The first book in the ACOTAR series is a vividly imagined and engaging story from start to finish. I couldn't put the book down and have ordered the next two in the series! I loved the fae-human world Maas transported the reader to and found it to be thrilling, clever and unique, particularly in an over-saturated YA fantasy market.

It was a breath of fresh air to read a novel that had strong world-building, characters that were layered and interesting and a genuinely enthralling plot, which changed about halfway through. This change sparked attention to the fact that the first half of the novel was only the beginning of a multi-layered story that would continue into the rest of the series. The main love interest Tamlin gave the novel a fairytale like romance but with darker and more intense moments that show this is a series leaning more towards an older YA audience.

I found this book captivating and loved Maas' style of writing - I cannot wait to to continue the series to follow Feyre's adventures and challenges.

A Court of Thorns and Roses is a wonderful book, rich with imagination and detail, skilfully crafted and executed. It was a pleasure to have a strong lead female character in Feyre, forced by circumstance to become both hunter and protector to her family when they lose their fortune. Raised on tales of the wrong-doings of the Fae, it's not a surprise when she takes the opportunity to despatch one when she is able. Enter Tamlin and Lucien, and their foe, Amarantha.

World-building is strong and logical, both human and faery lands well described and set up along clear lines, with Fayre falling into Tamlin's Spring Court. Cue a journey of self discovery while there, followed by a pivotal scene change midway through that raises the stakes considerably, introducing a quest element.

What really shines about this book is the descriptive passages. The opening set up of Feyra's life in the cold and ice and almost death of the winter woods is captivating. Similarly, you can feel each bruise, each inhalation of mud, depicted throughout.

This is a superb start to a series, and a solid 9 out of 10. Tamlin;s mansion didn't really spark into life for me the way that Feyre's earlier (and later) hardship did - perhaps a reflection of my lack of romance for faery dells and courtship, than through any fault of the novel. When Feyre is in trouble she really comes to life, senses and all, and the world seen through her eyes is terrifying and brutal, yet with a glimmer of something to push through for.

Tamlin is at first read an archetypical mystical hero, all broody muscles and honour. He is a little more shaded than that, to be fair, but I did find the fae mythology to be feel quite interchangeable with that of vampire. That said, this is a very well crafted book and I look forward to the next instalment, to see who's backside Feyre can kick next!

I can, and will, always recommend Sarah J Maas as an author, her books are amazing and there hasn't been one I have read and not enjoyed.

A Court of Thorns and Roses is a great book that continues on to be a great series. I am still weighing it up against Throne of Glass but they are all amazing!

Having read this book years ago, I was looking forward to reading it again, having extra knowledge of the future sequels, which completely changed how I viewed the characters this time round.

The new cover is nice enough, but I don't feel it captures the essence/charm of the story. However, I'm sure firm fans will definitely snap it up to add to their collections.

'A Court of Thorn and Roses' is a YA fantasy retelling of 'Beauty and the Beast' (although it veers off of this in the sequels) in which the main character, Feyre, has to live with her cursed captor, Tamlin, starts to fall for him and eventually ends up trying to help him break his curse.

4 stars

I absolutely adore the new cover! Gorgeous. I'm definitely going to buy it when it comes out.

Now that I know what happens further on, I had a different perspective when reading it. Almost a clearer view, I could say.
We see from the start how Feyre was as a human and someone who hadn't experienced traumatising events before (even with being the one providing food to her family). She still has a certain innocence? we can almost say that wasn't comparable when first reading the book.

However, there were still the same issues from when I first read it. It was a little slow and the excellent parts came to the very endings, more or less.

Just before I start, the version of this book that was sent to me from Net Galley was unreadable so I had to borrow this from a friend to write my review? Not great work Bloomsbury.

Wow.......this book was problematic.
Sometimes I don't think we give authors enough credit for teaching young girls to only accept love from a man who lies to you, keeps you captive, practically tries to force himself on you and then sends you away when things get slightly tough.

Plot
There just wasn't really much of one? It all seemed a bit too convenient to me, like Sarah had these characters in her head and couldn't figure out a decent plot so she decided to just throw a sh*t one together and hope the romance pulls it through.
I mean I'm sorry but Feyre killed one of Tamlin's best friends in cold blood and her punishment was to stay at his house, not be treated badly and then fall in love with him? What? Just, what? Wouldn't it have been better to have Tamlin as a Antagonist and have her fall for someone on the side like Lucien and have to get away? I mean I just thought of a more interesting story line in SECONDS. How hard can it be?! Also I feel like the trials at the end were just thrown in because the author was like oh crap, nothing interesting has happened this whole book. What YA trope could I throw in to make this more interesting. Oh I know, stupidly unrealistic trials that my main character will smash even though she is mere human.

Feyre
I couldn't stop calling her 'Fair' I don't know why but after a while I gave up trying to stop myself. Anyone else do this? At the start of this book she started off AWESOME. Hunting in the dead ass winter, providing for your ungrateful family and killing faeries. But then it started to go down hill drastically when she just turned into some useless boring piece of meat to be used by Tamlin and Rhysand.

Tamlin
I HATED TAMLIN. Although to be honest his name was the only one I could pronounce properly. His character was dry, dull and boring. The typical broody male, who can't look at your or speak to you properly for the first half of the book but then has this intense sexual predator type way about him which is just sooooo irresistible to the Feyre.
One night he gets all wasted at a party and basically forces himself onto Feyre, without a say of her opinion and then next thing we know shes so hot for him she beds him asap.
I also hate the typical line: 'If we keep going I won't be able to stop?' I honestly cant CRINGE enough at this. So if you say yes in the beginning to sex, you cannot say stop at all at anytime once you have first agreed, even if the man is being rough and you don't like it? Another great lesson for young girls, thanks Sarah J. Maas.

Rhysand
Couldn't not call him 'Ry - sand' which is literally how its bloody spelt anyway, wtf is with these stupid names. Okay why does he go from being a murdering, date rape drug using, evil demon faerie to then saving Feyre and redeeming himself? I mean I know he becomes the love interest in the next book because I've seen spoilers, so what the hell Feyre? You have gone from one d*ckhead to the next....

Writing Style
Okay I can't actually sit here and say Sarah J. Maas isn't a good world builder and has a beautiful way of building up her settings and gets across how people are feeling pretty well. HOWEVER I will say that there were a good few lines that literally made me DIE of cringe when I read them.

Check out my full review on goodreads.: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3315504668 or goto my blog www.rebelscribe.co.uk

Wow I loved this. I have read Sarah J Maas before but this it was so good. I just couldn't put it down. i have the series and now intend to read them. High praise for A Court of Thorns and Roses. Recommended. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to review it.

Sarah J Maas is a huge name in young adult fantasy romance thanks to her 'Throne of Glass' and 'A Court of Thorns and Roses' series'. Bloomsbury is republishing her ACOTAR books in new matching hardbacks in June, so it seemed to be the perfect time to find out what the hype is about.

'A Court of Thorns and Roses' is a Beauty and the Beast retelling set in a land divided between humans and Fae. The protagonist, Feyre, is a nineteen-year-old huntress - not out of choice, but because her family is impoverished and it's the only way to get food and income. One day, she finds a wolf in the woods. She kills the wolf and sells its pelt - but the wolf was more than it seemed, and the consequences see Feyre imprisoned in the house of a dangerous Fae Beast. Or is he?

Feyre is a fantastic protagonist - feisty, pragmatic, with many strengths but equally as many weaknesses. Her arc throughout is believable and her love for her family - whilst flaws - admirable. I loved how quick-thinking and inventive she was and her unique way of looking at the world. Her relationship with her captors was interesting and, whilst the changes were not always entirely believable, you wanted to believe them because of the strength of Maas's writing.

The Fae remained mysterious throughout but kept me intrigued. Tamlin, the Beast, was rash and impetuous but still likeable. I loved Lucien - a bit of a prankster, more than a bit mean, but also deep down a genuinely nice guy. Rhysand was calculating, always three steps ahead of the game, not particularly nice but not necessarily evil either. He's the sort of character who has his own agenda and every move he makes is geared towards it, which may or may not help others. Alis was one of my favourites - completely no-nonsense, family-oriented, and too nice to end up with the rest of them. I'm not convinced any of them would have survived without her.

The idea of the Fae world and the courts was brilliant although not fully explored (for plot-centric reasons which I won't reveal). I'm intrigued to see how it develops in the sequels. The magic was also never explained, although it was never over-used and had relatively clear limitations.

The plot and the character of Feyre were probably the strongest parts of the book. The plot twists and turns with regular revelations which aren't always fully understood until the end - and I suspect some of them can't be understood without the benefit of hindsight after the sequels. There are many layers, and even a story as well-known as Beauty and the Beast still feels fresh and surprising.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by this - I worried that it had been over-hyped and that would affect my enjoyment, but it's a solid 4.5 stars. If, like me, you've somehow not read this yet, I recommend giving it a go. (Plus, rumour has it the sequels are even better...)

Luckily I had already read this book and I adore it because the formatting this book was sent in made it unreadable.

However, this is one of my favourite books, I adore this series. This is a twisted (not in a dark way) retelling of Beauty and the Beast. The characters are amazing, I love them all (even the characters that become unpopular in later books (no spoilers) no one is perfect in SJM books and that’s what I love. The story is fast and addictive. A good strong 4 stars and only because the following books are so much better, but this is a good start to a great series

A Court of Thorns and Roses gets a new look!

And how amazing is it that the art was designed by tattooed and illustrators based in Switzerland!

Just like when I first read, I obsessed over this book whilst reading and couldn't put it down....and now I need to reread ACOMAF to let the obsession continue.

If I could give this book 10 stars, I would. Damn, I’d give it a hundred. This was a fantastic story in a different genre to my usual ones. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading ACOTAR. Characters are rich with great back stories and interesting personalities. It’s no surprise that my favourites were Tamlin and Lucien. I also had to go and buy the rest of the series immediately... Is this how addiction starts?

Before I review this lovely book I just want to point out that the new covers are hideous and whoever made it clearly doesn't listen to what fans of this series would love and just created something that doesn't fit the story at all and that pisses me off. The story inside is still lovely though so no complaints there.

Writing style: SJM has this particular way of writing that you just can't help but love (as a fan of her work that is 😉)

Characters: Boy oh boy Feyre annoyed me so much. She starts of as a pretty interesting character but it goes downhill from there. She becomes whiny and her inner dialogue could use some work. Then at the end of the book she becomes a litttttle bit more interesting, but that's mostly due to the events happening and her having to be a badass or dying, not because Feyre is actually interesting 😂
Tamlin is a very weird male. I've read all the books already so I don't particularly like him right now because of all he's done, but I can remember that I didn't hate him in ACOTAR, I just always thought he was a weird dude 🤷🏻‍♀️
LUCIEN LUCIEN LUCIEN MY DARLING FOX BOI 😍
Rhysand is well... He's Rhysand... Trust me, you'll love him when you read the rest of this series, if you've only read ACOTAR... Well... He's not very likable in this book 🙊

Story: It's a beauty and the beast story with a lot of changes to the original tale which makes the story unique and I didn't have a clue what was gonna happen next. The strongest part of the book was the last part where everything the book has been building up to finally goes KABOOM. That is actually quite typical of a SJM novel now that I think about it 🤔

This book had its good moments and its boring moments but it was overall a great book and I will always recommend it to everyone who wants a good fae story! ACOTAR gets 4,5 stars from me.

This is one of my all time favourite books.

The writing is so rich and the world building is absolutely fantastic. Maas has a way of pulling you in and feeling as though you’re in that world along side the characters, I can picture it so clearly.

I love the development of the characters, Feyre more than anyone. She’s feisty to begin with but you see her go through so many different emotions and changes within herself.

I’m aware this book started out as a retelling of Beauty and the Beast and I’m so happy that it took its shape in such a unique way. It was so much darker than I ever could’ve imagined, specifically Under the Mountain.

I’m not keen on the new cover of this book, I have to admit. Although I can understand that these covers will appeal to those who avoid YA more when the new books come out!

The formatting came out particularly weird on my Kindle, which Bloomsbury warned about in their email, there were no spaces at all throughout the book. It was kind of difficult to read but I’ve read the first edition in the past so because of that it was doable!

Here I am people! I can hang out with the cool kids now that I’ve read the book. It felt like I was hiding in a cave until now, refusing to read Sarah J. Maas, thinking the hype is too forced. But to be honest, this book surprised me a lot. I enjoyed it with all my heart, and even though I wouldn’t cry and scream over it, I am very pleased that I read it, and I just can’t wait to read the rest of the series.

A Court of Thorns And Roses is a story about a young lady, Feyre, who is a huntress and goes out in the woods to hunt food. The more she hunts, the better her family can eat. And when one day she kills a wolf, she learns the hard way that killing a magical creature has its price…

She is imprisoned in an enchanted court and she is free to walk around, but not allowed to escape. The creature that captures her is a beast with fighting skills, with a mask on his face and piercing eyes that make her heart beat fast.

As Feyre starts to grow warmer about Tamlin, danger lies nearby and secrets are all over the place, and Tamlin and his kind might not be who she thought they were.

Fighting to break a curse that might make her lose her true love forever, Feyre must fight with all her forces, but she is just a weak human in this faerie world. Will she be able to make it?

I have to start with mentioning that the beginning was extremely slow and I was almost on the point of asking all of these people why they love this book so much. But once the plot started revealing itself, and a few twists happened straight away, I was glued to my sofa, reading page after page.

It gives us a slight resemblance of the Beauty and the Beast, even though the plot is quite different. There is a powerful beast who locks the girl, and they fall in love, but there is so much more twists, adventures and danger that I can’t compare them beyond that.

I loved Feyre, for the fierce woman she is. I loved the fight she had in herself, despite being a tiny human in a world of powerful magical creatures. I loved the fact that she would stand up for what she believes in, no matter the consequences, though sometimes, quite recklessly done.

I loved Tamlin, and his warmth despite his cold appearance. The way he cared for Feyre was so heartwarming and cute. The love they feel for each other, and those scenes that made me cry – I will cherish that!

I am not sure how I felt about the ending – it was a bit forced, and too soppy, but it opened a space for another book, which I will be reading soon.

A wonderful magical tale, a fierce woman, a fiercer love, and even fiercer danger, this one won’t let you sleep at night, and it will haunt you to find answers. A true masterpiece!

I absolutely adore this! An intricately-woven fantasy romance story that will capture you from the beginning! There’s so much heart to this story and the characters are divine; Maas did an excellent job creating a fleshed our cast of characters to invest in. Maas doesn’t shy away from the romance but it’s so essential to the story and works well alongside the epic tale and action. 5 stars.

Never mess with faeries. It's rule number one for books like this isn't it? And Feyre obviously hasn't read as many of these books as we have because that's exactly what she does within the first two chapters.

Once, there was a village not so different to the average village. Except it was ruled by faerie overlords, of sorts. But the faeries became greedy and cruel; they abused the villagers and eventually fled the village leaving the village in disrepair and the villagers were left with little but fear and hatred of the Fey. Despite the reduced numbers, Feyre is unlucky enough to put herself in the debt of the Fey and is forced to leave her family to fend for themselves and follow the Fey into their territory to repay her debts.

Honestly, until a good way into this book it didn't even register with me that this was a redo of Beauty and the Beast - because it really is so different. So much so, I think it could have developed into quite a lot of different, interesting stories before it became this retelling. This is what I think makes it unique. Most retellings I find so boring; we already know the story so you've got to really impress to make it something different and worth reading. But this was just that.

There are a number of things that made this book unique and enjoyable when typically it shouldn't have been. The world building is fantastic. This is my first book from this author but it certainly won't be my last now - she made my imagination go crazy. The world that Feyre comes from initially is bleak, typically dystopian and relatively loveless and although it was well written, very much so, I started to see that typical pattern and my attention was lost a bit. But I was so wrong because the world beyond the wall is not uninteresting or typical at all. It is beautiful, exciting and full of mysteries. I loved that there are different kinds of faeries in this book in all sorts of forms from ordinary animals to eccentric and fantastical creatures. This was so exciting and meant that you just never knew who to trust.

The characters were a selling point for me also. Tamlin is a fantastic beast, very well developed, mysterious enough to keep me interested and an easy book crush. The problem I had was more with Feyre I think. I did like her. She's an observant narrator and she's feisty, which makes for a fun read. Unfortunately she felt a bit two dimensional. I really wanted to love her and feel connected to her story but if I'm honest, I wanted to hear about the faeries much much more.

Another small issue I had was that, despite how much is happening throughout the book (because it's full of action) the story doesn't ever develop past the initial change in scenery. I think because we stay in one place the entire time a lot of opportunity was missed to really get my imagination going and to fully build on the world of faeries in each "realm".

Despite this, this is a fantastic read. Once I realised this was a retelling I expected to know what was coming. And there are moments you can guess at if you know the classic tale, but it's so far removed from it that I was actually surprised quite a lot. There are a fair few twists and turns to stop you getting bored and too trusting in your knowledge of the old story we love. I've not enjoyed a retelling ever, until now, and that is testament to how strong this book is. I definitely recommend it, especially if you've never read a book by this author before because she writes beautifully.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas is a thrilling beginning to a fantastic fantasy series. I thoroughly enjoyed this book from beginning to end. There are fae, magic and lots of action and adventure. There are multiple settings in this story and the imagery evoked is wonderful. The character descriptions were deep and relatable. There were in fact many twists and turns and many a plot twist that I did not expect. The ending was quite a shock which I enjoyed as I couldn't wait to pick up the sequel. This book is easy to read and exciting.

This book is outstanding! I don't have a bad word to say against it. I already knew I was going to love it, and it still went beyond my expectations.

Sarah J Maas' way of world building is amazing. The atmosphere of each place seemed effortlessly woven into their descriptions. Within seconds, a scene that glum would be fittingly changed into an enchanting world we'd all want to live in. Elements of danger would appear so suddenly that you would feel the same shock as the character. The imagery was stunning, everything laid out in front of you like a picture.

It was so easy to connect to the characters. Each person was complex, with layers upon layers to their personality and background. Everyone had a significant role. The emotions were so strong you felt them yourself, feeling like you're living the story.

The story itself was woven together so well. You learn details as Feyre (the main character) discovers them, again making it seem like you're living the story. As the first book in a trilogy, it was well - paced and allowed enough excitement for the rest of the series.

One of the best books I have ever read!! Truly amazing!! Will certainly be reading anything with Sarah J Maas name on in the future !!

This book revolves around Feyre, the youngest daughter who is burdened with the responsibility of supporting her crippled father and two sisters until an unexpected twist of fate will change her world forever.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book, although it does start slowly it delivers a fantastic story line, and a host of lovable (and love to hate) characters. By 20% there will be no putting in down, I was lost in Prythian with no sign of return. The minute I finished i went out and bought the 2nd instalment.

An absolute must read for those who love, fae fantasy romance.