Quotes:
"What defines a romance? All Scholars seem to converge on a single point: it is a story that must have a happy ending. And why is that? I say, it is because a romance is a belief in the impossible: that anything ends happily. For the only true end is death - and in this way, is romance not a rebuke of mortality? When love is here, I am not. When love is not, I am gone. Perhaps a romance is a story with no end at all; where the end is but a wardrobe with a false back, leading to stranger and more merciful worlds."

"I know you think I am a little girl, and what could a little girl know about eternity? But I do know this: whether you survive the ocean or you don't, whether you are lost or whether the waves deliver you back to the sh0re - every story is told in the language of water, in tongues of salt and foam. and the sea, the sea, it whispers the secret of how all things end."

“I was a woman when it was convenient to blame me, and a girl when they wanted to use me.”

“I will love you to ruination.”

“I love you.” Effy pressed her forehead against his. “I love you,” Preston said, voice wavering. “I’m so sorry it’s ruined us both.”

Review:
This entire book was just one passage after another that I want to sear into my brain for eternity. I love Effy and everything she makes you feel. She brings to light what it is like to be a woman. You care for her and just want to protect her. She shows you that everyone has flaws and there are more ways than one to be brave and stand your ground.

I love dark academia books and I was here for this one. Did Effy irritate me at first, yes. I felt she judged Preston unfairly due to being half Argantian and was ready for her to open her eyes.

This book is one where I am wavering between 4.5-5 stars. But it was the closest a book has come to making me fall in love with the writing, my top tier books right now that this book came close to are The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, Gallant and Alone With You in the Ether. In terms of how I felt while reading the book.