24. The Rose Bargain

 

24. The Rose Bargain. Sasha Peyton Smith. 2025. 400 pages. [Source: Library] [YA Fiction, YA Fantasy, YA Horror, YA Romance] [3 stars]

First sentence: King Edward's face was streaked with mud and blood when the woman first appeared at the tree line. His sword hung by his side, limp, in a single moment of pause, and then he fell to his knees.

Premise/plot: The War of the Roses "ends" when a fae queen, Queen Moryen, murders King Edward and assumes the throne of England. The novel properly begins almost four hundred years later--give or two a decade. Ivy Benton, our heroine, knows better than some how risky bargaining with the fae queen can be. Her sister, Lydia, disappeared and returned with many of her memories just gone--including the memory of exactly what her bargain was. There's always a cost--a heavy price to pay--for bargaining with Her Majesty. However, it is almost expected that sooner or later every single subject will. Be careful what you wish for...and all that.

The new season is about to start, and Ivy Benton will be one of the debutantes. The queen announces that this year is the year her (fae) son will marry a bride. She's offering a choice, if you will. Volunteer--pledge by blood--to be in the competition to be his bride. Obviously, if you're the one, you'll be royalty. You will seemingly 'have it all.' If you lose, well, just know that you've pledged away your right to every marry anyone at all. Ivy knows that if she doesn't find a husband this season--and it's perhaps doubtful since her family has fallen on hard times financially--her family will be ruined regardless. So she is the first to pledge...

The competition begins...and the ladies have plenty of opportunities to spend time with both the fae prince (Prince Bram) and the mortal one (Emmett, a stepson). There's training and competitions as well, elimination rounds, etc.

While she is competing to win Bram's heart, it may just be the other brother who wins her heart. 

My thoughts: I am SO conflicted. ALTERNATE HISTORY. It's been a long time since I've read fantasies with faeries or fae. But there was a time when probably half of YA was faeries and the other half were vampires. So though it's been a while, I soon found myself hooked on the story--particularly the premise. STEAMY ROMANCE. Here's where I'm conflicted. Is it too steamy???? Maybe. Maybe not. Every reader is different. But expect things to get GRAPHIC. For some readers that may be a plus. For others not so much. MULTIPLE POINTS OF VIEW. Again, every reader is different. I've been reading--skimming--through the GoodReads reviews. Some love, some hate, everyone has opinions. I personally did not care for the multiple points of view at all. I think because they seemed RANDOM and BIZARRE. Okay, I'll try to clarify. This wasn't an every-other-chapter dual narration. You might have half a dozen chapters of Ivy's point of view and then suddenly be thrown into someone else's head for one chapter and one chapter only. I would have preferred to see Ivy's point of view alternating with either Emmett OR one of the other ladies. But trying to get most/all of the competition to have one chapter each was offsetting. THE TWIST ENDING. It's like you spend 98% of the book with it firmly being a SMUTTY, SMUTTY YA romance with fantasy undertones. Like very steady, predictable, formulaic, both feet planted in steamy romance. Then the last two percent is like you are thrown--crashed??? tossed????--into the complete opposite genre. The contrast is so SUDDEN. And the ending is so abrupt. Not even a pause between BIG, BIG REVEAL and boom it's over.

 

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