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The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ stars

"Amara looks up at Venus. It's the closest she has been to the statue. Those painted eyes, so black and wide apart, don't just look watchful but angry. She is not only the goddess of love, Amara thinks, this is a deity who drives man to madness, a destroyer of warriors, author of the fall of Troy".

Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta

★ ★ ★ ★ stars

We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson

☆☆☆☆ stars

"Merricat, said Connie, would you like a cup of tea?

Oh no, said Merricat, you'll poison me.

Merricat, said Connie, would you like to go to sleep?

Down in the boneyard ten feet deep!"

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

★ ★ ★ stars

"But she remembers when the word 'friend' could draw blood. She and Gretchen spent hours ranking their friendships, trying to determine who was a best friend and who was an everyday friend, debating whether anyone could have two best friends at the same time, writing each other's names over and over in purple ink, buzzed on the dopamine high of belonging to someone else, having a total stranger choose you, someone who wanted to know you, another person who cared that you were alive."

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

★ ★ ★ ★ stars

"'Staying here won't make me happy. It will make you happy because you are insipid and boring, and an insipid, boring life is enough for you. It will never be enough for me. So I'm leaving.'"

Maresi by Maria Turstchaninoff

★★★★★ stars

"'Why can men not come to the island?'

It was the first time Jai had ever asked a question in class. All heads turned toward her, but Sister O did not seem to notice anything unusual.

'This is sacred ground. The First Sisters knew it as soon as they arrived.'"

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ stars

“She looked at me. And the way she did it made me feel like no one had ever looked at me before.”

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

★ ★ ★ ★ stars

“‘I don’t understand.’ Theodora threw down her pencil in frustration. ‘Do you always go where you’re not wanted?’

Eleanor smiled placidly. ‘I’ve never been wanted anywhere,’ she said.”

Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ stars

“She seemed fragile like a moonflower – destined to bloom for a single lovely night, and then to fade and fall.”

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

★ ★ ★ ★ stars

“If we are strong enough in our souls we can rip away the veil and look that naked, terrible beauty right in the face; let God consume us, devour us, unstring our bones. Then spit us out reborn.”

I’m not quite sure how to describe this, but I put the book aside as soon as I’d finished reading, as if it would burn my hand if I held it any longer. I’ve looked into a bittersweet (leaning more into the bitter side) story, which could only result in drama as soon as Bunny found out about what happened. Maybe they would’ve been fine if not for that.

Still, I hoped that things would turn out fine. Even though the characters did evil things, they felt intimate, human.

The most puzzling character to me was Henry. For the most part of the book I had mixed thoughts: he was a monster, and yet was inconsolably alone within his own self; he did not care much about others, but to those who he did care he was gentle and loyal. Julian broke his heart and we could clearly see the grief in him, so he was no psychopath. At the end, his death was one of the most impactful things of the story.

All in all, The Secret History kept me wondering about relationships, and how easily they can crumble in face of tragedy.