This book…I have never in all my days, started a book being so violently angry with a character and by the end of it come to feel such love for them. Nesta, changed me. I started out being so annoyed at her and the way she chose to handle her pain. And at the end, on page whopping 750, I had found so much of myself in her faults and in her victories. 

Hey now... this is so much more than a christmas special ok. It really tore me to shreds, and wrecked me emotionally. There was world building, there was background information on everyone's history, and there was joy, so much needed joy. the winter solstice scene at the town house was perfection, SJM did such a good job of juggling all the characters and their individual personalities all in one room together. I loved how we go to see everyone's dynamics with each other, it was like a christmas special in that way. We got to see everyone interacting in one house together, which I think speaks to SJM's writing skills, because it can be hard to balance all your major characters in one room. 

This, may be my favorite in the series, but the jury is still out on the decision. The action, the heists, the tension... it was the perfect balance of high stakes action and heartfelt quiet moments. As much content and world building was in the first two books, I feel like this book is where the world of ACOTAR really starts to come into full view. We learn about the Bone Carver, the lore of all the courts, and tons of backstory on our characters. So much happens in this book it's hard to condense all my thoughts on it into a single blog post, but I shall try my best.

The first book hooked me, but I never knew what was awaiting me in this masterpiece. I loved A Court of Thorns and Roses, but looking back on it, I didn't even know how much better the series was going to get. SJM completely turned my expectations on their head, and took this world to a whole other level. Not that I assumed the plot was going to be boring, but it is so much bigger than I thought when I finished the first book. The cauldron, the queens, the King of Hybern, Jurian, the wall, the Court of Nightmares. The plot twists threw me for a loop, I am still catching my breath. I didn't see any of it coming, and to me that is the best kind of story, when the author takes it places you never saw it going. To rate this second installment to the first does not even seem reasonable, it is in a completely different league. I will never escape this world, nor do I want to.

This year I embarked on the journey of a lifetime. I began reading the novels of the one and only Sarah J Maas. Is it an overstatement to say that her books changed my life? Maybe. But that is precisely how I feel. As a senior in college, majoring in English and Creative Writing, I was suffering from "book burnout". All of my homework assignments consisted of reading one novel after another. I could not remember the last time I read a book for myself and not because it was a class requirement. Considering that I choose my specific major due to my love of books, it was disheartening to realize I was losing touch with that love because reading was starting to feel like a chore rather than a hobby. BUT during my spring break, I decided that during the week off I was going to read one book for myself from my ever-growing TBR.