Book Reviews: House of Korba and The Other Side of Envy Book 7-8

House of Korba- Sang and the Academy boys prepares for homecoming with bomb threats and a fire-starter on the side. The book also focuses on Silas' troubles with his family. Will they finally catch who's making the bomb threats and the arsonist?

The Other Side of Envy - Sang has learned the existence of the Bird and an imminent meeting with Academy looms. She needs to know where the boys stand and to make sure that they're united in bringing her in. And to ensure that, she starts with Gabriel. Meanwhile, Mr. Hendricks is more persistent than ever in targeting Sang.

Spoilers ahead...



House of Korba

I knew the story is going to be slow but I just realized how painstakingly slow the pacing is. The author is really descriptive of every little things happening. Every little step they take. Every thought bubble. Every description of things. But it works because our minds have already been conditioned that we're in for a looong sweet ride since Introductions. We don't want this to end.

In my head, North, Silas and Luke are redundant characters. Oops Sorry if you're a fan of them. I'm just used to reverse harem tropes of different personalities. Well maybe in the real life setup, it makes more sense because they need 'muscle guys' for some of their jobs. Also in my head, Gabriel looks like Ren Jinguji of Uta Pri. In the last book, two of the boys kissed Sang and in this book, two more are added in the list. (If my memory serves me right) And I also have a crazy idea, what if Volto is one the Academy boys!!! It may be possible because he's always one step ahead of them and he seems to know where or what they're doing after all the security measures they take. But I haven't read Fake of Scarab yet so the theory may still change. I was hoping that Silas's brother is going to be really, really hot and to pose as a threat to the Academy boys like Blake in Scarab. 

For someone who loves fashion and Gabriel, I sometimes don't get all the shopping expeditions. Yeah they do need to go shopping and it's a chance for Gabriel to have Sang for himself but boys in real life hate to wait and to shop! And they always shop as a team. It also got me thinking, why do they have to buy another set of suits when they already bought one in Introductions that they were going to use for a future event.

House of Korba, is definitely not one of my favorite arc. The only good thing that we got was the fun Halloween short story, Touch of Mischief, which is not even part of the book.

The Other Side of Envy 

The Silas book (HoK) is really boring and thank God Gabriel's version is really enjoyable. Well I'm biased since he's one of my favorites. Isn't it obvious, that he filled the Hok review, even though it's supposed to be centered on Silas. Sorry! Tee hee!

I was not expecting for the story to head on face all the major issues at the same time. Sang being aware of the other bird and their setup. With meeting the Academy. With knowing that the boys are confused with how they will be able to keep Sang. With the pacing of story, I thought those questions will be answered in much latter part of the very long journey.

I think, I'm slowly getting charmed by Dr. Green. He's really cute when he acts childish and he tries to fight for more alone time with Sang against the other boys. Haha! I always forget that he's still young.

C.L. Stone is really devious. She has a penchant for prolonging everything and now that someone has finally kissed Sang, she' cleverly hatched up a plan wherein kissing will also take several stages of progression. And one of my favorite guy is being saved for last and hopefully the very last! God, please do not make it Mr. Blackbourne!!! Haha I... CANT... WAIT... of what kind of kiss they'll have! It's gonna be explosive I guess!!! 

Basically, Sang's talent is she can work with everyone and I think that's the reason she might be able to make there Bird plan work. To bluntly speak as Lily told her she has to wear what the other want or tell them what they want to hear. It hurts me that in a way she has to have a sort of multiple personas to please them, seriously this is really confusing to me too! Like wearing the clip for...see I forgot if it's North/Luke/Silas...wearing formal clothes for Mr. Blackbourne...This is one of the things that sucks to be Sang. I also hate that Sang is manipulating Gabriel like feeding him words that he wants to hear. She's not being honest! Poor Gabriel. We're not supposed to over-analyze reverse harem just like what the Japanese do in mangas or animes. I think I'm going to add a psychological tag in here because this is messing my head but in a good way.

There's also another Christmas short story, Sound of Snowfall. It's fun too just like Touch of Mischief. Sang also reminds me of Chihaya of Chihayafuru with her incredible sense of hearing.