Rating: 4 Stars

Publisher: Self-Published

Tags: Fantasy, Romantasy, Neurodivergent Rep, PNR, (Can be a) Standalone Within Series 

Length: 206 Kindle Pages

Reviewer: Kazza

Purchase At: amazon

Blurb:

Six roses. Six vials of blood. Six visits to a vampire who could be her salvation… or her damnation.

Lilith has been dying since the day she was born. But while she long ago came to terms with her own imminent death, the deaths of everyone she loves is an entirely different matter. As her town slowly withers in the clutches of a mysterious god-cursed illness, she takes matters into her own hands.

Desperate to find a cure, Lilith strikes a bargain with the only thing the gods hate even more than her village: a vampire, Vale. She offers him six roses in exchange for six vials of vampire blood—the one hope for her town’s salvation.

But when what begins as a simple transaction gradually becomes something more, Lilith is faced with a terrifying realization: It’s dangerous to wander into the clutches of a vampire… and in a place already suffering a god’s wrath, more dangerous still to fall in love with one.

Six Scorched Roses is a standalone fantasy romance short novel set in the world of the Crowns of Nyaxia series, perfect for those who love dark, romantic tales with bite and fans of Sarah J. Maas or Jennifer L. Armentrout.

Review:

I understand why authors compare their writing to other successful writers. Marketing. (^^) I’m big on just be you, and I’ve read one of the two authors mentioned as part of the blurb above and didn’t like their writing. It could have put me/others off reading this author. Just saying. This book/series has been out for a couple of years and is highly successful in its own right because, simply put, the author writes very well.   

Lilith certainly fits within the neurodivergent umbrella I’ve mentioned in the Tags. She finds it hard to relate the same way others in Adcova do around one another. She comes off as distant. She struggles with direct eye contact, is hyper-focused on science, at the expense of relationship. Mostly, Lilith worries that her sister, Mina, might believe Lilith is cold and uncaring. It’s certainly not the reality. Lilith just has a different way of showing her love, which is clear for the reader to see throughout the book. It gnaws at her though, being different. But it doesn’t stop her from doing what’s practical, generous, helpful. 

I couldn’t waste time. Time was precious.
My own condition deteriorated, too, old symptoms that I’d grown used to now creeping up on me with renewed verve. But those were nothing compared to those that nibbled away at my sister’s life, bit by bit.

The human’s god has been vengeful to Adcova. There has been more than a decade of failed crops, famine, sadness, being beaten down, people turning to dust. It inevitably spurs Lilith on to a cure. She has always had a clock ticking down on her life, since being born, she’s fought it hard. She chooses to use time wisely to find a cure for this plague that turns people she knows to dust, that is turning Mina into dust. That turned her parents to dust. She can’t bear seeing her sister shedding more and more ashen parts off her body anymore. Lilith believes that vampire blood might be able to undo that which their deity, Vitarus, has cruelly inflicted upon them. 

To a cure’s end, Lilith heads off to the nearest vampire, Lord Vale, to seek help. People avoid him so it’s no mean feat on her behalf. It’s also a long walk, but she does just that, including carrying her bag of instruments… and a gift. He isn’t too keen but this woman keeps at him. She won’t allow him to say no. She tells him she has special roses that she will gift to him. One for every drawing of his blood. He doesn’t see anything special about the roses but she insists he will once she’s finished drawing the last vial. 

“A flower. Very pretty.”
He did not even try to hide how unimpressed he was.
“I promise you,” I said, “its beauty is by far the least interesting thing about it.”

Vale likes the temerity Lilith demonstrates, she stands toe-to-toe with him, this little mouse. She knows far more about vampire Houses, including the House of Night. The Hiaj and the Rishan. The Turned. While this surprises him at first, he respects her intellect. Her desire for knowledge is infectious. He likes how serious she is regarding the blood he gives her. To her and her instruments it speaks of magic. The patterns it makes. The promise it has. She trials it on rats with limited success but she needs more information. More knowledge if she is to stop the people she knows all turning to dust and ash. Vale has book upon book in his home. It’s in Obitraen, a vampiric language she obviously doesn’t speak, but she gets him to translate for her. He surprises her with how human he initially seems, but his blood… that’s different.    

Still, I knew that vampires had a closer relationship to death than humans did, so perhaps I might have expected to see some of it in the makeup of Vale’s body.
No. None of this was death. It was beauty and life and an astounding miracle. He was hundreds of years old and yet his blood was healthy and thriving. It was graceful, elegant.

They meet every month until something nearly ends her life and Vale comes through for her. She recovers at his home. During recovery she’s pretty certain Vale has just helped her crack the code and wants to help Mina and everyone else as quickly as she can.

There are gods in this series. Nyaxia for the vampires. Vitarus for the (fantasy) human world. Also Srana, the a goddess of seeing and knowing, whose magic is helpful to Lilith. Of course, gods have egos so using one side’s beings to help another’s isn’t going to sit well. Vitarus is an ego-centric god, no surprise there. He isn’t interested in Lilith getting involved, helping those in a plague he cursed his humans with in the first place, and, of course, there are always the fanatical faithful who will do his bidding.   

This shorter novel follows after Crowns of Nyaxia #1, The Serpent & the Wings of  Night, just before book #2, The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King, but it can be read as a true standalone if you’d like.    

This book is nowhere near the length of the other two. It has nowhere near the darkness, the violence or psychological depths of the other 2 series books, either. The romance is the main focus. It was good to get to see the genesis of Vale and Lilith’s relationship. I knew when I read The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King I wanted more about them.   

Overall, this is a well written romance and fantasy that will give you an insight into the author’s writing style if you’ve never read her before, albeit with a softer tone. I enjoyed this so much I read it in a day. Good going for me. 4 Stars!