3.5 Stars

My first FF and most likely my last. Lol.

This by no means is a remark on Hawk’s wonderful writing but lady bits do nothing for me. However, absolutely essential if you’re a reading-in-series-order purist, as this further propels the main story arc quite nicely.

As always, full of action and never short on the horror nor the feels, the love between Ms. Parkhurst and Persephone was sweet, silly, and swoony (and yes, explicit) - just like Whyborne and Griffin!

Really, a must read for those who love this series as much as I do! ( )

This was funny and cute and sweet. I'm glad to see these two side characters got their own story and found love. ( )

Sometimes I get annoyed with ... naive? stupid? innocent? people in stories.

I got annoyed with ... (how is it that I forget character names in books so quickly?! In real life I can learn names up to 30 people in one week...), let's call her miss P., she is... dim, simpel, not clever, not witty, pretty but not beautiful and most of all naive.

Since when did I get taken in with the idea that a 'strong' female character must be the opposite of those things? When I know that in real life I adore all of humanity in all the different ways the can be strong? Since when do I think that being 'soft' is an weakness? And annoying to read about.

I have encountered girls/women like miss P. and sometimes they have families who protect them from the nasty side of the world. Or they find someone who adores them and you know they will be happy. They will never do something ambitious or worldbreaking work. They probably won't think further than their own family or country but you know every child that they will raise will be happy. Or they will do something to make others happy in small ways.
Sometimes... they will be treated bad. And then you see this... person who you know is... soft and good, try to get teeth and claws to attack everyone because they trusted everyone first and learned that some people will do bad things. But they haven't learned who because that was not in their nature.

Miss P. represented those girls/women to me.

And I got angry with myself that I got annoyed at her character because more often than not I have seen those kind of women get preyed upon and see them got hurt and forever changed. Why would I wish that miss P. be different?

From that moment on (somewhere around 40% in) I lost my annoyance and I got to enjoy the adventure of miss P. and her love.

So weird how stories can force you to acknowledge something about yourself that you didn't even know had to be acknowledged. And weirder still how a story, that you thought would be just a fun pastime, can impact you so much on a personal level.

***SPOILER (I can't hide this via the goodreads app because I don't remember the code)***
This is a fun, quick read about somebody who I wanted (since the beginning of the series) to find love that would be reciprocated.

***Disclaimer and tangent***
I talk only about 'soft' women here. that's because the main character is a women. Also being soft as an boy... very rarely, even in the most loving families, are they allowed to stay 'soft'. They almost always develope teeth and claws at a very young age.
Blame patriarchy if you will but even with my 'feminist' ways I still have moments at which I think that men should 'grow some balls'. I think we as humans always have some sort of standards to which we hold others. And I truly don't think we would do better in a matriarchy.
Unless we strive for a society and/or culture that's more like in Star Trek, based on your actions, unwillingness to hurt others and willing to acknowledge that everybody is different and you can't dictate their lives... we won't get there. (that whole sentence is a mess) I know I'm still not. ( )

Delightful. Miss Parkhurst was something of a favorite since the very first book, so to get this little novella all about her is a treat. Maggie is lovely, kind and, frankly, adorable, if a bit clueless and unsure of herself. Watching her falling in love with Persephone, gaining a bit of confidence, and becoming a full-fledged member of the gang was amazing.

The story also offers: courtship rituals involving squids, fantastic action, a gross dude getting what he deserves, and Mr. Quinn (and his dictionary) continuing to be the real MVP. I mean…

“It is much more difficult to contact her, for those of us of the land,” he mused. “But if I sacrifice one of the junior librarians on the night of the new moon, near the reef…”

Fantastic! ( )