Amazing!!! Couldn't put it down. Such a great spin on the old King Arthur stories. So many plot twists it kept me guessing. Can't wait to read the rest of the series!!!!

Wow! So I went into this expecting a good book, but was blown away. If the rest of the series is like this, it will be moving into my top 10 favorite lists! So good!!

This amazing Fantasy Romance is Book 1 in the Blood Of A Fae series.
The romance in this book is more of a slow burn.
The spice is very mild. The book does have adult themes.
The book overall moves at a steady pace following the FMC as she is tasked with finding an impossible relic for her tyrant king, who is also her brother. Along her journey she has some serious self discovery moments. There is romance, action, mystery, and some shocking events.
The characters are written wonderfully. They have emotional depth, and strong personalities. Their banter really leaves you wanting more.
The world building is complex. Due to this the book does start out a little slower, as the author builds this intriguing world for her readers to slip into.

»»—— ~"War leaves no honor. Only horror." ——««

Firstly thank you to NetGalley and Starwater Press sending me this book in exchange for an honest review. All of the following thoughts and opinions will be of my own!

THE PLOT:
This book is dark fantasy romance retelling of the legend of King Arthur and His Knights on their quest for Excalibur, featuring similar names and locations but with a special spin of fae and other mythical creatures. Born into a life full of duty, cruelty and sacrifice, Morgan Pendragon has never had her own destiny or future. As she carries the blood of the fae in her veins from her mother, her royal birthright is stolen from her while she is just a child and given to her brother Arthur. Coming close to the age of service and promise to the goddesses, Morgan begins to question her whole life and who she is truly living it for. After Arthur commands that she goes on a journey to retrieve a fae weapon of legendary power, Morgan seizes the chance to break free of her fate and duties in order to live life for herself. Drawn into a band of outcasts led by a dark and captivating King's Guard, she and her new friends come across many dangers and unknown creatures waiting for them that are beyond any of their scariest nightmares.

MY THOUGHTS:
To start off this book has some darker scenes and themes, and if you have some triggers I do believe it is extremely important to locate the trigger warning list at the end of the book to see if this is right for you. I am so glad I had the chance to read this book, and this series deserves so much more praise! Both the fantasy and the romance aspects were AMAZING, and I was hooked with the compelling storytelling, world building and well rounded characters. Briar Boleyn has a way of writing that is both lyrical and hooking without being overly descriptive and flowery, it helped to paint a vivid world full of magic, power and danger. The world building was done flawlessly and contains its own unique lore, mythology, history and political struggles that adds depth and layers of complexity to the story. While the romantic relationship between the two main characters doesn't have a lot of page time within this first book, the tension is PALPABLE! This series is a SLOWWWWWW burn where the relationship builds more with each book, and if you're anything like me you'll truly enjoy this style of book. I absolutely adored the "great quest" aspect and while it does start off a little slow, the pace builds up as they go on their journey and I loved every second of the adventure! Queen of Roses does leave off on many cliffhangers that builds suspense for the following books in the series, the information and events that are revealed had me itching to get my hands on Court of Claws ASAP so be prepared! This series is perfect for those who love romantasy, dark fantasy, fae, tension, slow burn, and a very creative and unique take on King Arthur

DNF about 60%

I will say, the first 20-30% had my full attention & I was so invested!! It started off SO good. I’m not entirely sure where it started to go wrong by I just completely lost interest by 60%. I tried SO hard to keep going, I just wasn’t connecting to the book anymore, it was mostly the FMC…. I hope she has some big character development in the next books of the series. I wanted to like her so bad but I just couldn’t get past how clueless she was.
I did LOVE the mmc though! He was written so well.
I think this book had ALOT of potential. I see the other books in the series are raved about, I one day hope to pick this back up and try again!

This is my review for Queen of Roses, first book in Blood Of A Fae series by Briar Boleyn.

Thank you so much for this ARC via Netgalley.

I absolutely loved this book. I loved it so much that I binged the entire series over a weekend.
This book had everything.

*Enemies to lovers
*Bonded mates
*Found family
*Betrayal
*Unstoppable, force to be reckoned with love
*Incredible banter
*Well written characters
*Magical creatures
*Fae of all sorts
*Excellent world building

I got lost in this book. I didn't want the series to end. Emotional attachments were made, and tears were shed. This truly was a book where you fall in love with the characters and experience their heartbreak, love, and friendships.
With an Arthur and the knights of the round table feel, you get immersed in Camelot and the other worlds.
Highly recommend this book

Queen of Roses is a very easy and quick read. As book one of the series, the character and story development move at a nice pace. I look forward to continuing the rest of the series. I would recommend this book to fans of the Throne of Glass series. It is YA-leaning with a hint of romance that seems to be building for the rest of the series.

This is a DNF for me. Personally doesn’t hold my interest. I wanted to keep pushing through but it felt very much forced. I can see how others would be drawn in though.

Queen of Roses Is packed full of action with a slow-burn romance which is everything I love in a story. This retelling of King Arthur had me on edge and I loved it!

This had all my favourite fantasy tropes! I really liked the female MC and can't wait for more spice in the next books.

A dark fantasy inspired by the legend of King Arthur and let me just say I’m OBSESSED. Could not put this down. It’s fun and action packed and the TENSION! I just know this slow burn is going to be so good

Camelot, but make it a dark fae romance?? Absolutely!! The slowwww burn and 'touch her and die' tropes had me in an absolute chokehold. Vivid descriptions of both characters and settings led to some amazing, in depth world building that DIDN'T bore me. The FMC was quite naive and annoyed me at a few points in the book, but i anticipate that this was purposeful writing.. I feel her character growth already and cannot wait to continue this series.

Thank you to Net Galley and Starwater press for the opportunity to read an E-ARC of Queen of Roses by Briar Boleyn in exchange for my honest review.

Good book with interesting characters. It lived up to my expectations and i look forward to reading more. Recommend

This book captivated me from chapter one. This is a slow-burn romantasy. It's also a kind of Camelot reimagining which is right up my alley. I loved these characters and the world-building was magnificent.

You could sort of guess a few key parts but nothing major. My heart could hardly take the trauma that some of these characters endured. Some of their choices had me practically screaming at the pages. And that cliffhanger, is just magnificent. I need to read book 2, then 3, and lastly 4. I'm just so deeply invested that I must see this through to the end. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up.

Queen of Roses by Briar Boleyn follows the FMC, Morgan, on her quest to reclaim her rightful place as the ruler of her kingdom.

As an avid romantasy reader, Queen of Roses by Briar Boleyn offered a promising premise filled with intrigue and danger. The author's world-building skills are great. Her descriptions painted such a clear setting, it was often easy to immerse myself in the story. Similarly, the character development was done well, particularly the FMC's growth. Witnessing her evolution from forced to being a bystander to turning into a confident leader was satisfying and kept me engaged. Also, the antagonists that were introduced throughout this book are truly awful (in the best way).

While the premise was captivating, the pacing was sometimes distracting. At times, the plot seemed to slow while certain events felt rushed. This inconsistency made it hard for me to stay invested, which is common for me and romantasies.

Queen of Roses offers a compelling world and interesting characters. I'm looking forward to the next book in this series! Thank you to the author, Briar Boleyn, and Starwater Press for providing me with an ARC of Queen of Roses!

So close to a 5 star. The main character lacks intelligence and is blind to malicious characters. This is clearly frustrating. I do get that it 'builds character' and that the MC must start somewhere low in order to have character growth.
I started this book SO EXCITED AND IT WAS SO GOOD. However, at like 50% in we are introduced to a new character that we truly could have done without. I see what it did for the plot but I didn't like it.

The world is very fascinating and I think the pacing is good but has a little bit of room for improvement. I really like this authors writing style.

I had a lot of fun reading and I’m excited to begin book two!

HOLY COW!!!! I want to know why I have not seen more people talking about this on social media. I could not put this book down. The story for the main character's took me to the next level of becoming ingolfed in thier stories. Things I appreciated so much about this book was in the beginning the author putting trigger warnings at the very front. I felt that this was awesome in allowing people to understand what was going on. You could skip to the back to read them or continue to read the stories. I was expecting more harsh things, and I am glad there were not. I will say, I am hoping for there to be more explainations on how certain characters (not the main but ones that deserved it) died. I am hoping we find out more about the romance aspect and if there are things in this world that are called mates or bonds? There is not a lot of "spicy" romance in this novel and I was totally okay with that. I loved the story but the cliff hanger has me needing to continue to find out what is going to happen next! I love that the author went with various types of fae and not just the normal kind, I cannot wait to read the next book in this series and would like to thank Netgalley and Briar Boleyn for allowing me to read this book! It appears I have a new series to finish now!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice:🌶️🌶️


Thank you to Netgalley and Starwater Press for providing me with an ARC Copy of Queen of Roses in return for an honest review.

This story follows the story of princess Morgan, who was originally heir to the throne until her abusive father robbed her of her title because she is part fae. Now her morally challenged brother, Arthur, is next in line and Morgan is sent on a quest - with a couple of questionable characters at her side - to find a relic with immense power that will grant her future king great and terrible power.
This novel is a fantasy retelling of Arthur and Camelot where magic and fae exist. The world building in this story is spectacular. We learn of the history and creatures of the fae lands as Morgan and her company journey through the continent to find their relic. I imagine these details are going to be important in the next books of this series.
The romance in this book is slow burn with a little spice and oh my goodnessss I am swooning.
There were twists and turns I was shocked by and the story ends on one hell of a cliffhanger! I need to start the next book ASAP so I know what happens next!

Thank you once again for giving me access to this book. I am going to start the next book in the series right now.
I have also posted my review on Amazon and will be sharing on my Instagram and goodreads.

* check trigger warnings before getting into this series because this story does get a bit intense *

Arthurian inspired fantasy with a fae twist to it.

Overall I really enjoyed this book although I think I would have preferred it without the Arthurian names which felt a bit distracting. If I ignored those it was easier to get into the world created.

Morgan is fairly dense at times, particularly when concerning Vesper but I liked her relationship with Draven.

Florian and Arthur are truly awful characters in the best kind of way. It didn’t take long to loathe them.

I’ll definitely read the rest of the series.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

A very good fantasy read with a great storyline and the GREATEST characters however certain parts of the book really dragged! i’ve added the other books in the series in hopes they’re just as good

This was a great part of the series! I love the characters and can not wait to read the fourth book.