I didn't plan to begin reading this book on the day that its plot revolves around -- the Winter Solstice -- but sometimes life gives you fun, festive coincidences. I wondered why this book was so short in comparison to the others in the series, but after reading it, have a sense for how it fits into the bigger picture while being slimmer. It definitely feels like one big bonus chapter of some sort, not necessarily filler because its plot is consequential to the aftermath of the war Feyre, Rhysand, and co. just fought and consequential to the future of the world they're trying to rebuild. But -- it takes place at Christmas! Or, more accurately, the Winter Solstice, which means a less gloomy tone and more fun scenes of the whole crew exchanging gifts, enjoying yummy food, walking around a snow-covered Velaris, and the bat boys' annual snowball fight. I seriously loved that scene and the concept of five-hundred-year-old warriors spending hours enacting a highly competitive snowball fight. I also liked seeing Feyre work through some of her trauma via painting and, more specifically, following through with a studio space to paint for herself and for others, specifically children, in need of a place to artistically convey their pain and grief over the war. The spice in this book really came out of left field at the end, though -- I can't say I was really expecting it when the first 80%-85% of the book was pretty tame. We got some more Azriel content -- I seriously love his character's personality and want a book entirely devoted to him as soon as possible. Some Azriel and Elain content was sprinkled in there, too... and I thought we might see Nesta work to overcome her own forms of trauma by actually letting Cassian, or any of the others, into the fortress that is her heart, but alas... hopefully in the next book. I'm sure I'll eventually revoke this statement or at least amend it slightly, but she really is cruel and apathetic. Understandably, with how she was ripped from the human world, but her methods of coping and dealing with her new powers are far different from her sisters'. She intrigues me and I'm looking forward to seeing how she is further developed. I'm still really happy that my timing was somehow perfect in reading this book right around Christmastime. I wouldn't consider myself a mood reader, but I was in this case during this holiday season. :)



Some of my favorite quotes from A Court of Frost and Starlight:

"I think my heart knew you were mine long before I ever realized it."

"Cassian had named about two dozen poses for Nesta at this point. Ranging from I Will Eat Your Eyeballs for Breakfast to I Don't Want Cassian to Know I'm Reading Smut. The latter was his particular favorite."

"But Azriel only took Elain's heavy dish of potatoes from her hands, his voice soft as night as he said, 'Sit. I'll take care of it.'"

"His midnight voice filled the space."

"Azriel gave me a look that said, Illyrian baby indeed."

So much happens in the span of this 699 page book that I sincerely don't even know where to begin in my review of it. I can wholeheartedly say that it exceeded my expectations, and from a writer's perspective, really impressively deals with the development of a plot that leads to full-out war. I feel like writing battle scenes well, and dealing with chronicling the chaos of more than one thing happening with more than one character all at once, is no easy feat, but one that's done really well in this book. So many small details introduced at the beginning of the novel, like Hybern's Ravens searching for Nesta in the library and Feyre's encounter with Bryaxis, come together at its end to make so much amazing sense and contribute to the plot. I also appreciated seeing Feyre experience shortcomings and flaws, since she kind of seems unbreakable and unstoppable at times. Fair enough, since she is Made and possesses the power of all the High Lords, but seeing her humorously learn how to master Illyrian wings with Azriel (and how the rusty skill barely saves her life later) was refreshing. I also eat up any scene with Azriel; even the slimmest of details about his sense of humor and personality are enough for me. Most of my underlining throughout the book had to do with Azriel and Elain's encounters and dynamics (which are also slim to none, but there, like on page 582) and Tamlin's appearances, which wow... wrecked me more than I expected. His character development is better than I expected and certainly caused me to shed a tear or two; he's quite a pitiable figure if you really get out of Feyre's head and look at everything he did for a love he had and then wholly lost. Page 576 had my jaw utterly on the floor, and pages 672-673 are full of my notes and underlines because wow... I didn't see any of that coming. I need more Nesta and Cassian content ASAP and more hype for Elain cause she really pulled through and saved everyone's lives. My last note on Tamlin comes from page 670. I was crying quite hard at that entire scene, at Tamlin's show of love in that moment and the utter irony of what he was doing despite what it meant he wouldn't get in return. Geez. All in all, I felt like this book ended in a way that makes me wonder why there are two more books in the series. There's definitely more of every single characters' stories to be told, a post-war mess to clean up, and attempts at peace to be made, so I will certainly be reading the rest of this series that has truly been one of the best I've read in a long while.



Some of my favorite quotes from A Court of Wings and Ruin:

"From the shadows near the entrance to the tent, Azriel said, as if in answer to some unspoken debate, 'I'm getting her back.'
Nesta slid her gaze to the shadowsinger. Azriel's hazel eyes glowed golden in the shadows.
Nesta said, 'Then you will die.'
Azriel only repeated, rage glazing that stare, 'I'm getting her back.'"

"She shook her head, devouring the sight of him as if not quite believing it. 'You came for me.' The shadowsinger only inclined his head."

"Yet Elain didn't seem to notice them as she rose up on her toes and kissed the shadowsinger's cheek."

"'I have no regrets in my life, but this.' His voice shook with every word. 'That we did not have time. That I did not have time with you, Nesta.'
She didn't stop him as he leaned up and kissed her--lightly. As much as he could manage."

"'I will find you again in the next world--the next life. And we will have that time. I promise.'"

"Together. They'd go together."

"'Be happy, Feyre,' he said quietly."

"Even for an immortal, there was not enough time in life to waste it on hatred. On feeling it and putting it into the world."

"That smile grew, bright enough that it lit up even Azriel's shadows across the room."

It only took me one whole semester to complete this book... thanks to the amazing book club I get to run and be a part of on my campus! Our small but scholarly group spent this particular fall semester working our way through this Japanese bestseller (we made do with the English-translated version), enjoying conversations spurred by this novel's intriguing approach toward time travel. A lot of the observations we made centered around the fact that we were reading a translated text. We asked a lot of questions regarding how much cultural context we may have been lacking and what the substantial benefits of reading a text in its original language are. This book is broken up into four loose parts divided by sections appropriately titled to reflect the characters they focus on, though all of the characters are more intricately connected than a first glance betrays. One of the title pages from my edition of the book has a single rhetorical question posed in its center: "If you could go back, who would you want to meet?" This question seems to deeply resonate with this book's main themes, as it weaves itself into each character's narrative frame. People who work at the cafe as well as random customers (attracted by an urban legend of the cafe possessing a chair that allows one to travel back in time) all subject themselves to this question as they deal with an assortment of internal battles. From a woman desperate to gain closure after a heartless breakup in "The Lovers," a couple struggling with how dementia has changed both of their lives in "Husband and Wife," the tragedy of an unexpected, irreversible death in "The Sisters," and finally, the mind-bending scenario of a mother aware that she will not survive the birth of her daughter in "Mother and Child," the possibilities of what time travel can offer for each individual are creative and transcendent. I loved this book's approach to the idea of how the future can be changed despite the past staying the same. I also appreciated how, despite the cafe certainly imposing rules on its form of time travel, these rules aren't over the top or impossible to wrap your head around. They rather impose unforeseen challenges on those willing to sit and drink their coffee in the allotted amount of time given them to return to the past. This book made me really think about how I would answer the aforementioned rhetorical question, as well as a whole host of similar questions, and I enjoyed reading and discussing it with others.

One of my favorite quotes from Before the Coffee Gets Cold:

"Water flows from high places to low places. That is the nature of gravity. Emotions also seem to act according to gravity. When in the presence of someone with whom you have a bond, and to whom you have entrusted your feelings, it is hard to lie and get away with it. The truth just wants to come flowing out."

I'm well on my way to having read every one of Jane Austen's main novels. Wow, that's something I've been attempting to check off my bucket list for a while now! I started listening to Persuasion in audiobook form awhile ago, but quickly realized that that was simply not going to cut it -- it was all going over my head. Getting to read this book in a classroom setting was very helpful since the parts that still managed to go over my head were what seemed to go over my classmates' heads as well. Our discussions were mainly centered around the importance of the novel's navy men characters, different examples of marriages, the historical context of the Napoleonic Wars, and two chapters that were originally supposed to function as the final two installments Austen decided to rewrite (I'm glad she did; if she hadn't, we wouldn't have Wentworth's dramatic love confession via letter). I knew I was really going to like this book within the first four chapters. We're immediately introduced to a vain father obsessed with his status and reflection before being introduced to the woman who ends up being our heroine. I really like Anne Elliot as a character. She reminds me of a mixture of Elinor Dashwood and Fanny Price, with just a hint of Elizabeth Bennet's spunk from time to time. Hers is a story that could be labeled by modern readers as "right person, wrong time," which is a trope I find very appealing despite limited popularity among other tropes. It's a romance that stands out from Austen's other crafted love stories, as it exists between two people who loved each other eight years prior and were convinced (or persuaded) that theirs was not a fortuitous match, only to be thrown together again under very ironic circumstances. Both parties must then do their best to hide their still ardent feelings from the other. This is a story that pays attention to the environment and raises questions about the generational prestige of the gentry class in comparison to the growing prestige of the working class career of joining the British navy. I've learned nearly more than anything else from reading Austen's novels that while she seems primarily like a romance writer, she is really writing about so much more, poising romance and happy matrimonies in the background of larger cultural, social, and religious concepts her characters and landscapes portray. I've immensely enjoyed analyzing Austen through what we can glean from her novels as an actual human being and woman as well as prolific writer. I recommend reading at least one of her books despite any preconceived notions you might have! :)



Some of my favorite quotes from Persuasion:

"I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were fine ladies instead of rational creatures. None of us want to be in calm waters all our lives."

"You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope...I have loved none but you."

"There could have been no two hearts so open, no tastes so similar, no feelings so in unison."

"I do not think I ever opened a book in my life which had not something to say upon woman's inconstancy. Songs and proverbs, all talk of woman's fickleness. But perhaps you will say, these were all written by men."

"One man's ways may be as good as another's, but we all like our own best."

"Let us never underestimate the power of a well-written letter."

"Anne hoped she had outlived the age of blushing; but the age of emotion she certainly had not."

"Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death."