rach 's review for:

The Rose Bargain by Sasha Peyton Smith

4.25

medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

---

A fantasy full of evil fae and plucky humans, teenagers falling in love and trying to save their families from ruin, and the grandeur and entertainment of both the London season and a marriage competition. There’s a lot of subterfuge and mystery swirling through this story, with all the lies, fae bargains, and secret plots to take down the government. The heart of the story, though, is a girl who just wants her beloved sister back, her parents happy again, and a life she can live with. A girl who is presented with the opportunity to actually achieve that by marrying the fae prince, and is then confronted with another responsibility: maybe she can also save her world from tyrannical rule.

They were all fighting for the same prince as our main girl Ivy, but I really appreciated getting to know the rest of the girls in the competition, especially each chapter from their perspective, because it allowed me to see them as more than just rivals. I was able to understand their histories, their goals, their hopes, and how they saw Ivy. People can have wildly different recollections of the same situation, and we see that play out here, especially concerning the relationships between Ivy, her sister Lydia, and their childhood bestie Greer. Ivy might have felt left behind in childhood, never as accomplished or as pretty or as wanted, but both Lydia and Greer envied her carefree nature and bravery, how she was always herself in word and deed. Of course, everything changed for Ivy when Lydia didn’t get married her first few seasons, and then when she mysteriously went missing and came back so different. That was the point when Ivy not only lost her sister, but she lost Greer, too.

As for the Emmett versus Bram debate, it feels like a classic love triangle for most of the book - I honestly couldn’t tell who Ivy was actually falling for at first, because she seemed to enjoy gazing into both their eyes so much.

I think in the end, though, the gruff softie with all the hidden pain was always going to win out, especially when he was so helpful with the kissing lessons and everything lol. I’m not really a fan of the reformed rake trope, so I didn’t love that he had plenty of experience (even if a lot of the known rumors weren’t true), but at least they didn’t dwell on it. And I do love a good only-one-bed situation.

Another other trope I don’t love is the doesn’t-know-she’s-beautiful. This time, not only does Ivy feel not as beautiful as the other girls, it feels like everyone agrees she is the least likely to marry the prince. Yet both Emmett and Bram comment repeatedly about how beautiful she looks - maybe that’s just love talking? Or maybe she really is beautiful and everyone just has high, nitpicky standards.

As for the cliffhanger ending, I don’t want to spoil this for anyone, even inside a spoiler tag, so I won’t. But message me if you want to scream about where this one left off. The last hour of the audiobook was WILD and I have so many thoughts on where this story is going.