Would it be so bad to lose myself for a little while with him? What would it be like to just brush my lips against his, our bodies fitting together like two puzzles pieces?

I have too many puzzle pieces to sort through anyway.

No, it's this place, this town where time doesn't move forward like it's supposed to. Where stories get stuck in your head like a tooth burrowed deep in your flesh. I feel like Harrow Lake is working its way inside me.

I'm no Queen of Hearts. I'm Alice, thrown into a world I don't understand, chasing a rabbit I was never supposed to follow.

The Story of How We Met tells the story of Sarah, a high school girl who falls in love with her best friend‘s boyfriend. Whilst the story is clichéd, it was told well and was such a fun read. Because it‘s only a novella I was expecting not to be able to see the characters develop very much, but as I read I could definitely see Sarah changing. I was pretty attached to the characters by the end and I‘d love to read some more about them soon!

He looks at me like he's dying, like this is agony, but then he smiles, and the sight is staggering.

“Hurry enchantress you're running out of time,
I'll devour you slowly your life is mine,
So flee from me, for once I'm through,
I'll be freeing myself and coming for you.“

“You see, life is just one long story; I don't car how yours begins ... only how it ends.“

He's gazing up at me like I'm something akin to his religion, something he might pray to, and right now I feel like a dark queen, my throne made of this man's flesh.

“But whatever you choose to be, cherub, make it count.“

“I love you, Callie, down to every last feather and scale. I love your darkness, I love your mind, I love your humour and your most coveted dreams. And I love how you love me - wholly, deeply, passionately.“

Is life but to wake?
And death but to sleep?
I'd tell you, but then,
This secret I'll keep.

I'm not real now,
Nor was I last night,
Or perhaps I'm wrong,
Who's to say what's right?

Are you having fun yet?
This is our little game,
You will lose soon enough,
Then you'll be mine to tame.

“You've done it, cherub,“ Des says, surveying the prone fairies. “You've become someone to fear.“

“When the heart speaks, you should hear it, even if it's as soft as a whisper.“

“You have to let all these explosions happen inside of you, Sarah. Let you be you; that way you can learn and grow. You are not stupid; you are a huge star.“

I knew then that we were like two pieces of cloth, sewn together for life. Our stitches couldn't be undone.

I wouldn't let them.

We melted into each other until the dawn slid into dusk, and the sun paled into the moon, and the stars, once lost, became found again.

Seize the wind. Don't become the kite that never flies.

There was something strange about Emperor Khanujin. Strange and wonderful, I thought.
Or strange and terrible.

No drawing could have done the emperor justice. Even the sun seemed to fall differently upon him, so that he glowed like a god from the heavens.

“Whatever life I have left, it's yours.“

“Do you really believe in that stuff? Séances?“
I looked up at him, my eyes watering in the wind. “I want to.“
“You want to believe in ghosts? In monsters?“
“I want to believe that things don't have to end,“ I said, looking away, but Dante didn't let me.
“I want to believe that too,“ he said.

“Bring us death so we can study it. To capture the mind of a child is to gain immortality. So that when we die, our minds live forever.“

“Do the dead ever really die?“

“Before there were plants, before there were animals, before there was even light there was darkness. From that darkness, all of our deepest desires and most secret fears were born. And I know all of yours. Perhaps I should share them...“

“You are the stars in my dark sky, cherub.“

“From flame to ashes, dawn to dusk, be mine always, Desmond Flynn.“

“Have I told you how easy it was to kill Karnon? His bones broke like twigs, his body burst like overripe fruit.“

“Only in the shadows and dark spaces do we find out truest wishes and deepest desires. Only in the night do we let go of our civility and loosen the ties that bind us during the day. Only then do we reach for soft skin. Only then do we dare to dream.“

“I would steal the stars from the sky for you,“ he whispers into my ear. “Anything to hear you laugh like that.“

I want him to drown me in the madness of this. Us.

I am like no one but myself.

A heart forged in battle and strife cuts deeper than any blade.

“There are no real answers, Jude. Why was I cruel to Folk? Why was I so awful to you? Because I could be. Because I liked it. Because, for a moment, when I was at my worst, I felt powerful, and most of the time, I felt powerless, despite being a prince and the son of the High King of Faerie.“

“I have heard the for mortals, the feeling of falling in love is very like the feeling of fear. Your heart beats fast. Your senses are heightened. You grow light-headed, maybe even dizzy.“

Even without liars, there can still be lies.

I'd definitely recommend reading The Wicked King, even if you weren't too big of a fan of the first book in the series, The Cruel Prince, since this series just keeps getting better. It's great mix of romance, fantasy and action, with just the right amount of each. I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series.

#fantasy #romance #youngadult

“I need him as much as he needs me. But that doesn't make it love.“

Winter lowered her lashes. “Actually, dear friend, I suspect that is precisely what makes it love.“

“We may be animals, but we will never again live in your cage.“

“No one is dying for you. If anyone dies today it will be because they finally have something to believe in. Don't you even think about taking that away from them now.“

Winter was a decent conclusion to the series. The ending satisfied me enough, as everybody gets their own fairytale ending, however the book could have been quite a bit better as a whole. I'd still recommend reading the series, but it might take a little extra energy to get through the entire thing.

#scifi #romance #space #youngadult

All Cinder had ever wanted was freedom. Freedom from her stepmother and her overbearing rules. Freedom from a life of constant work with nothing to show for it. Freedom from the sneers and hateful words of strangers who didn't trust the cyborg girl who was too strong and too smart and too freakishly good with machines to ever be normal.

Now she had her freedom - but it wasn't like anything she'd envisioned.

“I'll take it,“ said Thorne, stretching out on the floor beside her and enjoying the cold hardness of the dock's floor, the obnoxiously glaring lights overhead, the stink of sewage on their clothes, and the perfect sensation of freedom.

The towering skyscrapers of New Beijing dropped away and then it was only him and the sky and the endless landscape of space.

Whilst I would recommend reading Scarlet if you've already read Cinder and want to know what happens next, I'd advise going into it knowing that it might be boring to read at the beginning, so you have to put a little more effort in than with Cinder. I didn't enjoy it as much as Cinder, but I'm excited to keep reading and find out what happens next!

#scifi #romance #space

“I believe it is the mark of a great leader to question the decisions that came before him.“

Because if there was one thing Cress knew about heroes, it was that they could not resist a damsel in distress.
And she was nothing if not in distress.

“You can help me pick out a tiara once we're done saving the world.“

Cress is definitely worth the read, in my opinion it was much better than book two, Scarlet. I'm interested now to read the fourth book in the series to see what happens next, but also as we get a better look at Luna and Princess Winter. Perhaps it will reveal why Lunars are so different to Earthens, maybe there is something about Luna that changes. Hopefully Marissa Meyer's good writing will continue and it will be just as enjoyable as Cress was.

I wish I could just wave a wand and put everything back the way it used to be.

“You wear indifference like a mask; you wield coldness like a weapon - not because you feel nothing but because you feel too much.“