Anyway, I digress. Like the fairytale(s), Enna's brothers are cursed by a malevolent creature which is, technically, her stepmother—though the entire second half of the original, in which the heroine marries a prince and then gets accused of cannibalism, is dropped for a different and excellent denouement. Enna is also forced to be voiceless most of the time, but in Rush she only has three brothers, and the sort-of-prince she falls in love with is cursed right alongside them.

Contrary to almost everyone in the book's opinion of her, I found Enna to be wonderful. She's not immediately likeable, is abrasive and curt and cutting, but she has a heart full of love, is motivated by love, and sacrifices for love (of family! The romance is almost, but not quite, incidental). It's not often that I find a story with a female heroine and protagonist who can so easily be disliked and is meant to be so by careless readers. She wrestles with her shortcomings and fears and deep seated shamed, and successfully overcomes them where necessary, and learns to appreciate who she is otherwise. In short, I loved her. 

The side characters are also fantastic: I loved Enna's brothers, from rowdy and charming Duncan to pious, sometimes self-righteous Liam, to sweet little Finn. That's not to say they're perfect; like Enna, they have faults and act in ways that made me so incredibly frustrated (except for Finn, who can do no wrong) or feel so hurt on Enna's behalf for how they treated her. But their growth is fantastic and realistic, and the siblings emerge more deeply bonded in the end.

Enna's parents feature less though they haunt the narrative, but they're complex characters too, foolish and wise and often making terrible mistakes, but neither of them are cruel, and the love they have for Enna is clear, even if they don't (and, perhaps, can't) understand her. Her love for them in return is very moving.

Gawen, the love interest, is also wonderful. He's a complex character, in turns manipulative, a liar, deeply traumatized, full of anger, and full of tenderness. He bathes Enna's feet and sings to her, he believes her and stands by her, and he also hides important truths from her and uses her for his own ends. None of this makes him a despicable person; he is instead, like they all are, doing what he thinks he must with the terrible circumstances he's in and, crucially, his heart is a good one.

Elspeth, who eventually teaches Enna how to use her Craft, is also lovely. (Sidenote: I find it a delightful quirk of fate that I've read two books back to back with a character named Elspeth in it, a name which I don't remember coming across all that often before now). She's beautiful and highly skilled with the craft—and also trapped and has been through, and goes through, horror. She does her best. Her best sometimes sucks, especially for Enna. And yet, I liked her and rooted for her, like I rooted for all of them.

Well, all of them except Torr Pendragon. I believe he's connected to Arthurian legends, as there's a theory that King Arthur might have been a Scottish or Welsh warlord, and Torr is a warlord either from Wales or Breton with, of course, that very familiar name. Unlike the noble king of the Round Table, he is an ignoble, vicious tyrant. His is an insidious kind of evil, who draws evil out of others through coercion and corruption. I haven't hated a villain so much in a while. 

Speaking of villains, the fuath who mimics Enna's mother is similarly awful. In fact, it and Torr resemble each other in their cruelty and their desire to consume and control and ruin everyone around them, except the fuath has the singular excuse of simply behaving as is its nature to. It's still terrifying and wicked, and it is easy and uncomplicated to hate it.

And then author Weymouth delivers a masterful twist: she brings us a second fuath, one who is as trapped as Enna is, and makes it a sympathetic amoral character. Genuinely, I was blown away by this and by it and Enna's relationship. It was excellent! I'm excited all over again just thinking about it!

The world of A Rush of Wings was gorgeous, brutal and beautiful in turn. For a book dealing with magic, it's deeply rooted in the natural world of fairy-tale Scotland: with the sea and the wind and the woods, with the witchnettles and the weaving, with the lovely, haunting swans. I loved the atmospheric prose and its immersion of all the senses with its descriptions. It's romantic, gothically so, and thus mildly disturbing (depending on your tolerance for animal cruelty, which is rampant throughout but always treated as a horrific act). 

Speaking of romance, I really enjoyed Gawen and Enna's. The refrain of "scold" and "stray", the way they're frequently unkind to each other but also see each other, understand each other, accept each other, in a way no one else does. They are lonely, hurting, angry souls, but together they find safety, peace, and hope. They're not precisely toxic, but theirs is not a sweet romance either. Or rather, there is sweetness, and it's perfectly mixed with bitterness. Basically, it's complicated and messy and I loved it.

But the greater romance, the one that moved me more, was the one between Enna and the wind. I love how it calls for her and works for her with joy once she learns to harness it, I love the strength it gives her, and I love the way it refers to her as "our love, our light, our dark-hearted girl", how its love is one without human understanding or limitation. It "would fly for her, die for her, kill for her, make heart's blood spill for her" as only a literal force of nature can, and it's frightening until it isn't, because Rowenna is a person who can be trusted with the wind's power because despite everything, she is not cruel. God, it's an exhilarating relationship, and so tender it nearly made me weep; for a very long time, the only thing that Enna feels wholly loved by is the wind. 

Ultimately, I was deeply entranced by Rush. The plot was compelling and well-written, well-paced; the characters were complex and fully realized; the world felt real and terrible and great. I would read this again, I want to own a physical copy of it, I want everyone I know to read it.

Writing this review, writing my thoughts out about it, made me realize that my 4.5 stars ranking isn't right. A Rush of Wings is a 5-star read for me. I hope you'll give it a chance, and I hope you'll love this dark-hearted book too.

Well, I've been forced to eat my words. When I finished book one of this duology, I was extremely skeptical that there could be enough plot material for a second book; I was wrong. Two Twisted Crowns was a super engaging and fast-paced read, with less issues in terms of revelations to mysteries that seemed very obvious, and deeper character building (specifically, with the Nightmare, one of the more intriguing characters). Elspeth takes a back seat for most of this book, which is an interesting (but, I think, good) choice as she was the MC for book one.

We get multiple perspectives in book two, which is fun because I loved seeing the other characters', specifically Elm's, point of view. Ione's storyline made me forgive and understand her character arc in book one (yay!) and the history of Blunder and the cards was delicious.

I struggled with the Sense & Sensibility, Emma, and Northanger Abbey chapters. The former two because I feel I need to reread the books and also study more of the history and of Austen herself to discover if Kelly's conclusions are as probable as they're presented (and I freely admit, because it challenges the notions I have about the characters and their happiness therein); the latter because I think that some conclusions regarding Northanger Abbey are a little far-fetched (the entire key and lock metaphor...).

I also began to mistrust the accuracy or...foundational accuracy, I suppose is a better way to put it...of Kelly's analyses and conclusions when she mentioned Darcy disliking Wickham's mother. I do not know of any edition of P&P that makes any reference to her, and I think Kelly may have confused the quote with one of Darcy's mother. I will dive into P&P again and find out.

Also, the confident tone of it all sort of grated on me. For someone baldly stating that everyone has approached Austen wrongly, she is very confident in her assertions; as confident as all the Austen readers have been over the years. That seems hypocritical, but I also understand that she's writing a thesis: she has to write her argument with certainty and convince the reader. Kelly also gave the impression of having decided opinions on Austen's family that didn't seem all that well founded (to me, and again: more research is required) which made me leery of some of her conclusions, especially at the end.

All of which is to say, Kelly did not convince me wholescale of her view. Still, overall, it got me thinking and made me feel as though I understand some of Austen's works better, or at least their historical context better, and gave me new perspectives with which to enjoy the books. 

I picked this up on a whim, wanting something light, fluffy, and Regency to read. I'm not sure it is Regency (I don't know my historical eras all that well) but it was definitely light and fluffy! Izzy is a delight, funny, quirky, and only prone to swooning from hunger rather than aggressive handsome lords. She's also kind-hearted and frank about her passions, which is a unique and enjoyable change of pace from the typically more sheltered heroines of harlequin romances.

This read to me like a loose Beauty and the Beast (Disney version) retelling​ without the magic elements, and I loved the subplot of the book series based on Izzy's life and that Ransom is a big grump who she roundly (and sweetly) puts in his place through sheer discombobulation. Also, I appreciated that he remained blind; there was no 'saving' or 'healing' of his disability. Rather, he learned to accept it and reshape his identity as a blind man.

​Overall, very sweet and fun and silly. 

 ↳ in which Wren is a woman with a ruinous ability, Kai is an enslaved wolf shifter, and circumstances conspire to have them relying on each other for survival. ​