So far, so yummy. At 20% in, I am loving Jonah, and even though I think Raven is a bit naive, I have high hopes that Johna will bring her around, in the best way possible.
ETA: I have read books 1-3…didn’t care for book 2 all that much, but loved book 3. Rex and Mac’s story was touching and emotional, and so many great one-liners. I will read the next in the series because I am invested in the characters, and the author doesn’t suck.
Inexpensive reads on kindle at $3.99. Read them!
I posted this picture this morning as one of my “I Believe…” posts. And I do, believe it that is.
I’ve had this picture saved for awhile now, just waiting until I felt it, so I could post it. I haven’t been posting regularly because I have been having some issues resurface lately, and I have been spending my time sinking into books with little substance, movies (which I never watch), and my own meandering thoughts. Work has been an exercise in frustration and at the same time, it has been a saving grace. I have said it before and I will say it again, children can be the most understanding and giving people in the world when you are in need of them. The beauty is that they don’t even know they are helping to make your day better, or at least tolerable. Or, like when I was separated from my husband a few years ago, they will never know that they saved me.
As for “Wake up and live”… well, I have come to the realization (which I already knew, but I have been completely ignoring), that my life and my marriage are fucked up. They have been fucked up, and somewhere along the line, I settled, and told myself that it was okay. That I am happy with a nice house and a nice car, and the ability to buy frivolous shit because I can (Coach purses and overpriced shoes come to mind). What does it matter that most days, my husband treats me like a roommate he doesn’t particularly like all that much?
I ignore blatant lies.
I ignore verbal abuse.
I ignore cheating.
On good days, I look in the mirror and think to myself, I may not be Miss America, but damn it, there has to be a man out there who wants a woman that will do nothing but love them unconditionally, for better or worse, who wants me for who I am. Who won’t lie and cheat, and talk to me like I am stupid (It wouldn’t hurt things if he also had an unholy need to touch me and have sex with me- frequently). There has to be a man out there like that, right? Or have I read one too many romance novels?
Anyhoo, I have gathered a list of therapists, and I will be calling to schedule a therapy session tomorrow. The thought makes me want to hurl; I recall all too clearly my therapy sessions when the Midnight Rider and I were separated. They were awful in their harshness and brutal honesty, and ultimately, I left therapy because I knew the therapist had led me to the “right” answer for my life path, and I chose to completely ignore it.
So here I am, 4 years later, right back where I started. Except now I am 40 instead of 36, and the thought of leaving and being alone because I am OLD is even more daunting.
WTF have I done? WTF do I do now?
At least I have the security of my absolutely meaningless material possessions.
“There’s always, always a choice. My options might really, truly suck, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a choice.”
― Jim Butcher, Cold Days
I only wish, with all my damaged soul, that I didn’t know how. That the answer hasn’t been staring me in the face for so many years I’ve lost count. That even though I know the path to take to get me there, I’m too old, too scared of being alone, too insecure in who I am and have become to make intense, life altering peace a reality.
I really should have stayed away when I left the first time. I really should have listened to everyone who tried to tell me, who told me the crushing pain would pass; but I just couldn’t feel like that anymore. 9 months almost killed me.
Perhaps someone who refuses to possess the smallest sense of pride in themselves doesn’t deserve peace. No, I think this self-inflicted shell is where I will bide my time. The shell of who I could have become.
I cannot begin to convey my disgust. This Common Core worksheet asks fourth graders to describe adultery. I know it’s blurry, but read it. And if you aren’t okay with your 8 year old having this put in front of them, I implore you, speak out! Opt your child out of this nightmare!
That isn’t enough? How about this?
How comfortable are you with school officials and the government having this information?
And these are just the beginning. This is what a liberal agenda and the government overstepping it’s bounds looks like. When this becomes acceptable and commonplace, we are no longer a government of the people, for the people, and by the people. We are a shadow of what we once were.
Nothing shows lack of restraint better than a Democrat in power.
If you are anxious, you are living in the future.
If you are depressed, you are living in the past.
If you are happy, you are living in the present.
Live in the present.
Okay, as per my usual with this series, I stay up and download the book when it drops at midnight, and proceed to sit and read – for hours. I get up for work at 5 a.m., making my day at work unpleasant, because I am tired, and all I want to do is go home and finish reading the damn book.
This time? Not so much. Yeah, I downloaded it at midnight, and yeah, I stayed up to read. But I realized a HUGE difference with this book: this time I was reading simply to see if it got any better.
I was crushed.
This is not Wrath and Beth’s book, so don’t be fooled into thinking that it is. This is a book about the BDB world and its inhabitants in general. The fact that the king and his shellan are having a kid just happens to be part of the larger story here.
Assail and Sola…okay, so I’ll freely admit, I like Assail. Hell, I even like Sola. In fact, I liked their subplot story better than the rest of the stories happening in the book. Sola is the coolest chic around although she’s a total idiot for her last decision…
Xcor and What’sHerFace…Yep. I find her so annoying at this point that I don’t even give a shit what her name is anymore. As for Xcor and the entire Band of Bedbugs, or whatever-the-fuck they are called, a giant WTF? Is anything going to actually happen with this storyline? Because again, I simply find them annoying.
iAm and Trez and another What’sHerFace. It has too many of the same elements and the same feel as the whole Phury/Zsadist/Bella story, which REALLY ticks me off because that one is my favorite in the series (tied with John Matthew’s book). I know the next book is theirs, and I have already marked it as “to read” on Goodreads, but I will mostly read it to keep up with the rest of the characters and story lines.
Where the ever-lovin HELL were Blay and the hotness of his mismatched mate? So depressing that they weren’t there.
Beth’s pregnancy was ridiculous. It made no sense. That being the case, it was actually a blessing that it wasn’t the focus of the book (as it was SUPPOSED to be).
Was there anything I liked? Well, DUH. It IS a BDB book.
I really liked how Wrath finally talked to his people. I liked how it played out and look forward to more of the same in the future.
I also really liked the story of Wrath’s parents interspersed throughout. Would have been even better if Wrath and Beth’s story was actually THEIR story. The way it is, it just reads like yet another subplot.
Assail. Gimmie more of THAT.
Sola. A non-annoying female character. Yes, please.
Overall, I am disgruntled. VERY disgruntled. I love this series. It is my most recommended PNR series. I find it very sad that now when I recommend the series, I tell them, beware, it gets a little funky after book 8…I didn’t like Payne’s story and I HATED Tohr’s story because it screws up some of the world building with the whole, unto the Fade stuff, and I am still pissed that it seems like every damn character got to come back from the friggin dead, EXCEPT Wellsie!! Qhuinn and Blay’s book was okay, but then the tragedy continues with The King.
Ward said recently that the story has to move or it dies. I completely agree. SO MOVE IT. Quit adding characters and subplots, and deal with the threads that are already hanging there, waiting to be woven in with the rest of the tapestry.
Here’s hoping that book 13 will be better. It needs to be.
Just finished reading this emotional story about forbidden love. I have to admit, when I read other reviews of this and I read the blurb, I didn’t think it could be pulled off. I mean really? A boy of 8 becomes smitten with a 21 year old married woman. The boy’s ‘rents are awful and Sebastian spends time with the nice lady Caroline.
Forward almost 10 years. Caroline moves back to California and once again meets Sebastian. However, this time he is a beautifully handsome sweetheart that has never forgotten Caroline. He pursues her quietly; showing up to help her unpack from her move, at dinner parties his parents are invited to, the beach. Until she cracks. And it is…beautiful.
But Caroline knows the problems they are facing are many, not to mention illegal.
He’s 17
She’s 30
She’s married…oops. Did I forget to mention the verbally abusive waste of space, David? Seriously, this guy will make you want to rip off his arms and then proceed to beat him to death with them. He’s just an assclown.
David, as well as Sebastian’s father, are in the military, and they live all very up-in-your-business.
The cliffhanger is brutally painful emotionally, but not one where you don’t know what happens, you do know what happens; and that’s the point.
I am starting book 2 
NOW!
ETA:
A Wordsmith's Thoughts 