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Hi friends…
I’m baaaaacccccckkkkk!
Wow. What do I even say? I’m sorry for the break. I’m sorry to everyone that sent me emails and I didn’t respond. I’m sorry to myself for bailing when things were finally taking off. Now, it feels like I’m starting all over again. At the time of writing this, I haven’t even been back to the website or my emails yet. I’m just starting here, with this review, dipping my toe back into this big ocean.
Life has been weird.
Like hasn’t that been the case for everyone?
Besides covid, my life decided to implode and now I’m here, slowly trying to put the pieces back together. But I like this new version. Things are looking bright. I’ll probably litter my posts with all of that. I might even do a separate blog altogether.
I know that you’re here for this review. You’re probably already clicking away because you hate (as much as I do) when a blogger litters everything else at the beginning. This title was not clickbait. Didn’t you see the caveat at the beginning? Scroll dammit if you want to get what you came for. Otherwise… if you’re here for the blogger, stick with me for a moment longer.
In going through what I did, I want to shake things up a little bit. I LOVE reading. I LOVE doing reviews. I would LOVE to developmental edit for any self-published author reading this. Hit me up, I can show you my mad skill. But I also want to try and do a lot of other things too. I have big aspirations and they’re probably all going to come crashing into this one place like the mess that I am. Hopefully, you’re here for the blogger and not just the content.
And now for your regularly scheduled programming…
A Court of Thorns and Roses Review
What year is it?
Why yes… it is 2022 and I’m finally getting my ass around to reading ACOTAR (goddammit I’m not going to write out that title again).
What took me so long and what got me to finally pick up the damn thing? First thing, everyone wouldn’t shut up about it. It’s been on my shelf for years. I’m trying to get through these unread books to lighten the load. Does that answer your questions?
I think it ultimately came down to the fact that I needed something to read while my husband left me behind to go to Sweden for work.
And was I missing out this whole time…
NOPE.
Why all the hype people?
The romance was just bland. I felt like I was literally told to like Tamlin. Here are the flashing arrows because you’re going to have to believe it whether you want to or not. Yes, there were a few hot and heavy moments later, but overall, the reason to like him was missing. It just sort of happened in the middle of the night while we were all sleeping.
But that wasn’t even the worst offense for me. Let's skip to about a quarter of the way through the book and Feyre’s entire “want” in the book was gone. What is her real reason for wanting to return home? Nothing, because they’re all a bunch of horrible people that barely cared if she lived or died. And I don’t want to hear anything about the end part because I couldn’t believe the people Mass showed later. So, we’ve got Feyre lounging in this huge house completely taken care of, her family is completely taken care of, what does she “want” now? It took another huge portion of the book for the romance to catch up so we could all be at a point where the story moved forward.
Lingering looks. Heart-pounding moments. Most of it was just missing. This is no Bridgerton.
The story picks up towards the end with all the actiony stuff. We have new characters introduced which follow your typical skit. Enemies to lovers duhhh… Am I spoiling anything? There’s going to be no surprising me in book two I can tell you now. I might have already picked it up and put it down.
If Maas’s overall writing had been better, I might have been another fan with the rest of them. Otherwise, I want to slam the book shut, cry into my pillow, and wonder how the world fell in love with it. What am I missing? I’m like the child playing on their own in the playground.
You could say that I was very much left unsatisfied. Maybe for the time, it was awe-inspiring, but the world has put out better since then. Or maybe it is just me because I did like After (for completely bad reasons).
Lastly… I just want to know… Is there some kind of rule book to writing faerie stories because somehow everyone seems to follow the same set of world building blocks?
Until next time my friends.
Kait