tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11231732967510368322024-03-05T17:29:23.467-08:00Forever BooksA book review blog. Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.comBlogger298125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-8519400566888091292024-02-19T08:40:00.000-08:002024-02-19T08:40:09.809-08:00A Winter’s Promise (Mirror Visitor #1) by Christelle Dabos Review<p> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px;">Hi ForeverBookers,</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How are you? I hope you’re well.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’ve just finished reading <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Winter’s Promise”</span> by Christelle Dabos and I enjoyed it as a whole. It was too long, I thought. Whether this was a translation issue because it’s translated from French, I don’t know but there were definitely parts that could have been taken out and it wouldn’t have made the plot not work. Also, the characters weren’t all fleshed out, I didn’t think.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">3 stars!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A Winter’s Promise tells the story of Ophelia, a young girl that works in a museum, who gets taken to the Citaceleste, which is on another Ark, the Pole to the one she lives on, Anima. I thought of the arks as different countries on Earth, like Anima is England and the Pole is a cold Australia. She gets sent there by her family, who don’t really like her. Her mother in particular doesn’t think much of her. However her Great-Uncle does think lots of her. He offers support at the beginning of the novel. From the beginning of <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Winter’s Promise,”</span> we learn that Ophelia is to be engaged to a man from the Pole, a different Ark. She has to move to the Pole, to the Citaceleste where Thorn, her intended is from. Is she okay with this move? Other main characters include Berenilde, a woman that we’re not meant to be certain about throughout, I believe. Archibald, another character that raises questions and Aunt Rosaline, Ophelia’s aunt who travels with her from Anima to the Citaceleste. As well as minor characters, like Freya, and Mother Hildegard. There’s also a few funny moments from characters such as Fox and Gail, two characters that Ophelia befriends while at the Pole. There are many secrets revealed and some yet to be revealed to Ophelia and some other characters, I feel in book 2. I don’t know when I’ll read that yet.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; color: #0061fe; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I read <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Winter’s Promise”</span> for a few Readathons/Reading Challenges. They were:</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; color: #0061fe; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Reading Rivalry, which is Sarah J Maas themed this month - Seasonal Courts - Spring, Summer, Winter, Autumn - because A Winter’s Promise has a season in the title and the Pole, where most of the novel is set is a winter setting.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; color: #0061fe; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">2024 Always Fully Booked Reading Challenge - A book about a vacation or trip - While A Winter’s Promise isn’t about the trip as such, it’s about Ophelia moving to a new place and working out the dynamics of that place, so it works in my eyes.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; color: #0061fe; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Reading Rainbow Challenge 2024 - Blue. Nearly all of the cover for <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Winter’s Promise” </span>is blue<span style="color: black;">!</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Well, where do I start. This book is very complex. I thought it was a middle grade when I started it, but I soon learnt that it wasn’t. After Ophelia moves to the Pole, she gets hate from Freya who’s Thorn’s, her intended’s sister. Thorn isn’t full siblings with Freya, though. He’s seen as an outcast because his mother wasn’t from the Pole, but a Chronicler so from another clan. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">An important part of <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Winter’s Promise”</span> is, I think, where Ophelia learns about a certain book that the family spirit of the Dragon’s (Thorn’s family,) Lord Farouk, who’s also the father of Berenilde’s baby wants. He wants Ophelia to get information from it for him with her power. She can read objects through touch. She doesn’t do this within this novel, we’re just told she can. I hope we see it in the next novel in the series. Archibald, the head of the Citaceleste, is hated by Thorn, who thinks he’s evil. <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Ophelia better understood why Thorn and Berenilde were protecting her from him: Archibald’s way of life consisted of leading women to commit adultery. He got all of his female guests into his bed, and then spoke to their husbands with staggering candor.”</span> More than this, Archibald actually gets someone to come in and reveal secrets about said Book. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Where is the original, signore?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Only Farouk knows. Let’s make do with this copy for now. What I need to be sure of first is that you’re up to this translation. Our Lord officially charged me with distributing it to all my relations, but he’s losing patience, and I’m harboring under my roof of a female competitor who wants to beat me to it. So I’m in rather a hurry.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Come, come,” the stranger said in his reedy little voice, laughing nervously. “I may be the best, but don’t expect miracles from me! To this day, no one has ever deciphered the Book of a family spirit, what I can propose to you is a statistical study of all the distinctive features of this document: the number of signs, the frequency of each one, the size of the spacing. Then I could proceed to a comparative study of the other reproductions, of which I am the proud owner.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“And that’s it? You’ve traveled across the world at my expense to inform me of what I already know?” Archibald’s tone didn’t betray any annoyance, but there was something about honeyed diction that seemed to make the stranger uneasy.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Forgive me, signore, but no one can be expected to do the impossible. What I can assure you is that the more we compare, the more the overall statistics gain in precision. Perhaps one day we’ll succeed in getting some logic to emerge from the chaos of this alphabet?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“And you’re described as the best in your discipline!” sighed Archibald with disappointment. “We are wasting each other’s time, sir. Allow me to see you out.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Ophelia hid behind the marble bust while the two men left the library. As soon as the door was closed, she tiptoed over to the lectern. A huge book was resting on it. It was so like the one in Artemis’s archives that it would be hard to tell them apart. With her reader’s gloved fingertips, she carefully turned the pages. There were the same enigmatic arabesques, the same silent story, the same skin-like texture. The expert was right, this reproduction was a small masterpiece.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>So there were other books across the arks? If that little stranger were to be believed, each family spirit possessed a copy, and if Archibald were to be believed, Lord Farouk had a burning desire to decipher his own.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Perturbed, Ophelia had a sudden premonition. The pieces of an astounding jigsaw puzzle were falling into place in her mind.”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The jigsaw that Ophelia is trying to work out is the importance of this Book. This is the most significant part of the novel for me, because it’s where the main secret of the Book is discussed, but what is this book? It looks like Artemis, Ophelia’s family spirit’s book, but there’s something more to it. It’s not revealed in “A Winter’s Promise.” If for nothing else I’ll keep reading the series to find out what the significance of it is!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ophelia has two friendships within the Citaceleste. One being with Fox, an elderly servant/hand, and the other being Gail, a female mechanic. These two are friends before Ophelia comes to the Citaceleste. Will their relationship develop as the series goes on? You’ll need to read to find out! I enjoyed reading Fox and Ophelia’s friendship. It was nice to see a platonic relationship between a female and male character, as in most books I read, there aren’t many friendships between men and women. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ophelia has trouble with a lot of characters, however. Before going to the Citaceleste, Ophelia is staying at Thorn’s family estate. Here, she meets Berenilde and Thorn’s grandmother. These two characters don’t like Ophelia and cause her lots of issues throughout the rest of the book. For example, the grandmother tries to kill Ophelia, at one point. Why? You’ll have to read to find out! This was when I realised the novel certainly wasn’t middle grade! Berenilde is a sketchy character that we’re not meant to be sure what her intentions towards Ophelia, or Thorn truly are. I believe she’s not all she seems for the bad instead of the good but we’ll see…</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Overall then, while I enjoyed <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Winter’s Promise,”</span> I found the text very waffly, like it was trying to get to a certain point but just never quite got there. It could have done with being made far more concise. I enjoyed Ophelia, Thorn and even Berenilde but I wish we’d gotten more from them. That’s why I’m giving A Winter’s Promise 3 stars! I enjoyed it but it could have been cut down by at least 100 pages, I think, but this is the first book in a 4 book series so the next books might be better! There are a few more twists and turns to the plot of A Winter’s Promise, but the main one I’ve detailed above.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m currently in the middle of a romance book, which I’ll not review in great depth but I’ll probably still put my thoughts and feelings in a separate post. </p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-20432084173993553422024-01-14T14:40:00.000-08:002024-01-14T14:56:55.009-08:00An Enchantment Of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson Review<p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px;">Hey ForeverBookers,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px;"> </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How are you doing today? I hope you’re all well and that you had a great Christmas! I’m sorry you haven’t heard from me since November. I had a really busy December! Anyway, I’ll post my favourite books of 2023 next, probably in a few days! </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I have just finished reading my first book of 2024, though. It was…<span style="font-weight: bold;">“An Enchantment Of Ravens”</span> by Margaret Rogerson. I enjoyed it, although I do think it would have been better as a solely adult book. I thought making it YA made the story lacking in a few ways that I’ll get onto later.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">3 Stars! </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We follow the perspective of Isobel throughout <span style="font-weight: bold;">“An Enchantment Of Ravens.”</span> She’s an artist who paints the fae because they’re forbidden from painting themselves or ANY sort of art/creative work (singing songs/writing poetry/stories etc). Why? You’ll have to read to find out for yourself! She is asked to paint the prince of the autumn court, Rook. He’s our other main character. When it seems something has happened to the artwork that she creates of Rook, she’s pulled into fairy court politics and has to go back to the autumn court with him to seek vengeance for herself. Does she get to do this? Or are there things in her way?</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I did think the overall plot was good although the world building was a little heavy in my eyes. The author kept describing everything in a multitude of sentences, when the same thing COULD have been said in a lot less words. I don’t know if this was to up the word count.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I<span style="color: #800180;"> read <span style="font-weight: bold;">“An Enchantment Of Ravens”</span> for a few Readathons/Reading Challenges: </span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180;">Reading Rivalry - Athena/Minerva - Wisdom, Craft, Strategy - I chose this option because Craft is a major part of the plot to An Enchantment of Ravens, as the fae can’t do anything creative. Otherwise they destroy themselves!</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180;">Always Fully Booked Reading Challenge - A debut book - <span style="font-weight: bold;">“An Enchantment Of Ravens”</span> was Margaret Rogerson’s first published book, I believe.</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180;">Always Fully Booked “On the Cover” Reading Challenge - Birds - there is a bird on the front and another on the back of <span style="font-weight: bold;">“An Enchantment Of Ravens.”</span></span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180;">Always Fully Booked - Colour challenge - BROWN - A lot of the cover is brown and gives off Autumn vibes! </span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Spoilers Below…</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">“My parlor smelled of linseed oil and spike lavender, and a dab of lead tin yellow glistened on my canvas. I had nearly perfected the color of Gadfly’s silk jacket.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The trick with Gadfly was persuading him to wear the same clothes for every season. Oil paints needed days to dry between layers and he had trouble understanding that I couldn’t just swap his entire outfit for another he liked better. He was astonishingly vain by fair folk standards, which is like saying a pond is unusually wet, or a bear is surprisingly hairy. All in all, it was a disarming quality for a creature who could murder me without rescheduling his tea.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I might have some silver embroidery done about the wrists,” he said. “What do you think? You could add that couldn’t you?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Of course.”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">As I said above, Isobel is at first a normal girl who just has a job creating paintings of the fae because they can’t do it themselves. Here, she is drawing her fae client, Gadfly. Gadfly is a significant secondary character in the story. He thinks he’s the most important person but he’s nice, or is he? He’s particular about what he likes as the above shows.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The fair folk, as they’re called in <span style="font-weight: bold;">“An Enchantment Of Ravens,” </span>gift their human creators enchantments as payment. Isobel doesn’t want an enchantment from Gadfly, though. All she wants is to keep her and her aunt and sisters safe. Her sisters were once goats, but were changed into humans. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">“My twin sisters weren’t precisely human. They’d begun life as a pair of goat kids before a fair one had had too much wine and enchanted them on a lark. It was slow going, but I reminded myself that at least it was going. This time last year they hadn’t been house-trained…I’d seen March survive eating a broken pot, poison oak, deadly nightshade, and several unfortunate salamanders without any ill effects. For all my concern, March jumping off cabinets posed more danger than the kitchen furniture.” </span>I found this cute and funny. May and March aren’t too present in the story. They’re just there for a little light relief, which was nice to see.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The male main character is a fae called Rook. He’s a tall, fae as is often brought into the story. He knows how to fight and defend his kingdom of autumn. We never actually see the autumn court, though. This surprised me, because the main male character is the prince of autumn, I would have thought the main part of the plot would have taken part there, but it didn’t. It mainly took part in spring, Gadfly’s court. Gadfly is a very arrogant fae. It’s revealed Gadfly is the prince of the spring court half way through the novel. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">“Whatever he said next, and whatever Rook said in reply, was lost to me as I finished digesting the phrase—</span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">a welcome to my domain</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I cleared my throat. Gadfly looked around. “Sir, are you the spring prince?” I asked.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He smiled. “Why, yes. None other! Surely I’ve mentioned that to you before?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“No, I can’t say you have.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“How remiss of me. I’m so forgetful with mortals—I simply assume everyone already knows.” While Gadfly spoke, Rook studied him with an unreadable expression. “Well, fear not, Isobel. Your manners are beyond reproach. I always felt welcomed as a princely figure in your home. Now, before I forget another detail, would you care to tell me why you’re roaming about in the forest, and in such distinguished company?”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There are some rather aggressive villains in <span style="font-weight: bold;">“An Enchantment Of Ravens.”</span> A barrow mound, Hemlock, Foxglove and finally the Alder King. The barrow mound is a natural thing but it’s not of beauty. No, it’s a scary thing that almost destroys both Isobel and Rook. I expected Rook to be able to conquer the barrow mound easily, but no. He struggled. As for the other villains I mentioned, Hemlock was a pity party. Yes, she was bitter but she wasn’t evil, per se. She was more jealous of Isobel I thought, as she was free, and Hemlock wasn’t. Foxglove, again is jealous of Isobel. The Alder King is the main villain of the story. What happens to these villains or horrible characters? Does Isobel defeat the Alder King? Do Isobel and Rook get a happily ever after? You’ll have to read to find out! </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Overall, then I really enjoyed <span style="font-weight: bold;">“An Enchantment Of Ravens!”</span> There were some twists that I didn’t see coming. The only thing I wish is that the age was upped, and that it was made an adult book. That would have made sense because then we could have had some more emotional scenes between Isobel and Rook. They’re the scenes that I really love to read. We do get some emotional bits but not enough in my eyes. I think we could have had some sex scenes too. These would have been fun! </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Stand by for my next read coming soon…</p>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-88188044065258235952023-11-27T15:38:00.000-08:002023-11-28T07:42:38.948-08:00Haunting Adeline (Cat & Mouse Duet #1) Review<p> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px;">Hey ForeverBookers,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px;"> </span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How are you all? I hope you’re all good! </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’ve just finished reading <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Haunting Adeline,”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>which I enjoyed. </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">3 Stars!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It tells the story of Addie, who we meet as a twenty-six year old woman. She’s an author although, this isn’t focused on in the plot of<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Haunting Adeline.”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>She’s knows she has a stalker. His name is revealed as Zade later in the book. He becomes her sexual partner and then her lover nearer the end of the book. How do Addie and Zade end up together? And do they stay together? You’ll need to read for yourself to find out! We also see from Addie’s great-grandmother Gigi’s POV through letters. Gigi died, how and why we and Addie doesn’t know. This is the main mystery point of the novel, that Addie is trying to figure out.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I read Haunting Adeline for Reading Rivalry. The prompt is covered was “I Volunteer As A Tribute” because Addie literally gives herself sexually to her stalker, no doubt in her mind. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There are triggers in <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Haunting Adeline.”</span> They’re surrounding child and female trafficking.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Spoilers Below</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The windows of my house tremble from the power of thunder rolling across the skies. Lightning strikes in the distance, illuminating the night. In that small moment, the few seconds of blinding light showcases the man standing outside my window. Watching me. Always watching me. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I go through the motions, just like I always do. My heart skips a beat and then palpitates, my breathing turns shallow, and my hands grow clammy. It doesn’t matter how many times I see him, he always pulls the same reaction out of me. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Fear.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>And excitement.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I don’t know why it excites me. Something must be wrong with me. It’s not normal for liquid heat to coarse through my veins, leaving tingles burning in its wake. It’s not common for my mind to start wondering about things I shouldn’t.”</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is the start of <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Haunting Adeline.”</span> Addie knows that she’s being stalked from the beginning. She doesn’t know it’s Zade until about half way through the novel. I wish she’d known that fact a little sooner to be honest. I thought the mystery went on for a little too long. It wasn’t a mystery to us because we see from both Addie and Zade’s POV, so although Addie was left in the dark, Zade obviously wasn’t. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In the above quote, it says that Addie is both fearful and excited. She feels a sexual desire for Zade, which she knows she shouldn’t feel, especially when she doesn’t know him. I kind of thought the story started before the book did if that makes sense. It was like Addie experienced viewings of her “stalker,” what she calls Zade to begin with before she knows who he is, before the start of the book. I would have liked to have seen the first time she saw him. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When Zade reveals himself, it’s during when he and Addie are having sex. I LOVED the sex scenes in Haunting Adeline! They were sooooo HOT!!! I wanted Zade here with me! Is he my favourite book boyfriend now? No, but he’s probably 4th or 5th on my list now. He’s also very protective towards Addie, too and this comes across in the latter half of the novel. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The main plot of <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Haunting Adeline”</span> is centred around human trafficking. I wouldn’t say this novel really focuses on this main plot point. It’s more of a a prelude to Hunting Adeline, where I believe most of the trigger warnings lie. It just introduces the female and child trafficking. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Zade saves young girls from sex traffickers. We see this happen twice in the novel. Once when Zade goes to a house party where the guests are due to literally feast on a young girl, and the other time at the club where this evil group of people meet. Zade saves this girl too. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’re left on a cliffhanger with both of our main characters at the end of <span style="font-style: italic;">“Haunting Adeline,”</span> Zade is in a predicament. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The fuck happened?” My head is fucking throbbing, and my back feels near broken. </span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Why are you here?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I came as soon as I figured it out. It was a setup. This last video… they knew we were coming… I don’t know how, man. But they purposely leaked the fucking video. It was </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">a fucking setup.”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is Zade after having just woken up after being knocked out when he tried to save the last young victim in the novel. He’s talking to his lackey, Jay. Jay is reporting how the girl being victimised was a setup. How is this possible? We’ll find out in <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Hunting Adeline,”</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>I expect.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Gigi is married to John but wants to be with another man. John doesn’t like this for obvious reasons. I thought John was a bit of a tool to be honest. He was nasty and not supportive of Gigi’s decisions. Do Addie and Zade find out who killed Gigi or is that answer left unanswered? You’ll have to read for yourself.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I really enjoyed reading Addie’s last part more. I found it scary and thrilling. She has a car accident when she’s on her way to her best friend Daya’s house because she texts to say she’s in trouble. I don’t trust Daya AT ALL! I think she’s twisted and evil! I hope that Zade saves Addie! We’ll see…</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Overall, I just enjoyed <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Haunting Adeline.”</span> I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either, so that’s why I’m giving it 3 stars. It wasn’t all that I thought it would be, which is why this review is so short. I thought the plot was intense but very simple and could have been expanded on for the length of the novel. The bits that I enjoyed the most were the love scenes between Addie and Zade. There were quite a few of them, which I appreciated. The Gigi plot told through the letters was what kept me most on edge other than the ending of the book.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m going to read <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Discovery of Witches”</span> by Deborah Harkness next, which already has an in depth review on my blog so I won’t review it again. After that I’m going to reread <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Court of Frost and Starlight,” </span>by Sarah J Maas,<span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> </span>which also has a review so I won’t review that again either. It’s my birthday in the middle of December, so I won’t read too much more I don’t expect. I’ll wrap up my year, if not read another short book by the end of December if I can! Anyway, Happy Christmas if it’s not before then!</p><div><br /></div>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-83176456763094204612023-10-09T13:22:00.001-07:002023-10-09T13:22:09.917-07:00Satan’s Affair (0.5 Haunting Adeline) by HD Carlton Review<p> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold;">Hi Forever Bookers,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold;"> </span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">How are you all? I hope you’re good!</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I’ve just finished</span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> “Satan’s Affair”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> by HD Carlton and I loved it! I buddy read it with a Facebook friend. She enjoyed it too. </span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">We follow Sibby who features in </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Haunting Adeline.”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> She’s abused by her father as a child, which we get flashbacks to in Satan’s Affair. Otherwise the novella details how she gets on in life as an adult (in her twenties). She murders for a living as well as having lots of sex with men from the carnival. She calls them her </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“henchmen.”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> The novella is heartbreaking at the end too. </span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I read Satan’s Affair for one readathon:</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Reading Rivalry - Horror - although Satan’s Affair isn’t horror in a lot of ways. There are lots of murders and torturous scenes that are described in detail. I class that as a form of horror!</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Trigger warning: There are LOTS of distressing scenes of torture and sexual abuse is brought up in Satan’s Affair, as well as generic sex scenes.</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Spoilers Below</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“One” Stab. A grunt punctures my next word. “Two” Stab. Another grunt. “Freddy’s coming for you,” I sing, high-pitched and child like. Blood spurts from his stab wound painting my face in a mosaic of red and gore.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The evil is seeping out of each hole I’ve made in his body. I can feel it, curling from the openings like smoke from the machines in nearly every corner of this house. I breathe in deep, smelling the evil coming out of him.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It smells like rotten egg and brimstone. It’s how I know that I made the right judgement. “Morris, come hold his head,” I order. My henchman listens immediately, gripping the man’s head in his cold hands, rendering him still as his black talons dig into the demon’s face. His efforts to dislodge his head from Morris’s grip are so cute.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Gripping my pretty knife in my hand, I lean down closely and start working the pointed tip around the edge of the man’s eyeball. It’s my favourite knife. The handle is bright pink and swirls at the end. I’ve had this knife since I was a little girl, it’s the only thing left I have of my mother’s.”</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">These are the first paragraphs of </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Satan’s Affair.”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> The novella is about Sibby, a girl who kills ‘evil’ or what she deems as evil men that abuse and are horrible because of her past with her abusive father. Sibby acts like a child throughout “Satan’s Affair.” She doesn’t know her age, however, although she suspects she’s in her twenties.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Daddy smelled like rotten eggs. So did a lot of people in our Church, draining him of his nectar. But I didn’t understand that I was shown these things for a purpose—to eradicate these demons.”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sibby defines ‘evil’ as men who smell bad because that’s how her evil, abusive father smelled. She tells us of her past. She was brought up in a church or religious cult. Her father expected sex as payment for saving people’s souls from demons. That’s how he ended up with so many children. We don’t meet any of his other children but Sibby tells us of her siblings and how they didn’t save her from her father because they were scared of him too.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“…they’re used to leaving me to stand alone.”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I thought this was very sad. You’d think that Sibby’s siblings would care to be rid of their evil father too, but of course the story is told from Sibby’s point of view, so that’s why I believe the text is solely focused on Sibby’s experiences. It would have been interesting to have these scenes from a brother/sister of Sibby’s. We meet Sibby’s mother or Mommy, as she calls her. She’s also abused by Sibby’s father.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“She turned to nothing but skin and bones, an empty shell of a woman who had little left in her but her aching soul.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mommy smelled like black roses. Daddy tainted her, and her petals started to wilt and decay.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I lost her when I didn’t have to. If she would have removed us from that evil Church with an even worse dictator, we could’ve had a happy life.”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> This is how Sibby sees her mother. She loved her but she wished she had more determination to remove her and Sibby from the church. That way they might have had a life! The black roses scent of her mother wasn’t her mother’s fault. It was her deranged father’s.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The parts that I really enjoyed in Satan’s Affair were the sex scenes. Sibby has five henchmen at the carnival, Satan’s Affair. These characters come up a lot in the novella. They’re how Sibby copes through her troubles. They try to help Sibby get through her woes and help her succeed in her killings. The killings are quite graphic as is the sex. Both of which are shown below.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Gary looses his breath, hunching over from the pain. And just like that, Jackal brings his fist down on the back of Gary’s head, knocking him out cold.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Gary slackens, his hunched body falling forward and crashing face-first to the dirty ground. I laugh when his body settles into a position where he’s awkwardly on his knees, with his arms in the air and his face on the ground.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>With excited giggles, I find my little entrance and crawl through. The doors are only three feet tall. It’s a little awkward to drag the demons through, but I usually don’t have too much trouble. </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Once I’m inside the room, I run up to Jackal, grab his face and bring him down to my level. I brush my lips against his softly, before deepening the kiss and plunging my tongue in his mouth. This time, I don’t mind the fake, nasty blood on his mouth. Jackal groans, licking at my mouth eagerly. His cock hardens in his trousers, pressing against my stomach, the entirety of his body molding to mine.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Gary is an ‘evil’ man, who in Sibby’s mind abused his girlfriend, Jennifer who also works at the carnival. I really enjoyed reading Gary’s demise, even though I’m not sure he deserved it. Did he deserve to be killed? You’ll need to read for yourself! </span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">There’s a character that features in Haunting Adeline. Does Zade help Sibby? How? You’ll need to read for yourself!</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Overall then, I really enjoyed Satan’s Affair! It was a surprise HOW much I liked it. It’s not my new favourite book or anything but it was very captivating to read. I’m currently reading Haunting Adeline, which is book 1 in the main duology. There is a cliffhanger sort of ending to Satan’s Affair, but there’s no book 2 yet. Hopefully there will be at some point! </span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Stand by for my next review, coming soon!</span></p>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-21972639044006081062023-09-18T09:00:00.002-07:002023-09-18T09:31:37.857-07:00It Happened One Summer (Bellinger Sisters # 1) Review!<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Hi Foreverbookers, </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How are you all. I hope you’re well!</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’ve just finished <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“It Happened One Summer”</span> by Tessa Bailey and I LOVED it! </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">5 Stars!</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“It Happened One Summer”</span> is about sisters, Piper and Hannah who need to move to a seaside town after living in LA for their whole lives. This first book, in what I assume is just a duet is primarily about Piper, the elder sibling and seeing her learn to accept herself and become someone new and improved. <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“It Happened One Summer”</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>read like a literary fiction novel. It was very dense in terms of words and word count more specifically, I thought. What could have been said in one or two sentences was made into long drawn out paragraphs, which in some instances was fine but the novel could have been at least 100 pages less, I think. I still really enjoyed it, though!</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;">The novel is told in 3rd person. I generally don’t like third person stories because I feel disconnected from the characters. However in <b>“It Happened One Summer,” </b>I felt all of Piper’s struggles and worries as well as the joy and rapture she felt too.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I read <span style="font-style: italic;">“It Happened One Summer” </span>at the end of summer 2023! </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There is, of course, dirty language in <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“It Happened One Summer” </span>as it’s an adult romance with various sex scenes.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Spoilers Below</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.2px;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The unthinkable was happening.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Her longest relationship on record . . . over in the blink of an eye.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Three weeks of her life wasted.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Piper Bellinger looked down at her lipstick-red, one shoulder Valentino cocktail dress and tried to find the flaw but came up with nothing. Her tastefully tanned legs were polished to such a shine, she’d checked her teeth in them earlier. Nothing appeared amiss up top, either. She’d swiped the tape holding up her boobs while backstage at a runway show in Milan during fashion week—we’re talking the holy grail of tit tape—and those puppies were on point. Big enough to draw a man’s eye, small enough to achieve an athletic vibe in every fourth Instagram post. Versatility kept people interested.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Satisfied that nothing concerning her appearance was glaringly out of place, Piper trailed her gaze up the pleated leg of Adrian’s classic Tom Ford suit made of the finest sharkskin wool, unable to quell a sigh over the luxurious peak lapels and monogrammed buttons. The way her boyfriend impatiently checked his Chopard watch and scanned the crowd over his shoulder only added to the bored-playboy effect.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Hadn’t his cold unattainability attracted her to him in the first place?”</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is how we’re introduced to Piper, our main female character. She’s very much the IT girl here, at the beginning of the novel. Adrian is her boyfriend but about to become her EX boyfriend. He’s not present in much of the book. He would have annoyed me, I feel if he had been in the whole story. She forgets about him after this point. Piper likes how Adrian is cold at the start. Does her attitude towards men change by the end of the story? </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Piper gets put in jail, because she breaks into an LA pool to make a statement, as an IT girl would do. Her stepfather doesn’t like this so he and her mother send her off to Westport, a small seaside/fishing town where the her and her sister, Hannah’s father lived before he died. Henry Cross, their dad, died from an accident while out crabbing. In Westport, she meets Brendan, our other main character. <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“It was the one in the floppy hat who caught his eye right away, purely because she looked the most ridiculous, a lipstick shaped purse digging into her forearm, wrists limp and drawn up to her shoulders, as if she was afraid to touch something. She tilted her head back and gazed up at the building and laughed. And that laugh turned into what looked like a sob, though he couldn’t hear it through the music and pane of glass.”</span> This is Brendan’s first reaction to Piper. He thinks she looks peculiar but is attracted to her nonetheless. He wants to comfort her when he sees her sob, although he doesn’t know why.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Brendan is a fisherman through and through. He owns the<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Della Ray”</span> ship and goes crab hunting with his crew every few weeks. Does this annoy and scare Piper because of how her father died or can she accept it? You’ll need to read to find out! Brendan was once married but his wife died. It’s revealed in the novel that he didn’t really love his wife, Desiree. They were childhood sweethearts but nothing more. He married her more out of duty. Desiree’s father is called Mick, whom Piper meets and forms a friendship with at first. Does this continue? You’ll need to read to find out! It’s Piper that Brendan loves and wants, he tells Mick, after Piper crashes Desiree’s memorial party unknowingly. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Oh no. No, no, no.” She reached the opposite sidewalk and turned, waving her hands at him, palms out. “Please, you have to go back. You cannot leave your wife’s memorial to come after the idiot who ruined it.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t go back. His body wouldn’t physically allow it. Because as much as he hated her obvious embarrassment, he would rather be out there chasing her in the street than in that basement. It was no contest. And yeah, he couldn’t deny anymore that his priorities were shifting. As a creature of habit, that scared him, but he refused to simply let her walk away. “You didn’t ruin anything.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Brendan doesn’t blame Piper for offering to buy drinks at the bar when she didn’t know about the memorial. He didn’t love Desiree as a husband should love a wife, anyway. This is revealed in, </p><p style="background-color: white; color: #e63b7a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“I never felt . . .” He lowered his voice. “There wasn’t an attraction like I have for you. I’m not just talking about sex. We were friends, in a way. She was always trying to meet her father’s expectations, and so was I, after he gave me the Della Ray. He obviously thought we’d make a good match, so I asked her out, and I think . . . both of us just wanted to make Mick happy. That’s what we had in common. So we just went through the motions, even when it didn’t feel right. When she died, I kept the ring on, kept my vows, to keep him healed as much as possible. Then you showed up, Piper. Then you. And it felt wrong having ever given those vows to anyone else.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Here, Brendan lets Piper know that he never truly loved Desiree, nor she him. They just went through the motions for Mick’s sake, to keep him happy and not depressed. Also here, Brendan tells Piper that he only wants to give vows to her! This shows how serious Brendan is about making Piper happy. I loved this part, and I hope they get married in <span style="font-style: italic;">Hook, Line and Sinker, </span>book 2.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After that the novel is basically a lot of meet ups between Piper and Brendan. I loved seeing the relationship develop between them. Their relationship really ramps up, I’d say at three quarters of the way through the story. Here, Piper, Brendan, Hannah and Fox, one of Brendan’s crewmen on the <span style="font-style: italic;">Della Ray, </span>go to Boston. Piper and Brendan have some sexy fun in a changing room while Piper tries on and buys LOTS of pairs of jeans. I was laughing at this. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The novel isn’t overtly erotic, however the author does mention sexual parts within her writing. <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Right on the verge of his well-deserved orgasm, Brendan surged forward, wrapping his hands around her waist and lifting her up onto the dining room table. She teet</span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">ered, dizzy from the rapid ascent, but she snapped back to reality when Brendan dropped to his own knees and stripped off his shirt. “Ohhh,” she said in slow motion. “Heyyy, looook aaat thaaaat.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">He was yoked.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>She’d known on some level that Brendan was built like a motherfucker. His arms always tested the seams of his sweatshirts, his chest ridged with muscle, but she’d been unaware of the definition. The chiseled planes of his pecs ended in a tight drop-off; then it was a mountain range of abs.”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>This is one such section of the text that focuses on their sexual desires. This is at about the half way point of the book. Piper appreciates how Brendan looks. Brendan is well-built but then you’d expect that from a sailor, or at least I would. I enjoyed the sex scenes. They were well written and were interspersed throughout the second half of the story quite frequently. Piper is shocked at how good looking Brendan is. We can tell this in how she uses extended words when Brendan takes off his shirt. This isn’t the changing room scene but that’s a little too sexual to review, I feel, as is a scene at the hospital when Piper goes to check if Brendan is hurt after being out at sea. I really wanted Brendan to propose to Piper, but that didn’t happen in <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“It Happened One Summer.”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>Maybe it’ll happen in book 2?!!!</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Kirby, Piper’s ‘best friend’ in LA treats her really badly. It’s all about her wants/desires. She doesn’t give a flip about poor Piper’s feelings on anything. She just goes ahead and does what she wants. This is shown most when she DEMANDS Piper to come back to LA. Piper, by this point knows she doesn’t want that. She wants to stay in Westport with Brendan who is by this point her boyfriend. Does Kirby get her way or does Piper stand up for what she wants?</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Let me throw you a welcome back party. I’ve already got the venue lined up, Exclusive invites only. The Party Princess Returns. I might have leaked the idea to a few designers, some beverage companies, and they’re offering to pay you, Piper. A whole lot of money to walk out in their dress, drink their shit on camera. I’m talking about six figures. Let’s do this. Let’s make you a fucking legend.”</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>Kirby clearly wants Piper back in LA, where she thinks she belongs. I hated Kirby. She was only interested in Piper’s status as an IT girl, not about her feelings or her wants/desires. How can Piper say no, especially when she doesn’t feel valued in Westport?</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There are other characters as well, of course. For example, Mick, Desiree’s dad, Desiree, although she’s not actually present as she died, just mentioned, Abe, an old man that Piper helps get to the museum each morning and Opal, Piper’s and Hannah’s grandmother, their father, Henry’s mother. All of these characters play a role in the book. I don’t want to spoil what happens with some of them, though. It’s always good to have some surprises, after all. </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Overall then, I loved this novel because it mainly focused on Piper and Brendan and their relationship. They even have a discussion about whether they want children together. Piper isn’t sure if she does, will she know by the end of the novel? You’ll need to read to find out! There are a lot of other elements to the plot of <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“It Happened One Summer,”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>but the main ones are the ones I’ve highlighted above, I feel. The main point of <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“It Happened One Summer”</span> is to not give up on what you want. If what you want is truly important to you stick with it! When Piper gives up, she instantly regrets it and attempts to make things better. I can’t wait to read<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Hook, Line and Sinker,”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>book 2 to this duet, and Hannah’s story next summer! </p><div><br /></div>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-49995568502765299312023-09-14T05:53:00.001-07:002023-09-14T05:53:17.419-07:00Misadventures With A Professor by Sierra Simone Review<p> <span style="font-family: arial;">Hi ForeverBookers, </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">How are you? I hope you’re well! </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I’ve just finished this taboo smutty romance and it was soooo good! I WISH it had been longer! </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I read this for two readathons.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Reading Rivalry - featuring a life changing event. It’s a spoiler if I reveal what this is so I won’t but it’s gooood if you like a certain trope. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The Beauty and the beast readathon - MC loves Books - Zandy works with books! </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">5 Stars!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Zandy, our female perspective wants to lose her virginity so hooks up with Oliver. What she doesn’t know after that first hookup is that Oliver is her professor. I loved the taboo-ness of this short novella. It was like the 2 characters couldn’t get enough of each other but then they remembered that they shouldn’t be ripping each other’s clothes off so stopped, but went back for more in the next chapter. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">There’s a twist at the end that I won’t spoil but it’s my favourite trope in a romance book! I can’t WAIT to read the other Sierra Simone books I own now! </span></p>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-88070664135355310942023-08-15T09:41:00.002-07:002023-08-16T15:48:40.645-07:00Five Go Adventuring Again, (The Famous Five #2) by Enid Blyton Review<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Hi ForeverBookers, </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How are you all doing? I hope you’re well!</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’ve just finished <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The Famous Five, Five Go Adventuring Again”</span> by Enid Blyton and I LOVED it! <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The Famous Five”</span> is a middle grade series, that was written in the early 1940’s. It therefore might have some problematic elements that we don’t see in today’s society so much. This book is the second in the series. I read<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Five Go To Treasure Island”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>(#1) last year and I really loved that one too, so I expected to at least like this. </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><b><br /></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><b>5 Stars! </b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The basic plot for <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Five Go Adventuring Again”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>is that the Famous Five (Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy the dog) all come home for the Christmas holidays. Julian, Dick and Anne are siblings and they’re meant to go home with their parents but Anne gets a letter saying that her mother has scarlet fever, so they’re to be sent to their cousin George’s home at Kirrin Cottage, where the first book took place. They go to a boarding school - the girls to a girls school and the boys to a boys school, as this is set in the 1940’s. Timmy goes with George (who is a girl, just a tomboy. (She hates her full name Georgina) EVERYWHERE! If she doesn’t have Tim, as he’s referred to throughout the story, she’s not happy. Quentin, George’s strict father wants her to have tutoring over the Christmas break, and the boys need it too so Mr Roland, an obtuse, weird man becomes said tutor at Quentin’s recommendation. There’s a central mystery to the plot too, that I’ll get onto in the spoiler section below. The adventure of the book is all held up around that mystery. </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #ff4015; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I read this for Reading Rivalry - A book featuring animals - Timmy, the dog is the animal and he plays quite a pivotal role in the plot!</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Spoilers Below…</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“It was the last week of the Christmas term, and all the girls at Gaylards School were looking forward to the Christmas holidays. Anne sat down at the breakfast-table and picked up a letter addressed to her.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Hallo, look at this!” she said to her cousin Georgina, who was sitting beside her. “A letter from Daddy — and I only had one from him and Mummy yesterday.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I hope it’s not bad news,” said George. She would not allow anyone to call her Georgina, and now even the mistresses called her George. She was very like a boy with her short curly hair, and her boyish ways. She looked anxiously at Anne as her cousin read the letter. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Oh, George — we can’t go home for the holidays!”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’re at once introduced to Anne and George who are at school, waiting for the Christmas holidays to begin! Anne, the youngest of the children in the Famous Five is upset because her mother is sick and they can’t go to her house for the Christmas Holidays, as was the original plan. We’re also reminded that George is boyishly natured. Anne is distressed by the fact that they can’t go to her home, but George suggests that she, Julian and Dick, Anne’s brothers come to Kirrin Cottage. Her mother would love to have them again! </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When Aunt Fanny, George’s mum comes to collect Anne and George from school she’s proud of George for staying at school. She’d never been to a real school. Before, she was homeschooled. George is worried that her report won’t be very good, however. She wants to please her parents, especially her father, who’s a scientist. She’s worried that he’ll be disappointed in her efforts. </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“What a pity,” said Anne, politely, though secretly she thought it was a good thing. It wouldn’t be much fun having Uncle Quentin to play charades and things like that! “Oh, Aunt Fanny, I’m so looking forward to seeing Julian and Dick — and won’t they be pleased to see Tim and George? Aunt Fanny, nobody calls George Georgina at school, not even our form mistress. I was rather hoping they would, because I wanted to see what would happen when she refused to answer to Georgina! George, you liked school, didn’t you?”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Yes,” said George. “I did. I thought I’d hate being with a lot of others, but it’s fun, after all. But Mother, you won’t find my report very good, I’m afraid. There were such a lot of things I was bad at because I’d never done them before.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Well, you’d never been to school before!” said her mother. “I’ll explain it to your father if he gets upset. Now, go along and get ready for a late tea.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Anne is very sweet and the good girl. George is the rebellious child. She takes after her father in that pursuit, not that Quentin would ever admit it. Julian and Dick come into <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Five Go Adventuring Again”</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>in the next chapter. </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The next day the boys came back. Anne and George went to meet them with Timothy. George drove the pony-trap, and Tim sat beside her. Anne could hardly wait for the train to stop at the station. She ran along the platform, looking for Julian and Dick in the carriages that passed.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Then she saw them. They were looking out of a window at the back of the train, waving and yelling. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Anne! Anne! Here we are! Hallo, George! Oh, there’s Timothy!”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Julian! Dick!” yelled Anne. Timothy began to bark and leap about. It was most exciting.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The boys are very happy to be reunited with their sister and cousin. We can tell that this is a historically written story because of the use of the pony-trap, which don’t exist anymore, as well as the expression <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“it was most exciting,”</span> too. Also the use of <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“hallo,”</span> is outdated too. </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Quentin brings up that the children need a tutor a few pages later. He says it’s to keep the children busy as well as giving them time to catch up on what they missed in term. </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“I wish we could have some more exciting adventures. Not a hope of that this time, though.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“There’s one snag about these hols,” said Julian. “And that’s the tutor. I hear we’ve got to have one because Dick and I missed so much school this term, and we’ve got to take important exams next summer.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Yes,” said Anne. “I wonder what he’ll be like. I do hope he will be a sport. Uncle Quentin is going to choose one today.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Julian and Dick made faces at one another. They felt that any tutor chosen by Uncle Quentin would be anything other than a sport. Uncle Quentin’s idea of a tutor would be someone strict and gloomy and forbidding.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Never mind! He wouldn’t come for a day or two. And he might be fun.” </span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Dick starts by saying he wants more exciting adventures at Kirrin Cottage, where before, they went to Kirrin Island and had lots of adventures there. However, because the boys have significant exams next summer, they’ll be stuck doing schoolwork, they fear. Anne and George don’t have exams but they’ll still be tutored. George, especially, as she’s Quentin’s child and he wants to set a strict example. </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Next morning the sun was out, all the sea-mist that had hung about for the last two days had disappeared, and Kirrin Island showed plainly at the mouth of Kirrin Bay. The children stared longingly at the ruined castle on it. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I do wish we could get over to the castle,” said Dick. “It looks quite calm enough, George.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“It’s very rough by the island,” said George. “It always is at this time of year. I know Mother wouldn’t let us go.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“It’s a lovely island, and it’s all our own!” said Anne. “You said you would share it with us for ever and ever, didn’t you, George?”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Yes, I did,” said George. “And so I will, dungeons and all. Come on — we must get the trap out. We shall be late meeting the train if we stand here all day looking at the island.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Before the children go to meet the tutor that Quentin has chosen, George and the others go out to Kirrin Bay to look at Kirrin Island, the famous island that has belonged to Georges’ family for generations. All they want is to go to the island but because it’s winter, George knows that Fanny would never allow it. Dick especially wants to go! Anne wants reassurances from George that it’s<span style="font-style: italic;"> their </span>island, not just <span style="font-style: italic;">hers! </span>George is fine with this! She’ll share it all with her cousins!</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“…He was short and burly, and he had a beard rather like a sailor. His eyes were piercingly blue, and his thick hair was sprinkled with grey. He glanced up and down the platform, and then beckoned to the porter.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“That must be Mr Roland,” said Julian to Dick.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Come on—let’s ask him. There’s no one else it could be.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The boys went up to the bearded man. “Are you Mr Roland, sir?” he asked.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I am,” said the man. “I suppose you are Julian and Dick?”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Yes, sir,” answered the boys together. “We brought the pony-trap for your luggage.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Oh, fine,” said Mr Roland. His bright blue eyes looked the boys up and down, and he smiled. Julian and Dick liked him. He seemed sensible and jolly.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Are the other two here as well?” said Mr Roland, walking down the platform, with the porter trailing behind with his luggage.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Yes — George and Anne are outside with the trap,” said Julian.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“George and Anne,” said Mr Roland, in a puzzled voice. “I thought the others were girls. I didn’t know there was a third boy.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Oh, George is a girl,” said Dick, with a laugh. “Her real name is Georgina.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“And a very nice name, too,” said Mr Roland.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“George doesn’t think so,” said Julian. “She won’t answer if she’s called Georgina. You’d better call her George, sir!”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Really?” said Mr Roland, in a rather chilly tone. Julian took a glance at him.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Not quite so jolly as he looks!” thought the boy.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Tim’s out there too,” said Dick.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Oh — and is Tim a boy or a girl?” inquired Mr Roland, cautiously.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“A dog, sir!” said Dick, with a grin.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mr Roland seemed rather taken aback. “A dog?” he said. “I didn’t know there was a dog in the household. Your uncle said nothing to me about a dog.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Don’t you like dogs?” asked Julian, in surprise.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“No,” said Mr Roland, shortly. “But I dare say your dog won’t worry me too much.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is where we’re introduced to Mr Roland, the tutor. He seems happy and jolly at first but does this continue, or does he have a dark side? You’ll need to read to find out! Mr Roland doesn’t like dogs, which is the main distaste George has to him at first. This puts them at odds from day one! Mr Roland doesn’t like dogs for a specific reason that I won’t disclose but you’ll work it out if you read the book! The other three children seem to like Mr Roland. Anne is very much the good girl and Julian and Dick like him because he’s male, like them. Timmy, like George, doesn’t like Mr Roland, either. Julian’s thoughts on Mr Roland spiral slightly when he and Dick reveal that Georgina doesn’t like her name and only accepts being called George. Mr Roland doesn’t like this part of George’s persona, either. </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“It’s a most exciting cupboard, Mrs Sanders,” said Julian. “I do wish we lived in a house like this, full of secrets!”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Can we come and play in the cupboard again?” asked George.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“No, I’m afraid you can’t, George,” said Mrs Sanders. “That room where the cupboard is, is the one the two gentlemen are going to have.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Oh!” said Julian, disappointed. “Shall you tell them about the sliding back, Mrs Sanders?”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I don’t expect so,” said the old lady. “It’s only you children that get excited about things like that, bless you. Two gentlemen wouldn’t think twice about it.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“How funny grown-ups are!” said Anne, puzzled. “I’m quite certain I shall be thrilled to see a sliding panel or trapdoor even when I’m a hundred.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Same here,” said Dick. “Could I just go and look into the sliding panel once more, Mrs Sanders? I’ll take the candle.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Dick never knew why he suddenly wanted to have another look. It was just an idea he had. The others didn’t bother to go with him, for there really was nothing to see behind the panelling except the old stone wall.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>…There was nothing at all to be seen. Dick took out his head and put in his arm, stretching along the wall as far as his hand would reach. He was just about to take it back when his fingers found a hold in the wall.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Funny!” said Dick. “Why should there be a hold in the stone wall just there?”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The children are at Kirrin Farmhouse, an old farmhouse that used to be owned by George’s family, here. Now it’s owned by Mr and Mrs Sanders, an old couple who are nice to the children. George has known them since she was small. They uncover a cupboard that’s full of secrets. Two artists are coming to stay at the farmhouse over the winter and their rooms will have the cupboard in. Julian wants to know if Mrs Sanders will reveal the secrets of the cupboard to the men. She says no, that the secrets only entertain children, the men won’t be at all bothered by the fact that the cupboard has a sliding back. Dick then makes a discovery! What? Will the cupboard be meaningful? You’ll have to read to find out!</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The rest of the book is about interactions between Mr Roland and the children, as well as meeting the two artists that stay at Kirrin Farmhouse. I enjoyed each interaction between the children and Mr Roland because as a child I watched the 1990’s TV show of <span style="font-style: italic;">“The Famous Five,” </span>where Vernon Dobtcheff played him very well. Jemima Roper, George, also played her role as George well in this episode. She comes across as very spoilt and annoyed at everything Mr Roland does, which works well as that’s just how George comes across in the book. The novel goes further, too, I think in that we get more scenes and interaction between the characters. For example the ending, I don’t remember at all from the TV show, but I don’t think it was like it is in the book! I also don’t remember the part where Julian discovers Mr Roland’s antics in the TV show, either.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“…Suddenly he heard the sound of voices and stopped. A big gorse bush lay to the right and the voices came from there. The boy went nearer to the bush. He heard his tutor’s voice, talking in low tones. He could not hear a word that was said.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Whoever can he be talking to?” he wondered. He crept up closer to the bush. There was a hollow space inside. Julian thought he could creep right into it, though it would be very prickly, and peer out of the other side. Carefully the boy crept into the prickly hollow, where the branches were bare and brown.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He parted the prickly branches slowly and cautiously — and to his amazement he saw Mr Roland talking to the two artists from Kirrin Farmhouse — Mr Thomas and Mr Wilton! So George was right. The tutor had met them — and, as Julian watched, Mr Roland handed over to Mr Thomas a doubled up sheaf of papers.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“They look just like the pages from Uncle Quentin’s book,” said Julian to himself. “I say — this is mighty strange. It does begin to look like a plot.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Julian sneaks out to follow Mr Roland just to see what he’s up to because George has been punished by her father for acting naughtily, again. Julian goes to see her to get information before he goes out into the snow to find Mr Roland. And it’s a good thing he does. This is where it’s revealed that Mr Roland is evil, along with the artists. Mr Roland apparently didn’t know the artists. Of course, he was lying. It’s only revealed after half way through, or so what Mr Roland and the artists are after. I won’t spoil it any further but the plot is good! Do they get away with it? Or do the children save the day? You’ll need to read to find out for yourself!</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Lastly, I don’t remember the show being set in the winter for this episode, which the book clearly is as Christmas is discussed. Mr Roland gets a Christmas Tree for the children, when he’s being nice to them! The snow helps the children in the end? How? You’ll have to read the book for yourself to find out!</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Overall, then I loved reading Five Go Adventuring Again. I liked how vague the title was as well. Many of the other titles to the Famous Five books give at least a little of the plot away, For example, in<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Five On A Treasure Island”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>we know the characters are going to <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Treasure Island,</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">” </span>and <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Five Go to Smugglers Top,”</span> we know that they go to <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Smugglers Top,”</span> although not why, I’ll leave that reveal for that review.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">For my next book, I think I’m going to read a summery book! You’ll have to wait and see which book it is…</p>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-5034096399171356112023-07-26T08:15:00.002-07:002023-07-26T08:15:55.079-07:00You Made A Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi Review<p> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px;">Hi Foreverbookers,</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How are you all? I hope you’re well!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’ve just finished reading <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty”</span> by Akwaeke Emezi and I quite enjoyed it. I thought it started off really slowly but certainly by the 100 page mark I was invested. The book tells the story of Feyi, a young girl who we first see on a night out at a party with her best friend, Joy. I liked Joy. I thought she ways entertaining to read about. Joy is a lesbian who we see glimpses of throughout. She’s often either on the page or a phone call away giving Feyi advice. The novel doesn’t focus on her, though. On this night out Feyi has sex in a bathroom with Milan, a guy she just hooks up with. That’s basically the first scene in the book. From there, we see her meet Milan’s best friend, Nasir. Nasir and Feyi start a relationship with a ‘friendship.’ Where does this go? You’ll need to read to find out. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>“You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty” is more character led than a plot led. Not much happens in the plot because it’s contemporary fiction. The characters are really what develop the story.</b> One thing that I don’t understand is what the title has to do with the overall plot. When I bought the book last year, I bought it because of the blurb, not the title. After all, it isn’t about being beautiful, to me anyway.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I read <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty”</span> for one readathon, which was Reading Rivalry. In July the theme was Barbie, because of the new movie that’s just released. The prompt I read <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty”</span> for was Pink Cover, because my exclusive, signed Waterstones hardcover has mainly a pink cover.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">TRIGGER WARNINGS for sex, swearing and trauma. There are a few sex scenes sprinkled throughout. The F-bomb is used soooooooo much, like over 200 times and trauma is a theme that runs throughout the story.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Spoilers Below</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Milan was the first person Feyi had fucked since the accident.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>They hooked up in a bathroom at a Memorial Day house party in Bushwick, with Feyi’s glass of prosecco spilling into the sink and Milan’s large hands sliding behind her things as he lifted her onto the bathroom counter.”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The “accident” was a car accident, where Feyi’s husband, Jonah died. This accident is referenced a lot in the story. I don’t think it needed to be referenced as much as it was to be honest. The book could have been quite a bit shorter if some of the references of it were removed. <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“You Made A Fool of Death with Your Beauty”</span> focuses on trauma and getting over or working through it, so I can see why it was needed, it was just a little too much, I thought. Feyi and Milan have sex as I said above. The novel doesn’t shy away from sex or swearing. There were SOOOO many uses of the F-bomb, like over 200 as I referenced above. I’ve never read another book that uses it so much and I’ve read A LOT of books!!! Feyi and/or her friends, and characters in the book used it every other page it felt like!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Nasir slid next to her. “Milan says you’re an artist?” His cologne was a faint musk, slithering notes of spice.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Yeah,” she replied. It still felt weird to call that her job, even though it had been years now. “I make things.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“That’s a great way to put it.” Nasir angled his head toward her and smiled. “I’m a bit of a collector myself. Just starting out, but I’d love to see your work if you’re open. You got any shows coming up?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>His hair shone in tight black curls, and Feyi tried not to notice how his shirt stretched over his chest.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Not at the moment. I’ve done a few group shows, and I had my first solo show in Boston last year.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Oh, you from there?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Feyi made a face. “Not really. My parents teach in Cambridge.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Well.” Nasir reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. “Maybe we should set up a studio visit sometime?” He handed her a business card, and Feyi took it gingerly, surprised at the weight of the embossed black paper. It had only his name and phone number on it.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Oh, you’re serious, huh?” she said.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He laughed. “I’m always serious.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Damn, she thought, even his laugh was sexy. His eyes crinkled up at the corners, and as he stared at her, Feyi reminded herself that she was there with Milan, not to check out his homeboys.”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After meeting Milan, when they go out again, they meet his friend Nasir in a club. This is where the true story starts. Nasir wants to know what Feyi does as a job. She tells him she’s an artist and he tells her he’d like to see her studio. Feyi needs to remind herself that she’s SUPPOSED to be at the club with Milan, not to flirt with his friends! It turns out that Milan doesn’t care about her flirting, though. That’s when Nasir and Feyi start ‘dating.’ They don’t actually ‘date’ but I believe that’s what you’re meant to think will happen. Feyi takes Nasir to her studio, as a date, and he’s interested in what she creates. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“I like you,” he said. “But don’t think I didn’t notice you avoiding the question about your work.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Technically, you didn’t ask a question about my work.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He raised an eyebrow. “Touché. What do you make? Painting, sculpture, collage?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Eh.” Feyi cut into her duck, and a caper rolled to the edge of her plate, small and dark and green. It felt odd to be talking about her work on a date. She was used to keeping it in a whole separate world. “Little bit of everything.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A stiff shirt splashed in dry brown, the jagged tears. A gold ring spinning. Another, then another, then another. It was better if it all stayed in that other world.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“You’ll see it one day,” she lied. “It was always better to see the work than hear about it.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Can’t wait,” he replied. “I’m still down to do that studio visit if you’re up for it.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Feyi paused, startled. He wasn’t supposed to do that, keep following up like he meant it.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“How about next week?” he continued. “Where’s your studio?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Brooklyn,” she replied automatically. “Not far from my place.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Nasir smiled. “It’s a date.”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Feyi uses blood in her art as a symbol of life and death because of what happened to Jonah. Nasir is very forward as a character. This was one of the many things I didn’t like about him. He always wanted everything to be about him and him alone. There was no space for anyone else. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“If Nasir was hurting her, then he was patient and he was very good at it. Feyi had stayed lost for a very long time, though. She had no intention of being found.”</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Feyi doesn’t want to be found. She’s used to being lost. Does this change by the end of the novel? You’ll need to read to find out!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The part that enjoyed the most about the novel was when Feyi and Nasir took a trip to the fictional Caribbean island where the majority of <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty”</span> is set. I enjoyed reading about the island setting. This is where Feyi meets Alim, Nasir’s father and a famous chef. Alim is in his forties and Feyi is in her twenties. Their first meeting alone is in a midnight garden. Here, they discuss loss and grief. Alim lost his wife, Marisol, Nasir and his sister Lorraine’s mother, years ago, and of course, Feyi lost her husband so they first bond over this. From there, the bond grows and they are attracted to each other more and more. I found Lorraine to be very unaccepting of Feyi. When she finds out that Feyi and Alim are in a relationship, she doesn’t welcome the news! She’s very much against it.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When Feyi gets contracted to do an art piece for Pooja, a friend of Alim’s, she’s more than happy to create it. Especially when she learns that Pooja also went through something similar to her and traumatic in losing her daughter, like she lost Jonah. Nasir has to leave to go and do some work, so Feyi stays with Alim alone. Of course, this was my favourite, favourite part of the novel. I love forbidden romance especially with an age gap and a family drama! I loved the parts where Feyi and Alim were alone together. I thought the author really captured the feelings of both characters. The longing between them was fantastic to read!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Alim raised his head and looked at her, his pupils dilated, ink filling his gray eyes into black, widening with a hunger that both terrified and elated Feyi, rippling up the fine hairs of her arm and the back of her neck.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>There is was, open and exposed, finally.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Desire as deep as midnight, greedy as the ocean, changing his face, changing everything. Feyi released his hand, scraps of foam clinging to his damp fingers, and Buika kept singing as if nothing had happened.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Feyi wasn’t sure how she was expecting Alim to react, but it took her wholly by surprise when he lifted his fingers to his mouth and tasted the rest of the foam, never taking his eyes off her. Blood rushed to her face, and she reached for her ginger drink, dropping her gaze. Had he done that on purpose, to be suggestive? He was turning back to the stove to causally, and Feyi took the time to stare at the back of his neck, the tapered cut of salt-and-pepper hair fading into his skin. She wanted to press her lips to it, and being on the other side of the table suddenly felt very lonely, like it was a canyon between them, a lifetime.</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is the moment that Feyi and Alim truly connect on a sexual level. They first connected emotionally when they met in their midnight garden. They don’t have sex here, that comes later but boy, when it happens it was perfect to read! I LOVED it!!!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Overall then, in my opinion <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty”</span> is a great book. In my opinion it’s a little slow to begin with but when Feyi and Nasir get to the island, I really did not want to put the book down, especially after the longing moments between Feyi and Alim, which were written perfectly. That’s why I’m giving <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty”</span> 4 stars.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Stand by for my next review, coming soon!</p>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-31118984099717111172023-07-03T14:10:00.005-07:002023-07-03T14:22:54.038-07:00PROUD of Me by Sarah Hagger-Holt Review<p> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px;">Hi ForeverBookers,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px;"> </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px;"><span> </span>How are you all today? I hope you’re well! </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>I’ve just finished reading <span face="Arial-BoldItalicMT" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“PROUD of Me,”</span> a YA contemporary book by Sarah Hagger-Holt for LGBTQ month. I started and read most of it in June! It tells the story of a young girl and boy and their lesbian parents. Yes, they have two mums. We are informed of this at the beginning of the novel. The children are aged around 13. Some might call this more middle-grade, however I say it’s YA because some of the themes discussed are a little old for middle-grade readers to understand, I feel. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>This will be a rather short review (for me) because it’s a contemporary book that’s written for children so there aren’t lots of things to dissect. Just a main plot, I feel. </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: red;"><b>5 Stars!</b></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.6px;"><span face="Arial-BoldItalicMT" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="Arial-BoldItalicMT" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span> </span>“PROUD of Me”</span> is told in dual perspective, from both the siblings, Josh and Becky, who have different mums, but the same unknown dad. Their mums went to a clinic to have Josh and Becky implanted. I don’t normally read books with two POVs, apart from Ice Planet Barbarians, which is SUCH a different vibe to this, so it was interesting to see how the author wrote the characters. Josh has a very distinctive voice throughout the book, I feel. He WANTS to know who his father is, because he’s the only male in his family, as he knows it. Becky, however is okay NOT knowing who their dad is. I feel this is because she’s stronger in her views than Josh. Josh is unsure of everything, until a meeting with someone I don’t want to spoil here (look below if you want to know). After that meeting he learns some important facts about himself and who he is. Does he learn enough, or does he still have questions by the end? You’ll have to read and find out for yourself! <span face="Arial-BoldItalicMT" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“PROUD of Me”</span><span face="Arial-BoldMT" style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>is set in the UK, where I’m from so it was nice to see some places that I’ve heard of and been to mentioned too!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff;">I</span><span style="color: red;"> read <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;">“PROUD of Me”</span> for one readathon. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: red;">Reading Rivalry - Read a book by an LGBTQ+ author. Sarah Hagger-Holt is lesbian and tells the story of lesbian parents in <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;">“PROUD of Me.”</span></span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Spoilers Below! </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“It took me a while to realize that having a dad was a thing. Of course, I knew that most of my friends had dads, and I knew that I didn’t. I like them to think I was quite an observant kid. But not all of them had dads and, anyway, you didn’t often see dads around. Not like people’s mums, who were always at our house or hanging about chatting while we played on the swings down the park.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>True families in books usually had dads, but then all sorts of things happened in books, like talking animals or trips to space, so that isn’t necessarily mean anything in the real world.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Once I was at school, I realized that although some people’s dads weren’t around much, or at all, everyone seemed to have one, somewhere. And they all assumed that I did too.”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Josh WANTS to know who his dad is. He didn’t know that having a dad was a ‘thing’ at the beginning of his life because he only knew his mums. He thinks it’s unfair that he doesn’t have a dad so he makes it his mission if you like to find his dad by whatever means necessary, even travelling hours by train. That’s what his part of the book focuses on! Does he get his answers, or is he still clueless at the end of the book? You’ll have to read for yourself. Becky, on the other hand is more bothered about working out who SHE is as a young woman. She’s only 13 years old, but she knows that she’s lesbian, like her mums when a new girl, an American, called Carli starts at her school.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“In school on Monday, I look out for Carli. We’ve still only spoken once. All I know about her is that she’s American. That’s it.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But it’s Archie, not me, who spots her first. She’s sitting in the canteen at a table by herself, eating a salad, looking still and composed despite the bustle and noise all around her.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Hey,” says Archie, nudging me. “Look, it’s the new girl. Let’s go take her under our wing!”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Her name’s Carli,” I object, “not ‘the new girl’.” I’ve been hoping to bump into Carli all morning, yet now that she’s in front of me, I feel to shy to go over.”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>Becky doesn’t want Carli to feel awkward so she tells her best friend, Archie who’s also gay, to not call her <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“‘the new girl.’”</span> Becky is too shy to go over to talk to Carli because she doesn’t want to come on too strong. I really wanted a relationship to form between these two characters, but when Becky kisses a very surprised Carli when over at Carli’s house with her judgemental mother downstairs, Carli politely, but firmly turns her down. Carli is still a part of the LGBTQ club at school but just not a member of the community, as are most of the other members. Josh isn’t either. As I said above, Becky’s part of the novel is all about her finding out who she is. I felt this was done well. Maybe it’s because the author is LGBTQ so she could draw on her own experiences when writing Becky’s parts but I thought they were very well written. This novel, while YA/MG is very informative for an adult that doesn’t know much about the LGBTQ movement, I feel, as well as children.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>Another part of the book is Mum’s fiftieth birthday party. Their Mum is Josh’s blood-mother but it’s Becky, Ama’s blood-daughter who puts the party together, along with her Auntie Jackie and Archie. Josh isn’t there because he’s trying to find answers to the identity of his father. I found Josh’s parts the more interesting parts to read, because there was tension in his chapters. He was scared one minute and confident the next, and then back to scared so it was interesting to see events through his eyes.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“I don’t really care. I wonder when Ima’s going to go, so I can double-check those train times for when I go to meet Eli.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“No, I don’t think so. Her mum was a bit funny about it actually. I’m not sure that they approve of us.”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>Josh doesn’t really care about the guests for Mum’s party. Ima, Becky’s blood-mother invites Carli’s parents, but they turn her down because they don’t agree with LGBTQ+ people, or at least her mom doesn’t. We never meet Carli’s dad. There are just a few mentions of him. The novel only has I think three or four male characters. The main ones being Josh and Archie. And then there’s Jayden and Max who don’t play a huge role. They’re just bullies, who try to belittle Josh. Does he stand up to them? The other female character worth mentioning is Ms. Bryant, the science teacher at Larkhall school. She’s also the teacher that helps the LGBTQ students, like their confidant, I suppose. She’s not too present but Carli’s mom for instance talks to her towards the end about shutting down the LGBTQ club because she doesn’t want her daughter to turn gay, basically. Carli’s mom is the adult bully, if you like.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“…Just because I don’t have actual evidence, documents that show Eli and I have the same donor, doesn’t stop hoping that it’s true. But to be totally sure, I need to actually meet Eli for myself.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My brother Eli — I try it out, how that sounds in my head. Eli or Elijah? I wonder.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In my mind I plan out the message I’m going to send him: I’ve seen the article, I’m a part of the forum, I was donor-conceived too, I wondered if we could share experiences, I’ve got some questions…</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But would I have the courage to send it? Perhaps I should just wait three years till I’m sixteen before trying to find out more? Or I should at least talk to Mum and Ima about it first?</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But no, I’ve been through all of that in my mind already too many times. It’s up to me to do something. Now.”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>Josh THINKS he’s found a brother, by way of his dad. He met this maybe-brother on an online forum for DC kids, or donor-conceived kids. Eli is this character, and he goes to meet him in Manchester on the train. He’s excited and absolutely SET to do this, as the <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“now”</span> denotes at first but as the time gets closer he gets nervous and worries if he’s made the right decision. Has he? Is Eli his true brother? You’ll need to read to find out for yourself! Also, the date they choose to meet is his Mum’s party so will he be late or prepared for that?</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>Lastly, I want to note how Becky’s mum’s act to her coming out. Ima, her blood mother is angry at first. Becky doesn’t know why to begin with but when Ima explains that in her and Mum’s (Anna’s) time, when they were younger it was illegal to be gay, Becky starts to understand that Ima was just scared for her. She wants Becky to have a normal childhood, as any parent should. Archie does, however, so why shouldn’t Becky too? Archie’s coming out story is also explained in the story.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>I really enjoyed reading<span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> “PROUD of Me.”</span> It was nice to have an LGBTQ book to read in June, as that’s LGBTQ month and it was nice to have a book that detailed two sides of the argument. One, Becky was very much loud and proud and Josh who was quieter and more restrained. I enjoyed the excitement of Josh and the discovering the new things that Becky went through as well. I liked how the novel focused on the children’s points of view, rather than the adults. The adults were there, but they were very much supporting characters. The story was ABOUT the young people and how they cope through issues and trials of being a young person. I appreciated this the most.</p>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-59374858975230903912023-06-16T08:41:00.001-07:002023-06-16T09:33:58.787-07:00Just One Night (Jacksonville Rays #0.5) by Emily Rath Review!<p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Hi ForeverBookers,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I’ve just finished reading <b><i>“Just One Night,”</i></b> the prequel novella to <b>“Pucking Around, (the Jacksonville Rays<span face=""Google Sans", arial, sans-serif" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(77, 81, 86); color: #4d5156;"> </span><span face=""Google Sans", arial, sans-serif" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(77, 81, 86); color: #4d5156;">#</span>1)”</b> by Emily Rath and it was sooooo good!!! I didn’t know what it was really about before I started it. It’s a contemporary romance with lots of sex!!!<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Therefore, it’s not for younger readers, due to the language use too, but mainly the sexual content. There’s a quote at the end of this review to show just how sexy it gets and there’s LOADS of these moments, not just the one! (NOTE: this review contains both swearing and sexual content, although not too much)!</span></span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: x-small;">The novella starts with Rachel, who is at a hotel because her twin brother, Harrison has just got married to his new husband. There isn’t any LGBTQ action in this novella, but I believe there’s a few threesomes in the novel, Pucking Around, not with Harrison or his husband but Rachel, Jake, the main guy from<b><i> “That One Night,”</i></b> and another character that isn’t revealed in the novella. I think he’s mentioned towards the end, but I won’t spoil it.<b><i> “That One Night”</i></b> focuses on Rachel and Jake’s first meeting and the hot sex the couple have in their one night. This review will be short because the novella is just 73 pages.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>“That One Night”</i></b> is told in first person from both Rachel and Jake’s perspectives. This was interesting because we could see how much they both wanted each other, earnestly. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: x-small;">I read this for one readathon. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: x-small;">It’s LGBTQ month so Reading Rivalry are doing the colours of the LGBTQ flag this year. One book per colour of the flag, as well as an LGBTQ author, which I plan to read next. I read <b><i>“That One Night”</i></b> to get blue ticked off!</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Spoilers Below… </span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">“Have you ever been to a yacht race, beautiful?”</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Chad McBoatface hogging all the air next to me hasn’t stopped talking for ten minutes. This walking Patagonia model must not be able to read, because I’ve got ‘FUCK OFF’ all but stamped across my forehead.</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>God, I just want to be alone to wallow in self-pity. Is that too much to ask.”</span></span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">That One Night starts with this from Chad, someone who has an obsession with Rachel. Luckily, the character of Chad wasn’t in the story for long, as he was just really annoying! When Jake comes into the story, it’s all about HIM for Rachel! Chad isn’t even called Chad. He’s called Brad. Rachel thinks he’s called Chad because she doesn’t give a stuff about him!</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Rachel is upset about not getting a fellowship. She’s a doctor. </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">“It’s a form email, because of course. I wasted a year of my life applying to something and getting my hopes up only to get a form email where the bot can’t even spell my fucking name right.</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Dear Dr. Rachum Price,</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Thank you for your interest in the Berkley Fellowship, the nation’s premiere partner in advanced sports medicine. We were overwhelmed by the number of truly exceptional candidates this year. The selection committee has given careful consideration to your application. Unfortunately—</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I don’t keep reading. I click the side of my phone and the screen turns black.</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>That’s why I’m stuck here with Chad and not at my brother’s wedding brunch. Call me selfish, but I couldn’t bear to lose it in front of Harrison and his new husband and the whole extended family. So I slipped away, ordered a taxi and came back here to wallow.</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It’s not like I’m missing the actual wedding. That was yesterday.”</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Rachel really isn’t in the mood to celebrate with her family at her brother’s wedding because she hasn’t got the fellowship, and the company couldn’t even spell her name right. Her professor thought she was a shoe-in for it, so she’s shocked that she hasn’t got it. I’m excited to learn more of her past and maybe WHY she didn’t get the Fellowship in<b><i> “Pucking Around.”</i></b> When Josh comes in to the story a page or so later when Chad or Brad is annoying her, he tells him where to go!</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">After that the story is full of sex, sex, sex, so if that isn’t your thing then I wouldn’t advise you reading <span style="font-style: italic;">“Just One Night.”</span> However, if you like smut and lots of it then you should get on great with the relationship that develops between Rachel and Jake. Rachel just wants a no strings one night with this hot sportsman in the hotel after her brother’s wedding, to ‘get over’ the miscarriage of justice about her job. She doesn’t want to know his name or his sport or anything about him really. He tells her he has a twin sister, and she has a twin brother funnily enough but that’s all they learn about each other, as well as their obvious love for sex. When they start the arrangement, Jake is fine not knowing who Rachel is but by the end of the book he wants to know just who he’s fallen for. Does he find out, or does she disappear before he gets the chance? You’ll need to read to find out!</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">“Spread a bit, baby. You know how big I am.”</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I flash him another teasing grin. “Someone’s feeling cocky.”</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He laughs, grabbing my jaw and giving me a kiss that tastes like caramel sauce. “Yeah, you. Right now. You’re about to be so full of my cock. You’ll feel me everywhere. I want you just like this. Down on your elbows,” he says, putting a little pressure on my back with his hand. “Show me this sweet pussy.”</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I drop down to my elbows, my face resting on my folded forearms. It leaves my ass sticking up in the air, his for the taking. God, I love this angle. Some girls say doggy style is over-rated, but for me? Lord, I live for it. I love feeling a dick driving in so deep. With his gorgeous cock, he’s going to hit me just right.</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Such a good fucking girl,” he praises, notching his cock at my entrance. My pussy clenches with eagerness as he pushes in. I gasp at the fullness, fighting a whimper as he holds tight to my hips. He works himself in me slowly, letting me adjust to his length as he goes deeper.</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“You feel amazing,” I murmur, ready to chase the feeling of fullness, of being made whole. “You make me feel amazing. Please don’t stop.”</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He stills bending over me. His fingers brush gently along the line of my jaw. “Look at me baby.”</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I glance up at him, my heart stilling in my chest. He’s towering over me, owning me. We’re locked together with more than just our bodies. I feel him everywhere.</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Say the word, and I’ll never stop.” His voice is so earnest, his tone so eager.</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Tears sting my eyes as I gaze up at him. “Never stop.”</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>And he doesn’t.”</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>This is one of the MANY sex scenes! Jake obviously wants Rachel and Rachel obviously wants Jake in that moment but will she want him at the end of the story? You’ll need to read to find out!</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">For a short book I LOVED <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Just One Night!”</span> It had everything I expected it to and a little more besides in terms of just how much sex there was! The smut was described in detail, which I loved but not everyone will, I don’t expect. If anything I’d have liked to have seen Jake and Rachel share a little more about their lives but I get that that will probably happen in the novel Pucking Around, so I’m super excited to read that soon and just see how much they get to know each other and if and when they admit that they’ve fallen for each other! I believe there’s another character that enters their relationship too, so I want to know more about that too!</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Stand by for my next review, coming soon.</span></p>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-83434161382518197822023-06-11T10:10:00.006-07:002023-06-11T10:49:29.096-07:00Barbarian Alien (Ice Planet Barbarians #2) by Ruby Dixon Review<p> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px;">Hey Foreverbookers,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px;"> </span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span>How are you all today! I hope you’re well!</span><span> </span><span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I few days ago I finished reading<b><i> “Barbarian Alien”</i></b> by Ruby Dixon, <b><i>Ice Planet Barbarians #2,</i></b> and I had SOOOOO much FUN reading it! Liz and Raahosh were fantastic protagonists, and I found myself howling with laughter often at their antics! For a pretty basic plot, Barbarian Alien had humour, serious moments as well as VERY sexy times running throughout to keep me hooked. I adored the sex scenes as they were loving as well as, well, horny. It’s how someone would realistically react in said situation, I feel, or at least how I would react! When I started it I wasn’t sure I was going to gel with Liz as she seemed a bit off putting but as the story grew, I was like, hey, this is me or how I would react in every situation. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I enjoy reading from both the female perspective, Liz in this case, and the male point of view, Raahosh. Liz was very much me, as I said above, and Raahosh was a bit of a lummox to begin with but became a lovable hero by the end of the story.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In the first chapter of Barbarian Alien, we learn that Liz doesn’t want a mate. She wants a choice, which of course the<b><i> “cootie”</i></b> doesn’t give her. The<b><i> “cootie</i></b>” is another word for the<b><i> “khui,”</i></b> or it’s a Lizism (a word she uses) for the <b><i>“khui.” </i></b>The <b><i>“khui”</i></b> is how the aliens choose their partners, or how their partners are chosen for them. They resonate to someone and that’s it, they’re forever with them. When Liz has to go through the resonance ceremony, she resonates to Raahosh, who is at first a big, brute of an alien. She doesn’t like him at the start. Can she get over this dislike of Raahosh? You’ll need to read to find out!</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span>I read Barbarian Alien for, I think one readathon: </span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><b><span></span><br /></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b>Reading Rivalry - A World You Want To Live - I want to live in the world of Ice Planet Barbarians because of all the hot alien males!!!</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span>Spoilers below…</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Before the true story starts, we see Liz and the rest of the girls that were stuck in the alien spaceship try to cope with losing their earth lives. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i>“It’s cold,” whines one. “I’m so cold and I don’t have any pants! Where are my pants?”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“That’s because the aliens took you while you were sleeping,” I say brightly. “No one has any goddamn pants.”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Kira bats my arm with a slap, indicating I should shut up. Okay, so I’m not the most patient woman in the world. Sue me.”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Here, we see one of the girls, not Liz scared that she has no pants on. Liz being Liz isn’t the nicest, warmest of the girls at first, anyway. She’s very blunt and to the point, which is how I’d be, I think, as well. Maybe that’s why I like Liz so much, because I see myself in her. Kira, the protagonist of the next book Barbarian Lover, on the other hand is a lot softer than Liz. I thought Liz was funny throughout, and loved her quips back at Raahosh, he<b><i>r “sa-khui,”</i></b> alien mate. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i>“I think it’s a fair assessment to say that Raahosh is scarier than the others, yeah.</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The fact that he’s staked me out as his property is . . . irksome. I told Georgie and the others that for a cheeseburger, I’d do just about anything. But having an alien lay claim to me feels . . . weird. I don’t even get a choice.”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span>Here, Liz is talking to one of the girls on the spaceship at the beginning of the book. She doesn’t like Raahosh here. She thinks he’s a bit of a bully.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span>Raahosh takes Liz to his cave in Barbarian Alien. This is the setting for most of the book. They’re alone for most of the story too. This meant that we saw a lot of them together, falling slowly but surely in love. Raahosh can’t speak English to begin with or so Liz thinks, so she gets a shock when he reveals that he CAN speak her language!</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i>“…Maybe I’m being too hard on him. He is right about one thing, though—I never bothered to ask him if he spoke English. I just assumed he was an ignorant alien . . . which makes me a jerk.” </i></b>Liz finally admits to herself that she is a<b><i> “jerk.”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Liz and Raahosh have some challenges to overcome throughout Barbarian Alien. One of these is a <b><i>“Metlak” </i></b>attack! In<i><b> “Ice Planet Barbarians (#1)”</b></i> Georgie and Vektal have to overcome a <b><i>“Metlak”</i></b> attack too. In<b><i> “Barbarian Alien,”</i></b> Liz gets trapped between several <b><i>“Metlaks,” </i></b>evil alien creatures, and Raahosh saves her but puts himself in peril to do so, like any hero would for their woman. Does he survive the attack? And if he does, what does it mean for him and Liz? Does it pull them closer together? You’ll need to read to find out for yourself!</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i>“My mate,” Raahosh says in a low voice. “When I say run, you must run. Do not argue.”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>What is he talking about? Is he going to distract them so I can run away? “What? No! I—”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Liz,” he says again, warningly. I look over and his hand clenches on his spear. “Do not argue with me. Now—go!” With that, he gives a battle cry and surges forward.</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Fuck that noise. I aim my first arrow and let it fly just as the first creature opens its mouth and lunges at me with a snarl.”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>At this point in the novel, Liz and Raahosh know that they’re each other’s mate. Of course, Raahosh will do what he can to protect Liz. Does he succeed. Part three ends on a cliffhanger so I won’t spoil it. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span>Raahosh steals Liz away from the humans and the other sa-khui aliens at the beginning of Barbarian Alien, to see how she’ll react and to see if it’s true, if she’ll truly resonate to him. All he wants is love, a home, someone to call his own. I felt sorry for Raahosh, especially after learning about his past. His parents weren’t in love he tells Liz, they weren’t even allies, really.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i>“Now, I am not sure what they will think. I have broken the laws of our tribe, and Liz’s belly is still flat with no sign of our child. My only consolation is that she smiles at me and her hands reach for me when I am near. It is clear that we are mates, and I can see the envy in both Aehako and Haeden’s eyes.</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>They did not resonate. For them, life goes on cold and mateless, but with the added agony of seeing so many others find their joy. For the first time, I am the envied one. It is an unusual feeling.”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span>This is a moment towards the end of the book, where Liz and Raahosh have been found by two of the sa-khui tribe, Aeheko and Haeden. They’ll have their own books, trying to find their own mates, but at this point neither of them have resonated for a human girl. Raahosh is annoyed that Liz isn’t yet pregnant with his child but is pleased that she’s finally given in to her feelings for him. By this point they’ve had lots of sex to try and get her pregnant! I’m not sure she knows at the beginning what the main point of the sex was but by the end of the book she certainly does, Could this be classed as miscommunication? Yes, probably but it was very cute to read!</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span>The sex scenes are very passionate in this series!</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i>“I continue my exploration of his body with a few licks across the top of his shaft, the hard, ridged portion, and then move on to the thumb-like protrusion above it. “What do you call this?”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“It is a spur.”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Is it like . . . a clit? Does it feel good if I touch it?” I drag my fingers over it experimentally. It feels different than his cock. Where his penis feels like velvet, but covered with skin and flesh. It doesn’t deflate or grow any bigger when his cock does, and when I trace my fingers over it, Raahosh doesn’t seem to react like he does when I lick his cock.</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He shrugs. “Everything you do feels good.”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“But this doesn’t feel like . . . hmm. Like lightning strikes when I lick it?” I lean down and give it an experimental lick, watching his face.</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>His cock bobs in response. “Feels good,” he murmurs.</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But I want him going crazy. So I move to his cock, squeeze the head in my fist, and then lick the slit. “And that?”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Before I can even finish my sentence, he’s bucking into my hand, panting. His eyes close and he falls back into the furs, groaning. </i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Yeah, that feels better. Okay, good to know.” I return to my licking and sucking of his cock, because it never hurts to stick with what a girl knows. I’m actually kinda glad his spur isn’t a major pleasure point, because I know how to work a cock. I don’t know much of what to do with that. I suck on him for a moment more, and then an idea hits me. I lean down and tongue the base of his spur while working his cock with my hand.</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>His entire body jolts. Raahosh gives a shout, and then my hand is covered in hot, sticky cum as he crests once more.</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I continue rubbing my tongue along the underside of his spur and he continues to come, his hips shuddering. I can tell he’s doing his best not to move so he doesn’t stab me with the thing, but I’m pleased that I made him come so hard. I lift my head and admire the cum shining on my fingers. “Guess you’re sensitive there after all.”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He stares at me for a long moment, and then grabs my hand. “I shouldn’t have—”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“No?” I interrupt before he can get all moody on me. “You wanted to come in my mouth?”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Raahosh’s nostrils flare again, the only sign of his acknowledgement of my words. Aww. He’s shy. I give him a blissful smile and then yawn. “I’m gonna grab some of the water and clean us up, and then we can go back to bed. ’Kay?”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The purring in his chest—and mine—has gone to a low rumble. His cootie is sated for now. Mine, too. I’m surprised when he gets up, and caresses my cheek. “Wait here.”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> I love reading sex scenes because it shows you just how close two characters are. Liz and Raahosh definitely start as more enemies but definitely become lovers by about half way through the book. And by the end they’re mates. Liz wants to know what the implement above Raahosh’s penis is. When he tells her that it’s a spur, she’s interested to know what it is. I thought this was cute. Liz is very up in the other character’s faces when something doesn’t go her way or when she’s confronted by the unknown, but when she’s interested in something on the quiet she’s not scary. She’s just someone with interest, like I would be interested in a TV show or a book, I think. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> The main couple from Book 1, Ice Planet Barbarians, Georgie and Vektal play a significant role in Barbarian Alien, in that Vektal being commander of the sa-khui tribe is very angry at Raahosh for stealing Liz at the beginning of the book. Raahosh only did this to get some alone time with her to see if they would resonate for each other, but it’s against the laws of the sa-khui tribe. This means that he’s to be cast out, evicted from the tribe. Liz is very, unhappy about this as she’s just found out that the khui is real, that Raahosh is truly her mate, her forever partner. Of course at this point in the story Liz learns that she is indeed pregnant, just to add to her issues!</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i>“You are everything to me, Liz. You are my world.”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I love you, too, big guy,” I tell him. And then I perk up, because I have some news, however early it might be. “Hey, guess who is going to be a father?”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Raahosh’s eyes light up with happiness, and his hand reverently touches my stomach. “Truly?”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Confirmed by the healer,” I agree. “Junior will be born sometime between nine months from now, and, uh, thirty-six months or something.” I’m trying not to think about that.</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Junior?”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I guess we could Brangelina our names. Raahiz? Lizhosh?”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Those sound . . . terrible.” His fingers trace over my flare belly.</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“You’re not wrong.” I’m smiling. “I’ll give it some thought. Maybe shorter. Like Raaz or Losh.”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Our child,” he murmurs, and places his head on my belly. “Our kit. We will be a family.”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I drag my fingers through his hair, petting him. “I like the thought of that. A family.”</i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Raahosh’s family.” </i></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> I thought this moment was ADORABLE! All Raahosh has ever wanted is a family to call his own after his past with his parents and now he’ll have that with his mate, Liz. Will Liz and Raahosh be able to be together or will they be kept apart, like Vektal wants? You’ll need to read to find out for yourself!</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> Well, this story is one of my favourite romances I’ve ever read. Seriously, it had everything I love in it, from characters I could see myself in, to cute moments, to hot, hot, loving sex, to a pregnancy. The author captures the characters fantastically in the <b><i>“Ice Planet Barbarians” </i></b>series. She make them seem real, which is what you want when reading a book, however fantastical or made up the world is. Liz and Raahosh definitely have their setbacks and things to overcome throughout. Do they? Can they? Or do they end up apart, searching for one another because of the rules of the sa-khui tribe and their own issues? You’ll need to read to find out for yourself! </span></p><div><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-53942815907397707752023-05-30T07:50:00.004-07:002023-05-30T07:50:27.487-07:00Mating Lexi (arc review) by April Cross<p> <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">Hi Foreverbookers,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">How are you all? I hope you’re good! </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">I’ve just read the sweetest erotic romance that I think I’ve ever read! Mating Lexi tells the story of Lexi as she tries to get pregnant! <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Pregnancy is one of my favourite things to read about, so when I read this I knew I’d enjoy it. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">5 STARS!!!!!</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Lexi knows she wants to have a child but after the death of her husband years ago, she wonders if it will ever happen. She’s thirty seven when the story takes place so is running out of time. It was nice to read about an older woman that wants to DESPERATELY have a baby. I’m not thirty-seven yet but I’m not that far behind and I desperately want children too! </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Enter Noah, a man that happens to just have a coffee with Lexi one morning. From here, the two go on an adventure of wildly passionate sex to get Lexi pregnant. Do they succeed? Does one of them fall in love? Do they both fall in love? You’ll need to read to find out! </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">This book has everything from funny parts, to serious parts, to damn emotional parts. I almost cried and I NEVER cry when I read, so that tells you I was connected to the characters. I loved all the love scenes! They were very passionate and I could almost feel the steam coming off the pages. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-weight: bold;">Mating Lexi is released on 9/6/2023! </span></p>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-9416569777401730422023-05-19T10:59:00.001-07:002023-05-19T11:00:27.143-07:00A Court Of Wings And Ruin/ACOWAR (ACOTAR #3) by Sarah J Maas Review <p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold;">Hey ForeverBookers,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold;"> </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">How are you all today? I hope you’re well!</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I’ve just finished my intense reread of A Court of Wings and Ruin or ACOWAR by Sarah J Maas, and I’m in LOVE ALL OVER AGAIN. I believe that when I read this book the first time I only gave it 3/3.5 stars. Well, it’s going up to 5 STARS now!!! It’s not quite the same level as A Court of Mist and Fury or ACOMAF for me, because you all know HOW I ADORE my romance and that is fantasy romance to a TEE but ACOWAR this time, had so much more to it for me than the last time I read it! </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I read ACOWAR for one readathon this month: </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Reading Rivalry - A BookTok Book - A believe that ACOWAR (and every book in this series) is a very popular book everywhere!!!</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">ACOWAR is basically a story of training to become someone better than what you are currently, I feel. Feyre, our main female character needs to train lots with her comrades to become this better person, to succeed in battle. The battle at the end is a lot of fighting and not much else but it’s still SOOOOO good, if a little lacking in length!!! Sarah J Maas just has it, what more can I say? She just has the power to wield words and create a story that captures you (or me) in every way!</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">SPOILERS BELOW</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“I picked my way through the corpses to another Illyrian.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Then another. And another.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Some I knew. Some I didn’t. Still the killing field stretched onward under the sky.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span> <span> </span></span>Mile after mile. A kingdom of the rotting dead.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>And still I looked.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>We start ACOWAR by seeing through Rhys’s eyes as he is in a past battle. He needs to find his comrades, Cassian and Azriel. He has clearly been affected by this past war and it’s not even the main point of this novel, it’s just the start…</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I found it interesting reading from Rhys’s perspective. He was the villain in book 1, ACOTAR, I feel and then the hero in book 2, ACOMAF. Will he continue to play the hero in ACOWAR? You’ll need to read for yourself…What Rhys is to me is a misunderstood character in lots of ways. Yes, he’s got his problems. What character doesn’t? But along with those issues he’s just a cinnamon roll of a guy to me, who will do WHATEVER it takes to protect those he loves most, which is my sort of man. </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Feyre is stuck at the Spring Court at the beginning of ACOWAR. At the end of ACOMAF she was taken back by Tamlin, her jealous ex. When she tries to escape, she needs to defeat two horrible characters, Brannagh and Dagdan, two of the King of Hybern’s underlings. They try to hurt her. Lucien, Tamlin’s right-hand man helps her escape too. Lucien, although I hated him in ACOMAF, and I still don’t particularly like him in ACOWAR, I definitely prefer him here in the third novel. He tries to help Feyre and Rhys. Does he succeed in everything he tries to do? You’ll need to read to find out.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Feyre is the perspective that most of ACOWAR is told through. I love her as a character so much! She is me, I feel. We have the same hang ups and I feel we’d agree on lots if she was real. She’s definitely the Sarah J Maas heroine I relate to the most. In ACOTAR and ACOMAF she goes through a heck ton of trauma and suffering, but in ACOWAR she becomes the woman she’s meant to be, I feel. She becomes Lady of the Night Court. I WISH we’d have had a wedding between Feyre and Rhys to solidify their positions in terms of the Court and to each other because they’re clearly, 100% in love with each other, so much so we get various sex scenes throughout ACOWAR. It just would have been nice to see them confess how they felt to each other in a proper ceremony, as Rhys basically asks her to marry him in ACOMAF! </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Feyre needs to learn how to fly with her new Illyrian wings in ACOWAR, before the battle with the King of Hybern comes to pass. This takes practice a few times over. We see in the book, her try with both Cassian and Azriel. She prefers Azriel’s technique of teaching over Cassian’s. </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“It was very hard for me to learn how to fly,” he said. I didn’t dare respond. “Most Illyrians learn as toddlers. But . . . I assume Rhysand told you the particulars of my early childhood.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I nodded. He finished the one hand and started on the other. “Because I was so old, I had a fear of flying—and did not trust my instincts. It was an . . . embarrassment to be taught so late. Not just to me, but to all in the war-camp once I arrived. But I learned, often going off by myself. Cassian, of course, found me first. Mocked me, beat me to hell, then offered to train me. Rhys was there the next day. They taught me to fly.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>When Feyre hears Azriel’s tale of how he learnt to fly so late in life she’s given new hope that she’ll be able to do it after she hurts herself in trying the first time with him. Will she? You’ll have to read to find out for yourself! This is significant to everyday life as well as the plot of ACOWAR in general. If you don’t keep trying, you won’t succeed is what it says to me, be that in battle, as in this book, or in daily life. I felt that the main character going through this was significant because people in everyday life should KEEP trying to achieve their goals.</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Bone Carver plays a role in ACOWAR, as well as the Weaver. They’re characters in ACOMAF but they play a bigger, more significant role in this 3rd novel! The Bone Carver sends Feyre on a quest to find the Ouroboros, a mirror, a significant object to show that Feyre has resilience.</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“You are afraid to claim the mirror.” The Bone Carver angled his head. “Why?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“You are not afraid of it?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“No.” A little smile. He leaned to the side. “Are you frightened of it, too, Rhysand?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My mate didn’t bother to answer from the hall, though he did come to lean against the threshold, crossing his arms. The Carver sighed at the sight of him—the dirt and blood and wrinkled clothes, and said, “Oh, I much prefer you bloodied up.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Pick something else,” I replied. And not a fool’s errand this time.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“What would you give me? Riches do me no good down here. Power holds no sway over the stone.” He chuckled. “What about your firstborn?” A secret smile as he gestured with that small boy’s hand to himself.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rhys’s attention slid to me, surprise—surprise and something deeper, more tender—flickering on his face. Not just any boy, then.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My cheeks heated. No, not just any boy.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“It is rude, Majesties, to speak when no one can hear you.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I sliced a glare toward the Carver. “There is nothing else, then.” Nothing else that won’t break me if I so much as look upon it.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Bring me the Ouroboros, and I am yours. You have my word.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I weighed the beatific expression on the Carver’s face before I strode out.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rhys didn’t know at this time, that Feyre didn’t want to get the mirror as it scared her. When the Bone Carver asks for something else, their firstborn, she was indeed seeing their son, who I believe becomes a character in A Court of Silver Flames. I thought this was very sweet and it again shows Rhys’s growth from ACOTAR, where he was a selfish man to now, where he’s a caring/loving man. It also shows that Rhys worries too.</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">There’s an awful lot of politics in ACOWAR between the courts, as they try to decide the best way to defeat the king of Hybern. They meet at the summer court, which is neutral ground. Kallias, High Lord of the Winter Court, and Viviane, his love play a part here. They’re the easier of the delegates to get on side. Here, also, Feyre gets to know Helion, the High Lord of the Day Court. He’s also Lucien’s father, it’s revealed. </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“I said quietly, “You saved her. You found her, didn’t you?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A coronet of light seemed to flicker over that thick black hair. “I did.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>There was enough weight, anger, and something else in those two words that I studied the High Lord of Day.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“What happened?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Helion didn’t break my stare. “I tore the beasts apart with my bare hands.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A chill slid down my spine. “Why?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He could have ended it a thousand other ways. Easier ways. Cleaner ways.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rhys’s bloody hands after the Ravens’ attack flashed through my mind.”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">This is Helion describing how he saved Lucien’s mother, the Lady of the Autumn Court from beasts that killed her sisters. It’s after this point that Feyre works out WHO Helion is in relation to Lucien. This also made me like Lucien a little more. I HATE Beron, who he knows as his father. Rhys saved Feyre from getting hurt by vicious Ravens at the library in the Night Court. This event reminds her of that.</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Nesta and Elain, Feyre’s sisters who became Fae at the end of ACOMAF need to get used to their new selves/lives. Nesta does this through reading and secluding herself from everyone, until Cassian comes into her life. When Cassian gets hurt in the final battle, Nesta admits to herself I think that there’s a spark between them and I am now SOOOOO excited to read A Court of Silver Flames at some point. I won’t read it until the next book is announced in the series! The only character that I thought maybe could have had a little more development was Elain, the middle Archeron sister. I really want her and Azriel to end up together. Then we’ll have three Archerons with the three batboys as I call them: Rhys, Cassian and Azriel. It just makes the most sense to me.</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lastly, the final battle between Hybern and Feyre wasn’t that epic. It was good, but I expected a bigger more drawn out battle sequence because the book had been building up to THIS battle, but it just fell a little flat for me. But because of the rest of the novel being so full of everything I love, I could forgive it being a little lack lustre at the end. That’s why I’m still giving ACOWAR 5 Stars!!!!!</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Do you agree with my thoughts and feelings of ACOWAR? Is there anything you disagree about? Let me know in the comments below! I’m going to read some manga next, which I don’t generally review in great depth so if you don’t hear from me for a few months again that’s why! </span></p>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-12812904035357296482023-03-08T07:47:00.003-08:002023-03-08T07:47:16.744-08:00Boys Of Summer (#1 The Men and Money series) by Julie Jones Review<p> <span style="font-family: arial;">I loved this! I generally love books that centre around a girl struggling to be who she is, especially when there are cute boys involved. Warning: there’s lots of spice. Will the main character, Evie learn who she is? It’s an emotional ride of a book!</span></p>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-24243211666361876602023-03-05T08:49:00.006-08:002023-03-05T10:29:34.463-08:00Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer Review<p> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Hey Foreverbookers,</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How are you all? I hope you’re well! </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’ve just finished Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer, which I enjoyed. It was slower than I thought it would be, which is why it took me so long to get through (nearly a month) but it was good. It read more like literary fiction than a YA novel to me, to be honest. I’m therefore giving Echo North 3 stars!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Echo North is an East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon retelling, which I haven’t read. However, the themes of Echo North were far more adult than I thought they’d be. I thought Echo North was a middle grade novel, which it certainly isn’t. While there’s no sexual content or bad language, but there’s talk of death and horrible, evil characters, as well as depressing themes throughout. It isn’t a happy novel. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Echo is a young, naive girl at the beginning but come the end she’s grown into a young woman. The first part of novel takes place in a Russian like country, where Echo’s father, a bookseller falls in love with Donia, an evil, selfish woman who wants nothing but money lavished on her. Echo has to leave her house because Donia orders her to. She meets a wolf, and they’d where the true story starts…</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I read Echo North for one readathon. They was: </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Reading Rivalry - An Adventure - There is certainly an adventure element to Echo North, however it was quite boring, unfortunately. I wasn’t chomping at the bit to read it, which is on of the reasons why I think it took so long to finish.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Prism Oracle Card - I chose the Growth card at random in February. Echo certainly grows to accept herself by the end of Echo North.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Spoilers Below,</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: bold;">“My scars whitened as I got older—they didn’t fade. I learned very early that in the old tales of magic the wicked were always ugly and scarred, the good beautiful; I was not beautiful, but I wanted to be good, and after a while I couldn’t bear to read those stories anymore.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The villagers avoided me. My fellow students crossed themselves when I walked by, or openly laughed at me. They said the Devil had claimed my face and would someday come back for the rest of me. They said he wouldn’t have marked me if I didn’t already belong to him.”</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">Echo, our main female character was scarred by a wolf as a child. She’s very depressed about her appearance at the beginning of the novel. She doesn’t like how she looks and is lonely because no one wants to be around her apart from her father and brother, who of course still love her.</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: bold;">“The wind teased through my hair, and it smelled of earth and wood and springtime. Ahead of me the forest teemed with life, and away to the west the sun began to slide down the rim of the sky. I was staring into the woods, my eyelids growing heavy when I caught a flash of movement between the trees. All at once I saw a huge, white wolf staring at me from the border of the forest, and I swear to God in heaven that his eyes met mine, that his eyes knew mine. I had a sudden wild thought that it was the same wolf I had rescued all those years ago from the trap, and I rose involuntarily to my feet.”</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">Echo thinks the White Wolf is the same one she rescued from a trap years before, and who marked her face when she was younger. Is this the case? You’ll need to read to find out! </span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">“I found the evenings at the cottage increasingly difficult. Donia was a great cook, but her taste in ingredients ran as expensive as her taste in everything else, and I was forever trying to persuade her to buy cheaper ones.”</span> Donia is a horrible character as I said above. All she cares about is herself. Echo just wants a loving, caring mother, because hers died after she was born but she gets Donia, who is a selfish woman that wants everything she can’t have, like expensive food as is highlighted above. Donia makes Echo leave the house that Peter, Echo’s father bought when he married Donia. Not having anywhere to go, Echo goes into the forest where she sees the white wolf again. The white wolf brings her to his house. He gives her a room. And tells her that the house is magical. </span></p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: bold;">“Icy currents of air whispered past my neck. Laughter and music echoed faintly from behind some of the doors, while from others came the scent of wine and honey and autumn flowers, or the winter tang of a crisp starry night after a snowfall. The whole house seemed to brim with memory and sorrow, with lost dreams and forgotten joy. I ached with a sadness that was my own.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Magic teemed around me—I didn’t know how to process it all. Part of me still wondered if I was freezing to death and delusional in the wood, but it was all too </span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">real.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">”</span> Echo really doesn’t understand the house. It seems to be alive. Why and how is it alive? You’ll need to read Echo North to find out!</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">The house is a character in and of itself and has many rooms, Echo’s bedroom and a magical bauble room, which is the main room the novel takes place in, I’d say. The bauble room is where Echo finds book-mirrors. These are indeed magical portals into fictional worlds that feel real. Here, in one of these Echo finds a young man called Hal, and in another a young girl called Mokosh. Who are Hal and Mokosh? Are they good or evil? What connection do they have to Echo? You’ll need to read to find out for yourself. </span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">I don’t want to spoil anything else that happens in the novel because it’s very episodic and I feel that spoiling one thing will lead me to spoiling the whole plot. What I will say though, is there is a fantastical twist with a battle at the end that I really enjoyed reading. I was thinking who was going to win, throughout. Will good prevail? You’ll need to read for yourself. After this battle the very end of Echo North felt extremely rushed. I would have liked for there to have been a few more chapters of wrap up. </span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The part that I enjoyed most about Echo North was definitely the characters. We’ve got them all, from the good, to the selfish, to the selfless, to the damn right evil. I thought the author did a great job of capturing each of these emotions. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Overall, I’m giving Echo North 3 stars because while it was good, it was VERY slow and it didn’t need to be so long winded, either. The part that I wanted more from didn’t have it. The only part that I really enjoyed was the second half and only the end of that. While it definitely isn’t the worst book I’ve read, it’s not the best either. The characters were definitely what saved the story for me. I wasn’t that interested in the plot, apart from the battle at the end as I’ve said. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m rereading GLINT by Raven Kennedy next, which I can’t WAIT to do! I might add a few notes fit my previous GLINT review, like I did with GILD in February, but it won’t be a new one. </p>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-19477558453795958222023-01-18T13:58:00.001-08:002023-01-18T13:58:20.158-08:00Dead Voices by Katherine Arden (Small Spaces #2) Review<p><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px;">Hi ForeverBookers,</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px;"> </span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How are you all? I hope you all had a Happy New Year! I did. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’ve just finished reading <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Dead Voices”</span> by Katherine Arden, a middle grade and I ABSOLUTELY LOVED it. I read Small Spaces, book 1 in the series in October 2021. I REALLY LOVED that one too! Dead Voices carries on the story from where Small Spaces ended. It’s set around a haunted ski lodge. Can Ollie, Coco and Brian escape from it and Seth, the villain? Or will they be stuck there forever. You’ll need to read it to find out! </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I appreciated the chapters being quite short as well as the humorous moments, throughout. The atmosphere is creepy but there were definitely some laugh out loud moment too.</p>
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<p style="color: #0061fe; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I read <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Dead Voices”</span> for a few readathons/reading challenges: </p>
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<p style="color: #0061fe; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Reading Rivalry -</span> A book I bought last year. </p>
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<p style="color: #0061fe; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Always Fully Booked Reading Challenge - </span>The second book in a series - It’s book 2 to the Small Spaces series!</p>
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<p style="color: #0061fe; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Prism Oracle Card Pull -</span> I pulled the mystery card - this works because the characters have to work out what’s going on at the haunted ski lodge. It’s a mystery just trying to figure out what is happening!</p>
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<p style="color: #0061fe; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Always Fully Booked Reading Challenge -</span> The second book in a series</p>
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<p style="color: #0061fe; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">“On The Cover” Reading Challenge -</span> Trees - there are lots of trees on the cover of “Dead Voices.”</p>
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<p style="color: #0061fe; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">“Reading Rainbow” Reading Challenge -</span> Blue - The cover is a dark blue colour.</p>
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<p style="color: #0061fe; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">“Read Through The Ages” Challenge - </span>2010’s - 2020’s (I think)!</p>
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<p style="color: #0061fe; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">“Around The World” Reading Challenge -</span> North America - The Small Spaces series takes place in the USA. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Spoilers Below</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Winter in East Evansberg, and just after dusk, five people in a beat-up old Subaru peeled out of town in a snowstorm. Snow and road salt flew up from their tires as they got on the highway heading north,” </span>is how Dead Voices starts. I thought this was a very ominous opening, which suited the novel perfectly. This sinister feeling carries on throughout, until the very end.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The road tilted steeply up. On one side were trees. On the other side was a gully and a frozen creek. Ollie’s dad was driving on through the storm like he didn’t have a care in the world, telling bad jokes from the front seat.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“What did the buffalo say to his kid when he dropped him off at school?” he asked.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Ollie sighed. Her dad loved bad jokes.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Bison!” yelped Coco triumphantly, and everyone groaned but also laughed.”</span> This is Ollie’s dad who is a side character in <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Dead Voices,”</span> more so than in <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Small Spaces,”</span> trying to entertain everyone in the car before they get to Hemlock Lodge, the setting for this novel. <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Dead Voices”</span> has a smaller cast of main characters than<span style="font-weight: bold;"> “Small Spaces,”</span> I’d say. The cast in the first novel isn’t very big, either, but there were only three main characters added to this novel, in my opinion. All the characters added their own personality. We have our three main protagonists, Ollie, Coco and Brian, Ollie’s dad, Coco’s mum, Mr Voland, who I’ll get to later, and the owners of the lodge, who aren’t main characters. Ollie’s dad and Coco’s mom play a small role in <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Dead Voices.”</span> It was nice to see adult interaction with Ollie, Coco and Brian, the main trio. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Dead Voices is more Coco’s novel, than Ollie’s or Brian’s. Ollie had Small Spaces, and I would think that Brian will have the starring role in <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Dark Waters,”</span> which is book 3. I don’t know who will have the main role in<span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> “Empty Smiles,”</span> the fourth and final book in the quartet, but I’m excited to find out, as well as, of course being excited to read book 3 probably next summer! Each of these books takes place around a certain time of year! <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Small Spaces”</span> was set in the autumn/fall, <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Dead Voices,” </span>the winter, <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Dark Waters”</span> will be the Spring, and <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Empty Smiles;”</span> the summer, I’d guess.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">As soon as they get to the lodge the three children are unsettled there. They don’t know why at first, but before they get there even, Coco has a bad dream. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Coco fell asleep, still thinking about chess.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Coco dreamed. Not about chess.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In her dream, she was walking down a dark hallway, so long that she couldn’t see the end of it. Bars of moonlight fell across the carpet, striping it with shadows. But there weren’t any windows. Just the moonlight. It was bitterly cold. On each side were rows of plain white doors, the paint rotten and peeling. Behind one of the doors, Coco heard someone crying.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But behind which door? There seemed to be hundreds. “Where are you?” Coco called.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I can’t find them,” whimpered a girl’s voice. “I’ve looked everywhere, but I can’t find them. Mother says I can’t go home until I find them.”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>This dream is the precursor to other events in the novel.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Coco is a chess freak. She’s a great player too, as is seen later in the story. Following this dream, Ollie has a nightmare.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“In her dream, someone was pulling at her sleeve.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Go ‘way,” Ollie murmured. Even in her sleep, she wanted to sleep. But the tugging kept on.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A small voice whispered, “Please, can you help me?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Dream-Ollie opened her eyes. She saw a girl about her own age standing by her bed, dressed in a long, white nightgown. The girl’s face was in shadow. The whole room was full of shadow and moonlight. “Can you help?” whispered the girl again in a thin, scratchy voice. “No one else wants to help.”</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ollie is talking to a ghost in her dream called Gretel. Gretel is one of the secondary characters. She becomes a catalyst later in the novel. For good or bad, though? You’ll need to read to find out! Another secondary character is a young dead skier, or ghost called Gabriel. We’re not sure if he’s good or evil either, right up until the end. Is he working for evil Seth and Mother Hemlock or will he help Ollie, Coco and Brian escape? You’ll have to read to find out for yourself! </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A main character is Mr. Voland. He enters the story at around quarter of the way through. He’s a mystery at first. But it’s revealed by around half way that he is in fact the smiling man, or Seth the antagonist in this series. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Cold terror filled Ollie. She stared at Mr. Voland. He smiled back at her. “Is my dad okay?” she whispered.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Just asleep,” he said. “But he will not wake. Not tonight.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Ollie’s mouth was completely, utterly dry. “You,” she croaked, licked her lips, tried again. “Who are you?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I think you know,” he said.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>She did. She didn’t want to. She didn’t want it to be true. But it was, and she did. Stammering, Ollie said, “But you—you were different. The last time.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>His smile was colder than the freezing lodge. “I never look the same twice,” he said. “Where would the fun be in that?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Now she recognized the smile. Ollie, if she lived to be a hundred, she could never forget that particular smile. How could she not have known? How could she not have recognised him the second he walked into the lodge?</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But maybe he hadn’t wanted her to recognize him. Maybe he knew how to hide somehow.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“You—” Ollie could barely bring herself to say it. “You’re Seth. You’re the Smiling Man.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Seth laughed, and it was Mr. Voland’s warm, happy laugh. But then his smile widened until it wasn’t a smile at all but a specter’s gruesome grin, all teeth. “Discovered at last,” he said. “I wondered how long it would take you.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is when the trio discover that Don Voland, an apparent ghost catcher, is indeed the smiling man. I thought this was done really well. I could tell this point was coming as <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Dead Voices” </span>is part of a middle grade series, and I could predict this reveal, but that didn’t make the pay off any less satisfying. I liked how Don said <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Discovered at last,”</span> and <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“I wondered how long it would take you,”</span> as if he was expecting them to work out who he was. I find the smiling man or Seth, as he’s also known, to be an interesting villain, more because he’s funny in his antics, as well as evil. Like for example how he laughs. He’s really playing a game with the trio. A sick and demented game, but its a game nonetheless. Ollie knows that Don Voland is the smiling man first! I liked the way he said, <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“I think you know,”</span> too, like he was having a joke with Ollie, Coco and Brian. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The rest of the novel is about how the trio of children get the answers they need to get out of the game that Seth, the smiling man, and Don Voland, as he’s all three of these personas, is playing with them. Can they make it out alive? Or will one or two or all of them get caught? Will the next book be about them escaping from the Smiling Man or an entirely new mystery? You’ll need to read to find out! I certainly can’t WAIT to find out!</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Overall, then I loved <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Dead Voices!”</span> It had everything from great atmosphere to great characters to an interesting plot. If anything I would have extended the book a little bit to give the characters a little more time to come up with or see how they figured out the solution. That part felt kind of rushed at the end. There was a big info dump right at the end too, explaining how Coco worked out the problem and the steps she took to solve it. But at the end of the day it is a middle grade novel, so I knew it wouldn’t be a great mystery/thriller or anything, just a fun time, which it definitely was! That’s why I’m giving <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Dead Voices”</span> five stars!!!!! I didn’t expect it to have any big, shocking twists and those it did have were pretty good, if a little predictable because of the age range it’s marketed at. It’s not the book’s fault that I’m older than its intended age range. That’s why I’m giving the book five stars. It definitely delivers on atmosphere, characters, plot, writing, intrigue, logic and enjoyment for me! If anything, the logic was what was the lowest of these points. But as I said, it’s middle grade so not everything HAS to make sense to an adult brain, necessarily, as long as the reader, whatever their age finds enjoyment in it!</p>
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<p style="background-color: #fdc700; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Next I’m rereading <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Gild </span>by Raven Kennedy, a book I read in 2022. I’ll link my review to that one here so you can read it if you want. I might add a few details after my reread - http://foreverbooks18.blogspot.com/2022/03/gild-1-plated-prisoner-by-raven-kennedy.html. What I’m saying is that there won’t be another review for<span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> Gild.</span> I’ll just add to this one if at all.</p>
<p style="color: #5e30eb; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-86183541274716255322022-12-31T19:56:00.001-08:002022-12-31T19:56:21.798-08:00Where Have I Been??? December 2022<p> Hi ForeverBookers!</p><p>How are you all! I hope you’re good and that you had a great Christmas if you celebrate and a Happy New Year! </p><p>I’m so sorry that I haven’t been posting for the past month but December is an ultra busy month for me, hence why you haven’t seen any posts from me since the very start of December. It’s a family member’s birthday early December as well as my own mid December and then Christmas at the end, and then New Year too! I just didn’t have time to read and I can’t connect to audiobooks. </p><p>What plans do I have for 2023???</p><p>• I want to try and finish some series as well as start some new ones, of course!</p><p>• I want to reread a few favourites.</p><p>• I want to start a new project that I want to keep silent for the moment but it will be fun to do, I hope!</p><p>• I want to continue the Cardcaptor-a-thon. I STILL need to finish round one. I only have to read one more book. I just need to find my copy of the damn book so wish me luck! I have ideas for round 2! </p><p>• I want to use my Always Fully Booked planner made by Little Inklings Design. She has an Instagram called that.</p><p>• And lastly, I want to try a new TBR idea that I’ve seen others do - picking their books based on oracle cards. In my case it’ll be one book that I choose this way to begin with because I play Reading Rivalry on Facebook every month too and I don’t want to have too many books on my TBR. </p>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-45540967584842065342022-12-04T07:10:00.008-08:002022-12-09T09:40:37.829-08:00The Southern Book Club’s Guide To Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix Review!<p> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px;">Hi ForeverBookers,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px;"> </span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How are you all? I hope you’re well. I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a long time. I’ve been busy but I have still been reading! I’ve finished <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The Southern Book Club’s Guide To Slaying Vampires”</span> by Grady Hendrix, and I surprisingly enjoyed it quite a lot. Is it the best book I’ve read, no, but does it have some shocks, twists and things I didn’t see coming, YES!!! </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>3 Stars!</b></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The Southern Book Club’s Guide To Slaying Vampires”</span> is a story that surprised me. I thought it would be more focused around the book club but it isn’t. It’s more so based around the lives of the members of the book club. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">I read <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The Southern Book Club’s Guide To Slaying Vampires”</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>for a few readathons. They were: </span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Reading Rivalry - Historical Fantasy</span> - it’s set throughout the last 3 decades of the 1900’s and as the title suggests a vampiric creature is involved in the plot.</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Popsugar Reading Challenge 2022 - A Social-Horror book</span> - I’m taking that as a book that has the social aspect but is also a horror. This book was certainly horrific towards the end! </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;">“The Southern Book Club’s Guide To Slaying Vampires</span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic;">” </span>is an adult book! It has some rather gross descriptions in the middle and especially towards the end!</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Spoilers Below</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“They selected the books Marjorie wrote down for them, assigned each book to the month Marjorie thought best, and picked the discussants Marjorie thought were most appropriate. The discussant would open the meeting by delivering a twenty-minute presentation on the book, its background, and the life of its author, then lead the group discussion. A discussant could not cancel or trade books with anyone else without paying a stiff fine because the Literary Guild of Mt. Pleasant was not fooling around.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>When it became clear she wasn’t going to be able to finish Cry, the Beloved Country, Patricia called Marjorie.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Marjorie,” she said over the phone while putting a lid of on the rice and turning it down from a boil. “It’s Patricia Campbell. I need to talk to you about Cry, the Beloved Country.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Such a powerful work,” Marjorie said.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Of course,” Patricia said. </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I know you’ll do it justice,” Marjorie said.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I’ll do my best,” Patricia said, realizing that this was the exact opposite of what she needed to say.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“And it’s so timely with the situation on South Africa right now,” Marjorie said.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A cold bolt of fear shot through Patricia: what was the situation on South Africa right now?</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>After she hung up, Patricia cursed herself for being a coward and a fool, and vowed to go to the library and look up Cry, the Beloved Country in the Directory of World Literature, but she had to do snacks for Korey’s soccer team…”</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is significant as it’s what starts the main event of the story, I feel — the book club. Everything stems from the book club, so without it there wouldn’t be a story. Patricia, our main character, hasn’t had time to read the book she was assigned by the head of the book club, snotty, hard-nosed Marjorie so she calls to tell her that, but chickens out. I found this entertaining. Because Marjorie is soooo hard-nosed she doesn’t like how Patricia wasn’t able to finish the book when she can’t talk in depth about it a few pages later, and so Patricia leaves the club. Her friends at the club don’t like how Patricia has left, so they quit and then form their own book club.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Listen.” Kitty placed her body between the two of them and Marjorie’s front door, just in case Marjorie was watching and could read lips. “I’m having some people read a book and come over to my house next month to talk about it. Maryellen’ll be there.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I couldn’t possibly find the time to belong to two book clubs,” Patricia said. </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Trust me,” Kitty said. “After today, Marjorie’s book club is done.”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is Kitty, one of Patricia’s friends from the old book club, Kitty, saying that Marjorie’s book club is DONE! No one wants to be a part of it now. We only hear about a few people from that book club, though. They join Patricia’s book club. Kitty, Slick and Maryellen are the characters that join it. The plot really starts at page 74, where the character James Harris enters the story. James is a mystery to begin with. I wasn’t sure what to think of him at first. However, as the story continued it’s obvious that James is indeed the villain of the story. The way the author never referred to him as just James but always James Harris gave that away too. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Beneath him, a young black girl lay sprawled on the floor, long orange T-shirt pushed up to her stomach, legs akimbo, an ugly dark purple mark on the inside of one thigh, oily with fluids.”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is the first time that I saw James as the villain of <span style="font-weight: bold;">“</span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The Southern Bookclub’s Guide To Slaying Vampires</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">.”</span> He’s sucking the blood from a young girl. He kills children of Six Mile, an area of Louisiana in the book. Mrs. Greene is a woman that suspects James of killing the children before it’s revealed. Patricia cottons on to this belief and starts to think the same of James Harris. James is known as <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“James Harris” </span>from page 74 until the end of the novel. This is how I knew he was a significant character. If he’d been called just James, I feel it would have added to the mystery surrounding him. I thought the author focused on telling us WHO the villain was too early!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Patricia is the character we get to know the most in the novel. We get to know her husband, Carter who annoyed me if I’m being honest and her children, Korey and Blue too, but only briefly. Blue is a young boy who is quite inquisitive. He wants to know everything. Korey, on the other hand is more closed off. She is quiet and we never know what she’s thinking. Patricia’s children and husband aren’t a huge part of the plot but they’re present throughout and become significant at times. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A huge part of <span style="font-weight: bold;">“</span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The Southern Book Club’s Guide To Slaying Vampires”</span> is trying to persuade the members of the book club that James is evil. It’s only Patricia and Mrs. Greene, a cleaner from Six Mile, where the children have gone missing, that believe that James is evil! Everyone else thinks he’s innocent at first. When do they start to see James for who he truly is? Is James even the evil character he’s made out to be? Or is he innocent? You’ll have to read for yourself! </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If there’s a negative part to <span style="font-weight: bold;">“</span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The Southern Book Club’s Guide To Slaying Vampires”</span> or something that I didn’t enjoy it was the writing style. I honestly thought the plot could have been written in half the pages. It was very wordy to me, which it really didn’t need to be. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Overall, I enjoyed <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The Southern Book Club’s Guide To Slaying Vampires.”</span> It wasn’t everything I wanted, but the intrigue was certainly enough to keep me reading. That’s why I’m giving it 3 stars. If you want a good mystery with lots of twists and turns, then I highly suggest this book! I read this over the Halloween period, and it was perfect as it takes place then too. There are parts of the book that I haven’t mentioned in this review but I’ve summed up the significant points. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Stand by for my next review, coming soon!</p>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-9377959444903585542022-10-22T08:01:00.001-07:002022-10-22T08:01:34.243-07:00Ice Planet Barbarians (#1 Ice Planet Barbarians) by Ruby Dixon Review<p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px;">Hey ForeverBookers,</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How are you all? I hope you’re well.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’ve just finished <span style="font-weight: bold;">“</span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Ice Planet Barbarians,</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">”</span> which is perhaps my favourite book of the year so far! I adored the romance in it and the sexy times were very fun! It’s told from first person POV from both our love interests perspectives. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">5 FREAKING STARS!!!!!</span></span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The story starts with our main female character Georgie, a twenty two year old woman on her way home from work. When she gets home she goes to sleep. That’s where her adventure starts…She wakes up in a spaceship that crash lands on an ice planet, hence the name<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Ice Planet Barbarians</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">.”</span> The character development is great, as I feel in romances it needs to be so we can connect with the characters emotions. There isn’t too much talk of the setting in this first book, but throughout the series, I feel we’ll go to other places on <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Non-Hoth,” </span>the planet Georgie finds herself on…Georgie meets Vektal, an alien on “<span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Non-Hoth.”</span> Vektal is the male POV we see from. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Vektal and all of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">“</span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">sa-khui tribe,</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">”</span> have a <span style="font-weight: bold;">“khui,”</span> which is a glowing worm in all of the native inhabitants of<span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> “Non-Hoth.”</span> This means they can survive on the planet. When Vektal finds Georgie, and realises his feelings towards her, he makes it his top priority to find a Sa-kohtsk, a creature that carries these glowing worms to give to Georgie and the other women. Does he find it? Can Georgie and the rest of the women stay on <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Non-Hoth”</span> or will they die? Do they want to stay? You’ll have to read to find out for yourself!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">The reading challenges/groups I read <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Ice Planet Barbarians”</span> for are:</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Reading Rivalry - Character with a Nickname - Vektal has some cute names for Georgie, when he can’t speak English.</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Cliterature book club, hosted by StephLoves on Booktube - the live show is sometime early November with Gav from HowToTrainYourGavin and Pris from PrisPeruses! I’m REALLY excited to watch it!!!</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">There is A LOT of graphic sex in <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Ice Planet Barbarians.”</span> It’s all through love, there’s no abuse but it’s certainly not a book for readers below 18 years of age! There’s a quote I’ve put in this review below from one of the sex scenes. </span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Spoilers Below</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“It was pretty ordinary, overall. I came home after a long day of working the drive-thru teller window at the bank, nuked a Lean Cuisine, ate it while watching TV, and dozed off on the couch before stumbling to bed. Not exactly the life of the party, but hey. It was a Tuesday, and Tuesdays were all work, no play. I went to sleep, and from there, shit got weird,”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">is where the story begins. This is Georgie, who’s come home from work, dozed on the couch and gone to bed. From here, she wakes up on an alien spaceship. She meets other women aboard the ship. Liz and Kira are the first women Georgie meets and we’re introduced to through Georgie’s POV. Liz is a pepped up, angry female and Kira has more of a soft, laid back approach. They will both have books of their own, with their own romances, which I am so excited to read in the coming months!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Liz is very matter-of-fact.</span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> “You all right?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Yeaaah . . .” I slur, my mouth unable to form words. And . . . I drool all over myself. Lovely. I lift one of my heavy hands to swipe at my mouth, “Thorry—”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“You’re okay,” she says before I can panic again. Her voice is pitched low so as not to wake the others. “We’re all a bit hung over when we wake up. They drug everyone when they arrive. It’ll wear off in a bit. I’m Liz.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Georgie,” I tell her, taking time to sound out my name properly. I rub my arm and point at it, at the strange bumps. “Whattth going on?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Well, you were abducted by aliens. But I guess that was obvious, right?”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is Georgie’s first interaction with Liz. She seems to know what happens when women get captured by the aliens. I knew this was an alien romance before I went in, but what I didn’t know was that the aliens that take Georgie and the others are the evil ones. The aliens that make up basically the entire plot apart from this beginning chapter are good and wholesome. I was surprised by this but happy none-the-less. The plot is basically a lesson in trust for Georgie and the other women. Can they truly trust the <span style="font-weight: bold;">“</span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">sa-khui</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">”</span> tribe of aliens? </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Each of the <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Ice Planet Barbarians”</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>books focuses on one woman from this group and her romance with a man/alien from the good alien tribe, known as the “<span style="font-style: italic;">sa-khui</span>” tribe. Vektal is the alien from the <span style="font-weight: bold;">“</span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">sa-khui”</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>tribe that <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Ice Planet Barbarians”</span> focuses on. He’s the leader of the tribe, in fact. I loved Vektal! He’s sooooo sweet, caring and attentive to Georgie from the moment they meet. When Georgie wakes up in the snowy cave and they do meet he’s actually licking her core. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">“</span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">This guy is eating my pussy like a champ.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>His head lifts and he nuzzles at my bush, mumbling something again. My hands go to push his head back down to where I want it.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Except I encounter horns.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I jerk awake, realizing it’s not a dream. None of this is. I look down at my body in shock. I’m naked. I’m naked, and there’s some guy with a pair of massive curled horns rising from his head between my legs. As I watch his tongue drags over my pussy again.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Oh my God,” I whisper. I push at his head, trying to shove him away. </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">This is not normal. This is not normal.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He looks up at me, and as he does, I gasp.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He’s not human. I mean, I knew that with the horns and all, but looking at his face, I can tell he’s really not human. Horns rise from his hairline and curl around his scalp, like a spiky, lethal helmet. He’a blue for one thing. Well, a bluish-grey with a black mane of hair that reminds me of a lion’s mane. His brows are heavy, heavier than any human brow I’ve seen, his face rugged like it’s carved from stone. Going straight down his forehead to the tip of his nose is a striated pattern of ridges of some kind. His bluish-gray skin, slightly darker there.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>And his eyes are a glowing shades of blue that I’ve never seen. Blue like Caribbean waters but completely without pupils of any kind. And they’re glowing as if from within</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">.”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Georgie is clearly shocked by what Vektal’s doing to her as well as his appearance. He’s blue with ridges, so that’s why. She’s not scared of him, though. She’s very attracted to him from the moment the meet, probably because the moment they meet he’s sucking her core. They miss the awkward get-to-know-you stage, I guess. From the moment Georgie and Vektal meet there’s a LOT of sexy romance, which I loved!!! The sex scenes are very hot! </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">“</span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Mmm, I’ve been daydreaming about this all day,” she tells me in a delicious voice.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It seems too incredible to think about. “Have you?” My hands steal to her soft hair, unable to resist touching her. I stroke it off her brow as she wraps her hands around my cock and grips it tight. It doesn’t feel as good as burying myself deep into her cunt, but I’m fascinated and aroused by her motions.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Yes,” she says, and when she speaks, her lips move over the aching crown of my cock. I suck in a breath, and my khui begins to vibrate—a hard insistent pulse of need.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Then I can scarcely believe it when she takes my cock into her mouth. I feel the head enclosed by warm wetness, and I nearly spill my seed then. I groan, my entire body tensing in response. It feels like nothing I have ever experienced before.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is an example of an erotic scene from<span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> “Ice Planet Barbarians.” </span>It’s from Vektal’s point of view. He loves sex with Georgie. This is the first time she sucks him off in the book. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Vektal can’t communicate with Georgie at first because he’s from a different place, let alone a DIFFERENT PLANET! Before Georgie went to sleep a few nights before this, she wasn’t aware of life on other planets. The <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“sa-khui tribe”</span> (Vektal’s tribe) are all blue aliens, none of them speak English, and they’re mainly males. Before Georgie’s tribe of women, as Vektal calls them, came to Not-Hoth (the planet/home of the <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“sa-khui tribe),”</span> there weren’t many females as a part of Vektal’s tribe. Now, with the human women, the males are excited to hopefully carry on the tribe with children. This is especially the case with Vektal, the leader. Georgie learns of this part way through the plot. She thinks she’s just an incubator at first. They fall in love after this. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“</span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">What do you want to do?” Josie asks me. “You keep asking us. Tell us what you are thinking.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My hand goes to my stomach. “I’m kind of biased in one direction because . . . I’m pregnant. With Vektal’s baby. He’s resonating for me, and apparently it means that, despite the fact we’re not the same species, he can get me pregnant. So I want to stay.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The moment I say it aloud, I feel cleansed. Of course I want to stay. I’m coming to care for Vektal. I might even love the big guy. And I’m carrying his child. It’s not his fault I was kidnapped by evil aliens and now I have to get a “cootie,” as Megan calls it. He’s done nothing but love me.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">”</span> This is the moment that Georgie realises just what she means to Vektal, I believe, when the other women who haven’t yet mated to a<span style="font-style: italic;"> “sa-khui” </span>male are discussing whether they want to stay or try to go home to earth. She also thinks she’s pregnant. This is never actually confirmed in <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Ice Planet Barbarians,”</span> though. It might be in the next book, which isn’t told from Georgie or Vektal’s perspective.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Later, she learns just how important she is to Vektal. When he admits his true feelings to her. I love these kinds of plots, where there is miscommunication but then the characters come together and fall head over heels, desperately in love with each other. I believe all of the books in this series follow this sort of plot, so I’m very excited to read them all.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">They learn to communicate about half way through, when they find an old spaceship, with a communication device on it. This device allows Georgie to understand Vektal and able to speak his language. This plot device was needed I think because otherwise it would have turned really tedious to read them not understanding each other for the entire story.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Most of <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Ice Planet Barbarians”</span> is sex, sex, sex, so if that isn’t your thing, you might not like it. However, this is my guilty pleasure in books! There is a plot too, but mostly it is about the romance and discovering each other, in Georgie and Vektal’s case. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m giving <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Ice Planet Barbarians”</span> five stars because it’s everything I love in a book, lots of character development, lots of love scenes, an addictive plot, trying to find answers. Have you read <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Ice Planet Barbarians?”</span> What did you think if you have? Let me know below! </p><div><br /></div>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-40836840344188662572022-10-04T14:10:00.005-07:002022-10-04T15:50:20.075-07:00Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward Review<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Hey ForeverBookers,</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How are you all today? I hope you’re well!</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’ve just finished reading <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Sing, Unburied, Sing”</span> by Jesmyn Ward and I thought it was quite meh, to be honest. It tells the story of a family and how they cope through the hardest of times. The story is told through three perspectives, Jojo, a young, thirteen year old boy and his mother Leonie, and a mystery perspective that I don’t want to spoil. I enjoyed reading from Jojo’s perspective the most, I think because he had the most pull on the story. We also hear from selfish Leonie’s perspective, who’s far more concerned about herself and her happiness than either of her children. I also loved reading about Kayla, Jojo’s little sister. She’s an innocent little baby in the book, who loves her brother more than anyone else. She added some much needed comedy/humour to an otherwise quite dull and boring story. </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The story is about Jojo and his mother - Leonie, sister - Michaela or Kayla, as she’s also known, and Leonie’s friend - Misty going to get his father - Michael from Parchmen jail. Michael is white and Leonie is black skinned so we have the parallel of white/black skinned people as well. Michael’s white parents are very racist towards Leonie. In the novel White is written with a capital W. This I think is to show how white’s think their better than black’s which I don’t think is true, at least where I’m from.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">2.5 Stars!</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Reading Rivalry - I finished <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Sing, Unburied, Sing”</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>in October so it doesn’t count but it would have worked for the prompt of<span style="font-style: italic;"> “find Yourself” </span>because I feel Jojo discovers who he is throughout the novel. I buddyread<b> <i>“Sing, Unburied, Sing,” </i></b>for Reading Rivalry.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I read this for a PopSugar Reading Challenge 2022 prompt - <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Sing, Unburied, Sing”</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>was the winner of the Anisfield-Wolf award in 2018. At the end of the year I’ll make a post just for Popsugar to show what prompts all the books I read go towards.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Becca’s Bookoplothon - I read most of <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Sing, Unburied, Sing”</span> in September so for me it counts for this. I read it for the prompt of <span style="font-style: italic;">First Person, </span>as it’s told from three perspectives, Jojo’s, Leonie’s - his mother, and a mysterious character.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There’s a theme of racism throughout <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Sing, Unburied, Sing,”</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>as well as an animal torture scene right at the beginning. There’s also a lot of talk about drugs and addiction, and one of the characters hides drugs from the police through swallowing them.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Spoilers below…</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Big Joseph is my White grandpa, Pop my Black one. I’ve lived with Pop since I was born; I’ve seen my white grandpa twice. Big Joseph is round and tall and looks nothing like Pop. He doesn’t even look like Michael, my father, who is lean and smudged with tattoos. He picked them up like souvenirs from wannabe artists in Bois, and out on the water when he worked offshore and in prison.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The difference between white and black skin is brought up right at the beginning of and throughout <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Sing, Unburied, Sing.”</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>Jojo, who I’d say is the main character of the novel has one black grandfather and one white grandfather. His white grandfather, Big Joseph is a racist too. Jojo lives in Bois, which is a part of America in the novel.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Most of <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Sing, Unburied, Sing”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>takes part in the car on the to collect Michael, Jojo and Kayla’s father from jail. I was actually a little put off right at the beginning where there was a rather unpleasant torture scene of a goat. I don’t know why it had to be described in such detail. I thought the writing of the novel was well done for the most part apart from the torture scene, so that’s where most of my praise goes for<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Sing, Unburied, Sing.”</span> I unfortunately wasn’t overly bothered about the main plot. </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Leonie’s looking at the empty chair across from her, so she misses when I walk in the room, Kayla in my arms. Her head on my shoulder. Normally she’d be asking for a dog (she likes hot dogs for breakfast…But I woke to her touching my cheek right underneath my eye, looking very serious, not smiling. Her little hand like a stick burned with fire and now throwing off heat, red and black. As I walk into the kitchen, Kayla breathes little huffs into my neck. I rub her back, and Leonie finally notices us.” </span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The children, Jojo and Kayla aren’t cared for at all by Leonie. She lets Jojo care for Kayla, who is quite poorly throughout the entire book. This actually made me really angry. If you’re a mother, you should WANT to care for your children in my opinion. Leonie didn’t. She was far more concerned about Michael throughout. The author definitely succeeded in showing the struggle and power/limitations of family bonds, as the blurb says. Other than that though, the novel really didn’t offer anything of interest to me. If read by a black person, or an American, they might find more from the novel, but I’m a white non-American so I didn’t feel touched by it at all, really. I read it more to fulfil a PopSugar prompt than anything else.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Another part to the story is the fact that Jojo’s Mam or his grandmother is dying. This was the best part of <span face="HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Sing, Unburied, Sing”</span> for me. It was a realistic portrayal of what it is to lose someone close. This wasn’t the main story, though. That was collecting Michael from jail, which as I said was quite boring.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Will they be a happy family at the end of the book? You’ll need to read to find out…</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-12341890272683043322022-09-22T08:41:00.000-07:002022-09-22T08:41:35.707-07:00The Fine Print (#1 Dreamland Billionaires) by Lauren Asher Review<p> </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Hey ForeverBookers,</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How are you all doing today? I hope you’re well!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I have just finished reading my favourite contemporary EVER!!! <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The Fine Print”</span> by Lauren Asher is definitely my new favourite contemporary romance! It had everything I love from forbidden romance, lovable characters, a grumpy sunshine enemies to lovers plot line, funny/cute parts, and the most delicious contemporary sex scene I’ve ever read. It really was cute and hot and everything in between! </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">5 FREAKING STARS!!! (It would be MORE if I could again, like last time)!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I read <span style="font-family: Helvetica-BoldOblique; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The Fine Print” </span>for a few readathons. They were:</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Reading Rivalry - Another school year begins -</span> I took this as a character having a new job. In “The Fine Print,” both of our main characters, Zahra and Rowan have new job opportunities, as well as a side character.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Becca’s Bookopolothon - Published/set since 2020 -</span> “The Fine Print” was published in 2021!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica-BoldOblique; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The Fine Print”</span> is very much an ADULT contemporary told from a duel POV. The perspectives are Rowan’s and Zahra’s. The dual POV worked really well. I found it exciting because we’re often not sure what Rowan is feeling as he’s pretty much a closed book, even to himself, in the first half of the novel. In the second half of the novel he allows himself to feel. Zahra’s parts were funny and relatable to me, which was nice. She’s younger than me but I’ve pretty much been where she was in life. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Each book is this series follows/will follow one of the three Kane brothers as he needs to follow a set of tasks set by his grandfather, Brady, in his will to get a lot of money, 25 billion dollars, to be exact. <span style="font-family: Helvetica-BoldOblique; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The Fine Print” </span>follows the younger brother, Rowan, and Zahra but we see some of Declan, the elder brother and Cal, the middle brother, too. Though Cal remains pretty aloof throughout. He’ll hopefully come into book 2 more, <span style="font-family: Helvetica-BoldOblique; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Terms and Conditions.” </span>At the beginning of <span style="font-family: Helvetica-BoldOblique; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The Fine Print,”</span> Zahra literally falls into Rowan’s lap at a meeting where she works, at his grandfather’s theme park, Dreamland. She doesn’t know Rowan is Brady’s grandson at first. There is loads of sexual tension as well as the classic enemies to lovers storyline between them. What will happen…you’ll need to read to find out…</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">SPOILERS BELOW…</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“If there’s anything I hate more than funerals, it’s talking to people. There are only a few people I tolerate, and my grandfather was one of them.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is Rowan at the beginning of <span style="font-family: Helvetica-BoldOblique; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The Fine Print”</span> before he meets Zahra. He’s at his grandfather Brady’s funeral. Rowan respected his grandfather more than most people in his life. We’re lead to believe that Brady was the only person he got on with. His father, Seth for example, he hates with a vengeance as after his mother’s funeral Seth dumped all three of his sons. Rowan is definitely the grumpy half of the grumpy/sunshine trope in <span style="font-family: Helvetica-BoldOblique; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The Fine Print.”</span> Will Zahra be able to change him? You’ll need to read to find out!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The door behind me creaks open. I turn in my chair and look over my shoulder. A younger brunette woman slides through the small crack before shutting it softly behind her.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I look down at my watch. Who is she and why is she twenty minutes late?</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>She clutches onto a neon pink Penny skateboard with one golden brown arm as she scans the packed room. I take advantage of her distraction to assess her. She’s beautiful in a way that makes it difficult to refocus my attention on the conversation at the front of the room.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I hate it yet I can’t look away. My eyes trace the curves of her body, drawing a path from her delicate throat to her thick thighs. The speed of my heart picks up.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I clench my hands into two fists, disliking the lack of control I have over my body.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Get a hold of yourself.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I take a few deep breaths to slow my heart rate.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>When Zahra comes in late to a meeting, Rowan instantly thinks that she’s beautiful. He doesn’t like how he thinks this, though. The way that<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Get a hold of yourself”</span> is in italics in the novel tells us this. He wonders why she’s twenty minutes late. That’s the grumpy part of him coming out!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Whatever sweet stories Brady shared about his youngest grandson were nothing but a fantasy. The rumors circulating Dreamland were right. Rowan has earned a reputation as a ruthless businessman known to stir up the same level of happiness as animal euthanasia.”</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The first chapter we get from Zahra’s perspective is just after she’s met Rowan at a meeting she was late for. She’s a twenty-three year old girl. This comes across in how she acts and her personality later in the book, as well as here comparing Rowan to animal euthanasia. Rowan is seven years older than Zahra. This again plays into the grumpy/sunshine trope I feel, as the older person in the couple is normally the grumpy half. That’s certainly the case here in <span style="font-family: Helvetica-BoldOblique; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The Fine Print.”</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It’s really evident from their first interaction that neither Rowan or Zahra like each other at the beginning of the <span style="font-family: Helvetica-BoldOblique; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The Fine Print.” </span>Zahra even goes as far as to call Rowan<span style="font-family: Helvetica-BoldOblique; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> “a ruthless businessman known to stir up the same level of happiness as animal euthanasia,” </span>in her head. I found a lot of their conversations really entertaining to read, especially later in the book where they start to unknowingly at first anyway, fall in love with each other.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The start of their ‘relationship’ happens about a fifth into<span style="font-family: Helvetica-BoldOblique; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> “The Fine Print,” </span>where Rowan kisses Zahra! The last couple of words tell us she obviously isn’t at all expecting it. This is seen in, </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica-BoldOblique; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“There’s something about him that makes me want to push all his buttons. I’m interested in seeing who the real Rowan is beneath all those layers of ice and indifference.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>His brows scrunch. “There are worse things I’m capable of.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A chill shoots down my spine. “Like?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I don’t think you want to find out.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I pretend I’m unbothered by his threat despite my racing heart. “You better have a massive dick to back up that attitude or else people will be mighty disappointed.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Care to bring a ruler and test your theory?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I left my magnifying glass at home, so maybe tomorrow.” I’m pretty sure the angel on my shoulder has left the building.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Something shifts between us. His eyes darken as they assess me. I’m not sure if he wants to choke me, fire me or fuck me into submission. “Are you always this impossible?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I don’t know. Are you always this much of an asshole?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>One second he’s scowling at me and the next his lips are crashing into mine.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Wait, what?”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Zahra is interested in seeing the real Rowan beneath the front he puts up. Will she get that opportunity? You’ll need to read to find out!</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Somehow my comment gets me a trio of laughing emojis.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;">Zahra: You’re kind of funny.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Me: I don’t think I’ve been called funny in my life.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I groan as I read the text a second time. I’m making my alter ego into a complete loser, much like my normal self.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;">Zahra: That’s kind of weird, Scott. Maybe you</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>need to find new friends who appreciate your</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>brand of humor.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Friends? What friends? The higher anyone climbs up the ladder of success, the harder it is to relate to anyone below. Maybe that’s the reason I enjoy talking to Zahra. It’s not because of her specifically, but rather the idea of letting loose and being myself.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;">Zahra: So scratch the idea of Monopoly money. I’ll do you one better. I’m willing to pay with food, booze, or whatever it is you like.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-style: italic;">”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-style: italic;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There is miscommunication in<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The Fine Print,”</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>which is a trope that I’m not the biggest fan of. However, I could get past it here because I loved the interactions between Zahra and Rowan when they were themselves. It’s Rowan who pretends to be Scott, someone who creates designs for Zahra because she’s no good at artwork. Rowan however is, but his art was never appreciated by his father when he was younger so he gave up the dream of creating. Zahra needs artwork to show with her presentations for Dreamland, so Rowan considers this a perfect opportunity to be someone else. Someone that Zahra gets on with, ie, not him! He buys a tablet and has trouble setting it up. That was funny to read, too. The texts happen throughout <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The Fine Print,” </span>until Zahra starts getting suspicious. What happens when she does? You’ll need to read to find out!</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: GillSans-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“</span><span style="font-style: italic;">Zahra: Why did you watch the movie?</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The dots come and go over and over again before his next message appears.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;">Scott: I was interested in dissecting it from a purely scientific standpoint.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Me: You’re such a nerd.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Seriously, based on the few facts Scott has shared, I’ve come to picture him as a hot one. I mean the man still has a subscription to National Geographic magazine and watches Jeopardy religiously before bed. If he didn’t drop a few pop culture references and have the same kind of music taste as me, I would have though I was being catfished by a senior citizen. I’m pretty aware that’s still an option on the table, but I’m holding out for the right moment to pressure Scott into meeting me. And today’s conversation is the perfect start.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;">Me: Did you come to any conclusions?</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>His reply is instantaneous</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;">Scott: Yes. You’re just as crazy as I had thought.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Scott: But it’s bordering on slightly endearing.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In other words, that’s practically a compliment coming from him.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The warmth in my chest spreads through my body like a wildfire.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I spend the rest of my day thinking about my conversation with Scott. It’s hard not to jump to conclusions about it all, but why else would he watch my favorite movies? All seventeen versions of them.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I think Scott might like me. If only he had enough courage like Lizzy to face me.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Maybe one day.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is a flirty text between Zahra and Rowan as Scott. Rowan isn’t afraid to talk to Zahra as Scott. Zahra considers falling for Scott, just as Rowan already HAS at this point fallen for Zahra, I believe. If only he had enough courage to face her as Lizzy does, her heroine from <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Pride and Prejudice.”</span> Of course we, the reader know the reason why Scott can’t reveal himself, he doesn’t exist.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Rowan and Zahra have an arrangement. They’ll offer each other a friends or enemies with benefits kind of deal. </p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Tell me everything!”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I take off with my story, explaining everything Rowan divulged last night and how we ended up in bed together.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“So please tell me that Rowan’s looks aren’t just for show.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“He’s more of an action kind of guy.” I grin to myself at the inside joke.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Claire cackles. “Great. I’m glad we now know he can use his tongue for good rather than evil. It’s a step in the right direction.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I only laugh to myself.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“So you’re what? Fuck buddies?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I wince at her choice of words.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Okay. No.” She pauses. “How about friends with benefits?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I shake my head. “We didn’t discuss labels.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Silly me. How could you with his dick lodged in your throat.”<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My sponge splashes in the soapy water after I lost my grip. “Claire!”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Claire is Zahra’s best friend. She doesn’t have a huge role to play in <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The Fine Print.”</span> She’s there to offer Zahra advice and help when it’s needed.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Any word from Rowan since he kissed you?” Claire takes a sip of her wine.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I’m grateful Ani had to skip out on our weekly girls’ night because she had a date with her boyfriend. I couldn’t bear having this conversation in front of her. </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I lean back into the cushions. “No. And you promised not to bother me any more about it.” After I spilled the news about kissmageddon, Claire swore not to bring it up.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>So much for that.” </span>This shows how Claire offers advice even when it’s not wanted! I laughed at this.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I quite liked how the book focused on Zahra and Rowan more than anyone else. Some contemporary novels explain EVERY detail of life for the main character(s). I liked how this one mainly focused on the romance. It might have been because there were two main characters that it focused on their romance, instead of just one. We were learning about both Zarah and Rowan.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After a date, where Zahra’s ex, Lance happens to be too, she’s obviously distressed. He stole her big idea when he worked with her at Dreamland. Rowan, of course tries to make everything better.<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“I squeeze her closer as if if it could alleviate some of the pain. “But now you’re better?” I try to hide the concern in my voice, but some of it shines through.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>She nods. “Definitely.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“For what it’s worth, he never deserved you.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">And you do?</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Thanks.” Her voice is a whisper, sounding so small and unsure.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“If you don’t mind me asking, why do you wear the pins then every day?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“As a reminder and a promise to myself that no matter how hard life gets, I’ll keep pushing.” Her watery smile makes my whole chest tighten to the point of it being difficult to breathe.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I grab a lock of her hair and tuck it behind her ear. “You‘ re ridiculously amazing.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Because I wear awesome pins?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Because you’re you.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I press my lips against hers. It’s a soft kiss, not meant to tease or provoke. I’m not sure what it’s for but I know it feels right.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>She sighs and it makes something weird happen in my chest. Like I can make her content.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I press my forehead against hers. “One day I hope I can be strong like you. To maybe talk some things out that have been weighing on me.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>She sucks in a sharp breath. “Strong like me?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I nod. My throat grows tighter as if it wants to stop me from spilling secrets.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Don’t do it. You open up this kind of wound and you’re asking for her to pick at your weaknesses.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But what if she’s not like</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> him. </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Zahra is kind, loving, and everything good in the world. She’s nothing like my father. She wouldn’t judge me. No. Because she actually likes </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">me—</span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">the complete opposite of him.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>An asshole who doesn’t care about making others cry, beg or poor. Someone who’s chosen himself time and time again because if I didn’t protect myself, no one would.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I—I was very affected by my mother’s death.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Zahra’s entire face changes. Her smile drops and her eyes soften around the edges. I’m tempted to stop. To erase that look and never bring up the subject again.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But she surprises me. “A kiss for a secret?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I nod, unable to get any words out. She presses her lips to mine. The feel of her body against mine urges my forward. To take. To own. To make her remember who I am, regardless of my hidden weaknesses disguised as secrets.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I dominate her lips, branding her with my tongue. Showing her I’m still the man she likes no matter what I might say that makes me seem less than.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Don’t be stupid. She wouldn’t think that.</span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Rowan tells Zahra how strong she is. She doesn’t think she is, though. He tells her that Lance, her ex, never deserved her and goes so far as to FIRE Lance from his job at Dreamland, effective immediately because he hates seeing Zahra in pain! He gives Lance the opportunity of a job in China, though, at the Chinese Dreamland. Rowan also reveals how affected he was by his mother’s death, here. Zahra, of course, wants to make sure Rowan is okay. She hates seeing him hurt, just as much as he hates seeing her hurt. They are the perfect couple, at least for me.</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The Fine Print”</span> is a VERY adult book, with lots of sex scenes. I ate this up, because I love reading passionate scenes in my books. The more adult, the better for me! The best sex scene I think I’ve possibly ever read in a contemporary novel happens when Rowan and Zahra are being driven back after a date.</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Our tongues collide, stroking, testing, pushing.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“This isn’t safe,” he mumbles between kisses.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I grab his seatbelt and buckle him in, which earns me a laugh. “There you go.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He pulls my tighter against him. “I wasn’t complaining about me.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“You’re overthinking things.” I trace the line of his zipper, feeling him stiffen under my touch. His grip on my hips tightens.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He undoes his seat belt with a grumble before making quick work of his belt and trousers. I thought Rowan in the bedroom was sexy, but him sitting with his pants halfway down his thighs, rigid cock on display in the back seat of a car is devastating. Because beneath those expensive suits is a man who looks like</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> this.</span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> For </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">me. </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My knees hit the floor. Rowan’s gaze follows me as I trace the thick vein down his shaft. His breathing grows heavier as I replace my hand with my tongue. I’m tentative at first, tasting the slightest hint of his arousal mixed with some kind of addictive soap.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I cup his balls with my free hand and give them a squeeze. His hips surge forward. Arousal coats my tongue and I lave at it, switching between deep sucks and long strokes of my tongue.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rowan’s hands dig into my hair, his desperation growing as my tempo changes. I’m addicted to the man Rowan becomes with me in private, so unlike his usual, withdrawn, quiet self. Because when the walls come down, he’s voracious. Greedy. As selfish during sex as he is in a boardroom.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Above is the start of the very passionate sex scene that I L-O-V-E-D reading! It gets even more passionate, but maybe a little too racy for my blog! Rowan, is of course concerned about Zahra’s safety rather than him getting his sexual fulfillment. This was sweet as it shows how he thinks of her before himself, something he admits that he doesn’t do often, until Zahra enters his life. I believe that Zahra had fallen in love with Rowan already by this point. That’s why she says <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Because beneath those expensive suits is a man who looks like </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">this.</span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> For </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">me.</span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>She hasn’t come to the realisation of how she feels yet but I’m sure that by this point in the novel she loves him. She doesn’t care that he’s voracious, greedy and selfish during sex. She WANTS and accepts him that way!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Zahra wants to experience Dreamland as a member of the public, rather than a Creator (what the engineers behind Dreamland are called). To do this she goes on a couple of rides. Rowan, of course goes with her. I found this funny and cute. Especially when Rowan got scared on the Spooky Castle ride.</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“…His eyes widen as he assesses the attic space, where a Gothic bride chants over a coffin. “That’s creepier than I remember.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I raise a brow. “Aw, are you scared? Want me to hold your hand?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He rolls his eyes. I find the move so oddly human of him that I end up laughing to myself. The side of his mouth twitches again as he fights a smile, and I mentally dance in celebration.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“When is the last time you rode on this one?” I probe.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>His hands tighten on the handlebar in front of us. “When I was ten.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Ten?! That’s forever ago.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Way to make a man feel old.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My entire body shakes with laughter. “Sorry.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I still remember how Cal used to cry every single time. His reaction always made my mom laugh, so we would bully him into doing it with us over and over again.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I suck in a breath. I’ve never heard him talk about his mom before like this. “That’s sweet that you did that for your mom.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He coughs. “I doubt Cal would agree.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“What was her favourite ride?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“All of them.” He smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. I reach out and grab his tight fist. I’m not sure what I thought to accomplish. Soothe him? Provide comfort? What a ridiculous idea. He doesn’t need that. I remove my hand, but Rowan latches onto it and holds it trapped against the bar. The graze of his thumb across my knuckles sends a spark up my arm.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I gasp. He rears back and releases my hand.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I thought it was adorable how Zahra wanted to offer Rowan comfort. There is a lot of talk of sparks between Rowan and Zahra throughout <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The Fine Print.”</span> It’s almost as if there’s a mating bond or something fantastical between them. I loved this because if you know my reading tastes you’ll know I love love stories with a bond element between the couple and that’s what this was!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Before Zahra became a Creator at Dreamland, she worked as a makeup artist to turn little children into Princess Cara, the main character of Dreamland. <span style="font-weight: bold;">“My heart warms at the bright-smiling, </span>starry eyed children who assess all the costumes lining the walls.</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Henry rolls a little girl in a wheelchair toward my station. “Hi Zahra. This is Lily. She’s excited to have you make her look like Princess Cara today.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I bend over and give Lily my hand. “Are you sure you need a makeover?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>She nods and smiles.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Are you sure you’re not a princess already?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Lily muffles her giggle with her other hand.”</span> Zahra enjoys making Lily, a girl in a wheelchair smile. I loved seeing disabled characters, in this case a child brought into “The Fine Print.” Being disabled, in a wheelchair/walking frame myself, I feel like we’re always forgotten so it was nice to see some representation. Ani, Zahra’s sister who is later brought into the novel also has a disability. Zahra starts a club for her sister and her boyfriend, JP, who I read as having a disability too. Rowan joins this club without knowing what it’s for to begin with. He just wants to be close to Zahra without any other her men around her. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Her eyes widen at the paper in front of me. “Wow! I didn’t think so many people would be interested!” Her entire face lights up like a solar flare. She shines so brightly that everything else pales in comparison. I feel helplessly trapped in her magnetic field, so close to the sun I might burst into flames.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A fitting way to do based on the lie that pours out of me. “There was only one left when I got here.” I should feel guilty about lying but I can’t find it in me to care that much.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Zahra’s smile reaches her eyes. “Does that mean you took the last one?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Fuck. Why does she have to be so smart all the time?</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Yes,” I mutter under my breath. My stomach churns, and my throat feels like I have an invisible hand wrapped around it.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Great! Be there tonight at 8 p.m sharp.” Her eyes glitter as if she is amused by rhe idea of mocking my request for punctuality.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I frown. “Aren’t you supposed to be working at that time?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“What if I told you this is a part of the idea I’m working on?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I rip the paper from the thumbtack and reread the title. “Doubt it. I can’t imagine approving of anything that involves cupcakes and charades. I don’t know who you’re trying to mentor here but we’re not interested in hiring toddlers.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Her smile drops. “Forget you ever read about this and lose my number.” She snatches the paper from my hand and returns back to her cubicle without sparing me another glance.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I’ve never seen Zahra this pissed before. What about this meeting specifically set her off?</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Who cares. Now you have a reason to avoid going.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But what is she hiding?</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I leave the warehouse and stop at the closest trash bin where I throw away all the slips of paper except one.”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">OF COURSE, Rowan keeps one of the tabs he ripped off Zahra’s advertisement. He apparently wants to know WHAT she’s hiding. It’s more like he wants to get under her skin and never let her go! He removes ALL of the tabs, which does come back to bite him in the ass, until Zahra realises WHY he did it. Because he LIKES her! They later go bowling with Ani and JP. Rowan reveals some things that Zahra didn’t know about him. He’s actually got a human side she sees.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Ani drops into the plastic seat next to me. “So, Rowan’s cute.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I shoot her a withering glare. “Stop.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A weird feeling sits in the pit of my stomach at the idea of finding Rowan cute. It feels wrong to be interested in him while also feeling a pull towards Scott—like I’m playing around. It adds to the growing nausea every time I find myself zoning in on Rowan tonight.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It’s wrong to be attracted to my boss, but it’s despicable to be interested in two guys at the same time. I’d never want to intentionally hurt someone like that after everything I’ve been through.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“But look at him teaching JP how to bowl.” She points at both men standing side by side.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Trust me Ani, that’s</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> all </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">I’ve been doing.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rowan demonstrates how to properly launch a bowling ball and JP copies the movement. I’m still not bored watching them for the last hour.”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ani, thinks Rowan is cute for Zahra. Scott, we know is Rowan’s alter ego but of course, at this point in the novel Zahra doesn’t know that. She feels guilty about being attracted to what she thinks are two DIFFERENT men, when it’s really only one—one she shouldn’t be attracted to. That’s where the forbidden relationship comes in the plot. Zahra shouldn’t be falling for her boss. It’s never called a forbidden relationship but Zahra is attracted to her boss, unknowingly, but still. <span style="font-style: italic;">“Trust me Ani, that’s all I’ve been doing,”</span> tells us this!</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Rowan takes Zahra to New York, to go to a book signing of one of Zahra’s favourite authors. She’s already in love with Rowan by this point but if she wasn’t I definitely would be. I mean a guy who accepts a love of books - yes, please! Sign me up! However, she gets ill from being in the cold weather in New York as the park Dreamland is in Florida, where it’s clearly MUCH warmer. She has to go into hospital when she returns.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Here. Take a sip of water. Please.” His voice cracks. He all but shoves the metal straw in my mouth.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I take a sip. “Happy now?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He frowns. “No.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I feel like I’m dying.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>His grip on my chin tightens. “Don’t be dramatic. You have a cold.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Is that worry I hear in his voice?</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Okay.” I turn over and give him my back. “I’ll be up in an hour. I promise.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I’m going to call a doctor to come check on you.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Doctors still do house calls?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“For the right price.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I cough again, but this one doesn’t stop. My chest rattles from the sheer intensity of it. There’s a sharp stabbing pain poking me in the lungs, and it takes every ounce of energy to breath.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>His hand stroking my hair freezes. “Shit. I’ll be right back.” </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rowan places a kiss on my forehead before tugging his phone out of his pocket and exiting the room. His murmurs carry through the door, but it takes too much effort to listen in on his conversation.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I shut my eyes and give in to the darkness pulling me under.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is when Rowan worries most for Zahra, after their trip to New York when she can’t stop coughing, because she was out in the brisk winter enjoying herself. She’s used to a Florida climate. He’s clearly beyond worried that there’s something seriously wrong. What is wrong? Will Zahra be okay? Does this fracture their relationship? You’ll need to read to find out!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Lastly, I’ll just go over the relationship between Rowan and his father as that’s pretty central to the plot of <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The Fine Print.”</span> Rowan’s father, Seth lost Rowan’s mother to cancer years before the book starts. He started drinking because of her loss. His sons therefore don’t like him, especially Rowan! Seth picked on Rowan when he was a child because he didn’t like to play sports, like his brothers did. He preferred art, something Seth saw as unacceptable. Seth comes into the novel at the end when Rowan presents his ride to the committee at Dreamland. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Rowan’s father crosses his hands together. “Why should I vote yes and approve your plans, when I can vote no and take your twenty five billion dollars?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Twenty five billion dollars?” I croak.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I think I’m going to be sick.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Martha looks over at me with a shy smile. “Here. Have some water.”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Zahra’s reaction to the fact that Rowan has twenty five billion dollars waiting for him is quite something. She is on the committee deciding Rowan’s fate. Brady made sure she would be. Seth is also there, though. When a few pages later Zahra has a go at Seth for being a bad father what will happen? You’ll need to read for yourself…</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Overall, then, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED my time reading<span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> “The Fine Print.”</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>It had everything from cute, soppy moments, to sexy loving parts, to emotional, heartbreaking parts. I don’t want to write more because if I do, I’ll spoil it and I really don’t want to do that. I CANNOT WAIT to read<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Terms and Conditions</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> (#2)</span> and<span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> Final Offer</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> (#3) </span>next year!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">My next read will be a manga for the prompt “Random colour wheel” for Bookopoly. I got the colour pink so I’m reading <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Cardcaptor Sakura, Clear Card vol 1.”</span> Check my Goodreads to read my review! </p>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-24080732144396258852022-09-01T11:31:00.004-07:002022-10-05T08:03:14.411-07:00A Court Of Mist And Fury (ACOTAR #2) by Sarah J Maas Review<p><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px;">Hey ForeverBookers,</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px;"> </span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How are you? I hope you’re good!</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’ve just finished reading <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Court Of Mist And Fury” (ACOMAF)</span> by Sarah J Maas, which I freaking ADORED!!! I HAVE already read it, and I believe there is a review up already on my blog for it, but it was just when I was starting to get into writing complex reviews so it’s not very good, I don’t think, hence why I wanted to read it again to give it the type of review it deserves! Anyway, it details Feyre’s journey after <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Court Of Thorns And Roses,” </span>which I also loved. That has a detailed review, which I wrote in February or March 2022. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Court Of Mist And Fury”</span> is my 3rd favourite book of ALL TIME because I love the characters and the story they bring to the pages. I love how cheeky some of them are but also how romantic the author makes them at times too! As I said, it details Feyre’s journey after book 1, and how she finds who she is as a Fae woman after her ordeal with Amarantha, the villain of <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Court Of Thorns And Roses.”</span> She’s still engaged to Tamlin at the start of the <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Court Of Mist And Fury,” </span>but this changes quite quickly when he traps her in the Spring Court house! I’ll have more detailed information in the spoiler section below…</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I<span style="color: #2b00fe;"> read ACOMAF for a couple of readathons. </span></p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><b>Reading Rivalry - Book you get lost in</b> - I didn’t finish it in time to count it for points but I would have read it for this prompt!</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><b>The Magical Readathon - Shapeshifting - Wings on the cover -</b> I know there is a version of the book with a bird on the cover - so I’m counting <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Court Of Mist And Fury,” </span>towards that prompt.</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There literally is so much that happens in <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Court Of Mist And Fury;”</span> too much to write in this review, but I ADORE it so much, so I’ll try to detail the most significant things to me, but this review would be VERY long IF I included everything I wanted - haha! </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Spoilers Below…</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“This was real. I had survived; I’d made it out. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Unless it was a dream—just a fever dream in Amarantha’s dungeons and I’d awaken back in that cell, and—</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I curled my knees to my chest. Real.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Real.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I mouthed the words. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I kept mouthing them until I could loosen my grip on my legs and lift my head. Pain splintered through my hands—</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I’d somehow curled them into fists so tight my nails were close to puncturing my skin.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Immortal strength—more a curse than a gift. I’d dented and folded every piece of silverware I’d touched for three days upon returning here, had tripped over my longer, faster legs so often that Alis had removed any irreplaceable valuables from my rooms (she’d been particularly grumpy about me knocking over a table with an eight-hundred-year-old vase), and had shattered not one, not two, but five glass doors merely by accidentally closing them too hard.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Sighing through my nose, I unfolded my fingers.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My right hand was plain, smooth. Perfectly Fae.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I tilted my left hand over, the whorls of dark ink coating my fingers, my wrist, my forearm all the way to my elbow, soaking up the darkness of the room. The eye etched into the centre of my palm seemed to watch me, calm and cunning as a cat, it’s slitted pupil wider than it’d been earlier that day. As if it adjusted to the light, as any ordinary eye would.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I scowled at it.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>At whoever might be watching through that tattoo.”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is from the beginning of <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Court Of Mist And Fury,”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>when Feyre is getting used to being a Fae woman, after being saved from death by all the High Lords. She also inherited a part of all their powers, which she later in the novel learns to use some of. She is getting over her time as a being prisoner Under the Mountain too. She doesn’t like having immortal strength because she breaks everything she touches and she just doesn’t feel like herself, at first. On her left hand there’s a tattoo of an eye, which a certain someone watches her through. Feyre wants to know WHO is looking at her and watching her through it…does she find out?</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Feyre and Tamlin’s wedding doesn’t go as planned. She feels trapped in Prythian, the Spring Court, like a prisoner! She wants to escape. When Rhys, the High Lord of the Night Court comes to enact their bargain, that she’ll go to him, go to the Night Court once every month for reading lessons, he claims later in the novel, as she’s illiterate because she was the hunter-gatherer in her family before she ever came to Prythian, she has to go. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“I’m in no mood to bargain,” Rhys said, “even though I could work it to my advantage, I’m sure.” I jolted at the caress of his hand on my elbow. “Let’s go.”</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I didn’t move.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Tamlin,” I breathed. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Tamlin took a single step toward me, his golden face turning sallow but remained focused on Rhys. “Name your price.”</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Don’t bother,” Rhys crooned, linking elbows with me. Every spot of contact was abhorrent, unbearable.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He’d take me back to the Night Court, the place Amarantha had supposedly modeled Under the Mountain after, full of depravity and torture and death—</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Tamlin, please.”</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Such dramatics,” Rhysand said, tugging me closer.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But Tamlin didn’t move—and those claws were wholly replaced by smooth skin. He fixed his gaze on Rhys, his lips pulling back in a snarl. “If you hurt her—“</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I know, I know,” Rhysand drawled. “I’ll return her in a week.” </span></p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Rhys interrupts Feyre and Tamlin’s supposed wedding to tell Feyre that she’s to go with him to the Night Court, right then and there. Here, he seems like a villain. Does he stay that way? Tamlin just wants to keep Feyre because he’s greedy and a horrible character. He certainly doesn’t love her the way a husband should love a wife—I’d go so far as to call Tamlin the villain. Rhys says he will return Feyre in a week. Feyre thinks the Night Court will be a horrible place? Does she change her mind? You’ll need to read to find out!</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What Rhys actually does in the Night Court is encourage Feyre to try and read and train to better herself, so he actually helps her, </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“You could train, though—learn how to shield against someone like me, even with the bond bringing our minds and my own abilities.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I ignored the offer. Agreeing to do anything with him felt too permanent, too accepting of the bargain between us. “What do you want with me? You said you’d tell me here. So tell me.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rhys leaned back in his chair, folding powerful arms that even the fine clothes couldn’t hide. “For a week? I want you to learn how to read.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Feyre is against Rhys in every way here, at first! She doesn’t want to be with him at all. She wants to be back at the Spring Court with Tamlin. Does this change throughout the book? You’ll need to read to find out…</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Rhys gives Feyre choices all the time. Below is an example of this. He gives her the choice of whether or not she wants to meet his friends/family. Cassian and Azriel, two of his closest friends, other Illyrian warriors, like him that ambushed his house to meet Feyre. Rhys’s reaction was funny! He carries Feyre when he flies, which pulls them even closer together. You can probably tell from this, that Feyre falls in love with Rhysand. This happens over the course of the novel. It certainly is NOT instalove!</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“…If you meant what you said about wanting to work with me to keep Hybern from these lands, keep the wall intact, I want you to meet my friends first. Decide on your own if it’s something you can handle. And I want this meeting to be on my terms, not whenever they decide to ambush this house again.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I didn’t even know you had friends.” Yes—anger, sharpness . . . It felt good. Better than feeling nothing.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A cold smile. “You didn’t ask.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rhysand was close enough now that he slid a hand around my waist, both of his wings encircling me. My spine locked up. A cage.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The wings swept back.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But he tightened his arm. Bracing me for takeoff. Mother save me. “You say the word tonight, and we come back here, no questions asked. And if you can’t stomach working with me, with them, then no questions asked on that, either. We can find some other way for you to live here, be fulfilled, regardless of what I need. It’s your choice, Feyre.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I debated pushing him on it—on insisting I stay. But stay for what? To sleep? To avoid a meeting I should most certainly have before deciding what I wanted to do with myself? And to fly . . .</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I studied the wings, the arm around my waist. “Please don’t drop me. And please don’t—“</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>We shot into the sky, fast as a shooting star.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Feyre is worried about Rhys dropping her. Of course, he doesn’t!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In meeting Rhys’s friends, Feyre finds a family like she hasn’t had before. She has a father, who we never meet, and sisters in Nesta and Elain, but they’re not very close to her. They treated Feyre like she was a nobody. We meet Elain and Nesta again, after ACOTAR, later in ACOMAF when Feyre, Rhys, Cassian and Azriel go to fetch a certain object they need—a book or half of a book from human queens to match with the Fae half that they need also. They go to a different court—the Summer Court—to try and find the Fae half of the book. Do they succeed in both of these endeavours or do they experience issues? You’ll need to read to find out!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">While in the summer court Rhys annoys Feyre a lot by attracting Cresseida, the High Lord of Summer, Tarquin’s sister. Feyre just wants to get the job done and get out of there. That is until she realises her jealousy of Cresseida is because she’s falling for Rhys. Cresseida wants Rhys too. Does Rhys want Cresseida? Or is he in love with Feyre here?</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“I left of my own free will,” I said. “And no one is my master.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Cresseida shrugged. “Think that all you want, lady, but the law is the law. You are—were his bride. Swearing fealty to another High Lord does not change that. So it is a very good thing that he respects your decisions. Otherwise, all it would take would be one letter from him to Tarquin, requesting your return, and we would have to obey. Or risk war ourselves.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rhysand sighed. “You are always a joy, Cresseida.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Feyre is explaining how she left Tamlin because SHE wanted to! Cresseida tells Feyre the rules of the Fae lands and how they’re different to how they are in the human lands in that they should really send Feyre back to Tamlin as he is still her High Lord at this point in the novel. Women don’t get many choices in the Fae realm.</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Would you want to go back? Would going to war on your behalf make you love him again? Would that be a grand gesture to win you?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I swallowed hard. “I’m tired of of death. I wouldn’t want to see anyone else die—least of all for me.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“That doesn’t answer my question.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“No. I wouldn’t want to go back. But I would. Pain and killing wouldn’t win me.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rhys stared at me for a moment longer, his face unreadable, before he strode to the door. He stopped with his fingers on the sea urchin-shaped handle. “He locked you up because he knew—the bastard knew what a treasure you are. That you are worth more than land or gold or jewels. He knew, and wanted to keep you all to himself.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The words hit me, even as they soothed some jagged piece of my soul. “He did—does love me, Rhysand.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“The issue isn’t whether he loved you, it’s how much. Too much. Love can be poison.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>And then he was gone.”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>Feyre will go back to Tamlin so there’s no more fighting, she tells Rhys. This happens before she realises how she truly feels for him. Rhys just wants to protect Feyre and he doesn’t want to see her hurt anymore. He wants her to be happy. Rhys saying that Feyre is<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“worth more than land or gold or jewels,” </span>shows just how much he cares about her.</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“I supposed I’d been granted that gift once—and had used it up and fought for it and broken it. And I supposed that Rhysand, for all he had sacrificed and done . . . He deserved it as much as Cresseida.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Even if . . . even if for a moment, I wanted it.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I wanted to feel like that again.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>And . . . I was lonely.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I had been lonely, I realized, for a very, very long time.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rhys leaned in to hear something Cresseida was saying, her lips brushing his ear, her hand now entwining with his.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>And it wasn’t sorrow, or despair, or terror that hit me . . . but unhappiness. Such bleak, sharp unhappiness that I got to my feet.”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>This is the moment I believe that Feyre realises she truly loves Rhys! She’s jealous of Cresseida, of the happiness she’s showing holding Rhys’s hand. Feyre is sick and tired of being lonely. She wants and needs someone who’ll love her unconditionally—is Rhys that person?</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Another significant point in the book is when Feyre and Rhys go to see The Bone Carver. They go to see him because they need answers.<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Rhys’s hand tightened on my own. “Just a bit farther.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“We must be near the bottom by now.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Past it. The Bone Carver is caged beneath the roots of the mountain.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Who is he? What is he?” I’d only been briefed in what I was to say—nothing of what to expect. No doubt to keep me from panicking too thoroughly.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“No one knows. He’ll appear as he wants to appear.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Shape-shifter?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Yes and no. He’ll appear to you as one thing, and I might be standing right beside you and see another.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is Rhys telling Feyre to not worry about seeing the Bone Carver. The Bone Carver will likely appear different to her and to him. He’s/it’s been a prisoner for thousands of years below a mountain, where they travel to see him/it. I believe the Bone Carver doesn’t have a true form. It flips between one form and another. What one person sees isn’t what another person sees. That’s why I’ve used the<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“it”</span> pronoun, too.</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“When you want to talk, let me know. I won’t tell the others.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I made to slither off the bed, but he grabbed my hand, keeping it against his arm. “Thank you.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I studied the hand, the ravaged face. Such pain lingered there—and exhaustion. The face he never let anyone see.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I pushed onto my knees and kissed his cheek, his skin warm and soft beneath my mouth. It was over before it started, but—but how many nights had I wanted someone to do the same for me?</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>His eyes were a bit wide as I pulled away, and he didn’t stop me as I eased off the bed. I was almost out the door when I turned back to him.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rhys still knelt, wings drooping across the white sheets, head bowed, his tattoos stark against his golden skin. A dark, fallen prince.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The painting flashed into my mind.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Flashed—and stayed there, glimmering, before it faded.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But it remained, shining faintly, in that hole inside my chest.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The hole that was slowly starting to heal over.”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is a sweet moment, when Feyre saves Rhys from a bad dream. Feyre offers to be a friend to Rhys here, someone he can talk to about anything. She’s realising that she could be in love here, I believe.<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The hole that was slowly starting to heal over,”</span> shows this because she’s slowly healing after the torment with Tamlin back in the Spring Court, because of Rhys! I think it would have been nice to see Feyre call Rhys, my dark fallen prince after she says<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“a dark fallen prince.”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A significant part of<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Court Of Mist And Fury”</span> is Starfell, which is a phenomena that doesn’t happen often.</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Starfell is tomorrow night—the first we’ve had together in fifty years. Rhys is expected to be here, amongst his people.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“What’s Starfall?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Amren’s eyes twinkled. “Outside of these borders, the rest of the world celebrates tomorrow as Nynsar—the Day of Seeds and Flowers.” I almost flinched at that. I hadn’t realized just how much time had passed since I’d come here. “But Starfall,” Amren said, “only at the Night Court can you witness it—only within this territory is Starfall celebrated in lieu of the Nynsar revelry. The rest, and the why of it, you’ll find out. It’s better left as a surprise.”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>Amren, one of Rhys’s Inner Circle, his most trusted group of people. tells Feyre that Starfell is better kept a surprise. When Feyre experiences it she’s completely awed. This is seen in,</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“The stars cascaded over us, filling the world with white and and blue light. They were like living fireworks, and my breath lodged in my throat as the stars kept on falling and falling.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I’d never seen anything so beautiful.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>And when the sky was full of them, when the stars raced and danced and flowed across the world, the music began.”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> I love this moment in the book because it’s a part where Feyre and Rhys aren’t at odds and are just enjoying time together. Rhys takes Feyre to a private balcony at the House of Wind, one of Rhys’s two homes in Velaris to enjoy Starfell even more. </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Rhys led me to a small private balcony jutting from the upper level of the House of Wind. On the patios below, the music still played, the people still danced, the stars wheeling by, close and swift.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He let me go as I took a seat on the balcony rail. I immediately decided against it as I beheld the drop, and backed away a healthy step.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rhys chuckled. “If you fell, you know I’d bother to save you before you hit the ground.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“But not until I was close to death?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Maybe.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I leaned a hand against the rail, peering at the stars whizzing past. “As punishment for what I said to you?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I said some horrible things, too?” He murmured.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I didn’t mean it,” I blurted. “I meant it more about myself than you. And I’m sorry.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He watched the stars for a moment before he replied. “You were right, though. I stayed away because you were right. Though I’m glad to hear my absence felt like a punishment.” </span>This is significant because it’s a moment where Feyre and Rhys get over a fight they’ve had. It was rather easy. I don’t believe it would have been so easy with Tamlin! Feyre and Rhys are just <span style="font-style: italic;">right</span> for each other!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Of course, as I said above,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Court Of Mist and Fury”</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>is a new adult novel meaning there are adult love scenes. These start in the second part of the novel, when Rhys and Feyre go training. They need to stay at a lodge, which is very busy, so they get the small attic room. Here, they of course sleep together but they don’t actually have sex. They just get to know each other intimately. I loved reading this part because as you’ll know if you’ve read my other reviews, I love my romance.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When they go to the Court of Nightmares to enact a deal, Rhys has to play at being the High Lord. He warns Feyre of this, that he might not be himself or the Rhys she’s come to know, there. While this is true in him not being the Rhys she’s come to know entirely, I’d actually say that he becomes even more protective of her. Especially when Keir, Mor (another one of Rhys’s Inner Circle, and his cousin’s) father is rude to and threatens Feyre. This can be seen in, </p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Before Rhys, Keir was nothing more than a sullen child. Yet I knew Mor’s father was older. Far older. The Steward clung to power, it seemed.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rhys was power. </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Greetings, milord,” Keir said, his deep voice polished smooth. “And greetings to your . . . guest.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rhys’s hand flattened on my thigh as he angled his head to look at me. “She is lovely, isn’t she?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Indeed,” Keir said, lowering his eyes. “There is little to report, milord. All has been quiet since your last visit.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“No one for me to punish?” A cat playing with his food.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Unless you’d like for me to select someone here, no, milord.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rhys clicked his tongue. “Pity.” He again surveyed me, then leaned to tug my earlobe with his teeth. </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>And damn me to hell, but I leaned farther back as his teeth pressed down at the same moment his thumb drifted high on the side of my thigh, sweeping across sensitive skin in a long, luxurious touch. My body went loose and tight, and my breathing . . . Cauldron damn me again, the scent of him, the citrus and the sea, the power roiling off him . . . my breathing hitched a bit.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I knew he noticed, knew he felt that shift in me.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>His fingers stilled on my leg.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Keir began mentioning people I didn’t know in the court, bland reports on marriages and alliances, blood-feuds, and Rhys let him talk.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>His thumb stroked again—this time joined with his pointer finger.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A dull roaring was filling my ears, drowning out everything but that touch on the inside of my leg. The music was throbbing, ancient, wild, and people ground against each other to it.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>His eyes on the Steward, Rhys made vague nods every now and then. While his fingers continued their slow, steady stroking on my thighs, rising higher with every pass.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>People were watching. Even as they drank and ate, even as some danced in small circles, people were watching. I was sitting in his lap, his own personal plaything, his every touch visible to them . . . and yet it might have well have been only the two of us.”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I loved this part. It seemed to Feyre, as if she and Rhys were the only two people in the world, although they’re being watched by many. She feels safe with Rhys, something she never felt in the Spring Court with Tamlin. Rhys gets angry when Keir threatens Feyre a few pages later!</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">“And for the long hour afterward, my focus half remained on the High Lord whose hands and mouth and body had suddenly made me feel awake—burning. It didn’t make me forget, didn’t make me obliterate hurts or grievances, it just made me . . . alive. Made me feel as if I’d been asleep for a year, slumbering inside a glass coffin, and he had just shattered through it and shaken me to consciousness.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The High Lord whose power had not scared me. Whose wrath did not wreck me.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>And now—now I didn’t know where that put me.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Knee-deep in trouble seemed like a good place to start.” </span>Here, Feyre is unsure of what she’s MEANT to be feeling. She’s not scared of Rhys. Not at all but does Rhys love and want her as much as she wants him? Is it love or is it just a game to him? This is answered in,</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Greedy,” he murmured, his lips hovering over my neck. “First you terrorize me with your cold hands, now you want . . . what is it you want, Feyre?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>More, more, more, I almost begged him as his fingers traveled down the slope of my breasts, while his other hand continued its idle stroking of my stomach, my abdomen, slowly—so slowly—heading toward the low band of my pants and the building ache beneath it.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rhysand’s teeth scraped against my neck in a lazy caress. “What is it you want, Feyre?” He nipped at my earlobe.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I cried out just a little, arching fully against him, as if I could get that hand to slip exactly where I wanted it. I knew what he wanted me to say. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of it. Not yet.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>So I said, “I want a distraction.” It was breathless. “I want—fun.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>His body tensed behind mine.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>And I wondered if he somehow didn’t see it for the lie it was; if he thought . . . if he thought that was all I indeed wanted.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But his hands resumed their roaming. “Then allow me the pleasure of distracting you.”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Rhys’s whole world revolves around Feyre. She is the most important thing to him. </p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“My face burned. They knew—they— “Why didn’t you tell me?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“You were in love with him; you were going to marry him. And then you . . . you were enduring everything and it didn’t feel right to tell you.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I deserved to know.” </span>Feyre and Rhys are mates, not her and Tamlin. It’s Rhys that Feyre shares the bond with. Rhys didn’t want to burden Feyre with this as well as dealing with Tamlin. He was trying to be sweet, I believe. He certainly wasn’t trying to hurt her as Tamlin had done several times, already. Rhys tells her this when he’s hurt because an unnamed enemy shot him with poisoned arrows. Feyre then goes on to kill that enemy, so we never actually learn who it is. Rhys knew he and Feyre were mates Under the Mountain, although she didn’t know until this point! She says that she just wants fun, but of course Feyre wants more of Rhys! He’s been kind to her, and he knows her better than she knows herself, I believe. She claims she just wants<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“fun”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>but he knows deep down that she wants more than that—so much more…</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The actual love scene comes a few chapters later, after Rhys has been shot by the arrows and Feyre, unknowingly acting on her mating bond instinctively saves him. This is also where he’s honest about his past with Amarantha Under the Mountain and about his life before too.</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I wasn’t sure I was breathing.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Those dreams—the flashes of that person, that woman . . . I treasured them. They were a reminder that there was peace out there in the world, some light. That there was a place, and a person, who had enough safety to paint flowers on a table. They went on for years, until . . . a year ago. I was sleeping next to Amarantha, and I jolted awake from this dream . . . this dream was clearer and brighter, like that fog had been wiped away. She—you were dreaming.”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>This is Rhys describing how he fell in love with Feyre years ago, when he saw a dream she had. Feyre is clearly shocked that Rhys experienced her in a dream! This is a sweet bit of honesty between the two main characters of<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Court Of Mist And Fury,”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>one of my favourite parts of the novel! This is also when Rhys opens up to Feyre about his life and about his dreams and ultimate desires, which of course, are all about her! Before this Feyre is angry at Rhys for not telling her about the mating bond! She’s so angry that she leaves him hurt, after being shot by the poisoned arrow with Cassian and Azriel! She does make sure he gets home safely first, though! Mor suggests that she go to a cabin, a place where Rhys and his Inner Circle go for some time out. There, a few days later, Rhys turns up, apologising for being a selfish idiot. Feyre has found a secret stash of paints there, which she uses to paint the cabin. Rhys is in awe of this. </p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“…His hands found my waist, and I bucked my hips off the table to help him remove my socks, my leggings.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rhys pulled back again, and I let out a bark of protest—that choked off into a gasp as he gripped my thighs and yanked me to the edge of the table, through paints and brushes and cups of water, hooked my legs over his shoulders to rest on either side of those beautiful wings and knelt before me.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Knelt on those stars and mountains inked on his knees. He would bow for no one and nothing—</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But his mate. His equal.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The first lick of Rhysand’s tongue set me on fire.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">I want you splayed out on a table like my own personal feast.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He growled his approval at my moan, my taste, and unleashed himself on me entirely.” </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">This shows JUST how desperate Rhys was for Feyre. I also loved how intensely this scene was written. As I said above, I love my romance, and this was perfect!</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Feyre and Rhys can write letters to each other through their bond. Feyre doesn’t think she needs protecting. Rhys, however thinks differently! I found this funny…If you know, you know, haha!</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.4px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“Rhys said as much that night when I’d written him a letter and watched it vanish. Apparently, he didn’t mind his enemies knowing he was at the Court of Nightmares. If Hybern’s forces tracked him down there . . . good luck to them.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I’d written to Rhys, </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">How do I tell Cassian and Azriel I don’t need them to protect me?Company is fine, but I don’t need sentries.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He’d written back, You don’t tell them. You set boundaries if they cross the line, but you are their friend—and my mate. They will protect you on instinct. If you kick their asses out of the house, they’ll just sit on the roof.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I scribbled,</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> You Illyrian males are insufferable.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Rhys had just said,</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Good thing we make up for it with impressive wingspans.”</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The last thing I’m going to briefly note, is the ending of<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Court Of Mist And Fury.”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>The characters have to go to see the King of Hybern, who has been plotting to get rid of the wall separating the Fae lands and human lands. He’s an evil character! Tamlin and Lucien come back into the story at the end, as well as Feyre’s sisters, who ultimately become Fae because the King of Hybern wants to show the queens how easy it is and, of course Rhys there is at the end, along with Mor, Azriel and Cassian. Rhys and Feyre suffer, as most good characters do in books! Are the queens that hold the second half of the Book of Breathings, the first half of which was in the Summer Court, good or evil? </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Also, the main characters of <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Court Of Silver Flames,”</span> which I still haven’t read, Nesta and Cassian have a few moments of closeness in<span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> “A Court Of Mist And Fury”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>too. Feyre even goes so far as to tell Cassian that Nesta needs someone to rely on. I could see the start of their love story, this time reading it.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Tamlin demands that the king remove the bond between Feyre and Rhysand because he’s a horrible, selfish character—does the king do this? You’ll need to read to find out! Feyre and Rhys are separated at the end of<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Court Of Mist And Fury”</span> :(! Feyre goes back to the Spring Court with Tamlin. Why? You’ll need to read it for yourself to find out! </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Before this separation, Rhys swore Feyre in as High Lady of the Night Court! This scene isn’t actually shown, which is a shame, but we know it happened from Feyre and Rhys’s recollections. I can’t remember if this is at all described in more detail in<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Court Of Wings And Ruin”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>or not. I hope it is! This, I believe is like their wedding ceremony. Rhys does propose at the end of the novel, obviously before this scene. The penultimate chapter is told from Rhys’s perspective, too. He tells Amren what happened with the King of Hybern and how he’s still linked to Feyre, despite Tamlin’s demand of the king of Hybern to separate their bond. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Overall then, I think you can tell from the length of this review WHY <span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Court Of Mist And Fury”</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>is one of my absolute FAVOURITE books EVER!!! The romance is PERFECT and is a major part of the plot, which is why I love it so much. Rhys is my 3rd book boyfriend. I believe, from my recollection,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">“A Court Of Wings And Ruin”</span> is more action than romance based, so I don’t believe I liked that one as much. However, I will still reread that one, probably next year!</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It’s Becca’s Bookopolothon now, I’m writing this on 1st September 2022, so my next month of reads will be for that. My first prompt is a small book, so that’ll probably be a manga, which I won’t review here. Check my Goodreads to see that review! </p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13.1px;"><br /></p>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-89028323234497558152022-06-25T06:43:00.005-07:002022-12-16T13:17:03.798-08:00The Secret Sunshine Project by Benjamin Dean Review<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px; text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Hi ForeverBookers,</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">I hope you're all well! </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">I’ve just finished </span><b style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><i>“The Secret Sunshine Project”</i></b><i style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">by Benjamin Dean and I really enjoyed it. I read his first book, </span><b style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><i>“Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow”</i></b><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> last year and I loved it. This one was a little slower to get into but once I was hooked, I was hooked. The main bulk of the story takes place over one summer.</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(253, 154, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #fd9a00; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b>4.5 Stars! (5 on Goodreads)!</b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b></b></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><i>“The Secret Sunshine Project”</i> </b>tells the story of Bea, our main character who we experience the story through, and her struggles, at first when she and her sister, Riley are told that they need to move to their Gran’s house for the summer because their mum can’t afford for them to live in London, where they live at the beginning of the book, after they lose their dad to illness. Both Bea and Riley are upset by this move at first, as well as the death of their father. Riley more evidently so. Bea had all these summer plans with her best friend Lucas too. Can they learn to live differently? Or will they hate it and not like living with their Gran? You’ll need to read to find out!</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b><i>“The Secret Sunshine Project”</i></b> element of the story comes into play after half way through the book. This is where Bea suggests they have a Pride event, which was her family’s last happy memory together, before her dad’s diagnosis the year before. Also Riley is unsure of her sexuality, as are a few other characters Bea meets in St Regent’s Vale. Does this Pride event go ahead, or are there problems that arise? You’ll need to read to find out!</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(253, 154, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #fd9a00; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">I read <b><i>“The Secret Sunshine Project”</i></b> for a few readathons:</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(253, 154, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #fd9a00; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(253, 154, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #fd9a00; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b>Cardcaptor-a-thon </b>- I only need to complete ONE more prompt for this! The Windy, which is funnily enough the first card that Sakura captures, but it’s the last prompt I need to fulfil! The Secret Sunshine Project doesn’t fulfil it, unfortunately... </span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(253, 154, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #fd9a00; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b></b></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(253, 154, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #fd9a00; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b>Reading Rivalry </b>- I read this for the LGBTQ character prompt as there are a few different LGBTQ characters in the book. I wanted to read this during Pride month so it was perfect!</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(253, 154, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #fd9a00; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b></b></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(253, 154, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #fd9a00; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b>Whatever-a-thon </b>- The three prompts I submitted for this were: </span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(253, 154, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #fd9a00; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The/An/Of/A/And in the title</b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(253, 154, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #fd9a00; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Recently Hauled - I hauled this in April/May!</b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(253, 154, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #fd9a00; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Colour on the cover - my colour was purple! </b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(253, 154, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #fd9a00; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(253, 154, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #fd9a00; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b>Always Fully Booked “On The Cover” Reading Challenge </b>- there are two people, Bea and her sister, Riley on the cover so I’ll count <i>“The Secret Sunshine Project”</i> toward that challenge.</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(253, 154, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #fd9a00; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b></b></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(253, 154, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #fd9a00; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b>Always Fully Booked “Genre Reading Challenge”</b> - </span><i>“The Secret Sunshine Project” </i>is a middle grade contemporary so I’ll put it down for Contemporary. I might also read an adult contemporary at some point this year. </p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><b><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></b></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(253, 154, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #fd9a00; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>2022 Always Fully Booked Reading Challenge</b> - A book with an LGBTQIA+ protagonist - Riley, along with a few other big characters are from the LGBTQ community.</p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">Spoilers below...</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><i></i></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></i><b><i>“The Secret Sunshine Project” </i></b>starts with Bea, Riley, their mum and their dad actually at Pride. The authors other book, <b><i>“Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow”</i></b> finished at Pride!</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><i></i></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><i>“This place is called Pride. I don’t want to be biased, but Pride might just be my favourite place in the world (and I say that as someone who once went to Thorpe Park four times in a summer holiday).”</i></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Bea loves Pride. She loves the message behind it, how it brings people together. She compares it to Thorpe Park, a theme park in the UK. Young people love theme parks, at least I did and still do, so I thought this was important to note just HOW significant Pride is to one of the main characters in the book. I also thought this line was cute and funny!</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><i>“It wasn’t like she was in a bad mood or anything; more that she just retreated into herself, like she was trying to keep something from us.”</i></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Riley, Bea’s sister retreats into herself when she tells her family about her sexuality at the beginning of the novel. Her mum and dad suggest that they go to Pride to show their support. Riley LOVES Pride, of course! She feels herself there. However, that’s the point in the story - acceptance! We’re then informed that Bea and Riley’s dad died. It’s revealed in the first chapter so he’s not really a character we get to know apart from through the girls recollections, when the London Pride event has gone past. After we learn about their dad’s death, we’re also informed through Bea that they need to leave their house because her mum can’t afford to live there anymore. They need to go and live with their Gran in St Regent’s Vale for the summer. There, they struggle at first to accommodate themselves in this new place.</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>When Riley goes off somewhere, Bea follows her. That’s where and when she meets Noah. Noah introduces her to his family and friends, Emmy and Robin. Emmy immediately warms to Bea, as a best friend. This was my favourite relationship throughout I think, because I could see JUST how much Emmy meant to Bea and how much Bea meant to Emmy. Not in a romance way, but as best friends. The Secret Sunshine Project really doesn’t focus on romance, but friendships and awareness of the LGBTQ movement! This comes in more at the end of the novel!</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Noah realises towards the end of the novel that HE is in fact gay!</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><i>“Please go okay, please go okay, please go okay,” I murmured under my breath. I wished it with all my might. Noah had been my first new friend, he’d taken me in and introduced me to the others, so in some way, everything that had happened since was because of his kindness.”</i></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b></b></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>This is Bea’s plea that everything goes okay when he comes as gay out to his gran! Does everything go okay? You’ll need to read to find out!</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>There, of course, is a villainous character in the form of Rita Ruckus. Her first concern is always herself, but she’s the councillor or St Regent’s Vale, where Sylvia, the girls’ gran lives, so she SHOULD be concerned about her villagers, but she isn’t. I actually found Rita quite funny! Her reactions to the things that Bea and the others do are quite outrageous; for example, when Sylvie painted flowers on her bin just to annoy Rita! I laughed at this!</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><i>“Rita was mad because of a flower? And since when is a flower an eyesore?”</i></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Noah’s excitement was bubbling over in earnest now, a bounce in his step. “That’s what your gran said! But Rita said it had to go or else there would be consequences, and when she says that, she means there’s going to be trouble. But the next day, when Rita went to check, there were two flowers on the bin. The day after that, there were three, and the week after that I think we counted seventeen flowers altogether.” I pictured Gran’s colourful bin, sitting like some kind of rainbow sentry outside her house and laughed.</i></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Rita was FURIOUS! But every time she complained or threatened Sylvie, another flower would appear. Anybody else would’ve just got rid of the flowers and complained about Rita behind closed doors, but your gran just kept painting more.</i></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The picture of Rita I was sketching in my mind was getting clearer with every story I heard, and it wasn’t exactly a good one.”</i></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">Bea is interested to learn her mother’s view of Rita from when she was a child when she’s back at home:</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><i>“What was she like when you were younger?”</i></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mum paused, unearthing buried memories. She shuddered at the thought of them. “Well, if I’m being honest, she was a nightmare.”</i></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"> </span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rita was a horrible woman then and she hasn’t changed now, either. This is reflected when Riley comes home crying one night because Rita told her off for wearing an t-shirt in support of LGBTQ! Rita doesn’t support the LGBTQ movement and doesn’t like to be stood up against. She thinks that whatever she says should go, no matter what! Does this change? Especially when her son, Norman, a drag queen of all people turns up? You’ll need to read to find out! </span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I really enjoyed reading Norman’s parts as they were informative about Pride and LGBTQ rights, things that I didn’t know because I’m not a part of the LGBTQ community. That’s one of the things I love about Benjamin Dean’s books, how informative they are to everyone, not just children! </span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Does Bea get to set up and celebrate Pride with her family and friends, that she meets in St Regent’s Vale, or does Rita stop it from happening? <b><i>“Can Bea make her sister proud?”</i></b> is the question on the book cover, meaning can Bea make her sister accept who she is without feeling guilty or upset that she feels she’s different, even though she’s indeed human, like everyone else?</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Overall, I really enjoyed reading <b><i>“The Secret Sunshine Project”</i></b> because it had funny parts as well as serious parts. It was a nice mashup of both. The characters are what made this book for me. It was the same in <b><i>“Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow.”</i></b> I loved reading about Bea, just as much as I loved reading about Archie. I didn’t even mind that the author who’s a man was writing from a girl’s perspective. I came close to crying at the end from happiness, and I NEVER cry when I read. There was artwork in this book too by Sandhya Prabhat. I thought the artwork was entertaining and added to the story. The reason it’s not getting the full 5 stars is that it was slow to get into as I said above.</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">Stand by for my next review, coming soon!</span></p>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-31147459749243073682022-06-01T10:59:00.005-07:002022-06-02T19:03:49.515-07:00Desperate Measures (#1 Wicked Villains) by Katee Robert Review <p> <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">Hi Foreverbookers,</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;"> </span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">How are you all doing? I hope you’re all well!</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">I’ve just finished <b><i>“Desperate Measures”</i></b> by Katee Robert, which I ABSOLUTELY LOVED!!!!! It had everything I look for in a good book, engaging characters, a steady plot and LOTS of VERY steamy romance!!! “Desperate Measures” is VERY MUCH an ADULT book! </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #ffa400; font-kerning: none;"><b>5 FREAKIN’ STARS!!!!!</b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">We follow Jasmine Sarraf in this book as she tries to overthrow her father’s plans! Her father, Balthazar Sarraf is the ruler of the territory in which she lives. Balthazar isn’t actually in <b><i>“Desperate Measures.”</i></b> Why? And does she succeed in this endeavour of overthrowing her father’s rule? You’ll need to read to find out! That’s the basic plot. I’ve got to say that I found it kind of strange reading about Jafar and Jasmine as a couple. In the Disney movie of Aladdin this would never have happened! </span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">Now, the characters are what makes this book in my opinion. We have Jasmine as I’ve already mentioned. Jafar, her partner/lover, Tink, based on Tinkerbell from Peter Pan, Hook based on Captain Hook from Peter Pan, Meg based on Meg from Hercules and Hades, based on Hades from Hercules. All of these other characters have their own books, which I am SOOOOO excited to read now! There are other characters that have books too but they’re not featured in <b><i>“Desperate Measures.”</i></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">This is totally a character driven book, I’d say. Jasmine is a scared twenty five year old girl at the beginning of the book, while Jafar is an older man with experience in lots of areas Jasmine has no experience in. She’s a virgin at the beginning of <b><i>“Desperate Measures!”</i></b> That changes VERY early on, though. </span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #ffa400; font-kerning: none;">I read<i> </i><b><i>“Desperate Measures”</i></b><i> </i>for a couple of readathons:</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="color: #ffa400;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #ffa400; font-kerning: none;"><b>Reading Rivalry</b> - Book I have seen on someone else’s bookshelf! - I’ve seen<i><b> "Desperate Measures" </b></i>on a few different booktuber shelves!</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #ffa400; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #ffa400; font-kerning: none;"><b>Becca's Bookopolothon</b> - A short read - Although this wasn't very quick for me it was still short so it counts! (I also read <b><i>"LOW"</i></b> for the sci-fi prompt and I really didn't like it so I'm not going to make a separate post on it.) They were the only books I read for <b>Bookopolothon 2022!</b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">NOTE: There is A LOT of sex and passionate swearing in this book (and series) so if you’re uncomfortable reading that, don’t pick it up! There’s also Daddy kink!</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">Spoilers below:</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">We start with Jasmine, who as I described above is a scared, neglected girl at the beginning of<i> </i><b><i>“Desperate Measures.”</i></b> Her father has kept her locked up in their house all her life. He’s hit her and taken her for granted in every way. </span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><i>“My father doesn’t like it when I talk back.”</i></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“You always talk back. He’s never hit you before.”</i></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Hasn’t he?”</i></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>His mouth goes tight and I have the presence of mind to wonder if my father is still among the living. He may not stay that way for long with the fury emanating from Jafar.</i></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Funny that he wasn’t angry until this point.”</i></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">Jasmine is describing how her father treated her to Jafar, here. Jafar is angry to learn that Balthazar abused his daughter. We don’t know just how Jafar feels about Jasmine here, as it’s very early on in the plot. It’s only when Jafar takes Jasmine to live with him in his penthouse that we start to see just how significant she is to him. </span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><i>“After twenty-five years in the same few square miles of land, Jafar’s penthouse is a revelation. I barely wait for the elevator doors to whisk shut before I give into my impulse to snoop. Easier to think about that tiny pleasure than to think about all the ways my life has gone up in flames.</i></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My home is mine no more.”</i> </b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">This is significant because it describes how much Jasmine doesn’t want to be controlled by anyone, her father, nor Jafar. She thinks of her life as destroyed or <b><i>“up in flames.”</i> </b>I felt pity for her at this point. It’s very early on in the plot again. Does Jasmine have a chance to grow, and become someone proud of herself? She’s a very impulsive character who does things on the spare of the moment too! This is shown in the way she wants to go snooping around Jafar’s penthouse.</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">Now, to Carver City. Carver City is the place where<i> </i><b><i>“The Underworld”</i></b> sex club is. Jafar takes Jasmine here to show the patrons of the club that he’s serious about business!</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b></b></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><i>“The Underworld” is a sex club, but it’s so much more complex than that. Sex is one of its main attractions, yes, but power eclipses all else. Every major player in Carver City has a membership there, and it’s where we conduct deals over drinks and occasionally a blowjob,” </i></b>is the description we get for <b><i>“The Underworld,”</i></b> which is pretty much spot on.<b><i> </i></b>Jafar and Hook both have memberships at <b><i>“The Underworld,”</i></b> while Meg and Tink also has a fetish for sex. Hades owns the club—he’s the one with the most power! This is Jafar explaining <b><i>“The Underworld”</i></b> to Jasmine!</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">The story really starts from the sex club. Jasmine is a virgin, as I said at the beginning of <b><i>“Desperate Measures.”</i></b> She has sex with Jafar once before going to<b><i> “The Underworld,” </i></b>however when at <b><i>“The Underworld,” </i></b>Katee Robert doesn’t hold back and lets us see just what a sex fiend Jasmine REALLY is! She loves sex with Jafar. I’d say that that’s what most of the second half of the book is, well written sex scenes! They didn’t take away from the plot because, as I said above, this is a very character driven story. The main plot points happen at the very end of the book, within the last ten or so pages. I didn’t mind this as I’m a very character driven reader. If the characters aren’t good, I won’t enjoy the book, no matter how strong the plot is! </span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">As for our other characters Tink, is called upon by Jafar to help Jasmine get ready for her first and subsequent nights at the club. He gives instructions that she’s to help Jasmine pick a ‘suitable’ dress. </span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><i>“Oh yeah, I’m good.”</i></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I look down my body. The red dress clings to me like a second skin, dipping down low between my breasts and even lower in the back. It’s slit up both sides nearly to the hip. “It’s indecent.”</i></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Exactly.” She frowns and adjusts the front of it, businesslike despite the fact she has her hands all over my breasts. “You’ll need tape for this.” She frowns hard. “Then again, if you’re going to The Underworld, tape is a shitty ass idea. Someone will end up ripping it off and then you’ll have sore nips.” </i></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">Tink’s reaction to seeing Jasmine in the red dress is positive. Jasmine, however, isn’t sure at first. The dress Tink has put her in is barely a dress AT ALL! This happens before Jasmine goes to <b><i>“The Underworld.”</i></b> Tink at first suggests tape to hold the dress in place but forgoes the idea, when she remembers that Jasmine is going to a sex club, where the dress probably won’t be on for long! I laughed at this. There are quite a few funny scenes interspersed throughout <b><i>“Desperate Measures,”</i></b> as well as the more serious scenes. </span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">Hook is a character that isn’t in <b><i>“Desperate Measures”</i></b> very much. We know who he is in relation to the club but that’s about it. He watches Jafar finger Jasmine. “He chuckles when Hook groans and palms the front of his pants. “She’s taken, Hook. Find your own,” is Jafar’s reaction to Hook watching him finger Jasmine. Hook DOES find his own in the third book in the series, <b><i>“A Worthy Opponent.”</i></b> I can’t wait to read that book!</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">Meg and Hades run <b><i>“The Underworld.”</i> </b>They’re the ones everyone in the club looks up to. Hades doesn’t really have a big role in <b><i>“Desperate Measures.” </i></b>He’s more a bystander of a character. We’ll see more of him in the second book,<b><i> “Learn My Lesson.”</i></b> Meg, however becomes the person to join Jasmine and Jafar in their sexual endeavours. She, at first comes across as nice and very smitten with Jasmine. </span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><i>“Meg digs her fingers into my hair, pulling me closer yet, guiding my mouth back up to her clit. “Right there.” She lets out a little moan. “Don’t stop.”</i></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It’s not enough, though. I want more of her. I push a single finger into her pussy and gasp against her when she clenches around me. Yes, yes, yes. I work a second finger into her. “I’m going to make her come, Daddy.”</i></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">is part of one of the threesome scenes we have in<b><i> “Desperate Measures.”</i></b> Jasmine clearly wants Meg as much as Meg wants her. Jafar gets kind of pushed to the side. However, he’s still there letting Jasmine experience her fill of Meg and him together. He wants Jasmine to experience sex with a woman. He wants nothing kept from her. He doesn’t want to treat her as Balthazar, her father did. I admired this of him. Jafar is referred to as<b><i> “Daddy”</i></b> by Jasmine throughout in their sex scenes. He loves and trusts her enough to think that she’ll ALWAYS be his! Will she?</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">Now, back to the plot of <b><i>“Desperate Measures</i>.”</b> There is a villain in the book. Jafar is the hero, so it’s quite obvious the villain is Ali (and Balthazar, I guess, but he’s only referred to as he’s dead). Ali is a snide, horrible character who only wants one thing from Jasmine, sex! Does he get it or will she save herself? Who betrays her to Ali as well? You’ll need to read to find out!</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">Overall then, I LOVED this book SOOOOO much! It was short, and would have been quick if I wasn’t making notes for this review. I believe it took me 10 days to read, which for me when making notes for review isn’t very long! I can’t wait to read book 2!</span></p>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1123173296751036832.post-46638885867521390592022-05-20T17:16:00.004-07:002022-05-20T17:16:40.832-07:00Dune (#1 Dune) by Frank Herbert Review<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Hi ForeverBookers, </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">How are you all? I hope you’re well.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I’ve just finished reading Dune by Frank Herbert and it was good. I’m actually quite surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did! We follow a young boy, Paul at the beginning of the book and we see him grow up throughout the story. What’s different about Dune to your regular book, <i>or </i>at least <i>my </i>regular book is that it’s sci-fi. I don’t read much of that genre, even though I might delve more into it now because I really enjoyed the experience of reading it. It was quite info dumpy but that was to be expected. </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><b><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></b></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>3.5 stars (4 stars on Goodreads)!</b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Dune follows a large cast of characters. Some of those are good and some of those are evil. The chapters are split, I’d say, into those that follow the good characters and those that follow the bad characters. Most of the time we’re following Paul, our main character as he learns the ways of Arrakis, the new world his family and people have moved to. When I say people, I mean the Duke’s people, but Paul is the son of the Duke, so he will become Duke and they will become his people in time, or will they? </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The plot wasn’t hard to understand. Some of it was a little tedious to read so I skimmed those parts but other than those it was surprisingly rather easy to digest. </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>I read Dune for a few readathons. They were: </b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b></b></span><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>The Cardcaptor-a-thon - The Sand Card - Read a post apocalyptic book - Dune follows people who need to move from Earth because it’s now, in uninhabitable. It’s set in the year 10,191.</b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b></b></span><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Reading Rivalry - This counted for page points in the end because I didn’t finish it in April when I started it. </b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b></b></span><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Unfortunately, I lost my notes to the first 200 or so pages of Dune so I can’t quote evidence for what I’m saying. I do have quotes for after that point so sorry if this review isn’t very substantial.</b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">Spoilers Below</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i>“You must admit it’d be a way to develop a substantial work force on Arrakis—use the place as a prison planet,”</i></b> is how the antagonist, Baron Harkonnen wants to use Arrakis to his full advantage. </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Arrakis, the planet where the events of Dune unfold is a planet ruled by the Harkonnens. These aren’t nice people, however. Baron Harkonnen is our main antagonist throughout this first book in the Dune series, although he has his subordinates too, Piter and his nephew Feyd Rautha for example. He’s evil and wants to see Duke Leto, Paul’s father and his people wiped from Arrakis. Does he get his way? And how does he try to get his way? You’ll need to read to find out!</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>While there are evil characters in Dune, there’s also good characters who stand up and fight for the rights of the Arrakeen people. As well as Duke Leto and his people, these are like Stilgar who is a Fremen, a race of being that lives on Arrakis. </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i>“Why would they help us?”</i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Maybe they weren’t helping us. Maybe they were just calling a worm.”</i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Why?”</i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Jessica, Paul’s mother is wondering why a group of Arakeen people would help her and her son. At this point in the novel, Duke Leto has been killed by Harkonnens and a sandworm is about to eat Paul and Jessica. The Fremen save them. </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i>“The Emperor cannot be upset about the death of the concubine and the boy,” the Baron said. “They fled into the desert. There was a storm.”</i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">is how the Baron reacts to the news that Paul and Jessica have died, even though we as the reader know they live. He says that the Emperor can’t be upset because the Emperor is also like him, selfish and evil. The Baron is a fat, pompous villain who’s only interest is himself. The Emperor isn’t as involved as the Baron in this first book in the Dune series, so that’s why I called the latter the main antagonist earlier. I believe in the next books the Emperor will become more central to the plot.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i>“Make it quick, Stil. Get their water and let’s be on our way. We’ve little enough time before dawn.”</i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Another plot point is the fact that on Arrakis water is really scarce. The Arrakeen people need to recycle their own water to survive. I mainly read fantasy and romance so this was something new. Stilgar’s men want him to get Paul and Jessica’s water and leave them for dead. The Fremen camp is really where both Paul and Jessica find a home, after the death of Duke Leto, Paul’s father. The Fremen take them in and make them one of their own, after some fights. The leader of the Fremen, Stilgar is a good guy and only wants what’s best for his people and that of Jessica and Paul too. Add to this, Chani, a young free spirited girl, the daughter of Kynes, a planetologist that disappeared and is thought to be dead about half way into the book. Is he though? Or will he appear in the later stories? You’ll need to read to find out! </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Chani and Paul begin to develop feelings for one another early on, after they meet. I was a little taken aback by the time jumps in Dune, admittedly. First, it seems like we were with them as children and then we skip a few pages and they’re adults or that’s how it seemed to me. I wanted more time with them as children. The plot seemed a little too fast paced toward the end, like the author was rushing to finish the story.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Another evil character that I think will crop up in later books is Count Fenring. We meet him at about two thirds into the story. I think he’ll be more present in the next books too. <b><i>“Yes, and I can see now why we must have that bloodline,” </i></b>is what Lady Fenring says to him when she sees just how domineering the Harkonnens are in Arrakis. She plans to get pregnant by a Harkonnen. Who? You’ll need to read to find out! </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Overall, I enjoyed Dune. It was slow in some areas but fast in others. There were a few parts that I skim read because they were info dumpy or just not necessary to the overall plot of this book. I’ll watch the movie soon too, to compare the source material to it. The other books, at least the next two are shorter than Dune, so there might not be so much detail involved. I hope that’s the case! I’m not reading them next, anyway. Next I’m reading books for<b><i> Becca’s Bookopolothon,</i></b> which starts tonight. I’ll do a dedicated blog post with what I was able to read during it. I might carry it on for the week, instead of just the weekend! We’ll see!</span></p><div><span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div>Sakurahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02275294825406985348noreply@blogger.com0