jaduhluhdabooks's reviews
299 reviews

Ughhhh. I love suki !!! She’s an icon. 

This was such an interesting book. The organization of it alone is prose. Donna uses book one to set the tone and it’s a pretentious and haughty one and it made me DESPISE the characters and their manner of being which in the end, was the intent of the author I believe. 

What kept me locked in from the beginning to the end is the idea of Richard trying to often not take responsibility for being as elitist and egotistical as the other members in the group. That was such a fun dynamic to explore throughout the text and you never really know if Richard learned his lesson… but also if he’s recounting such events later in maybe he has? 

Book 2? Wild. Insane. What the junk!? 

I’ve read a lot of books in race and the church and one things I find that’s lacking is this piece of reparation. Reconciliation can’t occur with relational and physical repair. I think LaTasha does an excellency jobs of addressing all the arguments that are thrown in the mix of if rave matters in the place of the church… race exists as a construct BECAUSE of the church, so let’s start there and LaTasha makes that known and a key feature of addressing the argument further. 

It’s a healthy and refreshing  listen. As someone who is on her own faith journey at the moment, but has spent the better part of her formative years in the church, this was a healing listen. It does give me some sense of hope and conviction in a direction I want to start pushing my work back toward. I want to be in the work of restoration and I want that restoration to be strung throughout all aspects of my being, including spiritual. It’s convoluted and there are so many things to unpack there, but I think it’s apart of realizing the whole self. Doesn’t have to be this avenue, but for me relationship with Jesus has been demonstrative of that healing and wholeness, so as I continue this walk, I will take these words with me. 

I mean, how can you create such a vivid and heartbreaking timeline of lives strung together by “happenstance” and call it anything other than what it is… a masterpiece of both wills and defiances, of an inability to deny oneself of suffering. 

I recently read (in a book that I hilariously rated 1 star) a quote on suffering that basically read in summary, just because one is accustom to suffering doesn’t mean they always have to. And at first I thought this was stupid, because no person would choose suffering and the choice is not in the hands of those who encounter it. But that’s not always true, nor is it always truthful…. What I mean by that and what I found with these characters doing often is fixating on (unresolved and unheard) wounds of tragedy and self articulation. These moments that happened to them, defined parts of themselves that inevitably drove their relationships and their focal points in life. Obviously, that’s not profound because that’s relatively the human existence, but what I think Gabrielle does so well is even the playing field of fiction and humanity. Fiction is on this higher plane of “semi relational” and “this only happens in a book”. This novel is almost to on the nose with the existence of life lived in relationship with pain and grief. Even Marx, who I would argue was the first one to not choose suffering in the end, and it set him free, very much shows this narrative of altruism and decay. It’s an excellent contrast throughout the book and I just can’t wrap my head around it entirely yet, but it’s sitting with me. 

I know that’s morbid, buts it’s true. Sadie and Sam are this feedback loop of pain and neither one are willing to disrupt the cycle to seek out a potential, otherworldly circumstance of good, that maybe, just maybe, would result in…more good. I think Sadie tries, but the reality is that a loop can only break if it severs all ties with the end that it’s contributing shape to, and in the end, Sadie is just as unable to let go of the things and reminders just as much as Sam.  But isn’t that the cycle trauma and the reality of life lived in relationship with pain? We greet grief and loss as a friend, and the choice of joy and happiness is fickle and ludicrous and downright stupid without considering the stipulations that drive the efforts of creating such a reality. A figment. A virtual. A game. And that’s where they seemed to go to create such understandings in themselves and of the world.


I’m rambling. Basically. It’s hauntingly beautiful. A codependent masterpiece of broken people, in a savage world, seeking their next escape in each other, even if they’re estranged. Their actions are driven by the potential connection with the other and it maddeningly hits so close to home. 

I could talk about so much more. The representation of chronic pain and life lived disabled and how well that represented and depicted. The translations of grief and toxic relationships. the nuance of race and racism, misogyny both external and internal, and the search for belonging through two different decades of American histories. The beauty of gaming and the creativity of the story. I could. But I’ve said too much already. 

Bruh. We get it. You’re SOOOOO enemies-to-lovers it’s crazy. I literally found it SO HARD to finish this book. I was yawning … A LOT. 

This book felt like an elongated powerless and strung along the dynamic between Kai and Paedyn without developing their characters. Like. Its fun to have banter but not when the banter is so redundant and meddlesome, it takes away from the development of a character and their potential. 

This felt rushed. I don’t think Lauren gave herself the due time and diligence of reacquainting herself with the story’s characters, plot, or even potential expansion of the world. I really struggled with the world building, and why the heck is there suddenly a sister. No no no. Sequels really do make or break the series going forward and this unfortunately ain’t it.

There’s so much more, but the book has good one liners and honestly I think focusing on Kitt more and his distress with losing his father and being thrust into ruling a kingdom could have gave the book some nuance in a way I just wasn’t gathering. Calum is an advisor?? Calum who staged a coop, calum!? Make that make sense Lauren. Also the things she could have done with Kurt regarding Paedyn and apparently his new found allegiance with Kai. Girl. Girl. Give me the pen. Please. 

I could’ve done so much more less with the whining in Paedyn’s part. Ok I’m outie, that’s it. I won’t be buying book three andddd I probably will little free library the first two 🤷🏽‍♀️

Giggling and kicking my feet !!! Ugh the Rhodes boyssssss. They’re so cute and fun. 

The academic in me was reeling. This was everything. I mean… I WAS READING THE FOOTNOTES. ON THEORIST AND SCHOLARS. WHO DIDNT EXIST. THEORIZING ON A FIELD OF STUDY ABOUT FAERIES. IT DOESN’T GET MORE NERDY AND PERFECT THAN THAT.

It was so brilliantly written also. Heather really brings her characters to life is the most unique ways and makes a plot while also expanding the depth of the narrators voice so creatively. I felt like in a piecing together the world and the characters and following a story all at once and I was locked in. Intrigued form the beginning and so cozily satisfied in the end.  

Still so good !! I haven’t read beach read since summer of 2019 and it’s STILL so good and I loved it all over again. 

January’s walk with grief and the tumultuous path she journeys to understanding the dad and herself is just so beautifully written and Guses entire arc and character reveal is just so well done and of course watching them fall in love is oh so beautiful !! 😩