Tag: Fantasy (Page 19 of 121)

BOOK REVIEW: Seduced by Darkness (Dark Court Rising #1.5) by Bec McMaster

April 7, 2022 / Jen / 2 Comments

Seduced by Darkness (Dark Court Rising #1.5)
by Bec McMaster
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
*Spoilers for Promise of Darkness*

He fell in love with the woman of his dreams, but he never realized what that love would cost him.

When a dark prince attends the Lammastide rites, he lays eyes on his fated mate.

The problem?

She’s his enemy’s daughter.

A novella in the Dark Court Rising series from Thiago's POV featuring the first time he met Princess Iskvien.

Review:

*Spoilers for Promise of Darkness*

This is so, so dangerous.
And I don’t care. I want it all.

Seduced by Darkness was a mesmerizing look into the past. The story took place thirteen years before Promise of Darkness, so you don’t want to read this book first. In this story, we learned so much that was unknown. I loved watching how Vi and Thiago’s story unfolded. Watching them meet, learning to trust one another and fall in love was magical and all consuming. And there were so many unique aspects within the pages. I loved that we got to alternate between Vi and Thiago. Getting to hear his voice was exhilarating and everything I could have wanted! We also got to see little pieces from the future take place within the past, I was screaming with excitement for how certain things played out! And while this book and the first were both seductive and sexy, their moments together went further and we got to read all of the fabulous details when Thiago and Vi were together. It was extremely scorching hot *fans face*.

“Do I have a choice?” I can’t help being on the offensive; he’s just a little too overwhelming.
“You always have a choice.” Taking my hand he lifts it to his lips. “Me? Not so. Fate took me by the heart five centuries ago and tattooed you there on my soul.”

From when they first met, there was an instant pull. Yes it was one of attraction. But it also ran so much deeper. So seeing Vi realize that Thiago was so much more than what the stories and lies said about him was smile inducing. Her discovering the honesty and honor within Thiago warmed my heart. But there was also friendship in the pages that made my heart skip a happy beat. Finn, oh my goodness he was beyond fabulous. Finn and Vi together made me laugh and I can’t wait to see how their friendship unfolds as this series goes along! But this book also showed us a darker side. We got a clear picture of how horrific Vi’s mother was, and not only the lengths she would go to but the atrocities she committed. It was terrifying and left me uneasy and nervous for what will happen next. And Etan?! I was just left staring at the pages when it came to him, you’ll have to see what I’m talking about. So yes, I definitely recommend reading this book! Seduced by Darkness is a definite must read if you loved Promise of Darkness! The insights you gain were invaluable and watching Vi and Thiago’s love bloom was heartwarming

It doesn’t matter if she’s the daughter of my enemy. It doesn’t matter if we barely know each other. We have this and it burns between us. A promise of more. A promise of forever if only I am brave enough to reach out and take it.

Reading Order:

Review #1: Jen’s Review	Review #1.5: Jen’s Review	Review #2: Jen’s Review
Review #3: Jen’s Review

BOOK REVIEW: The Damned (The Beautiful #2) by Renee Ahdieh

March 29, 2022 / Chelsea / 2 Comments

The Damned (The Beautiful #2)
by Renee Ahdieh
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
New York Times bestselling author Renée Ahdieh returns with the second installment of her new sumptuous, sultry and romantic series, The Beautiful.

Following the events of The Beautiful, Sébastien Saint Germain is now cursed and forever changed. The treaty between the Fallen and the Brotherhood has been broken, and war between the immortals seems imminent. The price of loving Celine was costly. But Celine has also paid a high price for loving Bastien.

Still recovering from injuries sustained during a night she can’t quite remember, her dreams are troubled. And she doesn’t know she has inadvertently set into motion a chain of events that could lead to her demise and unveil a truth about herself she’s not quite ready to learn.

Forces hiding in the shadows have been patiently waiting for this moment for centuries. And just as Bastien and Celine begin to uncover the danger around them, they learn their love could tear them apart.

“And real love may be a choice, but I plan to choose someone who steals the breath from my body and haunts my very dreams. That is the only kind of love worth having.”

Look, this is hard for me. I do NOT like bashing a book even remotely connected to another book I adore….let alone in the same series.

Yet here we are. Imagine how hard this is for me.  The easiest way I could think of to explain this abomination of a story is as simple as this:

This book, simply put, is the child to a mother who yearned for so much more world expansion so as to ‘have another child’ there wasn’t possibly any way to sustain the child that already existed, to possibly survive on its own. The lack of nourishment for our already conceived and existing child caused it to shrivel and die… all in the name of making sure there were enough nutrients for another child, another being that literally didn’t exist.

Ahdieh made it so we got another two books with other characters instead of taking care of the first book she had already written, made a lottt of people fall in love with, and let Bastien and Celine’s story just…what even happened? Celine legit was barely in this book. SHE WASN’T EVEN THE MAIN POV.

And here we go. HERE. WE. FUCKING. GO. Bastien. What the cinnamon toast FUCK did she to do my child?? That is NOT who we fell in love with in book one. Not a wink. I get it. I fucking get it. But to take this beloved character of mine and, like, massacre his soul like this-that is NOT okay.

And even more than that, she triggered the EFF out of me. Yes. I know. I KNOW I am sensitive and get mad at the stupidest shit…but I just felt like this was

What even. What EVEN was she doing here. Sloppy. Inconsistent. Unlike Bastien. And, I’m guna say it-COWARDLY. This was a pathetic attempt at a story and it was just…not good. I had read people said book two was different and, like, that’s okay? I don’t CARE. But this was just out of left field different.

New creatures. New storyline. No direction. I get what she was attempting here, but it fell flat, period. And to not even really do anything until the last bit of the book, to let things hang in such a manner, to throw so much in with so little payoff-especially for certain things (I WILL NOT SPOIL. I WILL NOT)-it was a slap in the face. I do not CARE about these next characters. If you cannot take care of the dog you have, you have literally zero-zip-right to get a new puppy.

Look, I sound bitter-and I AM bitter-but this was a dumpster fire of a book, and NOT in a complimentary way like the masterpiece that was You Deserve Each Other. I could go on. And on. And on. About this piece of trash but-as I said in review one-I don’t have time to pretend that such a sadistic piece of turd exists and I’ll continue to cherish book one as if it was a standalone-or, rather, a single, solitary fucking child. At least then it can learn to feed and take care of itself instead of living in the shadow of stink that this one exudes. And that…is all I have to say. Regardless of what else I want to rant about, it’s not worth it-period.

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BOOK REVIEW: The Mime Order (The Bone Season #2) by Samantha Shannon

March 28, 2022 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

The Mime Order (The Bone Season #2)
by Samantha Shannon
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Paige Mahoney has escaped the brutal prison camp of Sheol I, but her problems have only just begun: many of the survivors are missing and she is the most wanted person in London...

As Scion turns its all-seeing eye on the dreamwalker, the mime-lords and mime-queens of the city's gangs are invited to a rare meeting of the Unnatural Assembly. Jaxon Hall and his Seven Seals prepare to take centre stage, but there are bitter fault lines running through the clairvoyant community and dark secrets around every corner.

Then the Rephaim begin crawling out from the shadows. Paige must keep moving, from Seven Dials to Grub Street to the secret catacombs of Camden, until the fate of the underworld can be decided.

“You call a past lover an ‘old flame.’” His apple-gold eyes were more chilling than beautiful, his face carved out of nothing earthly. “For Rephaim, it takes a long time for a flame to catch. But once it burns, it cannot go out.”
It didn’t take long to understand what he meant. “But I will,” I said. “I’ll stop. I’ll go out.”
There was a long silence.
“Yes,” Warden said, very softly. “You will go out.”

It’s so hard to write reviews for a series when you are reading them back to back-Not to mention if they are dense and lengthy. The Bone Season is both of those plus more, but I cannot imagine not taking the time to at least make an effort to try and relay what makes this series special in its own unique way.

Voyants, do you hear me?

It won’t be as long or well thought out as it would have been had I taken the time immediately after finishing to write this, but it stands on its own merit and I am simply assisting those who want my personal opinion and why it works for me (wow I am so robotic-I. Am. SO. Tired. Did I mention I’m tired?).

Do you hear me?

Well, for one, this is the most ‘serious’ forbidden romance I’ve ever had the ?pleasure? of reading. I mean, it’s downright painful going page to page as these two treat each other’s goals, ambitions, and loyalties with such a staunch and unrelenting manner. The push and pull is so agonizingly sinful that I am absolute TRASH when they slip away and just simply…give in. That being said, mind you, I am undeniably mixing up books 2 and 3 right now. I am shamelessly furthering my own agenda by saying this push and pull thing goes on book after book after, well…as far as I am in book four [which is 54% of the way through.] I. Need. Some. SERIOUS. Relief…oKaY?

“Paige.” His voice was a gray shadow of itself. “It is not that I do not want you. Only that I might want you too much. And for too long.”

With all that being said, this book had a lack of Warden for quite some time-so know that the typical book two formula is in play here, but damn if the tension of her ragtag group of the seven dials didn’t fulfill my very macabre idea of a good storyline.

“Surely we have to try, Jax? Who’s going to rule I-4 when they come for us?”
“Be careful, Paige.” Jaxon’s face was losing color again. “You are treading a very fine line.”
“Am I? Or am I crossing yours?”

Which leads me to another reason I love this series: Jackson. He is the most….dastardly Mime Lord ever. Well, no, he’s not. But the sinister way in which he is their friend-but not-their leader-but not (more like dictator)-their savior-but not…It’s mindfuckery of the utmost thrilling proportions. Are we supposed to like him? Hate him? Love him? I was on the edge of my seat for so much of this book. It certainly did not suffer from book two syndrome with the action and peril and utter destruction of mind and soul.

“…And words, my walker—well, words are everything. Words give wings even to those who have been stamped upon, broken beyond all hope of repair.”

Now, one may say I’m being spoilery. Nah. Anyone with any sense of awareness in this effed up world can see how malicious that man is:

“The only reason you are not dead already, O my lovely, is because of my good word. My declaration of your innocence. Put one toe out of line, and I will have you dragged before the Unnatural Assembly so you can show them that scar.”

Does that sound like a sane person to you? He is…interesting. And in the best way possible, in my opinion, because I can’t help but love what he adds to the storyline . And that’s really the whole thing, for me-I am almost done with the books available to us readers and I find that while there is never a lack of Paige and Warden being in danger (especially Paige), I much preferred books one and two for the story structure and plot.

“You helped me.”
“Do not labor under the illusion that I am a bastion of moral goodness, Paige. That would be a dangerous venture.”

I can’t proceed with that train of thought, just know that I am a simple gal who likes simple things and I am a huge fan of books one and two for the way they intricately play out…the complexities of 3 and 4 are so good…but man, I do so love the beginnings of revolutions (lest we forget I’ve ALWAYS been a book 1 kinda gal). ***EDIT*** Just went through some book three passages and I maaayyyy have been hasty in saying book three doesn’t give me ALL the vibes. I guess 1, 2, AND 3 give me happy macabre vibes. Yes. I did say that.

London—beautiful, immortal London—has never been a “city” in the simplest sense of the word. It was, and is, a living, breathing thing, a stone leviathan that harbors secrets underneath its scales. It guards them covetously, hiding them deep within its body; only the mad or the worthy can find them.

And, lastly, I will combine the last two reasons I adore this series: Paige’s friends (mostly Nick) and, obviously, the way this author gives no shits about simultaneously almost killing Paige every other chapter with not the bat of an eyelash. It seems to be as simple as breathing to her…and I inhale those tantalizing attacks with not one ounce of shame. I love this author’s attention to the goriest detail-in fact, I thrive.

“You can never want too much. That’s how they silence us,” I said. “They told us we were lucky to be in the penal colony instead of the æther. Lucky to be murdered with NiteKind, not the noose. Lucky to be alive, even if we weren’t free. They told us to stop wanting more than what they gave us, because what they gave us was more than we deserved.”

So, there you go. And it’s so hard to write reviews that obviously mirror another one or two books in a series-especially one like this. But I am proud to say that once you get into these, I don’t really think it matters because you’re either all in or you are done-both cases of which imply that you don’t care if the facts are a bit muddled because you’re trudging onward anyway and you’re as deep as I am or you simply don’t care and you’re curious. Either way, if anyone ever wants to talk Warden and Paige, I’m all ears.

But Warden cared if I laughed. He cared if I lived or died. He had seen me as I was, not as the world saw me.
And that meant something.
It had to. Didn’t it?

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BOOK REVIEW: The Beautiful (The Beautiful #1) by Renee Ahdieh

March 24, 2022 / Chelsea / 2 Comments

The Beautiful (The Beautiful #1)
by Renee Ahdieh
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans provides her a refuge after she's forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent along with six other girls, Celine quickly becomes enamored with the vibrant city from the music to the food to the soirées and—especially—to the danger. She soon becomes embroiled in the city's glitzy underworld, known as La Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group's leader, the enigmatic Sébastien Saint Germain. When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in the lair of La Cour des Lions, Celine battles her attraction to him and suspicions about Sébastien's guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret.

When more bodies are discovered, each crime more gruesome than the last, Celine and New Orleans become gripped by the terror of a serial killer on the loose—one Celine is sure has set her in his sights . . . and who may even be the young man who has stolen her heart. As the murders continue to go unsolved, Celine takes matters into her own hands and soon uncovers something even more shocking: an age-old feud from the darkest creatures of the underworld reveals a truth about Celine she always suspected simmered just beneath the surface.

At once a sultry romance and a thrilling murder mystery, master storyteller Renée Ahdieh embarks on her most potent fantasy series yet: The Beautiful.

My Disclaimer:

Before Reading Book Two: Highly Recommend (I literally insist)

After Reading Book Two: What are you talking about? There is no book two. This is simply a wonderfully charismatic, dramatic ending standalone. Do with that information what you will.

Nothing good ever came from succumbing to madness.

I read this over a month ago, yet I am no less breathless when I randomly begin thinking about it. I think it says something when you have read probably ten books post said book and your mind still randomly jumps back to it randomly, dumping you back into that time and moment when you wholly immersed yourself and said ‘I’ll never forget this’. But we always forget. Always.

It drove me to where I am now. But I am not ungrateful. For it brought to bear two of my deepest truths: I will always possess an errant young soul, no matter my age.
And I will always be the shadowy creature in darkened alcoves, waiting . . .
For you, my love. For you.

That’s not to say we NEVER remember it again, or can’t relive that feeling when we do think back to it, but we all move on, us readers, because we make room for so many more amazing books, if we are lucky. I think I’ve been very fortunate, as I have read no less than 40 amazing 5 star books just this past year (maybe more) and I loved them all fiercely for each individual story, each with its own merit-sometimes for the same reason, the same trope, the same male characteristics, the same strong, bold heroine, or a shy blushing MC. Maybe instead it’s witty and sarcastic, or dramatic and tension-filled, rife with peril or romantic delusions leading to a huge-but oh so amazing-misunderstanding that makes or breaks the book (but almost always makes the book, for me).

But if a monster takes a life, what kind of creature refuses to save one?

So why this book? What was so individualistic about it that it pops in my mind so much when it wasn’t without many flaws? Well. Perhaps that bias comes from book two which doesn’t even exist so why I even mentioned such an asinine thing is beyond me, but whatever. I. Don’t. Know. I just know that when I picked this book up, it felt right. I know I say that now and again [a lot] but it makes it no less true. And that just makes me a good reader, a smart reader, a very altruistic (I looked this up and legit this is not the correct word but I like the way it looks and sounds so…it stays) and enthusiastic fan. And this was no exception.

No matter where she went, danger followed.
And it horrified her. Just as it thrilled her.

I think part of the reason I fell so strongly in love with this story was that, TO ME, it felt different. New. Exciting. It’s not-not really-but it was such a mashup of so many things I felt a kinship to it, a pull unlike anything I’d felt in a while. It wasn’t my normal ‘Oh I’ll love this forever’ stint, nor did it just jump off the page and become an instant favorite. Much like the slow burn of this novel, this book grew on me in a way I’m not accustom to and…I definitely didn’t hate it.

In that instant, Celine thought she had an inkling of what it must be like to be a monster. To commit monstrous deeds. To wish for monstrous things to come about.
To revel in the dark.

Celine was a heroine I wholeheartedly enjoyed with her curiosity and fierce nature (it was a while ago I read this, so bare with me on describing her-I just know I LOVED her for simply being her and she was a fun heroine to follow, even if I don’t wholly remember everything). She knew what she wanted, and she also knew what she could and couldn’t live without-her friend was of utmost importance to her, so she did what she felt she had to. She could not put her friend in danger as she was sought after by the killer. What she could live with endangering her life for…well. Same.

Was this love then?
If it was, Celine wanted to bathe in it. To luxuriate in this feeling of knowing—without being told—that someone saw her, amid the beautiful decay. Saw her and stood by her side, against the very world itself.

Bastien. Let’s not pretend he is anything new in the male lead department…but it doesn’t mean I didn’t squee when he came on the page, morally gray as ever yet as sweet as a cinnamon roll to those he loved and cared about. I wonder who he grew to care about? Hm. Puzzler. That all being said, their love is forbidden for too many reasons to name, and he knows that. Yet as the book progresses, we begin to see his facade crack, his attitude change, and his motives become perhaps no less pure, but far more misguided.

“Ask him.” His smile turned punishing. “I have no doubt what his answer will be.”
“Mon cher, you don’t know him as well as you think you do.” Odette’s retort was pointed. “That’s the thing about beautiful fiends like Sébastien Saint Germain: they always do what you least expect them to do.” She brushed a speck of nonexistent dust from his shoulder. “And in the end, they always wear the crown.”

I cannot say why misguided, as I wasn’t quite sure what he was or wasn’t until a certain point in this story-I still raised an eyebrow when ‘proof’ was shown, but no matter. It all came to a head, in the end. Just know this: If a tortured hero (for actual good reason, this time) with forbidden love and mystery is what you fancy, I’d go for it.

“…Rage is a moment. Regret is forever.”

So. I don’t know. Without continuing to ramble I don’t know how I am supposed to express why you should read this when I can’t quite pinpoint why it felt different to me. Set in an eerie New Orleans, with unidentified creatures and Celine’s quest to figure who or what is targeting those around her, this book was just a breath of fresh air. I loved following her through the streets not knowing what was following her, who was around (not all bad, ya know), what might happen (as there really wasn’t a set formula, it just flowed), and what would eventually transpire when it all came to a head and Bastien had to make a choice-I won’t say it was right up my alley, not outright, but, okay, I was laying in said alley basking in the darkness, starlight, and forbidden lovers as they raced to survive against an unknown wholly evil force and I literally could not breathe. But, like, make your own decision, ‘kay? Don’t take my word for it.

******

The way I loved this so much 😭😭

RTC

BOOK REVIEW: House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City #2) by Sarah J. Maas

March 14, 2022 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City #2)
by Sarah J. Maas
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Bryce Quinlan and Hunt Athalar are trying to get back to normal―they may have saved Crescent City, but with so much upheaval in their lives lately, they mostly want a chance to relax. Slow down. Figure out what the future holds.

The Asteri have kept their word so far, leaving Bryce and Hunt alone. But with the rebels chipping away at the Asteri’s power, the threat the rulers pose is growing. As Bryce, Hunt, and their friends get pulled into the rebels’ plans, the choice becomes clear: stay silent while others are oppressed, or fight for what’s right. And they’ve never been very good at staying silent.

In this sexy, action-packed sequel to the #1 bestseller House of Earth and Blood, Sarah J. Maas weaves a captivating story of a world about to explode―and the people who will do anything to save it.

“…I did that to him. With my lightning. With a blow a fraction of what I unleashed on the Starsword.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re the tough, smart male who knows best and I’m an impulsive female whose feelings get her in trouble—”
“For fuck’s sake, Quinlan.”

This is the farthest thing from an easy review to write, but that doesn’t make it any less important for me to purge the thoughts from my mind. To say I am shocked to be doing anything less than fangirling, anything less than screaming my love from the rooftops-from the mountains-anything less than cooking up theories with friends….is an understatement-yet here we are.

I literally won’t make this long, but I will say what didn’t work for me and what did. It’s only fair and the only way to get this thing off my chest. For one, I just am clearly not an SJM follower so I didn’t understand the assignment. I thought that, ya know, for once this story was just about Bryce and Hunt and that whoever surrounded them did just that…surrounded them. I was okay with other POVs, I mean who cares, but when they kind of began to overshadow what I really came here for-for my ship to sail and deal with their shit-it just struck me dumb.

That’s not to say I don’t like more of Ruhn. Ruhn is probably now my second favorite character only under HUNT [duh]…so to see him finding a thread to follow, it was refreshing. I like having more stakes, more to root for…more to lose. But that came at a price, in my opinion, when he and Tharion seemed to almost be doing more than Bryce and Hunt. I know that’s not the case, but it did feel as though we barely got any of Bryce and Hunt. I assume that’s the aftereffect of me assuming that the book would be centered around them.

So yeah…I was bummed to not get exclusive and unending Hunt content. That should come as a surprise to no one. That butt hurt aside, probably my second-or maybe first, if I’m being completely honest (or maybe it’s a tie in to the characters?)-issue is that I am a creature of habit and I do. Not. Like. Change. Book one was literally grit and action and desperation and loneliness and finding love through heartbreak and rising above betrayal and-most importantly for my psychotic ass-peril.

There just was something so unnerving about everything being the same yet different. Evolved yet not evolved. Hunt and Bryce ended in a tentative relationship and with the understanding they would lay low but of course they CANT lay low and then we enter book two and it all just…it seems so different than what I envisioned. And there, I suppose, inlays the problem: me. Well. I have always been my own worst enemy; overhyping, overthinking, overanalyzing, playing out what I want the end to be like, wanting only what I expect…

But I fear that, while yes, a lot of this rating has to do with lack of anything happening, it’s definitely not wholly my fault. Look, this is a long ass book . For conversations to be 80% of the story-that’s absurd. Well, at least to someone who doesn’t want a million new characters and threads to tug on. So I guess that leads to my third and final issue: Maas has always been too big, too grandiose, too all inclusive of her own worlds and ideas for me.

So why did you even read this series, then, you ask? Who the hell DOESN’T want to become apart of such a big fandom with your friends? I LOVED and adored book one and was SHOCKED at how amazing it was-truly. It was dead set on searing it’s own path and I blazed alongside Hunt, Bryce, and all involved. I was trash for it-still am. So to say I can’t look away from minor inconveniences and flaws and overlook past biases is both untrue and unjust. I simply just did not see eye to eye with the paths this story took. IE: Farther away from Bryce and Hunt and their tentative domestic bliss.

“Even if **** or **** told Emile it was safe to hide out, if I were a kid, I wouldn’t have come here.”
“You were a kid, like, a thousand years ago. Forgive me if my childhood is a little more relevant.”
“Two hundred years ago,” he muttered.
“Still old as fuck.”

Now here is where my positives start flowing in: Boy do I love Bryce and Hunt together. They are the epitome of one of my OTP couples. I will never not root for Hunt to find true peace and happiness-and I AM SO GLAD this was not a cakewalk for them. Bring on the pain. Bring on the hurt. Bring on any and every big bad that is trying to tear them apart. I. Am. Down. For. That. Maas wouldn’t and couldn’t and shouldn’t

make them an easy couple and that’s okay-divine even. Domestic bliss is boring and lack of tension after a couple gets together drives a book to Boring Town in less than 5 pages. So the fact that we all knew book two wouldn’t send our main lovers sailing into the sunset is a given-Maas certainly delivered. Perhaps a little too thoroughly. I’d say I have more on that alter, but I’m past being upset and negative and it holds no place among Maas fans so what is the point-I stand by the fact that this book was far from perfect but it had so many perfect elements laying within it that I cannot hate it. Will not. My heart may be shattered that this wasn’t a masterpiece in my eyes but that doesn’t blind me to the fact that Maas gives me so many things I crave.

“Not sexy enough.”
“Lover?”
“Does that come with a ruff and lute?”
He swept a wing over her bare thigh. “Anyone ever tell you that you’re a pain in the ass?”
“Just ye olde lover.”

And then she can so easily taketh away: (view spoiler) I thought we avoided that but clearly not. I didn’t say this to start down that path (though what long, winding, desolate road that would be), but to implement the fact that so many amazing elements were presented within it: Pain. Desperation (though a far tamer desperation than I wanted and needed which was delivered in book one). Longing. Loss. I love these moments above the rest, and to see them given to me in a different way I didn’t expect (though Arielle had mentioned this when I read it over a year ago as a possibility) was refreshing, though unwelcome at times.

All this being said, I am still in shock I even have to think about how I’m phrasing this and that I’m not 5 more paragraphs in blasting to the cosmos with how enraptured I am and that I am now forever an SJM fan, not lost in the throes of book slumpdom alongside my ride or die bitch, but I can’t be that person and I guess I never will. I would be remiss if I didn’t say that, of course I will still pine to know what happens in book three and I will still try with my whole heart to love book three, but am now far more unsure if that’s possible. Why bother, you’re probably asking, if you don’t like SJM. Well-what a sad world we’d live in if we gave up on our favorite characters and what will inevitably become them. What a sad world that I’d let a few things I don’t like kill the love and fire in my torch I have for Hunt and his journey for peace and happiness. My hope cannot be killed, no matter how little I felt for most of this novel. So onto three and wishing for nothing but the best in the final installment of a series I plan to die still loving.

****

Oh God the way I’m terrified to rate this candidly

Don’t tear apart my carcass please

RTC

****

ARIELLE. CASSIE. LET’S DO THIS THING.