But there's another relationship that didn't go further than kissing, but still. One thing that was a little squicky for me was that the mundane characters are all in highschool and there was implied sex between one of the kids and one of the fey, which yeah, the Unseelie don't care. It's a fully realized world of the fey brushing up against the mundane world. The plot was interesting with twists that I didn't see coming and a few that I did. The description of the fey and the brughs where they live are wonderful. but no princess(es), but there is a clever girl. T has everything you expect in a faery tale: evil queen, knights, enchanted fruit. This is the first Holly Black book that I've read. Those I've never read though, so I have no idea what to expect. Will probably pick up the other books later this year. But at least she got to have her shining moment of clarity. Her little speech in the last chapter is a bit too 'omg I figure it all out!' for me, I think it could probably have been. Kaye isn't the smartest protagonist at all times, but you can't really blame her for that given her age. It is a pretty good world, though I personally don't really like those gritty, dirty fantasy worlds as much as sparkly ones. So I basically had to discover the entire plot and world all over again - which was nice. Thank the gods I did! I realize I didn't remember much at all from my first read of the book, except the whole 'kiss my ass'-thing which is ofc very memorable. Wanting, because, well, I loved it, didn't I? Not wanting because I've grown up, and since Holly Black is BFFing with a certain author I do not like I wasn't sure I'd still enjoy it.

so I've been both wanting and not wanting to reread it since. I read this book some ten plus years ago and remember loving it. Sadly, this is one of my lowest ratings ever. I did care when characters were missing or if they died. It was a quick read overall, but I found the characters to be vastly underdeveloped and there was no emotional depth or attachment. Nothing in the story points towards attraction on either of their parts. The romance between Roiben and Kaye just seemed unbelievable and very disjointed. Not to mention that there was zero chemistry between them so their kissing didn't really make sense to me. However, Kaye makes reference at one point to being too young to drive… but she is 16…?īecause Kaye feels so young, I found her habit of smoking to be uncomfortable and her budding relationship with Robin to be a little disturbing. But, the back of the book says she is 16 and there is reference towards the end where she states her age. At one point I even had to go online to see if I had picked up a children's book instead of YA.

While I was reading, I envisioned her to be somewhere between 12-14 years old. I found the main character, Kaye, to be very juvenile. this one just didn’t do it for me at all.

Tithe by Holly Black