A Court of Mist and Fury - Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses #2
Published on May 3, 2016 by Bloomsbury USA Children

Feyre survived Amarantha's clutches to return to the Spring Court—but at a steep cost. Though she now has the powers of the High Fae, her heart remains human, and it can't forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin's people.

Nor has Feyre forgotten her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court. As Feyre navigates its dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms—and she might be key to stopping it. But only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future—and the future of a world cleaved in two.

With more than a million copies sold of her beloved Throne of Glass series, Sarah J. Maas's masterful storytelling brings this second book in her seductive and action-packed series to new heights.

Last year I read and absolutely hated ACOTAR, but this being a series by Maas I knew that once ACOMAF was published there would be major fangirl screams of how this is THE ! BEST ! BOOK ! EVER ! and that I wouldn't resist because well, it IS a Sarah J. Maas book. Anyway, I waited for a few reviewers that also hated ACOTAR to confirm that this was an improvement and decided to finally try it, I'm so glad I did because I loved this one.

So, for those who are Tamlin fans and shipped Feyre and him pretty hardcore this book will probably be shit, specially the start will be hard to digest because the narrative seems set on making you hate him and their relationship and show how wrong these two are about each other, and it's really SHOUTING AT YOUR FACE this, it's plain obvious what is doing, not subtle at all and yeah, it can bother a lot of fans but I never particularly enjoyed Tamlin and his relationship with Feyre was super abusive since day 1 for me. I heard a lot of people saying that Tamlin changed a lot from the first book, only to suit the love triangle, I honestly can't say if that is true, I cared very little (to nothing) about him in ACOTAR and I basically erased that book from my memory, but if it wasn't explicit on book 1 that Tamlin is a controlling asshole than on this one it will be.

The other side of the love triangle (idk if I would call it a love triangle really, but anyway) is Rhysand and the reason I picked up this book in the first place - he was the only one that seemed to have an actual personality before and I was interested in seeing what was behind all those layers. At first, I wasn't all that sold on him as a love interest because well, he can be an asshole too, a sarcastic one sure but still asshole, but of course *things* happen that force Feyre to get to know him and I was totally won over by him. Now, I'm the first to admit that the romance on this one is basically wish-fulfillment (all of this book could be called), towards the end there was some sap as fuck shit but I didn't care one bit, I was 100% wanting this since the first book so it was like this was my wish-fulfillment dream come true.  Also, Feyre and Rhysand have banter and sarcastic come-backs like there was no yesterday and I'm all over this shit. I'm also really scared since Maas seems to not like to stick with a couple for very long (her record in the ToG series so far has been two books, that series has had 4 love interests for Celaena in 4 books + 1 prequel, seriously) and now ACOTAR is not a trilogy anymore but a 8 books series and this is only the second !!!!! I don't want to pass through another Celaena/Chaol heartbreak, one of those was enough, please spare me this time Sarah and keep Rhysand and Feyre save.

Now, the actual plot of the book (yes, this series does have more than the battle between ships, I know it seems so hard to believe) it was an improvement than the first one in my opinion, since ACOTAR was basically a romance, in this one we have a clear plot and the characters working to achieve that towards the entire story. There was some major LOL moments on the plot still, because things they needed would totally surge out of nowhere and everything would be fine but I didn't care, honestly I was so invested on the story that I enjoyed this monster of 600+ pages from start to finish. There is much more world building too, with the courts rebuilding themselves we get a glimpse at the Summer Court and a lot of the Night Court for obvious reasons, which was my favorite parts because of well, obvious reasons.

I do liked that Feyre has a lot of character arc through this one, I didn't care much for her on ACOTAR and she starts this one pretty fucked up after what happened to her, what she did to survive Under the Mountain, with some serious PTSD and plus her shitty relationship with Tamlin, she wasn't at her best at the start of the story, but along it she grows, in physical strength as well as emotional and I really like her now. It was really a story of finding herself now that she is a Fae, what she wants and needs, and I enjoyed the fact that this time around she didn't waited for anybody to get it from her.

One last thing, a lot of people seemed surprised by the graphic sex scenes on this one, but I think we had some on ACOTAR too so I don't know if people just forgot or idk, anyway I thought this was market as NA and not YA - at least for me, it fits that category better, since Feyre is 19 turning 20 (from what I remember), so she wouldn't "fit" the YA age for main character and the other faeries have like, 500 years so yeah.

In the end of the day I'm glad I give this series another shot and listened to the fangirls, I was super happy to turn myself into one of the shouting fangirls. I can see why a lot of people won't enjoy this one and I guess it's a matter of whether of how much you care about the ships and/or if you can let go of analyzing things too close and too through - this is the definition of a brain candy read for me, despite its size it was easy to read it and that ending left me wanting for the third book like crazy (I may or may not have started re-reading this one right after I finished it).

A Song To Remember: Queen of Shadows

Hey guys, today I'm here with a brand new feature that I hope you will enjoy. Books and songs are something that sometimes match so perfectly that we have that thought "this song is exactly the fit for X book/scene/series/character", we all know this felling and a lot of other blogs already have features that match books and songs but now is my time to show you my matches! A Song To Remember is all about matching books with songs that I enjoy listening too.

This time around the book is "Queen of Shadows" by Sarah J. Maas, I didn't review it because it's basically impossible without spoiling everything (I did think on doing a discussion post about it but laziness and all that), so to try to make this book justice I complied 5 songs that I think match it's clime perfectly. Let's see them, click on the name of the songs for official video clips:

1. Run the World (Girls) - Beyoncé | This was a no brainer since this whole series is ruled by girls and this is basically a national anthem to girl power.

"My persuasion can build a nation / Endless power / With our love we can devour / You'll do anything for me / Who run the world (Girls)"

2. .  Salute - Little Mix | This one is also all about girl power but I think is more undervalued which shouldn't be because it's awesome, I specially picture this one with the Thirteen.

"You think we're just pretty things / Couldn't be more wrong (we're standing strong, caring on) / Knock us but we keep moving up (we're moving up) / Can't stop a hurricane, ladies it's time to awake (...) Ladies, the time has come, the war has begun / Let us stand together / And remember, men fight great, but women are greater fighters"

3. Fighter - Christina Aguilera | I picture Aelin singing this one to Arobynn, especially after that dinner scene, I think it fits so perfectly her relationship with him, not just this part bellow but all of this song.

"Never saw it coming, all of your backstabbing / Just so you could cash in a good thing before I'd realize your game / I heard you're going around playing the victim now / But don't even begin feeling I'm the one to blame / Cause you dig your own grave "

4. Castle - Halsey | THE ENDING. This I picture at the ending, on the scene where Aelin, Dorian and the King are on the castle and GAH SPOILERS. So yeah, I just really like this song and think it matches with that scene.

"I'm headed straight for the castle / They wanna make me their queen / And there is an old man sitting on the throne that's saying that I should probably shouldn't be so mean / I'm headed straight for the castle / They've got the kingdom locked up / And there is an old man sitting on the throne that's saying that I should probably keep my pretty mouth shut / Straight for the castle / Oh, all these minutes passing, sick of feeling used / If you wanna break these walls downs, you're gonna get bruised / Now my neck is open wide, begging for a fist around it / Already chocking on pride, there is no use crying about it"

 5. Girl on Fire - Alicia Keys (Cover by Nicole Cross) | Totally Aelin song. I mean "You can try but you'll never forget her name" it's such a true statement.

'She's just a girl and she's on fire / Hotter than a fantasy, lonely like a highway / She's living in a world and it's on fire / Filled with catastrophe, but she knows she can fly away (...) Looks like a girl but she is a flame / So bright she can burn your eyes / Better look the other way / You can try but you'll never forget her name"

So did you guys agree with my choices? Which are the songs that YOU think match Queen of Shadows? Tell me all about it on the comments!

A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses #1
Published on May 5, 2015 by Bloomsbury Children's

A thrilling, seductive new series from New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas, blending Beauty and the Beast with faerie lore.

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

Perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore and George R. R. Martin, this first book in a sexy and action-packed new series is impossible to put down!

ACOTAR is my fifth book by Sarah J. Maas and I already consider her one of my auto-buy/read authors that is not, for me, the same as saying that I love everything that she writes, me and her books had our highs and lows and unfortunately ACOTAR is one of the lows.

1. The Pace: the first 30% of this book were killing me, things were sort of happening and I mean we had to get a lot of world building but oh my god it took me forever to read it (seriously, it took me almost three months, I was reading a chapter and putting it down, reading other books and them coming back reading another chapter and on), some of it had to do with the writing that is really descriptive and beautiful at times but is kind of heavy and hard for me to digest at times. But what really heightened on the pace for me was the fact that we have very little happening on the plot front but a lot of character building happen and we get to my second problem which was that

2. I cared for hardly anyone: I didn't hate Feyre and Tamlim and etc. but I also didn't feel head over heels about any off them, especially Feyre, which is our main character and narrator, she never really stood out of the pages for me, she was strong and determined and all of that but I don't know, there was some spark missing from her, something that I could pin point as a characteristic only of her and not things as generic as the qualities that she did show. The other characters also suffered this, like I could tell what their motivations are to be on this war but I can't say that I know them besides that, which was a real bummer because I was expecting to at lest get to know more about Tamlim. The only character that I had a real interest on was Rhys, he was amazing and a layered character that I really hope has a bigger role on the next book.

3. The Romance: as being a Beauty and the Beast retelling is no surprise to anyone that the romance plays a big part on this story, around 30% into the story something happens and we have Tamlim and Feyre getting close and getting to know more of each other, this part of their romance really pleased me because they would just talk and stuff, Feyre attraction to him seemed a little bit too early on since his appearance wasn't exactly much human with that mask but they did took their time to act upon their feelings so I was overall okay with it. The part that I did not enjoyed was the alpha male trait of Tamlim, I know he is a Beast but still it was really not appealing to me when he would be all like "do as I say" or one scene where he was violent with her and she was all horny with it, just not my type of romance.

4. That late plot: So when we're about 70% (I think) in we finally start to see a plot on the horizon and well, it was really weird and it felt disconnected from the rest of the novel. It was like we were on a Beauty and the Beast retelling until that point and then we switched to a Alice in Wonderland retelling, I swear, I don't think I can talk about this without the spoiler tag so (but is only mildly so if you want to read anyway it won't ruin your reading experience) Okay, so Feyre is having to save her life by doing the most ridiculous tasks, like fight a giant worm, that was like way to dafuck did I just read to me, like I know it was supposed to be like live or death but it was so silly, I couldn't take it seriously also the villain was just a crazy psycho bitch, I mean she got A LOT of lucky when she got the power cause seriously.

5. That ending: I just I don't know what to do with what happened on the ending, I just... I will need to go to the spoiler tag again, bear with me (and this will be totally spoilery so don't read it if you have not read the book yet) So basically Feyre could have been turned a fae all along - I think this was the last part of the curse? That she couldn't know, but it just seemed so... Bad to me, is just like fae's are vampires now and anyone can turn into one, just like that. I guess that if I was liking the rest of it, it would have been awesome and etc. but I wasn't so was just one more thing that made me raise my eyebrows.

6. A Detail: This is just one little detail but with all the rest that bothered just added, so I will mention. So Feyre is supposed to be almost illiterate, she knows the writing of a few words but that's it and the narrative is in first person, so it bugged me that someone that have little to none knowledge of grammatical things and should have a very scarce vocabulary is so well articulate on it's thoughts and speaking. I know the book wouldn't be as beautiful or interesting being wrote on the voice of someone illiterate, but still it was an inconsistency on my view.

Overall I didn't really enjoyed this book, at all, it wasn't really my cup of tea but don't be discouraged by me there is a lot of other people that absolutely loved it. If you never read Sarah J. Maas I would suggest starting with the "Throne of Glass" series first (which I absolutely love) and them trying this one, if you already love Sarah J. Maas other works I really hope you will fall on the group that enjoyed this one.