this was GOOD yall!!!!

what a great sleeping beauty retelling i thoroughly enjoyed the characterization in this story as well as the atmosphere and mystique of the world briar creates

one of the better books of this year in my humble opinion

“𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒐?”

I received an early advanced readers copy and this is an honest and voluntary review!My thanks to NetGalley and Quill and Crow Publishing for providing me with a copy!

Book is released on April 25th so this is a spoiler free review!

Her Dark Enchantments is a dark, twisted villain origin story of Malificent from the classic sleeping beauty fairytale! It has enemies to lovers, an amazing magic system, faeries and even a little spice! If you like any of these things I 100% recommend giving this book a go!

I really loved the writing of this book! Myravelle is a really interesting and well written character and her development throughout the book was amazing! I loved that although it is a sleeping beauty inspired book- there are references to other fairytales such as Rumpelstiltskin and The Red Shoes by Hans Christian Andersen (such an underrated fairytale, I was so happy it was included!!!) The world building was really interesting, for such a short book it was done incredibly! You learn a lot about the magic system and the gods they worship and this made the story really enjoyable!

The plot itself was very enjoyable- it was quite fast paced and always kept me reading to see what happened next. There was a really amazing plot twist at the end that I did not see coming! The one thing I didn’t quite enjoy as much in this book was how quickly the enemies became lovers, but that is just my preference and I completely appreciate some people don’t enjoy slow burn. I just think Byzarian forgot about his hatred for Myravelle quite suddenly and it could have been more of a slow transition, but then again this book is just under 300 pages so it’s understandable that the romance was a bit quicker paced. Overall it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book, I would 100% say this book is worth preordering just based on the amazing plot and world building!

Her Dark Enchantments by Rosalyn Briar is a captivating, well written, enchanting, intriguing, romantic, and beautiful masterpiece exactly as it is
This book was completely beyond my expectations of what I fathomed it would be
Rich in world building. Characters who are strong, and flawed. And a slowly building romance to devastate you. Yeah I freaking loved it.
HDE was pure magic. there’s no other way to describe it.
I got exactly what I wanted from this book, a true masterpiece.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review
are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Quill and Crow Publishing House for your generosity and approving this eARC!

Love having a mixture of two fairytales blended into each other? A blended tale of Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel and a dash of Wicked sprinkled in to offer a blended tale.

I love coming across books with their version of the story. Often they are beautifully blended with other fairytales offering up tales that are perfectly crafted with worlds and characters that pop off the pages and draw you in. That is what any author wants - to draw the reader into their world and keep them turning the pages until they have reached the very end.

For this story, the characters and world-building are unique. A world filled with the magic of Sleeping Beauty where if a tree limb falls the person or village falls into a deep, nightmarish sleep that only can be awakened by Dormrya trees, magical trees enchanted by the fairies to protect their realm.

Ever wondered how Maleficent came to be? Well, you are about to find out. While Disney has told their version of Maleficent made to make her character a bit more sympathetic to the viewers, Myravelle was not given the choice of sympathy. She was thrust into the role of Wicked Fairy. All she wanted is freedom. Freedom for herself and freedom for her mother who is made to spindle yarn into gold for the king. Myravelle's magic can be channeled by runes. When she finds a man by her canvas, she awakens him by cutting a rune upon his chest and combining their blood. The man awakens with a wave of pleasure - yeah, not going into details there. I will leave it to you, the viewer to decide how. Needlessly, this ritual binds the two together.

Byzarien, on the other hand, is hardened. He has seen war, he has seen his brother die, and his family living in poverty. He knows that his meager soldier salary is never going to be enough to uplift them from it. This leaves him broken and unhappy. When he is placed into a slumber, it is Myravelle who awakens him and binds him through magic.

I loved the characters, the world-building, everything. Each character is unique in their own right. None of them are perfect but deeply flawed and each trying to find their own way in the world. The problem is that they are shouldered a reputation that they are forced to carry. This is what happens with Myravelle. She is a character broken and placed back together. A character who sees love as nothing more than unnecessary. She wants to gain freedom not only for herself but also for her mother who is forced to spin yarn for a greedy king. She is not meant to be a sympathetic character, but she does come across as one. She is a character that tugs at your heart. She never asked to become Wicked but she has no choice but to play it.

Byzarien - I don't know. I didn't feel any connection to him. He seemed one-sided and just boring. I could not find anything I really liked about him.

I really enjoyed this novel. It was really interesting take on three different tales. The author offered something that could interest all lovers of fairytales and delivered that promise.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you NetGalley for this review copy.

The first half of this book was really good, amazing even! I loved the way the author took their time writing out the scenes being descriptive.
I really wanted to like the second half of the book, however....
It was REALLY hard reading about all the bloody sex. "The blood made their bodies slide together." Gag.
And she really picked up the pace, rushing through the scenes. The romance itself even felt rushed. Byzantine pretty much went from hating Myravelle to being in love with her overnight.
Overall it was entertaining but I don't know if I would recommend it

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Quill & Crow Publishing House, for the early copy! I am leaving this review voluntarily.

4/5 stars

Sleeping Beauty meets Rumpelstiltskin? Yes please!

I'm a huge fan of retellings, and I'm also a huge fan of villains that are evil with purpose. It doesn't make them any less of a villain, but it crosses from morally gray into "this isn't right... but also you have a right" and makes them that much more human. So when I saw a retelling of Maleficent's tale with this written all over it? Sign. Me. Up.

Mryavelle fits right into this trope. She's raw, she's unpolished from her upbringing with rough edges, and she has a personality that is charming. Sarcastic, but it isn't just to invoke a reaction from whoever she's smarting back to. It's honest. It's this honesty and her little quirks that makes her seem real and jump off the page. Her growth is beautiful, albeit sad yet raw and real.

Byzarien, on the other hand, fell flat for me. He's hardened by his past and has prejudices that blind him to doing what needs to be done. This all makes for interesting drama, except... he almost just magically gets over it all at one point. I'll touch more on it below. I was never sold on him as a main character, which would've been fine if he was a side character, but he's a driving force in this story, and deserved more.

The book is a dual POV, bouncing between Byzarien and Myravelle, and the switch in POVs is well-balanced to show the correct perspective just when it's needed. I feel like a lot of authors don't do POV switches well, or do them just to fill in the story, but not here. In fact, it's used so well that it should've been used *more* to further fill in the story. Some of the story elements feel rushed, and the characters ditch a lot of their prejudices rather abruptly. How and why they lost them makes sense, but it's like -plot point happens- okay it's suddenly fixed and wrongs are righted. Pacing was off due to this. The first 50% takes place building, then it immediately jumps. The romance wasn't as well balanced, and I would've not only liked to see this more fleshed out, but seen the other characters fleshed out. The antagonists are textbook and have almost no context beyond "they're evil," which given the premise of the story, seems a little... lopsided.

The last 25%-ish had me gripped to the story, even though I knew where it was going because, well, it's a retelling. I loved the Rumplestiltskin story elements that added a breath of fresh air, even if some plot elements seemed ripped right out of Season 2 of Once Upon a Time.

Overall, this is a solid retelling! I would've appreciated more fleshing out, more pacing, and more attention to keep things from to jumping to "oh now there's romance" and "oh now this happens!" I feel like I should add, however, that I pick at pacing issues even in books I deem as 5 stars. If you love Sleeping Beauty, villain origin stories and enemies to lovers, you'll love this!

Sleeping beauty is one of my favorite fairytales and I love retellings! This book was so well written and so immersive. I was intrigued the whole time and just devoured this book! I’d love to see this author do more dark retellings!! Highly recommend!!

Based on the cover alone I was expecting a dark fairy tale, and this felt different from a traditional fairy tale, plus I love a good retelling of a classic (cue Sleeping Beauty). Having said that, I still found it romantic and magical. The writing was tasteful and elegant, and I'd say there were some slightly spicy moments, if that's what you're in the mood for. I was interested in the dynamic of the relationship between the two main characters, and I became very emotionally involved, especially towards the end.

Thank you to Quill and Crow Publishing House & NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this arc

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley, and this is my honest review.
(4.5 stars.)

This is like Wicked meets Sleeping Beauty meets Rumpelstiltskin. My mind is blown, my heart is broken, I’m about to cry, I love this book.

Her Dark Enchantments introduces us to a world where magical trees are what stand between human and fairy war. These trees, called Dormrya trees, are a major source of economic trade thanks to their ability to form deadly, poisonous weapons. The fairies, however, have cursed the trees in order to protect their realm in the center of their grove, resulting in any man that comes in contact with even a splinter to fall into some form of deep sleep. Sometimes it’s just a limb that falls asleep, sometimes the entire person falls into a cursed sleep plagued by nightmares, and the only person that can wake them up is Myravelle. A fairy herself under the king’s thumb, Myravelle’s magic is fueled by her connection with a chosen man, with painful, deadly costs for both parties. Yet, what happens when the one man who hates her is chosen to be her next canvas?

I’ve said this once, and I’ll say it again: this is Wicked, but instead of getting the Wicked Witch’s origin story, you get the Wicked Fairy’s. You can see so clearly how Myravelle never wanted to hurt anyone. In fact, all she wants is freedom for both herself and her mother, and someone that could actually love her despite her long list of dead lovers. Essentially, the way Myravelle’s magic works is through runes. After finding a man to be her canvas, she carves a rune into his chest, which gives the man an immediate wave of pleasure—fans of soft-med core smut will enjoy this. By combining their blood through this rune, Myravelle is able to charge her magic enough to reverse the sleeping curses, but while the man feels all the extasy, Myravelle takes on all of their pain until they have nothing left to give and they die. It's an honor and a death sentence; one that isolates Myravelle even in her brief moments of connecttion with her canvases. She doesn’t want to hurt anyone, she didn’t ask for this power, and while the guilt eating her alive made me immediately empathize with her, her drive to try and do something about it made me love her. She’s sad, lonely, and afraid, but she’s also powerful, loyal, determined, and fierce. I loved getting to see her evolution throughout this book, and her breaking points and spiral into her final form was so well done I want to scream. Myravelle is 5 stars. Then, we have Byzarien.

A soldier in the Sleep Wood Company, Byze is tasked with trying to either get through the trees to the fairies, or just harvest the trees to make weapons. After his family home was set ablaze, Byze was horribly scarred down the entire side of his body by the flames as he saved his younger siblings. Now, he works in the company to scrounge up whatever money he can for his family, who are stuck in the slums. His scars are a constant source of insecurity for him, especially since he thinks no one can love him as a result. Yet, when Byze is summoned to be the next canvas and an opportunity for said love is presented to him, he is pissed. He’s honestly a grump—although there’s no sunshine in this trope. Yet, his love for his friends and family, his stubbornness but concurrent ability to admit maybe he was wrong, and his fierce loyalty and good heart made me immediately love him.

As for the plot itself, it is so clearly written by someone that has a firm grasp on story telling. So many times, the characters are presented with situations where they are like, “Absolutely not,” and try to do something else instead. Yet, the plot doesn’t just shove them along down the correct path, but instead actively corners the characters and shows them what will happen if they don’t make that choice. Every decision has consequences, even the right ones. Also, so many gay relationships, and even some character race diversity (we love). There was also such a smooth, well-paced evolution from enemies, to friends, to lovers in the first half of the novel. I never felt like the romance was stalling or events were just occurring for the sake of including them. I will say in the second half it felt like the romance pendulum swung so hard so fast, but the overall wicked, fantastical fairytale vibe helped me get over it pretty fast. This is also mainly in regards to Byze’s POV, not Myravelle’s, which is interesting. I also wish there had been a dedicated moment for Byze to face his scars and be like, “I’m tired of hiding behind my hair. These are my scars,” but we didn’t really get that. It’s not a huge deal, but I think that would have been the bow on top of his arc, you know?

Overall, I adore Her Dark Enchantments. The characters are easy to root for and love. The romance is fantastically paced, and I love how they have the bonding understanding of what it’s like to be viewed as unlovable to the rest of the world. The magic system is pretty soft, but again, that matches the fairytale vibe, and the details we do get are so freaking cool and interesting. The world is magical and enthralling, the story immediately sucks you in, the ending is amazing and ugh! Just read this, okay?

2 ⭑
“you should know, your scars aren’t as monstrous as you think.”
this sounded soo good so i was really excited to read it but it was just straight up boring, i couldn’t get into the story and i didn’t care about the characters. the romance part was too fast i really like books where the romance part develop through the book.
but thank you so much rosalyn briar for the arc.