Today’s chapter opens with Ever complaining about how her aunt bought this huge house and hired a professional decorator to trick out her room with all the cool toys.  And I mean all the cool toys.

But I also have a flat screen TV, a massive walk-in closet, a huge bathroom with a Jacuzzi tub and separate shower stall, a balcony with an amazing ocean view, and my own private den/ game room, with yet another flat screen TV; a wet bar, microwave, mini fridge, dishwasher, stereo, couches, tables, beanbag chairs, the works.

Her room has to be bigger than my entire first apartment just to fit all that stuff in it, and yet she wants us to pity her.  POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL.

To be fair, yeah, stuff doesn’t replace having a family and her aunt pretty much ignores her.  But it’s not like you can’t want your family and enjoy having ocean views.

There’s not any point to this and I think that’s my biggest gripe.  Someone’s room can say a lot about them, it can be reflection of their own likes and priorities.  If you have a gaming console in your bedroom, I’m going to assume you like gaming.  If you have framed prints of modern art, then you like modern art.  What you decide to put in your space is part of you, because it’s your decision, it’s born of your desires and priorities.  If Ever had found herself in this giant bedroom and said “hm, well, I guess at least I can get all the latest gadgets I like,” then I would know something about her.  Hell, even if she’d said “daymn, that’s a lot of space and it mirrors them emptiness of my soul; I must fill it with stuff to distract me from that fact!” then I would still know something.  But no, all this stuff is foisted off on her, so she gets to have the cool toys but she doesn’t have to have the materialistic personality required to obtain those cool toys.

This is having your cake and eating it, too.

While I liked the psychic thing at first, Ever infodumps a lot.  She infodumps about her aunt for about two full pages, and she excuses all this random knowledge by saying that it’s stuff she magically divined.  When your super powers are only used for exposition, that’s just damn lazy.

We also get a flashback of the first time she saw her sister’s ghost, which is also pointless.  Saying she sees her sister’s ghost is enough, we don’t also need a recounting of the hospital scene. 

OMG, this flashback drags on forever.  I thought this was a story about her meeting Damen, not her losing her family.  That’s the past; say they died and let’s get on with things.  Flashbacks are fucking annoying, because they mess the sense of progression.  The story, by definition, cannot move forward if we are stuck looking at scenes from the past.  Unless the flashback is a framing device, but it’s not here.

Part of this hospital flashback involves making fun of psychologists and group grief counseling.  Fuck you, book.  That shit’s really important and a lot of people are resistant to getting help because of bullshit like the mockery espoused in this book.

But no way was I taking part in that. No way would I sit in a circle with a bunch of anguished people, waiting for my turn to share the story of the worst day of my life. I mean, how was that supposed to help? How could it possibly make me feel better to confirm what I already knew, that not only was I solely responsible for what happened to my family, but also that I was stupid enough, selfish enough, and lazy enough to loiter, dawdle, and procrastinate myself right out of eternity?

MAYBE BECAUSE A COUNCELOR WOULD BE ABLE TO HELP YOU STOP BLAMING YOURSELF AND ALSO TALKING ABOUT THIS SHIT HAS BEEN PROVEN TIME AND TIME AGAIN TO BE EFFECTIVE AND DEALING WITH YOUR EMOTIONS.

I get that it’s not effective for everyone, but it is for a lot of people.  It would be one thing if she’d tried it and it didn’t help, but to have her dismiss it out of hand like this is SO FUCKING ANNOYING because of how damaging this kind of view is.

Hi, my name is Whitley and I’ve been to therapy.  The stuff they ask you to say and do sounds stupid, even while you’re doing it, but it is helpful. Just because it sounds stupid doesn’t mean it’s not working.

Guys, WE’RE STILL IN A FLASHBACK, THIS DAMN THING GOES ALL THE WAY FROM THE HOSPITAL TO THE MOVE TO HER AUNT’S HOUSE AND ANOTHER MEETING WITH HER GHOST SISTER.  With Ever “tell”ing all the way about Sabine’s emotions.  These powers of hers are seeming less and less like actual powers and more like authorial excuses for bad writing.

AND THAT’S IT.  THAT’S THE WHOLE CHAPTER.  A FUCKING WHOLE CHAPTER OF FLASHBACK THAT DOES NOTHING BUT TELL US THAT HER LITTLE SISTER IS A GHOST AND SHE’S SAD ABOUT HER PARENTS BEING DEAD.

GEE, GLAD WE GOT A WHOLE FUCKING CHAPTER OF FLASHBACK TO TELL US THAT, OR I’D NEVER UNDERSTAND WHY SHE WAS SAD OVER HER DEAD FUCKING PARENTS.