I've been looking forward to reading this one for a very long while. Now that I've finally sat down to savor it, the feels have been washing over me for a while. 
Violet is the Seer for a kingdom. She earned this position by saving the prince, a haughty and honorable boy named Cyrus. Cyrus used to like Violet before the king hired her to lie to people with her gifts, and has tried manipulating him. But she sees visions of his death, if he doesn't marry soon. We get some fairy tale motifs, and reminders that stories don't always have happy endings.
Sometimes we have to fight for our destiny to make them true. Violet is not nice, but she is good. for that reason, she clashes with Cyrus a lot, who believes that being honest is more important than doing the pragmatic thing for the country. His sister Camilla knows how to charm, but Camilla also has no interest in ruling. 
A potent ending reminds us that stories have power. They also carry consequences unless you know how to make them true.

A wonderfully fantastical spin on your classic fairytale, filled with tension, heart, and just the right touch of magic. The rivals to lovers in this book was perfection. Full of twists and turns, this story is an absolute ride the entire way through, and I enjoyed every word. A fabulous 5 stars!

Pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed this as much as I did. I’m late to the bandwagon and waited until the hype died down to finally read this one.

This was an excellent debut novel and it has all the things that we all love so much: morally grey FMC, evil princely type, sexual tension that just oozes off the pages - mix it with a banging epic adventure where that hate turns into a strong “you’re not so bad after all” and bam! You got you a pretty badass story.

I actually cannot wait until the second installment comes out. 7.5/10

Violet Made of Thorns follows Violet, a Seer to Prince Cyrus of Auveny. Violet was once an orphan living on the street, but one random encounter with Prince Cyrus led to Violet living among, and influencing the royal court. Now, Violet is a prophet to the court and its people, but Violet is no longer trusted by Prince Cyrus.

Prince Cyrus returns from a trip without the bride Violet said the prince would meet during his travels. The king asks Violet to gain the Prince’s trust and convince him he will meet his one true love at the ball that will soon take place. To stay in the king’s good graces, Violet must get the prince to trust her, but she must also deal with political machinations and a curse that might change everything.

Violet Made of Thorns is an engaging story full of twist and turns. Violet, the main character, is an antiheroine but she is still extremely likable and I couldn't help but root for her. The story contains imagery from classic fairy tales that adds to the fantasy narrative. There are fairies, witches, and curses, but also a compelling hate to love romance between Violet and Prince Cyrus.

I recommend this to lovers of fantasy and romance. Violet Made of Thorns is the perfect mixture of both. I will definitely be picking up the next book Gina Chen writes.

*e-ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

I found this book to be very uninteresting. I was captured at the beginning with learning the new world and characaters, and i think the author did a good job of that. Along with explaining the plot, etc. All of that was done well, which is why it is a 3 star read for me. but after some time i found it to get boring and i also didnt care for the main characters. they both were dull and i also found their romance to be weird. there is a hate/love factor there but it felt unauthentic and forced. probably wont continue this series.

This is a great read if you’re looking to get your fill on the haters to lovers trope! Violet is a cunning con artist straight from the streets who scams her way as a “seer” to the top! Add in a cursed prince, political intrigue, and you have a recipe for a great read! There is some rather spicy scenes for a YA book, which I enjoyed. Definitely recommend this if you’re looking for something new to read with some morally grey enemies to lovers vibes!

I heard a lot of mixed reviews about this book but I honestly thoroughly enjoyed it. It was everything I was looking for in a fantasy romance and just really hit the spot.

I always love a good Marley gray character and that’s exactly what we get here. Prince Cyrus is a character that you won’t really understand what’s going through your head, but you love every interaction with him. Does he want her? Doesn’t he want her? Why is he mean or why is he kind? Who knows. It gave me a very light version of prince Cardan from The Cruel Prince.

Violet is that unapologetic main character that’s enough to see in a fantasy. She is from the poor slums of this world and uses any power. She can get to raise her status. Knowing full well that it can be taken away from her from any moment. But she plays the game.

I’m not gonna lie, as I was reading this book I felt like I was constantly confused on what the overall plot was. What the main character was trying to do constantly change, depending on certain things that happened. And it was kind a hard to follow at times. However, the interactions between the characters and the desire to want to know what happens keeps you entertained throughout the story.

I will say, I found the ending to feel slightly rushed, and there to be a little bit of it is still love at the end of the book. However, I think how the second book is crafted, and where it goes is going to play a huge role in my feelings on how this book ended.

Thank you to Penguin Teen Canada for sending me ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I would start out with my biggest issue with my book, but unfortunately I have many big issues. Part of what contributed the most to my dissatisfaction was how we learned so many things through voices/prophecies/dreams, to the point where every other chapter would end with a section of italicized mysterious words from aforementioned voices/prophecies/dreams. That repetitiveness contributed to feeling like Violet did nothing and was pretty passive—which is interesting to consider, since her whole thing is wanting to take control of her own life and power? In that case, such passivity could be a smart artistic choice if it led to a fulfilling culmination of her development—but I found the ending with the king to be horribly dissatisfying. Though she did end up choosing her own destiny and having a climactic rebellious moment, so much about the book was specifically centered on how she always gave in to the king, and she never got the chance to fully resolve that.

The main selling point of the book was sadly also hugely disappointing. The romance was good if you could pretend that you knew their backstory well, because there is no way to know their backstory well. I’ll admit that I did enjoy their little game of “I hate you but let’s kiss and pretend like we are never gonna do this again” HOWEVER just because I enjoyed it doesn’t mean it was good! You can tell from the beginning that there’s (sexual) tension between them, that it’s a love/hate thing, that it’s been like this for a while… but you are never shown how it developed. So it ends up feeling overdramatic and uncalled for because you don’t know the foundation for it! While I enjoyed it to a certain extent, it was more on an entertainment level rather than feeling actual investment.

Also, there’s this increasing trend of lines in (mainly YA?) books that you can very much tell the author was extremely proud to have written and thought they hit but in reality missed by a ballpark. Unfortunately this book is yet another victim to that!

Personally, I had an enjoyable enough time reading this that I originally rated it 2.5 stars rather than 2. Like was it objectively that great? Ehh. But I can’t pretend like I didn’t mostly have a fun time reading it, purely for the sake of wanting to know what would happen next. Violet is an excellently crafted character and the saving point of this book. I loved how terrible she was, and how she was unapologetic for it. Again, her arc was not perfectly satisfying… But in honesty, the entire ending was a bit rushed, so I think it was less of an issue with her and more the ending. Unfortunately, whenever I look back on this book, I think not about the decent time I had reading this but about all the complaints I have, so it is getting 2 stars from me and a pretty solid position in the list of books I wouldn’t recommend.

I really liked how I didn’t quite know what to expect with it as I began to read. Morally grey protagonist and a wonderfully dark fairy tale story! The characters in this story are quite entertaining. I do think the romance could have been done better. I appreciated the world, the story, and the characters. This was a good read. I definitely enjoyed it.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced copy of this book to read.

This was a good YA fantasy read but missed the mark a little. I just am not as into straight YA fantasy as much anymore, unless it's outstanding. But would be good for a younger reader.

Violet Made of Thorns is a fairytale style setting that is witty, irreverent and changes directions from one moment to the next. In a fascinating dark take that still pulls off romance, humor and court intrigue. Interesting start and I look forward to more.

This was a fun fantasy read. It read a little to YA for me, but for a younger audience I can recommend it.

This is a book for fairytale lovers! A prince, a witch and prophecy that binds them. Definitely a fun book I enjoyed.

Absolutely loved this book! The depth of emotion in the characters built beautifully on the suspense of the storyline. I found myself guessing from the start what would be the key to ending the curse - I wasn't disappointed at all at how Chen tied the story up!

i’m very glad that there are so many more
options when looking for east asian young adult stories, but maybe i’m just too old for most of them. it’s on me for hoping i’d love a book that was comp’d to two books i don’t really like. would be interested in reading chen’s writing if she goes beyond YA

Violet Made of Thorns is a charming, dramatic, often deliciously irreverent take on a whole host of fairy tale tropes and conventions. It spins from one element to the next, blending steamy romance, court intrigue, magic both whimsical and dark, and tongue-in-cheek humor for a bewitching story. I can't wait for the sequel!

Thanks to the publisher for the advance review copy.

I had high hopes for VIOLET MADE OF THORNS, but unfortunately, this novel didn’t quite meet my expectations. I may not have loved everything about this book, but there were a few aspects that I thought worked well, including: 1) the fairytale-inspired elements, both in terms of details and the plot, and particularly because it feels like they’ve been subverted or, at the very least, used differently in Chen’s book, 2) the explosive, often confrontational, dynamic between Violet and Cyrus, which outs itself in their interactions from beginning to end, and 3) the themes that the author touched upon, including fate, perspective, power and the agency (or lack thereof) of a single person

I did struggle with the plot, which starts off rather slow but picks up in the latter third (including finishing things off solidly with an ending that certainly makes me curious about what will happen in the sequel). I also didn’t connect with the characters, particularly morally grey Violet (and the way this is portrayed is clever, I can concede this) who perpetually has her hackles raised; and prince Cyrus with his artifice who is nearly impossible to really get to know (especially given we don’t get his perspective).

These two things heavily affected my overall opinion on this YA fantasy debut. It's still, however, quite readable (and the narration by Emily Woo Zeller was great, by the way), and it does finish on an interesting enough note, so perhaps take my review more as an idea of what to expect (if we share similar tastes) versus an actual deterrent to checking this one out for yourself.

This was fun! Dark and unexpected. Steamy romance and such a fun plot to watch unfold. Not a ton of world building, but that left room for a lot of plot/action. Didn’t see the ending coming. Listened on audio.

This filled the hole in my heart that was left by the folk of the air series. The romance? Toxic and addicting. The main character? Moral compass is NOT a thing and I loved that. Girlie did what she had to and she was unapologetic and I was living for it. The prince? Slightly pathetic and angry about it and it made it all the better. Are there faults in the book? Sure. But more than anything, it was an angry girl trying to get away with her con and it was delightful.