As much as I tried, there was no escaping spoiler-y discussions and I didn't mind. I'm so far behind and didn't think it'd affect my reading experience.
I couldn't be more wrong. But let's start at the beginning. And yes, there will be SPOILERS. Because I fucked up.
When I first started reading, it was solid.. I fell into the world, except this niggling part in the back of mind. This is what everyone was talking about?
I DID enjoy it but it felt like waiting for the other shoe to drop. As I continued on, it became worse wondering Who the FUCK is Rhys? Why is nobody talking about Tamlin?
At Rhys's first appearance I shouted: THIS DOUCHE?!?
I devoured the rest quickly, loathing Rhys and wondering what the fuck was going on.
I loved A Court of Thorns And Roses. But I was so confused by the fandom. I saw others on Twitter talking about it so I jumped in trying to see what I missed. It was very simple.
EVERYONE ELSE WAS TALKING ABOUT THE SEQUEL.
I'm an idiot.
*SIGH*
Now I don't even feel right about reviewing this because all my notes boil down to "I LOVE IT. PEOPLE ARE STUPID, TAMLIN IS AWESOME. FUCK RHYS. Oh, okay Rhys. Nesta can have your ass and teach you to act right cuz she don't play that bullshit, asshole." She can literally withstand your mental BS, why does no one else see that?!?
Oh well.
I wouldn't be that upset except I'm so fucking nervous about continuing the series now. After all the shit Tamlin and Feyre went through, I can't imagine what drives them apart and what draws Rhys and Fayre together. I don't want to. Every other time Maas ripped couples apart before, I was happy because the second couple was better and felt blah on the first. At least from what I remember, I read TOG awhile ago and now I'm doubting EVERYTHING. I don't want to sucked into the drama and the pain.
I'm sure I will eventually, the world and story is too good not to continue but I'm going to need a long break healing this empty, bitter shriveled up heart where hope and brain cells went to die.
The Good, The Bad, & The Other:
Loved it all except Rhys the Douche, how easy it was to see she was there for something more yet she persisted in ignorance and how I couldn't get sucked it at first because I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. The obvious answer to the riddle is cheesily perfect for a fairy tale. I LOVE how Feyre's educational gap is included. That's some real shit right there.
4 stars. I think? 3 because fuck your romance shenanigans? I dunno anything anymore.
SAVE YOURSELVES AND TURN AWAY. Or just don't be a fucking idiot like me. Whatevs.
Anyways, here's my top quotes.
"Stolen hours in a decrepit barn with Isaac Hale didn't count; those times were hungry and empty and sometimes cruel, but never lovely."
"I'd never once seen their hands sticky with blood and fur. I'd only learned to prepare and harvest my kills thanks to the instructions of others."
"Perhaps it was a merciful thing that she died. If anything, it left more food for us.
"It's a good thing that while you superior hearing, I possess superior abilities to keep my mouth shut."
"I bore too much of the people we'd hated and loved for Nesta to stand it. For me to stand it, too."
"He jerked his chin at the knife. 'It's yours. Don't bury it in my back, please.' "
"You're exactly as I dreamed you'd be, too."
" 'I love you, ' he whispered, and kissed my brow. 'Thorns and all.' "
"She had looked at that cottage with hope; I had looked at it with nothing but hatred. And I knew which one of us had been stronger."
" 'Be glad for your human heart, Feyre. Pity those who don't feel anything at all.' "
" And when I finished my story, Nesta merely stared at me for a long while before asked me to teach her to paint."
But there's one I fucking loathe:
"Bruises are harder to conceal than poverty."
I'm poor (was poorer before) and I've been abused. THIS is the biggest pile of fucking BS. And no, I don't accept that Feyre was just making a point. IT'S BULLSHIT. She could've made her point WITHOUT SPOUTING BULLSHIT.
If you have no experience covering up visible bruises, Google that shit. And you know damn well they had makeup all throughout history.
If they're so hard to hide, why doesn't everyone fucking know the woman is being abused including your sisters?
On the other, how do you hide poverty? You hide you home, your family, your life, yourself. Not fucking possible in small areas like Feyre's. And even then, your clothes, your memories, you social interacts, etc. will give you away unless you're a pro at faking it and lying.
After all the realism of how poverty played its part in her life she dares says this? It's so disrespectful to abuse victims too because even if people see your bruises and scars they will ignore and play ignorant. Nobody around you wants to acknowledge it. And if they do? The abuser is sure to make them the first to go.
Ugh. I fucking hated her at this moment. Still resent her for it, TBH.
Come the fuck on. Fuck you.