Katherine

To anyone who hasn't read this yet, move away.
Spoiler alert!


Okay, hear me out.


I like the book for providing me with the remaining closure I needed.

I hated Eve and Grayson thing since the very beginning.

I wanted Grayson and Avery to be endgame because Grayson was the one who chose her from the very beginning and I cannot seem to get over it!! I HATE HOW THEIR RELATIONSHIP WAS DEVELOPED WITH THE BOOKS!! There was a point where they could've ended together; an opening of sorts. It annoyed me that it was not the path pursued.
I hate what had become of Toby but I respect that. Once Vincent dies, no one can be a threat as big to Avery and the Hawthornes.

I didn't know this but I think I wouldn't have minded it being a “why choose”. Just saying. I MEAN WHO CHOOSES A GOLDEN RETRIEVER INSTEAD OF THE MORALLY GREY GUY WHO WOULD LITERALLY KILL TO KEEP YOU SAFE??!! Huh?!

I finished this in under 24 hours.
Need I say anything else?

I'm sorry but I am glad Debbie, her mother, died.

While this one was kind of her better works, it still sucked.

Placeholder till I make up my thoughts into sentences

I absolutely love spiderman part of it but it got a little confusing for me. Where is the knight part coming from? Is it like Hulk but more personalities? I'm confused and I will be grateful to anyone who can explain.

This was something I was in dire need of but I, myself, wasn't aware of the requirement.

Eye-opening and instructional.

Meh, at best.

The only things I took from this book were,

(1) Penny-wise but pound-dumb is still poor.
(2) In a business, you cannot be rude to the consumers. Ever. That is, if you want it to be successful.

The only things I took from this book were,

(1) Penny-wise but pound-dumb is still poor.
(2) In a business, you cannot be rude to the consumers. Ever. That is, if you want it to be successful.

I liked this wayyyy more than Soldier Supreme and I love soldier supreme!

The Four Agreements (digital annotations because I liked the book and don't own a physical copy yet)

- The human is the only animal on earth that pays a thousand times for the same mistake. The rest of the animals pay once for every mistake they make. But not us. We have a powerful memory. We make a mistake, we judge ourselves, we find ourselves guilty, and we punish ourselves. If justice exists, then that was enough; we don't need to do it again. But every time we remember, we judge ourselves again, we are guilty again, and we punish ourselves again, and again, and again. If we have a wife or husband he or she also reminds us of the mistake, so we can judge ourselves again, punish ourselves again, and find ourselves guilty again. Is this fair?

- THE FIRST AGREEMENT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE and also the most difficult one to honor. It is so important that with just this first agreement you will be able to transcend to the level of existence I call heaven on earth.

- A sin is anything that you do which goes against yourself. Everything you feel or believe or say that goes against yourself is a sin. You go against yourself when you judge or blame yourself for anything. Being without sin is exactly the opposite. Being impeccable is not going against yourself. When you are impeccable, you take responsibility for your actions, but you do not judge or blame yourself.

- Being impeccable with your word is not using the word against yourself. If I see you in the street and I call you stupid, it appears that I'm using the word against you. But really I'm using my word against myself, because you're going to hate me for this, and your hating me is not good for me. Therefore, if I get angry and with my word send all that emotional poison to you, I'm using the word against myself. If I love myself I will express that love in my interactions with you, and then I am being impeccable with the word, because that action will produce a like reaction. If I love you, then you will love me. If I insult you, you will insult me. If I have gratitude for you, you will have gratitude for me. If I'm selfish with you, you will be selfish with me. If I use the word to put a spell on you, you are going to put a spell on me.

- “MISERY LIKES COMPANY” AND PEOPLE WHO Are SUFFERING IN HELL DON'T WANT TO BE ALL ALONE. Using the analogy of the human mind as a computer, gossip can be compared to a computer virus. A computer virus is a piece of computer language written in the same language all the other codes are written in, but with a harmful intent. This code is inserted into the program of your computer when you least expect it and most of the time without your awareness. After this code has been introduced, your computer doesn't work quite right, or it doesn't function at all because the codes get so mixed up with so many conflicting messages that it stops producing good results.

- Consider how many times you have gossiped about the person you love the most to gain the support of others for your point of view. How many times have you hooked other people's attention, and spread poison about your loved one in order to make your opinion right? Your opinion is nothing but your point of view. It is not necessarily true. Your opinion comes from your beliefs, your own ego, and your own dream. We create all this poison and spread it to others just so we can feel right about our own point of view.

- THE NEXT THREE AGREEMENTS ARE REALLY BORN from the first agreement. The second agreement is don't take anything personally. Whatever happens around you, don't take it personally.

- You may even tell me, “Miguel, what you are saying is hurting me.” But it is not what I am saying that is hurting you; it is that you have wounds that I touch by what I have said. You are hurting yourself. There is no way that I can take this personally. Not because I don't believe in you or don't trust you, but because I know that you see the world with different eyes, with your eyes. You create an entire picture or movie in your mind, and in that picture you are the director, you are the producer, you are the main actor or actress. Everyone else is a secondary actor or actress. It is your movie. The way you see that movie is according to the agreements you have made with life. Your point of view is something personal to you. It is no one's truth but yours. Then, if you get mad at me, I know you are dealing with yourself. I am the excuse for you to get mad. And you get mad because you are afraid, because you are dealing with fear. If you are not afraid, there is no way you will get mad at me. If you are not afraid, there is no way you will hate me. If you are not afraid, there is no way you will be jealous or sad. If you live without fear, if you love, there is no place for any of those emotions. If you don't feel any of those emotions, it is logical that you will feel good. When you feel good, everything around you is good. When everything around you is great, everything makes you happy. You are loving everything that is around you, because you are loving yourself. Because you like the way you are. Because you are content with you. Because you are happy with your life. You are happy with the movie that you are producing, happy with your agreements with life. You are at peace, and you are happy. You live in that state of bliss where everything is so wonderful, and everything is so beautiful. In that state of bliss you are making love all the time with everything that you perceive. Whatever people do, feel, think, or say, don't take it personally.

- If they tell you how wonderful you are, they are not saying that because of you. You know you are wonderful. It is not necessary to believe other people who tell you that you are wonderful. Don't take anything personally. Even if someone got a gun and shot you in the head, it was nothing personal. Even at that extreme. Even the opinions you have about yourself are not necessarily true; therefore, you don't need to take whatever you hear in your own mind personally.

- Don't take anything personally because by taking things personally you set yourself up to suffer for nothing. Humans are addicted to suffering at different levels and to different degrees, and we support each other in maintaining these addictions. Humans agree to help each other suffer. If you have the need to be abused, you will find it easy to be abused by others. Likewise, if you are with people who need to suffer, something in you makes you abuse them.

- THE THIRD AGREEMENT IS DON'T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS. We have the tendency to make assumptions about everything. The problem with making assumptions is that we believe they are the truth. We could swear they are real. We make assumptions about what others are doing or thinking — we take it personally — then we blame them and react by sending emotional poison with our word. That is why whenever we make assumptions, we're asking for problems. We make an assumption, we misunderstand, we take it personally, and we end up creating a whole big drama for nothing. All the sadness and drama you have lived in your life was rooted in making assumptions and taking things personally.

- Find someone whom you don't have to change at all. It is much easier to find someone who is already the way you want him or her to be, instead of trying to change that person. Also, that person must love you just the way you are, so he or she doesn't have to change you at all. If others feel they have to change you, that means they really don't love you just the way you are. So why be with someone if you're not the way he or she wants you to be? We have to be what we are, so we don't have to present a false image. If you love me the way I am, “Okay, take me.” If you don't love me the way I am, “Okay, bye-bye. Find someone else.” It may sound harsh, but this kind of communication means the personal agreements we make with others are clear and impeccable.

- Find your voice to ask for what you want. Everybody has the right to tell you no or yes, but you always have the right to ask. Likewise, everybody has the right to ask you, and you have the right to say yes or no.

- The fourth agreement is about the action of the first three: Always do your best. Under any circumstance, always do your best, no more and no less.

- Doing your best, you are going to live your life intensely. You are going to be productive, you are going to be good to yourself, because you will be giving yourself to your family, to your community, to everything.

- Doing your best really doesn't feel like work because you enjoy whatever you are doing. You know you're doing your best when you are enjoying the action or doing it in a way that will not have negative repercussions for you. You do your best because you want to do it, not because you have to do it, not because you are trying to please the Judge, and not because you are trying to please other people. If you take action because you have to, then there is no way you are going to do your best. Then it is better not to do it. No, you do your best because doing your best all the time makes you so happy. When you are doing your best just for the pleasure of doing it, you are taking action because you enjoy the action. Action is about living fully. Inaction is the way that we deny life. Inaction is sitting in front of the television every day for years because you are afraid to be alive and to take the risk of expressing what you are. Expressing what you are is taking action. You can have many great ideas in your head, but what makes the difference is the action. Without action upon an idea, there will be no manifestation, no results, and no reward.

- You don't need knowledge or great philosophical concepts. You don't need the acceptance of others. You express your own divinity by being alive and by loving yourself and others. It is an expression of God to say, “Hey, I love you.” You have to stand up and be a human. You have to honour the man or woman that you are. Respect your body, enjoy your body, love your body, feed, clean, and heal your body. Exercise and do what makes your body feel good.

- So if you fall, do not judge. Do not give your Judge the satisfaction of turning you into a victim. No, be tough with yourself. Stand up and make the agreement again. “Okay, I broke my agreement to be impeccable with my word. I will start all over again. I am going to keep The Four Agreements just for today. Today I will be impeccable with my word, I will not take anything personally, I will not make any assumptions, and I am going to do my best.” If you break an agreement, begin again tomorrow, and again the next day. It will be difficult at first, but each day will become easier and easier, until someday you will discover that you are ruling your life with these Four Agreements. And, you will be surprised at the way your life has been transformed.

- The real you is still a little child who never grew up. Sometimes that little child comes out when you are having fun or playing, when you feel happy, when you are painting, or writing poetry, or playing the piano, or expressing yourself in some way. These are the happiest moments of your life — when the real you comes out, when you don't care about the past and you don't worry about the future. You are childlike. But there is something that changes all that: We call them responsibilities. The Judge says, “Wait a second, you are responsible, you have things to do, you have to work, you have to go to school, you have to earn a living.” All these responsibilities come to mind. Our face changes and becomes serious again. If you watch children when they are playing adults, you will see their little faces change. “Let's pretend I'm a lawyer,” and right away their faces change; the adult face takes over. We go to court and that is the face we see — and that is what we are. We are still children, but we have lost our freedom. The freedom we are looking for is the freedom to be ourselves, to express ourselves. But if we look at our lives we will see that most of the time we do things just to please others, just to be accepted by others, rather than living our lives to please ourselves. That is what has happened to our freedom. And we see in our society and all the societies around the world, that for every thousand people, nine hundred and ninety-nine are completely domesticated.

- The parasite can be compared to a monster with a thousand heads. Every head of the parasite is one of the fears that we have. If we want to be free, we have to destroy the parasite. One solution is to attack the parasite head by head, which means we face each of our fears, one by one. This is a slow process, but it works. Every time we face one of the fears we are a little more free. A second approach is to stop feeding the parasite. If we don't give the parasite any food, we kill the parasite by starvation. To do this we have to gain control of our emotions, we have to refrain from fueling the emotions that come from fear. This is easy to say, but it is very difficult to do. It is difficult because the Judge and the Victim control our mind. A third solution is called the initiation of the dead. The initiation of the dead is found in many traditions and esoteric schools around the world. We find it in Egypt, India, Greece, and America. This is a symbolic death which kills the parasite without harming our physical body. When we “die” symbolically the parasite has to die. This is faster than the first two solutions, but it is even more difficult to do. We need a great deal of courage to face the angel of death. We need to be very strong.

- We must forgive those we feel have wronged us, not because they deserve to be forgiven, but because we love ourselves so much we don't want to keep paying for the injustice. Forgiveness is the key. You will know you have forgiven someone when you see them and you no longer have an emotional reaction. You will hear the name of the person and you will have no emotional reaction. When someone can touch what used to be a wound and it no longer hurts you, then you know you have truly forgiven.

- How are we to become a warrior? There are certain characteristics of the warrior that are nearly the same around the world. The warrior has awareness. That's very important. We are aware that we are at war, and the war in our minds requires discipline. Not the discipline of a soldier, but the discipline of a warrior. Not the discipline from the outside to tell us what to do and what not to do, but the discipline to be ourselves, no matter what. The warrior has control. Not control over another human, but control over one's own emotions, control over one's own self. It is when we lose control that we repress the emotions, not when we are in control. The big difference between a warrior and a victim is that the victim represses, and the warrior refrains. Victims repress because they are afraid to show the emotions, afraid to say what they want to say. To refrain is not the same thing as repression. To refrain is to hold the emotions and to express them in the right moment, not before, not later. That is why warriors are impeccable. They have complete control over their own emotions and therefore over their own behavior.

- The love that makes me happy is the love that I can share with you. Why do I need to deny that I love you? It is not important if you love me back. I may die tomorrow or you may die tomorrow. What makes me happy now is to let you know how much I love you.

- That is what, in the Toltec way, the angel of death teaches us. The angel of death comes to us and says, “You see everything that exists here is mine; it is not yours. Your house, your spouse, your children, your car, your career, your money — everything is mine and I can take it away when I want to, but for now you can use it.” If we surrender to the angel of death we will be happy forever and ever. Why? Because the angel of death takes the past away in order to make it possible for life to continue. For every moment that is past, the angel of death keeps taking the part that is dead and we keep living in the present. The parasite wants us to carry the past with us and that makes it so heavy to be alive. When we try to live in the past, how can we enjoy the present? When we dream of the future, why must we carry the burden of the past? When are we going to live in the present? That is what the angel of death teaches us to do.

- Imagine that you have permission to be happy and to really enjoy your life. Your life is free of conflict with yourself and with others. Imagine living your life without fear of expressing your dreams. You know what you want, what you don't want, and when you want it. You are free to change your life the way you really want to. You are not afraid to ask for what you need, to say yes or no to anything or anyone. Imagine living your life without the fear of being judged by others. You no longer rule your behavior according to what others may think about you. You are no longer responsible for anyone's opinion. You have no need to control anyone, and no one controls you, either. Imagine living your life without judging others. You can easily forgive others and let go of any judgments that you have. You don't have the need to be right, and you don't need to make anyone else wrong. You respect yourself and everyone else, and they respect you in return. Imagine living without the fear of loving and not being loved. You are no longer afraid to be rejected, and you don't have the need to be accepted. You can say “I love you” with no shame or justification. You can walk in the world with your heart completely open, and not be afraid to be hurt. Imagine living your life without being afraid to take a risk and to explore life. You are not afraid to lose anything. You are not afraid to be alive in the world, and you are not afraid to die. Imagine that you love yourself just the way you are. You love your body just the way it is, and you love your emotions just the way they are. You know that you are perfect just as you are. You can live in the state of grace, the state of bliss, the dream of heaven. But in order to experience this dream, you must first understand what it is. Only love has the ability to put you in that state of bliss. Being in bliss is like being in love. Being in love is like being in bliss. You are floating in the clouds. You are perceiving love wherever you go. It is entirely possible to live this way all the time. It is possible because others have done it and they are no different from you. They live in bliss because they have changed their agreements and are dreaming a different dream.

- You are attached to the Judge, attached to the Victim. Suffering makes you feel safe because you know it so well. But there is really no reason to suffer. The only reason you suffer is because you choose to suffer. If you look at your life you will find many excuses to suffer, but a good reason to suffer you will not find. The same is true for happiness. The only reason you are happy is because you choose to be happy. Happiness is a choice, and so is suffering. Maybe we cannot escape from the destiny of the human, but we have a choice: to suffer our destiny or to enjoy our destiny. To suffer, or to love and be happy. To live in hell, or to live in heaven.

Huh, I didn't think I would like this book as much as I did.

Long story short, intuition helps if you have the knowledge. If you have the knowledge, it becomes like muscle memory and is almost reflexive. If not, intuition can go terribly terribly wrong.

This seems doable but I lowkey think I already knew everything it said. Non-fiction is not my cup of tea. That's the thing. But I liked this book.

This seems doable but I lowkey think I already knew everything it said. Non-fiction is not my cup of tea. That's the thing. But I liked this book.

Is it morally wrong of me to just declare every couple I read about in this series as my favourite couple? I want reassurance. I love Dean and Allie.

Reading goals for 2025

Aims:

(1) Read more non-fiction; whatever I say, it is for my betterment.
(2) Read books from my physical tbr; decrease that load.
(3) Not to read big books in the first quarter of the year.
(4) Decrease screen-time and put it in books instead.
(5) Make a bookstagram and take it seriously this year.


To-be-read pile I want to tackle this year:

(1) First Quarter
~Not read proper novels unless unavoidable
~Read just the comics from Marvel and DC, once I am finished with Marvel.
~Prioritise things that come before reading as such

(2) Second Quarter
~ Start getting back into reading
~ Actually get the bookstagram aim handled now, not before.

(3) Third Quarter
~Read books I have wanted to read for years
~Strike books off of the tbr list

(4) Fourth Quarter
~Try to finish the yearly goal of a 100 books
~Read as I fit deem at this point.

I just want to rate this book zero stars for doing what it did but it was a great book indeed, no doubts.

To be fair, I think I would have liked it better in summer.
I, being in my fantasy era, don't think contemporary romance is cutting it for me right now.

I was taking notes but halfway down the book, it got so great, I forgot to take the notes.

Since I started writing them halfway through the book, the lost is not complete but here are some highlights and points of differences between the novels and the movies:



1. It wasn't Neville but Dobby who gave him the Gillyweed during the second task in the triwizard tournament

2. Even Karkaroff was a death eater?

3. Sirius was living as his Animagus, Padfoot, in Hogsmeade for months because he wanted to be there for Harry as his godfather.

4. Crouch had appeared in the grounds behind Hogwarts. He was talking gibberish but he knew something and he wanted to talk to Dumbledore.

5. Cedric was attacked by blast ended shrewts in the maze.
6. So did Harry! Stupefied it.

7. Krum used Crucio curse on Cedric and Harry stupefied Krum!!

8. Harry met a sphinx? What the fuck? And she gave him a puzzle? That he solved?? Who is he? Hermoine?!

9. Cedric was awake when they transported to the graveyard after touching the championship cup! And he tried protecting Harry for which he was Avada Kedavra-ed! :''((

10. “Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!” “Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master.” “Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe.”

Boy, I did NOT see that coming!
I have trust issues and people often ask me why. I find no better way to say it but it's because of faeries like Cardan!

Overall, it was good and started great. It kept me on the edge till the end. But the end was very very bland for me. And that spoiled the whole book by one less star.

It felt like a waste of time after that ending. But for the overall mood, the 3-stars rating