A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas

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And now, the time has come... for A Court of Thorns and Roses. This is the first book in highly popular A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J Maas (hereby referred to as ACOTAR). I have been reading Sarah J Maas's backlist as apart of the SJM-along organized by Jenn (The Book Refuge). The 2nd half of May's assigned reading is this book. I was able to use it for my reading challenges to cover Love Has Sprung board 2's prompt author you think is a nice person and the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge's prompt August (character you want to spend some "hot" time with).

Feyre is out hunting to bring home food to her two sisters and father. They are in severe poverty and rely on what Feyre can catch to live. When hunting a doe, Feyre's hunt is interfered by a giant wolf. She has an inkling at the time, but the wolf is actually Fae and she then owes her life to the Fae after killing him. The High Lord Tamlin shows up to claim her life and forces her to live with him in his Spring Court. As Feyre spends time across the border and living in the land of Fae, she grows close with Tamlin and his people. They have all been cursed by a "blight" and are secretly hoping that Feyre is the key to remove the curse. All that needs to happen is for Feyre to fall in love with Tamlin and express her love to him out loud within 49 days.

Okay, I was understanding the hype with the earlier books I read by SJM, but I see why people are obsessed with ACOTAR and I'm not even to the big books yet. The world SJM has created here is so much more vast feeling compared to Throne of Glass and I feel like she even pushes the mythos for her Fae creatures. Now, I'm not 100% sure if the Fae here are related to the Fae in Throne of Glass, but I'm intrigued to see what the other readers think as we discuss in the readalong. But back to ACOTAR itself. I really enjoyed Feyre and being inside her mind. What's a different aspect compared to Aelin is that she's a painter. A lot of things are referred to with an artist's eye. It led to a different type of description of Feyre's experiences than I expected and really enjoyed it.

Now, I did ask Jenn during a member live show if there was anything I needed to keep in mind before reading ACOTAR for the first time. She said to expect something similar to Throne of Glass where the character we get our HEA is not who you expect and to not get attached. Now, despite not knowing too much about this series outside of people are a huge fan of Rhysand (show me a bookish merch shop that doesn't reference him). I think that helped me temper my expectations a little and I'm hoping that it's Rhysand that's actually endgame for Feyre. Also, I should mention that I read this along in paperback while listening to the Graphic Audio audiobook. Now what's different about this is that Graphic Audio does it more cinematically with different actors/voices for everyone, sound effects and the whole shebang. It was pretty awesome, although I don't recommend doing both at the same time unless you're loosely following along in paperback. I was able to listen to it via my library using the Hoopla service.

I am so excited to continue this series as well! I almost wish we were going series by series instead of publication order because I have a couple books to read before getting the the next in this series. I am understanding the hype and almost kick myself for waiting so long to finally pick up SJM. Although it's super fun to read these books as a first timer and be able to blindly discuss things during the live show. It also helps I'm not the only one reading her for the first time!

Have you read A Court of Thorns and Roses?

(Let's be honest, most of you probably already have!)

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J Maas, 5-stars, 1 day, Paperback & Audio Book, 448 pages, published in 2015, traditionally published