A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J Maas

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The September book for the SJM-along was A Court of Wings and Ruin. This is the 3rd book in Sarah J Maas's highly popular A Court of Thorns and Roses series. If you haven't heard of the SJM-along, it's a SJM based readalong created by Jenn (The Book Refuge) and we are reading through her entire backlist in publication order! I was able to use this to cover the prompts Popular Booksta Romance for Fall in Love and Beige (a story you want to read while curled up in front of the fire or in bed) for Color Me Romantic. For Bang in the Night Bingo I used this to cover #SquadGoals. The theme song I chose from Frank Sinatra's Reprise Rarities collection was Night and Day from Volume 3.

As the Night Court (aka the Court of Dreams) starts preparing to go to war with the King of Hyburn, they need allies. After Feyre returns from the Spring Court, they go about trying to find help from the other courts and powerful beings throughout Prythian. At the same time Nesta and Elain are stuggling to learn their new powers and adjust to their new lives as fae. Feyre is now also known to not only be married to Rhysand, but has officially been announced as the High Lady of the Night Court. As the fight approaches with the King, many hard choices need to be made for the survival for both the fae and humans on the continent.

Oh my gosh, there was so much that happened in this book. I tried to not go too deep into it for my summary, but it was hard. I don't even know where to start and how to keep this to my customary two paragraph review. I loved seeing how Rhys's and Feyre's relationship strengthened and grew even more. I also loved that despite everything that they've gone through and the healing that they've had, there were still moments of setback or relapse from their experiences. Not that I want them to still be struggling, but it just kept the realism that no matter how long it's been or much healing you've done from trauma experiences, it doesn't take much to have a bad moment or night. It just gave so much hope in a real way. There are times where you can be "triggered" and end up having nightmares or going through a small bout of bad mental health space, but also still know that you've gotten through the worst and can continue to make it through.

This book had me laughing, swooning, crying, hoping and worried for all of our characters. I absolutely loved getting to meet the other High Lords and have so many more characters that I'm getting attached to and/or want to learn more of. There was such great closure for Feyre and Rhysand but in a way that left more stories to be told in the world. I myself am hoping that we get to see heas for some secondary characters and really hope that we get to see more from them in the future (especially Lucien). I cannot wait for the third part (of three) to come out from Graphic Audio in November and do plan on rereading the book when it does. I just know that the wartime scenes are going to be so cinematic and wreck me even more. The Graphic Audio versions are so great and I definitely can't wait to see how they do certain scenes. But back to A Court of Wings and Ruin, this was just so good and a great conclusion to the the first two books. I also loved that while there were characters that we saw die (and it was heart wrenching), most of the characters that we've really grown attached to made it though.

I don't really have too much to say outside of I have been absolutely adoring this series and Sarah's work in general. The live show was on October 1st, so if you missed it please check it out. It was a lot of fun once again going through the book and how it connects to other in the series and all of SJM's works as a whole. I'm super excited to pick up the next book for the readalong in October which will be Tower of Dawn. Seriously, if you were like me and held off from joining the SJM bandwagon, it's totally worth jumping into the series. I have enjoyed my time so much!

Have you read A Court of Wings and Ruin?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: A Court of Wings and Ruin, Sarah J Maas, 5-stars, 3 days, Paperback, 736 pages, published in 2017, traditionally published

Empire of Storms by Sarah J Maas

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 Update: I recently reread Empire of Storms (lest than two weeks after finishing it the first time). I was able to use my reread to apply to Fall in Love prompt September Release and Color Me Romantic prompt for Gray (gray on cover and an older character).

One of the assigned books for the August portion of the SJM-along was Empire of Storms. This is the fifth book in Sarah J Maas's popular Throne of Glass series. I was able to use this to cover the Summer of Swoon prompt author with more than five published books for the second bingo board.

Now that magic has returned to the land of Erilea, Aelin and her court are now tasked to reclaim the throne of Terrasen and start planning to go to war with the Valg King. When Aelin is shut-out from her homeland by the current lords, she sets about finding allies and continuing her plan to fight. She and her court are hoping that seeing her actions will change their minds about her character and that she can make a good queen. At the same time Manon is dealing with reconciling the the truth about her grandmother. Travelling the world we see Elide trying to make her way to Aelin to pass along the wyrdkey she received. Lorcan is also out in the world trying to find the wyrdkeys to save Maeve from herself. Maeve also decides to start becoming a player in this war.

Oh my gosh, this book was the culmination of so many things, but yet there is still so much to do throughout the rest of the books in the series. It's hard to say, but I think this might be my favorite in the series so far. We finally get some steamy times and more romantic moments between Aelin and Rowan, as well as a few other couples. I'm having a lot of fun pairing everyone up and am nervous in case Sarah decides to kill someone off. This is going to be hard to review because I want to keep this as spoiler free as possible, but I loved seeing a lot of the people we met during the prequel anthology come back into play. It was just so much fun. We also get some characters we met before fleshed out even more and I love how everyone is being brought together.

This book had such an epic feel throughout and I was so engrossed in what was going to happen. I'm really trying not to do too much predicting while I read (outside of building ships) and I think that's helping my enjoyment. I'm just along for the ride and trying to stay blind to any spoilers. There are times I've been nervous and happy and sad. Sarah really writes in a way that easily draws me in and really has me emotionally invested in everyone's story. I think the way that she's slowly grown the world and cast of characters has been really well done and I'm not having a hard time at all keeping things straight. Also, I thought it was super fun that we started the book with Elide and not Aelin. It was surprising and I really enjoyed kind of starting a little slow with Elide by herself before jumping back into a lot of the action.

I'm so stoked to continue the series and can't wait to see what's coming next. We are jumping back into the ACOTAR series for September, but I'm excited no matter what to continue the SJM-along. If you missed the live show for Empire of Storms, check it out here! I had a lot of fun, once again, and can't wait to see what new information comes to light during the future discussions.

Have you read Empire of Storms?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Empire of Storms, Sarah J Maas, 5-stars, 1 day, Paperback, 689 pages, published in 2016, traditionally published

STATISTICS: Empire of Storms, Sarah J Maas, 5-stars, 9 days, Paperback, 689 pages, published in 2016, traditionally published

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas

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For the month of July, the assigned book for the SJM-along was A Court of Mist and Fury! This is the second book in Sarah J Maas's highly popular series A Court of Thorns and Roses. If you haven't heard of the readalong, it was created by Jenn (The Book Refuge) and is a readalong going through Sarah's blacklist in publication order. This month the live show was moved to Jenn's channel. I was able to use this for the booksta rec prompt on the 2nd board of Summer of Swoon.

After the events of A Court of Thorns and Roses, Feyre is struggling with what happened. Tamlin and her are trying to get the Spring Court back to normal proceedings, but with both of them still struggling through their trauma their relationship is not the same. After a couple months Tamlin proposes and Feyre sets about learning to be a high lord's consort and planning the wedding with Priestess Ianthe. As Feyre starts wasting away and stops taking care of herself, Rhysand shows up to enact the bargain struck Under the Mountain. He takes her to the Night Court and sets about helping her learn to read and helps her train her new magical powers. As Tamlin gets more and more controlling, Feyre finally breaks and Rhys saves her. He offers her the change to join his court and become part of his Inner Circle as war threatens once again.

I don't know how I'm going to review this book in my layout of two paragraphs and without it just being a ginormous gush fest. First, I have to mention the way that Sarah handled PTSD and the different ways it manifest was really well done. I don't have any direct experience, but it felt real to me and I did hear from others with first or second-hand experience that it was represented well. What blew me away was how it affected Tamlin, Rhysand and Feyre all so deeply, but manifested itself in different ways. Now I know that there is a lot of hate for Tamlin, and I understand it. I do allow him quite a bit of grace though because he is suffering as well. We just don't get to see as much the hows because we don't get his POV. Where I get more frustrated with with the people around Tamlin (outside of Ianthe) not stepping in to help both Tamlin and Feyre. There's servants and guards and friends and I just wish that one of them pushed harder to get them both the help they needed. Not that I wish that Tamlin and Feyre ended up together, because she's fated mates with Rhys, but I did want to see them both be taken care of. They both have changed drastically and it makes sense that they don't necessarily work together as a romantic pairing anymore. It was just sad to see for both of them that they were stuck. 

Okay, so Rhys and his inner court are absolutely amazing. I love them all so dearly and would love to be a part of the their friend group. The way that they all treated Feyre when they met her was so sweet to see and it really helped that they treated her as a person and not the "savior." I also loved how they all tried to take care of Feyre and Rhys as well and did stand up to them when they needed it (unlike Tamlin's court). Once again there were so many cinematic moments in this book that were elevated even more by Graphic Audio. The final ending scene where they are all around the cauldron was so haunting and I didn't want to pause, even to go to the bathroom. I love the evolution of Rhys's and Feyre's relationship and how they really were able to connect with each other on all levels. I was crying when the big thing happened at the end, but then there were a couple more chapters and I was cheering and so happy for them. 

Honestly, my review probably doesn't do this book justice, but I absolutely adored this book so much and so far it's probably my favorite of Sarah's books I've read so far. We have a little bit before getting to A Court of War and Ruin, but I can't wait. I'm nervous about what's going to happen with the war and if we're going to lose any of my favorite characters because let's be honest, it still guts me that Nehemia died in Crown of Midnight. We'll see what happens. For the meantime though, we are jumping back to Throne of Glass and Empire of Storms for August's reading.

Have you read A Court of Mist and Fury?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: A Court of Mist and Fury, Sarah J Maas, 5-stars, 1 day, Paperback & Audiobook, 626 pages, published in 2016, traditionally published

The Assassin and the Desert by Sarah J Maas

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The 2nd book to read for the first part of May's selections for the SJM-along is The Assassin and the Desert. This is the third prequel novella (listed as 0.3) in Sarah J Maas's Throne of Glass series. This is also included as part of the collection called The Assassin's Blade. The readalong was organized by Jenn (The Book Refuge), but the live show for this book and Heir of Fire was on Tori's (Novel Life) channel on May 15th. As you can probably tell since this review is up a lot later, I did not read it in time.

After the events of the first novella, Aelin has been beaten by Arobynn and sent to train with the Silent Assassins and their leader the Mute Master. Their home-base resides in the Red Desert. It takes a month to get there, and once she does she butts against the new form of training. As Aelin starts to find her place and the new style of training, she also finds new friends and connection deeper than expected.

This was such a great novella. My favorite of them so far! I just loved getting to see Celaena work to develop new skills and really improve her assassin skills. I also loved seeing the differences of how Arobynn trains his assassins versus the Mute Master. It was just so crazy how much more effective the Mute Master manages to train while also keeping a good sense of culture and family between all of his disciples. The way that the whole situation really enforces the feelings that Celaena has started to have towards Arobynn and that was so nice to see as well. We also get her realizing the depth of her feelings for Sam and really start to deal with those.

A quick review for a quick novella, but this really was so much fun. It was fun, once again, to get the full backstory of things that Celaena has mentioned in the full length novels. While they are getting a little bittersweet since we know that at some point Sam dies and Celaena gets captured and sent to the salt mines as a slave, it's just really neat to see the build up of how she really gets to the point that Throne of Glass starts. If you've read the Throne of Glass series but haven't picked up these novellas, I highly recommend them!

Have you read The Assassin and the Desert?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: The Assassin and the Desert, Sarah J Maas, 5-stars, 0 days, eBook, 103 pages, published in 2012, traditionally published

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas

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The main book to read for the month of June for the SJM-along was the fourth book in Throne of Glass, Queen of Shadows. The readalong is created by Jenn and we are reading through Sarah J Maas's backlist in publication order. The live show for this book was on June 30th and hosted by Rachel! I was able to use this for the prompt trope or sub-genre outside comfort zone (young adult (ya)) for Summer of Swoon!

Celaena, now officially going by her real name of Aelin, is back in Rifthold. She hopes to save her cousin Aedion, steal back her family's amulet (that also holds one of the three wyrdkeys), save Dorian (via rescue or mercy killing) and connect with the remaining members of her court. Aelin is making plans and working on getting things into place to retake her rightful place as Queen of Terrasen. While Aelin is manipulating things around Rifthold, Rowan shows up to help out. While they work together with the rebels, Manon is over in Morath discovering more about what the Duke of Perrington is doing in his experiments. As she and her Thirteen struggle against what's expected of them by the Blackbeak Matriarch and her machinations to treat all witches as chattel, Manon befriends a servant to learn more.

Another 5-star read, another great addition to the series. First off, I do want to mention that this book felt a lot more cinematic especially at some of the fight scenes. The confrontation between Manon and Aelin was so well done as well as the big battle that starts off the last 100 pages. I was so tired staying up late to finish this in time and once it got to the last 100 pages I was wide awake and couldn't put it down until I was finished. Everything that was happening was so elaborate and cinematically written and I just had to see what would happen next. We are back in Rifthold for most of this book, and I feel like a lot of the previous plot threads were wrapped up for Rifthold and now we'll be moving back into more of the world. I was surprised by quite a few of the revelations and cannot wait to see what Sarah J Maas does next with the storyline.

I don't want to get into too many spoilers, but I have to say one of my favorite scenes was the rescue of Aedion. It was just so perfectly planned out. A part of me was thinking that something had to go wrong and it wouldn't work out, and while it didn't go exactly 100% to plan, they still got Aedion out fairly quickly. Another favorite scene was the fight between Aelin and Manon. Everything leading up the battle followed by the battle and how it helped Manon deal with what was happening to the witches was such an important part. I also loved seeing Manon and Aelin both be the bad-a** women that they are. The only real detractor for me was I felt there was a regression in Chaol's character growth back to where he was before finally taking a side that wasn't the kings. He was once again frustrating for me and I really hoped that he would be able to move past the actions that Aelin's had to take. He just seemed a little too butt-hurt to me and once again not looking at the whole picture of what's going on. 

I cannot wait to read more from SJM both in this series and in general. I am loving every single addition to this series and have no idea how things are going to go. I'm sure eventually we'll be taking down the "big bad," but seeing that whom we thought was the big bad was taken down this book and we still have three more full length books to go! I'm just really loving that I finally picked up Sarah's work and couldn't be more grateful to Jenn for creating this readalong.

Have you read Queen of Shadows?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Queen of Shadows, Sarah J Maas, 5-stars, 2 days, Paperback, 645 pages, published in 2015, traditionally published

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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

Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas

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To start off May, I needed to go through and figure out my timeline with my two readalongs, book club books and the Mafia Romance and Historical Romance Readathons. To make sure I got Heir of Fire read in time for the live show, I decided to pick it up first! This is the third book in Sarah J Maas's Throne of Glass series. I am reading all of Sarah J Maas's backlist for the SJM-along. It's created by Jenn (The Book Refuge), but the first two books for the month of May will be discussed on Tori's (Novel Life) channel. I was able to use Heir of Fire for my Love has Sprung and Taylor Swift Quarterly reading challenges for the prompts cover model wearing a dress and 22 (new adult book) respectively. I was also able to use this for my May Yahtzee Challenge for the Full House (2 or 3 in the page count or publication date) prompt!

Celaena is headed out of Rifthold and towards Wendlyn. When she arrives, she is torn on following the king's orders to be a spy and do her assassination, but she also doesn't want to reach out for help; even though she's related. When Rowan, a Fae Prince, comes upon her he takes her to meet with Maeve. To enter the Fae realms she needs to gain approval from Rowan and undergo training. As they struggle to find trust and learn from each other, things around the world aren't stopping. Dorian is dealing with controlling his newfound magic and Chaol is finally starting to see what the rebels are fighting for and shares Celaena's true identity with her long lost cousin. There's also a new POV that's Manon, an Ironteeth witch that has been granted, along with her sisters, access to wyverns by the King.

Oh my gosh, this book had so much going on and I really loved just watching everyone and everything evolve and I can't wait to see how it all culminates. First off, Celaena. There is something so touching and deep seated about the way Sarah writes about grief. I'm not usually a reader that highlights quotes, but I had to do quite a few here that really just hit me in my soul. I even had to share a couple with my boss at work. I know that people struggle with Celaena, but even in Crown of Midnight I was giving her leeway because I knew she was struggling with her grief and repressing a lot of it. Here we really get to see her work through all that's she's repressed; not only the grief of Nehemia, but even Sam and before then her parents and countrymen and country. The way that she eventually starts opening up to herself is just so beautiful and really touched me. Also, I absolutely adore Rowan and really hope he's end game for Celaena. There's subtle hints of a romance between them, but I can also see them as just really good friends. We'll see what happens there.

As for the other side characters, I'm loving Dorian's story line. I liked him from the first book and I'm really intrigued to see how things are going to go with his magic and dealing with the fallout from his father. He really gets put in a tough position, but is one of the more willing constituants to speak out to his father. Now, Chaol I have struggled with. I do feel like he's kind of waking up and finally taking a stance so I'm not on the full "hate train" anymore. I'm still not sure what to think 100%, but he made some interesting moves and relationships during this book that have me more intrigued about his storyline. We also meet a couple new side characters, the first being Aedion, Celaena's cousin. He was so much fun and I can't wait to see him and Celaena meet up and learn more about him. I have to say, as much as I am swooning for Rowan, I can't decide if he or Aedion is a better book boyfriend for me. I also am absolutely obsessed with Manon and her wyrvern Abraxos. I gushed about them during my vlog and I was just so drawn into the her POV and the connection between her and her thirteen as well as her and Abraxos. Can I just say, Abraxos is my favorite. I absolutely adore him. But I am a dragon girl!

I had so much fun reading this book and cannot wait to jump back into the series. I have a little bit of time before we do though since the readathon is going in publication order. The second portion of May is actually going to be A Court of Thorns and Roses. Another new series that's been hyped, but I'm starting to really trust Sarah J Maas. Plus, even though it's really hyped, I feel like the percentage of people that read it and love it is so astronomically lopsided I'm not too worried. Whatever book comes next, I'm here for. Why oh why have I been sleeping on Sarah J Maas?

Have you read Heir of Fire?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Heir of Fire, Sarah J Maas, 5-Stars, 4 days, eBook, 568 pages, published in 2014, traditionally published

The Assassin and the Healer by Sarah J Maas

⭐⭐⭐⭐

The second assigned book for the 2nd April portion of the SJM Readalong was The Assassin and the Healer. This is book 0.2 in the Thone of Glass series by Sarah J Maas. Jenn (The Book Refuge) organized the readalong and will be joined by different hosts for each section. The plan is to read all of SJM's backlist in publication order. I was also able to use this for the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge for the prompt No Body, No Crime (cover without a person).

After the events of The Assassin and the Pirate Lord, Celaena is being sent to the Red Desert by her master to train as part of her punishment. While waiting for her ship, she stays a few days at a tavern in Antica. There she meets a barmaid named Yrene that picked up the job when trying to travel to the school for healers, Torre Cesme. She has since felt trapped in this tavern and become stagnant. When Celaena saves Yrene from some mercenaries looking for a fun time, it changes the course of Yrene's life.

This was such a great novella and I loved that it continued shortly after Celaena freeing the slaves. Hopefully the novellas will all link into each other like this so not only are they just fun shorts, but also telling an overarching story between them. I really enjoyed seeing Celaena and Yrene interact and how different, but yet similar they are. We got to see more of Celaena being kickass and I loved it! This is my favorite of the two novellas so far. I just loved the different vibe. Also, I really hope that we get to see Yrene in the future. That would be so awesome! I honestly just wished it was a little longer, but that's a common issue most people have with novellas.

I can't wait to continue the readalong with everyone and am intrigued to see where we go next. I'm actually reading the novellas as part of the anthology/bind up called The Assassin's Blade. I'm having a lot of fun so far and it's really cool to see the past missions and adventures that Celaena experienced and mentions in the main books. I can't wait to see what the next one brings!

Have you read The Assassin and the Healer?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: The Assassin and the Healer, Sarah J Maas, 4.5-stars, 0 days, eBook, 40 pages, published in 2013, traditionally published

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas

⭐⭐⭐⭐

The second portion of April's assigned books for the SJM Readalong starts with Crown of Midnight. This is the second book Sarah J Maas's Throne of Glass series. The readalong is being organized by Jenn (The Book Refuge) and each portion will have various other booktubers helping host. The plan is to read SJM's backlist in publication order. I was able to use this book for the Love Has Sprung prompt booksta rec and the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge prompt Wildest Dreams (outside normal romance sub-genre). 

Now that Celaena is the King's Champions, she's been tasked to deal with various "traitors." As rebel forces start to grow stronger with the supposed backing of the missing Terrasen princess, Celaena is torn between helping those and staying alive. As Celaena struggles balancing her true motives, staying on the king's good side, her friendships with Dorian and Fehemia and a burgeoning romantic relationship with Chaol, the king's nefarious plans start to advance. Celaena and her friends are put into tough situations to make the best out of what's going on, but also struggle with being able to fully trust in each other. When a death occurs close to Celaena, all bets are off.

Wow, this was a good continuation of the series. I do have to say, while I really enjoyed this book as well, I think it will be after Throne of Glass on my ranking list. Back to here though. I really enjoyed seeing how Celaena was dealing with actually winning the competition and being forced to follow the King's bidding. I did love though that as the reader we got to see that she wasn't actually killing these so-called traitors, but helping them escape the continent. I loved that we got to see a lot more of Celaena's assassination skills and she was such a badass. I know that she'll just get more powerful from here though and I can't wait.

Now, there were a few detractors for me that kept it from 5-stars. One of the big parts though was the romance with Chaol. I didn't like the dynamic between them and just found myself so uninterested in their romance. I disliked the way he treated Dorian and Celaena in the first book at times, and really disliked how much he kept from her. It just didn't feel like he actually loved Celaena. He was constantly getting on my nerves and I was just over him. Another thing I do want to mention is that there are a lot of hints throughout that are revealed at the end of the book. I saw on the readalong discord that a lot of people were getting blown away by the ending, but because I caught a lot of the hints it was more of a "okay, I'm right" feeling. Not that it wasn't good, but I just want to put it out there since I feel it was a little overhyped for me. I was expecting things to be completely blown open. I have to say, I was more surprised by the fact that Dorian has magic than the reveals we learned about Celaena. But then, once again, she only confides in Chaol even though her and Dorian have more secrets shared between them!

I'm certainly happy to continue reading the story and can't wait to see how this is all going to culminate. As for the romance, at this point I'm really hoping it's with someone we haven't met yet since it seems that Dorian has been friend-zoned. I just don't like Chaol. What makes me the most excited about the next book, Heir of Fire, is that we are leaving Rifthold and heading to a new city. I'm excited to see how the world expands!

Have you read Crown of Midnight?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Crown of Midnight, Sarah J Maas, 4-stars, 2 days, eBook, 432 pages, published in 2013, traditionally published

The Assassin and the Pirate Lord by Sarah J Maas

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I picked up the first prequel novella The Assassin and the Pirate Lord from the Throne of Glass series for the SJM readalong. It's hosted by Jenn (The Book Refuge) and friends. This was apart of the April part one assigned reading for the April 16th live show. Like I mentioned, there are 5 prequel novellas for the series, but Jenn is breaking them up to be read over time instead of in line. We are reading Sarah J Maas's backlist in publication order. I did also use this for the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge to cover the prompt I Knew You Were Trouble (a bad-boy character or a character that does a bad thing).

Celaena and fellow assassin Sam are headed to broker a deal between the Pirate Lord and King of the Assassins. When they arrive and find that they aren't there for restitution for the killing of one of their own, but to broker a deal for slaves, Celaena gets angry. She is against the idea of owning people and goes about freeing both shiploads of slaves with the help of Sam.

This was super fun, but a little bittersweet. I loved getting to see the assassin that Celaena used to be, but also learn more about the assassin's guild(?) she was a part of. Now this is bittersweet because we learn in Throne of Glass that Sam passed away and that there were some feelings that had developed between them. I had a lot of fun reading this prequel novella and just getting to see how Celaena was before being sent to the salt mines as a prisoner/slave.

I'm intrigued to see how the other prequel novellas are going to fit into the overall series, but if they are all little previous mission this'll be fun. If you didn't know, all 5 of the novellas are included in the Assassin's Blade anthology. So far so good in the first couple books in the SJM readalong. I can't wait to read more!

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: The Assassin and the Pirate Lord, Sarah J Maas, 4-stars, 0 days, eBook, 70 pages, published in 2012, traditionally published

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

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I have joined another long-running readalong! This time it is the SJM readalong created by Jenn (The Book Refuge)! Each portion she'll have different people helping her host, but since it'll be constantly changing I'll just focus on linking to Jenn. So the readalong is going be reading through Sarah J Maas's backlist in publication order, hopefully ending around the time of her newest release (which hasn't been announced yet). I have not read SJM before, but I'm excited to finally dive in. For April there are two books and two novellas assigned, but they are being separated into two different live shows. For the first, scheduled for today April 16th, we are to read the first book in the Throne of Glass series, Throne of Glass. I also used this for my two reading challenges. It covered the prompt Fifteen (young adult story, story with teens or a lot of angst) for the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge and the prompt new to you author for Love Has Sprung.

Celaena is an assassin and one of the best. It has been a year since she has been captured and sent to work in the salt mines of Endovier. When the Crown Prince of Adarlan Dorian arrives, he is hoping to convince Celaena to become his contender in a competition/trial to become the king's Champion. Celaena agrees since once her service is done she'll have her freedom, but things aren't as they seem. As she butts heads with the Captain of the Guard Chaol and other competitors start turning up dead outside of the trials, Celaena knows there more here then meets the eye. When she gets visited by the ghost of the first queen of Adarlan, she is tasked to deal with the evil being being called to this world through Wyrdgates, magic that was thought lost.

Oh my gosh! I really loved this. I've been pretty open about never really reading young adult books and I was a little hesitant coming into this. I've also heard that it's a rough start to the series but that it gets a lot better later in the series. If this is how it starts, my mind is going to be absolutely blown as we get through the series. I really loved this and if this was Sarah J Maas's debut and she grows from here, I'm even more excited to get through her series. Now, I know that the romance gets heavier later on in the series and I really hope it's not a love triangle between Dorain and Chaol. I haven't looked ahead since I don't want to be spoiled for anything, but if I have to choose between the two, I would be team Dorian. I don't know though... I feel like neither of them are the match for Celaena. I'm sure they're all going to grow and the world will expand.

So moving on from the gushing, what dropped this down to a 4.5-stars for me was to do with Chaol and Dorian. I wasn't that big of a fan of Chaol and didn't like his hot and cold reactions with Celaena. I also was confused on his naivete about the world. With Dorian being the crown prince, you would typically expect him to be the one that's not fully aware of what's going in the world. While he doesn't know everything, Dorian was at least aware of things going on and that life wasn't idyllic as the other nobles thought for the commoners. Chaol, even though he was a nobleman turned guard, was a lot more oblivious. I just got confused because if Chaol was one of the only people that Dorian was able to discuss these things with, why was he so constantly surprised by what was going on. While I liked that it was opposite than normal, it just felt odd for him to be so oblivious to some things.

Overall I can't wait to read more and see where the story is going to go. I had so much fun reading Throne of Glass and am so happy this readalong is pushing me to finally read her books! I really am excited to dig into more and it'll be fun, since we are going in publication order, to watcher her writing evolve and grow from book to book. I think I might need to join the Maas fan club now!

Have you read Throne of Glass?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Throne of Glass, Sarah J Maas, 4.5-stars, 0 days, eBook, 433 pages, published in 2012, traditionally published