The Rose and the Dagger (The Wrath and the Dawn #2) by: Renee Ahdieh

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy
Published: April 26, 2016 by: G.P. Putnam
Pages: 416
Rating: 4/5 stars

Now back with her family, Shahrzad is forced to choose between her once monstrous husband that she has grown to love, and her childhood lover who is convinced that Khalid should be killed for his crimes. Shahrzad and Khalid have been ripped apart, and as the curse set upon him gets stronger, Khalid must decide whether or not to go after his true love, or stay undercover for his own safety.

I absolutely LOVED The Wrath and the Dawn! I thought it was magical, mystical and captivating in it's own unique way. While The Rose and the Dagger gave me a satisfying ending that could not have been better, I did find that it just wasn't quite as good as it's predecessor was.

I really loved the new characters that were introduced in this book. We got to see more of Shahrzad's family, and I especially loved learning about her sister. I liked how the attention was equally split between Shahrzad, Khalid, and secondary characters. It gave me more of a glimpse of how other people were affected by their love.

I also think that the ending to this book could not have been more perfect. It was happy without being predictable, and it left me on the edge of my seat to see what would happen next. The ending left me guessing as to what was going to happen, and I could not have been more satisfied with how the characters ended up.

I guess just what led to the ending was a little more slow than TWATD. I loved how in Wrath, Ahdieh had such descriptive language that seemed almost poetic. Here, I didn't see that much of the descriptive language that I loved, which made me a little bored at times. It could have been kind of uninteresting at points.

But overall, I was happy with the ending and that's what a sequel should do! I'm so thankful to have read this beautifully diverse duology and I can't wait to see what Renee does next.

Have you read The Rose and the Dagger? What did you think?

Emily @ Paperback Princess