The Rose Bargain

The Rose Bargain falls into the category of romantasy and features a love triangle between Ivy, Emmett, and Bram. The debutantes in fae-ruled Victorian England ask each other if they are a “Bram girl or an Emmett girl” (77). Bram is initially portrayed as the moral, upstanding choice, while Emmett has a reputation for being promiscuous. However, the narrative eventually reveals that the roles are reversed; Bram is the treacherous one, while Emmett is only trying to gain allies to help him overthrow the queen and does not deserve his reputation as a libertine. This twist reflects the structure of earlier romantasy narratives such as The Vampire Diaries (1991) by L.J. Smith, which features vampires Stefan and Damon’s love triangle with Elena. Stefan is portrayed as the more promising prospect, while Damon is portrayed as a “bad boy.” However, Stefan proves to have a far more violent past than Damon.

Additional parallels can be drawn to the novel Legendborn and its sequels, which feature a female protagonist, Bree, who engages in a similar love triangle with Sel and Nick. Furthermore, Legendborn’s tournament-structured plotline is similar to the one depicted in The Rose Bargain.