Publisher – Queen of Swords

Published – Out Now

Price – £7.99 paperback £2.29 Kindle eBook

A Beauty. A Beast. A Curse. This is not the story you know.
Join author Heather Rose Jones on a new and magical journey into the heart of a familiar fairytale. Meet Alys, eldest daughter of a merchant, a merchant who foolishly plucks a rose from a briar as he flees from the home of a terrifying fay Beast and his seemingly icy sister. Now Alys must pay the price to save his life and allow the Beast, the once handsome Philippe, to pay court to her.

But Alys has never fallen in love with anyone; how can she love a Beast? The fairy Peronelle, waiting in the woods to see the culmination of her curse, is sure that she will fail. Yet, if she does, Philippe’s sister Grace and her beloved Eglantine, trapped in an enchanted briar in the garden, will pay a terrible price. Unless Alys can find another way…

Fairytale retellings are now fairly frequent so with each one we have to ask is there a point we reach the end and as always the answer is well it depends what the writer does with the story. There is nothing wrong with exploring what an older tale means to us in 2010, 2020 or the future worlds of 2030 and beyond. In Heather Rose Jones’ novella The Language of Roses we explore a hidden tale within the one we know best as Beauty and The Beast for a different kind of tale that I think os very effective.

Phillipe and his sister Grace were cursed by a fairy. He would become a beast and she for her cold heart would become a statue and unless true love was found then in thirty years three months and three days the curse would permanent. The castle would stay there filled with invisible hands doing all the chores and a rose bush ever changing colours ticking the days off. But a lost man arrives near the end of the period and is told he must bring the most beautiful of his daughters and of the three back home it is Alys who always does what is right who goes there. And then that’s where the story we know changes.

I really liked the character work here and just by introducing both a new character in Grace also knows as Lady Ice we get a different approach to this very familiar tale. Alyse is also very much an aromantic character someone who does not feel love the way as other types of sexualities are portrayed and so isn’t poised to become the Beauty we know from the legend. We switch focuses between Alys, Grace and also look back at a young woman named Eglantine who meant a great deal to Grace and led to Phillipe’s terrible mistake as well as also gaining insights into Alys’ own. So rather than fairy-tale romance of men’s animal nature being tamed we get a fairy-tale mystery which covers romance, intrigue and also women deciding to be true to themselves. The romance here is the emotional beats left unsaid until the last minute and they really pack a punch.

Jone’s writing style is intricate and keeps a magical atmosphere but with a shadow of darkness that means the reader is waiting for things to go wrong. There is happily no insta-love and instead the way the plot threads for all these characters come together is very satisfying. The Language of Roses is a highly enjoyable read perfect for an afternoon read in the garden.