Shadow and Bone (The Grisha Trilogy)

So, it's been a while since the last post so I figured it was time to post up some recent reads since there have been soo many good ones since...2007?!  How has it been that long?  

So I recently read Shadow and Bone (The Grisha Trilogy) by Leigh Bardugo and OMG!  This was such an unexpected jewel to read!  Okay, so truthfully, this wasn't a "must read" on my list but once I picked this up and started reading I could not put it down. This is one of those books that transports you to a new world where magic mingles with reality and love prevails (but not in that cheesy sort of way). 

I loved the main character, Alina. She is everything a classic heroine should be. She is strong but she has weakness. She is lovable but also aggravating. She has faults but she finds herself and holds true to herself.  The reader really watches her morph and blossom into a better version of herself throughout the book until she is who she needs to be and who she really always was.

The villain is complex and sometimes you don't know if you love him or hate him. He brings out the best and worst in the Alina.  She is for once, feeling loved and useful and like she belongs, which is something she has never felt...although, she doesn't quite trust it either, but she wants to so desperately.  The love interest is, of course, everything you could want. He is charismatic, wanted, loyal, fights for what he believes in and is willing to risk it all for love.  However, like most love interests it feels like his appreciation of what was right in front of him comes so late.

This was one of my favorite reads of 2013...CAN NOT WAIT FOR THE NEXT BOOK!!! :)