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Book Author(s): Sarah Prineas

Rose & Thorn (Ash & Bramble, book 2)

Rose and Thorn book cover fairy tale retelling

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When the spell protecting Rose’s home is destroyed, she seeks safety in the town beyond her valley’s boundary. But the world is not what Rose hoped it would be. She’s been kept hidden all her life to delay the three curses she was born with — curses that threaten to lock her in her own fairy tale and a centurylong slumber. Rose is desperate to escape the ties that bind her to her story, but the more she fights, the closer she finds herself to the unavoidable fairy tale and the leading role that Story has destined her to play.

While Rose & Thorn is supposed to be a standalone novel, I feel it would make more sense to read its predecessor, Ash & Bramble, first. The concept of Story might be hard to grasp for new readers without first understanding Pin and Shoe’s tale.

Once again, the element of Story playing the part of the villain to be a unique and interesting concept, but it remains a strange, ill-explained one. I quickly found myself easily confused and beginning to lose interest. In the end, I felt much the same about Rose & Thorn as I did about the first book. The characters fell flat and the writing felt too stiff and stilted for my taste.

However, it is definitely a unique reimagining of Sleeping Beauty with a few twists that may appeal to some fairy tale lovers.

Rated: Mild. There is no profanity. Everyone seems to want to have sex with Rose when they see her because she’s so beautiful. A boy intending to rape her pins her to a wall and forcefully kisses and gropes under her bodice. He is stopped before anything further can happen. Similarly, both a woman and man insinuate “having fun” with her at a later time. Rose is undressed and inspected by other women. Characters kiss.

Click here to purchase your copy of Rose and Thorn on Amazon. 

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