cordelia_gretson's reviews
278 reviews

By “challenging” I mean finding the will to keep reading this trash. (It wasn’t a challenge to find people irl to scream into the void about this book/series and author in general). What the hype is all the hype about? The most intriguing part of the book was the back cover’s description of “thrilling and fierce.” The only parts that met either criteria was the intense naps this hurled me into. I guess I should thank SJM? I suffer with DSA insomnia and her writing might just be the cure.

I’ve never come across so many ways to not refer to a character by the character’s name. Erilea must be known as Epithet City. Extremely annoying to have non-dialogue about one character start a paragraph only to end with another character speaking.

If it wasn’t for the fact that I actually purchased this book, cringing at what a waste that was even on sale on amazon, I would have DNF’ed it and yeeted it out the second story window into the mud and snow. It took 116 pages to get to the promised competition/eliminations all for it to be nothing more than… archery. smh. Half the competitors either don’t have names or are mentioned long enough to prove she tallied them up correctly with no story, no development, and no contribution to the 404 page fire starter. It took 310 pages for me to finally spike an interest and at that point I forced myself to power through until the end so I could mark it towards my read books for the year. (Much like 2025 so far, it’s a big WTF). Even the formatting of the book - why so many damn words on a page? Need to make the book look shorter to bribe people into reading it? I mean, maybe that’s the editors choice since there were *so many* words with so little substance.

I was willing to *try* and look past the Hunger Games vibes with champions from all over their world, but when more similarities kept coming up, it became rage inducing. A secret chamber and mysterious creature that’s unseen by virtually anyone and controlled by a single person - the premise of HP CoS. We even have our MC stab it in the face with an ancient sword that’s not been seen in years AND the creatures fangs pierce them, thus poisoning and threatening her life. Fine, change the creature from a sneaky lil snek and make it resemble Miss Peregrine’s. Oye.

I cannot for the life of me understand the SJM hype and was most excited to find the option on this app to block her as a suggested author. Guess there’s one thing I won’t miss about the TikTok ban, not seeing this littering up BookTok.

Learning more about the woman who I first knew as Emily Gilmore has been eye opening. She’s an articulate storyteller with more than 60 years of a star studded life to tell. From her early memories of ballet and a supportive mother many can only dream about and a something to be desired of a paternal DNA donor, to the bars of ballets studios across the country. Her fierce determination and sense of true value and worth are inspiring and captured eloquently throughout her career in the cut throat industry of music, dance, broadway, and as an actress.
Her ability to thread a lifetime of  achievements, a sprinkle of disappointments, a failed marriage, and decades with her soulmate, countless rescue animals as her children (and never apologizing for not wanting children, in fact openly talking about her abortion and activism for reproductive rights and abortion access) is personally inspiring in a country that tries forcing the storyline of childless women being inherently less. 
Much love to The Third Gilmore. 

Far from I thought it would be and what I was hoping for.  A lot of laundry lists of day to day life, a list of flight times and destinations, food eaten, admittedly too many drinks consumed, and a sadly long list of friends, family, and colleagues dying. 
Interesting to hear his views on ongoing projects, opportunities turned down, and brutal honesty when reviewing productions, shows, movies, music, and other actors. Overall he was more interesting and likable in interview and press clippings. I may know more about his life, but I don’t feel like I’ve gained anything in any aspect from deep diving into a beloved actor’s life.