The Rose Bargain / Sasha Peyton Smith / Book Review

THE ROSE BARGAIN

For centuries, England has been ruled by an immortal fae Queen, and nobody can say she isn't a benevolent ruler. After all, every citizen of England gets to make a bargain with her, one impossible wish granted (for a price).

Now that Ivy Benton's debut season is upon her, she gets to make her bargain at last. Like most high society ladies, she's expected to bargain for a quality that will help her make the perfect match: some rare talent, a prettier face, an absolutely perfect smile. But when the Queen asks her what she wants, Ivy asks for nothing. She can't do it, not after what her sister went through. Even if that means she has less of a chance at winning a suitor's hand.

But this matchmaking season, something's different. Because this year, the Queen's fae son himself is entering the marriage mart. He isn't just a regular suitor, and a regular courtship isn't what the Queen has in mind. Not when he deserves the best. And a prize like Prince Bram could save Ivy's family from ruin... if she survives the competition to make the conquest.

THOUGHTS

I liked this book so much more than I thought I would! My expectations weren't all that high, since it sounds, on the surface, like so many other books that have flooded the market recently. Books written to trend don't usually impress me. But the writing here grabbed me from page one. This book comes with more bite than a lot of the fae books on the market, and I loved that. Beware if you can't stomach a little bit of gore, but I found it a refreshing installment in 2020s fae fantasy.

PROS

Tantalizing	I found the writing in this book utterly absorbing from the first page. It's almost like a forbidden fruit, looking to suck you into the world and not let you go (even though you've got to work and really can't spend the rest of the day reading). It's been a long time since I was so immediately absorbed in a book!
Fiendishly Fae	A lot of the "fae" on the contemporary market just don't live up to their folkloric predecessors. Traditional fae are more than just beautiful people who are superior to regular old people (*cough cough*). And this book definitely takes inspiration from more, well, traditional lore. This fairy Queen isn't afraid to ask bloody prices when granting the bargain-seekers' desires. She isn't afraid to ruin lives. She takes some perverse delight in it even. She's also just bored (immortality and all that). So the competition these human girls find themselves in to win the fae prince's hand is cruel. It's wicked. It comes with a traditional-fairy-tale bite to it. And I liked that a lot.
Bad argains	You know what I liked best of all? All of the girls vying for the prince's hand are desperate. They're selfish and sometimes mean but really just desperate to escape the rigid expectations of their regency-style lives. And I appreciate that. I appreciate that they're not just a group of sweet and sappy love interests (with the exception of a main character who is, by contrast, Not Like Other Girls). And I appreciate that they're not all cruel and cunning for the sake of being cruel and cunning. They're desperate girls making cruel and selfish bargains to give themselves whatever leg up in life they can achieve, and that feels fresh and different in a YA marriage competition book.

CONS

YA should be a safe space for kids moving up from Middle Grade books or for older audiences who are just looking to relax and unwind. So it must be said that this book... isn't a safe space. It's not fade-to-black. In fact, it's very on-the-page, and while it isn't excessive, it does bear warning that this book isn't a closed-door romance like one might expect in a market meant for minors. All of these girls are... experienced. And some of that experience makes it onto the page.	Mature Audiences
Hey, it's escapism. I get that. And as I've said, the writing is engaging enough to really forgive a lot. But, on a technical level, I was left wondering. Because this fae Queen took over England centuries ago, so the weird pseudo-Regency that this book presents doesn't seem likely. Are you really saying that England would more or less develop in exactly the same way to create a Regency aesthetic? Because I don't buy that at all. And the not-so-Regency parts of this book didn't feel like intentional nods to an alternate history but like mistakes (like, you know, an author wanted to write "Regency" without researching Regency... or with only knowing Regency from romance novels, not reality). Was this a major detractor? No. But if you're wanting a well-crafted alternate history fantasy, this book isn't the right fit.	Regency Trappings
I didn't buy the romance between Ivy and her prince(s). And that's kind of disappointing. Don't get me wrong. I could see how they could have jived. I could see the potential. I just didn't get enough of that on the page. It didn't feel like there was enough build-up in this romance for it to really make sense to me, not with a character as otherwise motivated as Ivy, and that was a shame. I wanted more from this romance than I got, but it is what it is.	Chemistry??

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
8/10

Fans of Keira Cass's The Selection will love this new group of cunning competitors. Those who liked Graham Joyce's Some Kind of Fairy Tale will like these fae royals who pull no punches.

Details Publisher: HarperCollins Date: February 4, 2025 Series: N/A Add to Goodreads Buy it HERE

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.