I was initially drawn to this book due to my affinity for Beauty and the Beast retellings, a genre that I particularly enjoy. The integration of a magic system centered around crystals, intertwined with a technological twist, was particularly intriguing, offering a unique narrative angle.

The characters, despite being opposites, complement each other effectively, and their banter adds an enjoyable dimension to the story. Additionally, the development of side characters added depth and richness to the narrative, further enhancing the reading experience.

I am curious to see how the story will unfold and look forward to exploring its future developments.

First let me say how much I adore Rebecca Zanetti's books. Her Dark Protectors series, Laurel Snow thrillers, and Anna Albertini Files are some of my favorite reads. I am not, however, a dark romance reader. I knew I might be taking a chance on not connecting with this book when I was offered an advance copy....but the cover is so beautiful, I just had to try it.

I have to say, I am glad I read it. It's pure Zanneti in the interesting characters and intriguing storyline. It is dark in places, and I did skip pages, but I think fans of dark retellings of fairy tales will enjoy this book.
4.25 stars for the cover and because I love Rebecca Zanetti's writing.

"One Cursed Rose" is the new series by Rebecca Zanetti. It is considered by the author herself as a dark romance, which is why I hesitated to request it at first. But since I have really enjoyed most of her books so far, I thought, "why not."

I come away from this reading very mixed and, to this day, I still don't know how to categorize the novel. I admit, I didn't understand everything. Was I just not in the right mood, or is it because I really struggle with fairy tale retellings? In any case, it took me a long time to write this review, and that's never a good sign for me.

"One Cursed Rose" is the first volume of a series titled "Grimm Bargains." For now, there will be three books featuring a group of friends who hide their true selves behind a beautiful social facade. It is a retelling of "Beauty and the Beast," one of the volumes will be a retelling of "Cinderella," and I haven't yet guessed which fairy tale is planned for the third friend.

When I say I didn't understand everything, it's because I felt that the author didn't know if she wanted to write contemporary, fantasy, or fairy tale. Just as I felt that Rebecca Zanetti didn't know if she wanted to write dark or somber, either she's not comfortable with it, or she didn't necessarily want to commit to a truly dark hero (which worked out for me, I must say, lol).

The plot is quite simple: a wealthy hero falls in love with an heiress whose father has arranged a marriage for her. As a dark character, he kidnaps her. What I appreciated is that the entire story isn't set in a closed environment. And the hero isn't that horrible either. The story is written in the first person from both points of view.
Nevertheless, this book did not make me want to read the other volumes. Moreover, as much as I love the story of "Beauty and the Beast," I dislike the story of "Cinderella."

DNF but filing this one under it’s not the book, it’s me. When I requested this I thought ooh, fairytale retelling and Rebecca Zanetti, I’m in!! But I’m not in much of a romance mood lately and while I tried this one it really isn’t working. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook to review.

In a world of the four mafia families, we follow Alana and Thorn.

Alana is told by her father that she has to marry Cal Sokolov (a member of a different family). She doesn’t want to.

Thorn is the hero of the story, except he’s morally grey. He does things people would consider dark, but he has his reasons.

Thorn and Alana were interesting characters and I loved how crystals were used and charged each platform that each family owned. There were different crystals connected to each family and there was always one member who could charge them better than anyone else.

I love most retellings I read and when I realised it was a beauty and the beast retelling, I knew I wanted to read it, especially as it was a mafia retelling.

I loved this story and look forward to reading the rest of the series.

3.5 stars.

One Cursed Rose is a modern-day billionaire romance based on Beauty & The Beast.
Main characters - Alana (beauty) + Thorn (the beast)
Beauty and the Beast was my favourite Disney movie growing up..this is like 30+ years of fandom right now. Multiple pieces from the score currently sit in my top 25 most-played songs... to this day. So, here is how I feel about:
One Cursed Rose - a darkish modern-day billionaire romance based on Beauty & The Beast.
Main characters - Alana (beauty) + Thorn (the beast)

Thorn is giving me a watered-down version of Zade Meadows. I won't go into it here because I feel like it would give up too many spoilers.

It was a good modern take on the story. I liked that she was torn between "the beast" and another socialite who is gross. You have tragic backstories and Thorn has loyal servants. You can see that the author has also created a world that includes other fairy tales. Alana has a friend named Ella who has an evil stepmother and stepsisters who banished her from their(her) family business.

Truthfully, I had a hard time getting into this novel. I would say at about 40%, I was still not sure how I felt about what I was reading. I wasn't pulled in yet. But I kept going and I am glad I did. There were some good twists in the story and the pace picked up. And once we got more into the "curse" - I started to like Thorn, and I wanted to see what would happen to him. I liked the way the curse... cursed Thorn. I was torn about how I felt about Alana. Sometimes I felt like she was super badass and other times I felt like she let things slide too easily.

As far as the magic/social media combination - this is where I may spoil without meaning to spoil - so warning!

I liked the idea of crystals playing a part in their power socially and that there was a magic element to the plot. I did not like that it was combined with their computers and social media. I get they need to make it more modern and unique. But I feel like crystals are part of a modern culture already and didn't need to be combined with social media. I didn't like the engagement with the followers and that contributing to the power of the crystals. I feel like that's so not magical. It was a miss for me. I didn't like it. I didn't like the result of that either. (again, trying not to spoil.)

I will likely read the next book - especially if it's about Ella. Cuz I hated her stepmom and I would like to see her taken down. However, she is very integrated with computers and I just don't know if I wanted to read more about that.

I was entertained, I was enjoying my time with this retelling of Beauty and the Beast from the very beginning. It was dreamy with such a dark romance theme.

I would defined look forward to the next books in the series. I really enjoyed this spicy fantasy love story. The twists throughout the book made it hard to put it down.

I enjoyed that this was a Beauty and the Beast retelling. I did find that it had some similarities of another popular dark romance I had read, but I enjoyed the spin that was put on it. Overall a great read!

ARC Review - Thanks NetGalley
One Cursed Rose
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was intrigued with this book because some of my favorite books are Beauty and the Beast retellings. I enjoyed the magic system with the crystals and a technology twist. She merges fairy tale with science and technology. I enjoyed the characters as they are opposites but they work. I love the banter. I also enjoyed the side characters. I’m interested to see where the story goes.

If you love retellings, dark Romantasy, forced proximity, rivals to lovers, suspense and romance (a little BDSM) give this book a chance.

There are dark themes and potential triggers so read the trigger warnings.

This book is definitely different from this author's previous books. As it's advertised it is a dark romance and has intimate scenes that are certainly 'darker' than her other series. This story is a retelling/modernizing of Beauty and the Beast. I found the plot of having four main families that use crystals to power everyone's social media intriguing. I hope as the series continues we learn even more about how that works because I really loved that idea. The main characters Thorn and Alana written extremely well. I admit I enjoyed Thorn's alpha male/possessive traits but the sweetness he had with Alana (at times) was wonderful. I felt Alana was a complex character and that most people underestimated her. I think the two of them make a very strong and interesting couple. I really loved the 'supporting' characters and can't wait to learn more about them in future books. The storyline/plot was good. I liked how Zanetti threw in things to show that Thorn wasn't as 'evil' as people thought (trying to clear up problems with child trafficking, etc), but he still kills and would probably be considered an anti-hero. I also love how Alana is so knowledgeable and spends lots of time in Thorn's library. There are great story twists with a serial killer possibly stalking Alana, her trying to remember/figure out who killed a few family members, Thorn's curse, etc. And wow, that ending... LOVED IT!! I have the ebook, audiobook, and the special edition hardcover (which is absolutely gorgeous). I read the book & then listened to the audiobook and whichever your preferred reading method is you should enjoy this book! The narrators did a phenomenal job and I was hooked the moment I started listening to the book!! I thoroughly enjoyed the book and can't wait for the next one in the series!!

I couldn’t put this book down! It’s described as a beauty and the beast retelling but I hadn’t remembered that or seen that when I picked it up as I’m not generally a fan of the retelling stories.

4 families aiming to get the most exposure/followers on their social media platforms to help charge the energies of their family crystals.

Alana is part of Aquarius (her crystals are aquamarine and rose quartz) and is the obsession of Thorn who is part of Malice (his crystals are garnets). When Alana’s dad arranges for her to marry Cal Sokolov of Hologrid Thorn takes matters into his own hands and kidnaps Alana.

Thorn is a social recluse and his health is deteriorating due to the health of his garnets due to an infection. He suspects the Rendale family (diamonds and Citrine) but has no real proof. Thorn, his brother and other members of his team are working to find a cure to save Thorn and the family.

A love story filled with murder and vengeance, powered by the energy of crystals and social media. Part fantasy with hints of Mafia, there is a lot to like in the first book of this series. I can’t wait to read book 2.

I love Rebecca Zanetti’s books but when I first started reading this one, a new Grimms Brothers take on Beauty and the Beast, I admit I wasn’t sure how I felt. It is dark and at times I cringed a little, BUT I loved Thorn and Alana. I loved her personality and how she didn’t put up with a lot from Thorn. It took me awhile to catch feels for him, but boy I sure did. Exciting plot with some fantasy involved (another genre I don’t often read) but anything coming from this author I will read. A fun, exciting albeit dark romance.

I have major issues with this book. It has nothing to do with how it was written, or the storyline itself. It's more of a me, issue. I cannot, for the life of me get into books where influerncers are the main characters. Maybe I don't follow any influencers really, and the thought of glitz and glammor brought on by social media just gives me the ick. Again, this is totally a me problem and nothing to do with the writer, and story itself. In the right hands this book will clearly be a 5 star.

One Cursed Rose is a new ‘dark romance’ release from Rebecca Zanetti. This was my first time reading one of her books.
Alana is the daughter and heir of tech giant Aquarius Social. After her brother’s death responsibility falls on her to maintain the success of the company. Alana is huge on social media and is a successful influencer surrounded by a team of her friends that keep the cogs of the machine running. In her downtime she helps victims of violence and diverts much of her money to helping others, something no one really knows about. Under the control of her father, Alana is told she is to marry the son of another successful tech/media company and she is not enthusiastic about this development.
Thorn Beathach is the mysterious boss of the direct competition for Aquarius Social. He is obsessed with Alana and tracks her every move. He is an enigma and known to be brutal and cunning.
After an assassination attempt on Alana’s life, Thorn kidnaps her. It appears this was the plan all along but this major step was brought forward due to the attempted murder.
This book was slightly strange and had the odd plot hole where I was left scratching my head trying to understand. So it appears than different crystals are used to power technology. Alana is charged with ‘recharging’ the crystals and Thorn is suffering from some new illness that he and his crystals have been infected with, making things difficult for his company. I found this so confusing. It felt really out of place and unexplained. It appeared out of nowhere at the beginning and didn’t really make much sense throughout.
It was corny in places and it felt like a challenge of ‘let’s fit every popular microtrope into this book’. I understand it is labelled as ‘dark romance’ but apart from the gang activity and the slight stalking, it didn’t feel that dark but that might be because I have developed some sort of immunity to it now after reading some intense books.
It definitely had beauty and the beast vibes but I just didn’t feel a connection to the characters or the plot. It didn’t excite me or keep me wanting to read more.
I love that so many enjoyed this book though. Maybe this wasn’t the one for me.
Thanks for the eARC!

I was looking forward to this Beauty and the Beast story and I was quickly sucked in! Thorn has been watching Alana from afar, but things quickly happen that make him rush in to her aid. While they were opposites, they’re very much drawn to one another. Thorn is protective of what’s his. And he has claimed Alana. And she calms him in a way no one else can. I enjoyed the danger that was surrounding them while things heated up between them. Their world was fascinating and I was hoping for a cure to be found. Couldn’t put this book down and definitely recommend!

The magic system is really unique and I really enjoyed that this fantasy takes place in our time. Usually fantasies are in a medieval type setting. Very quickly, this book turned into a dark, stalker, 50 shades of gray type book that is not something that interests me. I think if you’re into dark romance, this might be a good one to pick up, but it’s just not for me.

I DNFd this 1/3 of the way through.

Not really my thing, but I have loved tons of Zanetti’s books, so I wanted to give it a try. Also, I like stories that play with the whole Beauty and the Beast dynamic. The story does have some entertainment value; some fun danger, but ultimately, I didn’t love this one. The social media stuff just doesn’t draw me; can’t stand the whole influencer thing, but I do like the hacking aspect. I didn’t fully love the romance either. This one has heavy kink, which I have been over most types of kink for quite sometime; I never really loved it, but put up with it in the past since it was in so many romances, but by this point, I really am just not into it. The kink is extra extra too; it was too much like she was being degraded, so I’m not into the bruising, humiliation kink aspect. I do love the passion and intense pull, but I needed more than lust pulling Alana and Thorn together. As for the Beauty and the Beast aspect, I was missing out on the heart of the beast character. Yes, he can be fierce and dangerous, but he also has that tenderness for the beauty that really makes you feel their connection; Thorn does have some of that, but I just wanted it to shine through a bit more. I do like the stalker angle, and the you’re mine and I’ll kill any who try to harm you scenario, so I did find some pluses. There can be some sweetness there between Alana and Thorn too. There is some weird mystical gems thing going on too that could be something interesting at times. There’s also some interesting things involving some mystery around an assassin, a curse, and the deceptions of those involved in the media companies. I don’t know; in the end, I was entertained and do like some aspects to this story, so I’m going to go with a 3 rating. Liked it but not loved.

Do you have a favorite fairy tale?

One of my favorite fairy tales is Beauty and the Beast. I was excited to see that One Cursed Rose was a dark romance rewrite of the Beauty and the Beast Fairy Tale.

Alana Beaumont is a young twenty something social media influencer. She is the heir to Aquarius Social, which is one of the four major social medial companies. The four families that own the four main social medial companies have been rivals for centuries. They gain power from different gems or crystals that are specific to a family, and they use this power to run their social media networks. Thron Beathach is the owner of the current number one company, Mafia Media. He is obsessed with Alana and he saves/kidnaps her during an assassination attempt. Why is someone trying to murder to Alana and is it related to her brother’s mysterious death? Who is working against Thorne and freezing his gems?

My thoughts on this novel:
• I loved that this was a Beauty and the Beast retelling and that is what first caught my attention.

• One Cursed Rose was an engaging and very readable story.

• This is a dark mafia romantic suspense fantasy novel.

• I really enjoyed the mysteries and the suspense in this novel and that is what kept me reading and unable to put the book down.

• I enjoyed that this was a dual narrative novel with Alana and Thorne telling the story in alternate chapters.

• One Cursed Rose is the first in a new series.

• I liked the secondary characters. Alana’s friends, Thorne’s brother, etc. were all great. I wanted to know all their background stories and I’m hoping that they will get their stories as the series progresses.

• Alana came off as a spoiled rich kid at first, but she is smart and has depth. I liked her. Thorn is morally gray. He is sexy, knows his own mind, and does like to help people. But he also kills people and stalks Alana. There is great banter between the two.

• I would have liked more description of how exactly the crystals worked.

• This was the first dark romance that I’ve read, and I am not sure about the “dark” elements. Are all dark romances all like this novel and very spicy and violent? Or is this extreme kink? I didn’t like that the heroine was an inexperienced virgin with the families talking about her virginity and her getting tested before an arranged marriage to ensure her purity. This did not seem like something that would be happening in 2024. The sexually experienced hero basically rapes her, beats her, threatens her, and does whatever he wants. But it’s okay because she eventually enjoys it? SPOILER ALERT: Thorne puts a knife in Alana’s vagina and also beats her with a belt on her clitoris while she cries and begs him to stop. This was too far for me and quite frankly, horrifying. SPOILER END. It reminded me of the 1970s and 1980s romances with this type of thing. I was not a fan of the very graphic and long descriptions in the violent sex scenes as the novel went on. I ended up skimming these chapters.

Overall, The Cursed Rose was a very engaging story, but I had to skim through the graphic sex scenes.

This story is a modern take on Beauty and the Beast that captivated me. It's set in a world where social media empires clash using magical crystals. The story follows Alana Beaumont, heiress to a failing media giant who is forced into an arranged marriage for survival. She's rescued by Thorn Beathach, enigmatic head of a rival company, and their chemistry is as intense as their rivalry. I loved the blend of suspense and romance, especially how Zanetti weaves in fairy tale elements with a gritty, high-tech twist. It's a compelling exploration of power dynamics and forbidden desire that kept me hooked until the very end.