You know something? Aedion gets so much hate for absolutely no reason. Yes, he has had some questionable behavior but not once was it ever actually misplaced. He had every single right to be mad at everyone in KoA for lying to him about something that would affect him for the rest of his life.

They reduce his entire character to his actions in a very small part of one book. Have you forgotten how loyal, strong, smart, caring, passionate, soft, optimistic, courageous, kind, brave, reliable, genuine, honorable, thoughtful, gentle, compassionate, and selfless he is? Please.

What's your most recommended book? Other than the cruel prince or sjm books... You know what, how about a list? In order from best to worst. 1- best, 10- worst

all righty, I’m not gonna lie here, I have actually… never read any SJM books. Haha, never. I don’t plan on doing it eventhough they sound really fun, but right now I’m trying to gravitate towards a little more… I dunno, quality literature, if you will? This sounds so hypocritical and snob ehhh especially from my Cruel Prince fanblog but asdhjkjss don’t judGE

ok for the list I went on goodreads and looked at my read book list and picked out the best ones, but I honestly can’t really rank them, they are all great so the numbers don’t really matter, but they are quite different in genre, most of them are not even YA, so bear that in mind

1. Game of Thrones series by George R. R. Martin - hahaha GoT is amazing its kinda brutal and its a heavy read, but it’s really worth it. I love the way GRRM builds plot and characters, it’s just so unique and very different from everything I’ve read before. The characters are just so real, and they all have their own background stories and motivations, and you literally have no fucking idea what’s going to happen, it’s so unpredictable I can’t handle it. Warning, it’s likely that your fave character is gonna die, prepare yourself. I haven’t seen the tv show but honestly the book is really really great. It’s one of the best series I have ever read. BUT if you can’t stand visual violence, rape, insides getting, um outside, well I wouldn’t recommend it then. Because there’s a whooole lot of that.

2. HaRRy Pottah by J. K. Rowling - do I even have to explain. HP isn’t just a book, it’s a fucking life changing magical journey that every child should go through, so if you haven’t yet, shut up and go read it. For real. Go, turn off your computer and start reading.

3. Nutshell by Ian McEwan - now this is a really interesting short novel. The thing that makes it fascinating is that it’s narrated by a baby. Who’s still in the womb. And it’s actually a Hamlet retelling, where the pregnant mother is having an affair with the father’s brother, and you know, the baby knows about it. And when mommy and the brother lover conspire to kill the father the baby can do basically nothing about it so it’s about the child’s inner dialogue and some deep philosophical thoughts while his mother and uncle commit the murder and how the baby tries to sabotage them. It’s not YA for sure, so if you want steamy romances or a sexy protagonist, this is not your book, but I really loved it and it’s just such an intellectual book with some nice Shakespeare and modern political references and honestly just reading the dumbass shit that Claude (the uncle, parallel to Claudius) says was so goddamn funny. There is some sex and swearing in it. And like, after reading it I felt like such a highly educated person, eventhough I’ve never read original Hamlet haha.

4. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - dystopian post-apocalyptic novel, with some teenagers slaughtering each other, a cool protagonist with badass hunting skills, love triangle, rebellion, etc. Probably most of you have heard of it (if not already read it), it’s quite good, especially the first one, I personally wasn’t a big fan of 2nd&3rd, but it’s prob because I don’t like rebellions/civil wars for some reason? it’s good though!!

5. Angelfall trilogy by Susan Ee - ohohohh anGELS!! I used to be fucking obsessed with angels and demons (#FuckMeLucifer) and I’ve read every angel-themed YA book I could find, and this one was probably the most well-written. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic America (haven’t heard of that before) where angels are terrorizing humans and basically treat them like shit and this girl Penryn, her lil sister gets kidnapped by the angels, but in the fight this one handsome angel gets injured, they cut off his wings and she kidnaps him to her place and I think forces him to help her get her sister back (?) Turns out its Rafael the powerful archangel and of course he is hot as hell, so yeah its been a while since I’ve read it but I remember liking it, so if you’re into angels and some post-apocalyptic chaotic setting on top, you’ll probably like it

6. Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn - so this one’s mainly about a Jewish slave in the Ancient Roman Empire and a lot of stuff happens to her and she ends up being the mistress of the crazy emperor Domitianus who tortures her and it’s basically following the life of all these different people with different social statuses in Rome, (slaves, gladiators, senators, wealthy wives, emperors, etc.) and it’s really interesting how the relationships are forming between them and the best part is that its historically aCCuRate! ! ! So if you’re into Ancient Romans, this is a good one. Trigger warning for sex, rape, emotional and physical violence. ;)

7. And then there were none by Agatha Christie - this is some nerve wrecking emotional shit, about a group of complete strangers invited into this island manor where they are slowly getting murdered one by one by this psychopath whose identity is… unknown. The murderer is one of them, and is playing this scary, childish, psychological game with the others, but i literally had no fucking idea who the (s)he is until the last few pages, and i couldn’t sleep for a few nights after reading it.

8. Jane and the Man of the Cloth by Stephanie Barron - so this is about Jane Austen, eventhough it’s not written by her, but it’s based on her actual diary and true historical events, so it’s pretty much an accurate description of that period of her life. I guess I would call it a historical murder-mystery because she solves a case that happened in the town she spent her holiday in, but the focus is not really on the ‘thrilling mystery’ part, but rather on the historical background (British-French conflict), social links between people, and yeah just gives you a nice little glimpse into her world. The book is part of a series but this one’s probably my fave bc Jane has this thing going on between her and this handsome mysterious man and a fucking loooved it!!

9. Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor by Stephanie Barron - this is part of the same series, i think it’s the first one, but you can read them in any order, and it deals with a similar murder case as the other one and hahaha it has another mysterious, kinda rude gentleman who has a little thing with Jane and in the end it doesn’t work out (Jane never married btw) but i’m a slut for those little moments and historical books are amazing so if u like history, or Jane, or that 1700-1800 era then go ReAd iT!

10. ummm i can’t think of anything else that i really enjoyed right now, so that’s it for the list. if any of you have any recommendations (especially if it’s something historical) pls let me know!!

FOR THE CHARACTER THING LUCIEN PLS TALK ABOUT OUR BEAUTIFUL BEAN

OH WELL IF YOU INSIST CLAIRE I SUPPOSE I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO DO SO. (also two other anons and @christina-dh have asked me for the bean too….they Know) 

general opinion: fall in a holeand die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them| actual love of my life |  will willingly lay down my life for this poor defeated sweet bean if anyone so much as whispers ‘boo’ at him. hotness level: get away from me| meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! |10/10 would bang (listen, Lucien is like The Exception okay. I still haven’t recovered from the shirtsleeves, knife sharpening, hair like liquid fire, casual bedroom scene in acotar (and I never will)) hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin (f i g h t  m e) | ravenclaw | hufflepuffbest quality: apart from his general existence, which is of course, entirely flawless, we’re going to say his resilience and his ability to just keep going. Like, he is depressed, isolated, preyed-upon, hopeless, his best ‘friend’ in this world is literally abusing him, the red bitch queen decided to make him her favourite chew toy, he was whipped and tortured and nearly had his mind squished, no-one ever bothers to check whether he’s okay BUT HE JUST KEEPS GOING. how does anyone hate this child like…..what is wrong with you? are you okay? do you actually know how to read? I???? worst quality: the deeply unfortunate habit he has of looking at supremely powerful people and mouthing off to them. like. CHILD. STOP BAITING PEOPLE WHO CAN LITERALLY SNAP YOU IN HALF WITH A CLICK OF THEIR FINGERS. it’s very stressful. and it makes me feel like u don’t really care about urself which makes me sad. just. stop it.  ship them with: ELAIN. They’re mates. They’re perfect for each other. And if anyone dares say that he doesn’t deserve her/has to ‘redeem’ himself in order to be with her :) I will fight them :) Andras. Because. Angst. But also beautifulness. Like I don’t think you all understand what a tolerant, patient sweet-potato Andras is okay. Pls just imagine young!Lucien who is even more of a mouthy sardonic prick than he is now pacing up and down in front of the fire ranting while Andras just nods and mhm, get back in bed and kiss me, you ridiculous tiny firecracker. IT’S BEAUTIFUL OKAY. Rhhyys. Because like…snark…and more angst (he’s a very angsty little bean (this is why he’s my fave)) and more snark, and sass and really hot sex (don’t lie it would be) Tarquin. Because of you, Claire. Mor. Because I can. (because I should)  brotp them with: CASSIAN. (will also totally ship this too (i’ve written domestic cass/lucien boyfriends…somewhere…probably…possibly….i kind of remember it ANYWAY) I need them to be a ridiculous dramatic bro brotp okay. Lucien needs some friends dammit. Azriel- because quiet, intense chess matches and bonding (largely silently) over seriously fucked up brothers. (also Elain. She makes them be friends) Amren- Listen, paperweight blood ruby is the most disdainfully Lucien thing I have EVER WITNESSED. and Lucien (as evidenced by the ‘I’m going to snark you even though you could probably kill me while exhaling sharply or whatever) is utterly fearless. And she enjoys that. Mor- sleepover party in which we sneak out and end Eris. Slowly. Painfully. Beautifully. That is all. Rhys- for the hilarity of post ‘hmm we fucked each other and now we’re kinda sorta friends this is amusing’ (ur fault/gift again Claire) AND FEYRE. DEFINITELY FEYRE. give me back the sassy snarky days of ‘Do you ever stop being so serious and dull?’ ‘Do you ever stop being such a prick.’ *Lucien beams proudly* TAKE ME BACK SJM, TAKE ME BACK.Honorary mention for Lucien’s horse…he loves that horse more than any person in the world, fight me. (So much fighting jfc child look what you do to me) 

 needs to stay away from: Ianthe. TAMLIN. get him awaay from the abusive fucker, thank you Feyre. misc. thoughts: Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption  Lucien doesn’t need redemption.Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption.Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption.Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption.Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption.Lucien doesn’t need redemption.Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption.Lucien doesn’t need redemption.Lucien doesn’t need redemption.Lucien doesn’t need redemption.Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption.Lucien doesn’t need redemption.Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption.  Lucien doesn’t need redemption.  Lucien doesn’t need redemption.Lucien doesn’t need redemption.  Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption.Lucien doesn’t need redemption.Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption. Lucien doesn’t need redemption.That is all :) 

FEBRUARY STATS

32 Books total

6 Re-reads

2 Secret TBR reads

1 DNF

1 two-star book

6 three-star books

9 four-star books

8 five-star books

26 audiobooks

3 hard copies

4 eBooks

3 currently reading

1 readathons: Smutathon

REREADS

The entire Pucked series by Helena Hunting. I kept saying that I’ve been wanting to reread this whole series – and I finally did! This time around I realized how much more I liked Book 6 than before! Book 5 is still my all-time favorite, but Book 6 is up there with Book 1 and Book 5 now! Goodreads

  REREADS

Beach Read by Emily Henry This is absolutely adorable and I’m loving it so much! I’m hoping to finish this one today. It’s a romance about two authors in neighboring beach house that have some history. One is a romance writer and one is a literary fiction author. Goodreads

Fire In His Blood by Ruby Dixon This is a dragon shifter, post-apocalyptic fantasy romance by the author of Ice Planet Barbarians. I like IPB better so far, but this one has a lot of potential. Goodreads

1 secret book!

  DNF

Jock Row (Jock Hard #1) by Sara Ney The main character in this book was SO annoying and I could not stand it. She gets kicked out of a frat party for basically being super annoying and holier than thou. I don’t think you are supposed to agree with the frat guys who kick her out, but I certainly did. It’s a romance between her and the athlete who has to guard her from coming back into the party. She was the worst and I couldn’t take it anymore, so I DNFd it. I don’t see myself picking this up again.

Goodreads

  ★★ 2 STARS

January (Calendar Girls #1) by Audrey Carlan This is about a girl who becomes an escort to make enough money to save her father from gambling debt. The main character was the “not like other girls” girl and I couldn’t handle how judgey she was. The hero is ok, but his character wasn’t well developed. Goodreads

  ★★★ 3 Stars

Menace (Scarlet Scars #1) by JM Darhower This is a scarred hero dark mafia romance. Check out my Spring Break Wrap Up to see my thoughts. Goodreads

Fighting for Everything (Warrior Fight Club #1) by Laura Kaye This is a military, friends-to-lovers romance. Check out my Spring Break Wrap Up to see my thoughts. Goodreads

Assigned a Mate (Interstellar Brides Program #1) by Grace Goodwin This is, essentially, an alien mail order bride romance. Check out my Spring Break Wrap Up to see my thoughts. Goodreads

Hard Hitter (Brooklyn Bruisers #2) by Sarina Bowen This is a contemporary hockey romance. This was fine. I didn’t find the hero very likable, even though I tend to like grumpy heroes and the heroine was pretty forgettable. Coming off of the high of Brooklynaire, not much could compare, though, so I can’t fault it for that. I really do like this series so far and plan on continuing. Goodreads

The Loner’s Lady by Jessa Kane I read this short novella for Smutathon. This is about a girl who is pretending to be her best friend’s girlfriend, but she ends up falling for his dad instead. This just was a little too extra for me. I felt like everything was rushed and ridiculous. Granted, that’s kind of the nature of this type of book, but Katee Robert has already proved to me it can be done well. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a good example of that. Goodreads

I Dare You by Ilsa Madden-Mills I read this for Smutathon because it was a short audiobook I found on Audible Escape. This book was fine, but not very memorable. It actually has a cute premise, it’s a new adult sports romance about a girl who develops a relationship with someone who text her from an unknown number. Goodreads

  ★★★★ 4 Stars

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter This is a thriller following the story of a woman whose sister had gone missing years ago and present-day disappearances that are affecting her. I feel weird rating this highly only because it’s so graphic and gruesome and entirely messed up. But I could not stop reading this book. I really need to read more thrillers. Goodreads

The Year We Fell Down (The Ivy Years #1) by Sarina Bowen This is new adult friends-to-lovers sports romance with disability rep. I talk more about this in my Spring Break Wrap Up. Goodreads

Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett This was an adorable friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers YA Contemporary romance that involves camping and forced togetherness. I talk more about this in my Spring Break Wrap Up. Goodreads

Pipe Dreams (Brooklyn Bruisers #3) by Sarina Bowen This is the same hockey romance series as Pipe Dreams. I actually read this series out of order, I read the first book first, but then I skipped ahead to Brooklynaire, and ended up going back to this one. I didn’t mind that, though, mostly because this book takes place during the same timeline as Brooklynaire, but you get a different perspective. This one is a second-chance romance that was a little hard to swallow, in my opinon, which is why I took away a star. Goodreads

Cherish Hard (Hard Hitters #1) by Nalini Singh This is a second chance contemporary romance that had a really great meetcute and such a good book boyfriend. I talk more about this in my Spring Break Wrap Up. Goodreads

Inappropriate by Vi Keeland This is a story about a woman whose vacation video gets leaked to her boss, which gets her fired. It’s obviously not fair at all, so in a drunken rage she sends a hate-email to her boss’s boss. And so begins our story. I read this one completely on a whim. I saw in it my wish list for Audible Escape, and decided to give it a shot. I’ve never loved anything by this author, but I’ve never strongly disliked anything either. This one I definitely liked more than other books I’ve read by her, but it wasn’t quite 5 stars. What I did really enjoy was that there was much more to this book than you would expect given the premise. It was more emotional than I anticipated. Goodreads

The Happy Ever After Playlist (The Friend Zone #2) by Abby Jimenez This takes place in the same world as The Friend Zone, only this time we are following the friend of the heroine in that book. I don’t really want to say more because I feel like it is spoilery to The Friend Zone, just know there is a rockstar element in this book. I think I am one of the only people who really liked The Friend Zone. I completely understand the issues many readers had with the ending of that book, but I still really, really liked it. In fact, I liked The Friend Zone more than this one (I gave that one 5 stars). I’m not going to lie, I thought I was going to adore this book and though I really liked it, I didn’t love it. Goodreads

Theirs for the Night (The Thalanian Dynasty #1) by Katee Robert This is an MMF romance about a girl who goes out to a club with her friend on her birthday and ends up going home with two guys – who happen to be a prince and his bodyguard. This was the group read for Smutathon. As usual, I think Katee Robert does such a great job with super steamy, short romances. I really like this one, though maybe not as much as I liked Your Dad Will Do. I think i’m going to enjoy the rest of this series a little bit more than I liked this one. Goodreads

Better When It Hurts (Stripped #2) by Skye Warren I decided to read this book for Smutathon because it was on Audible Escape and super short. It’s a gritty stripper romance. I’ve been wanting to read more Skye Warren books, and though this wasn’t my favorite, I definitely want to read more of her books. Goodreads

  ★★★★ 5 Stars

House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1) by Sarah J Mass This is SJM’s first adult fantasy novel – it’s full of pretty much every type of fantasy creatures including angels and faeries. I talk more about this in my Spring Break Wrap Up. Goodreads

Art & Soul by Brittainy C Cherry This is a YA romance between a musician and an artist who have to work on a school project together. I talk more about this in my Spring Break Wrap Up. Goodreads

Misconduct by Penelope Douglas This is a forbidden romance between a teacher and her student’s father. I talk more about this in my Spring Break Wrap Up. Goodreads

Brooklynaire (Brooklyn #1, Brooklyn Bruisers #4) by Sarina Bowen I have no idea what series this book belongs to because it takes place in the same world as Brooklyn Bruisers and in some places it is listed as part of that series and others it is listed as the Brooklyn Series. Either way it can be read as a standalone. It follows the story of a quirky millionaire who owns an Apple-like tech company and a hockey team. It’s a friends-to-lovers workplace romance with so much longing and swoon, I can’t even. I’m so in love with the hero in this book and how much he pines after the heroine without her ever knowing. Goodreads

By the Book by Amanda Sellet This was an ARC from Netgalley. It’s a YA contemporary romance about a girl who reads a lot of classic and historical novels and creates a scoundrel survival guide for the girls at her school based on the books she’s read. It was super cute, but written in a very particular way that may not appeal to everyone – review to come! Goodreads

Your Dad Will Do (A Touch of Taboo #1) by Katee Robert This was a highly anticipated read for me ever since I saw that Katee Robert was planning to release it and it lived up to what I hoped for it. This is a super short, super smutty, super taboo romance about a girl whose fiance cheats on her, so in revenge she sleeps with his dad. A lot of people say this one lacks plot, but they still really liked it, and I don’t disagree, but I also didn’t mind. I had so much fun reading this one and it made me fall even more in love with Katee Robert. Goodreads

The Butterfly Project by Emma Scott This book was recommended to me by a subscriber friend, Taseen, in the comments of one of my videos and I feel like you guys know me so well, because I loved this freaking book. I did not realize that this is about a character I loved from the Full Tilt duet. She’s a tattoo artist who is trying to publish a graphic novel that is very personal to her and when she gets rejected she almost leaves New York, but ultimately ends up staying when she’s able to become roommates with our hero. They have an adorable meet cute and omggg the hero in this book. He’s one of those characters who is such a good person who is put in bad situations. Both of our characters are dealing with guilt from their pasts, but slowly healing together. I’m kind of obsessed with him, he’s one of my favorite book boyfriends. Goodreads

Wolfsong (Green Creek #1) by TJ Klune I knew I was going to love this book, but I didn’t know how hard I would swoon. For some reason, I don’t know why I expected that this book wouldn’t be as romance heavy as it was. I think maybe because it’s about werewolves and I figured it’d be more about that than the romance and while the world was well-developed, the characters were well-developed, and the plot was interesting, the romance was also extremely strong. I feel like a lot of the time you’re sacrificing one thing for another, but it truly felt like this book didn’t lag behind in any of those things. Even the writing was excellent.

But honestly, it was the swoon in this book that tipped me over the edge. My heart hurt in the best and worst ways while reading this book and I can’t get enough.

Goodreads

April 2020 Wrap Up // Books I Read in April FEBRUARY STATS 32 Books total 6 Re-reads 2 Secret TBR reads 1 DNF 1 two-star book…