And I would walk 10,000 stairs and, I would climb 10,000 more. Just to be the girl to climb 10,000 stairs to be with Cassian.
I have never had a book make me exercise as much as this book did, I wanted to be a Valkyrie so bad I trained and walked 10,000 stairs.
I was kind of sad to start the final released copy of the ACOTAR series and even sadder to wait till 2025 to read more.
Not gonna lie, this book was slow to start, I genuinely felt like I was reading about someone else's groundhog day over and over again. She woke up, she complained, she trained, she went to the library, she was tired, she had banter with Cassian... We get it!
But once the action and drama started, I was off my seat (because I fell off the edge of it) and I don't just mean the sexy parts. Once Nesta stopped complaining... I was literally obsessed to the point of concern. I loved the plot of recovering from mental health, mixed with my favourite trope of enemies to lovers.
Now for what you've probably been waiting for... the spice level. This is easily the spiciest book of the series! The reason I gave it 4 spice level instead of 5 is cause it didn't introduce something new (check spice level scale ) however I think this book was almost entirely Sex in different rooms. And sometimes the fade-to-black moments however the majority were chapter-length details of every aspect including a few pages describing a blow job.
Iloved how Sarah J. Maas incorporated the overthinking and awkwardness of a "Friends with Benefits" relationship into the book to make it so much more realistic.
The enemies-to-lovers trope was so well written with the mystery of "will they, won't they" extending all the way to the end while still having their "No Commitment" fun on the side. I loved how even the audience grew with Nesta, as we all slowly began to love her with her character growth which is so weird for me to initially not like the main character and then begin to adore her. She proved to everyone that she is worthy and strong, and I truly believed she acted out because she was forced into a friend group with whom she never connected so she felt lonely. Her building connections with the people she choose to be with and making her own inner circle (the Valkyrie) rebuilt her and I LOVED THAT PLOT LINE.
Cassian's Energy and Vibe really brought this book together and was really entertaining to read, however, the Third Person writing really really pissed me off. I just still don't understand Sarah J. Maas changing writing styles mid-way through a series.
In Sarah J. Maas's true style, the last 200 pages had me sobbing!! I went through an emotional rollercoaster of Sobbing. My Jaw hurts from dropping it so often.