this simply wasn't the book for me. I don't have much I can say about it other than it was lacking in just about every aspect.

this was a great start to a series, the cover is what drew me in and I really enjoyed the story inside. the characters were great and I enjoyed reading this.

Ich konnte die Geschichte leider nicht bis zum Ende lesen, da das öffnen des E-Books auf einmal nicht mehr funktioniert hat. Den ersten Teil, welche ich gelesen habe,, hat mir gut gefallen und mir Lust auf mehr gemacht. Ich fand das Buch beinhaltet ein Fantasyaspekt, denn ich so noch nie gelesen habe. Die Charakter waren mir auch sympathisch und ich konnte ihr Handeln nachvollziehen.

DNF’d
There was no plot in the book to stick to. It was just conversations and dialogues and everything was happening so quickly and not in a good way. I loved the idea behind the book like the characters and imagination but it wasn’t presented in a good way. The two best friends suddenly discover that they have powers and just agree to go with some guy who they do not know but he calls himself one of them. Many things were complicated unnecessary to just put something into the book. I don’t think I would have enjoyed it even if I did read it till the end. I wasn’t feeling connected to the story or any single character.

Ok, the books not bad. It’s not fantastic, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It was a nice and engaging read to get through in a day where I had a moment to myself but I don’t particularly feel strongly in one way or the other. It’s a good book to use to fill in time or to read something quick and pretty light after reading a long series.

Amanda and her best friend, Lydia suddenly discovered the existence of the supernatural world as well as their powers. Amanda was a Sentinel 10 while Lydia was a Sentinel 4. They were soon welcomed to the Committee where other Sentinels were trained and assigned to different kinda missions according to their powers. She met James who's a Sentinel 9 and became her partner on assignments. But both realized that a guy was following them which they learned from their advisor, Basil, was Alain. He's a Sentinel but Overload. Void of any emotions. Amanda's world turned upside down. Her love, friendship and patience got tested. But she overcome all of the obstacles.

Thank you to Netgalley and Brigid Book Publishing for the opportunity to read this book for free for an honest review.

This book has a plot that I've not yet come across before to this extent. Amanda is hit by a solar flare while stood in a car park and suddenly has supernatural abilities and is the strongest Sentinel the committee has seen in a while. 

Amanda is a down on her look ex-model (which I thought would be said in passing but then was mentioned a few times) who has just started her residency when this happens. Amanda is not a likeable heroine, she says she's never been in love before then falls for her partner James and then falls in love with another.

The romance aspect for me was quite weird, I know books do have insta-love as a trope but to me, this was on another level and didn't really fit in with what else was happening. 

For me, the story didn't really seem to be getting anywhere until the halfway point which is where Alain comes into it and it's at this point the title is explained.  

The author seemed to do a lot of telling and not showing which caused some of the scenes to be a lot longer than they needed to be. 

I've got to say I did like the idea of the plot but I didn't really enjoy it and found it a struggle to get through. I wish I could have been more positive but it simply wasn't for me.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Brigid Book Publishing for the opportunity to read this book for free for an honest review.

I was really looking forward to reading this book. Unfortunately I couldn’t get into the story at all and I didn’t finish it.

Thank you for this arc from netgalley in exchange for an unbiased and honest review.

Amanda is just about to start her residency when she is struck by a 'solar flare' turning her into the strongest sentinel in ten years. Amanda has never felt attachment to anyone but magically feels a spark with her sentinel partner, James. Unfortunately for her, James isn't interested and only becomes interested when Amanda chooses a psychopathic killer over him.

The story is intriguing and unpredictable. Its an interesting concept and has some interesting characters (unfortunately not explored too much). The problem was the main character, Amanda. She states at the beginning that she has never been able to fall in love but then proceeds to moon after every available guy in the book and feel these 'sparks' she's never felt before with more than one guy. She doesn't listen to her friends advice as a qualified medical professional. Regrettably, the story could have done much more with the trauma and conspiracy angle. I felt like the other societies were very interesting but it only touched on that. There were also multiple plot holes and the story was a lot more tell than show.

However, the story was very unpredictable and it did keep me reading - two stars.

My Thoughts About The Diamond Rose
I happen to be a big fan of the fantasy romance genre in all of its different forms. When I read the blurb for The Diamond Rose, it reminded me a lot of the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning. A girl is suddenly gains powers that she doesn’t understand in a world that she didn’t know existed. I say that because the Fever series is still one of my favorites and was my introduction to the fantasy genre.

As the start of an epic fantasy series, The Diamond Rose creates an elaborate fantasy world filled with mysteries and secrets. At times the secrets seem to be kept from most if not all of the characters, proving that the series has tons of room to grow with almost unlimited potential. There are no rules, it appears, when it comes to the Sentinels, especially not a Sentinel 10.

The world and the plot were by far my favorite parts of the book. The ideas and concepts were pretty amazing and wonderfully well thought out. You could tell that Daniela Valenti imagined and structured and entire universe into which her characters would live and love. There is so much more that is meant to happen with Amanda within even the romance storyline, which seems to take a couple of unexpected turns.

I enjoyed the nontraditional approach to romance here, especially in the ending, which I for one am not taking for granted. There’s just too much that could possibly happen, but if everything is at it seems, there are still many stories to be told, which is a great place to find a series. Otherwise, you have the all too often problem of not knowing where a series can go and feeling like the storyline is forced.

What Didn’t Work For Me
If you’re wondering why The Diamond Rose got a 3 (I liked it), here are the issues I had.

Amanda was not an incredibly likable heroine, the plot felt rushed, and the dialogue, at times, felt stilted. All of these problems came down to one common factor for me, the book was too short.

I felt like we needed more time in almost all aspects of the novel. More time for Amanda to figure out her new life, more time in each scene as she reacted and thought about the things she was saying and were being said or done to her.

The romance developed way too fast for me and I am used to the romance instant-love plot device. I am actually a fan of it, so it’s strange that this one didn’t hit exactly right for me. I’m convinced that the reason for this is lack of time.

I wasn’t emotionally connected to the characters and felt like much of the book suffered from a page limit. As if there was so much story to be told that words couldn’t be spared to take the time and pages to let us sit in any particular place and get to know the characters.

So, honestly, my complaints for the book is that there should be more, which isn’t honestly the worst problem to have.

I’m looking forward to book two if only to see if Daniela Valenti is given the space to really sink into Amanda.

Recommended For
Fantasy lovers looking for a new world to dive into.

💎 🌹 The Diamond Rose by Daniela Valenti 💎 🌹
_______________________________________________

Amanda’s medical school graduation is unlike any other. A solar flare awakens her super-psychic powers, enabling her to fight evil, supernatural and human alike. She is the Sentinel 10, the most powerful warrior in a secret society of similarly endowed people. Her life becomes a whirlwind of international travel and exciting paranormal challenges. But all is not as it seems. Soon Amanda discovers that the man she loves has an evil alter ego and that her own powers have a dark side. Her first year as a Sentinel will push the limits of her resilience and put her own humanity to the test.
___________________________________________

Daniela has such a great writing style and I really liked how it was structured. I will say that I had fun reading this and the premise sounded so intriguing. I did find it interesting and I think it was such a unique process and story. I loved the romance in this and the whole narrative. The characters were also absolutely amazing and I loved where this story went.

However, I did have mix feelings about this. I just think that maybe this wasn’t for me. The concept was there and so was everything else, but I just didn’t connect with it as much as I would’ve liked to. I think paranormal romance just isn’t my thing and therefore I feel like this story is too forgetful. I just don’t see me remembering this story too much afterwards.

Overall, I still enjoyed it and had a great time reading it. I finished it very quickly and I may give the other books in the series a try when they’re released.

**Huge thank you to NetGalley for sending me this book for an honest review**
____________________________________________

Rating: 3/5 ⭐️
___________________________________________

Thankyou to Netgalley and Brigid Book Publishing for providing me the opportunity to read this book free of charge in exchange for a honest rating and review.

I’m sorry that this review isn’t more positive but unfortunately I found this book to be very difficult to get into as it fell massively into the category of “telling rather than showing” rather than “show don’t tell”.

For example, 1% into the book I could tell you a list of things about the scene setting by just word for word copying the text from the book, it felt like the author attempted to set the story background to get it over with and hadn’t thought it through much more than bullet points.

I couldn’t finish this book, I really hope that the author does more work where they flesh out the storytelling but unfortunately for me this was not a book I would recommend to anyone as it is.

Unlike one of the previous reviewers, I try not to judge a book by it’s cover but in this case, I should have. I can forgive an ugly cover for great writing but I’m sorry to say this is not there yet.

I had a hard time getting into this book. Sentences at times seemed kind of choppy and the story seemed really cheesy. I didn’t get far into the book before I decided not to continue on due to the story and writing style. I could tell early one from the preface that’s how I’d feel.

This book was not one that I enjoyed; I couldn't engage myself with the writing or the story, which is the reason for my low rating.

Things I enjoyed about this book:
- The romance was good, although at first, I found it really awkward and a little cringy.

Things I didn't enjoy:
- A lot of the text made no sense (Disappearing off the face of the earth without consequence, being given a mission straight away without training or combat experience.). Some of the descriptions were unnecessary and weak.
- The magic system was hardly described in a way that made sense. It was explained in a basic way that didn't give any useful information to the reader.
- I didn't feel a deep connection between any of the characters; they were all sort of just there and existing.
- I wanted more of Amanda's backstory, I felt as if we hardly got any information on her past life.
- There was a lack of emotion. I feel as if Amanda took everything in way too quickly. There was no emotion, no retaliation of the fact her entire life was changing. She just took the information in and accepted it without consequence. I feel as this is incredibly unrealistic.