I am still trying to put together my thoughts about The Rose and The Dagger. As Wrath did, Rose showcased Renee's gorgeous, lush writing. A world created by Renee's imagination and pen (or computer keys, I suppose) will always be lovely and complex, enthralling the senses through luxurious imagery. 
 However, I felt like Rose lacked much of the magic that so captivated me when reading Wrath, and I think much of that magic was the chemistry between Shazi and Khalid. Unfortunately because of Reasons and spoilers, they spend much of Rose apart. I think part of the reason I fell so hard for a new romance in Rose is because I didn't have Shazi and Khalid on page to ship. And that new romance was just a disaster for my feels, lemme tell ya. Terrible horrible no good very bad. Also, my darling Jalal and adorbsies Rahim weren't around as much being their awesome comic relief selves so there was just too much seriousness going around. When a book engages my emotions so intensely, I desperately need some levity to balance it out or I feel depressed. That's not an emotion I want to associate with the sequel to one of my best books of 2015! 
 Overall, Rose was good. I feel mostly satisfied by the story, and I'm going to read everything Renee writes. But I felt like it didn't do Wrath and these beloved character justice. My expectations were too high, but I feel like that's not my fault. If an author performs so highly in one book, I can't help but expect them to hit it out of the ballpark in the sequel. Good, not great.