a court of frost and starlight — Blog

Hi friends! It’s already the end of March, and may I say that it absolutely flew by. I hope you all had a lovely month, despite the ongoing disruptions to life all around the globe. I know Melbourne is doing well at the moment, but to all of you still stuck at home, we know how you feel and hopefully, it’ll be safe for you to all venture further than your immediate surroundings soon ❤️

I always love March, it’s the first month of Autumn so we always have a lovely combination of lingering warmth and crisp cool mornings. It’s my favourite month, and my favourite season and honestly, I’ve had a really great month (other than the fact that I got a cold 🙄). I turned 23 this month and got spoilt by my friends and my family beyond my wildest expectations, and I am so thankful for the people I have in my life! I also had a bunch of FaceTime calls with the wonderful new friends in my life Hannah and Erica, and it was hard to shut us up! The calls were such highlights of this month and I can’t wait for many more, including our party watch of the Lizzy McGuire movie that I’m so excited about since it’s the best movie.

Okay, I’ll get to the books now! I had such a great book reading month and I got through a few re-reads and a few super anticipated reads. You can find my full non-spoiler reviews of all these books on my blog which I’ll link to, but I’ll do a fun little rundown here. Unfortunately, I just haven’t been in the mood to write in my book journal much this month, and I think it’s important to not force yourself to do things you’re not vibing, especially if they’re things you’ve chosen to do for fun! There are no rules, so I’ll start back up once I feel like it. It’s hard to have unfinished entries or missed books, but ultimately, I’ll be okay 😂

This month I read a combo of physical books (all paperbacks), e-books, and audiobooks and it was so wonderful to have a range of ways to inhale words and stories! The first book I finished this month was my re-read of A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas which I started in February and read as an ebook. Honestly, I think ebooks are so underrated because it’s SO easy to highlight and make notes, versus working with sticky notes and pencils! I really like this conclusion to the main Feyre plot of this series, but it’ll never beat A Court of Mist and Fury from my top spot in this series! ★★★★☆.5

Next was my re-read of A Court of Frost and Starlight novella by Sarah J.Maas which was a physical book, and honestly, is such a wonderful way to end the Feyre/Rhys ARC and introduce the new focus of the next books. I also ADORE multiple POVs which makes me enjoy this more than I would if there was only one. ★★★★☆

That was it for my re-reads this month, because my next read was my paperback copy of A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas which I liked a lot more than I anticipated I would. Getting both Nesta and Cassian’s POV gave this book the depth that I continuously wish we got for the first three books (or at least books 2 and 3). The redemption ARC for Nesta was phenomenal, and I love both where this book went, and the new characters that were introduced!

My next read was a Historical Fiction novel which I have been dying to read since Erica posted her review to Moaninc (if you haven’t checked out her website/ Instagram/ YouTube, what have you been doing??) The Porpoise by Mark Haddon was definitely my favourite read of the month. This book went from 0 to 100 within the first ten pages, and then doesn’t let you go until the last line. Even after the book was done I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was honestly such a wonderful whirlwind and did a phenomenal job at intertwining the ancient story with the modern. I will continue to recommend this to literally everyone, forever.

The last book I finished this month was my audiobook of the month which was A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout. I just want to shout out audiobooks for a second here, because honestly, I am LOVING them! I was definitely hesitant when I initially started to listen to them, but now I am FULLY invested! I’m thinking of doing a post all about the pros have cons of physical books versus ebooks versus audiobooks. Let me know if that’s something you would be interested in reading! So, back to the book. Definitely not as good as the first one, and literally nothing happens in the first 60%. The last 40% is much more interesting and I finally got hooked on the plot and the new characters. Give me more Kieran in book three, please! Also, a shout out to the narrator, she does such a wonderful job and I would definitely recommend this audiobook!!

So that’s my wrap-up for March, it was a wonderful month reading-wise and just overall. I’m hoping that April brings more great reads, and some stunning colours in the trees 🍂 What was your favourite read for March? I’d love to know!!

★★★★☆

As always, this review is spoiler free (although, nothing much really happens so there isn’t much to spoil), but this review WILL discuss happenings from the previous books. So, if you haven’t read them all yet and you don’t want to be spoiled for any part, please don’t read this review until you’re all caught up!

I think this novella was the perfect way to end the Feyre/Rhysand main plot in this series. I understand why people would not vibe with this, they’re right, nothing really happens. It’s more of a bridge. The ending of one focus, and the beginning of a new one and I thought they ended Feyre and Rhysand’s story really beautifully (although I am sure they will make plenty of appearances in the next one!) I am eager for the next book (hopefully) to delve into the internal processes of characters like Elain, Mor and Az are going through, of course in addition to Cas and Nesta which I can only assume are the two POVs in the book? Not sure, but these characters went through war. They went through such horrific events, Elain and Nesta were ripped from their lives and turned into something completely new, and Mor has been struggling with herself, her identity for 500 years. I want to see development! I want to see these characters learning and growing and healing dammit.

Reading about how Veralis and it’s people were recuperating and rebuilding after war is something that goes beyond this fantasy world, to the world we’re living in. Each of these characters is dealing with their demons in their own way, so I have a feeling that this novella was a way to prepare readers for the next one which may (by the sounds of it) be less major event-based, and more character-driven?? (I would definitely vibe with that).

“To the blessed darkness from which we are born, and to which we return.”
Sarah J Maas

What I want out of the next book that this novella made me realise: I want to know what the vulgar expression is thanks!!! I also want Azriel to speak more and just be given more page time!! I love his unique type of humour, and I am SO curious about him and his shadows. I think that if we get to see from his POV, it’s really going to make his character shine in a way it wasn’t given a chance in the previous books. This book also showed how tender and gentle the budding friendship between Elain and Azriel is, and I want MORE thank you very much xo

Obviously, I am excited to continue to follow Rhys and Feyre and their journey together, but the rest of the characters are all so unique and interesting, I am keen to see what happens next. Okay, so this review was sort of both my thoughts for this novella (I thought it was a lovely way to conclude the arc of Feyre and Rhysand), and introduce the focus for the next books, and also a review for how I think this might work with the next book and my hopes for it. SO basically, this has been just as chaotic as my other reviews, but you should all be used to that by now, right?

“Stars flickered around us, sweet darkness sweeping in. As if we were the only souls in a galaxy.”
Sarah J Maas