A Curse of Rosesby Diana Pinguicha
Genre: YA Fantasy – Own Voices, LGBTQ
Release Date: December 1st 2020
Entangled Teen
Synopsis:
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…
Purchase links can be found HERE!
Review:
4.5 Stars
First off, I’d like give a huge shout out to Diana for including a page in the book before the story even begins about some of the TW/CW in the book like religion based eating disorders/forms of self harm and religion based homophobia since even though it’s almost 2021, these simple things are overlooked because each reader is unique in their reading needs.
A Curse of Roses is truly a beautiful book that follow Yzabel as she navigates her journey of accepting her natural gift of being able to turn food into flowers. She’s been told and lead to believe that her gift is a curse that would lead to death if the wrong person finds out. This “curse” has festered feels of self hatred because she is upset about having to put on a show of eating when she knows that it will just turn into flowers when the people of her kingdom are dying of starvation and the plague.
In an effort to try and get rid of the curse, Yzabel goes in search of Fatyan who is a Moura that might be able to help her. But, Yzabel finds out that she must embrace this things that she calls a curse and her born gift will always be a part of her, and she might be able to turn reverse her powers by turning flowers into food if mastered. This journey of bringing Fatyan also unlocks these new feelings upon Yzabel that she is unsure how to process.
A shock rattled her bones. An excruciating pain settled on her chest, as I’d so,done had cracked her ribs open and rummaged through her insides.
In her heart, there was only one wish, one word
Peace.
Yzabel faces many challenges during her training to learn how to weld and come to terms with how powers while dealing with the problems that her people faces and only being able to do so much from a far. In addition, her betrothed makes her feel on edge.
The writing, plot, and characters of this book draws you in almost immediately from the descriptions of Yzabel turning food into flowers to her emotions throughout the whole book to her daily life of a soon to be married princess.
A Curse of Roses is definitely a book that will have you staying up all night as Yzabel blossoms into something special!
About the Author:
Born in the sunny lands of Portugal, Diana is a Computer Engineer graduate who currently calls Lisbon home. She can usually be found writing, painting, devouring extraordinary quantities of books and video games, or walking around with her bearded dragon, Norberta. She also has two cats, Sushi and Jubas, who would never forgive her if she didn’t mention them.
Her art can be found at http://pinguicha.deviantart.com.
Also publishes under Diana Pinguicha Connors.
Blog Tour Organized By:
Happy reading until next time,
** quote is from the unfinished copy of the ARC and could have changed from the finished copy **
Lala's Book Reviews 
Pingback: WWW Wednesday 12/30/20 | Lala's Book Reviews
Pingback: December 2020 Wrap-Up and Haul | Lala's Book Reviews
Pingback: Book Reviews | Lala's Book Reviews