• Does Anouk not know what things like mermaid’s or cows look like??
  • Ooooh, she was created. Interesting.
  • Hmmm… Peculiar. So she was created out of magic.
  • “The witch’s oubliette” like Hermione’s bag in the 7th book
  • The way this book is written makes me think Anouk is 12 and not 17. It does make her seem more naive though, so there’s that.
  • Okay, so in this part, Beau points out a streak of dust on herself and I was like “did he leave that there??” but it’s passed off as like, “she always has dust on herself” but I feel like this would have been included in the description. It’s 3rd person, so a line would have driven this home. When it’s mentioned here it’s not like “Oh yeah she always has dust on herself” and so it made me think he left it there.
  • Ah, I was wondering why Anouk never left the townhouse, like not even a toe. So there is something tethered to the Mada specifically.
  • Oh wow. Maybe it’s the perceived age difference between them—I pictured Beau 40+—but I did NOT see his “Don’t call me a brother” conversation going toward romantic love. I assumed  he was like, “don’t call me that because we’re not really related.”
  • Beau is kind of a jerk.
  • For some reason, Anouk strikes me as a fox. I’m not sure if it’s her hesitant nature or…
  • Oh, shIt. The Mada is dead?!
  • Wait, so they’re running (probably never to return) and they can’t take a few minutes to like prepare…? They couldn’t have stopped and been logical—change their clothes, get some food, take the Mada’s magical bag? At least they took the pelts with them!
  • Okay, realistically who knows Mada is dead right now? NO ONE, except them, it’s FINE for them to stop for a minute. Also if Anouk is turning back, that means there’s something to the fountain.
  • It must be a huge rule to break—to turn animals other than housepets into Beasties—if this is their reaction.
  • Oh, they don’t know which of their pelts is each others. I assumed it would be intuitive?
  • SO now they’re picking up Cricket and I just have to say, I love her a lot.
  • Oooh, Anouk can do magic, how exciting!
  • Surely now that they’re leaving Cricket’s apartment they’re taking the pelts from the closet right?!
  • “I’m just saying that if there’s anything you’ve ever wanted to say or do, then you’d better say it or do it soon. Because we might not have much time left.”
    Why do I feel like Beau is going to confess right now?
  • He’s acting highly suspicious right now… does he think Cricket killed the Mada?
  • Ooooh, we’re going back to the brother thing…
  • Again, the writing just makes me think she’s so much younger than 17…
  • UM, I need someone to write this book ASAP:
    “’The Swan Mirror.’ It had been Anouk’s favorite. She could almost hear his soft voice now: Once upon a time . . . It was about a king who possessed a mirror that showed the heart’s true desire. When the king’s youngest son peered into it, he saw his own face reflected but changed—a young woman looked back, not a man. His heart’s true desire was to be a princess, but such a wish seemed impossible. His footman, the son of a seamstress, observed his master’s sorrow and offered to help him dress as a lady in the privacy of his chambers. Each night, the footman snuck into the laundry rooms to borrow dresses from palace courtesans, and he taught his master how to sit and stand and dance in the beautiful clothes; each morning, he returned the dresses. And though the prince treasured these secret evenings, he was not content with merely dressing the part. He sought out an enchantress, who told him that only true love’s kiss could grant his desire. But the prince had no true love and returned to the castle in despair. His footman overheard his sobs and boldly kissed his tears away. The prince realized that he’d had his true love before him every night, the man who’d danced with him in his borrowed dresses and filled his heart with delight. He kissed his true love and transformed into the young woman he’d seen in the mirror. You were my prince, the footman said. Now you are my princess. In any time, in any shape, you’ll always be my heart’s true desire—I need no mirror to show me”
  • I wrote “oh shIt” here but idk what it was for lol, yay for great note taking!
  • Oooh I was wondering if there was going to be something with Rennar. Surely he wouldn’t have been mentioned if he wasn’t important later.
  • How interesting, people get promoted to royalty instead of inheriting it. It’s a little peculiar how all the magic and people are “promoted” to royalty. Can witches not have kids? Also, I thought only women could become witches so how are Prince Rennar and other royals able to use magic if they’re not women?
  • It’s a little messed up we don’t know how Anouk feels even though she’s kissing Beau. Like is she just messing with him? All her kisses so far have been impulsive so does she even see him as a romantic partner? She doesn’t really seem interested into any of that and almost like she’s on the ace-spec.
  • Oh, the Mada was going to make more Beasties with the rabbits Luc found?
  • ShIt, she was going to REPLACE all her Beasties.
  • Hmm… it seems like Mada Zola does know what each of them is with that “little house” comment.
  • Ooh shit, everything has a cost… Viggo is pretty ridiculous. Also I apologize because I feel like I haven’t mentioned the other characters very well.
    • Viggo is the Mada’s son who provides her blood so she can cast magic. He’s like a vampire subjugate in the Shadowhunter world.
  • “Luc understood that doing what was right and doing what was necessary were two different things.”
  • “But Anouk only waited. She felt Viggo’s eyes shift from Cricket and slide across the room past Petra, past Beau, to stop on her.”
    Oh shIt, she’s a lot more like Luc than we anticipated…
  • “Be careful, cabbage. Come back to me.”
    OKAY FINE. I ship them. I don’t even care about Prince Rennar anymore.
  • Isn’t there going to be some repercussions? Wouldn’t there be some kind of alert? Like hey someone tried to get in? Or maybe the Haute is so cocky they don’t put alarms in because “who would actually date?”
  • You know, I really appreciate that there has been action throughout this whole book and not just crammed into the last 15-25% (@ 55%)
  • “The hallways in need of a good dusting”
    Wow this is so relatable. That Anouk longs for something easy and familiar and is afraid to go further. But she keeps going because she knows what awaits her is much more fulfilling than she had before. I feel that a lot when I change jobs or decide to do try a new skill.
  • You know, briars aren’t that appealing for a crown, just a thought…
  • Maybe Rennar wants to pretend to get rid of them to Lady and—well yes. That’s all the royals left because Lord Metham has died.
  • Ah, so the next book is going to be Anouk and Co. helping the goblins reclaim London?
  • NO, don’t kiss Viggo back even if it’s just an affectionate one come one. You don’t have to choose the lips, just the cheek is fine!!
  • Poor Beau…
  • Wait, Luc, the Luc who has been missing THE ENTIRE book is just in the oubliette. And they’re actually had the oubliette this whole time??? Okay, it’s a LITTLE anti-climatic, but it mostly just feels like ex machina.
  • OK, WHY. WHY is Beau off kissing some other person just because Anouk… OK, I need them just not to be together… She’s not even that upset?
  • AND BEAU KNEW???
  • “Even the cruelest forms of love were never lost without heartache.”
  • “Well—merde. I’ve been planning that speech all the way down here.” [Cricket] rolled her eyes. “He hasn’t changed at all.”
    I love Cricket so much.
  • Wait, so how did they not recognize the oubliette? How was it locked if when Beau picked it up as a leather sack to shove all the pelts into when he left. Also didn’t Anouk say it was downstairs, and when he and Anouk found the Mada she was upstairs in the master? ALSO this was just not executed very well. There are a few edits that needed to change to make this at least a little believable.
  • Wait, how is Huter Black (another beastie) outside the cell but also offering a hand to Anouk to help her up?
  • Okay, so they failed in getting Mada Zola to re-cast the spell and the battle failed so now what? They just turn back into animals now?
  • Wait, why do we have to have this tragic? “I’m wishing for you to stay human”, “No I’m wishing for you to stay human!” thing. Why can’t the one wish with the one coin they have just be, “I wish for BOTH of us to stay human!” Great, you still only need one coin!! *Le Sigh*
  • 6/10—Somehow I’ve managed to write all my notes down and yet not very much of it is related to the plot? Lol. Anyway, I think the strongest part of this book is the writing and the pacing. It’s written well and paced even better. I think there was just enough going on and it was moved in a natural way and didn’t feel squished at the end (I’m looking at you A Court of Thorns and Roses series). A couple thoughts:
    • Beau, Anouk’s love interest was just “meh”. I did NOT feel it between the two of them. Anouk and Rennar had a more interesting relationship, not necessarily romantic–but I shipped them more than I did Beau. Beau’s confession kind of came out of no-where. Anouk says he feels more like a brother–which he absolutely did to me. I assumed that’s what their relationship was at the beginning of the book based on how they treated each other. He did the equivalent of pulling her hair and then running off to show he liked her, which is so juvenile and just wow—thank u, next. Anouk and Beau would have these conflicts (BOTH of them kissing other people) and then not really talk about them and just say, “it’s okay! I forgive you!!!” But they never like had any deeper feelings than surface level. The relationship felt like it was supposed to be deep and strong—like a great love, but it just felt like two people who didn’t have anyone else to mess around with so they picked each other.
    • There were a couple times where I would be confused at what was actually happening. Like at one point the heroes and villains tumble down the cellar stairs (that were turned into a slide) and there’s a cell door at the bottom and at one point one of the heroes is on the other side of a locked door and the next minute he’s offering a hand to help someone up and when did he lock the door? Stuff like that. It happened a handful of times in the book, no often, but often enough that I noticed a pattern.
    • Still, this book was enjoyable. I think now that I look back on it, I didn’t like it as much as when I was reading it. It still has a lot of problems. I didn’t like it as much as I liked the Madman’s daughter, although that book also suffered from “a lack of ship”, but I think the world was more interesting than.