A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

 5/5 Stars ★★★★★

Published by Bloomsbury Children's

Published May 5th, 2015 

Synopsis: When nineteen year old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin - one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it ... or doom Tamlin - and his world - forever. 

I honestly have no words that could give this book justice. Sarah J. Maas has become one of my favorite fantasy writers within the span of this year and I expected nothing but great things from this book. Not only did I receive what I wanted, but I got even more. A Court of Thorns and Roses was mesmerizing and irresistible, composed of elegant writing and intricate characters. After being able to finally fit this read into the last two weeks of December, I can proudly say that it has kicked and punched it's way to my list of best reads of 2015. 

Sarah J. Maas is wonderful at bringing a world to life in a small span of time. You are immediately thrown into this world, yet it seems as if you have been eased and coaxed gently into it simply because the detailing of it is so precise and specific. Conjuring up the backdrop to this book was so smooth; I didn't question one aspect of Sarah's depiction, which is one of the reasons why I love her writing so much. Besides this, SJM is excellent at providing vivid emotional projections. You can feel every ounce of passion, lust, anger, and love a character is feeling and it just makes the connection with these characters that much more intense and real.

What I ultimately enjoyed the most about this book was that we really got to learn about the characters and watch them really grow into such diverse beings. Since the main conflict of this plot was not really brought to light until further on in the story, SJM really took her time in building this world and providing background information, which I thought was great. Along with that, we got to watch the characters develop such strong bonds between each other. If I may add, I have never swooned over so many guys in a book before, so if that doesn't make you want to read this then I don't know what will. Tamlin and Lucien, my little tag team, they made my heart constantly flutter and I can only imagine how cute these two would be in real life. 

A Court of Thorns and Roses is definitely what I wanted to read to end my year. If you're a fantasy lover and a sucker for a lusty romance, then this book is entirely for you. It was completely unbelievable the amount of times I had to stop to catch my breath, or the amount of times I caught myself smiling at the page like a fool. This book was certainly too short for me and the sequel, A Court of Mist and Fury, is too far away. I hope you pick up this book and enjoy it is as much as I did!