ARC Review: The Iron Flower by Laurie Forest

2/5 stars
DNF at 33 %

So not the rating I thought I was going to be giving this book, I was pretty sure that this would have been a 5 star, boy was I wrong. Gorgeous cover though, so that's something. 

To start off, I'm not giving this 1 star, despite having dnf-d it, because I only save 1 stars for books I really did not like. And I just didn't care for Iron Flower, it's not a bad book, but it isn't a book for me, unfortunately. The Black Witch was though, so I honestly have no idea how the book went from that to this...

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So, let me summarize this book for you:
"Oh Yvan! Oh Lucas! Oh Yvan! Let me make out with Lucas. But Yvan is so beautiful! But I can't have him. Oh Lucas! blah blah blerhhh!!" 

In other words, ya fantasy is dead because ya romance has killed it. RIP. The entirety of 33 percent of the book that I read was filled with Elloren wishing she was with Yvan, Elloren thinking that Yvan is beautiful,  Yvan glaring at Elloren with passion, Elloren making out with Lucas, Elloren thinking how she can't have Yvan.... You got the idea. If romance overload and love triangle tropes are your jam, you will love this book. Me? I loathe those things. 

For a book that's 608 pages long 33 percent is not little, so for nothing to happen in those 33 percent is really mind boggling. That's why I just had to give up reading - I couldn't care less about the romance, or Elloren as a main character, and with plot going absolutely nowhere and telling us nothing new, even Diana (what little of her was there) couldn't save this book for me. 

Which is really sad because I was so sure that I'd have loved this. So what happened? The Black Witch (despite rising a storm of stupid controversy) was a wonderful and engaging book. Sure, the romance was still there but other things more than made up for it. I read Black Witch in 1 day! That's 608 pages in 24 hours people, and it isn't a small feat. 

The Black Witch had a story - it was a beginning, a new chapter in life for Elloren - she was sheltered, she was naive, she was bullied and she had to go out there and find her truth. And she did, and it was beautiful. The Iron Flower focused more on which character was in love with which character, what material her dress was made of and how many times can Yvan stare at her without Elloren bursting into flames. There was very little substance, unfortunately, in it for me. 

​The writing also got very repetitive - there was a lot of "shivering", "glaring", "drawing a breath" and in general the descriptions were over explained an drawn out. The ending of The Black Witch had a huge cast of characters and they were all present almost immediately here without any throwbacks really, so it was hard to remember who was who at first. I'm sure the book gets better, and some things do happen eventually, I just don't have any patience to wait around for that. 


Big thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Teen for providing me with a digital arc of the book. All opinions are my own, honest and come from the heart.