Five Enchanted Roses
Recommended Age: 13 & up for mild violence and magical elements
Rating: 3.4/5
Overall, the stories were very well done. The elements of the original fairy tale were mostly there with some unique variations in each. There were a few things in most of the stories that irked me some and I will go into more detail about those in the individual reviews. For the most part, I did like the book and it was fairly clear of errors. Since I had an Advanced Reader Copy, I am going to go under the assumption that the few errors I saw are not in the final copy.
I have always loved the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. I even considered entering the contest for this book, but didn’t get my story done in time and it still needed a lot of research before I could finish it. When the opportunity came up to review this book, therefore, I jumped at the chance. In some ways I was thrilled as I read and in others I was disappointed as I read. The reasons will be explained in each individual review.
Epirit De La Rose by Kaycee Browning
Rating: 3/5
When I read the foreword and Anne said the first story was about pirates, I was excited. I like reading about pirates when they aren’t being crude or swearing. When Cecilia appeared to be a Christian, I got even more excited. There were some strange elements with the creatures called the Fee and the “water” sailors. Even with these strange elements of the story, I still liked the story. Until the end. The ending seemed abrupt to me, like Kaycee ran out of words in the maximum word count and had to end the book. Maybe that’s not what she intended, but that’s how it sounded. Other than the abrupt ending, I did really like this story.
Wither by Savannah Jezowski
Rating: 2/5
I have personal convictions about magic. Although all of these stories have magic in them, this one had some of the most. The other thing that annoyed me was that she kept alluding to this curse that Lilybet’s sister had, but never said what it was or how it would affect her.
The idea of the story was interesting and I did enjoy how well Savannah wrote the story. People who are not as picky about the magic content in books will enjoy this story.
Stone Curse by Jenelle Schmidt
Rating: 4/5
Although this book also had magic in it, it didn’t seem as “weird.” Jenelle did a good job making this a well-rounded story. The only thing that would have made it better is if there were less magic in it. It was a little predictable in spots, but otherwise I really like this one.
Rosara and the Jungle King by Dorian Tsukioka
Rating: 3/5
The evil spirits, people changing into animals, and everything that had to do with the magic part made me shudder. Dorian is a talented writer and definitely creates some creepy people as well as some good people. Again, the magic turned me off. There were also some parts of the story that were hard to follow.
The Wulver’s Rose by Hayden Wand
Rating: 5/5
Scotland. Yes, there was magic in this one. But it wasn’t fantasy magic. It was the magic the druids of old used. And it made sense (as much as magic can) for the story. I loved how Hayden worked in some small tidbits of history into her story as well as creating a believable Beauty and the Beast retelling. After reading the first four, I was glad I hadn’t entered the contest because my story had no magic in it. By the end of this story, I felt a little better and may enter contest in the future. Wulver’s Rose was very unique and I loved how she used Scotland. Thank you for putting this story at the end.
received a free PDF copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All the comments above are my own.
Faith Blum 
Hmmm… Good to know.