Reading Rants: Read This Book. Like, NOW!

So, it's not too often when I lapse into fangirl-ish episodes of adoration here on the blog, but give me the right book, and I dissolve into puddles of incoherent declarations of love. And my latest read seems to have evoked such behavior...StarCrossed by Elizabeth C. Bunce.

I loved Bunce's previous book, A Curse Dark as Gold. Nay, I adored it, treasured it, reveled in the story for weeks. Not only is it a fairy tale retelling (and you all know how I am with those; this one retells Rumpelstiltskin), but it's a beautifully written book that combines two of my favorite genres, fantasy and historical fiction, and it was breathtaking. I've recommended it to more people than I can count, and I've even fought a couple of battles for that book.

So, naturally, when I saw that Bunce was coming out with another book, I was excited (more precisely, I freaked out). And, a FANTASY! I cannot tell you how much I long for more nice, long, complicated, truly entertaining fantasies. It was thrilling.

I have to confess, I was a little confused as to how StarCrossed would play out in the first few chapters...so many characters, so many names, so many subplots... But then, I don't know...it just clicked. It made sense and the next thing I knew, I was running to class, terribly late, with my nose still stuck in the middle of it and people yelling at me to watch where I was going. And then I couldn't focus on Peter the Great as a major military figure for an hour and a half because all I could think of was of what was unfolding in a snowbound fortress in the mountains. And then my entire evening was gone, swept away in the story.

I love the sort of books that can take you away completely, can make you fall in love, and even cause you to jump up and pace with excitement, only to sit back down again and get sucked in once more. If you love those sorts of books, read StarCrossed.

Here's a preview of the first chapter to convince you!