Review: House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

Title: House of Earth and Blood

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Adult

Publication Date: March 3, 2020

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Bound by blood.
Tempted by desire.
Unleashed by destiny.

Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life—working hard all day and partying all night—until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She’ll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.

Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose—to assassinate his boss’s enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he’s offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.

As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City’s underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion—one that could set them both free, if they’d only let it.

With unforgettable characters, sizzling romance, and page-turning suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom—and the power of love.

Relationship Advice For My Younger Self

If I could recount the number of times I have mentally-face palmed at my younger self for stupid mistakes, I would probably give myself a concussion. There's no doubt that I have made many mistakes that I regret due to sheer ignorance and inexperience. I wish that I had a relationship-guru back then to advise on approaching relationships so I wouldn't have messed up so bad and dug a rabbit hole for myself. However, having emerged from bad experience, I believe that the best teacher is experience itself; there is no other way to learn something than to have experienced something first. No amount of advice from Quora can beat personal experience--and thankfully, I believe that I now have had enough experience to know how to navigate the realm of relationships without hitting any unexpected land mime. Here are the dating tenets that I would say to my 17-year-old self: 

Music: Past, Present, Future

This morning, I talked to a friend about how difficult it was for me to form an opinion on something. It was as if I didn't have emotions anymore. That made me realize that I was not properly accessing my brain's emotional side because I was suppressing how I felt about everything. 

In addition to my feelings of trauma, I have been dealing with issues of emotional repression. Emotions are an area of struggle for me. I don't like being over-dramatic and emotional, and I prefer to keep emotions to myself. I don't want to feel anything to avoid feeling my pain and suffering; however, it's not healthy. To be emotionally healthy, you need to unlock your feeling brain to work with your thinking brain. You cannot think without feelings, so trying to block that facet of your brain will not help you in the long run. You need to process and let out your feelings healthy so that repressed feelings do not manifest into anger, sadness, or grief through physiological symptoms. Emotions need to be let out and processed regularly, whether through art, writing, or music. Stifling yourself by avoiding emotional outlets will only lead to a further mental block where you don't even know if you exist because you do not think and feel to form judgments.