Ava > Recent Status Updates

OH I FORGOT TO MENTION Ione undid her Maiden Card & has feeling again whoopie!

(2)Nightmare mentioned needing a spare to give up their charm to the alderwood&planned on it being Gorse but Ravyn ruined that Jespyr ends up sacrificing herself The wood opens Nightmare&Ravyn chase her2theTwinAlders that trap her w roots&try to makeRavyn sacrifice her butElspeth gets theNightmare2not haveRavyn go thru whatTaxus went thru w his own sis TheAlders forceRavyn 2 speak w the Spirit&he dragsNightmare w him

(1) Finished Part 2:To Barter Elm was able to steal the Nightmare Card from Hauth’s room&use it on Ione mems He was able to see where she hid the card&they found it in a fireplace Ione reveals that Hauth pushed her out of a tower&she bled out into the Maiden Card healed her;( Elm figured out that her marriage contract says she married the heir which is now him

The Nightmare is revealing more abt his life as Taxus&making the cards which is so interesting
I feel that smth bad is going to happen to Jespyr bc Ravyn keeps saying sweetly to her to stay close&she replies I always do ;( also their family has many parallels to Taxus’& his sis died when she stepped into the alderwood
Elm&Ione are off in their own world still searching Last thing from his POV is that Hauth woke eek

Ravyn&crew woke up in a camp of infected The sisters in charge caught Gorse too&doesnt believe them abt their treason against the king Makes the destreirs fight Ravyn kills Gorse in his rage Elspeth’s aunt is there&testifies for them When the sis aren’t looking they untie Nightmare which allows them to escape Nightmare bends the trees to direct them to the alderwood which is the 2nd part of the rhyme

The destrier ran away from the group2go back2reportRavyn to the king Elm&Ione are walked in on He finds her marriage contract to Hauth&I think he found a loophole but it wasn’t revealed Now Elspeth is out of the dreamscape&she begs Nightmare to let Ravyn in to talk He allows it which distracts all of them&they are ambushed by gassy arrows that knock them out Elspeth saw the kings mems of Taxus bartering 4 the cards

Elm&Ione use a Chalice to ask each other q’s&Ione tells him that she vaguely remembersHauth using hisScythe to make her hide her MaidenCard Ravyn&the little gang start there journey into the mistNightmare uses his pwrs to talk to the trees&guide them thru the wood They make it first to the lake&barter their blood They swim&hear their inner demons Petyr uses theMaiden to heal Elspeth is let out of the dreamscape

Is this Elm’s book bc his chapters are so damn long&while I find Ione&his sitch interesting I care more abt Ravyn&Elspeth&NightmareE Elm learns that his father ishosting feasts for him to find a wife but cmon he’s attracted to Ione Ravyn&crew arrive@CastleYew NightmareE sat under the yewtree bythe chamber w a crown& Ravyn gave him his sword backElspeth saw the vision of the spirit givingTaxus the stonetable&sword

Finished Part1:TheBlood Elspeth learned the nightmare’s fam name isTaxus she can see his mems of his children in thedreamscape&she has her mems back There is 1 kid Benedict who has gray eyes like Ravyn that didn’t die w the others hmmlol&Emory touchedRavyn&said something abt his lineage RavynJespyr&rando destrier are takingNigjtmareE to look for theTwinAlders Elm is staying@Stone w Ione to look for herMaiden card

NightmareElspeth tells the king she’ll get the Twin Alders&he can sacrifice her infected blood instead of Emory’s Ravyn went to CastleYew&saw the ShepherdKing’s grave&his ghost daughter Tilly RealElspeth is in this endless darkness in her mind while the Nightmare is in full control Elm used the scythe to make her family go away but Ione is still there & wants to find her Maiden card bc it has healing abilities

She woke up from being poisoned by the Chalice Her dad gave her the Well Card so she can give it to Ravyn for marriage They take it so now they only need Twin Alders The Destreirs are all sent to patrol While every1 is gone Hauth traps her&tries to use her to pin Ravyn Elspeth lets the nightmare take over which consumes her He maimed Orithe & Hauth B4 she goes Elspeth makes him promise to help Ravyn & the Yews

I’ve made it to Part 3:TheBlood&they still only have 1/3 cards they set out for They are looking for the card in SpindleHouse but Hauth ambushed them&used the Chalice Card to get the truth bc he suspects them from the highway attack Luckily he didn’t find out but Ravyn used the nightmare card on Elspeth even tho he said he wouldn’t bc he thrift he was helping her thru the game He heard the nightmare in her mind

She is losing herself to the nightmare that is her form of degeneration from the infection Sometimes when ppl look at her her eyes flash yellow&Elm is sus bc she was able to attack her father&scratch Hauth She realizes she needs to rid herself of nightmare b4 she loses herself Ravyn & her are falling for each other
Ravyn’s degeneration is that he can’t use all the cards besides nightmare mirror&maybe twin alders

They learn a lord has an Iron Gate so they ambush his carriage Destreirs & Hauth & her dad are also traveling so they get into a big fight Elspeth has to use the nightmare’s pwr to fight dad&Hauth They return to CastleYew Ravyn shows her the ruin w the one dark window&stone holding their deck of cards The room is the one she dreamt & she realized the nightmare is the Shepherd Kind

Just finished Part 1: The Cards. The details of the cards and the background info is intricate but very well explained! I’m excited for Elspeth to search for the remaining 3 cards w the Yews but I feel like something is going to happen with the crown prince & potentially her cousin Ione
Loving Ravyn & this fake courting situation😎
Also love the court/kingdom vibe w the different houses named after trees

Thea is able to get Hector up from his depression bed They r mad @ each other bc Thea left4an arranged marriage that never even happened&spent 4yrs@ThalorianCourt meanwhile Hector wanted to marry her Esperida was the vamp queen&now that she dead Hector becomes the next ruler Humans cannot be present 4 the ceremony but Thea wants to stay so she convinces Hector 2 pretend they got married so she can be there for him

I’m having mixed feelings about this like uncomfortable feelings because they were childhoods best friends and that just feels weird to me ew

So far I know the castle is magical floating structure that only opened its doors2Esperida, a pwrful vampire who united humans&vamps She fell madly in luv w human Eron & they have son Hector Thea from last book was child friends w Hector&spent a lot of time@the castle They were her 2nd fam
Now, Esperida & Eron have been killed, Hector & Thea have a complicated past & Thea is back @ the castle to be there for Hector

Isa reveals that she was the witch who took his heart & hid it in Nepheli’s butterfly necklace She tries to kill Apollo & Nepheli but first she puts his heart back into him so he can watch N die he ends up shielding N w his body from blades & he’s bleeding a lot & dying right after getting his heart back Guards come & Apollo is alive enough to tell them Isa did it they take her Nepheli cradles Apollo has he dies

Wow they meet his cousin Isa who prompts him to tell Nepheli abt the curse He tells her how he agreed to have a witch steal his heart from him after his fiancé cheated on him They make it to The North She meets his parents & they throw a ball Apollo invites her to stay more They get it on

Apollo is searching for his heart and Nepheli is trying to find herself because she lives a very closed off life running her shop. Apollo is a combo of jerk but considerate leaving Nepheli confused
Also Nepheli ate stardust when she was little & I think it gave her some type of magic that she’s unaware of

This book started off not as I expected. It is frilly like OUABH but more mature, which I think is something a lot of people wanted from that series. The pacing is fast but in a good way. Apollo the Prince of Broken Hearts brought danger to Nepheli’s curiousity shop. Next think they fell thru the sky to the Magical North’s Dragonfly Forest they pass fairyland to make it to Walder’s cottage.

“buddy” 🫩

They found the man who created the smooth men He explained he created a bust of the first man fell in love with it & it could talk so it convinced him to make more heads Eventually it kept demanding more but the creator did it bc he loved the smooth man even tho he knew it was wrong They stole his hands thinking they could use them to sculpt but it didn’t work so they give him clay hands Istvhan & Clara horrified