The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa

Goodreads Description: "Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere. Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the Winter faery queen. As war looms between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron fey—ironbound faeries that only she and her absent prince have seen. But no one believes her.

Worse, Meghan's own fey powers have been cut off. She's stuck in Faery with only her wits for help. Trusting anyone would be foolish. Trusting a seeming traitor could be deadly. But even as she grows a backbone of iron, Meghan can't help but hear the whispers of longing in her all-too-human heart."

My Review: I'm very torn about this book. On one hand, I really liked it. I thought Meghan seemed like a stronger character this time around, less willing to give in to the insane demands and commands of people like Titania and Mab. I also liked how she and Ash knew each other, so we didn't have to waste more time reading about the cat-and-mouse game where they pretended not to like each other but we ALL knew they did. Stuff like that gets really cliched and boring to read about. Also, the whole plot overall was interesting! I liked the race to get the Scepter of Seasons---especially because a lot of the book took place in the mortal world. It was kind of cool to see Ash, Puck, and the rest of the faeries doing their thing away from the Nevernever. And the whole deal with Meghan's magic being sealed? I really liked that plot, because it was kind of cool reading about how she tried to solve her problems WITHOUT her magic. So these were the good parts of the book. However, I did have some complaints with the book. First of all, I HATE in a series when the girl and the guy fall for each other and everything ends happily-ever-after in the first book---and then in the second book, the guy starts getting all brooding and moody and starts to pull away and then the couple has problems. FOR NO REASON. This literally always happens in YA series and it bothers me so much. It's so cliche! And unfortunately, it happened in this book as well. I almost felt like screaming, "Ash! Dude! You are NOT going to kill her, as you keep threatening, so just shut up and date her already, okay?" Sorry, but this is like a HUGE pet peeve of mine. Also, another bad aspect of the book was that even though Meghan seemed stronger---she wasn't strong ENOUGH. She was still basically babied and saved by Puck and Ash like 24/7. Can't the girl do anything on her own? It's bothersome. So these were my biggest complaints with the book. Overall, it was a decent sequal, and I have to admit: I LOVED seeing Grimalkin again (he's my favorite character!), and Ironhorse and Leanansidhe were really cool characters. So, all in all? Like I said, a decent sequel, and not a bad book in the end, despite some major flaws. 

Cover: I like this cover a lot better than The Iron King's cover, although I'm still not a fan of the model they use to represent Meghan. That's just not how I see her at ALL, although I'm aware that's a personal opinion. But, again, as with the first book, I do like all the designs and coloring! And it's especially appropriate, considering she's imprisoned in the Winter Court for quite some time of the book.

Overall Grade: B+