Reviews with content warning for Grief - Queen Takes Rose

Hm. I thought the premise for this one was going to be really dark - wanting to be with the one who killed her mother, who has been in a comma for twenty years. But it worked.

Slowly revealing more of themselves to each other, learning that they are more than what they show on the surface. It was good.

I wish there was more. The ending just happened. Not much fuss in this one.

Content Warnings

bangiebangs's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Like the previous book, this one also didn't really match the earlier stories for me. There is a lot of spice (4.5/5), but also a fair bit of backstory and internal thoughts. The conflict here has been hinted at in previous books of the series, and it also seems to be an intro to the Sabine Valley series (also mentioned before on occasion; that series is unfinished/ abandoned afaik).

As for the story, Aurora here gets even more depth than in the previous book, and I really like her character. It's quite obvious from the start that she wouldn't go through with her initial plan. Malone doesn't work as well for me, mainly because she is presented as a very withdrawn character, somebody always in control, and the idea that she would fall in love in the space of three days just doesn't work for me.

Plus, this book (maybe more than others?) suggests that a Dom always knows what their sub wants, better than the sub themselves. That they all read body language super well, and have this magical ability to know everything about their play partners. This might be true in longer relationships, but suggesting this would happen between people who dislike each other or don't know each other is problematic - and makes these stories a little harder to really get into for me. Probably a pet peeve, and all in all, it probably also makes sense to clean your palate (so to speak) between installments and not read all six in a row (as I did).

For the series overall I would say 4*, and high smut count. You definitely get all kinds of combinations and group scenarios here.

Content Warnings

fatkidatheartreads's review

Go to review page

slow-paced

3.75

erotic x sapphic x lots of edging

the last book in this series has been very entertaining. i am definitely going to be rereading this in the near future.

Content Warnings

jackiepreston's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Content Warnings

plumpaperbacks's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Aurora has consistently been one of my favorite side characters in this series, and I was so excited to finally get to her book. I was doubly excited because this is the first KR book I’ve read with a sapphic couple; obviously The Sea Witch has sapphic rep, being FFM, but that’s different.

Now that I’ve finished Queen Takes Rose, I’m extremely conflicted. I love Aurora to pieces, don’t get me wrong, and I might have a not-so-small crush on her. I’d go so far as to call her one of my favorite KR protagonists, up there with Persephone, Tink, Meg and Ursa.

But Malone. She’s the one I don’t get. I respect her, for sure—I always respect ambitious, powerful women. And I’m usually not bothered if they’re “bad people” either. Morally grey women are hot. Usually. In this case, though, I found Malone obnoxious and very difficult to like. I know she’s based on Maleficent, so she’s not supposed to be nice. I get that, that’s fine. I just really don’t like the way she treated Aurora. I’ve gotten used to Dom/sub relationships from reading so many KR books, so it’s not that. Not exactly. More like, it has to do with how far she took it. The whole “you can’t speak unless I tell you to” thing, even outside of scenes??? Excuse me??? How the hell is that sexy???
[Update: I’ve been informed that this can happen in Dom/sub relationships, and apparently some find it very sexy. My ace is showing. Carry on.]

Moving on. I do my best to suspend my disbelief, at least to some extent, when reading smut; I’m not here for plot or world-building or morals. I’m here for smut. I’m here for the relationship, and I’m down for just about anything. That being said, I could not get behind this ship, no matter how hard I tried. Rant incoming in the spoiler tag.

HOW CAN AURORA LOVE THE WOMAN THAT KILLED HER MOTHER????? I know that Carver City follows its own rules. I know that her mother, according to multiple sources, was a terrible territory leader. BUT SERIOUSLY???? MALONE KILLED YOUR MOM, AURORA. STOP BEING SO HORNY. I’m all for enemies to lovers. I’m all for “I came to kill you, but I’m falling in love with you.” I’ve seen both tropes written brilliantly in other books. But I have to draw the line somewhere, and I’m drawing it here. Just because she wasn’t a good leader doesn’t mean she deserved to die. Sometimes I’m reading these books and figure that what I don’t understand must be because I’m ace. But this can’t be an ace thing, right??? IT’S ACTUAL MURDER. OF A FAMILY MEMBER. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND.

I was really hoping this would be my favorite, but honestly, it’s closer to the opposite. I settled on 3.5 stars because that’s what I gave Desperate Measures, and the two books are about on the same level for me. Neither of them are bad books. I just… I don’t know. This is very much not the review I thought I’d be writing for this book. Much confusion. Very sadness.

One positive thing: I loved seeing Aurora and Allecto’s friendship, and I loved seeing the way Hades cared for Aurora. It’s not really a father-daughter relationship, considering he’s her employer at a sex club—and they might’ve scened together at some point?? maybe?? I can’t remember—but it was still very sweet. <3

Although I won’t lie, I’m salty I was teased with getting to see Tink and Meg and then didn’t actually get to. Not a single cameo from any of my faves. Rude. :(((

This review is basically just me ranting and criticizing the book, but it wasn’t bad. I did like it. I just didn’t like it anywhere near as much as I’d hoped I would, unfortunately.

Final series ranking:

A Worthy Opponent
The Sea Witch / Learn My Lesson
The Beast
Queen Takes Rose / Desperate Measures

Representation

nearly full cast of queer, polyamorous and/or polysexual characters
Black protagonist
sapphic protagonist (Malone is the only one that’s not polyam, that I know of)
sapphic main couple (f/f)
nonbinary Māori side character (uses they/them)
Black side characters

Content Warnings

shector1's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

kaetheluise_nckl's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Assassination attempt

(unsuccessful)

Content Warnings

bbygirl21's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really liked this one.

I enjoyed seeing Malone and Aurora figure out their feelings for each other. Especially Aurora finding she can't follow through on her revenge plans for Malone as she's developed feelings for Malone after spending time with her and getting to know Malone better.

I actually ended up enjoying this book more than I thought I would. I was thinking I wouldn't like Malone very much, but I loved her as a character. Yes she is very icy on the outside but it's when you look deeper that you see Malone for what she is outside of the persona she shows people.

Content Warnings

More...