Monster Among the Roses by Linda Kage Release Day Blitz, Giveaway, + Sarah's 2¢!

Will you dare to gaze upon the monster among the roses?

MONSTER AMONG THE ROSES

Fairy Tale Quartet #1

Linda Kage

Releasing July 24, 2017

“Do you know how to get to the rose garden?”

“No, you can’t go there. A monster lives there.”

Shaw Hollander is desperate.

Broke, unemployed, and determined to help his ailing mother, he falls on the good graces of a wealthy benefactor who is willing to give Shaw a job at his mansion in order to pay off his mother’s debts. Suddenly finding himself surrounded by lavish riches, he has no idea what his duties truly entail until he’s sent to the rose garden and meets the tragically mutilated Isobel.

This Beauty and the Beast story holds true to the core of the fable while shaking off the element of fantasy and dragging it into present day reality. Shaw and Isobel are ready to let you climb into their four-wheel-drive pickup and take a ride with them into their version of happily ever after, but only if you first dare to gaze upon the monster among the roses.

Monster Among the Roses is Linda Kage's latest standalone in her Fairy Tale Quartet. I see this being a series of complete standalones with a common theme among them.

Ok. So. Monster Among the Roses is loosely based on Beauty and the Beast. I love this concept! Modern day fairy tales give me the warm fuzzies. I thought this story was really sweet and very well written. Linda Kage has a way of getting you immersed into her characters lives and she does it in a special way.

I absolutely loved Shaw Hollander. He's basically giving up his entire life to make sure his mother is secure in her own and he doesn't care the cost. He's contracted to work with the local big wig of his town to take all of his mothers debt away.

Isobel Nash isn't mentioned in the book until we meet her. She's mean to basically everyone and I feel her pain. After much coaxing, she opens up to Shaw and they have a beautiful love story.

The one thing that I didn't love about this book was the characters ages. It's written as more young adult (aside from love scenes) instead of contemporary or new adult. For Shaw being age 28 and Isobel 25, if felt the maturity of their characters could have been older. Or they should have been younger. It just didn't match their ages and I had a hard time coming to terms with that.

Aside from the age thing, I really did enjoy this read. It's emotional, heartwarming and has a really sweet HEA.

I grew up on a dairy farm in the Midwest as the youngest of eight children. Now I live in Kansas with my husband, two daughters, nine cuckoo clocks, and a cat named Holly. My life's been blessed with lots of people to learn from and love. Writing's always been a major part my world, and I'm so happy to finally share some of my stories with other romance lovers.

I'm a member of Romance Writers of America, and I've been through a writing correspondence class in children's literature from The Institute of Children's Literarture, and then I continued my writing lessons by majoring in English with an emphasis in creative fiction writing from Pittsburg State University.