Cassandra Hamm > Recent Status Updates

“The forty-fifth president had… persuaded the churchgoing class that it was better to win with vice than to lose with virtue…. Most significantly, he had shown evangelicals that their movement need not be led BY an evangelical.”

LET’S GOOOO

“They only want peace.”

“Peace is different than silence.”

Finally got my audiobook back 😍 so I’ll be taking a break from Divine Rivals until I finish this amazing book! (Which I am enjoying much more than DR…)

“For every warning of progressivism run amok there was a rebuke of conservatism gone soft; pastors and politicians freely labeled as ‘cowards’ anyone who shared their values but refused to go to war for them. The enemy wasn’t simply those godless secularists on the left, but those gutless Christians on the right. The enemy was… people who would let principles and laws obstruct their quest for power.”

“Oh yeah. It’s all coming together.”
~ Kronk

I’ve been really disappointed in the writing quality of this one. The writing is super distant with lots of telling and head hopping, as well as some distracting repetition, like it wasn’t well edited. It’s unfortunate because I adore this series. I still love the spy intrigue, but I’m not feeling particularly connected to the characters, even tho I loved them in previous installments. :(

“The first step toward preserving Christian values, it seemed, was to do away with Christian values.”

While I’m enjoying this, it has a lot of the same elements as A River Enchanted, but I preferred the way A River Enchanted used them, so now I just want to reread that series. 😆

Guess who finally decided to read it… we’ll see if it lives up to the hype.

This is such a unique book!! I genuinely have no idea where it’s going. I’ve been surprised by almost everything.

My audiobook returned automatically to the library and now I have to wait for it to come back 😭

“We aren’t meant to run from trauma to trauma.”

“Since when has a man’s title prevented his brutality instead of further emboldening it?”

EDEI IS BACK YAYYYY

“I barely had a chance to bury my mother before Father was hiding me away in a cave. Showing me how to take a knife to my spine. Teaching me how to clip my own wings.”

This is a beautiful, emotional exploration of trauma. I want to give Mara a big hug. As Haven says a few pages later, “I’m sorry, dear one. You have seen more of this world’s pain than anyone should.”

“If cutting out parts of yourself is what it takes to protect others in this world, something is very, very wrong.”

We love a book that deals with trauma! *rubs hands together excitedly* seriously, I’ve heard good things about this one and am curious to see how it’ll tackle the trauma and healing.

Soooo excited for this reread!!!! 😍

“I map this terrain’s sins, the invisible and the many, and hold them close. Because even if the pain of those sins takes my breath away, that pain feels like belonging, and ignoring it after all I’ve just witnessed would be loss.”

“I want to scream that preferential treatment for Vassals and rich kids is exactly how THEY got in the door. … For bigots, it doesn’t matter how or why I’m truly here; the fact that I’m here at all is wrong enough.”

This book is so important

This is so beautiful and lyrical.

I can’t believe I waited so long to finish this duology!! It’s soooo good! Threads That Bind was one of my top reads of last year and I have a feeling Hearts That Cut will make the cut this year (pun intended)

Another super important book like Star Spangled Jesus

“We need to foster confidence in our leaders.”

“By pretending like all the bad stuff they did never happened? That’s just as pointless as burying secrets in caches! We need to start digging this stuff up and calling it out so we can deal with it—before the Neverseen use it against us.”

I love this book so much.

Happy Black History Month! 💜 rereading this to prepare for OATHBOUND coming out next month 😍

“Many would call this treason against the Superiority. Others would call it true patriotism.”

A little too relatable 😅😅

Did NOT see that coming 😳

Did NOT see that coming 😳