I finally finished Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen.
" Violet is a prophet and a liar, influencing the royal court with her cleverly phrased—and not always true—divinations. Honesty is for suckers, like the oh-so-not charming Prince Cyrus, who plans to strip Violet of her official role once he’s crowned at the end of the summer—unless Violet does something about it.

But when the king asks her to falsely prophesy Cyrus’s love story for an upcoming ball, Violet awakens a dreaded curse, one that will end in either damnation or salvation for the kingdom—all depending on the prince’s choice of future bride. Violet faces her own choice: Seize an opportunity to gain control of her own destiny, no matter the cost, or give in to the ill-fated attraction that’s growing between her and Cyrus.

Violet’s wits may protect her in the cutthroat court, but they can’t change her fate. And as the boundary between hatred and love grows ever thinner with the prince, Violet must untangle a wicked web of deceit in order to save herself and the kingdom—or doom them all."
I give this an overall 2.5 out of 5 star rating, it's very slow paced to the point that I switched to the audiobook and sped through just to finish the book. It finally started getting interesting towards the end which apparently there is a book 2 and I as curious I am to find out what happens I am in no hurry to dive into the second book. I am a bit offended that they claim this to be perfect for fans of Cruel Prince by Holly Black because uhm no it isn't. I love Cruel Prince and this is far from enticing as that is. I don't ever like not recommending books to anyone and even more giving a bad review but this book just didn't hit for me. ( )

I finally finished Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen.
" Violet is a prophet and a liar, influencing the royal court with her cleverly phrased—and not always true—divinations. Honesty is for suckers, like the oh-so-not charming Prince Cyrus, who plans to strip Violet of her official role once he’s crowned at the end of the summer—unless Violet does something about it.

But when the king asks her to falsely prophesy Cyrus’s love story for an upcoming ball, Violet awakens a dreaded curse, one that will end in either damnation or salvation for the kingdom—all depending on the prince’s choice of future bride. Violet faces her own choice: Seize an opportunity to gain control of her own destiny, no matter the cost, or give in to the ill-fated attraction that’s growing between her and Cyrus.

Violet’s wits may protect her in the cutthroat court, but they can’t change her fate. And as the boundary between hatred and love grows ever thinner with the prince, Violet must untangle a wicked web of deceit in order to save herself and the kingdom—or doom them all."
I give this an overall 2.5 out of 5 star rating, it's very slow paced to the point that I switched to the audiobook and sped through just to finish the book. It finally started getting interesting towards the end which apparently there is a book 2 and I as curious I am to find out what happens I am in no hurry to dive into the second book. I am a bit offended that they claim this to be perfect for fans of Cruel Prince by Holly Black because uhm no it isn't. I love Cruel Prince and this is far from enticing as that is. I don't ever like not recommending books to anyone and even more giving a bad review but this book just didn't hit for me. ( )

dnf @ 40% if i didn’t finish this book and i started it in january, i’m never finishing it. ( )

Violet is a prophet and a liar, influencing the royal court with her cleverly phrased—and not always true—divinations. Honesty is for suckers, like the oh-so-not charming Prince Cyrus, who plans to strip Violet of her official role once he’s crowned at the end of the summer—unless Violet does something about it.

But when the king asks her to falsely prophesy Cyrus’s love story for an upcoming ball, Violet awakens a dreaded curse, one that will end in either damnation or salvation for the kingdom—all depending on the prince’s choice of future bride. Violet faces her own choice: Seize an opportunity to gain control of her own destiny, no matter the cost, or give in to the ill-fated attraction that’s growing between her and Cyrus.

Violet’s wits may protect her in the cutthroat court, but they can’t change her fate. And as the boundary between hatred and love grows ever thinner with the prince, Violet must untangle a wicked web of deceit in order to save herself and the kingdom—or doom them all.

TW/CW: Sex, body horror, fantasy violence

REVIEW: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

Violet Made of Thorns is the story of a young seer called Violet who tries to navigate the terrible prophecies that plague her kingdom, as well as the feelings she has for the Crown Prince Cyrus.

I have mixed feelings about this book, so I’ll give the good first and then what bothered me. First, the story. I loved the story. I loved the idea of a seer with prophecies she can’t understand and can’t make right. It was well written and definitely kept me awake until 2am to finish this book! I also really loved Camilla. She was a great character and I would have liked to see more of her. Also, more about the fairies and just the mythology of the world – because all of that was fascinating to me.

I guess the main thing I didn’t like was the relationship between Cyrus and Violet. I just…never felt it. It never clicked for me. I’ve never been a fan of the enemies to lovers trope, but this one just took it way too far – I won’t say exactly how because I don’t want to give spoilers, but they definitely didn’t feel like lovers to me at the end.

Apart from that, though, I though this was a really good book and I’ll definitely give the sequel a chance too. ( )