One Cursed Rose
by Rebecca Zanetti
Release Date: June 25, 2024
Publisher: Kensington
Book #1 in the Grimm Bargains series
Number of pages: 358
Source: ARC from NetGalley
Paranormal Dark Romance
Ages 17 and up
CW: torture, child abuse mentioned,
death of a parent, grief, violence, sexual assault
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They christened me Alana—and while the name means beauty, beneath that surface is a depth I allow very few to see. I’m sole heir to Aquarius Social, a media giant about to succumb to an unseen enemy. My father’s solution is to marry me off to the son of a competing family. My reaction? Not a chance. Now I have just a week before the wedding to change my fate. Who knew the unforeseen twist would be an assassination attempt on me and an unwanted rescue by Thorn Beathach, the head of the rival social media empire driving Aquarius under? The richest, most ruthless of them all, the Beast protects his realm with an iron no one sees his face. When he shows himself to me, I know he’ll never let me go. Thorn may think he can lock me in his castle forever, but I’m not the docile Beauty he expects. If the Beast wants to tie me up, I’m going to take pleasure from every minute of it . . .and we’ll just see who ends up shackled.
I haven’t read many dark romance books, but since this is a go-to author for me I decided to give this one a try. To be clear, I do read erotic romance, romance with BDSM, and things like that, so this wasn’t way out of my scope. It’s the stalker hero thing that has never particularly appealed to me, and that was exactly what made me uncomfortable about this story.
When it comes to Thorn, over time I felt he had a reason he became obsessive over Alana even though I found it creepy in the beginning. I was a bit shocked that there was never an explanation as to how that came to be, even as I felt it started with good intentions. Okay, that seems ridiculous now that wrote that out, but it still is the impression I got. I’m used to this author giving a good backstory to her characters, that’s why I was a little befuddled that we didn’t get that here. There were also some flimsy wrap-ups to certain storylines that I can only assume will be delved into on a deeper level in future books in this series.
There is a lot to get out in this first book, and I will admit I could get confused here and there when it came to the way this world worked. The way people seemed to think there was no such thing as magic yet they all understood that certain crystals give power to certain families was strange. Yet I was also invested in the world even with my intermittent confusion. That had more to do with the characters.
Not only did I find myself rooting for Alana and Thorn to give in to each other, but I was also fascinated with Alana’s group of friends. I’m sure they’ll each get a story and I’m looking forward to that.
When it came to the “who done it” type mystery in this story, the wrap-up seemed a bit rushed to me. In some ways, it had to be. But there were some emotions that I feel may have to be dealt with still. Without giving spoilers, there are some major betrayals that happen that are almost glossed over since there is so much that has to happen in a short amount of time. Since this is an author I trust, I hope these things are dealt with in a future book.
The bottom line is this: I was invested in the overall story, I enjoyed the give and take between the main characters, the side characters are interesting, the world-building was a tad bit confusing.
4 stars
**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**
All In Good Time 