The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson

From Goodreads:

The epic conclusion to Rae Carson's Fire and Thorns trilogy. The seventeen-year-old sorcerer-queen will travel into the unknown realm of the enemy to win back her true love, save her country, and uncover the final secrets of her destiny.

Elisa is a fugitive in her own country. Her enemies have stolen the man she loves in order to lure her to the gate of darkness. As she and her daring companions take one last quest into unknown enemy territory to save Hector, Elisa will face hardships she's never imagined. And she will discover secrets about herself and her world that could change the course of history. She must rise up as champion-a champion to those who have hated her most.

I'm in the middle of like 4 other books right now but when I got the notification that my hold for The Bitter Kingdom had become available I pushed the others to the side and got cracking.

Yet again Rae Carson weaves a fantastic adventure tale. Each time I read one of her books I think to myself, "Now THIS is writing! And plot! And structure!" So much YA stuff is fluffy to the extreme. This is not. Girl power abounds though at one point she admits that sometimes she DOES need saving and she allows someone to come to her rescue. I think that's a powerful message to the YA crowd...you should do your own saving as much as possible but sometimes it's ok to admit defeat and accept help.

I've loved this trilogy so much I'm a little sad it's over. BUT! The end was perfect. Elisa finally comes to the conclusion that her power has always come from within. That she is beautiful to herself and that is all that matters. The guy does get the girl in the end (yay!) but it's her own realizations about herself and her ability to lead 3 nations that makes the ending so satisfying.

Also, I know I make this sound like a crazy feminist series but it's not. That's just the stuff I pick up on after reading novels like Twilight and the Lux series. It's just nice to have a book I know I can recommend to my young women without worried their takeaway will be that they need to find a boyfriend.