A beauty and the beast inspired retelling of Arthurian legends, with a twist of the fae. While it sounds like too many things at once, the author really pulls this off! The world building is phenomenal, the characters are compelling, and the story keeps you reading until the very end. This one ends on an enormous cliffhanger, so be prepared to continue the series.

Morgan Pendragon, sister to Arthur, has always been different and an object of suspicion. When things in the kingdom reach crisis point, she is sent on a dangerous mission to recover an ancient artifact. Accompanying her is the curmudgeonly Kairos Draven, who can't seem to decide if he likes her, or wants to kill her. Throw in a whole Arthurian cast of characters, outrunning the fae, and danger at ever turn, is it any wonder that these two slowly find their way to love - but at what cost?

The second in the series promises to be full of intrigue; be prepared to rethink everything you thought was true.

Great high fantasy read for Sarah J Maas fans. Great series and loved the writing style. The cover is amazing art

𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙧 𝙍𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
𝙎𝙥𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙍𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜: 🌶

When I first started reading I was wondering how much I'd enjoy it because it's very 'Arthurian heavy' with characters and elements of the legend, but I quickly found it to be unique and very well written.

I love the spin on the classic story, and how characters are completely re-imagined, but my favourite part of the whole book would have to be the relationship between Princess Morgan and her guard Draven — it's very slow burn with beautiful tension, enemies/ rivals to..., in a dark fantasy romance that will keep you guessing.

The cliffhanger ending left me with so many questions, and I cannot wait to read the next book!

💢 𝙏𝙒𝙨: kidnapping, abuse (including threat of sexual abuse; child abuse), animal death, child death, grief, domestic violence, drug and alcohol use, poisoning, violence, gore

☆I received an ARC of this book from the author and Netgalley. All thoughts are my own honest opinions.☆

Thank you Netgalley and Starwater press for the advanced copy.

I absolutely adored this book. I binged it in a matter of days. I was hooked from page 1. This is everything I love in a fantasy romance. It was dark and gritty with a king Arthur retelling spin. It had all of my favourite tropes from enemies to lovers, to forced proximity. There was a lot of action which is an absolute must for me the characters and world building was extremely well done. I would definitely recommend this for any fae romantasy fans.

Excellent.

That's what I'm talking about. A fantasy book with magic, secrets and a morraly grey dark haired character.

Queen of Roses is the first book of the series. The main character is Morgan, a princess. A queen without her throne. An anomaly in her own kingdom. An outsider even for her family.

But she has a quest. Will she make it?

A journey for finding a relic, but also a journey to love what she is.

Well written with plenty of humor and some bonus hot scenes.

Briar Boleyn gave life to her characters. Can't wait to read the second book!

If you are into high fantasy, elves and magic, this book is for you!

Thank you NetGalley and Starwater Press for the opportunity to write an honest review about one of my favorite books ever!

I am sure that there are many people who are going to really love this book. But it wasn't for me. I didn't like the characters. Sorry.

Queen of Roses is a dark romance with love triangles, slow burn, and many other iconic tropes throughout it. It was kind of like a retelling of an arthurian tale, it was a pleasant read and i have some friends that absolutely loved it! The writing itself was good, no grammarical errors that I found, and the story was a fun change, but what I had a problem with was the characters themselves. Morgan was entirely too sheltered to be a relatable and enticing lead. It was painful seeing how unexperienced and naive she was and it made some of the scenes awkward to read.

Thank you Netgalley & Starwater Press for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review!

Here we are again with regrets about not reading a book sooner. Holy crap this was a good one! This is a Dark Fantasy Romance King Arthur retelling and was so well done! Thank you to NetGalley and Starwater Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

In this version Arthur is a d-bag and his half sister Morgan is part fae. Arthur, as was his abusive father, are/were prejudiced against the fae but is willing to use Morgan to get what he needs to further his agenda. Along the way we meet several expected characters (even if they're girls now which is AWESOME) and a little different than we remember from the kids version.

I mean, just read the blurb if you have to but I'd just skip it and read the book. I'm so late to this game that book 2 is already out and book 3 is in the works.

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley for sending me this book.


I really did want to like this book.
In spite recent overuse of fae in fantasy I am not bothered by it as long as the world building, plot and the characters are unique and creative and written well.

I’m sorry to say neither of this was achieved in this book.
A fae take of the Arthurian legend sounded like something that could have potential and to give a bit of credit here - the beginning was somewhat intriguing and could have been captivating if the writing was not as mediocre and repetitive.
Sadly as the book progressed the writing got worse along with the plot and the lack of any character depth whatsoever.
All the characters felt like they were written by an AI generator, completely flat and very much a blueprint we have seen a thousand times before.
The relationships between characters were so extremely one dimensional and unbelievable at times that they felt a lot like a children’s book and how you would explain, say a friendship, to a six year old.
Added to this the plot was beyond predictable and every step of the way I was certain what is going to come next. It did not grab me in any way, it did not present any excitement or desire to continue and the only reason why I did was to provide this review.
The writing itself was extremely repetitive, dialogue felt awkward and forced and the smutty scenes at the second part of the book made me cringe and want to close it and never open it again. It felt uncomfortable reading them and the choice of words the author uses is not in any way erotic or romantic in any way.

Overall, this book felt like reading a fan fiction of a fan fiction, a little over 300 pages took me more than two weeks to read which I think is the longest I have ever took to finish a book of this length purely because I had no desire to pick it up.
The reading process was actually uncomfortable because of how bad the read was.

I enjoyed it so much that I just went ahead and bought it. I enjoyed the writing style a lot and the main character is really like able. I enjoyed hearing of Morgan’s story and how she faces the challenges of being fae in an anti fae kingdom with her brother who is a ruthless, hateful, merciless EVIL king. The story has romance, action and humor. The ending is pretty crazy and I already have started the second book of the series. I would recommend this book! I highly enjoyed it myself.

I really enjoyed this dark fantasy romance filled with a slow burn and angsty enemies to lovers romance, fae, secrets and betrayal, and just the right amount of action and adventure to balance it out. I've read a lot of fairy tale retellings this year, but this was the first King Arthur retelling. It was a bingable and fresh take on fae romance.

I loved book one and can't wait to read books two and three. Tysm for letting me be an ARC reader. On to book two I go!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley, Briar Boleyn and Starwater Press for this ARC.

Firstly, I just want to say that I love love loved the cover for this book! It is what made me request the book without even reading the description.

Morgan is sent on a quest by her half-brother, King Arthur, for a mythical sword that may or may not exist: Excalibur. Captain of the guards, Draven, is sent with her as her guide and protector but he is not to be trusted.

There was good world-building and it was nice to see a retelling of King Arthur with fae. Morgan started off as a pretty strong warrior but towards the end, she seemed almost weak and unable to do much. The evil characters were written really well too as I truly hated them very much and wished they were dead!

This is an Arthurian legend retelling with a dark fae fantasy twist.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Really really near fantasy and romance book, looking forward to the rest of the series! Loving the Arthurian element paired with fae and of course I’m always down for a slow burn romance. Pretty great worldbuilding and loved learning about it with the MC.

Fae and a SLOOOOOOOW burn? Sign me up! The world building took awhile and it felt that the female lead was spending a lot of time learning everything that there wasn't much character development. Looking forward to the next!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC; all opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I can say without a doubt that this book has become my favorite retelling of the Arthurian legends, those last chapters were so much!

I must confess that at first it was difficult for me to read the novel, I felt that it had a slightly slow pace and I didn't like the character of the Protagonist Morgan, it was very frustrating and drove me crazy at times, but as soon as Time went by, Wow, how proud I felt for her, for all those small steps that little by little she achieved and became an admirable heroine, and in those last chapters I fell completely in love with her, one of the best developments of characters I read in the year!

And the story, the author brought out all that charming imagination, by mixing these worlds, the fairy and the human in a time where the mystical and epic is very credible and love, I really tell you I have read several Arthurian retellings and they have not been able to convince me not at all, but this wow again I want more of this world! And I want more of these incredible characters, but above all I want more of Morgan!

Many thanks to Starwater Press, Briar Boleyn and NetGalley for the ARC! Here's one thing, I love a retelling of King Arthur/Camelot. This was a really, really fun read that did a great job of world building - which is so important. I enjoyed the characters and found myself waiting for all of the romance builds, the grand reveal and the journey along the way. Will be recommending this!

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

Thank you so much to Starwater Press, Briar Boleyn and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions. 📚

Queen of Roses is a loose King Arthur retelling, with some fae sprinkled in. The story is a dark fantasy romance with my favorite trope, enemies to lovers 🔥
The story has forced proximity, banter, magic, betrayal, unexpected twists, and a journey of self discovery.

I won’t beat around the bush, this was definitely a slow burn. No doubt. It was SOOO worth it though. The world building was incredibly expansive, think Eragon. I find the FMC a tad bit annoying by how naive she is, but that plays into the story in a major way. The MMC, well, he’s on my list of best MMC now. I’m crossing my fingers we get more spice and character building between the two in the next book. ⚔️

The story ended on a major cliffhanger, so I can’t wait to start the second book! ✨

This is considered to be a dark and twisted fantasy story please check the trigger warnings before reading the book. 🥀

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for this ARC

I loved this! Could not put it down and the next book is definitely on my to read list.

So I don't really know anything about Arthur/Camelot etc, but you really don't need to, so don't let that put you off

Loved the main character Morgan - found her super believable and really felt for her.

Main character Draven - morally grey, and I feel like he was being used sparingly to draw us in. Cannot wait to read the second book to read more!

Morgan's family - tricky dynamics! Definitely wanted to read more

Overall, great book. Loved the romance, but also as so many characters motivations weren't overt found myself unable to put down

Overall , Queen of Roses was fun to read. The plot and story are interesting, and the characters are likeable ( for the most part) .
The writing is a little underwhelming. Some lines and dialogue were cringy, but overall had fun reading it and will be continuing on with the series.