A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses #1) by Sarah J. Maas

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Synopsis:

Feyre's survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price ...

Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jeweled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre's presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.

I kept going between a 4/5 and a 5/5 for a rating on this book but ultimately decided on a 5/5 because there were so many parts of this book that blew me away. I have only read one other book from Sarah J. Maas, Throne of Glass, and I loved it so I decided to give this novel a chance regardless of the presence of fairies. I normally stay away from books about fairies because I have been let down many times but I was intrigued by the blurb about A Court of Thorns and Roses and thought that the author could do it justice. I'm so excited that I was right to trust my instincts about this book because it was fantastic!
As seems to be the case with Sarah J. Maas, she throws the reader right into the action with Feyre hunting in the woods in order to keep her family from starving. I felt my heart beating quickly in my chest as I read about Feyre's situation and wondered what decision she would make when it came to providing for her family or facing down another animal while hunting that could potentially end her life and take the only food that could sustain her family for weeks. After Feyre is taken to the fairie kingdom for murder, the book takes on a slight Beauty and the Beast feel to it all the way up until the end. I don't want to make it seem like it was a rehash of Beauty and the Beast because it wasn't but I couldn't help but see the similarities.
I loved all of the characters in this story! The author did a fantastic job of making me care about each of the characters not just the main characters. She was able to seamlessly weave back stories for each of them into the book without making it take away from the main plot. I think that this was a great move on her part because of where she takes the book later on. It is important to care about the outcome for not just one character but all of them. One of my favorite things about books written by Sarah J. Maas are the particularly strong heroines that don't need a knight in shining armor to save them. Feyre isn't a fairie and you would think that would make her weak but the author manages to make her one of the strongest characters which I think is due to how her life shaped her, her determination, and inner strength. I loved her character arc and how the author manged to have her grow and change as the book progressed. I believe that she will change even more in the second book which I am excited to read about.
I found portions of the book to be predictable but was not able to figure out the bigger picture of what was happening which seems to be the case with this author. She always manages to throw me off the trail somehow which is annoyingly wonderful. I'm excited to see what will happen in the next one because I'm not sure what direction the author is planning to take the story in.