I haven't finished a book this quickly in a long time. I think The Cruel Prince meets The Selection with a bit of Bridgerton is a perfect way to describe this book. The stakes got higher and higher as the book went on which kept me engaged. I wasn't completely sold on the love triangle until the very end and overall, I'm looking forward to see how the next book will play out.

The Rose Bargain is a lush fantasy novel woven with tension, suspense, and romance. I really enjoyed the idea of England ruled by a faerie queen in the 1840s, and the story itself was excellent.
I loved the characters and the romance between Ivy and Emmett was nicely done as well. I wish that we had seen more of the games, though, and the narrative style felt a little juvenile compared to the dark and lavish world that the story takes place in.
I absolutely cannot wait to read the sequel, and I think fans of The Selection and A Fragile Enchantment will love The Rose Bargain.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the eARC!

I am exhausted as I write this review for Sarah Peyton Smith’s The Rose Bargain—and why am I so tired you might ask? Because I could not put this book down. I read this in one night, staying up til literally 3:30 AM to do so. I loved it! Every citizen of England is granted a bargain from their immortal fae queen—for a price—and Ivy Benton’s season has just started with a twist: a competition to marry the Queen’s fae son, Prince Bram. And to save her family and rescue her sister from a bargain that destroyed her, Ivy will do anything to win. Oh this was good. I liked the competition element, I liked the romance pieces. Prince Emmett (Bram’s brother) and Prince Bram were so good as male leads. It’s historical romance and fantasy, like a Bridgerton meets a Caravan vibe. There is some rushing when it comes to the romance, one section I had to go back through to make sure I didn’t miss something cause it just felt abrupt, but otherwise, the pacing was so good. I was invested in the contestants of the competition and their growth as a group was really great and I loved how this book was written. And Ivy is so brave and her heart is so big. I was just truly rooting for her. Plus, the twist at the end and the political intrigue was engaging. It has a real fairytale feel and I’m really excited to what comes in book 2!

5 stars!!!

Thank you so much to HarperCollins & Netgalley for the eARC!!!

ok first off, WOW. This book is absolutely incredible. I devoured it in almost one sitting. I was a huge fan of the Selection series growing up, so I had high hopes for this one and it did not disappoint! I thought the world building was amazing and unique, I loved the backstory of how Queen Mor came into power and the history of her bargains. I really enjoyed the pacing & all the twists near the end? I was sat!

Ivy was the perfect FMC and I loved getting to see her perspective on the events in the story, but also the other contestants and her sister's.

& for the romance? you know i ate it up. the chemistry, the pining!! i love when there is a small love triangle, but i was absolutely rooting for one of the princes the whole time. i love them together & i can't wait to see what happens in book 2!

If you are a fan of fae based fantasy romance but also love the marriage competition & love triangle elements of The Selection, you're going to love this book!!!

I demolished this book in less than two days. Honestly the story was captivating from the very first page. Our FMC is probably one of my top 5 favorite FMC. She’s realistically strong, has a likable personality and was easy to follow as our main character. And don’t even get me started on the swoon worthy romance *insert heart eyes*. Everything about this was perfect and I could not recommend The Rosa Bargain if I TRIED.

Im not gonna lie, I wanted to read this because of this being promoted as being perfect for fans of Bridgerton and The Selection. Sadly i didn't enjoy this as there was a bit too much telling rather than showing. I liked the premise but the ploy just felt a little predictable throughout the whole book.

DNF for now as this wasn't what I expected - a bit too YA and a bit too much telling rather than showing.

I'm not a fan of the bachelor but if you are then you might enjoy this book. I guess I should pay more attention to the blurbs but I like giving books a chance even if the blurbs aren't completely up my alley. There was also an author that really praised it so I went ahead and requested, but it was such a chore to read through. I never felt like the stakes were high. The romance could have been so good but there was no tension. The characters overall felt really flat. Nothing gripped me at all. I had high hopes but alas it was meant to be a match.

This book tricked me! I got it as an ARC read from Netgalley, and I really did not expect to like it after the first chapter. I WAS WRONG. This book had me sucked in completely after the first few chapters. I binged it in two days....

This might make no sense until you read it, but take the social structure of Bridgerton, add the competition of The Selection, and the cruelty of the Fae in The Cruel Prince or even Amarantha's trials. It is such an intriguing idea and the author does a beautiful job in weaving them together to create a visceral experience for the reader.

This is a romantasy that’s truly like the bachelor meets Bridgerton! The last half was a lot more engaging and had me hooked compared to the first half.

Overall really enjoyable and I’ll be recommending! It had an interesting premise and different twists and games from other “trial” based books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the advanced copy of "The Rose Bargain".

I initially requested this book on a whim off of netgalley. There were a lot of key words triggering me to do it, specifically that it was kind of a fae version of "The Selection", which was one of my favorite series as a teenager. I didn't pick it up for awhile until I heard someone on TikTok raving about it and BOY were they correct. I don't want to say too much about the plot of the book because discovering those things is the most fun part of this read. The Fae are so tricky and the premise of Regency England and the Fae Queen who has been ruling for 400 year finally putting her son on the marriage market for the season is insanely clever. It will hook all the correct readers. But then, having to swear to the queen that if you are putting yourself forward as a suitor, you are also swearing that you will not ever marry, even if you are not chosen to be the prince's wife. On top of this there is the intrigue of the bargaining system: all citizens can make one bargain with the Fae Queen in exchange for a fair "price", no fingernails, no hair, only able to turn Right forever, etc. It is all so cleverly done and will suck you in with story. I could not put this read down. Please have this on your radar for pre-order!!! It is only going to be a duology which is a more manageable series for me, so I am excited where the second book will take us!

London, 1848—For four hundred years, England has been under the control of an immortal fae queen who tricked her way onto the throne. To maintain an illusion of benevolence, Queen Mor grants each of her subjects one opportunity to bargain for their deepest desire.

As Ivy Benton prepares to make her debut, she knows that not even a deal with the queen could fix what has gone wrong: Her family’s social standing is in shambles, her sister is a shadow of her former self, and Ivy’s marriage prospects are nonexistent. So when the queen announces a competition for Prince Bram’s hand, Ivy is the first to sign her name in blood. What a bargain can’t fix, a crown certainly could. Ivy soon finds herself a surprising front-runner—with the help of an unexpected ally: Prince Bram’s brother, the rakish Prince Emmett, who promises to help Ivy win his brother’s heart…for a price. But as the season sweeps Ivy away, with glittering balls veiling the queen’s increasingly vicious trials, Ivy realizes there’s more at stake than just a wedding. Because all faerie bargains come with a cost, and Ivy may have discovered hers too late.

The Rose Bargain is a wonderful combination of the Victorian era and fantasy. Smith's writing is beautiful, and the plot is engaging. The romance subplot felt rushed in spots, but for me, Smith did such a great job with secondary characters like Ivy's sister Lydia. Excellent book! 5⭐

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced digital reader's copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review!

The Rose Bargain was just an okay read for me! I requested this ARC because the blurb of The Cruel Prince and The Selection drew me in! I have never read The Selection series but have heard great things about it, while The Cruel Prince is one of my all-time favorite ya fantasy romance series! I do think this comparison set unrealistic expectations for me in my mind when I started reading The Rose Bargain. I loved the premise but the ploy just felt a little predictable throughout the whole book. I couldn’t connect with the romance because it felt really rushed and lacked the emotional depth that I always need to love a book couple. My favorite part of this book were the scenes where Ivy was interacting and bonding with the other girls. I also liked that they each had their own POV chapters so we could really be in their head and understand their reasonings. I do think people will like this but it was just a so/so read for me!

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC!

4.5 stars

This book has so many things that I love in a fantasy - fae royalty, a brooding love interest, courtly intrigue, strong female characters, and a competition to win the prince’s hand. It definitely has elements from other popular series like The Folk of the Air and Bridgerton, but it stands perfectly well on its own.

While I enjoyed it from the start, the second half is what really had me hooked. The end had me holding my breath and anxiously flipping the page. There were some mysteries that I was dying to find out the whole time and the reveals did not disappoint! The characters were all really well done and had a lot of hidden depths to them, and I appreciated the brief POVs we got from each of them. The only thing I don’t like is the idea of waiting for the next book!

Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

If you are a romantasy lover who enjoys watching The Bachelor then this book was written for you!!

The Rose Bargain by Sasha Peyton Smith is a fast paced YA romantasy that follows Ivy Benton (as well as giving us some other POVs which I loved) in London during the mid 1800s where the faerie queen has invited the mortal girls to join a competition where the prize is to marry her son and become a princess of the land. Ivy’s family has fallen on some hard times and this would be a great way to redeem their standing in society. The catch is that the girls have signed in blood that whomever is not chosen will never marry, dying a spinster.

The competition starts with 20+ girls but after the first competition we are left with the final 6 ladies over the next several weeks who will participate in outrageous scenarios in order to win. During this time we get mostly Ivy’s POV along with single chapters from the other girl’s POV and a chapter following her sister in the end. Of course, things are not as they seem and Ivy ends up hitting it off with Prince Bram’s step-brother, Emmett, who has quite the reputation with some of the other ladies…. What could go wrong?

This book was so much fun and the last 25% was full of twists that I did not predict at all and craziness that I was not expecting. Throughout the entire book we are trying to figure out the bargain that Ivy’s sister Lydia made with the queen - as part of the yearly rose bargain ritual is making a deal with the queen in exchange for something…. Lydia can’t remember what her bargain was, but I promise you that by the end of the book the puzzle pieces come together and you will be shocked.

Thank you so much to NetGalley & HarperCollins for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. I look forward to continuing this series & reading more from Sasha Peyton Smith!

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC.

Comparing this to The Cruel Prince potentially sets up unfair expectations. The protagonist Ivy completely lacks the cunning and utter unhingeness that TCP's Jude exhibits. Ivy is a perfectly serviceable main character, if a little on the safer bland side. And overall, that's exactly what The Rose Bargain is. The ~forbidden~ romance between Ivy and Emmett AKA the Obligatory Bad Boy With A Heart of Gold in a YA Love Triangle was pretty clichéd, down to the Only One Bed trope. But the crime for me was how fast Ivy went from Annoyed to Fallen In Love. If only that part came AFTER their most meaningful interaction, when they talked about their tragic pasts and actually bonded better. But no, Ivy had to feel jealous over a boy she barely knew at that time when he got cushy with another girl.

The main romance might've made me roll my eyes, but the interactions and growing friendships between Ivy and the other girls were the highlight. While Ivy's POV is the bulk of what we get, I do appreciate that each of the other girls got one-off POV chapters as well for me to better get to understand their motivations. And! Sapphic representation!

The final 20% is actually quite exciting, and the closest I feel matches TCP. So if one didn't DNF by then, you're in for a treat at least in the finale. I probably won't continue with the sequel though because I wasn't as invested.

*thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

What a delightful read! I loved how the story effortlessly blended magic, mystery, and emotion. The characters felt real and relatable, and I found myself rooting for them throughout the book. The writing style was captivating, with just the right balance of detail and action to keep me hooked. I particularly enjoyed the way the themes of love, sacrifice, and resilience were explored. Overall, it's a beautifully crafted story that I would highly recommend to anyone looking for an enchanting and heartfelt read.

4 stars

The Rose Bargain has so many wonderful elements in it. It’s has fantasy, romance, competition, mystery, and rebellion. I loved the main character Ivy, but I wish she was smarter. Actually, I wish all the characters were smarter, since there were many parts of this book that I thought were obvious but the characters were blind to. Other than that, this was an enjoyable and quick read.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an e-ARC of this book!

The Rose Bargain takes all the elements you know and love from Powerless, Once Upon a Broken Heart, and The Selection, except, say it with me…

!! it does it better !!

Intermixed between everyone’s favorite tropes (and maybe some you think you’ll hate at first) is alternate regency era England and hints at an ‘otherworld’ and mischievously evil Fae ala The Cruel Prince.

YA Fantasy, or Romantasy in general, hasn’t made me feel like this book did in absolute AGES. Sasha Peyton Smith may not have reinvented the wheel with the tropes or plot progression, but the way it was executed made it the perfectly digestible amount of escapism.

If you see reviews talking about a love triangle, don’t let it deter you from picking up this book. If you’ve ever read a single fantasy romance book in your life, you’ll know it’s not a true ‘love triangle’ anyway ;)

It’s fast paced, lively, and the side characters are interesting and developed past the point of being filler. I want more from them all, even Joseph (iykyk)

A very strong 4.5, especially for the first book in what I’m sure will be a trilogy. It set up the world well, and left me at the edge of my seat for what happens next! It’s so incredibly unfortunate that this goes on sale in February of 2025, and god knows how long I’ll have to wait for the sequel! I’m willing to wait though, if not to return to this world, but to see how things end up with our Six girls, Emmett, Lydia, and Bram.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for access to an early copy for review!

And thank you Zoe for forcing me to request this, I’m not sure if I would have otherwise!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishing for providing me with an ARC Kindle copy of "The Rose Bargain" by Sasha Peyton Smith! I really enjoyed this book! I really liked the competition for the queens son and it has been a minute since I read a good YA romantasy!