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maddy4prezident's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
One of my all-time favorites, a go-to comfort book. The world is so special, the characters are all so strong and perfectly flawed, and the atmosphere is magical and dark and lovely.
Content Warnings
Minor: Stalking, Death of parent, and Sexual assault
oldladysadie's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Re-read this book after first reading it in high school around 15 years ago now. This book is like junk food for me - it’s essentially Twilight vibes with a stronger protagonist, IMO. The romance is super tropey in a fun way, and I burned through the re-read in under a day. I remember loving Book 2 - excited to revisit it next!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Stalking, Drug use, Death of parent, and Sexual assault
nannahnannah's review against another edition
2.0
I almost want to shelve this as "horror". It's not a typical horror book in that there aren't jump scares, there aren't obviously hideous monsters or gore, and there isn't any psychological thriller elements. What's horrific about this book, however, is how the book handles consent.
So this book is supposedly about a 17-year-old girl named Aislinn, who grew up with the Sight--that is, she can see fairies. And for some reason, fairies are stalking her. But . . . really, this book is more like a cheap soap opera where she loves pierced dude, but other dude wants her to love him, and his ex still loves him, and maybe he'll try to find someone to tempt the pierced dude away from her, but his evil mom doesn't want any of this to happen and ?? I expected this to be a "real" fairy book, and I get some cheap high school drama (emphasis on the cheap)?
What makes this book even more cheap is that the villain, the Winter Queen, is laughable. She's not intimidating; she's just annoying. She goes around making threats, calling everyone "darling", but never really does anything to prevent what she obviously doesn't want to happen. Usually villains are pretty proactive, keeping the MC from fulfilling their goals, but this villain just strides around making icicles and petty threats.
I'll get to the consent issues, but first I need to talk about Aislinn, the MC. The character I'm supposed to cheer for, feel for, etc. She's another one of those characters who just makes stupid decisions so the plot can move forward. I lost count of the number of times I had to put the book down to roll my eyes.
Example #1: Aislinn doesn't like the Summer King. At all. Doesn't want anything to do with him. BUT. Thinks it's an ok idea to meet him at a carnival alone in the name of "finding out what he wants from her," drinks fairy wine, and dances with him. It's just so transparent? Written to get to the next plot point, obviously. At this part, I really didn't want to read on.
Example #2: SpoilerThe Summer King finds out who Aislinn's "Grams" is, and that he pretty much killed Aislinn's mother (and Grams's daughter). Ok. So then Aislinn and the Summer King just decide to leave Grams's house, without thinking of taking Grams to a safe place or placing guards in front of the house, even though they know how much fairies gossip? So of course, Grams gets hurt. Because the story needs Aislinn to be motivated. It's a weak-assed attempt at creating tension in like half a page.
Most of this is because of the writing failing, I understand . . . especially since the writing fails for other characters too, like when characters had extremely awkward dialogue because what they said was information purely for the audience. It was obvious these characters already knew the information they were spewing (such as the Winter Queen telling someone the rules of the plot, etc.).
One more thing before I get to my main complaint: usually endings are packed full of tension and move fast to keep readers transfixed. But oh no, not this book's ending. Tension drops. Near the very end before what's supposed to be the climax, Aislinn and the Summer King decide to make a social call and chat with Aislinn's boyfriend, who even makes some rice. To quote Aislinn's inner dialogue, "WTF"?
Okay. Here we are: consent.
I could tell things were going to be rocky when Aislinn was sexually assaulted in order to meet a fairy. This introduction could have happened so many other ways, but this author chose to go this direction, which is just lazy and unappealing writing.
The plot turns out to be the Summer King trying to woo Aislinn (pretty much against her will), and more than halfway through, the dude hadn't even thought about whether or not he'd actually be good for her (he states constantly how good she'd be for him though)! And then one of his advisors basically say make her say yes even if the method is unpalatable. All of this is gross and lazy.
"You were born to belong to me." (p.224)
This Summer King is also a character who needed to see a fairy sexually assaulted in front of him to realize it was wrong. How messed up is that, storytelling-wise? Because as a reader, all of this is shown in detail. Yuck.
But then Aislinn's boyfriend actually talks about consent. About how if Aislinn took something, if she was drunk or high, that she CANNOT CONSENT, which is SUPER IMPORTANT, especially in a YA book. Which goes against what's happening in the book, so I'm really confused?
In the end, SpoilerAislinn eventually becomes the Summer Queen, even if she doesn't love her King and even if she still stays with her boyfriend. Which means . . . the Summer King's harassment worked. Which means it's ok to not listen to a girl saying "no" to a guy's advancements.
I just don't get this book's conflicting messages and I don't feel comfortable with it.
So this book is supposedly about a 17-year-old girl named Aislinn, who grew up with the Sight--that is, she can see fairies. And for some reason, fairies are stalking her. But . . . really, this book is more like a cheap soap opera where she loves pierced dude, but other dude wants her to love him, and his ex still loves him, and maybe he'll try to find someone to tempt the pierced dude away from her, but his evil mom doesn't want any of this to happen and ?? I expected this to be a "real" fairy book, and I get some cheap high school drama (emphasis on the cheap)?
What makes this book even more cheap is that the villain, the Winter Queen, is laughable. She's not intimidating; she's just annoying. She goes around making threats, calling everyone "darling", but never really does anything to prevent what she obviously doesn't want to happen. Usually villains are pretty proactive, keeping the MC from fulfilling their goals, but this villain just strides around making icicles and petty threats.
I'll get to the consent issues, but first I need to talk about Aislinn, the MC. The character I'm supposed to cheer for, feel for, etc. She's another one of those characters who just makes stupid decisions so the plot can move forward. I lost count of the number of times I had to put the book down to roll my eyes.
Example #1: Aislinn doesn't like the Summer King. At all. Doesn't want anything to do with him. BUT. Thinks it's an ok idea to meet him at a carnival alone in the name of "finding out what he wants from her," drinks fairy wine, and dances with him. It's just so transparent? Written to get to the next plot point, obviously. At this part, I really didn't want to read on.
Example #2: SpoilerThe Summer King finds out who Aislinn's "Grams" is, and that he pretty much killed Aislinn's mother (and Grams's daughter). Ok. So then Aislinn and the Summer King just decide to leave Grams's house, without thinking of taking Grams to a safe place or placing guards in front of the house, even though they know how much fairies gossip? So of course, Grams gets hurt. Because the story needs Aislinn to be motivated. It's a weak-assed attempt at creating tension in like half a page.
Most of this is because of the writing failing, I understand . . . especially since the writing fails for other characters too, like when characters had extremely awkward dialogue because what they said was information purely for the audience. It was obvious these characters already knew the information they were spewing (such as the Winter Queen telling someone the rules of the plot, etc.).
One more thing before I get to my main complaint: usually endings are packed full of tension and move fast to keep readers transfixed. But oh no, not this book's ending. Tension drops. Near the very end before what's supposed to be the climax, Aislinn and the Summer King decide to make a social call and chat with Aislinn's boyfriend, who even makes some rice. To quote Aislinn's inner dialogue, "WTF"?
Okay. Here we are: consent.
I could tell things were going to be rocky when Aislinn was sexually assaulted in order to meet a fairy. This introduction could have happened so many other ways, but this author chose to go this direction, which is just lazy and unappealing writing.
The plot turns out to be the Summer King trying to woo Aislinn (pretty much against her will), and more than halfway through, the dude hadn't even thought about whether or not he'd actually be good for her (he states constantly how good she'd be for him though)! And then one of his advisors basically say make her say yes even if the method is unpalatable. All of this is gross and lazy.
"You were born to belong to me." (p.224)
This Summer King is also a character who needed to see a fairy sexually assaulted in front of him to realize it was wrong. How messed up is that, storytelling-wise? Because as a reader, all of this is shown in detail. Yuck.
But then Aislinn's boyfriend actually talks about consent. About how if Aislinn took something, if she was drunk or high, that she CANNOT CONSENT, which is SUPER IMPORTANT, especially in a YA book. Which goes against what's happening in the book, so I'm really confused?
In the end, SpoilerAislinn eventually becomes the Summer Queen, even if she doesn't love her King and even if she still stays with her boyfriend. Which means . . . the Summer King's harassment worked. Which means it's ok to not listen to a girl saying "no" to a guy's advancements.
I just don't get this book's conflicting messages and I don't feel comfortable with it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
ifbookscouldkell's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
rebelbooks101's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I’ve finally finished a book! Yay! And I really liked it too. I’ve been in a slump for a while and everything I’ve picked up I’ve either dnfed or just felt meh about but I picked this up on a whim and was really surprised by it.
In this story we follow Aislinn who can see faeries but she’s always been told to ignore them as she believes they are bad and will cause her harm. Keenan, the summer king believes Aislinn is the summer queen who will save them all so he tries to get close to her so she can become the summer queen while Aislinn stays away. Aislinn gets help from her best friend Seth, who she also has feelings for, to help with her faerie problems.
I’ve wanted to read a faerie book for a while and I’ve had this sitting on my shelf for a little while. I have been struggling to pick up a contemporary so I decided to pick up a fantastical story that had a friends to lovers ship in it. I will pick up anything with a friends to lovers ship in it as it is my favourite trope.
The first half of the book I liked more than the second half. It was fun and entertaining and I really enjoyed it. The second half was slower and just built to this anti climactic ending. I know this is a first book in a series but the ending just felt kind of easy.
I really liked the friends to lovers ship in this. It was so cute! I’m such a sucker for the trope and these two made me happy. They had a mutual pining thing going on and I really liked how it was written! I also loved how supportive Seth was to Aislinn even when things changed for him. He was always so respectful and supportive which I really loved.
My only complaint is Keenan. While I did like him at the end of the book and I did get his motives, I really felt it unnecessary the way he pushed himself onto Aislinn after she said no multiple times. To add to that he kissed her without consent when she was drunk and blacking out which made me very uncomfortable. I also just don’t like when characters force the meant to be thing.
Overall I did really enjoy this book and I would recommend it if you’re looking for a fun book about faeries!
In this story we follow Aislinn who can see faeries but she’s always been told to ignore them as she believes they are bad and will cause her harm. Keenan, the summer king believes Aislinn is the summer queen who will save them all so he tries to get close to her so she can become the summer queen while Aislinn stays away. Aislinn gets help from her best friend Seth, who she also has feelings for, to help with her faerie problems.
I’ve wanted to read a faerie book for a while and I’ve had this sitting on my shelf for a little while. I have been struggling to pick up a contemporary so I decided to pick up a fantastical story that had a friends to lovers ship in it. I will pick up anything with a friends to lovers ship in it as it is my favourite trope.
The first half of the book I liked more than the second half. It was fun and entertaining and I really enjoyed it. The second half was slower and just built to this anti climactic ending. I know this is a first book in a series but the ending just felt kind of easy.
I really liked the friends to lovers ship in this. It was so cute! I’m such a sucker for the trope and these two made me happy. They had a mutual pining thing going on and I really liked how it was written! I also loved how supportive Seth was to Aislinn even when things changed for him. He was always so respectful and supportive which I really loved.
My only complaint is Keenan. While I did like him at the end of the book and I did get his motives, I really felt it unnecessary the way he pushed himself onto Aislinn after she said no multiple times. To add to that he kissed her without consent when she was drunk and blacking out which made me very uncomfortable. I also just don’t like when characters force the meant to be thing.
Overall I did really enjoy this book and I would recommend it if you’re looking for a fun book about faeries!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
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