Reviews - Never the Roses | The StoryGraph

186 reviews for:

Never the Roses

Jennifer K. Lambert

3.73 AVERAGE

gillianleigh14's review

3.0

adventurous fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

beltsquid's review against another edition

3.0

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Slow moving, which is fine, but the prose was a little too dry for my taste. Additionally, the love triangle angle didn't amount to much and wound up hindering the momentum of the love story in a way that I didn't feel was worth the payoff. Not necessarily a bad book but the pacing is scuffed.

Content Warnings

sarahreadsbooks4's review against another edition

2.5

slow-paced

Strong character development: No

carleighshaheen's review

3.5

lighthearted slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

read_it_and_reap's review

4.0

Thank you for the audiobook ARC!

First, I can’t say enough how refreshing it was that the story starts with older main characters that are retired or close to retirement. The MFC is NOT your typical fantasy character that is 19 years old and somehow trained assassin. Oniera is a middle aged sorceress retired from being a weapon for her Queen and country. Her magic is very interesting and is related to dreams. I am still a little confused by the overall magic system, but that didn’t deter me for enjoying the story. The MMC is a sorcerer named Stearnos, who knows what he wants and he wants the Oniera. I love that he isn’t torn or doubting and grows slowly.
The love story was sweet and I wished we had more of them courting each other.
Spice levels are low and could have been more.
The ending is was also a bit confusing to me. I understood that Oniera was fine with the killing and war. But I didn’t understand how one more death, a death of a sexist war hungry man lead her to her last choice. I will say the ending was very tragic but it was also odd that Stearnos would also choose to end his life since Oniera used her last murder to set him free. What was the purpose of her killing the prince and setting him free for them to both die?

Overall, I would recommend this book and enjoyed the audiobook version.

babsreads18's review against another edition

3.0

dark slow-paced

This was a dark fantasy, with cozy and slow paced vibes. It had less romance than I was anticipating, which isn't a bad thing, but felt surprising given the marketing. Oneira was a really interesting FMC. It really just felt like she was sad, lonely, and gardening for most of the book, which contributed to the slow pacing. I did appreciate how much care was given to the complexity of Oneira's character. The romance between Oneira and Stearanos was more of a subplot and was an incredibly drawn out slow burn. I listened to the audio which was really well done. Chloe Campbell and Shane East were fantastic narrators who really brought the characters to life.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the advance copy!