♫ | state of grace by taylor swift this love is brave and wild
╰› ⊹₊ ⟡༄ mini review : don't have much to say other than this book was perfect. there w4 ☆
♫ | state of grace by taylor swift this love is brave and wild
╰› ⊹₊ ⟡༄ mini review : don't have much to say other than this book was perfect. there was quite a bit of serious topics and danger for a contemporary, but what do you expect from a firefighter book?? I love how katherine center couples are always a little bit (or a lot) broken and jagged on the edges, but they fit together perfectly like a heart ...more
࿔*:･ﾟ ❝We're always living days we can never get back. So we make new ones.❞ ･ﾟ:･*࿔
I'm absolutely blown away by this book; even more so than I was the
࿔*:･ﾟ ❝We're always living days we can never get back. So we make new ones.❞ ･ﾟ:･*࿔
I'm absolutely blown away by this book; even more so than I was the first time I read it. I'm blown away by stefania podgórska and everything she stood for and everything she did. I'm blown away once again by the sheer horror of how the jews were treated during wwII, something that no humans should have to go through. and I'm blown away by sharon cameron, her talent and tact at crafting such a meticulously researched and beautiful story. sharon cameron, it seems, understood stefania on a personal level. It truly felt like I was reading a diary or a memoir.
࿔*:･ﾟ ❝The world is beautiful, but people make it ugly.❞ ･ﾟ:･*࿔
imagine that you are living in a small apartment with an SS officer next door and two Nazi nurses sharing one of your two bedrooms. every day when you walk to work you see more officers, and occasionally you'll see the blue body of someone who was hanged for hiding jews. you constantly pass signs describing what will be done to jew sympathizers. your Nazi nurses are extremely annoyed by the rats in your attic.
except they aren't rats. You are hiding thirteen jews in your tiny attic, and you could be caught and shot through the head at any second.
such is the horror and fear that stefania podgórska experienced every day, at every second. It's a wonder she didn't buckle and break under the pressure; I certainly would have. and it's even more of a wonder how many close calls she somehow emerged from mostly unscathed. God had His hand on her, guiding her, and protecting her so she could save thirteen of His people.
࿔*:･ﾟ ❝It was wrong to paint all men the same color. Whether they were Jewish or Polish. Or even German.❞ ･ﾟ:･*࿔
someone without a bone of writing talent in their body could write about this and I would be mesmerized; the story is simply so astounding. But sharon cameron is one of the most talented authors I have read, and she tells this story better than I imagine anyone else could. every minute detail was researched and perfected by reading stefania's secret memoir and talking to people who knew stefania personally. stefania podgórska is the definition of a hidden hero in history, but this novel brings her story to light in a beautiful way. The Light in Hidden Places is a book that I think everyone should read, even if historical fiction isn't your preferred genre or even if you hardly ever read, because it's a story everyone should know.
࿔*:･ﾟ ❝The sky is is full and bright above us, shining down in all the hidden places. Because somehow, in some way, we are alive.❞ ･ﾟ:･*࿔
i am in a MASSIVE review slump but i hope to one day do this book justice with a good, long review with my 100 favorite quotes and analyses of the chai am in a MASSIVE review slump but i hope to one day do this book justice with a good, long review with my 100 favorite quotes and analyses of the characters which i will probably cry while writing!!...more
❝ Life is more interesting if you allow yourself to get lost every now and then. How else do you discover things? ❞
this was a wonderful conclusion! it❝ Life is more interesting if you allow yourself to get lost every now and then. How else do you discover things? ❞
this was a wonderful conclusion! it has just as much swoony romance as the other two in the series, and lots more danger and action regarding the Fire Eyes. They were more of a subplot in the first two, but in this book they were the main focus of the characters.
my favorite thing about this entire series is just how realistic the characters are. They aren't just young, perfect, untested young people falling in love with no strings attached. They're broken. They have messy pasts. Their sins are glaringly obvious. But they learn to love each other and the Lord despite it all, and it's beautiful.
I especially loved the romance in this one. Ella was one of my favorite characters in the first two books and I loved how her sunny personality compared with Cayton's grumpy one. They made for an adorable couple and definitely one of my favorites of Roseanna's so far!
╰› if you love Christian fiction, historical fiction, regency, romance, or all four, I highly recommend this series! it's well worth your time <3
❝ The rest of the world is filled to bursting with ill-tempered people. It is my solemn duty not to be one of them. ❞
—content and trigger warnings (minor spoilers!): this series dealt with a lot of heavy topics. In the second installment, the main character was a victim of sexual assault. there's nothing quite as drastic in this one, though it does mention sexual assault a few times, but everything else is kept to a minimum. one of the characters with a mini pov was a mistress, but it never shows or directly mentions anything remotely explicit. a woman suffers from losing an infant to a crib death. a woman dies in childbirth. One of the men is revealed to be a bloodthirsty psychopath who has an obsession with injuring people. The main character is kidnapped by a man who believes himself to be in love with her (he never inappropriately touches her). Basically, if you've had any past experiences with sexual assault or losing a child or mother in childbirth, I'd say tread carefully with this series. stay safe and ily all!! ...more
❝ We're all good. We're all bad. The hero in our own story. The villain in someone else's. ❞
The one time I bought a book without reading it firs2.75 ⭐
❝ We're all good. We're all bad. The hero in our own story. The villain in someone else's. ❞
The one time I bought a book without reading it first. *loud tsk-ing*
This was not a bad book by any means; Mrs. White is a very talented author. But the plot was very sparse and slow-paced. Aside from mini villain pov, there wasn't even really a plot for the main characters until the climax. It's mainly a romance. Which would have been fine, since I adore character-driven stories, if the romance hadn't been blander than unsalted mashed potatoes and if the main character wasn't the most infuriating character since Alina Starkov.
Let me introduce Margot De Wilde's character to you. Margot is almost eighteen, but she has the mind of an extremely intelligent elderly gentleman. She sees the world as an equation to be solved. She's so dang smart that she literally thinks and prays in numbers. She works as a codebreaker in a secretive Room 40 with a bunch of ✨men✨, creatures likeminded to her just not as smart, obviously. Margot eats lunch alone, because everyone expects her to eat with the fellow young woman who work as secretaries, but she despises them because they're all brainless gossips with only room in their head for fluff and fashion and she's the first female to ever exist who every had any common sense.
Then Drake Elton comes along. Drake is very hot, and he asks very good questions, and he can't resist any challenge. He immediately is smitten with the very quick-witted and sarcastic and hilarious Margot De Wilde. Everything she does becomes even more annoying from his pov because he is obsessed with her and thinks she's ✨really great✨.
As you might have guessed, after lots of flirtation and Margot being too good for Drake, they fall in love.
Now people, I really wanted to like Margot. She had her moments, such as this one:
"wait just a blighted moment. Do you mean to tell me-" "Shut up, Camden. My feeble feminine intelligence requires a bit of quiet for such tasks."
But overall, she made me want to punch her in her super-smart face. Which made her romance, while still cute, overall very meh for me, and I thought Drake deserved a lot better than he was getting with her.
I expected a bit more from Roseanna, especially after just previously reading The Reluctant Duchess (which was beautiful and gripping), but the next book in the series (about different characters thank goodness) looks good so I'll probably still pick that one up.
❝ I love to watch you and try to imagine the thoughts pouring through your mind... I picture them like a whirlwind, each thought a bejeweled raindrop. Beautiful storms of brilliance. ❞
happy reading my loves <33 remember to stay safe and drink enough water!! ...more
“Worries and fears were not allowed in the ballroom, thank you very much.”
₊⊹⁀➴ ignore me reading this in fall. christmas starts⁺₊❅ ⋮ four stars ☆
“Worries and fears were not allowed in the ballroom, thank you very much.”
₊⊹⁀➴ ignore me reading this in fall. christmas starts right after halloween, right??
this was just the most adorable holiday novella ever! Ofc I would have loved more scarjulian content, but I ate up the crumbs stephanie fed us. And tellalegend are adorable as well. I loved the christmas story and the quirky little details, though my favorite part was definitely the illustrations– they are stunning!! I can’t stop staring at the julian ones ...more
read this in like four (?) sittings and now im depressed. where's my man who would climb a tree and rescue a cat whilst talking to it in a baby voice read this in like four (?) sittings and now im depressed. where's my man who would climb a tree and rescue a cat whilst talking to it in a baby voice and is obsessed with it but would give it up for a chance with me ...more
❝My father told me once that the only fools who sailed through the Narrows were the dead and the dying. Sometimes, I think I’m both.❞
when written well
❝My father told me once that the only fools who sailed through the Narrows were the dead and the dying. Sometimes, I think I’m both.❞
when written well, prequels are some of my favorite books to read. They can incorporate lots of little easter eggs and foreshadowing, and even reveal things about characters from the original book or series. I had been eying Saint up since before I even read the Fable duology; something about the creepy yet mesmerizing cover and the premise that promised a haunting story intrigued me– and it definitely delivered.
I loved both Saint and Isolde in the original series, even though we saw little of one and frankly none of the other. The suspense and mystery was built up so skillfully around their characters that I couldn’t quell a rising need to learn more about them– another thing that made this such an unputdownable read. There was something so potent about seeing the man who climbed his way to a place of power by the skin of his teeth while he was still a nobody sailor with a nearly wrecked ship and lots of ambition; same to see the legendary Isolde when she was just a scared teenager. Clove was also one of my favorites and I loved him and his relationship with Saint.
This series is not known for being lighthearted or cute, but there was something so innocent about the romance in this book that made it different from the Fable duology. Isolde was and remained to be, long after her death, Saint’s one weakness and the only person who can get past the masks he puts on for the world. The ending was perfectly creepy and set up beautifully for the next series. If it weren’t for the spoilers that this book has for the Fable duology, I would even recommend reading this beforehand as it really gives a nice set up for the version of the Narrows that Fable takes place in.
╰⪼ overall, this was a captivating book, and definitely a series that I highly recommend!
❝There were some sins you paid for your whole life. I knew that now. ❞
❝ Life gave us plenty of opportunities to be afraid, and an equal number of chances to punch those fears in the nose. ❞
I become more and more of a sta❝ Life gave us plenty of opportunities to be afraid, and an equal number of chances to punch those fears in the nose. ❞
I become more and more of a stacey lee fan with every book I read from her. She has such a unique and beautiful writing voice, sprinkled with metaphors and spins on old sayings, that sparks life into every story she creates.
kill her twice is her first foray into the murder mystery genre, and it added some maybe darker elements to her usually lighthearted style. This book is set in 1932 Los Angeles, with a murder of hollywood star lulu wong. The story itself is fun and easy to follow, though the plot dragged a bit in the middle in regards to the actual murder plot. but there were enough other subplots going on that it was never boring.
I adored the characters here. This book has the dual pov of two very different sisters; dutiful, meek May, the oldest child, and free-spirited Gemma, the sometimes problematic middle child (coming from a middle child myself). I loved them both equally, how they had such a beautiful relationship, and how they perfectly balanced each other out. They were amazing leads.
My one complaint is the ending, which I’ve noticed is stacey lee’s weakest point in multiple books of hers. The climax was satisfying, but the ending itself felt quite abrupt and multiple plot threads were not fully wrapped up— including the romance! You have to give us a resolution for the romance! my hopeless romantic heart was not satisfied ...more
❝Perhaps they were none of them more than what their darkest moments made them...and how they emerged from it when day came again.❞
This is not a 4.5 ⭐
❝Perhaps they were none of them more than what their darkest moments made them...and how they emerged from it when day came again.❞
This is not a fun, swoony romance. This book is heavy. It's rough at times. It deals with some uncomfortable things that most people don't like to read about, but nonetheless something that needs to be addressed. It isn't the deepest and most excruciating book with this topic I've ever read, but I didn't expect much depth in this form at all from this author, so it deeply impacted me.
This book talks about love in a way you don't hear it discussed too often, but it's the reality. Love isn't just an emotion you feel. Love is a choice. Love is a sacrifice. Brice chooses to love Rowena and obey the Lord, and slowly he helps her heal from her brokenness and trauma and learn to love him back and, more importantly, love the Lord.
In the first book, Brice was a bit of a more lighthearted character. Kind of a shameless flirt. But he is given loads more character and depth. He was a flawed man, like everyone, but he had a deep longing to do what the Lord was calling him to do. I loved his character arc and I think he's my favorite Roseanna love interest so far ...more
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