Scan barcode
erinld2005's review
1.0
http://angelerin.blogspot.com/2017/04/blood-rose-rebellion-by-rosalyn-eves.html
Thank you to Netgalley for providing a free ebook copy of Blood Rose Rebellion By: Rosalyn Eves in exchange for an honest review.
Guys, I can't believe I didn't like this one. Blood Rose Rebellion is a book that I was looking forward to so much, but I only made it to 20% and I had to DNF it. The summary sounded so promising, but to be honest I was bored silly! I couldn't connect to any of the characters or anything in the story.
#DNFAlert
Overall there just wasn't anything that captivated me. The cover is extremely gorgeous, but for me that is the only thing I liked about it. It wasn't for me at all and I couldn't finish reading it.
#GorgeousCoverThough
I can't personally recommend this one, but if it sounds good to you and you want to give it a try then go for it!
#NotForMe
Thank you to Netgalley for providing a free ebook copy of Blood Rose Rebellion By: Rosalyn Eves in exchange for an honest review.
Guys, I can't believe I didn't like this one. Blood Rose Rebellion is a book that I was looking forward to so much, but I only made it to 20% and I had to DNF it. The summary sounded so promising, but to be honest I was bored silly! I couldn't connect to any of the characters or anything in the story.
#DNFAlert
Overall there just wasn't anything that captivated me. The cover is extremely gorgeous, but for me that is the only thing I liked about it. It wasn't for me at all and I couldn't finish reading it.
#GorgeousCoverThough
I can't personally recommend this one, but if it sounds good to you and you want to give it a try then go for it!
#NotForMe
bponsford's review against another edition
Gave up half-way through when she headed out to do yet another thing that people had told her not to do. I realize that this is a standard YA trope, but I just couldn't take any more.
janeeyre_914716's review
1.0
So after MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUUUUUCH consideration and as painful for me as this was to do, I did my first DNF. I have done very few of those YEARS ago BUT in the last 7 years or so of REALLY loving and finding book genres I actually enjoy, I've always read/finished those even if they did end up once in awhile a rare 2-3 stars. But this one I seriously could NOT get into this each time I picked it up and felt like I was forcing myself to read this every time! I hated it if I'm being honest here and so fetching sad I couldn't get into this because I had REALLY HIGH HOPES for this book and did want to finish it just cause but I couldn't bring myself to. So I needed to do my first (HOPEFULLY ONLY) DNF ever.
I noticed some did love this and I'm glad and applaud you all who did and those who didn't and rated it 1-2 stars......haha! I feel you all and I can see why. SO....here's my pet peeves and the reason I did NOT like this book. I got 35-36% into this. So one thing you need to know about me, I TRY SO HARD not to be too harsh at times but this book has gotten me reeling. Yes it has EXTREMELY mixed reviews and I WAS going to be nice and give this 2 stars at the beginning, but I'm sorry, I have to be BRUTALLY honest here and say how I really feel with this book and I'm leaving this as 1 star which I give out RARELY! My limit has always been at least 2 but I'm sorry, I have to go with my reading gut and say it's a 1 star for this girl.........
IT WAS NOT STRUCTURED ENOUGH FOR ME AND NOT MY FAVORITE WRITING STYLE
okay, so this story sounded pretty good and found it interesting and so I added it to my tbr list right? so I was happy I got this through netgalley and knew I had 7 (now 6) of those ARC's on my kindle but I decided to choose this and boy am I glad. because as the story started, it was good up until a group of this magic counsel called "the Circle" showed up and it felt like Mortal Instruments all over again.....only this time it's not Valentine and rogue shadowhunters it's this magic counsel government type group (more like the Clave of the Shadowhunter world) and it was WAAAAAY too weird for me in a way and wasn't at all original with the name of the group. As the story went on, it felt like she didn't know WHERE to go with the story, tried to "copy cat" other YA stories and intertwine them into her own version and tried too hard, and it randomly had these things and misfortunes happen to Anna: like her mom and sister mean and horrible to her and the only two people to really love her in her family was her Grandmama (just say grandmother....) and her dad and brother. then there's the weird cousin (or 2nd cousin?) love interest in her and as soon as he kissed her it was weird and ruined it. the characters were also not structured enough and I couldn't get into them ESPECIALLY when she tried to describe how "attractive" the guys were. I was NOT fangirling at all and if I'm not fangirling, I'm not liking it and I was DEFINITELY not liking it at all and a HUGE disappointment. I felt she was trying too hard on so many levels and it just wasn't cutting it for me and again felt like random things were happening and lacking MAJOR THINGS!!! like BIG TIME LACKING!!
for example......
Grandmama: (starts telling Anna a story) "it was long ago and far away, over forty-nine kingdoms, beyond the Operentsia Sea, beyond the glass mountains, and beyond that to a kingdom beneath a pearl sky."
Anna: (in first person mode) "She described a beautiful reed maiden, the king who loved her, and the wicked girl who trapped the king in marriage...."
Um......okay? WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?? SERIOUSLY? I mean, if you're going to do a story like that, actually MAKE UP A STORY if you have to instead of be all "it was long ago and far away.....blah blah blah" and then actually describe a story that sounded in a weird good way interesting......make a lesson or meaning out of it and actually have a story ON HAND to tell. DEFINITELY not structured and later on I was so done and caved and quit. I could go on but it seriously wasn't structured enough for me, the world building wasn't all that great, it was WAY too weird and she definitely tried too hard I'm sorry. Did I mention she's trying too hard?
HAD WAAAAY TOO MANY BIG VOCABULARY WORDS AND THE WEIRDEST PHRASES EVER!!
So I don't mind big flowery vocabulary words once in awhile but when it's a TON and almost every few pages like ones I have NEVER seen or know I'll NEVER see again, I'd see the definition on my kindle and as simple as the definition was, I'd say, "then why not say it that simple?" also some of these words seemed kinda random and felt they were in the weirdest sentences/phrases too after reading these definitions......a few examples of those words and weird phrases
ANNA (ALL IN FIRST PERSON)
"I ground my teeth in VEXATION, I should not have told him anything." (make it simple like "I ground my teeth in FRUSTRATION. Don't make easy simple words "complicated." I'm personally not a fan of that)
"He laid a kiss LIKE A PRAYER on my mouth... He DROPPED A KISS on the tip of my nose" (huh?)
(describing a headache): "A legion of dwarves were excavating my skull with tiny pickaxes." (*face palm* SERIOUSLY?)
*oh and my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE! just wait for this one. Even two of my friends cringed and made weird faces when I read this one to them*
"He smelled of sweat and sun and made me feel hot and cold together."
So to really sum up 36% of this book of how I really feel.....
I'M DEFINITELY AND MAJORLY CONFUSED!!! It also got me laughing at those phrases and weird moments like, "what the heck am I reading?"
So dare if you want to read this book when it comes out but I seriously could not finish this and I'm sorry but not sorry about being harsh but I need to let it out. I'm a sucker for trilogies of course BUT I'm not planning to read/finish these AT ALL. If you do end up reading this and love it then I'm happy for you because I personally came out disappointed. I have a feeling this will most likely get more mixed reviews........... so good luck to you all readers who pick this up hope you like it as much as I did and also if you didn't then I'll gladly and love to complain along with you! ha! (also when I saw 1 stars I felt TONS better cause I seriously wanted to rate this a 1 star the more I read this.....)
I noticed some did love this and I'm glad and applaud you all who did and those who didn't and rated it 1-2 stars......haha! I feel you all and I can see why. SO....here's my pet peeves and the reason I did NOT like this book. I got 35-36% into this. So one thing you need to know about me, I TRY SO HARD not to be too harsh at times but this book has gotten me reeling. Yes it has EXTREMELY mixed reviews and I WAS going to be nice and give this 2 stars at the beginning, but I'm sorry, I have to be BRUTALLY honest here and say how I really feel with this book and I'm leaving this as 1 star which I give out RARELY! My limit has always been at least 2 but I'm sorry, I have to go with my reading gut and say it's a 1 star for this girl.........
IT WAS NOT STRUCTURED ENOUGH FOR ME AND NOT MY FAVORITE WRITING STYLE
okay, so this story sounded pretty good and found it interesting and so I added it to my tbr list right? so I was happy I got this through netgalley and knew I had 7 (now 6) of those ARC's on my kindle but I decided to choose this and boy am I glad. because as the story started, it was good up until a group of this magic counsel called "the Circle" showed up and it felt like Mortal Instruments all over again.....only this time it's not Valentine and rogue shadowhunters it's this magic counsel government type group (more like the Clave of the Shadowhunter world) and it was WAAAAAY too weird for me in a way and wasn't at all original with the name of the group. As the story went on, it felt like she didn't know WHERE to go with the story, tried to "copy cat" other YA stories and intertwine them into her own version and tried too hard, and it randomly had these things and misfortunes happen to Anna: like her mom and sister mean and horrible to her and the only two people to really love her in her family was her Grandmama (just say grandmother....) and her dad and brother. then there's the weird cousin (or 2nd cousin?) love interest in her and as soon as he kissed her it was weird and ruined it. the characters were also not structured enough and I couldn't get into them ESPECIALLY when she tried to describe how "attractive" the guys were. I was NOT fangirling at all and if I'm not fangirling, I'm not liking it and I was DEFINITELY not liking it at all and a HUGE disappointment. I felt she was trying too hard on so many levels and it just wasn't cutting it for me and again felt like random things were happening and lacking MAJOR THINGS!!! like BIG TIME LACKING!!
for example......
Grandmama: (starts telling Anna a story) "it was long ago and far away, over forty-nine kingdoms, beyond the Operentsia Sea, beyond the glass mountains, and beyond that to a kingdom beneath a pearl sky."
Anna: (in first person mode) "She described a beautiful reed maiden, the king who loved her, and the wicked girl who trapped the king in marriage...."
Um......okay? WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?? SERIOUSLY? I mean, if you're going to do a story like that, actually MAKE UP A STORY if you have to instead of be all "it was long ago and far away.....blah blah blah" and then actually describe a story that sounded in a weird good way interesting......make a lesson or meaning out of it and actually have a story ON HAND to tell. DEFINITELY not structured and later on I was so done and caved and quit. I could go on but it seriously wasn't structured enough for me, the world building wasn't all that great, it was WAY too weird and she definitely tried too hard I'm sorry. Did I mention she's trying too hard?
HAD WAAAAY TOO MANY BIG VOCABULARY WORDS AND THE WEIRDEST PHRASES EVER!!
So I don't mind big flowery vocabulary words once in awhile but when it's a TON and almost every few pages like ones I have NEVER seen or know I'll NEVER see again, I'd see the definition on my kindle and as simple as the definition was, I'd say, "then why not say it that simple?" also some of these words seemed kinda random and felt they were in the weirdest sentences/phrases too after reading these definitions......a few examples of those words and weird phrases
ANNA (ALL IN FIRST PERSON)
"I ground my teeth in VEXATION, I should not have told him anything." (make it simple like "I ground my teeth in FRUSTRATION. Don't make easy simple words "complicated." I'm personally not a fan of that)
"He laid a kiss LIKE A PRAYER on my mouth... He DROPPED A KISS on the tip of my nose" (huh?)
(describing a headache): "A legion of dwarves were excavating my skull with tiny pickaxes." (*face palm* SERIOUSLY?)
*oh and my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE! just wait for this one. Even two of my friends cringed and made weird faces when I read this one to them*
"He smelled of sweat and sun and made me feel hot and cold together."
So to really sum up 36% of this book of how I really feel.....
I'M DEFINITELY AND MAJORLY CONFUSED!!! It also got me laughing at those phrases and weird moments like, "what the heck am I reading?"
So dare if you want to read this book when it comes out but I seriously could not finish this and I'm sorry but not sorry about being harsh but I need to let it out. I'm a sucker for trilogies of course BUT I'm not planning to read/finish these AT ALL. If you do end up reading this and love it then I'm happy for you because I personally came out disappointed. I have a feeling this will most likely get more mixed reviews........... so good luck to you all readers who pick this up hope you like it as much as I did and also if you didn't then I'll gladly and love to complain along with you! ha! (also when I saw 1 stars I felt TONS better cause I seriously wanted to rate this a 1 star the more I read this.....)
joelkarpowitz's review
5.0
Romance, magic, Hungarian history and politics, fancy ball gowns. Rosalyn Eves is a talented world-builder, with characters brimming with emotion and caught in systems of class and gender that bind them to restricted lives. If you want a little "students-from-Les-Mis" mixed with your Bronte/Austen-inspired romance with a dose of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (YA style) then check it out!
lunalullaby's review
1.0
This book was confusing, had flat characters and was very hard to finish. I definitely will not read the sequel. I was excited to read a book set in a country I don’t think I’ve ever read one in before (Hungary) but this was just not good.
nightowlbibliophile's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
cammschwartz's review
1.0
This is an advanced copy... anything can change at any moment.......
I really had high hopes. I don't like contemporary, but fantasy with magic is my favorite. I loved the Six of Crows series and Throne of glass series. Anna Arden is such a cool name too!
First off,
Romani Gábor- really his actual name is Gábor Kovács, the Romani part means he is gypsy?!!? He doesn't really have a lovey dovey part with Anna. They kiss 2 or three times, the first was pathetic too.
Second
Mátyás- he likes to toy with Anna?! But he loves Noemi, not only was it confusing, but it was a weird way to have a backup character?? I mean.... Anna.... you like Gábor but do you like Mátyás.
Finally
The rebellion and breaking of spells.... okay I really don't want to spoil it too much... but really? Both sides are pathetic! The spell breaking, okay I can see the way the author wanted to show this, but it might just be me, I don't like it. The rebellion? Don't get me started.
I really had high hopes. I don't like contemporary, but fantasy with magic is my favorite. I loved the Six of Crows series and Throne of glass series. Anna Arden is such a cool name too!
First off,
Romani Gábor- really his actual name is Gábor Kovács, the Romani part means he is gypsy?!!? He doesn't really have a lovey dovey part with Anna. They kiss 2 or three times, the first was pathetic too.
Second
Mátyás- he likes to toy with Anna?! But he loves Noemi, not only was it confusing, but it was a weird way to have a backup character?? I mean.... Anna.... you like Gábor but do you like Mátyás.
Finally
The rebellion and breaking of spells.... okay I really don't want to spoil it too much... but really? Both sides are pathetic! The spell breaking, okay I can see the way the author wanted to show this, but it might just be me, I don't like it. The rebellion? Don't get me started.
carolinevaught's review
4.0
ARC REVIEW
Maybe a 3.5
This was a great book after the first 100 pages, but it never really drew me in to the point where I felt like I was in the story. I loved the layers all of the characters had, it added dimension. Certainly worth a read!
Maybe a 3.5
This was a great book after the first 100 pages, but it never really drew me in to the point where I felt like I was in the story. I loved the layers all of the characters had, it added dimension. Certainly worth a read!
maryfaithreads's review
4.0
I feel like I'm the only person who really liked this book. XD Which I don't understand because it was so good.
It was a bit slower-paced, but that didn't really bother me. I really enjoyed the story (historical fantasy is a combo of my two favorite genres!). I loved the Hungarian setting - I don't think I've ever read a book that's set in Hungary before. The premise did feel a bit familiar (very [b:A Shadow Bright and Burning|23203252|A Shadow Bright and Burning (Kingdom on Fire, #1)|Jessica Cluess|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1460211196s/23203252.jpg|42747312]), but it was still intriguing.
I really loved the characters in this story. Like, all of them. Even the bad guys. They were very well-written and developed. I especially loved Anna and Noemi, and I loved how their relationship grew and they became so close. I'm not totally sold on Anna and Gabor yet, but we'll get there. Also, is it weird that Hunger was pretty much my favorite? Because he was totally creepy, but he was.
And Matayas.
The only thing I wasn't a fan of was the ending. I mean, I felt like things ended on a good note, but it all felt very chaotic. It was just a little hard to follow, you know?
But overall, I loved this. Despite the mixed reviews, I would definitely recommend giving it a chance.
It was a bit slower-paced, but that didn't really bother me. I really enjoyed the story (historical fantasy is a combo of my two favorite genres!). I loved the Hungarian setting - I don't think I've ever read a book that's set in Hungary before. The premise did feel a bit familiar (very [b:A Shadow Bright and Burning|23203252|A Shadow Bright and Burning (Kingdom on Fire, #1)|Jessica Cluess|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1460211196s/23203252.jpg|42747312]), but it was still intriguing.
I really loved the characters in this story. Like, all of them. Even the bad guys. They were very well-written and developed. I especially loved Anna and Noemi, and I loved how their relationship grew and they became so close. I'm not totally sold on Anna and Gabor yet, but we'll get there. Also, is it weird that Hunger was pretty much my favorite? Because he was totally creepy, but he was.
And Matayas.
Spoiler
Whyyyyyyyyy??? *sobs* But that epilogue seemed very promising. I had a feeling that we hadn't seen the last of him.The only thing I wasn't a fan of was the ending. I mean, I felt like things ended on a good note, but it all felt very chaotic. It was just a little hard to follow, you know?
But overall, I loved this. Despite the mixed reviews, I would definitely recommend giving it a chance.
channywax's review
Beautiful writing with a fascinating world and strong characters. Well done, Rosalyn! <3