Blood Rose Rebellion

Blood Rose Rebellion #1

by Rosalyn Eves

In a world where social prestige derives from a trifecta of blood, money, and magic, one girl has the ability to break the spell that holds the social order in place.

Sixteen-year-old Anna Arden is barred from society by a defect of blood. Though her family is part of the Luminate, powerful users of magic, she is Barren, unable to perform the simplest spells. Anna would do anything to belong. But her fate takes another course when, after inadvertently breaking her sister’s debutante spell—an important chance for a highborn young woman to show her prowess with magic—Anna finds herself exiled to her family’s once powerful but now crumbling native Hungary.

Her life might well be over.

In Hungary, Anna discovers that nothing is quite as it seems. Not the people around her, from her aloof cousin Noémi to the fierce and handsome Romani Gábor. Not the society she’s known all her life, for discontent with the Luminate is sweeping the land. And not her lack of magic. Isolated from the only world she cares about, Anna still can’t seem to stop herself from breaking spells.

As rebellion spreads across the region, Anna’s unique ability becomes the catalyst everyone is seeking. In the company of nobles, revolutionaries, and Romanies, Anna must choose: deny her unique power and cling to the life she’s always wanted, or embrace her ability and change that world forever.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Historical, Romance, Magic, Young Adult Fantasy

416 pages, Hardcover

First published March 28, 2017

About the author

Rosalyn Eves grew up in the Rocky Mountains, dividing her time between reading books and bossing her siblings into performing her dramatic scripts. As an adult, the telling and reading of stories is still one of her favorite things to do. When she's not reading or writing, she enjoys spending time with her chemistry professor husband and three children, watching British period pieces, or hiking through the splendid landscape of southern Utah, where she lives. She dislikes housework on principle.

She is the author of the BLOOD ROSE REBELLION trilogy, BEYOND THE MAPPED STARS, and AN IMPROBABLE SEASON

Review policy: I only review books that I enjoyed and would recommend to others (hence the predominance of 4-5 star reviews).

Reviews

[Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies · Rating 1 out of 5]

“I ruined my sister’s debut. I spoiled her illusions. And I kissed the man she’d hoped to marry.”

Oh my god this book is so awful and silly. Before like a third of the book, the main character has already kissed three different guys.

You think I'm exaggerating? I'm not.

Kiss No. 1: I was absurdly aware of how close his mouth was to mine, of the fluttering of my pulse in my throat, of the cold stars overhead. My eyes slid shut. Freddy bent his head and laid a kiss like a prayer on my mouth.

With Freddy, back in good ol' England. A nobleman who kissed not only our MC, Anna, but her sister, Catherine. Charming.

Kiss No. 2: I froze. I did not want Mátyás to kiss me.
A tiny bloom of excitement unfurled in my stomach. Did I?

With Matyas, her kind-of-cousin. The cousin thing doesn't bother me as much as the love-triangle-square-hexagon-whatever.

Kiss No. 3: Gábor took two steps toward me, crushed me to his chest—and kissed me. Hard.

Random-ass Gypsy boy whom she's met like twice.

But first things first. The premise, a Victorian-era setting in which magic is openly practice and valued by the nobles of society, is kind of interesting. Our MC is what Harry Potter readers would call a squib that is, she is born to magical parents but she's useless with magic. She's also useless, but let's leave that for later. She ruins her sister's magical coming-out ceremony (the blurb said she did it inadvertently - not true) and gets banished to Hungary where she kisses a lot of boys and something blah creatures blah blah magical revolution. *shrugs*

I didn't like the MC right off the bat. Ok, so she's not got magic, but she did deliberately spoil her sister's coming-out, a ceremony where her sister - who is brilliant at magic, mind you - will get the chance to show her powers in a display that could determine the rest of her life. She kisses her sister's sorta-suitor, and before that, she pretty much disabled her brother. Wah wah boo fucking hoo it's not really her fault, she was just born with it.

Maybe it's fucking Maybelline.

The MC is insufferable. She is utterly self-centered and all she thinks about is boys.

My breath caught, and I waited—half hoping, half fearing—for him to take the steps that would close the distance between us.

I wanted…What did I want? I did not want this strangely proud young man to kiss me. I could not want that. I wanted magic. I wanted James to be whole. I did not want the dizzy rush and heat of kissing. I did not want another Freddy.

Then why was I so out of reason disappointed when Gábor halted?

The romance is just so cliché; noblewoman and Gypsy boy. At one point, Gabor refers to what she's doing as "slumming" and I can't really blame him. Their romance is out of place. The Gypsy boy is such a stereotype too, gruff, rude, sneering and huffing and puffing until HIS LOVE FOR HER BREAKS THROUGH HIS BARRIER yet she stil lurves him. Fucking gag me.

...here I first saw Gábor. And there he kissed me—an angry, derisive kiss that had made me hate him until, unexpectedly, I hadn’t.

The book is a mess of an infodump. The premise is interesting, admittedly, but then the book moved to Hungary, and it just felt forced and confusing. Stick to one area.

The relationships in the book are not well-written. I'm not referring to the romance, but to the female friendships. To be frank, there is very little, almost every single female in the book is portrayed poorly, from her sister to her mom to her cousin. Some relationships improved, but it does nothing to dissuade me of the fact that the book is trying to push poor wittle Anna as a special snowflake compared to the other women in the book.

I recoiled from following Noémi as she played Lady Bountiful, dispensing unwanted advice to the poor. I’d seen how our tenants looked at Mama, their expressions of gratitude just masking resentment.

There is a theme of revolution in the book, but it is unconvincing and confusing; it tried to do too much with too much, if that makes any sense. It was a clusterfuck of a plot.

[Melanie (meltotheany) · Rating 1 out of 5]

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Repetitive info dumps, left field plot twists, and uncomfortable cousin kissing. Yeah, this book was a chore to read, to say the least, and it is easily the worst book I've read so far in 2017.

“Has no one told you, child, not to wander in unfamiliar woods? Have you not read your fairy tales?”

This is a historical fantasy novel, set in 19th century Hungary, with some Hungarian folklore. The author actually places real people from Hungarian history in her story, too, so I'll give her a little credit for a unique setting, but it didn't help the actual enjoyment of this book.

I think it is important to note that I am not Hungarian, but Lex's review is very important in terms of accurate representation, and is just amazing in general. If you are questioning the authenticity on certain elements of this book, her review is a must read.

At this point I feel like all the "new" YA fantasy is just the same. You can take your pick, if you've read one you've read them all, but Blood Rose Rebellion still feels a little worse for some reason, even with the more unique setting.

I didn't care about any of the characters, I felt no chemistry for any relationship, and I never believed in any of the friendships. This book reads cold and stoic.

The basic storyline is that our main protagonist, Anna, lives in a society where your worth is dependent on your magical ability. The trick of this statement is a powerful society, the Luminate, which her family is a part of, announce whether children have magical abilities or not.

Anna is deemed barren, yet everyone else's spells seem to break or backfire around her. After she ruins her sister's magical debutante party, and while doing so because they both have a crush on the same boy, the Luminates become much more interested in Anna.

After an offer to go to Hungary with her grandmother, Anna's parents force her to go in hopes that it will clear her sister's good name, so she can be married off like a proper lady, and that Anna can escape the radar of the Luminates. So off to Hungary Anna and her grandmother go.

And this wouldn't be a historical fiction novel if the highborn lady didn't fall in love with a G*psy boy. So in Hungary, a weird sort of love triangle ensues, with sexual tension involving Anna's third cousin, along the "meat" of the story, which will be information dumping alongside mixed messages to confuse you constantly.

The author will then throw in twists to try to rationalize the story along. Then tragedy will strike to pull at your heartstrings, but the story has been so convoluted for so long that you won't even care who lives or who dies, you'll just want it to be over.

“I did not want to be remembered. I had only wanted to be loved.”

I'm sorry, I really am, but this book was one of the books I knew I should have DNFed, but I hate DNFing ARCs so here we are. Again, I never want to turn people away from trying a book, so I hope if you give this book a try that you will feel differently than I did.



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[Kaylin (The Re-Read Queen) · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 Star

Overall:



I’m super impressed I managed to finish. This book and I weren’t getting along from page one, but I refuse to DNF 3 different review books in one week, so here we are. This was a lesson in perseverance and I feel I succeeded. Go me.

…but that might be the only good thing I have to say about this book??

This story revolves around Anna, a girl who is “barren” in an alternate version of 1850s Hungary with a complicated magical system. 'Barren' in this context is supposed to mean that she has no magic, but it really means she bemoans her lack of magic constantly.

In this world, only the elite (known as the Luminate society) are able to utilize magic through a ritual preformed on children called ‘The Binding.’ Only The Binding isn’t as much a ritual as some fantastical spell that Charlemagne cast that takes place in a different dimension.

Confused yet?

Pros:

In all honesty, this magic system seems really cool. The first few chapters illustrate a compelling setting, both otherworldly and grounded in realism. All the little details only added to this system and made me want to learn more about it, especially ‘soul marks.’ Which appear to be outward signs of someone’s magic. They wear them around their throats and everyone chooses one they feel matches their soul, I think?

Cons:

Look, I don’t ever set out to hate a book. Especially not a review book I received an ARC of this through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, and I am very thankful to Knopf Books for the opportunity. But I did say honest review.

I’m not exaggerating when I say about 1/3 of this book is info dumps. There’s info dumps about the magic system. Info dumps about the family dynamic. Info dumps about Hungary’s history. Info dumps about ‘gypsy culture.’ Info dumps about the history of the magic and how it played into Hungary’s history and the gypsy culture. Just paragraphs after paragraphs of dry information and it was exhausting.

My biggest problem is it couldn’t make up it’s mind. There’s no real plot. Instead, a bunch of random events occur in some semblance of order. The first 20% set up for an entirely different story—spending time with Anna and her family, Anna’s relationship with Freddie and showing how Anna longs to find her place in this home. But then it changes rapidly and Anna leaves.

It turns into Anna exploring the culture around her and her family. Then something about her wanting to learn “gypsy” magic. But then somehow that turns into her wanting save someone’s baby? But we didn’t even know about this pregnant chick until suddenly it was an issue? Then it turns into Anna not having magic but still someone being ‘special’ and wanting to take down the whole system?

It just zig-zagged everywhere. There was no cohesive story. No real motivations for the characters, and certainly nothing for me to root for. But I couldn’t exactly root for anyone or anything when I spent so much time trying to understand what was going on.

The characters were all so flat. Anna’s only defining characteristic is that she has no magic, and I only remember this because she constantly talks about it.

I was really excited about this setting, because I don’t often read anything that takes place in Hungary—especially not fantasy! But there’s no real sense of setting? The characters just toss around a few words in Hungarian (which I’ve been informed were mostly translated wrong) and thats it? There was a rehashing of history, but literally no atmosphere otherwise.

This reads like someone pulled out their SAT study-guide and wanted to use all the vocab words. The sentences are choppy and filled with needlessly large words that don’t fit the overall simplistic tone. For instance, within one page all of the below words appear:
- Artifice
- Resplendent
- Aslant
- Coronet
- Quixotic


Also, Anna makes out with her cousin at some point. It’s never relevant to the plot or really addressed… but yep. It happens.

In Conclusion:

[Nastassja · Rating 2 out of 5]

*I received this ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Actual rating: 2.5 stars

*Before starting this book, I would highly recommend to familiarize yourself with the glossary in the end of the book, so you could properly read and understand Hungarian names and definitions.*

◆ The first and foremost merit of this book is its setting: 19th century Hungary. This novel is partly a historical fiction/alternative history and partly displays the real revolution that took place in Hungary in 1848. I highly appreciated the East Europe image and believe we need more of such settings in YA genre.

◆ Slavic mythology: Rusalka (mermaid), fene (evil spirits), lidérc (succubus-like creature with goose feet) - fearful and alluring, they absolutely fascinated me in the story. I admit I am quite illiterate when it comes to Hungarian mythology and, though, some of these creature were well-known to me thanks to shared Slavic heritage with Russia, I still didn't recognized half of them, but after this book I want to know more! That's why I think we need more of such novels to acquaint readers and unveil these fascinating creatures to us.

◆ I enjoyed the concept of the book where Luminate society controls all magic with the help of a special binding ritual that allows only the chosen ones to use magic. My first reaction when I heard Luminate was something like: These guys are evil or these guys are evil! But surprisingly the guys weren't as evil as I imagined them to be. I like that there's gray areas and not everything is as obvious as it seems.

◆ Alas, I didn't enjoy the characters one bit. MC Anna Arden is your typical teenager with cliche thoughts of kissing every boy she meets and falling in love with them, for that matter. And, yes, she kissed almost every boy she met: like 20% in and she already had kissed 3 boys and felt deeply passionate about every one of them. Now, kiss as many boys as you wish, but, please, don't make me feel like you are going to fall for those aforementioned boys every time you kiss them. It didn't help that Anna is also your typical special-snowflake with powers only she has. Moreover, almost every other female compared to her is a shallow brat. Her mother treats her terribly; her sister is a damn wretch, whose favorite leisure is to steal Anna's boyfriends and remind her every five minutes how un-special she is, therefore underlining how actually special Anna is.

◆ Info-dump was dumped on us (sorry for the pun) every few chapters in giant doses that made we yawn constantly and mostly miss the lengthy explanations. I finished the book and I vaguely remember who controls what and why, which kinds of magic there is and why and ect. I wish the information was inserted in the story more subtly, because I did really find the whole book's concept intriguing. Alas, it didn't hold my attention the way I wished it would.

◆ Insta-love appeared after Anna, at last, tasted all the boys she could put her lips on, and one of those boys was deemed worthy of her deepest affection. Did I care about the said boy or his lips? No. Do I feel sorry I hadn't? Yes, because the aforementioned boy is a Gypsy or Romani is a more accurate word used in the novel. I love books and movies about Romani culture. There's something mysterious and fascinating about these nomadic people and their way of life. Plus, throughout the history we know how terrible the world treated them and still treats in some places, so, of course, I wanted to sympathize with Gábor and his people. But unfortunately his character was a total cliche, a supporting male character whose only purpose is to kiss the heroine and make big moon eyes at her.

◆ Most of the book nothing was really happening. As I mentioned before, one of the main themes of the story - revolution. There were preparations and talks about the said revolution, but it lacked the fire needed to make readers sympathize with the cause. In the last quarter of the book things moved forward, but it was too late for me to feel them. I guess this book could be compared to Les Miserables, but only vaguely. And there's definitely nothing from Uprooted - another book Blood Rose Rebellion is compared with; nothing but the said Slavic mythology, but in that case this book could be compared to any other Slavic-centered novel.

◆◆◆I wanted to love and enjoy Blood Rose Rebellion with my whole heart, but I only got snippets of the desired joy. On the plus side, this book was light and easy to read; I enjoyed the language, and the myth part was the best. Alas, it was not enough for the whole story to shine. I will read book 2, because it is a debut novel and second time around things might improve and develop for the better. I would also recommend this book if you are looking for a fresh East Europe settings and fascinating mythology.

[Simona B · Rating 2 out of 5]

*I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

~ Review posted on March 14th ~ Release date March 28th ~

“A spark of indignation lit me, warming me in the evening air. How dare this Gypsy accuse me of being unclean?”

•Blood Rose Rebellion was one of my most anticipated reads of 2017, because, let us be honest, you can’t really dangle a YA fantasy with such a unique setting in front of me and expect me not to drool. I did drool over it, I did yearn for it, and I unexpectedly did get an ARC of it. Imagine my joy: huge, shiny, happy thing.
And now imagine that joy being shattered when I finally admitted to myself, when I was a little more than a quarter into the book, that I wasn’t enjoying it at all.

•Blood Rose Rebellion is one of the slowest books I’ve ever read. Slow-paced novels usually are not a problem for me; strangely enough, I seem to enjoy them best that action-packed ones. The thing with this kind of books, however, is that for them to keep you hooked in spite of everything, the author must be very skilled and his storytelling nearly flawlessly compelling, and Rosalyn Eves’s, I’m afraid, is not. The novel is written in first person, and Anna’s voice (the MC) feels dry and bland more often than not. Which, as you can guess, was no incentive for me to care for her or any of the characters or even what was happening.

•And speaking of Anna, I found her as annoying as they come. I usually don’t say this in such a concise manner, not even of fictional characters, but this is what it is: Anna is dumb. She keeps doing dumb thing after dumb thing and is surprised when the consequences of her actions fall on her. Surprise, surprise, my lady, welcome to real life. Especially at the beginning, moreover, she’s dreadfully full of prejudice and bias, even though (and she herself admits as much) she should know better, since she’s been looked down on by everyone for her entire life. It was really hard to put up with her.

•Like any decent YA protagonist, Anna must have her flock of suitors too. The romance is naïve and completely unnecessary, and again, it only bothered me. Plus, it felt insta-lovish even though supposedly Anna and Favorite Suitor do spend much time together –which still doesn’t justify her sudden and unwarranted infatuation. It didn’t help that all her suitors are as bland as her; generally speaking, all of the characters lack edge, and it’s not easy to care for them.

•The one true strength of this book is its unique setting, 19th-century Hungary. The author clearly put a lot of work in her historical research and in the study of Slavic folklore, and I think much could have been born of these two elements alone. For me, sadly, this set the stage for greater disappointment: I’m physically itching at the thought of all the potential gone to waste here.

➽ In a nutshell, I was as excited for Blood Rose Rebellion as now I am sad to say that it proved to be nothing more than your perfectly average YA fantasy, and more boring than most at that. The characters are bland, the world-building had potential but didn't fully explore it; the one true merit it has is its setting, absolutely unique, even though I wasn't able to enjoy it properly given that the story failed to pick, let alone hold, my interest.
I still am unsure whether I’ll give the next instalment a chance; I guess we’ll see.

[Lex · Rating 1 out of 5]

*I received this book from a publisher in exchange for a review.*

I was excited to read this book because it takes place in Hungary and I’m Hungarian. It’s always good to see when a foreign author chooses my country to their book. But…



I appreciate that she tried (!!!) to use my language because it’s a hard one. It’s one of a kind. So we really appreciate when somebody tries to speak it. BUT!



It is one thing when somebody can’t pronounce the words correctly; it’s totally okay and understandable. But in writing, I can’t forgive for the mistakes. There is a thing called internet and there are a lot of translator sites and she didn’t have to do anything else just press Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V. I think it’s very simple, right?
Then why are these words spelled incorrectly?
Hajra and Haijra instead of Hajrá; szivem instead of szívem; cúkor instead of cukor; csardás instead of csárdás; kócsma instead of kocsma, etc.
And there is a sentence (Ne szólalj meg! – Don’t speak!) which is grammatically correct but we don’t say it like that. We say ‘Hallgass!’. That’s why a proofreader should have looked over the text. But it’s still not late because it’s not out yet.

So one good advice for people who want to learn some Hungarian words: DON’T TRY TO LEARN THEM FROM THIS BOOK! Kérlek! (Please!)

And it’s not over! Because she didn't just write some words incorrectly, she misspelled names and yeah, some facts weren’t correct either.

Names: Karóly instead of Károly, Maria instead of Mária (because if Anna’s mother is Hungarian then the latter one is the correct), Rokús hospital instead of Rókus hospital, Tában instead of Tabán (the interesting thing is that she wrote it correctly sometimes), Eszterházy instead of Esterházy (the palace is Esterházy, the settlement is Eszterháza, the family name can be written both ways, but mostly I see it written as Esterházy), etc.

As for the facts:
- “Prince Miklós—János’ great-uncle—built it eighty years ago to rival Versailles. People believed he was crazy, pouring his money into a swampland.” It’s incorrect because there was already a small aristocratic residence there and he used those buildings when he built the palace.
- I've never heard that we Hungarians drink coffee with milk and honey. With milk and sugar, yeah. Or with sugar and whipped cream. Or simply black. So it’s totally incorrect.
- Kerepesi Street was mentioned once. The problem is that the street became ‘Kerepesi út’ in 1874, before that it was written in German: Kerepescher Strasse. (And now it’s called ‘Rákóczi út’, btw.)
- Anna received Jane Eyre from his brother sometime. The point is that she mentions the book at the end of October 1847. The book was published 16 October 1847. So she received it from England and read it until the end of October. I mean, I don’t know how fast the post was at that time but I highly doubt that this fast. And when did she have the time to read a book?
- And the worst thing! The author mentions the first strophe of the ‘Nemzeti dal’ which Petőfi wrote on 13 March 1848. She mentioned it in October 1847. It’s just...



---------------------------------------

So after all these frustrating things, let’s see what I think about the other parts of the book.

The idea is interesting and really great and the atmosphere is good too. But sadly, the writing is not so good.

I feel that the whole plot isn’t enough serious, it’s jumbled; there are a lot of indecisions in it which is very annoying. I simply think that it isn’t well thought out.

The whole Circle is a JOKE. They are saying that people can’t do this and can’t do that but most of the time it’s just blether, there’s no retribution. And the best thing is that two members of the Circle visit Anna, and one of them wants to keep the Binding safe, the other one wants to break it. They are from the same institution! What a f*cked up system is this? And how can it still operate with this kind of dissension?

And I find it weird that the revolution started in October 1847 according to the book, but the actual revolution started on 15 March 1848. I mean if she chose this whole revolution thing to rewrite with magic elements than she should be true to the actual events. Because what’s amazing in a rewritten historical event is that you can see another explanation of the happenings (and the outcome can be different because then the whole idea is pointless, I think). I mean, I think this is the main purpose of a story such as this. But maybe I'm wrong, after all I usually don't read such books.

Most of the characters aren’t well developed. They are just there. Others are okay for a YA book. I think Anna is very childish, gullible, and a very indecisive girl, so she annoyed me very much. And I noticed that it’s impossible to follow the characters’ train of thoughts. E.g. Anna’s grandma is against the breaking of the Binding but then suddenly she totally trusts in Anna’s decision.

There were some bloopers too. E.g. The author mentioned that Herr Stroffmeyer watched Anna for weeks after an incident, but after that it wasn’t mentioned by the girl that how weird it is that he is watching her all the time. And then there was the thing with the mounting. Anna once mentioned that she can’t mount her horse if there’s no help, and then in another scene she just dose it. Funny. And this: “Each day that trickled away was one day less we had to…” Some pages before it the author wrote that the "event" will begin tomorrow, so they had only one day. What days is she talking about?

I give it 1,5 stars with total calmness. It doesn’t deserve any better. It pissed me off so much.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fans of Patricia C. Wrede's SORCERY AND CECELIA and Alyxandra Harvey's LOVEGROVE LEGACY rejoice! For lo, there is an exciting new entry in the historical fantasy genre! And it has everything you could want: magic! Romance! Scandal! Adventure! Ballgowns!

And not only do we have a proper Victorian miss with a legacy of magic, but we have the magic and folklore of Hungary, and the intrigue of the Austro-Hungarian Empire shortly before the outbreak of WWI. So there's a lot going on, and all of it fascinating!

[Jaime (Two Chicks on Books) · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful magical story! I fell in love with Anna, Gabor, Noemi, Matyas, and Eben Hunger! And I loved the world especially when we finally got to Hungary! I can't wait for book 2!!!

[Cesar (Inactive) · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 star

*sigh*

Thank God I'm done with this piece of trash.



When I first heard about this book, I thought it sounded interesting. I never read a book where it took place in Hungary. So I marked as to-read.

Then the reviews started to come in and I was concerned for a while. I tried to keep an open mind about it because I thought I might find something good in the book. And my dumbass bought the book (I had a coupon) and here I am now, looking back at the time I wasted reading this crappy book. And boi, do I have a lot to say.



Come on board the Pain Train and see what I had to go through. Choo-choo!



It's rare that I find a book that I absolutely hate. Most of the time, if there's a book that I didn't like but had some good things in it, I give it a 2 star. I rarely give a book 1 star. The only times I gave them was for I Crawl Through It by A.S. King and the two novellas from the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard.

Well, ladies and gentleman and beyond, Blood Rose Rebellion is a massive 1-star book.
THIS IS BY FAR, THE WORST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ!

I am not exaggerating when I say this was a bad book. Bad wouldn't even begin to describe it. There are so many things wrong with this book that it gave me a headache. Yes. I got a headache reading this.

I suffered so you all wouldn't have to. I deserve a medal.

Dwayne Johnson could punch me in the face and it would hurt less than what I had to go through reading Blood Rose Rebellion.

Blood Rose Rebellion is set in the 1840s where magic exists and only powerful families are able to have access to it. Anna, our protagonist, is Barren, someone who doesn't have magic. But for some reason, whenever someone is doing a spell, the magic breaks when Anna is nearby and no one knows why this happens.

One day, Anna "accidentally" ruins her sister's debut. The debut was to help Anna's sister get accepted into the Luminate, a powerful group of magic users. After Anna ruins the debut, she is sent with a maid and her grandmother to go to Hungary until the gossip dies down. When she gets there, there's talk of a rebellion, people wanting to break the Binding and let the people have magic instead of only the upper elites. Anna is torn between choosing to do the right thing and potentially having a role in a rebellion.

Now, this does sound interesting the moment you read it. You got historical fiction with magic, learning about a new culture, and a rebellion. Sounds good, right?



There is nothing good about this book. NOTHING! Literally, hardly anything happens in this book and it's about as interesting as watching grass die and paint dry. You got bland characters with a plot that isn't going anywhere and a rebellion that doesn't make sense.

I'll start off with the one interesting thing about this book: The magic.

I'll admit, I was intrigued by the magic. Mainly with how it's distributed and the types of magic there are. Then there's the Binding, a spell that keeps magic together and traps evil things behind it. There's also the Slavic myth involved which I thought was good.

And That's about it for the good things in the book.

Onto the negatives!

Anna
There is nothing interesting about Anna whatsoever. She is your typical YA Special Snowflake cliche that wants to suck face with every boy she meets. She didn't stand out as a character either. For the most part, she was just static, never gaining any character development and was just plain boring. She is selfish and doesn't even care that she ruined her sister's debut. She says she "accidentally" ruined the debut, but if you look in-between the lines, it's painfully obvious that she intended to ruin her sister's debut. Anna is self-centered, whiny, bratty and plain annoying.

There's also the fact that she kissed 3 boys. Yes, you heard me. Not 1, not 2, but 3 boys!

(4 if you count a demon who is hot and bothered for Anna.)



Did I mention one of them is a distant cousin?



I hated Anna a lot. Mare from the Red Queen series is more interesting than her, and I hate Mare!

Plot (or lack of)
There is no plot. There is, but it's all over the place it's hard to keep track of what in the hell is going on. One minute the characters are talking about magic, the next rebellion, soon after talking with Romani people, then going to a different dimension, more talks of rebellion, more magic, talking with family and so on and so on and so on to the point where it gets confusing. And most of the time NOTHING happens. It's just all talk but no play.

Info-Dump
Be warned, there is a lot of info dumping in here. I don't mind information so long as it gives a clear understanding of the world and it doesn't get in the way of the plot. But the majority of the first half of the book is nothing but info-dump. It got to the point where I didn't even care about the world and the magic.

Insta-Love Galore
Anna has kissed 3 boys in the span of 200 pages and feels some sort of connection with them, nevermind the fact that she doesn't even know each one that well and one of them is a distant cousin.

Later, she claims she loves one of the boys and I just didn't care about it.

"I might even love you."



"The Rebellion"
This was the most pathetic excuse of a rebellion if I had ever seen one. There wasn't any talk of dismantling the elite or making plans. It was just all talk. Nothing exciting happens with the rebellion nor did it improve as the story progressed.

There were so many bad things in the book that I didn't even enjoy my time reading it. I skimmed read the last hundred pages just so I can finish it.

What upsets me the most is that the book had the potential to be something else. With magic, rebellion, and Slavic mythos, Blood Rose Rebellion could've been a great book. I'm not denying that Rosalyn Eves tried to come up with a unique world, but it fell flat and was boring and unimaginative, so sorry, I guess?

Verdict

This was a bad book. I'm not sugar-coating my opinions. This was a REALLY bad book. Boring characters, a plot that makes no sense, a pathetic rebellion, too much info-dumping and much, much more.

I definitely do not recommend getting this one. I just saved you from spending your money.

Thanks for reading my review!

-Cesar

[Erin Dunn · Rating 1 out of 5]

http://angelerin.blogspot.com/2017/04...

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a free ebook copy of Blood Rose Rebellion By: Rosalyn Eves in exchange for an honest review.

Guys, I can't believe I didn't like this one. Blood Rose Rebellion is a book that I was looking forward to so much, but I only made it to 20% and I had to DNF it. The summary sounded so promising, but to be honest I was bored silly! I couldn't connect to any of the characters or anything in the story.
#DNFAlert

Overall there just wasn't anything that captivated me. The cover is extremely gorgeous, but for me that is the only thing I liked about it. It wasn't for me at all and I couldn't finish reading it.
#GorgeousCoverThough

I can't personally recommend this one, but if it sounds good to you and you want to give it a try then go for it!
#NotForMe

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rosalyn Eves' storytelling will transport you to the Victorian Era, where Anna, born barren of magic, struggles to find her identity and place in a world ruled by a magical society. In a witty and engaging style, Rosalyn weaves together a rich historical fantasy that comes complete with power struggles, political unrest, competing love interests, and magical creatures. I truly cannot say enough wonderful things about this story (and I cannot wait for book two!).

[Minni Mouse · Rating 2 out of 5]

"I won a copy of this book in a giveaway!" soon turned into "Who wants this book? I'll send you my copy as long as you finish the book and write my review for me. Anybody? Anyone? Bueller?"

Note: all quotations are taken from an advanced copy of the book and might be subject to change upon final publication. They reveal no major plot nor character points.

I've heard this book compared to the likes of Les Misérables, Red Queen, The Lovegrove Legacy, and even The Grisha series. To that, I say this came closest to resembling the political plot of Les Misérables with the feel of A Breath of Frost and the dry writing of any of Maria V. Snyder's books.

THE GOOD
1) The potential! Historical fiction meets castes of magic. The Hungarian revolution in 1847. Cultural perspective on Hungarian Romani. So much potential for a fiercely intelligent portrayal of true events with a twist of magic and fantasy on the side...

2) I finished the book despite almost DNFing it.

THE BAD
This was one of -- if not the most -- blandest books I've read, which hopefully is just rookie mistakes from debut author Rosalyn Eves. I wish nothing but well wishes for the author's success but objectively speaking, the writing sorely lacked the personality and emotional connection that differentiates between textbook history and historical interpretation through the eyes of a fictional character. It didn't matter whether we were meeting important new characters, caught lurking unwanted in a Romani camp, or even thick in the middle of action and rebel fighting -- it was all narrated too matter-of-factly with the voice of a disconnected, detached outsider.

As we rose, the young woman rose with us. "Wait," she said, accompanying us toward the doorway. "I am Károlyi Karolina. You may call me Karolina. I very much admired your speech earlier, and I should like to know you better. May I call on you?"

[...]

At the end of an energetic discussion, Karolina sprang up. She had stayed nearly an hour, well past the quarter hour allotted to polite calls. I walked her down the to the entryway, where her maid waited.

Karolina kissed my cheek in farewell. "I was right," she said. "You are a dear. We shall be good friends

Listen, Karolina is not only a true historical figure but she's also a secondary character in the book...meaning it surprised me that there wasn't more of a distinct and realistic introduction both of her character and of her relationship to our main character, Anna. Instead, both her dialogue and supposed time spent with Anna is simply stated on paper with no lasting meaning behind why we should remember this character. This isn't merely a one-time occurrence on which I'm being critical, either -- it's a pattern throughout the book.

To my delight, my new friend, Karolina was at the café. While Gábor, William, and Mátyás joined Petőfi and the other students to debate accounts of the revolution in Italy, Karolin and I enjoyed a wide-ranging discussion involving the new play at the Hungarian national theater, the unexpected beauties at the Hanság, even fashion. When it came time to leave, I had successfully put aside the gnawing worry about the Binding, the swirling uncertainty of revolution.

That...was a wholly boring paragraph whose sole purpose in context of the story was merely to show the passage of time from afternoon to evening. Zzzzz... C'money, Ms. Eves -- get creative with your writing! Make each sentence and each paragraph crucial enough to intentionally move the reader one step closer to understanding either the characters or the plot.

If it seems I'm being unnecessarily critical with these simplistic examples of bland storytelling it's because you need to keep in mind that the entire book is written in this manner of stating facts and dialogue for the sole purpose of telling (not showing) the plot. Poison Study had similar straight-forward writing, but at least its plot was entertaining and tense enough to capture attention. Blood Rose Rebellion can't say the same. In fact, it made something that I'm sure could be exhiliratingly fascinating as the Hungarian revolution dry as straw.

This could have been fixed by truly telling the story from the fictional perspective of our main character, Anna. True, this is a first person narrative but Anna's narrative still reads like an all-knowing third person perspective without a personal interest at stake. Part of the intrigue, though, is not reading the story from an all-knowing narrative. Isn't it better to be feeling the same sense of fear and uncertainty as the main character? To feel the same apprehension as we tap our feet agitatedly against the side of a chair? To wipe our hands nervously on our pants just like Anna does as we're approaching danger?

THE VERDICT
Here's a showdown from The Rose & the Dagger:

Salim moved to sit across from Shahrzad, a tranquil elegance to each of his movements. His heavily embroidered mantle and his beautifully tailored garments were just as overwrought as his palace. Like a simpering cat recently fed on the richest cream, Salim smiled at Shahrzad, his perfect mustache sloping above his wolfish teeth.

And here's a supposed showdown from Blood Rose Rebellion:

"You betrayed us?"

"Not intentionally." But I had betrayed them all the same.

He was still for a moment. Then, "I am sorry about your cousin, and your friends. They are my friends too. I will do what I can for them. But you--you are treacherous. I want nothing to do with you."

He stalked from the room.

Zzzzzz... That interaction, by contrast, shows us nothing about the tension or suspense on behalf of the characters.

Blood Rose Rebellion read like a debut novel from an author whose primary focus was on sharing the historical facts of 1847 Hungary and the critical perspective of 19th century Gypsies. She has an author's note in the end that delves into the historical accuracy of her novel and resources one may use for more information. That's fantastic, Ms. Eves. Solid nod for your determination to share a true story. Next time, however, my recommendation is to include enough personality to make this historical fantasy your story.

Despite how ungrateful I must seem...my sincere and warmest thanks to Random House Children's Books for the free giveaway of this advanced copy. As is evidently apparent, this free copy did not sway my opinion or review of this book =)

[Celeste_pewter · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's pretty hard to impress me these days, but I was impressed with this book. Review to come.

[Tasha Seegmiller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning story telling, world building, magic - this book will let new readers fall in love with Hungary, history, and the multi-layered rebellion crafted around a girl trying to determine what her role is in the world.

[Cindy ✩☽♔ · Rating 1 out of 5]

*I received a free ARC copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

DNF 55%

Anyone who knows me, knows I am not one to give up easily. But I have come to learn that given how busy I am, I need to start learning to give up on books that do not bring me any pleasure. Sorry to say this is such a book.

From what I have read, I must say there was nothing special about this book. Honestly, it was more of poor YA Romance trying to disguise itself as YA Fantasy.

My issues with this:
1. Underexplained/underdeveloped magic plot
2. A girl who seemed more caught up in romance than magic
3. Three guys (at 50%) all of whom the main girl has gone a bit weak in the knees for *major eye-rolling*
4. Special snowflake syndrome! After thinking she is without skill or magic for most of her life, snowflake is suddenly discovered to have the most special powers ever *Headbanging*
5. A worldly, dangerous threat only our inexperienced, mostly untrained heroine can help defeat *sigh*
6. Repetition of the same conversation
7. Weak attempts to tie in feminist ideals
8. Weak supporting cast

Our main character barely had any depth. As such none of the other characters had any depth whatsoever, beyond being generic arch types. The idea of exploring Gypsy/Romani culture, which is so rarely done, was quite promising. Culturally, this could have been interesting. But of course, nothing of note was explored, at least not at this point.

Everyone and their brother seemed dead set on finding our heroine to either convince her to break an age-old powerful spell with no practice or to make sure she doesn't do exactly that.

Main character at around 50%: "I used to fear my power"

Me: You still should, considering you've made almost zero effort to learn how to control it. Honestly, it seems neither she nor anyone around her is the least bit interested in learning how exactly she managed to break the binding with essentially no practice. All they care about is getting her to use her powers again to break an even bigger, more dangerous spell. Like really?

That being said, I honestly never even felt the gravity of the situation because it was never explained or understood what would happen. I am assuming terrible, destructive things but at this point, I really do not care.

At 55% I still don't feel like anything really happened, so I figure it is time to walk away. Maybe one day I will care enough to give this another try. But probably not.

[JenacideByBibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: This ARC copy was sent to me by the publisher, Random House Children’s, via NetGalley for an honest review.

Opinion: As soon as I requested this book on Netgalley.com, I had my fingers crossed for DAYS in the hopes that I would be accepted to read and review it. After seeing quite a bit of hype about the release of this book on Goodreads and Bookstagram, I read the description and immediately felt the gut-wrenching yearning to get my hands on an ARC copy! Not only did I get that ARC copy, but I became absolutely enthralled as soon as I started reading.

In Anna Arden’s world, the high society figures referred to as Luminate wield magic and power. Anna, even though her family is of high society and nobility, was pronounced barren at her Confirmation at the age of eight. But one thing Anna can do is unintentionally break the spells that others cast, which is exactly what she does on the most important night for her sister. Without knowing what to do with her, Anna’s family sends her off to Hungary with her grandmother. In the hopes that Anna will return a proper and civilized lady, Anna sets off to a new life. But things in Hungary turn from bad to worse as a rebel tracks Anna down, begging her to use her ability to break spells to destroy the binding – which restricts the use of magic to only Luminate. Soon Anna finds herself stuck in the middle of a rebellion, unsure which side to stand with and against.

Sometimes with such a hyped up book, I worry that once I start reading I will lose interest or it won’t be as amazing as everyone claims. I can happily admit that this story turned out to be WONDERFUL! I loved the imagery that the author used, especially how she turned our world into a place with magic and strange creatures. The idea that Anna is barren and cannot wield magic like the rest of her family and fellow Luminate jumpstarts the quest for Anna to find out who or WHAT she is. The reader follows Anna through different countries where she meets people of different walks of life, and becomes entangled in wanting to assist the rebels in Hungary. Anna finds herself in a compromising position: help break the binding and let magic be free to anyone that possesses the ability, or to side with her fellow Luminate and let magic be “given” to nobility and those “deserving”.

I personally liked the character of Anna, but I felt that she lacked a bit of substance. I didn’t quite make a connection to her and to the emotions that the author was trying to portray…as a matter of fact, I don’t really recall making a strong connection with any of the characters. I felt curious about what might happen to them and hoped that they wouldn’t die, but I wasn’t too chocked up about it when some of them actually did die. The relationship between Anna and Gábor starts out cold and prickly but soon turns into the romance of this book. Because Anna is Luminate and Gábor is Romani (gypsy), their love is forbidden and would be frowned upon. I found it interesting that at the end of the story, their relationship suddenly doesn’t seem to be THAT forbidden. This felt rushed and thrown together to me. What will her parents say?? Where were they?

This story has a very unique blend of historical and fantastical elements. The characters do a lot of traveling in the world, which obviously brings the use of different languages. After Anna travels to Hungary, the language barriers start to rise. There is A LOT of words that get thrown around that most of us won’t be knowing, so it makes reading a little confusing. I was getting lost at times when Gábor would say “gadzhe” or when the names of a castle or town would be said. Little did I know that there was a glossary of the words and of Luminate orders in the back of the book… *sigh*.

Those tiny things aside, I loved this story and where the author took it. Though the ending felt a little rushed to me, I think that such an extravagant story is always going to be hard to wrap up into one book. I am VERY excited to read book 2 when it is released and to see where the author is going to take Anna. I really recommend this story to anyone that loves a YA story that involves fantasy and adventure!

[booknuts_ · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is quite a few things that goes in this books favor. 19th century setting, a touch of Salvic mythology, Eastern Europe, faulty society, oppressed people ready for rebellion, a coming of age character just to name a few.

So our main character is Anna and Anna drove me nuts! But to be fair to the character it makes a little sense since she is so young. I had a hard time connecting with her though. She started off so shallow, so immature, so love-sick, it was hard to connect and often times made me cringe. But you know? that's a lot of young teens anyway, right? maybe? anyway... I wasn't impressed and almost put the book down because I didn't care for her. She would be so silly and then all of a sudden have a little spirit and backbone just to turn silly again. boo.

But I did chug on and not sure what made me continue but I am glad I did.

I kept expecting more from the story. Most of the book nothing was really happening! I felt like we kept getting dragged with little drops of hints of an uprising and lame Anna was too lame to join in. I don't mind not sympathizing and not wanting to be involved which Anna didn't but she was a pansy about it.  However one of the main themes of the story is a revolution. So the story was a very slow progression towards this and just talk but no real action. There wasn't really any umph or fire that is needed to make readers sympathize with the story and this so called cause for rebellion. It was just lacking.

The romance was a killer at first and I was real nervous that I was going to hate this story because of it. It started off horrible and I couldn't STAND Anna in this area. She was beyond ridiculous but again the time period and her youth all make sense and so I can forgive her a bit for her ridiculousness. Insta-love was rampant and that is one thing I can't stand or if the author is good enough can have it and make it just right to keep me, the reader, invested in the characters and this aspect of the story. It wasn't until waaay later in the book that I was like...okay not bad but then found myself rolling my eyes again. Again, boo.

Overall I struggled with the story, it had SO MUCH potential but it took me forever to like the main character as it wasn't until close to the end that she really started to grow out of her immaturity and naivety. It wasn't until about 3/4 of the book that things really started to go for me and me to enjoy the story. The romance pretty much was a killer for most of the book. But I did enjoy the world building and all mentioned in the beginning of my review.

Sexual Content: mild
Language: mild/none
Violence: mild
Drugs/Alcohol: mild

*A HUGE thank you to Netgalley and Knopf Books for Young Readers for this ARC which I got in exchange for an honest review*

[Vic James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear your diaries for this one, because once you pick up BLOOD ROSE REBELLION you will NOT want to put it down. The intricacy and fine detail in Eves's world - an alternate nineteenth century England and Hungary - demand to be savoured.

The ingredients of the story tick all the right boxes for a thrilling YA read: a glamorous and ruthless magical elite, a resourceful and big-hearted heroine found lacking by her society, and an intelligent, brooding love interest. But what Eves does with them puts BRR into a different league. We have nationalist uprisings, and and explore the many different forms of authority and repression. Oh, and there's also a stunning magical parallel universe. Needless to say, worlds collide - explosively.

My only question at the end of BLOOD ROSE REBELLION is that the scope of what Eves has already set out is so vast, where on earth is she going to go with the next two volumes in this trilogy? I can't wait to find out!

[Jeff Giles · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an elegant, gripping start for a trilogy! I love the world Rosalyn Eves has made for us. "Blood Rose Rebellion" is set in the 19th century, and, like the best historical novels, it's so suffused with atmosphere and period detail that it feels like it was written then, too. Anna is a British girl who's been born into the aristocracy, which controls magic as if it were money. She SHOULD be able to cast spells. Instead, she has a weird, ungovernable ability to subvert other people's. When her family sends her to Hungary to stay with relatives, she falls in with revolutionaries who want her to help put an end to the upper classes' monopoly on magic. The intrigue and the romance are deftly woven together here, and Eves' use of folklore, history and language is just inspired. You can tell when an author is truly immersed in the world she's creating. Eves absolutely is—and she pulls us in with her in a matter of pages. Some other reviewers have noted how striking the cover is, and I totally agree. It's as iconic as the cover for Victoria Aveyard's "Red Queen," and it will drawn a legion of readers to an extraordinary book.

[~Bellegirl91~ · Rating 1 out of 5]

So after MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUUUUUCH consideration and as painful for me as this was to do, I did my first DNF. I have done very few of those YEARS ago BUT in the last 7 years or so of REALLY loving and finding book genres I actually enjoy, I've always read/finished those even if they did end up once in awhile a rare 2-3 stars. But this one I seriously could NOT get into this each time I picked it up and felt like I was forcing myself to read this every time! I hated it if I'm being honest here and so fetching sad I couldn't get into this because I had REALLY HIGH HOPES for this book and did want to finish it just cause but I couldn't bring myself to. So I needed to do my first (HOPEFULLY ONLY) DNF ever.

I noticed some did love this and I'm glad and applaud you all who did and those who didn't and rated it 1-2 stars......haha! I feel you all and I can see why. SO....here's my pet peeves and the reason I did NOT like this book. I got 35-36% into this. So one thing you need to know about me, I TRY SO HARD not to be too harsh at times but this book has gotten me reeling. Yes it has EXTREMELY mixed reviews and I WAS going to be nice and give this 2 stars at the beginning, but I'm sorry, I have to be BRUTALLY honest here and say how I really feel with this book and I'm leaving this as 1 star which I give out RARELY! My limit has always been at least 2 but I'm sorry, I have to go with my reading gut and say it's a 1 star for this girl.........


IT WAS NOT STRUCTURED ENOUGH FOR ME AND NOT MY FAVORITE WRITING STYLE

okay, so this story sounded pretty good and found it interesting and so I added it to my tbr list right? so I was happy I got this through netgalley and knew I had 7 (now 6) of those ARC's on my kindle but I decided to choose this and boy am I glad. because as the story started, it was good up until a group of this magic counsel called "the Circle" showed up and it felt like Mortal Instruments all over again.....only this time it's not Valentine and rogue shadowhunters it's this magic counsel government type group (more like the Clave of the Shadowhunter world) and it was WAAAAAY too weird for me in a way and wasn't at all original with the name of the group. As the story went on, it felt like she didn't know WHERE to go with the story, tried to "copy cat" other YA stories and intertwine them into her own version and tried too hard, and it randomly had these things and misfortunes happen to Anna: like her mom and sister mean and horrible to her and the only two people to really love her in her family was her Grandmama (just say grandmother....) and her dad and brother. then there's the weird cousin (or 2nd cousin?) love interest in her and as soon as he kissed her it was weird and ruined it. the characters were also not structured enough and I couldn't get into them ESPECIALLY when she tried to describe how "attractive" the guys were. I was NOT fangirling at all and if I'm not fangirling, I'm not liking it and I was DEFINITELY not liking it at all and a HUGE disappointment. I felt she was trying too hard on so many levels and it just wasn't cutting it for me and again felt like random things were happening and lacking MAJOR THINGS!!! like BIG TIME LACKING!!


for example......



Grandmama: (starts telling Anna a story) "it was long ago and far away, over forty-nine kingdoms, beyond the Operentsia Sea, beyond the glass mountains, and beyond that to a kingdom beneath a pearl sky."
Anna: (in first person mode) "She described a beautiful reed maiden, the king who loved her, and the wicked girl who trapped the king in marriage...."



Um......okay? WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?? SERIOUSLY? I mean, if you're going to do a story like that, actually MAKE UP A STORY if you have to instead of be all "it was long ago and far away.....blah blah blah" and then actually describe a story that sounded in a weird good way interesting......make a lesson or meaning out of it and actually have a story ON HAND to tell. DEFINITELY not structured and later on I was so done and caved and quit. I could go on but it seriously wasn't structured enough for me, the world building wasn't all that great, it was WAY too weird and she definitely tried too hard I'm sorry. Did I mention she's trying too hard?



HAD WAAAAY TOO MANY BIG VOCABULARY WORDS AND THE WEIRDEST PHRASES EVER!!

So I don't mind big flowery vocabulary words once in awhile but when it's a TON and almost every few pages like ones I have NEVER seen or know I'll NEVER see again, I'd see the definition on my kindle and as simple as the definition was, I'd say, "then why not say it that simple?" also some of these words seemed kinda random and felt they were in the weirdest sentences/phrases too after reading these definitions......a few examples of those words and weird phrases



ANNA (ALL IN FIRST PERSON)

"I ground my teeth in VEXATION, I should not have told him anything." (make it simple like "I ground my teeth in FRUSTRATION. Don't make easy simple words "complicated." I'm personally not a fan of that)

"He laid a kiss LIKE A PRAYER on my mouth... He DROPPED A KISS on the tip of my nose" (huh?)

(describing a headache): "A legion of dwarves were excavating my skull with tiny pickaxes." (*face palm* SERIOUSLY?)

*oh and my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE! just wait for this one. Even two of my friends cringed and made weird faces when I read this one to them*
"He smelled of sweat and sun and made me feel hot and cold together."












So to really sum up 36% of this book of how I really feel.....





I'M DEFINITELY AND MAJORLY CONFUSED!!! It also got me laughing at those phrases and weird moments like, "what the heck am I reading?"

So dare if you want to read this book when it comes out but I seriously could not finish this and I'm sorry but not sorry about being harsh but I need to let it out. I'm a sucker for trilogies of course BUT I'm not planning to read/finish these AT ALL. If you do end up reading this and love it then I'm happy for you because I personally came out disappointed. I have a feeling this will most likely get more mixed reviews........... so good luck to you all readers who pick this up hope you like it as much as I did and also if you didn't then I'll gladly and love to complain along with you! ha! (also when I saw 1 stars I felt TONS better cause I seriously wanted to rate this a 1 star the more I read this.....)

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anna Arden has always felt a bit left out from her family since she was born without the ability to use magic and the rest of her family are Luminate and very prominent in society. Anna however thought she had found her happiness with a young man but he would only see her in secret while ending up courting her sister.

Finding that her romance was not what she thought causes Anna to inadvertently break her sister's debutante spell which in turn gets Anna sent away to her family’s once powerful but now crumbling native Hungary. In Hungary, Anna discovers that there is quite a lot of discontent with the society of Luminate that Anna had known all of her life.

Blood Rose Rebellion is one of those books that was rather a toss up from one moment to the next as to whether I was enjoying reading it or not. Those that follow my reviews probably have noticed that I have a very low tolerance for a slow pace and with this one it was rather slow throughout so I would find myself getting a tad bored waiting for more to happen.

However, with that being said I also enjoyed this one even though it was a slower pace due to it being a mix of historical and fantasy. I thought the author did a good job giving this one the historical setting while making a fantasy story woven into that setting. I would probably have loved the book had it had a faster pace getting the magical use or in Anna's case her not being able to case spells but break them.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.wordpress....

[Francesgrace Ferland · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hero for the new millennium, Anna Arden is perfectly fleshed, palpably believable girl struggling with the unimaginable. In a world where the magical systems of surprisingly new and yet achingly familiar, Anna has a power no one else seems to: the power to destroy magic. Sent away from the land of her birth, she travels to Hungary and tumbles headfirst into political unrest, filled with scenes social injustice. Add a whole host of female characters, toss in a beautiful Romani boy just for spice, and you have a excellent tale that wanders from Young Adult to New Adult, navigating the blurred line between the genres with grace. Absolutely adored it. Might be my favorite book of 2017.

[✨faith✨trust✨pixiedust✨ Dead Account; Not Coming Back · Rating 4 out of 5]

I honestly don't understand why so many people hate this.

The Writing and Worldbuilding

I really liked the writing! It was very well done and worked both as a historical novel and a YA fantasy. I never really felt bored, even when little was happening. There were a few times when I was sort of confused as to what was happening, especially near the very end, but as a whole, I loved it.

I liked the themes, but they didn't really have the emotional impact they were obviously intended to. Same goes for some of the character moments. This was probably the biggest strike against this book: it just didn't give me any feels.

The world was pretty cool! Reminded me of The Infernal Devices quite a lot, but the alternate dimension aspects were definitely my favorite part. Low-key gave me Insidious vibes sometimes, if I'm being honest.

The Characters

Anna: A lot of people really hated the main character, but while I recognize that she's a spoiled brat, I actually liked her a lot. She felt like a real person and her motivations and shortcomings were believable and humanizing. She grows a lot as a person by the end.

Gábor: He was a great character and I liked how he didn't always agree with Anna. I wish I'd had more scenes with them just bonding; as it was, their romance kinda came from nothing.

Mátyás I really liked him! He was funny and a really great guy. (And for all the people flipping out about "cousin kissing", they're not closely related. They aren't direct cousins. And for the time, it wasn't even taboo in the slightest even if they were.)

Noémi: I honestly forgot about her a lot of the time. She held zero to no emotional impact for me, and did little for the plot. I did like her enough though.

Everyone else: This book had a big problem with tossing around names that had been mentioned like once and not reminding me who it was talking about. Sometimes I'd be entirely lost in a scene because I had no idea who anyone was. The characters I did recall, though, were all pretty okay. I didn't feel passionately about any of them, but I did like them well enough.

Conclusion

The epilogue intrigued me, so I might read the sequel, but as a whole, while I really liked the writing and the world, and even the characters to a degree, I'm not too interested in continuing the series, at least not any time soon. If this had been written any worse, it would probably have been a solid meh

[Wren (fablesandwren) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thanks for the ARC, NetGallery. You the man!
This is my opinion and my opinion only.



I hate when a book has a lot of potential and it falls flat. That's what happened here. The writing was good enough, the story was interesting, the setting was cool, the characters weren't likable but I didn't hate them either.. it honestly felt like a chore to get through. I got about half way and found myself thinking about the next book I was going to read. I can't do it.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elegant, engaging, transporting. BLOOD ROSE REBELLION felt like a magical postcard to another place and time, a gorgeous escape to a world of spells and romance. I loved spending time in Eves' world, and I'm looking forward to the next installment.

[Jodi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This YA fantasy takes place in an alternate 19th C world with magic, rebellion, nobles & revolutionaries in the Austro-Hungarian Empire – A captivating page-turner with beautiful, lyrical, transporative language.

[laur gluchie · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF ~ 30%

To the people who read this book all the way through, I applaud your patience and determination. The only reason why I didn’t DNF this at 10% was because my car broke down and while I was waiting for the mechanic to arrive, this was the only book I had in my car. Go fucking figure.

[Danielle (The Blonde Likes Books) · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 55%. Ugh this is only my 2nd ever DNF and I hate not finishing books but I've been trying to get through this for a month and I just can't do it. Reading shouldn't feel like this much of a chore.

I actually loved the beginning of the book and really enjoyed everything up until the point where Anna left home. Learning about the magic system and seeing it in use was super interesting to me and I was actually excited about the book. And then a third of the way in it totally changed directions and got really slow and really boring. I wasn't a fan of the writing and it felt difficult to read because of how flowery the author tried to make it. I was either rolling my eyes at the metaphors or re-reading passages to try and figure out what was going on. This was not the book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC of the book.

[Krysti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won’t post my full review for Rosalyn Eve’s INCREDIBLE debut novel to my blog until 02/28, but I have posted a book feature for now as well as a GoodReads review. Pease see links below. I will continue promoting this incredible book until it's release date. The following is the review I will be posting.

This book is PHENOMENAL. It blends history, fantasy, and Hungarian fairy tales and folklore in the most captivating of ways. The characters are wonderful, the plot is gripping, and the world is BEAUTIFUL. I was so looking forward to reading this book, and Rosalyn by far exceeded any expectations I had going in.

If you like YA Fantasy, if you like historical fiction, or if you like fairy tales, you will LOVE this book.


My Review: FIVE STARS
Prepare for a gush fest, because I ADORED this book. Rosalyn Eve's absolutely knocked it out of the park with her debut novel, which I'm thrilled to say is the first in what is planned to be a trilogy!

Rosalyn blended history and fantasy seamlessly throughout the novel. It is very apparent that she put an incredible amount of research into this novel. I had so much fun googling some of the historical characters and locations from this story as I read. I HIGHLY recommend doing that to everyone who reads this book, so you can get even more out of it.

The magic system in this book is really quite brilliant in and of itself, but what makes it truly captivating is the fact that the source of the magic has been seized by the Luminate elite and withheld from the common people. The underlying theme there is a perfect fit for the time period in which this book is written, but it will also resonate deeply with today's readers in our current social climate.

The characters were incredibly engaging. Though many of the obstacles Anna Arden faces in this book are directly related to her magic, they're written in a way that makes them very applicable to the real world problems that we all face. That goes a long way in helping the reader empathize with Anna, and the way she confronts her issues head-on makes her a character you'll root for from page 1.

Rosalyn has created an incredible cast of supporting characters that readers will absolutely fall in love with. They're diverse, complex, and so fascinating. I'm thrilled that there will be more books in this series, because I just couldn't get enough of them.

The way Rosalyn wove Hungarian folklore and fairy tales throughout this book was breathtaking. Those elements gave it a very authentic and enchanting tone that absolutely blew me away.

This book comes out one month from today (YAY!!!!), and I highly, HIGHLY recommend you get those preorders in. You do not want to miss this one.


Cover Rating: FIVE STARS
This cover is quite simply gorgeous. The shattered roses on the cover perfectly symbolize the way Anna Arden's abilities empower her to break the spells cast by others. I'm not sure if I like the blue of the ARC copy or the white of the hardcover copy better, but they're both STUNNING.


Swoon Worthiness: FOUR STARS
There are so many amazing characters in this story, and YES, some of them are most definitely worthy of a swoon. Gábor is particularly charming, but there is also Mátyás and William. Basically, take your pick from this phenomenal cast of characters, which you will fall head over heels in love with.

[Miranda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I went into this book with really high expectations, so I was disappointed when this book didn't meet my expectations. There were things that I enjoyed about this book, but unfortunately, they didn't outweigh what I disliked about this book.

One of the things I liked about this book was the setting. The Hungarian setting added a really interesting element to the story. The Eastern European element in this book was extremely intriguing, and it was obvious that the author put a lot of time and research into it!

The concept of the Luminate was another element that I enjoyed about this book. Their magic and their control over magic was interesting to read about. I liked how the author made them seem both good and evil. The author really nailed the idea that there is more to every story and motive. However, a lot of the elements with the magic and the mythology felt like info-dumping. There was a lot for me to wrap my mind around, so the long descriptions made it hard for me to really understand everything. I still enjoyed learning about the information, but I wish it would have been handled differently.

I didn't really connect to any of the characters in the book. My least favorite character was the main character, Anna. Anna never thought out her plans or considered the consequences. She came off as really immature and hard to root for. She also seemed to fall in love WITH EVERY SINGLE MALE CHARACTER. I didn't care that she was kissing multiple boys, I just cared that she seemed to think she was in love with every single boy she kissed.

I was surprised with how slow this book felt to me. I was expecting a lot of action, but I felt like this book fell short on that aspect.

Overall, I was disappointed with this book. There were elements I really enjoyed in this book, but I just wish there would have been more in this book that I enjoyed. However, I do plan on reading the second book in this series, because I would like to give this series another chance. I still think this series has potential, and I think book two could really turn this series around for me!

If you are looking for a book set in Eastern Europe with lots of kissing and some magic, then I would recommend checking out this book.

2 / 5 Fangs

*This ebook was given to me in exchange for an honest review. *

MrsLeif's Two Fangs About It
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