t0ast_and_t3a 's review for:

The Rose Bargain by Sasha Peyton Smith

4.0

adventurous 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

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I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I’m always afraid when one of the comp titles are Cruel Prince, because it either turns out to be a poor replica of plot and characters (which is just lazy) or not at all like CP. This, in my opinion, had the vibes. The bargains, the lore, similar, yet less high, stakes. Now, don’t mistake this for me saying this is CP 2.0–it’s not. There a bit of a Red Queen-ish twist too, but Smith makes these familiar storylines and twists unique to her world/story. I really enjoyed the reimagined history of England and the scattered chapters throughout—the latter helped round out some of the side characters for me, and Smith does a good job of giving the reader exactly what’s needed in those chapters to make up for the questions raised throughout the rest of the story. I’m hoping it’s a little less predictable for book two and for, maybe, a dual POV?