Daughter of the Forest (Sevenwaters, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Jun 20, 2010 AH rated it it was amazing

Shelves: chubby-chunkster, first-in-series, historical, fae, fantasy, favorites, romance, babr-reviews, druid, zzread-feb2011

What a breathtakingly beautiful book!

It’s hard to describe Daughter of the Forest. It is a fantasy, a historical, and a romance. It reads like a fable or a fairy tale. It has all the elements of a fairy tale – the evil stepmother, a fairy godmother (sort of), an enchantment, an impossible task to accomplish, a prince charming, and a happily ever after.

This has to be my all time favorite book now. I was captivated by the story, mesmerized by the voice of Sorcha, our heroine. I did not put this b What a breathtakingly beautiful book!

It’s hard to describe Daughter of the Forest. It is a fantasy, a historical, and a romance. It reads like a fable or a fairy tale. It has all the elements of a fairy tale – the evil stepmother, a fairy godmother (sort of), an enchantment, an impossible task to accomplish, a prince charming, and a happily ever after.

This has to be my all time favorite book now. I was captivated by the story, mesmerized by the voice of Sorcha, our heroine. I did not put this book down for days. I probably used up an entire box of Kleenex reading this and my kids looked at me quite strangely.

Sorcha is a very special young lady. She is the seventh child of a seventh son. Her mother died in childbirth. Her six older brothers care for her and they all share a special bond. Sorcha can communicate telepathically with two of her brothers. She is also well trained in healing. So much happens to Sorcha in this novel, but one thing remains in my mind – she is totally devoted to her brothers. Such love brings her much angst and suffering, yet she endures.

For most of the story, Sorcha endures an impossible task to free her brothers from an enchantment. Sorcha is not allowed to speak until the task has been completed. At one point she must leave her lands and is found by a Briton, Red. Red rescues Sorcha from nearly drowning and brings her back to his home.

I loved Sorcha’s character. So strong, so determined, and way too young to go through such an impossible task on her own. Imagine not speaking for three years, not being able to explain what you are doing, and this is Sorcha’s life. Despite her burden, Sorcha was also able to see the beauty in the world around her.

Red or Lord Hugh was a wonderful character as well. He was so patient and kind to Sorcha. Sorcha’s brothers are also very interesting characters. Conor and Finbar were my favorites.

A fairy tale would not be complete without the evil villains. In this book, there is the scary Lady Oonagh who reminded me of a Disney evil Stepmother. Absolutely scary. The power hungry creepy Uncle Richard made for a very nasty villainous character.

I think what makes this book so special is that the author is so gifted in her writing style. She gives a girl who is mute for most of the book a voice. We feel this girl’s love, devotion, and desperation. We feel all of this girl’s emotion. I also loved how the author included the Fair Folk in her story. They are never really in the main part of the book, they just happen to always be in the background. You are never really sure if they are responsible for a spell or not.

I highly recommend this book. Be prepared with a lot of Kleenex. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

Review posted on Badass Book Reviews

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Mar 09, 2012 Usagi77777772003 rated it it was amazing

Shelves: hero-in-pursuit, hero-in-love-first, favorite-heroine, hero-loving-the-heroine-more, based-on-fairytale

This book made me cry because of how beautiful it was!! Sorcha's one of my most favorite heroines of all time: She's truly strong in character and demonstrates it in her actions and endurance. I loved the bond she had with all her brothers and her resolve to break their curse despite all the hardships. And don't even get me started on Red (the male lead)! At first, I found his younger brother very intriguing and had hoped that he would get together with Sorcha, but Red has won me over completely ...more

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Apr 12, 2016 Stacey rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle

In all honesty, this 3 star review is based only on my reading preferences. This was a wonderfully written, rich book that has much to recommend it. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to watch characters overcome hardship and trauma and emerge on the other side having accomplished what they set out to do. I am a somewhat soft reader in that all that trauma and hardship just makes me tired and I start to find it tedious rather than inspiring, and by the end, I just want it to be over. So ta ...more

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Aug 27, 2010 Daffodil rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, fantasy

I had trouble rating this book. The story was a beautiful retelling of a classic fairy tale and the historical backdrop just added to the story. I'm not sure if it was my mood or something else, but I had trouble getting into this book. I kept putting it back down througout the first part. It picked up through the middle, but somehow I still found myself wanting a little faster pace. (It wasn't the size of the book, I've read 800+ page books and savored every moment of them.) I will probably try ...more

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