Thank you to Briar Boleyn, NetGalley, and Starwater Press for a copy of this book in an exchange for an honest review.

Queen of Roses follows Morgan Pendragon as she attempts to help save her country from the brink of war. Morgan is part fae and because of this has been essentially cast aside by her brother (the king) and her late father. Popular themes of the book include enemies to lovers and forced proximity. Trigger warnings include domestic violence, sexual assault, and violence/murder.

Overall, I rated this book 3 out of 5 stars. I found the plot to be interesting and thought the author did a great job with world building. My attention was captured in the beginning and then I felt a bit of lull in the middle. The journey that Morgan and Draven took felt somewhat drawn out. With that said, I’m glad I stuck with it because the book really picked up and left off on a great cliffhanger.

Queen of Roses is marketed as a dark fantasy romance and, for the most part, it is just that. However, if you are reading it primarily for the enemies to lovers theme, you might be a bit disappointed. It is a VERY slow burn. I’m not sure where the author will take the romance as the series continues, but I am excited to find out!

Please find the link to my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5737178561

Queen of Roses (Blood of a Fae #1) by Briar Boleyn
Genre General Fiction ( Adult), Romance, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Dark Romance
Book Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Spice Rating 🌶️🌶️/5

“More primordial than the stars. My name was on his lips as he promised unspeakable darkness to any who came between us.”
Right from the start, I was drawn in by the prologue!!!

I’m a big fan of “touch her, and you die” vibes, but I mean, what’s also not to love about a unique Arthurian retelling with gender twists, a treacherous royal court, a dangerous quest, magical Fae & mystical monsters, entwined with a bit of spice!

Morgan, Princess of Pendrath and true heir to the throne has spent most of her life dimming her light to feel safe and to make others comfortable. She is treated as an outcast in the court and repressed by her family due to the blood of the Fae within her and forced to join the Temple of the Three as a priestess in training to one day replace Merlin.
Her brother, King Arthur, who reminds me of Joffrey from Game of Thrones, later tells her that he has other plans and offers her a choice of the Temple or to marry her off for political gain, unless… that is, she can journey through the great unknown and return with a long-lost fae weapon with enchanted powers known as Excalibur.
Her quest begins with a roguish crew that includes the mysterious, arrogant, and heart-tuggingly handsome Captain of the Royal Guard, Kairos Draven, whom she can’t decide if she wants to stab or indulge in pleasure with. Insert devil horns
Along the way are plenty of surprises, mystical creatures, and betrayal, all while Morgan uncovers more of the truth about herself and who she can trust.

What I loved:

The author’s attention to detail! - The magic rituals and descriptions of the Pendrath Deities were exceptional, and I can’t wait to see how it all ties into what happened to the once-powerful Fae.

The world-building and authentic supporting characters were very creative and charming. None of it felt forced, overdone, or incomplete, like some other books I have read.

The action scenes! I love a good battle that keeps me on the edge of my seat.

Draven!!- a haunting beauty with dark hair & piercing green eyes. Mischievous lips curving upwards into smartass grins! Protective badass warrior. Need I say more?

Morgan- Armed with a dagger always. Broken yet brave. She stops fearing her true nature and hiding herself away. She has one heck of a glow-up!

Cute but fierce Ride or Die Battle Cats!

The cliffhanger ending! It totally has me wanting to read the next book ASAP! Thankfully I already have a copy!

What I didn’t love:

I wanted more of an irresistible/possessive type connection between Morgan and Draven! I’m a sucker for a slow burn but needed a little more spice, which, thankfully, the author promises more of and offers us in a special caliente bonus scene if you sign up for newsletters on her website!

This book had intriguing storylines and lovable characters that kept me turning pages and wanting more. I can’t wait to see how it all unfolds and comes together in book 2, Court of Claws, which I just started reading!!

Read if you’re into-

Dark Fantasy/Romance
Slow–Burn
Question Everything
Magic and Action
Fae
Arthurian Legend
Stabby/Broken FFC
Morally Gray MMC
Forced Proximity

Queen of Roses is perfect for Holly Black, Jennifer L. Armentrout, and Sarah J. Maas fans.

Thank you to NetGalley and Briar Boleyn for providing me an ARC of the first book in the Blood of a Fae Series in exchange for an honest review.

Please check the trigger warnings page in the table of contents before reading this book.

I

W.O.W.

WOW. WOW.

This has got to be one of my top reads of the year. I am absolutely blown away.

This book infuriated me in the best way. I was so angry during so much of it and hated the characters in the best way. I almost threw my kindle when I was done because how DARE it end when it did? I am so glad I already have Court of Claws queued up and ready to go because man if I didn't I'd be raging.

This book was written in such a way that made it easy to read and so accessible, even for people who do not normally read fantasy. It is the SLOWEST OF BURNS. Go into it being aware of that. If you like people to like each other from the get this is not for you.

I could not breath during several parts of this book and I stayed up late into the night reading it and read at times I was definitely not supposed to be reading because I could not get enough of it.

Read this if you're looking for:
Epic quests
One of the worst villains I've ever read
A strong willed and physically strong FMC
A broody MMC
LGBTQ+ representation - and like, wow what a world where people can just love who they want to love and no biggie? Love to see it. Sucks it's only in fantasy novels.
Slow slow slow burn enemies to something
Twists and turns you don't see coming
Familiar characters turned on their heads

For real - pick up this book. I'm going to scream it from my roof so everyone around me reads it.

A King Arthur retelling wasn't something I was interested in, but... A FAE TWISTED KING ARTHUR RETELLING!!! Well, I would love to read that, and a cast-out princess was even better.

Some things that I loved are how well thought this book is for a debut novel. It is so well thought out, with a great magic system, world-building, and characters that do not feel flat and have great personalities.
The love interest was actually charismatic and a great person, the slow burn was so worth it.

After the middle I was absolutely hooked, however, I would not say this was too dark but I do feel it is coming in book 2.

TROPES:
Spicy fantasy romance
Slow burn
Enemies to lovers
Only one bed/tent
Forced proximity
Guard and princess
Found family/ride or die BFFs
«Who did this to you?»
«Touch her and...»

Thank you netgalley and Briar Boleyn for this advanced copy.

This was a fantastic debut novel!

I love the Arthurian retelling (especially with the far twist!). The world building was extremely well thought out & I appreciate the attention to detail Briar put into this novel.

We follow Morgan, whom due to her fae lineage is cast aside. She has been barred from being Queen and set to live the rest of her life in temple - or worse - married to a vile man in the name of politics. When the king, her brother, tells her she will be going on a journey to fetch a fae made sword she embarks on a extraordinary adventure with a morally gray bodyguard.

Although this book was a bit of a slow start, around the 50%-60% mark I was hooked. I love the slow burn romance trope and MMC has my heart.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read! I can’t say I enjoyed the second male character that was introduced about 75%ish of the way through. The FMC could also get annoying at times. However, the story was intriguing and I will definitely be reading the second book!

PSA- PLEASE read the trigger warnings before starting this book.

***thank you to NetGalley, and Briar for the e ARC

Trigger Warnings: Alcoholism, domestic abuse, parent death, homophobia, misogyny, death in childbirth, child death, animal death, execution, child abuse, murder, violence

Queen of Roses is a retelling of King Arthur & Knights of the Roundtable but follows Morgan Pendragon who's the sister of Arthur. It's advertised as a dark fae "romantasy" however, I would say that this first book in the series is definitely more on the "fantasy" side with a romance side-plot thrown in. I think my expectations for this book were incorrect going in as I expected a bit more romance than what we got. The romance that was there consisted of a love triangle and never gets spicy. However, I would guess that the romance side of this series will heat a bit more in the subsequent books.

The world building is great and there's a lot thrown in there (I wish there had been a map included in either the beginning or end of the book for reference). Boleyn is very descriptive with her scene setting. However, at sometimes her scene setting/world building/character development could be repetitive. Furthermore, I often felt that the writing could be flushed out a bit more - at certain parts it felt a bit 'wattpad'-y. I loved the blending of fae & King Arthur characters/world (Camelot, King Arthur, Morgan Le Fay, Galahad, Merlin, Lancelot) along with the gender-bending twists - it really was a cool idea.

The FMC, Morgan, requires a bit more character development (along with Draven, her male love interest). She's advertised as this bad*ss who knows sword work and has a bold personality but, in reality, she's quite naive, timid, submissive and unsure of herself. I was hoping for a personality arc along with her physical changes throughout the book, but that never happened.

The ending though....IT HOOKED ME! The twists, turns & non-stop action the last 80 pages had me SWEATING.

BOTTOM LINE: Overall, this was a good start to this series. It felt like the first book was more of a prologue/starting point for the series overall with its complex world-building and buddings of a romance. The series requires some character development for the FMC but, the ending cliffhanger has me wishing for more.

Thank you to Starwater Press, Brirar Boleyn & NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book was alright, I liked the concept of the story and the characters were likable. Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

Thank you to Starwater Press and Briar Boleyn for an ARC copy of this book to review.

An imaginative retelling on the classic Welsh Arthurian legends of King Arthur and Camelot. There is a lot to love about the world-building and the plot of this book. The descriptions are vivid and jam-packed with lots of mythical elements enriching the narrative and adding edge to this new imagined dark-age fantasy Camelot.

It’s got a gripping first chapter that’s brutally riveting, ensnaring you into the Dark Age court of the tyrant Pendragon king and the twisted family dynamics of this royal line. Action-packed plot drives this story with well-developed pacing, refreshing twists on Arthur’s legends (like making Arthur the villain!) and plenty of battle, blood and death.

Woven masterly into the story are the infamous names of the Knights of the Round Table and the legendary Merlin. Cleverly written these knights of old have been brought to life in new forms and rewritten as more inclusive representation of characters. Lancelet is a bad-ass swordswoman with bags of attitude. The gender-switch for Merlin’s character to a priestess was a particular stroke of genius. I wished to see more of this enigmatic Merlin, she stole the show for me.

For me, I felt a little let down my Morgan’s character. At first, I thought she was well-imagined, with spark and playing a role to survive in her psychopathic brother’s rule. Then quite suddenly, Morgan seems to become an entirely different personality all together leading her to dim, act stupidly and lose the plot (literally!)

I felt cheated by the romance set up too and the cliff-hanger at the end comes too late to be a saving grace for me. The first love interest Kairos Draven, a mortally grey guard on the rise at Arthur’s court, who watches Morgan very closely and rescues her from dangerous ventures she finds herself in. He has all the dark fantasy ‘who did this to you’ and ‘unlive those who threaten’ vibes that delight. The slow burn between Draven and Morgan is engaging, witty and the chemistry explosive. But then this drip appears, ruining Morgan/Draven vibe and seducing her away for some uncomfortable spice scenes that I skipped through to finish the book.
That said, the world-building and premise of this book is captivating and kept me turning the page even as my dislike of Morgan’s character grew. Some might disagree with me about Morgan, she wasn’t the protagonist for me, but the rest of the book I enjoyed reading rounding this up from a 3.5 to 4 star read.

This disappeared from my shelf so I was unable to read it. I believe it was only there for a week or two which unfortunately didn't give me enough time

I was so deeply in the mood for a romantasy that this should have been an easy five stars. But discussing what exactly went wrong here is complicated, and I don't want to be overly critical here because at the end of the day, once I got into this, I really was just swept away by the world and I absolutely devoured the last third.
I guess issue one would be the quality of the writing. At times it's wonderful. There are a couple of scenes that are a little spicy, and Briar Boleyn writes them flawlessly. There's heat and tension and everything you'd want. Likewise, action scenes are genuinely scary. Without spoilers, the penultimate battle genuinely made my skin crawl, and I'm not entirely sure I was breathing properly until it was done. And then at other times we get this:

I thought of something. "Draven, how do you know where to go?" [...]
He turned back with a frown, then patted the pocket of his trousers. "I have a map."
"Oh. Yes, that makes sense," I mumbled.
"A map of the location of a god-made treasure? Does it?" Vesper pursed his lips into a thin line.
I scowled. "On second thought, when you put it that way."

It was frustrating. Our heroine, Morgan is (as demonstrated) occasionally so stupid that it is almost jarring, while the rest of the novel is populated by a variety of cardboard cut-outs who serve a function in getting the plot from one scene to the next. And let's not talk about the clichés. Really, let's not. There is legitimately a scene where two characters are making out,l and they are suddenly interrupted by a noise. The girl gasps and goes "What was that?" I then had to put the book down to stare out a window for a bit and come to terms with the fact that someone actually wrote that and (presumably) thought it was original.
Similarly original, there are a lot of Arthurian names for places and characters used, but I completely failed to find any references to the tales outside of that, which felt like a waste. Frustrating is really the best word for it. There's potential here, and Briar Boleyn is clearly a talented writer, but I do feel like maybe this could have gone through another draft.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Queen of Roses “follows Morgan Pendragon, who's grown in the shadows of her brother because of the tainted fae blood in her veins. Now that her kingdom is on the brink of war, she is forced on a journey to seek out a legendary weapon that'll save them from their doom…”.

I absolutely loved this book! I don’t even know where to start! First of all, I loved (almost) all of the characters, but I especially loved Morgan! She is such a well written MC: strong and independent, while also still innocent and a little naive. I feel like Boleyn has set Morgan up for some really great character development and growth in the next two books!

There is a love triangle in this story. I’m not a fan of love triangles, but this one was written in a way that I actually enjoyed! Both men actually added to and advanced the plot. They weren’t just thrown in for angst and romance! Which is rare for some dark fantasy/romance books.

I really enjoyed the world building in this story as well. I feel like there are a lot of Morgan le Fay/King Arthur stories out there, and they can sometimes get a bit repetitive. But Boleyn did a great job setting the foundation for this series while also creating a really interesting and unique story.

I can’t recommend this book enough! It has everything you could want: a slow burn romance, magic, found family, and a pretty great cliffhanger! It’s definitely one of my favorite reads so far this year and I can’t wait to get started on Court of Claws!

Thank you to NetGalley, Briar Boleyn, and Starwater Press for the eARC to review with my honest opinion.

The ending to this book made me want to scream. Thank goodness, the second book was available on Kindle Unlimited because I would otherwise lose my mind.

I read the book in two days and devoured the second book. Despite enjoying the read, I did have a few issues. The villains in the story are so utterly unhinged, it makes it hard to believe (yes, I know it's fantasy but it just comes across as too much). Also, the fact that (TW: assault) Florian is messed up enough to carve his name into Morgan's body. He wants to own her in every way, but it just... makes the abuse even more unbelievable?

I don't understand why Arthur hates Morgan so much, especially when she's the one who saved his life and stopped the abuse. If anything, that should make her more special to him.

I really enjoyed the twist on the original Arthurian legend, especially with the fae aspect. I would have loved to see more development between the MCs, and I felt the ending as a little rushed. I really wish we'd seen more character development in Morgan as well. She's the typical FMC, witty, stubborn, unusually kind but also deadly.

Overall, this book was a 3.5 read for me. Predictable, a little unevenly paced, but with decent characters and a fun storyline.

Queen of Roses is probably the most interesting Arthurian retelling that I've read, period. First of all let's talk about Morgan as a character. She's super realistic for somebody who is 20 and has lived a predominantly sheltered life. She's not super smart and she doesn't somehow know everything. The pacing of her character development is really really good; and I genuinely love how she starts coming into her own. The majority of this book is her on the quest and despite the fact that its like 75% journey, it doesn't get redundant and honestly, I couldn't put it down. Next, the romance in this book. It's not overdone even if it is a bit cliche, it makes sense and it doesn't take up too much of the plot, in a way that is insufferable. Overall, I really loved the world building and I feel like Briar Boleyn did such an amazing job of creating a world with a lot of rules, keeping the reader in suspense, but not so much so that they were muddled with confusion. 4.75/5 stars; rounded to 5 stars.

Thank you Net Galley so much for this copy!

🦋Action and adventure
🦋Slow burn
🦋Enemies to loves
🦋Magical and mystical creatures including freaking zombies
🦋Suspense/ mystery
🦋Fae fantasy
🦋Romantasy
🦋Who did this to you/Touch her and die
🦋Aurthurian legend retelling
🦋One bed/tent

I’m still reeling from that ending. So much happened in the last few pages. It’s loosely an Arthurian retelling set in a magical fae world. I loved the world-building. It's incredibly well written. And I’m obsessed with draven . Everytime I came up with a theory of what might happen next I was proved wrong and I loved every second of it.It started out a bit slow for my liking (just like ACOTAR) but it was definitely worth the wait .It’s an action- packed, banter-filled journey of betrayal and revenge. It is full of family drama and I adore how the present story aligns with the past. I also liked all of the side characters.I think Morgan is due some character development .She is a badass on the battlefield but not as much internally but I’m hopeful we’ll see that in the next book. It ended on a cliffhanger and I’ve got start the next book asap

I had seen some good reviews for this book so I was hoping for great things! Sadly, it left me feeling bored. It took ages for anything to happen and by that stage I just didn’t care about any of the characters! Not one for me at all I’m afraid!

A romantasy story spun around the Arthurian legends painted in darker hues. Heroes shrouded in mystery until the very end and an extremely slow burn romance that delivers some but also disappoints.

I was always fascinated but Arthur and his noble court and I always look for stories around those characters even when they are presented darker and more perverse than the original. Arthur in this story is a tyrant coming from a tyrannical line. Morgana Le Fey aka Morgan Pendragon here, is the tormented heroine. A rose with hidden thorns grown up without love, abused and neglected but with the heart of a true Queen of Camelot. I like Morgan. She keeps making wrong decisions throughout the novel but she learns and she grows and she ends up turning her faults into strengths and her weakness into power. Draven, her broody and mysterious guard, is… well… always brooding and very mysterious until literally the final page of the book. I love me a shady male protagonist but it would be nice to learn a bit more about this really important character mainly for the story’s sake without having to wait for the next book. Also, their chemistry didn’t have the chance to evolve much as another character butts in complicating matters in a bad way. This other character’s involvement was not very well used. It seemed thrust upon the story just to lead the plot to a certain point but at a great cost to the main couple’s building. I like slow burn romances but this one felt too spread thin. Without a strong foundation built through tension and pining, this romance ends up being too weak and mediocre and well…not convincing enough.

I liked the premise of this story and the background and the magic, but unfortunately a romantasy novel that doesn’t give the appropriate weight to its romance storyline from the first instalment won’t keep me interested to continue with the second.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the free copy of this ebook.

I was expecting another Beauty and the Beast retelling when I snagged this book, but it instead opened into a magically reimagined Camelot. I was sucked into this world, and it was delightful. I love Morgan, she is genuine and kind and has an open, loving heart, despite all she has had to endure. She has tight bonds with her friends, but lives in a world of distrust that makes her have to guard her every move. The adventure is fun and quick-paced, there are twists and turns that keep you guessing to the end. The simmering relationship with Draven is such a continual tease throughout the book.

And wow, the ending? I can't wait to see what happens next.

This was an interesting retelling of the Pendragons with a fae twist. This story is a very loose retelling and follows Morgan Pendragon, King Arthur’s half sister, who just happens to be part fae. I think people may find this book predictable as they’re familiar with the tales of King Arthur. But the last 25% of the book is full of twists and turns that I don’t think many people would see coming.

I think this series has a lot of room for character development. Young Morgan Pendragon, especially, is one of the characters that I can see growing the most. She is young and naive and fairly sheltered most of her life as she was promised to the temple, and she is forced to hide who she truly is, The second she left the castle for her quest she started to blossom more and follow her own desires.

In regards to love interests, Florian was the worst. No explanation needed. I couldn’t stand him or Vesper. Vesper is sly like a fox and the only reason why he’s slightly better than Florian is that he gave Morgan the impression she had choices. But he was fully aware how naive Morgan was and how easily persuaded she could be. He’s no better than Tamlin or Dain, iykyk. Mr. Kairos Draven, on the other hand, love him! He had me rooting for him the second he said “who did this to you?” Other than the fact that Draven and Morgan flirt and argue like school children. He also respects her, gives her real choices and can tell when something isn’t good for her.

Looking forward to seeing where Briar leads us in the coming books. Thank you NetGalley and Briar for granting me access to this book in exchange for a honest review. Thank

I feel a bit torn about this book, because it was well written and an original take on Camelot however, it did take a long time to get going and felt a bit drawn out at points. The first 50% in particular felt overly descriptive and nothing really happened. While it then picked up pace as the quest started, there were still some lulling stretches. I liked the tension between Morgan and Draven but will note that it is *very* slow burn. The addition of Vesper was simply annoying and on par with unlikeable characters like Arthur or Florian (with the last two falling into the category of unnecessarily cruel). A Queen of Roses really failed to hook me in HOWEVER the ending was amazing and has tempted me to continue reading this series.

I am new to Boleyn, but what a beautiful journey Queen of Roses has been! The setting of Camelot and the character development of Morgan, Draven, Arthur, and Vesper were so expertly depicted it was easy to feel like you were standing there watching as the scenes play out. Morgan Pendragon is the oldest daughter who should have been first in line for the throne, but instead is given as a gift to the priestesses so that Arthur can be king; a man as ruthless as his father had been. Sent away on an important mission, Morgan begins to come into her own as she finally gets to live as her true self. Part-Fae and Part-Human where will her loyalty lie to Camelot and her brother King Arthur?

This book is a reimagined version of the fantasy novel story of the Sword and the Stone. I would rate this as for mature audiences as there is some spice intertwined into the story, as well as a few other situations that may be triggering for some.