Scan barcode
A review by readabookortwo
The Sunshine Court by Nora Sakavic
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“isn’t that reason enough to keep living? To rediscover simple delights one moment at a time, I mean. I used to count them on my fingers, reassuring myself there was still good in the world and reminding myself to keep looking for those blessings. Butterflies, fresh-baked bread, the crunch of leaves on an autumn morning, so on and so forth. “They don’t have to be profound,”
Okay so, this is my favourite book. Of all time. If there is one thing anybody knows about me, it's that I love All For The Game with the biggest passion and have for the last six years so when this book was announced I was of course super excited as well as absolutely terrified because I couldn't imagine it living up to the trilogy I love so much but no, it did. This is my favourite book of all time, I figured this fact out maybe 120 pages into the book, I was reading and I just knew.
The Sunshine Court at its heart is a book about healing. Jean is suffering so badly and so deeply and this is the start of his first steps to healing, his first steps to wanting to heal. This book is heartbreaking and beautiful and sad and incredible all wrapped up into a ball waiting to be read. And I loved it.
I honestly wish I had the words to explain how this book made me feel. But I don't because how can you explain such a deep love for something.
“Pop, and he was gone. It’s impressive, isn’t it? How easily these monsters die in the end.”
I loved Jean and Jeremy as the main characters. Let me tell you, Jean and Jeremy have always been my second and third favourite all for the game characters despite Jeremy appearing for one chapter in TKM they have always been my 2 & 3 and this book absolutely cemented that for me.
Jean is such a deep, complicated character who is just suffering so much but you are rooting for him every single second. You want him to start to heal, you want to punish every single person who has hurt him, you want him to make friends with these people. He is struggling but he is trying; trying to be better, trying to stay alive, hes trying to hold himself and his life together after the biggest change ever. He absolutely deserves the world I will never hear a bad word against him, he means the world to me.
I found it really fascinating but also absolutely horrifying with the way Jean feels about the Ravens. He loves the Ravens, his Ravens as he calls them a couple times but also hates them for what they did to him, what they did to each other. Nobody can truly understand the complexities of how he feels apart from Kevin and that's why I need these two to heal and talk so they can have each other to lean on. But the way Jean talks about the ravens makes me cry and feel sick all at once but I think Nora did a fantastic job with showing this because attachment even to people who have done horrific things is very real. And it's sad really, all of them were just kids. Kids who were used and turned into monsters.
Jeremy is my sunshine child. He is truly such a kind, beautiful soul from his first chapter where he buys a gift card for the man who is clearly struggling you can see he is a pure heart. However, I NEED to know what the hell has gone on between him and his family I cannot wait to get the answers about that hopefully in book two because you can see it. See that Jeremy is also suffering, theres something there that hes struggling with and I hope him ad Jean heal together.
ALSO there is so many Bones of their romantic relationship in this book and as someone who has shipped JereJean for the better part of a decade, I cannot WAIT.
Having said all of that, my favourite character of course in this book is still Kevin Day. Kevin means more to me than any other book character ever will. This man saved me from myself, from everything and I owe him my life. As soon as he appeared on page again for the first time, I cannot even explain the joy I felt for that seeing him again after so long I just started bawling. It's interesting getting to see what Kevin and Jean's relationship was and what it is now. The two of them absolutely break my heart and I hope we get to see them properly get to see each other and be friends again in book 2 once theyve both done the healing they need to do.
Uhm I knew I would bc TKM but I LOVED Cat and Leila so deeply! I absolutely fell for them in TKM but oh my god, those two love each other so much but ALSO, the love they have for Jeremy and Jean. They were anxious ofc about Jean but the way they took him in, the way you can see how much they value him and want to protect him. As much as we talk about Jeremy, these two have also saved Jean. You can tell how much he adores them and they him. They are fantastic characters and watching this found family has my heart!!
I also loved Renee in this book and how much she loves Jean and how much even though she knows the two of them cannot work out, she just wants him to be happy and gives him the first building blocks to save himself.
ALSO ONE OF THE TROJANS BEING NON BINARY????
also, FUCK Lucas I don't care about how he hated that Grayson was pulling away how actually dare he do that. Fuck that shit I hope he understands the severity of what he did.
Also, on that topic, Grayson, even the name makes me feel fucking sick.
"I am Jean Moreau. I belong to the Moriyamas. I will endure. I will endure. I will endure."
Same with Riko. I have never been so happy a character is dead in my entire life, finding out more about what he did to Jean, to Kevin I feel sick. Kevin let him win, he let him win and Riko still broke his hand, he buried Jean in a box for three days along with all the physical, mental and sexual abuse the man is sick. Yes, the abuse he suffered was awful because abuse is abuse but you wont find any sympathy here.
"Friends. He thought again and this time it almost felt real."
If you couldn't tell because I am clearly hiding it well, I loved this book so deeply, so much. Nothing can come close. The way it made me feel is like no other book ever has, the way it shows healing, trauma and everything else I just want to cry thinking about it. I hate that I'm never going to read this for the first time ever again but we do have book two to come.
Okay so, this is my favourite book. Of all time. If there is one thing anybody knows about me, it's that I love All For The Game with the biggest passion and have for the last six years so when this book was announced I was of course super excited as well as absolutely terrified because I couldn't imagine it living up to the trilogy I love so much but no, it did. This is my favourite book of all time, I figured this fact out maybe 120 pages into the book, I was reading and I just knew.
The Sunshine Court at its heart is a book about healing. Jean is suffering so badly and so deeply and this is the start of his first steps to healing, his first steps to wanting to heal. This book is heartbreaking and beautiful and sad and incredible all wrapped up into a ball waiting to be read. And I loved it.
I honestly wish I had the words to explain how this book made me feel. But I don't because how can you explain such a deep love for something.
“Pop, and he was gone. It’s impressive, isn’t it? How easily these monsters die in the end.”
I loved Jean and Jeremy as the main characters. Let me tell you, Jean and Jeremy have always been my second and third favourite all for the game characters despite Jeremy appearing for one chapter in TKM they have always been my 2 & 3 and this book absolutely cemented that for me.
Jean is such a deep, complicated character who is just suffering so much but you are rooting for him every single second. You want him to start to heal, you want to punish every single person who has hurt him, you want him to make friends with these people. He is struggling but he is trying; trying to be better, trying to stay alive, hes trying to hold himself and his life together after the biggest change ever. He absolutely deserves the world I will never hear a bad word against him, he means the world to me.
I found it really fascinating but also absolutely horrifying with the way Jean feels about the Ravens. He loves the Ravens, his Ravens as he calls them a couple times but also hates them for what they did to him, what they did to each other. Nobody can truly understand the complexities of how he feels apart from Kevin and that's why I need these two to heal and talk so they can have each other to lean on. But the way Jean talks about the ravens makes me cry and feel sick all at once but I think Nora did a fantastic job with showing this because attachment even to people who have done horrific things is very real. And it's sad really, all of them were just kids. Kids who were used and turned into monsters.
Jeremy is my sunshine child. He is truly such a kind, beautiful soul from his first chapter where he buys a gift card for the man who is clearly struggling you can see he is a pure heart. However, I NEED to know what the hell has gone on between him and his family I cannot wait to get the answers about that hopefully in book two because you can see it. See that Jeremy is also suffering, theres something there that hes struggling with and I hope him ad Jean heal together.
ALSO there is so many Bones of their romantic relationship in this book and as someone who has shipped JereJean for the better part of a decade, I cannot WAIT.
Having said all of that, my favourite character of course in this book is still Kevin Day. Kevin means more to me than any other book character ever will. This man saved me from myself, from everything and I owe him my life. As soon as he appeared on page again for the first time, I cannot even explain the joy I felt for that seeing him again after so long I just started bawling. It's interesting getting to see what Kevin and Jean's relationship was and what it is now. The two of them absolutely break my heart and I hope we get to see them properly get to see each other and be friends again in book 2 once theyve both done the healing they need to do.
Uhm I knew I would bc TKM but I LOVED Cat and Leila so deeply! I absolutely fell for them in TKM but oh my god, those two love each other so much but ALSO, the love they have for Jeremy and Jean. They were anxious ofc about Jean but the way they took him in, the way you can see how much they value him and want to protect him. As much as we talk about Jeremy, these two have also saved Jean. You can tell how much he adores them and they him. They are fantastic characters and watching this found family has my heart!!
I also loved Renee in this book and how much she loves Jean and how much even though she knows the two of them cannot work out, she just wants him to be happy and gives him the first building blocks to save himself.
ALSO ONE OF THE TROJANS BEING NON BINARY????
also, FUCK Lucas I don't care about how he hated that Grayson was pulling away how actually dare he do that. Fuck that shit I hope he understands the severity of what he did.
Also, on that topic, Grayson, even the name makes me feel fucking sick.
"I am Jean Moreau. I belong to the Moriyamas. I will endure. I will endure. I will endure."
Same with Riko. I have never been so happy a character is dead in my entire life, finding out more about what he did to Jean, to Kevin I feel sick. Kevin let him win, he let him win and Riko still broke his hand, he buried Jean in a box for three days along with all the physical, mental and sexual abuse the man is sick. Yes, the abuse he suffered was awful because abuse is abuse but you wont find any sympathy here.
"Friends. He thought again and this time it almost felt real."
If you couldn't tell because I am clearly hiding it well, I loved this book so deeply, so much. Nothing can come close. The way it made me feel is like no other book ever has, the way it shows healing, trauma and everything else I just want to cry thinking about it. I hate that I'm never going to read this for the first time ever again but we do have book two to come.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Murder and Vomit