Happy Monday, bibliophiles!
Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme created by Lauren’s Page Turners. All you have to do to participate is pick a book from your Goodreads TBR, and explain why you want to read it.
I know I’ve done quite a few flower-related Goodreads Mondays in the past month or so, but this one is too promising to pass up…plus, I haven’t seen much Portuguese mythology in YA (or anywhere else, for that matter), so I’m excited to see what this one has in store!
Let’s begin, shall we?
GOODREADS MONDAY (9/13/21) – A CURSE OF ROSES by Diana Pinguicha
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.
So why do I want to read this?
The curse in A Curse of Roses seems like an archetypal, Midas-esque kind of curse. There’s been a lot of iterations of it in books and graphic novels that I’ve read, but there’s always something that either hinders something that the character wants or turns something valuable into something that looks pretty on the surface level but serves no use otherwise. I’m recalling the cases of Courtney Crumrin and Curses in particular – there, both characters cannot speak without spitting out frogs or snakes. But flowers is an interesting twist – and it’s the perfect setup for a novel with the feel of a fairytale!
Other than all the excitement about the fairytale/mythology aspects, it’s been shelved as LGBTQ+ on Goodreads, and lesbian in particular! I love a good sapphic romance in the midst of a well-written fairytale, and I’m confident that A Curse of Roses will deliver.
Today’s song:
That’s it for this week’s Goodreads Monday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
The Bookish Mutant 