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𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖍𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖙𝖘 𝖇𝖗𝖔𝖐𝖊 𝖎𝖓 𝖕𝖊𝖗𝖋𝖊𝖈𝖙 𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖒𝖔𝖓𝖞

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𝔱𝔢𝔫𝔡𝔢𝔯 𝔥𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔱𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔦𝔫𝔤𝔰

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The Roses of Heliogabalus (detail), 1898 oil on canvas Lawrence Alma-Tadema

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ig credit: jafren_marcelo77

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Every time I remember Thalia's actress in the show is British I laugh. Please keep her British. I need to see Percy making fun of her accent like "bit sad innit pinecone face" when he gets pissed and Thalia electrocuting him with four lightning bolts in a row. It would be extremely in character

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𝔴𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔪𝔢𝔪𝔬𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔰 𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔪𝔞𝔡𝔢 𝔬𝔣

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"The days go by but the sheer pain in me never subsides."

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Book Bites: Volume 3

~All of my book reviews~

Hello everyone! It’s been a minute, but I was super busy over the holidays, and I finally got some time to write some reviews so I’m going to do the last three from 2024 that I was meaning to do. I did spend the first month-ish of the year just rereading series so I'll start writing reviews for the new books I read in 2025 here soon now that I've knocked out a couple. But, in the meantime, hopefully you all enjoy these! 

Inferno’s Heir – Tiffany Wang ☆☆☆☆★ 

This book follows Teia, the princess of Erisia and half-sister of the soon to be king, Jura, a cruel man who's planning to kill Teia, as well as many others in his kingdom, after he’s crowned. In a last-ditch effort, Teia joins the rebels to betray them to Jura, promising her brother the rebel’s figurehead who is said to have control over fire, a power only the royal family has, in exchange for her life. Though after befriending them, she starts to have her doubts and considers destroying the monarchy once and for all, or perhaps even becoming queen herself. I honestly had a blast reading this book, it’s a unique spin on a concept that we see a lot of in YA fiction of a tyrant king who is opposed by an underground rebellion with a young female figurehead, but instead of following the figurehead we follow the princess of the kingdom who has a lot to lose, and gain, from the rebellion. The book asks the question, “do the means justify the ends” which is interesting to see in a YA fantasy book of this kind. There is also a genuinely morally gray main character, and not in the book-tok way of “ass hole man who’s an ass hole to everyone but is hot so the audience calls him morally gray” but Teia is actually morally gray, you don’t know if you should be rooting for her or not throughout most of the book. I did knock off one star though because the romance plot felt like more of an afterthought and honestly wasn’t fleshed out properly enough for me to care, though I do see potential for it to be a bigger plot point in the sequel which I’m excited for. I think if you’re in to books like Red Queen and Powerless this book is definitely for you, it has a tyrannical kingdom, magic powers, and a compelling main character, on top of good world building that will have you hooked.  

The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller ☆☆☆☆☆ 

I finally caved to peer pressure, both from everyone on the internet praising this book and also a friend of mine who I accidentally keep making read my favorite books, so I need to start doing the same for them. If you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of years, The Song of Achilles is an interpretation of the Iliad, telling the story of the mythological Achilles through the eyes of his friend, and lover, Patroclus. Everyone and their mother have read this book and given it rave reviews for a good reason, this book was written by a classics teacher who was able to take all the mythical elements of the story and ground them in an actual historical time period that makes it tangible despite all the magic going on. Also, the story has a unique perspective because we aren’t following the hero through his eyes, but through the eyes of the person closest to him who is extremely biased, so we see Achillies as a perfect hero who can do no wrong. It was such an emotional read, from the beginning when we learn about Patroclus’ troubled childhood through the end with the events of the Trojan War. This book also doesn’t shy away from Patroclus and Achillies’ romantic relationship, especially since a lot of modern retellings refuse to acknowledge that a great Greek hero like Achillies could be anything but straight, and we as the readers get to see how their relationship progresses from an innocent childhood love to a strong love that becomes a pillar of the Trojan War. I highly recommend this book if you want a good cry, because the ending will do that to you, and if you want to read a queer story based in Greek mythology.  

Where the Library Hides – Isabel Ibañez ☆☆☆☆★ 

Following the events of What the River Knows (shameless plug to my review for that), we’re reunited with Inez and Whit as they try to find Inez’s mother and take down her criminal empire while dealing with the ups and downs of their relationship. I will give the disclaimer that I read this book in a day which was a fever dream in and of itself since I was so engrossed in the story, I felt like I was actually there which is a compliment to the writing. Speaking of, in my review of the first book I mentioned how the writing was really only good for like the last fourth and I’m glad to say that the writing has vastly improved for this book and we got rid of the whole “forgetting to switch languages thing” that Inez kept doing in the first book. I also love how Whit gets a personality this time around that isn’t just “be hot and broody” he does things that have consequences with his relationship with Inez and he has to work to earn back her trust. I felt like this book was more character driven than the first one since the expedition wasn’t a part of this book, so we got to spend more time with the characters and watching them grow. I did knock a star off for the villain reveal because that was absolute bull shit and I hated it, for the sake of not spoiling it I’m not going to give any other details but if you all want to hear me rant about that, let me know. I absolutely loved the conclusion to this series and there was some for a possible spin-off series starring Whit’s younger sister which I will be anxiously waiting for if that is happening.  

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A new addition to my collection

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Winter Tea and Summer Memories by Sophie Fehrenbach

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Here’s my controversial take: people who only read “spicy” books, or refuse to read any books that don’t have aggressive smut scenes are porn addicts

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here are my top 5 favorite moments kaz brekker insulted someone to their face :

"always one step ahead aren't you?" "when it comes to you I'd say I have a running start"

"I had a question. about your mother and whether the rumors were true?"

"this is what happens when stupid people start making big plans"

"boys like you weren't meant to get ideas helvar"

"I'm superstitious not stupid" "you can be both you know"

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i want to be adored

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A really great person is the person who makes every person feel great. ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

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books upon books upon books

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lost in a world of forgotten books