The Diamond Rose: Book Review and Giveaway

Review at a Glance

• Title: The Diamond Rose
• My Rating: 3
• Genre: Fantasy Romance
• Format: Hardcover*
• Publication Date: November 24, 2020
• Author: Daniela Valenti

Similar To

Mages Unbound Book Blurb

Amanda’s medical school graduation is unlike any other. A solar flare awakens her super-psychic powers, enabling her to fight evil, supernatural and human alike. She is the Sentinel 10, the most powerful warrior in a secret society of similarly endowed people. Her life becomes a whirlwind of international travel and exciting paranormal challenges. But all is not as it seems. Soon Amanda discovers that the man she loves has an evil alter ego and that her own powers have a dark side. Her first year as a Sentinel will push the limits of her resilience and put her own humanity to the test.

The Diamond Rose is a thrilling and romantic adventure, the first in an exciting new series. Fans of paranormal romance will enjoy this tale of a female heroine who struggles to master her powers and understand love.

Giveaway

The Diamond Rose REVIEW

As a quick reminder, here is my rating structure:

• 1 star: Did not finish
• 2 Stars: Finished but I do not recommend
• 3 Stars: Liked but could use some improvements
• 4 Stars: Loved this book!
• 5 Stars: Rare. The unput-down-able, binge read obsession.

My star ratings are also based also genre based. I compare all books with books of the same genre. While I would love to believe that my love of books in general transcends all bias, there are genres I prefer over others.

I’m human.

Example: If I read a mystery novel and think it deserves a 5-star rating, then I have compared it to other mystery books, and determined it to be one of my absolute favorites. The unputdownable mystery.

This will hopefully keep me from comparing Outlander, a personal obsession of mine, with the experience of reading The Hate You Give. Both 5 star books for me, but completely and totally different. I couldn’t even try to rate them against each other, so I don’t. Makes my life easier. 🙂

My Thoughts About The Diamond Rose

I happen to be a big fan of the fantasy romance genre in all of its different forms. When I read the blurb for The Diamond Rose, it reminded me a lot of the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning. A girl is suddenly gains powers that she doesn’t understand in a world that she didn’t know existed. I say that because the Fever series is still one of my favorites and was my introduction to the fantasy genre.

As the start of an epic fantasy series, The Diamond Rose creates an elaborate fantasy world filled with mysteries and secrets. At times the secrets seem to be kept from most if not all of the characters, proving that the series has tons of room to grow with almost unlimited potential. There are no rules, it appears, when it comes to the Sentinels, especially not a Sentinel 10.

The world and the plot were by far my favorite parts of the book. The ideas and concepts were pretty amazing and wonderfully well thought out. You could tell that Daniela Valenti imagined and structured and entire universe into which her characters would live and love. There is so much more that is meant to happen with Amanda within even the romance storyline, which seems to take a couple of unexpected turns.

I enjoyed the nontraditional approach to romance here, especially in the ending, which I for one am not taking for granted. There’s just too much that could possibly happen, but if everything is at it seems, there are still many stories to be told, which is a great place to find a series. Otherwise, you have the all too often problem of not knowing where a series can go and feeling like the storyline is forced.

What Didn’t Work For Me

If you’re wondering why The Diamond Rose got a 3 (I liked it), here are the issues I had.

Amanda was not an incredibly likable heroine, the plot felt rushed, and the dialogue, at times, felt stilted. All of these problems came down to one common factor for me, the book was too short.

I felt like we needed more time in almost all aspects of the novel. More time for Amanda to figure out her new life, more time in each scene as she reacted and thought about the things she was saying and were being said or done to her.

The romance developed way too fast for me and I am used to the romance instant-love plot device. I am actually a fan of it, so it’s strange that this one didn’t hit exactly right for me. I’m convinced that the reason for this is lack of time.

I wasn’t emotionally connected to the characters and felt like much of the book suffered from a page limit. As if there was so much story to be told that words couldn’t be spared to take the time and pages to let us sit in any particular place and get to know the characters.

So, honestly, my complaints for the book is that there should be more, which isn’t honestly the worst problem to have.

I’m looking forward to book two if only to see if Daniela Valenti is given the space to really sink into Amanda.

Recommended For

Fantasy lovers looking for a new world to dive into.

About the Author

Daniela Valenti is a Canadian psychiatrist with a penchant for the paranormal and a fascination with human nature’s dark side.

Her knowledge of human behavior is translated into complex, multidimensional characters. Her narrative worlds are full of exciting supernatural events, international travel, and sexy alpha men.

A graduate of McGill University, she is a book lover and chatty introvert who lives in Montreal.

*Thanks so much to Daniela Valenti and iReadBookTours for my copy of The Diamond Rose in exchange for an honest review.