I first read this back in 2015, and in all honesty when rereading it for review in 2020 I expected my rating to drop. However, I enjoyed this just as much. I think it's easier to read the problematic aspects of ACOTAR when you know that they are challenged in ACOMAF - though the lack of diversity in this series is kind of painful. ACOTAR shows us an amazing, fantastical world of magical fae. Straight, white magical fae. I found it tiring so it's no wonder that POC have very justifiable problems with this series.

For a Beauty and the Beast retelling, I do like this series. Feyre as a protagonist grows and grows across the remaining books, but it's ACOTAR that shows us where she started. I like that she's not shown to be entirely soft and sweet, she kills a wolf in cold-blood when she suspects it to be a fairy and she's ready to fight her way out of the Spring Court if she has to. Without delving into spoiler territory, she continues to show this harsh edge throughout the book and in the final act she does things that are not the behaviour of a soft MC. I like it much better that way. I also love that she's not shown to be naive or innocent. She's had relationships before and she's had casual sex before. For the older reader this is a nice change from most early to mid 2010's fiction focusing on the magical purity of virginity