2.5 Stars 🌟

I'm grateful for NetGalley giving me the opportunity to listen to this audio ARC. I'm always a bit hesitant to listen to an author narrating her own book - my experience has been both really good and REALLY bad. In this case, it was neither. It wasn't great, but it wasn't too bad.

I thought that this was another "new to me" author but after finishing this book I went and looked back and realized that I had read one other book by Ms. Bauer and unfortunately it was a DNF for me.

I DID finish this one, but I will admit that it was a bit of a challenge. This book felt like it didn't know what it wanted to be. It straddled the line between YA and Adult but it did it in a way that left the reader (that would be me) feeling very uncomfortable with the ages of the young women in the Magicorum and the situations they found themselves in.

Also, the writing was very inconsistent. One minute the FMC Briar Rose (who was only 17 years old at the beginning of the book) sounded like a teenager from the 90's - it felt..."forced" and definitely not natural. Then, in the next breath, she was sounding way too mature for her age. It made it really hard to stay invested and it kept pulling me out of the story.

So, I will not be continuing on with this series.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to listen and review this ARC. The opinions above are mine and mine alone.

Oh my goodness this book was paranormal fun in a super sassy package all tied nearly in a gimme-more kidna bow!!! Add in the fantastic audio performance by the author and 5 stars ain't enough!! Christina Bauer is quickly becoming an autobuy author for me!

This was an interesting concept of a story, but being billed as "paranormal romance" is a bit of a stretch. The romance was lacking and a bit immature/trite.

The premise was intriguing, especially the idea of the girls following a fairy tale "template" for their lives. The characters were promising, but I think the inner monologues were the main areas that it fell a little flat for me. Add in that every fairy tale creature made an appearance...including zombies?...distracting from some areas that needed more detail to make sense.

I think that I could potentially pick up the next book, but nothing left me wanting to immediately pick it up next.

Thank you to Netgalley and Monster House Audio for the audiobook of this novel.

Christina Bauer has created a new take on witchcraft, fae, and shifters and set it in New York City - a place where the unusual can easily blend in. Those with (or related to those with) magic are called the Magicorum, and the Denari's place in this world is...not quite what it appears. Young women of the Magicorum follow fairy tale templates (think, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, etc.). This is where we meet Bryar Rose, our FMC. She's 17 on the cusp of 18 and her template seems impossible, even though she's being raised by fairy aunties, has a "fiance" who is a prince, and has a tendency to fall asleep when she gets a little too excited. As she has only days left until she turns 18 and is supposed to marry her Prince Charming, she is feeling trapped, but then she meets Knox and her spirit seems to speak to him in a way she can't fully understand.

I enjoyed listening to the author read her own story, as her take on the characters felt incredibly honest and true - she knew these characters inside and out and portrayed them well. However, I did notice that she seemed to switch between calling one character Alec and Alex - to the point that I had to look up other reviews to see what other readers (who read physical copies) called the character. This pulled me out of the story frequently. While her dialogue generally felt true to a teenage girl, there were moments that felt weak, such as describing a hug with Bryar's crush as "awesome". In general, "awesome" and "amazing" felt overused. 17 or not, I'm sure Bryar could have come up with better words to describe her experiences. Bryar felt too mature for her age in some ways and yet way too immature in others, but not in a "she's learning and maturing" way". Instead, it just felt like it was unevenly written.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, I feel like this book tried to straddle the line of YA romance and adult romance in a way that felt a little icky to me. I get that Bryar was 17 (18 by the end of the book), but her only romantic interests were significantly older than her (appearing mid 20s but probably more like over 2000 years old). This led to some moments that just felt awkward to me, such as her having her first kiss and talking about how great this grown man felt against her body. I feel like either keeping it PG or going into adult romance would have been a better call, rather than playing the "almost legal" game that feels somewhat icky as a female reader.

Overall, 3 stars. I enjoyed the world, but not enough to keep reading the series at this time.

Thank to you Monster House Books, Monster House Audio, NetGalley, and Christina Bauer for access to a copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Bryar Rose is a failed template of Sleeping Beauty -- she is supposed to have fallen asleep and broken her curse by love's true kiss. She has the narcolepsy part down, but does NOT want to get married by 18 like she is supposed to. She is stuck in a group therapy for other failed templates. Her best friend, Elle, short for the template of Cinderella, is a Robin Hood style thief, and Bryar like to join in when it means she might get access to more Egyptian papyri. In one such heist, she is caught by Alec, the warden of the witches, and Knox, the warden of the shifters. Knox is the second POV and he quickly discovers Bryar Rose is his mate, which confuses him since she isn't a werewolf like he is. Meeting Knox, Bryar is pulled into a much larger fight that has been waging among the magical races for thousands of years.

One of the best parts of this novel is the intriguing idea of fairy tale templates, and how that might affect the future of the Magicorum series, as they meet those who are not failed templates. That's an aspect of fairy tale stories I haven't heard before! I also appreciate that Alec and Elle are able to have their own time by themselves and not just be side-kicks to Bryar Rose and Knox, always available at their beck and call.

My two biggest issues with the book are the writing style and the rapid changes in personality. To the former, while Bryar Rose is just 17 at the start of the book, she and all of the other characters' form of speaking seem juvenile and outdated. It reminds me of the way teens spoke in 1990s animated shows, and that seems strange for such a recent book. The second issue is Bryar is introduced as their no-nonsense fearless young woman and then she spends the majority of the book frightened of any conflict and doesn't fight anyone until the climax. Similarly, Knox is introduced as their terrifying large security guard dog and then from the moment his POV begins, it turns out he has a very whiny relationship with his inner wolf.

Overall, I am intrigued by the premise and world. I am curious to see where the story develops from here as the last chapters of the book set up the rest of the series, but I am not sure I want to come back for more with this writing.

At first, I loved the premise of Wolves and Roses, as the world building seemed interesting, and I love a good fairy tale retelling, however, the further I got into it I wasnt as excited to be reading. I found the author's writing style and a lot of the dialogue to be fairly dated and over the top angsty. I know that it is a YA but I have read many YA books that I have absolutely loved. I enjoyed some of this story, and I think for the right person, this is the start of a really fun series.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review.
I absolutely loved this book! I listened to audiobook and the narrater was fantastic! It was very enjoyable! I loved the characters and the world so much! I will be continuing on with this series myself.
All thoughts and feelings are my own.

I really enjoyed this entire book. From the beginning i was hooked and invested in the main characters. I loved how all the characters interacted and formed relationships. The slow burn in this book was very enjoyable and i was rooting for them the whole time. I loved the magic system and following along the main character as she discovered more about her history and magic and how she had been misled. The ending was very satisfying and i cannot wait until more books come out for me to read!!

Rating: 4/5
I received an eARC for my honest opinion.

I loved this retelling of our favorite fairy tales we have grown to love. I thought the concept of having all the members of the Magicorum follow a fairytale template was great. It was something new that I had not come across in a retelling that had all the fairytales in one book together.

I thought Bauer did a great job with this first book. It had a great 50/50 to the plot and the characters development. I think with you starting a book series it’s very important to have the plot seen clearly or at least start to be by the middle of the book and to have an introduction to the characters and to see the development start.

When reading this book, you will meet Bryar Rose, a “Sleeping Beauty” template, but she doesn’t want to be a sleeping beauty template, all she wants is to be “a normal human” and deal with just normal human stuff. You will also get to see her best friend Elle who is “Cinderella template” but there is a past to Elle that you get small hints to but never a clear answer. It will leave you waiting to learn more about Elle. You will also get to meet not one hot guy but two in this book, Knox and Alec who are not what Bryar and Elle thought they were.

Let me just tell you nothing is how it seems in this book. I thought the twists and turns to this book were done great and I loved getting to see new and new layers to the plot and characters. It was a fast-paced book and with so many things happening in the plot you will not notice how fast the book has come to an end.

I really enjoyed getting to watch Bryar Rose's character develop throughout the book and to see how she handles hard choices in her life. I didn’t know that this was the first book of the series when I requested it but now, I cannot wait to start the next book to see what else will happen.

I thought Christina Bauer as the narrator of her book did well. I really enjoyed that she knew where to add the pauses and when to highlight important parts of the book.

I want to thank NetGalley and Monster House Audio for the opportunity to listen to this audio.

Thank you to netgalley for the advanced listening copy of wolves and roses by Christina Bauer. I really thought the spin on fairy tales was interesting but just not enough to hold much of an audience.

Wolves and Roses by Christina Bauer has a lot of promise. The story is an interesting twist on fairytale stories and I found myself being surprised quite a few times. It is a bit on the younger YA side based on the characterization of Briar Rose. The author does an admirable job with the narration but it is a bit slow for my personal preference, but still enjoyable.

I listened to the whole book on audio. The narrator (author) speaks pretty slow and I had to listen to it at 1.5x to sound normal. However, I really enjoyed her narration. Not usually a fan of when authors read their own books but she did a really freat job.

Story line is great except I still don't understand the whole "template" thing. I feel like that part of the plot could've been left out - it was a bit odd and confusing.

Characters were great and I really enjoyed Bri's change throughout the book.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

I thought the premise sounded interesting but I just could not get into this one. I'm not sure if it was because it felt too juvenile for me, or too forced? But it just wasn't for me.

DANG IT! I did not realize this was a whole series before requesting it to listen to. UGH I loved it too so now I'm going to have to get the ebooks so I can continue. I'm not really mad though, this book was AWESOME! The perfect YA Fantasy. Christina Bauer nailed it and her audio was awesome!

Thank you to NetGalley and Monster House audio for the opportunity to read and review this book.

#ChristinaBauer #NetGalley #MonsterHouseAudio
#YAFantasy #YAFantasyRomanceSeries
#ShifterMagic #FairyMagic #WitchMagic
#Paranormal #Werewolves #Retellings

2/5

The concept of the story is interesting enough to hold the reader's attention. However, the tone of the overall book threw me off. The book would work better if it was aimed towards middle school aged kids or upped to an adult fantasy. With the main character being shy of 18 years old and still being so childish, it just doesn’t work. The characters in this book also have the same issue. The romance in the story was just cringy. How and why are two 17 years old so concerned about getting married or starting a family. That combined with the unnecessary dialogue just made me lose interest in the story. I was just not the target audience for this book.

Wow, I really enjoyed this book. I find it hard to give 5 stars to any book as that means it has no disappointments in my mind. With that being said I gave this book a 5 star rating and look forward to reading the second book in the series. I love the magical parts and how they mix in with shape shifters and then add in romance along with learning who you really are and Poof. You have a 5 star book.

I’ve read the ebook version of Wolves and Roses. Learning I could listen to the author narrate the audiobook was a fabulous opportunity.
The audiobook of Wolves and Roses is great. I enjoy Bryar Rose snarky commentary. Bryar, Elle, Alex and Knox are a great combination. I like the combination of fairy tales with shifters and zombies.
Give this audiobook a try. I loved it.

Wolves And Roses (Fairy Tales of the Magicorum, #1)
by Christina Bauer
Love the voice of Christina Bauer who knows the work best. Her reading was flawless.
Magicorum is a new twist on the magical world of paranormal stories. The Magicorum is a connection between werewolves (shifters), Magicians (wizards), and Fairies. They are hidden in the modern world, with only hesitant exposure to the normal human population, like rock stars it gets photographs and autographs. The concept of fairytale formula seems to cover each of the members of the magicorum, whether the girls are one or the other of the princess formula. Not being included and not being excluded Briar Rose is stuck between fitting the formula and not exactly. This personal struggle back and forth will be the plot of this story as she finds her own path. A great Young adult book, showing that we can all make our own path not being stuck in given paths.

Bryar-Rose just isn’t living up to her sleeping beauty magical template. She is even in a special support group for members of the magicorum who are struggling to live up to their fairytale templates.

1 – Taken in and raised by 3 fairies ✔
2 – Has no clue who her parents are ✔
3 – Falling in love with the handsome prince ✖ (seriously he is pretty but a tool no thank you)
4 – Falling into a coma – eh…not quite but does falling asleep when agitated count
5 – Ready to get hitched - ✖ hell no she’s about to turn 18 who wants to get married at 18

All Bryar Rose really cares about is being left alone to find and translate ancient papyri. It has consumed her life since she first started having dreams about it years ago. Those dream also include a boy she is very interested in, but that is probably just her teenage hormones talking. Well at least that is what she thought until she meets him in real life.

If Bryar didn’t have her bff Elle (Cinderella template), she’d probably go insane. Girls got to stick together, especially if they are some of the only Magicorum trying to go against their set stories.
All of Bryars goals revolve around turning 18, moving away from her three aunties (fairys) to be on her own and focus on gathering papyri and going to a normal high school, instead of a group for misfits. When she meets Knox, the boy she has seen in her dreams everything derails and she might lose something more important on her 18th birthday than she knows if she doesn’t figure out who she really is soon.

Knox is a warden of magic and a werewolf. He isn’t supposed to have a mate and even if he could werewolves do not mate human girls. So why does Bryar call to his wolf. What is he going to have to do to be able to open the door to the life he wants with a pack, a mate and kids eventually. He will do whatever he has to for that future. Now he just needs to convince himself and Bryar of things his wolf already knows if they are going to get the HEA and solve the puzzle trapped in the papyri Bryar is so obsessed with.

Really a fun YA book, I liked the set up and the characters. Interesting take on fairytale stories in a modern world.

Narration: I tell most authors this. There are only a special few who are great at actually narrating. Christina Bauer narrated her book and she did okay, it is a decent narration but is missing something that you get with seasoned narrators. There are pauses at the ends of sentences that are too long and inflections that seem off. I listened to this at 1.75x speed to compensate. I usually listen to books at 1.5x speed.

This was 2.5 stars for me rounded up to 3. The concept of this story was good but I found myself very confused in the beginning with what was going on. I still don’t fully understand why people were supposed to be grouped into certain templates. Briar Rose was likable but acted really dumb sometimes for someone who is supposed to be super smart. I did really like how much her and Elle had each others backs. That is how friendship should always be. I found Knox’s wolf to be a little obnoxious the way he was always going on about his mate but I suppose Knox felt the same way. Overall it was an entertaining book to listen to. The narrator did a decent job.

Thanks to NetGalley and Monster House Audio for the copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. All thought are my own.