nika ⸆⸉ > Recent Status Updates

i’m rereading/listening to the first several books books because i want to finish the series, but i don’t remember much.
i started listening to dark shores and got almost halfway through when i remembered that shores and skies is meant as a tandem read and that’s what i did the first time around and how i want to finish these two books, so i put dark shores on hold until i get to the same plot point in skies.

i’m rereading/listening to the first several books since i want to finish this series, but have forgotten a lot about what has happened between certain characters and their relationships to eo. i like this book just as i did before.
i’m almost halfway through, and i just remembered that the first two books were a tandem read, so i’m going to put dark shores on pause to catch up with the dark skies lol

i’m rereading/listening to the audiobook, since i want to finish the series, but remember little about the og books.
i liked the characters marcus and agrippa. i love their friendly humorous banter. don’t really remember silvara much, but i think that’s agrippa’s love interest(?)
also, Major Spolier Warning: i remember crying at the book’s finale bc of a betrayal, mcd, or something along those lines.

this book is good so far. i like that there’s four povs (if i remember correctly, the first two books were dual pov). i’m enjoying getting back into this fantastical world after over a year or two since reading the first books.
i remember some of the general info regarding the setting, but not much about the characters and their relationships, so i’m putting this one on pause to reread/listen the og books.

I am so unbelievably happy for Justin & Hailey!
their pregnancy announcement is incredible news! the moment I found out, I celebrated with my own little Justin Bieber Eras Tour!
I love J&H both so much & I’m so excited for their future! I wish them all the love & peace & happiness! & I can’t wait for the day when the world will finally meet & come to adore new little Bieber! ♡ ♡ ♡ much love

“I realize I am in agony…

I gasp
and
the
world

d i s a p p e a r s”

reading the few chapters leading to this scene hurt. i really cried, tears trickled down though i hadn't been able to cry in a while
i'm so sorry about what had led to this moment
i wish Adam had confided in Juliette about the testing & i wish she'd've noticed earlier the signs that he wasn't ok
‹/𝟹

“He falls to his knees ‘Insane for your sweet, sweet love!’
‘Kenji!’
‘What?’ he says, his voice booming around the room ‘Does my love embarrass you?’
‘Please—please get up—and lower your voice—‘
‘Hell no’
‘Why not?’ I’m pleading now
‘Because if I lower my voice, I won’t be able to hear myself speak. And that,’ he says, ‘is my favorite part’”

oh how i love Kenji ♡

pls no big spoilers, but is there ever going to be a real explanation about the white bird with streaks of gold like a crown atop its head, the one whose “twin (is) tattooed on Adam’s chest”? is there ever going to be a true in depth explanation as to how the same white bird found it’s home in both Juliette and Adam’s dreams? or is this just never brought up again?

“‘I love you,’ I tell him, quietly, so only he can hear me.
He exhales a short, uneven breath. Whispers, ‘You have no idea,’ and pulls himself away…
My heart is beating in my throat”

stop, i can’t, i love them. i miss them, i might be crying, i want to cry

“‘I can’t sleep and I think about you all—all the time and I can’t— You should know—you have to know that I have never wanted anything like I’ve wanted you. Nothing. Because this—this—I mean, God, I want you, Juliette, I want—I want’
… His gaze lingers along the lines of my body, long enough to strike a match to the lighter fluid flowing in my veins.
I ignite”

♡
i think i might cry

“He’s smiling like someone’s strung the stars across his lips and he’s looking at me, looking at me like I’m everything and I want to weep”
& i do, too
i want to weep, too, bc i already know what happens in this book & i miss them already. i’m already grieving the loss, the end of their relationship
but at least for now he’s with her & he’s smiling, gleaming, shining like the stars

“… I wish I could put his words in my pocket just to touch them once in a while and remind myself that they exist” ♡
this quote
tell me how Tahereh Mafi came up with this sweet, innocent, mesmerizingly beautiful, & beyond comprehension adorable formulation of words. so lovely and innocent
oh, my loves ♡ ♡ ♡

“Our lips
touch
and I know I’m going to split at the seams. He’s kissing me like he’s lost me and he’s found me and I’m slipping away and he’s never going to let me go. I want to scream, sometimes, I want to collapse, sometimes, I want to die knowing that I’ve known what it was like to live with this kiss, this heart, this soft explosion that makes me feel like I’ve taken a sip of the sun…” ♡

“I am nothing more than the consequence of catastrophe”
a stunning, powerful, almost heart wrenching statement

annotation guide
(might change colors later)
purple — Juliette Ferrars
dark blue — Adam Kent
dark grey/black — Kenji Kishimoto
silver — Castle, Omega Point
green — Aaron Warner
pale blue — loneliness, alienation
lavender — novelty
pink — ♡ love, romance
mid-tone blue — ‹/𝟹 sadness, heartbreak
maroon — The Reestablishment
orange — power, control
mint — beautiful quotes & prose

this will be my 4th time "reading" this book
i listen to audiobooks whenever i'm not home, then re-read & write updates (by the time i updated that i finished book 1, i've already finished 1.5 & started 2)
i listened to this book to the end of ch16, started over, listened to the end of ch23 (tore my heart out), then started over again & listened to the end of ch36
now, i'll start over
listen & READ beginning to end

so, i actually already read this one right after finishing book one, but i basically skimmed it bc i had no interest in reading it, but i’m giving it one more shot. i hope i like it better the second time around

so Adam’s okay! he only almost just DIED, but like he’s okay now, so it’s okay, bc he’s okay… he’s okay, he survived.
and Kenji… invisible, huh? that’s cool and interesting! he described himself as “blending” into the background, so is the gift more similar to a chameleon or does he actually become invisible? bc there’s a difference, bc he either doesn’t become transparent or he does

“‘Welcome,’ Castle says to me… ‘to Omega Point’”
mama, papa, i made it!

idk why but i just love the sentence, “He seems to have dominated the concept of time”
i love the way it’s written, it’s a beautifully powerful statement formed of a simple observation, and it’s very telling of Castle’s character — i’m excited to meet Castle!

“He does have a spectacular face”
& and a spectacular sense of humor & is spectacular at flirting
oh Kenji, it’s only been been several pages, but i still managed to miss you

… shots fired “a sweet sort of music. A small sort of victory. Because this time the blood is not Adam’s.
Warner is down.”
alexa, please play “that’s my girl” by fifth harmony

“(Warner) smiles… Slips his arms around my waist. I swallow the vomit threatening to give me away”
i may have emetophobia, but Juliette did better than i would have, i would not be able to stomach it. since he is vile, he would get the bile

no. oh c’mon, no!… Adam, please be okay
side note: i hate Warner

welp, this ain’t gonna be good, this is all ‘bout to be really quite bad… goddamnit

i’m thoroughly enjoying Kenji’s presence, i’ve noticed that many people love his character, and i suppose this is a character opinion that i already find myself sharing even this early on in the series
he’s so unbashful and high energy, quite blunt though a bit curt, but overall enthusiastic and charismatic. it’s refreshing to have a character such as him

some thoughts
welp, Warner can touch Juliette (which i figured bc i’ve seen a few quotes from later books that gave the impression that he will be touching her in the future, though i’m not currently thrilled about it)

that was an oddly quick getaway

i’m completely in love with Adam and Juliette together (at least in book 1)

James is an adorable, chaotic little kid, and i love his & Adam’s brotherly bond

“My skin is flushed with heat and something named Adam…
‘You’re so beautiful,’ he says to me
I’m pink and red and maroon all at once… I take his hand and hold it to my lips ‘I’ve loved you forever,’ I tell him…
His hands are shaking so slightly, his eyes brimming with feeling, his heart thrumming with pain and affection and I want to live here, in his arms, in his eyes for the rest of my life”

every time i flip back to this page and see Juliette say “‘You’re my bird,’” I can’t help but giggle and quote The Notebook, “‘If you’re a bird, I’m a bird’”

i hate that Juliette is in so much pain and despises her own self. i hate how the world continues to try to make her into a monster. i hate Warner for trying his best to make her her worst, that he tries to break her, and nearly does… “‘Someone should just kill me’”… but i’m glad that Adam is there to hold her up and tell her that he loves her when she needs him to, at least for now (at least in book 1)