Information is power, and those who control it live like gods.
In my world, billionaires play deadly games of insult and influence where magic is the dirtiest weapon of all. Here, even a powerful princess can be swallowed by the darkest of shadows . . .
My name is Alana Beaumont, and due to a recent tragedy, I’m the sole heir to Aquarius Social, a family business being systematically dismantled by an unseen enemy. My father’s solution is to give me in marriage and create a coalition with a competing family, so I’m torn between my thirst for revenge and my duty. Now I just have a week to finish my hunt before the wedding.
There’s nothing like an assassination attempt to cut short the best of plans—even worse is my unwanted rescue by Thorn Beathach, the Beast whose social media empire is driving Aquarius under. The richest, most ruthless of them all, he protects his realm with an iron rule: no one sees his face. When he shows himself to me, I know he’ll never let me go.
Adam may think he can lock me in his castle forever, but I’m not the docile Beauty he expects. If the Beast wants to tie me up, I’m going to take pleasure from every minute of it . . .and we’ll just see who ends up shackled.
In my world, billionaires play deadly games of insult and influence where magic is the dirtiest weapon of all. Here, even a powerful princess can be swallowed by the darkest of shadows . . .
My name is Alana Beaumont, and due to a recent tragedy, I’m the sole heir to Aquarius Social, a family business being systematically dismantled by an unseen enemy. My father’s solution is to give me in marriage and create a coalition with a competing family, so I’m torn between my thirst for revenge and my duty. Now I just have a week to finish my hunt before the wedding.
There’s nothing like an assassination attempt to cut short the best of plans—even worse is my unwanted rescue by Thorn Beathach, the Beast whose social media empire is driving Aquarius under. The richest, most ruthless of them all, he protects his realm with an iron rule: no one sees his face. When he shows himself to me, I know he’ll never let me go.
Adam may think he can lock me in his castle forever, but I’m not the docile Beauty he expects. If the Beast wants to tie me up, I’m going to take pleasure from every minute of it . . .and we’ll just see who ends up shackled.
Title: One Cursed Rose (Grimm Bargains #1)
Author: Rebecca Zanetti
Publisher: Kensington
Expected Publication Date: June 25, 2024
Review:
I want to thank Kensington and Edelweiss for providing me with an egalley of this book to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Information is power. For Alana Beaumont, that information is through social media. Reeling from her brother's death, she finds herself the heir to Aquarius Social. Thorn Beathatch is a recluse. As the owner of his own social media company, he's done whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and doesn't let anything get in his way. But he has a weakness and that's Alana. He's obsessed with making her his, even if that means kidnapping her. But, when his life is on the line, the enemies find themselves turning to each other to figure out how to save him. And how to solve the mystery of how Alana's brother died. Can they put aside their differences and hate to help each other come out on top?
Let's start with what I liked.
I love a good retelling. Especially based on the beloved Beauty and the Beast story. I've always connected with Belle and her love for reading. Add into this story some dark romance, and I'm all in. I was expecting a fabulous story of enemies to lovers with some outrageous sexy times. What I got was not what I expected at all.
The cover of this book is absolutely stunning. I'm a sucker for a great cover (yes, I do judge books by their cover). And it's being offered with pretty sprayed edges. This is what initially drew me to the book.
The blurb totally drew me to this story. I really wanted to watch this enemies to lovers dark romance bloom. I'm a sucker for a good villain story. And, I expected some darkness. I don't have triggers so I was good with whatever the author brought forth.
Finally, I enjoyed most of the spicy moments. I do love me some good kink and fun.
That's about where my likes ended, unfortunately. I just don't think this book was for me, even though I wanted it to be.
I could not connect with the characters. I didn't like them. I didn't feel anything for them. I was hoping to watch them develop and grow and it just didn't happen. Thorn is an obsessive stalker who is battling a curse that is killing him. While I like a good bad guy, I didn't find his brand of badness or love endearing at all. It was just toxic. I thought maybe he'd grow and change during the book. But it didn't happen. All he wanted to do was have possession of Alana and ultimately punish her for all the wrongs he thought she was committing towards him. He presented these things as him loving her and wanting her, but it didn't come across that way. But why was he so obsessed with her? This is never addressed.
Alana was a very flat character. There's zero girl power with her. I wanted emotion. I needed to watch her flounder with being drawn to Thorn's brand of love, but I didn't really see it. She lets him do whatever he wants and she's ok with it. She kind of questions it but it's never a deep dive and her questions never seem to sway her away from him at any point. There's no point in which I felt she was truly getting anything, including pleasure, out of their relationship.
Their connection just was not there. I saw the author trying to make it happen with banter and a bit of interest in each character learning about the other, but ultimately it just didn't work for me. It failed to show any romance at all. There was never a moment where I felt like the main characters finally connected and realized why they should be together. And I understand the nature of this relationship, a little Stockholm Syndrome is intriguing. But I never bought into her actually falling for him.
The world building and magic system were lacking for me. This is super important in a fantasy book, even if it's billed as a dark romance. The crystal technology and how it worked was totally lost on me. There were times in the book when the characters were speaking in what I assume was some kind of IT lingo but I just didn't understand what was going on. How are the characters connected to the crystals? What happened in the past to make it happen?
There were quite a few plot holes throughout the book. Normally I can overlook them if they are simple, but these were gapping for me.
I also felt like the book just ended. The main mystery in the book is solved but there's not real conclusion through the epilogue provided. There were some interesting plot lines introduced but they weren't fleshed out well. And we're never given any real reason for the curse that plagues Thorn throughout the book or why the people who cursed him did so in the first place.
I will admit, I pushed myself to finish in the hopes there would be some redemption for me in the end but I didn't get it. The set up of the plot was initially interesting and unique but the ending felt a bit rushed and almost like the author wasn't sure how to pull it full circle and wrap it up. I appreciate this is the author's first dark romance and I do think her concept is interesting. I am not sure I'll continue with this series as I don't think this author's brand of writing is for me.
Author:
New York Times, USA Today, Publisher’s Weekly and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Rebecca Zanetti has published more than seventy novels and novellas, which have been translated into several languages, with millions of copies sold world-wide. Her books have received Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus starred reviews, favorable Washington Post and New York Times Book Reviews, and been included in Amazon best books of the year.
Rebecca has ridden in a locked Chevy trunk, has asked the unfortunate delivery guy to release her from a set of handcuffs, and has discovered the best silver mine shafts in which to bury a body…all in the name of research. Honest.
Rebecca has ridden in a locked Chevy trunk, has asked the unfortunate delivery guy to release her from a set of handcuffs, and has discovered the best silver mine shafts in which to bury a body…all in the name of research. Honest.
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