Reading Responses at 2am – SPOILER ALERT!
My spoiler saturated thoughts on the books I read
This book is golden. Like the things in it actually work and changed how I go about parenting, especially the empathy and punishment sections. I like how they keep pointing out the “how would YOU feel if…”, like that we should treat our kids like they are persons who deserve care and respect, yet they still make it so you are still the parent. Everyone with a kid should read this book. Yay for reading smart books!
I’m writing a response tomorrow. I have a headache and my left eye is bugging me, but I HAD to finish it. Five stars easily.
Update:
Ok, I’m a little more awake now. Mondays are rough, but I have a few minutes.
Let’s start with oh my GOSH I’m glad I had this one in my phone and waiting because the ending to ReDawn sucked, like I think in my review for it I said hardly anything, because I was still in shock. I am SOOO glad that they start this one right after the last one ended, like there was a little bit of overlap, because if there was any gap in him dealing with his own shock I would have thrown something. When they finally did do a little bit of a break it was ok, because we had gotten to a stable enough place in the story, or at least with him. Because man, talk about PTSD, the poor guy was a mess and trying to hold it together. It was perfect that when he finally did crack he shot blades out with his mind. Side note, Spensa is going to be pissed that he gets to do that she can’t. Anyways, back to Jorgen and his mental breakdown…
I get what he was trying to do and why he was doing it, but FM was right that he needed to talk about it. And I doubt that he is going to be done talking about it, like I’m imagining him melting down with Spensa later, because something that traumatic is going to be something that is going to take a lot of work to get through, and Sanderson has won my trust with mental illness – that he just isn’t going to have some Dragon magic make it all better.
I’m really glad that I read these books after Cytonic, though maybe this last one could have been before. It was good to get an explanation for why he suddenly became an admiral when he’s a freaking teenager and it is believable enough that I can roll with it. Namely he kind of proved himself as a leader and Cobb said so so sure, it works. Enough. It works enough.
Now can we talk about how insane the slugs are? They are powerful enough to move an entire PLANET. Like, does the superiority even know what these guys are capable of doing? And knowing them they probably don’t treat them very well, probably scaring them into doing things while their slugs are nice and awesome. There was just so much awesomeness with powers and things in this book. Between it and Spensa getting a Delver attached to her soul things are shaping up for a fun fourth book.
Well, that wasn’t how I expected that to end. It was good, and each fight was an escalation, but I really don’t have anything else to say about it. I might still be in shock from that last scene. I have the next one and am going to start it.
This one turned into a “it’s short right? I should just finish it. Oh it’s 1:30am. Oops.” 😝 and I only felt mildly annoyed with myself, I was enjoying myself that much.
So quick update, I haven’t been reading again, not because of evil books that break my brain and destroy my trust in all that breaths (and some select rocks) but because I’ve been working on my Healer Academy book one again! (Gasp!) I know, it’s crazy, I’m actually doing what I’m supposed to be working on instead of all these side projects! So why have I not been reading? Because I needed to keep the story in my brain while I hammered out my synopsis, because I’ve learned the hard way that if I let my mind wander I can’t see what in the world happened in my book. So no reading for me!
Well, until two nights ago. I was rereading my book again – because it’s awesome, and I needed something to read before bed – and Amit spazzed (ok not spazzed, but you know what I mean) that I REALLY needed to read something else. I tried to make my data storage issues argument and he told me to just flipping trust him, and since this book just became available I started it.
He told me beforehand that this book was wonderful on a completely YA way (spoiling that FM and Rig get together of course because what’s a good Sanderson book without Amit dropping something on me) and it did not disappoint. Amit actually kept giving me “why are you making noises during my reading time” looks because it kept making me laugh. I especially like the jabs at Jorgen about his feeling for Spensa or just his general Jarkface-ness. Actually I was really glad I read book 3 before this one- I was able to map out what was happening like when he sees Spensa during the battle. I’m still curious to see how he gets put in charge, but those are for later books.
Overall a really fun read. And I think Amit had other motives – he made a “Fine” joke at me today, and it made me smile.
I am so tired. I’ll write a real response tomorrow. I liked it.
Update:
Ok! I was so tired I literally fell over and thought I would throw up this morning, but after a good nap – and Amit driving the kids to school – I’m alive enough to blab!
When the last book ended with her jumping dimensions I was intrigued and wanted to find out what happened. And then had to WAIT (that’s what I get for reading books live as opposed to waiting for them all to come out and then binging).
Not going to lie, I actually felt a little miserable when I saw the map at the beginning. I kept thinking about how Sanderson said how much he loves maps, and I guess I do somewhat, but for this book for some reason, it just didn’t do it for me. I was glad though that I had some reference to what the nowhere looked like as I kept reading though.
Now for annoyance time, I’ve talked in the past how upset I was with Amit when I was reading Well of Ascension and he said “did you get to the part with the talking dog?” And I brushed it off, only to find out there WAS a talking dog! Well, he did the same thing in this one when he asked me “have you gotten to the part with the dinosaur?” I wanted to throw something at him, and guess what? A minute later a freaking dinosaur showed up! UG! I yelled at him that he is just plain not allowed to talk to me period while I read a book he’s already read.
I loved the sense of exploration in this book. I got just as excited and giddy as she did, so at the end when she had to make a choice between staying and continuing having adventures or leaving to fulfill her duty, I felt for her. Like he did a really good job building up to that moment, to make it what it needed to be. And you KNEW that even though she decided to leave she would carry around a piece of heartache for the adventures she lost.
I also called it that M-Bot didn’t die. Like I didn’t buy it, though a part of me is constantly on edge after killing off the main two characters in Mystborn (he keeps saying he going to make a movie out of it but I just don’t see it happening. How can you have an action-adventure movie that ends with killing off the main two characters?). Anyways, I didn’t know how it was going to work out but I knew he wasn’t really gone, and I was right! Though how I was right was not what I expected.
Ok can we talk about Jorgen? In the first book I was alllllll over their relationship and was just dying for them to finally kiss, then when they did at the beginning of book two it was a HUGE letdown because it wasn’t built up or anything. It just sort of happened and then she was gone. Then she didn’t think about him hardly at all while on the space station. But in this one it felt like she was thinking about him coooooonstantly. Which was great and I LOVED it but it was a little jarring. And now they can talk to each other in their minds? And see each other? Ok the bathroom scene was great. I knew and hoped it would happen once Sanderson said that she can show up in reflections, and was very well pleased that this scene did in fact happen. But it isn’t all about immature giggling at him in a towel, I was also in love with how he treated and encouraged her, how he talked to her like how she talks with her crazy warrior mindset. I love it when couples match each other, though them officially being together might cause some problems. I’m pretty sure that there are probably all sorts of stuff about dating your superior officer, along with the drama of how his family will respond.
But fun relationship stuff to the side, what does he mean that now they are orbiting another planet? And how did Jorgen become ADMIRAL?! What in the world had been happening while Spensa was playing pirate!? At least I wasn’t left on such a painful cliffhanger that I’m going to spend the next who knows how many years tense in my struggle not to fall to my death, but I want the last book to come out and find their happy ending. Oh please have a happy ending.
I didn’t like this nearly as much as the previous two, especially the last one that I reread immediately after I finished it and still haven’t returned to the library. I don’t know, their relationship didn’t really feel like it was based on anything. It really just felt like they started making out and then went off from there. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVED how supportive he was. It made me think of all times I knew I had my husband 100% in my corner cheering me on. But everything else… There was a lot of sex. Not saying sex is bad, but the ratio and seer volume of sex and the explicitness of it was off-putting to me. It reminded me of book three while the last two books had reigned it in.
So what was I feeling during this book other than cuteness and eye-rolls at her description of how to give a hand job? I was feeling pretty miserable because I was reminded of college and everything that didn’t happen for me. When I left high school I was all set to succeed. I was going to become a particle physicist and believed that I could actually do it. But then I didn’t. I know that I blame my health problems on losing my dream, but if I was honest with myself I was doing badly before then. Every class I took I would do fine on the homework after TA sessions and office hours, but there weren’t that many homework sets that I could just crank out on my own. And then tests… I don’t know what it was but when I would sit down and look at the problems my mind would go blank. I had one class that I got a C in that I’m positive the prof gave me because he knew I knew the material from all the office hours I went to even though I KNEW I bombed the final. So reading about her being all smart with math, made me think of my college level math classes, and how badly I did in them. Maybe I put so much emphasis on my health making me give up my dream because I’m trying to hide from the truth – that I never was smart enough to have it in the first place.
I just reread Edenbrook for the thousandth time, and wanted more. Then I remembered this little book and it made me smile. It’s always fun to read from the guy’s perspective, especially when he’s falling in love with the girl. I need more of this in my life right now. Red Rising and books like that are totally worth reading, but they just aren’t what I need right now. What I need are best friends falling in love and guys being hopelessly devoted and girls not knowing their own hearts and ALL the happy ending you can throw at me. Because right now I just want to get away from my life for a little bit. I know, I’m being a downer and everything, but the point of all that and this and everything was to say that this book was a great way to spend an afternoon whether or not your life is hard. I’m going to make sure that I read it the next time I burn through Edenbrook.
Update: This book is so much fun. My husband walked into the room and asked why I was smiling.❤️
I’m eating up these books. Like I can’t put them down. You want to know what else I love about this author? She gives trigger warnings at the beginning of each book if there is something in it that might be triggering.
Now what did I love about this book? How obviously they worked together. It was obvious from the get go that they clicked in a forever kind of way- so I wanted to smack her when she threw it all away. I’ve noticed that’s a theme in her books, that the girl is convinced it wasn’t going to work while the guy is begging her to take a chance. But you know what? I don’t mind that I’m reading almost the same story over and over again. I wonder what the next one will be like. 😊
Update:
Ok so the next one has a hold so I just went ahead and reread this one. I think this one is easily my favorite of the series so far. The only thing that drives me crazy is how much time has passed for them! Like Caleb was finishing a masters?!? How many years after book 3 when it ends with him saying he wanted to marry her?!? And I want a better update of Esther and Johnathan! Blaaaaaa I need to remember that the target audience isn’t me, who got married a year after I got engaged and then at 23. Maybe that’s why I liked this book so much- it was like my story with my husband. We were best friends who decided to have a fun fling before graduation, which led to a speedy realization that this worked really well so we should keep doing it. They could write a book about us. 😜
I feel like I should say something about the abortion stuff in the book, but then realized that I don’t have to. Maybe that makes me a bad reviewer or something, but then I don’t write book reviews.
I really like this book. Maybe I’ll get my husband to read it too and tell me what he thinks. Maybe I’ll write the author and tell her I like her book. I’ve never done that before. Yay for new and exciting things!
Update:
Yes I read it again.
Something bad happened in my life, or really it happened last spring. Yes this has to do with the Redeeming Love disaster. What I didn’t tell you all back then is that it was actually so much worse, so infinitely worse, and two days ago I was reminded of that dark time again.
So what did I do? I reached out to my oldest best friend who knew everything and talked to her about it. It made me feel better, or at least more stable, but then she asked what it was I had just read, because she knows me so well. And everything lit up inside me as I started to tell her about this book. I shared why I loved it, some of my favorite scenes, and just gushed so much that the darkness was pushed to the side. Then she gave me a homework assignment, to read it again.
So I did. And I caught myself smiling over and over again. But when I got near the end I started panicking again, because I knew that the darkness was waiting to come back. So what did I do? I wrote fanfic in my head. Of him finding out about her whale towels. Of her first time going to a real party with him. Of Murderface discovering his new home. It all gave me warm fuzzies and made it so I could fall asleep.
So do I recommend this book? Yes, yes I do.
This book was exactly what I needed, and I knew this author would deliver. I know I complained about the sex scenes in the last book, but I decided to risk it because I really needed a book like this right now.
I’ve been having some health complications, and extreme stressors with this volunteer organization I work with, and I needed a safe escape.
And these two were cute. Yeah I felt like smacking her over the head a couple of times for not seeing that he was serious about her, and maybe him for not getting what it was like to be a woman in the hard fields (something I loved how it’s being addressed in these books), but it all worked out. Honestly I was expecting her to get blamed for the delay and then he would swoop in and save her-ish, but that isn’t what happened. Which is fine.
I want more. I’m getting the next one.
Update:
I decided to reread this one since there wasn’t a hold on it while I waited for the next one after the next one, and it was an ok read this time. I think I was still riding off of reading the next book that I loved, and I guess I was comparing it. But it was still fun to read.
This book was ok. Maybe because I was coming off my high from Murderbot, the writing didn’t do very much for me. The plot was pretty solid, but I didn’t buy her and Teddy’s relationship. He didn’t seem real, and that’s not in a dreamboat way. I don’t know, something was just bland about the whole book. Honestly, I couldn’t put it down because I just wanted to get it over with. I know, I’m being harsh. A solid three stars- I’m not going to tell you not to read it, but I’m not going to tell you to either.
Reading Responses at 2am - SPOILER ALERT!