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.

Another 5 ⭐ for me because what fast pace story building takes place.Thankyou #netgalley and @authorbriarboleyn for this ARC
SPICE: 🌶️🌶️🌶️but that's enough for initial

Living in a town where people believes no Fae exists anymore, Part-fae born Morgan Pendragon lost enough of her life when she was just five.
Lost her mother, Lost the love and care of her father but more over everything she lost herself her identity and everything what she meant to be forever!

Whatever Morgan decided on behalf of the safety of her loved ones she turned into something miserable ofcourse physically and stayed under the rule of her younger but ruthless brother who's ruling Pendragon.

Suffered from her so called fiance she left with in terms of love. So when the right time comes she got the best to choose for herself in the form of Kairos Draven (her queen's guard) and Vesper (the ally she found on her journey)

This peck of three on their journey to search the magical sword that got the Fae maiden powers to rule the world, but who's going to have their hands on Excalibur.

｡⁠.ﾟ⁠+⁠ ➝𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙄 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚

For me the most extravagant point was silence of Morgan I guess this isn't where we get the true meaning of a strong FMC she's a warrior a fighter but only until she's away from the sight of her brother. The way she accepts her forced engagement with Florian, that psycho doing everything worse we can expect from him and her fate being destined as Priestess in Temple.
There are so many places I feel she could speak⚔️ only at one particular point of killing Florian I find her helpless and dependent!
Arthur I rarely consider him as a brotherly figure so I'm not talking about him he's out of my league.
For Vesper I'll say from very start I doubt he's something more than fishy in this whole plot love brings curse done for this!!!

｡⁠.ﾟ⁠+⁠ ➝𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙄 𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚

The fast story building!!! Literally it didn't take much of chapters to get deep in the story maybe it's my POV but every detail of individual character from their Goddess and powers they hold to the people living in Camelot I took perfect note on everything and love knowing about everyone (Lancelet, Galahad, Merlin and Sir Actor and yes how can I forget baby Kaye)
Kairos Draven!!! Done for him he's a walking morally Grey face of everything you want but everything you can't have although the final chapters showcasing another version of Draven character left me with big cliffhanger 😩❤️
I will never say it's a slow burn I'll say it's the right burn without not too much spice between Draven and Morgan I still love the little moments they share🦋

⚔️ 𝙏𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙨 ⚔️
🌹SlowBurn (but I don't believe this one hehehe)
🌹Single Bed/tent
🌹Forced Proximity
🌹Enemies to... Cliffhanger
🌹Hidden Royalty
🌹Mortals vs Fae
🌹Cursed princess
🌹Enchanted Articles
🌹Love Betrayal

𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐐𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬

𝕸𝖔𝖗𝖌𝖆𝖓 𝕻𝖊𝖓𝖉𝖗𝖆𝖌𝖔𝖓🌹
"𝐌𝐲 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐮𝐬⁠♥"

𝕶𝖆𝖎𝖗𝖔𝖘 𝕯𝖗𝖆𝖛𝖊𝖓🌹

"𝐈'𝐦 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧!
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬♥"

"𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲𝐫𝐝𝐨𝐦,𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬"

"𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮!!!"

"𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐨𝐰!!!"

"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧"

𝖁𝖊𝖘𝖕𝖊𝖗🌹

"𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞"

"𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐬⁠♥"

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#queenofroses #morganpendragon #kairosdraven #morallygrey #netgalley #arc #fantasy

I really enjoyed this book and I was lucky enough to receive the sequel too and it didn’t disappoint either! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

4.8 / 5.0 This story is a one day read.

I got into this one pretty quickly because of the alternate King Arthur retelling. The author plays with the classical characters of that mythology and brings out a very compelling story that is easy to become engrossed with. I enjoyed the gender-bending of some of the Knights of the Round Table, and how the characters from the lore of King Arthur are used to play out this fantastic tale.

There are some political veins that are reflections of the current cultural climate in the US that I picked up on and I appreciate how the author wove those into the stakes of this plot. The characters are very well written for their purposes in driving the story forward, and I really hope the ones we saw lost in this book were actually just diverted and will reappear later. This does end on a massive cliffhanger but I am not overly upset by that.

Overall, there was only a tiny little bit of spice in this. If the FMC and the MMC are meant to be together, then theirs’ is a slow burn of great proportions. Only a little dreamscape interlude for them in the entire book, and there was at least one instance of a “single bed” trope. I am looking forward to reading the next book and then finishing the trilogy when then last book becomes available.

Until Next Time,
MC

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC in exchange for my honest review.