I’m a huge fan of Beauty and the Beast, so this was an interesting take on a retelling. Set in a dystopian world definitely have the book done Lunar Chronicles vibes. A fun read and addition to this series. I liked the characters and would definitely check it the other books after this one.

I love re-tellings. I love Beauty and the Best, however, I felt this one fell short of amazing.



Omorose is a Princess on her way to meet her fiance. That meeting never happens when the Earth begins to shake. That's when Omorose's fate was changed. Everything she has was taken from her. Her family is all gone except her dad the King. But right now there is no King, Princess, or Kingdom. It's all gone and now Omorose is cursed with magic which only confirms her mother is gone. It also means she needs to hide and not use her magic. For those currently around her are working to rid magic and those who wield it. That and the fact that using magic takes life from her, Omorose needs to fake everything and pretend to be normal.



After sometime has gone by, Omorose is done hiding underground, pretending to be something she's not, being teased by those around her in the underground classes. So she convinces her dad to let her go. Let her go to the surface, even if it means running into the king of beasts.



So Omorose runs into the King of Beasts and ends up stuck in his home. This is where you finally get to any relations of Beauty and the Beast. It took the halfway mark to show any relations, the details getting to this point were okay. As the ending started to unfold, it slowly picked up and the characters were starting to seem better, but in the end it just fell short.



This story could have used more time of Omorose and the Beast. Stronger details, better built characters and a faster pace. Those few tweaks would have made the book worth the read.

I wasn't aware that this was the second book in the series but I love Beauty and the Beast so I enjoyed this one.

Nice Young Adult novel to pass the time, but definitely not the best retailing I have ever read.
I would re-read it if necessary, but not a book I would pick up out of willingness.
The romance was nice, but sometimes didn't seem realistic.

A decent retelling of Beauty and the Beast. There should have been a bit more world building. I was never able to really connect to the characters and their struggles since I didn't know much about where they came from. The romance felt lacking. I wish more time was spent building up the relationship instead of just a few short chapters.

I honestly had no idea that this was a sequal so when I read it I was quite confused as to what was going on. I have no intentions to pick up the first book because the writing did not mesh well.

Whew am I glad that is over! Withering Rose and I did not get along. Book 1, Gathering Frost, was sooo much better than this one.

I think the issue with Withering Rose is that it stuck too close to its Beauty and the Beast roots at times (and at other times when I wanted it to stick to the original story it didn't). For example, when you have the opportunity to describe one of the most famous fictional libraries ever don't you exploit it?! Apparently not, as Kathryn Davis decided not to...

There was a lot of random babbling in this book, less focus and with no scenery changes (everything happens in the castle) it got dull fast. It didn't help that some passages were just annoying.
"Glimmering silver. Stormy gray. Sharp steel.”
I get it, his eyes are grey. Moving on...

Oddly I'm still excited to read the next book when it comes out because I love the smashed together worlds Davis has created for this series. In this book as learn more about how magic works, why some have it and others don't, as well as get some exposure to "natural" magic versus "stolen" magic. Very interesting and I can see the complexities of the magic system really starting to build.

All in all I would say read/skim this one just to get through it (assuming when book 3 comes out it's as good as book 1). It wasn't bad enough that I want to ditch the series or author; it was just missing something (action, plot, adventure, characters, engaging dialogue...) that made book 1 so memorable and enjoyable.

Such a fun second book to this series! I loved the first book so much, because the story was fun and the characters were so entertaining. This second book is the perfect addition to