Amber Mitchell's debut, Garden of Thorns, takes originality to a new level! In this marvelous epic fantasy novel, readers will be taken in by fearless characters and their action-packed adventure. She has crafted a well-balanced story that gives attention to delightful world-building and a memorable cast of characters.

The story begins on a high note that lasts until the final word. Rose has lived a majority of her life in captivity under the Gardener. When she acts on a chance for escape she finds herself within the ranks of a rebel army. Its leader, Rayce, wants to help her free the other Flowers left behind in the Garden, but only if Rose can prove herself trustworthy. Rose has found it hard to put complete trust in men, but she must learn to believe in the rebel leader if she wants to keep her promise to the Flowers. Her plight instantly merits attention from readers because she's following a path that not only seems impossible, but could put her in the middle of war.

If you loved Mary E. Pearson's Remnant Chronicles, you'll love Garden of Thorns. The stories are unrelated, but Rose reminds me so much of its heroine Lia. Their secret pasts and desire to protect those with little power of their own make both stories worth reading. Garden of Thorns, however, is more immediate in giving readers what they want. It doesn't take long for the action to roll in and it comes in waves throughout the story that magnify the pacing of the plot.

Another reason readers shouldn't miss out on this story is because it's pure entertainment. From the flames of attraction between Rayce and Rose and the blossoming friendships, there's no shortage of quips and memorable moments. The story ends too soon, but I hope it will pick up in another installment. There's so much more left to learn about Rose's world and the one she left behind. I'll be waiting (im)patiently for another story from Amber Mitchell in the meantime!
*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review*

Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
Thanks to Entangled Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Garden of Thorns by Amber Mitchell! The story begins by showing the setting of captured girls and young women kept in cages. Some women are forced to entertain, they are called flowers, while their cage mates, called the wilted, take the punishment when the flowers do something wrong. The captured young girls are being trained to become flowers or wilted when they are teenagers and the cycle continues with young girls being kidnapped, trained and eventually taking the places of the flowers and wilted that are no longer serving their entertainment purposes and are expired or killed. The Gardener runs the Garden with a strict hand and his helper, Shears, enjoys the violence and gladly harms the entertainers. Entertaining is forbidden by the Emperor of Imperial City, but he has seemed to have recently changed his mind. After Rose's friend Fern is killed, Rose decides to plan a distraction during entertaining the emperor so she can escape and eventually free all of the other girls. Rose uses a member of the audience as a hostage and runs. Little does she know that her hostage is the leader of the rebellion against the Emperor, Rayce. Rose is harboring a secret and she's terrified to trust any man. She also has a lot to learn about the rebellion and the histories of the people involved. The intrigue and secrecy kept me interested and I liked the unique story line. I grew to care about several of the characters and found myself rooting for them when they were up against danger. I figured out some of the back story on my own, but not all and I appreciated the unpredictability-4 stars!

Rose is a flower in the garden-she's a dancer. And how the Garden works is that the girls are usually paired up-one Wilted and one Flower. The Flower is the one who dances and the Wilted is the one who is punished if the Flower makes a mistake, and Rose tries hard not to make a mistake so that her best friend and Wilted, Fern, doesn't suffer the consequences. But just like Rose, Fern has been keeping secrets and Rose realizes more than ever that she needs to escape the garden but her attempt goes wrong when she accidentally involves the ex-heir to the throne and gets herself taken as a hostage. If she wants to save her friends that are still in the garden, she'll have to prove to Rayce that she's not a spy but her secret might be more dangerous than if she'd been.

I loved the writing! The idea of the Garden was horrific and yet genius!!! I liked how the vocabulary the author used kind of mixed that garden imagery.

I liked Rose well enough, she was super determined and she had a big heart, She was a bit on the fence with everyone which is understandable. I did really enjoy her character development! She doesn't really trust men since someone betrayed her when she was a kid so she's kind of closed off from men and slowly she starts to open up to possibilities of friendship and romance.

I really liked the side characters! We had Arlos, the overprotective but lively brother, Marin, the kickass straightforward soldier and Oren the sweet parental figure.

I liked Rayce a lot! Charismatic? Definitely. But not to the point of making him a book boyfriend. But i loved the slow burn of the romance between Rose and Rayce! I think i liked Rayce a lot because he reminded me of Percy Jackson who's flaw is Loyalty no matter the consequences and Rayce is like that. He will always put the good of his people before his own wants.

So is it a standalone? I don't know! It has a satisfactory ending, no cliffhanger in a way but there is much more room for a sequel because we could go in the direction of Rose's secret much more! Overall i'm satisfied with the ending but i would totally buy a sequel!

The reason i can't give this book 5 stars is because i saw the plot twist-Rose's secret-coming from the very beginning. While i liked the characters, i didn't LOVE any of them so i was a little disconnected with them and i found myself skipping a few paragraphs at times. It was definitely a good read but the predictability really brought it down for me unfortunately!

So overall it wasn't a "meh" read, it was much better and i'd love to read a sequel! I liked the story and plot well enough so it's an easy relaxing read for a sunday afternoon!

“And I realize we’re lying like plucked flowers at our master’s feet, in the perfect position to be stomped back into the earth that we came from.”

Garden of Thorns by Amber Mitchell was fast paced from the beginning, inviting you into a world where the strongest bloom while those who do not follow the rules are smothered. The story revolves around a girl (a Flower) named Rose from a burlesque entertainment troupe (the Garden) that is worked by kidnapped girls. Rose finds an opportunity to escape, and afterwards works to help the rest of her sisters from the enslavement. Time and time again she must learn to trust and accept help from the new friends she has met.
The beginning of the book held a lot of promise as you venture into this screwed up situation where Rose is basically forced to performed perfectly with any mistake punished at the expense at her a Wilted, the girl who takes the damage for the Flower. The writing that worked around the theme of the troupe, The Garden, was woven in beautifully. As the story progressed though it lost its creativeness and became slightly predictable. From the get go you can guess who Rose is and her history. The entire first half or so of the book was spent in cloaked suggestions such as if they only knew who she really was, etc, alluding to something very important within her circumstances. The romance aspect left me a little frustrated. While Rose fought with her growing feelings and learning to trust again, she still kept pushing her love interest away. There were quite a few moments that I wanted to smack her upside her head and tell her to get over herself. This was Rose 90% of the time: I can’t trust him, he’s a man. I can’t tell them my secret, it will ruin my plans. I have to save my sisters, but I can’t do it alone. Loop back to…I can’t trust him, he’s a man.
There were just two things that actually bothered me though. One thing I found a little faulty in the story was how easily this large community that she finds herself becoming involved in decides that she can be a part of missions after a few days of training. It seemed rather peculiar that after just a little sword training that was good enough. Also, people kept getting wounded, and though it was mentioned briefly during that moment, it was as if they were super humans and could continue on with little time healing. Examples, shoulder wound - can still fend off a skilled swords men or leg wound – can still jump and run miles to escape from soldiers…who are not wounded.
The world building in the book was minimal. While there was a background story of two countries at war the underlying story of it all was slow to develop and was, frankly, pretty basic. There was an elemental aspect that helped Rose’s new friends that wasn’t really quite developed, and honestly just seemed a little too convenient and acted as a crutch for the good guys in the story.
Overall, I the story was neither here nor there as far as it being good or bad. It was an entertaining enough read, and while there were a few moments that I was flipping through pages to see what happened next, it wasn’t something that I felt inclined to write home about.

For the past ten years, "Rose", now sixteen, has spent her life enslaved in a burlesque troupe called The Garden, forced to perform and known only by a name that is not hers. Only the cruel leader of The Garden, the Gardener, knows who she really is and holds it over her to keep her in line.

When Fern, the girl that she's grown up with, the wilted to her flower, is murdered right in front of her by the Gardener's right-hand man, Shears for conversing with a member of the rebellion Rose knows she has to escape.

But when the man she uses to escape during her performance turns out to be the young leader of the rebellion she trades one captor for another. Can Rose convince him that she's not an assassin sent to kill him? How will she be able to return to The Garden to free her still captured "sisters?"

As Rose finds herself aligning with the rebel Zareen, making friends with their members, and falling for Rayce, the rebellion's young leader who's mood runs hot and cold Rose will grow more involved in the cause and learn more about the fall of her homeland, Varsha - and about herself. But can she really trust Rayce and the rebellion? Or would they turn on her when they found out her identity too?

Garden of Thorns is a tense, fast-paced fantasy that incorporates unique ideas like a enslaved burlesque troupe and familiar themes like a lost, forgotten princess and a disgraced prince leading a rebellion to save a kingdom.

The book reminded me in ways of the Throne of Glass series, Rebel of the Sands, and in a strange way - Water for Elephants. Rose had a little bit of a "Caelena Sardothian" in her, but definitely a feistiness that was all her own.

I loved the supporting characters: Marin, Arlo, and Oren and felt they really fit with the rebellion. Rayce was a perfect rebellion leader and love interest for Rose and his hot and cold temperament showed his struggle between helping his people and giving in to what he wanted - Rose.

As for the world-building, oftentimes in Fantasy novels, I try to compare the kingdoms to countries of our world. Delmar reminded me of a fantasy version of China and Varsha maybe could be compared to Russia; especially with Rose, who would, in a way, be like Anastasia - the lost and presumed dead princess.

The only thing that annoyed me a bit was Rose's lack of trust toward Rayce and the Zareen toward the end of the book. I kept waiting for her to admit her secret to Rayce and yet she chose to run, again, which caused the unnecessary deaths of a lot of people - one in particular who had treated her with respect and like family. Hadn't the Zareen, by that point, proven that they looked out for her like she had been one of their own all along?

Overall, I really enjoyed Garden of Thorns and am eager to see if this is continued as a series, it has great potential for a continuation.

Dip into the Cliche
Based on the blurb for this story, I expected something exciting and dark. I was hoping for a story rife with intrigue and secrets, a story with something always lingering under the surface waiting for the reader to uncover it. However, that's not what I got. The secrets were obvious. The intrigue was non-existent, and the main plot seemed to take a backseat for a sub-plot, which left me underwhelmed and disappointed.

New World??
Right from the get-go, this story offers an inviting new fantasy world for the reader to explore. The first few chapters draw us in, show us a glimpse of the beauty, the splendor, and the darkness. However, that seems to be the most development the world gets. Much of the rest of the world felt under-developed, falling on real-world items to fill in the gaps.

And the pieces that were unique to the world were never truly explained or given more detail. Thus, I couldn't tell why they were the way they were or whether they were even important to the story, which bugs me because I want to know everything about cool fantasy worlds!

Never Connected
The biggest problem I had with reading this book was that I never connected to any of the characters. Unfortunately, that means I don't care about them and I don't believe their developing connections with other characters. It honestly felt as though most, if not all, the relationships in this story skipped the 'acquaintance' stage and were thrust straight into 'I kind of know you, but I don't' stage. From there, the relationships wobbled like they didn't know what they were, which only made me more hesitant about them, too.

This is a great debut for a new author she this idea of a something that echoes in our history and makes the wonderful magical fantasy story with echoes of other books in this genre that i thoroughly enjoyed.

Rose is a strong determined character that has been dealt the misfortune of being captured in the garden a traveling troupe of slave girls who are not treated in the best possible manner. She carries a deep dark secret and her unlikely hero is linked to that secret. The book moves along at a steady pace that will keep you turning the pages as we follow rose along in her attempt to escape the Gardner and rescue all those she holds deeps in her heart. Their where a few characters that i was very sad she was not able to rescue and the author leaves us dangling with just a hint that their more story to come but as of now just the one book.

I'm pretty sure the reason I wanted to read this book was because of the cover. I mean, LOOK AT IT!

I'll be honest with you here. I haven't read much of the mainstream YA Fantasy out there right now, so I can't tell you if "it's been done before". What I can tell you is this book drew me in and kept me there. The slavery conditions Rose experiences are incomprehensible and create an instant "bad guy". From the very beginning, there was always something happening, and I couldn't put this book down.

I have two minor complaints. I usually enjoy "insta-love" (especially the fated kind) but this was a little fast, even for me. After I got over the initial "insta-love" shock I was completely on board with the romance. I also felt like Rose got too involved in the group too quickly. She went from being imprisoned, then training the next day, and being involved in her first mission the next. She jumped in with both feet, and they seemed to welcome her.

Amber Mitchell said she wrote this as a standalone with room for a sequel. She is completely right. I finished this book and was satisfied with where it ended, BUT I would 100% read a sequel. In fact, I'm hoping there is a sequel. Rose experienced so much growth in this book that I can't wait to see how she handles what comes next.

“Garden of Thorns” begins with a bang, as Rose is trapped in a cage as part of the Garden. The Garden is ruled by the Gardener who trains enslaved young girls to be “Flowers” in his entertainment show. The Flowers are each paired with a Wilted who they sleep with and who helps prepare them for performances. Anytime a Flower makes a mistake, the Wilted takes their punishment. Rose is the star of the Garden and eager to escape and save the rest of the Flowers. At the beginning of the book, she learns that her Wilted, Fern, has been accused of doing something terrible and watches, trapped, as she is “Clipped” (beheaded). Rose vows to escape and save the other Flowers.

Soon after, Rose makes her escape and lands promptly in the clutches of the Rebellion, led by the handsome and kind-hearted Rayce. As Rose gets to know the rebellion better, she begins to open her mind and her heart to new possibilities. In the meantime, we explore the politics and history of this interesting fantasy world.

One major theme of the book is Rose’s distrust of all men due to the fact that she was betrayed by one at 9 years of age and handed over to the Gardener (and then suffered at his hands). I found this a little hard to believe (despite people keeping their promises, helping her, etc., she could not seem to trust), especially to the pervasiveness at which it escalated and also considering the time before she was captured with her fond memories of her father, etc. Maybe it was meant to be a coping mechanism for her to lay blame elsewhere (e.g. on all men, rather than specific ones?). I also found the instant liking between Rose and Rayce to be a little too fast/predictable. I would have liked a slower lead up and burn for their attraction.

That being said, the book captured my attention from the start and I loved the beginning of the book- the idea of the Garden was fascinating and quite creative. I was excited to see it lead into some bigger picture ideas with government/rebellion. I devoured this book pretty quickly as it was tough to put down. Although it was supposedly written as a standalone, the ending felt pretty open (e.g. we see the sand, not the beach), so there is that to consider. It’s not clear if this would have sequels, but if it does, I would be happily first in line to check them out!

Overall, I found it to be enthralling and enjoyable- a fascinating addition to the YA fantasy genre. There are some mature themes which should be considered in terms of readership (e.g. battles, death, murder). Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Our reader didnt get far enough in this one to feel right about doing a review. Thank you for the chance to read it.

Garden of Thorns is an interesting story about a girl who was captured at the age of nine and has been performing aerial acrobatics for the Garden (a human slave version of the circus) for the last ten years. She’s considered a “Flower” since she’s the performer and every flower has a “Wilted” counterpart, a girl who is behind the scenes and is punished for every mistake or disobedience the flower makes. Basically the story is about Rose who is able to escape the Garden but instead of finding freedom, she finds herself captured and forced to help the rebellion to overthrow the Emperor. However, there’s a lot more going on besides that but I don’t want to give anything away.

One thing that I really liked about Rose was that she wasn’t some strong badass heroine. Sure, she’s the “star of the show” at the Garden but she’s definitely no fighter. Which kind of shows when she’s recaptured by the rebellion and isn’t even able to escape them. She doesn’t know how to use weapons, she freezes whenever she thinks about the “Gardender” (the slave driver), and when she’s able to help those in need, she also sometimes freezes. She’s not some crazy assassin with special powers who can do back-flips while she throws daggers into people… and I really liked that about her. She was just a young woman who was stolen away at a young age, forced to perform for the masses, and had been tortured the majority of her life. I thought her character was really believable and while I did get frustrated with her sometimes, her responses made sense given the way she had been raised in the Garden.

While I really enjoyed the story, I was a bit confused by the “secret” that Rose holds onto until the end. I didn’t feel like it was that big of a deal. I kept thinking that maybe she did wield some dangerous weapon or have the codes to a nuclear bomb or something that would cause all the secrecy when she was starting to make a life with the rebellion. Surely her secret wouldn’t be as simple as who she was before her capture. Maybe her family harbored a deep dark secret. Maybe they were really dragon-shifters, or mages, or something. Obviously I read too many fantasy novels. Either way, what I’m trying to say is, I felt like the big secret that loomed over Rose’s head the entire time was kind of a underwhelming. I kept thinking there was more to it, I held out hope until the very last sentence of the book, but alas it was not as crazy as my imagination had conjured up.

While I did find the big reveal to be a bit of a let down, I still thoroughly enjoyed this story. Now I will say that this does have some gore to it. I mean, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows at the Garden… or the rebellion. The author doesn’t go into too much detail but let’s just say the people of this era are quite fond of beheadings and just leave it at that. Anyway, I enjoyed the author’s creativity in this novel. I thought it was an amazing debut novel and I really look forward to what she comes out with next. I’m not sure if this is going to be a series since the rebellion is still a thing or if the author is going to leave it as is but either way, I’ll be keeping an eye out for her next book. I would definitely recommend Garden of Thorns to anyone looking to read a young adult novel that has some fantasy elements to it.

As soon as I read the summary of Garden of Thorns by Amber Mitchell I knew I had to read it. I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy and Mitchell had my attention from page one of this book.

Rose is the main character and has spent the last seven years as a slave in the Garden, a burlesque dance troupe. When the Garden is set up to perform for the Emperor, Rose sees an opportunity to escape and she is willing to do whatever she needs to in order to make it happen. Unfortunately for Rose, she chooses the wrong person in the audience to use so she can get out and she ends up being the one held against her wishes.

I love a great character driven story and Mitchell did a fantastic job of getting me to care about these characters. Rose and her Wilted have been together the entire time they have been in the Garden. As a Flower, Rose is directly responsible for anything that happens to her Wilted and almost immediately something happens that forces her to make a decision about her future. One of the things I really liked was that Rose isn’t perfect. She makes mistakes and she keeps secrets. Her biggest secret is the one that ended up getting her captured by the Gardener and it is the one that she continues to try to hide from everyone around her. I couldn’t really blame her for the things she kept hidden…even though I wanted her to tell Rayce everything. She hasn’t had an easy life since she was captured and she has learned just how dangerous and evil some people can be, not just the Gardener and his right hand man, Shears but also those someone she thought was a friend.

Rayce is who Rose ends up trying to use as a hostage in her escape without really knowing that he is the guy who is wanted by the Emperor for leading a rebellion against the Empire. He also happens to be the former heir to the throne and I loved learning more about his background as the story progressed. It is clear he takes his leadership role very seriously and his reasons for going against his uncle have a personal aspect to them. There were so many scenes with Rayce that I loved and most of them revolve around the weight he carries on his shoulders as a leader. Of course, there are some swoony parts that I loved too – I just wish there had been more kissing (yeah, I said it). The relationship that forms between Rose and Rayce isn’t something that happens overnight and there was one quote from Rayce that I highlighted that I thought was a perfect reflection of them both.

“I’m sorry about what happened to you in the past, but I will prove you wrong now. I’m going to make you believe in me, not because I want you to, but because that’s what you need.”

Mitchell did a wonderful job with the secondary characters as well. From Arlo and Marin to the Emperor and the Gardener, all of them were pretty well-developed. The one character in the group that stood out for me was Oren. He was the man who helped Rayce become a leader and he was the one who helped Rose realize what she really needed to do to save the people she loves.

As the story moves forward, there is quite a bit of action and danger. Rayce and Rose make a deal to work together to take down the Emperor and save the rest of the girls, but it doesn’t go smoothly. Of course Rayce is wanted by the Emperor but now Rose’s picture is also on a wanted poster and she is sure that the Emperor knows exactly who she is. Not only does that mean she is in danger but anyone who is with her is too. Never mind that this really complicates any plans she has to save the rest of the girls from the Garden.

Overall I really enjoyed this book – I’m not going to say anything more about the story as I don’t want to ruin anything for anyone. Just know that the characters were well done and the story kept me turning the pages. It is hard to say whether this is a standalone (I hope not!!) or the first of a series. I am interested to see what happens next for these characters and while it ended in a great place, there is definitely more story here – at least from my point of view so I really hope there is another book coming. Regardless, I will be keeping an eye out for more from Mitchell. If you are looking for a new YA Fantasy to read, consider checking this one out when you can, I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy!

Sixteen year old Rose has spent the last seven years of her life in captivity being forced to perform in a burlesque type of show for a man known as the Gardener. Rose has learned to do whatever she is told while in captivity because if she doesn’t her best friend, Fern, will be punished in her place so Rose as a performer would not be marred. When it’s found that Fern has been involved in the rebellion and is killed Rose finds that now is her chance at escape.

During a performance Rose takes the opportunity before her to carry out her plan to escape and free her fellow captives but when her choice of hostage turns out to be the leader of the rebellion, Rayce, Rose finds herself trading in one type of cage for another as he takes her with him and she loses the opportunity to release the other girls. Rose quickly learns though not every man is the same and she finds herself beginning to see Rayce in a different light as she tries to convince him to help free her friends.

Garden of Thorns by Amber Mitchell is a young adult fantasy read with a rather interesting setting involved with Rose having been captured at a young age and forced to perform for most of her life. There is upheaval in the land as the rebellion tries to right the oppressive leadership all the while Rose is trying to free her friends.

I will say however that while the story is an enjoyable read with good writing and full of action to keep up the interest I found the overall idea behind the plot to be a bit predictable. Young Rose had a secret that of course seemed rather obvious to me all throughout and when it was revealed I had been correct. The relationship growing between Rose and Rayce of course was also easy to spot as soon as they meet. But even with it’s predictability in the plot it was still a fun young adult read overall.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

"The entire room curves like a beehive."

What does that even mean?

This book was an okay read. I liked how different it was, but some of the stuff was odd. The characters were likable, and overall it was just an okay read.