Review: Violet Made of Thorns (Violet Made of Thorns #1)

Violet Made of Thorns (Violet Made of Thorns #1)
By Gina Chen

Published By: Hodder and Stoughton
Publication Date: July 26, 2022
Date Read: March 19, 2023
Genre: YA – Fantasy
Source: Bought
Format: Hardback
Pages: 368

From Goodreads:
A darkly enchanting fantasy debut about a morally gray witch, a cursed prince, and a prophecy that ignites their fate-twisted destinies—perfect for fans of The Cruel Prince and Serpent & Dove.

Violet is a prophet and a liar, influencing the royal court with her cleverly phrased—and not always true—divinations. Honesty is for suckers, like the oh-so-not charming Prince Cyrus, who plans to strip Violet of her official role once he’s crowned at the end of the summer—unless Violet does something about it.

But when the king asks her to falsely prophesy Cyrus’s love story for an upcoming ball, Violet awakens a dreaded curse, one that will end in either damnation or salvation for the kingdom—all depending on the prince’s choice of future bride. Violet faces her own choice: Seize an opportunity to gain control of her own destiny, no matter the cost, or give in to the ill-fated attraction that’s growing between her and Cyrus.

Violet’s wits may protect her in the cutthroat court, but they can’t change her fate. And as the boundary between hatred and love grows ever thinner with the prince, Violet must untangle a wicked web of deceit in order to save herself and the kingdom—or doom them all.

“How much blood do kings shed in their wars? Conquerors write history and destroy histories in one triumphant swoop. How small is my evil in comparison, if I ended one prince’s life for my own?”

Violet Made of Thorns is a book that I had seen around on social media for a while before receiving it in one of my book boxes. Honestly, I hadn’t looked it up much so prior to reading it, I didn’t really know anything about it. I picked it up due to someone recommending it to me for my ‘Read 12 Books Recommended by 12 Friends’ challenge this year. I do not know why I hadn’t picked this one up before now, because oh my word… this book is incredible! I am literally kicking myself for not reading this sooner.

This book was just what I needed when I picked it up. I had been in such a huge book slump, and wasn’t really enjoying anything I was reading and I was really craving a YA Fantasy, so thought this would fit that mood. My gosh did it! Violet Made of Thorns is the perfect YA fantasy book with enemies to lovers between a witch and a prince. There is magic, and intrigue and it was just stunning in every way. I loved that Violet, the main character, was very morally gray. She was a witch who worked for the King to use her visions to further his power. She is very much stuck in this role and is trying desperately to get out of this situation. For the most part I really liked Violet… but honestly I struggled with some of her decisions. I know everyone loves morally gray characters… but sometimes for me I can’t get behind everything they do and this was deifnitely one of those times.

The thing I adored most about this book is it is very much rooted in fairytale lore. There is a bit of everything in here, and if you love fairytales or Disney you will freak out about this as much as I did. There are remnants of Cinderella in there, as well as Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast… I just loved seeing all of my favourite fairytales in there somewhere but changed to fit this unique original story. It may sound like having a lot of them in there would be too much, but it really doesn’t feel like it. It works so well and I have to give props to the author for interweaving them in so well. It works perfectly and honestly… I just turned into a bit of a Disney fangirl everytime I would recognise a theme or a sense of one of them.

I loved every moment of Violet Made of Thorns. My struggle with the main character has knocked half a star off my ratings, but I loved where her story arc ended in this book. So I am excited to see her journey further in the second book. This book was just fantastic. It was action packed, it was fast paced… it had a gorgeous slow burn romance with a little hint of spice. Not much, but this is YA afterall. It was just everything I could have wanted in a fantasy book and I cannot wait to get my hands on book 2. If like me, you have this book and it’s been sat on your shelf for forever… go read it now! I promise you won’t be disappointed. And if you don’t have this book… well what are you waiting for? Go buy it! NOW! It’s just utterly brilliant.

“…That you are worthy of so much more, little star. That you should never again kneel for the scraps of kings.”