Enjoyed reading this book and it was the beginning of me following the series where Feyre is captured by her beast. A Court of Thorns and Roses was a real surprise and I enjoyed reading it.

This novel completely re-ignited my love of fantasy and I went on to read all of Sarah J Maas' fantasy series. I really recommend to anyone that would like to lose themselves in engaging and interesting plots set in another world.

I wanted to like this book, so I went into it with an open mind. I wasn't a fan of the excessive writing style or the shoddy world-building, but I was still willing to give it three stars because I saw it as a simple, guilt-free romance novel. I still don't understand how the connection could be as troublesome as others make it out to be because it appears innocent. The book's first half is not bad, but it's also not particularly noteworthy. However, the second half truly suffers from a lack of quality, which caused me to reduce my ranking to two stars. I'm ready to ignore the writing style and uninteresting relationship, however, once I reached the section when Feyre solves the puzzle, I had to put it down since it was so silly and sloppy.

Well I finally read it. And I will admit everyone is right; I'm total trash for A Court of Thorns and Roses. Is this just smutty teen crack? Yes, yes it is.

The Intended Audience
Just like I said with Bridget Kemmerer's series, that is okay, because that is the audience it was written for. Is Sarah J. Maas the most brilliant writer ever? No. That's not to say that she's isn't good at keeping the readers attention, moving the story forward, and creating intrigue. She's in fact excellent at all of those things. Although, I felt her descriptions were a bit lacking in places, and I would have preferred more lore and information about the magic and Fae system in general. But I'm a hard-core fantasy reader at heart and love world-building.

The Ending
The biggest thing that has importance to me in teen stories like this is that the ending isn't cheap. It was clearly set-up right from the beginning; it felt logical, the pieces locked in together and it flowed nicely. I was actually surprised that this book had a real sort of ending given it's a part of a larger series. You could read just this first book and have a complete story without feeling forced to move onto book 2. However that is not me. I will be starting book 2 in the next few days for sure!

The Best Part?
That is the easiest question to answer. And anyone else who also loves this character as much as I do probably gets it... Rhysand. Ohhh Rhysand.
I am a total and complete suck for the bad boy, anti-hero, do good'er villain. The one who might be trying to do covert good; but whose number one priority is keeping the imagine of them as a villain alive. Also, the descriptive, wicked, blue hair. I could imagine Rhysand almost from the moment he enters the room (page?). He's beautiful, sexy, and dangerous. Even at nearly 40-years-old I still appreciate the bad now. And I know 16-year-old me would have been completely obsessed and swooned for Rhysand. I've briefly seen in the past comments about being on a 'team' (gosh I hate that phrase for picking love interests) and if I had to pick I'm team Rhysand. It does not matter what he does in the rest of the series. He can be the worst person ever, I'll still love him. Just as I loved Jamie Lannister (Game of Thrones) a little bit even before he showed some humanity. The ultimate bad boy cannot be beat in my mind.

The Other Characters
As per usual with most books in this genre the character the reader is supposed to love and get all gooey about is not the one I liked much at all. I'm sorry but Tamlin is boring, annoyingly broody, moody, and overall just not that interesting. I do hope he gets a chance to show more of his personality as the series goes on.
Then it's onto our leading girl, I don't hate her. Which is saying a lot as I tend to really have an issue with a lot of female heroines in these types of series for teens. The lead girl in Iron Widow for example is just a horrible bitch, there is no two ways about it. So I'm pleased that I don't totally hate Feyruh, and I do hope that she is given the chance to grow and explore (mostly Rhysand, lol) her personality and feelings further. I'm assuming this growth is what makes the rest of the series interesting.

Sex, sexual tension, and oh look, sex
Finally, let's talk about the sexual nature of these books. These are not middle grade books. I wouldn't even call them young adult. While we often us YA and Teen interchangeably there is perhaps one distinction that should be made. YA generally doesn't have too much sex or implying of sex. Teen is generally that step above it. We often experience characters losing their virginity, experimenting, coming into their own sexually, etc. in teen books. I have no problem at all with a 15-year-old reading this. As I was that age when I was active; so it seems only fair that I at least accept that age is appropriate to read about sex. I would actually go as low as age 13 for this book. BUT I would be hard pressed to say younger. It might depend on the child; however I think most 12 and younger would not enjoy the sexual tension here because it's "icky". Their emotional maturity is just not there yet.
Honestly, given the violence, gore, and other elements of today's TV, movies, and video games; the making-out, lusting, and sex is quite tame. It may be important to point out that, for me, sex is no more taboo than gory. Therefore I am not at all concerned about how this is labelled or marketed the way some have been. Never mind the fact that the title, cover art, and blurb make it pretty clear you're going into a fantasy teen romance novel and those tend to get hot and heavy at some point. Especially as the series moves forward.

Overall
I mean what can I say that everyone else hasn't said? Not a lot really. It's as good as people say; IF that is the kind of content you want. I get why some hate it; because they are just not into books like this. And that's okay. But for those of us that do love this romance trash; it's up there with being very compelling to read.
I'd like to add that within 5 pages of reading the riddle I knew the answer. Maas actually gives a tiny tip-off shortly after reciting the riddle that I'm sure most picked up on. And while I was quite certain for the next 100+ pages I knew the answer; it was still exciting to read the solution.

If you like Bridgit Kemmerer, Rin Chupeco, or Tracey Deon (Legendborn), or most big name authors in the fantasy teen realm then I am quite confident you will like this.
If you're an adult that has enjoyed Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita or Mercy series), Anne Bishop, or Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series then I think you'll enjoy this. It's a bit tamer than your adult horror/fantasy scenarios listed; but in the same vein. It keeps up the idea of punishment for punishment sake, and love for love's sake; and ultimately taking punishment to show love.

I'm picking up book 2 tomorrow, because somehow I had book 1, 3 and 4 on my shelf! Weird or what? I can't wait to get further into the pants (I mean mind...) of Rhysand.
Lastly, if you didn't laugh at my joke just now and kind sneered or wrinkled your nose then maybe don't pick this up, it's probably not your cup of tea.

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

One of my favorite books ever. And this was a great start to the series. I loved every character and the world is just lush!!!

Unfortunately, I found this book incredibly boring. There was nothing special about the heroine, I found her rather bland and not very entertaning. Knowing what I did about book two, it was very hard for me to get through the book. At least it got good during the last 30-ish percent.

I really enjoy this world and the characters especially Lucien. He’s the most sassy character in this novel and I truly miss him. I also appreciate the foreshadowing in this book 1 for what was coming in the sequel. It really does set up the relationship between Feyre and Rhys. However, the way she wrote Rhys here compared to ACOMAF is quite different. It almost felt ooc.

ACOTAR(short for ‘A Court of Thorns and Roses’), was an entertaining, fast-paced, and descriptive read. I found myself turning the pages, anxious to find out what comes next. I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptive writing, drinking in all the lovely detail the author included regarding characters and setting, particularly the descriptions of the different types of Fey in the book.
While not a perfect book, the only thing I found myself thoroughly disliking was the male lead, Tamlin. I found him to be throughly dislikable in many ways, to the point where I found myself rooting for the “maybe-villain” of the book, Rhys.
All in all, an entertaining retelling of The Tale as Old as Time. ‘ACOTAR’ is a book that I would recommend to anyone mature enough to handle the sometimes slightly risqué moments that it contains.
3 1/2 ⭐️

This is a surprisingly captivating YA paranormal romance. Feyre is a survivor and has hunted to keep her family alive and she must rely on her skills as a survivor in order to keep herself alive when she is captured by fairies and forced to live in their lands in order to break a curse. The story starts out as a version of Beauty and the Beast, but manages to expand from there with intriguing characters, plot twists and steamy romance. I can understand why the series is so popular.

Not my usual genre but there was so much hype I needed to check it out, it took awhile for me to get into the novel and It was just ok, the beginning was a little sore for my liking and it was a hard one for me to get into, but will keep in with the series to see where it goes

THIS BOOK - JUST WOW!!!!
I have heard SO MUCH about this series and now I finally started it.
If Beauty and the Beast is your jam - READ THIS BOOK! It takes it up to ADULT level and beyond!!!

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Sarah J Maas and Bloomsbury Publishing for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

*deep breath* Okay. So. Let me just start off by saying that fantasy is just… not my thing. I liked it more when I was younger but now it is a genre that just doesn’t really seem to interest me? So. I honestly had zero desire to read this series. But. I saw this one all over instagram and was eventually influenced into actually picking this up.

When these books were rereleased with new covers, this one was available on NetGalley with a read now option and so I grabbed it, thinking that would be an easy way to start this series. Well. Regret. It’s been sitting on my NetGalley shelf since last summer and the ~only~ reason I fought so hard to finish this one was to get it off my NetGalley shelf so I can start 2022 with a clean slate.

But. Y’all. I should’ve just listened to my gut and not started this series because I honestly did not have a good time. I didn’t like any of the characters (except, briefly, Nesta when we saw her for five minutes in this middle). I spent most of the book bored and it didn't help that there seemed to be almost zero world building in this one so I just did not connect with this world AT ALL. (I’ve heard the second book is much better but it honestly infuriates me that I have to suffer through this one just to get to something better *eye roll*)

However, now that I've finished, I will say the last fourth was actually more enjoyable. Once they were Under the Mountain, I did find this book a lot more interesting. I still had the same problems with it and I'm still angry that the first two hundred or so pages were just so... not interesting. And I cannot emphasize enough that I really, REALLY struggled with this one. I can't even tell you how much. I started this book in September. It took me MONTHS to read. I honestly thought I would never finish.

But. I say all of that to say that I am interesting in continuing this series. Since I've heard such good things about the next book, I do actually want to give that one a go. And the end of this one did interest me enough to continue. But boy, this one sure took its time getting to ~the good stuff.

So. Didn't like this one and I'm still not sure I'm glad that I even started this series. But I know this series is pretty popular. I just don't think this is a great book for people like me who aren't fantasy fans. It's just honestly not my cup of tea. But I am hoping I have better luck with the next book. So. I'll give that a go sometime in the new year and see how it goes. Hopefully much better than this one.

Why, oh why, have I waited so long to read this book? Yes, I had heard that it would probably rip my heart to pieces, so I suppose I hoped to prolong that until I felt mentally prepared for the destruction. Lol
That being said, I absolutely adored the author’s writing style. As this is my first time reading a Sarah J. Maas book (yes, I know), I was surprised at how quick the pace of the story was, and how it still managed to capture the emotion of every moment, every scene. Brilliant! I just love to read these type of books! You know the kind I speak of. Where things move quickly as the story builds and builds until you can’t stop reading - not until you reach the pinnacle point of the story. Where tears are steaming down your face, and you’re completely spent. What a ride Ms Maas - what an absolutely amazing ride! Thank you!
I received an arc of this book to review from Netgalley and gladly leave this, my honest review.

I can't believe it took me this long to get immersed in the faerie world that Sarah Maas creates, because I was drawn to Feyre's strength and determination in this book and truly hope for a happily ever after ending with Tamlin, or just more happiness indeed.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

I can’t believe I waited this long to read this book! I can’t wait to read the rest in the series! I enjoyed the characters, the suspense and this series will definitely be one of my favorites.

This was my first venture into the fantasy genre as an adult and I am hooked on this series! I picked this up after hearing all my friends talk about it and I'm so glad I gave it a chance. I loved being immersed in Feyre's life and her journey to Prythian. Can't wait to read more by Sarah J. Maas.

Wow I absolutely love this book!
The story developed so well, the characters stole their way into my heart and I'm totally curious to see how things will continue. The book is an absolute highlight! I hadn't read anything by Sarah J. Maas before, but that will definitely change after this great book. I think the cover is beautiful and I would like to put it on my bookshelf.
Great reading recommendation! Love it!

Wow! This absolutely lived up to the hype for me. I was in the mood for some fantasy and decided to try one chapter, but found myself flying through the book and finishing it in three sittings!

I loved everything about this book. The world-building was rich, the characters were awesome, I was fascinated by all the creatures, I enjoyed learning about each realm and their history, and I can't wait to find out more about everything in the rest of the series!

Not only was I hooked from the start, the story and characters also made it easy for me to be emotionally invested. I was surprised to find myself crying only 36% into the book, but it was such a well-written and heartbreaking scene!

I did find the pacing a bit off, as it went from medium to fast and even faster very quickly. The writing also felt slightly amateurish at times and I would have liked for some things (especially the climax scene) to be fleshed out more.

However, that being said, there's nothing I would change about this book. It is the first in a series after all and from what I have heard, it only gets better from here. Can't wait

I initially declined to want to review this Maas book, but then I wanted to give it another chance.
Nothing, it's just not for me and I don't want to hurt myself going forward and risk ending up in Reading slump.