I requested this book because I usually enjoy Beauty and the Beast retellings. This one, however, just wasn't my cup of tea. I have read dark romance before and enjoyed the stories, but I think this one was just too dominating for me. Someone else might love it though!

For the fantasy/magic element, it felt rushed and incomplete. I don't feel like the crystals were explained as well as they could have been. And then the ending and the curing of the curse felt like it came out of nowhere and all of a sudden they are all using the power and ... well, as I said earlier, it felt rushed and incomplete. *insert shrug*

It started as 2 stars to me, was 3 stars by 80%, and then the ending dropped it back to 2 stars.

I'm sure someone else would love this, but it wasn't for me!

Thank you #netgalley for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own!

-Dark Romance
-Magic
-Mafia/Gangs
-Billionaires
-Kidnapped/Forced Proximity
-Touch Her and You Die
-Beauty and Beast Retelling
-Crystal Magic Systems
-Kink Exploration

I was super excited for this romance, as it was advertised for fans of Scarlett St Clair. It could not be further from what she writes and how she writes her books.
I will start off by saying I did not like the male main character. There is no chemistry between them, and he has no character traits other than being beefy and brutish and speaking Gaelic every other page to amp up the attractiveness. The romance between them was also not fun to read because it was insta-lust, and it felt like there were no feelings involved until there suddenly was.
The sex felt misplaced for me. The MMC threatened her with a spanking (which she instantly was aroused by), literally less than ten minutes after he’d killed a teenage waiter that was trying to protect her from harm, and then he’d kidnapped her. She had no idea who he was, yet was getting all hot between the thighs at the idea of getting spanked by her violent, ruthless kidnapper who showed no mercy to basically a college student age kid. Does she have molasses for brains? Don’t even call it Stockholm syndrome, because they hadn’t even been with each other for an hour at this point in the book. She’d never met him. The sex was too kinky for a girl that didn’t know her kidnapper and had conflicted feelings about him on every other page. The crystal magic system had no detail either.

Thank you to NetGalley and Edelweiss for the ARC!

ARC review 🕮


✰⋆☾ ⋆ One Cursed Rose ⭑☽ ✧˖°. Rebecca Zanetti ✰


🕮 Romantasy
🕮 Beauty and the Beast retelling
🕮 Enemies to lovers
🕮 Magic
🕮 Touch her and die
🕮 Dark Romance
🕮 Murder mystery
🕮 🌶🌶🌶/🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶


Really liked this retelling of Beauty and the Beast, It was beautifully written and LOVED the spice! ♡
Was a bit of a slow read though as I was confused in the beginning and had no idea what was happening. 🙈

Let me preface this review by stating that One Cursed Rose is not your usual fairy tale retelling. The author describes it as a Beauty and the Beast (B&B) retelling- playing off of the name "One Cursed Rose" but the comparison has a modern edgy twist.

The book is set in a futuristic world where social media is the "new magic and it all runs on crystals." The crystal fact is important because four major families control these crystals and their power grows the more interactions on the social media platforms they get. As a marketing girly, my little heart burst at this spin because why has it taken someone so long to put to paper the absolute domination of social media????

While this spin alone was a novelty, she incorporated the B&B by putting a recluse male lead who is scarred and infected with a crystal virus that's slowly fading his life away. Every day one of his cursed petals falls as he comes closer and closer to his final day. What's a guy to do when he knows he's nearing his end you wonder? Well, he kidnaps the girl whose words taste like the sweetest nectar and goes total alphahole on her of course!

I loved the layers of the story, every time you think you know what's going on. the author throws a curveball that has you perplexed, intrigued, and hungry for more! And that ENDING!!!!!

This story was endearing, novel, smutty, and an all-around great read! I can't wait to read more from the author!

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing me with an arc in exchange for my honest review. You can check out my other reviews on IG @jessicareadsit.

Typically I love fairy tale retellings with Beauty and the Beast being my favorite so I was excited to read this one. Unfortunately, One Cursed Rose was not one of my favorites. There were so many plot points that it was a confusing, chaotic mess. Between the Irish mafia investigating pedo rings, the FMC brother's mysterious death, the curse placed on the MMC, the killings of women who looked like the FMC, and the nightmares the FMC had about her mother's mysterious death was overwhelming and did not make me want to continue reading. I was also annoyed that it was a point to explain how many charities the FMC supported but nothing seemed to come of this. There was very little explanation about the social media companies, how they work, and the crystals that each company/family used so I felt like I had missed important information. I felt like this could have been a really interesting read but I had to force myself to finish it.

Love this author! Another fun read. This one has Alana and Thorn's romance. Enjoyed this story but must admit was a little confused about the stones and workings of the three companies. Might just be me. Still though, a good story that was hard to put down. Highly recommend this book and author.

One Cursed Rose by R. Zanetti, published by Kensington Books, is the first book in the Grimm Bargain Series.
And the book starts off right wild.
Alana is the heir to the family business. Undermined by competitors, her father has given her to a potentially ally to marry her.
Alana is a strong feisty heroine and she's driven by revenge on a timeline. Timeline being one week til the wedding.
In comes Thorn, her biggest competitor and soon fiancé to be.
A beauty/beasty-ish story well written, complex, unputdownable. 4,5 fantastic stars.