Fictional Book Boyfriends pt 8

The month of Freedom is here!!! And you know what that means... Suns out Guns out. Tank tops will be out in full force! God Bless living in a southern beach state am I right??? This also means that it's another month we get to talk about our favorite topic; fictional book boyfriends. Some also refer to these as dream-cast or as of most recently Iflist. We get to slap some mandsome faces to some of the fictional leading guys in the books we've been reading. To see reviews for these books all you have to do is their titles and to see our past post just click here. 

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh 

King takes a different bride every night and then kills her the following dawn.

Nicolas Simoes as Khalid

Swoon! What a lady killer!!!...  Wait? Too soon???

Velvet by Temple West 

Girl gets vampire bodyguard who thinks dating is their best cover story.

Nick Palladino as Adrian

Wouldn't mind a flash-back to 1999 and doing a Drive Me Crazy movie theme with this hottie.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
The smutty and oh so good version of Beauty and the Beast.

Drew Van-Acker as Tamlin

Feel free to perform whatever freaky earth replenishing ceremony you want on us.

Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider

Guy suffering incurable disease gets sent to live in a home with others suffering.

Evan Peters as Lane 
*cough cough* suddenly feeling a little ill.

 Just Listen by Sarah Dessen 
Reformed truth obsessed bad-boy helps girl face old friends. 

Max Irons as Owen
 Seriously what girl doesn't like a bad boy...

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Like some other recent releases, this is probably one of the most hyped books we will get this year. Sarah J. Maas rocks out with her Throne of Glass series, so this separate novel was promoted like crazy. I won't like, I was pretty skeptical. I waited until after the book had been released and had a respectable number of reviews before deciding to buy it. In some of the reviews, the story was compared to Beauty and the Beast and/or the story of Hades and Persephone. I'll just go ahead and throw it out there that I don't like fairytale retellings. I haven't read Cinder or any of the likes because I really just don't like retellings. It's just one of those things. But because I love SJM and Angela read and loved the book so much, I figured I'd give it a shot.

I actually really, really liked this book. As I was reading, I didn't find myself comparing it to other stories as you might in a normal retelling because the plot and characters are SO unique. Feyre is one of those characters who is super relatable because of the struggles she has faced in her life. Basically, her life has sucked. She has been given the D end of every stick because of this bogus promise she made to her mom on her deathbed. When things start getting crazy after Feyre kills a Fae wolf and one of the Fae's friends comes to claim the person who took his life. From there she gets whisked away to the land of Fae and has to spend the rest of her life living with this guy as punishment. She is very realistic in the way that she worries about her family, but also selfishly worries that no one will remember her. That tugged on my heart strings because I think it is a fear of pretty much everyone that they will die or disappear and no one will even remember they existed.

You can kind of guess where the story is going to go right from the bat (as far as the romance). You know that Tamlin is going to be her love interest, so there is no spoilers there. The love story is SO sweet. What these two do for each other is breathtaking, and I will absolutely add it to my list of best love stories. There is a part of the book where everything is laid out on the table by a different character and everything is explained..... and it was just beautiful. The sacrifices that are made and decisions that are made really show what true love is.

The book dragged on a bit during the middle, but I get it. During the meaty part of the book, there is a lot of relationship building so it is a necessary thing. Once you get over the hump of the slow parts, things start going crazy. Whatever you think is going to happen, just go ahead and throw it out the window. The direction that SJM takes it was completely not even on the realm of anything that I could have possible thought when I started the book. I kept asking Angela questions and trying to get her to give me spoilers, but everything that I asked or predicted that was going to happen was immediately shot down. I saw why once I got close to end. I really liked how I had NO idea how it was going to end.

One of the best things about ACOTAR is the sub-characters. Lucien, Alis, Nesta, and so many others really took things to the next level. They added so much depth to the story and really made the picture of their world feel complete. There was one character in particular that I didn't care for that I know a lot of people liked which is Rhys. I just didn't like his part of the story. I like him as a character and I really hope he has more about him if there is a sequel. I just didn't like how SJM incorporated him into Feyre's life, and I feel like it could have been left out of the book and been fine. I think having him there and how everything goes down at the end, it left me with more questions than answers for the big picture.

That brings me to the ending... I love the HEA, but things sort of just end. Leading up its like BANG BANG BANG ACTION ACTION ACTION then the big thing happens and everyone is like "k it's over bye!" It was just kind of an odd ending, especially the last paragraph that deals with Rhys. Again, I think this is going to be a series instead of a standalone so I'm sure things will make more since in the sequel. I was just super into it and read like 300pages in two hours and was completely absorbed in the story and then it just.... ended. I was just left feeling like "oh...... ok. That's cool, I guess."

Overall, this is an excellent book. I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of high fantasy or if you just love SJM's writing in general. This book was no exception to her beautiful writing. You'll find yourself on the edge of your seat at times, wanting to go jump in the shower during the scandy times, swooning over the hotties, and yelling at the book when the plot takes an unexpected twist. While it isn't one of my absolute favorites that I have read this year, the love story is one of my favorites. I would recommend reading it for Feyre and Tamlin's love story alone. It'll have you swooning all over the place. Hearts hearts hearts.

4/5 stars

Fictional Book Boyfriends pt 7

It's that time again!!!!! We put some faces too the names in our books!  Here are our June picks for "fictional book boyfriends" or as some call them "dream-cast" and most recently "IfList". We basically pick a few of our favorite titles and show you who we imagined the leading men to be.

Click the titles to go to the reviews and click here for past post.

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Love triangle forms between shadowhunting best friends and a mystery girl.

 

 

Joe Collier as Will Herondale 

We'd gladly go into a Vampire party if this slice of handsome was escorting us.

Mario Maurer as Jem Carstairs

We'd like to be the ham in this man sandwich.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas 

The smutty and oh so good version of Beauty and the Beast 

Ken Bek as Lucien 

Not even a robotic eye could keep this guy from looking all sorts of fine.

After by Anna Todd 

Girl and guy go back and forth in a non-stop love hate relationship.

Joshua Anthony Brand as Hardin Scott

We just wanna Live While Were Young with this babe.

Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover 

Two musical neighbors lust after one another, but of course something is keep them apart.

Brendan Dooling as Ridge

Someone please tell us how to sign "I want your babies".

 

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

When 19-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. She is forced to go live with the beast, but he is more that what meets the eye.
 
SARAH J MASS DOES IT AGAIN!!!! KNOCKED MY FREAKING SOCKS OFF AND WITH A STORY RE-TELLING?!!!!

I hate story re-tellings!!! I hate them but this, this master piece is no Beauty and the Beast. I'm just gonna jump right into everything and just a little warning: I'm so sorry if this seems like I'm frantically flapping around on my keyboard, but I'm just that excited.

I was so worried that this book would have a plot too close to Throne of Glass and that the characters would also bare that same fate... But thank the literary gods above that didn't happen. Yes, Maas still gives us swoon worthy gents and a strong leading fem, but they are not at all like the cast of ToG. Our leading lass is Feyre, and man oh man did I love her. I loved that though she is strong she isn't doing it for herself or because that's who she is, she's doing to because it's what needs to be done. This is what made her character for me. She does everything for everyone and expects nothing in return. Her character starts as a strong huntress and turns into something more. She has the head strong will of a warrior and the heart of an artist. I loved that Maas gave her so much depth and let us get so deep into her brain that her feelings become your feelings. As for Feyre's love interested she gives us the heart twist-swoon worthy-deep-thoughtful-man candy that is Tamlin. Oh Tamlin will have you weak in the knees and have your loins aflame (seriously blushed so much during this book). He literately has so much weight on his shoulders and still stands tall. He is willing to give up everything to make sure shes okay. I kid y'all not I never ever use the word "ship" for couples, but as they say there's a first for everything and.... I SHIP THEM!!! I SHIP THEM SO HARD! YOU SEE THAT SPOT OVER THERE IN THE DISTANCE THAT IS THEIR SHIP AND IT IS SAILING!!!  

Can't stress enough how much I loved their relationship. I love that this book is based around it and its growth. They have such a push and pull. I love that one has everything and one is holding on to anything. How they play off each other is so well written. Also had my brain rocked by how Maas stepped up her sexy game in this book... Because its like a sauna in there! Whoosh so good! *Round of applause* .The sub characters like the rest of the story are so well done. Lucien, Tam's best friend, has got to be one of my favorites in this book. His loyalty won me over. Plus he isn't so bad on the eyes if ya get what I mean... At one point I even remember saying "I don't know who I like more Teen Wolf or the Sexy Fox with one eye"... Yeah, Maas makes having one eye even sound hot! The evil Queen in this book was the perfect amount of mystery and you will hate her. And then there's Rhysand... There's not much I'll say about him, but what I will say is that even when Maas gives you characters you're suppose to hate you still end up falling in love with them.

“Be glad of your human heart, Feyre. Pity those who don’t feel anything at all.”

The plot and world building in this book are so beyond what a lot of other authors would have given us. There are so many vivid details, so many beautifully painted scenes, and so many perfectly peeled layers. I was never once left to question what the world looked like (or characters), and I was thankful for this. Sometimes I do like to fill in the holes with my own ideas but not when it comes to high fantasy reads like this one. The plot is action packed. We have this heavy start to the book, a world building middle, and a jam slammed action packed ending. Because let me tell you when everything comes together and everything is slowly shown you will tossing your book in the air or punching your kindles in their faces... You will freak out! It's like the end scene to Inception where that heavy DOM DOM music starts playing and the dream is collapsing and everything just falls together for this epic ending! Even the things you know are coming will still rock you to your bones. Maas gives you this heart filled, gut wrenching, wtf ending that I myself couldn't of been happier about. I ate this story up!!!! The plot is just as strong as the characters, and I'm so glad this wasn't a let down. Maas perfectly blends both the YA and NA worlds into this one book. This is a book that will make your heart race and make you want to lose those precise few hours of sleep just to snag a few more chapters... And it'll be worth it too!
 A Court of Thorns and Roses was the tits.

 10/10 Stars
-Angela