Bárbara > Recent Status Updates

I'm taking a break from Game Changers after the absolute delight that was book 3, to savor the marvelous sensation left in my heart by that wonderful book. At the same time, I'm picking something up from my TBR, that was long overdue. I'm so excited!

Look at Ilya, being all Nick Fury!
Also, I'm reading this so fast, I'm concerned. Oh well.

"They're probably fucking," Troy Barrett sneered, which made the group around him laugh.
"Gross, " said Dallas Kent. "Rozanov would never. But I'll bet Hollander is a fucking homo."

Oh. Sweet summer child of pathetic homophobic proportions... Rozanov absolutely would.

"A sad sack who sacrifices his body every night to save others" is a very accurate description of Daredevil. Matt would resent it and I love it lmao
I'm honestly loving this. Ryan is fantastic, Wyatt is fantastic... AND ILYA JUST MADE AN ADORABLE APPEARANCE IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER??? LIKE???? What's there not to like, though. This book is fucking FEEDING me.

Okay, Ryan is precious, rig? There's no mystery there.
But Wyatt is fantastic!
I'm having such a fun time here, aaaaah!

"He needed to get out of here, or make peace with the fact that he was going to fuck Kip against a wall in front of god and Ilya Rozanov."


Funny, I could have sworn Scott's own teammates were there as well. But I get it, even from the inside, every other player just vanishes into nothing when Ilya enters the picture.
Scott may have been named MVP but Ilya haunts the goddamn narrative.

"Thank God," Huff said. "I thought you were gonna say you were secretly dating Rozanov."

In his (Scott's) dreams, maybe.
All things considered, Ilya could do worse than Scott (as in, he's literally doing exactly that, but eh). He could do better, too. BUT alas, that's neither here nor there.

Scott sighed. "He told me he was disappointed because he'd heard I was, quote, 'good at hockey again.'"

Yep. That sounds like my baby boy. Ilya Rozanov is the babyboy-est of them all and I support him 100%.
Sorry, Scott, but there's just no way I'd take your side on this one. You owe Ilya an apology for punching him.

YOU KNOW WHAT? I CHANGED MY MIND. I do not like Scott anymore. He just punched Ilya and that is simply unacceptable. I do not care what excuse Scott thinks he has. Fuck off.
For legal purposes, this is (mostly) a joke. I do take anything in connection with Ilya personally though, but anyway I'm not being (entirely) serious.

"If Rozanov rode him too much tonight, Scott might just punch him."

That is... A sentence. Choices were made (word choices, for sure) and I can't see the point in arguing.

Well, fuck me sideways, but I'm actually enjoying this...
It's vastly different from HR, but by this point during that read I was eye-rolling like it was an Olympic sport. But this time I'm finding the overall vibe so much more tolerable? I'm actually actively enjoying this?
Don't get me wrong, HR has to its advantage the fact that it has Ilya Rozanov there, but still... I'm appalled. I'm speechless. Kthxbai.

All I want is one, ONE, issue where I can actually have a clue what the hell is going on. Thanks.

You know what? I came in with my expectations lower than low... But so far, this one is surprising me in a good way? Weird.

"Money is useless when your grandchildren die. In the fire."

HE. SAID. THAT.
Wish he would have been saying it to Harris's face, though, but eh. Beggars can't be choosers, or something like that.

Holly shizballs... What the-???
No, seriously. I am shocked. SHOCKED (read it in Phoebe Buffay's voice).

I still have no idea what's going on. I'm having fun, though!

"... weren't there any nice men in Montreal, Shane?"
Ma'am? Apologize right now. Take it back or else.

"Shane had definitely snagged himself a ten."

And by being a solid 6 (4 When I'm mad).

Shane, I'm trying here, but you gotta work with me, man.

Okay, I'm going to stop for today because I have less than 100 pages left and it's not my idea to finish this today.
What I will say, however, is that I'm feeling this second half a lot more than I did the first one. True, if this gets to be a 4-star read it will be nothing short of a miracle... But it's definitely better now than it started off.

I'm probably not going to get a call to become the president of the Shane Hollander Fan Club... But I have to say, he's becoming slightly more tolerable lately. It was a pain the first half, though, I kept getting the same enjoyment from his POV that I used to get during Clash of Kings and Dance with Dragons with Davos 🙊
Ilya remains the best thing in the entire mess. Like, effortlessly.

SHANE HOLLANDER!!!!!! (imagine this said with the voice of Brad Pitt as Achilles in Troy when he's looking for Hector)
You made my Russian sad. So you have chosen... Death.

I speak in movie/TV/book quotes when I'm feeling the big feelings, sue me.
And to think that there's more to come in the "Ilya being sad" saga (I watched the show before reading, so yeah, again, sue me). I'm as fine as Ross was that one time.

"Jesus Christ, you're so fucking boring," Ilya muttered.


Yes, thank you. Those are the words I was looking for.

I love (and I'm using that term loosely) how Shane thinks it's "a choice" to name the twins Ruby and Jade, but he has no comment on the baby boy being named Arthur (which means he implicitly approves, I suppose)... At this point, I'm not surprised 😬

I am enjoying this, okay? That doesn't mean I don't have thoughts and opinions of the salty variety.
Also one thing I've noticed is that I basically talked about Ilya in every single one of my previous updates (I wouldn't blame myself, he's actually great). I want to prove that I'm capable of talking about my reading progress without focusing on him (not for this update though, evidently I failed already).

SHUT. UP! ILYA SAYING THAT FAST FIVE IS THE BEST ONE... It's just too much. I mean, if I'm being honest, 5 and 6 are my favorites. But it's the same.
A man of taste. Mostly, anyway, but eh... Nobody's perfect.

Ilya being concerned about Price possibly dropping his book with his bouncing leg, and then being like "I failed" when Price eventually did drop the damn book, even though he tried warning him?
Stop, he's killing me. Also, he (Ilya, not Price, ofc) was watching Fast & Furious (which was one of my hyperfixations of last year, this is important information)... I'm okay. I really am. 100% not lying.

I'm actually enjoying this! Yay!
I find that my enjoyment is increasing as the story progresses, which is nice.
On a more specific note: I love Ilya. He's wonderful 💜

Enjoying it so far... True, I'm enjoying Ilya's POV considerably more than Shane's, but I'm still having a good time!

This is... too long. At this point, it's dragging. I'll give it a chance, but I'm not impressed.