Warning: This review will contain spoilers from the first book, The Mark of the Tala. You should read it first; this series is a continuing story arc, not ideal to read as a standalone.

The Tears of the Rose continues where The Mark of the Tala left off, with the death of Princess Amelia's husband and the return of his body to her by the oldest sister, Ursula. The Tears of the Rose is the story of Amelia, the vain and beautiful youngest daughter of King Uorsin.

Amelia has lost her husband, Hugh, whom she believed to be the love of her life, and she is consumed with grief but cannot weep. She finds herself pregnant, feeling alone, and unsure of her place for the first time in her life. Amelia has always been extremely naive to the world around her, something she can no longer afford. Her father, King Uorsin, again solidifies himself as a power-hungry villainous monarch, by announcing huge plans for Amelia's unborn child.

This book follows Amelia's path to self-discovery. She starts out as a vain and vapid creature, whom I was afraid was on a horrid path to lunacy after listening to the wrong advisors. However, she came into her own as the book progressed and I actually liked her quite a bit by the end.

There was also some romance in this installment, despite Amelia losing her husband. The romance was understated and sweet, and the love interest (Ash) was the perfect counterbalance to Amelia's beauty. My one regret is that we didn't get to see more Ash in the story, but I can see the reason for it.

The plot is continuing nicely and is well-paced, but ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. So I will be moving on to the Talon of the Hawk, Ursula's story, straight away. 4 stars / 3 flames. ( )

I received an ARC through Goodreads.
---
This was the first book of the series that I have read. Wouldn't you know it, it was fairly easy to catch up on and kind of piece together what happened.

First impression of Ami was that she is the typical spoiled princess who thinks she knows what's what and uses her beauty to get what she wants. But as time goes on, especially after the death of Hugh and the visit to Annfwn, Ami slowly works on becoming less of a naive and fresh faced princess, and becomes more like her warrior sister and sorceress sister. I had to give her props, she sure learned really quickly how to weld her "powers" to her advantage, to embrace her role as the avatar of Glorianna and to work towards uniting the kingdoms with her sisters.

The three sisters are very complex and interesting. I would love to read more about the the other 2 sisters.

The White Monk (Ash) is quite the fasincating character. He isn't all that we would expect. Moderately trained to use his powers and well versed in hands on technique, Ash is a total wild card, doing whatever it takes to protect Ami and the heir she carries.

The kicker was definitely that Ami was carrying twins, a boy and a girl, each with the potential and destiny to unit and help the kingdoms. Also it was so unexpected that Ami finds real love with Ash, good for her! She deserves it and is worthy of being Queen of her soon to be kingdom with her redeeming actions

Overall, I cannot wait to read the rest of the series! ( )

DNF. The TSTL syndrome of princess Amelia was so off putting I couldn't force myself to continue. I'm sorry, I rarely meet such an unlikable heroine, so half way through the book I simply had to stop.

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: A thrilling high fantasy set in a mysterious world. The main character is a little childish before maturing with motherhood.

Opening Sentence: When they brought Hugh’s empty body home to me, I didn’t weep.

The Review:

The Tears of the Rose is the second novel in the Twelve Kingdoms Trilogy and it doesn’t waste much time getting to the story. It picks up not too long after the events of the first novel with Princess Amelia, the youngest of the three sisters that this trilogy follows. I recommend that The Mark of the Tala be read first in order to understand all the nuances of the storyline. Amelia is the youngest and most beautiful of her sisters and it really wasn’t hard to draw comparisons to Beauty and the Beast.

Amelia is grieving the loss of her Prince Charming. At the beginning of this story, Amelia is not in a good place. She is understandably grief stricken. She also feels betrayed by the sisters that she thought she could trust. In her grief, Amelia realizes that she is also developing some sort of power to gauge others emotions and whether they are telling the truth or not. Her beauty already allows her to get pretty much what she wants but it is the emotions that help her play people to figure out their true intentions towards her.

Amelia was not left totally alone. She is pregnant. The only problem now is that two kingdoms are now vying for her heir. She isn’t sure what to do so in order to make up her mind she must venture to the land of the Tala to meet with her traitorous and witchy sister Andromeda. In order to get there she must put her trust in a mysterious White Monk who also has an agenda of his own.

The Twelve Kingdoms series has been really engaging so far. I have really enjoyed the magical and mystical nature of the storyline, especially in a world where magic is not believed to be real. The characters have slowly been learning that things they thought were just story are actually real.

After reading The Mark of the Tala, I did have a hard time with Amelia’s character. She is the bright, bubbly one. She never looks down on anyone. At least that is what she is supposed to be like. At the beginning of this novel, she is depressed, angry and she has no problem treating her sister like crap and she did have an air of righteousness that was a bit grating. She grew on me eventually as the story went along when she started to learn that her actions affected the people around her. She has no problem manipulating others to get the outcome that she wants.

The Tears of the Rose is told entirely through Amelia’s point of view because of that you have no idea what is going on with her sisters. It is a high fantasy that is geared towards older readers with its graphic/sensual romantic scenes. The mysteriousness of the world keeps me equally engaged because the setting is alive with its own story that needs to be told through the sisters journey.

Overall, The Tears of the Rose is a thrilling and mysterious high fantasy that has kept me guessing and enthralled with where the story is going with the three sisters who each associate with a different goddess. I absolutely cannot wait to pick up The Talon of the Hawk and finish this trilogy.

Notable Scene:

“Ash!” I let go of the blanket and seized his hips, trying to pull him inside of me. “Yes, already! I told you I didn’t have the words.”

“I know. I’m sorry for teasing you. I only . . .”

He trailed off and I paid attention to his expression, wondering why his mood changed, a whiff of desolation creeping through. I lifted my hands and framed his face. Turnabout.

“Tell me.”

He sighed and leaned his forehead against mine. “I realize this is only for tonight, but . . . I have to know that you remember this is me. That you’re not . . . dreaming of a ghost.”

He’s known somehow, that I’d drifted, before. The expression on his pitted face seemed stark, the naked hope and fear of the wounded animal. His skin, all the uneven lines and scars, made me realize, more than anything, that this was him. And I knew what to do.

FTC Advisory: I purchased my own copy of The Tears of the Rose. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )