Common Sense Media Review
By Carrie R. Wheadon
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Intriguing faerie fantasy with complex female characters.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
In THE ROSE BARGAIN, Lady Ivy Benton heads to Kensington Palace to begin her courting season with other eligible ladies of London. Normally they dress their best and ask the fae queen for a bargain—like shinier hair in exchange for their fingernails—to kick off the season. This year Queen Moryen announces that her son, the devastatingly handsome Prince Bram, will be seeking a wife. Any girl who wishes to be considered must not be courted by any other man and, if she's not chosen, may never marry. Ivy knows that this may be her only hope to get her family back into society after her older sister's brief and mysterious disappearance ruined them. She's the first suitor to approach the throne, and the first to realize she must sign the queen's binding contract in her own blood.
Is It Any Good?
This faerie-laced romantic fantasy has the requisite pretty dresses and love triangles, but also a depth of intriguing and complex female characters. There's Ivy and Lydia, two sisters who have a strained yet devoted relationship after Lydia's brief disappearance that ruined the family's standing in society. And there are the other suitors to Prince Bram that are in competition with Ivy. They all have very different reasons for taking the fae queen's cruel bargain, and are all desperate for their lives to change in some way. Author Sasha Peyton Smith reveals each of their secrets at just the right time, in brief chapters from their perspective. It's refreshing to see these women change the expected script partway through the story and begin to support each other, even as they vie for the same man. It makes up for some of The Rose Bargain's more clichéd romantic moments, like when Ivy gets stranded in a rainstorm with the wrong prince at the last room in the inn. And there's one bed. And their clothes are soaked through ... As long as this series continues to focus on its fantastic female characters, it will rise well above the average faerie fantasy.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the prince's competing suitors in The Rose Bargain. The women are cruel at first. How do they learn to show empathy for each other instead of contempt? What other media do you consume that glorifies the competition between women over their support of each other?
How do the princes treat women in this story? Is it noble to get in a fistfight for a lady, or a turnoff? How does Prince Emmett show integrity despite his bad-boy image?
If you had to make a bargain with the fae queen, what would it be? What would you be willing to lose?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Fantasy
- Topics : Fantasy ( Magic ) , Family Stories ( Siblings ) , Friendship
- Character Strengths : Courage , Curiosity , Integrity , Perseverance , Teamwork
- Book type : Fiction
- Publication date : February 4, 2025
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 13 - 17
- Number of pages : 400
- Available on : Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 18, 2025
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