The love story (and to a lessen degree the mystery) at the center of this book suffered from have two rather inscrutable leads. I really love Aristide and Gentian, and wished Host had shown us more of why they were drawn to each other. I really wasn't that interested in our third lead - Aspen - too flighty and clueless until he becomes vital in the end. There seem to be a lot of things that get mentioned and dropped over the course of the book - and we never circle back to cover them - like the jostling for Aloren's hand. And other things that get dropped in our laps with no explanation at the very end, like the threat of Skremming invasion - which I think isn't mentioned until the last 50 pages - completely out of nowhere. There are lovely bones of a wonderful garden here, but it seems it didn't get enough time and pruning to grow into a masterpiece. ( )

Bones of the Fair is more of a companion novel than a direct sequel to Champion of the Rose - a couple of characters from Champion of the Rose have starring roles and a couple more make brief appearances.

Gentian is a gardener and a mage, and she hasn't been home to Darest for many years - because within Darest's borders, she awakes each morning utterly and inexplicably terrified.

She returns because she is commissioned to build a garden, but after a group of heirs of neighbouring kingdoms disappear on Darest's borders, she's asked to join that investigation. Finding the missing heirs is easier than expected. Escaping from the place those heirs are trapped in is another matter entirely.

Unlike Champion of the Rose, Bones of the Fair alternates between two POV characters. I mostly enjoyed the second POV (a character from the first book), because he's very lighthearted and optimistic and it was interesting seeing the other characters from his perspective. (Especially since the way he describes Aristide reminded me of how Georgette Heyer describes some of her heroes.) And he's not just an observer - although he'd prefer to be; his story arc is about actually becoming involved.
However, it was Gentian's story I found the most interesting, so sometimes switching points of view was a bit frustrating. I also didn't always find it easy keeping track of some of the minor characters - who belonged to which kingdom, what their relationships were with each other, and so on.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed this - parts of it very entertaining indeed (and also rereadable). ( )