it's nice.

❤️ This book reads like a movie. We get numerous point of views from different characters while regularly making time jumps in the story, and it can be a bit confusing at first. It will likely take you some time to remember all characters and all time lines, but once you get it, I have to say it's pretty satisfying and very easy to picture everything in your head. ❤️ The social commentary (mainly feminism and classism) we get through the complex family and relationships dynamics in this story is quite interesting. ❤️ You can tell the plot is well though-out and carefully constructed. Everything, every little detail (and there are a lot) will (very) slowly start to make sense the further you get.

❤️ The prose is stunning. Nabokov has this exceptional talent for describing trivial and/or ugly (or even horrible) things in the most beautiful and poetic way. There are so many layers, references and details in his writing that despite my limited knowledge in literature, I could still feel there was content in each chapter to study in depth for hours. ❤️ This is the original unreliable narrator story, and it truly deserves to be *the* reference for it. H.H, the protagonist, is not just a sick, twisted criminal, he's conceited and honestly insufferable. You don't have to have particularly good media literacy to realize quite early on that he's the villain in this story. Still, he feels very human. He's manipulating the narrative and often trying to find excuses to his behavior, but it's clear he also knows deep down that what he's doing is wrong. And he's aware he's falling into a downward spiral, but he can't stop himself. ❤️ We only get H.H's point of view in this book, but we do get glimpses of Dolores' (the real Lolita) true emotions through little holes in the façade created by H.H. And these glimpses are utterly devastating. ❤️ Loved the ending!! During the second half of the second part, without spoiling any of it, we get so many interesting aspects of H.H's personality and his perverse obsession with Lolita. The last chapters in particular were beautifully written. ❤️ I find the impact that this book had on our society and our culture - and how relevant it unfortunately still is today - fascinating. It's such a shame that it is still highly misunderstood today.

❤️ The strong and emotional friendship between the young characters, which is deeply rooted in shared trauma, was for me very reminiscent of It and Stranger Things, and it's exactly what I love most about these kind of stories. It's hard not to get attached to these kids ❤️ Not only the relationships, but I found the characters in themselves well-written and developed. I could easily picture them in my head despite the fact that it was quite a big cast of characters, and I think that says a lot! ❤️ The pacing was excellent, I think it took me only like 20-30 pages to really get into it, and after that I had a hard time putting it down. The tension especially halfway/2 thirds through the book had me on the edge of my seat ❤️ Very smartly written, I could feel the research required was done and looooved some of the messages conveyed in this story

❤️ I found the plot very well-structured, I didn't see all the twists and turns coming and one or two moments there left my jaw hanging - which is quite rare for me!

❤️ I liked how flawed and opportunistic almost all characters were. I'd heard that the MMC was a bully to the FMC in the beginning of this book, and I was anticipating this to be a big no-no for me, but I found myself more lenient with the context: that everyone in Faerie is cruel and violence seems to be just par for the course 😅 I could feel how Jude, the FMC, had to fight to survive in this world, and this also made me accept her recklessness and her ambition.

❤️ Ultimately, I did end up liking the main ship. Maybe I did giggle and kick my feet here and there. Just a little.

❤️ There are a LOT of characters in this, but it does a good job at giving enough explanation and background for each character and their relationships, without info-dumping, for the reader to follow. I loved the drama!!!

💔 Unfortunately this book suffers a lot from the telling-and-not-showing syndrome. I tend to excuse this more when it's YA, but still some parts in this book made me roll my eyes a bit. 

❤️ I adored the setting, this lovely French countryside through the seasons, and the whole dream-like atmosphere of this book. It fits perfectly its main theme of adolescence/coming-of-age. The descriptions were detailed and developed without being too long in my opinion (especially for a classic). ❤️ This story evokes a strong sense of yearning and nostalgia that quickly becomes its main driving force. These emotions speak to a lot of us I think, especially if you're an adult who often think back on these simpler (and better?) times, it's difficult to remain indifferent. ❤️ The fact that the narrator is the "sidekick" character, who looks up to this adventurous "hero" - who becomes a bit of an anti-hero - was, I think, a clever twist. It really allows us to step back and consider the situation. As a reader it almost made me feel like I've grown simultaneously with the narrator, realizing that things that we've idealized at the beginning of this book were just that - idealized.

❤️ One thing to know about me is that I hate to read references to current pop culture/trends/social media in fiction. This book is full of it, and somehow managed to do the impossible with me - not only did it not bother me for one moment, but I also found myself genuinely enjoying it. The difference with this book is that it all felt so *real*. It was clear the author knew what she was talking about (contrary to others who try to do it but it always end up a bit cingrey to me) and she made sure every scene was written cleverly and pertinently. ❤️ I saw so many people complain about how insufferable the narrator is, and I agree that sometimes (often) she was, but she was also so interesting to me. I found that she actually did make several valid points throughout this story (and I'm Asian haha). Every character in this book is very nuanced. When you start to think that a character has no flaws, or that another character is pure evil, this book will just slap you in the face in the next chapter and show you how wrong you were. And I LOVED it. ❤️ Because the characters are all so nuanced, you get a good variety of point of views on current debate topics such as the responsibility of writing about real suffering, cancel culture, the fine line between inspiration and plagiarism, etc. No matter how self-assured you are, this book will challenge you and really make you think. ❤️ June and Athena's relationship was fascinating to me. I loved the toxicity, the admiration, the jealousy, the guilt all mixed together in this big messy thing. I love complex characters, but I think I might love complex relationships even more. ❤️ The first chapter was AMAZING. I don't remember reading such a unique and engaging start for a book recently.

❤️ By providing a view backstage into the golden age of Hollywood, this book has everything to entertain: the drama, the scandals, the romance, the heartbreaks, even the plot twist. ❤️ The plot and its structure are intriguing and definitely kept me engaged as a reader ❤️ I appreciated how honest it was with its characters' flaws - I definitely wouldn't have bought this story if the people at this level of fame and success in this industry were all benevolent and innocent! ❤️ I didn't see the plot twist coming and I enjoyed how it tied the story together - but what I didn't like about it was the execution...

❤️ Again, I adored the writing style and the worldbuilding. Christelle Dabos is a talented and very creative writer.

❤️ This book's biggest strength to me was the character development, especially Ophélie's, and the evolution between Ophélie and Thorn's relationship. I found I've grown attached to them, it's hard not to! It has also its fair share of loveable side characters.

❤️ It was satisfying to see a lot of questions from the previous book answered in this one. It's a story with a quite complex lore and interesting political stakes, and the more I kept reading the more I could feel how everything slowly started to make sense.

❤️ The pace was better than the previous book. The second half especially was well-structured and I loved the ending!

💔 There are a lot of characters and everyone had different intentions, it's a good thing and it definitely adds more depth to the story, but sometimes it was very hard to follow where each of these characters was at. This book also had this very clichéd scene with a villain explaining his plans and motives to the MC with a monologue 😅

💔 Some details in the storyline felt like they were just there to serve the plot, not everything felt smooth and natural. Overall it was nicely done though, but these details were enough to throw me off just a bit!