The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0)

by Suzanne Collins

This reaping day, like most, was shaping up to be a scorcher. But what else could you expect on July 4th?

reaping day is july 4???? Omg

“Well, you know what they say. The show’s not over until the mockingjay sings,” she said.

The previous night’s jealousy over her loser of a boyfriend and the way her star quality sometimes outshone his own evaporated. He felt remarkably close to her, this girl who’d dropped into his life so unexpectedly and with such style. And it wasn’t just about the accolades she’d brought him. He was genuinely fond of her, far more than he was of most of the girls he knew in the Capitol. If she could survive — oh, sweet only if — how could they help but have a lifelong connection? But for all his positive talk, he knew the odds were not in her favor, and a heavy melancholy descended upon him.

The right thing to do. Coriolanus realized that this was what had always defined Sejanus’s actions, his determination to do the right thing.

sejanus king

Why did everything have to be an uphill battle for him?

this mf…

After lights-out, Coriolanus lay beaming at the ceiling. Lucy Gray was not only alive, she was in 12, and he would reunite with her next weekend. His girl. His love. His Lucy Gray. They had survived the dean, the doctor, and the Games somehow. After all the weeks of fear and yearning and uncertainty, he would wrap her in his arms and never let her go. Wasn’t that why he had come to 12?

his girl is crazy…

We’re responsible for each other’s lives now.” “Are we?” he asked. “Sure,” she said. “You’re mine and I’m yours. It’s written in the stars.”

He didn’t mind the jabberjays so much — they seemed rather interesting from a military standpoint — but something about the mockingjays repelled him. He distrusted their spontaneous creation. Nature running amok. They should die out, and die out soon.

little does he know..

Who needed wealth and success and power when they had love? Didn’t it conquer all?

she overheard one couple, who were inspecting the roof, discussing how they could replace her beloved garden with a goldfish pond. The idea that the roses, the very symbol of the Snow dynasty, were to be demolished precipitated her downward spiral into even greater agitation and confusion.

him and these damn roses

Good-bye, Lucy Gray, we hardly knew you.

And he didn’t like love, the way it had made him feel stupid and vulnerable.

If he ever married, he’d choose someone incapable of swaying his heart. Someone he hated, even, so they could never manipulate him the way Lucy Gray had. Never make him feel jealous. Or weak.