#042: This week on A Novel Bunch, we’re diving into Chapters 58–66 of A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas—where love is named (and feared), friendships become sacred magic, and three women are thrown into the most brutal trial in Prythian.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Feyre’s birthday brings awkward family tension, unexpected laughter, and a gift from Cassian so thoughtful it nearly breaks Nesta open—a Symphonia filled with the music she loves. But when he gets too close, she lashes out, insisting she deserves someone like Eris instead. Then comes the truth. The fire. The choice to let him stay.

While Cassian’s away, Nesta gathers Gwyn and Emerie for a sleepover that becomes something ancient and holy. Friendship bracelets. Wishes etched in coins. “I wish for us to always find our way back to each other.” The magic answers.

Training changes everything. Gwyn cuts the ribbon. Emerie follows. Then Nesta. The Valkyries are born.

They conquer the obstacle course. The men rage. Azriel quietly reveals the truth: they now qualify for the Blood Rite. “I’d rather be a Valkyrie,” Nesta says—and means it.

Nesta climbs the stairs. Makes peace with Amren. Learns she made the House when she wished for a friend. “Welcome back to the Night Court, Nesta Archeron.”

Spring brings shadows. Eris warns of Briallyn. Cassian asks Nesta to say the word she’s been running from—mate. She can’t. Instead, she invokes their bargain and sends him away.

That night, darkness comes for them.

Gwyn screams. Nesta is taken.

Cassian arrives too late. The Valkyries have been thrown into the Blood Rite.

On Ramiel, Nesta wakes among enemies with only a dagger and her will. She kills. She runs. She becomes what she’s been training to be. She saves Emerie from icy death. She finds shelter with a stranger. And when her charm glows again, she knows—

Gwyn is in trouble.

And the Valkyries are about to rise in the wild.

Let’s get into it, Bunchies! 🗡️🔥

#041: This week on A Novel Bunch, we’re diving into Chapters 51–57 of A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas—where the Valkyries level up, ancient magic sings, and Nesta Archeron steps fully into her power… with a desk, a harp, and a death-god in her wake.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

The Valkyries are back on the mat, ribbons in hand and confidence rising. Emerie demands the real update (“Tell me you at least had a week’s worth of fun”), and Cassian proves what “cutting the ribbon” actually looks like—right into the now-infamous hold onto the desk moment. But it’s not all heat: in the library, Nesta and Gwyn choose bravery, attending a priestess service together. Music becomes sanctuary, friendship becomes armor, and a real bond is forged.

Then the song opens a door. The Harp awakens—and answers Nesta. Drawn into a parallel space, she finds a golden instrument at the heart of the Prison. The Crown and Harp link her to Briallyn. Rhys sends Cassian in with one of Nesta’s blades—to see what happens when she uses it. Visions. Six thrones. Lanthys. A god who should not be able to die.

He tries anyway.

Nesta runs. Then turns back. She counts strings—twenty-six—and bends worlds. She reaches Cassian, names her blade Ataraxia, and takes out a death-god with her own magic and Ataraxia. The Prison screams. They fall into Velaris. Cassian collapses. Nesta chooses hope.

After, she finally apologizes to Feyre (daemati style). We learn of the Daglan, Gwydion, the Wild Hunt—and that Ataraxia is a death sword. A plan forms: to keep Eris loyal, Nesta will dance with him at Solstice. Cassian is not okay.
Winter arrives. Gwyn secures a chapter on the rebirth of the Valkyries—“Our stories are worth telling.” The House reveals its heart. Nesta meets it with hers.

At Solstice, Rhys gifts Eris one of Nesta’s blades. Nesta dances. The room burns. Eris whispers truths about Mor. Cassian cuts in, trembling and brave. And then—Eris offers himself everything Rhys could want.

In exchange for Nesta as his bride.

Let’s get into it, Bunchies! 🗡️🔥

#040: This week on A Novel Bunch, we’re diving into Chapters 41–50 of A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas—where ancient magic sharpens its teeth, loyalties fracture, and Nesta Archeron finally breaks… only to begin again.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

The dread deepens as Helion confirms the truth behind the Crown: the soldiers aren’t bewitched, they’re influenced. The Dread Trove is awakening, and the Mask reacts to Helion in ways it doesn’t to the others, hinting at blood-deep magic and ancient wearers long forgotten. Nesta refuses to learn how to unward it, knowing exactly what she’d be tempted to do with that knowledge. Instead, she studies war, dreams of building an army of priestesses, and lets desire take over—right into that headboard scene.

Then the blades arrive. Three weapons Nesta helped forge—impossible, cursed, and powerful enough to rival the Dread Trove itself. Amren fears they are something new entirely… and decides Nesta cannot know. When Rhysand is warned that these swords could make him High King, he refuses, despite Amren’s chilling reminder that the Cauldron’s favor never lasts forever.

At the Spring Court, Nesta finds her voice. She challenges Eris, confronts Tamlin for what he did to Feyre, and realizes—finally—what home feels like. But the cracks widen back in Velaris. The Valkyries are reborn through training, shared history, and joy. Nesta pushes for their techniques to be honored alongside Illyrian ones, and for the first time, music and laughter return to the ring.

Until the truth comes out.

When Nesta learns that Rhysand and Amren kept the swords from her, the betrayal shatters her. A confrontation with Amren explodes. Feyre intervenes—and Nesta tells her the truth about the pregnancy. The fallout is immediate and brutal. Cassian takes Nesta away before Rhysand can do something unforgivable.

In the mountains, Nesta collapses under the weight of her grief, her father, her failures, her self-loathing. At a sacred lake, she finally lets it all out. Cassian stays. He listens. He reminds her that she is counted. That she is worth fighting for. And when he tells her to rise—she does.

On moonlit shores, Nesta Archeron draws the eight-pointed star perfectly.

Not as a weapon.

But as a beginning.

Let’s get into it, Bunchies!

#039: This week on A Novel Bunch, we’re diving into Chapters 30–40 of A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas, where secrets rot in silence, ancient horrors wake in the dark, and Nesta Archeron steps fully into something terrifying and powerful.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

In the aftermath of silver fire, Nesta wakes grounded by Cassian, and guided back by Rhysand’s unexpected kindness. But peace doesn’t last long. Feyre’s pregnancy takes a deadly turn when it’s revealed her baby has wings, a truth so dangerous the Inner Circle decides to keep it from her entirely. Nesta agrees to try scrying again—knowing the cost may be steep.

That cost becomes horrifyingly clear at the Bog of Oorid. When Azriel disappears and Nesta is dragged beneath the water by a Kelpie, instinct and power collide. She claims the Mask, raises the dead, and emerges not just alive, but bowed to. Cassian and Azriel recognize death when they see it… and they kneel.

Back in Velaris, the truth of the Mask comes out: only someone Made from the same dark source can control it. Nesta can—and that realization scares her more than anything. As training continues, the Valkyries grow stronger through mind-stilling, swords, and sheer will. Nesta conquers the stairs, the rain, and the forge itself—sparking strange, freezing embers that even Lucien can’t ignore.

Because Nesta Archeron isn’t just training anymore.

She’s becoming something forged...and the world is starting to feel it.

Let’s get into it, Bunchies!

#038: This week on A Novel Bunch, we’re diving into a LIVE reading of the bonus chapter you’ve all been waiting for—Cassian & Nesta in Wings & Embers.

Happy Holidays, Bunchies! Buckle up… because feelings will be felt.

#037: This week on A Novel Bunch, we’re diving into Chapters 19–29 of A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas—where sexual tension detonates, ancient magic comes roaring back, and Nesta accidentally starts a quiet revolution in the House of Wind.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

These chapters open with Nesta and Cassian doing what they do best: colliding. Their chemistry boils over in a sharp, unbalanced encounter that leaves Cassian reeling and Nesta retreating—but it’s clear the power dynamic between them is shifting, even when neither wants to admit it.

At the River House, the larger threat comes into focus. The human queen Briallyn is hunting the Cauldron, aided by the death-god Koschei, and together they’re after the Dread Trove—three terrifying Made objects: the Mask, the Harp, and the Crown. Nesta finally speaks about the Cauldron, admitting she doesn’t know what she took… only that she meant to. Cassian’s quiet pride in her says everything.

Elaine steps forward as a key player, Feyre reveals she’s pregnant—with a boy—and Nesta’s self-loathing crashes hard against the people still trying to love her. Meanwhile, Cassian and Azriel circle questions of legacy and children.

But the real heartbeat of these chapters lives in the library. Nesta trains, manipulates the system (brilliantly), and creates something radical: a safe, joyful entry point into strength. Gwyn signs her name. Then Emerie shows up. And suddenly, this isn’t just training—it’s the beginning of the Valkyries.

As the trio grows, so does Nesta’s resolve. She challenges Merrill, draws priestesses out of hiding, and finally decides she can’t ask others to be brave if she won’t face her own terror. When she turns to bones and stones once more, the past overwhelms her—and her power erupts.

The night ends in silver fire. Nesta screaming. Cassian anchoring her. Rhysand shaken to his core after feeling the Cauldron through her mind.

Because Nesta Archeron didn’t just survive the Cauldron.

She took death—and it’s awake.

Let’s get into it, Bunchies!

#036: This week on A Novel Bunch, we’re diving into chapters 10–18 of A Court of Silver Flames— a stretch of chapters where Nesta finally eats, finally trains (kind of), makes a friend or two, pisses off everyone else, uncovers brutal new truths, and accidentally becomes besties with a sentient house.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

We open with Nesta’s slow, reluctant climb out of rock bottom: talking to the House (which is absolutely alive and absolutely over her nonsense), nightmare spirals, failed attempts at the 10,000 stairs, and the kind of sexual tension with Cassian that could power Velaris for a century. But when Cassian hits her with a quiet, devastating please, Nesta freezes — and the distance between them deepens.

Meals with Cassian and Azriel are a disaster, but something shifts after Cassian’s talk with Feyre. He tries again, offering Nesta training on her terms — no Windhaven spectators, just an hour on the rooftop and a bargain sealed between them. One lesson becomes two, breath work loosens her tongue, and she lets slip the first raw truths about her mother, her noise-filled mind, and the shame that stalks her.

Meanwhile, the library gives Nesta something she didn’t know she needed: Gwyn. A friend who doesn’t flinch, doesn’t judge, and carries trauma of her own from Sangravah. Between stolen books, whispered nightmares, Valkyrie lore, and protective stones, their bond becomes the first real light Nesta’s let in. And the House? It keeps rewarding her for it — romance novels, warm food, baths, and enough chocolate cake to fix anyone’s inner child.

Outside Velaris, the threat rises: Eris pushes for alliances, the human queens are scheming with something ancient and wrong, and Tamlin is brooding in beast form. Cassian and Rhys can feel the danger sharpening — and Nesta? She’s more tangled in it than she realizes.

But the moment that truly cracks these chapters open? Cassian telling Nesta he doesn’t judge her — and her admitting she’s never hated him. That, and that rooftop confession: “Your power is a song, and one I’ve waited a very, very long time to hear.” A line that shifts everything, even if neither of them dares say what it means yet.

Let’s get into it, Bunchies!

#035: This week on A Novel Bunch, we’re cracking open A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas with Chapters 1–9, a raw, brutal, addictive plunge into Nesta Archeron’s spiral, her silver-flame power, and the very first sparks (and snarls) of her new… let’s call it arrangement with Cassian.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

We open with a nightmare — Nesta’s memory of being forced into the Cauldron, the death-promise she made to the King of Hybern, and the moment she bit into that ancient magic and took what it didn’t want to give. From there, Part One: Novice thrusts us into the mess she’s made in Velaris: cheap wine, mediocre sex, and a whole lot of self-loathing wrapped in a male’s shirt. Feyre and Rhys finally say what everyone’s been thinking: she’s done tearing herself apart on their dime. Move into the House of Wind. Train with Cassian. Work in the library. Or go back to the human lands. Nesta, unsurprisingly, chooses violence.

Cassian steps in as trainer, babysitter, and long-suffering daddy warrior who absolutely does not have the patience for Nesta’s bullshit — but still can’t help wanting her. Their first days are pure chaos: Nesta publicly humiliating him at Windhaven, Cassian snapping back that she’s not the only one who’s suffered, Mor cutting her to pieces with one brutal line, and the House itself refusing to serve her wine like it’s staging an intervention. But cracks start to show — memories of holding Cassian as he lay dying, her first kind interactions with Emerie and Gwyn, and a bowl of soup the House basically force-feeds her like a protective auntie.

Meanwhile, a storm is brewing outside Nesta’s personal apocalypse: human queens scheming, Eris sniffing around for alliances, soldiers disappearing without a trace, Koschei the deathless stirring in his cursed lake, and Beron aligning himself with the wrong side of history. Cassian knows the danger is growing — and that Nesta, whether she likes it or not, is right in the center of it.

But the biggest spark of these early chapters? The moment Cassian quietly leans down, offers Nesta his hand, and reminds her: keep reaching out yours. A single line that shifts everything — not enough to save her, but enough to make her wonder if she wants to be saved at all.

Let's get into it, Bunchies!

Grab this month’s book: amzn.to/3Er9cuF

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