Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Meeting Sarah Maas & Review of ACOTAR



Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publisher: Bloomsbury

"When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin - one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow over the faerie lands is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it...or doom Tamlin - and his world - forever."




Oh my god, this book. ACOTAR was one of my top five more anticipated releases this year, and I knew. I just knew that I would love it. A Beauty and the Beast retelling, with hot Fae and potential sexy times - written by Sarah J. Maas, creator of my personal hero Celaena Sardothien? HYFR. To make this book release even better, I went to the ACOTAR tour stop at Octavia Books in New Orleans and MET SARAH.

How to even review this book? It was magical, with complex and incredible characters that make it hard to choose a favorite (Feyre, duh). Feyre is so strong and practical from years of being the only reason her family doesn't starve. And in a world of magic and shape-shifting Fae, she is wonderfully, bitterly, mortally - human. I also adored Lucien, with his sharp wit and fierce loyalty to Tamlin. The slow-burn relationship between Feyre and Tamlin felt true, from bumbling beginnings to powerful declarations. I'm very...let's say, intrigued by Rhysand. Good lord of body paint.

There were moments that directly paralleled Beauty and the Beast (specifically the Disney version), like Belle's library exchanged for Feyre's art gallery. Fairytale retellings are flooding the YA market lately, but ACOTAR feels fresh and imaginative. There were, of course, minor things along the way that prevented me from giving this a full five stars, but I think those come from me being an impossible to please reader. This was also my first New Adult book...and I'm gonna need Sarah Maas to only write in this genre from now on. I'm really excited to see how this series progresses, and I'm definitely committed to reading everything Sarah ever writes.

I'm going to take a fangirl moment to say that it was amazing to meet Sarah at the ACOTAR event at Octavia Books. She was hilarious, despite taking a tumble outside and suffering through the event with scrapes and an iced leg. It was so incredible to hear her talk about her journey as an author, and about ACOTAR. During the signing we had a nice little chat and bonded over Teen Wolf (because somehow when I'm nervous in front of a favorite author all I can think to talk about is Stiles, of course). But anyway, it was awesome and I'm now a card carrying member of the Sarah J. Maas fanclub. Major girl crush.

Totes BFFS.

Goodreads Rating: 4.5 / 5 stars

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