https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5468864367

A retelling/reimagining of the story of the wicked queen from Sleeping Beauty. Very readable but quite a convoluted story and not much depth to most of the characters. And as with all these retellings, the prior knowledge that things aren't going to end well takes away a lot of the suspense. Essentially an easy but lightweight fantasy read.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

A really incredible version of Sleeping Beauty, from "The Wicked Fairy's" side. Not known as Maleficent in this one which I thought was great, as it helped to understand her more without picturing her as Maleficent. The love story, the betrayal and everything she goes through, just made me love her more. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you.

Myravelle is a fairy who is being blackmailed by the King to keep her mother safe. She is responsible for healing the soldiers who have been injured in the camp. However, she must slowly take the life of a soldier in the camp to do so. Her final "sacrifice" is more than she bargained for.

In this reimagined prequel to Sleeping Beauty, we learn the backstory for the Wicked Fairy. The story and plot is really interesting, and Myravelle is very relatable. She is battling her demons while trying to keep her humanity. Her relationship with Byzarien is an enemies to lovers situation, which is one of my favorite tropes. There is a little spice, but it's vaguely described. My favorite part in the book is when Byzarien and Myravelle visit Byzarien's family. I wish they could have stayed longer! Also Little Nightmare just stole the whole book.

If you're looking for an Upper YA/NA romance with enemies to lovers, battles, found family, and a little mystery, definitely check out this Sleeping Beauty villain retelling.

I knew from the first chapter or so that this book just wasn’t for me. The overall premise was good, but that was as far it went for me. The writing style was terrible and the characters were wooden. I like my fantasies with a bit more world building too

I was drawn to this book by its title and cover, which promised a dark and twisted retelling of Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of the wicked fairy.

The book follows Myravelle, a fairy who grew up in a tower with her mother, who spun gold for the king. Myravelle longed to learn fairy magic, but her mother forbade it. One day, she accidentally revealed her powers and was forced to become the healer of the king’s Sleepy Wood Company, a group of soldiers who were cursed to fall into a deep sleep every night. To wake them up, Myravelle had to drain the life force of a man with a dagger and use it to fuel her healing enchantments.

Myravelle’s life changed when she was bound by a ritual to Byzarien Dumont, a scarred and bitter man who hated fairies for the fires that destroyed his family and his home. Their mutual distrust and resentment threatened to ruin Myravelle’s magic and put their lives in danger. As they faced enemies and secrets from their pasts, they also had to deal with their growing attraction and feelings for each other.

I liked the premise and the world-building of this book, which blended elements of fairy tales, magic, and history. The author created a complex and intriguing character in Myravelle, who was not a typical villain but a flawed and sympathetic heroine who struggled with her dark nature and her desire for love. I also enjoyed the slow-burn romance between Myravelle and Byzarien, who had great chemistry and banter.

However, I also found some parts of the book redundant and confusing. The plot seemed to drag at times, especially in the middle, where there were too many scenes of Myravelle waking up the soldiers or arguing with Byzarien. I also got lost in some of the details of the magic system and the history of the kingdom, which were not explained very well. I wished there was more action and suspense to keep me engaged.

Overall, I think Her Dark Enchantments is an original and creative take on Sleeping Beauty that fans of gothic fairy tales might enjoy. It has a strong heroine, a swoon-worthy hero, and a dark twist that will surprise you. Thank you NetGalley and Quill & Crow Publishing House for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

While I was intrigued by the idea of a dark, adult Sleeping Beauty retelling, this one missed the mark for me. I was slightly bored for a majority of the book, and the character/place names were quite strange. Normally it wouldn’t bother me, but it would take me out of the book trying to figure out how to say the name. Myravelle and Byzarien remind me of Louise and Reid from Serpent & Dove.

Read this if you like:
* Enemies to lovers romance
* Fairytale Retellings/Sleeping Beauty
* Virgin MMC
* Villain origin stories

2⭐️ DNF

The author’s writing is fine, but unfortunately I found this to be pretty uninteresting in style, story and characterisation. I opted not to continue reading because I found myself bored. In general, it felt like the writing lacked any kind of spark or personality that would have kept me engaged even if the characters lacked. But as both were flat, I couldn’t continue reading.

Wow, this was so beautifully heart-breaking. I loved that this was from the point of view of the wicked fairy and gave the "Villain" a voice and the writing was so amazing with complex characters that have great developments throughout the book. I really enjoyed reading this and I felt transported to this dark gothic, magical world with interesting lore I haven't seen be explored before being this not just a typical retelling but also unique in its own right. I would definitely recommend for anyone who likes gothic fantasy.

I am grateful to have received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return this is my honest review.

Her Dark Enchantments is a dark gothic fairy tale. Like Wicked meets Sleeping Beauty meets Rumpelstiltskin. I loved it.

Her Dark Enchantments introduces us to a world where magical trees are what stand between human and fairy war. These trees, called Dormrya trees, are a major source of economic trade thanks to their ability to form deadly, poisonous weapons. The fairies, however, have cursed the trees in order to protect their realm in the center of their grove, resulting in any man that comes in contact with even a splinter to fall into some form of deep sleep. Sometimes it’s just a limb that falls asleep, sometimes the entire person falls into a cursed sleep plagued by nightmares, and the only person that can wake them up is Myravelle. A fairy herself under the king’s thumb, Myravelle’s magic is fueled by her connection with a chosen man, with painful, deadly costs for both parties. Yet, what happens when the one man who hates her is chosen to be her next canvas?

I’ve said this once, and I’ll say it again: this is Wicked, but instead of getting the Wicked Witch’s origin story, you get the Wicked Fairy’s. You can see so clearly how Myravelle never wanted to hurt anyone. In fact, all she wants is freedom for both herself and her mother, and someone that could actually love her despite her long list of dead lovers. Essentially, the way Myravelle’s magic works is through runes. After finding a man to be her canvas, she carves a rune into his chest, which gives the man an immediate wave of pleasure—fans of soft-med core smut will enjoy this. By combining their blood through this rune, Myravelle is able to charge her magic enough to reverse the sleeping curses, but while the man feels all the extasy, Myravelle takes on all of their pain until they have nothing left to give and they die. It's an honor and a death sentence; one that isolates Myravelle even in her brief moments of connecttion with her canvases. She doesn’t want to hurt anyone, she didn’t ask for this power, and while the guilt eating her alive made me immediately empathize with her, her drive to try and do something about it made me love her. She’s sad, lonely, and afraid, but she’s also powerful, loyal, determined, and fierce. I loved getting to see her evolution throughout this book, and her breaking points and spiral into her final form was so well done I want to scream. Myravelle is 5 stars. Then, we have Byzarien.

A soldier in the Sleep Wood Company, Byze is tasked with trying to either get through the trees to the fairies, or just harvest the trees to make weapons. After his family home was set ablaze, Byze was horribly scarred down the entire side of his body by the flames as he saved his younger siblings. Now, he works in the company to scrounge up whatever money he can for his family, who are stuck in the slums. His scars are a constant source of insecurity for him, especially since he thinks no one can love him as a result. Yet, when Byze is summoned to be the next canvas and an opportunity for said love is presented to him, he is pissed. He’s honestly a grump—although there’s no sunshine in this trope. Yet, his love for his friends and family, his stubbornness but concurrent ability to admit maybe he was wrong, and his fierce loyalty and good heart made me immediately love him.

As for the plot itself, it is so clearly written by someone that has a firm grasp on story telling. So many times, the characters are presented with situations where they are like, “Absolutely not,” and try to do something else instead. Yet, the plot doesn’t just shove them along down the correct path, but instead actively corners the characters and shows them what will happen if they don’t make that choice. Every decision has consequences, even the right ones. Also, so many gay relationships, and even some character race diversity (we love). There was also such a smooth, well-paced evolution from enemies, to friends, to lovers in the first half of the novel. I never felt like the romance was stalling or events were just occurring for the sake of including them. I will say in the second half it felt like the romance pendulum swung so hard so fast, but the overall wicked, fantastical fairytale vibe helped me get over it pretty fast. This is also mainly in regards to Byze’s POV, not Myravelle’s, which is interesting. I also wish there had been a dedicated moment for Byze to face his scars and be like, “I’m tired of hiding behind my hair. These are my scars,” but we didn’t really get that. It’s not a huge deal, but I think that would have been the bow on top of his arc, you know?

Overall, I adore Her Dark Enchantments. The characters are easy to root for and love. The romance is fantastically paced, and I love how they have the bonding understanding of what it’s like to be viewed as unlovable to the rest of the world. The magic system is pretty soft, but again, that matches the fairytale vibe, and the details we do get are so freaking cool and interesting. The world is magical and enthralling, the story immediately sucks you in, the ending is amazing and ugh! Just read this, okay?

Thank you to Rosalyn Briar, Quill & Crow Publishing House and NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

"Draft and pinch. Draft and pinch.
Spin. Spin. Spin.
Draft and pinch. Draft and pinch.
Again. Again. Again."

What a disappointment. The synopsis had promised me a retelling of Sleeping Beauty. We're more on a reworked original villain story. And the idea is good, in the idea of "we made the villains villains because of our behaviors, by excluding them from our society etc". But the execution is lacking.

The male character, Byzsomething, is fundamentally lacking. The enemies-to-lovers trope, which I love and could die for, is horribly written. I could have died from rolling my eyes. And it pains me to write such a review, because I'm sure the author is great and that her books can appeal to many. But Her Dark Enchantments is not it. After almost five chapters, we reach the lovers' stage and even if I understand that the story has to move forward, here it's not fast, it's "we skip important moments while the days don't go by, only the hours or even the minutes".

The secondary characters are in 1D, they don't serve much purpose and their behavior is random. But this is also true for Byzsomething and Maryvelle. One time it's hot, the other time it's cold. We don't know on which foot to dance anymore (it's a French expression). And then we have their promise of eternal love, when they don't know each other much... I wasn't hooked. I really tried, I pushed until the last page. Actually, the last chapters, THAT I liked. But it came too late and all the main plot was already over.

The original idea was good but yes the execution was not there, and believe me I am the first disappointed because I love fairy tale retellings.

Her Dark Enchantments is a dark fantasy romance novel by Rosalyn Briar. It is a retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story, told from the perspective of the villain, Maleficent. (Yes please!!) The novel follows Myravelle Spinner, a young fairy who is cursed by the king and forced to live in a tower. She is eventually released from the tower and becomes the healer in the king's Sleepy Wood Company. Myravelle must now choose a new canvas–a man whose life she drains with a dagger to fuel her healing powers. A ritual binds her to Byzarien Dumont, who despises fairies due to the fires that left his family destroyed and his body covered in scars.

The novel is beautifully written and the characters are complex and well-developed. Briar has a gift for language, and her descriptions are both evocative and haunting. The story is well-paced and suspenseful. I was hooked from the beginning and couldn't put the book down. Myravelle is a strong and determined woman who is forced to make challenging decisions. Byzarien is a tortured soul who is trying to find his place in the world. The two characters are drawn to each other despite their differences, and their relationship is both passionate and heartbreaking.

The only thing I have to complain about is that the ending was a bit anticlimactic. I was hoping for a more dramatic or satisfying conclusion.Her Dark Enchantments is a must-read for fans of dark fantasy and romance. It is a beautifully written story about love, loss, and redemption.

I enjoyed this book, which I would call dark fantasy. It was inspired by the fairytale about Sleeping Beauty. Point of view is from the Wicked Witch, and tells the story of my why she becomes cruel. There are elements of the book I didn't like as much, but that's because I personally prefer certain ways of word choices (like using the singular «they» rather than «he or she» for example). These are not big things, and I really loved the story itself.

The beginning starts slow, with names and events that you don’t understand until you read further.
Not a fan of an insta-love situation either, especially since I didn’t see much chemistry. I didn’t grow to love either of the main characters, so wasn’t invested in the story.

I like fantasy and fairy tale retellings, but overall, this book just missed the mark for me.

Thank you Netgalley for this eARC! I was truly blown away by this book. I’ll start by saying I have never read a book without a HEA and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this story and ending. This is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of Myravelle, a young girl forced to perform spells for the king in a war against Fairies.

✔️ Twisted fairytale vibes
✔️ Enemies to lovers
✔️ Wickedly morally grey
✔️ Villain origin story
✔️ Short easy read
✔️ A sprinkle of spice

These characters were brilliantly thought out and the overall plot was fantastic. I loved the twists that I did not see coming that shaped The Wicked Fairy into the villain the world forced her to become. The fairies and fairy lore were so interesting to read about and I loved uncovering things with Myravelle and discovering who she was and what she was truly capable of. The magic system was very interesting to me and I loved the way that the author decided to make it.

I had trouble with the pacing of the book. It is a pretty short book and there were parts of it that were long that could have been shorter and events that should have gotten more pages that did not. Therefore the end felt rushed to me. The main love interest lost a lot of personality and depth when it switched from enemies to lovers to them getting together. I felt that he was just obsessed with Myravelle and certain sentences and the dialogue felt forced at times. Some more descriptive body language could have helped with the feeling of having abrupt dialogue. Lastly, it was difficult to visualize the areas they traveled to because it was written in a way that it seemed like they were able to walk or get rides to different places in the story very quickly. However, the plot was great and I could overlook the issues in the book.

I truly enjoyed this short fast-paced read full of fairies, wickedly morally grey characters, betrayal, heartbreak, villains, romance, revenge, war, and magic. I recommend reading it if you like fairytale retellings as it has made me want to read more books like it! It has also changed my stance on reading books that don’t have HEA’s and I would read another.

I love retellings. Taking a story and flipping it on its head is my favorite type of book. This book is based on Sleeping Beauty. Which is a classic, so there a lot to work with. I found the book a little repetitive. Her Dark Enchantments was definitely an good read, not hard to understand the plot points or the story line. I wish that it was a tad more descriptive when presenting the story. The story was also a tad slow for me. I found myself wanting more. However, a very good premise, just a little lacking in execution. But still a good read!

*Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for an Earc in exchange for an honest review.*

I really, really like fairytale retellings so I knew I was going to enjoy Her Dark Enchantments- it was fun and fast paced, and wickedly morally grey.
I think in some areas it got a bit too fast, to the point where I couldn't keep up and the whole thing got slightly confusing. I also think the speech was quite forced in areas.

As for the characters, I absolutely loved Myravelle. Seeing her motivation for becoming the Dark fairy was glorious, I could really trace the descent of her morals.

On the other hand, Byzarien was just a bit of a boor. He was interesting while in the enemies to lovers stage but halfway through he lost all personality and became obsessed with Myravelle.

But the side characters, I was in love. I won't say too much but they were the highlight of the book.

The plot had enough extra twists (predictable ones unfortunately) that for the most part I was invested. The first 30% and the last 15% of the book were BY FAR the best and have pulled it up from 2 to 3 stars so...

It's a fresh take on a tried and tested genre. I think this is a solid book, and I would read more books by the author. It did feel like it was struggling to decide between YA or adult in areas, but that's a minor problem.

Not bad but overall it was a tad slow which obviously made it hard to get through.

This also meant that the expected happened - the ending felt way to rushed. And I wasn't a fan of the instalove that occurs as a result of that because it didn't feel like an authentic story. I also felt like there were details lacking in certain aspects. I'm not sure I'd recommend it until or if I'm interested in seeing if book two clarifies some of those things.

Villain origin stories can either be incredibly one-note, or dive deep into the multitude of events that eventually lead to a breaking point, and a fall to the darkness. Her Dark Enchantments is in the latter category. A deeply sorrowful tale of how a woman with magic, Myravelle, seeks to save her mother from an evil king. In the process, she must reach for the pain of others to fuel her magic. And in this, she unwittingly finds love and a canyon of heartbreak.

So much of this story is spent with Byzarien and Myravelle, and how they each are struggling with who they are, and who they wish they could be. Myravelle is ostracized and yet used her powers to help those that would condemn her (by coercion and not by choice). Byzarien is deeply hurt due to loss, blaming it on the fairies that Myravelle is descended from. They are forced together, and each learns more than they bargained for in the process of their tempestuous beginnings and the evolution of their relationship.

What makes this retelling of how the "Mistress of All Evil" came to be haunting Briar Rose (AKA: Sleeping Beauty) so profound is that it does not hide the devastation that leads Myravelle to eventually fall into who she is destined to become. It lets us see that villains are often made, and not born. It shows that who people are and who they are perceived to be is all about perspective and a good propaganda campaign. And it shows us that love is often the only thing that tethers us to our humanity.

*I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the author for giving me a copy in advance. I will give my honest opinion.
2.30/5
The book was fine. Sometimes too much ripetitive and slow, mostly at the beginning. The first half of the book is so slow. Almost nothing happens and then, everything happens. All at once and too fast. They fall in love in a blink of a eye and that I really didn’t like. There is no chemistry between the two MC. I liked the book towards the end, but then too fast!
It would have been better with two books and explain everything better.

After reading some amazing reviews for this story, I had my hopes set high. After getting about 30% into the story, however, I felt like I just wanted the pace to quicken and more action. I liked the characters (who doesn’t love a perceived villain as the protagonist?) and enjoyed the love story that developed.

Still, I became bored, distracted, and put down this novel multiple times before even the halfway point. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood to read this right now, and I may circle back to this one later; however, as a first impression, I’m not super impressed.