Ashley Shea > Recent Status Updates

It's probably because I just read The Everlasting before this but Tal! What tortures do you have in store for my babies?! Everything is going far too well!! We've clearly established that Torey has some significant TBI-related time slips and we've already seen some back and forth, which was fun and something I've never read before but can you not please?! We have far too much left to go for it to just end happy.....

I'm being tossed around a roller coaster rn. I knew about the amnesia. It was torture enough to see such a sweet life and not remember how he got it. What I did not see coming was having that sweet life snatched away! And I'm sorry, but Tal Bauer is a really phenomenal writer! I can already see where this book could be shaved down by a sentence here or there but for the most part I know all these words are necessary.

It's getting harder and harder. Look, every word is necessary... but there are just so many!!! It's been twisted and surprising and sad but it's also been so boring!!! And I refuse to believe it's me. I mean, maybe it is me and it's just not the right time, but I flew through 10,000 doors of January, and this one is so well written, but it's much harder for me to get through.

More twists and turns than... a roller coaster? I am so turned upside down. I had this great theory about Owen's happy family but... I can't make heads or tails of any of it, which is totally fine! It's still slow going, it'll never be a favorite per se. The romance is still super weird, not so much anymore in a bad way, just, it feels very forced still, but sweet, I guess. It's so smartly written though, love that!

OK, then it got crazy! With several "OH DAMN" moments in single pages. Time travel is always a minefield, but then Harrow said "let me make this as complicated/twisty as possible" and I'm here for it as long as I can follow along. I made allusions to Happy Death Day and I'm sorry I didn't give you enough credit. This is Groundhog Day/Back to the Future/Happy Death Day/Timeline on speed. Still don't like the romance.

The romance comes not from banter and curiosity but from panic attacks and nightmares. There's no tenderness, there's no melding of minds. It's trauma bonding... I'm not saying romance should always come from organic, feel-good vibes and make my toes curl, I guess the point is that romance is going to happen even if it's out of necessity. But I'd rather we not call it romance then. I dunno, it's early still.

As a result of all this, the romance subplot feels forced and a bit inappropriate. Not that knights and soldiers can't have love, just that it seems to come out of nowhere. I feel bad thinking that because, what, she's too big and burly? She doesn't deserve love too? No, she's being written as unapproachable and mean and he's being written as cowardly and uninterested.

Slow going yesterday, looking forward to getting some real reading done today if I can ignore the news for a bit. The writing is obviously amazing, it's just a bit boring. The set-up is definitely unexpected though! I did not see 'older, bitter, jaded lady knight who needs persuading to get back on her horse' coming. Nor, of course, the unlikely hero who has to be brave enough to stick by her.

Oh em gee I want to keep reading so bad!!! THE YEARNING!!!!! And I love that it's not at all what I thought, with the straight guy being sensitive and artistic and the gay guy being masc and athletic, and also super sensitive. Oh and have I mentioned THE YEEEEEEEEARNING?!?!?!?! The writing feels like it was ripped out of Bauer slowly and painfully. And they're 40??? Be still my beating heart!! I gotta take a break!

Continuing the tradition of forgetting to update at night and then passing out reading. Tress is a freaking genius and I would follow her to the ends of the earth! How is she so smart?! The verdant tree to escape the crimson spikes was amazing! The bargain with the dragon was so fun! Hoid continues to be a delight. I love all the characters (I do wish Crow had been more 3D tho), and I love this whimsical wonderland!

Yet again, this charming book put me to sleep last night, but not because I am ever bored. It's just so soothing. Every now and then, I giggle, and then I am lulled into a calm sense of peace. I'm getting even more Princess Bride vibes but from the perspective of Wesley if we had been able to follow him on his journey aboard the pirate ship Revenge. Well, onward! I have book club tonight!

Fell asleep reading this whimsical wonderland last night. It's a fucking delight so far! Maybe this ruins it, but I read some reviews and found out it's inspired by Princess Bride, another absolute fave. So far, I'm fully charmed. I have to be careful while reading and drinking, there have been many many near spit takes. I'm glad I'm finally getting into Sanderson and that this is my welcome. It's light and fluffy.

Oh em gee I'm so happy it's mostly true to the show. The only thing that the book is missing are Connor's and Hudson's microexpressions, and the only thing that the show is missing is Shane's inner monologues of Ilya panic: "Oh no. Oh fuck. Oh no." It's amazing to me, with those covers, with the obvious and ubiquitous smut, how sweet this is. So much frickin' giggling!! Must read faster!

I'm doing this the right way and starting with book 1 even though it's killing me. But after episode 5 of Heated Rivalry, actually, scratch that, after episode 3. When ep3 started, I was like "noooo, Shane and Ilya only!" But then I quickly fell in love and the book is no freaking different! I have giggled and swooned SO MANY TIMES!!!!! This is freaking adorable and Reid is hitting every note perfectly!

The absolute best thing that can happen is if Jordan leaves and never comes back. What a refreshing change of pace that would be! If I'm to truly care about the character development Douglas is trying to give to this smut book, if I'm to truly have any respect for Jordan - no disrespect to Pike, who owns and runs him own business, but that's his journey, and Jordan needs to find her own path.

I forgot to update last night. No, scratch that, I fell asleep till after midnight and then woke up and kept reading. No idea where I was, but Cole is finally - FINALLY - kicked to the curb. This book is ridiculous, but we're all here for one thing so we might as well enjoy it. I do not love her writing. I do not love Pike's (pfft, Pike) possessiveness, and his ridiculous 'parenting' and his calling her a little girl

I'm worried I'm going to hate this too because I'm already seeing some common tropes that piss me off. The biggest being that someone as "serious" and "mature" as Jordan definitely should not still be with a guy like Cole. BUT Sara Cate's Praise is one of my favorite books, and I'm here for the parallels. If Pike (who names their kid Pike?!) tries to be a controlling chauvinist ass, I'm out.

I'm concerned this will be another experience like Flock. *Shudder!!* Coming-of-age and naughty shouldn't be checked off in the same book. I'll never trust a grown man who would rather bang a 17-yr-old. And no, it does not make it better that he acknowledged he's emotionally immature. I don't care that there will be sharing or that they're her step-relatives, but I'll always have a problem with the fact that she's 17

I don't know if it's because life is very much getting in the way here the past several days, or if it's just moving slowly and weirdly but crazy CRAZY unhinged shit is going down and yet it's taking me what feels like forever to get through it. Ugh, dismantle this cult already! Where is Albie?! Where are the protestors?! What is going on?! (Notice I didn't ask 'how could they let this happen?' because I get it now)

I had no idea I got through so much today. I thought today was a bad reading day... Did I forget to update yesterday? Anyway, nothing new, in that we're at that point in the story where everything has happened how we thought it would so naturally, something truly awful is about to happen... The way I went from "hm, interesting concept" straight to "holy shit this is exactly how they control us!" is wild to me.

Our first twist!!! This dystopia is messed up! And Amelia has got to be driving herself crazy trying to keep her stories straight. This society seems awful! It's really an amazing concept that this jarring EXPERIMENTAL process of merging your consciousness with someone has taken over to such an extent that they get all these perks, while everyone else is taxed literally to death. Ripe for revolution!

I had no idea there would be such a dystopian vibe. I'm very hooked immediately. I want to immerse myself in this alternate, possible future world where there's been climate wars and now the poor are actually forced to merge in order to be able to afford to live. The description very much made it seem like it was just to save a loved one. But life is also very busy right now, so getting reading time in is hard.

That was really good! Exciting at the end, appropriately nerve-wracking. This was a good addition to the series, and I'm still hooked even after 9 books. KR has put so much into this with only a very few missteps in my mind. And her acknowledgements are almost apologetic in the vein of "I know you've been waiting for the Zeus/Hera story and I'm sorry if it's not how you wanted." But it was! They played it just right!

Fell asleep last night, stuffed with stuffing (and wine and turkey) before updating. I might be getting tired of them pretending to hate each other simply because revealing their growing feelings might make them *GASP* vulnerable! BUT, at the same time, I think these two are the most serious about putting up impenetrable walls against the machinations of the Thirteen... But they would make such a good team!!

I like it so far. Just like the last several books, it starts right up with little prelude, but at this point I think I'd be impatient with a lot of unnecessary background. I don't know if I've ever read a series with this many books... It's a great approach: learning a new angle of the story each book. There's decent characterization right now, but I'm not a huge fan of "I hate you" when clearly, ma'am, you do not.

It's getting even crazier if that were possible. It's still so engaging and so amazing. I'm not sure though if I'm getting a central theme though like I did in Bury Your Gays. This one is more exciting though, more thrilling, more gory. I love the idea of luck being a product of specific timelines picked out for the lucky, but I'm keen to see how he's going to wrap it all up... Onward! Into the breach!

I feel like we spend too much time in TOD and there are a lot more people to keep track of here, so, man, has a lot happened in a short period of time and I'm constantly scared for Aelin, Dorian, Rowan, Manon, Elide. My gosh that's a lot of story lines! Dorian and Elide are certainly getting shafted as far as development, same with Aedion and Lysandra. But what does SJM do? Why, have some more characters, she says!

More of the same: I would've enjoyed this book by itself, and I'm immensely enjoying the tandem read. They complement each other so well. I can't imagine how difficult it must be for Chaol being away from home right now BUT I also see how he can do nothing there and he is best served here getting better and hopefully getting an army. And I can't believe the evil has followed them! Not enjoying the romance subplot...

I am so in love with this author!!! I don't know what is going on but this book is fucking nuts!!! But, hold on, I take that back, because I do know what's going on, he's also a phenomenal storyteller! But what's going on is insane! Where does he come up with this stuff??? Bury Your Gays was a deep social commentary but this one is like existential dread times a million... I'm still trying to wrap my brain around it

I don't know...? One thing stood out to me in the acknowledgements that irked me. Olivie said the arguments she wrote are just theoretical starting points. I'm worried she didn't actually say anything besides "the world is fucked, because x, y, z." Women proclaim feminism is about bolstering women, then women stab each other in the back. "Now, treat yo self!" And the outsider was like "eat people? OK!" It was weird!!