Who?
So over this.

So the question you have to ask yourself is are you struggling with the fact that you don’t want to kill this man, but have to? 

Or you don’t have to kill him, but want to?

The light of the moon was in her hair, her red hair kissed by fire. When he saw that, Jon’s heart leapt into his mouth. “Ygritte,” he said.

…your own burden is a crueler one, I fear. You will have little joy of your command, but I think you have the strength in you to do the things that must be done. Kill the boy, Jon Snow. Winter is almost upon us. Kill the boy and let the man be born.

For the love of God, read YA. 

No, not that. Read this

TRUE GRIT BY CHARLES PORTIS: This is YA. I will fight you tooth and nail if you say otherwise. 14 year old Mattie Ross leaves home to bury her father and get revenge for his death. Both equally funny and intelligent and a coming of age story in a strange, adventurous way. I love this book and Mattie fiercely. 

When we reached the top I said, “Wait, stop a minute.” He said, “What is it?” I said, “There is something wrong with my hat.” He stopped and turned around. “Your hat?” said he. I took it off and slapped him in the face with it two or three times and made him drop the reins.

UNWIND BY NEAL SHUSTERMAN: Dystopians were a huge thing after The Hunger Games (think Divergent and The Maze Runner). Unwind was published a year prior to THG. But it really, it’s like…there is no other YA dystopian that can top this. Nothing (sometimes I think it can be seen on the same level as other classic dystopians—sometimes).  It’s one of the most politically driven dystopians I’ve come across. It’s also one of the few YA books that actually tackles how society views and treats teenagers. I want to gush more, but I’ll stop and let you decide. But fair warning, this book hurts in so many ways. It’s hard to read. But then it’s hard not to read either. 

In a perfect world everything would be either black or white, right or wrong, and everyone would know the difference. But this isn’t a perfect world. The problem is people who think it is.
“I’d rather be partly great than entirely useless.”

WHITE CAT BY HOLLY BLACK: One of the reasons why I love White Cat is that it’s a mash up of different genres—magic realism, crime, mystery—and it does it EXCELLENTLY. There is this sort of twisted grittiness that makes Cassel and his (fucked up) family so appealing. They manipulate and lie to each other’s faces and then say I love you. Also, Cassel is such a great, fun narrator. And unreliable. You desperately want him to forgive and love himself, it’s insane.

Once someone’s hurt you, it’s harder to relax around them, harder to think of them as safe to love. But it doesn’t stop you from wanting them.

RED RISING BY PIERCE BROWN: By the end of this book you will be screaming BLOODYDAMN, GOOD MAN. This series is intense on numerous levels. It’s a science fiction mashed with historical context (heavy heavy Roman culture. Greek myth themes are incorporated as well). It’s incredibly smart, and fast paced. Even if you’re expecting a twist or turn, something else will shock you. Some crazy shit happens, man. The characters suck you in and refuse to let you go even when you beg and cry. Darrow is a great lead, even if he is a bit Gary Stue. He gets the shit beat out of him plenty of times to make up for it. I wonder if Brown intended Darrow’s journey to resemble a Greek hero’s. Fair warning: this book has major issues (its sexist, there’s rape). I’m trash for suggesting it.

Funny thing, watching gods realize they’ve been mortal all along.

THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO BY PATRICK NESS: Chaos Walking (the series name) is the only series that’s had me sobbing. Unwind is emotional by the themes presented. Chaos Walking is emotional thanks to the damn narrative. Todd is your modern Huck Finn on some distant, strange planet where he lives in a town full of men, where thoughts are heard loud and clear, whether you want them to or not. This book is about a boy and his dog who find a girl who crash landed on this strange planet. They make a run for it from this town of crazy men into the unknown. Basically this is a coming of age story. Todd and Viola goes through some pretty twisted stuff. I don’t even wanna talk about it because it’s messed up man.

And the pain is too much it’s too much it’s too much and my hands are on my head and I’m rearing back and my mouth is open in a never-ending wordless wail of all the blackness that’s inside me.
And I fall back into it.

THE WINNER’S CURSE BY MARIE RUTKOSKI: Oh yes. This is a romance and fantasy. But don’t fret! Something amazing occurs. Intelligent. Characters. The romance isn’t a forbidden one—it’s an impractical one. The fantasy elements are soft, but they’re unique enough (and in further books they develop and grow—it’s great). Rutkuski’s prose is almost poetic at times. This is what you get from an experienced author. More importantly, Kestrel is one of the most intelligent flawed female characters out there. If you get sucked in quick enough, you can finish this in one sitting.

He knew the law of such things: people in brightly lit places cannot see into the dark.

THE RAVEN BOYS BY MAGGIE STIEFVATER: I almost didn’t put this on here, but then I thought better. You’re living under a rock if you haven’t heard of or seen this book on tumblr. There is a whole searching for a dead king to grant one wish plot going on, but really it’s about the four boys and one girl and their relationships with one another. Complex relationships. That makes you laugh and cry and swoon. Seriously some great stuff here. It helps that Stiefvater is such a talented writer. God, I hate her seriously what did you do? Swallow a dictionary???

Gansey had once told Adam that he was afraid most people didn’t know how to handle Ronan. What he meant by this was that he was worried that one day someone would fall on Ronan and cut themselves.

Peace out,

Caitlin

Cregan: I see what you are, Snow. Half a wolf and half a wildling, baseborn get of a traitor and a whore. You would deliver a highborn maid to the bed of some stinking savage. Did you sample her yourself first? If you mean to kill me, do it and be damned for a kinslayer. Stark and Karstark are one blood.

Jon: My name is Snow.

Cregen: Bastard.

Jon: Guilty. Of that at the least.

In fact, the only things in the flat Crowley devoted any personal attention to were the houseplants. They were huge, and green, and glorious, with shiny, healthy, lustrous leaves.

This was because, once a week, Crowley went around the flat with a green plastic plant mister spraying the leaves, and talking to the plants….

Although talking is perhaps the wrong word for what Crowley did.

What he did was put the fear of God into them.

More precisely, the fear of Crowley.

In addition to which, every couple of months Crowley would pick out a plant that was growing too slowly, or succumbing to leaf-wilt, or browning, or just didn’t look quite as good as the others, and he would carry it around to all the plants. “Say goodbye to your friend,” he’d say to them. “He just couldn’t cut it…”

Then he would leave the flat with the offending plant, and return an hour or so later with a large empty flower pot, which he would leave somewhere conspicuously around the flat.

The plants were the most luxurious, verdant, and beautiful in London. Also the most terrified.

Good Omens
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