Review: The Steep and Thorny Way by Cat Winters

I have wanted to read this book for so long now. I knew I would love it. And I did. Which makes me so thrilled. I have read and loved three books by Cat Winters before this one, so happy that I loved this fourth book by her as well. And I simply cannot wait to read more books by this precious author. She is the best :)

I was a tiny bit nervous about reading this book, considering how much I loved all of Cat's other books, I worried a bit that I wouldn't love this one as much. As I always worry. But I hadn't needed to worry at all. Because I loved this book the most. It was so stunning. I'm so happy with how much I loved it. Ack.

The writing is just so beautiful. I love how Cat writes her books. And how she writes her characters too. Because oh how I loved all the characters in this one. The main girl, Hanalee, is all kinds of adorable. I loved reading about her. About her life. About her family. I adored getting to know her more. She was truly such an amazing sixteen year old girl. Sigh. I loved that this book was from her point of view. But sobs. I'm a bit heartbroken that Cat only writes standalones. Because I want a sequel to this one so badly; like with all her previous books too. But especially for this one. I feel like I'm not done getting to know Hanalee. I want to know much more. About Hanalee. About Joe. About everything. I wish for a sequel the most.

Everything about this book was perfection. And I'm not sure what to share about it. Ack. It is much harder to talk about a book that I loved than a book I didn't love. Because I have nothing much to comment on about this one, lol. Because I loved everything. And that is just about all I feel like saying about it. Ack. But I shall try to write more. Because I want to give you all a reason to read this book. To love it like I did. If you already own it, you should not put off reading it. Read it now. And love it now.

I love that this book takes place in 1923. I must admit, I don't really know any history from before. Only what I have read in previous books by Cat, lol. So I didn't know anything about this time before reading this book. And I'm good with that. Because I learnt so much while I read this one. The time period was so amazing to read about. There was so much hate. It broke my heart. Yet it was pretty stunning to read about, so I loved it a lot as well. To be honest, though, I could not have lived in this time period. Ack.

I must say that there was one thing that made me a tiny bit sad. That there is no romance in this book. Okay, there is a romance in my mind, and there is a kiss, but it isn't the focus of the book. Which made me a bit sad. But I didn't mind too much, because this book was perfect even without romance. The characters were all so strong to read about. But yeah. I did ship Hanalee and Joe so badly. Ahh. The ending is a bit open. But hoping Cat might answers some of my questions about it. Fingers crossed :)

There are so many characters in this precious book. Okay, there isn't that many, but still a lot. I adored Hanalee the most. But I also adored Joe so much. He is a bit different as well. And he is so hurt because of it. It isn't fair. Sniffs. He was so kind, though. And awesome. Hanalee has this best friend, Fleur. She was all kinds of awesome. Not in the book much, but enough for me to love her lots. Her brother, though, Laurence, him I hated. He was awful. And I wish his ending had been brutal, lol. Just saying :)

I'm not going to talk about the other characters. Just that I was so excited to read about all of them. I sort of disliked most of them, hah, but some I really adored. Like, I grew to love Hanalee's family a lot, despite disliking them at first. There were two twin brothers that I hated more than anything. I wish they had had a bad ending too. Hmph. I shall just have to imagine it myself, lol. But good or bad, I loved reading about all the characters. I loved everything about this book. It was all exciting and interesting.

I'm not going to say anything about the plot, not really. Just that to me it was mostly about the friendship between Hanalee and Joe. About them trying to live their life without getting killed. About people being awful, yet Hanalee not breaking down. It was a beautiful book. With a beautiful story. I couldn't have loved it more than I did. The Steep and Thorny Way is one of a kind. It is such a stunning book. I loved it the very most. The characters are all incredible. The plot is exciting and heartbreaking.

Huge thank you to the publisher, Amulet Books, for accepting my Netgalley request to read this book early. Means the most to me. So glad that I have now read and loved it, hih. I just. I own precious ARC copies of all her books. But not this one. And I want a print ARC of it the very most. If anyone have it for trade, please let me know. I'm dying to add it to my collection :) This book was simply perfect. And I need you all to read it when it in March. You will not regret it. So excited to see what everyone thinks.

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