vanity

3.5 ⭐

i haven't devoured a novel this quick in a very long time. i would've finished it yesterday in one sitting, but academic responsibilities were due, and it didn't hurt to put this wonderful book aside for a while as my fondness for iris & roman had grown so much. it was rather nice to take my time and cherish every page whose words have found their way to my soul. what a pleasant read!

however, this isn't an enemies-to-lovers like how it is marketed at all. they just throw banters—not daggers—at each other. while i might prefer bloody feuds between the two in another timeline, still they are rivals in a sense that they competed on journalism. unknowingly, both of them thinks the other's words are impeccable, and i couldn't help but hope for them to kiss.

... pondering how to respond to something that felt so intimate it could have been whispered from her own mouth ...

Perhaps it begins with one person. Someone you trust. You remove a piece of armor for them; you let the light stream in, even if it makes you wince. Perhaps that is how you learn to be soft yet strong, even in fear and uncertainty.

That was what he was absently thinking about—his gratitude for the wind, Iris, his future articles, Iris, how much longer until sundown, Iris.

She has to survive this, Roman thought. He didn’t want to live in a world without her and her words.

Don’t run from me, not after what we’ve just lived through.

This ring was the only proof she had, the one tangible thing to whisper to her, Yes, it happened, and he loved you.

my heart is, again, fraught with woe! but god, do i love basking in mutual pining.

3 ⭐

did not move me as much as the last one, but i appreciate the message it brings. there's a love-hate relationship between mother & daughter here, which feels like the main theme, and it hit home. i also sympathize with the acknowledgement of abuse rather than the glorification of persephone's abductor, knowing how modern adaptations of her story has been watered-down into accepting there was love. overall, it's the kind of poetry that's both powerful and vulnerable at the same time.