I really liked this story and it definitely got better and better as the book progressed. It felt a little obvious and cliché the first half but as we got to the last third things got more interesting, more complex, and more substance was infused in the story and the characters to actually stand out and pique my interest. By the end of it I had to read book 2 immediately as the ending only makes you want to know what happens next.
It’s a fun coming of age or identity discovery story if you will for a lonely, mistreated princess. There’s a dark, tall, and brooding protector. We have fae magic and legends. We have zombies of sorts and an Arthurian retelling backdrop.

For me I found that this book was very slow to get into. I think it was because of the world building and it was setting us up for the later issues but the first hundred pages are pretty hard to get through. But it picked up eventually and the climax and ending were enjoyable. I believe that this series is going to continue to get better and I can’t wait to read the next book.

Love love love love love!! This book was everything I wanted it to be and I'm still thinking about it days after finishing it.
All of the characters were well developed and nuanced, and I found myself interested in all of them! The gender-bending of some well known characters was also great, and I love the depth it added to the character relationships.
The romance is very slow burn, but I've seen that the author has promised more spice in the future books and I CANNOT WAIT for that!
The writing was well-paced and gripping, and I constantly found myself thinking, 'just one more chapter!'
I honestly don't have a bad thing to say about this book, and I'm so excited to read the rest!
Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an eARC of this book!

Stripped of her birthright, rumoured to possess forbidden blood and tasked with an impossible mission, Morgan Pendragon faces dangers beyond her wildest imagination, but she proves herself to be a true queen throughout this amazing novel.

I never knew I needed this. Briar Boleyn's Queen of Roses was such an amazing read with twists and turns that took hold of me from cover to cover. I've mentioned a few times that Arthurian retellings are some of my favourite books to read, so when I found Queen of Roses I was excited as well as intrigued by the blend of Arthurian and fae as they are two I never thought about being together. And Briar Boleyn does not disappoint. This intriguing novel pulled at my heartstrings; falling in love with some of the characters (Morgan and Lancelet are my definite favourites!), creating good reasons to hate others and conjuring an atmosphere that made me feel I was in Camelot, myself.

Queen of Roses is a must-read for all fantasy, fae and Arthurian fans who enjoy the intrigue of ACOTR's court and the magic of Holly Black's novels.

Thank you, NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Thank you, Briar Boleyn, too!

A retelling of Arthur, count me in! This is Arthur but with a twist! What if Arthur wasn’t good and Morgan is the hero? I really liked Morgan! The author did a great job revealing her to me. I also really like Kairos. My only problem was I wanted more conversation between Morgan and Kairos. I didn’t like the direction it went with Vesper and wish we could have had more relationship (even just friendship) between Morgan and Draven. I feel like if I’m supposed to believe this relationship moving forward, that development was missing for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest review..

I really enjoyed reading "Queen of Roses" by Briar Boleyn. The storyline is captivating and kept me hooked from the start. However, I noticed that the writing style changed a lot, which made it a bit confusing. It felt like the author couldn't decide on one way to tell the story, and it took away from the experience. Also, some parts of the story felt rushed, especially when it came to how the characters' relationships developed. I wish there was more time for things to unfold naturally. Despite these things, I see a lot of potential in the book. The foundation is strong, and I'm excited to see what happens in the sequel. I hope the author works on making the writing more consistent and gives the characters more time to grow. Looking forward to the next book!

Gripping
A look at the start of Morgan’s story from the King Arthur legends
I wasn’t that aware of the details of the legendary court of King Arthur, just the normal chivalry, knights of the round table type thing and this book has totally turned that view on its head in a well written and thought out book that had me totally hooked. To add a bit of context, in this version Arthur isn’t the romantic figure we normally know but instead a cruel, selfish and ruthless king who rules by fear and Morgan as the person who wants to look after those around her, especially the people who mean the most to her (her friends and much younger brother Kaye)
Morgan Pendragon, later known as Morgan Le Fay, was King Arthur’s sister and this book follows her during her time at the royal court and when she is tasked, well more blackmailed and threatened to be honest, into find the mythical sword, Excalibur. I liked Morgan most of the time but I will admit to times when she did start to do things that didn’t really feel right or feel like they fitted with her character which kind of annoyed me. She is determined to be independent and will do things that may be unwise but which are done in the interests of others, like joining illegal hunting parties to catch food for the hungry townsfolk. Because the story follows Morgan, the reader does end up being excluded from some aspects of the book and learning things about her as she discovers them which I struggled with at times, but that’s probably just because I can be one of those readers who likes to know everything
This book is fast paced and it did keep me awake at times just where I didn’t want to stop reading which I really enjoyed. I think my main frustration was that it ended on a bit of a cliff hanger but luckily I have the next book in the series so am about to start that once I’ve finished writing this review!
I would recommend this book to those who enjoy a story seen from a different perspective that will have you hooked from the very beginning

After deciding to give this another go I have found it to be an enjoyable read but not a favourite. Giving the rest of the series another bash to see if this changes!

Unfortunately, this is a DNF for me. The prose was difficult and choppy, to say the least. Similes littered the pages in the most jarring ways. The characters were flat and felt more like cardboard cutouts than real people.

I really wanted to like this book. An Arthurian retelling focused on Morgan with a genderswapped Merlin, fae, and magic? Yeah, that sounds incredible. But, unfortunately, this book wasn't for me.

This is a dark fantasy romance with Fae which is loosely inspired by King Arthur. I was immediately interested with this book series and the first book was a great way to start it off. It is fast paced and kept me intrigued the entire time. Ohhh the twists and turns this book took! The world building was amazing as well! Loved it!

✨ About the Book ✨

A doomed love, a dangerous mission, and a kingdom on the brink of war...
A cast-off princess…

Born into a life of duty and sacrifice, Morgan Pendragon’s destiny has never been her own. Rumored to carry the tainted blood of the fae in her veins, her birthright is stolen from her when she is a mere child. Growing up in the shadow of her brother the king, she has been promised to the goddesses when she comes of age. So, when her brother commands that she seek out a fae weapon of legendary power, Morgan seizes the chance to break free from the chains of her fate.

A dangerous temptation…

As she travels, Morgan finds herself drawn into a strange group of outcasts, led by a dark and enigmatic warrior whose sharp wit and fierce beauty set her heart ablaze. But while Morgan struggles to reconcile her desires with her duty, she and her new comrades discover dangers that await them beyond anything in their wildest nightmares.

A slumbering kingdom awoken by blood…

Believed to have vanished generations ago, a fae kingdom dreaded by mortals is ascending once more, bound to reclaim what was lost by violence and bloodshed. As the fae world, with its intricate web of lies and mysteries, is slowly revealed to Morgan, she is led to the terrible realization that the secrets she carries in her blood make her a greater threat than she could ever have imagined.

Author: Briar Boleyn
Release Date: April 15, 2023 by Starwater Press
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Fae
Pages: 361 pages, Kindle Edition
Star Rating: 3.9 /5


📚 How I See it 📚

I’ve heard about this book so much, I got really excited when I finally got my hands on a copy. I was looking forward to this Arthurian retelling with a fae twist - how interesting!

The story starts off slow and I did struggle a little bit to push through. However, once the world building phase is over, the rest of the plot is exciting, fun and overall a great read.

I’m excited for book #2

What I Liked:

🩵 Slow burn romance
🩵 Great enemies to lovers trope
🩵 Forced proximity
🩵 Excellent banter


What I Didn’t Like:

💔 Arthur, Florian and Vesper - gosh I hated them.

💛 Find Me Here 💛

Blog : themidnightbookclub.com
Instagram : @the.midnight.book.club


Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this advanced copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own thoughts

Hello, I know this was supposed to be a review but I never received an arc of this book. I wasn't sure who to contact exactly but hopefully I can read it and review it sometime. I'm truly sorry for this, but I'm pretty sure this book would've been great!

*Thank you to NetGalley and Briar Boleyn for providing me with a copy of this book for an honest review*

The story is slightly inspired by the arthurian legend and has a fae fantasy twist to it. But because the beginning was very slow paced and the fantasy elements only show up later in the book it took me some time to get into it. Once I was though I read it in two days. The world building is nice, not too shallow but also not too complicated, the characters are interesting to follow and the plot, although very typical for the fantasy genre (the heroes go on a weeks long journey to retrieve a magical object and meet lots of people and fantastical creatures on the way), was exciting and the story left off on a very mean cliffhanger.
Now for the romance: I can't say much without spoiling but its the most predictable thing about this book, which I don't mind at all.

I'm excited to continue the story in the second installment of this series, which I've actually already started and am 20 % into because the cliffhanger was BRUTAL.

Loosely inspired by the timeless and much-beloved King Arthur saga, Queen of Roses is a slow-burn romantacy (is that correct?) with plenty of fantastical beasts and derring-do.

The cherry on top is an ending that will leave you on tenterhooks, eagerly awaiting the next instalment.

First of all, the cover?! OH SO GORGEOUS 🖤
Second of all, the plot?! the worldbuilding?! and the romance?! CHEF'S KISS 🤌

Queen of Roses is a slow-burn Romantasy set in an Arthurian world and it grabbed my attention from the very beginning. Our main character is Morgan Pendragon, the sister of King Arthur who is most definitely the black sheep of the family due to her Fae lineage. The addition of Fae into the story added an element of pizzazz to the plot and aided in further engrossing me in the story. I appreciated the level of world-building in this book because I found myself more intrigued by that than the romance aspect, mostly because it is a major slow burn. That said, I love it when the FMC falls for her Guard, and that makes the slow burn worthwhile. The pacing of the novel is excellent and because this is the first in a new series, it laid the groundwork for more depth to be added later on. This book is greatly entertaining and I'm excited to continue reading this series, this was a very solid start!

4/5

Thank you to NetGalley, Saltwater Press, and the author, Briar Boleyn for providing me with an e-Arc copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Magic? Camelot? The Gays??? Yes, please!

This enjoyable series by Briar Boleyn is captivating and fun while also managing to highlight the dissonance between toxic power wielding and jealousy. Queen of Roses is an excellent start to this trilogy and leaves you wanting clarity for questions that arise in you in the best of ways.

And as an added note there are also content notes that help readers make informed choices around engagement due to sensitive material in this specific book and the series more broadly.

I love this book so much. I think most of my love is because it seems like a unique take on fae. The fae in this story are the enemies and if you’re part fae you’re viewed differently. There are basically no fae who exist anymore and those that exist are only half fae with abnormal coloring. Pink hair, golden skin, etc. And fae were rumored to have horns and claws which seems to be a very large reason as to why this kingdom is anti-fae.

As for the main character, I think I am 50-50 on liking her. I love that she isn’t your typical princess, she wants to be a warrior and have the strength behind her to stand her ground. I feel she might be a tad cringy in the romance department BUT it makes sense because she’s inexperienced (again, doesn’t feel many MCs are inexperienced).

I love Draven. I’ll be honest, I am not sure if this book is enemies to lovers because if it’s not I might lose it honestly.

I would read the triggers if you have triggers because I feel some may be bothered by a couple spots. The author does a good job skimming over most of it and just insinuating what happened (either that or I grossly misunderstood). But I know some might be bothered.

The spice is very brief and quick (again she’s inexperienced) but it is a dark romance series so I feel the next few books will have spice in them.

Anyways, I love that this has King Arthur, and excalibur, and Camelot, and Lancelet. Again, I haven’t read a book with medieval vibes to this degree, so I truly am enjoying it. I should have reread the last chapter because I read to so fast and SO much happened I just breezed through it.

Queen of Roses is the first book that I have read by Briar Boleyn and it most certainly won’t be the last. I loved reading the beginning of Morgan and Draven’s journey and can’t wait to read what happens next for them. It hooked me from the very beginning.
I highly recommend this fantasy to anyone who likes stories featuring the fae. Just know that it does leave you hanging at the end.

Read this Fantasy series... I do love a strong female character and FAE!
A really strong storyline and well written. I felt like i went right along for the ride.
This one had slow burn and enemy to lovers trope done well.
some of the scenes were sad, but i guess it is realistic- though out time, greed and selfishness have driven people.