3.5 stars 
 Okay- not sure where to start with this book. To be honest, I pretty much hated the first 200 pages (which is about half the book). I also hated Feyre's character for the first 200 pages. She was 
 fantastically stupid, and I just didn't believe her. She didn't act and think how I feel like a real person in her shoes would have acted. Or maybe it did and the writing just conveyed it poorly. For example, her mother told her all these stories and myths about the Fae. Their customs, practices, legends, etc. For some reason she believes those stories more than what her own eyes and ears are telling her. More than what the Fae themselves tell her (understandable since she thinks they are evil). But why in the hell would she ever deign to think she knows ANYTHING about them? She's never met one! She knows jack shit but she spent the first 1/3 of the book basically saying "well my mommy told me this so that must be true." It was so stupid. I really, really hated it. 
 The other thing that bothered me about the first half of the book- is everything is so fucking happy all the fucking time. There was more happy going around than a goddamn Pharrell song. I think we are maybe supposed to feel scared for Feyre? Or feel bad about that poor life she suffered with unappreciative sisters in her tiny cottage? But I didn't. Feyre didn't have anything to be scared of because seriously, no one in the Springtime court ever comes close to touching her, or hurting her, or anything. Are there monsters in the woods? Yeah. She has a couple fantastically awesome body guards so there is never any sense of danger. I didn't care. I was sick of the mother fucking happy. Maybe I was supposed to feel bad about her family being alone? Her family wasn't exactly worth feeling bad about at that point anyway. So the result was I just didn't care. 
 Finally, there is nothing of interest happening. See Feyre walk through gardens. See Feyre look at paintings. See Feyre eat. See Feyre paint. I know it was to set up the romance aspect of the story.. but I just didn't care. I think a hundred pages could have been cut from the beginning. I would have liked it more. If this hadn't been a recommendation from a friend I don't think I would have finished it. Seriously- the beginning was bad. 
 But.. 
 The last half of the book had me sucked in, glued to the pages, up late. It was like night and day between the two halves. Like a switch flipped on and the author said, Okay, now I'm gonna make it awesome, and then she did. I could have sworn they were written by someone else. Because books are better when everyone isn't so fucking happy. 
 I don't want to spoil anything- but to sum it up-Feyre started acting like an actual human being (though her constant references to painting got pretty redundant, "I couldn't even hope to recreate his skin in a painting" and on and on and on). Rhysand had a recurring appearance, and he was an interesting character. The trials were exciting. Lucien's character shines bright. The stakes are high. If you can slog it through the first two hundred pages, the last 200 are most definitely worth it. 
 I will probably read the next one, though I am mildly concerned with the preview. (Please God don't let the first 200 pages be watching Feyre learn to read.)