2.75 stars because I can’t quite give it two but I also can’t give it three. Queen of Roses was fast paced and easy to get through with likable characters and plenty of action and not to mention a premise caught my eye immediately. A King Arthur retelling with Arthur as the villain? A hunt for excalibur? Count me in! But unfortunately it fell a bit flat. The journey was short and a bit too convenient with a mildly predictable plot that gave me FBAA vibes.

As a retelling- I loved this book, a romance, not so much. I went into this book and immediately loved it. I haven't read a king Arthur retelling before, and this one had such an amazing plot line and so many twists and turns. I loved how the story was so original yet an amazing retelling. However, the romance, which I thought would be a large part of this, was lacking. The initial chemistry the two had was amazing and it was easy to tell they were perfect for one another. However, as the story went on, the chemistry began failing-and for specific reasons. Now, this isn't to say that the lack of romance made this a bad book. All I'm trying to say is that it was my understanding that there would be more romance-and the end outcome was disappointing. Overall, the plot of this book was just amazing, the friendships and connections that were so emotional to read.

Ratings:
Overall: 4/5
Plot: 5/5
Romance: 3/5

Quotes:

"The dagger sliced through the air, whistling like a bird."

"I loved her. I feared him. But both were my family. Until that day."

"I was only five-years-old. Yet I knew she was dead."

"My future had been set for me before I was old enough to question it."

"Had I offended him somehow? Good."

"Who did this to you?"

"I burn for you, Morgan. You've set me aflame...""Then let the flames consume us," I whispered back."

"I would never be the queen I had been born to be."

When I first got the arc for this I was quite sure what I was getting into but after reading the blurb I was hooked. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves books brimming with magic, danger, and spellbinding slow-burn romance.

I fell in love with the characters in this story!! I loved it so much!! I cannot wait for book two. Recommend for any fantasy lover.

Oh my gosh, this was an absolute joy to read. It was thrilling and adventurous and the romance was everything. The twists, the turns, the plot, my brain is still reeling. Like you know it’s suspicious, and I was trying to figure out the plot as it was unraveling but I couldn’t figure it out. All the characters were so well-made, I wished we saw more of Lancelet and Kaye. I loved the growth of the characters and hope to see more of the world. I think we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of the magic system, and there’s definitely more to the world. That ending?? How dare you leave me in this state? I need the second book yesterday, I can’t believe you would write this and not release the second book immediately. I’m so excited to see what the next books will bring, the series has a lot, a lot, of potential.

Morgan is this girl who has accepted her fate, but is still hoping and fighting for something more. She’s sheltered and scared, but also has courage. All these contradictions made her a great character, the moments of strength when she was scared was just everything. I did wish she asked more questions, and stopped accepting everything that was happening to her, she needs to fight for herself because noone will be fighting her battles for her. I wished she stood up for herself more, and I hope to see this progression in the coming book!

Imagine A Court of Thorns and Roses and bridge kingdom, but in the world of excalibur. It was amazing and so well-done and I absolutely can’t wait for the next book. It made me feel so many things, and I could not stop reading it. I can’t recommend this enough! It’s just a really really fun read!

A retelling of the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table with gender and character twists. Lancelot is a gay woman, Merlin is a woman, the High Priestess. I have no problem with gays whether they’re male or female, and I know in some versions Lancelot is a bisexual. But added to the fact that Arthur is the intolerant villain of the piece and Aggravanne is called Emrys, and roses are added to the Pendragon? And Uther killing Ygraine before Arthur is born twists the story from a female led retelling of one story into something else,

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

I really enjoyed Queen of roses by Briar Boleyn. It was fast paced, it was an Arthurian retelling and the plot was really good. The Arthurian legend aspects were unique and a great twist from the typical Camelot story. Although it is really loosely based in it and I would have wished to have more elements from it, I still found the story enjoyable. Some of the characters were more well done than others but overall they were decently done and entertaining. The story was a predictable but I don’t think that made the book worse or better. I wish there was more chemistry and development for the 2 MC but this is book one in a series so I didn’t expect them to be the most developed characters. At the end I did think this book had much more potential than what was given but it is a good fast paced palate cleanser and a good start point for this series. I do recommend this book and I’ll be waiting for this author next book

Thank you to NetGalley for
Giving this ARC, and this doesn’t influence my review.
Tropes: court intrigue, witty banter, Princess/guard romance, cocky hot grump guy, touch her and you die, hate to love, hiding identities and sneaking around, fighting, training together,

Honestly he could’ve been more possessive and jealous I’m disappointed

I have to admit I went into this completely blind and wasn’t expecting a lot. But this book took me by surprise!

We follow Morgan in an Arthurian retelling.
There is action, our FMC uncovers a bit of who she is. A quest, love, betrayal, and a cliffhanger at the end.

Such good writing with a lot of world building. The characters were so well developed! Even if the FMC was a bit dimwitted at times.

I can’t wait for the second book in this series!!

First, thank you netgalley for the ability to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Let me start by saying that, this is a retelling, sort of, of King Arthur, Morganna (in this Morgan) Le Fey, etc etc.
There are some major and some minor changes to each of the characters that I think gives it a fresh and interesting new twist.

Some of the changes are in gender swapping. Merlin and Lancelot (Lancelet in this) are now Female.

Overall, I really enjoyed this retelling. I think that the main character, Morgan, was rather Naive but overall very likeable. I liked her interactions with her younger brother Kaye and with her friends. In this book's universe, women can be knights and as such, Morgan trains with the knights. It adds to her character, especially since at the beginning of the book, she is taking a medicine that hides almost all of her fey attributes (the only attribute that is not completely hidden is her hair which is completely gray).

I think that some of the book was rather predictable but by no means less enjoyable. Once she stopped taking the medicines, Morgan dramatically changed. She also found new. . abilities. Her love interests were a bit annoying in the sense that it truly showed her naivity. (though part of it was magically induced which makes it a little better)

My largest complaint is that I was getting much more into the book towards the second half and then it just ends. . I want to read the next one!!! lol

I would recommend this to those that like the old tales but dont mind drastic changes to them. I would also recommend this to those that like a good fantasy story.

Firstly, thank you NetGalley and the publishers for sending me a copy of this novel.

Wow! This book pleasantly surprised me. The Fae genre is very oversaturated at the moment, and I think it's really difficult to stand out. This book, however, did not disappoint.

From start to finish this story is action packed. The writing has that wonderful addictive quality that kept me wanting to know more. The Arthurian premise is intriguing, granted I don't know much about the original tale, but I liked the twist on it. On a whole, the characters are well written and fleshed out. I think the side characters do need a little more work and developing - hopefully this will come with the next book. The romance is incredibly slooowwww burn, and took some interesting twists and turns....

There were a few things I didn't love. I found the pacing a little all over the place. The book is split into two parts, and they kind of read like two separate stories. I didn't feel much of a connection to part one, and found it too slow to get going with the main story. Part two, however, was lots of fun and when I connected with the characters most. Similarly, the ending felt a tad rushed. There are lots of chapters of sitting round the fire, bonding etc. when maybe some of that fluff could've been removed, and the final climax fleshed out a bit more. The cliffhanger has left me with lots of questions, and I haven't decided if I'm happy about that or not!

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this. It was fast paced and the perfect read for me right now. Looking forward to the second book!

PSA - PLEASE check the trigger warnings!!!

Two-quite-underwhelming-stars

The moment I read the name Morgan Pendragon and twisted version of Camelot, I was in baby! I don't think I have ever picked up a retelling of the Arthurian legend before (despite having shelved some of them in my TBRs). And now that I'm thinking about it, I wonder why this slice of myth never really took off in romance novels. I mean, surely there's one mainstream/popular Camelot retelling out there that a hopeless romantic person like me would adore.

Anyway, back to this book. Gosh, where to start. I think, my biggest problem with this book is that I associated myself too closely with the original source material. I went through a phase in my life where I was all about the Knights of the Round Table, Merlin, Lady of the Lake etc. So, coming from there, being 'that' pedantic person you always hate but secretly you do behaves like one sometimes, of course I would find problem with this book the moment I started it.

Let's start with the things I do love about this book. I love that we have a different version of Camelot and its characters. A little part of me begrudged the little differences done but I have to admit, it made this book stood out from other Camelot/characters-based series. Plus, we also have Morgan Pendragon as our main protagonist in this one, seeing stuffs from her eyes rather than maybe Arthur or Guinevere. I love that it took these characters that you already knew, and tweak it (like Arthur, Merlin and Lancelet).

Also, I love whenever we have magical creatures as sidekicks and also gruesome creatures that literally gave you chills when you imagine them crawling after you. There some scenes that got me like 'no no, I would pee myself if that ever happened to me irl.'

And that's it. I ran out of my pros.

To my cons!

First of all, this is not a Camelot retelling. I would say very loosely based. Morgan Pendragon is not Morgan le Fay. One thing I noticed about her is her insecurity about her gray hair. On and on about how ugly she looks because of her gray hair. I mean, your kingdom is on the brink of rebellion, your people are slowly dying of hungers, and the thing you should not fixated to is the colour of your hair. Yes, I'm misleading you guys here, she does help the people by hunting for wild boars/deers for them. But she sure did complaint about her hair more than helping people.

Next, the plot. It is predictable. I don't want to say how predictable but if you have read as many fantasy romance as I do, then you'll know. Honey... you'll know. It kinda gave me huuugggeee FBAA vibes. Maybe it's the bodyguard-fighter princess vibe? Huh. Oh yah, the hero is the bodyguard of the princess. I haven't talk about him much, have I? Well, he was there. All smoldering and grump.

Anyhoo, with that said, I still think this book has so much potential to be better. It just need to avoid those cliches and grew on its own rich root, maybe taking some of the plot lines from the rich myth itself. I mean, come on, it's there. It's yours to take. Use it. Take it. Make it to your advantage. I'll be waiting for this author's future works no doubt.

Queen of Roses by Briar Boleyn is a Camelot retelling with a fae twist.

The story follows a princess named Morgan Pendragon who is half fae and the first born child of an abusive king. Because of her fae blood she is not allowed to take the throne which falls to her younger brother, Arthur. Like his father, Arthur is a cruel ruler and hates people that have fae blood, including Morgan. He sends Morgan on a quest to find the mystical sword, Excalibur, that will help in an upcoming war. She is joined by Draven to help find the sword. Draven who has secrets of his own. He's a royal guard, a mercenary, an assassin, and maybe even something more.

The story has its own twist and turns. A few characters that are recognized from Camelot and even some new ones. The world building was amazing, I could really imagine this new world. The only thing that I felt was lacking was parts of the plot. Around 30% of the book was spent at the castle getting to know Morgan and her world. But during the actual journey I felt like more could have happened or more information could have been discovered about the fae. There were certain instances that were glossed over, maybe they'll be talked about in the second book but that's for me to find out.

I enjoyed reading this book and I can't wait to read the second one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Starwater Press for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.25 Stars
A Morgan Pendragon retelling with a fae twist.

So much potential! I like the main storyline and the fae twist, but it needs more depth and character development.

***Thank you to NetGalley, Briar Boleyn, and Starwater Press for graciously sending me a copy of the novel to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***

First of all, I was very happy that I was able to read this book and was anticipating reading it ever since I read the description. I haven’t read many Arthurian books and with the added fae elements I was instantly intrigued. I really liked the twist the author added to the Arthurian characters because of this, the book has a really unique storyline and it was well written and a great debut novel!

Unfortunately, I felt like this book was just not for me. It took a while for me to get into and at points I had to put the book down to read another book and then come back to it. I believe a huge part of it was that I was not in the best headspace for a darker read.
Some of the themes explored in this book did surprise me a bit so I suggest to thoroughly read the content and trigger warnings list in the back of the book before diving in to read it as right from the start it’s pretty heavy.

Some content warnings to look out for:

Domestic violence
Abuse
Child watching a parent die
Animal death
Violence/ gore
Child death
Child abuse


With all of that being said, I really loved the writing style of this author I never felt like the world building or politics was too much and I love how she depicted the fae as it different from how I’m used to seeing them. The slow burn was good and I can just tell the second book it’s going to be spicy 😮‍💨 I do plan on reading the second book when it comes out and maybe it’ll change my thoughts on the first book (as it has happened before). I usually always read the second book if I didn’t love the first book before DNFing a series (and I am excited to see how this story develops 🤭)

Happy reading!!

Engaging at times but fell flat at others. Main character is highly naive and highly trusting despite being subject to years of abuse. The secondary characters are not particularly well developed. I loved the concept and the Camelot spin. I appreciate the slow burn in the main romance but wonder if the relationship is developed enough. I found the pacing over all good and engaging, only wishing the journey had started a bit earlier on. By the end, though, I did find myself wanting to read on into the sequel, so it definitely had my attention.

Queen of Roses is book one in the new Once and Future Morgan Le Fay series by Briar Boleyn.

I’m thrilled to read book two in this exciting new series.
I enjoyed every single thing about Queen of Roses.
I was enthralled by the world building and cast of characters. Both were engaging and well very well executed.
The action scenes are well-written and thrilling, and the pacing of the story is well-done, keeping the reader engaged throughout. The romance between Morgan and Draven is slow-burning and satisfying, and their banter and chemistry make them a compelling duo.
Overall, Queen of Roses is a strong start to a new series that is sure to please fans of YA fantasy. Boleyn’s writing is engaging, and the story is well-crafted with interesting characters, immersive world-building, and plenty of action and romance.

An action-packed new series brimming with magic, danger, morally done. gray characters, and spellbinding slow-burn romance.

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

Thank You NetGalley and Starwater Press for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Camelot with Fae… This was an interesting read and had many twists and turns. Wished for a bit more world building but the characters were enjoyable and the banter between the female and male main characters was good. Interested in reading the second book!

Book : Queen of Roses
Author : Briar Boleyn

Thanks so much NetGalley for an advance read in exchange for this review!

This book was surely a wonderful breath of fresh air to read and I am so excited to get started into it. I could set this book down from the moment I opened it up. I LOVE that this story is loosely based off of King Arthur.

This was a great page turner. The world building in the book and character development/dialogue was superb. The magic was wonderful as well as the mixes of action. I devour up fantasy. If you love an enemies to lovers, one bed, mythical creatures/magic—this book is a must read on everybody’s TBR.

Thank you to NetGalley and Starwater Press for providing the ARC.

I picked this book up because I enjoy Arthurian legend and I also like retellings, especially from another POV. However, with this book, it was kind of hard to follow and track the story.

There was a lot of side story that, while somewhat relevant to the main plot, was mostly fluff. It took a good 30-40% for the book to interesting and overall, I feel like I just had a lot of questions that needed answers that never were expanded upon. I get that this is supposed to be a series, but what sets other great fantasy series apart from this is less reliance on convoluted twists and turns and more of a subtle focus on stuff that matters the most. I'm sure some of this will be expanded upon in the second book, but this was a very confusing mess.

I am, however, intrigued enough to continue with the series, mostly because I want answers to my questions.