Rose Red

by Flora Speer

After the murder of their father, sisters Bianca and Rosalinda, with their mother, flee to a villa in the northern Italian Alps, swearing revenge on their enemy, but when the son of the assassin appears at their door one stormy night, Rosalinda discovers her true destiny. Original.

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical, Italy, Fantasy

394 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 1, 1996

Reviews

[Lolly's Library · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh. This was the worst of the Love Spell Faerie Tale romance series. The only thing which saved this from a one-star rating was the quality of writing. What was actually written? Garbage. Based on the "Snow White, Rose Red" fairy tale (not to be confused with the Grimm "Snow White" fairy tale), Flora Speer does a good job of incorporating the strange elements of the tale, which include a bear and a dwarf. However, she's also created a story in which female logic and critical thinking has gone right out the window thanks to insta-romance, which is strange considering the story is set in Renaissance-era Italy and Snow White and Rose Red, in this case Bianca (the whiniest, wussiest, wimpiest creeping little mouse of a character; she was often the cause of most of my reading-rage) and Rosalinda, are the daughters of a duke: surely they would've been educated in rhetoric and logic, and we see them working at Latin lessons; plus, their mother boasts she was the logical mind behind her husband's throne. Yet she's also reduced to a cliched state of feminine irrationality the moment an eligible man comes into view. Seriously, I came this close to throwing the book at the nearest wall several times. Save yourself the aggravation and read one of the other Faerie Tale romances written by a more competent author.

[Claire]

I’m not rating this book because it became obvious after the first few chapters that it wasn’t for me, and I skimmed the rest. This book is a take on the Snow White and Rose red fairy tale, set against the Italian Renaissance. I love that fairytale. I had less than zero interest in the Italian Renaissance part, and the writing style did not gel with me. The cover and stepback are super beautiful though, and that’s the primary reason I bought the book.

[Joel Flores · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good romance book by Flora, really appreciate the way she depicts and explains what the characters are feeling.