Violet Made Of Thorns by Gina Chen
Series : Violet Made Of Thorns #1
Genre : Young Adult, Fantasy
Publisher : Delacorte Press
Publication Date : July 26th, 2022
Genre : Young Adult, Fantasy
Publisher : Delacorte Press
Publication Date : July 26th, 2022
A darkly enchanting fantasy debut about a morally gray witch, a
cursed prince, and a prophecy that ignites their fate-twisted
destinies—perfect for fans of The Cruel Prince and Serpent &
Dove.
Violet is a prophet and a liar, influencing the royal court with her
cleverly phrased—and not always true—divinations. Honesty is for
suckers, like the oh-so-not charming Prince Cyrus, who plans to
strip Violet of her official role once he’s crowned at the end of
the summer—unless Violet does something about it.
But when the king asks her to falsely prophesy Cyrus’s love story
for an upcoming ball, Violet awakens a dreaded curse, one that will
end in either damnation or salvation for the kingdom—all depending
on the prince’s choice of future bride. Violet faces her own choice:
Seize an opportunity to gain control of her own destiny, no matter
the cost, or give in to the ill-fated attraction that’s growing
between her and Cyrus.
Violet’s wits may protect her in the cutthroat court, but they can’t
change her fate. And as the boundary between hatred and love grows
ever thinner with the prince, Violet must untangle a wicked web of
deceit in order to save herself and the kingdom—or doom them all.
(CW's : Child Abuse, Emotional Manipulation, Violence, Death,
Body Horror, Self-Harm, Racism)
Hey everyone! I'm very excited to be taking part in the blog tour for
Violet Made Of Thorns today and to have the author - Gina Chen sharing a
guest post with us as well! Violet Made Of Thorns was one of my most
anticipated reads of this year and I had so much fun reading it! And
honestly, it's been one of my favorite fantasy books this year as
well!
Keep scrolling to read the guest post and my review!
Make sure to check out the giveaway too!
What inspired you to write Violet Made Of Thorns?
Violet Made of Thorns started with the character of Violet, and the story
built around her. But there was no one direction I was building at first.
All I knew was I wanted to try writing a manuscript. See what happened. I
kept going back and forth on whether the setting had electricity (the
setting, by the way, was an island academy). Violet was a matchmaker.
Cyrus had a different name that I no longer remember. That character was
still chased down by his fans.
None of that—except the last part—is in the book that made it to print.
But the book and that first partial draft is the same in the ways that
matter. In both, Violet is resourceful to a fault, Cyrus is a golden boy
who is slightly obsessed with changing Violet's ways, and the story is
ultimately about love in a world where romance is a neatly packaged prize,
given to those who are deemed most deserving.
At some point, I took a step back and narrowed in on what I wanted to do
with this convoluted thing I was creating. I looked at some
paragraphs-long fairytale metaphors I wrote in Violet's narration, where
she scathingly broke down everything she loathed about the pursuit of the
Happily Ever After. Then I smacked my forehead and realized: Oh, I can
skip the metaphor and just write this story as a fairytale.
So I scrapped (almost) everything and did just that.
I have nothing against a classic happily ever after, but I think how we
popularly define them is interesting. Patterns emerge: Love fixes the
problem—any problem! The characters get exactly what they supposedly
deserve! There's a very important kiss! I wanted to poke and prod at these
patterns, look into why we gravitate toward them, how they limit us, and
what effect they have on our perception of escapism (especially what makes
a good romance). More generally, I also wanted to explore how common
narratives—especially ones that tap into wishful dreaming or other deep
emotion—can be weaponized and alter our perception of the truth. Violet
has always been the lead for this reason: I wanted to explore this with a
heroine who is chatty about her observations and gleefully aware of the
narrative she's living through. Many, many more details would change as I
drafted, but this was the core of the story that kept it all together.
I finished reading an early copy of Violet Made Of Thorns by Gina Chen a
while back and it's definitely one of my favorite reads this month. I mean
I can't believe this is a debut novel? Wow.
Violet is a mix of many things - a Seer, a liar and a selfish person, but
she's unapologetic about it. Even if the prince, Cyrus hates her for who
she is. She's worked her way up from the streets to the royal court and
she doesn't mind falsifying a few things(or many) for the king here and
there if it keeps her where she is. The heir to the throne doesn't like
this and he would like it better if she wasn't the Seer either. It doesn't
help that he's the center of a dark prophecy, and his future partner could
save or ruin the kingdom 🤨
But, Violet then begins to have some ominous dreams that make her rethink
her choices, and her trust in others as well.
Violet was fantastic and I wouldn't call her an anti-heroine but she's not
one with too many principles either. She lies, hides stuff when it suits
her and puts herself first(nothing wrong with that imo) but she's not
completely uncaring about the world either? Like she wouldn't want a
war(because it would affect her comfort ofcourse but still)😂 The book
title suits because she's very prickly + made of thorns and doesn't trust
others at all.
He told me that a lie is a tool, just as much as honesty is. Both are
about choosing what words to say. Both can have consequences. What you
achieve in the end is what matters.
Cyrus was an amazing counterpart to her - he puts his kingdom first(but he
also wants love?😆). But he doesn't trust her - at all - because he knows
her too well. Basically they both have their own agendas, so there's peak
love/hate between them. I'll just call it lust-hate because I think the
emotional development would still need some work. But extra points for the
steam, as I thought this was gonna be a non-steamy YA book(Hey I like
surprises🤣)!
“You don’t have a single selfless thought in that blessed mind of
yours, and I will never oblige myself to someone like that. Be proud,
because pride is all you have.”
My blood hums. If he wants to put me in my place, I’ll put him in
his. I strip off my gloves and tuck them into my sleeve.
“Maybe I should take a better look at your threads.”
He hasn’t let me read them since my first year here.
“If you’re so confident you can make your way without me, I should
see nothing but success in your future.”
I loved the world-building and the supporting cast with Camilla, Dante and
the others as well! Even if I'd removed the fantasy elements from the
story, it would still feel realistic because of the way the characters
were portrayed and the choices that they made - which is what I liked the
most I think! It's got a promising setup and I can't wait to see how the
author takes this further! Thankfully it didn't end on a cliffy, but I'm
very curious about many other things now 🧐
I understand why others put such faith in the Fates: Don’t we all
wish— beyond any gold or fame— to be right? To have some authority
tell us with certainty that we’ve done the best we could with the life
we have? So we idly listen to kings and gods who tell us what to do,
even when we have no idea what their true intentions are. Even if all
they want is blood.
*I was provided with an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest
review*
You can also find my review on my bookstagram here
Blog Tour Giveaway
Up for grabs we have ONE (1) finished copy of Violet Made of Thorns by
Gina Chen. This giveaway will be available from July 24th to August 7th at
11:59 PM CST. Open to US residents only. No giveaway accounts allowed. To
enter, click the (link/button) below!
Gina Chen spent most of her life thinking she hated writing, until she
churned out a few hundred thousand words of fanfiction and decided that
maybe she was a writer. Her stories lean toward the fantastic, featuring
heroines, antiheroines, and the kind of cleverness that brings trouble in
its wake.
A self-taught artist with a degree in computer science, she generates
creative nonsense in all forms of media and always has a project stewing.
She has particular fondness for fairy tales, demon tales, romantic
comedies, and quiz shows. Currently, she resides in Southern California,
where the sunshine is as plentiful as its tea shops.
Also check out the other blogs taking part in the tour
here!
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