Initial Impressions 3/23/15: This book was just SOOO much fun to read!! I'm not sure exactly what it was but it really just felt like such a "me" book and the writing style totally was in the perfect zone to help me fall in love. It wasn't really LIKE the Grisha trilogy but something about Rachel Hartman's writing reminded me of Leigh Bardugo's. 
 I really just enjoyed soooo much of this book. So glad I finally read it and can't wait to dig not Shadow Scale! 
 Full review originally posted HERE on The Book Addict's Guide 4/17/15: My history with SERAPHINA goes all the way back to... oh, maybe 2013. I borrowed the book from the library, seeing all of the wonderful reviews it was getting, and just never made it around to reading it before I had to return it. Then my lovely BFF Alyssa bought the book for me for Christmas in 2013 and I FINALLY read it this year right before book two, SHADOW SCALE, came out so I could keep the story fresh in my mind before diving in! Needless to say, the anticipation has been great but I'm so happy that this book didn't fall victim to any hype that I had perceived in my mind! 
 SERAPHINA was such a delight. Right away, it was easy to fall into the story and I think most of that has to do with Rachel Hartman's writing style. I can't say that the book was similar to SHADOW AND BONE by Leigh Bardugo but there was something about Rachel Hartman's writing style that brought me back to The Grisha Trilogy and it felt like home again. I'll admit that it was a bit intimidating to start SERAPHINA, coming in at just under 500 pages, but I never once felt like the book was cumbersome to read -- in fact, it was just the opposite. It may have taken me a bit longer than usual to complete due to length, but I was always wholly interested and utterly captivated by Rachel Hartman's story-telling, world-building, and wonderful characters. 
 I'm actually glad I waited until now to read SERAPHINA. I wasn't always a fantasy fan and I had a hard time finding which fantasy books were "right" for me. I had actually picked up Sarah J. Maas' THRONE OF GLASS at the same time I had borrowed SERAPHINA from the library and actually returned it without finishing it because I just wasn't clicking with it and SERAPHINA could have suffered the same fate at that time if I had had the time to try it. Now that I have some more fantasy books under my belt (and am, in fact, in love with them), this book just really clicked with my current reading tastes and bookish fascinations. Dragon-human hybrids?! I honestly wouldn't have imagined liking that a couple years ago but it just worked so well in this book and I'm glad I read it at the right point in my life! 
 Everything about this book was just wonderful. I immediately got along with Seraphina herself and found her to be an interesting, intelligent, and fierce heroine. I loved her journey throughout this book and the things she not only learned about herself but also the people who surround her. It was excellent to see so many layers of the various characters and how as the reader discovers each new layer, a new piece of the plot reveals itself as well -- and there were so many wonderful pieces to discover! SERAPHINA is complete with intrigue, secrets, politics, dragons, friendship, respect, and even a little bit of romance. The book also really stuck in my mind which is a fantastic indicator that I loved it considering I have terrible reading recollection and can't even remember details about my favorite books (seriously. It's the worst. I think I have way better long-term memory than short-term so this is another reason why I re-read things)! 
 SERAPHINA was just a total hit for me. I'm really glad I read it so close to the release of SHADOW SCALE so I can start that one very, very soon! I'm a huge fan of this book and it also reminded me of a few other books that I truly loved while at the same time remaining so unique. It's a bit on the heftier side as far as page count goes but every one of those pages it worth it!