Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen Series: Scarlet #1
on February 12th 2014
Goodreads
Many readers know the tale of Robin Hood, but they will be swept away by this new version full of action, secrets, and romance.
Posing as one of Robin Hood’s thieves to avoid the wrath of the evil Thief Taker Lord Gisbourne, Scarlet has kept her identity secret from all of Nottinghamshire. Only the Hood and his band know the truth: the agile thief posing as a whip of a boy is actually a fearless young woman with a secret past. Helping the people of Nottingham outwit the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham could cost Scarlet her life as Gisbourne closes in.
It’s only her fierce loyalty to Robin—whose quick smiles and sharp temper have the rare power to unsettle her—that keeps Scarlet going and makes this fight worth dying for.
I’ve been hearing amazing things about Scarlet for the past year and I haven’t picked up a copy until last week. WHY DIDN’T I LISTEN TO ALL OF YOU SOONER? Seriously, this book is just pure awesome and I am trying to restrain myself from buying Lady Thief (the sequel).
*sighs* Where do I even begin with this book? It was just so great, I don’t think I can do it justice.
First, we have Scarlet. She’s basically the bad-ass girl everyone wants to be friends with. Living in a time where women were expected to be housewives, Scarlet has to pretend to be a guy to be in Robin Hood’s band of thieves. Of course Robin, John Little and Much all know but Scar has to pretend to be a male to protect herself.
I absolutely loved Scarlet. She was bad-ass, headstrong and pretty much a person I’d want to be friends with. Her thieving skills were awesome (and actually present unlike some assassins I know who actually can’t do anything *cough cough* Caelena *cough cough*). Another thing I loved about Scarlet was that she was there for her group. She wanted to help protect them and she genuinely cared about them which I loved.
The plot and world-building in this book were absolutely phenomenal. I could easily imagine what was happening and the writing was easy to understand. As far as retellings go, this one was pretty good. I’m not too familiar with the original Robin Hood story but I still knew enough to understand the basic elements.
The only thing that somewhat bothered me was the romance. Scarlet is a love triangle. I know, I know. I hate love triangles so much and sadly, the romance in this book was no different. I wasn’t bothered by the love triangle itself, I was bothered by one character, John Little. Oh John Little, how much I want to punch your face. The book starts off with Rob and Scar CLEARLY caring for each other (which was super adorable, I ship it SO MUCH) but suddenly, John decides he likes Scarlet too. I just wanted to punch that little twerp in the face. Seriously, DO NOT GO MESSING WITH MY SCARLET AND ROBIN. LEAVE THEM ALONE, LET THEM BE ADORABLE FOREVER AND EVER. ~end rant~
Overall, I loved Scarlet. Scarlet (the main character) was bad-ass and pure awesome. The world-building and plot were just as great and the romance was pretty adorable. I was only annoyed with John Little (potential love interest) because of his annoyingness and general distaste for acting appropriately and for not knowing when the right time to say something is (did that make sense?). I highly recommend Scarlet and anyone who likes Retellings and awesomeness should read it. Now, please excuse me while I attempt to restrain myself from buying the sequel (book buying bans suck).
