Eya’s Reviews > A Stage Set for Villains > Status Update

“I'd know you with any face and by any name, Riven. Any voice, no matter how cutting. Through any gaze, no matter how loathing. I would know your touch through a closed curtain and the sound of your step when the last spotlight has gone out. I have known you at the beginning of each performance, and I will bow with you at the brink of every finale.”

“You two have a most inconvenient tendency to find each other, no matter who you're playing.”
Oh, a soulmate trope that is not cringy ? I am impressed.

“You two have a most inconvenient tendency to find each other, no matter who you're playing.”
Oh, a soulmate trope that doesn't feel cringe ? I am impressed.

“Mortals decide love is not love unless it is all true! But love is man's own play, in which he often casts the wrong characters.”
I am still trying to figure out this quote... 🤔

Shannon J. Spann blurs the line between good and evil, even the main character doesn't know where she stands anymore.

POV being an immigrant who immigrated as a child:
“Why are you so angry? Really.”
“I don't fit properly anywhere.” The words take a moment to find. “And it doesn't feel fair. Like I'm this badly cut piece of a puzzle that doesn't fit with the others.”

“Death is a matter of opinion, Alistaire. To die is to be forgotten. I imagine the world will never forget me.”

“Thank you,” I say quietly, “for coming back. [...] You won't leave a castmate behind.”
Jude watches me. “I won't leave you behind.”
I narrow my eyes. “Because we're linked.” He must want his power back.
He shakes his head once, refusing to break his gaze. “No.”
The pace of the romance is quite good. It is not the slowest of slow burn but they are not in a hurry either. For a standalone, it is good.

“You were faking!” I call, bounding after him.
“Acting, Alistaire! There is a difference.”
That was very well thought out.