{"id":75203,"date":"2024-06-29T08:00:39","date_gmt":"2024-06-29T12:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=75203"},"modified":"2024-10-31T22:46:15","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T02:46:15","slug":"arc-review-one-cursed-rose-grimm-bargains-1-by-rebecca-zanetti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=75203","title":{"rendered":"ARC Review: One Cursed Rose (Grimm Bargains, #1) by Rebecca Zanetti"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Review<\/b><\/h4>\n

2.5 surprisingly chaotic stars<\/b><\/p>\n

The first book in Rebecca Zanetti\u2019s Grimm Bargains<\/i> series, this is a re-imagining of Beauty and the Beast<\/i> as a dark romance with mystery\/suspense and supernatural themes. Rebecca Zanetti is an auto-read author for me, and I was intrigued by the idea of this book, but it fell a bit flat for me. Not only was it lacking in world building, but it was fast moving with lots of different storylines \u2013 some important, some seemingly not, and the whole thing just felt a bit chaotic and confusing.<\/p>\n

In a world where social media is everything, the four families who run the four most successful media companies rule all. Their platforms are powered by crystals which are in turn powered by a member of the family, and kept charged by social media interactions (I really only just wrapped my head around this by the end of the book). Alana is the power source and social media darling for her family\u2019s empire, and her father is determined to marry her off to a competitor to bring their companies together. Enter Thorn, secretive head of a rival social media platform, who has been obsessing over Alana from afar and, after rescuing her from a threat, takes her to his home and declares that she now belongs to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t want me for an enemy.\u201d I\u2019m deadly serious but have no idea how I\u2019m going to back that up.
\n\u201cCall yourself whatever you want.\u201d He takes my arm, his touch electric and firm. \u201cI\u2019m calling you <\/i>mine.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thorn is dark and dangerous, and also seems to be the head of the mafia? That part of the story was glossed over and not really clear, but he\u2019s a killer with a heart (targeting abusers, sexual predators, etc.). He\u2019s also under some sort of curse tied to his media platform, and both of them are slowly dying. But in the meantime, he is claiming Alana.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re with me as long as I\u2019m alive.\u201d
\nOne of her eyebrows arches. \u201cWhy?\u201d
\nThere are many answers I can give to her, but I go with the simplest truth. \u201cYou\u2019re my reason for breathing, and you were meant to be mine.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I don\u2019t really know what to say about the rest of the story, because it\u2019s a complicated jumble of sex, mad declarations, threats, violence, betrayal, kidnappings, and lots of social media, and honestly, I was confused.<\/p>\n

The main thing that struck me about this book was that it lacked world building. What was the significance of the gemstones? How and why are these families connected to them, how did it all work? What was with the AI, and why did each family have a special supernatural gift? Did people know? Why? How? Where did it come from? I just had so many questions and couldn\u2019t wrap my head around how the world worked and how everybody got to where they are. I also found the whole social media thing really tedious. Alana\u2019s status as an influencer was annoying and her constant click-bait-posting was obnoxious. But on the side, she and her friends are social crusaders? The brief mention of them helping out victims of domestic violence seemed thrown in just to show that she\u2019s not as vapid as she initially appears.<\/p>\n

The \u2018dark romance\u2019 felt more like mad lust and a bit of kink, than love. Though there are lots of epic declarations from Thorn, it\u2019s pretty much instant and I felt no real build-up of romance between them. It\u2019s sexy, for sure, and I enjoyed their banter, sexual chemistry and the moments where I felt their connection, but it was definitely lacking for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are you being so nice to me?\u201d
\n\u201cBecause you\u2019re mine.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat if I wasn\u2019t?\u201d
\n\u201cThere isn\u2019t a universe or reality where you\u2019re not.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Then there\u2019s the mystery\/suspense storyline surrounding Alana\u2019s nightmares, her mysterious past, a serial killer on the loose, yet another rival social media company blackmailing Thorn into a business-marriage, a mysterious heir living a secret life, and an evil bad guy determined to take power at any cost. There\u2019s a lot happening, and it all felt a bit overwhelming with very little to back it up. Given Zanetti\u2019s phenomenal world building in her other series, this one just felt really odd.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s an interesting concept, and now that I have my head wrapped around it a bit better, I\u2019m curious to see what happens in future books and explore some more of the character dynamics.<\/p>\n

Not a favourite, but it has its moments, and I was engaged enough to finish it. 2.5 stars.<\/p>\n

An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.<\/i><\/p>\n

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Grimm Bargains<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\" \u00a0\"\" \u00a0\"\"<\/h4>\n

One Cursed Rose (#1)
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

One Dark Kiss (#2)
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

One Shattered Crown (#3)<\/strong>
\nTo be released 28 July
\nPre-order:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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About the Author<\/strong><\/h4>\n

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Rebecca Zanetti is the author of over fifty romantic suspense and dark paranormal romances, and her books have appeared multiple times on the New York Times, USA Today, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and iBooks bestseller lists. The New York Times reviews has found that in her books, \u201chumor surfaces in even the tensest moments, giving the high-stakes drama humanity and warmth.\u201d She lives in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest with her own Alpha hero, two kids, a couple of dogs, a crazy cat\u2026and a huge extended family. She believes strongly in luck, karma, and working her butt off\u2026and she thinks one of the best things about being an author, unlike the lawyer she\u00a0used to be, is that she can let the crazy out.<\/p>\n

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Facebook\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Instagram\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Goodreads\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Bookbub\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Website<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Check out our\u00a0Rebecca Zanetti Author Spotlight<\/a>\u00a0for more great reads!<\/strong><\/h4>\n

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Buy:\u00a0 Amazon Review 2.5 surprisingly chaotic stars The first book in Rebecca Zanetti\u2019s Grimm Bargains series, this is a re-imagining of Beauty and the Beast as a dark romance with mystery\/suspense and supernatural themes. Rebecca […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":2.5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,9,29],"tags":[59,1565,305,48],"class_list":["post-75203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-paranormal","category-romance","category-steamy","tag-arc","tag-grimm-bargains","tag-rebecca-zanetti","tag-review"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/One-Cursed-Rose.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-jyX","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=75203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/72183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=75203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=75203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=75203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}