what even was this

fucking brilliant

reading this sometimes felt like when you’re driving and you’re getting comfortable at the pace you’re going and then all of sudden the car in front of you stops short so you stop short and your heart kinda feels like it stopped short too, but then you keep going towards your destination anyways

i liked it. underlined the hell of it. weird amount of incest/power imbalances though.

thank god i finally decided to finish this book right before the sequel comes out because WHAT THE FUCK?!

if i had the means to tattoo every mary oliver poem into my skin, i would.

anyways, here are the bits i loved:

“the seeds of restlessness
    that made you, finally,
         swim toward the world,
             kicking and shouting
but trailing a mossy darkness —
    a dream that would never breathe air
         and was hinged to your wildest joy
             like a shadow.”

“each pond with its blazing lilies
is a prayer heard and answered
lavishly,
every morning,
whether or not
you have ever dared to be happy,
whether or not
you have ever dared to pray.”

“You do not have to be good…You only have to let the soft animal of your body
    love what it loves.”

Love, love, loved this collection. It made a home in my heart.

it’s actually insane how horny this book was given everything that was at stake, but i loved every minute of it. i already miss these characters so much and i can’t wait to reread this series some time in the future.

dicks out for darlington and that’s all i’m going to say about that.

this book had everything. it had me gasping, it had me screaming, it had me up til 1 am just until I got to “A real-“ “Gentleman.” and then i realized i had to stop or I’d never go to sleep. Such a good follow-up and I need the next one NOW!!