A review by karin_cc
Six Scorched Roses by Carissa Broadbent

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.25

Abundance wears many faces. The god of plenty is also the god of decay. There can be no life without death, no feast without famine. 

Lilith’s been dying since the day she was born, but when her whole town starts dropping from a god-cursed illness, she’s done waiting around for fate. Her plan? Trade six roses for six vials of blood from Vale — a vampire the gods hate even more than her doomed village. It’s a clean deal... until feelings start getting messy, and Lilith realizes that falling for a vampire might be even more dangerous than dying... 

Six Scorched Roses proves that even a short story can pack a punch just as strong as a full-length novel. There's enough of everything here — a handful of things I enjoyed, but also a few things that irked me. Despite finding a lot of good in it, for some reason I don't feel like I loved it. Maybe it’s the difference between real enjoyment and just passing time. Could be a me problem. Either way, I don't feel like giving this over three stars, but it’s not under that either. Just a good, solid middle ground. 
 
I really liked that Lilith, our FMC, was neurodivergent-coded — and it felt real and fresh. I honestly can’t think of another character quite like her right now. It was especially interesting seeing how that shaped her connection with Vale. Their partnership and relationship progression was believable: two curious minds drawn together. Plus, Lilith being a scientist was so fun — and the story really leaned into that in a satisfying way. The whole letter-sending aspect? Chef's kiss. Somehow their connection just shined through that style of storytelling. Taking all that into account, there was one scene that really hit me. When Lilith's guard dropped and Vale caught a glimpse of her real, raw self — and instead of flinching or judging, he simply said: "You are a very beautiful woman." 
 
Usually, I get a little obsessed with the MMCs, but this time? I stayed surprisingly calm. Vale is desperate, yes, but he carries it with a softness that’s different from the usual tortured hero trope. Not saying he isn’t interesting, but with the whole story through Lilith’s eyes, I stayed mostly in her world — and that's where some of my few issues come from:

It’s made painfully clear from the first page that Lilith and mortality are old friends. But hearing about it again and again in almost every chapter dulled the emotional impact of the twist around it. It was supposed to hit hard, but by then, I was numb to it. Also, the pacing threw me off a few times — especially in the beginning where the passage of time wasn’t very clear. (The roses marking each section should have helped, but I still found myself confused for a hot second.)
Sometimes the writing pulled me out of the story too — not badly, but just enough that I noticed I was reading text rather than sinking into a world. And maybe that's why I don't feel very strongly about this one — it was good & satisfying, but not something that left me aching for more.
I’ve read Slaying the Vampire Conqueror by the same author, so the worldbuilding and lore felt familiar — and that was a nice bonus. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if this story grows on me later like that one did.
 
"It must be hard," he murmured. "To bear the weight of so much affection in a life so short." 
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