Why did I put off reading this book for so long! It’s been on my Kindle since it’s Bookbub ad, which was a million months ago. I just never felt like I was in the mood for a Young Adult novel.

A Young Adult novel.

After reading this book, I had to jump online to make sure I wasn’t wrong about the genre, but no. Right there on Amazon, it’s listed as Young Adult. Also, the cover looks YA to me. LOVE the covers, by the way, but I just have certain expectations when I open a YA novel.

This book did not fall in line with those expectations. At all. And that’s the best thing ever!

I freaking loved this book and the characters and the world and the story. One reason I don’t often read YA is because it rarely goes THERE with the romance. There’s angst and kissing and maybe a little bit more, but I want an adult relationship. After finishing the first book (and immediately buying the second), I had to make sure it wasn’t mislabled on Amazon. I went to Sarah. J. Maas’s website. Even then, it still wasn’t obvious that this was YA. Her site says New York Times Bestselling Author, not YA author or anything that confirmed the genre.

So I clicked over onto her events. She’s visiting MIDDLE SCHOOLS and high schools.

This is a YA book marketed to a YA audience.

*chin drop*

Yall, I am so, so hesitant to recommend my Shadow Reader books to high schoolers. There’s cursing in them (which I’m fine with for YA), and when you read through a certain amount of the story, there’s s m e x!

But ohmyfreakinggosh the s m e x scene I wrote is so tame compared to these books! I just… I’m still astounded that this is YA.

I’m not ranting because I’m some old fuddy duddy; I’m ranting because I waited so long to read this book BECAUSE it’s YA.

How am I supposed to know which YA books will appeal to me and which won’t? There’s absolutely nothing that distinguishes this story from adult fantasy romance, a genre which I freaking love.

Curse you publishers and your marketing teams! You made this book YA because young adult girls are rabid for this type of romance. It was a money decision and…and… ugh, I guess that’s okay, but still! This book should have been marketed to me!

*grumble, grumble*

Okay. Now that I got that off my chest, maybe I should review the book.

VERY HUGE SPOILERS BELOW. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE FIRST TWO BOOKS! SERIOUSLY!

It’s fantastic. lol Feyre is a human on the brink of starvation. She kills a wolf, that ended up being a fae, and so she must atone for her crime by living at the Spring Court on the other side of a magical wall. Fae are strong and vicious, so humans fear and loathe them. Feyre, of course, learns that not all of them are horrible, and she falls in love with the High Fae of the Spring Court. And bad things happen.

I loved Tamlin as much as Feyre did. And the ending… man it was brutal and beautiful. And I still don’t know what I think about what Feyre did. I mean, how do you do that? Could I have done that?

Well, the answer is definitely no, because I knew the answer to Amarantha’s riddle the first second she said it!

GRRRR! That was my only grrr in the book because it was so damn obvious. Like, really? You’re going to fall in love with Tamlin and NOT know that answer? I know other things were on your mind, Feyre, and you were a little scared and hurt and stressed out, but still. So. Damn. Obvious.

Ahem.

Anyway, by the end of the book, I was… curious about Rhysand. And a little leery of continuing on with the next book. Because I kind of liked him. But I loved Tamlin. And Feyre loved Tamlin. Were we entering love triangle territory here? Because there was no way the author could pull that off. It was absolutely obvious that Feyre would choose Tamlin because she’d KILLED for him.

But woah. The beginning of the next book.

What a huge, huge risk the author took! Because I freaking despised Tamlin right alongside Feyre. He’s like the guy you don’t know is abusive until the day after your wedding date. I mean, seriously? How did he go from being so perfect and great and wonderful to such a freaking asshole.

Poor Feyre.

I was very resentful when Rhysand came back into the story. Resentful because I liked him, but I’d loved Tamlin and Tamlin was obvious THE guy. There had to be a reason Tamlin was acting like such a punk. Or prick,in Feyre’s words.

When it seemed obvious we were in the midst of a love triangle, I was mad because Rhysand is the bad guy, and I always have a soft spot for those guys even though the character always chooses the good, “right” guy (Edward (ugh!), Stefan, etc). I just KNEW I’d be in for a disappointment if I fell for Rhysand. So I resisted and waited for the catch.

And then Feyre wrote to Tamlin and said she was never going back.

And she meant it!

I was like, woah. Is this really over? Seriously? No love triangle? We’re just ending a relationship you’d KILLED for and starting a new one? *chin drop*

It’s a damn good thing I love Rhys and his family.

As for Feyre… man, she’s a total badass now! Her new magic! The water wolves! Bad. Ass. I loved it!

The ending pained me, mostly because I couldn’t stop reading and my eyes are seriously having trouble staring at words for long amounts of time. And I really, really want/need/have to read the third book! I’m still holding out hope for Tamlin to be a good guy, because I still really liked him and want that whole episode at the beginning of book two to just be a terrible mistake, but it’s looking like I’m gonna want him to die a long, horrible death. lol

I want to start the next book right this second, but this is the kind of book that makes me put my life on hold to finish it, and since I’m a freaking “adult,” I can’t do that.

Wish I was a teen again so I could read all day long. And be marketed to.