Of Thorns and Beauty is a beauty and the beast retelling full of twists and turns. Zaina is a complex morally grey character with a dark past. All she has known from a young age is being treated as an object, something to own and sell. Sold as a bride to a mysterious king in a far way land, shrouded in secrets, she finds herself alone and without even a single friendly face besides the husband who seems to not even want her there. King Einar is not what she expected. His motivations are unclear at first but eventually she finds he cares deeply for his people and is nothing like the beast of a man her madame has told her about. Over time she learns the secrets shrouding her new home and the dark meaning behind her presence there.
The enemies to lovers was executed beautifully. You really get to see how the relationship grew and changed with every interaction they have. It doesn’t feel rushed, but authentic and deep. Freedom and choice are big themes in the book. The hopelessness when you feel like you have them taken from you and the painful reality that sometimes it only feels that way because they are all just bad choices and you have to pick the lesser evil, accepting that fate. The writing is filled with rich emotion that you feel with the characters. A magical setting in a frozen kingdom, detailed so perfectly you can see yourself right there as part of the story. The scene with the aurora borealis was breathtaking.
I would absolutely recommend Of Thorns and Beauty to anyone that loves the beauty and the beast tale. This retelling absolutely does the beloved classic justice, and I can’t wait to dig into the next part of it in the second book of the series.
