One Cursed Rose by Rebecca Zanetti is a dark romance inspired by Beauty and the Beast and featuring a unique twist on parasocial relationships and social media. Full of dark romance and a bit of mystery, One Cursed Rose is unlike any Beauty and the Beast reimagining you’ve ever read.

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Oh, it’s too late to save me, and my soul is doomed. But for the briefest of seconds, I can see heaven.

Beauty and the Beast meets the darker side of parasocial relationships in One Cursed Rose by Rebecca Zanetti. 

In Alana’s world, one controlled by four ruling families at the peak of four distinct social media empires, she knows her role: continuously post on her family’s social media platform, garner likes and interactions, and help fuel the gemstones that keep her family and her family’s empire strong. But when Alana is kidnapped by Thorn, the scarred and beastly head of a rival social media family, she quickly learns to appreciate the darker side of life and realizes that the true beauty of the rose is only amplified by the thorns. 

One Cursed Rose by Rebecca Zanetti was a solid four out of five stars for me. I liked a lot of the elements that Zanetti included in her fairytale reimagining, but I actually would’ve liked to see her take the dark elements even further. Thorn was built up to be a scary shadow of a man, someone too dangerous and too scarred to have a place in normal society, but Alana barely brought it up and rival families were willing to marry him in a heartbeat. Most of the time we spent with Thorn, I forgot he was supposed to be someone to fear. Most of his worst deeds were off-page, so it was easy to just imagine Thorn as another rich guy who likes to take control in the bedroom. 

I liked Alana; she knew her father saw her as less because she wasn’t the male heir, so she used her money to help out the less fortunate and tried to make a difference where she could. I would’ve liked to see Alana make a bigger deal out of her nights with Thorn, especially that first night, but she was, overall, a strong main character. 

I thought the social media aspects of the story were very unique and not something I’ve run across in any type of fiction, let alone dark romance. The social media platforms were a bit hard to understand the dynamics of early in the story, and I could’ve either used more information and descriptions or less importance placed on the platforms themselves. 

Overall, One Cursed Rose was a solid dark romance with plenty of Beauty and the Beast references and lots of characters to enjoy. 

You’re my reason for breathing, and you were meant to be mine.

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