The Silver Rose

This is the third in the Dark Queen series and it is a very entertaining read. Love the renaissance France time-frame and the underlying current of magic and sorcery. Susan Carroll does a great job unraveling Simon's complexities and he becomes a wonderful hero. I enjoy Miri's gentleness with animals and her strength of character. The only thing I would have liked to see a little more of were Miri's sisters from the first two books. I look forward to reading Martin's story next.

The Silver Rose is a wonderful exciting addition to the storey of the Dark Queen and the wonderful Cheney sisters. Has great romance and lots of excitement and adventure. Its a must read if you love all that and magic.I loved this book!

I was one of those who didn't read the trilogy in order. I got a hold of 'The Courtesan' first, then 'The Dark Queen', then 'The Silver Rose'. I've read most of Susan Carroll's newer books but the Chenney sisters trilogy were her best work so far. The whole 3 books were flawless, including 'The Silver Rose' (which I finished @ 1am with a satisfied sigh). In each of the previous books, we got to see both Miri & Simon at a different stage of their lives, the younger time. Finally in 'The Silver Rose' we got to understand why they did what they did (particularly Simon) and what sort of consequences they had to endure for their actions. I must say that Susan Carroll did a wonderful job of redeeming Simon in this book, and I thought Miri's choice for Simon (over Martin) was true to Miri's character. They both share their love for animals and farm life, while Martin is more of a city guy. All in all, this was a well written, multi-layered, historical romance novel which I truly enjoyed. Some of previous reviewers mentioned their disatisfaction over certain unresolved issues like the missing book of shadows, etc.. but I thought it's better to end this way. After all, this is not your typical straight forward romance novel where everything is tied up beautifully with pink ribbons in the end. So I think it's only right that a story about 3 witches ..er... wise women.. ends with something left for imagination as well. Needless to say, I will eagerly wait for Susan Carroll's next book.

Miri Cheney is the last of the Cheney sisters still living in France. She has returned to her island with hopes of finding a place where she feels safe and possibly find love. When her past catches up with her in the form of former witch hunter Simon Aristide she wants to hate him for what he has done to her family but she can't. Still, when he asks for help in locating the evil "Silver Rose" a witch with strong dark powers she turns him away...until she realizes that "The Silver Rose" has managed to find a foot hold on her island. She finds Simon and together they look for the one person who could be the end of them both...Will she be able walk away from the one man that she can't trust, who has hurt her unspeakably? Or is this time different and Simon be her salvation during this dark time? This is the sadly the final book in the Cheney sisters trilogy. Ms. Carroll still manages to maintain the momentum she brought to the first book "The Dark Queen." Plenty of characters populate this read and the reader is lucky enough to see this story from multiple points of view without being overwhelming. This book offers a little for everyone. Wonderful romance, chilling mystery, paranormal elements...the list goes on. If you are looking for an amazing and entertaining series look no further than this one. You won't be left disappointed.

I LOVED this book. I don't care what other reviewers say, I LOVED it. The history in it made it all the more authentic and realistic and rich. The romance was sweet, full of passion and heart-searching and kindness and jealousy and all those things that come with romance. Being a big fan of fantasy-type stuff involving sorcery and the like, I loved this books underlying hints of magic and witch-craft. The witches in this book are bad, but the wise women have amazing powers used for good. Carroll's portrayal of Miri Cheney's powers with animals is fascinating. I'm not going to summarize the plot - you can read it yourself in the book description. But I will say that the characters are very well-written, the type you can fall in love with and chuckle with, or the type you can really despise (like the villain, for example) or admire for their wit. The plot is very interesting. It gripped me and had me turning pages to find out what happened next - to find out who the villain was, to find out who loved who and what they would do about it, to find out the answers to all the questions Susan Carroll is an expert at weaving. This book does not get dull. I loved the way Carroll lets you see things through the eyes of various characters. You are not limited to one person's point of view, but get the thoughts and actions of everyone through various characters' eyes. An insight from one character connects to an insight from another. What one character knows, another does not, but the reader eventually pulls all the pieces together (and so do the characters, at the end). I would advise readers of this book to read "The Dark Queen" and "The Courtesan" first, though, because I didn't, and as a result some mentions of things in the past were a tad confusing. Overall, I give this book 5 stars because it totally deserves it. If you want to see if I am right, go read the book!