The Last Rose
Sisters Ever After #4
Leah Cypess
This is the fourth book in the Sisters Ever After Series. I love fairytales and books that tweak them and rewrite them. I will never see Beauty and the Beast in the same light again. Author Leah Cypess has taken the characters and changed them. I still knew this was based on Beauty and the Beast and yet it wasn’t the fairytale we have become accustomed to. In this version we meet Mera. Her sister Darina has been kidnapped by the beast. At night he and his hounds search the land for those he can take and turn them into hounds.
The Beast has taken Darina and her 11-year-old sister Mera is coming to the rescue. Unfortunately, the characters needed more development.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Children's, and Delacorte Press for the opportunity to read an advanced reader's copy of this book for an honest review. (Publish Date: 05 Dec 2023)

I’ve read two of the other three books in this Sisters Ever After series by Leah Cypess (I’m anxiously waiting for my local library to get “The Piper’s Promise” in!), so I was very excited when I saw Leah’s next book was coming out later this fall and jumped at the opportunity to read it.

Based off a classic fairy tale, “The Last Rose” follows 11-year-old Mera as she plans to save her beautiful older sister from a terrible beast who kidnaps people from their small village and turns them into hounds for his pack.

This book was my favorite in the series so far, because the retelling was so unexpected, yet it stayed just close enough to the classic version that I thoroughly enjoyed it. Also, the cover art alone is going to sell this book – it’s absolutely gorgeous! It’s the first cover in this series to not include both siblings, but I wasn’t upset in the least.

I would highly recommend this book to older children, young adults, and anyone who loves a great fairy tale retelling. I will purchase this book as a gift to my 10-year-old daughter to read again and again!

The Last Rose was an allegorical tale which told of the battle between good and evil within each person's heart. Reading it will make you ponder the effects of your decisions and shed light on our own potential to either hurt or protect those around us. A powerful message of love, friendship, and sacrifice is reminiscent throughout. Recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to review this book ahead of its publication date.

This was a new take on the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale told by beauty's little sister, Mera. When Darina is held captive by the beast her little sister is bound and determined to rescue her because she is certain that the beast meant to take her, instead.

I thought that the author did a great job of being true to the story while also giving the whole tale a fresh look. All the rumors of the beast turning his captives into wolves to grow his pack of hounds and the uncertainties that drove Mera to try to save her sister pulled you in.

With that being said, I did not particularly like Mera. I thought she was rather petulant and self centered and, even though she professed to want to save her sister, it seemed like it was often in her own best interests. I feel like it was her spitefulness, overall, that made me not like the book as much as I should have.

Oh my goodness! This book was fascinating, complicated, and sooo good! I’m a huge lover of fairytales, but I don’t think I’ve ever read a fairytale quite like this one. The characters are all turned on their heads, and the people we thought we knew turned out to be quite different.
Mera has never been the pretty one. She has stood in the shadow of her sister, Darina for years. But when Darina is kidnapped by the Beast, only Mera knows the truth. It should be her stuck in the dark castle. So Mera decides to rescue her sister only to find secrets she could have never imagined waiting for her.
Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairytales! And I love to read retellings of it, but this one was so interesting and different. Mera is a wonderful heroine full of fight and spunk. She is determined to not be controlled by anyone or anything. She’s had to be tougher than her sister, and she’s much more practical as well.
I’m honestly not sure how I felt about most of the other characters in this book. Everyone is full of greys even Darina, the Beauty in the story isn’t the traditional pure heart we hear about. I think it was fascinating to read a retelling where I had no idea what was going to happen next and honestly no idea what I wanted to happen next. Darina and the Beast aren’t the heroes they normally are.
I love the theme of sisterhood though. Mera is fiercely loyal and willing to do everything for her sister. I wish that the idea of love would have been defined a little differently. Love is not a feeling, but it is instead an action. But I do agree that feelings change. However, love should not.
This is a clean read with some creepier moments. For example, Mera gets locked up by the Beast. And there are moments where parents can talk about manipulation since the Beast is not portrayed as the hero in this story. There’s some Stockholm Syndrome vibes going on.
This was an incredibly rich story! There is so much in it, and I think middle grade readers will love it.


Highlights:
Sisterhood!
Strong female heroines!
Wonderful world building!
Couldn’t put it down!
Twists and turns all the way!
Conventional family values!

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the publisher through Netgalley. All views expressed are only my honest opinion, a positive review was not required.

This is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, told from the perspective of Belle’s younger sister. So much of this was vague and unexplained. Only at the end, did we start getting the whole picture and by then I didn’t really care.

I think kids might like this story way more than I did, but I’m usually someone that enjoys children’s literature. This was very imaginative, and I enjoyed some of it, but it was lacking somehow. Characters development was nonexistent and I hated the beast. Even the sister was unlikable. I’m not sure I liked this. Mera was petulant and stubborn, while her sister, Darina, was obtuse and stubborn. The dad was deplorable and absent. Only the grandmother cared about this horrible family. So, I’m not sure this is something I would ever recommend because it just didn’t have any depth. I feel bad because Beauty and the Beast is my favorite fairytale.

Thank you to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy. This is my honest review.

The books in this series keep getting better and better. I highly recommend these books for kids who love the classic fairytales but are wanting to branch out. They're not so familiar that they feel stale, but they still follow the general stories we all know and love.

Fairytale retellings can be hit or miss for me but I absolutely loved this one! This beauty and the beast retelling was whimsical and lively and beautiful. I loved this authors take on the classic and I absolutely adored the characters. The descriptions and details were painted so vividly.