Contemporary fiction is rarely something I truly enjoy, but the way this story is told drew me in a way that no contemporary has before.
Seeing a story from so many separate point of view is like watching a web be spun. Watching how every point comes together to form a pieces of art. Saving Ruby King builds the story so beautifully around this tragic point in Ruby's life. Showing how it shakes her community, herself, and everything that lead up to that fateful day in such a beautiful way.
It is intrinsically different then how most Mysteries are told and honestly it left me in want of more mysteries to be told like this.

I wasn't sure how I'd like this book but have been craving more superhero fiction after binge "reading" (listening) to the Renegades Series.

I can't say I was disappointed by this book but I certainly wasn't wow-ed by it either. Their were no surprising twist or reveals. Which is ok, because it adds to the overall humor of the book. It really plays towards the ongoing joke of how can no one notice that Superman is Clark Kent it is just a pair of glasses. So instead of waiting on edge wanting to find out the identities of these people you are instead giggling and rolling your eyes as people fail to put two and two together.

I was also all for the awkward queer romance, It makes me so happy that YA Fiction now has this kind of representation. Also normalizing Trans people, I'm also always here for.

What I had not expected to pop, or not at least by that point in reading was race relations in this novel. When Captain Orion begins speaking poorly of Smasher and Shockwave due to their ethnicity and nationality, I became infuriated.

But also it made me more intrigued to learn about the systematic racism that is now most certainly is part of the Hero's League. I hope to see this further explored in the sequel because the whole system of the 'hero and villain' tracks seem inherently flawed and discriminatory.

Especially since at the end when we see Captain Orion and Mrs. Mischief discussing that the whole reason Mrs. Mischief is a Villain boils down to who she was in a relationship with. It made me uncomfortable, reminding me of a mixture of Eugenics and keeping the bloodline pure.

Rating: Ack/5

This book was a roller coaster of emotions to say the least. I feel like I have whiplash to some extent, as I write this I'm like stars don't encompass my feelings If ACK/5 was an option it would be what I would.

Did I love this book? No...
Do I think it was a good conclusion to the series? Yes.

This book covered so much ground, that I don't know what I would talk about in regards to it. It is what we've been building too in the last two books.

If you've read the other two, I'd say yes read this one.

If you're looking to start the series: eeeeehhhh?

The thing I am angry about finishing this book:

Spoiler

This book (and the series as a whole) digs so deep into the cycle of abuse and the ethicacy of child soldiers.
Rielle
In reality Rielle grew up in a very toxic environment where the people who were supposed to love her instead continually tried to stifle her. I specifically think of a scene where Tao was trying to drown Rielle as a child, in the first book.
Time and time again she was treated as a monster, as a terrible person by those adults in her life who should have loved her.

So when Corien came around he used similar toxic (i.e. Abusive) behaviours to get her on his side, she doesn't even second guess it.

To make it worse her Father's reaction to the accident that caused her father's death, meant that every time someone who loved her reacted negatively her reaction was that she needed to cut them out to not be further hurt.

Ludivine Is in reality a terrible person, who will do anything for Rielle and Audric. To the point he put Eliana through months of torture. Put Simon through torture as just a small child, then made him watch Eliana be tortured for months all for this grand plan of making her "stronger" then her mother.

Simon and Eliana:
I needed so much more than a depiction of post fight sex. Like this could have been a legitimate look at how to rebuild a relationship after trauma (both individual and shared). That would have been so much better then over half of the book being, basically (softcore) torture porn.

The Beginning is always today...

This is the book that I needed in High School and even early college. The pressure to know exactly where you are heading and what you are going to do for the rest of your life is tremendous at this stage and it Is also the time where we have the most pressure around what those around us expect us to be.

While I think this book definitely addresses the pressure from outside forces to pick the path that is right based on their expectations. Instead of showing someone choosing their own path and succeeding they show (world-altering) repercussions for choosing a path different than what is expected.

But overall this book is a cute read, with a happy ending, with heartwarming characters.

Listening to this book, at different times made me grin like an idiot (behind my mask), feel like I could do more, and challenged me to do so.

While I am not a Woman of Color, having come from a background of poverty hearing others speak about the importance of helping people. That we keep moving further and further away from those who are in need. Even assuming that these people can't be considered independent and hardworking if they also rely on any amount of help to ensure that they can survive in this world.

While this book is dedicated to AOC and the future she advocates for. I think a lot of these essays could be beneficial in showing the world why we need to make changes to the way the world is.

"What does a Just Society mean to you?" is what I took from this collection of essays but there are so many amazing works that touch on so much more.

This book for me is interesting because even now I feel like it's slipping through my hands before as I reach out to grab it. Until today I had no recollection of ever touching this book more the to pick it up and consider purchasing it time and time again at Barnes and Noble.
But then I opened the audiobook borrowed from my library to find myself at the end, which was weird. But I just kinda shrugged and restarted it from the beginning.

We all say we wish we could come back to our favorite books and read them again for the first time, that is what this experience was like from beginning to end for me, it felt like coming home to a beloved book but also I had no recollection of what I had read previously it was like I was taking it in for the first time.

I can't say why this book is like water in my hands because while I am consuming it, it feels so real the emotions so relatable, and the impact of finding and choosing your own family being so impactful. The writing is beautiful and makes me both long and be fearful for the winter snow to come.

This book felt like it was tying its entirety into Christianity, while Christianity has definitely pulled from different forms of "pagan religions". That is a one way exchange of culture, that in reality didn't really need to have a place hear.
I think this could be good for someone who is just now beginning to look into practising the craft, coming from a Christian background. But it's definitely not for everyone.

I will say that there are some awesome recipes for salves and other things though.

I described this book to my partner as "How to not pursue non-monogamy" because with how much focus is placed on Frida and Diego's, love? marriage? scandals?
It really does show a powerful image on how not to pursue a non-monogamous relationship, because while we see the letters they wrote between each other, it feels like in reality they weren't communicating what they needed with each other openly and honestly.

In all other parts not strictly about Diego and Frida, I found this book incredibly intriguing. This book seems to make a combo of biography and self-help book that I have never seen and found super interesting.