Just a heads up, I will no longer be reviewing Desire and Decorum. I just can't get into it. I'm sorry if you do like it, but it's not my cup of tea. If anyone else would like to say their thoughts on it, that's completely fine.
Red Carpet Diaries: I was actually pleasantly surprised by this chapter. It really went into how much of a scumbag Viktor is and how far he's willing to go as part of his perverted vendetta. I saw the image of Matt in the hospital, and geez, he looks messed up. It would be nice if there was a future chapter where Matt sued Viktor. Because legally, Viktor is responsible for making sure that the actors on his set are supplied with proper safety equipment.
Like it says on his page, apart from sexual assault, now Viktor is guilty of reckless endangerment.
America's Most Eligible: RIP Edgar, lol. Seriously, I was caught off guard when he was tackled to the floor like that. I kinda get where security was coming from. Instead of grabbing you like that, he could have just tapped your shoulder, but I digress. I also feel like security went a little overboard, they could have just pulled him away instead of tackling him.
I have the sneaking suspicion that either Piper or Omar set the security guard on Edgar just because they seemed really eager to get your reaction on camera.
Regarding the elimination, I understand why people are pissed. Personally, I couldn't stand Ryder, Han, or Lina. All of them got on my nerves and have personality traits that I find really unappealing. But I understand that there are people who feel differently and I agree that they should have had a fair choice to eliminate Ivy/Zeke.
Royal Romance: I'm trying to be more open minded about Royal Romance because I admit I'm biased towards this series. But this chapter made that difficult for me. The whole premise was getting wedding outfits, and the whole concept of picking out clothes is just very uninteresting to me.
I guess something that was positive was the group chat in the beginning. I thought Maxwell's text of "Look at it. Looooooook" was actually pretty funny.
The cliffhanger got me thinking that Anton maybe had a mole in the security group. And I feel like this book has two chapters left. Chapter 19: Final battle against Anton. Chapter 20: Wedding.
Veil of Secrets: I was blown away by this chapter! I loved the whole symbolic purpose of the Red Octopus to Nikolai and how he feels it represents that he can't escape his criminal history. This was probably the first chapter in Choices history where we really focused on someone's psychology and what could drive them.
We also found out that Nikolai used to be friends with Pierce and Margaret in the 1980s. It was super interesting to find out how much their partnership took a toll on his psyche to the point where he thinks he can't even be considered a man anymore.
The whole situation with Duffy got me wondering; did he shoot Nikolai just because he's an idiot? Or did he want to prevent Nikolai from talking?
Towards the end, I think that Nikolai was trying to tell us that Bryce is still alive. Either him or Taylor Acosta, whoever that is.