Rating: 4 out of 5
Genre: Scifi / Fantasy, 4 stars, YA,
People who should read this: People who like realistic stories with just a touch of magic, a strong female cast, and characters you want to root for.
*I was given an ARC of this book to write an honest review.*
How long has this book already been out?
*looks up the release date… blinks*
The publisher must be so upset with me.
Life hit me hard this past month. I’m on the other side and I’m trying to piece together everything that fell apart. But through the darkness there is a fresh light and some excitement. I don’t know what the future is going to look like, but be ready for some changes my friends.
First things first, the reason you came to the blog today, My review of A Constellation of Roses.
It may surprise you because of how long it took me to actually read the book, but I’ve had this release date on my calendar all year. Asebedo’s first book was great. I loved how she took our normal world and threw just the right amount of magic in to still feel believable. And like that one, she did it again with A Constellation of Roses.
Trix is not your normal YA character. There is nothing weak about her. She is hard and rugged, covered with too many scars. Sadly, I felt more connected to her than most people should be. In her, I felt seen. Asebedo did an amazing job capturing the pain of someone in Trix’s position. I don’t want to know how she knew. No one should know that kind of pain as a child. But the stories are still important. I applaud her efforts even if I didn’t really want to be reminded of my childhood.
On the plus side, Trix has a beautiful transformation and readers are given pom poms to cheer her along the way.
Trix isn’t the only character with a beautiful arc either. There was a lot of time and effort put into creating every character in the story. They were made of flesh and blood. Their stories weave in and out of the main one. It’s beautiful really. The side stories touch on topics like suicide, grief, the need to take care of yourself. That mental health is deadly. There’s aren’t too many things thrown in, a common mistake authors make, leaving time for the points to touch home, to grow roots.
Overall, the story has the perfect pace. I never wanted to put the book down because it had hit a lull. The love interest is natural and not too shoved in for the sake of romance. Though I’m partial to every story having some element of love. That’s probably why all my stories have love in them. The choices made stayed true. They were believable. They were important without being there just to move the story forward.
The only place that I was really disappointed was the final apex of the story. It was so obvious what Trix was going to do. There was nothing groundbreaking there. Maybe I’m just bored, but I need a fresh take on the same story. It was in that moment that the book turned into the Hallmark version of books.
Sorry Asebedo. I still loved the book though.
I’m still giving the story four stars.
Finally, because I can’t end the review without mentioning something about imagery…. The cover sets the reader up perfectly. It’s crazy how this dark gritty story had such a femine quality about it. I really appreciated it.
Sorry again for taking so long to get this out.
I hope that you all love it as much as I did
Happy New Year my friends.
Happy Reading.
Love Kait
Reading Challenge: 107/110 (Will I make it? Where are my Manga books?)