Sanctum by Sara Fine Is Literally One of the Best Books I've Ever Read!

Sanctum by Sarah Fine

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Short story: This is a MAJESTIC book and series mind you.

Long story: I first stumbled across Sanctum when Amazon offered me a special deal on the first two books because I'd bought something completely irrelevant. To be brutally honest, I thought they were one of those cheap Kindle books, so I was like eh, I'll just read them. I started Sanctum and I wasn't impressed by the first few chapters and like the utterly stupid human being that I am, I stopped the book. Future Tiffany would be like WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! Of course, I came back to the book and continued where I left off a few weeks later.

I goodness to honest thought it was about some girl who had to delve into the depths of some dark and mysterious land to save her friend. This was true in some aspect of things but I was shocked at how things actually turned out for Layla (the main protagonist). All the twists and turns and crazy plot twists kept me plowing to the next page. Reality was simply not as interesting as this book.
For one, I didn't think it was a romance of any sorts (it's YA so I don't know why I thought this). I'm so glad that I was proved wrong.

I'm in love with how well Sara Fine portrayed her characters. She really knew how to give them strength but also live with realistic weaknesses. Layla was as real as they got and I felt like I was inside her head but she was in control. Then there was Malachi. . .oh my gosh, Malachi. He was so perfect and swoon-worthy. Everything you could ask for in a man. My stomach always got all fluttery when he and Layla were together. It was such a beautiful thing. The rest of the characters (Ana, Raphael, Nadia, The Judge. . .) also were well thought out and were played their parts very efficiently.

The world Sara created was fantastic, multi-layered, and ALWAYS surprising. Some of those plot twists really made me want to curl into a ball and cry. It was as if she knew every street on the map, every fissure in the sidewalk. She was creative and detailed, but not overbearingly so. She fit the characters right into it and if you thought you could predict everything, you were wrong.

Sara Fine didn't think she was psychologizing her readers (read the About the Author section of the book) but she really was and you'd never know it. However, if being psychologized by Sara is this great, please keep doing it! She's the kind of person who because I read one of her pieces I will read ALL of them.

Moral of the story: Read the book. You won't regret it.






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