✨ jami ✨ > Books: 2016-reads‎ (87)

This book was sent to me by the author in exchange for an honest review !

This book was sent to me by the author in exchange for an honest review !

I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review!

I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review!

"You have very pretty eyes" he said softly. "They look like diamonds"

"You have very pretty eyes" he said softly. "They look like diamonds"

The universe may forget us but it doesn't matter. Because we are the ants, and we'll keep marching on

The universe may forget us but it doesn't matter. Because we are the ants, and we'll keep marching on

“She is catalyst.
She is chaos.
I can see why he loves her.”

“She is catalyst.
She is chaos.
I can see why he loves her.”

“She felt one thousand years old. She also felt like maybe she was a condescending brat. She wanted her bike. She wanted her friends, who were als

“She felt one thousand years old. She also felt like maybe she was a condescending brat. She wanted her bike. She wanted her friends, who were also one-thousand-year-old condescending brats. She wanted to live in a world where she was surrounded by one-thousand-year-old condescending brats.”

This is about four boys, and one girl. Blue Sargent gets pulled into going on a quest - with four boys who attend the local boys school Aglionby - The Raven Boys. There's Gansey, Adam, Ronan and Noah. And all of them a looking for a Welsh king. They're looking for the King, but at the same time they're finding eachother.

Blue is a psychic and she's from a family of psychic's. She's always been told when she kisses her first love, they will die. Every year she goes to "the corpse road", a path where all the spirits of those who will die within the year walk. Blue isn't clairvoyant - she doesn't see the spirits. But this year she does, she see's Gansey. And now she knows either he's her first love, or she killed him.

Blue finds herself in the quest with the boys - she's on the hunt with them for the King and on the way they will face magic they never imagined, tests to their friendship and their strength and their resilience. They will face villains and demons and hit-men and angry parents. Most of all, they will all fall in love with eachother.

That's the official premise and I hate it so much because it doesn't do it justice. How do I describe The Raven Boys? I mean, really describe it. What it's like reading it, what it feels like.

“To think you could have been dreaming the cure for cancer," Blue said. "Look, Sargent," Ronan retorted, "I was gonna dream you some eye cream last night since clearly modern medicine's doing jack shit for you, but I nearly had my ass handed to me by a death snake from the fourth circle of dream hell, so you're welcome."
Blue was appropriately touched. "Ah, thanks, man."
"No problem, bro.”

“When Adam kissed him, it was every mile per hour Ronan had ever gone over the speed limit. It was every window-down, goose-bumps-on-skin, teeth-chattering-cold night drive. It was Adam’s ribs under Ronan’s hands and Adam’s mouth on his mouth, again and again and again. It was stubble on his lips and Ronan having to stop, to get his breath, to restart his heart. They were both hungry animals, but Adam had been starving for far longer.”

“It was this: Gansey starting down the stairs to the kitchen, Blue starting up, meeting in the middle. It was Gansey stepping aside to let her pass, but changing his mind. He caught her arm and then the rest of her. She was warm, alive, vibrant beneath the thin cotton; he was warm, alive, vibrant beneath his. Blue slid her hand over his bare shoulder and then on to his chest, her palm spread out flat on his breastbone, her fingers pressed curiously into his skin.
I thought you would be hairier, she whispered.
Sorry to disappoint. The legs have a bit more going on.
Mine too.”

The head is too wise, the heart is all fire

Do you ever just hurt when you think about all the times Andrew must’ve taken beatings from his mother in Aaron’s stead? And how he almost killed a bunch of guys for being homophobic towards his cousin? How Andrew would literally stab anyone if he saw a mere scratch on Kevin, if Kevin gets a simple paper cut, if a single hair on Kevin’s head is ruffled, but would voluntarily split his own knuckles open without a second thought? It hurts when I think about Andrew’s hands around Kevin’s neck, how he almost blinded himself in pursuit of Neil after he was taken away. His disregard for the terrible, terrible act that had been committed against him, the violation of his own body; while he stared deeply into his brother’s eyes, afraid of the blood he wore that wasn’t even his own. Andrew’s fiercely protective streak could be seen to be just as human as it is perceived to be inhuman because that is how he shows his concern and the warped sense of love and family that he feels towards these people. Andrew Minyard was a victim of brutal abuse and instead of victimizing himself he was only ever so stronger for it. He looked at himself and saw something that was already far beyond saving but he would do anything to keep his inner circle from a similar fate, he would take a thousand beatings if it meant that this makeshift little family he’d found himself a part of didn’t get hurt. He literally never does anything without a reason and his crap sense of morality reflects the sort of awful environment he grew up in. He has killed to protect someone that he loves and I have no doubt that he would do it again. To him, the end justified the means. It’s not a healthy or acceptable way of thinking but for Andrew it was the only way. Yes, there’s no denying he’s messed up. No, he isn’t a good person, not in the basic sense, but he’s good where it counts. And that is just one of 2036372883 reasons why he will forever be a character so very dear to my heart

Better then that bright future was what he already had. A court that would always be his home, a family who'd never give up on him, and Andrew, who for once hadn't wasted their time denying that this thing between them might actually mean something to both of them.

Now he couldn't help but smile, pull Andrew in. This was everything he wanted, everything he needed. And Neil was never letting go

The Foxhole Court is about alot of things. It follows Neil Josten, the son of a famous crime boss who's running from his past and his father. While hiding in a small town known as Millport, he is asked by Kevin Day to play Exy for the Palmetto Foxes. Kevin is the assistant coach of The Foxes, a renowned Exy player and also someone from Neil's past he'd very much rather avoid.

Exy is a fictional sport, a kind of hybrid between Lacrosse and Rugby which has reached widespread popularity in America. Neil, who plays as a striker (they score the goals) agrees to join The Foxes.

The Foxes are the joke of the league - while they have some talented players, they're dysfunctional - even their 'best' players have serious issues that prevent them reaching their full potential. Their players are all recruited from broken homes and some of the issues of the players prevent them from cooperating with those around them.

Their best player, Kevin Day, transferred to the Foxes after a skiing injury - this means he's unable to play properly with the hand he learnt to play with and has to retrain himself all over again.
Their goalkeeper, Andrew, is only able to play under the condition he be under the effects of debilitating medication. The medication regulates his violent outbursts, but it also prevents him from connecting to and establishing proper relationships with people because the medication makes him largely apathetic. Despite being one of the best goalkeepers in the league, he cares little for the game or the outcome of any match.

This makes up the general premise of the story, but very much so the story follows the characters as they develop relationships between eachother and as the dynamics in the group shift. The team is arranged in very hierarchal structures, and each character has their own place in the team. Each character also has their own unique story, history and issues. However, there is a clear and continuing plot that is enhanced rather than sabotaged by the characters which drive the narrative.

"I'm a bad person, trying very hard to be a good person. But I would not be trying at all if it were not for the outside interventions in my life.

Superman fears nothing because outside a few very specific circumstances where he might encounter some stupid rock, nothing can possibly do him in.

Superman fears nothing because outside a few very specific circumstances where he might encounter some stupid rock, nothing can possibly do him in. Batman has the same vulnerabilities as the rest of us, so he has the same fears as us. That’s why he is the most courageous: because he can put those aside and fight on regardless. My point is this: the more you have to lose, the braver you are for standing up

Sorry means you feel the pulse of other people’s pain as well as your own, and saying it means you take a share of it. And so it binds us together, makes us trodden and sodden as one another. Sorry is a lot of things. It’s a hole refilled. A debt repaid. Sorry is the wake of misdeed. It’s the crippling ripple of consequence. Sorry is sadness, just as knowing is sadness. Sorry is sometimes self-pity. But Sorry, really, is not about you. It’s theirs to take or leave.

“Do you think I am an automaton? — a machine without feelings? and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living

“Do you think I am an automaton? — a machine without feelings? and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! — I have as much soul as you — and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh: it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God's feet, equal — as we are!”

“I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.”