tired of working hard, let me be a romance girlie in peace. let me frolic in flower fields and watch romcoms all day and read about fictional couples and make playlists about my favourite characters and fantasize about falling in love.

Eliza Lin from “This Time It’s Real” by Ann Liang 🌸 (this drawing is from February lol)

instagram 🍡 @ opal.stars

if you could see the sun by ann liang

and everything about this moment is so lovely and so fragile in its loveliness that i'm almost afraid to hold it

Top Final Sentences of 2023

He knew that on the day of his death he would see her face and he could hope to carry that beauty into the darkness with him, the last pagan on earth, singing softly upon his pallet in an unknown tongue. Cormac McCarthy, from The Passenger

And there are so many silences to be broken. Audre Lorde, from “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action”

For Guinevere Tallow, it felt like coming home. Ethan M. Aldridge, from Deephaven

And we laughed and held each other and filled our hearts with the faith that we could always do that, always blow away the clouds that threatened our stars. Andrew Neiderman as V.C. Andrews, from Honey

But as anyone who loves reading and writing quickly learns, both activities allow you to commune with the living and the dead, to listen to the thoughts of those who have come before you and argue, cajole, and sing praise for them in response. Kaitlyn Greenidge, from “Books for a Black Girl’s Soul”

The greatest shame would be to reach the end of our lives and have the epitaph read, ‘They worked really hard.’ Roxane Gay, from “Yes, Your Job Is Important. But It’s Not All Important.”

The sky is gory with stars, like the insides of a gutted night. Julia Armfield, from “Salt Slow”

Sometimes, even in towns built on curses, at least once in a blue moon, things turn out okay. Ryan Douglass, from “Knickknack”

Eventually, if we speak the truth to each other, it will become unavoidable to ourselves. Audre Lorde, from “Eye to Eye: Black Women, Hatred, and Anger”

In the distance, the darkness has started to lift like a veil, the first light of dawn spilling over the Beijing skyline, a promise of all the beautiful and terrible and sun-soaked days to come. Ann Liang, from If You Could See the Sun

I can hear the devastation on Henry's voice 🤣🤣

Henry who very obviously has a massive crush on Alice: Since when!!?!?

Oh my poor boy🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

i'm actually proud of this one hehe

some doodles from ann liang's "if you could see the sun"

"Because even though I’m smart, I’m not that smart. Not the kind of prodigy-level smart you would expect to find at Harvard, the kind that would allow me to skip all my classes and still rank first in every test, that would make everything come easily. I don’t say this in a self-pitying way, either; I’ve long acknowledged and accepted my limitations, and done my best to compensate for them with sheer willpower and hard work"

if you could see the sun by Ann Liang

I Hope This Doesn't Find You awoke something in me cause how the heck did Ann Liang write this one? Never thought I'd find a couple better than Henry and Alice but Sadie and Julius are IT DUO. I cannot comprehend someone actually hating this book. The banter was serving a 5-course meal. Ann Liang woke up and decided to write one of the best literary evidence of academic rivals to exist. The internal monologue written for Sadie (which I horrifyingly could relate to) was typed out while Ann's rent was due and the landlord was outside her front door, knocking for the money. I'm this book's sole protector and defender from today onwards. I'm ready to cut off my limbs for Ann to write similar books, even ready for a liver or kidney transplant. I'm ready to donate whatever fortune I have (comprised mainly of books) for this woman to never stop publishing.

P.S. Julius Gong is so hot and so intelligent??? like I don't even blame Sadie.

guess who bought more books today 😁😁

Hope is such a terrible thing. It’s like a bad habit you can’t shake off, a stray dog that keeps showing up outside your door for scraps, even when you have nothing left to give. Every time you think you’re rid of it at last, it manages to sneak its way back in. Take over.

— Ann Liang, This Time It's Real

“She is his single greatest threat, his most formidable rival, and he knows she would not hesitate to ruin him. The problem is that if she were only to smile at him, he would let her. He would relish it.”

— Ann Liang, If You Could See the Sun

i hope this doesn't find you by ann liang

because beneath my apprehension is the stronger, deeply ingrained need to be liked. to be accepted. to be forgiven. to be recognized as good. i'll do anything to redeem myself.

Book Parallels~

The Folk of the Air

If You Could See the Sun

Ok I finished the main story of If You Could See The Sun by Ann Liang (I loved it!!!)

And now I'm reading the bonus Henry pov chapters and *deep inhale* *immediately starts wheezing* Oh my god this boy is so so much more pathetic than I expected!!🤣🤣🤣

Even he admits that this is masochistic of him I can't-

I'M ONLY 28% INTO I HOPE THIS DOESN'T FIND YOU AND IT'S CHOKING ME. EVERY LINE IS KILLING ME