A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) Review & Giveaway!

                Hello and welcome back on this wonderful Friday.  It’s hot as Hades outside and I’m avoiding it like the plague.  I would rather escape to the fantasy worlds on my shelves.  Today I have another fun review of a book I can’t say enough good things about and a Giveaway.  What amazing book am I talking about now, you ask?  A Court of Thorns and Roses (aka ACOTAR) by Sarah J Maas. 

Rating: 5 Stars

                This book came out a few months back and I read it instantly.  I have at this point read all of her books at this point.  She’s the brilliant mind behind the Throne of Glass series if you somehow didn’t know that.  I have not reviewed those yet, I know I’m working on it, but I’m planning to do so closer to the release of the next book in that series.  In the mean-time I’d like to discuss this first book in the new fantasy series.  First please note the beautiful cover.  I like the cut off faces, it gives you a vague image of the character but enough is blank you can image them yourselves.  Also that dress…

                Quick overview here:  Beauty and the Beast retelling with faerie lore blended in.  Our nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre is hunting in the woods and kills a wolf.  A faerie in the form of a wolf.  A beast-like creature arrives to demand she come live in his court as payment for her slight.  She is taken to a dangerous and magical land she only knows of through whispers and legends.  Feyre discovers soon that her captor is not a beast but Tamlin, an immortal faerie who rules the Spring Court.  As she adjusts to her new life on the estate Feyre’s feelings for Tamlin begin to shift from icy hostility into something much hotter.  The feelings hot enough to push aside all the wicked and terrible things she has been told of the Fae.  Things aren’t that easy though, as ancient and evil shadow grows over the faerie lands and she must find a way to stop it or leave Tamlin and his world. 

                Need I even say that first and foremost I was going to check this out no matter what?  Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite Disney movies of all time.  I still adore it and watch it every few months just because I’m awesome and roll like that.  So a retelling, I have to check it out.  Add that it was by an author I already LOVE and you have a slam dunk.  I gave up sleep for this book.  I didn’t want to put it down at all but I was in a frenzy at the last quarter of the book and any interruption of my reading was done so at great risk to one’s physical wellbeing.  It was that good.

                Feyre is strong but from the very beginning we see that she has a bit of ice in her heart over some of the things in her life.  We are able to relate to her.  Her family kind of sucks.  They count on her to provide for them and she’s not the parent nor the oldest.  You get a sense of how her life is really quick and you want things to go well for her.  When Tamlin showed up to take her I was excited.  Okay yes, part was because it was a B&B retelling and I LOVED the beast but also it would put her into a different role in life and I wanted that for her.  Our heroine is also proud and does struggle with asking for help which I found endearing and relatable.  On the flip side we have Tamlin, who while he wasn’t a ‘Beast’ he had the power to change into a beast like creature.  He is nice to Feyre pretty much from the start.  He is awkward and messy about it, often times messing things up but he is adorable. 

                Tamlin is amazing.  Also we never really see his full face, or that of anyone on the Spring Court due to a curse put on them while attending a masked ball.  I loved this aspect because I love Masquerade masks, I collect them, but also because it added to the mysterious nature and the torment of never being able to remove it.  Great feature.  A physical representation that something is wrong in the world of Fae.  The first part of the book is a bit slower paced but it’s more about developing the characters and the world with little bits and pieces that come into play later on.  This is a love story after all.  I didn’t mind one bit I was completely encased in the world of the Spring Court.  I do want to learn more about the different courts though, they seem to have one for all seasons and then also for Day, Dawn, and Night.  How cool?  The world was just so full of different faerie types some good and some downright evil. 

                I got a bit off track talking about characters but one more I just adored from the start was Lucien.  I heart him.  He is so much fun.  He is a dick at the start but it’s understandable.  Still he is always honest about his feelings and tells it like it is.  He pushes Feyre and for me, I feel he was a huge part of the story and how she managed to warm to their world and Tamlin.  We only get a couple glimpses of Rhysand (Rhys) until the later part of the book when his character steps into a larger part of the story.  He’s dark, dangerous, and complex.  I liked the character himself but I didn’t love him like some people.  One of the things Maas does well is get everyone all excited and shipping couples.  I ship Feyre and Tamlin 100% while some have taken to shipping Feyre and Rhysand which I don’t understand at all.  I could write pages back and forth on my ship preference but not right now.  Like Rhysand we only meet Amarantha in person later in the story but her threat and power are present through the story but getting to place a face to the name, so to speak, was great.  She is wickedly evil.  I also loved her backstory.

                I was obsessed with this book while reading it.  I loved the way the romance between Tamlin and Feyre builds, the moments and tension leading up to them finally having a moment were both steamy and adorable.  Again Tamlin was so cute and she was straight up not having it, expecting him to be horrible.  Also his experience to humans is a bit limited and he has some rust there to clean up but watching it unfold was beautiful.  The way things came together and built through the story all paid off in the end.  Again the last part was just wow.  Serious action going on.  I will admit some things were a bit predictable and some would say a key part was a bit easy but when you work in a retelling that is bound to happen some.  Still there was so much happening that I was nervous about and wandering what would happen next.  I can’t really say much more than this without giving away any spoilers and discovering everything is half the fun. 

                So to end this review so you can get to checking out this book I’ll tell you about the giveaway.  I had the pleasure of meeting Sarah J Maas and her best friend Susan Dennard was a surprise guest at the ACOTAR release tour.  It was pretty amazing.  I already had my copy I had pre-ordered month before release that arrived the day of the signing and the wonderful little book stop that hosts these events does ask you to purchase a from the author from them to get in the signing line after the Q&A which is totally understandable.  So already having all of her books myself I thought it would be a great idea to get another copy of this one and get it signed for this very use.  I will leave this open until next Saturday night at midnight (EST), I’ll announce the winner next week and it’s open to anyone!  That’s all for now.  I’ll see you next week!

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