Yes! As a woman, it was an infuriating read.

Yes. Gillian McAllister loves to use ‘jaded’.

Oh sorry, I didn’t know that vetting recommendations before picking them up or providing criteria when asking for recommendations is so back-breaking.

Christ on a bike, when will you people stop acting like YA is an STD you have to disclose?

Not everyone has this weird need to personally relate to what they’re reading. In fact, I don’t understand that need whatsoever, as I don’t want to read essentially about myself again and again. I want stories and perspectives different from mine to learn about other people and human experiences.

You know, I’ve seen plenty of comments by men saying they exclusively or primarily read books about men and by men because they don’t relate to women, whereas women don’t seem to have this issue. We gladly read about men’s lives and experiences because we are interested in all people, whereas the aforementioned men often don’t even see us as people.

This book is one of my most hated reads of all time, but all your questions are actually explained. But if you don’t remember, they were struggling to get someone to fill the position to the extent they were willing to break the rules, and also the guy’s mother had made calls to talk shit about the FMC so she doesn’t get hired anywhere else in the vicinity.

I just finished The Temple of Fortuna yesterday! No spoilers, but I loved it and thought that all three books formed a very well thought out, cohesive story.

• I wouldn’t say that the 2nd book ruined anything for me. It was less intense and I did like the first book a tiny bit more, but I think overall it deepened my feelings about the characters.
• Considering what happened at the end, buying Victoria was obviously a mistake, but I live for Britannica. She’s amazing. And I know Amara would have bought them all if she could’ve. As much as she plotted and schemed for her own benefit, she truly cared about her friends. Women looking out for women was one of my favourite things about the series.
• No, as much as I wanted to strangle Victoria, Amara should definitely not have killed her. Yes, Victoria betrayed Amara horribly, but Amara recognised her for the victim she was. They were all manipulated by Felix. Even Amara wasn’t untouched by his influence. Felix was a master manipulator and gaslighter.
• I can’t say anything about this because I already know the answer and don’t want to spoil it for you.

I obviously don’t agree with you on the 2nd point. It’s understandable that she didn’t want to leave her friends to suffer for longer than they already had. Also, being indebted to Felix didn’t change anything in the grand scheme of things. Even when she wasn’t indebted to him, he still haunted her life in every way he could. He’d have never left her alone anyway.

People fall in love even in the most horrific of situations because they’re still human. Personally I hate pregnancies in books, but I understand why it was necessary for the story. Her letting her guard down wasn’t a character flaw. It shows us that she’s human, she has feelings. She could finally relax a little bit, and she did, but she never stopped plotting herself a better life.

Same for me with The Secret History, only I first read it more than a decade ago after discovering it discounted at a bookstore. I had no idea how popular it was until I got more into the bookish scene and joined a book club a few years ago.

I really like all his newest sci-fi thrillers because they’re fast paced and packed with action. I do think they’re too male-centric, though.