Ever goes to Damen’s house. 

I’ve almost reached the top of the hill when I see the next street on my list, and after making a left, quickly followed by another, I stop at the end of his block

For some reason we have to hear about every turn she makes on her way to Damen’s house.  It’s like the book just said “fuck it, here’s some words.”

Ever has a moment of guilt over spying on someone, then gets over it using the worst logic ever.

But then again, it’s not like anything in my life is remotely normal, so why should my relationships be any different?

Because as long as you’re weird, that makes breaking and entering okay!  You know what, I’ve got some unusual habits as well.  Maybe I should go knock over a liquor store.  It’s all the same, right?

Also, shut up, Ever.  Plenty in your life is normal.  You go to high school and have friends and obsess about whether the hot boy likes you and get upset when you’re bullied.  Even your abnormal stuff is just used to do normal things with more angst.  We have yet to see any actual hardships in your life that are caused by something other than your shitty attitude.

She tries to break into his house by…just checking the door and hoping it’s unlocked.

Then just as I’m ready to cut my losses and head home, I hear this voice in my head urging, the window, the one by the sink. And sure enough, I find it cracked just enough to slip my fingers under and open the rest of the way.

Yet another book in which the character does stuff but still isn’t necessarily proactive.  She’s meeting the bare minimum requirement for movement, but she doesn’t have to put any effort or thought into anything.  She’s literally a puppet, not thinking or planning, just there, being moved around by unseen forces with no thought of her own.  Nothing about this even feels like it’s for the sake of character, like if she was just really resistant to going in and maybe looking for an excuse not to.  Nope.  She doesn’t even get weirded out by the ‘voice in her head’!

But that little voice in my head is urging me on, and since it got me this far, I figure I may as well see where it leads.

In fact, the voice in her head is now officially the creepiest thing in this chapter.  That doesn’t make it sound like an urge or intuition or whatever, that’s…really fucking creepy.

She walks around the house and sees that it is, indeed, completely devoid of any furnishings.  Not that it’s bare bones, no, the only thing in there is a recliner and a TV in one room.

So why did Damen decide to rent a huge fancy house in a gated community with ocean views?  In Southern California?  I’ve looked at houses like that.  (Just for funsies, but still.)  In that location, that size, we’re looking at least $2-3 million.  Why would you spend that kind of money for a house you’re not going to use?  It’s not like he even got it for ‘keeping up appearances’ purposes to brag to the kids at school, because no one knows where he lives.  The only reasonable explanation is that he wanted to be a resident in the same school district as Ever, but he didn’t need a whole house for that.  There have to be apartments or smaller houses that would serve, or even a guest house for rent. 

She finds the one room in the house with stuff, and it’s stuffed full of stuff, because…fuck if I know.  He’s got a whole house, but he keeps all his stuff crammed into one room, because that makes for a more dramatic reveal, I guess.

finely woven tapestries, the antique rugs, the crystal chandeliers, the golden candelabras, the heavy silk draperies, the velvet settee, the marble-topped table piled with tomes.

He carts all this stuff around because…reasons.

Also, he’s got like a dozen portraits of himself painted by various famous painters.  I guess he just really likes sitting for portraits.  Is there really any way to read that other than “good god, Damen, how vain can you be?”

There’s a ton of name-dropping in this section, by the way, as we get to see all the people throughout history that have signed gifts to him, but they’re such big names that it kind of feels like the author was just pulling up whatever she could think of off the top of her head.  And it’s only big names.  What, Damen never made friends with anyone who didn’t survive the test of time?  Or did he throw out the works of William Byrd when everyone stopped liking his music?

Ever is freaked out and runs from the room, only to encounter Damen and Haven having a fight downstairs.  Ever thinks he’s attacking her, because she’s all bloody and thrashing around, so she starts trying to fight off Damen, screaming at him all the while.  He assures her he’s trying to help, which she of course doesn’t believe.  A reasonable reaction and it only took us 23 chapters to get there!

And despite all my anger, despite my adrenaline, I can still feel that warm languid tingle of his hands on my skin, and I fight like hell to ignore it.

Sigh.  I take it back.

While she’s focused on Haven and trying to check on her, Damen knocks her out.  She wakes up again at home.  Presumably, she was knocked out with magic because she’s not injured and doesn’t remember going to his house, so I don’t have to whine about brain injuries.  Small graces.

On her way to school, she thinks about how ominous it is that she can’t remember her whole Sunday evening/night.

Damen is there at the school parking lot, waiting for her with flowers and kisses.  What should be a sweet gesture is made ungodly creepy as you realize that he’s doing this right after he muddled with her memories.  Basically, he’s removing anything bad he does from her mind and then presenting himself as a perfect gentleman, which is the most extreme case of emotional manipulation I’ve seen in a genre that’s already rife with it.

The day goes on and Damen makes up a lie about how they both went surfing on Sunday and she just doesn’t remember it.  This seems kind of iffy to me.  Why make up something that complicated?  Forgetting a whole day of learning a new skill is major and indicates some serious brain-fuckery.  Forgetting that you spent the afternoon watching Gilmore Girls reruns and fell asleep on the couch is much less scary.

On the other hand, Ever is so fucking malleable that she just rolls right along with it, barely questioning why she forgot her Sunday.

This is ridiculous.  It’s just another example of how this book constantly hits the reset button.  We can’t have any progress going on, because we have to continually rewind things to the status quo.  Ever learned something?  Well, make her forget it!  Ever and Damen finally look to be getting along?  Misunderstanding time!  The only thing that’s changed this whole book is Haven’s life, and we barely get to see her!  We learn second-hand from Miles that she’s home sick with the flu.

Ever spends the rest of the day melancholy.  Later that night, she wakes up from a nightmare and thinks someone is in her room.

No one’s there, of course.  It’s just a cheap bid to drum up some tension without having anything actually happen.  *yawn*