Rebecca Zanetti

A Vampire’s Mate by Rebecca Zanetti
Dark Protectors series #16.5. Paranormal romantic suspense. The 1001 Dark Nights books can be read as a stand-alone but it’s better if familiar with the world already in place.
Leah Ferry was turned immortal by Jason Maxwell after getting seriously injured on a mission to blow a bridge during WWII. Since then she has worked on dangerous missions undercover for the military and privately to stop degenerate humans. She is working on catching the last on her list of child traffickers when Jasper has had enough of her just sending him some of her blood. He’s ready to stop his sweet mate for endangering herself so they can create a life together for themselves. Leah just needs the address for where the children are being held and then she’s planning a nice long vacation. She’d rather Jasper go away again, but she can use his help since the Kurjans now seem to be on her tail.

A wild ride of danger, risk, passion, friends and things blowing up. Jasper and Leah are a whirlwind fighting for their beliefs. It was fun to have Ivy included and Jasper’s brothers with just a couple of mentions of Benny. Those Kurjans and their plans just aren’t going away! Steamy hot scenes too. Jasper sure likes flipping Leah over his shoulder! Leah doesn’t hate it.… (more)

This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review. Also my tags may have spoilers in them so be forewarned before checking out full review.

Book Evaluation:
Plot: 🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️
World Building:🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎
Cover:📔📔📔📔📔
Hero: 🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻
Heroine:🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️
Intimacy Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Relationship Building: 💒💒💒💒💒
Heart & Feels:💞💞💞💞💞
Witty/Banter/Reaction of Laughter: 😂😂😂😂😂
Page Turner Level:📖📖📖📖📖
Narration:🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧
Ending:🧧🧧🧧🧧🧧
Overall View: ✨✨✨✨✨

First Impressions
One Cursed Rose is the first book in this authors newest series "Grimm Bargains" and it was first off so nice to see her get back to mainstream romance as she has been releasing romantic thrillers of late. I was so intrigued by this one, and I do love a wonderful fairy tale retelling and this one was definitely at the top of the list of very authentic showcased. I just adored everything that we got to see from this one. It had everything you can expect from a Beauty and Beast retelling and even has the library in it. So that was fun. But what we also get is a blend of magic as the heroine has some psychic witch like abilities connected to crystals and I just found all the world building so fascinating. Rebecca Zanetti succeeds in everything that she writes, and this book is no exception.

First Line
The Shadows shift uneasily in the chilly night as I prowl against the brick buildings, rainwater dripping from the eaves high above.

The Main Protagonists
The Hero: Thorn
The Heroine: Alana

Summary
Alana is the heir to Awaurius Social, she is a bubbly entertainer and has a connection to the crystals that no one else has. There is a certain magical property in crystals and how her family has built such a prestige and successful business with it. But her father is pushing her towards a arranged marriage to secure a connection to another family and she has very little choice in the matter. But then where she least expects it, an assassination attempt is made on her life and she is taken captive by a secretive rich mogul, Thorn Beathach. Thorn knows that Alana is his and will always be his but there is one major problem ....he is cursed and is slowly dying from a ice curse that is making him slowly die from the cold and only certain crystals help hold off the curse. While Alana is in his large castle, they form a deep connection, but real life happens and Thorn is forced to let her go. But Alana and Thorn are meant to be even if fate has other plans...

What I Loved
One Cursed Rose is one of the TOP TIER Beauty and Beast retellings that I have ever had the pleasure to read. I have no idea what this author plans for this series, but I can tell you I will be preodering these and keeping a close eye on release dates from here on out. I am not sure why I took so long to read this one here, I kept putting it off but it was STELLAR in every way! If you love edgier romance or dark romance, then I can't recommend this one enough. So many fun aspects and it definitely was a retelling that just worked and Zanetti really capitalizes on the retelling aspect while also adding in her own twists here and there to make it her own. But I can tell you if you love more close connected retellings, you can't go wrong with this one.

One Cursed Rose had quite a few elements in it that quickly won me over. First off...the hero. The hero, Thorn, is a man of mystery. There is so much darkness surrounding him. He is scarred and cursed, but he also keeps to himself. He is broody and grumpy and controlling. He knows Alana is his fated heart and stalks her at times. He also is a man you don't cross nor can hide from. He also has brothers who are just as secretive as he is. Then we have our heroine who is his opposite in every way. She is passionate, a go getter, bubbly and endearing and so hilarious. She loves to battle Thorn in her own way and seeing her find her own strength against this powerful man was a hoot. The spice in the book is top tier if that is what you need in a romance, then it definitely has that but these scenes can easily be skipped over if you aren't a fan of spice as well. The romance was so deep and rich in this story, and the author really developed the relationship building aspects to the story just right.

What I Struggled With
There wasn't much I struggled with to be honest, and it was a five star. It didn't quite make it to 6 star status, but it was a close call.

Narration
Superb in every way. It really was so well mastered and really developed the feels that you can expect from a Zanetti romance.

Overall View
One Cursed Rose is a utterly engrossing fairytale retelling that will make your heart skip a beat and deliver thrills and sexy vibes from beginning to end! A true gem!

Book Details (also in my shelves)
Sub Genre: Paranormal Romance, Dark Romance
Character Types: Alpha Male, Captive Heroine
Themes: Pining Hero, Curses, Psychic Abilities
Tropes: Fated Love, Fairy Tale Retelling-Beauty and the Beast

Book Perspective
3rd POV

Relationship Conflict vs Plot Conflict
A mix of both

If you like these authors, I recommend This Book
Rachel L. Detmer
Greer Rivers
Katee Robert

Song This Book Inspires
My Blood by Ellie Goulding

Recommendation For Reading Order
No

Steam/Spice Explanations

Steamin' up the room -the sexual content is more explicit in the language and tone, heavier amount of sexual scenes.

Narrators:
James McAdams
Felicity Munroe… (more)

One Cursed Rose by Rebecca Zanetti
Grimm Bargains #1

Fairy Tales were my thing as a child and one wedding gift from my parents was the complete set of Andrew Lang’s Fairy Tales in multiple volumes with each book a different color. Myths, legends, and fairy tales are still fun and dark ones like this appeal in more intriguing ways.

What I liked:
* Alana Beaumont: bright, beautiful, social media influencer for her family’s media business, can charge gems, good friend, learns a great deal about herself in this book as she falls for Thorn
* Thorn Beathach: dark, damaged, deadly, ruthless, protective, owns a media business, takes care of his own, suffering from an unknown virus, fell for Alana the first time he saw her
* The fairy tale link to Beauty and the Beast
* The way gems are used and how they are charged
* The serial killer subplot and who the killer ended up being
* The supporting characters that I hope will have books of their own: Quinlan, Scarlett, Ella, Rosalie, and Justice
* The way Thorn and Alana are drawn together and are good with and for one another and that they both righted wrongs and took on evil people in their own ways
* Wanting to read whatever book comes next

What I didn’t like:
* Who and what I was meant not to like
* Thinking about the evil people in the story and what they were willing to do

Did I like this book? Yes
Would I read more in this series? Definitely

Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars… (more)

"She's too pure for me, but that won't last long. She's meant to be mine, and someday she'll crave the darkness."

I honestly feel like maybe I'm being a bit generous with four stars. I enjoyed the book don't get me wrong. I loved the Beauty and Beast retelling. However, I felt like I spent a lot of time wishing certain major elements were a bit more clear. The magic concept isn't really explained well and sometimes is hard to follow the connection. The author will mention certain things and then never bring them back up or only rarely insert them as if they have been an element all along. We get random mentions of the Irish or Italian mafia, but they don't go anywhere and then are thrown back out at some random point in the story. It also felt like certain plot points were just tossed in and then ignored. I realize it's the first in a series, but considering that some of these things should have been more flushed out.
I also struggled a bit because it felt like the resolution to this story was rushed. It also honestly didn't make a ton of sense.
However, all that aside the romance element was great. Thorn and Alana have some amazing banter between them. I adore the fact that she lets him maintain this incorrect image of her until it suits her. She is a pretty powerful character and we get to see her slowly embrace what that actually means for her. Thorn is the typical broody morally gray characters in all dark romance stories. He has a background he doesn't want to share and will do whatever it takes to get and keep Alana. I think the slight shift on the Beauty and the Beast element was an interesting concept. I didn't really enjoy the last little bit of the novel because it felt like it was a completely separate story that we hadn't been prepared for like at all. I am a bit on the fence about the series as you can tell. It does have some spicy moments though and it's a fairly quick read.… (more)