Overall, Violet Made of Thorns was an interesting fantasy with a shining star of a main character. Violet is a character I loved following—smart, cynical, with intriguing internal thoughts and a fleshed-out backstory. That coupled with the lovely writing made the book flow beautifully. Cyrus, however, was not good enough for Violet in my opinion and not very pleasant to read about, something that brought the reading experience down for me. I would have also appreciated more world-building, as the bits given were compelling. Regardless, I would recommend this book to anybody who enjoys enemies-to-lovers and morally gray characters. 3.5/5 stars.

5 stars. 5 stars. 5 stars. Damn the angst and sexual tension killed me. And the betrayals! This was such an intense read. And man when he died at the end I held my dang breathe like helllll naw they better bring him back sheewww my emotions were not ready for this.

Comparing this to The Cruel Prince and Serpent & Dove is soooo correct. THE FEELS ARE REAL.

A fun take on an anti-heroine all wrapped up in fantasy and intrigue. I thought Chen did a great job diving into Violet's motivations and desires, contrasting them with the world around her. A little uneven pacing, but an enjoyable read.

Violet Made of Thorns was a good read, and I can see people really loving it, but it fell flat at some points for me. I did really like the fairytale aspects and thought they done well. The writing in the book was great. I thought the pacing of the book was good, passages were descriptive, and the dialogue felt natural. I also really enjoyed the protagonist, Violet, who can best be described as morally grey.

I found fault with the romance, which I found very bland and lacking. There was so much potential for angst and buildable tension, but it really fell flat. There also was nothing about the book itself that really stood out from others in the genre. I did enjoy reading it, but parts were predictable.

I thoroughly enjoyed being taken through a story with a character like Violet. When the book was marketed as having a morally gray female lead, it fulfilled that promise. Violet is unapologetic and is only looking to save herself, which is something I always find interesting to read in a protagonist, and it makes it doubly interesting when she is pitted against a noble prince. This is a true enemies to lovers story, and I was 100% here for it. The plot and worldbuilding didn’t always work for me, but I was wildly entertained the entire time.

This was one of the most hyped-up books of the year so I came into it with my usual suspicions when it comes to books like that, but I was pleasantly surprised that the story really pulled me in.
Most, if not all, of the big reveals are evident if you've ever read a fantasy YA, yet Chen manages to make all the cliches her own with clever writing and sympathetic characters.
It's very easy to see where Violet gets her motivation and makes the types of choices she does. Same with Cyrus's side of the story. It's a series of chess moves played out with people's lives and dark magic that end up creating quite a captivating tale.
It definitely left me salivating for more, especially with the hints about Violet's magic being more powerful than she thinks and lots of little threads that felt like they were dropped when the time to tie up the big threads came.

Happy thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the enchanting read!

Morally grey protagonist and a wonderfully dark fairy tale story! I really enjoyed Violet Made of Thorns. And would love to read more by Gina Chen. I think this is a great upper YA fantasy book.

Thank you to Random House Children's and Netgalley for the e-ARC!

A richly imagined dark fairy tale perfect for fans of Holly Black, with an enemies to lovers romance between a false prophetess and a prince.

Great book and enjoyed the characters . loved the slight romance and the how well the group worked together. Overall a great book . I would read this author again.

This passed my ultimate book test -- will I stay up WAAAAAY past my bedtime to finish it. And, yes, I did. I loved the characters and the unexpected plot twists and turns kept me guessing what would happen. I love the world that the author has created with its roots in familiar fairy tales and stories about good vs. evil, but with enough modern takes such as allowing the female protagonist to be strong, soft, imperfect, and powerful.

I really enjoyed this! I don't read a ton of fantasy, and even less YA fantasy, but the heroine was so fun--and, indeed, quite prickly--and the setting so delightfully dark-fairtytale that I wanted to keep reading. I would absolutely recommend this to teens looking for the next step up from fairy tales.

Violet Made of Thorns???!!! I'm going to recommend this book to everyone out there, finally no need to suggest all white fantasy book :) we won POCs, talking about Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen.

Okay firstly wow, what was that, i mean i did have very high expectations when I started the book. And hell yeah it stood on each of them perfectly. First of all, Violet is my absolute favourite mc in recent reads, wanna know why?

She's badass (enough reason)
She's a woman fighting for her place no matter what it takes
She loves showing the arrogant prince his place from time to time. Talking about the prince, hello? The sheet tension in between them, kept me biting my nails all the freaking time. At one point i was like, imma head out i need a break. Immaculate.

The world revolves around magic and a prophecy, i think there are loads of layers we'll slowly peel with more books in the series, but that doesn't help me with the cliffhanger at the end but anyways. The worldbuilding was brilliant, i was pulled right in, c'mon we finally got the diverse high fantasy, with magic, powers, saints and enemies to lovers trope. We won y'all.

So coming back to story building, it felt like travelling with the character together, the emotions were so vivid at times i felt like it was me feeling it.

A brilliant story that pulled me out of my reading slump. Deserves the hype, c'mon. I can write much more but, I'll leave some things for you to find out for yourself :)

‘Violet Made of Thorns’ by Gina Chen was boldly sumptuous, dark and stunning, with a morally grey protagonist, Violet, that I loved. Absolutely recommend!

This is perfect for any fairytale/fantasy reader. While I did like it, I ultimately thought it was only okay. I didn't strongly connect with any of the characters. The writing was good and I do think it has potential.

What a great twist on the fairy tale genre. I love that our main character isn’t a damsel in distress but is actually one who is usually relegated to a side character…the oracle. The banter between the MCs is pretty great and the story itself is so different from our usual fare. It kept me turning the pages late into the night. Not incredibly fast paced but engaging!

When I downloaded this story I didn’t realize it was YA Fantasy. My fault for not paying closer attention. This is not generally a genre I read, that being said, the story was interesting and carried all the fantasy tropes most readers love, especially if you enjoy YA Fiction.

Gina Chen did a really good job with the story and I think YA readers will really enjoy this. It is a book I would recommend in our store for those looking specifically for YA Fantasy.

Thank you to #netgalley and #randomhousechildren for allowing me to read the eARC of this book. All opinions expressed above are my own.

The publisher archived the ARC on Netgalley before I could download it to my kindle, leaving me unable to read or review the book.

Love this twist on fairytales with morally gray characters. The characters are interesting and even the worst of them are quite likeable. This is a great debut and I can't wait for more in this series!

If you love fairy tales this is 100% worth putting on your radar. Violet Made of Thorns feels like it pulls a little something from all the classic fairy tales we grew up with and puts it's own spin on them while also having the enemies to lovers trope I adore. It's been so long since I've read a YA fantasy book that I truly just enjoyed from start to finish but this one really did it for me. I'm so glad I gave this one a chance and cannot wait to see what will happen in the next book!

Amazing read that had me captivated from start to finish! From the moment I start until I finished I couldn’t put it down!