rooting so hard for Thea and Clay.

“I wanted so much, but above all, I wanted him.”

And let’s not forget to mention that ending?! I genuinely did not see it coming. I love when a book can surprise me. I just know the next book is going to be insane in the best way.

Thank you so much to Netgalley for this ARC!

I loved this book, I was easily sucked into the plot and wasn’t expecting the ending at all! Very grateful I have received an arc for book this book and the second one because after that ending I RAN to book number two! Can’t wait to see where this series goes. It’s really unique in the world building with nods towards Greek mythology but a interesting spin on it… would highly recommend

After looking at the other reviews, I’m questioning if we read the same book. The writing felt very juvenile at times, the plot felt predictable to me, & many of the characters felt as though they should be young teens—not adults. I kept waiting for this book to stand out, to shock me, to bring some kind of element to the table to keep me engaged. It fell very short. I’m a huge fantasy & romantasy reader. I’m constantly looking for new books that will take me on adventure I don’t want to put down. This book didn’t have it.

Immediate 5 star read! It has ALL the tropes you desire and I couldn’t get enough!
DRAGON SHIFTERS, Lost heir, elemental power, God descendants, fierce enemies to lovers, forbidden romance, dream walker, untouched power, unknown powers, found family… just to name a few!
You wake up with Thea and follow her on this journey of rediscovery, with lost memories and a sassy, fierce attitude. The slow burn, forbidden romance is to DIE for with a protective MMC with glittering golden eyes, with a tendency to breathe fire and gain some scales when he’s angered *smirk*
The world building is amazing with a strong found family built up throughout the story and I couldn’t recommend it enough!

The Rose in the Shadows is a must-read for anyone who loves a fast-paced, romantasy! TRINS is the first book of the series and by the time I reached the last page, I wasn't sure who wanted answers more: Thea or ME!!!! I think by now we are all a little bit weary of the "trials" trope so, I loved how the author wove the trope into the plot without making book one consist of only trials. In fact, I was even asking myself when I finished reading, "wait, what about the trials??". I am excited to see how the characters and plot progress in book 2 but I must confess that I am not entirely sold on Clayton as Thea's HEA and am secretly hoping another MMC makes an appearance in the next book.

Thank you so much to Arcadia Raye & NetGalley for the Arc Opportunity

"The Rose in the Shadows" is a truly remarkable book.  We initially know little about the main female character, but we follow her journey as she explores friendship, love, and politics, gradually discovering her identity and place in this new world.

I found the magic system captivating; each house in the kingdom is associated with a god, granting them unique powers.

The romantic tension between the main female character and the male character was intensely compelling.

I eagerly anticipate the next book and am curious to see how the story unfolds.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher of *The Rose in the Shadows* for the wonderful opportunity to review this ARC.

This book! THIS! BOOK! I slipped right into this world and never wanted out!

After waking up in an infirmary in the Athenian castle, with no memory of who she is or how she got there, Theodora is thrust into a world of court politics and manoeuvring. She bears The Mark of Hyrax, labelling her as the last descendant of the House of Hyrax. Which makes her valuable and a target. Theodora needs to uncover the secrets of her past, all while training to wield her newfound powers, avoiding "The Dragon" King of Athenia, who wants to use her for political gain, trying her best not to fall for the annoyingly handsome Prince Clayton that seems to want nothing to do with her, yet is always there when she needs him, oh, and figuring out who the heck keeps trying to kill her!

This book needs to be on everyone’s radar! The world was full and developed, giving you twists you don't see coming. The characters were impeccable, found family at its finest. I was infatuated with Theodora and Clayton's slow burn, forbidden romance, pinning... ughhh!!! It was delicious! The world, the magic, everything! Did I mention the cliffhanger? I want more; I need more; please give me more!