The Night Circus- Part Two (Illumination): Chapter Twenty-Four (Rêveurs) - The Good Side of Obsession

So this has happened again. I am so sorry, those of you who believe I can properly schedule. I put off doing the daily chapters this morning because I am by no means a morning person, and I was out quite late. Though, if it soothes at all, I was watching magicians perform, so I suppose you could call it research.

Anyway, this chapter begins with Herr Frederick Thiessen receiving advance information as to where the circus will be, in...Saxony. So they won't go to Germany, but they'll go to Saxony. All right then.

He, of course, spends as much time as possible there, his obsession with the circus growing.

Someone from the city newspaper convinces him in the customary Night Circus way (with alcohol) to publish his journal of observations in the newspaper.

His articles end up in Sweden and Denmark and France and London (awfully specific considering the other places were only by name), and he starts a following. I would call it a cult, but cults have to have principles that are widely considered strange or bizarre. 

The name of this club: the rêveurs. They follow the circus around and alert each other with cards, with Thiessen as their leader. He makes clocks for them as well, and even develops the rêveur fashion: black and/or white and/or grey with a hint of bright red.

This has to be my favorite color scheme ever.

The circus, because the circus knows all, learns of them, and often shows their gratitude by offering food or free admission.

This chapter ends with Thiessen replying to his letters and finding one from Celia, full of observations about the circus and the best clock in the while damn universe. He then begins to reply. Cue beginning of friendship.

Shatter Me Chapter Twelve will be up shortly and next chapters of both will be up later today.
They should be finished early, but I might not be able to release them, as today I'm flying back out to my nonspecific hometown in California.

Shatter Me- Chapter Eleven- Oh, He Will/Ed Sheeran Still Won't Leave

This chapter begins with Juliette being depressing, even for her. The new place is filled to the brim with luxuries, and she starts imagining screaming children and weeping mothers. Oh, this one's gonna be good.

It does prove the corruption of The Reestablishment, though, which, if you've read any other YA, you would already have guessed. 

Adam holds her when she starts to cry, and at least she's stopped lying on paper about wanting to jump his bones.

"I don't want him to ever ever ever ever let go of my body. I wish there were no barriers between us."

Finally. Oh, and don't worry, Juliette. There are only fifty-one pages to go until there won't be (well, except Warner), and Ed Sheeran still won't shut up.

They get to her room, which is nicer than her previous living arrangement by about a factor of 4.

She asks him to leave, and he explains that he's not allowed to leave her alone, that he'll be sleeping in her room.
Oh no. The horror.

He tells her to get ready for dinner with Warner in the bathroom, the only room without cameras. That'll be quite important in a few chapters... Eight to be exact; wait, that's not a few...

She starts crying again (this will also happen a loooot), and this chapter ends with him failing miserably to defend himself before leaving.

Next chapters of both this and The Night Circus should be up tomorrow. Spring Break is, unfortunately drawing to a close, so around Monday, the frequency of uploads will return to my patented "Says-Two-Per-Week-But-Then-Ends-Up-Doing-It-Every-Other-Day" method. It's been fun.

The Night Circus- Part Two (Illumination): Chapter Twenty-Three (Atmosphere) - Watching Him Watching Her

This chapter begins with Celia being antisocial, sitting backstage while the other performers live their lives.

Tsukiko comes along, suggesting that Celia accompany her to a "social engagement", a Circus Dinner. 

I'm not exactly sure what Morgenstern is saying here, but I'll do my best.

"'See that they set an additional place for dinner,' Chandresh says to Marco, before taking her on a spin around the took to make sure she had met everyone."

I don't know if it's Chandresh or Marco that doesn't remember whatever it is they're not remembering. I choose to believe that it's Marco, pretending not to remember Celia to avoid her suspicion.

There's some extraneous waxing about who is there, and their babble about "atmosphere". It may seem lazy of me to skip all this, but really, it's not worth it.

She slips out into the hall when she sees some movement. It's Hector, of course, who can't for the life of him leave her alone.

He continues to fume, all (paraphrasing here): "Don't trust anyone. Stop fraternizing. Nyeh." 

After she tells him to leave her alone, Marco catches her attention from the doorway, as hr has arrived to tell her that dinner is beginning.

They have a little snippet of conversation about libraries libraries, during which Celia sees Marco smile for the first time. 

Celia spends the dinner observing the relationships between people, which is pretty low on the creepy scale considering Marco.

They start talking about...corsets...and Marco ends up having to take notes on it. 

"'Miss Bowen's corset is duly noted, sir,' Marco replies, and the laughter bubbles over the table again."

Oh, I'm sure it is.
He then smiles at her before retreating.

There's something about Tara that reminds Celia of her dead mother. I say dead only because I had to remember that after forming theories.

After things wrap up, Celia thanks Tsukiko for the invitation, and Tsukiko responds with a quote that has been highlighted 2,839 times.

"The finest of pleasures are always the unexpected ones,"

I can't say I necessarily agree. I mean, I can think of some unexpected things that are pleasurable for one party that are both illegal and immoral...

Anyway, Marco and Chandresh talk afterwards about Celia, and Marco has to dodge around admitting that he thinks she's beautiful before Chandresh leaves. 

Then, he watches the place she was standing. Not even her, just where she was. He's getting really desperate now.

This chapter ends with Hector watching Marco watch where Celia was

Shatter Me Chapter Eleven will be up before midnight and next chapters of both will be up tomorrow.

The Night Circus- Part Two (Illumination): Chapter Twenty-Two - 100 Pages? Somebody Shut Ed Sheeran Up

This chapter begins by continuing the slow death of Isobel and Marco.

He appears quite unexpectedly in her tent while the circus is in Paris. Instead of greeting her, like your typical significant other, he angrily asks why he was not told about the Wishing Tree, a tree full of candles, the perfect opposite/compliment to Marco's Ice Garden.

He can immediately tell it is Celia's, explaining that he can "feel it". Isobel has, by some cruelty, has failed as of yet to pick up on his growing devotion to Celia.

He tiredly explains that he cannot tamper with her (though they both end up doing that, in a good way), that the point is to "tip the scales" in their respective favors. 

They wax a bit about watching Celia, which is a little less creepy than it sounds, before Marco leaves to go watch Celia perform. As he he leaves, Isobel says, "'I miss you,'" though he either doesn't hear or doesn't care (personally, I think it's the latter). My god, Isobel, how did you get hired as a fortune teller? You can't even read your own conversations to tell that Marco is in love with someone else! If he wore a sign proclaiming in neon orange, saying: "I am in love with Celia Bowen", would you even notice?!

Wait, wait. This chapter ends with her maybe figuring it out.

"From the Marseilles deck she draws a single card. She knows which it will be before she turns it over. The angel emblazoned on the front is only a confirmation of her suspicions."


Apparently, the Angel, or Temperance, symbolizes the coming together of opposites. Well, at least she knows now...surprise?

You might be wondering about the title of this chapter.
I've been counting down until Adam and Juliette stop dancing around each other in the Shatter Me review.
So I decided to count the pages until Marco and Celia do so as well, and it's not good. 100 pages, twenty-six chapters to go. Sigh. Spotify (where the Ed Sheeran part comes from) is certainly not helping.

Next chapters of both should be up tomorrow.

Shatter Me- Chapter Ten- Good God, What Did I Sign Up For?!

Before we begin this chapter, there is something that must be said. And yes, I am posting this extra chapter before The Night Circus. Deal.

I have just finished rereading Shatter Me, and I must say: Earthlings, we are in for so much more emotional manipulation than I have said. Tahreh Mafi spends the first book making you join Team Adam and then spends the rest of the trilogy convincing you that you were an idiot for joining Team Adam. There a few chapters in Unravel Me and Ignite Me, two in particular, that I won't even be able to summarize. I'll just have to quote them in their entirety. In Shatter Me, though, during most of the romance between Adam and Juliette, I'll be warning everyone not to get too attached. It's not easy.

With that out of the way...

This chapter begins with Adam leading Juliette away from her future lover. It's obvious him saying her name still greatly affects her, but she refuses to take his hand.

Instead, he puts his hand on her back to guide her, and this also has a pretty serious effect on her. He tells her they're going outside, something she hasn't done for the better part of a year.
She's so amazed by the experience of being outside that she doesn't even get to metaphor.

She's brought back when Adam touches her, and now that there's no one else around, he can finally stop being an ass.

"'Are you okay?' His eyes surprise me. They're the same ones I remember, blue and bottomless like the deepest part of the ocean. His hands are gentle so gentle around me."

She continues lying to him about not wanting him to touch her. They go for a pleasant tank ride, and Juliette continues to silently spout exposition about The Reestablishment like a damn fountain. I'm not gonna bother to go over it. It's a carbon copy of every overpowering government in every dystopian YA novel, so believe me when I say there's no new information.

The tank ride ends at a building much larger than the asylum.
When she gets out of the tank, Adam is holding her waist, and she continues to pretend she doesn't like it that way. This is going to continue for another...nine chapters!? Are you kidding?!

Sigh...this chapter ends with them entering the building, where, after 54 pages I promise she'll stop being so stupid.

The Night Circus Chapter Twenty-Two will be up later today and next chapters of both will be up tomorrow. It's getting more difficult to keep writing on my phone like this. I think my fingers are suffering from cello withdrawals.