What do you think?
Rate this book
Roses & Ruin
Not yet published
Expected 1 Sep 26A steamy paranormal YA romance with deadly stakes for a new generation of Twilight and Vampire Academy readers.
A few years ago, Rose was in an accident that nearly claimed her life. In the chaos of that night, a mysterious boy pulled her from the brink of death, then vanished before anyone else could see him. No one believes he was there. But Rose knows the truth.
When Rose moves across the country for college, she’s expecting a fresh start, one that’s not haunted by the memories of this mysterious stranger. But then she sees him. Hayden. He’s cold and distant and claims he wasn’t there that night. Yet Rose can’t shake the pull she feels toward him. She pursues him, daring him to reject her. Daring him to explain himself.
That’s when she learns the Hayden is a vampire. And the bond between them goes deeper than the night he saved her life. Fate has woven their paths together, and no matter how hard they fight, it refuses to let them go. But loving Hayden may come at a cost…one that could destroy them both.
A few years ago, Rose was in an accident that nearly claimed her life. In the chaos of that night, a mysterious boy pulled her from the brink of death, then vanished before anyone else could see him. No one believes he was there. But Rose knows the truth.
When Rose moves across the country for college, she’s expecting a fresh start, one that’s not haunted by the memories of this mysterious stranger. But then she sees him. Hayden. He’s cold and distant and claims he wasn’t there that night. Yet Rose can’t shake the pull she feels toward him. She pursues him, daring him to reject her. Daring him to explain himself.
That’s when she learns the Hayden is a vampire. And the bond between them goes deeper than the night he saved her life. Fate has woven their paths together, and no matter how hard they fight, it refuses to let them go. But loving Hayden may come at a cost…one that could destroy them both.
- GenresRomance
Kindle Edition
Expected publication September 1, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
You guys, I don’t know where to begin! I’ve tried so hard to keep my review concise. Where was the editor? 😭😭😭
I’m so, SO SORRY for the lengthy review, but I must lay out everything wrong with this book because I want to be fair. What I can do for you is break everything down into categories.
🍎 I felt that the book was trying to do something Twilight-esque without understanding what made Twilight so beloved and why.
👼 It also copied a lot of Lauren Kate’s Fallen. A LOT. But, nowhere nearly as good.
TARGETED AGE GROUP MISMATCH:
Even though this is marketed as YA, the spice level and frequency is totally adult (at the time of this review, which is for the ARC)?
YA starts at 12.😅
If A Court of Silver Flames were a 5 (I’m going by mainstream Romance standards, not whatever is on KU), then this is around a 4.5
It’s like nobody back at the publishing house knew what they were doing with Roses & Ruin. The spice left nothing to the imagination. Now imagine some 7th grader reading this. I can’t even. At some point, as adults, we owe it to young people to look out for them; not to control them, but to make sure that each thing they’re exposed to complements their age and developmental level. It’s literally our responsibility to.
Obviously, there’s nothing wrong with sex being addressed or acknowledged in YA; teenagers do have sex, and they do read about it. I actually don’t have a problem with it. My stance on reading is openly liberal (I mean, just look at the shit I read, haha).
However, the devil’s in the details, the execution. It’s not about what’s being presented, but how. And this was…even more than what Melissa De La Cruz did in Sybilline—which was already enough for people to rightfully express concerns over for the targeted age group mismatch. Even the most liberal readers were like, “Um…weird for YA.”
Now Sybilline is marketed for 17+, but it initially was YA.
For instance, a shootout scene in a PG-13 movie is going to look different than one from an R-rated one. Both movies contain a shootout, but the difference is in how the scene is presented. That’s the same issue here; the sex isn’t the problem; the problem is how it’s presented.
Honestly, when I look at this book and everything about it, I feel…pity. I don’t even have the heart to make fun of it. Stick around for my review, you’ll understand the pity.
QUICK SUMMARY:
The story begins with Rose Shields, a high school student from Orange County, California. While walking home from a high school party one night, she is almost hit by a truck, but a mysterious boy knocks her out of the way. She hasn't seen him since.
In the present day, she starts college at a small private university called Payen, located in isolated Maine. There, Rose dorms in Coupland Hall. She seems surprised by everything she sees, and lets the reader know that it's because she didn't bother to look at the brochure, since she had just wanted to leave her town, after she became known throughout her high school as "the girl who almost died" and nobody gave it a rest.
At Payen, she runs into that mysterious boy again.
⭐️ LACK OF LOGICAL BELIEVABILITY: ⭐️
The story was hard for me to immerse myself in, because the setup asked for consequences it didn't earn.
For reference, I'm originally from Orange County, California, and I now live in New Hampshire (I'm mere minutes away from Maine!). These are Rose's geographical locations, and this little fact about my life will be relevant.
🏫 High schools in suburban Orange County are huge, and high school kids have short attention span. No matter how dramatic Rose's near-accident was, nobody would have talked about it for months on end. At most? You'd get a school week. Ten days, if you're popular and show up in a leg cast.
👩🎓 Second of all, Rose was already about to graduate anyway, so why all the dramatics about having to escape to Maine for college? She wasn't going to graduate from high school any sooner.
🚦 Third of all, it was late and she was walking home alone on an isolated street, nobody from school was there to witness anything dramatic to even talk about. And, she also wasn’t injured in any way.
🏫 And the whole being surprised by everything she sees in college because she didn't look at the brochure? It felt too convenient...like, I am expected to "discover" everything with Rose.
The narrative wants to convey alienation, notoriety, and emotional displacement, but the backstory just doesn't support something of that magnitude. So, instead of "Oh, wow, I understand why she fled," my reaction was more like, "Girl, just graduate and get on with your life."
ILL-FITTING NAMES = IMMERSION BREAKING
🫤 Also, the school name annoys me. It's Payen (not Payne or Paine, but Payen), and Rose dorms in Coupland Hall (not Copeland or Copland, but Coupland). Small details, but everything added together just sounds annoying.
Why did I bring up Maine and New Hampshire? Because Payne/Paine and Copeland/Copland are New England, Payen and Coupland are not. And that breaks immersion.
Think of fictional school names...Hogwarts, Chilton, Brakebills, Nevermore, Blackwell, etc. Those names may sound stylized, but they're totally intuitive and work for the worlds they're set in, so you feel immersed instead of annoyed.
All of those things matter because we already have weak characterization and derivative structure (it's Twilight-coded but without the fun). In a book where immersion is already fragile, every annoying little thing makes the reader ask, "WHAT NOW?!".
Also, try saying Rose Shields out loud.
🍎 THE TWILIGHT THING: 🍎
What made me like Twilight was Bella, first and foremost, which was important because the book is in her first-person POV. Book-Bella is so observant and funny. Bella is witty and sassy, but that sassiness exists internally as her thoughts. She shows that sass and humor to only the few people she's let in (Edward, Jacob, Alice, and eventually Charlie).
I don't get that with Rose. Although I'm in her head, with first-person POV, I don't know what Rose's personality is. In first-person narration, the voice must carry a lot of the emotional weight and provide atmosphere. Rose's voice does neither.
Also, where book-Bella is endearingly clumsy, and likes to walk around with a copy of Wuthering Heights, Rose is annoyingly clumsy (and insecure in a really unlikable and anxious way) and walks around with a copy of Frankenstein.
It just doesn't feel...organic. The delivery makes everything about Rose feel very constructed.
🦢 In Twilight, Bella's clumsiness works because it's baked-in with her self-consciousness, her physical awkwardness, her introspective nature, and just her essence in general. And that's why it feels believable when she reads Wuthering Heights for enjoyment. Her book choice doesn't scream, "Look! Gothic romance placement!"
It aligns with Bella's romantic temperament, emotional intensity, attraction to destructive longing, and the atmosphere of Twilight itself.
🌹Yet, Rose carrying around Frankenstein? It feels less like "this is who she is," and more like "this is the equivalent prop.".
It was like someone wrote down this formula:
Bella had literary-girl energy.
Bella carried a classic.
Bella was awkward.
Bella was insecure.
...and then they swapped aesthetic details without understanding how Stephenie Meyer designed everything to go together for Bella.
That's why this whole thing feels inorganic to me.
🫤 THE MMC, HAYDEN: 🫤
Yeah, no. Where Edward is alluring, mysterious, and has a sense of seductive danger, Hayden reads like he was assembled from a list of things that a person might find mysterious and alluring, even the black hair and black clothes.
🖤 Edward embodies history and is mysterious because he possesses interiority and contradiction, versus Hayden—who is performing "mystery."
A lot of imitators think a Byronic hero is: rude, dark, secretive, and emotionally unavailable
But the actual archetype is built around: alienation, intelligence and emotional excess, moral instability, longing mixed with self-loathing, the sense that intimacy itself is dangerous.
❤️ THE ROMANCE: ❤️
Roses & Ruin doesn’t seem to know how to use the push-and-pull method. It’s what creates longing and yearning, which are extremely important in this kind of romance.
The romantic elements in this novel escalate quickly, but are unearned. I understand that YA moves faster, but speed doesn’t mean sidestepping process.
While we know from page one of Twilight that Edward and Bella are going to end up together, it works because Stephenie Meyer knows how to write push-and-pull, and that self-restraint is what makes Edward so appealing. He’d give you just enough before pulling back, but in a way that builds mystery and adds to his allure, rather than annoying you, because you know that he's struggling, too.
Whereas in this one, the “push” feels unearned, while the “pull” feels artificial—as if the book is saying, ”I’m only putting that here because I’m supposed to,” which signals to me that “checklist” feel.
In Twilight, events feel like they must happen because of who Edward and Bella are.
In Roses & Ruin, events feel like they happen because the genre expects them.
And that’s why I had trouble immersing myself into this book: because I could see the entire structure.
🌎 THE SETTING: 🌎
Although I see that this book is trying convey a Gothic atmosphere, from the title to the cover, to the author's and character's names, to the setting and atmosphere, I ended up feeling like I was reading a grocery list of "all the Gothic things," when Gothic itself is more than just what we can see; it has to incorporate elements from the Gothic literary movement as well, and this just doesn't.
Stephenie Meyer's Twilight? Gothic. Not just the first book, but the series.
Edward? Our Byronic hero.
Breaking Dawn? Bella goes through body horrors (a Gothic hallmark!).
Philosophical unpacking of life, death, and the in-between? Meyer escalates that philosophical argument with each subsequent book in the series.
Gothic isn’t “dark romance aesthetics,” but—rather—it’s what happens when love, body, and identity stop staying in their proper boundaries.
🧐 THE PROSE: 🧐
The prose is fine on a technical level, albeit inconsistent. For example, most of the prose is written in a really juvenile way (not to show us Rose’s youth, but due to the author’s inexperience), and is extremely dull and simplistic, then there’d be random descriptive, poetic, lyrical passages that are suspiciously AI-generated. Like, I don’t mean human-written and then improved or smoothed out by AI; I mean copying and pasting what it had generated directly into the book.
👀 Also, Rose is a modern-day teenager, why do sex scenes from her POV read like copy-pastes from Harlequin historical romances?
FOR EXAMPLE: ”I feel the searing majesty of his pleasure.”
If this were a Harlequin historical featuring a corseted woman and a hot Duke or Baron in a loose white blouse, half-unbutton, and they’re both adults in their 20s? That’s fine. Beautiful, even. But HERE? 😭
As I stated earlier, Rose’s POV “voice” is very dull, but then you’d randomly come across stuff like that.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
The story is readable. The book is ok, even if some of the lines read like they were pulled from Twilight. But it lacks...freshness and charm. The fact that there are lines that remind me of Twilight suggests that the author may have been trying to reproduce certain emotions without fully understanding why those beats worked in the original.
Also, when a novel is written in the first-person, it's imperative that the protagonist is someone that the reader would want to spend time with. This means that the protagonist either likable or interesting, preferably both. Rose is...neither.
Unlikable protagonist, unlikable love interest, unlikable plot, unlikable prose, unlikable setting, weirdly written sex scenes that are also inappropriate marketed age group, and just overall not a fun reading experience.
The book claims that it’s for fans of Twilight, so I dissected it as a fan of Twilight. And, as a fan, this book doesn’t understand what made Twilight so beloved, or why readers fell in love with the series.
Twilight was written by someone who wanted to write a Gothic novel in the tradition of the Gothic literary movement, whereas Roses & Ruin was written by someone who wanted to write another Twilight.
Stephenie Meyer's reference point wasn't, "How do I replicate the success of a popular YA Paranormal Romance?"
Her reference point was Gothic literature (1760s - 1850s), Romanticicism (1770s - 1840s), Byronic archetypes, longing, bodily transformation, doomed desire, and emotional obsession.
Even when Meyer's fans were too young to articulate why they loved Twilight, they knew that they were holding something special in their hands: it wasn't trying to be the "new" or "next" anything.
I received this ARC on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I’m so, SO SORRY for the lengthy review, but I must lay out everything wrong with this book because I want to be fair. What I can do for you is break everything down into categories.
🍎 I felt that the book was trying to do something Twilight-esque without understanding what made Twilight so beloved and why.
👼 It also copied a lot of Lauren Kate’s Fallen. A LOT. But, nowhere nearly as good.
TARGETED AGE GROUP MISMATCH:
Even though this is marketed as YA, the spice level and frequency is totally adult (at the time of this review, which is for the ARC)?
YA starts at 12.😅
If A Court of Silver Flames were a 5 (I’m going by mainstream Romance standards, not whatever is on KU), then this is around a 4.5
It’s like nobody back at the publishing house knew what they were doing with Roses & Ruin. The spice left nothing to the imagination. Now imagine some 7th grader reading this. I can’t even. At some point, as adults, we owe it to young people to look out for them; not to control them, but to make sure that each thing they’re exposed to complements their age and developmental level. It’s literally our responsibility to.
Obviously, there’s nothing wrong with sex being addressed or acknowledged in YA; teenagers do have sex, and they do read about it. I actually don’t have a problem with it. My stance on reading is openly liberal (I mean, just look at the shit I read, haha).
However, the devil’s in the details, the execution. It’s not about what’s being presented, but how. And this was…even more than what Melissa De La Cruz did in Sybilline—which was already enough for people to rightfully express concerns over for the targeted age group mismatch. Even the most liberal readers were like, “Um…weird for YA.”
Now Sybilline is marketed for 17+, but it initially was YA.
For instance, a shootout scene in a PG-13 movie is going to look different than one from an R-rated one. Both movies contain a shootout, but the difference is in how the scene is presented. That’s the same issue here; the sex isn’t the problem; the problem is how it’s presented.
Honestly, when I look at this book and everything about it, I feel…pity. I don’t even have the heart to make fun of it. Stick around for my review, you’ll understand the pity.
QUICK SUMMARY:
The story begins with Rose Shields, a high school student from Orange County, California. While walking home from a high school party one night, she is almost hit by a truck, but a mysterious boy knocks her out of the way. She hasn't seen him since.
In the present day, she starts college at a small private university called Payen, located in isolated Maine. There, Rose dorms in Coupland Hall. She seems surprised by everything she sees, and lets the reader know that it's because she didn't bother to look at the brochure, since she had just wanted to leave her town, after she became known throughout her high school as "the girl who almost died" and nobody gave it a rest.
At Payen, she runs into that mysterious boy again.
⭐️ LACK OF LOGICAL BELIEVABILITY: ⭐️
The story was hard for me to immerse myself in, because the setup asked for consequences it didn't earn.
For reference, I'm originally from Orange County, California, and I now live in New Hampshire (I'm mere minutes away from Maine!). These are Rose's geographical locations, and this little fact about my life will be relevant.
🏫 High schools in suburban Orange County are huge, and high school kids have short attention span. No matter how dramatic Rose's near-accident was, nobody would have talked about it for months on end. At most? You'd get a school week. Ten days, if you're popular and show up in a leg cast.
👩🎓 Second of all, Rose was already about to graduate anyway, so why all the dramatics about having to escape to Maine for college? She wasn't going to graduate from high school any sooner.
🚦 Third of all, it was late and she was walking home alone on an isolated street, nobody from school was there to witness anything dramatic to even talk about. And, she also wasn’t injured in any way.
🏫 And the whole being surprised by everything she sees in college because she didn't look at the brochure? It felt too convenient...like, I am expected to "discover" everything with Rose.
The narrative wants to convey alienation, notoriety, and emotional displacement, but the backstory just doesn't support something of that magnitude. So, instead of "Oh, wow, I understand why she fled," my reaction was more like, "Girl, just graduate and get on with your life."
ILL-FITTING NAMES = IMMERSION BREAKING
🫤 Also, the school name annoys me. It's Payen (not Payne or Paine, but Payen), and Rose dorms in Coupland Hall (not Copeland or Copland, but Coupland). Small details, but everything added together just sounds annoying.
Why did I bring up Maine and New Hampshire? Because Payne/Paine and Copeland/Copland are New England, Payen and Coupland are not. And that breaks immersion.
Think of fictional school names...Hogwarts, Chilton, Brakebills, Nevermore, Blackwell, etc. Those names may sound stylized, but they're totally intuitive and work for the worlds they're set in, so you feel immersed instead of annoyed.
All of those things matter because we already have weak characterization and derivative structure (it's Twilight-coded but without the fun). In a book where immersion is already fragile, every annoying little thing makes the reader ask, "WHAT NOW?!".
Also, try saying Rose Shields out loud.
🍎 THE TWILIGHT THING: 🍎
What made me like Twilight was Bella, first and foremost, which was important because the book is in her first-person POV. Book-Bella is so observant and funny. Bella is witty and sassy, but that sassiness exists internally as her thoughts. She shows that sass and humor to only the few people she's let in (Edward, Jacob, Alice, and eventually Charlie).
I don't get that with Rose. Although I'm in her head, with first-person POV, I don't know what Rose's personality is. In first-person narration, the voice must carry a lot of the emotional weight and provide atmosphere. Rose's voice does neither.
Also, where book-Bella is endearingly clumsy, and likes to walk around with a copy of Wuthering Heights, Rose is annoyingly clumsy (and insecure in a really unlikable and anxious way) and walks around with a copy of Frankenstein.
It just doesn't feel...organic. The delivery makes everything about Rose feel very constructed.
🦢 In Twilight, Bella's clumsiness works because it's baked-in with her self-consciousness, her physical awkwardness, her introspective nature, and just her essence in general. And that's why it feels believable when she reads Wuthering Heights for enjoyment. Her book choice doesn't scream, "Look! Gothic romance placement!"
It aligns with Bella's romantic temperament, emotional intensity, attraction to destructive longing, and the atmosphere of Twilight itself.
🌹Yet, Rose carrying around Frankenstein? It feels less like "this is who she is," and more like "this is the equivalent prop.".
It was like someone wrote down this formula:
Bella had literary-girl energy.
Bella carried a classic.
Bella was awkward.
Bella was insecure.
...and then they swapped aesthetic details without understanding how Stephenie Meyer designed everything to go together for Bella.
That's why this whole thing feels inorganic to me.
🫤 THE MMC, HAYDEN: 🫤
Yeah, no. Where Edward is alluring, mysterious, and has a sense of seductive danger, Hayden reads like he was assembled from a list of things that a person might find mysterious and alluring, even the black hair and black clothes.
🖤 Edward embodies history and is mysterious because he possesses interiority and contradiction, versus Hayden—who is performing "mystery."
A lot of imitators think a Byronic hero is: rude, dark, secretive, and emotionally unavailable
But the actual archetype is built around: alienation, intelligence and emotional excess, moral instability, longing mixed with self-loathing, the sense that intimacy itself is dangerous.
❤️ THE ROMANCE: ❤️
Roses & Ruin doesn’t seem to know how to use the push-and-pull method. It’s what creates longing and yearning, which are extremely important in this kind of romance.
The romantic elements in this novel escalate quickly, but are unearned. I understand that YA moves faster, but speed doesn’t mean sidestepping process.
While we know from page one of Twilight that Edward and Bella are going to end up together, it works because Stephenie Meyer knows how to write push-and-pull, and that self-restraint is what makes Edward so appealing. He’d give you just enough before pulling back, but in a way that builds mystery and adds to his allure, rather than annoying you, because you know that he's struggling, too.
Whereas in this one, the “push” feels unearned, while the “pull” feels artificial—as if the book is saying, ”I’m only putting that here because I’m supposed to,” which signals to me that “checklist” feel.
In Twilight, events feel like they must happen because of who Edward and Bella are.
In Roses & Ruin, events feel like they happen because the genre expects them.
And that’s why I had trouble immersing myself into this book: because I could see the entire structure.
🌎 THE SETTING: 🌎
Although I see that this book is trying convey a Gothic atmosphere, from the title to the cover, to the author's and character's names, to the setting and atmosphere, I ended up feeling like I was reading a grocery list of "all the Gothic things," when Gothic itself is more than just what we can see; it has to incorporate elements from the Gothic literary movement as well, and this just doesn't.
Stephenie Meyer's Twilight? Gothic. Not just the first book, but the series.
Edward? Our Byronic hero.
Breaking Dawn? Bella goes through body horrors (a Gothic hallmark!).
Philosophical unpacking of life, death, and the in-between? Meyer escalates that philosophical argument with each subsequent book in the series.
Gothic isn’t “dark romance aesthetics,” but—rather—it’s what happens when love, body, and identity stop staying in their proper boundaries.
🧐 THE PROSE: 🧐
The prose is fine on a technical level, albeit inconsistent. For example, most of the prose is written in a really juvenile way (not to show us Rose’s youth, but due to the author’s inexperience), and is extremely dull and simplistic, then there’d be random descriptive, poetic, lyrical passages that are suspiciously AI-generated. Like, I don’t mean human-written and then improved or smoothed out by AI; I mean copying and pasting what it had generated directly into the book.
👀 Also, Rose is a modern-day teenager, why do sex scenes from her POV read like copy-pastes from Harlequin historical romances?
FOR EXAMPLE: ”I feel the searing majesty of his pleasure.”
If this were a Harlequin historical featuring a corseted woman and a hot Duke or Baron in a loose white blouse, half-unbutton, and they’re both adults in their 20s? That’s fine. Beautiful, even. But HERE? 😭
As I stated earlier, Rose’s POV “voice” is very dull, but then you’d randomly come across stuff like that.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
The story is readable. The book is ok, even if some of the lines read like they were pulled from Twilight. But it lacks...freshness and charm. The fact that there are lines that remind me of Twilight suggests that the author may have been trying to reproduce certain emotions without fully understanding why those beats worked in the original.
Also, when a novel is written in the first-person, it's imperative that the protagonist is someone that the reader would want to spend time with. This means that the protagonist either likable or interesting, preferably both. Rose is...neither.
Unlikable protagonist, unlikable love interest, unlikable plot, unlikable prose, unlikable setting, weirdly written sex scenes that are also inappropriate marketed age group, and just overall not a fun reading experience.
The book claims that it’s for fans of Twilight, so I dissected it as a fan of Twilight. And, as a fan, this book doesn’t understand what made Twilight so beloved, or why readers fell in love with the series.
Twilight was written by someone who wanted to write a Gothic novel in the tradition of the Gothic literary movement, whereas Roses & Ruin was written by someone who wanted to write another Twilight.
Stephenie Meyer's reference point wasn't, "How do I replicate the success of a popular YA Paranormal Romance?"
Her reference point was Gothic literature (1760s - 1850s), Romanticicism (1770s - 1840s), Byronic archetypes, longing, bodily transformation, doomed desire, and emotional obsession.
Even when Meyer's fans were too young to articulate why they loved Twilight, they knew that they were holding something special in their hands: it wasn't trying to be the "new" or "next" anything.
I received this ARC on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Hazel Cross’s Rose & Ruin will dominate this year’s YA vampire hype with Rose and Hayden’s tragic love story. There are some strong allusions to Twilight and Fallen by Lauren Kate and the intertextuality works well here. But, advertising a book as the new generations ‘Twilight’ is always going to be a risk, and Cross’s world building doesn’t hit the ‘hoa hoa hoa’ vibe than fans drawn to this comparison will expect.
Despite this, Rose & Ruin was a good read in its own right, Rose has spent her life running from death in her dreams and after a neath death experience with no one believing her that a young man rescued her before disappearing into the night, Rose leaves for Payen university hoping a fresh start will help. As she begins to make friends, she notices the man everyone has told her doesn’t exist is wandering campus, making her determined to understand what happened that night. Rose is thrown into the supernatural world, learning about her past lives and the immortal vampire romance her soul is tied to. The rising action focuses on the lovers breaking the curse which keeps killing Rose and leaving Hayden in a state of constant mourning.
Rose’s favourite book Frankenstein accompanies her throughout her romantic journey, as she tries to convince Hayden that like Frankenstein, he’s not the monster. This is Bella’s Wuthering Heights reimagined and we see the same juxtaposition between Heathcliff/Edward as Hayden/Frankenstein to parallel their romance with unconventional men – you know, the handsome ones. This is nothing new since Jane Austen used Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho as Catherine’s obsession in Northanger Abbey, but it does its job. We also get a wild scene which embodies the Mary Shelley graveyard rumours and evidences Rose’s obsession with the gothic passion. – This being mentioned, is this the level of sexual content we expect in YA now? I was not expecting this level of smut in a young person’s book, I was expecting the build up to be for a kiss, not relatively detailed sex. It works with the plot, but maybe it being toned down would work better with a younger audience.
I was sure I had this conclusion all figured out and was annoyed thinking I’d made a mistake identifying the true antagonist, it made much more sense during the last few chapters as I just KNEW there was something off with this whole vamp BFFs situation. A decent paranormal read for vampire lovers with interests in tragic love stories with beautiful cover art.
Despite this, Rose & Ruin was a good read in its own right, Rose has spent her life running from death in her dreams and after a neath death experience with no one believing her that a young man rescued her before disappearing into the night, Rose leaves for Payen university hoping a fresh start will help. As she begins to make friends, she notices the man everyone has told her doesn’t exist is wandering campus, making her determined to understand what happened that night. Rose is thrown into the supernatural world, learning about her past lives and the immortal vampire romance her soul is tied to. The rising action focuses on the lovers breaking the curse which keeps killing Rose and leaving Hayden in a state of constant mourning.
Rose’s favourite book Frankenstein accompanies her throughout her romantic journey, as she tries to convince Hayden that like Frankenstein, he’s not the monster. This is Bella’s Wuthering Heights reimagined and we see the same juxtaposition between Heathcliff/Edward as Hayden/Frankenstein to parallel their romance with unconventional men – you know, the handsome ones. This is nothing new since Jane Austen used Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho as Catherine’s obsession in Northanger Abbey, but it does its job. We also get a wild scene which embodies the Mary Shelley graveyard rumours and evidences Rose’s obsession with the gothic passion. – This being mentioned, is this the level of sexual content we expect in YA now? I was not expecting this level of smut in a young person’s book, I was expecting the build up to be for a kiss, not relatively detailed sex. It works with the plot, but maybe it being toned down would work better with a younger audience.
I was sure I had this conclusion all figured out and was annoyed thinking I’d made a mistake identifying the true antagonist, it made much more sense during the last few chapters as I just KNEW there was something off with this whole vamp BFFs situation. A decent paranormal read for vampire lovers with interests in tragic love stories with beautiful cover art.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
*Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review*
This book is NA, not YA--contains a few explicit scenes
Roses & Ruin follows Rose, who moves across the county to attend university and to escape her past. A year ago, Rose was saved by a mysterious boy only she could see, and everyone has called her crazy for believing him to be real. But then, she runs into him, Hayden, and discovers that she knows next to nothing about him and about herself.
This book was pretty much what I expected: a supernatural romance with an okay plot and decent characters. It was very Twilight + Fallen + Sex = Roses & Ruin. That said, there were some highlights.
I really liked Rose as the FMC. She was entertaining, we got to see her grow and change, and I really loved how she just rolled with whatever Hayden threw at her. I also loved the romance. It was the best part of this book. Very rarely do we get to see a couple together for so long in a standalone, and I loved every page of it. I also found the book rather funny (though sometimes I was laughing at it rather than with it) and engaging. I read the whole thing in just a few sittings and really enjoyed it.
My main issues came with the plot. For a book supposedly about vampires, there are not a lot of vampires. Even after we find out that Hayden is a vampire--which is pretty into the book--it doesn’t really come up that often. We spend more time on Rose and her background than we do on Hayden and what vampires look like in this book. I would just have liked to see more about vampires and have the worldbuilding expanded.
The ending was pretty predictable, but still fun to read. I wish the book were more developed--the characters, the plot, the writing--but it wasn’t bad, just not great. If you are looking for an easy-to-read, entertaining, standalone paranormal romance, I would definitely suggest Roses & Ruin.
This book is NA, not YA--contains a few explicit scenes
Roses & Ruin follows Rose, who moves across the county to attend university and to escape her past. A year ago, Rose was saved by a mysterious boy only she could see, and everyone has called her crazy for believing him to be real. But then, she runs into him, Hayden, and discovers that she knows next to nothing about him and about herself.
This book was pretty much what I expected: a supernatural romance with an okay plot and decent characters. It was very Twilight + Fallen + Sex = Roses & Ruin. That said, there were some highlights.
I really liked Rose as the FMC. She was entertaining, we got to see her grow and change, and I really loved how she just rolled with whatever Hayden threw at her. I also loved the romance. It was the best part of this book. Very rarely do we get to see a couple together for so long in a standalone, and I loved every page of it. I also found the book rather funny (though sometimes I was laughing at it rather than with it) and engaging. I read the whole thing in just a few sittings and really enjoyed it.
My main issues came with the plot. For a book supposedly about vampires, there are not a lot of vampires. Even after we find out that Hayden is a vampire--which is pretty into the book--it doesn’t really come up that often. We spend more time on Rose and her background than we do on Hayden and what vampires look like in this book. I would just have liked to see more about vampires and have the worldbuilding expanded.
The ending was pretty predictable, but still fun to read. I wish the book were more developed--the characters, the plot, the writing--but it wasn’t bad, just not great. If you are looking for an easy-to-read, entertaining, standalone paranormal romance, I would definitely suggest Roses & Ruin.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Rose was seemingly killed however a mysterious boy pulled her from the brink of death, then vanished before anyone else could see him. No one believes he was there. But Rose knows the truth.
When Rose moves across the country for college, she sees this mysterious stranger. Hayden. He’s cold and distant and claims he wasn’t there that night. Rose determinedly chases him until he gives her the truth.
The bond between them goes deeper than the night he saved her life. Fate has woven their paths together, and no matter how hard they fight, it refuses to let them go. loving Hayden may come at a cost . . . Will learning the truth about who—or what—Hayden really is destroy them both?
I picked this book up with just a vague idea of what it was about and I was immediately drawn into the story! It was just haunting enough without being scary or spooky or overly creepy. The theme of vampires and hallows eve was more of a setting for the characters.
I had a hard time putting this book down, it was well written, the characters and story flowed so smoothly that I finished this book in two sittings, I would highly recommend this book!
When Rose moves across the country for college, she sees this mysterious stranger. Hayden. He’s cold and distant and claims he wasn’t there that night. Rose determinedly chases him until he gives her the truth.
The bond between them goes deeper than the night he saved her life. Fate has woven their paths together, and no matter how hard they fight, it refuses to let them go. loving Hayden may come at a cost . . . Will learning the truth about who—or what—Hayden really is destroy them both?
I picked this book up with just a vague idea of what it was about and I was immediately drawn into the story! It was just haunting enough without being scary or spooky or overly creepy. The theme of vampires and hallows eve was more of a setting for the characters.
I had a hard time putting this book down, it was well written, the characters and story flowed so smoothly that I finished this book in two sittings, I would highly recommend this book!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
A hauntingly addictive paranormal romance that perfectly captures the tension and obsession fans of Twilight and Vampire Academy will devour. Rose and Hayden’s chemistry is electric from the start, and the mystery surrounding Hayden kept me turning pages late into the night. The story balances romance, danger, and supernatural intrigue really well, especially with the “fated bond” aspect woven throughout the plot.
Rose is a strong protagonist whose determination makes her easy to root for, while Hayden delivers exactly the brooding, emotionally conflicted energy paranormal romance readers love. Some plot twists felt a little predictable, and there were moments where the pacing slowed in the middle, but the emotional payoff and high-stakes ending made it worth it.
Overall, this is a compelling, atmospheric YA romance with enough suspense and emotional intensity to hook readers from beginning to end. A solid 4-star read for anyone craving supernatural romance with deadly consequences.
Rose is a strong protagonist whose determination makes her easy to root for, while Hayden delivers exactly the brooding, emotionally conflicted energy paranormal romance readers love. Some plot twists felt a little predictable, and there were moments where the pacing slowed in the middle, but the emotional payoff and high-stakes ending made it worth it.
Overall, this is a compelling, atmospheric YA romance with enough suspense and emotional intensity to hook readers from beginning to end. A solid 4-star read for anyone craving supernatural romance with deadly consequences.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review.
This story starts off with our FMC, Rose, getting in a near death accident, where she is then saved by a handsome stranger. The problem is, only she saw this mysterious stranger and no one else believes he was there.
Fast forward years later and she's headed to college for a fresh start. The last thing she expected was to see this handsome stranger at her new college!
This book was such a fun read. I finished it in one sitting because I was completely unable to put it down; I just had to know what happened next. Although the ending was a bit predictable, it was still an enjoyable ride that kept me hooked!
Our FMC, Rose, is a loner wolf that many will be able to connect with- troubled past, nightmares, the want for friends.
And our MMC, dark and broody Hayden. Absolutely love.
Im rating this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 stars. Rounded up to 5.
Recommended for fans of Twilight (if you were an Edward girly).
This story starts off with our FMC, Rose, getting in a near death accident, where she is then saved by a handsome stranger. The problem is, only she saw this mysterious stranger and no one else believes he was there.
Fast forward years later and she's headed to college for a fresh start. The last thing she expected was to see this handsome stranger at her new college!
This book was such a fun read. I finished it in one sitting because I was completely unable to put it down; I just had to know what happened next. Although the ending was a bit predictable, it was still an enjoyable ride that kept me hooked!
Our FMC, Rose, is a loner wolf that many will be able to connect with- troubled past, nightmares, the want for friends.
And our MMC, dark and broody Hayden. Absolutely love.
Im rating this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 stars. Rounded up to 5.
Recommended for fans of Twilight (if you were an Edward girly).
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Roses & Ruin is a good paranormal romance that will give you Twighlight flashbacks in all of the good ways. Rose almost died by being hit by a car one night except she was saved by a handsome boy that disappeared immediately after. No one believes Rose, so to escape, she has moved all the way across country to attend college. While there she keeps seeing the boy, Hayden, at various times, but he is very standoffish. When she finally gets Hayden to open up, Rose learns more about herself, the nightmares she has had her whole life, and why Hayden has been so distant. What follows is a series of twists, turns, and suprises.
I sped through the book in one sitting and enjoyed every minute of it. The chemistry between Rose and Hayden was great and kept me wanting more. While the book is labeled YA and recommended for ages 16 and up, I will not be able to have it in my high school library due to the explicitness of the sex scenes. Other than that, it would be a great book for my students.
I sped through the book in one sitting and enjoyed every minute of it. The chemistry between Rose and Hayden was great and kept me wanting more. While the book is labeled YA and recommended for ages 16 and up, I will not be able to have it in my high school library due to the explicitness of the sex scenes. Other than that, it would be a great book for my students.
Read
May 18, 2026I'm on the fence about this book.
from the pages of the library | Pillowfort | Bookbub | LibraryThing | The Story Graph | livejournal | Litsy | Booksprouts
Thank you, Netgally, the author, and the publisher for the chance to read this novel.
from the pages of the library | Pillowfort | Bookbub | LibraryThing | The Story Graph | livejournal | Litsy | Booksprouts
Thank you, Netgally, the author, and the publisher for the chance to read this novel.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I should preface this by saying I may not be the targeted age for this book, I do read and love many YA novels. That being said, this one was not for me.
I didn't feel ANY chemistry between our FMC and MMC. It was almost as if we were just supposed to take the authors word for it. It jumped from mysterious man saves me to I'm in love with him even though we've said 6 words to each other. It all felt very abrupt.
Even though this is a YA novel, the characters, especially the FMC, felt very juvenile and also unlikeable.
Unfortunately, this one was a miss for me.
Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.
I didn't feel ANY chemistry between our FMC and MMC. It was almost as if we were just supposed to take the authors word for it. It jumped from mysterious man saves me to I'm in love with him even though we've said 6 words to each other. It all felt very abrupt.
Even though this is a YA novel, the characters, especially the FMC, felt very juvenile and also unlikeable.
Unfortunately, this one was a miss for me.
Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This book does give some Twilightish vibes with the scene of her finding out Edward was a vampire. That was pretty much the only thing in this book that was kinda similar. I did find that the FMC POV was kind of confusing and hard to follow at first. The pace of the story bored me to the point I wanted to DNF . I did enjoy the book more towards the end and that's when I started to feel some emotions the author was trying to portray with these characters. This book was OK like I say the ending great .
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thanks to NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I’d give it a 3.5 for the end. It was very slow to start and took quite a bit of time to get my full attention. There was a lot of repetition and so many comments about his eyes. It’s a not much more than a Twilight reinvention - complete with a broody, mysterious teen saving the loner, young teen girl from an almost car accident right off the bat. I felt like it took a little too long to get to the meat of the story, but when it did, it managed a few good twists.
I’d give it a 3.5 for the end. It was very slow to start and took quite a bit of time to get my full attention. There was a lot of repetition and so many comments about his eyes. It’s a not much more than a Twilight reinvention - complete with a broody, mysterious teen saving the loner, young teen girl from an almost car accident right off the bat. I felt like it took a little too long to get to the meat of the story, but when it did, it managed a few good twists.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I want to thank netgalley and @penquinkids for the ARC!
Roses and Ruin 🌹
@hazelcross
Mysterious, loving and a page turner.
I enjoyed this, took me back to my Edward Cullen days, lol. This was super fast read, and some parts had me giggling others had me flipping pages for a need to know what will happen next. The ending was a little predictable, but it's what I would have wanted to happen. I would absolutely recommend this book.
Roses and Ruin 🌹
@hazelcross
Mysterious, loving and a page turner.
I enjoyed this, took me back to my Edward Cullen days, lol. This was super fast read, and some parts had me giggling others had me flipping pages for a need to know what will happen next. The ending was a little predictable, but it's what I would have wanted to happen. I would absolutely recommend this book.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
3.5 stars rounded up.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews