A Court of Thorns and Roses

You know when people come on MN saying they just don't get Taylor Swift. That is me with ACOTAR. I just don't get the hype. It's terrible. I gave up half way through the second book. The relationship dynamics are awful. It's clear she wrote it when she was young and I can imagine other young people who haven't got tired and jaded by 25 years of unhealthy relationships love it. Meanwhile, I want to scream at the main character to bin off all of the men in her life and get on the freedom programme!!

Has anyone read Divine Rivals? It's a lot sweeter, but I really enjoyed it.

P.C Cast has some interesting shall we say fantasy novels with strong female leads. It was years ago that I read it, but the Divine trilogy is good. Starts with a woman at a car boot sale buying a vase and being transported to another realm where she is a godess.

The Zodiac Academy books as mentioned upthread are good, but pace yourself. I was lent them by a friend and literally flew through 1-7 and gave up half way through 8 as I'd just read and read. Needs to be broken up by other story's or you will get a book hangover

Not so much sexy fantasy but the Caraval and Once Upon A Broken Heart series' by Stephanie Garber are fantastic

The Kingdom series by Keri Maniscalo is really good, that's basically the 7 deadly sins are the prince's of hell and it has witches and lots fun. Actually all of her books are enjoyable the Stalking Jack The Ripper series is fun.

A Curse So Dark And Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer is a Beauty And The Beast style but she's strong and the subsequent books in the series pull away from Beauty And The Beast and give a bit more meat.

I've just finished Belladonna by Adalyn Grace, she is a woman who can't die and eats Belladonna seeds to meet death and they fall in love just waiting on book 2 to arrive and book 3 to be released in paperback.

Lightlark and Nightbane by Alex Aster are on my tbr as are Bitterthorn by Kat Dunn, The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten, Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller and A Touch Of Darkness by Scarlett St Clair which has been mentioned upthread.

I've yet to read any S.J Maas but a couple of friends highly recommend.

Yup. She can't write for shit either.

I couldn't force my way through it, it was shit.

@Mothership4two I really liked the Throne of Glass series but I think she used up all her good writing on it and ACOTAR got the dregs.

I just couldn't care about most of the characters and ended up forcing myself to finish the series for no good reason, I wished I'd just googled spoilers instead.

Some of the sex scenes really made me cringe, I just had to skip over them.

Give up OP, there are better books out there!

When she says ‘Give me everything’ to Tamlin all I could think of was that Pitbull/Ne-Yo song.

Who the fuck purrs anyway.

Funny, I also abandoned the first book midway through today. Felt like the first few chapters actually had a lot of promise.

reminded me a bit of the Twilight series, how she fell in love with Edward then was she going to fall in love with Jacob, I got half way through and gave up

The problem I find with Maas is that her books are premised on old powerful men getting together with very young women. I haven’t read crescent city but in the other two series, that’s the deal.

Yes, they are listed as Young Adult I think, it’s a bit of escapism really.

Not read any Sarah J Maas, but all of her book series are in the teenage section of my local library system...

^^this

In book two she turns everything on its head (which I felt didn't fit with book one) but it's an OK read. After that the series goes downhill (IMO). And the steamy sex bits all felt a bit juvenile (again IMO).

I really enjoyed it, I am halfway through the second book which is definitely better than the first.

For sexy fantasy I always recommend the Zodiac Academy series by Susanne Valenti & Caroline Peckham. And literally everything else they've ever written. They're phenomenal. (Though some of their series are reverse harem so those may possibly not be for everyone)
It sounds like a very YA title but the actual storyline is much more mature than the title suggests. The bullying/ cruelty is quite intense in the first few books but the FMCs take no shit.
The authors have managed to strike -in my opinion- the perfect balance of action, darkness, humour and spice.

I'm trying to get through the second book currently and struggling.

I'm thoroughly enjoying A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St Clair which is a Hades x Persephone storyline

I was looking for similar after reading Fourth Wing and its sequel Iron Flame, which I really enjoyed. I tried A Court of Thorns and Roses and didn't like it at all. Aside from the issues you mention, I just thought it was badly written and the characters unconvincing.

Yes, keep going!!

SPOILERS!!

I shouldn't have read this to DD...

She says ACOTAR is a beauty and the beast retelling SPOILER. Once you read book 2, Feyre comes into her own power and realises the cage she has been put in. She meets more people and grows as her own person and this is supposed to represent the growth in maturity and how what she wanted when she was poor and starving is different to what she wants when she has options.

Please continue reading - it is one of the best series and also is relevant to CC if you decide to read that by SJM also

I regretted starting that series. Just give up, it's not worth it!

Try the Crescent City series she wrote instead (as per previous post). Very strong female lead, lots and lots of sex!

Same @Shan5474. I haven’t actually read this book but I did read the first Haunting Adeline book and a small percentage of the second book and I think they’re similar. Those books were so horrid I felt compelled to write a book review for the first time ever. I somewhat understand rape fantasies but not actual rape and sex trafficking in an erotica book. Both those books were also written by women. It’s an incredibly worrying trend to see those books trending on TikTok and Instagram when they make a mockery of the trauma of rape. It’s hard enough for victims to be believed without books such as these making out that it’s what women secretly want.