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480 pages, ebook
First published July 31, 2018
"This winsome debut novel goes down like a vegan, gluten-free cupcake: sweet and good for you but entirely lacking in satisfying decadence."
"You're beautiful when you lie." He quickly added, "Not to diminish you or suggest that beauty is an indicator of your worth."
***
“I don’t know. I’ve never had a husband. Or a wife,” she added.
“Once upon a time, in a castle carved of stone, a girl plotted murder.”
“…men have found ever-new ways of oppressing women. Our bodies have been receptacles, both container and contained; our wombs soft and pliant for the children we were meant to bear our husbands, whether we wanted to or not. We have been restricted, silenced, and confined. This has been called many things��‘protection,’ ‘progress,’ even ‘love.’”
“We were hunted and killed for thousands of years, long before we had magic. We are magicians because of our suffering. A woman’s body can survive only so much abuse before our very blood and bones rise up in revolt.”
“Magic is born in the margins. It is nurtured among the vulnerable and broken. It is our bodies crying out for justice, seeking to right centuries of wrongs.”
tw: attempted sexual assault, mentions of self-harm
So where did it fall short, you ask?
“We are magicians because of our suffering. A woman's body can survive only so much abuse before our very blood and bones rise up in revolt.”
“Logic is insufficient. Love will always expose its flaws. It is good to have a mind, but it is better to have a heart.”