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!

Violet Made of Thorns has all the tropes that I am a fan of. A main character who has powers that she doesn't yet know how to use or control, enemies to lovers, royalty and more.
I liked that Violet was our morally grey character as I've mostly read stories with the male characters as morally grey. While this story is reminiscent of other popular YA stories, I enjoyed this story as its own!

Thanks to Random House for the review copy.
I greatly enjoyed this YA fantasy about a girl who has power but doesn't know how to use it, who was raised in a castle but is bound to a king, who wants love but has no faith in others. Filled with mysterious prophesies and questionable loyalties this story was an engrossing read for me and I'm now eager for the 2nd book.

I found Violet entertaining with her grouchiness and cleverness in dealing with others although I'm sure others would find her not as pleasant. Violet is not a shrinking flower as she has grown up in a world where she is used by others and must learn to navigate politics and the public that both reveres and is disappointed by her, comparing her to her predecessor.

If you are not a fan of romance then you might not be a fan of this book as it makes up a large part of the plot. I myself love romance so found the will they or won't they back and forth fulfilling. I would definitely compare it to the Cruel Prince's Jude and Cardan but on an even sharper tone.

As for the actual storyline and progression I found it satisfying, it moves along steadily and gives some answers to questions that are brought up. While some part were original there are tropes that will feel familiar but sets up the next book quite well as we have new questions and complications to deal with.

Overall would recommend to people who want to read a story with royal intrigue, romance, magic and a lead that is atypical but enjoyable.

Unfortunately while I wanted to absolutely love this, I found it a little dull? I think I’m just growing out of YA fantasy so a lot of things feel recycled.

3.5 stars

This book was a lot of fun to read! I really enjoyed Violet in particular. She is a seer (each kingdom in this world has one) and while it is a real power that she has, she also totally messes with people just for her own amusement, or from boredom, or whatever. Meaning she makes up a lot of her “prophecies“. Not to mention the king who asks her to manipulate certain things to suit himself. Prince Cyrus was a bit of a lump for me, as his wishes and priorities kept jumping around. But this was made up for by his delightful twin sister Camilla, who is a gossipy fashionista lesbian chaos monster 😁. All in all I enjoyed my time reading this book and look forward to seeing what the author has next.

Thank you to NetGalley & Random House Children’s for this advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

A fairly modern twist on classic fairy tale tropes, Violet Made of Thorns is told through the pragmatic and cynical eyes of the witch.

Violet doesn’t believe in happy ever after’s, only her own power and doing anything she must to keep it. Born a Seer, gifted with the rare ability to see past and future threads, she thwarts the Fates by saving the prince’s life. Brought to live in the palace, she spends following years learning how to bend her sight to hers and the king’s whims. She becomes a gifted liar, and the prince she saved loathes the woman she has become. But there’s a fine line between love and hate, and Violet’s attempts to control prophecy only backfire in the worst possible ways.

I enjoyed Violet’s ruthlessness, her arguments with the Fates and the way magic is woven throughout the kingdom and her story. The ambrosia drunk fairies were as funny as the foolish nobles that enslaved them. Often the author used humor as a fine veneer over the sinister undertones in Violet’s world. Wickedness of which Violet is perhaps most aware of. While Violet’s character is refreshing and the worldbuilding intriguing, I found Dante far more interesting than Prince Cyrus. Often times the story felt a bit too twisty, more in an epic fantasy vein than fantasy or fairy tale romance.

Violet Made of Thorns isn’t perfect and the romance was lacking for me, but altogether an excellent debut and certainly Chen is definitely an author to watch.

I request this because the blub mentioned The Cruel Prince. I didn't love it like I love The Cruel Prince because it fell a bit flat for me. It was a good story, enjoyable characters but the last part of the book left me wishing for more in some ways. I know it's the start of a series, but it just didn't quite get there for me. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.