The Rose & The Dagger by Renee Ahdieh

Genre:  YA Fantasy

The Wrath & The Dawn Series, Book 2

Renee Ahdieh's website

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Description (taken from Renee Ahdieh's website):

I am surrounded on all sides by a desert. A guest, in a prison of sand and sun. My family is here. And I do not know whom I can trust.

In a land on the brink of war, Shahrzad has been torn from the love of her husband Khalid, the Caliph of Khorasan. She once believed him a monster, but his secrets revealed a man tormented by guilt and a powerful curse—one that might keep them apart forever. Reunited with her family–who have taken refuge with enemies of Khalid–and her childhood sweetheart Tariq, she should be happy. But Tariq now commands forces set on destroying Khalid’s empire. Shahrzad is almost a prisoner caught between loyalties to people she loves. But she refuses to be a pawn and devises a plan.

While her father, Jahandar, continues to play with magical forces he doesn’t yet understand, Shahrzad tries to uncover powers that may lie dormant within her. With the help of a tattered old carpet and a tempestuous but sage young man, Shahrzad will attempt to break the curse and reunite with her one true love.

This book picks up right where the last one left off: with Tariq rescuing Shahrzad from the Caliph.  But Shahrzad didn't need any rescuing.  And while she wants to go back to Khalid, she realizes her family needs her in the camp.  Her father is very injured and won't wake up, yet he clings to an old, mystical book.  And can Shahrzad really help Khalid by returning to him, or can she break the curse some other way?

This book starts off with Khalid's enemy encampment.  The one Tariq is help leading.  And even though he's rescued Shahrzad and convinced he can make her fall in love with him again, he's not getting what he bargained for.  And Irza, Shahrzad's sister?  She's barely growing up and trying so hard to keep her family together.  But how can she when not even her sister will confide in her?  So many choices to make that revolve around each other.  In the end, will Shahrzad and Khalid get their happily ever after?

I'm going to start with this:  I probably would have liked this book more if I had read it right after the first.  It did not do a good job of refreshing what happened in the first, and I spent the first half of the book stumbling through the story.  But once I got into it, I couldn't put the book down.  But I felt like more questions came up than were answered.  And I got so distracted by the side stories and the answers I was missing that I kind of missed the happy ending.  I'm still stuck on the mystical book.  And Artan.  And the justification for people's loyalties.  And now the series is over?  Ugh, I missed it.

I'm definitely going to recommend people read the second book right after the first one.  Then maybe you won't be as lost as me...

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

Genre:  YA Fantasy Fairy Tale

The Wrath and the Dawn Series, Book 1

Renee Ahdieh's website

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Description (taken from Renee Ahdieh's website):

A sumptuous and epically told love story inspired by A Thousand and One Nights.

Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi’s wit and will get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch . . . she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend.

She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems and neither are the deaths of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and break the cycle once and for all.

Shahrzad is mourning the loss of her best friend when she volunteers to become the next calpiha of Khorasan.  She will get revenge for what he has done to all of his brides.  But when she survives through the next sunrise, she finds not everything is in blacks and whites.

Before killing Khalid, Shahrzad is determined to figure out why he is killing so many girls.  His cool exterior refuses to let her in, but something must have happened because she's still alive.  So she uses her silver tongue and wits to stay alive and charm the prince.  Soon she finds herself charmed by him and willing to die for him.  And when Shahrzad's past clashes with her future, will their love be enough for their kingdom?

This is a well-told story that I wanted to stay engrossed in.  But as much as I wanted to love it, I couldn't really see the love connection between Khalid and Shahrzad.  Sure, I saw the mysteriousness, aloofness, and stubbornness while they were getting to know each other.  But going from extreme hatred to love?  I missed that in-between.  And then I realized this book was a series as I was almost done with it, and I wasn't going to get an ending.  I actually finished this book on a plane and wanted to through it out the window due to the non-ending I got.  So dissatisfied right now.

As much as I didn't see the love connection, I still feel vested to the story and the fairy tale.  I will be reading the next one in hopes of an actual ending....