Teaser Tuesday: The Rose and the Dagger by Renée Ahdieh

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books And A Beat.
To play along just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The Rose and the Dagger by Renée Ahdieh.

The Rose and the Dagger –
G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Here, she was truly boundless.
Fear would never overtake her again.
— Chapter 11

“Do not make me beg you. Because I won’t. I’ll merely lose my temper or cry. And I have always secretly despised those who cry to wheedle their objectives. But if you force me to do it, Khalid Ibn al-Rashid, I will. And I cry beautifully.”
— Chapter 15

As a person who works with words and stories on a daily basis the art of storytelling reflected in a story itself has a very special appeal to me. Therefore, anything involving the legends of One Thousand and One Nights is an almost certain sale. And after I could hardly get enough of the first one I was very interested if this high level could be maintained. Let’s just say that I wasn’t disappointed. I didn’t go there for roses and soap bubbles and there certainly aren’t any at the moment. The title itself attests to that. But roses and daggers can both be quite beautiful and disguise their sharp thorns and tips. And you probably wouldn’t admire a blunt blade quite as much as a wickedly sharp one. I admire the story for its equally wicked sharp twists and high stakes. The setting is wonderful and feels incredibly real. And while I don’t mind my favourite characters suffering for a bit (for the good cause of a great plot, not unnecessary suffering) there better be a solution in store for the handmaiden and the caliph’s cousin.

This book series has some seriously pretty declarations of love, too. Do you have a favourite quote from that department? Share quote sources and teasers in the comments.