My Rating ~ Five Stars

RELEASE DATE: 8 October 2021

Format: Paperback

Pages: 386

Blurb

I could save him, but he would ruin me.

The beast.
The creature that stalks the forbidden wood.
The dragon prince.

He has suffered a fate worse than death. We all have. A curse put upon us by the mad king.

We are a kingdom locked in time. Shifters unable to feel our animals. Stuck here by a deal between the late king and a demon who seeks our destruction.

The only one keeping this kingdom alive is Nyfain, the golden prince to a stolen throne. The last dragon shifter.

He’s our hope.
He’s my nightmare.

When he catches me trespassing in the forbidden wood, he doesn’t punish me with death, as he’s entitled.

He takes me, instead. Forces me back to the castle as his prisoner. Seeks to use me.

Apparently, I can save him. I can save the whole forgotten kingdom, locked away by the demon king’s power.

But it would mean taming the monster beneath his skin. It would mean giving myself to him.

It would mean my ruin.

Review

Thank you to Up Til Dawn Books and author K.F. Breene for providing me with a copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review!

Finley and her family have been struggling to survive after a curse swept through their land, leaving shifters stuck in human form and people ill and dying. She’s concocted an elixir that can lessen the symptoms, but not the cure she desperately seeks. Trying to save her dying father means she needs to venture into the Forbidden Wood for the leaves of the only plant that can power the elixir. With demons prowling the town at night and rumours of a beast in the woods, harvesting the leaves at midnight isn’t exactly safe. When she comes face to face with the beast and he forcibly takes her to a castle beyond the wood, she finds a different world.

A Ruin of Roses is a spicy Beaty and the Beast retelling! While I’m the first to admit that serious spicy books more often than not have me rolling my eyes, this one tempered it perfectly with humour and banter and I loved it! Finley and Nyfain both struggled to keep their inner beasts in control and we were treated to even more banter from Finley’s inner animal (a saltier version of an already pretty salty character 😄) The butler is one of my new favourite characters of all time. Introduced in a purple fluffy beast suit, in an extremely compromising position, he was hilarious and awkward and just plain brilliant.

The whole book was just so much fun and that ending. NO. I need to read book two IMMEDIATELY.