March Wrap Up!

Hey there!

So in March I had a pretty good reading month, despite being super busy getting back into uni and being involved in loads of extracurricular college things. I managed to fit in time to read six books!

Without further ado, here are the books that I read in March, and my thoughts on them:

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas

I finally got to the second Throne of Glass book!! I have a full review here, but I absolutely adored Crown of Midnight! I love Sarah J Maas' writing style, and her characters and world is so well fleshed out and intriguing. I cannot wait to keep going with the series.

Rating: 5/5

Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

If you've read some of my recent posts you will know that I am totally obsessed with this book. It is AMAZING. As a lover of history, I adore time travel novels, and I really enjoy Alexandra Bracken's super descriptive writing style.It was interesting how different it is from her Darkest Minds series, but they both have characters who I am totally in love with. Definitely recommend!! For more in depth thoughts, see my full review here.

Rating: 5/5

Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

I received an ARC of this novel through NetGally and holy cow I am so glad; it is incredible! The combination of western themes, a desert setting, and dystopia were so so interesting. The characters and relationships are super intriguing, and I can't wait to find out more about this world! Non-spoiler review here.

Rating: 4.75/5

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas

I was super excited to check out Sarah J Maas' other series, and while I really enjoyed it, I did have some mixed feeling in regards to characters and relationships. As usual, I adore the writing style, and the world building is so complex and interesting. I love the political intrigue in the storyline, and can't wait to see how it's built on later on in the series. For some of my more critical thoughts, I did a full review here. But overall, would definitely recommend this!!

Rating: 3.75/5

Sophie by Jennie Sargam

This was another ARC that I received through NetGalley, and while I appreciated the characters, I found it quite hard to get into and didn't end up completing it. I'm not sure if it's just because it's not really a genre that I'm interested in, but I found the writing style a bit difficult to engage in and wasn't invested in the storyline.

Rating: 2.5/5

Deviations by Anma Natsu

I was sent an ARC copy of Deviations from XPressoReads, and found it extremely interesting. It definitely is something that I have never read anything like before, and there were a lot of themes throughout that I don't know much about and so found it quite eye-opening. I wouldn't recommend this for anyone under around 17 due to the adult themes, but if you are interested in a book which considers sexuality, mental illness, and domestic violence, then this is very well done. Full review here!

Rating: 3.75/5

Let me know in the comments what books you read in March, and if you enjoyed them!

Love always,

Ari

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas - review

Hey guys!

I've just finished A Court of Thorns of Roses by Sarah J. Maas and had to share my thoughts with you immediately.

ACOTAR is a loose retelling of Beauty and the Beast, and is set in a land where humans are separated from faeries by an inpenetrable wall. The faeries in this tale are beautiful, but extremely dangerous creatures that humans live in constant fear of. Feyre is a human, hunting in order to protect her family. One day, however, she hits a target that will change the course of her life, and the lives of the entire faerie kingdom forever.
This is a dark tale, filled with romance, fantasy, and bloodlust, and I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys a good retelling!

I have some mixed feeling about this one, however overall I did thoroughly enjoy the story. I found the characters slightly difficult to connect with for various reasons that I'll discuss in the spoilery section, and I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about the romance present in the novel. However, the characters were very interesting and their dynamic was extremely engaging. I loved the politics behind the relationships between faeries and humans, and how this complicated some of the relationships in the novel.

In regards to the plot, I really, really enjoyed it! I'm finding that I love retellings of fairy tales, and while ACOTAR is only a loose retelling, I could definitely feel the Beauty and the Beast vibes which I adored. It did get quite violent and bloody in parts which I found quite difficult to read, so I wouldn't recommend this for anyone probably under around 15, or if you're sensitive to that kind of material. This is a very dark book!

Whilst I definitely prefer the Throne of Glass series over ACOTAR, I am very excited to see where this series goes, and overall found it an enjoyable read!

Rating: 3.75/5

SPOILERY SECTION:

Characters and relationships:

I found the characters and relationships in this novel the most difficult aspect for me to engage with. Feyre was definitely a strong protagonist, who was quite well fleshed out with a variety of layers. However, I did find her slightly difficult to relate to due to the constant walls that she put up to hide her emotions and appear stoic. Tamlyn I really enjoyed, and found easier to connect to in regards to his expression of emotions (but how frustrating was it when he wasn't saying anything at all when they were Under the Mountain!!). My favourite characters, though, would have to be Lucien and Rhysand. I found Lucien super funny and complex, initially appearing as an antagonist, who you later find out is such a wonderful and damaged man. Rhysand obviously appears and awful person, but he has reasons for every single thing he does, and ultimately is the one who saves Feyre's life, and therefore the lives of all in the faerie realm. Let's wait and see for the rest of the series though to find out what his true motives were...

In terms of the relationship between Feyre and Tamlyn, I found it pretty disappointing. My problem wasn't that it was insta-lovey, as I didn't really find it that way, but rather that I didn't entirely feel the chemistry (apart from physical) between them. There were a couple of conversations that they had that made up for this slightly, but they seemed to barely talk to one another and yet fall deeply in love. Sarah J. Maas' incredible romance writing does lead me to partly forgive this however, as how gorgeous are her love scenes??
Whilst this is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, and so it was inevitable that it would be Tamlyn that Feyre would fall for, I found it extremely obvious, and think maybe it could have taken a bit longer for the romance to develop, with more talking scenes between the two of them.

Plot and world:

The plot and world-building was for sure my favourite part of this novel, I adored it!! This world, as Sarah J. Maas' always are, is incredibly intricate and so, so interesting. I love how she incorporates politics into her worlds, and this was done fantastically in ACOTAR.

I loved the plot twists all throughout this novel, as we slowly begin to understand what this terrible 'blight' is - I was absolutely not expecting what was to come, it was done so well!! I never even considered that Tamlyn was unable to tell Feyre what was really going on, and him needing a human girl who killed on of his own to fall in love with him!! I guess I should have seen it coming, being a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but I was so blown away!

The only issue that I had with the plot was the very ending, when Feyre ultimately is turned into High Fae. From the moment her and Tamlyn met I guessed this was going to happen, and found it pretty disappointing and a cop-out. I hate comparing books, but it happens a lot in YA when a love interest is immortal and the other is not, they always end up becoming immortal one way or another. I feel that it would have been more interesting if this hadn't been the case, and they'd had to deal with Feyre growing old while Tamlyn did not.

I know I've been pretty critical with this one, but don't get me wrong, I did really enjoy it!! I found it an interesting one to deconstruct and consider flaws in the plot and characters, but I definitely recommend it for lovers of retellings and Sarah J. Maas' writing.

Let me know in the comments what you thought of ACOTAR!!

Love always,

Ari