The Reading Frog > Recent Status Updates

"(...) there was always something different about Jacen. Something dangerous, made more so by his brokenness. He had edges now, where a careless person might get cut. Maybe he wasn't even aware of it-or maybe he was, and he thought this would help. One small act of defiance to bridge the unbearable chasm between who he should have been and what he had become instead.

She hated how deeply she understood."

"Last, Jacen shuttered off his own mind. That was the first rule he'd learned, as a ten-year-old acolyte charged to kill for the first time: Never feel them die. To touch what lay beyond was too great a risk, an act that would drive most to madness.

Jacen had broken that rule only once. Не would never risk it again."

—I get why he is an alcoholic, cause damn, I'd probably be too.

"I just don't want to end up like- (...) My father says my mother was Harvested. He said no one would miss her, and those are the sort of people they take. Like Lady Ancarath's workers. I'm afraid that's me, too, if I can't..."

"Can't what?"

"Find a way to be worth something."

—The way I immediately get attached to any character who is disabled is so predictable lol. Get behind me Neri! :(

"One of the few benefits of insignificance was that she could say whatever she pleased. Only a little power lay in that, but it was power nonetheless."

— I really love Ysira so far!! Super intriguing character

Got approved for this ARC on NetGalley a few days before launch while having a schedule already tightly packed with other ARC reads.

So unfortunately, a bit late to the party, but very excited!

Buddy read link (Anyone is welcome to join): https://app.thestorygraph.com/buddy_r...

Victoria Carbol... What did you just do to me??

That last 20% was really something.
So extremely tense, it really kept me on my toes and some of those plot points coming to a climax?? I'm shook, I'm distraught, I'm sick to my stomach!!! I didn't expect this read to be such a wild ride.

I totally get why everyone is demanding the sequel cuz I also need it. NOW. 😩

"He would have been a good father, she thought, had the king not taken the chance from him."

—STOP 😭 

Haven was starving, so I left to find work. With my skills, I was accepted as a page to the Kingsguard."

(...)

"I hated it, learning to defend the man who had destroyed my home. But it kept my family alive.”

— Oof... Yeah, okay.

This doesn't happen to me often but I'm really enjoying this romantic sub-plot! The vulnerability between Thia and Oskaren is lowkey giving me butterflies 🦋

Maybe that's just the power of masc les rep 😂 Regardless, this slow burn is burning y'all 👏

"The truth is," Thia replied, stomach dropping to her feet, "I did not come here just to... slay."

—Funniest out-of-context quote hahhahaahha
Purrr! Period! Slay! 💅

"Five years ago, unrest was brewing in the Wastes (...) The king took to quelling it, and my village was razed. I saw my..."

His voice dropped to a whisper, and she nearly missed his next words. "I still hear their screams, when the fear hits."

God.

She was searching for a response when he continued, "The purge began shortly after. (...)

—Oh fuck, this suddenly got dark...

"You were sad for a moment there. Admit it."

Oskaren's hand tightened on the hilt of her sword. "You're wrong. (...) Stop looking for what we both know is gone. (...) Death means nothing to me. (...)You mean nothing to me. I only hope I can stab the Tyrant through the heart before he stops what's left of mine."

"Hope is a feeling," Thia murmured.

Oskaren's brow lifted. "What?"


—Oh, I'm so here for this tension

I know I still have yet to reply to some comments, but I'll probably do so after the 6th of August, once I can be fully online again💚

"In the dim light, her scar was barely visible, (...) She was quite beautiful- or maybe handsome was a better word, with her strong jaw, sharp cheeks, and rugged mouth. A study in smooth planes and sharp angles, her black hair even more ink-like in the dark."

—Masc les tin-man save me!!!😩
Also, each time a sapphic love interest is described as handsome, an angel gains its wings. Thank you, Victoria!

Wake up, she commanded herself, squeezing damp eyes shut. It's not real.

Her breaths tumbled faster. Wake up.

She opened her eyes, begging to see home.

Instead she just saw the same ruddy hut.

—Oh Thia :(

So we are still in the 'real world' of this portal fantasy story and getting to know everyone.

Grandma Winnie sounds like an absolute baddie. Leopard print outfits, snakeskin cowboy boots, looks younger than her age, owns a pub? Okay!! Period.

Taking a wild guess and going with this playlist: 📚 Whimsical Worlds

Idk, what kind of book I'm in the mood to read atm, but it doesn't matter because I feel really bad about some of my ARCs already having reached publishing day. Consequences of my own actions, aka requesting too many ARCs thinking only a few will be accepted lol.

So yeah, Queer Wizard of Oz here we go 👏
Buddy-Read: https://app.thestorygraph.com/buddy_r...

Gonna watch The Odyssey today! Will report back later 🫡

"(...) a non-threat pushed forth by dubious propaganda, but the admin, with its fatherly words of protection, keeps hundreds of millions misinformed even now-keeps them on-edge and liable to pull those closest to them down, their thoughts on survival instead of corrupt bureaucracy.
(...)
And if you're wondering, everyone's guilty."

—I think this book is gonna be the type that'll have me stare at the wall afterwards

All characters are going through the absolute horrors, meanwhile Bill and Hunter are being match made by an unknown force (from their perspective) cuz wdym G & A use their eternal time knowledge to match them on tinder, send them to a nice location, force them to open a mysterious locked box, only to find Hunter's favorite beers in them??!

It would be funny if this date IS integral to breaking the time hole lol

HELLOO???!! CRAZY REVEAL TIME HOLY SHIT!!
Dropped my page turner because of it lol

"Fuck off, Anne. You making me your hostage?"

"I'm helping you broaden your reach! Could you not run? You don't normally do that." He does. He always does that. But he must believe he has agency.

— The mind games Anna and George are playing with the ppl unaware of this timehole are so interesting. Implying there's choice, when clearly everything about this day has been carefully crafted.

"(...)I'd have one Negroni to join that. As an apéritif. To commemorate. Like for me, just one. And for him, to show him I could be normal. (...)"

"You wanted to drink."(...)

"Well. Everyone drank at his li'l Christofascist party last night, I didn't say shit."

(...) "You wanted to transcend your addiction but you're an addict! It's not slaying a dragon, it's keeping it at the gates."

—Oh Gets... :(

"You've been here before? So, you're a time traveler."

(...) "No, Arturo. I'm not a time traveler. (...) I'm a time prisoner."

—Can't even really blame Anna and/or George for anything, because who wouldn't become, in the very least, slightly unhinged when trapped in a time hole forever.

"If this whole day were your house, what would you do? (...) You don't realize this, but from sun-up to sun-up it's yours, man. We know everything that happens today, virtually everywhere. And with that, we can do a whole lot of... I mean, whatever you want, really. (...)

You'll be surprised how little a day limits."

— She really took that 'anything' to heart fr

"I quit my residency in April of 2021 because I'd grown fond of watching people die."

—Crazy chapter opener, love it 👏

"Amy's parents aren't interested in saving her (...) No one is saving any of us. Raging in the face of all this manufactured doom is the point. I won't let the oldheads take more from my future, write my story for me. (...)

I'll mark this world before anyone or anything tells me otherwise, and my mark won't hurt those who come after."


— Love this mix of emotionally charged narrative and social political commentary

"We thought the first few days in the time hole were the worst but we've officially entered the nightmare proper. At least the first few days brought the gift of confusion. We have to endure ocular torture every time just to piece together more information on the craft from the sea."

An UAP, body horror, time shenanigans, and the absolute horror of being the only two aware of this time hole? Yeah, I'm locking in.

Peep that cover BTW. Just absolutely gorgeous 👌

I believe it was made by @HolyAphordite on IG