Seventeen-year-old Bryar Rose has a problem. She’s descended from one of the three magical races—shifters, fairies, or witches. That makes her one of the Magicorum, and Magicorum always follow a fairy tale life template. In Bryar’s case, that template should be Sleeping Beauty.Should being the key word.Trouble is, Bryar is nowhere near the sleeping beauty life template. Not even close. She … even close. She doesn’t like birds or woodland creatures. She can’t sing. And she certainly can’t stand Prince Philpot, the so-called “His Highness of Hedge Funds” that her aunties want her to marry. Even worse, Bryar’s having recurring dreams of a bad boy hottie and is obsessed with finding papyri from ancient Egypt. What’s up with that?
“Exciting and well-conceived” – Kirkus
All Bryar wants is to attend a regular high school with normal humans and forget all about shifters, fairies, witches, and the curse that Colonel Mallory the Magnificent placed on her. And she might be able to do just that–if only she can just keep her head down until her eighteenth birthday when the spell that’s ruined her life goes buh-bye.
But that plan gets turned upside down when Bryar Rose meets Knox, the bad boy who’s literally from her dreams. Knox is a powerful werewolf, and his presence in her life changes everything, and not just because he makes her knees turn into Jell-O. If Bryar can’t figure out who—or what—she really is, it might cost both her and Knox their lives… as well as jeopardize the very nature of magic itself.
“A fun romp for Twilight fans.”- School Library Journal
Fairy Tales of the Magicorum Series
A series of modern fairy tales with sass, action and romance
1. Wolves and Roses
2. Moonlight and Midtown
3. Shifters and Glyphs
4. Slippers and Thieves
5. Bandits and Ball Gowns
6. Fire and Cinder
7. Fairies and Frosting
8. Towers and Tithes
9. Evil Queens and Goblin Kings
more
This is the first in a series I read from beginning to end and I’m eagerly awaiting the next book to come out.
It seems like modern takes on classic fairy tales are the current trend. I had only read a few before this series and found them a pleasant way to spend a free afternoon, but none really snagged my attention like these series.
I’m trying hard to avoid any spoilers – not easy when the books were read back to back over one long weekend dressed in PJ’s and basically doing nothing but reading, snacking and reading.
What I will tell you is that this series manages to create a very complex world that merges the most common, well loved popular fairy tales.
The world inside these novels utilizes the classic fairy tale character types as the foundation for each character in the story. Though the characters start as archetypes, however, they are actively fighting those archetypes in attempt to be their own people and follow their own paths. The characters themselves and the relationships they develop are so well written that they feel as real as people you know, or friendships you’ve had.
Though actially stories themselves do require quite a bit of suspension of disbelief, that’s fine by me. These are, afterall based on fairy tales. And the crazy situations and impossible circumstances are so well written, planned, and executed they almost feel plausible. The fact that these situations don’t remind me at all of the classic fairy tale/urban fantasy dilemma/good vs evil battle royales makes them even better. Read these books. All of them!
As book one in a series this is off to a good start. We meet Bry who lives in paranormal world where they all have assigned life templates but she is failing at hers. What follows was intriguing as the world building goes on. Full of twists, turns, and surprise that will keep you entertained as the story progresses. Great for fans of paranormal YA moving into new adult genre. I really liked it so I give it 4/5 stars.
This book is definetly on my favorites list. I absolutely love it!
I enjoyed this. More imaginative and fun than many in this genre, with characters I liked getting to know. Even the ubiquitous “only you can save mankind” trope was handled with a light touch and sympathy.
This book was incredible. Such a unique story and didn’t want it to end. Can’t wait for book 2.
Wolves and Roses is a well plotted read, and one I enjoyed for the most part. I really liked the set up with Bryar Rose being unhappy with her fairy tale template as Sleeping Beauty and the close friendship she has with Ella, whose template is Cinderella. The rebel in Bryar is fitting since who would want to be told how to live her life? I understood where she was coming from.
I thought this take on fairy tales was brilliant and enjoyed Bryar’s snark. It was interesting to see how Bryar Rose could have a different perspective than she does in the traditional Sleeping Beauty stories. It was also interesting that these three particular magical races – fairies, shifters and witches – were included. I haven’t read too many books with just these three supernatural races; many books include other races like vampires and zombies.
The situations and narrow escapes Bryar and Ella get themselves into were entertaining. It’s also great to see a strong friendship between two teenage girls. They had a great back and forth between their characters that often had me laughing.
I wasn’t a huge fan of Knox. The biggest reason I didn’t like him was his constant and repeated references to “his inner wolf.” It was distracting and unnecessary.
The narrator is also the author of this book, and unfortunately it didn’t work for me in this case. I think I would have been able to give the story at least another star if I had read the eBook version. There were difficulties with knowing which character was speaking at times because the voices weren’t different enough. There were also moments that the reading felt bland.
That being said, the story is good, and I’d read the next installment although in the eBook format rather than the audiobook format.
Awesome book
If I could have sat down and read this entire book in one day I would have. Bryar Rose is kick ass. She wants a simple life, and fights for it every step of the way. She’s sarcastic and really cares about her friends. Yes Knox’s wolf keeps insisting that Bry is their mate, but that’s the charming part. Knox keeps telling himself it can’t happen, but his wolf knows better. If you like kick ass fairy tale retellings where the chicks fight for what they want, then you’ll like this book
A young girl Bryar Rose is a Magicorum and all Magicorum have a life template they must follow and Bryar’s life template is sleeping beauty. But Bryar doesn’t live up to her life template so she must attend this special school for people who don’t live up to their life templates.
At this school Bryar meets her best friend Cinderella or Elle who like Bryar has secrets of her own. Elle is a very talented con artist who must hide out from her stepfamily. If Elle meets up with her stepfamily or they find her it could cause her a world of problems. Bryar and Elle become best friends who have each other’s backs always no questions asked.
Bryar has these episodes where she will fall asleep standing on her feet if it were not for her inhaler. Bryar was raised by her three aunties who make this special medicine for her to keep her from falling asleep.
Bryar’s three aunties want Bryar to marry prince Philpot but Bryar Rose wants no part of this prince but the thing is she has to fake it until her eighteenth birthday which is just right around the corner and then she will be home free. She won’t have to listen to her aunts anymore or anyone else for that matter. She will be free as a bird to live her life as she wants and that is a normal human with no magical powers.
Bryar meets the man of her dreams literally a man that she has been dreaming about her whole life. Knox is a werewolf who wants to protect Bryar from the moment he lays eyes on her. Whenever Bryar is around him her legs don’t seem to want to support her any longer. Knox is one hot dude that will make your tongue come out and slap your brains out.
Oh man I don’t know what to say about Wolves & Roses except that I fell hard and fast for the world the author created in Wolves & Roses and all the characters as well or most of them anyways there were a few that I didn’t care for much. From the very beginning I was drawn in and I couldn’t get enough of Wolves & Roses I fell asleep trying to devour this one, oh yeah. And that ending was awesome but it did leave me wanting more which is what a good story will do. Yes, I can’t wait to read the next book Shifters and Glyphs in the Fairy Tales of the Magicorum series.
I would recommend Wolves & Roses to anyone who loves fairy tales.
I really enjoyed this story. All supernatural creatures follow a fairy tale template. But Bry and her best friend don’t exactly follow their template thus putting them in a special therapy group. Things aren’t always what they seem though and the girls are in the middle of some big trouble. Really liked how Bry is no damsel in destress and handles a lot of things we snappy wit.
This book started off really good and then went downhill. I kept reading just to find out who the characters really were!
Good enough that I got the second volume.
Wolves and Roses was great. It’s a fun retelling of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale with more than a few twists and turns. The characters are a lot of fun, and it’s nice seeing things from both Bryar Rose’s and Knox’s perspectives.
I’m really curious to learn more about Bryar’s history and ancestry. I also have a couple of theories that I’m really curious to prove or disprove. Hopefully we’ll get some answers in books 1.5 and 2. It would suck to have to wait until book 3 comes out, as it’s currently slated for October of next year.
Wolves and Roses feels like a younger Young Adult book than others I’ve read recently, but I don’t feel that’s a bad thing. There’s less of the ickiness of the world, more youthful naivety. It’s a really nice to change to some of the other books I’ve been reading lately.
I highly recommend Wolves and Roses and look forward to reading the next two.
Liked it
Interesting twist on fairy tales. Good story line and plot. Fun characters.
The fairy tale tropes hindered the story and contributed very little to it. The story could have been told much better without them.
The story was good, but the dialogue was sub-par
Wolves and Roses is a unique young adult series based loosely on fairytales. Bryar Rose is a member of the Magicorum because of her heritage as either a shifter, fairy, or witch. The Magicorum follow templates of certain fairytales. Bryar’s just happens to be Sleeping Beauty, except she’s not the Sleeping Beauty type nor is she one to follow status quo. She just wants to be a normal human – one that doesn’t fall asleep all the time unless she uses her “special” inhaler. As she gets closer to the age of 18, though, her life becomes all topsy-turvy, she meets Knox, the hot guy from her dreams, and learns that not everything or everyone is as it seems.
I enjoyed Wolves and Roses as a book with somewhat complex themes but nothing so complicated that it became too intense. The book features twists and turns that shake things up but that’s was really made the book stand out to me. There is character development and Bryar and Knox are developed well as the story moves along. There world building was well done and I not only was able to picture the story in my head but I also felt like I was part of what was going on. I’m glad I had a chance to read this unusual paranormal novel.
Christina Bauer’s Wolves and Roses is the first installment in the Fairy Tales of Malecorum series. Protagonist Bryar Rose wants to attend a regular high school with normal humans. But, she’s anything but normal. Her world is filled with three main magical races; shifters, fairies, witches/warlocks. Raised by three fairy aunts, placed under a curse by Colonel Mallory the Magnificent, all she has to do is keep her head down until her 18th birthday while also ignoring the unwanted advances of Philpot to finally gain her freedom.
http://gizmosreviews.blogspot.com/2018/01/wednesday-review-wolves-and-roses-by.html
Love love love it! I need #2 to come out already!!