What I wanted: To not think and just gush over angsty, stubborn people falling in love.
And it did just that.
But it took its sweet little time. This bWhat I wanted: To not think and just gush over angsty, stubborn people falling in love.
And it did just that.
But it took its sweet little time. This book was SLOW. Not slow burn, just 'painfully dragging it through and making you regret living life' kinda slow which almost had me DNF it way too many times than I care to think about.
For almost half the book, there was little to no chemistry or sparks flying between the characters. I was sure there was going to be another Rhys-like person who will just drop into the mix and suddenly be the love interest (despite the POVs), no angsty drama that I was biting my nails for (don't judge me, please). There were so many tropes that came out of nowhere and seemed like it was intentionally written into the book to appease the readers.
Also, there were times when I was completely lost, wondering if I missed something because a shit ton of things were just randomly mentioned and had apparently happened off the page. I was just having constant whiplash from it all. I almost thought that maybe normal contemporary romance doesn't do it for me anymore but then, finally, it picked up.
I would have been alright with reading just the second half, because Julian, that man was probably one of the best Lauren Asher characters. He was awkward, shy, overthinking every tiny thing, and yet so pure and the way he felt and loved was so powerful.
While in the beginning, I found the banter dry and forced at best, it transitioned it to something beautiful by the end. They were patient, understanding and so compassionate with each other, and especially when both of them had their own set of issues to sort through.
The mental health rep was written flawlessly, given the irony of how deeply messy the person it was written about. The doubts, the regression, the hovering darkness threatening to pull you under and the strength it takes to do the smallest of things, and that was something I really appreciated.
Not the best I've read, but it did its job of taking my mind off things and just be....more
Heavy, profound and incredibly sad, this book, within its sparse eighty pages, left me with a presence, an inexplicable feeling that would spin me intHeavy, profound and incredibly sad, this book, within its sparse eighty pages, left me with a presence, an inexplicable feeling that would spin me into a spiral for the next few days. What was it about? A child who was never loved felt strangely sad yet hesitantly happy at this new feeling of being loved at another place. You find yourself swept away by the simplistic descriptions of the Irish landscapes, the narrative of a girl who feels unwanted at her home, only to find herself belonging in a place she desperately wanted to call home.
"You don’t ever have to say anything," he says. ‘Always remember that as a thing you need never do. Many’s the man lost much just because he missed a perfect opportunity to say nothing.�
For me, this had an impact today. I'm thinking about it as I'm writing this, and I know I'll think about it tomorrow. But I do not know if I'll come back to this to find that feeling again....more
"I feel like I’m always searching for someone, or something."
I'm not okay. Once in a while, you come across something that just lingers with you, pote"I feel like I’m always searching for someone, or something."
I'm not okay. Once in a while, you come across something that just lingers with you, potent enough to bring you down to ruins. I've been staring at the walls of my room for the past two hours, trying to tell myself that this is not the greatest book I've ever read, it's not a complex world building or a fast-paced plot that gives you all the jitters. This was slow, moving and utterly transcendent.
When a boy and a girl, separated by time and space, swap places and fall in love with life. Set in a place I desperately want to move to (remember those beautiful, almost otherworldly images on the back of postcards?), Itomori, where a comet crashlanded and changed the course of two lives bound together by forklores of the past.
"So we don't forget when we wake up. Let's write our names on each other."...more
This did not feel like an SJM book, and it felt like a shadow of what I hoped it would be.
I'm not hating on the book. I eat up everything she writes This did not feel like an SJM book, and it felt like a shadow of what I hoped it would be.
I'm not hating on the book. I eat up everything she writes and I would still go crazy at every release of hers but this just did not deliver. I realised I went in with a lot of expectations and that kinda dampened the experience for me a little bit when I saw the direction it was going. But listen to this.
I loved Lidia and Ruhn. They easily went on to become one of my favorite SJM couples, actually pushing away Bryce and Hunt. See, Bryce and Hunt were, at the beginning, one of the healthiest relationships written by her, and the way it all just slowly came together was something I cherished especially in the first book but that changed later in HoSaB and HoFaS since whatever made them special was watered down, and they are now a far cry from the beautiful, understanding people I adored.
Exhibit A: Bryce asking Hunt to get his shit together and needing 'all of him', and couldn't apparently understand why he would not be there, calling him a coward despite witnessing his trauma and pain in the first book.
I loved Lidia, a depth given to her character that was almost a breath of fresh air in this book because at this point, all of her female characters almost seem the same. Ariadne, Sigrid, Sathia. Couldn't tell the difference. And Bryce just could not pull off the dramatic entrance and reveals like Aelin. Sorry not sorry. That aside, Lidia and Ruhn stole the show and I just wished we got more of them.
The crossover. The elephant in the room. *taking a deep breath* I'm not angry at Bryce and the way she dealt with the situation. She just dropped into a strange world and every instinct of hers is screaming at her to get back to her mate and save her world, so it is justified the way she left things despite our love for the other parties involved. She was just a girl trying to survive and do the necessary, and maybe she's not winning the most loved or the savior award there but she shouldn't have to make a sacrifice to save another world when her own is about to go in flames. BUT. It still ended up being disappointing because we never got a glimpse of anyone else and the interactions between Bryce, Nesta and Azriel were, well, underwhelming; just a push for us to get an info dump and.. that's it. Hoping to see all of them and just maybe working together at some point would have been nice. Wishful thinking. *sigh*
The plot was just.. there. It's not about the pace or the size of the book, it's about the content. I was just reading on and on and on... and nothing significant ever happened. There were no gasps, tears or giggles. I was just there. Reading. Yawning. Frowning. The parts where I should have had my mind blown were just not that, the effects were none and nothing about the book really packed a punch.
Tharion deserved better (I'm guessing he'll have a better ending in the coming books). That's all I'm saying.
I loved certain parts of the book. Ruhn and Bryce. I had a soft spot for Baxian from the start so his scenes had me smiling. The satisfying deaths of some people (ahem) had me beaming. The memory of Lehabah after seeing the sprites sprawled over the takeout container watching shows made me sad and happy at the same time. And the last hundred pages or so is always filled with action and drama, and I'm all here for it.
But I didn't feel the excitement, the racing heart or the need to pace the entire house like I do when I'm reading SJM's books and that's why this series was the weakest till now....more
My heart is going to explode from all this love. While I'm so very happy that I read this and it has brought me so much joy over the years, I'm also sMy heart is going to explode from all this love. While I'm so very happy that I read this and it has brought me so much joy over the years, I'm also sad at the prospect of this being somewhat of a finale. Of having to see them all grown up and separate from the cluster, the mess, the laughter and the heartbreaks.
A warning though. This is is going to be a very biased rating and review, colored by my pure adoration and devotion to these characters and this world.
From crying, smiling too wide and FEELING ALL KINDS OF MELANCHOLY with the Core Six and then witnessing their children create even more of a mess of their lives has been a beautiful journey. Through the scorn and the brutal one star reviews, I still believed and loved this series and I'm so happy I read it and decided to stick around.
Moffy and Farrow will always be my favorite. Hands down. Because they started this obsession. Later, it grew into this immense love for every single character of this huge family. The bonds were tight-knit, and so very real and beautiful to read about (it is one of the best family dynamics I have read till date) and SFO (I have never been more invested in people's lives like this until now). I was rooting for them all.
This book. At first, it was underwhelming. So many tangents that I didn't know where it was all going to go (didn't particularly care about the Fizzle takeover and the competition or the tension among the Donnellys) but I was ready to take all the crumbs I could get from all of them, and what a finale this was. But Luna and Donnelly - they were flawed, they were broken but the way they were with each other, the way they held on to their hope, their weirdness and their unshakeable belief in each other had me sobbing.
Moments that bowled me over:
# The dynamic between Lo and Donelly # The Yale Boys and SFO - the little flashes were not enough # Charlie and Luna (I didn't see it come it coming, but I'm not unhappy about it at all)
“But I think deep-down, you would try to move mountains for them, if they really needed you. You just maybe don’t feel all that needed, and sometimes, you like it that way. Because it’s easier than watching people you love fail over and over again
# Ripley is too cute, I can't. # This. And then I realize…� Leo grips the bar casually. “You are nothing without me, and I’m nothing without you.� They share this deep, fiery look—like an aggravation is burning a hole through both of them from their unceasing rivalry, stoked by their ballet company Add in Jo and I'm a goner. # Frog and Quinn. If they don't end up together, it will be a terrible crime.
I'm not going to survive when the next series drops. I've been waiting for way tooo long for the Cobalts to just destroy me and leave me in ruins....more
This slowly, painfully destroyed me and I was happy to let it.
You know one of those stories that smoothly takes you out; one minute you're standing, tThis slowly, painfully destroyed me and I was happy to let it.
You know one of those stories that smoothly takes you out; one minute you're standing, the next minute you're on your back, startled and completely unaware of how it all happened. Brandon Sanderson knows exactly how to write a complex world and magic system, and just solemnly pull you into it all as you witness the hell about to break loose.
Was this slow? Sure. But I didn't mind that one bit, because there's a certain comfort and familiarity despite being in the middle of battles, betrayals and a struggle to understand the evil about to wipe out the entire world as they stay unaware.
The relationships here are so subtle but strong, nothing that is forcefully pushed on you, yet you find yourself smiling at the smallest of their interactions. I loved the meetings, the inside jokes, the banter and the quiet familial bonds that tied them together. Seeing them grow into the people they are now, and missing some terribly, it was bittersweet, to say the least.
Oh, and that ending. That fucking ending. I will not be talking about it. I'm in shambles. Recovery is not expected to happen in a while....more
Have you heard of those disturbing yet fun murder riddles asking you to find the killler - the maid, the cook, the gardener or the wife? This was that Have you heard of those disturbing yet fun murder riddles asking you to find the killler - the maid, the cook, the gardener or the wife? This was that book. But instead of something that would have your jaw drop open at the end, this was what it looks like when a person tries too hard, shooting too many arrows in the dark, hoping one would hit the centre. News flash: it did not.
Whatever you predict will happen, whatever you thought would not happen because, pfft, that's just too ridiculous, will happen. Over the top and messy, it will certainly give you a terrible whiplash.
“At seventeen, Lenora Hope, hung her sister with a rope, Stabbed her father with a knife, took her mother's happy life 'It wasn't me,' Lenora said, but she's the only one not dead.�
“If you are truly gone, I refuse to live in a world without you, so you’ll have to angle it farther to the right. That’s where a god’s heart Reread #1
“If you are truly gone, I refuse to live in a world without you, so you’ll have to angle it farther to the right. That’s where a god’s heart lies, and mine already belongs to you, so do with it what you will."
How is this man real? Samkiel has just pushed the bar so high, it has flown out of the entire damn universe.
This was a fantasy set in a world of gods capable of reigning terror through realms across and monsters bred by your personal nightmares, but this was also a story of devastating grief. It was not glossed over, but remained faithful to a realistic understanding of what unfolds, and boy did it hurt. The way this book dealt with grief and heartbreak was painstakingly slow, but that made it all the more raw and beautiful. It takes times to heal and the way it was portrayed; the anger, the avoidance of wanting to feel and finally when the walls crash down, and it all just hurts but only for it to bet better - to finally breathe through the pain, it was truly heart wrenching.
"When I burn this world to embers, and you paint me as the villain, remember, I really did try to be good� once.�
Dianna was not perfect. While it may annoy some - how she treated the people around her, the destruction she left behind, without justifying it for what it was, I still understand. I found the insecurities, the fear, the pain to be relatable. And a part of me resonated with everything she said and felt. Words that maybe I wanted and needed to hear, and that was why this just hit all the rights spots. So even though the pace might seem slow and the book huge, it was important for it to be.
"Do you always flirt with homicidal killers?� His smile was bright, making him impossibly more gorgeous, and a part of me ached. “Only the really pretty ones."
The betrayal, the ending, the slow burn and the way it all finally came together - the fragile bonds she formed with the Hand, the way she finally felt it all, this book was so close to perfect.
I have so much more to say but I'm afraid I'll slip into a slump if I don't stop thinking about the book....more
Merricat, said Connie, would you like a cup of tea? Oh no, said Merricat, you’ll poison me. Merricat, said Connie, would you like to go to sleep? Down inMerricat, said Connie, would you like a cup of tea? Oh no, said Merricat, you’ll poison me. Merricat, said Connie, would you like to go to sleep? Down in the boneyard ten feet deep!
I couldn't resist. Creepy poems are my favorite. Yes, I realise I have issues.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle is not the typical chilling, gory horror novel where evil spirits haunt the lonely mansion deep into the woods. It's an eerie story narrated by an almost childlike, seemingly innocent voice of Merricat (Mary Katherine Blackwood), who tells us in a calm voice about how she and her agoraphobic older sister, Constance along with her crippled uncle live alone in the Blackwood mansion/castle. They are the social pariahs, hated and talked about in hushed whispers, the object of all ghastly rumors, the Boo Radleys of the town. See, on a rather unfortunate dinner night, their entire family was murdered by poison, and Constance who cheerfully lives within her dollhouse, was acquitted in the trial but the mystery as to what happened still remains to be just that. The villagers hold her guilty, ridicule them and isolate them to their castle. Merricat, is a rather strange girl (that's comically an understatement) casting spells and burying trinkets for protection from a world she believes to be filled with terrible people.
“I am going to put death in all their food and watch them die�
An estranged cousin enters the scene threatening to shake and topple the fragile and deliberate serenity of the house, and basically it all just goes to hell.
Now, while I found the tone of the book to be chilling, it always is when it is narrated by a child who loves to be creepy (read: chucky), it just did not scare me to my bones? Maybe it was not intended to be so anticlimactic, but the reader finds out the mystery about the murder from the beginning (it is not that hard to predict given the prose, the build-up was unnecessary), what later unfolds also turned out to be underwhelming. It leaves almost everything to your imagination. Questions left unanswered. I was not charmed by it, I was just plain frustrated. But the writing in itself will hold you captive until you just want to eat all the words up. And that and the poem almost, almost redeemed it for me....more
Tell me you're not swept off your feet by the cover and I'll call you out on your lies. Regretfully, that was the only good thing about the book. *sighTell me you're not swept off your feet by the cover and I'll call you out on your lies. Regretfully, that was the only good thing about the book. *sighs*...more
I'm still reeling from the effects of this book, and honestly I am not unhappy about that. I admit I had no idea what I was getting into when I starteI'm still reeling from the effects of this book, and honestly I am not unhappy about that. I admit I had no idea what I was getting into when I started reading, the title had me believing this was going to be a tearjerker, a tragical contemporary that would somehow end on a positive note. Oh, how wrong I was.
Never Let Me Go is set in a dystopian premise, a parallel universe, specifically around the Hailsham House, where 'special' students are reared to fulfill their part and the reason for their clinical existence. Even through their sparse understanding of the how's and why's, Kathy, Ruth and Tommy, weave through it all, through the intricate emotions and difficulties as they grow up in a world they cannot understand. They are told that the 'outside world' is dangerous and kept away, isolated in a place they were forced to call home.
Raising questions of the consequences and ethics in scientific practices, while telling a haunting story of what it means to live when you're not allowed to live, this is a work well done. It's sad, mellow and yet chilling even after its last words....more
I really did not want to review this but I see a rant coming and the frustration weighing me down has to be let out. This is merely based on my enjoymI really did not want to review this but I see a rant coming and the frustration weighing me down has to be let out. This is merely based on my enjoyment of the book.
What I did like: # The writing - I do not have to repeatedly point this out since it's been already established that Rebecca Ross can write. I have previously read her Queen's Rising but found it to be lacking of the magic this series held (I realise that I should be talking about this book and not that, still, that was utterly forgettable and nothing to write home about). Her lyrical proses are nothing short of beautiful, and I'm excited about picking her books up in the future.
# Roman and Iris - These people were unreal. Despite being a YA, there was so much depth to their characters, maturity and understanding in their interactions and the connection was, honestly, divine. It would still be one of my top recommendations for anyone looking for the rivals-to-lovers trope. It was done so well here.
# The fact that it had multiple POVs made the book all the more better. I know many have already stated this before but fantasies cannot be confined to just one perspective shown to the reader. Since multiple events are happening at a time and there is a different world being built, it's always better to get a glimpse into a diverse set of characters.
Things that had me almost dnf this book:
# The pacing - it was moving so. freaking. slow. Normally, if the books are fleshed out for the characters to grow and thrive, and for the story to unfold, I would be thrilled but the four hundred pages here (which should not be a herculean task when it comes to fantasies) had me screaming silently since nothing was happening and I was just so bored.
# the world building - I saw that some people found the world building to be the focus here, leaving the romance to be high and dry. But that is not what I felt. The romance was indeed lacking but the world building was not adequate either. We have a loose understanding of how the magic system and the rivalries between these gods work, a myth spun to somehow satisfy us, and that's it. A war has been fought with little to no solid strategy, some gods who were asleep were apparently killed off before they could make any appearance, gods are fighting now by trying to create, alter and balance the public perceptions now? Why was Iris so important to the war? Why was she the chosen one to swing the sword? I would have liked to know more about the enchanted buildings, the histories, background and the pure catastrophic events at their wake, all of which was glossed over by few myths known by even fewer.
# The weird last name calling (maybe just for me and strictly my icks) - Winnow and Prindle? Nope. Just no.
"Winnow!� She whisper-cried in excitement, hurrying to the corner. Iris rose with a smile. “It’s good to see you, Prindle.�
Uh huh.
# The amnesia. I'm not the biggest fan of this. See, if you write an amnesia trope into the book, you should make it worth it. Instead all it took was a touch of their fingers for everything to hit him? Really? I know, I should be seeing the magical part of it, but still, really?
# Many characters were introduced for only be given very little page space. What happened to the graveyard? Marisol and Keegan, Tobias. Don't even get me started on Forest.
It was all just very dull and disappointing. It took me almost a week to finish this, and I'm just annoyed that my first read of the year and one of my anticipated releases of the last, ended up this way....more
Halcyon (sadly in hiatus)
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