Leslie Vedder

A YA fantasy retelling of sleeping beauty where the enchanted beauty is the prince and the rescuer is a former noblewoman turned treasure-hunter. Fi is not only a former noble but also living under a curse placed upon her by a former partner, so she really does not want to become partners with Shane the huntsman but needs her to guide her to a magical treasure stash. Together the venture into the lost wilds and find the treasure Fi is after, but Fi pricks her hand on an enchanted rose which means she is the one who is supposed to wake up the fabled sleeping prince and restore the land. Fi is not convinced. And incidentally, she does not believe in love at first sight, destined love or any other nonsense about love.
The blurb for this compares the story to Indiana Jones but it was much more like a D&D campaign.… (altro)

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

Content warnings:
From the author’s website:

• Fantasy violence

• Weapons

• Past abusive / manipulative relationship

• Abusive parent figure

• Offscreen / remembered death of a wolf (SPOILER: Not Cinzel!)


As with all my reviews for books that are parts of a trilogy or series, this review contains spoilers for the previous books.


In The Cursed Rose, the final book of The Bone Spindle trilogy, Leslie Vedder brings us a book with high stakes, strong emotions and the most dangerous treasure hunt yet. At the end of The Severed Thread, Briar Rose falls victim to his curse and to save him Fi goes with him and the Spindle Witch, leaving her friends behind. Fi’s own curse had brought destruction to the great witch city of Everlynd, and at the start of the third novel, the forces of Everlynd are still recovering. Everything seems dire as Fi desperately tries to delay the Spindle Witch, pretending that she is still working on the Rose Witch’s code when she has already deciphered some of it.

Meanwhile, Shane and her companions are frantic with worry, having not heard anything from Fi. A vision from the Seer Witch at least gives them something to work on. They set out on the hunt for a mirror containing another fragment of the Lord of Butterflies to find out how to complete the butterfly pin to create a weapon to defeat the Spindle Witch.

As Fi works, her end trapped in an ancient tower that appears to have a connection to The Spindle Witch, Shane and the others work on the pin. In the end, all roads lead to one ruin for both of them, and the partners reunite for the toughest adventure yet; the Tomb of the Queen Aurora. Realising that they need to work together to survive the tomb, Fi and Shane agree to a truce for the length of the tomb. But what will happen at the end of it?

I have loved every book of this trilogy, and The Cursed Rose was no exception. Vedder has delivered a perfect conclusion to a trilogy about friendship, love and destiny. Right to the end, I had fun picking up on all the fairytale Easter Eggs that she’s dotted throughout. Once again, the reader is treated to a splendid adventure with daring treasure-hunting scenes. Vedder has left the best to last and the Tomb of Queen Aurora is not just dangerous with edge-of-your-seat action scenes, it also showcases her brilliant skill for combining magic and treasure-hunting.

I don’t know how Vedder did it, but she managed to outdo the exceptional world-building of the previous books in The Cursed Rose. There was one particular reveal that had me gasping and cursing in shock. Of all the things I expected to happen in this book, that was not it. The excellent world-building is matched by the strong characters, character development and powerful fight scenes. There are a couple of particular showdowns that are painful yet enthralling to watch.

I am sad to see Fi, Shane, Briar, Red, Cinzel and Perrin go and I would love Vedder to return to their world again in the future. For now, I am very happy at the way The Bone Spindle ended and can’t wait to see what else Leslie Vedder’s imagination will bring to life.


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… (altro)

* I got this book for review*

The highlight of this read was def the characters. I think the pacing of this book was not as strong and also the world building was not as clear and it was confusing to follow. But i really did loved the Rep in this read. It also remidned of reading 3 dark crowns cause the only male was the victim that needed to be saved. I also really loved the vast elemtns of a fairy tale. This story tried to do alot and i think it suffered to much to focus on some specic elements that I liked. But really fun read and willd def read the sequel!… (altro)