2.04k reviews for:

A Ruin of Roses

K.F. Breene

3.58 AVERAGE


Zabrałam się za „Smakowicie mroczne baśnie” zachęcona świadomością, że jest to retelling „Pięknej i Bestii”, a do jest 18+. Chyba nic nie było w stanie mnie przygotować na to co znajdę w środku.

Autorka stworzyła ciekawy świat. W przeciwieństwie do oryginału, gdzie zaklęty w bestię był tylko książkę, zaklęte zostało całe królestwo zmiennokształtnych i to w wyniku układu króla z demonami. Naturalna zdolność mieszkańców do przybierania zwierzęcej formy została zablokowana, tym samym skazując ich na powolną zagładę. Finlay znalazła sposób na złagodzenie szalejącej choroby, ale główny składnik leku znajduje się na terytorium Bestii.

To jest retelling, więc chyba nikogo nie zdziwię pisząc, że Finlay została uwięziona przez bestię. I od tego momentu całość leci na łeb. Początkowa ciekawość świata i historii została u mnie zabita przez, sprawiającą wrażenie totalnie wymuszonej i nie na miejscu goliznę i rozmowy kręcące się wokół seksu. Ja nie mam nic przeciwko erotyce w powieściach, po to zabrałam się za „W ruinach róz”, ale to tutaj to nie jest erotyka, tylko chamskie roochanie czego i kogo się da. Czytając niektóre fragmenty chciałam sobie wydrapać oczy. Tego nie są się odzobaczyć…

Na poważnie to się tego czytać nie da. Jak się przymknie jedno oko. I drugie w sumie też, to można dobrnąć do końca. Jakby cały ten seks przeredagował i ograniczył, to wyszłoby z tego niezłe czytadło, bo uważam, że pomysł na historię to tam jest.

A teraz najlepsze. Zamierzam kontynuować serię, tyle że z lampką wina pod ręką. Łatwiej będzie wchodzić jeśli kontynuacja trzyma „poziom”. Jestem szczerze ciekawa co tam dalej się będzie działo i jak potoczą się losy Finlay.

Moja ocena 5/10
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: N/A
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This felt very YA but I weirdly liked this book. I don't plan on picking up the next in the series anytime soon since I've heard it starts turning into nonstop orgies and its just a bit too YA cringe. I also was somewhat spoiled that
she turns out to be a dragon shifter just like Prince Nyfain.
This has a decent attempt at world building even if it doesn't make sense. There are kingdoms of animal shifters and I guess they're all ok except a demon took over this dragon kingdom?? Now there's a curse across their land and like Beauty and the Beast the castle is frozen in time and there's a rosebush that is slowly dying. The characters all act YA and there's the typical FMC who "isn't like all the other girls" and yet drop dead gorgeous lol. The best of this book is  Hadriel. He's hilarious in a Rick and Morty kind of way. I can picture him going "oh jeez."

Sooo the plot is
Nyfain is the dragon shifter prince. His dad is the one who made a deal with demons and I guess he's dead and we think the mom is too but its easy to see from the later books that she's secretly alive. The curse makes everyone eventually get sick and die except in the castle it freezes their ages and they can't leave the castle grounds. The demons are all incubi/succubi and they influence the castle servants to make them all have nightly perverted sex orgies as well as sometimes they'll go into the villages and get with the peasants. Nyfain though has resisted, being celibate for 16 years now. He first encountered Finley when she was 14 stealing everlass plant from the Forbidden Wood. He views his duty now to kill all the cursed monsters that inhabit the woods. Now 16 years later Finley's dad is dying and she needs more everlass so she steals more but encounters the beast again (oh Nyfain=the beast. Ever since the demons came the curse also prevents people from shifting except he's an alpha shifter and he forced it but doing so shorn off his wings, turned his scales black and eyes gold). Nyfain takes her to his castle tower for stealing but lets her wander around, tasking his butler Hadriel to watch over her. She reveals all her plant knowledge, she can make elixirs for healing and resisting the demon's powers and postponing the curse sickness, which amazes Nyfain because this is super secret dragon royalty knowledge. He's constantly testing her thinking she somehow is nefarious. She tries to run away at one point and he saves her but gets poisoned by the creatures in the woods. She realizes that everlass grown a certain way, "crowded," is normally a poison but for someone poisoned its a cure. She uses it on Nyfain and cures him but he  sleep drugs her and her family (Hannon her doctorish older brother, Jade, and younger sister Sable) and goes back to the castle I guess to take on the woods or demons alone. The book ends with Finley preparing to go after him.

So it's a decent plot and I'm assuming in later books we learn more about the dying rosebush growing in the queen's old chambers and what exactly went down with the old king, and somehow they'll out the demons. But there are 6 books in the series as I type this and ehhhh idk if this is that good to keep reading.

I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a good job. Beauty and the Beast retelling full of sex and sarcasm.

Ends on a cliffhanger

Good! Easy to get into and to keep going. I found myself pushing sleep so that I could finish it.

I wonder if this book has been properly edited by someone else besides the author? There was so much potential to the story, but the world building made it all confusing AF:
- when is this happening? there's a mention of electricity, but then women are not meant to hunt and they need to take a husband and have children
- the prince wearing jeans? the term was coined in 1795, so what does this mean???
- nice use of the incubus concept, but what did the demons do other than that?
- so much talk about the evil king, yet no appearance?

It got slightly better towards the end of the book, but still very sub-par.
adventurous emotional medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes

A very fast-paced, easy to breeze through read that was surprisingly really funny (in a good way). A good first book in a series - world-building but no so much that it's confusing. The author is obviously establishing things but saving a lot of info and reveals for the rest of the series which I like. This is a beauty-and-the-beast retelling but darker and grittier, with traumatized and abused characters that are just trying not to go crazy. But I never felt like it was too much, because of the inclusion of humor and sarcasm. Enjoyable!

3.5 stars. You don’t read this for the plot, it’s the spice. I enjoyed this book and read it in one day- buuut the relationship lacks a little substance IMO- it’s hot for sure but I needed a little more something to really bind the lovers. I’m gonna ready more in the series for sure.

marie_eved's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH

I wanted to like this book, but it was not for me. To me, it read like a caricature of romantasy. The dialogue annoyed me and I couldn't get into the story. DNFed at 68%.