The Rose and the Briar - Jill Stengl (Review)

Rosa is happy working as the head gardener at the magical Faraway Castle resort.  (Well, mostly happy.  Her inherited job of hiding the sleeping princess and brushing her hair always leaves her feeling mysteriously depressed.)  But when a new Magical Creature Controller is sent to Faraway Castle, Rosa can tell that he’s hiding his identity with an enchantment.  But he couldn’t possibly be a prince sent to wake the princess—could he?

The Rose and the Briar is the third book in Jill Stengl’s Faraway Castle series.  I’ve really enjoyed the others books in the series (especially the novella The Little Siren), but I think that this one is the best yet.  The setting and the ensemble of characters at the resort have come together nicely, and Rosa and Briar’s relationship really makes me smile.

High Points

This is Sleeping Beauty, but it’s Sleeping Beauty with several very large twists… probably the most obvious twist being the fact that the main character isn’t Sleeping Beauty or her destined hero.  Rosa is a sensible, hard-working woman who’s had to deal with a lot in her life but isn’t defeated by it.  She may not totally understand why she’s stuck on perpetual princess duty, but she still does it as best she can.  She also has a garden-full of fun sidekicks, from Flora the dog-rose to the irascible tiger lilies and a honey-loving topiary bear.

Briar is a good foil for Rosa.  While I’m not totally convinced by his backstory, he’s resourceful and clever and proactive.  Watching him slowly put together what’s really going on is a treat.

Caveats 

Rosa’s mental narration does refer to a previous encounter between her and Briar which we don’t see in R&B.  I’m guessing there’s another prequel novella coming (yay!) but in-story it’s a little disconcerting.

This is also the third time in the series we’ve gotten the “we met previously and were attracted to each other but didn’t say anything because we weren’t really introduced” trope for the hero and heroine.  That’s three out of three times.   While I agree that knowing each other for a longer time is good—certainly better than the instalove in a lot of older renditions of fairy tales—not all romances run the same way.  This trope worked really well for The Siren and the Scholar because the gap between when they met and when S&S happened was meaningful to the plot, but I don’t think that it was at all necessary for R&B.

Bottom Line

I really enjoyed this contemporary fantasy version of Sleeping Beauty; I’ll certainly read it again.  I’m really excited for the next book in the series, which is a new take on King Thrushbeard—a less well-known tale that I’ve always loved!

Find the Rose and the Briar here.

Find Jill Stengl here.