A Court of Mist & Fury by Sarah J. Maas

I have been highly anticipating this book since I read A Court of Thorns & Roses​ last summer! Let me just start by saying it was worth the wait! Ten fold!
A Court of Mist & Fury picks up where ACOTAR left off. Feyre has defeated the villain Amarantha, thus freeing the Fae of Prythian from her reign. She goes back with Tamlin, the Spring Court's High Lord, whom she loves. Now that Feyre is a Fae herself, she struggles with fitting into this new world, as well as helping rebuild it. She struggles with the darkness she faced Under the Mountain, but is trying to build a life with Tamlin. However the deal she made with the Night Court's High Lord, Rhysand, looms over her head... one week a month with him for his help during Amarantha's tests. Not only that, but the threat of war is brooing. 
Sarah J. Maas does a great job of bringing our beloved characters back for an even better story than the first. While ACOTAR was a Beauty & the Beast retelling, this follows the darker story of Hades & Persephone. For those of you that aren't familiar with that story, I highly suggest reading it!

Spoilers Ahead!

It's hard to explain the plot of this book without giving away spoilers... so here is a little more thorough of a summary.
After being freed from Under the Mountain, Tamlin asks Feyre to marry him. For the next month Feyre, with the assistance of new character Ianthe (a High Priestess in the Spring Court), starts planning the wedding, while Tamlin & Lucien are running all over trying to fix the Spring Court from all of Amarantha's damage. During this time Feyre is also struggling A LOT with her PTSD from what happened Under the Moutain. She has panic attacks at night, she takes no joy in painting (one of her favorite things) & she's losing weight because she is constantly getting sick during here many panic attacks. Unfortunately Tamlin is facing similar issues, but they never really help each other. They give each other space, & for the way they are both suffering, it just seems to drive a wedge between them. However they continue on with life for 3 months after they defeat Amarantha & the one blessing they seem to get is Rhysand never comes to make good on his deal with Feyre. 

The wedding is fast approaching & Feyre is having another one of her panic attacks & she literally starts wavering as she's walking down the isle. She starts asking, PRAYING, for someone to save her because she isn't ready for this. *Enters Rhys* He appears right as Tamlin, & all the guests are catching on to Feyre's hesitation, & demands that Feyre begin fulfilling her end of the bargain... starting RIGHT NOW!! So before Feyre can say much of anything, including good bye to Tamlin, Rhys winnows (poofs) her to the Night Court. Thus begins the real fun!

Pretty much the first week she is with Rhys he is his normal "charming" self. Poking fun at her, saying that while she is there she is going to be tortured by having to learn how to read. For the most part she avoids him. However the layout of his court is VERY open, so Feyre actually sleeps better there because she doesn't feel like she Under the Mountain. Before she knows it, her week is up & she gets to return to the Spring Court & try to piece together the mess she left. True to their fashion, Tamlin & Feyre don't REALLY talk too much about what's going on between them. They just kind of put a bandaid on it & move on... may I just state... their bandaid comes in the form of sex. However Tamlin becomes even more protective, which is saying something since he was already OVERLY protective. At one point him & Lucien go to leave the manor & Feyre insists they don't leave her by herself. After Tamlin refuses, she goes to go around him & he puts a force field up around the house. Everybody can come & go as they please but the force field is specificially for Feyre. She can't exit the house. He "locks" her in the house. Suffice it to say she has a MAJOR panic attack & her new, unknown, magic flares up & she about to do a lot of damage to herself & those around her. So Rhys sends in Mor, his cousin that Feyre met while she was at the Night Court, to retrieve Feyre. It is at this point that Feyre begins a deep disliking for Tamlin. She starts seeing him as controlling &, I'm going to say it now, abusive.

I love how the book progresses from this point on. I mean, yes I love Rhysand, but that's not even all of the good parts of this book. Seeing how Feyre goes about healing at this point is something that I think Sarah J. Maas wrote very well. It isn't just a night & day difference after leaving the Spring Court. It is very realistic in the fact that she has things she has to work through.  I love that a lot of the assistance she gets in working through these trauma comes through her new Night Court friends. They help a lot! They each provide a little bit different support for her, but together it seems to be the perfect antidote for the monsters Feyre's been trying to deal with on her own. 

I really loved MOST of this book. Let me start by talking about some of the things I loved. The top of that list, by a mile, is RHYSAND! I absolutely loved him in the first book, & have been rooting for him since he first saved Feyre on Calanmai! I mean the way he just swooped in, ESPECIALLY after you find out that he's a mind reader. He was portrayed as a villain in the first book, but there were enough undercurrents that you KNEW it was an act to keep his Court & those he cared about safe. We even get the back story of his time Under the Mountain, & what all he was he was protected... which just makes him even more amazing in my opinion. ( I absolutely LOVED that you get to hear Rhysand's side of the story when it comes to Calanmai & Under the Mountain & how he fell in love with Feyre.) He has a lot more dimensions in this book than the first one. He's the Dark Lord, he's the friend, he's the diplomat, the warrior, the lover, the comedian, the villain, the hero, and the guardian, to name a few. I was beyond happy to get to see all of the things I hoped he encompassed! It surpassed my expectations simply with Rhysand's character alone!

However he isn't the only character that made this book for me. Cassian, Azriel, Mor, and Amren may not be the main characters, but they are so much more than supporting characters. They make the story so much more vivid and well rounded. A lot of the time they create this comic relief in some very stressful situations of the book. However there are so many times they have these back stories or wisdom or just support (not in background kind of way but in friend being there for you kind of way) that makes them just as important and valued as the main characters. Personally I think that is part of Sarah J. Maas's magic. She can make you care about the supporting characters just as much as the main characters. They don't just have background roles that main the main characters better. To be able to do that, and read that, and feel that is magical.
I am very curious to see where these characters go. You have Cassian & this weird kind of draw to Nesta. You have I don't even know going on between Azriel and Mor. Then WHAT IS AMREN!?!?!?!? I have a feeling we are going to find out in a BIG way when we do find out. I want to know but I don't want to know... but again I WANT TO KNOW!!! GAH!

Tamlin & Lucien... let us start with Tamlin. I liked Tamlin in ACOTAR. Granted not to the extent of a lot of his fan base, I definitely liked Rhysand better in the first book. However I liked Tamlin. The one problem I had was that it felt a little too easy. But it was just a small little thought in the corner of my mind, I didn't focus too much on it. The way that Tamlin went in ACOMAF had me COMPLETELY blindsided!!! He went radically overboard. He smothered Feyre with his protectiveness & love. His character got a lot of heat after people read this book. While I was completely angry with what he did & the decisions he made throught ACOMAF I am going to come to his defense really quick. People complain that he doesn't love Feyre, it's all about control. However I am going to say that he does love her, but because of what he had to endure Under the Mountain, & not vocalizing it like a healthy individual, & he lets the fears that stem from that control him & drive his actions with Feyre. He's afraid of ever seeing her anywhere near the same situation of physical & emotional pain that she experienced because of Amarantha (& I'm sure he feels partially responsible) so he goes overboard trying keep her safe. I can understand the motivation & how it could snowball. I also think he is partially naive... I mean when he starts working with more powerful people who can help get him Feyre back, he is genuinely surprised when he is double crossed, thrown under the bus & people who Feyre cares about are harmed. He does care... just not in the healthiest of ways. That is no excuse for how he treats her but I can definitely see how it could happen & then snowball.

Lucien... I was very cranky with him in this book. I absolutely adored him in ACOTAR. He was snarky, witty, and very unpredictable.