I am really starting to see a pattern with some of these books. The covers are gorgeous and the plot sounds wonderful. But once you start reading the book it lacks what you are looking for. This is another one of those that was lacking in something to really keep you on your toes. This one I was looking for something for older audiences and this one was just super boring. And the characters were far from being well developed.

This breathtaking origin story captivated me with its retelling of a well-known tale. Myravelle, a complex character, yearns for belonging and is willing to sacrifice to protect her loved ones. Her healing gift draws her towards Byzarien, despite their conflicting backgrounds. As their love blooms, betrayals and dangers push them into an unknown world, testing their trust and instincts. This story broke my heart while delivering twisted retribution. With intertwined stories and nuanced portrayals of good and evil, this book is a must-read. I wholeheartedly loved it.

Thanks you Quill and Crow Publishing Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book.

This is a Maleficent meets Rumpelstiltskin.
I couldn’t put this down.
The mistress of evil. I have a book crush on her honestly.

You could tell from the beginning she didn’t want to be evil or wicked.
The king used her and turned her into the monster she became. But she began just a sweet girl who loved spiders and was trapped in a tower. Forced to use her magic in ways she never wanted to.

Her canvas becomes her soulmate and their love isn’t instant but it’s so beautiful. I wish they had a forever love. I was heartbroken when he was killed.

The bliss they shared, their journey to get her to safety. I wish we got more or Myravelle before Byz became her canvas, so we can see why she so badly wants a soulmate.
I do wish their love was slower, so it didn’t seem so much like the spell and him becoming her canvas was the reason his feelings changed quickly.

This was an Enemies to lovers, Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent specific, dark fairy tale retelling. I really enjoyed the way the relationship between the main characters grew and their journey in the story. I liked that it wove bits of other fairytales into the story as well. The Romance was endearing, but do not confuse this with a graphic Dark Romance Spicey novel. Myravelle's magic grew with her character. That coupled with some plot twist and betrayals turned Myravelle into the Wicked Queen we all know and love today.

Thank you to Rosalyn Briar, Quill and Crow Publishing House, and NetGalley for a digital copy of Her Dark Enchantments.

I enjoy fairytale retellings where we get the villains origin story, in this case we have the wicked fairy from Sleeping Beauty. This is another book where the premise and story have a lot of potential, but I wish the characters were fleshed out a bit more. I think this would be enjoyed by a younger (YA) audience, but if this is going to be a series, maybe the author will find their groove with subsequent books.

Have you ever felt sorry for the evil witch who enchants Sleeping Beauty in the fairytale? No? Me neither before reading this amazing origin story. It shows how a prolonged lifetime of disappointment, lost love and torture turns a woman blessed with magical powers but enslaved by men willing to use her to their advantage in order to breach the magical wall of thorns turns in desperation and despair at the last to evil because it is the only way she can ever prevail against the cycle of abuse she suffers. A very well told and compelling narrative that leaves you wanting more at the end because you still hope she will find some happiness.

Thank you to NetGalley, Quill and Crow Publishing House and Rosalyn Briar for giving me access to an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Her Dark Enchantments is an adult retelling of Sleeping Beauty and Rumpelstiltskin. It focuses on the life of Myravelle Spinner and how she came to be the wicked witch.

There were parts of this book I really enjoyed but overall the plot was really disjointed and the pace was a little off. I found the first half of the book really slow and quite repetitive, but the second half felt almost too rushed. I also found the writing style to be more similar to a lot of middle grade fiction, however there was a lot of content not suitable for younger readers so this is definitely an adult book.

What I did really like was the mixed elements of the retelling. If you know a book is based on a certain fairytale, the reader almost spends their time trying to work out who each character is and knowing what will happen next without really enjoying the story. However, with their being a mixture of the two, the plot was unpredictable to a certain extent and there were plenty of unexpected characters throughout.

Her Dark Enchantments by Rosalyn Briar

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I originally requested this book as I thought the premise had a lot of promise. However, I was sadly disappointed after reading it.

Unfortunately, I found the writing style and language to be rather juvenile. The beginning of the book was too slow-paced and included a lot of unnecessary repetition. Then, the second half of the book felt rushed, which was odd considering this was where most of the interesting action occured. I felt that the author could have cut a lot of the pages towards the start and instead used this time to fully describe the events that happen towards the end. I found myself being confused by certain parts of the plot, as it felt like the author skipped over the important parts and instead focused on unnecessary small details, such as the character's clothing. The story seems to jump all over the place and the reader is left to fill in the gaps as best as they can. An example of this is when we are told that the volcano has cause the unending winter, but no further explanation is given as to how or why.

Furthermore, the characters were not particularly likeable. Myravelle was a good character in certain parts of this book, but at others she came across unhinged and the reasonings behind her volatile behaviour was not explained in enough detail. Therefore, I was left confused by her character and the violence she carried out seemed unproportional. I ended up viewing her as an equal villain in this story, which I don't think is what the author was aiming to portray. Byzarian was okay as a character, and there were certain parts of his storyline that I found to be well-thought out and interesting. Yet, I felt that his change in feelings towards Myravelle was too sudden, so I was left wondering whether these were true feelings or were due to the canvas spell.

Overall, I think the author attempted to do too much in too little of a page count. The premise of the sleeping beauty retelling was interesting, but it all got a bit mixed up with parts of the Rumpelstiltskin story as well as a bit of a maleficent vibe. If the author had chosen one of these storylines and stuck to it, this may have made the book more coherent. There were certain parts of this that I did really like, but unfortunately the bad parts overshadowed the overall story.

Perhaps a younger audience would be better suited for this book, but I personally did not enjoy it.

2 out of 5 stars

I wish I could have enjoyed this one more but there have been recent re tellings that I gelled with better. The story took too long for me to get into which made me lose interest. I’m a little gutted as the cover and idea both drew me in and got me very excited

A great fantasy with lots of elements from fairytales we all know and love.
I enjoyed the World building. It was descriptive and imaginative. I also enjoyed the dark and twisted side to the story and loved the plot twist at the end!

The pacing was a little confusing going from slow to very sudden and I wish the main characters had a little more chemistry but it was still cute all the same.

Overall I did enjoy this and have recommended this to many book friends already

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for my honest review.

I was very excited about the cover and the premise for this one! I'm still reeling after the last sleeping beauty retelling (Malice). Unfortunately I did not like this one at all. I guess I was looking for something similar to Heather Walters.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc. In no way does this sway my personal opinion of the book.

Although I didn’t finish this book in time. I would definitely recommend if you want a fast paced quick fantasy read with romance. The concept is fairly intriguing. The character may not have the most personality but still bring a good story to the table.

All readers have opinions and this is just mine. 🤍

I felt like this has such a good premise but it just fell sort of flat compared to other similar retellings! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for early access to this book.

3.5 stars
Overall, I enjoyed this book. There were parts that were better than others, and there were parts that dragged. I liked the plot itself, however, I couldn't see it as the backstory for the character I knew from Sleeping beauty, I didn't really enjoy the ending, especially because of all the differerences to the original story I knew.

This book had a really great premise. It’s an adult fairytale retelling, villain origin story, and combines Snow White with Rumpelstiltskin. I was excited, but it didn’t work for me. I honestly wanted to DNF it so many times, which is rare for me. I also rarely rate books below 3 stars, but I felt in this case 2 was the best I could honestly give.

I think a major problem for me was the writing. The characters talked and acted like preteens or young teens. I think she was going for shy and unsure based on the number of times the characters said “um,” but it was just awkward. Then there were the “spicy scenes” which were also awkward and strange. I don’t know if she was going for a BDSM thing, but it just didn’t work. I was so bored for most of the book. It didn’t help that there were several lines that seemed adapted from other popular series like Harry Potter (doing what’s right instead of easy) and Bridgerton (burn for you). I think there was a Game of Thrones based line too. It just made me inwardly cringe.

Honestly, I think it would have been better to rework this book into a mid grade or YA tale by removing the adult material.

I’m not sure I would pick up another book by this author unless it had amazing reviews and/or someone highly recommended it.

Thank-you Rosalyn Briar, Quill and Crow Publishing House, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this free arc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I would first like to thank Quill and Crow Publishing House for allowing me access to this amazing ARC copy.

Her Dark Enchantments is a fantasy story, telling how The Wicked Witch of Sleeping Beauty came to be. Follow Myravelle as she grows up in a tower with her Fairy mother Xylina, who is being held captive by the King for her ability to spin gold. Then the King finds out that Myravelle herself has magic in her veins, she is able to awaken those put to sleep by the effects of the magic Dormrya wood found in the Sleepy Woods. To do so, however, costs her greatly.

She falls in love with a soldier from the Sleepy Woods Company, whose task is to locate the Fairy Kingdom. What follows is a twisting, turning tale of love, loss and betrayal. If you never thought you would be able to feel sympathy for the woman who puts Sleeping Beauty in her slumber, you may well think again after reading this book!

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a good fantasy tale, strong female characters and epic love stories.

This book was a great twist on a classic fairytale. The way that the author chose to take the story and the characters that the reader met were fantastic. I loved this and can't wait to get a physical copy of this beautiful book.

the description and cover had me gripped from the start. The book follows Myravelle Spinner who is a half fairy and she uses human canvases to create healing charms to save those with a sleeping curse. This story is a dark feeling of the classic sleeping beauty, and what I also loved was that elements from different fairytales were also embedded throughout this story — a truly brilliant and nostalgic touch.

I found the concept to be absolutely compelling and the world building and magic was intriguing. The characters were also well-written and captivating, Myravelle is a strong, but complex, main character and I thought her storyline developed really well. The relationships were well-developed and had me frantically turning each page to find out what was going to happen to them!

Overall I thought it was a wonderful read and I would definitely recommend it to fans of fairytale retellings!

A Maleficent retelling?!

I'm a huge fan of retellings and fairy tales. So when I saw this was supposed to be a Sleeping Beauty retelling, I couldn't say no. I love how the author intertwines elements from different fairy tales (Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, and Rumpelstiltskin) into the story. It was a great idea and concept. But I had some issues with the execution, especially with the pacing. The first half of the novel was slow. While the second half was all over the place. It was fast one minute and then slow the next. Another issue was the characters. They were a bit one-dimensional. They never felt real.

Overall, I really like the story. But the execution wasn't the best.

***Thank you to NetGalley, Rosalyn Briar, Quill and Crow Publishing House, and Independent Book Publishers Association for graciously sending me the ARC to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***

Thank you NetGalley and for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this was very basic, and there wasn’t anything unique about it. It felt very much like your average fantasy romance novel. However, I did like this was a good retelling of Maleficent, but at times it felt quite flat.