Title: The Glass Spare

Author: Lauren DeStefano

Pub. Date: October 24, 2017

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

A banished princess.
A deadly curse.
A kingdom at war.

Wil Heidle, the only daughter of the king of the world’s wealthiest nation, has grown up in the shadows. Kept hidden from the world in order to serve as a spy for her father—whose obsession with building his empire is causing a war—Wil wants nothing more than to explore the world beyond her kingdom, if only her father would give her the chance.

Until one night Wil is attacked, and she discovers a dangerous secret. Her touch turns people into gemstone. At first Wil is horrified—but as she tests its limits, she’s drawn more and more to the strange and volatile ability. When it leads to tragedy, Wil is forced to face the destructive power within her and finally leave her home to seek the truth and a cure.

But finding the key to her redemption puts her in the path of a cursed prince who has his own ideas for what to do with her power.

With a world on the brink of war and a power of ultimate destruction, can Wil find a way to help the kingdom that’s turned its back on her, or will she betray her past and her family forever?

This will be a spoiler free review.

WHY did I wait so long to read this? I got it in a long past Owlcrate, and it’s just sat on my shelf undoubtedly collecting dust. But as part of my goal for this year – reading backlist books and books I already own – I decided to put it on my TBR and I loved it.

It was a little hard to get into, but once I was in, I was absorbed. I blew through the book and once I read the last page, I legit flipped back to make sure I wasn’t missing any of the story, because I couldn’t believe that was the end of the book. I was so mad that I didn’t already own the second book, THE CURSED SEA (which I didn’t buy on its release because I was being good and not buying the sequel for a book I hadn’t yet read).

I really liked Wil – stealthy, badass, and full of magic – the ability to turn people and living things to gems? Detrimental, but so cool.

It’s only just hit me that this is a kind of “King Midas” retelling and I’m really excited to see how the second book is going to wrap up her story.

As for her brothers, I really like them. Especially how different they all were, and who Wil connected with.

And Loom – cursed in his own way, they have this inexplicable connection that draws them to each other. I really like this idea of “fated lovers” and how it poses the question “do they love me for me, or because they have no other choice?” I’m guaranteed to read any book with it in it, even if it may drive me mad at times.

The world building in this book worked for me. I thought it was so lush and vibrant and it was so easy to picture everything. I’ve never read anything by Lauren DeStefano before so I don’t have anything to compare this to, but if this is how she normally writes, I’m here for it. I absolutely loved this book, and now that I have the second one in my possession, I cannot wait to start it and see how Wil and Loom’s story plays out.