pickGosh. This book was stressful. Bad things happening to characters you really like 😰 it cracks me up that the author thought she‘d written a cozy book, then admitted later she‘d “forgotten about all the death” 🤣 if you like fantasy books set on ships, in the ocean etc, check this one out.
The goldenrod is blooming like crazy! I love it! 🌾🌿 Goldenrod is one of my favorite flowers! It's bright yellow color is so pretty, and I love the way it smells! I also love how it appears at the end of summer, like it's heralding in autumn! 🥰🍁🍂
Also, I'm almost finished with this book and I can't believe how much I love it! 💕📚
Reading at the farmer's market this afternoon! Listening to music, eating apple cider donuts, and drinking tea! 😋🍎🍏🍩
I started this yesterday and am absolutely loving it so far! The storyline is fun and really unique! 💕📚 I think this is Amie Kaufman's first solo book!
pickFor me, there‘s two types of 5-star reads. One that you finish in a day or so, read somewhat desperately and one that you force yourself to take time to enjoy. The latter is what I did with this book. I simply didn‘t want it to end. I was already a fan of Amie Kaufman through her sci-fi books and can now add fantasy adventure to the list. Seriously though, I loved this book and the characters were amazing. This book exceeded my expectations!
5⭐️
I still have a few more pages of my story left to write, and I‘m the one who‘ll choose what they say. Even if I‘m writing my own ending.
“Sometimes one must study history, Your Highness. But sometimes one must make it. Whatever it costs”
~Keegan to Leander
“I‘ve killed you, Selly. And I‘ve dismantled your entire life first—yet you still saved mine, over and over.”
It‘s a gift from a boy who could give me enough gold and jewels to fill my father‘s fleet, but gave me something priceless, instead—a piece of himself.
“Keegan,” says the prince of Alinor, shaking his head slowly. “You‘re a gem. And I‘m a fool for not knowing that earlier.”
“Sometimes one must study history, Your Highness. But sometimes one must make it. Whatever it costs.”
“I like you best with salt on your skin.”
“Well, you look stunning, and we shouldn‘t waste it. Let me teach you one dance, and then we‘ll go back.”
“Dance with me?” I hold out my hand. “Consider it a last request.”
She looks at it like it might grow teeth and bite her. “I don‘t know how.” Suddenly, like the focus on a camera snapping into some other setting, I see the irritation in her features change.
She‘s afraid.
Selly? My Selly, afraid of a dance floor?
My heart aches to simply snatch up her hand, but I just leave mine extended, waiting. Hoping. “I can show you.”
“Gathering intelligence?”
“You wouldn‘t know intelligence if it matched up to you and tried to force its way in through your ears to the empty spot where your brain should be.”
“Wear a killer dress if you like, but don‘t change what matters.”
His nimble fifers are folding [the paper], turning it, folding it again. Then he offers it to me, taking the bag of shirts and trousers as he sets it on my palm.
It‘s a little paper boat, lines crisp, sails set.
“It‘s a promise,” he says quietly. “You belong on the water. We‘ll get you back there.”
“Why don‘t you treat me like everyone else?”
“Well, we‘re in disguise.”
“Oh, because it started when we put on our disguises.”
It‘s my turn to shrug. “Then it must be because you annoy me more than you annoy everyone else.”
“Funny,” he muses. “You don‘t annoy me at all.”
I‘ve never strolled along hand in hand with anyone before, so why not start with the Prince of Alinor?
“Buy her something nice, son.”
“Ready to go, handsome?” Selly asks, tilting her head at the door.
“Oh, you finally noticed?”
She snorts. “I just wanted your attention.”
“I‘m only letting you do that because my hands are cold.”
“I answer my own prayers, Sister Beria. Nobody else ever has.”
“I don‘t know if you‘re incredibly brave or completely insane, Wollesley. But thank you.”
He‘s clinging to me as hard as I‘m clinging to him.
“You tell Stanton Walker I kept my promise, kept his daughter safe.”
“I don‘t walk the deck handing out hugs, but I‘d die for my crew, and they know it.”
There‘s a sliver in me that still hopes. That sliver lives in all of us—it‘s why we‘re fighting.
“If you want to do great things, you have to risk failing at them.”
“Better a book than a person?”
“A book rarely lets you down,” he says crisply. “You will find friends in its pages when they are nowhere else.”
“Everyone tells the same story different ways,” she says quietly […]. “And the only version we‘re the hero of is our own, Jude.”
“You can‘t fight the whole world, Jude,” she says softly, settling back against her pillows.
“Why not?” I murmur. “The world threw the first punch.”
“Have you ever killed someone?” he asks quietly.
“First time for everything.”
“There.” I lean across to tuck [the flower] behind his ear. “Everything useless around here is beautifully decorated. I wouldn‘t want you to feel left out.”
“First flowers, now you don‘t like pastries?” he asks, studying my frown. “What‘s next, kittens?”
“I…Will you just go away?”
He smirks. “I think you‘ll find I was here first. Come to that, when you arrived, you literally threw yourself into my arms.”
She stands like a statue, beautiful even in her sadness.
pickThis book might be my favorite read this year! It is definitely my favorite book of Pirates. I was unsure what to expect going into Kaufman's first solo YA. I love her collaborations with Kristoff but am always hit or miss with the Spooner ones. This book of pirates, elemental magic, gods, and quests gets rid of all my doubts. World building was amazing, great characters and the authors own knowledge of sailing added so much to this. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Isles of the Gods | 
