This book had a killer opening line: 'I never intended to ruin my sister's debut.'
I liked the worldbuilding of the world of Luminate and Anna's journey into accepting herself for who she is. The 19th century setting of Blood Rose Rebellion was very well executed, although at some parts, I found myself drifting as it was a little dull. I am looking forward to the sequel and can't wait to see how Anna's journey continues!

First of all, I can't believe I only started this book two days ago. It feels as though I've been reading it for months. I had (stupidly) high expectations based on the synopsis and comparison stories. And really, it had potential to be great. It just fell short.

The beginning grabbed me immediately. I'm a huge fan of these magical worlds with a hero/heroine who doesn't fit for whatever reasoning. So, the idea of Anna being Barren may not be unique, it's at the very least intriguing. Because isn't the why they were born/made this way half the fun of the story? This should have been the case here! Instead, it became a boring, repetitive tale of a girl who could break spells.

Look, there are historical facts in here. And that's great. I'm glad the author took time to research and add those elements. However, the story started to read more like a textbook and less like a fantasy novel. The lack of any writing style is clear. Not to mention it feels less like fantasy and more like a depiction of Hungary's political problems—and the treatment of its 'second class citizens.' Again, all things I have absolutely no problem being incorporated in...if only that's what had happened.

The magical elements were more confusing than intriguing. I feel for as often as it had been mentioned, I had no idea where it actually came from. The only thing I knew for sure was that the Binding held all the country's magic and should be broken to allow everyone access. And again, this is where the story was the most repetitive. Anna flip-flopped between breaking the spell or not. And the same arguments were always brought to light. There was never any new reason mentioned. So, when she finally was to go through with it, it was very anticlimactic. I mean, she'd been in there before. Oh, and those creatures that were to be unleashed if she broke it? I'm sure they were supposed to be scary and readers are supposed to worry how they'd affect the world, but no. There's just not enough information for us to get that feeling of possible destruction.

And the relationships... a mess. From Gabor to Noemi to Matyas to the grandmother...I felt nothing real. None were fleshed out. Suddenly, Anna is friends with this person after barely an interaction. And she's kissing this boy after only knowing him a page. It's absolutely mind boggling. So much of the character development must have been left out to make room for the historical accuracies. Pretty sure that happened with the plot, too.

Bottom line: this book is a lot of tell and no show. We are told how things are without seeing them come to fruition. And perhaps that works in the world of romance, but a story of this magnitude deserves better. I don't think I'll be continuing this series, unfortunately.

Enjoyable premise for a great cast with magic and nobility. The story was nice, but slow paced at times. It was difficult keeping my attention and wanting to finish the book. The characters and world building were enjoyable, yet this fell short for a favorite for me. Nice story though.

Declared magically barren by her own, Anna expects to live the rest of her life in the shadows. But when political unrest leads to rebellions and planned attacks, Anna learns that her skills with magic are something no one has seen for a long time.

I was really enjoying this until about the last third of the book when I felt like it changed direction a little and got really political. At first the glances into Hungary and England relations were interesting, but there were some points that seemed to overpower the story line. There are a lot of side characters in this one to try to keep track of, along with some side plot lines. I can see how this will have some fans, but I didn't feel it was as strong of a story as some of the other recent crowd favorites, such as Red Queen. Still a good story, just wasn't exactly what I was hoping for.

What I liked:

* Very cool setting! It starts in London and moves to Hungary. Plus we see a few other places along the way (Austria).

* It was really interesting how magic was intertwined with the class system. The rich get magic, the poor do not.

* I loved the main character, Anna. What I loved most about her was how she needed some time to decide for herself what was ‘right’. She had people pulling her in different directions, trying to use her for different reasons. She struggled with figuring out what SHE felt she should do. I loved watching her go through that.

* Revolution!! It was really easy to hate people in control, which was kind of fun.

What I didn’t like:

* I didn’t love the writing. It just didn’t excite me that much, or I didn’t click with it. It wasn’t bad, I think it just didn’t quite sync with me.

* On a similar note, I didn’t get super invested in any of the characters (other than the MC, who I quite liked). There’s a romance, but it was kind of bland. There were a few other side characters, but I just didn’t feel for them. There are even a few deaths, but I felt NOTHING. I just couldn’t get invested. I wasn’t made to care about them.

* There were a few bits towards the end where I was like, ehh this is a bit weird.

Blood Rose Rebellion is a pretty cool book to read if you’re looking for magic intertwined with historical fiction, European cultures, and rebellion against some major dickwads!