Status Updates From The Women of Eden (Eden #4)

Burke is such a melodramatic mimbo. Get a grip & learn the facts first, you idiot! 🙄 Mary deserves better than that dunderhead, but apparently he’s The One For Her. Some girls like ‘em all brawn & no brains, I guess.

‘As always, all his vague apprehensions gradually narrowed into one, the constant nightmare, the secret knowledge of what he was. It wasn’t shame he felt. How could such a healing love be shameful or wrong? It was simply his awareness of the abyss between his self-concept & that of the world.’ ....Sweet, gentle Richard is chainsaw fodder for victorian hypocrisy. ;__;

“It would be my opinion, inspector, that either she knew her assailant or he knew her. Revenge is evident to be sure, but muted revenge, as though he merely wanted to frighten her & cause her temporary discomfort, rather than destroy her, don’t you agree?” ....This mansplaining douchebag needs a punch in the nuts, but he’s not entirely wrong. Rape by proxy—a new low for the Eden family tree.

It’s good book, but it feels like Harris is giving her own MC the Boromir treatment. John certainly has some issues in book 3 (rightly so), but he wasn’t cruel & psychotic. The way he acts in this...it’s totally out there, with no real flow or buildup from his portrayal in Book 3. o_O It’s almost like Harris is making him a caricature of himself. Or maybe he’s got a brain tumor. Either way, it’s weird.

‘He must inform the others of this miraculous news, that Lila was carrying new life, a sister, he hoped, for Stephen & Frederick, the 3rd accomplishment in John’s private empire, the creation of a large & boisterous family, all bearing the name of Eden. Suddenly he smiled. A babe, a fitting end to this desolate fortnight, as tho nature were informing him that he needed no one but himself.’ ...God complex, much?

‘Now that her song was over & had gone well, now that the silly painting had been unveiled, the ball just under way, it seemed incredible to her that a few hours ago she had been perched on a window ledge, contemplating the end of her life. She must remember this lesson in the future, that a dark vista in one direction does not necessarily mean that the entire world has been plunged into darkness.’

Aaah, now I see it. Harriet is the unattainable sexual object not included in the ‘Women of Eden’ painting, yet it does feature all four of the (potentially) obtainable replacements for her—childlike wife, beautiful half-sister, desirable mistress, pseudo-mother/former whore—whether John chooses to act on their sexualization or not. Well-played symbolism, Harris.

“I seem to have an unfortunate propensity of getting in everyone’s way. What precisely did God intend for young women to do? Why can’t I have a cause & goals as you do, & friends as Richard does, as John himself? Why must I sit docilely & wait for someone’s permission to live my life?” ....The age-old refrain of Victorian heroines everywhere.

‘Delane paused. Burke watched him, still not certain why Eden had been singled out as an object of Delane’s journalistic zeal. Men made fortunes daily in America & were not punished for having done so. Was it some dictate of the English class system which frowned on bastards overstepping their bounds?’ ....Pretty much. :D

‘Burke looked down on the young woman & in the process caught a glimpse of one lovely breast. But it was not the breast that held his attention. Rather it was the look of excitement on her face, as though she were pleased with herself for having brought the young man to such a fit of passion.’ ....It seems Mary is continuing the fine Eden family tradition of sexually-suppressed fruitloop.

"I can't go back upstairs," he whispered.
"Why?"
"Lila's up there."
"Lila?"
"Yes," he repeated sternly. "I saw her. And that cat. She wishes me ill. I know she does." Suddenly he grasped her hand, his injured face pitiful to behold. "Talk to her, Elizabeth," he pleaded. "Tell her that I loved her. I did, you know."

Hahaha omg I seriously view this book as a tragic comedy. (For reference Lila & the cat are dead)

Then she would turn her back on this castle and leave, Harriet secluded in her upper chamber, John self-imprisoned behind the Library doors. Some ancient passion bound those two together; what, she had no idea, but it was her considered opinion that neither would ever recover from it and both ultimately would be destroyed by it, and that was a spectacle she had no desire to witness.

Back full circle.

The form was horribly mutilated, a disemboweled specter...Lila! At that instant the immense cat crouched low. Thrice his size in life, he now fixed his gaze on John with blood-red eyes, awaiting the command of his mistress. John stumbled backward, Lila laughed and Wolf sprang forward. Feeling the sharp claws digging into his face, John blessedly lost consciousness, dragging a living piece of Hell with him

Wth

Lol John Murray Eden has been beating up on journalists from the Times anytime he gets a chance. From the first hundred pages to the 600s.

This book is ending with a bare fisted duel between JME & the 'anonymous' journalist of the Times 'Lord Ripples' who wrote an exposition piece on JME. Unbeknownst to JME Lord Ripples (Burke) literally just married JME's cousin (actually half sister --family secrets galore). This soap opera is not letting up even at the very end.

And to heighten your enjoyment permit me to introduce myself properly.

Lord Ripples, Mr. Eden, at your service. The author, the true author of 'The Demi-God of Eden'

I worked very hard on that piece of writing. And for every accusation that I wrote, ten were left unwritten. And based on what I know now, the content of that essay pales in comparison to what I should have written."

Bahaha this is amazing