I have to admit, before I started reading TWOTQ I was a bit wary based on what I was seeing on tumblr/around the internet. But once I was able to actually read and finish the book it just confirmed what I already knew: people are morons. Nothing between Poppy and Kieran was sexual or amounted to cheating. I didn’t necessarily love the book, I thought the first half dragged quite a bit and it was obviously a filler to lead into the next books (including ALITF). That being said, just because it had a lot of exposition and filled in some gaps in information didn’t make it a bad book. I enjoyed quite a bit of it, I just wish more had happened besides the ending and it was paced a bit better. The fact that people are flipping out over it without even reading it and others are threatening JLA is just ridiculous. In sum - people are the worst.
nothing was sexual between them until the joining. like, point blank period. did their emotional bond grow? it absolutely did. kieran isn't only casteel's best friend. he is also poppy's. he is so fond of her and she of him, and their relationship just continued to grow and flourish and progress as it would.
they both lost their person. it is not a crime that they bonded and leaned on each other through that loss. there was no emotional cheating. there was no physical cheating. he slept with her mostly out of protection and to try to make sure the girl was okay because she so obviously wasn't.
a lot of people are hung up on him sleeping next to her naked, but it has been said and reinforced so many times that the wolven are just like that. they're comfortable with nudity and their bodies and poppy has seen him naked several times after shifting. if he shifted and laid down next to her to sleep, that is just a natural thing for him. and poppy knows this.
as someone that didn't want the joining to turn sexual, because at the time for me personally, i felt like people were just pushing it to be a sexual thing because they were horny and wanted a threesome (and i get annoyed when i feel like people are pushing an author in one direction and backing her into a corner), i only wanted it to be sexual if it was going to make sense. and guess what: it did.
i'm going to link a goodreads review that brings out a whole bunch of receipts in why it makes sense and why their relationship grew to the point of that being okay, but i also want to point out two more things.
nothing about their interactions afterward was even remotely sexual. he kisses her shoulder after they wake up, sure. but that isn't necessarily a romantic thing. they even had a whole conversation about what the love they felt for one another is. it's beyond familial, but it isn't what poppy feels for casteel, and i don't think it's what kieran has felt for past lovers either. i don't think this makes them lovers. if it ends up going that way, more power to them, but right now where we're at, they're not. like they even talked about extending the joining to kieran's future partner if he found someone he wants to spend his life with. that doesn't sound like they're jumping into a relationship to me. people are jumping the gun so hard.
i also want to point out that CAS WAS ALL ABOUT THIS. we had chapters in his point of view where i'm pretty sure i recall him thinking about how glad he was that they had each other. we already know that he only trusts poppy with kieran. and if casteel had felt hurt or threatened by their behavior, we damn well would have heard about it. the man doesn't even like emil getting too close to her for fucks sake! i don't think he would have compromised his feelings just because kieran is his best friend. like point blank. he's a territorial fuck and he would have ripped kieran to pieces if he didn't like what he saw or came back to. he wouldn't have let the joining go that way.
i said two more things, but i have more so i'll keep going.
the joining turning that sexual was all about consent. it was all about poppy. neither of them pushed it on her, neither of them would have gone that route if she didn't want to. all three of them entered that situation knowing how intense it could become. we have heard about how intense it can become for several books now. and even when they started, casteel told her if it was too much they could stop at any time. we know that poppy is sexually curious. we know this about her. they have been in sexual situations with each other before. she watched him on the beach with at the wolven ceremony (was it a wedding? i haven't read it since like fall of last year lol oops) and he was watching them. and again, i will point out: casteel was okay with that.
nothing about this hurt poppy and casteel's relationship. when poppy woke up the next morning she didn't have regrets, she wasn't feeling weird about it, i think she said it felt normal? she was cozy and sated and our queen deserves that. but none of it negatively impacted their relationship. it positively reinforced everything that they are. that poppy also loves kieran enough to bond his life to hers means so much to casteel. poppy doing this for him means so fucking much to him, are you kidding? the man is so in love with her and it only grew after that. they shared something so insanely emotional and intense.
on that note: it wasn't smut written for smut. it had a purpose. some people are complaining that it wasn't graphic enough, but as i've talked about with @punkassbookjockey26, it's oddly perfect. i think it getting anymore explicit than it did would have felt out of place and made me dislike it to be honest. but it felt emotional and intense and beautiful and it didn't matter who was touching who where. it was about the feelings and their essence's bonding together. it was the perfect blend of spice and emotion in my opinion.
i could keep ranting but i feel like this has been long enough. and i want to work on some fics before i go to my boyfriend's house later so i will stop it here.
but i agree. people are fucking morons.
goodreads review i mentioned
