Best reads of 2023 - Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo
Rating: ★★★★★
"All worlds are open to us. If we are bold enough to enter."
Living on the edge ( doing my maths assignment the day before it's due)
Literati + text posts
↳ See also: Rory on Jess + text posts
Rory liked Dean but she didn’t love him. She liked going on dates with him. She liked that he’d spend time with her and watch movies with her and get along with her mother. But there was no fire, no matter how much she wanted there to be one. She couldn’t burn like she did for exploring the world and the written word. She couldn’t burn for him.
Rory loved Logan but she didn’t like him. She loved his freedom, his adventurous spirit, his lust for life. She loved how she could let herself go with him, put faith in something dangerous and not shatter. But she didn’t like how cruel he could be to others. She didn’t like how dismissive he was, of responsibilities, of consequences, of people’s hurt. She didn’t really like him.
Rory liked Jess and she loved him. She liked that he liked the same stuff as her, liked that he’d help out his uncle without bragging, and talk with her friends, and throw literary challenges at her because he genuinely wanted her opinion. She loved his honesty, his integrity, how he’d leave her speechless with his gaze and breathless with his kisses. How he looked at her, all of her, and never made her feel like she was lacking. She liked and she loved him. And it scared her shitless.
Darlingstern moments that play in a ceaseless loop in my head, Vol. I
- The fact that Alex was sweaty as fuck the first time they met and made Darlington roll up her sleeve to check for track marks
- Darlingtons prudish shock when Alex takes her shirt off in front of him
- The fact that they got shitfaced and broke a bunch of Lethe glassware??? Like she got Mr. Lethe to be like “fuck the rules”? And they passed out in the parlor???
- Alex’s foot/hand/arm fetish
- When Darlington complimented her Queen Mab costume, then said “didn’t someone say love is a shared delusion?” And “two people reciting the same spell”
- Darlington getting annoyed when some guy hits on her
- The “incident”
- His heart hurting for the wanting of someone
- The fact that Alex literally has constant imaginary conversations with him and everything reminds her of him and she always assesses how he would feel about her actions
um. hell bent (ninth house sequel) spoilers ahead.
darlington has implied anger issues, alcohol problems, a dirty mind, insatiable curiosity, he's a murderer without regreting it - he's basically always sinned. he's always been a little bad.
it's not that only now that he's part-demon he has to wrestle with this ominous darker being that's lurking inside him. it's always been a part of him (part of every human being i'd like to argue), he's just been able to shut it out, control it better, compartmentalize (as one does), and now he has no choice but to let it free, free himself from his own inhibitions
But as he was not quite human any longer, he supposed a more flexible approach to morality was called for.
he's intelligent enough to realize he basically has to learn to deal with the fact that he's now powerless to the urges of his own demons, pun intended
this is what i want to see in a future book, not him struggling to hold back or trying to school himself into an image of goodness and perfection, because he's always done that! i want him to let go, absolutely lose it and be unapologetically unhinged and sinister, kind of like how alex is but worse
This absolutely stunning commission of Evangeline and Jacks from Stephanie Garber's Once Upon A Broken Heart was done for me by the super talented @ajgiel 💕
[Please don't repost]
‘tis the damn season // dorethea
MASTERPIECE. Where was this gem hidden? :D @mistressvera and @captain-firefly-rose what a powerful duo! :D
Acftl scenario 🍎💔🦊
VAMPIRE dir. Petra Collins (2023)
The Seer & The Shadowsinger
Thinking about how throughout OUABH and TBONA Jacks is the only person who truly acts in Evangeline’s best interest.
Like Marisol, she doesn’t give a damn about Eva.
Chaos doesn’t want anything to happen to her because he needs her but also let’s them be hunted by vampire in OUABH, not to mention kills her eventually in TBONA.
Even Lala, who Evangeline considers a friend, curses her with the intent to cause harm to her. Like the Mirror Curse, Lala knew Apollo was dangerous after the Archers curse was placed on him. This also insured that Jacks couldn’t harm Apollo to protect Eva because he’d also be hurting Eva. She also gaslights Eva, telling her she’s only doing what she’s doing to reclaim her lost love from the Valory Arch. I understand that’s she’s a Fate who feels limited emotions, but her choosing to punish Eva for refusing to open the arch was extremely cruel.
Apollo her own husband, doesn’t care what happens to her. He’s aware of the Archers and Mirror Curse being placed upon him. He knows that every time he’s by Eva, that no matter how hard he tries fighting it he will still try to kill her. In TBONA, he sneaks into her bedroom at Chaos castle to try and sleep with her, claiming “he’s been waiting for so long” and kisses her and starts taking her clothes off. But guess what, the Archers curse kicks in and he’s now strangling his wife. He would’ve killed her if it wasn’t for Jacks intervention, but even when Jacks try’s taking her away, Apollo begins screaming from the cage “To get his hands off his wife, and not to touch her.” Instead of begin horrified of almost killing his wife he’s more jealous of Jacks saving her from being killed.
And sure Jacks has his own motives that he doesn’t tell her about. But at every given instance he’s protected her, he risked Turing into a vampire to keep her safe. He jumped off a cliff with her in his arms, (As a swimmer and a lifeguard this is extremely dangerous, especially oceans with carry strong riptides and currents, also please never cliff dive if you aren’t aware of what lord beneath) knowing that her not being able to swim could possibly kill him. He jumps anyways and swims back to shore with her in his arms. Not only that but he carry’s her back to the castle so she doesn’t cut her shoeless feet on the rocks. He constantly protects her, telling her he’d kill any one who dared hurt her. In the end he choose Eva’s safety over his feelings for her. He knew if he stayed with her he would’ve kissed her, believing it would’ve killed her. He’d rather be unhappy for the rest of his life without her than risk her safety.
In conclusion Jacks is the only character who truly cares about Eva and choose to protect her every single time.