Review: An amazing new adult fantasy!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 4, 2014
Original review can be found on Sizzling Hot Young Adult BooksStop everything you are doing, right this very minute because you absolutely need to read this review! Seriously, this is no joke. Author Sara Hubbard has gone and rocked my literary world for 2014 already. Her latest novel, By Force, was unlike any book I’ve ever read before.I’ll be the first to admit that the fantasy genre is  not my thing. At all. Guess you could say I’m not one to really want to work hard at picturing an unfamiliar sort of world in my head when I read. I know, I know, all books are imaginary in their own way. But in a contemporary setting, I feel more at ease. With By Force though, there was no need for me to strain when imagining the brilliant world Ms. Hubbard has created. Heck, I’d go as far as saying Ms. Hubbard has created a literary picturesque setting when she penned this novel.Now, enough of my blabbering, let’s get on with the awesomeness that is By Force.Isame, a young farmer’s daughter, is being forced into an arranged marriage with a man she feels nothing for. Little does she know that her life is about to be turned upside down in the sense that she in no way, ever imagined.Captured by a group of  ’savage men’ Isame is put to a test. Survive, or die trying. Beaten and abused, tormented and tortured emotionally, she’s told she’s being taken by orders from the king. Nobody tells her why…they just follow orders. Until she decides it’s time to fight back. But with fighting back, she never expected to grow attached to the men who kidnapped her. Crazy right? Well, it  gets even crazier when she finds herself falling in love with one. But danger lurks in their path, and Isame’s family might be in  trouble as well! Not to mention the fact that Isame herself is not quite as human as she originally thought either…Isame’s character growth was astonishing throughout the length of By Force. From a scared, sheltered girl with dreams, to a survivor, intent on taking the path of righteousness and bravery. This girl went to you know where and back, but came out braver than one should in crisis like this. I adored her and her sass, found myself grinning at her chattering voice, and tearing up through her desperate times. Loved her. Wanted to pull her under my arm and walk the path with her!Oh, and the big, beastly men with the long braids also stole my heart. Not just the hero Remmie (sigh…the brave, sexy, big guy with the heart of gold and the protectiveness to add to it.) I loved them all. From Otis, to Nole (who I really had a thing for let me just sayl) along with Roland as well. A group of brutal men who, in the end, won me over in all the ways a group of men can.A fresh new plot in a literary world splattered full of the same, ordinary scenarios, By Force stood out in a way that floored me completely. An amazing, funny, swoony story that I am saying now, on January 3rd, will already take a spot in my top five come next winter. Now come on March, because I can’t possibly wait much longer for book  two to come out.Seriously, By Force can NOT be missed.