Roses and Bones: Myths, Tales, and Secrets

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Roses and Bones: Myths, Tales, and Secrets

by Francesca Lia Block (Goodreads Author)

3.79 of 5 stars 3.79 · rating details · 191 ratings · 34 reviews

What happens when a girl finds herself at the crossroads between worlds--where the angels and ghosts, gods and demons, and beauties and beasts of myth are real? What does she do and who does she become?

Roses and Bones captures the best Francesca Lia Block has to offer: extravagantly imaginative tales, dark landscapes, fierce poetry, and storytelling that is nothing short o...more

Paperback, 400 pages

Published December 21st 2010 by HarperTeen

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Best books of December, 2010

26th out of 27 books — 74 voters

Really Long Hair

101st out of 113 books — 53 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 1,024)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Dec 21, 2010 Jillian -always aspiring- rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who can stand cryptic storytelling and lack of morality in plots and characters

Shelves: retellings, 2010-reads, reviewed

Containing Psyche in a Dress, Echo, and The Rose and the Beast: Fairy Tales Retold -- all standalone works, more like novellas or long poems than actual novels, by Francesca Lia Block -- this omnibus is a good way for readers to get a feel for Block and her style of storytelling. I myself had only read a short story from Block prior to this (in the anthology Kisses from Hell), and I didn't feel it was a true reprentation of what she could accomplish with her writing. Sad to say, however, I was v...more Containing Psyche in a Dress, Echo, and The Rose and the Beast: Fairy Tales Retold -- all standalone works, more like novellas or long poems than actual novels, by Francesca Lia Block -- this omnibus is a good way for readers to get a feel for Block and her style of storytelling. I myself had only read a short story from Block prior to this (in the anthology Kisses from Hell), and I didn't feel it was a true reprentation of what she could accomplish with her writing. Sad to say, however, I was very underwhelmed by what I found within this book.

The prose was pretty yet melodramatic at times -- but even pretty prose could not make up for what these stories lacked in believability, characterization, and messages. They felt very shallow, however dream-like they were. Also, Block took reckless abandon with her myth and fairy tale reworking. For instance, in "Psyche in a Dress," did I really need a 'Cupid and Psyche' retelling where Psyche actually manages to take the roles of Eurydice, Persephone, AND Demeter as well? All it seemed like was an excuse for Psyche to get it on with Cupid/Eros, Orpheus, and Hades at different times. I'm sorry, but -- as much as I didn't like Psyche for her 'Mary Sue'-ness in the original myth -- this Psyche was much worse, taking 'Mary Sue'-ism to the max. (The ending was the only thing that particularly moved me with this poem-like tale.)

With the second story/novel, "Echo," I also really noticed how Block's writing tends to get convoluted with nonsense and "fateful meetings" that end up leading nowhere (until sometimes the very end). Now, I understand that Block is likely trying to get the message across that true love, if it exists, doesn't always stay or doesn't always come soon. I also understand that she tries to illustrate how our lives shape who we are as people and our interactions with others reenforce or inhibit our growth. I get that. BUT Block gets so lost in her whimsical, practically carefree world where drugs, sex, and parties seem to be staples and loses the messages of her stories until the very end. It's pretty bad that the message of the stories don't hit me until the end -- and, by then, I just don't care. I need to feel it throughout the story.

Also, I don't think I've ever read works from an author that, when she mentions sex or sexual acts in a roundabout or subtle way, still manages to make me cringe and feel dirty for reading it. None of the 'love' in these stories felt like love to me -- just lust and desperation. And are all of Block's heroines so promiscuous? It's rather annoying since, while I get the feminist idea of, "Hey, women shouldn't be afraid to be sexual! Most men aren't!", I don't need to have it thrown in my face how many times these heroines sleep around just because they're lacking in some areas of their lives (whether it be through identity, affection, or anything). That just makes women seem weak more than anything else. Wouldn't these heroines actually be stronger if they didn't resort to such base measures to feel wanted, loved, and/or needed?

The third set of stories, all fairy tale retellings of sorts, actually warmed me up to Block a bit more. The Rose and the Beast illustrated more to me how I wanted Block's writing and storytelling to be for me. I just wish her tales could be more consistent, a little lyrical and heartbreaking and bittersweet, just like these fairy tales she wrote were.

All in all -- I'm not sorry I read this book, but I did expect much more from it. While I give Francesca Lia Block four stars for her prose, I have to give two stars to her overall execution. That leaves me to say that this was a three star read for me. Still, I find myself interested in what else Block can offer, so I'll likely try out a few more books of hers before I give up on her. The eternal optimist, that's me. (less)

10 likes · like · see review

Jan 07, 2012 Minli rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mythic, sirens-2012, young-adult, awesome-writing

This collection of three stories, all retellings of myths and tales, is absolutely lovely. As a huge fan of lyrical writing, I won't embarrass myself by mentioning how little I've read of Francesca Lia Block's, but I loved her story in Kate Bernheimer's anthology and am so happy I picked this up.

The first story, "Psyche in a Dress" is based on the myth of Cupid and Psyche and is told in verse, but it's by the stories of the many fabulous women of the Greek tradition. Psyche's trials and tribulat...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 19, 2012 Emily rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: my-own-collection

Okay, Roses and Bones is a book with three different stories contained. The three tales are the following: "Psyche in a Dress", "Echo" and "The Rose And The Beast".

Among all three, the first story is my favorite. I find it unique and written well. I enjoyed reading the story. It was really interesting and the way Block wrote was simply amazing. To sum it all up, Psyche in a dress is a free-verse poem with bits of narrative tales about its characters. Combined with a modern twist, "Psyche in a D...more Okay, Roses and Bones is a book with three different stories contained. The three tales are the following: "Psyche in a Dress", "Echo" and "The Rose And The Beast".

Among all three, the first story is my favorite. I find it unique and written well. I enjoyed reading the story. It was really interesting and the way Block wrote was simply amazing. To sum it all up, Psyche in a dress is a free-verse poem with bits of narrative tales about its characters. Combined with a modern twist, "Psyche in a Dress" is simply alluring and won't get hold of you no matter how short this work is. (3/5)

Echo would be my least favorite. Block's characters are messy. Her writing here is messy. Everything is messy, except Echo's "emotional" personality. Block describes Echo as a girl who tries to find love the way sees in her parents by being rebellious and by dancing/strip-teasing a boy. I find Echo as nothing but a slut and a highly-jealous person. I find it disgusting that she attempted to dance in front of her father. (1/5)

The Rose And The Beast is another unique as well among other modern fairytale novels / fairytale retolds, since the author attempted to wrote tales in pretty words. Sometimes, we need to admit that pretty words don't make a good story, especially when you find a character who licks her hand as if it was a paw and an author who keeps describing unnecessary things in the story. My favorite among the retolds would be "Tiny".

Tales in The Rose And The Beast:
- Snow = Snow White (If you want a story that is slightly different from the usual Snow Whites who picks the prince, then I think you would like this one. Love is not always the heroine's happy ending, sometimes it's about family as well.)
- Tiny = Thumbelina (I enjoyed this. Although Block just nonchalantly described everything here, I adore the ending.)
- Glass = Cinderella(A Cinderella who deeply adores her siblings.)
- Charm = Sleeping Beauty (Mindfuck alert.)
- Wolf = Red Riding Hood? (I was confused on this tale. I wasn't certain if it's Red Riding Hood or not, but oh well. There are a couple of Red Riding Hood stories out there and if you compare this to those, then there would be a huge gap. Wolf would be in the bottom while the others would be on top of it.)
- Rose = Rose Red and Snow White (Sheesh.)
- Bones = Bluebeard (I read a fanfic about Bluebeard's tale and compare to an amateur writer and the professional one, the amateur acted the part of being a pro.)
- Beast = Beauty and the Beast (A heroine who enjoyed her freedom from her father and enjoyed the Beast's company not until he became human. She prefers a beast over a man.)
- Ice = Ice Queen (Bah.)(less)

1 like · like · see review

Dec 31, 2012 Alex rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-fiction

Roses and Bones: Myths, Tales, and Secrets is a compendium of three of Block's books. I had not read any of these previously, but I had read several other of her books years ago when I was in college, like the Weetzie Bat series. I remembered liking them at the time, and enjoying her writing style, so I picked this up at the library a few weeks ago. I can see why I enjoyed her then, but I did not enjoy this as much now, as an adult.

The thing with Block's writing is that it is very intoxicating,...more Roses and Bones: Myths, Tales, and Secrets is a compendium of three of Block's books. I had not read any of these previously, but I had read several other of her books years ago when I was in college, like the Weetzie Bat series. I remembered liking them at the time, and enjoying her writing style, so I picked this up at the library a few weeks ago. I can see why I enjoyed her then, but I did not enjoy this as much now, as an adult.

The thing with Block's writing is that it is very intoxicating, on the surface, because she is very gifted at writing dreamy, magical prose that pulls you in to a beautiful yet tragic place. She is excellent at describing scenery, people, clothing, food, and so forth, as well as portraying emotions like longing, puppy love, and emptiness. However, deep down, it's all quite depressing. Her version of love, as another reviewer commented, isn't true love, it's misguided lust, codependency, and one-sided obsessions. Or is that "true" love - that is, is that reality? I like to think not...

Her writing used to suck me in, because I so wanted to be one of the characters in her books: gritty and beautiful and adored by at least one person who could see past my imperfections and love me with every ounce of their being. It would be us against the world, holding hands and forging our way through endless bright lights and dim rooms and drinks and parties and people and we would be fabulous amazing sparkly rock stars whether anyone else realized it or not...and so forth. That is no longer a goal of mine. I would like a real relationship, where we have independence, and aren't dead inside when the other is away for five seconds, thank you...

But I digress...

This book in particular is essentially three stories of all of that - central female characters that party and sleep around and are all quite unremarkable and fairly damaged, but her writing makes them seem like they are something to aspire to be.

Psyche in a Dress, the first book, is written in a poetry-esque style. I am not familiar with the original myths that it's based on, and although I was going to look them up as I was reading this book, I got lazy and didn't. I was fairly confused throughout the story because of my lack of knowledge of the original stories as well as the cryptic writing. It was so-so.

The second book, Echo, was easier to understand, although she jumps around characters quite a bit and it gets hard to follow. Each chapter is narrated through a different point of view from the one before, and some of the characters have more than one name. Nevertheless, it isn't too difficult to piece together, although I wished I had a flow chart at one point to track all the people everyone was sleeping with. Echo, the lead character, really bothered me though. She had a psychic power which allowed her to see into someone's past if she did an erotic striptease for them. Seriously, what the hell? The way Block writes it makes it seem like this is some magical, mystical, amazing thing where she sees into boys' souls and then heals them by having sex with them, but to me it was just some patriarchal BS. She always is left empty inside because they never stick around, so it's just another example of a woman serving men in a non-equal situation. Screw that.

The third section was a bit different. It's a collection of very short stories that are all variations on fairy tales. Some of the originals I was not familiar with or I couldn't quite correlate with the original version, but others translated fairly well. A couple were cute, especially Tiny, a variant of Thumbelina. My favorite, and probably the only thing I truly liked in the entire book, was the Snow White adaptation. I won't spoil the ending, but it's how I've always wished the story ended up.(less)

like · see review

Jun 17, 2011 Jessica added it

Shelves: did-not-finish

I've had this on my shelf for awhile and Roses & Bones was the second book of Francesca Lia Block's that I read. Although, I couldn't seem to get into this one.

I had got it from Bookperk when I was getting Abandon, and thought why not! The mythology and fairy tales really grabbed at my attention, I totally though this was going to be the book for me. Only it wasn't.

There's 3 books in this and I read the first one, Psyche in a Dress, which was in a sort of poetry like format. Not normal novel...more I've had this on my shelf for awhile and Roses & Bones was the second book of Francesca Lia Block's that I read. Although, I couldn't seem to get into this one.

I had got it from Bookperk when I was getting Abandon, and thought why not! The mythology and fairy tales really grabbed at my attention, I totally though this was going to be the book for me. Only it wasn't.

There's 3 books in this and I read the first one, Psyche in a Dress, which was in a sort of poetry like format. Not normal novel paragraphs at least. It was a sort of mesh of Greek myths from Psyche and Eros and Persephone and Hades and other Greek myth pieces. It was interesting, yet a little hard to read. For when I see the "poetry" like format, my brain automatically tries to find a rhythm from my school years.

The next story Echo was where my attention started to wan. The perspectives were very scattered, at first I was fine because Echo was the storyteller, but then it jumped around in the story telling, but still had the characters from within. I think one section was a flashback from another character, but then we jump back to Echo and at the time I didn't know that. A whole new story was going on with Echo. It was just confusing, and then it goes onto a character we haven't met but then Echo meets him to tie it back into the story. I was just so lost I gave that one up.

The next one was The Rose and the Beast, this had a collection of shorter stories that were supposed to be the fairy tales retold sort of thing. I didn't even make it through the first one. It was called "Snow" so it was following the threads of Snow White in a way, but after spending so much time reading Echo, my brain just wasn't into it so I ended up stopping the book entirely.

This was a DNF for me and one of the firsts that I had in awhile, maybe someday I'll go back to the last segment and try it again, but I really don't know. The book sounded like it was going to be interesting, but it just wasn't for me. The mythic and fable-ic (Not really a word, but you get it) elements weren't really strong in the last ones. At least not that I could see, so it was a letdown for me. It does still have the same contemporary feel of I Was a Teenage Fairy, that one I read years ago and liked pretty good. When I still read some contemporaries at least, although since there was a fairy not sure if you could call it contemporary. The paranormal or in this case "mythic" elements just weren't strong enough for my UF tastes.

(less)

like · see review

Mar 13, 2011 Charie Raynon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: on-shelf, 2011

The first part of the book was Psyche in a Dress. It was confusing, the way the narrating persona is talking. Its like in a dreamy trance that does address a second or third person clearly. The style is written as if in poetry but not really. And then there was this naked guy that this girl loved, and I still don't get the point of the story, if its a story at all. The girl was then broken, by some other guy, and had weaved her way back to this naked guy at some point, and their story, entangled...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 08, 2011 marcosbooks rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorite-covers, read-2011, favourites-2011, genre-ya, book-reports, standalone, 4-really-entranced, lang-english, released-2010

Meine Meinung ...
Roses & Bones ist eine Anhäufung von Kurzgeschichten die Mystisch, Gefühlvoll und vor allem Geschichten sind die den Leser in seinen Bann ziehen. Realitätsnah sowie auch Realitätsfern sind manche von diesen, die Francesca Lia Block so berauschend beschreibt, doch genau dies, hat für mich das Lesevergnügen unheimlich gesteigert, und das lesen zu etwas ganz besonderem gemacht. Ein Roman der mir noch lange im Gedächtnis bleiben wird und hoffentlich weitere interessierte Leser f...more Meine Meinung ...
Roses & Bones ist eine Anhäufung von Kurzgeschichten die Mystisch, Gefühlvoll und vor allem Geschichten sind die den Leser in seinen Bann ziehen. Realitätsnah sowie auch Realitätsfern sind manche von diesen, die Francesca Lia Block so berauschend beschreibt, doch genau dies, hat für mich das Lesevergnügen unheimlich gesteigert, und das lesen zu etwas ganz besonderem gemacht. Ein Roman der mir noch lange im Gedächtnis bleiben wird und hoffentlich weitere interessierte Leser finden wird, die sich seiner annehmen.

Die Geschichten haben mir sehr zugesagt, nicht nur weil sie sehr glaubhaft dem Leser nähergebracht werden, sondern weil unheimlich viel Gefühl und Emotionen in ihnen steckt. Jedesmal konnte ich mit den Protagonisten mitfühlen und wie seltsam und verwirrend der Sachverhalt auch manchmal war, letztendlich fand ich jede Kurzgeschichte interessant und toll von Francesca Lia Block erzählt. Sie kann besonders gut Gefühle übermitteln, nicht nur durch verbale Kommunikation der Figuren sondern auch sehr gut durch non-verbale. Die Charaktere waren immer sehr detailreich und authentisch gestaltet, das Aussehen, die Persönlichkeit und auch die Entwicklung dieser Figuren, bringen den Leser in eine andere, manchmal auch vertraute Welt. Oftmals konnte ich mir das Geschehen bildlich vorstellen und ich habe oftmals daran gedacht, dass genau so eine Geschichte bestimmt irgendwo dort draußen in der weiten Welt genauso passiert sein könnte.

Romantik und das Mystische werden oftmals von der Autorin in Anspruch genommen, doch jede Geschichte hat ihre ganz eigene Mischung aus diesen Genres. Miss Lia Block spricht auch Themen an, die von der Gesellschaft vielleicht nicht unbedingt heiß diskutiert werden, und sie scheut sich auch nicht davor diese zu beschreiben und dem Leser so nahe zu bringen. Ich denke der Roman wird nicht für jeden etwas sein, der Schreibstil der Autorin ist doch etwas eigen, ihre Beschreibungen sind wirklich wunderbar und vermitteln das wesentliche und die Emotionen die dahinterstecken. Aber ich kenne auch viele Leser denen gerade Beschreibungen, besonders wenn diese paar Seiten lang sind, nicht besonders gut gefallen. Deswegen würde ich denjenigen raten die sich für diesen Roman interessieren: Schaut erstmal in das Buch rein, oder lest eine Leseprobe von diesem.

Zur der Optik des Buches möchte ich die volle Punktzahl überreichen. Ich finde das Cover wirklich wunderschön! Es ist aufjedenfall ein Eye-Catcher, das Model sieht hübsch aus und die Schminke sowie die Haarfarbe gefallen mir außerordentlich gut, soweit ich mich erinnere ist das Mädchen sogar einer Figur nachempfunden die sich auch in einer Kurzgeschichte in dem Roman wiederfindet (und besonders diese Geschichte habe ich am liebsten von allen gelesen, da ich sie einfach so ergreifend fand. Leider weiß ich jetzt nicht mehr wie die Kurzgeschichte heißt ...). Die Schriftart sowie die Swirls passen meiner Meinung nach, auch gut zu dem Cover. Die rosa Pflanzen auf dem Rücken und der dunkle Hintergrund haben auch nochmal etwas besonderes. Mal wieder hat Harper bei dem Cover alles richtig gemacht, was man nur richtig machen kann. Ich meine sogar, dass das Buch ein Coverkauf gewesen war, umso erfreulicher das es auch noch toll zu lesen war ;P

Ein kleinen Kritikpunkt, und weshalb das Buch von mir nicht die volle Punktzahl bekommen hat, muss ich leider dennoch äußern. Am Ende des Romans gibt es Kurzgeschichten der Autorin wo sie Grimm's Märchen neu interpretiert. Ist ja eigentlich nichts schlimmes daran und einige haben mir auch gefallen, jedoch habe ich die meisten teilweise nur überflogen das sie mich schlicht und weg, einfach nicht interessiert haben oder begeistern konnten. Wenn ich einem Buch die volle Punktzahl überreiche, dann muss auch wirklich alles stimmen und da die neuen Interpretationen der Märchen mir nicht so sehr zugesagt haben, habe ich einen Punkt abgezogen und so dem tollen Roman vier Sterne verliehen. Ich denke das sich dadurch niemand abschrecken lassen muss und jeder selbst entscheiden kann, wie er diese "neuen" Märchen findet.

Fazit:
Ein besonderer Roman der nicht nur sehr viel Gefühl und dem Leser näher bringt, sondern etwas einzigartiges an sich hat. Das Cover ist ein richtiger Eye-Catcher und auch sonst macht die Autorin alles richtig um den Leser in seinen Bann ziehen zu können. Die Kurzgeschichten sind, meiner Meinung nach, allesamt interessant und spiegeln oftmals Situationen und Geschehnisse dar die sich bestimmt irgendwo auf der Welt abgespielt haben, oder es noch könnten. Genau dieser Realitätsbezug, macht den Roman zu etwas ganz besonderem. Wer sich nicht von Beschreibungen genervt fühlt und das Gefühl zwischen den Zeilen aufnehmen kann, die der Autor versucht hinüberzubringen, der sollte sich Roses & Bones aufjedenfall genauer ansehen. Mein Tipp ist: Schaut einfach mal in den Roman rein oder/ und lest eine Leseprobe und entscheidet dann erst :)(less)

like · see review

Apr 25, 2011 Infinite Playlist rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mine, religion-gods, mood-romantic, form-verse-poetry, death-murder-loss, drugs-addiction, genre-fairytales, family-siblings, favorites, genre-ya, genre-paranormal

Kurz und knapp
Eins meiner neuen Lieblingsbücher, das ich nienienienienie wieder hergeben werde! Ich mutmaße, dass man den Stil der Autorin entweder liebt oder nur komisch findet. Für mich ist er flüssig, poetisch, romantisch, aufregend, lebendig und perfekt.

Lang und breit
Francesca Lia Block hat es geschafft. Meine erste fünfstellige Bewertung in diesem Jahr. Ich bin verliebt in dieses Buch, in diesen Schreibstil.

In Roses and Bones findet man insgesamt drei bisher einzeln veröffentlichte Werke de...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 13, 2013 Eryn rated it 4 of 5 stars

The first part of the book was very confusing but I think that was the point. If you've ever read a greek myth then you know they are really hard to interpret but are amazingly written. When I finished the first story I was like "this book is so stupid" but as the day went on I found myself thinking about how genius it was and thought provoking.

like · see review

Oct 06, 2012 Mia rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really love this book. the way the author wrote the book. every word was like poetry to me. i really like it. This book gave me the nice kind of sadness. I think francesca lia block has become my 3rd favorite author :)

like · see review

Dec 04, 2012 Haliation rated it 4 of 5 stars

I bought this online before I realized that I've already read the three stories in it (Psyche in a Dress, Echo and The Rose and the Beast) Oh weeeeell, I didn't pay much, and it'll be gifted to someone.

like · see review

Mar 17, 2012 Danielle rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book. While I read all three book seperately before this came out, I still like that they were put in one. Two of them (psyche in a dresss and echo) are two of my favorites .

like · see review

May 18, 2013 Melissa Declet added it

It was an amazing book! Francesca writes in vignette format from multiple perspectives of women who are supposed to be Goddesses. It was an amazing read!

like · see review

Mar 10, 2011 Bookaholiclover rated it 2 of 5 stars

It was a nice book, but I guess I didn't appreciate as much as the other books that I have read, but I'm sure this is the most different book that I have read from the others...

like · see review

Oct 09, 2011 Paige rated it 1 of 5 stars

literally, this whole book i was like what the heck is going on? Plus it disturbed me greatly.

like · see review

Apr 27, 2012 Jackie(No Bent Spines) rated it 2 of 5 stars

Juuuussssttttt aaaa little too creepy/disturbing/eewwwish for my taste

like · see review

Nov 29, 2011 Rocky marked it as to-read

I can't wait to read this looks good, thanks Lena!

1 like · like · see review

Feb 02, 2012 Megan rated it 1 of 5 stars

I hated this book! I just couldnt get into it.

like · see review

Mar 22, 2012 Marissa Wegner rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: library, princesses, magic

A bit too much rape for me.

like · see review

Mar 05, 2012 Magistra rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-mythology

At Durham Public Library!

like · see review

Jan 26, 2011 Lauren Sunshine added it

Simply Beautiful!

like · see review

Apr 17, 2013 Casie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Peculiar.

like · see review

Aug 09, 2011 Varina rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a decent sort of book, but I found it a bit overwrought and melodramatic. Sometimes the use of mythological characters was brilliant and lovely and sometimes it was a bit silly.

like · see review

Dec 29, 2010 the golden witch. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: flb, 2010, magical-reality, compendium-or-omnibus, best-of-10, reviewed

Note: This book is actually a compendium of the previously published "Psyche in a Dress", "Echo", and "The Rose and the Beast".

That said, reading these books again is just as magical as the first time I read them. This compendium, if you don't already own the original three, is a wonderful bargain and a great intro into Francesca's work. Can't wait for the next book!

like · see review

Nov 29, 2011 Lena B rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is amazing!! It might not be for every type of person, it might be a little violent in some parts and a little graphic too but i like that sort of stuff. I have read this book once and i am in the middle of reading it for the second time and i have noticed things that I didn't know the first time. It is a awesome book!!

like · see review

Feb 28, 2011 Maria Olga Nina rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: treasurechest

...poetic and beautiful...it was an amazing read...

like · see review

May 10, 2013 Tiffany Aukes rated it 5 of 5 stars

it was really good.

like · see review

Dec 13, 2011 Hannah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fairy-tales-folklore, bought, myths-legends, retelling, sci-fi-fantasy

This was a really good book, very real and sort of heart wrenching for me. Though, about halfway through the first section, I realized that I have to read this book in small bits and chunks, rather than all the way through in one go. It was easier to focus and digest that way.

like · see review

Oct 14, 2012 Michelle rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own, fairy-tale, contemporary-fiction, fantasy, young-adult

I usually love FLB. :( I sometimes wonder if I'm just growing out of her stuff though. I'm also not in the best reading frame-of-mind right now because I'm so busy with school, which has been making me a much more impatient reader.

like · see review

Oct 13, 2012 Jane added it

I like fairy tales and mythology and I enjoyed this retelling. The last section was pretty dark and I'm not at all sure I think of this as "YA" reading.

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 34 35 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

Genres

Young Adult

16 users

Fantasy

10 users

Fantasy > Mythology

5 users

Short Stories

4 users

Fantasy > Magic

3 users

Fantasy > Supernatural

3 users

Fantasy > Fairy Tales

2 users

Retellings

2 users

Anthologies

2 users

Fantasy > Paranormal

2 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Francesca Lia Block

Francesca Lia Block was born in Los Angeles to a poet and a painter, their creativity an obvious influence on her writing. Another influence was her childhood love of Greek mythology and fairy tales.
She has lived in the city all her life, and still resides there with her daughter, Jasmine Angelina (about whom she wrote her book Guarding the Moon), her son Samuel Alexander, and her two dogs: a spr...more

More about Francesca Lia Block...

Books by Francesca Lia Block

The Rose and the Beast: Fairy Tales Retold

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Roses and Bones: ...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

title link	preview: Roses and Bones: Myths, Tales, and Secrets
avg rating	preview: Roses and Bones: Myths, Tales, and Secrets Goodreads rating: 3.79 (191 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8467464-roses-and-bones?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1287673438l/8467464.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8467464-roses-and-bones?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Roses and Bones: Myths, Tales, and Secrets by Francesca Lia Block[/url]

Roses and Bones: Myths, Tales, and Secrets

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Francesca Lia Block

Books by Francesca Lia Block

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About Roses and Bones: ...

new topic
Discuss This Book