The Parallels Between When Daphne Bridgerton Said "Leander Swam Abydos To Sestos Every Single Night In

“Never had a gift for pining,” Nikolai said. “Though I do like to show off my profile by staring mournfully out of windows.”

~Nikolai Lantsov, King of Scars

“It’s you I love,” he says. “I spent much of my life guarding my heart. I guarded it so well that I could behave as though I didn’t have one at all. Even now, it is a shabby, worm-eaten, and scabrous thing. But it is yours.” He walks to the door to the royal chambers, as though to end the conversation. “You probably guessed as much,” he says. “But just in case you didn’t.”

~Cardan Greenbriar, The Queen of Nothing

“Jude, you can’t really think I don’t know it’s you. I knew you from the moment you walked into the brugh.”

~ The Queen of Nothing

Kanej as Taylor Swift songs~

•Cowboy like me

"I've got some tricks up my sleeve, takes one to know one."

"You're a cowboy like me, never wanted love, just a fancy car."

"Perched in the dark, telling all the rich folks anything they wanna hear."

"You're a bandit like me, eyes full of stars. Hustling for the good life, never thought I'd meet you here."

"And the skeletons in both our closets plotted hard to mess this up."

"Forever is the sweetest con."

"And I'm never gonna love again."

•Treacherous

"Put your lips close to mine, as long as they don't touch."

"And I'll do anything you say, if you say it with your hands."

"This path is reckless, this slope is treacherous. I like it."

"Your name has echoed through my mind, and I just think you should, think you should know."

"Nothing safe is worth the drive, and I will follow you, follow you home."

•Willow

"Rough on the surface but you cut through like a knife."

"The more that you say, the less I know. Wherever you stray, I follow."

"I'm begging for you to take my hand."

"Head on the pillow, I could feel you sneaking in, as if you were a mythical thing."

"Wait for the signal, and I'll meet you after dark. Show me the places where the others gave you scars.

•State of grace

"And I never saw you coming, and I'll never be the same."

"You come around and the armor falls."

"So you were never a saint, and I've loved in shades of wrong."

"We learn to live with the pain, mosaic broken hearts."

"This is the worthwhile fight. Love is a ruthless game, unless you play it good and right."

"These are the hands of faith, you're my Achilles heel."

•Peace

"I never had the courage of my convictions, as long as danger is near."

"And it's just around the corner darling, 'cause it lives in me. No, I could never give you peace."

"All these people think love's for show, but I die for you in secret."

"The devil's in the details, but you got a friend in me."

"It's like I'm wasting your honour."

"Give you the silence that only comes when two people understand each other."

"I'd give you my sunshine, give you my best. But the rain is always gonna come, when you're standing with me."

"Would it be enough, if I could never give you peace?"

•Untouchable

"Untouchable like a distant diamond sky. I'm reaching out and I just can't tell you why."

"And when you're close, I feel like coming undone."

"You gotta come on, come on. Say that we'll be together."

•Jump then fall

"I realise your laugh is the best sound I have ever heard."

"I like the way I can't keep my focus. I watch you talk, you didn't notice."

"Don't be afraid to jump then fall, jump then fall into me."

"When people say things that bring you to your knees, I'll catch you."

•Mirrorball

"Hush, I know they said the end is near, but I'm still on my tallest tiptoes."

"I'm a mirrorball, I can change everything about me to fit in."

"I'm still on that tightrope, I'm still trying everything to keep you looking at me."

"I'm still a believer, but I don't know why. I've never been a natural, all I do is try, try, try."

Firstprince as Taylor Swift songs-

•London Boy

do I even need to explain this one?

"But something happened, I heard him laughing. I saw the dimples first and then I heard the accent."

"You know I love a London boy, I fancy you."

"He likes my American smile, Like a child, when our eyes meet, darling I fancy you."

"So I guess all the rumours are true?"

"Show me a gray sky, a rainy cab ride, babe, don't threaten me with a good time."

•Delicate

"This ain't for the best, my reputation's never been worse. So you must like me for me."

"We can't make any promises, now can we babe?"

"Is it cool that I said all that? Is it chill that you're in my head? 'Cause I know that it's delicate."

"Stay here, honey I don't want to share."

"I wonder, when you sleep, are you ever dreaming of me? Sometimes when I look into your eyes, I pretend you're mine, all the damn time."

•Gold rush

"Eyes like sinking ships, on waters so inviting, I almost jump in."

"What must it be like, to grow up that beautiful? With your hair falling into place like dominos?"

"I don't like a gold rush. I don't like anticipating my face in a red flush. I don't like that anyone would die to feel your touch."

"Everybody wants you, but I don't like a gold rush."

"My mind turns your life into folklore, I don't dare to dream about you."

•Enchanted

"The playful conversation starts, Counter all your quick remarks, like passing notes in secrecy."

"This night is flawless, don't you let it go. I'm wonder struck, dancing around all alone. I'll spend forever wondering if you knew, I was enchanted to meet you."

"My thoughts will echo your name, until I see you again. These are the words I held back, as I was leaving too soon."

"Please don't be in love with someone else, please don't have somebody waiting on you."

•I know places

"Something happens when everybody find out. See the vultures circling dark clouds. Love's a fragile little flame, it could burn out."

"Let them say what they want, we won't hear it. Loose lips sink ships all the damn time."

"And you know for me, it's always you."

"Just grab my hand and don't ever drop it, my love."

"I know places we won't be found."

•Dancing with our hands tied

"I loved you in secret."

"I could've spent forever with your hands in my pockets, picture of your face in an invisible locket."

"I loved you in spite of, deep fears that the world would divide us."

"I'd kiss you as the lights went out, Swaying as the room burned down. I'd hold you as the water rushes in, if I could dance with you again."

•Cruel summer

"Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes. What doesn't kill me makes me want you more."

"It's cool, that's what I tell 'em. No rules, in breakable heaven. But it's a cruel summer, with you."

"I don't want to keep secrets just to keep you."

"And I screamed for whatever it's worth, 'I love you' ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?"

•The Lakes

"I'm not cut out for all these cynical clones, These hunters with cell phones."

"Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die. I don't belong, and my beloved neither do you."

"I've come too far to watch some namedropping sleaze, tell me what are my words worth?"

"A red rose grew out of the ice frozen ground, with no one around to tweet it."

"While I bathe in cliffside pools, with my calamitous love and insurmountable grief."

Rereading 'A court of thorns and roses' after a year for research related purposes🤪- part 1

Feyre was in her flop era babes

WAIT WHY DO I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO RECOLLECTION OF THIS CHARACTER HE'S NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN😭

Feyre so humble and selfless you guys she's not like other girls frrr

Omg it's almost like- like the wolf and the doe are a METAPHOR for the power dynamic between Feyre and Tamlin🤔

GROWL??? RHYSAND IS THAT YOU??🤨🤨

Elain's literally so annoying like honeybear why don't you grow some vegetables or something🥰

okay *Tamlin shows up*

This bargain makes no sense to me like i know there's some bigger stuff going on but this is the equivalent of "you killed my bestie? well now you have to suffer living with me☺"

PROTECT NESTA AAAHHHH

Lucien was actually my favorite character in the first book he's the only one with a personality 💀

How to get the girl 101 with Tamlin😎

This.

Spoiler alert for ruin and rising by Leigh bardugo!!!

I love the way Leigh bardugo was able to change my mind about mal by the end of ruin of rising but I just can't stop thinking about the alternative ending. I just can't stop picturing aleksander in place of mal. Leigh could have given the darkling the redemption, I feel, he deserves.

Just like how alina loses her powers, Alek could have lost his powers too. Making Alek a normal person without any powers would have been an interesting twist. The og ending of mal and alina taking over the orphanage could have been Alek and alina taking over the orphanage. They could have lived a normal life without any worries about people trying to kill them, without any politics and stress. Alina could have made him a better human.

I know he manipulated alina, hurt or even killed a lot of people but imagine yourself in his place. Imagine going through everything he went. I highly doubt you would have been able to trust people and have faith in others. At the end of the day he was just a lost lonely soul seeking someone like him. Alek could have changed if given a chance. He didn't even get a chance. I know it's her characters and she gets to decide what happens with them but it's just that I can't stop thinking about this!

He deserved better !!!!!!

V.E Schwab writes such dynamic and complex characters that are so unforgettable. Like they have so much range and spice to them,, they're just *chef's kiss*

I often find myself thinking about the gay little family in Vicious and the nerdy little romantics in Addie Larue and the bisexual Slytherpuffs in Shades of Magic. I wish I could give Kell, Lila, Addie, Henry, Victor, Syd, Mitch, Eli and Rhy a little forehead kiss and protect them.

convincing you to read kingdom of the wicked because the sequel comes out in 10 days!

this post won' t contain any major spoilers, but a few slips might happen-

Let's start out with the premise :)

It's basically a historical fiction- a murder mystery, based in the 1800s in Italy. BUT IT'S NOT JUST ANY OTHER MURDER MYSTERY, it has witches and super hot demons and not so hot hunters and- and chefs<3 AND POSSIBLY THE BEST FANTASY ENEMIES TO LOVERS I'VE SEEN IN A WHILE.

I cannot begin to explain how beautiful the entire ambience of this book is,,, the town in Italy is a very warm, cozy, and welcoming place. So that makes the whole murder situation even eerier and more intriguing. This isn't one of those mysteries where you can guess from the start who it's gonna be, and the murder part isn't that IN YOUR FACE. It's delicately woven throughout the rest of the plot. There's a lot of chilling stuff going on, everyone has secrets and everyone is super sexy and scary- all in all this makes for the perfect autumnal read :)

PLOT!!

We start out with two twin witches who's family owns a restaurant (i mean those lucky bitches get to COOK AND BAKE AND DO WITCHCRAFT ALL DAY LIKE- *dream life*)

Emilia and Vittoria dicarlo- one of them is super outgoing and loud and EDGY- she isn't like other girls!! she has secret affairs and gets in trouble all the time,,, the other is kind of chill and reserved and loving.

BUT THEN SOMETHING LIFE CHANGING HAPPENS- one of them makes a mistake and ends up six feet under.

Now, witchcraft is like super illegal because women with gifts and knowledge are a threat to society!! Witches have been ending up dead in many towns across Italy and since witchcraft is super hush hush, our protagonist can't exactly ask the police for help. So she does one better- SHE ASKS THE FUCKING PRINCE OF HELL- wrath. Go big or go home honey :)))

The magic system in this book is really interesting because it's quite realistic- they use herbs and blessed candles and chalk and really aesthetically pleasing things. Some witches practice dark magic and go nuts because they have these visions which is so cool. The twins come from an ancient family of witches and their nonna is super badass and grumpy i love her.

The villains(seggsy antiheroes?) are the malvachi aka the princes of hell. Each prince has domain over one deadly sin(pride, envy, wrath etc). And they can like control those emotions which IS SO SICKK aaahhhh. Throughout the story, the main characters meets these princes and gets influenced by them but also learns new things to uncover the bigger mystery going on and they're all very intriguing and sexy.(I've used the word sexy so many times like is that not reason enough to read it?)

The restaurant- I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS ARC. It just enhances the reading experience by adding these touches of how invested the characters are in their recipes and flavours which makes it so comforting and also hilarious because one moment someone is like "OMG NO LOOK A CORPSE aaahhh" and the next they're like "hmmm i want your recipe for cannoli *puppy eyes*"

vibes you can expect- mysterious, spells, herbs, candles, witches, church, family love, demons, betrayal, forced alliance, grumpy + sunshine trope, revenge lotsss of revenge, angsty, comforting yet also somehow on the edge of your seat feeling, secrets and darkness, hidden agendas, AND LOTS OF ITALIAN CUISINE.

The romance<333

aka the reason I picked up this book. At this point the romantic interest could be like "aahh you're ugly i hope you die" and then two seconds later be like "you're the most beautiful thing in this world you are the sky and the sun and you could walk over me do you want something to eat? do you want a kitten or a blanket or a cup of tea??maybe we could bang and get married????" and you have the AUDACITY to call that enemies to lovers????

BUT THIS BOOK PORTRAYS that hate to forced alliance to secrets to betrayal to mistrust to slight understanding to maybe some hints of romance. The slowburn is just *chef's kiss*

I ADORE how you can never tell what the love interest is gonna do and you're like daddy??sorry-daddy?? sorry. NO DON"T MAKE ME HATE YOU.....da-

ALSO there's a slight corruption arc because the main character is so driven by her rage and that for me is the cherry on top.

AT ONE POINT, THE DARK ANTIHERO kisses the protagonist to save her life(?) AND SAYS "LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO HATE ME FOR THIS" LIKE SIRRRR??

Quotes you might like-

“I feel your gaze on me when you think I’m not paying attention. You track the dagger every time I move. You need to know where it is." No ma'am he's looking at you-

"Young women died. Life resumed. Such was the way of the world, at least according to men." I didn't come here to cry but okay-

"I couldn’t begin to understand why Wrath had said “my Emilia’s.” Honestly, I wasn’t sure if the demon even remembered my name since he only ever tossed around “witch.” EEEEEHHH THE POSSESSIVENESS TROPE

“You have something I want.” “If it’s my still-beating heart, I’m afraid I must decline.” “No, but I imagine you’ll end up giving that to my brother one day.” excuse me WHILE I GO SCREAM.

"My sister was the adventurous one—I was satisfied with safe, clean fun. Give me a steamy romance novel with forbidden love and impossible odds. That was the kind of adventure I could get behind." same, literally same.

This book as Taytay songs because why not?

•Look what you made me do

•No body, no crime

•Treacherous

•Dancing with our hands tied

•Mad woman

•I did something bad

•Wildest dreams tv THISSS SO MUCH

•Delicate

•Haunted

•So it goes >>>>

Just before you go,, THE SEQUEL HAS THE "I DON'T WANNA KISS YOU UGHHH"// "LIAR" trope and also the "YOU SAID YOU DIDN'T GIVE AF ABOUT ME"// "I LIED." trope

so you don't wanna miss out.

Many boys will bring you flowers. But some day you'll meet a boy who'll learn your favourite flower, your favourite song, your favourite sweet. And even if he is too poor to give you any of them, it won't matter because he will have taken the time to know you as no one else does. Only that boy earns your heart.

~Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows.