Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen – ARC Review

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for providing this book as a digital galley in exchange for an honest review.

One-Sentence Summary:

When a court seer dreams of a Fate telling her that either she or her rival (the prince) must die, she has to decide where her feelings and loyalties lie.

My Review:

I don’t know if you’re allowed to swear in a NetGalley review, so I’ll censor it all, but HOLY F*CK. This BOOK. When I heard about this deal, I was intrigued. My excitement sort of paled as there were less updates on it, but BOY was that renewed.
I knew from the first few pages that this book would be AMAZING. A morally gray witch and her “enemy,” the prince? GOLD. (I say “enemy” because they hate each other and wish for the failure of the other, but they’d never hurt each other or anything [👀]). First of all, I’m in love with both of them. Violet is so amazing because she’s GENUINELY morally gray. She lies, a LOT, and while she has close friends, she’s not eager to sacrifice herself or help others above herself. She’s where she is because she had the good eye and quick thinking to get her there, not by chance. Although her ability is genuine, Violet manages to keep the readers and her patrons on their toes with her frequent white lies and unwillingness to reveal the secrets she finds. The most important thing to her is that she’s in control of herself and fearless, and I love that so much.
With Cyrus, I love him for different reasons. He’s strong and capable, but also caring and smart. He’s simultaneously selfish and selfless in every decision he makes, which is really cool to see. He, Camilla, and Dante are amazing characters, and while I do love Violet the most, they’re all AMAZING.
While the world wasn’t really the focus of the story, it was easy to follow along. It was a tad hard to remember all of Violet’s different visions and some of the dark magic elements, but nothing worth complaining over. Once again, this book is superior to all others.
In terms of romance, HOLY HELL. My love for Violet and Cyrus individually is trumped only by my love for the two of them together. As two rivals and two sensible (and a bit self-serving) people, these two have a really interesting romance. There’s a lot of obliviousness, but it’s SO worth it. Violet and Cyrus have easily become one of my favorite bookish couples of all time. Their romance is both simple in their feelings for one another and complicated in their positions and agendas. IT’S JUST SO GOOD!!!
Overall, this book is f*cking phenomenal. Easily my favorite of 2022. I’d recommend this to literally everyone, but mostly fans of really loose retelling elements and The Cruel Prince by Holly Black. I’d read this book a million times, it’s SO GOOD.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5