Roses and Pearls (Katniss/Peeta, Peeta/OC)

Hey all, (apologies for the lack of site updates, my excuses are pointless, I've failed you, I'm so sorry! *sobs*)

Anywho, today I'm reviewing Roses and Pearls by HalfHope!

I know what Katniss Everdeen did to me. And no, I'm not crazy. Post-CF AU.

HalfHope is one of the fandom's best and most loved authors. Most of the big names haven't written anything new over the past year, so I was pretty excited when I decided to peruse HalfHope's ff.net profile once again and found out that she'd written a new fanfiction!

Roses and Pearls is a really cool fic. 'Cool' is definitely the word I want to use! I'm about halfway through at the moment, and I can say already that it's totally addictive. The writing style isn't anything special or prosaic, but it's much like Suzanne Collins' writing in that in that way, the focus of Roses and Pearls is really the plot. The premise and plot is excellent: it follows Peeta who had never been rescued from the Cpaitol at the end of Catching Fire and was tricked into believing that Katniss was evil, that the rebellion was over and all had died. Peeta has moved on and flourished in life at the Capitol, engaged to Rosalia Snow, President Snow's pink-haired granddaughter. But one night it is revealed that the rebellion hadn't been squandered...

HalfHope is quite an adventurous and risky writer: not a lot of authors are so game to set most of their fic in D13 with a hijacked Peeta who's in love with a Capitol socialite. Kudos!

I love Katniss and Peeta's different characterisation and Rosalia is a total gem of an OC. I really love the Peeta/Rosalia sappy declarations at the start of the fic because it made me think of how if it were Katniss in Rose's place, we'd all be reading those declarations as heartwrenching and raw - but with Peeta and Rose, lines like "You're the only person I could ever love. No matter what she does, she won't be able to take away our feelings for each other" just made me giggle at their melodrama.

I'm up to chapter 14 and still loving this fic. Has anyone else read it? What are your thoughts?

~ Little Miss Mionie