this book really made me wanna get out of my bed, stop reading till 4 am, and instead wake up at 4 am, go on 5 hour hikes, go camping a3.75-4 stars ✩⋆
this book really made me wanna get out of my bed, stop reading till 4 am, and instead wake up at 4 am, go on 5 hour hikes, go camping and generally just go outside...
... but am i gonna do all this?
[image]
there's just something so peaceful about the outdoors and small town in fiction. like, it just makes me feel so comfy, just- soo at peace, ya know? i don't know why. is it maybe because it reminds me of twilight aka one of my comfort movies? yes, of fucking course.
and the fact that this book has found family/home trope, small town, a dilf and his cute adorable teenage kid, slowburn (no, like, this is VERY slowburn guys), grumpy/sunshine trope? just- I M M A C U L A T E.
but anyways a little backstory,
⤷ this book is about Aurora De La Torre (h) who just got dumped recently by her famous dickhead boyfriend. a year later, she decides to move back to her childhood home and do many of the things her mother used to do. and lo and behold, her landlord, Tobias Rhodes (H), at the new place she was staying at? yeah, he didn't want her there because his son, Amos secretly allowed her to rent their garage apartment. but as y'all know, sunshine characters always win over the grumpy assholes over time.
this gave me KA vibes, mainly the gamble and sweet dreams and the feelings i felt while reading this were close to what i felt when i read my favorite MZ books (kulti, wall of winnipeg and wait for it) so if you like any of these, im pretty sure you'll like this book.
➳ characters aight let's talk about Aurora first kay? yeah, i love this bish. i really do. she reminds me of Diana with a little bit of Sal mainly because they all annoy the grumpy H's all the damn time with their sunshine, optimistic personality which i love to see in MZ heroines. i just love reading about her journey when it comes to grief, honoring her mom, and just overall realizing that the "love" she had was shit and she now knows what she...more
so we’re all collectively suffering again this time of year by reading dramione fics huh?
* * *
first read (2021) — 4.75 reread — upgraded to 5 stars ✩⋆
so we’re all collectively suffering again this time of year by reading dramione fics huh?
* * *
first read (2021) — 4.75 stars ✩⋆
this ✨dramione✨ fic is one of the most depressing things i've ever read and i fucking love it.
everyone- and i mean everyone was raving about this on tiktok so i was like ehh okay i'll read this. it's dark? depressing? soul-crushing? everyone died? voldy and the death eaters won the war? hell yes.
[image]
my shipping status is a mess okay? bear with me. ➵ movies: harry x hermione // there's a reason why PoA is my favorite. ➵ books: ron x hermione // that slowburn, friends to lovers, bicker like an old married couple dynamic? fuuuuck yes. ➵ fanon: DRAMIONE ALL THE FUCKING WAY // the enemies to lovers, complex anti-heroes that only have a soft spot for the person they love and has a grey moral background just hits different.
✧ p l o t
↳ it has been at least 2 years since Voldy won the war and killed Harry Potter and tortured everyone from the Order. after 16 months of being in solitary confinement Voldy discovered that Hermione is hiding something from her memories.
he decides to put her in the breeding program where the surviving females of the Order act as a "surrogate" for his death eaters because the fertility rates are low amongst the purebloods. Hermione is assigned to Voldy's right-hand man who is none other than Draco-fucking-Malfoy aka the High Reeve aka Voldy's General.
so yeah anyways, i fucking loved this. there's no point in sugar coating anything. this was, as Ronald would say, bloody brilliant. this didn't even feel like a fanfic because the writing is that good. and @SenLinYu and @AVENDELL bishhhh i fucking love y'all thank you for creating this masterpiece and the most beautiful, yet haunting fanfic/fanart i've ever seen.
➵ TW: rape, attempted rape, violence, torture, mass murder, war, physical and mental abuse, just- EVERYTHING. this book is really dark right off the bat so keep that in mind.
p.s. this is gonna be a long ass review because i have so much emotions and i need to let it out so thx for listening to my ted talk in advance ♡
\\ WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD AND MY INNER NERD IS GONNA COME OUT IN THIS REVIEW DON'T JUDGE ME //
･ﾟﾟ･｡｡･ﾟﾟ･ PART I: HANDMAIDS TALE 2.0 ･ﾟﾟ･｡｡･ﾟﾟ･．
➵ November 2004 - March 2005
of-fucking-course this book starts with Umbridge "accidentally" leaving Hermione in solitary confinement for 16 months. that bitch. you know, i've always wondered what it was like if Voldy won the war. like what would happen ya know? but then-
"Then [Lucius Malfoy] cast a curse that turned Ron's blood gradually into molten lead. Hermione watched as the curse slowly crept through Ron's body, destroying him from the inside out... They had left Molly for last. So she'd watch all her children die... Remus had lasted hours longer than anyone else. His lycanthropy kept healing him until he just hung there, unresponsive. Finally, someone shot the Killing Curse at him out of boredom."
[image]
i aLwaYS WoNDereD whAT wOulD HapPEN iF voLdY WoN okaaaayy well shit. i never imagined it that way sheesh. and apparently Voldy avada kedavra'd Harry 6 times, hung his body up the Astronomy Tower so the Order survivors can see his rotten corpse, all the surviving females are forced to be a part of this "breeding" programs as "surrogates" for the Death Eaters because most of the pureblood females are infertile or barren and they need to procreate more purebloods so...
... yeah. this book is d-a-r-k, DARK.
my girl Hermione was so broken in this part. she lost some of her memories from the war, she was sold to Draco, had depression, anxiety, agoraphobia, ptsd, and survivor's guilt. she's also raped by Draco for 6 months (5 times a month because of the breeding program) and is being tortured by Legilimency (where someone invades your memories and apparently it hurts like a bitch), almost raped by Graham Montague, and had her eye gouged out by Draco's wife, Astoria (don't worry, he and Astoria never did anything they hated each other).
yeah... our girl has been through a lot here. and Malfoy? hated him (calm down i only hated him in this part when i didn't know wtf was going on). i just wanted to-
[image]
but also... not because High Reeve Draco is scary af.
listen. i knew something was up with him because we get glimpses of the real Draco. and his reaction when he needs to "breed"? yeah not a normal reaction. i can tell he was in pain and he was just holding it in. i knew something was up. and i was right!! when i found out what i found out- THE PAIN OH MY GOD.
anywho this part ends with Hermione getting pregnant and she gets into a coma and her memories start coming back.
･ﾟﾟ･｡｡･ﾟﾟ･PART II: DRAMIONE >>> THE ORDER･ﾟﾟ･｡｡･ﾟﾟ･．
➵ flashback; March 2002 - July 2003
ok ok. this is where shit really begins. so this is the part where EVERY. TEA. IS. SPILLED. we finally find out what the fuck happened and why she lost certain parts of her memories.
so we find out that Hermione is one of the main healers and dark curse specialist, so she's in charge of healing practically everybody. she's a "nOn ACtiVe MEmBer" of the Order who "doesn't fight" (lol). this begins with Kingsley and Moody secretly selling her to Draco because he offered to be their spy and he wanted her for some reason.
honestly this was my mood the whole time:
[image]
everyone was my hurting my babies and that is unacceptable.
Harry, Ron, Dumbledore's Army and the rest of the Order GOT...more
but can i please be adopted into the Falcone family?? ... PLEASE?
okay nothing really happened here but also a lot of things happened?? it was just chabut can i please be adopted into the Falcone family?? ... PLEASE?
okay nothing really happened here but also a lot of things happened?? it was just chaotic goodness and i was living for it.
in the first half, it's just pov of Nino and Kiara during twisted pride and then the last half is just them being a big family, Kiara and Nino trying to get pregnant, Adamo struggling from his torture, and drama with the Falcone bros' estranged, evil mother.
➵ FALCONE BROS AND KIARA ˗ˏˋ Adamo, Savio & Kiara ˎˊ˗ ok gotta be honest, i liked Adamo and Kiara's relationship more in twisted emotions just cuz Adamo teaching Kiara how to play video games and being such a softie to her will forever stay in my heart but they were still very cute here tho!! i... think. hmm idk. but Kiara being a mother/older sister figure to both of them and baking them cookies and her banter with Savio??
[image]
and i awww'ed at least 198493 times. also, WE MUST PROTECT ADAMO AT ALL COSTS. i don't care what i need to do but my bb needs protection asap. i mean, he did some things that kinda, high key annoyed me but still. poor Adamo.
also me actually liking Savio?? for once?? wooow. who would've thought huh? certainly not this bishh. however, im currently reading his book right now and wtf SOMEONE GET ME OUT OF THIS MESS. I HATE IT HERE. help meeee.
[image]
im sorry but Savio in his own book is just a no for me and i just started reading. ugh it's ruining my mood.
˗ˏˋ Remo & Kiara ˎˊ˗ ok now these two are my favorite in this book i mean look at this ✧ ...more
i have a love/hate relationship with second chance romance mainly because they have tropes i absolutely hate where H 2.75 stars ✧
oof this was painful.
i have a love/hate relationship with second chance romance mainly because they have tropes i absolutely hate where H is content with his life without the h, while h suffers and pines over H ← that's usually the case 99.9% of the time. but also, i like torturing myself and making myself suffer through the pain and angst. why do i keep doing this to myself you ask?
[image]
well... i don't know. when someone tells me to do something, i do the opposite. it is what it iss. and by the way, this review is going to be filled with S P O I L E R S so be warned, folks!
so this is about Ezra and Kimba's story. they were childhood best friends and had their first kiss the same night Ezra left Kimba when they were only 13 years old. get this, 24 YEARS goes by and both have moved on and quite frankly, at least in my perspective, kind of forgot about each other.
"It doesn't feel funny to me. It feels tragic that the person I thought I'd know all my life is now a veritable stranger. Someone whose sentences I used to be able to finish. The few secrets I had at that age, Kimba kept. Now I don't know her at all."
24 years is a long ass time. that's my whole life plus 2 years!! that's a lot.
and in those years, both have moved on with others. Kimba had a lot of hookups and no-strings attached relationships, while Ezra had a 10-year relationship with Aiko and has a kid with her.
"They are a family. Aiko is not just some girl he found on Tinder and then decided it's quits. He hasn't been with anyone but her for ten years, and they have a son together. Things happened fast and things just happened. It ain't over 'til it's over, and if anyone gets hurt when things go south, it'll be you."
and boy did it hurt. thankfully, the OW drama wasn't too painful when Ezra and Kimba reunited because the first scene of Ezra at the beginning of part 2 was him breaking things off with Aiko. oh, and they were never married by the way. they were having problems for a long time and he even admitted that they were together for that long because of their child.
anyways, everything was going so well and the romance between them was fast but nonetheless passionate. i love how the writing clearly, and powerfully conveys how much they passionately love and miss one another. everything was all fine and dandy but then...
[image]
IT CAME OUT OF NOWHERE. it literally hit me in the face like a wrecking ball tf???
Aiko comes home and let's us know that she is pregnant with Ezra's baby!!! now, knowing this and the fact that Kimba also has perimenopause is just painful. can you imagine finally having the love of your life back in your life but then you have to watch them be a family with another woman, knowing that you may not have that?? it. is. PAINFUL.
"Will wanting him mean accepting something I know for me is wholly unacceptable?"
not only this but they were literally having sex at his and OWs place with all their family pictures plastered on the wall, rubbing the fact that they've done a lot in Kimba's face.
honestly, im glad that Ezra was fighting for Kimba and was literally begging her to give him a chance but he was lowkey selfish. couldn't he understand how painful this was for Kimba?? and this drama was just unnecessary in my humble opinion. it just felt... wrong. i know love is painful and not all rainbows and unicorns but damn.
also, with how innocent and passionate their childhood love was, im actually very surprised that BOTH of them didn't try to find each other and it took them 20+ years to reunite. i know they separated in the late 90s but heeellooooo. what happened when Facebook was created?? and obviously with my neurotic obsessive behavior, if i calculated it right, he wasn't with Aiko when Facebook was created sooo... im just saying.
after that little bomb dropped, they separated for 1.5 years and got together pretty quickly after that. both were not with other people.
but overall, this just made me so sad for Kimba. i know heroine had a lot of sexual partners throughout the years but i wish she actually fell in love with another person too. equality and all that. but nope. she actually had to "force herself to like someone and fuck them".
i don't know what's more painful,
↳ H being a ho or ↳ H falling in love with OW and having a kid with them.
i honestly don't. but the same thing always happens, h always suffers and has to go through the most pain. this is why second chance romance are a double-edged sword for me.
anyways, all these things i did not like aside, i like Ezra and Kimba as a character. they're both quite literally, career goals and that's coming from me, a criminology student. BUT although i didn't like this because of personal preferences doesn't mean that this was bad. this was actually really good! the writing was great especially when it comes to the MCs passionate love for one another and the angst was good but yeah... that little drama at the end was a no for me. also, im a moody reader so if i was in a different mood while reading this, i probably would have rated it higher but for now, i'll stick with this one.
AND, the diversity and representation in this is impeccable. i loved learning about the different cultures represented here and you could really tell ms. Kennedy did her research. i really appreciate that like YES bishhh. flavors!! so many flavors *chef's kiss*
also, i just wanna say that i have a girl crush on the book cover model. like girl who are YOU cuz you gorgeous ✨...more
as i've said before, this book is based on where i live and with that in mind, if guys like Zeus actually existed here?? reread (aug 2020) — 3.5 stars
as i've said before, this book is based on where i live and with that in mind, if guys like Zeus actually existed here?? i- i would proudly ✨simp✨. no joke. i would give up reading (well, ok no) and go outside... and simply simp.
[image]
✧ tropes
↳ MC romance, age gap (19 years), forbidden (heroine's dad is Hero's rival), sick heroine, star-crossed lovers (maybe?? idk).
anywho. the reason why i enjoyed rereading this is because of Zeus (H), of course, but also because of the cute penpal moments we got in the beginning. Lou (h) was soo cute as a 7 year old oh my god. i just wanted to adopt her.
now let's get into the SPOILER TALK
➪ there's a little bit of OM drama here where Lou was dating Reece after meeting Zeus for the first time after 10 years. they "dated" for at least 4 months but were never exclusive. they apparently did "hand and mouth stuff" and- wait sorry, forgot to say they did that a lot. and yes, she cheated on him because she was thirsting over Zeus and was in a full-on relationship with him before she even broke things off with Reece.
➪ as for OW drama, Zeus just makes out with someone in front of Lou the second time they meet again to let her know he's not there for romance or flowers because he's a monster blah blah blah.
➪ also!!! i wish we actually get to see the development of Lou's character from Louise Lafayette to Loulou Fox because that development happened with the OM (Reece) and, well, i wanted to see that change with Zeus. and also, this was told and not shown.
➪ and y'all know i love a good romantic development and honestly, i didn't really like it here because it felt kinda fast. i just wanted a little more push and pull between the two as i was craving more drama and angst especially since this has the age-gap, forbidden romance tropes. i don't know... i just get bored easily nowadays but ehh they got together fairly quick. i thought the reunion would also be mindblowing but ehh it wasn't.
➪ when that Mute scene came up? i...
[image]
yeah... let's not talk about that. it was depressing.
_______________________________
all in all, i think i enjoyed this more the first time i read this but again, they got together kinda fast so i got kinda bored after unfortunately. nevertheless, my mans Zeus? yeah he's mine sooo. i call dibs sorry.
also, i learned some interesting facts here as well like British Columbia has the best wEeD... hmm.. didn't know that. interesting. what to do with that kind of info..