Title: Withering Rose
Author: Kaitlyn Davis
Publisher/Year:  CreateSpace 5/16/16
Length:   201 Pages
Series:  Once Upon a Curse #2

Overview

What if Beauty was cursed, and the Beast was the only one who could save her? Don’t miss WITHERING ROSE, a dystopian romance from bestselling author Kaitlyn Davis that reimagines the classic fairy tale of Beauty & The Beast.

“As the heat finally disappeared, I felt the bloom blossom in the very core of my soul, a rose just like my name–a ticking clock hidden behind a façade of beauty. From that moment on, my life would become a countdown, and all I could do was wait and watch as the petals of time slowly started to fall.”

Omorose Bouchene has a secret–magic. There’s only one problem. At the age of seven, an earthquake struck, catapulting her into a new world. A land made of skyscrapers and cell phones. Fast cars and fluorescent lights. A land where magic isn’t supposed to exist and anyone who wields it is the enemy.

But after ten years of hiding, she’s desperate to find a place where she can be free. Because all magic comes with a curse, and her curse is time–every ounce of power she uses strips days off of her life. The clock is winding down, and the only option left is to escape to the realm of the Beast. But the king of monsters isn’t what he seems. And the more Omorose opens her heart, the more she comes to realize that the only person she may need to fear is herself.

My Thoughts

I really do enjoys books that are evolutions of fairytales and that’s what this this.  you know that the first installment in a sense was sleeping beauty, and this was Beauty and the Beast.  I can’t wait for book 3 – for Cinderella.

Anyhow, as you remember from the last page(s) of the first book, Asher learned that his ‘fiance’ was captured by The Beast and he was off to save her.  of course to the dismay of Jade – the woman that proclaimed her love for him, and well, she thought it was reciprocated.

In this 2nd book, we meet Omorose, initially back about 10 years when the earthquake happened and the worlds merged.  she was with her father, traveling to see Prince Asher and her world changed for ever.  She experiences the transfer of magic meaning that her mom is dead, likely her sister as well, and they are then captured by the common day folks that live on Earth and put in jail cells for years.  It’s only when they are allowed to be transferred to the Midwest Command Center since her father offers to trade information on the magical realm for their bits of freedom that life changes a bit more.  Of course, everyone is terrified of anything related to magic, and they are outsiders.  Omorose has to find ways from time to time to release her magic since it builds up inside her and it’s something that she learns that comes more frequently as time passes.  It’s also when her father reveals one more bit of the curse, that women with the magic only live 25 years after they get the magic that makes Omorose think of a plan to escape.

This takes her to the mountains where the ‘Beast’ lives – he’s one that also has magic and has the ability to shapeshift into other forms.  usually that of a Bear which is quite scary.

As you can expect this is where the merging of Beauty and the Beast really happen, of course though with Beauty being the one that’s cursed.  While with Cole (The Beast), she learns about how humans got magic, and even how her family got it and is disgusted – with the result of her needing to find a way to get rid of it.  There’s a woman who came to the mountain kingdom years ago and stole Cole’s family’s magic and put a curse of her own on them, making them stay in their animal form.

Together cole and Omorose work to find a solution and a way to get rid of the curse, and of course at the same time grow closer and in love.

Just when they think they’ve cracked the code, things get pearshaped, and we see that Asher and Jade show up – one with guns blazing.  The people from the base where Omorose ran from are now on the hunt and are planning to blow up the kingdom, and Omorose’s father goes missing.  If that weren’t enough, they’ve found a solution that may work, but of course as we saw in book 1, it means that someone will do something stupid to sacrifice themself and well, it never ends well.

The nice thing i that we get to see the lead in to book 3.  I can’t wait to see how Ella and the Fairy get along, and i think that we all know that the Fairy can’t be trusted, so it’ll be quite fun to see who’s on what side and who will win.

On that note – have a great day all!