Review: Roses and Rot by Kat Howard

Published May 17th 2016
by Saga Press

"What would you sacrifice for everything you ever dreamed of?"(From the synopsis)

Imogen and Marin were raised by a highly dysfunctional, abusive mother. And yet they've managed to mostly grow beyond that experience. They have both been accepted to a prestigious program at a place called Melete where they will work with a mentor to improve their crafts. Imogen is a writer. Marin is a dancer.

As with most fairy tales, there is more than meets the eye here. And there will be some big decisions to be made. Imogen is finally getting to live out a fairy tale with some similarities to Tam Lin. But, “Perhaps the only happily ever after is to survive to tell the story.”(location 2492 on my Kindle)

This book is wonderfully well written. It stayed with me long after I had closed it. And in fact, it was one of the few books I wanted to re-read right away. The cover has a very positive blurb from Neil Gaiman saying how good the book is. 

I could see the elements of Tam Lin. Using two sisters instead of a couple was a great idea. The two sisters in fairy tales is a theme used throughout the book. I liked that the book referred to other older fairy tales where the Good Folk were often not so good and the solution of the story wasn't always exactly a happily ever after.

The pace of the book is sometimes dreamy like fairy and sometimes faster. It makes sense and suits the story. 

Overall I felt this book was excellent. I give it 5 stars out of 5. I started to give it 4, but realized how much it had stuck with me in the days following my finishing the story, and the desire to re-read it right away made me give it the last boost up to 5. This is a book I will revisit. I also look forward to seeing more from this writer in the future.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.