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hdcamp 's review for:
Destroy the Day
by Brigid Kemmerer
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
HOLY CATS IT EXISTS IT HAS A COVER IT HAS A TITLE
WHAT ROCK HAVE I BEEN LIVING UNDER
Curses, January is so far away :(
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
😵
The actual title of this book is "Destroy the Hannah."
It was touch and go at the start. I read a few chapters and the characters didn't feel quite right. I had made the mistake of not re-reading the last two books, so I was a little forgetful of where we were in the story; the biggest issue was that I couldn't remember who Lochlan was or why I cared, which was a really bad thing. Take it from me - if you have the tendency to forget basic information about your own life like I do, you probably want to re-read before starting a sequel. It starts not long after where "Defend the Dawn" ends, and a lot happens at the end of that.
I will admit that the book isn't perfect. It has a few flaws (I'll elaborate in a moment). But it was emotional and humorous and overall quite genuine. I have only one real complaint, which I'll try to explain, but which I don't entirely understand myself. You should know that there is a M/M romance in this book that gets a lot of page time. It wasn't out of the blue, so you'll probably know who I'm talking about, but be warned: it goes farther than I was expecting. There's about as many explicit detail as has been in previous books, but actual sex is implied a few times.
And then the ending hits, and I was crying all over the place. I decided I could finish this before meeting up with some friends; none of us expected them to find me sitting on my couch with puffy eyes, completely and utterly hysterical.
The rest of this review is going to be riddled in spoilers, so if you haven't read it, consider yourself Gandalf'd
My favorite part of this whole series has always been Harristan and Corrick's relationship. I can't handle them - they just love each other so much and I love that. Even though they were separated for the whole book, it's still the best. Most of the emotions I felt were because of them. The sacrifices they made for each other, the things they learn about the roles their brother had to play after the death of their parents, the growth and change they make inspired by each other's strengths??
ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
As you may recall, Harristan is my favorite character, and has been since the beginning. I love everything about him. I am going to wait for my re-read (*sigh* someday) to more accurately assess this, but I did feel like he was a little OOC. Not terribly so, and I couldn't tell if it wasn't just the result of forgetfulness and suddenly being inside his head, or if it was genuine OOC-ness.
Quint was another of my favorite characters. He was perfection. Quint supremacy.
I think the weirdest part of this book was that Quint and Harristan had more page time than Tessa and Corrick; the latter aren't even together until the last 200 pages or so, so for this book at least Harristan and Quint are the true main characters. This is reflected in their romance. There's more page time given to Harristan/Quint (post having sex and everything) romance-wise than Tessa/Corrick got ever, like at all as I recall. That struck me as being a little weird, especially since I was expecting there to be as much Tessa/Corrick to compensate. We barely got anything from them (except for another veiled allusion to them having sex). There was a really nice proposal scene that I really liked, but that was kind of it.
And this is a challenge for me. I don't personally condone any sexual action outside of marriage. In particular, acting on feelings of same-sex attraction is described as a sin that "cries out to God." Understanding that is one thing. Applying it to people you care about (or yourself) is another entirely. This mostly just reminded me how I sometimes feel torn in two directions - and I can't imagine how much more challenging it must be for those even closer to the issue than I am. This is part of the danger in desensitization; if we are frequently interacting with positive representations of sinful actions, we have an issue on our hands. Although the characters are fictional, they elicit an emotional response (especially considering they're my favorites), and reading this is confusing even for me who is relatively quite firm in my belief here. I'm rambling a bit, but I've just been thinking about how we can love someone and simultaneously desire eternal life for them (and thus desire that their actions would be such as would lead them there), while also desiring that they find happiness, love, and community. Obviously they can have both, but society has pushed forward a "fast and easy" way to find love and happiness that is deeply flawed. Same-sex attraction is a huge wound. I can't even wrap my head around the pain of it. And I believe that same-sex attracted couples feel genuinely loving of each other, and that they can be in healthy relationships - but I also know that sexuality is a gift from God, and isn't something that we can remake to suit our fallen desires.
Maybe it isn't more challenging. Maybe I'm in my own head too much. In all honesty, I think I've been in my own head for a while now. This review is getting to be more introspective than I expected, so I'll shut up about all my musings for now and go back to being a goofball
🥴
Okay my biggest complaint of all time was that they really should have let Harristan stay dead. "But Hannah," I hear you say, "didn't you just write a wordvomit that frequently referenced how he's your favorite character?"
🙄
Yeees, and I stand by this. There was something exquisite about Harristan's death and the way in which Corrick learned of it, the way it changed him, and the effect it had on his relationship with his subjects. That painfully spectacular something is completely undone by keeping Harristan and Quint alive. Yes, it's nice. Yes, I was kind of relieved. No, I don't think I liked it. Marvel has ruined this very specific aspect of storytelling for all of us. #EndFictionalResurrection for real.
My final thought is that Rocco and Tessa made a better ship. I feel bad for Corrick, but Kemmerer just keeps introducing other men and every time I think that there is going to be a love triangle. This has been a problem for me for the whole series. Something about Corrick really wasn't holding my attention. I shipped her more with Quint there for a second. I guess Rocco and Olive were cute... I just... meh.
I did love this though 😅 As always, don't let my complaining confuse you!
WHAT ROCK HAVE I BEEN LIVING UNDER
Curses, January is so far away :(
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
😵
The actual title of this book is "Destroy the Hannah."
It was touch and go at the start. I read a few chapters and the characters didn't feel quite right. I had made the mistake of not re-reading the last two books, so I was a little forgetful of where we were in the story; the biggest issue was that I couldn't remember who Lochlan was or why I cared, which was a really bad thing. Take it from me - if you have the tendency to forget basic information about your own life like I do, you probably want to re-read before starting a sequel. It starts not long after where "Defend the Dawn" ends, and a lot happens at the end of that.
I will admit that the book isn't perfect. It has a few flaws (I'll elaborate in a moment). But it was emotional and humorous and overall quite genuine. I have only one real complaint, which I'll try to explain, but which I don't entirely understand myself. You should know that there is a M/M romance in this book that gets a lot of page time. It wasn't out of the blue, so you'll probably know who I'm talking about, but be warned: it goes farther than I was expecting. There's about as many explicit detail as has been in previous books, but actual sex is implied a few times.
And then the ending hits, and I was crying all over the place. I decided I could finish this before meeting up with some friends; none of us expected them to find me sitting on my couch with puffy eyes, completely and utterly hysterical.
The rest of this review is going to be riddled in spoilers, so if you haven't read it, consider yourself Gandalf'd
My favorite part of this whole series has always been Harristan and Corrick's relationship. I can't handle them - they just love each other so much and I love that. Even though they were separated for the whole book, it's still the best. Most of the emotions I felt were because of them. The sacrifices they made for each other, the things they learn about the roles their brother had to play after the death of their parents, the growth and change they make inspired by each other's strengths??
ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
As you may recall, Harristan is my favorite character, and has been since the beginning. I love everything about him. I am going to wait for my re-read (*sigh* someday) to more accurately assess this, but I did feel like he was a little OOC. Not terribly so, and I couldn't tell if it wasn't just the result of forgetfulness and suddenly being inside his head, or if it was genuine OOC-ness.
Quint was another of my favorite characters. He was perfection. Quint supremacy.
I think the weirdest part of this book was that Quint and Harristan had more page time than Tessa and Corrick; the latter aren't even together until the last 200 pages or so, so for this book at least Harristan and Quint are the true main characters. This is reflected in their romance. There's more page time given to Harristan/Quint (post having sex and everything) romance-wise than Tessa/Corrick got ever, like at all as I recall. That struck me as being a little weird, especially since I was expecting there to be as much Tessa/Corrick to compensate. We barely got anything from them (except for another veiled allusion to them having sex). There was a really nice proposal scene that I really liked, but that was kind of it.
And this is a challenge for me. I don't personally condone any sexual action outside of marriage. In particular, acting on feelings of same-sex attraction is described as a sin that "cries out to God." Understanding that is one thing. Applying it to people you care about (or yourself) is another entirely. This mostly just reminded me how I sometimes feel torn in two directions - and I can't imagine how much more challenging it must be for those even closer to the issue than I am. This is part of the danger in desensitization; if we are frequently interacting with positive representations of sinful actions, we have an issue on our hands. Although the characters are fictional, they elicit an emotional response (especially considering they're my favorites), and reading this is confusing even for me who is relatively quite firm in my belief here. I'm rambling a bit, but I've just been thinking about how we can love someone and simultaneously desire eternal life for them (and thus desire that their actions would be such as would lead them there), while also desiring that they find happiness, love, and community. Obviously they can have both, but society has pushed forward a "fast and easy" way to find love and happiness that is deeply flawed. Same-sex attraction is a huge wound. I can't even wrap my head around the pain of it. And I believe that same-sex attracted couples feel genuinely loving of each other, and that they can be in healthy relationships - but I also know that sexuality is a gift from God, and isn't something that we can remake to suit our fallen desires.
Maybe it isn't more challenging. Maybe I'm in my own head too much. In all honesty, I think I've been in my own head for a while now. This review is getting to be more introspective than I expected, so I'll shut up about all my musings for now and go back to being a goofball
🥴
Okay my biggest complaint of all time was that they really should have let Harristan stay dead. "But Hannah," I hear you say, "didn't you just write a wordvomit that frequently referenced how he's your favorite character?"
🙄
Yeees, and I stand by this. There was something exquisite about Harristan's death and the way in which Corrick learned of it, the way it changed him, and the effect it had on his relationship with his subjects. That painfully spectacular something is completely undone by keeping Harristan and Quint alive. Yes, it's nice. Yes, I was kind of relieved. No, I don't think I liked it. Marvel has ruined this very specific aspect of storytelling for all of us. #EndFictionalResurrection for real.
My final thought is that Rocco and Tessa made a better ship. I feel bad for Corrick, but Kemmerer just keeps introducing other men and every time I think that there is going to be a love triangle. This has been a problem for me for the whole series. Something about Corrick really wasn't holding my attention. I shipped her more with Quint there for a second. I guess Rocco and Olive were cute... I just... meh.
I did love this though 😅 As always, don't let my complaining confuse you!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, War