That's how you write a villain origin story. The author gets wonderland, she gets the characters. All of them feel true to their original counterparts. Fans of Alice in wonderland appreciate the appearances or transformations of familiar characters (the hatter, hare, executioner, mock turtle, and more). You root for the romance but there comes a point where it's like watching a train wreck, you know it's not going to work out and there's no going back.
There's 2 romances going on at the same time and the ending sets up the second book to wrap up the second romance. I would have put it in one book. The ending doesn't focus on the main romance of the book so we don't get to see if Kelsey chooses to stop touring after the 6 month contract and move back to the ranch. We don't get to see hot Pete's son do good in a couple of years. We don't see a wedding with older bro or wedding for Knox n Kelsey and oldest bro having a baby announcement. The author set up a lot of things with no payoff which is disappointing
3.75 ⭐️ It gave me the same vibes as folk of the air (fmc is raised around the folk and smart enough to make deals with them safely) and she bullys the mmc for several pages. lol. The plot was ok but the world building was great. The ending was pretty good. I don't like she's 17 and he's unknown age but honestly he feels like he's early 20's I can't buy him being older than that. Also feels like his main character trait was falling for human women even though there's a law against that. I thought the laws were like fae rules (I.e. can't lie) but I guess not
I didn't grow up with Mr rogers but I know he's widely respected and loved by many who did watch his show. This book is his “testimony” but was written after he was dead so it focuses on the tenets of who mister rogers was. A repeating theme is how you see others reflects how you treat them and rogers treated everyone well and received respect in return.
the first 2 chapters are snippets from his radio show where moms are sharing their stories raising strong willed children. Chapter 3 is where he starts talking about the principles of raising the strong willed child.
Things / Principles I liked:
“Shape the will but don't break the spirit”
“God gave them their personality for a reason and their strong will will take them far in their adulthood.”
He sites studies about how gentle parenting doesn't work and how discipline is actually a good parent thing (disproves the cons people bring up around spanking).
Has tips for all seasons tots - teens and how to discipline each age group (you shouldn't spank a teen, they are almost adults)
Not all hard advice, you should also capture their heart and nurture their spirit to give to God.
Don't give up on your kid even when it's hard.
Kids get better once they've started developing personal relationship with Jesus and as adults if you do your job well, appreciate the discipline you give them.
Talks about the bad influences in technology, how a lot of degenerate behavior started with MTV showing how “cool” it was to be a rebel
Strong willed children are less likely to fit in with the cool kids (can attest as a strong willed child, now strong willed adult)
This book is a bunch of “laws” backed by one example in history where it worked out in someone's favor. The way it's written makes you feel like the author and everyone he mentions is a snake in the grass. The history examples are like the worst people. Powerful? I guess. But Henry the 8th, Machiavelli, Ivan the terrible, Christopher Columbus are all infamous for bad things.
As a stem girlie, the use of the word law is inaccurate but I guess they took a page from Schrödinger because some laws contradict other laws.
This is one of those books I hope stays with me forever. What she describes in the book about finding your people is not easy but I think the advice she gives is practical. To be fully loved is to be fully known and we have to extend the invitations. No relationship is perfect and without conflict but you can choose to forgive each other and reconcile.
I dnfed it and read spoilers for the series and the story is interesting but I hated the new dual pov for a character that I knew was going to tie in but not until the end. I guessed the big plot twist and life's too short to read 17 hour audiobooks that didn't capture me like the first one