Status Updates From Black Swan (The Kingmaker S...

Jackal, I need you.

Talk about a chilling phrase to hear.

I shouldn't be rereading this book with a head cold. I don't have it in me to keep up with the convoluted plot.

I'm honestly confused about Elias and how he connects to Carmen. I hope this doesn't tie back to Alpha Omega b/c I'm skimming this subplot

A fish rots from the head

Jackal asking Karina if he messed up and if he'll be punished and Karina responding with: “We’re friends,” she told him even as she still didn’t know his real name. “Friends don’t punish friends.” has all my heart <33333

So much had changed, yet it all felt the same. Karina was no longer sequestered away, passing her days in the greenhouse, or sleeping her nights away. She was back to work, though her trade was a little different. Now, when she looked into the criminal elite in this city, she wasn’t seeing potential stories and people who needed to be brought to justice. She saw them as potential allies.

The Alpha Omega release has been pushed back to December 17th. I'm feeling gullible again and like I'm letting the author play with my feelings 😭 I'm going to finish this book, but then I'm stopping this series.

“There were a … few things I didn’t mention about myself,” she said.

“I need a goddamn drink.”

“The man you fought,” she began, her voice growing softer. “He … almost killed me and he—” The words, no matter how much time had passed, were still so very hard to say. “—took something very precious from me. He worked for a man I lo—trusted—and if I want to get to him, I’ll need protection.”

“The difference is, I trust him,” she said with a brief nod in Jackal’s direction.

He’d protected her when the only thing she had wanted to do was buy his freedom, even as it was freely given. She’d kept her promise, and now he wanted to give her something in return. His own trust.

“It’s always better to make one true connection rather than a dozen false ones. You taught me that.”

Men with the friendliest of smiles can lie straight through their teeth.

Karina was no longer the journalist, bound by the rules she’d set for herself before she left Ashworth Hall. She was no longer sticking within the boundaries of the law, and knowing that, she also didn’t think she could possibly do what she intended on her own. She’d need help.

She needed someone she could trust implicitly. A person she didn’t have to worry if her secrets would fall on other ears.

I think the covid symptoms or symptoms of whatever this is are why I'm having more typos 😂 I need to get off the internet.

Welp, I have covid symptoms so I get to spend my weekend in self-isolation till I can get tested. Positive is I'll have time to finish this series before Alpha Omega releases. Covid having the same symptoms as a cold is lame.

Rereading this since the pre-order for the last book in this series, Alpha Omega, is up, with a Nov. 26 publication date. Crossing my fingers the author comes through this time

“He took something from me,” Karina whispered, struggling to find her voice—to remain standing in the face of what had just been revealed. “It’s only fair I take something from him in return.”

“Bathroom is there”—he pointed to a door on the other side of the room—“and I’ll ensure you have everything you need before I leave, but should you require anything else, ask for Kit.” Now she appeared mildly panicked. “You’re leaving?” Words he didn’t often hear. “I can never stay too long here.”

I love the radio show aspect of the movie. It dates the movie in this lovely way. Reminds me of that Delilah radio show.

“There’ll be none of that,” he said quickly. “My heart is not my own.”

Okay I'm over my venting about the author missing her promised release date. This book series has put me in the mood for thrillers, so I was on reddit searching for recommended thrillers and the titles: The Day of the Jackal and The Dogs of War by Forsyth came up. Apparently classics? Makes me wonder if Jackal & her War Dogs series was inspired by those books?

Now I'm afraid the author is going to make a long, melodramatic post going over some sob story as to why she missed the release (like some other authors have done). KISS. Keep it simple. 'Life got in the way, I've had to delay the release.' Reallly don't want more than that.

It's the last day of June and AO wasn't published. The author has made no announcement, radio silence. This is like getting stood up/ghosted by a date. I love this author's work, but I am never paying attention to any of her author announcements/news again. I'm over it.

Uilleam visits Lawrence Kendall wanting to collect his 2 mil or something - this is where he finds L.

A little research and she could probably find him. She’d done more with less before at the Gazette Post, and then, she had mostly been working inside her own moral lines. There was nothing moral at all about what she planned to do to him.

The twist the author created with Jackal & Bishop is brilliant.

Going forward I'm going to pay attention to Z & any subplots involving him since the author revealed he comes back in AO.