Review: Night's Rose

Night's Rose by Annaliese Evans

Book Description from goodreads.

'For nearly one hundred years, Rosemarie Edenberg has worked tirelessly to wipe the dreaded ogre tribe from the earth. Now the tribe has gathered in London to work a spell that will destroy the scourge of their kind, the one they call the Briar Rose. Two magnetic men will unite to aid Rose--her mysterious fey advisor, Ambrose, and the vampire Lord Shenley, an earl of scandalous reputation and even more scandalous appetites. One will save her, one will betray her, and both will challenge her to face the past that haunts her. Once upon a time, she was ensnared in the mists of enchantment, cursed to sleep one hundred years. But this beauty wasn't awakened with a kiss and has never known happily ever after. But with the help of her handsome allies, Rose may find it yet.'

Mini Description:
Rosemarie, or Rose, never got her happy ending, her hundred years of slumber was cut short. Instead of waking up to prince charming and a perfect kiss, she is awoken to a nightmare and the perfect monster. Now she is the scourge, killing all Ogre she can sink her blade into and working for the dark fairy. Rose's life of slaying however is jeopardized when a fairy prophecy holds her doom and everyone wants her dead. Only the two men in her life Gareth, a sexy vampire, and Ambrose, her fairy companion for the last century, offer to help her out. How can Rose trust anyone when one of them will betray her?

Review:
This tale takes place in 1750 in, the majority of the time, London. Rose has been working the ogre slaying scene for about a century. She trusts no one, even Ambrose who has been her companion during her century. Harsh and a kick butt fighter, Rose has to be my favorite version of the Sleeping Beauty princess. The ogres are so cool, most books that have Ogres never go into detail about them, they just like to eat. In Night's Rose we find out that Ogres not only eat humans to stay alive, but they also have to breed with these meals to keep the family going.

Evans compliments the time period beautifully. The dialogue in this novel is wonderful with the wit of the 1700 flavoring it. All of her writing fits so perfectly I can believe in the time period. At times, though, I feel a little modern thought, and dialogue, breaking out. Not enough to distract from the story, just enough to notice.

There aren't too many sex scenes in this novel, but the sexual tension killed this book for me. Instead of exploring this wonderful world Evans has created, or even just a little more character depth, the over the top sexual tension knocks any world building flat on its face. While I do understand that Night's Rose is a sub genre of romance, the story should always be on equal grounds (if not more) then the romance. At least in my book, I want them to balance out enough that I don't feel the sex taking away from the tale. There were sections in the story where Evans would dedicate a page, if not pages, to how hot and bothered one of the love interests was getting her. Forget that everyone was out to kill her.

The love interests where another sore point for me. Gareth, our yummy vampire, was definitely well done. The growth between Rose and Gareth was very appealing and moved slow enough to get to know the two, and swift enough so that it didn't drag. Now Ambrose, the dark fairy, irritated me to no end. I don't want to give anything away, so I'll be a little vague. Ambrose betrayal shocked me, I figured he would be the one, but it was just terrible. Rose though, after her initial upset is practically ready to go swooning into Ambrose's arms. Sure, the whole live and forgive thing is great and all, but I have lost respect for Rose.

Bottom Line:

This book would get a two from me, but where the reader is actually able to enjoy the world Evans has created it saves face. This is probably a library title. The only way I would even think about continuing the series, is that I have to know what is going to happen between Rose and Ambrose. I fear the worst, but then there's the chance that Rose might get some common sense.

Sexual Content:

Graphic sex scenes and over bearing sexual tension. (I don't want to give too much away.) There is a rape, we don't get into the rape, only the after math of it.

My Rating: 2/5- Average/disappointing, library check-out