I can check another wildly popular BookTok title off my list! This one was a long time coming, especially considering my obsession with Greek mythology retellings. I wasn't entirely familiar with the legend of Achilles, so reading this novel didn't feel like rereading a story I already knew at all. In fact, I'd never even heard the name Patroclus before. His voice as narrator felt achingly perfect to reflect the bittersweet, secretive kind of love he shared with Achilles. To take a small portion of the infamous The Illiad and build not just a larger narrative but an entire relationship between two figures which could have otherwise never been found together in such a beautiful story such as this one pulls on my hopeless romantic heartstrings as well as my admiration as a writer trying to do something similar with a small portion of The Odyssey. My favorite parts of the novel were the chapters spent describing Achilles' and Patroclus' young teenage years living with Chiron and learning the ways of the world in peace - before being sent off to war. I didn't completely and utterly get lost in the star-crossed loveresque aesthetic of this novel, though it's certainly present and written flawlessly. But I certainly grew attachments to the characters and appreciated how Achilles is presented as a nearly perfect half-mortal, half-god who's still capable of getting caught up in his own hubris; the essence of humanity could still be found within the desires and actions of this character which I think is incredibly profound and beautiful. And Patroclus, lugging around childhood trauma, the blood of a noble boy's death, and the insecurity of being incessantly told that he isn't good enough for the one person he loves most - I love everything about his character and mourned his half of this story's end greatly. The entire novel's ending, however, is what I love most about this narrative. Its redemptive quality and offering of closure for a pair that, in my eyes, deserve happiness that isn't marred by a prophecy destined to throw a wrench in either of them finding complete and true peace in each others' arms, made me tearily happy as I read the last page and set this book aside. I love the messages this book contains about grief, true love, duty, what it means to let "Fate" rule your life, and the idea of two souls being made and meant for each other. :)



Some of my favorite quotes from The Song of Achilles:

"I would know him in death, at the end of the world."

"And perhaps it is the greater grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone."

"He is half of my soul, as the poets say."

"I will never leave him. It will be this, always, for as long as he will let me."

"We reached for each other, and I thought of how many nights I had lain awake loving him in silence."

"We are all there, goddess and mortal and the boy who was both."

I took my time reading this critically acclaimed book (but I've come to learn that I seem to like to wait until the last second to read the books everyone's talking about simply because I'm not prepared for the potential disappointment of not feeling absolutely mind blown like the rest of the world... anyways). But this novel, with its realistically flawed and beautifully human characters, ironic title (wink wink), creative use of newspaper headlines and articles to further the story, a straightforward yet intricate writing style, and a complex, overlapping narrative is worth the hype in my opinion. However, I cannot say it's earned a spot among my top favorite books - I don't think it's anywhere near that. For while I admire the obvious attention to detail and planning it took to write this book and its smooth readability, at the end of the day, I just didn't form connections with the characters. I think, also thanks to this book, I've come to learn that the books I can't stop recommending to other people, the ones I really can't shut up about cause I love them so much, are because of the characters and how they leaped off the page into my own life in some way. Evelyn Hugo is a fantastic, dynamic, at times lovely to hate character that I loved following the story of through the eyes of an equally well-developed female character, Monique Grant. But neither of them, or the array of husbands that follow behind Evelyn like ghosts, truly stuck with me the way that I hoped they would, as I hope every time I open a new book or start a new series. I do want to be clear that I definitely recommend this book - its plot twist (though a bit predictable) is great, and its popularity and over one million copies sold speak for themselves. And hopefully the majority of its popularity comes from the fact that most people who read it actually do connect with the characters! Regardless, I will always fondly associate this novel with Siena, Italy - of an hour and a half train ride from Florence through Tuscany, of reading for a bit in some shade in front of the Museo Civico, and the train ride back after a long day of walking - the reading I got to do in these moments will forever be sweet in my mind of the first half of my summer spent in Europe. :)

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Some of my favorite quotes from The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo:

"I love you too much to let you live only for me."

"People think that intimacy is about sex. But intimacy is about truth."

"You do not know how fast you have been running, how hard you have been working, how truly exhausted you are, until someone stands behind you and says, 'It’s OK, you can fall down now. I’ll catch you.'"

"Sometimes reality comes crashing down on you. Other times reality simply waits, patiently, for you to run out of the energy it takes to deny it."

"Please never forget that the sun rises and sets with your smile."

"You have to find a job that makes your heart feel big instead of one that makes it feel small."

"People are messy, and love can be ugly. I’m inclined to always err on the side of compassion."

I have to admit that I judged this book by its cover - its eerie ocean aesthetic and cool font caught my attention. It wasn't until I read its description that told me it was a gothic retelling of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" that I was utterly hooked. Also, being a writer who's focusing on a novel heavily influenced by the timeless mystery and intrigue of the ocean, reading other books that delve into the same kinds of settings and aesthetics can only help! I definitely enjoyed this book, though, funnily enough, I didn't think I liked it very much when I first started it. I couldn't see where the plot was going - aka, it seemed to be leading nowhere, or at least towards what seemed to be an unsatisfactory and confusing ending. But the characters, their individual motives, the awesome sea-related metaphors and descriptions, and the irresistible pull of a murder mystery all combined to keep me reading - and I'm glad I did! The whole story comes to involve more lore and mythology than I'd anticipated, two things which I'm always here for! I thought the creation of a lore/mythology system, including the inclusion of more characters, was very well-written, and the villain of the story is a truly chilling villain indeed, certainly not one I would want to cross. It's undoubtedly an original story birthed from an old but beloved fairy tale; most of the time I forgot it was even based on "The Twelve Dancing Princesses!" I certainly recommend this book to those who also can't resist a haunting, well-written murder - or more like murders- mystery, romance, plot twists, elegant ball and dance scenes, and tales tied to the sea. 



Some of my favorite quotes from House of Salt and Sorrows:

"Nights like this were meant to be shared, remembered, and talked about for years. Skies like this were meant to be kissed under."

"The euphoria was tangible: I could taste it in the air, the sweetness coating my mouth and going straight to my head like champagne."

"All my life has been moonlight and the stars. I can smell the sunlight racing through your veins from across a room."

"It still smelled like autumn here. Pine needles and cold, crisp air, bonfires and moldering leaves, the world dying as it readied to be reborn."

"A midsummer’s night, when the sky is full of sparkling stars and fireflies."