I NEED THE NEXT BOOK!! Now please!!! Seriously, I loved this book! It reminded me a little of the October Daye series with some of the humor of The Hollows series thrown in. And the way it ends just makes me want the whole series so I can marathon them all and unravel the big mystery!! I highly recommend this to anyone that wants a magical mystery that blends our world with the lore and creatures of fairy tales. Thanks so much to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read a copy of this book.

An urban fantasy set in both New York City and the Poisoned Apple, a between-the-worlds city full of magic and mayhem, Pricked by Scott Mooney is fun and witty but also falls victim to a few unfortunate tropes.

Pricked is the story of Briar Pryce, a twenty-something woman with the ability to affect people’s emotions via color-changing roses. Having fallen on hard times (like possibly being responsible for her best friend getting turned into a cat), she uses this ability to run “deliveries” for the elite of the Poisoned Apple, a bustling town straight out of a fairy tale that exists between spaces in New York City. One day, the head of the illustrious Grimmour family gives her a quest – find his daughter’s kidnapped boyfriend and he’ll pay for her best friend to be turned human again. Aided by a noble knight named Antoine, Briar runs all around both cities trying to find a kidnapped college student, only to discover that this simple mystery is not so simple.

For the most part, I really enjoyed Pricked. It’s clever and imaginative, with shades of Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia. I love fantasy novels set in our world, especially those with secret entrances. It makes me think I can stumble across one if I just look hard enough. Briar’s ability is intriguing (and I appreciate the fact that she enchants people with roses) and I really want to know more – especially if it’s tied to the parents she’s never met. Mooney is pretty skilled at infusing humor into his writing; there were a lot of neat references and metaphors. And while this is a complete story – in that the mystery is solved by the end – there is also a perfect setup for the next book in the series.

Some readers had issues with the fact you seem to be dropped into the middle of a story. A lot of information about the Poisoned Apple and the world is given as you go, and events are referenced that happened prior to the start of the book, so I can understand feeling as though this is the second book in a series. But I feel like a lot of books can get bogged down in exposition when trying to establish the setting. I thought Mooney did a good job of world-building without getting too hung up on the details. The political system is still a bit murky, but I didn’t have much issue picturing the Poisoned Apple.

The unfortunate tropes I mentioned mostly have to do, sadly, with the female characters. Aside from Briar and to a lesser extent Miranda (the Royal whose boyfriend has been abducted), most of the female characters do not get much development. Briar’s two friends, Alice and Jacqui (the cat), are basically set decoration, even though Briar’s primary motivation for everything is curing Jacqui. It was disappointing that you don’t really get a sense of their friendship, considering everything. And aside from Alice and Jacqui, Briar seems to dislike every other woman she comes across, even going so far as to accost a confident college student and fill her with doubts for seemingly no reason other than, what, jealousy? Briar very much gives off an “I’m not like other girls” vibe, which is upsetting – mostly that this trope still exists in 2019. The ladies deserve better.

Despite its issues, Pricked is still a fun start to a series that, while far from perfect, shows a lot of promise. With everything left in the air after the main mystery is solved, I am actually quite excited to see where this story goes.

Amazing how a simple flower can have such an effect on someone. When you receive a rose from Briar Pryce, you are in for more than a nice smelling flower. And no, this is not another dystopian version of The Bachelorette. With a gift that she never really wanted, Briar delivers roses that contain emotion. Once pricked or attacked by a flurry of petals, you are overwhelmed with the feelings attached to the particular coloured coded roses.

Briar, flower delivery girl turned private investigator, goes on a wild goose chase for the Princesses Know-not (very creative name for us humans) boyfriend Rick who has been mysteriously kidnapped. After being selected because of her ability to track people by their emotional tracks that they leave behind, Briar takes the job almost immediately. Completing this mission may be the only opportunity to turn her cat roommate human again after she ate from a cursed muffin basket which was supposedly meant for Briar. Paired with Antoine, a moral compass in the form of a Knight, they follow Rick's trail around the New York and The Apple in search of clues before the magical kingdom breaks into all-out war.

Pricked is based in a world where fairy-tale magic exists and lurks in the shadows. What the kingdom lacked in origin and basic fantasy, it made up in sensory overload. When you first enter The Apple, you feel like you enter a theme park with places like Ballgown District and Lovers’ Lane, the Gingerbread Tenements and Havmercy Park. It can feel like you are supposed to already know this place so you are bombarded with information instead of being shown the city.

From flirtatious royal ex's to fashionista fairy godmothers and hungry mountain ogres, Pricked has a wide range of characters who you barely get to scratch the surface with. Jumping into this book I felt like I was missing bits of important information as well as backstories. Briar's relationship with Cade, her ex-boyfriend now housemate, is obviously a big influence on her attitude towards her powers and is very touchy at time, yet it feels like you had to be there for their problem to really understand what is going through her head. It would have been nicer to see more depth in the main characters so I got to know them and their motivations more. They all seem to be very stereotypical people that you find in every book which makes putting ideas together to guess what is happening next fun.

Though the magical side of this book can also lose it after a while with Briar's ‘I really don’t want to be here’ attitude and Antoine’s positive attitude brings some well needed overenthusiastic ‘we can do this’ vibes.

For a book about emotion, Pricked ironically lacks real emotion at some points. I started to assume by the end of the book, as Briar learns to control the balance between her powers and emotions, that the more emotions and memories she gives away, the less feelings she will have. Or she will just get super overwhelmed by everyone’s emotions and turn into a giant rose

You know you have stumbled on to a good book when you immediately look up if there is a sequel coming. Pricked is a fun read for when you want to dive into a little fantasy but don’t have the brainpower to concentrate on a magnitude of details. Scott Mooney has truly written a great novel with some great twists and a little bit of heart.

It has been a while since I've read an urban fantasy novel, and as soon as I saw this title I knew I had to have it. Pricked is set in a fairy tale version of NYC, called The Poisoned Apple, that is within the normal NYC and can be accessed through a magical door. The Poisoned Apple holds elements of NYC, but is also a fairy tale world. Pricked is not a re-telling, but has its own original plot and characters. This entire book was incredibly funny and almost felt like a spoof on fairy tales, but it had a real plot, great world building and interesting characters.


"I thought you guys had to sing happy-go-lucky nonsense songs when you did these magical makeovers?" I said as the cloth spun lazily above Crea's head.

"Oh, please," Crea scoffed. "That's all Disney's idea. If you ever catch me saying any Mary Poppins bullshit, just punch me in the face.


The world building was done really well. Scott Mooney wrote vivid descriptions of The Poisoned Apple so it could be easily pictured by the readers. I loved the magical elements to it all. The Poisoned Apple was a place where you shouldn't trust step mothers and had to be wary of curses, anything that was common in fairy tales was also common in The Poisoned Apple. Pricked included so many fairy tale elements, but also felt incredibly unique. Briar's magic was so interesting and one of my favorite aspects of the story. She could put her emotions into a rose and then give them to someone else and she could also smell how people were feeling. The myriad of ways that Briar used her magic was entertaining and creative.


It was my second break-in during the last eighteen hours. What happened to my life? It was like my high school counselor had been right about me all along.


My favorite part of this book was how much it made me laugh or smile. The dialogue is filled with banter, the internal thoughts of Briar made me laugh and even aspects of the world were funny. I also really enjoyed the plot. It felt like a combination of a mystery and a fairy tale. The pacing of the novel was really fast and it was a very light read, so it was a perfect read after I had finished a dense epic fantasy, and a perfect choice if you are in search of a lighter fantasy read.


If I was going to be devoured by flesh-eating wolves, my last thoughts were definitely not going to be, 'Does he like me, or does he like me like me?'


I almost passed this one by and I am so glad that I gave it a chance. The world was so immersive, I really enjoyed the characters, it made me laugh over and over and I enjoyed the plot. The ending left me wanting to read the sequel, but also didn't feel like a cliffhanger. It clearly set up for the next book, but left me feeling happy and satisfied. I can't wait for the sequel to come out so I can return to these characters and The Poisoned Apple.

Briar is summoned to meet with Count Grimmour and hired to find his daughter's boyfriend, a Know Not that doesn't know about the fairy tale world hidden from view in New York City. The boyfriend, Rick, has been kidnapped, and Briar is tasked with using her unique magic to find him as all the wizards have failed. At her side is the knight Antoine, who both protects her and divulges important information about the Royals. With time working against them (they only have three days to find Rick, and it's actually less than that as some of that time was taken up with wizards failing to locate him), they must work fast to prevent a war between two Royal families that has the power to wipe out fairy tale world.

This is heavily fantasy with a good dash of mystery, the mystery being, of course, the questions of where Rick is and who has him and why. The fantasy was well done with a unique world parallel to our own, magic, and fairy tale elements. I was a little disappointed that there were only fairy tale elements and no real fairy tale retellings, but I suppose it's simply a world where fairy tales exist and it still must be a self-contained city with more than princes, princesses, and the commoners turned royals with their wicked stepmothers and stepsisters trying desperately to stop them. The mystery part was strong, but also lacking as neither Briar nor Antoine had any real clue of what they were doing, kind of like bumbling detectives. It was amusing, had plenty of action, and kept the plot moving, but they felt more like elephants trampling into the mystery.

What bothered me the most was the mystery part. It was well laid out, and I expected a fair amount of breaking and entering, lying to gain access to information, danger around every corner, and a fair amount of exciting action. Yes, all that was there. But what bothered me were the roles Briar and Antoine played. They both leapt headlong into the mystery and were seemingly on a never ending dive into finding Rick. They kept going forward, pushing onwards even when they should have stopped to think. If they had stopped to think, they probably wouldn't have gotten themselves in so much unnecessary trouble. All the clues were right in front of their noses. Ironically, Briar caught literal whiffs of it, but was unable to put it together. But I suppose it was fair for a character in her young adult years who wasn't going to be a crime solver at all and a character who was a knight and more used to fighting and defending that deep thinking.

I find myself on the fence about Briar's magic. On one hand, it's unique. It involves emotions and roses, and I haven't read anything like it before. At first, it was a little hard to understand, but, as the book went along, the idea of imbuing a rose with emotions to cast something like a spell on people became easier to understand and swallow. On the other hand, it makes her out to be a dog who can sniff out emotions. It was a little bizarre and kind of too ordinary for someone with such unique magic. I did like that her abilities grew, but it felt like it was done more to help the plot and ensure the good guys prevail. There was also a lot left unexplained, which was frustrating and annoying, though I suppose a second book could help explore it as the end leaves it open to possibilities.

I would have loved to get to know the fairy tale world a little more. We get excellent glimpses of an interesting place heavily influenced by fairy tales while also being entirely self-contained. But, since so much of the story took place in our world and the characters referenced pop culture rather than fairy tales, it felt like an odd patchwork of stories plunked down next to each other.

Overall, this was an intriguing mix of fantasy and mystery with a healthy number of red herrings thrown in and conflicts galore between the characters. The magic was interesting, if a bit bizarre, and the setting was imaginative, though could have used more development. There were hints at romance, including some triangles, but it clearly wasn't a focus, which I liked.

This is great for someone who enjoys fairy tales, but wants to create one for themselves. Not so great for someone looking for a retelling.


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

I have a confession to make, when someone asks me who my favorite princess is, (What? No one has ever asked you?!?) I always say Belle, followed closely by Ariel. But, I have always been obsessed with Briar Rose.

My father used to tell me the real Grimm Fairy Tales when I was a kid. Cinderella’s step-sister cutting off her heal, trying to get the glass slipper on. And the princes who scaled the castle walls, trying to get to Sleeping Beauty (aka Briar Rose), becoming blind after having their eyes stabbed out by the rose’s thorns that were growing on the outside walls.

The Briar Rose story always scared me the most for some reason, but fascinated me as well. Maybe it bothered me more because I thought of the princes as nice people and Cinderella’s step-sisters as not so nice. I have dreams about the spinning wheel as well, not so much now, but a lot more when I was younger. Briar is woven deep into my psyche.

So all of that back story leads to me stumbling across Pricked on NetGalley. As soon as I read Briar and then rose in the first sentence of the synopsis, I knew I would be reading it. And I am happy I did since Scott Mooney’s debut novel is excellent.

As with any good fantasy series there has to be in depth world building, and Mooney accomplishes this very well, especially for the first book in what I hope becomes a series. Some fantasy series, while still excellently written, have taken longer to flesh out the worlds. Seanan McGuire’s, October Daye series, is one that comes to mind. Not to say that the first book, Rosemary and Rue, didn’t have fantastic world building, just that McGuire didn’t leave the book feeling as complete as this one. Probably because she already had a series in mind, and had other parts of the world planned for future books.

With, Pricked, even if Mooney only writes this book, I feel like the world is complete, but he still has lots of ways to incoporate even more areas into this world in future books. The village where the commoners live is one area that instantly comes to mind.

The characters are written pretty well, some needing more development than others, but that’s what future books are for! I enjoyed Briar’s sass and realistic outlook on the world. Antoine, the knight/bodyguard, doesn’t seem to say much, but I think there are a lot of layers to him that will be coming out. I do like the strong, silent type. And many of the supporting characters were given distinct personalities as well.

As with a lot of fantasy, this takes place in a short period of time. Because of that, the action scenes usually come hard and fast. I thought Mooney did a great job with the pace of the book and the writing of the action. I didn’t need to pause my reading because something I needed to question if something could be physically done. Although, since this is a world with magic, doing the impossible is possible.

The thing I do question is how this is being marketed. It is in the adult genre, but it reads more YA to me. Not that adults wouldn’t enjoy it too though.
Briar and her roommates are not that far out of high school, in fact a huge story plot is something that happened in high school. And the relationships all feel less mature. Briar even mentions it feel like a pissing match everytime Antoine and Cade are in the same room.

Maybe it was decided to be marketed for adults becausse of the pop culture references? Two that I remember, although there were more, are Alias and Buffy. Maybe teens will know about Buffy because it’s a cult TV show, but I’m thinking not so much on Alias. And the other ones had me smiling, but since I’m not a teen, maybe that was their reasoning?

But I don’t market books, I just read and review them! So in ending my review, I say grab yourself a copy and get to reading.

I love a fairytale re-telling. I read them whenever I can...I was under the assumption that this would be a re-telling of "Sleeping Beauty" but surprisingly it wasn't really that. I did like the fairytale element and the characters in this book. I liked the world and all that was in it. It was an easy read and would continue to read more (if it was turned into a series).

Overall, a good book.

Pricked is unique in several ways, one of these being the world the story inhabits. It's New York city and a parallel city cleverly named The Poison Apple. The heroine has magical abilities of a type I have never before encountered. I won't go into detail about this and spoil it. The story is funny and engaging. The characters are likeable but not overtly so, the main character is a bit judgmental in my opinion. There are some obvious cliches here and there. Despite this, I did enjoy the overall picture of the story. It's a unique and fun read. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Pricked starts out by introducing us to the main character Briar Pryce. She seems like a normal human at first but she’s not. She lives in a magical part of New York City called the Poisoned Apple and she has magical powers.

Briar’s powers are pretty unique. I haven’t come across them just yet in a fantasy book. She’s able to manipulate other people’s emotions by using flowers, and roses are her flowers of choice. The roses even change colour based on the emotions Briar pours into them.

The magical powers attract the attention of the Elite. They hire Briar to find the human boyfriend of an Elite’s daughter. While she is thrown into the world of Elite intrigues, she has to find the boyfriend in time before he gets killed. Or before a war destroys the human world in New York City.

The author seemed to have had a back story in his head already, which was rather apparent when I started reading. The author seems to know things about the backdrop of Briar, her friends and the Poisoned Apple. Unfortunately the reader doesn’t yet. So as this is the first (or only?) book, this is where the story has to be created and set. I felt like I was missing some pieces of the puzzle. Why does she think the spell that transformed her best friend into a cat was meant for her? What could she have done prior to this story taking place to “deserve” that? Some things get cleared up along the way but for me it felt like I had to assume certain things to make it all fit.

I will say, as a whole, the key words for me that came up while reading where “happy” “upbeat” and even a bit witty at times. Maybe even a bit too witty as some jokes really need a bit of “know how” of the real world.
What I also really liked was the backdrop of New York City. There is this almost other dimensional magical world that exists in the same spot as one of the most famous cities in the world.

Overall it’s not a bad story, I just think it still needs a little work. The time span seems to be a few days. Which doesn’t really give it enough time to flow and develop and to really create the characters. I know who are in the book and sort of who they are in relation to Briar but I don’t really get to know them.
It would have been nice to have a little more character development throughout. It’s done with 1 or 2 characters and the rest of them are just “there”. It all lacked a little depth for me.
If you like a light summer read with a relatively simple story and some good jokes and a happy feel, this might be your book.

With a 3 star rating set, I have to say it came to a 3 because I don’t do half stars. It felt worthy of more than a 2 star but 3 is stretching it a little. So the benefit of the doubt applies here.

<i>Pricked </i>by Scott Mooney was a delightful, unique, and rather impressive story that admittedly was not without its own flaws. The truth is that, after beginning this novel, I very quickly found myself under the impression that I wouldn't like it all that much. Thus, as I continued through the story I was incredibly amazed to find that I actually enjoyed it quite a lot. <i>Pricked </i>impressed me more than I thought it would. Despite not being the best story and despite having a few cringe moments for me, I've left this book happy to have read it.

Now let's dive right in, shall we?

Our story begins with a young adult called Briar who is definitely the sort I would consider rough around the edges. She's got a magical power that allows her to change the emotions of those around her merely by giving them a flower--a power that will grow throughout the course of the novel--and she has been using that power to make money. Basically, she's on call to change the emotions of whomever the ones with money ask her to. Of course, though the emotions wear off eventually, it's no surprise that someone ended up angry enough to send a basket of cursed goodies to her apartment. Since Briar wasn't home, it was her unfortunate roommate, however, who was cursed to take the form of a cat.

So, when an offer is made to pay for the rather expensive de-cursing that her best friend requires if Briar uses her abilities to find the kidnapped boyfriend of a rich royal's daughter, it's really no surprise that an adventure will soon be underway. And the best part about this novel? It takes place in a world parallel to our own, called the Poison Apple, conveniently located right beside (sort of) the Big Apple we all know as New York City. And naturally, the inhabitants of the fairy world intermingle throughout both.

Now while I say I loved this story, I also mentioned flaws. The biggest of the flaws for me came with the rather underdeveloped and nearly one-dimensional main love interest who I just grew exceedingly frustrated with throughout the course of the novel and the main character herself. I didn't like them. While Briar had brief moments where I did enjoy her character, a lot of it was outshone by pettiness and immaturity. Antoine was just flat as an overcooked pancake.

Briar was sardonic, crude, and bitter to the point of being annoying. She had all these beliefs and ideas and yet pettily influenced the emotions of a girl she didn't know merely because she grew annoyed with how obsessed the girl was with her looks and the somewhat mean-girl-esque presentation of her personality. Though this is probably more to the author than the character, she also incorrectly associated Jung with Freud's beliefs and work (not a big deal, but as I majored in Psychology it was an inconsistency that I couldn't help but notice).  A plot point with one of her roommates made the enchantment of her special dagger, amusingly named Prick, an annoying plot hole. She was immature and annoying on numerous occasions. And I didn't care one whit about her.

Antoine? Well, he lacked personality. He often felt like an accessory to Briar's rather overbearing one. And the love connection? Aside from the rather eye-roll inducing inner thoughts of, "Do I like him? Does he like me?" that I've just grown to absolutely hate, I never really felt convinced of their interest in one another. This isn't a huge deal for me, ultimately, mainly because I just didn't care about them at all.

Which brings me to my main point here; the story was <i>brilliant</i>. I didn't have to like the main characters to be wowed by the plot and entranced with the expertly weaved tale as it slowly unfolded before my eyes. I was captivated. And while I 100% saw one of the plot twists coming a mile away, the other one took me completely by surprise. Regardless, I enjoyed both immensely. And while I may not have liked the main characters in the slightest, I loved many of the side ones. My favorite, Tarris alongside Miranda, Rick, and even Alice were utterly wonderful in so many ways.

So, while I probably wouldn't read a sequel that centered around Briar and Antoine--ugh--I can guarantee I would eagerly read anything that delved further into the stories of Tarris, Ric, Miranda, or even Alice. As for the writing, it was good. Admittedly the New York/Fairytale puns were sometimes a bit cheesy, but overall enjoyable. I left the story happier with it than I entered. And really, that leaves me with only one last thing to say about the piece; they probably should have marketed the LGBTQ inclusivity because I can definitely see readers who'd enjoy this novel not getting a chance to do so simply because they were unaware of it.

<i>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

Thank you to NetGalley and Bleeding Ink Publishing for sending me a free ARC copy of Pricked in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to read this book after reading the premise. It sounded like it was going to be an imaginative and satirical take on popular fairytale tropes, and I loved the idea of integrating Briar’s fairytale world with New York City. However, my enjoyment quickly waned as I began reading and realized Pricked had an incredibly promising concept, but lacked with the follow through and had many issues it needed to fix. But, before we get into that, here are the things I really did enjoy:

- The whole concept of the fairytale/magical world integrating with New York City. And calling it the Poisoned Apple? Hilarious!

- Briar’s special talent is unique, interesting, & super awesome (Hello, enchanting roses with emotions & having them change color?!? How cool is that?).

- The author is clearly talented with adding in humor - some of the sentences in Pricked are downright hilarious. One of my favorites was: “…in an ostentatious gown with more blue ribbon in it than Michael Phelps’s bedroom.”

- The ending had good setup for the next book in the series.

Now for the hard part: some of the issues that need fixing (Disclaimer: I’ve sent my full comments on to the publisher through NetGalley, so I’m only bringing up some of the issues I found).

- Pricked starts out like you’ve picked up book 2 of the series, which could be solved with better wording & less info-dumping.

- It includes an array of troublesome tropes, including “I’m not like other girls” and “beauty-blind protagonist”. There’s also “insta-love” but since that’s primarily one-sided & had other issues I sent those comments through NetGalley. Basically, for troublesome tropes it comes down to this: it’s 2019 & we should not have to keep reading the same problematic tropes over and over. If you’re going to use them (although some would argue you still should not), at least make them unique. For “beauty-blind” Briar is described by the fairy godmother as ‘pretty, but not beautiful’ and the thing that really irks me is how the reader is supposed to accept this and yet Briar is desired by an array of male characters.

- Briar appears to automatically hate almost every other female character she comes across. She shouldn’t have to like them, but she always says or thinks something to demean the other woman & in multiple instances assumes the other woman automatically hates her for no reason. Briar also mentions teaching men ‘not to be sexist’ but then continues to use sexist comments throughout the story. Is it too much to ask for more consistent characters with healthy relationships?

- As cool as it was, I don’t think the world’s magic system was fully developed. For instance, why wouldn’t the nobles have wards against enchanting their guards? To me, that one seems like a no-brainer.

- In terms of pacing, everything takes place over the span of a couple days, which I don’t think was long enough for some of the character developments & left most characters remaining static.

- There’s a lot of info-dumping, telling about past events (instead of showing, especially when these ‘past’ events happened within the space of a couple of pages), and repetition of basic information. Also, several characters spread WAY more information to others for the benefit of the reader than those characters would ever need to know (our first time meeting Anya is a great example of this, since she readily shares information that Briar and Antoine wouldn’t have the status/need to know). In one particular scene (no spoilers) Briar & a couple other characters are using public transportation. We have a scene of them going to the public transportation, then using the public transportation, then moving on. A page later (when the group has left the public transportation) the reader learns about an interaction Briar supposedly had with someone in-between arriving & then using the public transportation - of which the reader was a part of. This happens more than once, & these scenes should be shown, not told (& it would be so easy to incorporate!).

- There are a lot of inconsistencies throughout that cause reader confusion (like the fight scene in the woods - why wouldn’t she assume her rescuer was Antoine since that’s the only person she’s aware of being around?). Also, Briar seems to rarely identify the emotions when she smells them, leading the reader to confusion until Briar finally places the mystery sense.

- Some characters (but usually Briar) play dumb in order for information to be brought up for the reader. This is frustrating to read & there are so many better ways to educate your reader within the story.

- For most of the story the Royals come off as completely elitist, so I have a hard time believing they would cozy up to Briar so quickly (especially since neither side is particularly cozy to begin with). The sudden war plot also seemed extreme for the Royals, who as a reader I didn’t take seriously & seemed to be more figureheads than powerful people. Also, how (& why) did Briar & Jacqui become friends? Why would they (a commoner and a royal) move in together? Also, why would Cade ever want to live with them?

Ultimately, Pricked has potential but I don’t think it’s ready for publication in its current form. I sincerely hope the author and publisher can make sufficient changes to improve Pricked to the standard it promises it could achieve before its August 13th release date. Nevertheless, thank you again to NetGalley and Bleeding Ink Publishing for the privilege of reviewing an ARC.

I love fantasy, I love retellings and I love urban fantasy, so this was a must for me.

This book felt like a breath of fresh air in a time where retellings and remakes are everywhere.

Briar is a kickass and badass protagonist, think Katniss but sassy. And you know I love me a sassy female protagonists.

I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

It’s been a loong time since I’ve had a fairy tale fantasy book capture my attention like this one did. There’s also an urban fantasy vibe to it as well. I enjoyed that because it made for a fun read! The author has built this magical world with such creativity that you feel transported to another realm. THAT is a good sign of a good book. There’s tons of fairy tale references and it was fun to see how the author would put their twist on them. Briar was a fave. She isn’t perfect but tries to do the right thing when she can. A totally relatable character. This author is new to me and I enjoyed his style of writing and storytelling. I do hope there’s another book! I give this 5 stars.

I don't know...I might have gone in expecting something this wasn't, but I didn't really connect with this story or characters the way I'd hoped. Retellings are hard, and I tend to either love/hate them, and while this one has good parts, I wasn't as impressed overall as I'd hoped I'd be.

This book, set in New York and its parallel fairy city, the Poisoned Apple, has some clever ideas, terrible puns, and the potential to be part of a fun series, except that it’s also a contradictory hot mess. A woman with the magical ability to change people’s emotions is tasked with finding a kidnapped non-magic man—all fine and good. But the author both claims the main character is a feminist and has her goad her male assistant by asking him sic he’ “always going to be the woman” in tough situations; later the character calls Harlem “a place tourists go to die.” Other unfortunate digs include those made at fat characters and “fly over country.” There’s also a nasty comment that the kidnapping agrees with a character because it’s caused her to lose weight. If the book went through a round of developmental editing and some sensitivity reading, it could be a winner. As is, though, it’s its own poisoned apple.

I have to be honest, at the start I wasn't sure I was going to like it, came SO close to DNF. The only reason I didn't was because I had a slow day at work, and I didn't really feel like reading much else, it was one of those days, so I kept reading. I am pretty glad I did, once I got past the fist few chapters, I really enjoyed this book.

The bad: So in the beginning, it had a lot of vague references to things in the past, i looked the author up on goodreads thinking maybe this was book 2 of a series, and in my kindle version there was a different author name, so I'm thinking this author is either a penname or the other one is, cause the books under the other author are kinda of the fairy tale variety too. The questions I had in the first chapters were answered later, but I really wasn't understanding what I was reading, which made it hard to get through.

The Good: The creativity! The world building! It was magical, it was charming! I can't express enough how impressed I was with the creative thought process that went into this book, I can honestly say that I loved it, I feel like it was unique in its own way, similar to what JKR did with Harry Potter, this world was unique, yet believable as you were reading it. I was really impressed with all of it, once I got past the beginning, I dived right into it, and I wanted to go up to my coworkers rose and do some magic of my own. I loved the MC and how her name was Briar and her magic was with the rose, I love the fairy tale aspect of all of it. I like all the little references and ties to the various fairy tales there were in here, even the subtle ones. I loved how I was eager to turn the page. I really enjoyed this book.

I would definitely read the authors next book, and am eagerly awaiting it, I hope it comes out. If I find out that the author other I came across is one in the same, I definitely would check the other books out as well. Thank you for letting me read this book!

Thank you for allowing me to preview this book. I am sorry that I just couldn't finish Pricked. The writer's style just was not my cup of tea. But thank you nonetheless for the opportunity.

I thought the book was good, but I think the synopsis is a little misleading, It throws me off when I’m expecting one thing and get another. I think if people get a better understanding of the book it will see a better turn out.

I was quite pumped to read this book sounded right up my alley.
<blockquote><i>There was just feeling, lighting the sky like fireworks in the summer night.I felt the roses below and with a beckoning gesture, I called two of them up to me...In my right hand was a slender red rose, its bloom just barely opening at the top. This was a rose with possibilities, its power red and dark...</i></blockquote>
<i><b>[book:Pricked|40494865] had an intriguing premise with creative world building and fleshed out characters, and a good mystery but in a nutshell, I found the story quite underwhelming.</b></i>

<b>Pros</b>
We get the relevant backstory of the characters and the history they shared, which I really liked about this book. We see their struggle with jobs, life, relationships making us warm up to our MC.



The mystery unravelling was quite entertaining with phrases derived from fairytales for instance (Let down your hair whose counter is Gothel is here) and the interesting layout of Bad Apple with their ambiguous politicals system further adding to the supernatural element.

<b>Cons</b>
The mystery was rather simple, it had the air of complexity at the beginning but it fell to the common mystery-solving pattern towards the end.
_Little bit of continuity problem in the first chapter
_ There were moments were relationship developments were rushed, <spoilers> Antioine developing feeling in less than 12 hours, and that too being a knight? LiL unbelievable. </spoiler>

<I> Thank you NetGAlley and Bleeding Ink Publishing for providing this E-Arc</i>

Approaches urban fantasy kind of from the back - the entrance marked "Fairy-Tale Universe, with Mystery Plot". But the protagonist, Briar, is the familiar kickass, smartass woman of urban fantasy, though with a somewhat fresh magical power: she can enchant roses to change people's emotions.

This is a power that grows during the story, disturbingly for her. Despite her noir-detective manner, she's good-hearted; she gets involved in the story problem because it looks like the only way to get her friend disenchanted from a curse that appeared to have been meant for Briar. This is a good approach to motivating the character based on her relationships without fridging anyone (since the friend is still around and able to interact, though she doesn't play a big role in the story).

A motivated character in a dynamic situation is always going to work for me, and I was quickly swept up. There were some issues; as is common for American authors, this author conflates nobility and royalty, and doesn't know the correct terms of address for them either. He capitalises terms that don't need it, and the past perfect tense is frequently conspicuous by its absence, which always interrupts the flow of the story for me. He uses "besides" when he means "apart from" (which could be a dialect difference), and has a tendency to said bookisms. In the pre-release version I read from Netgalley, some of the apostrophes were misplaced. The fairy-tale (and New York) references get a bit cutesy or cheesy at times, too. But some lovely phrases partly make up for this: "Do not pass denouement, do not collect happily ever after," or "an ostentatious gown with more blue ribbon in it than Michael Phelps’s bedroom."

I could take or leave the love triangle aspect, personally, but apart from that the plot and character interactions worked well for me, and I was surprised by the twist.

Far from a perfect book, but showing definite strengths, and promise as a series. I really hope the author learns to use the past perfect tense, though.