At the time I requested this book I was very interested in it. Obviously, it has been a few years since I requested this and I am no longer interested in it now. It doesn't match my current reading tastes and I apologize that I didn't read it and thank you for the kindness you showed offering it to me.

This book was honestly so flat for me, i am so sorry for this opinion but i felt like i was reading many cliches one after another, then the writing wasn't exciting or brilliant or anything. The execution was so basic and it all felt flat for me. I cannot believe that the premises were great but then... meh

I have tried to read a few books by this author and they are always very interesting but for some reason I tend to DNF them at about halfway. No idea why, since they are enjoyable, I just cant seem to get further and always want to go read something else.

i didn't really enjoy this book. the premise was really cool but i just??? i struggled the most with the characters and i loved the writing style, so i was willing to trudge through and make it work, but it sucks that the characters fell flat for me

This book had an intriguing concept and beautiful prose. The setting was vivid and I'm a sucker for settings deep in the forest. It had some really dark scenes and brutal depiction of survival (which I'm a sucker for), and some of the characters were quite interesting. But the story didn't feel like it had any tension. It was a bit lackluster, which was a shame because the concept was great and the protagonist had a lot of potential. I would still recommend this book to my customers, though, as I believe reading a ridiculous amount of YA has made me pickier with what I read. Overall, 3 stars!

Interesting take on the Robin Hood Legend but I wasn't drawn to this book, unfortunately. Something was missing for me and I didn't enjoy it.

The Forest Queen was one of those books that was just okay. Not terrible but not great, and definitely not memorable. And I don't have much to say about it because of that as well.

I felt the whole book lacked the tension I've come to expect from any sort of Robin Hood re-telling. Most of the scenes felt more like filler to get to the occasional action sequence, rather than keeping the reader engaged from start to finish. And I never got why that particular protagonist was leading the story. It didn't feel like she was really a leader in any right.

To be honest, I was mostly just bored. I felt the inclusion of suicide was meant more for shock value and handled poorly (really, with the way this book was written, it shouldn't have attempted to be dark in any way). The characters all fell flat. And I don't like anything that deals with animal death in an explicit manner, just a personal trigger. So all in all, not a good fit for me.

The Forest Queen is a gender-swapped Robin Hood retelling. Follow Sylvie as she escapes her wealthy life and her brother in order to live in the woods with her longtime friend. Soon, other local commoners join them and they form their own community to fight back against the oppressive king and his noblemen.

I enjoyed the story - it was easy to read, and I liked the framing of the chapters in seasons. I just think it lacked depth and tried to make up for that with mature themes that didn't seem to fit the rest of the story.

Disclaimer: I bought my own copy but then got a copy on Netgalley. Yay me! All opinions are my own.

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 2/5

Publication Date: August 7, 2018

Genre: YA Fantasy

Recommended Age: 17+ (suicide TW, dark themes, and violence)

Publisher: Clarion Books

Synopsis: When sixteen-year-old Sylvie’s brother takes over management of their family’s vast estates, Sylvie feels powerless to stop his abuse of the local commoners. Her dearest friend asks her to run away to the woods with him, and soon a host of other villagers join them. Together, they form their own community and fight to right the wrongs perpetrated by the king and his noblemen.

Review: I thought this book was.... Not for me. The book did have some good points, the nature scenes were gorgeous and the survival techniques were pretty spot on from what I know.

However, that's where the good points ended for me. For the most part I was bored with this book and i fell asleep like 4 times reading it. The pace is so slow it was agonizing. There was suicide in the book. While there's nothing wrong with that, it was just badly written and I can see where this can be harmful for some. It was very insensitive in my opinion. The writing is not well done. It reads like it would be for younger kids but it doesn't deal with dark topics well at all. Telling rather than showing the character development. Lastly the book just wasn't a robin hood retelling. The book told me about some thieving, but some of it was for personal gain and in my opinion the best part of robin hood is how he evades the law, so why avoid that?

Verdict: Not my thing.

It's taken me quite a while to decide to not finish this one. My mistake might have been that I had high hopes. Regardless, The Forest Queen was simply not for me.

Please note that I do not write reviews for books I don't finish. I appreciate the opportunity to read this book.

DNF. I'm sorry. I just couldn't bring myself to get into this book for some reason. It just seemed a little lackluster and there were some really heavy TW: Suicide parts. But please give it a try for yourself!

This book was a unique retelling of the age old story of Robin Hood taking advantage of the ambiguities in the legend. It was interesting and fun, while simultaneously exploring some of the darker sides of gender, class, and the realities of choosing a life that estranged you from everything you have ever known.

The Forest Queen was my first foray into Betsy Cornwell’s books and I feel like I made the right choice starting with this one. It’s pitched as a gender swapped retelling of Robin Hood but it’s so much more than that. While that description will definitely be what draws readers to it, the amazing cast of characters, sweet romance, and fast-paced story will be what keeps readers hooked.

Going into The Forest Queen, I really did not have any kind of expectations. That worked in my favor here. With no prior knowledge of Betsy Cornwell’s writing and no reviews for this one floating around in my head, I was able to enjoy The Forest Queen for exactly what it was; a Robin Hood retelling centering around a group of empowered females. There was more to it than that but those were by far my favorite aspects of the story.

Sylvie of Loughsley was not a fabulous heroine at the start of the story. She was raised with money and she had only ever known privilege. When her brother, Sheriff John of Loughsley, promises to marry her to a man she barely knows, she decides it’s past time to move to the forest with her best friend Bird. It was difficult for me to get past Sylvie’s inability to do anything for herself as well as her naivete when it came to the rest of the world. She left with Bird and Little Jane with almost no thought and no idea how she was going to survive in the forest.

If it hadn’t been for Bird, Little Jane, and the other townspeople who joined them in the forest, Sylvie never would have survived. Little Jane surprised me from the start. She had an extremely rough go of it and while she had her moments of weakness, she proved herself to be a very strong, capable young woman. She constantly impressed me with her strength of character.

As far as romance went, it was obvious from the start that there was more than just friendship between Bird and Sylvie. It was a huge draw for me to keep reading because I wanted to see how things would develop between them. Bird and Sylvie had some great chemistry between them. Their relationship was very much a slow burn which made me love it even more.

Overall, The Forest Queen has me intrigued enough to give Betsy Cornwell’s other books a chance. Robin Hood fans will definitely find something to love about The Forest Queen and even if that’s not a retelling you’re fond of, there are enough unique elements that you can find something to enjoy about this one.

There were a few triggers in the book that I was not fond of. The plot sounded great before reading. The romance was great. But reading it, it was triggering and underwhelming.

It's strange but it's really hard for me to give my opinion about this book. I have such a mixed feeling about it.

I liked some part of it but I guess I didn't love it. I didn't feel any connection. I just read it but everything happening in it didn't matter to me. It's a really strange feeling. I guess it was okay but definitely didn't love it.

I really liked the idea of a gender-flipped Robin Hood and it was fun to see how the author played with elements from the traditional Robin Hood stories. There were darker elements that some readers may find disturbing, such as suicide and abuse. I didn't fully connect with the characters but I found this book intriguing enough that I would read a sequel.

A great gender-bent Robin Hood tale! It definitely kept me hooked from start to finish. My only qualm was the fact that some loose ends were definitely left hanging. Like where does Nellie mysteriously disappear to at the festival? How did John find them? Did he follow them or did Nellie betray them? And then the epilogue occurs like 3 years later with no definite resolution of the problem the peasants are facing. Like do they revolt and overthrow the king or come to a truce? The king obviously can't ignore whats happening in his kingdom? SO hopefully the other releases a sequel to address these issues.

In many ways, The Forest Queen is a fairly standard, though very good, adventure story. It is, in essence, a gender-reversed retelling of Robin Hood. And yet, there is something in the subject matter and sensitive writing that lingers with you. This is not a gender-reversed retelling for the sake of doing something new. Every detail - of pseudo-Medieval life, of day-to-day arboreal existence, the realities of childbirth - is described with a visceral clarity. There’s a great deal of darkness to be found in Cornwell’s writing. The book deals with rape, abuse, and suicide, and while such themes are sensitively handled they might not be appropriate for younger readers. While dark and twisty feelings are not a shortcut to character depth, they certainly help here, and all the characters are convincing, with no question of their female iteration being a mere gimmick. Overall a very enjoyable forest romp with unexpected depth. And how can you say no to a female Robin Hood?

This is a DNF for me at the end of chapter five (probably 1/3 of the way through?). I was planning to finish it because it's so short (the e-copy is only 173 pages), but I just can't do it. I was expecting to like this, because a retelling gender swap of Robin Hood sounds awesome, and I need something to fill the fairytale void that <i>Once Upon a Time</i>'s cancellation has left. But this is a big nope from me.

The writing is choppy and I found myself not caring about the characters. I think because it's so short, it lacks the development and depth needed for me to become at least somewhat emotionally invested in the story. Then, there's my confusion over who the audience is for this book. It's written in such a basic level and it's so short that it seems like it would be for kids, but as other reviewers have mentioned, there are discussions of suicide, rape/abuse, and abortion, so I'm thinking this probably isn't for 10 year olds. The only well-developed scenes are the hunting vignettes, and as a vegetarian, even one who can understand the need to hunt in this type of situation, the overly descriptive depictions of suffering animals because of misfired arrows was too much for me to handle. The most sympathetic character in this book is the deer that they kill in the first chapter, and the poor thing is floundering around for like 5 pages.

Thanks Netgalley for the free e-ARC.

I was so excited about a gender bent Robin Hood and although this book did not disappoint, I felt it was a bit flat and could have been a lot better. I enjoyed the story and twist on the original but felt the characters could have been better developed.