Best Book of January (and yes, I know it's almost March)

Juliet Marillier is now one of my favorite authors EVER. I did read Heart's Blood first and loved it in the way I love many books but this book, this is true love. It's the beginning of a saga that spans generations of a family line. What a way to start the year! Here's the synopsis:

A beautiful retelling of the Celtic "Swans" myth, Daughter of the Forest is a mixture of history and fantasy, myth and magic, legend and love... To reclaim the lives of her brothers, Sorcha leaves the only safe place she has ever known and embarks on a journey filled with pain, loss and terror. When she is kidnapped by enemy forces and taken to a foreign land, it seems that there will be no way for Sorcha to break the spell that condemns all that she loves. But magic knows no boundaries, and Sorcha will have to choose between the live she has always known and a love that comes only once.

So it's not completely original. BFD! Marillier paints her stories with words to create a gorgeous canvas that makes her books feel more like art instead of just a book. I'll stop gushing now since I think you get the gist of what I'm saying but seriously. There's some real good reading here.