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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed, June 30, 2007
This review is from: The Rose Bride: A Retelling of "The White Bride and the Black Bride" (Once Upon a Time) (Mass Market Paperback)
On Rose's 13th birthday her mother makes a wish to the goddess Artemis that her daughter always know that she is loved, for that is the greatest gift of all. The goddess challenges her, asking whether safety and security aren't more important. Mother holds her position, and so she dies, leaving behind a rose bush that whispers to Rose that she is loved. What follows is the typical Cinderella story wherein Rose loses everything important to her, until she's discovered to be the spitting image of the former queen who died in childbirth and for whom the king still bitterly mourns.
In a move either to protect Rose from her evil step-family or to teach her a lesson, or perhaps both, Artemis changes her into a doe. Rose watches from afar as her step-family moves to ensnare the king. True love, it is felt, just might save the day.
I have for the most part greatly enjoyed the "Once Upon a Time" series, and anticipated this book before its release. I am a bit let down. Ms. Holder has some worthy things to say about the nature and value of love, but rather than trusting her story to carry her message, or perhaps her readers to understand it, she frequently spells it out in an effort to drive it home. At the end of the book I had been told how the characters felt and had evolved, but I had not made the journey with them. I wasn't feelin' it.
Early in the story it is hinted at several times that perhaps buried beneath pain and disappointment there are some real people in Rose's step-mother and -sister, but these hints go unfulfilled. The story is prone to abrupt changes of course. I was left feeling like I was chasing after a child with ADD.
I hate giving a bad review, because I know it's incredibly difficult to write a good story. I guess this book is worth reading because after all, it's a fairy tale, but it's not something that captured my imagination, and that's the magic that I hope for every time I read a new book.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Are you loved? -- Bookwyrm Chrysalis Review, August 13, 2007
This review is from: The Rose Bride: A Retelling of "The White Bride and the Black Bride" (Once Upon a Time) (Mass Market Paperback)
Rose's mother, Celestine, grew a glorious rose garden behind their chateau, and central to that garden was the statue of Artemis. Celestine was faithful to her goddess, and on the eve of her daughter's thirteenth birthday, she asked the goddess to give Rose the gift of always knowing that she is loved. Thus began Celestine's death, the growth of the purple roses, and Rose's journey to discovering what love really is.
The elements of love, grief, and dealing with death are central to this book, and I found that it covered all these emotions in a rather realistic way. Rose is told throughout the book, by whispers from the purple roses (which sprouted up after her mother's death), that she is loved, but she can't believe it. How can she be loved when her parents are gone, she has a wicked stepmother, and she has been turned into a deer? Still, she manages to find love in many places, from that of her goddess, her mother's everlasting love, and even the love of friendship and long-lost family.
One thing that rather bothered me about the book was how they worshiped the Greek gods so devoutly, yet spoke French all the time. The use of French was confusing in itself because it was portrayed that they spoke French at all times, yet there would simply be random phrases in the book in French. Kind of like in comic books or on TV shows where they have to remind you that the character is from another country by having them randomly say "yes" and "no" in their own language when they were just discussing nuclear physics in perfect English. Also despite the use of the Greek gods there was also a very definite introduction of the devil as the enemy and witchcraft in use by the stepmother. There was a lot of mish mashing of religions and cultures that just didn't quite fit for me as the reader and kept me questioning the society/culture/religion of the book's characters.
For a relatively fluffy book, it did manage to challenge the notion of love at first sight, and I admired that the main character resolved by the end to only accept true love - not simply a man who would care for her, but one who loved her as well. And even as the king showers her with gifts, it's not until he really forgets about her and looks at himself that he is able to present himself as someone who can love her. These are aspects of love and fairytales that aren't always examined.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Rose Bride, November 2, 2008
This review is from: The Rose Bride: A Retelling of "The White Bride and the Black Bride" (Once Upon a Time) (Mass Market Paperback)
This story was not as easy for me to read as some of the others in the Once Upon a Time series. I was not very familiar with the story of the White Bride and the Black Bride so that might have had something to do with it.
I found the story to be a lot like Cinderella but without the fairy godmother. Despite the abundance of magic Rose did much of the "work" of the tale on her own which was good. I did find her character to be strangely unlikeable as she spent much of the 1st half of the book weeping and much of the next quarter of the book being beaten down. Only towards the end when she believes the message of the roses does she really improve as a character.
I also found the king to be lacking. I was more than a little weirded out that he could replace his wife in his affections with another that looked just like her. To have married three people that all look exactly the same was more than a little strange to read even if Desiree only borrowed the form.
It certainly wasn't my favorite of the series of fairy tales.
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