May wrap up!!
11 Books
6 Short Stories
1 DNF - The Curator by Owen King
665 Pages and 76:51 hours
#monthlyroundup
24 likes1 stack add
This Savage Song (Bound for Schools & Libraries) | 
May wrap up!!
11 Books
6 Short Stories
1 DNF - The Curator by Owen King
665 Pages and 76:51 hours
#monthlyroundup
pickI always wonder if the story is going to turn out the way I want… but it never does now I know why the second book opened the way it did and I can finish it 🙌🏽📖 love it
pickIt took a little to get into, but I like the world of this story, where humans and monsters mix so you are no longer sure who is who anymore.
so-soThe fantasy genre is not my favourite but I needed to pick a fantasy book for a Book Bingo I‘m doing. So here we are 😊 I felt like this book needed a map and a glossary. I was having trouble getting where and what things were at the start. Interesting concept and I did enjoy it but I needed more explanations. But that might be just me. I‘d be interested to hear what regular fantasy YA readers think. Overall, I did enjoy it.
I mean, most people want to escape. Get out of their heads. Out of their lives. Stories are the easiest way to do that.
pickI liked this one. I liked the story and how different is was. But I also felt like it dragged on in some places and was predictable sometimes. Still liked the book and will be moving on to book 2. 4/5
pickThis book was so much fun to read! I couldn‘t put it down during the exciting climax, and I can‘t wait to read the sequel.
pickI really like V.E. Schwab‘s adult books, and I‘ve had this one on my shelf for a while so I finally got to it. This is a well crafted YA Urban fantasy with horror elements. In this world monsters are created through trauma - different types depending on the trauma. Our protagonists are the children of two powerful antagonists, so a small Romeo & Juliet vibe. I liked it, but didn‘t love it, mainly I think I am done with YA. 4⭐️ ⬇️
pickI don‘t know what to say about this book. It is so well written, and I feel as if V.E. Schwab is turning into my favourite author. This book was really heartbreaking, wholesome, and brilliant all at the same time, and I think that when an author can do that, they truly deserve a medal. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Not with a bang, but with a whimper.
In gunfire and out with smoke.
And August wasn‘t ready to die.
Even if surviving wasn‘t simple, or easy, or fair.
Even if he could never be human.
He wanted the chance to matter.
He wanted to live.
“Why are there so many shadows in the world, Kate? Shouldn‘t there be just as much light?”
I know it‘s a horrible picture but there‘s only so much I can do when it‘s dark 🤷🏻♀️
“Why do you even want to be human? We‘re fragile. We die.”
“You also live. You don‘t spend every day wondering why you exist, but don‘t feel real, why you look human but can‘t be. You don‘t do everything you can to be a good person only to have it constantly thrown in your face that you‘re not a person at all.”
A gust of wind rustled the branches overhead, sending down a shower of dying leaves, and between the fruit in his hand and his colourless eyes and the golden leaf stuck in his black curls, Freddie Gallagher looked more like a painting than a boy.
People are users. It‘s a universal truth. Use them, or they‘ll use you.
“Every weakness exposes flesh,” he‘d said, “and flesh invites s knife.”
pickI don‘t even know what to say. This book had me on the edge of my seat from the start.
VE Schwab has done it again.
I loved the characters in this book and was so invested in the plot line that, now, my family is worried about the kind of books I read, since I could not shut up about it. 5⭐️
P.S. I know I‘m foolish, hoping for happy endings in these kinds of books but let me tell you, this ending, I did not see coming.
And he would be gone.
Whatever he was made of—stardust or ash or life or death—would be gone.
Not with a bang, but with a whimper.
In with gunfire and out with smoke.
And August wasn‘t ready to die.
Even if surviving wasn‘t simple, or easy, or fair.
Even if he could never be human.
He wanted the chance to matter.
He wanted to live.
"It hurts," he whispered.
"What does?" asked Kate.
"Being. Not being. Giving in. Holding out. No matter what I do, it hurts."
Kate tipped her head back against the tub. "That's life. August," she said. "You wanted to feel alive, right? It doesn't matter if you're monster or human. Living hurts."
“Why are there so many shadows in the world, Kate? Shouldn‘t there be just as much light?”
“Okay, August,” she said, trying to keep her voice calm and even. “I won‘t let you fall.”
“I read somewhere,” said Kate, “that people are made of stardust.”
He dragged his eyes from the sky. “Really?”
“Maybe that‘s what you‘re made of. Just like us.”
And despite everything, August smiled.
“Why would you ever want to be human? We‘re fragile. We die.”
“You also live. You don‘t spend every day wondering why you exist, but don‘t feel real, why you look human, but can‘t be. You don‘t do everything you can to be a good person only to have it constantly thrown in your face that you‘re not a person at all.”
“You‘re a really shitty monster, August Flynn.”
It was like the cusp between waking and sleep, where you couldn‘t hold on to your thoughts. Couldn‘t hold on to anything.
But she held on to him.
Don‘t push her away, said one voice, while another warned, Don‘t get too close. How was he supposed to do both?
It was a cruel trick of the universe, thought August, that he felt human only after doing something monstrous.
“What is this?” hissed the Malchai in chains. “You send a child to dispatch me?”
“I send my daughter,” replied Harker coolly. “And if you think that‘s a mercy, you don‘t know her.”
“We are not servants. We are not slaves. We are wolves among sheep. Monsters among men. And we will rise.”
“We are not Corsai, swarming like insects. We are not Malchai, feeding like beasts. Sunai are justice. Sunai are balance. Sunai are—“
“Self-righteous and prone to speaking in third person?” cut in August before he could stop himself.
She gestured to the patch of pavement, the border of grass. “What brings you to my office?”
He looked around, confused, as if he‘d actually intruded. Then he looked up and said, “The view.”
Kate flashed a crooked grin. “Oh really?”
His face went red. “I didn‘t mean you,” he said quickly. “I was talking about the trees.”
“Wow,” she said dryly. “Thanks. How am I supposed to compete with pine and oak?”
He‘d been talking about monsters, not teenagers, but they had a lot in common.
He was determined to keep her “safe.” Which meant out of the way, since there was no such thing as safe in this place, no matter which half you called home.
“Monsters, monsters, big and small…”
This is so wonderfully creepy, I love it!
Kate had no pretensions—she knew her father was a bad man—but this city didn‘t need a good one.
“Which am I?” asked August, pulling away. “Your weakness, or your strength?”
Emily‘s warm brown eyes went wide and flat as the word spilled out. “Both.”
The dedications on all of VE Schwab‘s books are always great!
Tagged (and its sequel Our Dark Duet) are dark urban fantasy, not my cup of tea, but they were so compelling!
Favorite genre 📜🗝🪦⚖️🪖👵🏻 wow this is hard
BC it‘s based on true events
Cover art!!!
#thoughtfulthursday @MoonWitch94
