Review: The Tears of the Rose by Jeffe Kennedy

The Tears of the Rose

Author: Jeffe Kennedy
Reviewer: Gikany & Una
Rating: B+

What We’re Talking About:

The Tears of the Rose is the second novel in the Twelve Kingdoms trilogy and focuses on Amelia (Ami) the youngest sister. Though it had a slow start, Gikany and Una were captivated by Ami’s journey from petty princess to powerful queen.

The previous novel, The Mark of the Tala focused on Andi, the middle child. Ami and Andi are opposites in many ways.  Andi felt invisible and to a great extent she was.  She was restless and felt like she didn’t belong, her heart yearned for something more.  Ami was the cosseted and beloved baby of the family.  Her sweet nature and unbelievable beauty allowed her to manipulate by flirting or pouting to get her way.  As the novel begins, this effervescent princess is gone.  Ami is deeply grieving for her murdered husband and feeling betrayed that Andi was responsible for his death.  But through her grief and subsequent political machinations of her father and her father-in-law, Ami finally begins to mature.

It is not surprising the novel begins slowly.  Experiencing another person’s grief is difficult.  Ami is incredibly self-absorbed and egocentric which adds difficulty as well.  However, Ms. Kennedy is truly talented.  At the beginning of the novel, Gikany and Una did not care for Ami.  Her self-centeredness and pettiness were off-putting.  About one-third of the way through the book, Ami’s eyes are opened and she awakens.  She finally has a much needed “come-to-Jesus” moment.  Thus begins a gripping and exciting read as Ami explores her own potential and power growing from a spoiled immature princess and into a woman worthy to be a queen.  She also discovers that a first love may not always be the only or the true love of your life.

We enjoyed The Tears of the Rose and eagerly look forward to the final book, The Talon of the Hawk, which will focus on the last sister, Ursula.  We saw Andi’s perspective of Ursula in The Mark of the Tala and we learned more about her from Ami in this book.  Considering the somewhat cliffhanger we are left with at the conclusion of Ami’s story, we truly wonder what is next.  We hope to see more of Ash, whom we thoroughly enjoyed as a character as well as more of Andi and Rayfe.

Our Rating:  B+ Liked It A Lot

About the Book:

Three sisters. Motherless daughters of the high king. The eldest is the warrior-woman heir; the middle child is shy and full of witchy intuition; and the youngest, Princess Amelia, she is as beautiful as the sun and just as generous.
Ami met her Prince Charming and went away to his castle on the stormy sea-cliffs—and that should have been her happily ever after. Instead, her husband lies dead and a war rages. Her middle sister has been taken into a demon land, turned into a stranger. The priests and her father are revealing secrets and telling lies. And a power is rising in Ami, too, a power she hardly recognizes, to wield her beauty as a weapon, and her charm as a tool to deceive…

Amelia has never had to be anything but good and sweet and kind and lovely. But the chess game for the Twelve Kingdoms has swept her up in it, and she must make a gambit of her own. Can the prettiest princess become a pawn—or a queen?

Release Date: November 25, 2014
Publisher: Kensington
Series: The Twelve Kingdoms #2
ISBN: #978-0758294456
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Format(s): Paperback (352 pages), e-book
Book Source: Publisher

Purchase Info:
The Tears of the Rose (The Twelve Kingdoms #2)

Reviews in the Series:
The Mark of the Tala by Jeffe Kennedy (The Twelve Kingdoms #1)