I really enjoyed this book as the first part of the series. The many twists and turns through out kept me engaged and wanting to know what happened next. I've been devouring more fantasy related books lately and this one did not disappoint. Slow burn along with enemies to lovers is *chefs kiss*. I can't wait to start the next one in the series!

I didn’t finish this book as it wasn’t something that I usually read! The formatting was just not something I enjoy!

Queen of Roses by Briar Boleyn was a great read! I enjoyed the twist in the book with the characters names being inspired by King Arthur. Morgan is a strong female main character and stands for what she believes in, even if it means going against her brother (the king) wishes.

The book does have a trigger warning for readers and I also liked that there was a pronunciation guide!

I'm so fond of fae stories and had to read this book.
It is a great fast-paced fantasy book with all the tropes I'm here for.
This dark fantasy romance is inspired by the King Arthur lore (a very popular thing now) and it's so fun to see how this is woven into the storyline.

I was really interested going into this book, because a romantasty book was just what I wanted. I liked the main character, Morgan, and was really looking forward to hearing more about her back story and where her story would go.
However, about 25% in, I decided not to continue with this book because the themes were too dark for me and I didn't feel comfortable reading a book with such heavy themes at the moment.

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

This book being a King Arthur/Camelot retelling with Fae was an interesting approach and has the makings of being a fantastic concept for a fantasy novel.
At first, I wanted less of an obvious retelling of the Arthurian references such as the names. As the book went on I realized that I quite liked the references and how the story was developing into something new and unique. But, unfortunately, that's where it stopped for me.

Again, this book has the perfect building blocks of a wonderful fantasy world and adventure, but unfortunately, it has a messiness about it that tells me it was a first draft and hadn't been edited at all.
If this was truly a debut novel I would be more forgiving, but, this is an 'alter-ego' of a well-known romance author.
The inconsistencies were the first indicator, for example, the medicine, did she know her mother took it or not? The lady in the lake, was her hair amethyst and silver or silver and gold? The wound at the end, was it in the stomach or the chest?
All things that I believe should've been adjusted before publishing.

I found the main character either too naive or just plain stupid, some of the things she said made me have to stop and just stare blankly at the wall for a minute. For someone who has gone through what she is meant to have gone through and at her age, I feel that she seemed too sheltered and naive to be making the decisions she was.
The character development is lack-luster and annoying, the only character that is bearable is Draven and let's be honest he carries the plot on his shoulders alone.

I felt the ending had a good idea but could've been slower to allow the reader to fully comprehend what was happening specifically when the perspective changed. This novel had so much potential, but ultimately, felt rushed and unedited, with more time it would've been a wonderful first book.

This book had me intrigued right from the beginning but it lacked some oomph. I wasn't really feeling the slow burn romance between Morgan and Draven. The addition of Vesper was so frustrating to read, how easy Morgan fell into his hands was too good to be true although living a more sheltered life I am not surprised. Really loved the cliffhanger ending but I think it would've had a better impact if the 'slow burn' romance had more meaningful and convincing development. Looking forward to the next book!

I really liked this one, and I’m looking forward to reading the rest in the series!

Queen of Roses is an alternate retelling of King Arthur, from the point of view of his half-sister Morgan Pendragon, a half-fae queen-who-never-was. She is the oldest of 3 half-siblings, but her father Uther stripped her of her right to the throne before he died, giving it to his middle child Arthur instead. Morgan has been through a lot of trauma, witnessing murders, being sexually assaulted, and being treated as “other” by her family due to her fae blood. Though she is half-fae, you wouldn’t know it, as her family has been giving her medicine her whole life to suppress the “bad traits” and keep her human. Morgan is given a quest by her brother, but not quite out of brotherly love… more like paranoia, resentment & spite. She sets on a journey to find Excalibur that has been lost in the long-abandoned fae lands.

I liked seeing a new story come about from an old legend, and the way they differ only adds to it, in my opinion. In the original, Arthur is the hero, with Morgana being the evil sorceress. Here, we see a complete role reversal, Arthur is the hateful terrible ruler, and Morgan is the traumatized fae that will bring hope to Camelot. In this book, you have a gender bent Merlin and Lancelet, along with new characters I hadn’t seen before. The modern take on the traditional medieval tale is refreshing and much welcomed.

The author did a really great job of writing characters you’ll hate and characters you’ll be skeptical of. And the mystery of the fae is weaved throughout the book in such a slow way that’s so well done.

Though the beginning seemed a bit slow and predictable, I guess you need to do the world-building a bit slowly to make sure it’s well understood. The other thing that kept me from giving this a 5-star rating is that I thought the writing was a bit basic (with some repetitive sentences here and there). But the story makes up for it!

This book series has so much potential and I’m excited to see where it leads!

Thank you to NetGalley & Starwater Press for the ebook copy in exchange for an honest review!

Diving into Queen of Roses felt like stepping into a mesmerizing fae realm. The world-building, with its captivating Arthurian twist, had me hooked. However, the love triangle and certain character choices left me torn. The slow-burn romance and plot twists, especially the mind-blowing cliffhanger, ensure I'm eagerly anticipating the sequel. Cheers to a fantastical journey!

First off, thank you NetGalley for approving me to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review!! :)

There are many, many things to talk about here. I will say that I did enjoy the read overall and was intrigued throughout Morgan and Dravens journey to find Excalibur. Did I love the book? No I wouldn’t say I LOVED it, but yes I did enjoy it.

The first 30% of the book was expected to be slow going as there’s lots of character and world building that takes place. I really enjoyed 40%-80% through and I couldn’t put it down. The remainder 20% I was confused and at how fast paced it was going. It seemed like the author couldn’t wait to wrap it up, only to leave on a HUGE cliffhanger at the end and especially with dravens character???? There was a lot of important information and events being skimmed over which I didn’t particularly like.

There were points in the later half of the book where it felt like I was reading a YA book, and then suddenly a spicy scene would emerge, only to remind you oh yeah this is adult fantasy.

I honestly loved that this was a King Arthur retelling, but could have been executed a little better. I think Briar’s ability to create these diverse characters are unmatched and the world she built was stunning. However, I just feel this book didn’t need to be as fast paced as it was. There was tons of foreshadowing which I love in a book, but the twists weren’t very twisty? It was to be expected and wasn’t as surprised as I would’ve liked.

Overall, a solid 3.5 stars from me. I do want to read the second book since I’m so invested with Morgan and Draven and the ENDING!!!

I really, really enjoyed Queen of Roses by Briar Boleyn. I missed the steam that I normally read and am used to, but I still couldn’t put this down. I can’t wait for the second book to come out. The ending was full of twists that I definitely didn’t see coming, but I love who was still standing at the end. The book ends on a HUGE cliffhanger. Like, no questions are answered at all.

I received an advance review copy of Queen of Roses for free from NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was my first ARC read, so thank you to Briar Boleyn. I really enjoyed the ride!

I went in completely blind. And at first I was a book shooketh about the fact that this book is a loosely based, dark, fat re-telling of King Arthur. While reading My mind kept going to the series Merlin for the visuals of Morgan(a). This book is written from Morgan(a)'s POV.

This book might not have captivated me from the first start, but it kept getting better with the wold building, depth and of course the character development.

Please be aware that this book ends on a cliffhanger and will leave you wanting more.

This book will give you:

* Great world building
* Enemies to Lovers
* Slow burn Romance
* Morally grey men
* and much more...

So glad that I figured out this was a series and the other two were also available on here. So thank you for accepting my requests.

Queen of Roses is a dark twisted tale of Arthurian rretelling. I fell in love with the story and characters instantly, the world building and plot development is beyond my expectation. The first read gave off the vibes of beautiful fairytale with dark elements.

I believe it's a series perfect for fans of ACOTAR, Six of Crows or The Remnant Chronicles.

Sadly, this was a DNF at 45%. I can see how a lot of Romantasy readers would like this, though.

I was intrigued by the idea of an Arthurian retelling, but personally, I found myself really annoyed by the use of the names when so little of the story resembled the legend of Camelot.

I'm learning that I much prefer high fantasy or even urban fantasy over stories like this. I'm looking for immersive world building, a solid plot, and characters with a level of depth and complexity that this just did not as satisfy for me.

I've heard from bookish friends that the series really ramps up once it gets going, and I'll still handsell this to customers, but it just wasn't for me.

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and the author for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Queen of roses is a dark fantasy. Emphasis on dark. Please read the trigger warnings prior to reading. It’s a loose re-telling of King Arthur set in the kingdom of Camelot with a fae-twist.

I really loved this story. It starts off a little slow and has some disturbing elements in the beginning, but once the quest kicks in, the plot really picks up and it’s hard to put the book down. There is a lot of good writing and world building and the plot twists were excellent. As with all first novels, there’s a little bit of an information dump with history, lore and characters, so pay attention because they are important going forward.

As for the romance, It is a true slow-burn romance with “who did this to you” vibes and themes of sibling love, friendship, betrayal, protect her at all costs, tyrant rulers, magic, mythical creatures, forced proximity, banter, and many surprises and unexpected twists. If you pay attention, you can see them coming from the way Boleyn writes, like little clues here and there. I have to say, the ending got me and I have so many questions. Can’t wait to read the next book!
Spice level: 🌶️
4/5 ⭐️

4 stars
It took me a little bit to get into this one but once I did I couldn’t stop reading it. This was a very interesting tale of going after Excalibur. Adding in some Fae and magic with Lancelot being a girl named Lancelet and Merlin being a woman. I really liked it and am looking forward to the next book.

I loved this book and devoured it in a day and a half. I feel like it’s really setting the scene and back bone for what’s to come, and I’m so excited for that! It’s definitely a slow burn when it comes to romance, but I’m here for it. I loved the characters and thought they were really well developed. There’s plenty of intrigue, twists and turns and it’s well worth a read if you like a good fantasy romance, with a “chosen one” vibe trope. Will 100% be carrying on with the Blood of the Fae series.

What a wonderful book to end my 2023! I will be honest that I started this and like all intros into a new fantasy world (for me at least) it took a minute for me to get into it but then today on our drive back home I committed and finished it and was NOT disappointed. This has a lot of Lady of Darkness book 1 vibes to it with its own twist.

Morgan has basically been hiding away in her kingdom since she lost her throne by birth to her younger brother. She is part fae which is a no no so due to this her brother Arthur is now the king. Her eyes are starting to open up to how horribly he is running the kingdom. Their people are not being fed. No one knows where the food is going. Morgan tries to help a group of hunters which backfires big time on her when her brother not only finds out but tells her that doesn’t trust her. He is sending her to a far away place to hunt a mythical sword called Excalibur. She will only have a few guards with her one of who is her mortal enemy’s dad, the other is an unknown who we will call a stranger enemy, Draven. Arthur tells her it would not be the end of the world if she dies but that she needs to prove herself and that she cares about her court and their youngest brother Kaye. Morgan is ok with leaving as she has a tormentor who has made her life a living hell. She has no choice but to say yes.

She has always taken a potion if you will at night to keep her fae traits at bay and when they are traveling she is forces to take this potion on a more regular basis. Things come to a head on the trail and she decides she will no longer be hiding who she is. This is when things took a turning point for me. Along the way they encounter mystical creatures that she has only read about in books. She is starting to change- her skin is changing, her hair is changing. She has powers she didn’t know about. All signs pointed to her and Draven becoming a thing which is teased but she has also heard some horrible things about him and doesn’t know what to believe. But then we get a curveball in Vesper- a mysterious part fae who helps Draven and Morgan out of a life or death situation. They all end up making it to hew sword when people’s true colors show up and we realize that Draven will do anything for Morgan.

I enjoyed how much backstory we got in this one. I loved the world building. I loved the hint of the bad guy in Draven- our morally grey MMC who seems to have rounded a curve. This had a lot of Lady of Darkness book 1 for me but with the King Arthur retelling twist. There is a ton of slow burn and kind of enemies to lovers. I can’t wait to see what happens when Morgan wakes up in the fae world which I am assuming is where they are going. I can’t wait to learn more about Draven and his past and I can’t wait for more SPICY scenes!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I would definitely recommend jumping into this series if you haven’t already.

3.5⭐️ this was a good romantasy book!
things I liked:
slow burn romance
the banter
the world building
Kairos
enemies to lovers

things i didn’t love:
the love triangle
Morgan was mehhh
a bit predictable
character development could be a bit stronger

overall a great start to a fantasy series!!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Overall Review (spoilers)

I am a sucker for Arthurian retellings. I plan BBC Merlin, but give me Camelot and it’s history and I melt faster than sugar in water.

Queen of Roses is the first book in a Arthurian retelling, except Arthur is a bad guy, there’s hot fae, and Morgana is powerful…except she doesn’t realize it.

After witnessing her mother’s death, Morgan grows up in the court of her father then Arthur. Having be usurped for the throne from her father, Morgan was suppose to simply be a priestess and hidden away from the world due to her fae blood. However, Arthur decides to send her on a deadly quest with a really hot assassins. If she fails, Arthur has made it clear that she will meet a worse fate than having to serve the gods.

I really like Boleyn’s inclusion of tropes while still managing to tell a new story. The magic system does need a little work, and sometime I feel like Boleyn was explaining things that should have been shown instead of explained via words, but overall this is a pretty great book. I can’t wait to read the second!

Plot Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Genre: fiction, romance, retelling, history

Trigger Warnings: parent death, SA, murder, gore, sexism, dubious consent