Complicated plot line -- not really sure where it was going. Less-known fairy tale.

Basic Reason for Beginning: For whatever reason, I have always loved the fairytale of the White Bride and the Black Bride. So, when I learned there was a retelling of it, I had to have it.
Basic Reason for Finishing: I'm stubborn and it's a retelling of a story I like and, if you take away everything that bothered me senseless, not a bad story.
Texture: Very soft, like very softly furred leaves. Or something. (Mind you, you might think the context would suggest petals, but I do mean leaves.)

Full review here

Book Rereadability: This'll be one to pass on, sorry.
Author Rereadability: I'd not mind reading another book by Nancy Holder, and probably I'll enjoy it more.
Recommendation: If you like fairytales and fairytale retellings, I heartily recommend it. If you're easily annoyed by "mix and match" with names (particularly French and Greek) gone wrong I strongly advise you think twice about picking this up. They will bother you from the very first sentence to the very last. ( )

After reading a couple of 'Once Upon a Time' books that I had hated, The Rose Bride was a good change. It's a lovely fairy tale adaptation. I found it to be quite unique...Nancy Holder uses Greek Gods all throughout the novel, yet apparently the story is set in medieval France. That being said, the book did have a few problems. I wasn't very familiar with the fairy tale 'The White Bride and the Black Bride' but after I read this book, I looked up that fairy tale again. I was surprised to find out that this book didn't follow the fairy tale very much. In fact, this book seemed like some sort of cross between 'Cinderella' and something like 'The Goose Girl'. I had this sense throughout the book, and the author's note at the end confirmed it for me, Nancy Holder took a lot of inspiration from the movie 'Ever After'. So, if you were really looking forward to an adaptation of this fairy tale, you might be disappointed. But all that beside, I really liked this book as a fairy tale. ( )

The Rose Bride is an interesting addition to the "Once Upon a Time" series that is quickly becoming one of my aboslute favorites to read.

While "Rose Bride" doesn't stand up to the best in that series ("Snow" by Tracy Lynn and "Storyteller's Daughter" by Cameron Dokey), it does break from the pattern quite a bit, and offers a rather gritty, dark tale of grief and grieving. I recommend it first as a library rental, for it can be a tough read, and its problems stick out glaringly.

While the story/plot itself are excellent and really very engaging, it lacks hard characterization. Our heroine is very passive, and often seems helpless; and when she finally does make a decision and take action, it seems too little, too late to the reader. Equally dull are the Stepmother and her Daughter; neither is fully realized and their motives seem arbitrary and strange. The most fully realized character is that of the Prince, who makes perfect sense and is utterly believable as a grieving widower, monarch, and romantic. He is wonderfully fleshed out.

But the largest problem is the inclusion of the Greek gods as the religion. While it's awesome to read a book in which the Greek gods are taken out of Ancient Greece (this is clearly a more medieval setting), in the last few chapters our "villain" doesn't fit into the set at all, and thus RUINS the entire mythos. The Greek thing was working so well (even if you were DYING for more details) until this ill-fitting dark lord was shuffled in there awkwardly.

Still, despite these flaws, it was a compelling read and I encourage fairy tale lovers to pick it up, if only because of the excellent plot and because it is a more obscure fairy tale to choose (though VERY Cinderella-esque). ( )