This was such a great book!

The chemistry between Taylor and Avery was 🔥🔥🔥 and I was absolutely hooked on them.

I loved that these two characters kind of had opposite journey’s in a way. Avery starts the book so insecure and unsure of herself and she really finds her voice and her confidence over the course of this book. Meanwhile, Taylor seems confident in just about everything but we slowly see her insecurities come out and by the end, she learns she has to be a little bit vulnerable to get what she wants.

I was really glad Taylor and Erica talked things out because I won’t lie, Erica really pissed me off for most of this book. But the context she provided made sense even though it wasn’t an excuse, and I was glad they finally talked about it and chose to do better by each other.

"Garnet?" Pearl questioned quietly after knocking on the fusion's door.

"Yeah," the purple gem called out in reply. "You can come in."

"I believe you left this in my room," Pearl said, holding out a cell phone. She was only slightly mad that Garnet had gone into her room-- Amethyst was one thing, but the fusion was another entirely. The deep magenta gem was sitting on a couch, facing opposite the door. Pearl noticed that she was flipping through a book Steven had asked her to read, and was making careful and deliberate marks in the margins, alternative between a red and a blue pen.

"Yeah," Garnet replied, not bothering to look over her shoulder as Pearl startled. "Tha's 'cause it's for you."

"For me?" Pearl questioned, looking down at the little device again. They hardly ever used phones -- it was easy enough to find Steven when they were in Beach City, and easy enough to keep him with one of the older gems when they were on missions. The last time they had used a cell phone was after they returned from the barn. "...Where did you get it?"

"Unimportant," Garnet said in reply before half-way smirking over her shoulder. "I didn' steal it, this time, if tha's what you mean. I bought it."

"Oh!" Pearl blushed lightly. She cleared her throat, "may I ask why?"

"Future vision," Garnet grinned. "You can call or text that girl. If all goes well in abou' a month, she'll be havin' dinner with us."

Pearl's blush deepened and she grinned. "Really?" Garnet nodded. "Um, Garnet. Can you define 'goes well'?"

Garnet shrugged, "You keep you likin' you. Flirt a bit. Tha's all."

"Right," Pearl smiled awkwardly. "Well, thank you."

"Yeah. It's no big deal." Garnet returned her attention to the book, and picked up her blue pen. The fusion heard Pearl walk out, and grinned to herself. "An' three, two-"

"Garnet?" Pearl's voice came again. "I, well. The last time I tried to... earn the affections of a woman, it, well, didn't end romantically well. At least, not for me."

"Yeah, tha' was bound to fail."

"Yes," Pearl's voice grew frustrated as her blush reappeared. "Regardless, I was hoping you could help, well, for lack of a better word, teach me to flirt." Garnet's stoic face hid the snicker that built in her throat at the request."

"Yeah, sure. But, you don' really want lessons from me." Garnet invited Pearl to sit on the couch with her. "I don' really do flirting."

Pearl wanted to protest, recalling multiple fusions where Garnet was more than provocative, but stopped upon remembering that it was not Garnet's intention to make anyone like her (Jamie was a testament to that.) Garnet really loved herself, and her confidence quickly made everyone else love her just as much.

"No, I suppose you don't." Pearl glanced down to the book that laid open on Garnet's lap. In the margins were red and blue doodles of Ruby and Sapphire, respectively, and little hearts floating about them. "Would you be willing- would Ruby and Sapphire be willing to teach me?"

Garnet nodded, "come on." She picked up her book and relaxedly lead Pearl out of her room. As soon as the door to Garnet's room closed, light momentarily blinded Pearl. When Pearl's sight was recovered by blinking a few times, she saw two short gems holding hands in front of her.

"It is for the greater good," Ruby smirked, wrapping her arm quickly around Sapphire's shoulders.

"Hello, Pearl," Sapphire nodded and subconsciously leaned into Ruby's embrace. Ruby's huge smile earned a small chuckle from the aristocrat. "She's been looking forward to this for quite some time," Sapphire explained. Ruby's grin remained as she placed a kiss on the blue gem's cheek. "Ruby. Not the time," Sapphire's smile grew at the affection, regardless.

"It's great to see you again, Ruby and Sapphire," Pearl relaxed. "Steven will be excited to see you both."

Sapphire nodded sagely, "yes, but he and Amethyst will be outside playing for a while longer. So, our lessons can begin."

"Alright, so step one," Ruby began, her excitement escaping her "cool" persona. "Conversation starters. What've you guys talked about so far?"

"Well. I asked her about her hair, and she asked me about mine, and I told her my body was merely a conscious manifestation of light, and she said she knew how that was, which I doubt, but then I told her that I saved the planet and that she was welcome."

"And that worked?" Ruby teased.

"Be nice," Sapphire softly admonished, nudging her.

"I'm sure you weren't much better," Pearl muttered and Ruby shrugged.

"No, I really wasn't," Ruby replied, smiling.

"Neither of us were," Sapphire added, and gracefully sat down on the couch in the living room. "If I remember correctly, my first words to you were that you were fated to bump into me."

"But even that sounds romantic if you say it in a certain way," Pearl protested lightly, sitting beside the blue gem.

"Yeah. Don't count that," Ruby sped. "She's graceful at, like, everything." Sapphire blushed and turned away, and Ruby grinned. "That's part two of the Ruby-approved-fool-proof-plan-to-charming. Back handed complaints. But back to part one." Ruby sat on the coffee table and leaned back on her hands. "Sapphire and I had our experience with Blue Diamond in common. And then, we had all the new stuff we saw on earth."

"That's true, we had a lot to discuss from the start..." Sapphire hummed.

"Frogs!" Ruby exclaimed, earning a few raised eyebrows and a smirk from Sapphire. "No, really! Nothing'll make someone smile quite like showing them a frog."

Sapphire's hand covered her mouth for a second, stifling a laugh. "It should be mentioned that this method only earned smiles from myself and Steven."

"What, so that won't work on everyone?"

"I wouldn't count on it working for everyone, no."

"Okay, okay. So what do you suggest?"

"Simple. Trial and error," Sapphire replied. "When it came to choosing topics, I mean."

"But what if I say something that makes her want to not talk to me anymore?" Pearl sighed and rested her head in her hands. "I don't have future vision like you. And there's millions of people for her to talk to-- we're not the only two benevolent beings willing to have a discussion with for millions of miles."

"That's fair," Ruby muttered, sitting up and putting her cheek on her fist. "I guess just stick to the hair and light stuff?"

"She'll bring up more things as the conversation drifts. Build off of that," Sapphire added.

"Just let her lead?" Pearl clarified, looking between the two short gems. They nodded and Pearl materialized a pen and notebook to quickly write it down.

Ruby smiled as Pearl set the pen aside. "Now we can go to part two!"

"Back-handed complaints," Ruby stood in front of the "class," grinning and holding Sapphire's hand, "are the key to charming any lady." Ruby snapped her fingers, letting go of her girlfriend's hand. "I'll be right back!"

"She really has been planning this all out," Sapphire mentioned to Pearl, smiling softly as she watched Ruby leave. "I wouldn't count on all of her advice as fool proof, but she's so excited and was careful in planning all of this out. Garnet saw that you might meet your new human earlier this week. So as soon as you left with Amethyst and Steven, she went straight to get you a cellphone."

"That's very sweet of her," Pearl commented, blushing.

"She loves love, and has quite the romantic streak. I think as much as she wants to help you, she also wants to impress me."

"Doesn't she know she already has you?" Pearl chuckled, leaning against the arm of the couch.

"Of course she does." Sapphire looked to her palms and a relaxed smile on her face. "It's just who she is. She likes to others to be proud of her."

"You two are good for each other," Pearl mumbled, her mind wandering to when she was a far braver gem.

"We know."

"I'm back!" Ruby exclaimed, rushing back into the house with flowers in hand. "Okay, now this is how you really get her." She held out her gemmed hand to Sapphire. "Sapphy? Would you mind playing my aloof love interest-- I know it's quite the stretch, acting wise, but-"

"Shut up," Sapphire laughed, grabbing Ruby's outstretched hand and being pulled to her feet. "Lets see what you can do, hot shot," she teased, "impress me."

"Of course," Ruby grinned, "watch and learn, Pearl." Ruby gave a short sigh and roughly handed the flowers to the blue gem.

"What're these for?" Sapphire asked, a laugh waiting at the back of her throat.

"Well since you just had to go and be so freakin' pretty that nothing else can compare, I don't really want these anymore. Figured you could have 'em."

"Ah, well," Sapphire smiled softly, "thank you."

"Ugh, there you go again. I'm never gonna wanna puppy or kitten or anything like that ever again-- like, nothing is cute compared to you. Hope you're pleased with yourself."

"Unsurprisingly, I am," Sapphire smirked lightly, discretely enjoying the attention.

"Whatever. I'm gonna go take a nap. I'll see you in my dreams, so at least you haven't made them bite in comparison to you too." Ruby bowed lightly. "And there you have it, Pearl. Back handed complaints." She turned to Sapphire excitedly, "whatcha think, babe?"

Sapphire pressed a kiss to Ruby's cheek, and Pearl felt the heat that radiated from the red gem increase.

"So, I should complain about how wonderful she is?" Pearl clarified again, glancing between the two gems. "And she'll like that?"

"You bet, Pearl," Ruby replied, wrapping her arm over Sapphire's shoulder's once again.  "Now, onto part three: showing off."

"Rube," Sapphire intervened, seeing the many ways such a task could go wrong, "what exactly do you mean by showing off?"

The couple shared a significant glance before Ruby's huge grin reappeared. "Just that. Showing off the best of what you are-- and part of what's the best about you, Pearl, is that you know when it's appropriate to show off." Sapphire relaxed slightly at this turn of the conversation, and Ruby continued. "So if a corrupted gem happens to appear, you can play hero. If Steven happens to come up, you can show off your Bird mom skills and stuff-"

"Wait, my wha-"

"Anyways! You'll know when to talk about what you're good at when it's natural. Fir ms, personally, I looked for excuses to show off. That won't always work. You're probably better off to let situations arise. Just find your own funky flow and follow it-"

"Oh my God," Sapphire began to chuckle. "You need to find some different phrase, please."

"Why? Steven makes up catchy names," Ruby shrugged, her smile still in place. Sapphire didn't bother to respond besides an indulgent smile, and Ruby plowed on. "Sapphy's - well, everything about Sapphy - impressed me from the get-go. I'm willing to bet you impressed her and got her attention in a similar way."

"Wait, what did you do Sapphire, to impress Ruby?" Pearl turned to the short blue gem.

Sapphire shrugged, "I didn't mean to impress anyone. I felt like I was a mess. But I didn't let how much of a mess I felt like make me treat Ruby as anything more or less than my equal. I think that will end up working for you as well, Pearl."

"That's ver-"

"Wait, seriously?" Ruby interrupted. "You got me from the start, but then you -like- showed me a lot of compassion, and a lot more wisdom than I expected, honestly. You were always so freaking level headed-- how can you say you were a mess back then?"

"I think you're forgetting how quickly I froze around you," Sapphire commented. "It doesn't matter, though." The blue gem turned to Pearl, "do you feel comfortable with everything, Pearl?"

"Well, yes. With the exception of 'texting.' I know Steven does it, but how should I go about doing so. Especially having more romantic intentions?"

"Text flirting?" Ruby repeated to herself, thinking. "What'd we know about that, Sapph?"

Sapphire shrugged somewhat, "when you want to show you're happy, type colon-end-parentheses. When you want to make sure she understands that you're flirting, type semi-colon-end-parentheses. And to make a heart is the less-than-symbol, then the number three. Steven will show you the actual mechanics of it."

Pearl nodded gratefully, glancing to her new little phone. "Thank you both." Sapphire nodded softly in acknowledgement. Ruby did the same before her chin fell into her hand as her brow crinkled.

"How do you remember all of those names for those things?" Ruby muttered. "Just spelling normally is a pain in my butt."

"We all have different strengths," Sapphire replied easily. "I'm sure spelling would come easier if you would remember to wear your glasses."

"Not in this lifetime, babe," Ruby huffed.

"So next time we get poofed?"

"Sure, yeah, that'll happen," Ruby smirked and Sapphire's grin grew to match it. They briefly put their foreheads together and in a burst of light, Garnet was re-fused.

The purple gem materialized her visor and adjusted it lightly on her face. "Feel in' confiden'?" She asked Pearl, who smiled.