But where do I even begin with this book? There is so much to write about. So much to say. And I am going to try not to share everything about it. But oh, I have many thoughts. And I simply must share most of them. The writing was absolutely stunning. As always, with a Claire book. I fully fell in love with everything.
This is the first adult book by Claire, which I loved. Felt a little young to me, and that is what I like. So I did not mind that at all. This trilogy will be told from three different sisters. In this one, it was about Gemma, the youngest. Gemma was twenty years old. Mara was the middle one, twenty-two. Farrin the oldest sister, at twenty-four. I cannot wait to read their books as well. Although I very much hate waiting. Hmph. Anyway. It is an adult series, but I felt like it was very much like her Furyborn books in tone and such, which I loved. Gemma felt so young at times. Yet older too. Of course, biggest difference with this book being for adults was the very steamy romance. Sigh. There was a lot of it, haha. And it was perfect. I loved how steamy it was, yet sweet too.
This book tells the story of Gemma. She lives in a world of magic. A world that is somewhat divided in two by a mist that keeps the people safe. As long as they stay away from it. Some people were blessed with magic from the gods, long ago. Gemma and her family were one of those lucky enough. Except that, well. Gemma has no magic. Her parents have magic and her two sisters. But she has nothing. And to make it worse, magic hurts her. Just being near people with magic brings her pain. It was so very heartbreaking.
There is just so much to say about Gemma. I loved this girl. Though she was not easy to love. At least not at first. She seemed kind of mean and all kinds of stuck-up. But she was not truly like that. She was pretty insecure. And she was every kind of lonely. And hurting. Hurting so badly. Which might have been why I loved her most. She had been in pain her whole life, from the magic around her. She was always aching somewhere. That is close to me, as I am too, always. Which just made me connect with Gemma.
She was such a special girl. Fully broken, but trying. Somewhat. She was trying to seem better than she was. Trying to not let people see how much she hurt. And the panic she often had. I loved reading about it. As it was so hurtful and raw and real and honest. I loved it so. Gemma was precious to me. Sure, she often did things I did not agree with, ha. But I loved her. Most especially at the end of the book. Oh, and her family. Gosh. Her mother was not there. Her father was pretty much the worst. Ugh. I truly hated him.
But her sisters. Sigh. We learn so much about Gemma and her two sisters. Mara and Farrin. Both every kind of amazing. I loved them all so, so very much. Mara got taken away as a child, to work as a Rose, protecting everyone from what lived in the mist. They miss her so. Though they visit once a month. That was not nearly enough. I so loved getting to know her. Sigh. And Farrin was amazing as well. I loved her magic with music. She was fierce and loving. And I could not help but ship Farrin with her enemy, haha.
I have so much to write about this book. And I have already written too much. And yet I'm not done, ha. But I will not say too much about the plot of this story. As it was all over the place. And I loved that. This book is all about Gemma. About her slowly learning more about why she has zero magic. And how she might have it anyway. It was a little creepy and all kinds of awesome to read about. This is a book about demons. A book about curses. A book about magical travelling through hedges, haha. A book about love.
Oh. And a book filled with incredible characters. Like the queen of this place. She was ancient, I think. Yet young. And all kinds of interesting to read about. Though we only got to know a little about her. I want to know more. Then there was Illaria and Gareth. Both characters whom I adored. And Ryder with his sister. They were a little crazy but I grew to like them too, haha. I loved Una the dog. There was so much about this book that I loved. The different types of magic. The twists in the story. All of it interesting and exciting.
And then there was Talan. Of course I must mention him. Sigh. The love of this book. The most beautiful man that Gemma has ever seen. She is instantly attracted to him, the moment she sees him. She does go a little crazy around him, ha. But I loved that. Gemma and Talan makes a deal at the start of this book. She will help him fit in with the rich and maybe earn back his family's reputation. And he will help her with the feud her family has with the Basks. How to end it all. They are also on the hunt for a demon together.
Oh, wait. Talan. I loved this boy the very most. Eee. He was all kinds of precious. Beautiful, of course. But so sweet and giving off such vibes of innocence, haha. Which he was not. Well, he was. He was all kinds of complicated and I loved that. He had such a wild story and a wild life. I loved getting to know him. Sure, he did make some mistakes too. And there was some drama that I was not a big fan of. Hmph. But it was nothing that bad. And oh, how I loved him. Talan was the sweetest and he cared so so much for Gemma.
What I loved most about their romance was how gentle Talan was with Gemma. How he took care of her and healed her and helped her. How she got better just by being near him. Though, of course, he did not heal her. She was still all kinds of broken. But she was better with him. And I so loved that. They had their problems, both of them, but oh, how they were perfect together even so. Sigh. Their steamy scenes were the best. But that ending. Ahh. I cannot deal with that ending. I must know more. About everything. Gosh.
There is so much I want to say about the plot of this book. So many spoilers. But I'm not going to mention any of them. This is a book about Gemma and Talan. It's filled with magic and danger. All of the twists. So many secrets. So much pain too. But also hope and love. And I adored every part of this book. I so loved how Gemma and Talan fit together. I loved reading about Gemma and her sisters together. And oh, I did love the ending. But gosh. There are so many things I need answers to. I must have the next book now.
I have seen that there are people who were struggling with this book. And did not love it. And I will say that I somewhat get that. Because this book was a monster to read. It was very full of different types of magic and so many twists kept happening. It was hard to keep up with. But. I loved it. I loved the twists and the different kinds of everything. I loved the writing and I loved the very messed up main character. So, yes. I suppose that this book will not be for everyone. But if you are like me, you are going to love it.
But yes. There were parts of the book that I had some issues with too. But there was nothing that I hated. There was nothing that I wish had been cut out of the book. I loved how everything went together. I wish Gemma had been less of a selfish stuck-up girl at the beginning. But she got better. And I loved her back then too, ha. Of course, what I loved most about her was her pain. I loved that she wasn't perfect, despite pretending to be so to others. I loved that there was no way of easily fixing the broken parts of her. Sigh.
A Crown of Ivy and Glass was just as perfectly incredible as I knew it would be. Full of magic, romance and curses. Full of pain and passion and hope. The sisterly love between the three of them was amazing and I loved it so. The steamy romance was the most I have read in books before and I very much loved it. I know the next two books will be about Farrin and Mara. And I can't wait to know more about them, eee. I do hope there might be some Gemma point of view too. Fingers crossed. I must know more of this world.
I want to say the biggest thank you to Martina at Sourcebooks International for sending me a print ARC of this most beautiful book to read and review early. I shall treasure it forever. It means the most to me and I am honestly just so thrilled to own this one as well. My Claire collection is complete. And it is what brings me most joy. Of course, I have pre-ordered a whole bunch of copies of the finished book, haha. You need this book in your life too. If you love books of magic and twists and secrets you are going to love this one.
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