Callan Rose.
That hadn’t always been his name.
When we were children, he was nothing more than a servant boy in my family.
He was an amusement to me.
A nobody.
A weak soul who refused to fight back.
It was so easy to take advantage.
But then my father died, and I was stolen.
The family moved on without me.
Until I was penniless with no place to go.
I returned to the Rose Estate not knowing … no place to go.
I returned to the Rose Estate not knowing Callan was the head of it.
He’d honed his body and temper in the underground fighting ring.
The scars only made him more beautiful.
Now I’m trapped by a seductively dark man who has nothing but vengeance running through his veins.
I’d always wanted him to fight back, but you know what they say:
Be careful what you wish for.
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Another fantastic story by Lily White.
Her books never fail to entertain, so many twists and turns on every page!
Roses are beautiful with prickly thorns and this family of Roses definitely lives up to that.
They are sharp, deadly and a force to be reckoned with. The secrets that are held within the Rose family mansion and beyond are truly shocking, this story is as dark as it is sinfully HOT.
A wickedly good tale of rich and poor and the secrets that could destroy them all.
Reviewer: Natalie
Definitely a 4 1/2 star read. This story was very gritty and may include the odd thing that may be a trigger for some people. There were many twists and turns on this journey. Secrets, abuse and misunderstandings fueled the hate between Lisbeth and Callan. As they say, hate is close to love, and these two hurt each other until they realized the love between them. That love led to changes for the betterment of their lived and those around them. This was an intense story, and for the hardy souls who love those lave/hate relationships, I recommend this story.
I received a copy of this story through Enticing Journey Book Promotions, and this is my unsolicited review.
Once again, I sit positively STUNNED!!! I bow, to the literary genius known as, Lily White!!! I received an ARC in return for a honest review of the work. Well honestly……HOLY HELL, grab hold of your panties ladies as you are introduced to Callahan (alpha male, bad boy hottie) and Lisbeth (selfish, self absorbed and entitled, who transforms through the story)!! I loved the dynamic between these two, it is sooooo intense!! That is all I’m going to say, because trust me, you NEED TO READ THIS for yourself!! If you are a fan of this author, then you already know. If you are new to her work, I would simply use caution and read only if you don’t have MAJOR trigger issues, as this book is intended for a mature audience.
Secrets and lies!! Lily White takes you on a journey full of angst!Had me on edge and guessing at every turn! So many secrets revealed all for the sake of saving the family name! Great read!!
This is a new to me author but not any more. I absolutely loved this story. It kept me on my toes from the very beginning. At first I thought it might be historical with all the servants and the way things were going but believe it’s more present day. I loved all the characters and the twists were mind boggling. I was biting my nails everytime one of them stepped in the ring and the end was even more surprising.
If you like dark romance, crime families, enemies to lovers twists, mystery and suspense you will love this book. Now when is the next Lily White Book due out?
Another fantastic story by Lily White… her books never fail to entertain, so many twists, turns on every page! Roses are beautiful with prickly thorns and this family of Roses definitely live up to that… They are sharp, deadly and a force to be reckoned with. The secrets that are held within the Rose family mansion and beyond are truly shocking, this story is as dark as it is sinfully HOT. A wickedly good tale of rich and poor and the secrets that could destroy them all.
The poor servant boy and his mother worked for the Rose family. They were surrounded by extravagance and luxury. He was the epitome of nothing in the eyes of the Rose family. From the dark shadows he watched the beautiful bratty Lisbeth. He knew he deserved a life better than being a servant to wealthy snobs, yet he stayed for his mother and the love/hate he had for Lisbeth.
They were two people trapped by a bitter past. They watched each other without understanding why. She hurt him when he wouldn’t fight back and he hurt her while seeking revenge.
Overall:
Lily’s words just float off these pages. She’s a true magical genius. Her words paint the empty canvas with pure artistic talent. This dialogue driven story with alternating points of view had me begging for more. More Callan. More Lisbeth. More hatred. More lust.
I knew going in that this story was about a fighter. While that didn’t sound appealing to me originally I’m glad I made the decision to read anyway. Without a doubt this has become quite fulfilling in every imaginable way from the sex, fighting, lies, and secrets. This story encompassed many layers.
It’s easier to understand the hatred when you read about where it stems from. Enemy to lovers is a hard sell for me. Lily altered the playing field with her unique twist. Every move was unexpected and every reaction was ballsy. Needless to say Lily had me on my hands and knees pleading for more. I’m not even sure what I was desiring. I knew I wanted her to blow my mind.
Oh! How the tables have turned. This switch in tactics is absolutely delicious to read. Just when I thought I read every type of slave storyline out there, Lily found a way to create an original concept using typical plot lines.
Callan was a ball of raging violence. He was intimating to most. Those who could stand toe to toe understood his need to fight.
You know what Lily does well? Write feelings and emotions. Her characters express their thoughts and feelings with descriptive words full of powerful emotions that it’s stirs a need inside the reader.
Lily gave me that little niggling of truth that clued me in the end of what I suspected all along. There were still twists and unexpected revelations. What she did give was enough to feed my curiosity.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher/author to review for Stephanie’s Book Reports.
Callan Rose. That hadn’t always been his name. When we were children, he was nothing more than a servant boy in my family. He was an amusement to me. A nobody. A weak soul who refused to fight back. It was so easy to take advantage. But when my father died, and I was stolen. The family moved on without me. Until I was penniless with no place to go. I returned to the Rose Estate not knowing Callan was the head of it. He’d hone his body and temper in the underground fighting ring. The scars only made him more beautiful. Now I’m trapped by a seductively dark man who has nothing but vengeance running through his veins. I’d always wanted him to fight back, but you know what they say: Be careful what you wish for.
Oh man you talk about two characters who have a past that no one would want. That is Lisbeth and Callen. You feel like your kindle just might explode from all the angry banter these two have with each other. At one point Lisbeth was the rich spoiled girl who wanted him to fight back, who thought that Callen was a nothing. However when her father dies and she is taken her family moves on without her. Now penniless with no place to go she returns home to find that Callan is not the man in charge and he wants revenge. The boy she wanted to fight back when they were little is now the man that she never thought he would grow up to be. I was sucked into this book and it doesn’t let you put it down until you finish. I don’t want to give anything away. I loved reading this book and you will too.
The Vanity of Roses by Lily White is the story of Lisbeth and Callan.
Lisbeth was a well off girl who had everything handed to her. Lisbeth loved to tease and torment Callan a servant boy at her Rose family home. But then something happened and she had to go on the run where life changed for her. But now several years later she is back to her roots at the Rose Family Home, but now the table has turned. Callan is the one who is in control who has rule over her. This is a dark tale of revenge along with redemption. If you have read Ms. White’s books before than you will love this one. This is not for the weak!
This is an absolute MUST READ! One of my top picks for 2020 thus far. Lily nailed it. This dark twisted tale is one for the record books for sure. Angst through the roof, steam that’s off the charts, so many twists and turns that I couldn’t predict what was going to happen and all the alpha male swooning! Absolute perfection. Loved it hard!!
Mystery, suspense, secrets, lies and a love/hate romance. All the fabulous elements in this newest offering from one of my favorite author. Nobody does controlled aggression, edgy rough sex and hateful love like Lily White. I loved every word as the brutality between Lisbeth and Callan flip flops as they move from youngsters to teens to adults with the power struggle between the two. They move back and forth from slave to master as the Rose empire is slowly reveal and the real truth uncovered about how they made their money. Callan goes from voiceless servant subjected to horrors caused by Lisbeth to the powerfully aggressive brute tamed only by fighting and sexual release. When they are brought back together after ten years apart all is flipped as Callan is now in charge of Lisbeth family’s empire and she is at his mercy, the one thing he doesn’t have much of. Will she survive his payback? These two are so hot as they battle. Callan to bring Lisbeth to her knees and Lisbeth to hold on to her pride. It’s intense and highly charged with sexual tension and desire as Lisbeth and Callan try to overcome their painful past and uncover the truth behind the mystery and the Rose empire. Lots of surprises and twists as the danger ramps up. Will the Rose empire survive the treachery? And how will the new Rose generation operate the illegal family business of brutal fighting to the death? The sharp edge of brutality is ever present as the mystery unfolds and the lovers grapple with their new reality. Absolutely fabulous! I voluntarily reviewed an ARC.
Oh how I love diving back into a Lily White book. You have to go in blind when you read her words. There is no peeking. Yes, you might guess what might come around the corner. But more than likely, you would be dead wrong. Just hold on for the ride. Just like with In the Garden of Discontent, the author spins a story like no other. The characters, Lisbeth and Callan, are absolutely flawed. And I love that they are flawed. They are more believable as people because they are so flawed. They don’t sugar coat who they are.
Lisbeth met her match in Callan every single time she opened up her mouth. He didn’t let her get away with things. He knew what he wanted and how he wanted things in the Rose Estate to be dealt with. The love between the two characters was definitely unconventional. It truly was. There would never be hearts and flowers between Lisbeth and Callan. But you know, they will definitely stand as equals in their own crazy dark way.
***5 “Be careful what you wish for…” stars***
“Forgiveness is difficult when the ego refuses to bow down, and absolution is impossible when we’re chained to a refusal to accept sin.
Are any of us ever truly blameless?”
Is it possible after only two books to love a writer so fiercely??? I believe that Lily White had become one of my unicorn authors in such a short time and i want to read everything by her!!! Everything!!!
I can tell that this book wasn’t so dark and painful than her previous, “In the garden of miscontent”, but it still did the trick for me and i became a sucker for Callan, Lisbeth and the Vanity of Roses!
I read it in one breath, if that is telling you something…
“That’s what we were.
Destruction and chaos
The absolute beauty of misery.”
Well, this was a book about revenge and redemption…
It was about a boy who was mistreated by a girl that was having everything…
And yes, Lisbeth Rose had everything served to her in a silver plate from the moment that she was born and she was such a brat…
Her favorite play time was to toy with the poor servant boy, Callan…
And then, one fateful night everything changed for both of them…
“How was this the same boy I’d hurt so many times?
I almost didn’t believe it.”
Now, she’s back in the same place after ten years of absence and what she wasn’t prepared to face what she actually face…
Now, Callan is the head of the Rose family and he is determined to make her pay for all the wrongs that she did to him in the past…
Will Callan succeed to make the princess bow in front of the servant???
“It was like fate was kicking back on a throne next to Callan and laughing its ass off at the plot twist my life had taken. I’d abused a boy because he was weaker, and now he held all the power.”
“She may as well have branded her name into me over the years I was her servant.
I’d been owed once, and now I struggled to break free.”
Well, I have to admit that i loved Callan very much, even when he was mean and cruel toward Lisbeth!!! The man was so dark and intense… He was hating and loving with the same fierce passion and he had no boundaries…
Lisbeth had always been the thorn on his side… In many ways…
After all hate and love are sepetared only by a very thin line…. No???
“It didn’t matter how much she’d hurt me, I would always want her.
How screwed up is that?”
“Lisbeth was the only woman in the world I would break my rules for.
Not because I wanted her so much.
Only because I hated her.
In many ways, I was the bomb waiting to explode and Lisbeth was the detonator, but even that wasn’t enough to stop me.”
I loved Lisbeth as well, even though i can say that yes, she was unfair and a total bitch toward Callan in the past and for no good reason…
I felt so sorry about all the things that Callan got her through in the present, but she really needed a good lesson…. And he was the perfect man to deliver it!!!
“He was a beast, this man.
A savage.
A force that could claim me over and over again until I became lost to the fury of his storm.”
“This man would burn me alive if I let him, yet he tugged at me in ways I couldn’t quite understand.”
These two together were pure fire!!!!
I loved how they hating and how they were fighting each other….
I loved they intimate moments…
I loved how they couldn’t see what it was in front of their eyes…
They were both intense and strongwilled characters and that was a very intriguing mix….
“When we were apart, all I felt was anger, but when we were together, all I wanted was to show her body what it does to me. To tempt and tease her with the truth of a hatred that walked the same line as love.”
I really love the way that Lily is delivering her stories…
I love all these complicating matters that are getting born in her books…
I love how she is connecting the dots, when i’m pushing my brain on its limits to find an answer!!!
The secrets, the lies, the intrigues are so fascinating to get untangled after all!!!
Honestly, i can not wait to read more of her….
“When you can’t love, you hate. When you can’t have, you want. And when the truth is too painful to admit, you lie -just like we always had done.
We were the fine line between the two. We were darkness and light. Give and take. Opponents who only knew how to hurt each other because we were too afraid to stop for just one moment to admit that our lives were interwined, but not in the way we wanted.”
***An ARC was given to me in the exchange of an honest review. Thank you.*
Totally consuming! I got lost in Callan and Lisbeth’s twisted love story. Callan is the ultimate bully worth fighting (or submitting) for.
Lisbeth has been gone for ten years. That night she fled with her mother is still a mystery. Now she’s been lured back to her childhood home by her uncle when she finds herself completely alone,without a penny to her name. She has no idea that the boy she tormented for years is now the ruler of the family.
Callan wants revenge on Lisbeth for all the times she belittled and berated him. All the times she told lies that caused him to be beaten as a result. He will show her no mercy. The only problem is, that bratty teenager that left has become a woman he can’t resist.
This story is dark and filled with cruelty. Callan has never forgotten the ways she made him feel or the greatest loss he suffered because of her. His revenge will be filled with rage. As a child he was meek and submissive, however as a grown man he is a fighter. He submits to no one and nothing. He lives without fear because he has become the one to fear.
Callan is determined to knock Lisbeth off her pedestal. The girl who had everything at her fingertips will be taught to serve others. He never expected that the selfish young girl would change into someone with kindness and compassion. Regardless he will show her the truth of her family’s money. He is going to explode that bubble she grew up in and force her to see the truth.
Callan was cold and callous. Hurtful and cruel. Brutal and filled with rage. A man who literally and figuratively fought till the end. The girl who made him that way, also tempered it. They had always been drawn to one another. Now as adults, that hate is channeled into unadulterated mutual attraction. Hang on…it is going to be explosive!!!
A bully romance you do not want to miss. The story contained elements of suspense because the Rose family had it’s fair share of secrets and lies. All will be uncovered and some will leave you shocked. A great author that I will continue to follow and read anytime she publishes.
Vanity Of Roses by Lily white is a perfectly dark read that will keep you on the edge of your seat while turning those pages.
This book has so many twists and secrets, and you get to watch all the lies being unraveled.
“When you can’t love, you hate. When you can’t have, you want. And when the truth is too painful to admit, you lie – just like we always had done.”
One click this beauty it’s really worth the read
Callan Rose is cruel. He’s hateful. He’s dangerous. You don’t want to make an enemy of this man but that’s exactly what the spoiled princess Lisbeth did. She was the main reason that his childhood was full of pain and abuse. It’s been ten years since they’ve seen each other and both of them have held onto their feelings and allowed them to fester and grow. At times I hated Callan. He was horrible. Lisbeth was too scared to stand up to him. But once she became stronger the sparks between the two of them began to fly. This story has everything. Pain and heartache. Secrets and lies. Love and hate. If you enjoy dark romance I would definitely recommend.