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isi__1's review against another edition
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
*sigh* Where to start with this one? I read this because I was in the mood for a simple, short read that wouldn‘t require a ton of braincells. This was advertised as a reverse harem romantasy & I was reminded of my 13 year-old self who loved to watch reverse harem romance anime, lol.
I knew there was a relatively high chance of disliking this book, because I despise a lot of fantasy romance books these days (my 10 years younger self would be shocked).
It was definitely entertaining, I can‘t lie. Everyone immediately falling for the female main character is so over-the-top, but that‘s kinda what makes it fun.
Unfortunately, from a more objective standpoint, there‘s quite a few negatives: The conversations between the characters felt quite juvenile, a lot of the time.
Furthermore, everyone was so horny all the time. It was really (I absolutely hate to use this word) cringey to read about. I honestly can‘t even count how many times the fmc got dripping wet panties just by being in close proximity to one of the love interests, it‘s ridiculous. Also, if I have to read one more time about how enormous one of the guys‘ cock is, I‘m going to spontaneously combust.
There‘s a couple explicit scenes that were so uncomfortable to read about, for me. I really don‘t like 'spice' scenes, because they usually end up making me cringe so much that my brain starts shrivelling up. Why can‘t we simply have a cute, romantic reverse harem fantasy-romance instead of this fuck-fest? Especially because the chemistry between the fmc and the male love interests mostly wasn‘t believable, because they were constantly just thinking about wanting to bang each other.
Lastly, a big gripe of mine was the female main character herself. First of all, she‘s very stupid. 9 out of 10 decisions she made were absolutely moronic. You‘d think a human couldn‘t possibly be this idiotic. Well, you‘d be wrong.
Aside from her just being dumb, there‘s also a bit of a continuity error regarding her character. At the beginning, she‘s introduced as this shy, introverted, insecure, quiet, timid girl. As soon as she gets to the fae lands, it‘s like her personality does a complete 180. All of a sudden, without any rhyme or reason, she‘s bold, loud, stands up for herself, and talks back to these powerful fae all the time. I would have loved to see this character development play out in a believable way. Unfortunately, there never is any development, because she just is like that, all of a sudden. It doesn‘t make any sense. What changed? You can‘t just make me believe that she lived with this mousy attitude for 26 YEARS and then, out of nowhere, as soon as she‘s transported to this foreign world, she turns into this confident, not-scared-of-anything-or-anyone woman.
Having inconsistent characters like this is one of my personal biggest pet-peeves.
All in all, I definitely didn‘t hate my time reading this. I actually was entertained while reading this (at least most of the time). Unfortunately, my entertainment was more of a “this is so ridiculous“ kind than a “this was a masterpiece“ kind.
I knew there was a relatively high chance of disliking this book, because I despise a lot of fantasy romance books these days (my 10 years younger self would be shocked).
It was definitely entertaining, I can‘t lie. Everyone immediately falling for the female main character is so over-the-top, but that‘s kinda what makes it fun.
Unfortunately, from a more objective standpoint, there‘s quite a few negatives: The conversations between the characters felt quite juvenile, a lot of the time.
Furthermore, everyone was so horny all the time. It was really (I absolutely hate to use this word) cringey to read about. I honestly can‘t even count how many times the fmc got dripping wet panties just by being in close proximity to one of the love interests, it‘s ridiculous. Also, if I have to read one more time about how enormous one of the guys‘ cock is, I‘m going to spontaneously combust.
There‘s a couple explicit scenes that were so uncomfortable to read about, for me. I really don‘t like 'spice' scenes, because they usually end up making me cringe so much that my brain starts shrivelling up. Why can‘t we simply have a cute, romantic reverse harem fantasy-romance instead of this fuck-fest? Especially because the chemistry between the fmc and the male love interests mostly wasn‘t believable, because they were constantly just thinking about wanting to bang each other.
Lastly, a big gripe of mine was the female main character herself. First of all, she‘s very stupid. 9 out of 10 decisions she made were absolutely moronic. You‘d think a human couldn‘t possibly be this idiotic. Well, you‘d be wrong.
Aside from her just being dumb, there‘s also a bit of a continuity error regarding her character. At the beginning, she‘s introduced as this shy, introverted, insecure, quiet, timid girl. As soon as she gets to the fae lands, it‘s like her personality does a complete 180. All of a sudden, without any rhyme or reason, she‘s bold, loud, stands up for herself, and talks back to these powerful fae all the time. I would have loved to see this character development play out in a believable way. Unfortunately, there never is any development, because she just is like that, all of a sudden. It doesn‘t make any sense. What changed? You can‘t just make me believe that she lived with this mousy attitude for 26 YEARS and then, out of nowhere, as soon as she‘s transported to this foreign world, she turns into this confident, not-scared-of-anything-or-anyone woman.
Having inconsistent characters like this is one of my personal biggest pet-peeves.
All in all, I definitely didn‘t hate my time reading this. I actually was entertained while reading this (at least most of the time). Unfortunately, my entertainment was more of a “this is so ridiculous“ kind than a “this was a masterpiece“ kind.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Toxic relationship
unboundbooklover's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Violence, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Blood
Moderate: Confinement, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Gaslighting and Gun violence
popdrinkm's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Gore, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Blood
Minor: Death of parent and Death
pink_dahlila's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
This is a Beauty and the Beast fantasy retelling/reverse harem story. Rosalina finds herself at the Briar while looking for her missing father, who got himself imprisoned for stealing a rose from the castle, and she trades places with him because she is always taking care of him .
Something mysterious is happening to the Briar, the four princes, and the staff that reside there. To gain her freedom she makes a deal with the princes to find a way to lift their curse by trying to find their mates.
The description of the castle where the princes live is cool. It’s very magical. Astrid and Marigold were fun side characters, and I loved their friendship with Rosalina.
The guys all had distinct personalities. The story is told mostly from Rosalina’s POV but we do get a few chapters in their POV. We don’t see much from Ezryn so hopefully we see more of him in the next book. This is a slow burn so we are just seeing the beginning of relationships between them. There is MM sexual content.
I felt bad for Rosalina’s life before she got to the Briar. Her father is mostly absent and the town think he’s crazy, which makes her kind of an outcast. She doesn’t have any friends and she has an abusive on/off boyfriend. Rosalina really comes into herself at the Briar. She finds friends and confidence and purpose.
There are a lot of unanswered questions at the end and the book ends in a bit of a cliff hanger. What does the Prince of Thorns have to do with everything? Could Rosalina know the Enchantress?
Overall I enjoyed it and I look forward to book two. Hopefully more questions are answered and we get to see more development of the relationships.
MMDayton and Farron have sex
Slight OW/OM dramanone of the MCs have sex with other people after they meet, but there is kissing and flirting
Triggers: toxic/abusive boyfriendabuse happens in flashbacks
Something mysterious is happening to the Briar, the four princes, and the staff that reside there. To gain her freedom she makes a deal with the princes to find a way to lift their curse by trying to find their mates.
The description of the castle where the princes live is cool. It’s very magical. Astrid and Marigold were fun side characters, and I loved their friendship with Rosalina.
The guys all had distinct personalities. The story is told mostly from Rosalina’s POV but we do get a few chapters in their POV. We don’t see much from Ezryn so hopefully we see more of him in the next book. This is a slow burn so we are just seeing the beginning of relationships between them. There is MM sexual content.
I felt bad for Rosalina’s life before she got to the Briar. Her father is mostly absent and the town think he’s crazy, which makes her kind of an outcast. She doesn’t have any friends and she has an abusive on/off boyfriend. Rosalina really comes into herself at the Briar. She finds friends and confidence and purpose.
There are a lot of unanswered questions at the end and the book ends in a bit of a cliff hanger. What does the Prince of Thorns have to do with everything? Could Rosalina know the Enchantress?
Overall I enjoyed it and I look forward to book two. Hopefully more questions are answered and we get to see more development of the relationships.
MM
Slight OW/OM drama
Triggers: toxic/abusive boyfriend
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Violence, and Sexual content
Moderate: Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse
knottygeek's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Abandonment, and Alcoholism
froggyprints's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I liked this! It was a WC/RH, which tend to not be my favorite and I didn't realize that going into reading it. About half way through, I figured it out. The beginning is VERY close to Beauty and the Beast, to the point that I almost DNF because it didn't feel super innovative and the FMC was a little annoying with her mousy-ness. But As I continued, it definitely shifted into a retelling that is absolutely it's own story and the world opened up, she grew as a person, and we got to meet a lot of fun characters. There's good tension between her and the other characters with it still being a slow-burn. And the world is interesting and was a lovely escape from real life. Also, props to the author for the sprinkle of nods towards Disney's retelling. It was very minimal but brought forward the re-telling aspect in a fun way that made me smile without it feeling forced or unoriginal. I'll probably slip this one into my list of re-reads periodically.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Bullying
isabelleroyall's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship
sillih28's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Violence, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing, Blood, Abandonment, and Alcohol
erkietheturkey's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
noellelovesbooks's review against another edition
4.25
Content Warnings: Sexual content, toxic relationships, toxic friendships, domestic abuse, mutilation, abandonment, emotional abuse, physical abuse, gaslighting, blood, violence, and confinement.
Damn...that was a good read. Major Beauty and the Beast vibes...which I LOVE. The characters were fun, especially the secondary characters, we get action, romance, a mystery...and so much more. I'll definitely be jumping right into book two 🤭
Damn...that was a good read. Major Beauty and the Beast vibes...which I LOVE. The characters were fun, especially the secondary characters, we get action, romance, a mystery...and so much more. I'll definitely be jumping right into book two 🤭
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Blood, Violence, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, and Confinement