A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses #1

Publication: May 5th 2015 by Bloomsbury Children's

Source: Library Book

Goodreads Summary: 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!
Goodreads Page

My Thoughts:
*This Review Contains Spoilers*

**RANTISH**

This book left me with a bunch of "Whys???"

*WHY did (view spoiler)Andras attack the deer?? If the whole point of Andras being made into a wolf is simply so that some human girl would hopefully kill him, why doesn't he just stand in the open and wait for someone? Why did he attack the deer? To pretend that he was an animal and force Feyre to shoot him? But then that ruins the entire point of the curse! The curse says that Feyre has to kill him out of hatred. When Feyre kills him, she isn't entirely sure he's a faerie. She thinks/hopes she's just killed a wolf. Not exactly hatred if you ask me.[If the whole point of Andras being made into a wolf is simply so that some human girl would hopefully kill him, why doesn't he just stand in the open and wait for someone? Why did he attack the deer? To pretend that he was an animal and force Feyre to shoot him? But then that ruins the entire point of the curse! The curse says that Feyre has to kill him out of hatred. When Feyre kills him, she isn't entirely sure he's a faerie. She thinks/hopes she's just killed a wolf. Not exactly hatred if you ask me. (hide spoiler)]
*Why did Feyre meet the mercenary lady? What was the point of her??
*Why didn't Feyre question WHY she had to go (view spoiler)with Tamlin? In what way does a "provision" of the Treaty make sense that because she killed a faerie, she has to go live in Pyrthian now? In what way does the choice of dying or living with faeries make sense? "Ooh, so you killed a faerie? Congratulations! You get to live among us now!" Why did she not wonder WHY Tamlin offered to let her live with him when she killed his friend??? She just gets caught up on trying to find a way out instead of ever wondering why this illogical provision was made. I just don't understand.
*Why did Feyre take so long to realize who Tamlin really was?? [From his house and his power and the way everybody else acts around Tamlin, it's incredibly obvious that he is the High LordI mean, really, how many more clues did Feyre need?
*Why was the curse so ridiculously specific with such a weird requirement? (view spoiler)Why did the girl who killed a faerie out of hatred have to kill one of Tamlin's own men?? Why does it matter what faerie it was as long as the girl ends up falling in love with Tamlin? The curse isn't about Tamlin loving the girl, it's about the girl loving him. Why would it matter to the girl if the faerie was his man or not? Was it just to make the curse even more specific with an even more unlikelihood of it being broken?
*Why is Feyre a cross between Katniss and Bella Swan?
*Why was this so predictable?
*WHY DOES EVERYBODY RAVE ABOUT THIS BOOK?????

Okay, I think I'm through with all of my "WHYS???" Moving on.

I enjoyed the book. It kept me entertained. Which is probably the only reason I'm giving it three stars instead of two.

I was bored the first three chapters and just found myself thinking, "Ugh, it's Katniss Part II." But then Feyre turned into a Katniss/Bella Swan mutation which made her even worse. She's reckless and stubborn with a bit of a bitter chip on her shoulder about having to take care of her family (which is understandable) like Katniss. Then she turns into a lovesick puppy, focused mostly on what he looks like, just like Bella Swan. Then she refuses to admit her feelings until it's too late and she's thrown into despair. Like Katniss. There really isn't much of originality at all when it comes to Feyre. Except maybe her name which needed a pronunciation guide for anyone to even be able to figure out how to say it. (Difficult-to-pronounce, weirdly spelled names that aren't spelled the way you say them is a bit of a pet peeve to me, so sorry if that's something you admired).

Anyway, after the first three chapters, I did finally get interested in the book and kept interested up until the Trials came and Feyre is given her riddle. I mean, seriously? I KNOW that I cannot be the only one who knew immediately what the riddle's answer was. It's the entire point of the book. It's always frustrating when characters don't see things immediately like the reader does, of course, but it was just so obvious and cliché that I couldn't help but immediately dock a star in my mind for this book.

The ending. The ending. was. so. predictable. The entire book is predictable in my opinion but the ending is straight out of Breaking Dawn. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

I enjoyed Lucien and Rhysand. Lucien brought a much needed realistic part to the book. He's real and open and sarcastic and he brought a good part to the book that it really needed. Rhysand surprised me with his diversity in who he really was and his motives. I expected him to be truly dark but he wasn't and he continuously surprised me the entire book and I really liked him.

Lastly, this book really isn't YA in the least. It's far too explicit to be classified young adult. I have only one adult book that I own and have read (Ransom My Heart by Meg Cabot) and this book gets JUST AS EXPLICIT as my adult book. And I personally do not care for explicit material in my books. Just saying.

Likes: Lucien. Rhysand. Kept me entertained mostly.

Dislikes: So many whys? with this. So predictable. Feyre was unoriginal and pretty much insufferable for me. Way too explicit to be called young adult.

Overall:
Recommend? I would if you're really into faeries and don't mind predictability in your books. Or explicit material.
Reading the Next One? Well considering how predictable this entire book was, I can *GUARANTEE* that there will be a love triangle and that will be the focus of the book.
*PREDICTION* Feyre will become America in The Elite and spend her entire time running indecisively back and forth between her two guys.