Wine for Roses

by Emily O'Malley Liu

They say the stolen rose blooms best.

When Ethan Keating Mendoza is hired as a gardener at an old Victorian residence in central Indiana, he has one clear mission: make the roses bloom. Ethan's life is roses--he's the son of a hedge witch and a partner in his father's rose growing business--but he has no magic himself.

The Kilbride estate is wild and overgrown. The roses have not bloomed in decades, and Ethan fears he may be in over his head. Worse still is Louis, the peculiar trustee of the property, who lives under a bloodthirsty curse that ties him to the garden. But Louis gives Ethan a chance, and Ethan is determined to do right by the suffering roses. As Ethan and Louis grow closer, Ethan becomes increasingly desperate to save the man he loves from the garden's curse.

But the garden isn't letting them go without a fight.

Genres: Adult, LGBT, Fantasy

150 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication April 14, 2026

About the author

Emily O'Malley Liu grew up in Palm Beach County, Florida and has lived in the American Southwest, the Midwest, New England, and Japan. Em now resides with her husband and three kids in the greater Washington, D.C. metro area, where she researches financial systems by day and devises magic systems by night. Her first novel, WINE FOR ROSES, will be published by Shiraki Press in Spring 2026.

Reviews

[TR]

This is a queer remix of The Beauty and the Beast—think ill father, devoted child, mysterious mansion, cursed inhabitant with plenty of secrets—set in a version of rural Indiana where hedge witches take summer jobs magically helping crops grow. Ethan, who has dropped out of college to help take care of his father and his father’s business, takes an impossible job rehabilitating the rose garden of an isolated Victorian estate, and ends up falling for Louis, the mysterious, cursed trustee.

This was much less Gothic than I expected and much more sweet—magic house that loves you and gets named after a Clue character! Louis starts out gruff but arguably hasn’t hurt anyone but himself! There is a vaguely defined magic system operating mainly in the background. Hedge witches are a thing, which seems to mean a lot of people have a sort of natural magic talent for a specific thing, cue subplot of Ethan reckoning with his magical abilities/apparent lack thereof. The house has an equally vaguely sketched tragic past.

The book’s big strength is, in my opinion, talking about things that really exist. Ethan’s dad has multiple sclerosis and crippling medical debt, but before that, he was a rose rustler—a person who goes on old estates looking for rare, forgotten varieties of roses that can be revived and propagated. The author’s research about roses is what really shone, at least for me. I kept Googling things to do with roses and finding out they were real (delightful, although as the author points out, maybe don’t sacrifice wine to your roses in real life). This and Ethan’s relationship with his father add a lot of character to what would otherwise be a much less memorable romance, and make this well worth a read.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

[Lotta · Rating 4 out of 5]

"He really was like a plant, I thought. A rose bush. He was prickly, but all he really needed was some care and sunlight."

This was a lovely read!
The story pulled me in from the very beginning with its vivid descriptions and introduction of our protagonist. The writing style has a nice flow that will keep you going long past your bedtime.

I really enjoyed exploring the rose garden through Ethan’s eyes. His relationships with the other characters were also explored very well, especially with his father. This is Romantasy, however I felt that while yes, there is romance involved (love the ace rep by the way!), I felt that the real love story is between Ethan and the roses.

I have to admit that I don’t know anything about flowers, let alone roses, so I was very intrigued by all the details we learn as the book goes on. The magic system that operated in the background was a nice touch and worked very well together with the "real" magic of tending to plants.

I also really enjoyed how the book tackles real issues that a lot of people deal with: chronic illness, (medical) debt, bullying, grief—to name just a few. It does so in a way that feels very natural to the story’s flow but also adds some layers to our protagonists and the people around him.

My one and only criticism is perhaps that I think the book could have benefitted from some more interactions between Ethan and Louis in the first half of the story. Louis is not very welcoming at first but very quickly invites Ethan in for lunch. I think I was missing some of his earlier hostility, and that he warmed up to Ethan rather quickly. However, this is a novella and there’s only so much pages you have so this is only a very minor criticism.

Last but not least: the cover is absolutely GORGEOUS and I cannot wait to to get my hands on a physical copy!

I received an ARC via NetGalley after being contacted by the author. All opinions expressed here are my own.

[thebookaerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absolutely lovely book to ease into the New Year. I adored this almost short story, with similarities and a likeness to a Beauty and the Beast retelling. It’s written quite beautifully, very descriptive and a little mysterious.
I love when books not only draw you deeply into their storyline, but also make you inquisitive about things you might not already know about. Roses are a fascinating topic written into this, and you’ll be looking up all sorts of tidbits about their history. One significant piece is that the main character Ethan has a father who was and continues to be an exceptional rose rustler (something for you to look up and learn about!).
In his continuous quest for rare varieties of roses, Ethan’s father Arthur stumbles onto a mysterious estate and is asked to return to act as the hedge witch for the gardens. Knowing Arthur is unable to physically care for the overgrown gardens, Ethan offers to take the work even though his magic is marginal compared to his father’s.
What follows is a story of care and sacrifice to a seemingly magical estate and its owner who desperately seeks to have the overgrown garden tended and the roses to bloom once again.
I very much enjoyed this book. It’s a great read for someone who is a little inquisitive about roses, enjoys a bit of mystery, and is ok with a very soft barely there love story. It also has very fun side characters, the “living” house who so quickly welcomes Ethan, and a cat so full of cat personality it’s hard to not smile when she’s around.
I wavered between 3 and 4 stars so I’m settling with a
3 and 1/2! Thank you netgalley for an early opportunity to read this!

[Hannah Deverall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wine for Roses is a cute, cosy, queer, and magical retelling of beauty and the beast, centred around Ethan Keating Mendoza, the son of a hedge witch with an affinity for roses. The family of two is barely holding on when Ethan's father receives the job offer of a lifetime - only, he physically can't take it. In comes Ethan, who takes the job in his father's stead, and must complete the impossible task of making the roses bloom in an ancient garden. However, this isn't the only challenge that greets him there, as the elusive groundskeeper seems to be hiding something. Something, very, very important.

This book was very short and sweet, with very cute characters. The plot was definitely secondary to the development of the characters, which worked quite well in this context. While not exactly likeable, the characters were certainly interesting, which made this novel not completely immersive but still quite fun to read. I would reccomend this book to all cosy fantasy readers, especially for fans of The Honey Witch and the Legends and Lattes series.

Overall, I enjoyed this story, but I am also quite glad that it was not particularly long, as while the characters were good the plot simply could not sustain the novel any longer, and was fraying at the edges by the end. My rating for this novel is 3.75 stars out of five. Thank you to Shiraki Press for providing Wine For Roses for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[☾arina⭐︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5★

I really enjoyed this twist on a Beauty and the Beast retelling. Instead of the MC being a reader and interested in books, Ethan helps his hedge witch father in the rose-growing business. I learned so much about growing and maintaining flowers. For example, I’ve seen the Madame Alfred Carrière flower but never knew it was a type of rose or what its actual name was. I found myself searching up some things because it was a lot to process at times, and I was confused about the meaning. But the story overall was beautiful.

Ethan’s relationship with his father felt genuine and real. His father has some health problems that have made Ethan put his life on hold to take care of him and his business. His father appreciates it but wishes he lived for himself. I liked the way his relationship with the reclusive Louis was developed. Because it’s a short story, it didn’t have time to delve into more of Ethan’s and Louis’s relationship, which is a bummer because I enjoyed their time together and how much they helped each other emotionally.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story and characters.

Thank you NetGalley and Shiraki Press for the ARC.

[Nia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 ⭐

✨ Whimsy, fast paced filled with mystery and a lot of roses!!✨

I really enjoyed this, it had a fairytale kinda vibes and I really liked the writing but I did wish that the relationship was much more fleshed out and the magic that undid the curse could've been explained more clearly!
Despite it all, it was a pretty fun read!

💜 Totally recommend if you're in a whimsy gothicy mood.

💖 Thanks NetGalley for the ARC all opinions are my own!

[beyondthebookcase95 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. It was short and it went fast but it reads very well and I devoured it. It was a good retelling as well and it kept you intrigued. The character development was strong and so was the pacing throughout the book.

ARC gifted by Netgalley and publisher, all thoughts are my own.