#moonreadingjournal

As I've been reading it, it boggles me that 1) Nick doesn't realize that Seth is in love with him and 2) Nick doesn't realize that he is in love with Seth.

likw WHAAAAT?

the kind of things that Nick thinks about Seth. How he is so pure for this world, how he is the most precious person for him besides his dad. Like, come on buddy.

I love it.

This post contains SPOILERS (you've been alerted)

yesterday I was almost done with Heat Wave (the last book) and I was thinking how grateful I am that I read these books. I have re-read the first two books 3 times now and I just re-read the final book for the first time since it came out.

This story still has such an emotional chokehold on me. It is so good. Nick is such a ridiculous character, I love how he is. How he is written and how he develops in the three books. I love how unapologetic he is.

I would just like to share some scenes that have had such an emotional impact on me (i don't know how to begin to explain why but I still want to).

In the first book, The Extraordinaries, for me is when they talk about how Nick and Seth met. When they were just 6 years old (maybe 7). The way I cried and still cry when I read it, says a lot. If you've read it, you know. It is the swing set scene. where Nick met Seth while he was alone swinging on this old set while eating chocolate pudding. How Seth was just a shy little boy and you can feel how his world turned technicolor when he met Nick. He was just a baby, had lost his parents in a train crash, and meeting Nick helped him. I cry when I read it, but it is nothing compared to how much I cry when I read a similar scene.

when Nick's dad was in the hospital, and Martha (Seth's aunt) visits Nick. She told him about the little boy who had lost a lot and was still grieving. How he didn't talk a lot and how her and Bob (Seth's uncle) were so worried about him. Oh my God, but when she says how he came home and kept just talking about this boy he met called Nicholas Bell and how they were going to be best friends forever.

Again, the emotional hold those two parallel scenes have on me, on my heart is unreal. I love them so much. TJ Klune does an amazing job weaving this story where you care about all the characters that appear on it. Minor or not. and I love it.

As of right now, in Flash Fire I think my favorite scene is when Nick tells Seth that he loves him. In the prom. When they were fighting against Ice and Smoke. How Seth smiles (MY TENDER HEART CANNOT). Don’t get me wrong. The whole book is so unbelievably good (all of them are). They are in the midst of chaos and that scene made me cry so damn hard again.

In Heat Wave, the whole book is on a totally different plane compared to the other two. In the story, Nick’s mother has been dead for 4 years now yet somehow she re-appeared. When you read the book, it is the real villain’s wife that can shapeshift (among other stuff). That whole thing is unreal. It is so cruel. It is so unbelievably cruel. Nick and his Dad went through all the grieving process. They still had issues in the first and second book but they worked through it so well. Becoming stronger. And then this. This was so mean. It is crazy to me how TJ Klune was like: you know how to write this book? PAIN. That’s how. And then he had to double down by killing Owen.

Like…how dare you? It is still pretty freaking good though.

Objectively, I know why Owen had to die. By the way that he was, where they all gave him multiple opportunities to turn around (in the first and last book, he is not present in the second one) but he just didn’t. I know that dying was the only way to resolve it. It was pretty hard though. He was just a kid, a villain, but just a kid. When you read the books, you find out that his parents were not good. His dad experimenting on him, used him like he was a tool (which probably was only the tip of the iceberg). When I think about him I think about Akito Sohma (if you’ve seen Fruits Basket you know). Akito was the source of torment to all the members of the zodiac. Hurt them physically, emotionally and psychologically. You find out Akito was hurt by her mother. Which, doesn’t justify it. Nothing ever does. It just allows you to understand them better but not to totally gloss over everything. Owen felt that same way. Which is why it hurt how he died. Rip.

One of my favorite scenes is after they find out that Nick’s mom is not Nick’s mom but an imposter. Nick and his dad have to live at Jazz’s house until the home is repaired. It makes my heart hurt when Nick is woken up by his dad. His dad snuggles for a while with Nick and cries his heart out (along with Nick). It feels like they have to go through the grieving process again. It is not the same though. Because they didn’t lose Nick’s mom again. She was never there. But they toyed with their emotions. It is just so twisted and so jarring.

It might seem cliche but my other favorite scenes are in the epilogue. When they are 26 (Jazz, Nick and Seth) and 27 (Gibby). It is Jazz’s and Gibby’s wedding. My favorite, favorite part is when Nick is saying how he has decided to propose to Seth. Using the wedding ring that his mother, Jenny Bell, gave her father. Only for Seth to also propose to Nick using his own father’s ring. I cry just a little harder in this scene. It isn’t quite the same as having matching necklaces. Like some couples do. It is so much more impactful. Nick’s dad loved his mom from the moment he met her. The life they build together. The pain they both felt when she died. The fact that he gave Nick his ring. It makes it so much sweeter. As well as for Seth. He loves his aunt and uncle. They became his parents in all the ways that mattered. But he always kept close to his heart the fact that he lost his own parents. There is this instance in the first book where Nick is at Seth’s home and sees the pictures on the wall. And he talks about how Seth doesn’t have a lot of memories from his parents but the ones that he does have he protects them so fiercely. So the fact that he gave Nick his father’s ring is also so impactful.

My last favorite little scene is almost at the end of the epilogue. When Jazz and Gibby are kissing at their wedding and Nick says how they took a picture right at that moment. Where Nick is cheering loud and Seth is quietly smiling. jazz and Gibby have a sweet kiss. And how he hung that picture in his home with Seth. Right next to the one he has of his mom. The one at the lighthouse. My heart cries.

It is such an amazing book and I wish the fandom was a lot bigger and that it also had a lot of fanart. I wish it had a graphic novel or a manga. And a good animated show (not a live action). I wish a lot more people talked about this series. Hopefully it will get the recognition it deserves.

S P O I L E R A L E R T

🚨

You have been warned.

So I am reading the heat wave book by Tj Klune (which I love so much). And I am confused? But also outraged?

So in the story the main character Nick Bell is a teenage boy who is in love with extraordinaries. He loves them. He had a crush on one shadow star (extraordinary in his own city and his own sort of ex-boyfriend Owen Burke), he even wrote fan fiction about him and shadow star. Though it ends up that shadow star was one of the real villains all along (the second one being his own father Simon Burke) and the one they thought was the villain, pyro Storm ends up being the hero but also Nick’s childhood best friend Seth Gray. They end up falling in love and started to date.

Anyways, in the first book it’s said that Nick’s mom had died two years before the story took place, she went to the bank and she never came back. Him and his father grieved…a lot, which is understandable. But it was this incident that made Seth Gray decide to become pyro Storm and keep the city safe. To protect Nick and the ones he loves (which I’ve never heard anything more romantic in my entire life).

In the second book, flash fire, Nick ends up finding out that 1) his own mom used to be a telekinetic extraordinary that kept the city safe years ago that went by the hero name Guardian and 2) that he inherited those powers. A lot of shit happens afterwards but they end up saving the day (Nick and Pyro Storm aka Seth Gray). By the end of the book two things happen (again) 1) Nick receives a suit by one of his superhero colleagues which is an homage to Guardian, his mom and 2) that his mom is actually alive and moonlighting as a new extraordinary called TK.

When TK was revealed I was like: oh it’s the mom. I never expected to be right. But by the end of the book when she is actually the mom all I could think of was: wtf happened? How is she just going to come back and resume her life? What about nick?

And then this book starts and at the beginning of the book there were some scenes where Nick will remember something that didn’t quite add up (well several scenes). First, he recounts a happenstance in the first book where he, Nick, fell from a bridge and he stopped midair, just floating. Because of the second book we were lead to believed that it was Nick but in this book he remember his mom being there next to the dad and that she was the one who saved him. But I’m the real scene it was just the dad and he is normal so he couldn’t have done that. I thought, hm that’s weird. But also when he was remembering a moment when he found his dad crying after the funeral and Nick couldn’t do anything, or rather, didn’t know what to do. Which is understandable. But then he decides it was just a dream. However I felt that the emotion he’s feeling at that “dream” feels to real for him.

Second, there’s this thing where he keeps mentioning Before and After, this is how he identifies the timeline of before his mother’s death and after it had happened. So he keeps saying them, but then he always keeps questioning before what? After what? But also memories of when Nick would meet TK and wonder why he would act as if it wasn’t his own mother. That’s when I could see a humongous red flag coming. I started to theorize that the mom was manipulating all of their memories. And I mean of all of them, the dad, Nick, Seth, his parents, Gibby, her parents, jazz and her parents. As well as other people involved in their lives. But I thought there’s no way she would do something so cruel. Because of how they describe her constantly, she was an amazing woman. Nice. Beautiful. Smart. Yes, we don’t know what actually happened in that bank or during those two years, but never to alter the memories of everyone.

Third, Nick had a dream, but it was actually a memory. It was of the day that the mom had died. When she told him she was going to the bank. In the dream he knew he would receive a call from his father, and that he will say that something had happened to the mom. Nick ended up waking up remembering what had happened and then the mom came in and he was scared. He was scared and she used her powers on him. I was livid. I can’t believe what I am reading. That cannot be the mom. I don’t know there’s something fishy going on right now. Nick constantly forgets that his mom is around, that she lives with them. He was setting up the table and forgot about her, he talks to his father as if they are just the two of them.

I don’t know. I don’t think that person is the mom. I am sad though. Because if I’m right and that is not the mom, then…that’s a whole new level of cruel. If it’s not the mom then I believe Simón Burke is the mastermind behind this. Because Nick has gone through the grieving process, he accepted that his mom was gone and while I understand that if she was protecting herself by faking her own death why not just say it? It will be hard to accept but I know that Nick and her father would come around. So why wipe their memories and pretend she was there all along? I don’t know. I have no idea how this could be the better way of going about this. Because it’s cruel. And it will end up breaking Nick’s heart.

Also why hasn’t Seth said anything about this? Originally he decided to become Pyro Storm because Nick’s mom had being murdered. Because he wanted to protect him. So if she never died what does he think his motivation was to put on that suit?

I am confused and I am outraged. I can’t believe what I’m reading with the more I read. I don’t know. I think the mom really is dead and this is just one sick trick of Simon Burke to get all the extraordinaries he can to experiment on them and getting rid of them.

This one I am re-reading because I love it. And I NEVER reread a book. I might be doing a live update as I go

Start date: ? I don’t remember though I put it on the Goodreads I can’t find it T____T

End date: ?

Rating: 100/10

I finished re-reading The Extraordinaries so naturally I started re-reading the sequel, Flash Fire.

The conclusion of The Extraordinaries was everything. It has action, laughs and romance. I absolutely love Nick and Seth to pieces. They are just some of the most adorable characters I’ve ever read about in a while. They are just so cute. They love each other so much and I just can’t. When they get too sweet or too emotional I just freaking cry. That’s how good the story is.

But anyways, Flash Fire is just so much more. We still don’t know what the actual main antagonist is really after. You ask me and I’m like “I have no ducking idea”. The Cap thinks he wants revenge for what happened with his son, but honestly, I don’t think he cares that much. And I know there’s a whole lot more going on. And if it does end up actually being about revenge i don’t know how I will feel or how I will react.

If you still feel like you don’t know if you should read it, I’ve read 514 books in my life (and counting),don’t know if it’s high or low or in the middle but whatever, but I’ve never, never reread a book before. And I am rereading this series.

SPOILERS:

I love how miss conduct calls Nick a Twinkie. And Seth “Honeybunch”. I love her. I love when Nick is like: I wanna be you when I grow up. I’m like: boy, me too. She’s just so…I don’t know. She’s sassy and so cool. Anyways.

Not really a spoiler but, whenever anyone is like “Nicky, no” and Nick just answers “Nicky, yes”. I laugh so hard. 

When Cap came over to talk to Aaron and Nick (due to a press conference, they thought Cap was working with the main antagonist, so he came to clear the air) and he basically slipped that he knew that Seth was Pyro Storm. And they were freaking out 😂😂. Cap’s explanation is everything. He basically said that Nick is not the kind of person that would two-time Seth and I quote “the Nick I knew wouldn’t do something as mean as two-timing the boy he’s been in love with for years—” that was just so great. It’s just like how Jazz found out. By being purely observant.

The whole Seth telling Nick he loves him, the whole prom thing (even though it all kinda goes to hell), and then FINALLY when Nick tells Seth that he loves him back, it’s just…ah 🥺 

Nick talking about “the rest of their lives” had me bawling. I cried when they were going to prom and the way Nick described seeing Seth in his tux. Like nothing else mattered. Like everything else dissolved around them. Oh how I wish to have that same experience. And for someone to think the same thing for me. But when Nick talked about the rest of their lives. Omg. I love them.

The dead magician tux. That’s it. I just fucken cant. I love Nick so much. He’s just so unique and so cute. I would kill, KILL to be able to see him in his tux with Seth next to him.

Fucking Owen escaped from wherever the hell he was being held in, but I was like, I’ll deal with you later, because right now, my heart is full due to all the queer love ❤️

Then my heart broke when Seth decided to tell everyone he was Pyro Storm. Not because he did but because of what happened afterwards. Though I don’t understand why people were being mean. He always gave it his all to protect the people in their stupid city. Would he burn the city for Nick? Maybe but still. Seth is the most adorable and I am with Nick, he should be protected at all cost.

The costume 🥺 the one that miss conduct gifts Nick. I cried. The freaking note she writes him. I cried harder. And Nick….😭 taking up the hero name Guardian in honor of his mother. Wow. I’ve read a lot of books and it’s easy for me to see sometimes where the book is headed. There are some exemptions obviously, and this one is actually one of them. I don’t think I saw him taking up that name for his new hero endeavour. Though I think as I write this, I should’ve.

And Seth…taking Nick’s position in Lighthouse. It made my heart so full.

The end though!!!! Like those last four pages (I think they were four). The FUCKING REVEAL!! Freaking Jenny Bell (Nick’s mom that supposedly died 2 years before the events in the first book) is alive. Though I already knew that. I suspected it when they kept mentioning the extraordinary TK. Though I was still surprised I was right. Though there better be an amazing explanation of why she faked her death in the third and final book of the series. I’m saying this because both Nick and Aaron mourned her, still are. She obviously didn’t do it on a whim I know that but that destroyed them so much.

T_____T I can’t wait for the conclusion.

Heat wave coming out July 19, 2022

2 posts in one day, I’d say that’s pretty great. If only I could post the other books I have finished this year.

I went to indigo yesterday (I also went to Chapters on a different city earlier this week too but like I don’t care, my wallet does. But I don’t).

I’ll do a mini book haul (although there’s nothing mini about it because it’s like 7 books in total but whatever).

Let’s start with what I got in Chapters. First, hardcover edition of The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune.

And you might be wondering, don’t you already have one since you re-read it a while ago? You would be correct I do already have it. But I have a boring trade paperback edition (boring part is not to reflect on the story, the story is truly amazing). It’s just that this version is the one with the reversible dust jacket

Oh I love it so much. My Flash Fire copy is a reversible dust jacket too (that I also absolutely love) and my Heat Wave copy (the last book in this trilogy, that I already pre-ordered) is reversible too. I love it because it’s just unique, and the little drawings honestly give so much Nick energy it makes me love them even more.

I love the cover of this book. I am an absolute sucker for beautiful covers and this series is no exception. I have The City of Brass (the first one, this series is a trilogy and the kingdom of copper is the sequel). Oh it’s just breathtaking how beautiful they are.

I got this new book by Alexis Hall. I really like this author. I’ve read Boyfriend Material, which is a fake dating tripe, but make it gay. I loved it. The sequel (it’s a trilogy too) Husband Material is coming out later this year. She also has this other book coming out called Paris Daillencourt is about to crumble, which is like an English baker show kind of focus but gay (I believe). And I can’t wait to have that book in my hands too.

So that concludes what I bought on Chapters earlier this week.

Now for what I got at Indigo. First, the last book of the City of Brass trilogy, The Empire of Gold. It’s so beautiful. I really need to stop buying books because of how beautiful they are.

I have to hurry the heck up and read this series. I have to finish Gallant and then The Book of Night by Holly Black and then read this series (unless I get distracted by something else).

I’ve been curious about this book for a while. Also the other Hades and Persephone series that she has, but for whatever reason when I pick it up to read it there’s something that just goes :/ so I end up not buying it. But I’ll read this one first. It sounds good. If I remember to post that I read it I will say how I liked it 🫠

This book also has been making me curious for a super long time. Even more after I read Daughter of the Moon Goddess (which is one of my favorite reads this year). I like books written by Asian authors (either from Asian descent or born and raised in an Asian country). More when they talk about the life their people have had, mostly in the past for whatever reason (when I say this is mostly because of the type of book I’ve read before). I realized when I read this book called Snow Flower and the secret fan by Lisa See (this book is really good but please read lightly, it’s about this girls that are paired to be friends for life as they are both prepared to enter arranged marriages, one with a well respected boy and the other with a butcher, but the book does talk about the foot binding thing they used to practice in China and that was hard for me to read), and after that I started buying more of her books, that i have of course not read because I keep buying more and more books. Anyways, She Who Became the Sun gives me Mulan vibes but on a different degree. In like a Game of thrones degree (of killing not the rest, but it’s just a feeling though). When I read the summary I could piece together a little kind of story it will unfold and I’ve had a question regarding the conclusion but I never found someone that had read it before so I decided to buy it and read it.

Last but not least, omnibus 2 of The seven deadly sins.

Which funny enough, it’s the book I actually went to look for in Chapters and at Indigo. And then I ended up buying 6 more books. T______T

P.S: this was my background while taking the pics for the books I got at Chapters

What is up?

(Totally unrelated to this post, but I hate it when someone says “what’s up?” Or “what is up?” And some smartass answers with “the sky jajajajja” I hate it so much. It makes my whole soul and my whole life cringe so hard. Also when it’s new years and people go up to you and say “see you next year jajajaja” ew or “haven’t seen you since last year ajajajajaj” ewwwwwww).

So after I finished reading The Extraordinaries I was on the fence in regards to what read next? Don’t get me wrong. I have a ridiculous amount of books to choose from, but it is hard sometimes to choose and make the right choice. So for me it was between If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio, Spell Bound by F.T. Lukens, Happy Place by Emily Henry (which I already started but put down to read the extraordinaries), All the Hidden Paths by Fox Meadows (the sequel to A Strange and Stubborn Endurance) Kindling by Traci Chee (which I have the ARC for [what???] but I haven’t read it and the book is out but whatever) and Midnight in Everwood by M.A Kuzniar.

I don’t know why but I ended up choosing Midnight in Everwood. It is a book that I have previously started reading but just stopped. I don’t think I know or remember what else I decided to read instead (but that’s not important). As you can probably guess from the cover it is a re-telling of The Nutcracker. Which I love. Granted, I’ve only ever seen the Brarbie and the nutcracker movie. But I’ve seen so many tiktoks of the ballet, from the Royal Opera House and the Bolshoi Ballet. It looks so magnificent and magical. It is all snow and sparkles (and some creepy af mice).

One of my dreams is to someday a) watch a small production of the nutcracker in person where I live currently and b) to watch the nutcracker at one of the famous ballet houses (Royal Opera or the Bolshoi).

This book is a work of fiction, for adults. But it is quite the cozy and comforting read. As of where I am right now, I know it is a pretty nice reading. Something you can enjoy during the winter months w a hot cup of anything (cider or hot chocolate) and curl up on a fuzzy blanket while it is snowing (slightly not a full out blizzard).

After I am done reading this book I don’t know what I will read. I am pre-ordering some books and I pre-ordered some books that will be coming at some point. I ordered The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang and there are also the books I listed I wanted to read before I landed on this one. I guess we’ll see.

Also I feel like re-reading Red, White and Royal Blue. Which I only want to because I re-watched the movie and I do remember a lot and know they made quite a lot of changes, but not quite the deal break for me. What is a deal break for me though is the cover for the paperback. The pink one with those goofy looking Henry and Alex. I don’t like it. Alex looks so weird in that drawing and Henry too. All I can think of is that, this cover had to go through approvals. Multiple people had to probably make a vote and landed on that. If someone were to tell me it was Casey who drew them I would be like “okay well” but yeah. I now I sound like a lot. I am weird but I just. It’s not like any of the other books I have. I honestly like the movie tie-in cover they released when the movie came out (I know, blasphemy). I want to buy this collector’s edition hardcover one that is so pretty. It has no Alex or Henry in the cover. Only on the inside and they are so cute. But whatever. This little paragraph has no real purpose just me complaining sorry.

Well hopefully I will finish Midnight in Everwood before The Emperor and the Endless Palace arrived (I write as I literally get a notification that it arrived and I can pick it up, ugh, I feel sick today, I cannot go for it). And hopefully I will remember to write something about the book once I am done.