ARC: Blood Rose Rebellion

Blood Rose Rebellion is by debut author Rosalyn Eves and is the first book of a trilogy of the same name.

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.

The Breakdown:
1. I received an ARC of this book from a friend. In this book debut author Eves, blends fantasy and history together. I loved the setting of Victorian Europe with the added element that there is magic, but only the aristocrats have assess to it due to a special spell called The Binding.  Plus, Eves used actual historical events and molded them to fit into the story.  It just worked really well.

2. I found Anna an interesting character.  She is caught between two worlds. First, she is born into the Luminate but has no magic of her own and thus is shunned by society and then she is pulled into revolutionary world were she is out of place.  I enjoyed her journey to discover who and what she is.

3. While I liked Anna and Gabor's relationship, I felt the romance part of it began to feel a little rushed.  They started out as grudging partners and started to develop a friendship and that I liked.  Once the romance sprang up, Eves rushed them a little and I wish she had drawn it out more, maybe spreading it to another book for the development.

4.  My favorite part of this book is when Anna was in the Binding spell. I loved learning why the Binding was created and how.  Although, the most emotionally wrenching moment happened during one of her journeys into the Binding. Plus the Binding introduced me to one of the most intriguing characters, Hunger.  He reminded me a lot of the Erlking in Jenna Black's Faeriewalker series. There is something dark about him, but he also helps Anna several times when she needs it.  I hope to see more of him in future books.

To Read or Not to Read:
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