Review: A Curse of Roses by Diana Pinguicha

I came across A Curse of Roses in December while reading an author interview at The Quiet Pond. I hadn’t heard of the author before, but the premise of the story caught my eye so I added it to my TBR. A few months later I picked it up on a whim and was delighted by lyrical prose and a fairy-tale-like romance. A Curse of Roses ended up being an imperfect but enjoyable read for Pride Month and My YA Summer.

Title: A Curse of Roses
Author: Diana Pinguicha
Genres: young adult fantasy, historical fiction, lesbian romance
Series: N/A
Pages: 352
ISBN: 9781682815090
Links: IndieBound, Bookshop, StoryGraph, Amazon, Goodreads
Content Warnings: self-harm, religious bigotry, eating disorder, homophobia, murder
Other Books by this Author: This was a debut novel, but the author is featured in anthologies you can find here

Blurb

With just one touch, bread turns into roses. With just one bite, cheese turns into lilies.

There’s a famine plaguing the land, and Princess Yzabel is wasting food simply by trying to eat. Before she can even swallow, her magic—her curse—has turned her meal into a bouquet. She’s on the verge of starving, which only reminds her that the people of Portugal have been enduring the same pain.

If only it were possible to reverse her magic. Then she could turn flowers…into food.

Fatyan, a beautiful Enchanted Moura, is the only one who can help. But she is trapped by magical binds. She can teach Yzabel how to control her curse—if Yzabel sets her free with a kiss.

As the King of Portugal’s betrothed, Yzabel would be committing treason, but what good is a king if his country has starved to death?

With just one kiss, Fatyan is set free. And with just one kiss, Yzabel is yearning for more.

She’d sought out Fatyan to help her save the people. Now, loving her could mean Yzabel’s destruction.

Based on Portuguese legend, this #OwnVoices historical fantasy is an epic tale of mystery, magic, and making the impossible choice between love and duty…

A Curse of Roses Review

⭐⭐⭐ ⭐/2

This was a difficult book for me to rate because there were things I loved about, but I could definitely see room for improvement. At the end of the day, this was a debut novel and I enjoyed the author’s writing style. I’ll definitely be looking for more books by this author in the future..

Writing Style

Pinguicha’s vivid writing style brought the magic of this Portuguese legend to life. I think my favorite part of the book was how effortlessly I could imagine everything, from food turning into roses to the ethereal scene with the Moura.

It happened the same way a sunrise happened. She’d been slumbering in the darkness of ignorance, and then, out of nowhere, the brightness had come, shedding light on everything, putting names on what had been nameless.

Diana Pinguicha, A Curse of Roses

A Curse of Roses isn’t filled with fight scenes and action, but the story is still fast-paced. I loved how tense it was from the beginning. Each character had their own secrets that drove the plot of the story. It was fascinating to see how Pinguicha used secrets to either bring characters together or tear them apart.

Although I really liked the writing, I think it is also where A Curse of Roses disappointed me. The book broke the “Show Don’t Tell” rule more than I’m comfortable with. A lot of themes and details I could have picked up as a reader were stated on-page, which took me out of the story at times. I noticed this a lot when it came to the main character, Yzabel. We’re supposed to know that Yzabel is selfless to a fault, but I got tired of having the fact thrown in my face throughout the book. There were enough examples of Yzabel showing her kindness through her actions that I could have come to this conclusion on my own.

Characters

While I did get tired of hearing how righteous Yzabel was, it did make her an easy protagonist to love. I liked that the author showed how her curse and religious upbringing shaped her worldview in both good and bad ways. She believed that by helping others and punishing herself that she could cure the shame she had for her curse. Above all, this was a story about how religion can be twisted to make us hate parts of ourselves, so we’re so consumed by our own guilt that we forget to love others.

Another part of this book I really enjoyed was how the other characters were viewed through Yzabel’s eyes. Throughout most of the book, the characters came off as very black and white. Even when I knew characters weren’t perfect, it was hard to see them as anything other than perfectly good or perfectly evil. In most cases, I wouldn’t like this about a book, but it worked really well for A Curse of Roses because Yzabel saw the world through a black and white lens. However, when I really thought about the other characters and their actions, I began to see their flaws and how Yzabel excused their mistakes. I thought this was an incredibly unique part of this book that made it much more interesting to read.

Recommendation

Although this wasn’t a perfect book, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I wish I could have read it when I was younger! I’d recommend A Curse of Roses to anyone who enjoys loveable characters and fairytale-like fantasy romance.

Instagram | Twitter | Pinterest | StoryGraph | Goodreads