The Sunshine Court
Reviews
The way I craved to be utterly ripped apart again at the very seams just by returning to this wretched part of fictional worlds, when I picked up the fourth part of the All for the Game series is hard to put into words. I still don’t know why I felt such comfort in between all of the pain that were the first three parts of this series but I did know that I wanted to feel that again, so imagine my surprise when I stumbled over parts 4 and 5! I didn’t even know they existed.
I was excited to get back into this world and I looked forward to meeting all the misfits again, so it did fall a little flat for me, once I noticed that we wouldn’t actually be returning to the Foxes and all the mayhem they call home. Jean was interesting, but I didn’t really feel the same kind of connection to his newly found friends and home, as I did with Neil and the Foxes. Maybe it was a bit of a expectations so high they couldn’t be met thing, but I really, really wanted to return to my band of misfits, to characters so utterly unhinged they make you feel normal on your worst days. Now, Jean is completely, top to bottom, fucked up. That’s in no way debatable and it’s cool to witness him find his footing, but the Sunshine Court is pretty much what they claim to be: sunshine, lovey, cutesy, caring. I know that they are not supposed to be the Foxes, but still I felt me missing them so, so much.
This book also does not span a lot of time and I’m not sure, if I am okay with that AND having time jumps in between. Either give me all or more, it was a bit in the middle for me with the way it progressed. I am curious to see how this all plays out (ha, ha!) when they actually get to the games and I am for sure going to continue reading, but this part was a solid 3.5 for me and left me incredibly homesick for the Foxhole Court, their shenanigans and the walking attitude problems occupying it.
My babies ugh I live them
The pacing of this book felt a bit odd to me tho, feels like I only read half a book yk
🤭
Sigh
jeremy jeremy what are you up to???
I know exactly what to expect from the books in this series, and yet they get me every time right where it hurts.
When I started reading this one, I legitimately could not put it down. It probably would have helped to have reread the first three, but I was too impatient and instead relied on my memory/wiki to help remind me of certain things.
Sakavic knows how to write angst, drama, trauma, and incredible one liners that rip out your heart. I’ll be foaming at the mouth for the next book.
why did i think this was going to be a fun light read??
”My place is at Evermore but you did not have to slit my throat on the way out.” sobbing my eyes out i love found family so much. jean deserves the fucking world. i honestly think that jean and andrew would get along so well if they weren’t almost the same person neil protecting jean means everything to me too jean and kevin’s relationship being destroyed because kevin saved himself ALSO KILLS ME LIKE
how am i ever supposed to move on from these books oh my god
i did in fact drop everything to read this and it was totally worth it.
original review
i WILL be dropping everything i’m doing to read this as soon as it’s out.
devastated to have finished this book was it objectively bad yes but i want more
also neil was so cunty in this book i love my son
wait im so mad that i can’t write more than one review this is fucked - anyway i fear this will be a yearly reread until the series is done
It was awful and I loved it, 99 cents just bought me 7 hours of pure joy
Highlights
Friends, he thought again, and this time it almost felt real.
A cool evening breeze. Rainbows. Open roads. Teammates.
“You made me a promise, so I will hold you to that: help me survive what comes next.” “Is that all I can do?” “It is what only you can do,” Jean said. “I trust you.”
“I am just a Moreau,” Jean said, flat and fierce. “I am not—” “So was Elodie,” Neil reminded him, and Jean stopped breathing. “Remember that the next time you think you aren’t worth saving.”
“Jean’s French,” Neil said. “He brings out violence in people every time he opens his mouth.”
A black SUV with tinted windows and government plates was parked at the curb out front. Neil, being the person he was, pointed at the fire hydrant adjacent to its front bumper and said, “That’s illegal, just so you know.”
“Permission to break his face, Coach?” Jean asked. “Denied,” White said.
“I assumed the Trojans were idiots,” Jean said. “Now I think you are all insane.” “It’s a step up,” Cody said. “I’ll take it.”
“You are going to be my success story: Jean Moreau the person, not Jean Moreau of the perfect Court. You take care of one, and I’ll take care of the other.”
“You are the captain of the sunshine court. In no universe could you be anyone’s villain.”
“Say ‘yes, Jeremy’.” He had the distinct impression Jean wanted to roll his eyes. “Yes, Jeremy.” Jeremy forgot everything else he could have said in favor of staring. It was the first time he’d heard Jean say his name. Hearing it in Jean’s accent put a wicked flutter in Jeremy’s stomach.
“Smaller than expected, considering your school’s rank.” “We only had so much space to work with around here,” Jeremy said with a helpless shrug. “It’s not about size, anyway.” “Defensive,” Jean said, tugging his glove straps with his teeth. Jeremy straightened in indignation. “I don’t have anything to be defensive about.” Jean lost his grip and bit his lip, and Jeremy hurried on before either of them could think too much about that double entendre.
“If you say you deserved it, I’ll trip you,” Jeremy warned him. “You wouldn’t,” Jean returned. “Maybe not,” Jeremy allowed. “But I’ll think about it really hard.”
What he couldn’t stomach was the cruelty behind these nonstop temptations, from Kevin leaning into his space with a conspiratorial whisper, to Renee’s lips on his temple, to Jeremy with his easy laugh and easier smile.
Damn him for looking just as good as a blond as he did a brunette.
“Your worry is misplaced,” Jean said. “I promised I would not kill myself.” “For the record, that’s not a thing well-adjusted people say,” Cat said.
Jeremy had never considered studying French before but hearing it from Jean was giving him ill-advised thoughts.
gay panic alert the guy you like is french
“Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?”
“This isn’t—” Jean said, turning on her with a dismissive jerk of his hand. His hand went still midair when he got a good look at Jeremy. Jeremy assumed he meant to finish with “normal”, but what came out was a startled, “Blond.”
bi panic alert the guy you like has just bleached his hair
“Let them all burn. I hope none of them survive.” “I appreciate your conviction, but you’re definitely off press duty,” Laila said dryly.
He was years away, watching a different beautiful boy lean in close to say, Will you teach me when he’s not watching? It could be our secret.
It didn’t matter that Jeremy Knox was annoyingly easy to look at; Jean knew better than to look at another man too long. He’d learned that lesson the hard way and would not survive a revisit.
“Hello, hello,” Jeremy greeted him cheerily. “How was the flight?” The worst, Jean thought, but settled for, “Small talk is a pointless indulgence.” “I like to indulge,” Jeremy said with a dimpled smile.
Jean noticed how Andrew and Neil moved like they were caught in each other’s gravity, in each other’s space more than they were out of it, cigarette smoke and matching armbands and lingering looks when one fell out of orbit for too long. He’d always assumed it was Neil’s arrogance that brought him to Evermore over Christmas. Now he thought it was something else, but it wasn’t his place to comment on it. Nathaniel was his broken promise; Neil’s life was none of his business.