Series: N/A
Author: Amber Mitchell
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Publication Date: March 6, 2017
Source: A copy was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
After seven grueling years of captivity in the Garden—a burlesque troupe of slave girls—sixteen-year-old Rose finds an opportunity to escape during a performance for the emperor. But the hostage she randomly chose from the crowd to aid her isn’t one of the emperor’s men—not anymore. He’s the former heir to the throne, who is now leading a rebellion against it.
Rayce is a wanted man and dangerously charismatic, the worst person for Rose to get involved with, no matter what his smile promises. But he assumes Rose’s attempt to take him hostage is part of a plot to crush the rebellion, so he takes her as his hostage. Now Rose must prove where her loyalties lie, and she offers Rayce a deal—if he helps her rescue the other girls, she’ll tell him all the Garden’s secrets.
Except the one secret she’s kept for seven years that she’ll take to her grave if she must.
Find Garden of Thorns online
Oh my goodness, what a gorgeous read. I was so intrigued when I first heard about this book - the blurb sounded dark and interesting and the cover is too pretty to pass up. When I got the opportunity to read it before it was released, I started reading it the moment it downloaded onto my kindle. I'm happy to report that my excitement was not in vain!
What immediately struck me about this book was the language. I'm a sucker for pretty language and this one just hit the nail on the head. It was full of similes and metaphors and personification - I loved it. I especially enjoyed the nature imagery. Since this book is so focused on the "Garden" with all of the flower-girl performers, I appreciated how focused the writer was to keep us grounded in their world with the language.
Now, onto my favorite part of any book: the characters! I really enjoyed these ones. Rose was a strong but vulnerable main character and I enjoyed reading from her POV. She definitely goes through a lot of growing throughout the entirety of the novel and I loved watching her *ahem* bloom as she made it to the end of the novel.
And, of course, there's Rayce! I loved this guy. Even though it was pretty obvious and predictable that he would be the love interest (I mean, duh, it's in the blurb), I still had a lot of fun seeing him and Rose get to know each other and develop feelings. I totally ship them, 100%.
I loved the fantasy elements of the plot and the world that the author crafted! A lot of it was pretty predictable but I still had a good time watching the characters get to the end. The secret Rose was hiding was also fairly easy to see coming but still, I enjoyed this story a lot.
If you're a fan of fantasy and romance, I'd definitely give this one a shot. There's still a lot of predictability throughout the novel but the author writes in such a way that keeps you hooked and engaged. I'm excited to see what she comes out with next!
"Nestled among the burning white stars littering the night sky is my truth. The thing that keeps me moving: tonight is the last night I will see any of it."
Four Teapots
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