One Cursed Rose

One cursed rose by Rebecca Zanetti is a compelling magical retelling of Beauty and the Beast with a unique modern spin, dark romance, and mafia aspects.

I love the dark romance that develops between Belle and the Beast in the traditional fairytale, and this is tastefully explored between the two main characters Alana and Thorn (I love how his name is a gentle throw to the rose that is prominent in the fairytale). For Thorn, it is instant attraction (with the reasoning not really explored, which I would have appreciated as I enjoyed learning about his character), but his appreciation of her gradually increases as he learns more about Alana. For Alana, there is understandable dislike at the start as he kidnaps her (a nod to the classic fairytale), but their relationship develops at a decent pace.

Alana is a good main female lead – she shares characteristics with Belle in that she is strong minded, loves books, is intellectual, and has her own mind. I liked that Thorn fell first, and unlike most dark romances, he never forces her into something that she doesn’t want or isn’t ready for. Yes, his love is dark and there is BDSM themes throughout their romance scenes, but it is consensual, and Alana’s tastes for this are gently explored, as their relationship develops. He is experienced (she is not), and he takes their exploration at a suitable pace to reflect this.
The curse on Thorn is an unusual twist – not the atypical magic theme like the original fairytale, but there is a unique system created by the power of crystals. Thorn’s power is broken, and he is subsequently slowly freezing to death. Like the book, Alana doesn’t know of this straight away, so their relationship develops because of her interest in him, not because of a need to rescue.

I enjoyed how the book kept to the fairytale classical themes but has it’s own unique spin. I enjoyed the mafia aspect of it, and the twist at the end. There are aspects that I would have liked to have seen developed further, but only because I grew attached to the characters and would have liked to learn more about them.

I’m interested to see what this author has to offer in the future and thank Rebecca and netgallery for this ARC. As someone who reads a lot of beauty and the beast retellings, I’d definitely recommend this one, if you like your romance darker, and the male romance interests, gruff, surly and obsessed. For me, the book is a 4.5, because I would have liked to see more development in certain areas, but I appreciate that adding more, may have slowed the pacing down too much.

Key tropes
Touch her and die
He falls first
Mafia aspect
BDSM/ consensual dark romance