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A review by ladybug666
The Clown by Kathryn Ann Kingsley
5.0
“Playground” - Bea Miller. The wonderful angel who included this song in their Cora and Simon Spotify playlist needs royalties. This song brings the dark, sexy imagery to life. It is perfect. It is meant for this book/series. As a result, I want harrow faire adapted to a show, only written better. Loved this book but the whole series needed to be tightened up.
Oh my god, already loving this 10x more than books 1 and 2. Loved that Simon granted control to Cora so she could feel comfortable absolutely demolishing him. And he totally thought about changing his mind and using the strings, but he didn’t and he hated how much he loved his hair being yanked. KAK did a fantastic job building the tension in this scene, letting Cora torture him by going slow. Reading this in the dark in bed at 5 am, nothing else better to do if I couldn’t sleep, and I was hot and bothered. At 5 am. I think that’s an accomplishment for an author. Ugh I’m going to be a horny, distracted mess all day.
Have to admit, I love this brand of toxicity. He’s totally fucked up, but not a monster, and she is trusting him (so far) and he’s doesn’t know how to react or not fuck it up.
At first I thought it was going to be POV’s of only Cora and Clown, and I rolled my eyes so hard. If he’s not the love interest I don’t want it! But Simon’s POV is still there, we just get to see some friendly outsider POV.
I won’t say I’m completely captivated by the world, I think it could have been written… better? I love the elements, but the first couple books were… clunky. I enjoyed the banter and interactions between Cora and Simon, but everything else felt annoying and I speed read through a lot of it.
I think I’m enjoying seeing more of Simon’s wickedness in this book. You mostly just heard about it in the first couple books but now you get to see his fuckery. He’s confident in mutilating these immortal characters, but won’t harm Cora, and idk some fucked up part of me has no problem with that. It’s fiction after all.
Complete:
First thought - I’m enjoying Mr Harrow’s little blurbs at the beginning and end. Musing about death and life, etc.
Finally we see Simon’s “madness”, as an episode in which he isn’t in control, he’s his worst troubles. He’s in the darkest recesses of his soul that he can normally ignore to behave “normally”. He has Cora in his clutches and says he will never be the Old Simon, like she’s the fool. I’m having a hard time describing it, but his episode in his tent with Cora and the puppet show of his past, struck a nerve in me. It just reminded me of the times I let sadness, insecurity, and fear, kind of take over and run my life for a bit. And I thought I was a slave to those feelings, like I had no choice but to endure them alone. I don’t know if that is an intended metaphor from this book, but I identified with Simon’s little dark period. Depression, really. Of course I’m not completely lost in a breakdown, I’m aware of what I’m doing, but succumbing to your worst thoughts about yourself or what others think about you, when you’ve been keeping them at bay day after day, and just believing them to lift the weight… just what I took from this part.
It was a relief to finally go deeper into his character development. And I finally like Cora. She’s taking her new life and running with it. And is willing to show affection for Simon in front of others.
Super interesting twist in the end. I think I finally care enough about the characters to keep going.
Oh my god, already loving this 10x more than books 1 and 2. Loved that Simon granted control to Cora so she could feel comfortable absolutely demolishing him. And he totally thought about changing his mind and using the strings, but he didn’t and he hated how much he loved his hair being yanked. KAK did a fantastic job building the tension in this scene, letting Cora torture him by going slow. Reading this in the dark in bed at 5 am, nothing else better to do if I couldn’t sleep, and I was hot and bothered. At 5 am. I think that’s an accomplishment for an author. Ugh I’m going to be a horny, distracted mess all day.
Have to admit, I love this brand of toxicity. He’s totally fucked up, but not a monster, and she is trusting him (so far) and he’s doesn’t know how to react or not fuck it up.
At first I thought it was going to be POV’s of only Cora and Clown, and I rolled my eyes so hard. If he’s not the love interest I don’t want it! But Simon’s POV is still there, we just get to see some friendly outsider POV.
I won’t say I’m completely captivated by the world, I think it could have been written… better? I love the elements, but the first couple books were… clunky. I enjoyed the banter and interactions between Cora and Simon, but everything else felt annoying and I speed read through a lot of it.
I think I’m enjoying seeing more of Simon’s wickedness in this book. You mostly just heard about it in the first couple books but now you get to see his fuckery. He’s confident in mutilating these immortal characters, but won’t harm Cora, and idk some fucked up part of me has no problem with that. It’s fiction after all.
Complete:
First thought - I’m enjoying Mr Harrow’s little blurbs at the beginning and end. Musing about death and life, etc.
Finally we see Simon’s “madness”, as an episode in which he isn’t in control, he’s his worst troubles. He’s in the darkest recesses of his soul that he can normally ignore to behave “normally”. He has Cora in his clutches and says he will never be the Old Simon, like she’s the fool. I’m having a hard time describing it, but his episode in his tent with Cora and the puppet show of his past, struck a nerve in me. It just reminded me of the times I let sadness, insecurity, and fear, kind of take over and run my life for a bit. And I thought I was a slave to those feelings, like I had no choice but to endure them alone. I don’t know if that is an intended metaphor from this book, but I identified with Simon’s little dark period. Depression, really. Of course I’m not completely lost in a breakdown, I’m aware of what I’m doing, but succumbing to your worst thoughts about yourself or what others think about you, when you’ve been keeping them at bay day after day, and just believing them to lift the weight… just what I took from this part.
It was a relief to finally go deeper into his character development. And I finally like Cora. She’s taking her new life and running with it. And is willing to show affection for Simon in front of others.
Super interesting twist in the end. I think I finally care enough about the characters to keep going.