One Cursed Rose by Rebecca Zanetti is the first book in the Grimm Bargains Series. This is a forbidden and dark retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
 
Alana is the heir to a media empire and her father arranges to marry her off and she tries to find a way out of it. Alana is sassy and wants to go her own way and I liked that. But before the wedding happens, someone attempts to assassinate her and she is rescued by Thorn Beathach, the head of the rival media company and that’s when things get interesting.
 
Thorn is a coldhearted and cutthroat businessman, and he has clear goals. He is rich and ruthless, and everyone refers to him as the beast and Alana quickly learns why. Thorn is such an interesting character but there are a lot of layers to him, and I feel like this book only scratched the surface.
 
The coolest part was Thorn‘s house and especially his library. There are also mysterious and magical elements interwoven in this story that mainly have to do with technology and they weren’t fully developed and at times I would have preferred if it was only a dark romance. Other than that, the book is pretty spicy, and I flew through it.
 
Overall, One Cursed Rose has a very unique concept and it’s definitely a new spin on a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but something was just missing for me. 3,5 stars.
 
(ARC kindly provided in exchange for a review.)

Thank you to NetGalley, Kensington Books the author for the gifted e-book.

I enjoyed this book. The story had a captivating mix of "Beauty and the Beast" with a darker twist.

The story revolves around four families who control social media using crystals to power their servers. The main character, Alana, is the only heir to Aquaris after her brother's tragic car accident. Thorn, a competitor with an attraction to Alana, is also dying from the inside out, linked to the crystals. As the story progresses, Alana's father's decision to merge companies by marrying off his daughter changes everything. When Alana's life is in danger, Thorn steps in to protect her, sparking an intense love affair between them.

The book is brimming with unexpected twists, engaging dual perspectives, and remarkable character dynamics, particularly the banter between Alana and Thorn. Alana's friends also play a strong supportive role. While the ending felt rushed, the book kept me thoroughly engaged until the last page, especially as details about Alana's brother's death and Thorn's cure were revealed.

If you're a fan of retellings, fantasy, and dark romance, you'll love this book.

Side note: Check the trigger warnings before reading

"One Cursed Rose" by Rebecca Zanetti is a modern twist on the classic Beauty and the Beast tale, blending elements of the fairy tale with a billionaire mafia romance. However, despite the intriguing premise, this book left me quite underwhelmed and frustrated.

In a world where billionaires wield "magic" as their dirtiest weapon, Alana Beaumont finds herself at the heart of a deadly game of power and influence. Following a recent tragedy, Alana becomes the sole heir to Aquarius Social. To save the company, her father arranges for her to marry into a competing family, leaving Alana torn between living her own life and fulfilling her duty. To make matters worse, during an attempted assassination she is rescued by Thorn Beathach, the mysterious and ruthless Beast whose social media empire threatens Aquarius Social. Known for his iron rule and hidden face, Thorn's unexpected reveal to Alana binds her to him in ways she never anticipated.

From the outset the execution of this story fell flat. The world-building was confusing, especially regarding the "magic" crystals and their significance, which was never clearly explained. This left the fantasy elements feeling superficial and underdeveloped. The story is essentially a billionaire mafia romance with a loose fairy tale connection, rather than a genuine fantasy narrative.

The characters, unfortunately, were insufferable. Thorn embodies the toxic alpha male trope, disguising his controlling and stalker-like behavior as love and protection. Meanwhile, Alana is portrayed as "not like other girls" but comes across as a clichéd influencer with questionable fashion sense. The descriptions of her outfits felt outdated and out of place, making it hard to take her seriously as a character.

Several elements of the story were off-putting: the influencer angle felt forced, the billionaire trope lacked depth, and the supposed "dark" romance was anything but. The mafia-like elements did not add any real sense of danger or intrigue, making the dark romance label feel misleading.

Overall, "One Cursed Rose" failed to deliver on anything enjoyable. The confusing world-building, unlikable characters, and lack of genuine fantasy elements made it a disappointing read. If you're looking for a compelling retelling of Beauty and the Beast or a well-crafted dark romance, this book is not the one.

DNFed at like 2% because why in the world is he saying he can taste people when he encounters them? This guy tastes like tobacco and this girl tastes like honey, but the other girl tastes like strawberries. I found this to be so weird and I could not get past it. It made me lose interest so fast.

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington for this ARC Copy!

I did not realize that this was a beauty and the beast retelling when I went into it but I was definitely picking up hints along the way. I am a big fan of retellings and I enjoyed the way that this one was done. The symbolism of the crystals in this story was a fun and new way to tell the story of the beast and it was definitely a unique idea.

This is marketed as as a dark romance and as far as dark goes, I would say that this is the kind of dark that I can handle. There are some that just take it too far, but I was happy with the way that it was done in this story. Obviously there were some eye role moments when the bossy billionaire got a little too possessive, but I enjoyed the established boundaries and willingness to honor them.

It is a fun time and worth the read.

I really just started getting into fantasy and this really had me feeling like I stepped out of the box and I was here for it truly amazing writing and I was captivated the whole way through. I recommend.

This just didn’t work for me for several reasons.

-The magic system was not explained well at all. Somehow gem stones are able to act as computer servers while also being able to use emotions to support social media platforms, but they need to be charged by people.

-Multiple uses of the word hymen. Off putting and means points lost each time it is used.

-The MMC claims to be obsessed with the FMC and to know everything about her, but he only knows her public personality. There is a whole scene where he is upset that he didn’t know how she actually takes her coffee. This felt really disingenuous and made me doubt his love for her. He constantly underestimates her and treats her like a doll.

-On the same note, I didn’t buy into the love story. His claim to love is weak and very superficial. She falls “in love” over a weekend when they really were just in lust. I 100% buy the instant lust, but the instant love part didn’t work. If the love talk was saved for later in the story when they actually got to know each other then it would have been more believable.

-The ending felt rushed and not planned. The Big Bad Guy reveal came out of left field and then was over quickly. The solution to the curse also felt like an afterthought that had to quickly be resolved before the end.

Great start to a new series! This book has it all! The banter, dark sexual encounters, which includes some intense spanking, and even some sweetness between the strong, possessive alpha-hole and feisty, smart, sassy female make this read super spicy and page turning!
Add some mystery, a serial killer, a curse and crystals that not only keep the social media sites running between the four main families but also saves the alpha’s life.
Hoping Justice gets his own story! Looking forward to continuing this series!

One Cursed Rose by Rebecca Zanetti was one I picked up on a whim. I was in the mood for something different and the summary caught my attention. I'll admit, I'm on the fence with this one - it was a mash-up of beauty and the beast in the land of social media...

Alana Beaumont is the fmc and she is the sole heir to Aquarius Social, one of the four major social media giants and in order for her family to gain/maintain power, they need to align to another powerful family. The way to do that, according to her father, is to give her away in marriage to one of the competing families.

What Alana (and her father) don't know is that Thorn Beathach, the Beast, has been watching Alana and he isn't going to let that marriage happen. Not only because it is his empire that is driving Aquarius under but because Alana is his. What everyone doesn't know about Thorn though is that he is dying and if he can't figure out what is wrong with his gem, he may not be around much longer.

Zanetti has created an interesting world here - I wasn't sure how I felt about it all. Dark romance doesn't phase me but I just didn't really love these characters and for me that's what get's me invested in a story. In the end, this one was only ok for me and I'm not sure I'll pick up more from this series.

One Cursed Rose by Rebecca Zanetti
Grimm Bargains #1

Fairy Tales were my thing as a child and one wedding gift from my parents was the complete set of Andrew Lang’s Fairy Tales in multiple volumes with each book a different color. Myths, legends, and fairy tales are still fun and dark ones like this appeal in more intriguing ways.

What I liked:
* Alana Beaumont: bright, beautiful, social media influencer for her family’s media business, can charge gems, good friend, learns a great deal about herself in this book as she falls for Thorn
* Thorn Beathach: dark, damaged, deadly, ruthless, protective, owns a media business, takes care of his own, suffering from an unknown virus, fell for Alana the first time he saw her
* The fairy tale link to Beauty and the Beast
* The way gems are used and how they are charged
* The serial killer subplot and who the killer ended up being
* The supporting characters that I hope will have books of their own: Quinlan, Scarlett, Ella, Rosalie, and Justice
* The way Thorn and Alana are drawn together and are good with and for one another and that they both righted wrongs and took on evil people in their own ways
* Wanting to read whatever book comes next

What I didn’t like:
* Who and what I was meant not to like
* Thinking about the evil people in the story and what they were willing to do

Did I like this book? Yes
Would I read more in this series? Definitely

Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

🥀 Beauty and The Beast Retelling
🥀 Possessive
🥀 Morally Grey MMC
🥀 Kidnapping
🥀 Violence
🥀 Rivals to Lovers

⚠️Definitely read trigger warnings on this one⚠️

I had no expectations going into this one. "One Cursed Rose" is a dark romance that centers around Alana and Thorn. Alana is an heiress to Aquarius Social while Thorn is the head of a rival social media company, Malice Media. The author definitely had an interesting take on social media as all 4 companies are powered and ran by crystals.

Alana is often used as a pawn by her father to further their company. He even tries to arrange for her to marry Cal from Hologrid. He is a complete douche.

It definitely is an interesting read. I do wish a few of the plot lines would have been expanded more.

"You're my reason for breathing, and you were meant to be mine."

Thank you Netgalley and Kensington Publishing for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

One Cursed Rose is the first in a brand new series by the very gifted Rebecca Zanetti. This a dark romance story that follows Alana and Thorn as their lives become intertwined. Thorn is dying with no cure in sight, or so he thought. She is his obsession, but might she also be is salvation? Read One Cursed Rose to find out.
I enjoyed reading this dark take on Beauty and the Beast, but I was confused about whether the characters were human or not. Even though I was confused I couldn’t put it down. I have to say that I did not see the identity of the evil person coming. It is totally different from anything else that I have read before and I can’t wait to read what happens next in book number two.

Thorn is a monster. He is a killer. He lives in the shadows, and he likes it that way. But now that he has seen Alana he knows he must have her. She is a bright spot in an otherwise dark and lonely life. Alana is a social media star. She is loved by millions, but no one really knows her. She has a few close friends that know who she truly is. When the high-pressure world of social media causes danger, Thorn steps in a takes Alana against her will. Now they must work together to figure out who is causing all the danger. Will they solve the mystery before it’s too late?
I thought the beginning of this book was awkward. Is Thorn supernatural? Is he made of shadows? So the answer is no but the beginning of the book kind of suggests that. And then there is the fact that social media worldwide is controlled by a group of families that use crystals to power their empires. Are the crystals magic or are the people magic or what? I still don’t totally understand that aspect, but it is a major part of the story. I like the strange dynamics between the competing families. Once Thorn and Alana cross the line from captor/captive to two smart people working together, the book gets so much better. I thought the beginning was so slow but by the midway point the book really sped up and it was much more enjoyable.
I figured out who the bad guy was before the reveal but I will say that the bad guy was a good choice. I even liked the reasons why . And then there is another bad guy. I liked that reveal, too. I was glad that the author chose to have many things happening at once because it added to the excitement of the story.
I did not realize that this is a modern take on Beauty and The Beast but once I learned it, I smiled because it changed my opinion on some of the elements of the story. It also changed my rating. I think this is a creative story. I will read more from this author in the future just to see what comes next.

I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book because of the slow/rocky start, but I'm so glad I continued on. This dark, fantasy romance is written from a dual POV that relies heavily on social media and crystal. Alana, a social media influencer, and the heir to a family business grabs the attention of business rival Thorn, who has been infected with a virus that is killing him. What's is unique about this story is that social media and number of likes power the crystals. There is more than Alana than her looks, just like there is more to Thorn's than his dark & dangerous side.

I received this advance review copy from NetGalley & the publisher for my honest review.

One Cursed Rose is a new ‘dark romance’ release from Rebecca Zanetti. This was my first time reading one of her books.
Alana is the daughter and heir of tech giant Aquarius Social. After her brother’s death responsibility falls on her to maintain the success of the company. Alana is huge on social media and is a successful influencer surrounded by a team of her friends that keep the cogs of the machine running. In her downtime she helps victims of violence and diverts much of her money to helping others, something no one really knows about. Under the control of her father, Alana is told she is to marry the son of another successful tech/media company and she is not enthusiastic about this development.
Thorn Beathach is the mysterious boss of the direct competition for Aquarius Social. He is obsessed with Alana and tracks her every move. He is an enigma and known to be brutal and cunning.
After an assassination attempt on Alana’s life, Thorn kidnaps her. It appears this was the plan all along but this major step was brought forward due to the attempted murder.
This book was slightly strange and had the odd plot hole where I was left scratching my head trying to understand. So it appears than different crystals are used to power technology. Alana is charged with ‘recharging’ the crystals and Thorn is suffering from some new illness that he and his crystals have been infected with, making things difficult for his company. I found this so confusing. It felt really out of place and unexplained. It appeared out of nowhere at the beginning and didn’t really make much sense throughout.
It was corny in places and it felt like a challenge of ‘let’s fit every popular microtrope into this book’. I understand it is labelled as ‘dark romance’ but apart from the gang activity and the slight stalking, it didn’t feel that dark but that might be because I have developed some sort of immunity to it now after reading some intense books.
It definitely had beauty and the beast vibes but I just didn’t feel a connection to the characters or the plot. It didn’t excite me or keep me wanting to read more.
I love that so many enjoyed this book though. Maybe this wasn’t the one for me.
Thanks for the eARC!

Do you have a favorite fairy tale?

One of my favorite fairy tales is Beauty and the Beast. I was excited to see that One Cursed Rose was a dark romance rewrite of the Beauty and the Beast Fairy Tale.

Alana Beaumont is a young twenty something social media influencer. She is the heir to Aquarius Social, which is one of the four major social medial companies. The four families that own the four main social medial companies have been rivals for centuries. They gain power from different gems or crystals that are specific to a family, and they use this power to run their social media networks. Thron Beathach is the owner of the current number one company, Mafia Media. He is obsessed with Alana and he saves/kidnaps her during an assassination attempt. Why is someone trying to murder to Alana and is it related to her brother’s mysterious death? Who is working against Thorne and freezing his gems?

My thoughts on this novel:
• I loved that this was a Beauty and the Beast retelling and that is what first caught my attention.

• One Cursed Rose was an engaging and very readable story.

• This is a dark mafia romantic suspense fantasy novel.

• I really enjoyed the mysteries and the suspense in this novel and that is what kept me reading and unable to put the book down.

• I enjoyed that this was a dual narrative novel with Alana and Thorne telling the story in alternate chapters.

• One Cursed Rose is the first in a new series.

• I liked the secondary characters. Alana’s friends, Thorne’s brother, etc. were all great. I wanted to know all their background stories and I’m hoping that they will get their stories as the series progresses.

• Alana came off as a spoiled rich kid at first, but she is smart and has depth. I liked her. Thorn is morally gray. He is sexy, knows his own mind, and does like to help people. But he also kills people and stalks Alana. There is great banter between the two.

• I would have liked more description of how exactly the crystals worked.

• This was the first dark romance that I’ve read, and I am not sure about the “dark” elements. Are all dark romances all like this novel and very spicy and violent? Or is this extreme kink? I didn’t like that the heroine was an inexperienced virgin with the families talking about her virginity and her getting tested before an arranged marriage to ensure her purity. This did not seem like something that would be happening in 2024. The sexually experienced hero basically rapes her, beats her, threatens her, and does whatever he wants. But it’s okay because she eventually enjoys it? SPOILER ALERT: Thorne puts a knife in Alana’s vagina and also beats her with a belt on her clitoris while she cries and begs him to stop. This was too far for me and quite frankly, horrifying. SPOILER END. It reminded me of the 1970s and 1980s romances with this type of thing. I was not a fan of the very graphic and long descriptions in the violent sex scenes as the novel went on. I ended up skimming these chapters.

Overall, The Cursed Rose was a very engaging story, but I had to skim through the graphic sex scenes.

One Cursed Rose- Grimm Bargains #1

By-Rebecca Zanetti-I love her Dark Protectors series

Publication date 6/25/24 , read 6/26/24

📃 Page count: 368 kindle

Quick Summary: Alana Beaumont is the heir to Aquarius Social, her family's billionaire social media empire. Her father Mathias wants her to wed her to the competition, and create a coalition aimed at stopping anyone who would try to take them down. When an assassination attempt is made on Alana, Thorn Beathach, a wealthy and ruthless recluse who never shows his face rescues and kidnaps her. He is one of the opposing media companies, Malice Media, and he has been obsessed with Alana stalking her. Now he has her, and it will be up to them to cure Thorn's curse and change how they gain followers using magical crystals and their own gifts.

🤷🏾‍♀️ What to Expect:

⭐dark romantic suspense
⭐️ billionaires
⭐️ Beauty and the Beast retelling
⭐️ arranged marriage
⭐️ enemies to lovers
⭐ social media
⭐ paranormal magic


🤔 My Thoughts: I liked strong and intelligent Alana even though she was a little naive for trusting her father and cousin Nico. I loved Thorn because he was the ultimate anti-hero. He was a violent killer, but knew Alana was his to claim. Their encounters were a bit aggressive for me, but he always protected her. Their banter in the library sold me on their romance. I even liked the mystery surrounding Alana's brother Greg and her mother Lanetta. I hope the books that follow will feature Justice (My MVP), Scarlett, Quinlan, and even Ella.

Rating: 4/5⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spice level 5/5🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 explicit s*x, spanking, bdsm, h is a virgin

Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for this ARC🌹! I voluntarily give an honest review and all opinions expressed are my own.

A vaguely dystopian story where the world is run by four families who have their own social media companies with computers powered by various crystals that make the families more powerful than governments. Thorn Beathach owns Malice Media while Alana Beaumont, the woman he’s been lusting after from afar is heir to Aquarius Social.

I love Rebecca Zanetti as a rule but I’m a bit on the fence with One Cursed Rose, a dark retelling of Beauty and the Beast with shades of Cinderella thrown in for good measure. There were parts that I loved, the mystery/suspense element was first class with a serial killer lurking in the shadows who was killing women who resembled the heroine, Silicon Valley princess Alana, and just saying completely gobsmacked when the villain of the piece was revealed. I even enjoyed the dark and somewhat kinky relationship between Alana and Thorn although I would’ve like to know more about just why he was so obsessed with her. Where it lost points with me was with the whole four families and social media with its brainwashing scenario. I’m unsure if it was following a dystopian or a sci fi trope at this point, all I know is that I was half expecting Dr Who to make an appearance to destroy the machines. Running adjacent to this storyline were subplots involving the Irish mafia and the trafficking of children. Overall, I’m left feeling confused more than anything else.

One Cursed Rose by Rebecca Zanetti

This is a dark retelling of Beauty and the Beast. There are other storyline that may possibly be in the additional books in the series, most likely Cinderella, so keep that in mind.

The "retelling" is very very loosely tied in that our antihero Thorn has beastly qualities and our princess is beautiful and loves a good book. Oh and of course the curse, but that's kinda a given with the title.

So, if you've gotten this far in the review you are clearly intrigued, here's where we might go off the rails a bit. Do you believe in magic? You good with some seriously violent events? If you answered no to either of these questions, this is not a good fit for you, so move along.

However, if you can get behind this fictional world, I feel the author did a good job with the world building. Although my pet peeve is if you had four super powerful, possibly somewhat immortal families, wouldn't they be in different parts of the world, controlling their "perctange"? But I get it, the story and the overlaps and the social media aspect, the insightful interfighting between the families wouldn't hold up with distance. At the core this story is a power struggle, a couple of unsolved mysteries, a blossoming love story, betrayal, some pretty dark kinky times and lots of bloodshed. It's interesting and keeps you guessing.

I was very excited for this book. Dark romance plus a fairytale reimagining? Sign me up immediately! But I was left feeling somewhat underwhelmed by the time I finished. I think it was trying too hard to be too many things (Beauty & the Beast retelling, mafia romance, modern-urban fantasy, obsessed stalker romance, mystery/thriller with s0me kink) and parts got spread too thin.

Characters:
Alana - a perfect example of "don't judge a book by its cover". She's attractive, brainy yet appears ditzy, but she was also very immature. A lot of her "poke the bear" antics came across as childish instead of cute. She liked to talk a big game, but she had zero abilities to back it up. There's a scene near the beginning where her and her friends are trying to help victims of abuse and other charities, but none of it is ever mentioned again. It appears to have been thrown in to make readers not assume Alana is just a social media influencer... even though that's exactly what she is?
Thorn - a knock-off Zade Meadows. That was the vibe I got from him throughout the entire book, and if you've read Haunting Adeline, you'll know why. He's also supposed to be Irish, but except for the handful of times he speaks Gaelic, nothing about him shows us that. Not his "normal" speak, his mannerisms, or any of his lifestyle. It seems to be a random ethnicity thrown in to make him more attractive. He kept running around killing people and making all these declarations to Alana, but other than that, his personality reminded me of a piece of wood.
Justice - I liked him a lot. He was probably my favorite character by the end of the book. I liked that he pushed Thorn and stood up for what he wanted. Hope to see him in future stories so he can be more fleshed out.
Ella - I have a love/hate relationship with this character. I hope her choices get talked about more in future books. I'm sure she'll be the main character of one of them due to her background and storyline.

Plot:
This book was a lot of tell not show, unfortunately. There were several plot points going at any given time. <spoiler>The resolution of Thorn's curse had more jargon with crystals and computers that didn't fully make sense, which was a let down for me.</spoiler> The "big bad" made sense in some ways but was a complete cop out in other ways. <spoiler>The person who cursed Thorn shouldn't have also been the same person who was attacking all the women AND the person behind Alana's kidnapping AND the person behind Alana's family deaths.</spoiler> It was too convenient and just too much. There was also a lot of mention of the families being gangs, with Thorn being the head of the Irish mafia in SF, but we never see it? It was just kind of dropped. Along with the storyline in the beginning of Mathias getting everyone hooked on drugs to mess with the real estate market. Those could have been decent subplots, but they never went anywhere.

Relationship:
I didn't feel a strong connection with the main couple. The book opens with Thorn watching Alana and talking about how much he wants her. It's apparent he's been following her for some time. But we never see *why* or *how* his obsession starts. I really just needed more overall.

World:
There was little to no world building. The crystals, social media, powers, and all the tech jargon didn't make much sense unless you were already a tech whiz, which I'm not. I had to reread many passages because of this, and I was still confused more often than not. I feel like it could have been explained a lot better instead of being classified as "complex" before the story moves along, leaving readers with more questions than answers.

Three things I liked:
1. When Alana discovers Thorn's library. I like that the author kept that part of B&tB. I love a good library, and I like that Alana actually spends time in there and reads the books.
2. Thorn's honesty rule. I like that he doesn't hide things from Alana and tells her exactly what he has done and will do. So many romances have the MMC being secretive, and it gives me the ick.
3. Thorn and Justice started off as having a more employee/employer relationship, but by the end, you could tell they'd turned more brotherly. We get to see small steps they take to get there, and while they're not at the hugging and spending quality time together stage, they definitely feel more affectionately towards one another. Their relationship was a nice edition to the story.

Overall, the story was okay. While confusing at parts, mainly due to the tech and crystal aspects, the writing was easy to read, and I was engaged enough to finish the story. I am also looking forward to the next book, if only to (hopefully) get more Justice.

3.5 stars rounded up.