Books - Blog Posts

I read “Before I Fall” because for a high school class, and let me tell you- I have NEVER in all my life hated a narrator more. The book itself was fine, but the main character did not under any and all circumstances deserve any grace nor any moment with Kent (the potential guy in the story). She bothered me soooooooo much. Like there’s no way a girl who actively hates everything about her boyfriend would be willing to lose her virginity to him, especially if it’s something she’s guarded like Fort Knox. And when I say she hated everything about the boyfriend, there where pages (PLURAL) about how much she hated his clothing and his hair and the way he kissed her and how his lips were gross and yadayadayada. It was the literal worst!! Also, she’s like if a Walmart version of Regina (Means Girls reference for you youngins) had one single brain cell of a conscience. Oooooooh I was bothered. Kent was great. An absolute adorable specimen of human. Top tier book boyfriend material. But the main girl… we would’ve thrown hands in my high school.

Everything I have heard about this book has been negative. Like, how is dying in front of all your friends supposed to end bullying?? When I say I don't get it, I really mean that I do not fucking get it

Girl is signing up everyone in her life for a lifetime of intensive therapy and acting like that makes her a saint

There's this book I read as a kid. I don't remember what it was called and I don't remember the author.

It was about this princess who had long, curly red hair. I don't remember her name. She had three older sisters, two of which were twins. She was being tutored by the eldest's love interest. I don't remember why, but her family got put under a curse, and her eldest sister turned into a weeping willow tree and the twins into swans. So she had to run away, and she cut her hair to pretend to be a boy. And there was a girl named Megan or Meghan with her (the only character whose name I remember), and Meg(h)an had blonde hair that was slowly turning black because she was infected with evil raven magic. I don't remember how it ends.

Anyway, it's not so much that I want to read it again but more that it bothers me immensely that I can't remember what book it was.

I tried to look up what book this could be. There are endless books about older brothers being turned into swans, but I couldn't find anything where it happens to older sisters. The tree one got me a lot of recommendations for parks and botanical gardens. And the hair search returned a bunch of articles about Megan Thee Stallion.

So I have no idea what book this could be.

But I did find a website that might be able to help you out

Here’s my book rant for you. Boneyard by Seanan McGuire.

It’s set in the Deadlands setting, so basically Wild West but with monsters and some magic.

The book is about a traveling circus and the woman who has to tend to the monster exhibits while raising her mute daughter and running from her crazy narcissistic and abusive husband.

Overall, I’d say the book is really good, but there one thing that really sticks a thorn in my side.

So the circus has a collection of various monsters. There’s these red pirhanna things with teeth so sharp they bite themselves constantly, sending them into a feeding frenzy. They’ve got crazy poisonous spiders with skull patterns on their backs, they’ve got wasps the size of your forearm, an ENORMOUS catfish, a corn stalker which is this this pumpkin headed plant person.

Then, there’s the bloodwire.

What is a bloodwire you might ask?

I can’t tell you because apparently the author can’t either.

Throughout the ENTIRE BOOK they are constantly alluding to the bloodwire as a creature they have, but never once is it described or shown in action.

At one point the book even goes “and she told the little girl about the bloodwire” but NEVER ONCE DO WE AS THE READERS GET TO KNOW WHAT IT IS.

It seemed like for the entire book, the author was building up mystery around the bloodwire, deliberately concealing it so she could reveal it at the end as the circus’ most dangerous monster, maybe it would come in handy in the book’s final confrontation.

Literally all of the other circus monsters are used, except the bloodwire. I’m half convinced the author forgot about it halfway through.

That’s my book rant

I feel like a curse has been passed onto me because now I desperately want to know wtf a bloodwire is but I know that there is no answer. It is a curiosity that cannot be satisfied

Once there Were Wolves is NOT! ABOUT! WOLVES! OR THE ENVIRONMENT!

It’s extremely graphic and very sad! My fault for not reading the trigger warnings but still! The YouTubers and influencers lied to me and said it was a wholesome love story about rewilding scottland with wolves

‘TIS NOT! ‘TWAS BAD FOR MY MENTAL HEALTH I HAD TO STOP READING!

ALSO THE “LOVE STORY” is like oops i got her pregnant after a one night stand I guess I love you now?! So quick and not deep at all?

What??!! I've seen some people say that the title/synopsis was misleading, but they would never give specifics. I had no idea it was this bad.

I fucking hate when publishers try to trick people into reading a book! I don't get it. Like yeah, you'll get some sales you might not have otherwise. But those sales are probably from the wrong people. If they wouldn't buy the book if the synopsis/marketing were honest, what would make you think that they would actually enjoy the book once they figured out the truth??

I'm sorry this book affected your health, and I'm glad you were able to recognize it and stop reading before it got worse.

Thank you for letting me know. I was considering getting this, but now I won't.

i think it's called the unwinding? it's a dystopia where the premise is that there was a civil war between pro-choice and pro-life groups in america(?) and they made the compromise that all pregnancies must be carried to term and kids must be raised for a certain amt of years, but then at a certain age, 13 i think it was, if the parents dont like the kid they can have them "unwound," which is that they will be meticulously surgically taken apart but all of their organs and skin and everything will still be alive? somehow? and ig they'll still have some level of consciousness? and like, anyone who needs an organ transplant or skin grafts or like, amputees who want a new arm or whatever get that body part from an unwound kid. and the book follows a runaway who was gonna be unwound and then also a kid who was tithed, so like his parents had him w the express purpose of donating him to the church for unwinding?? the premise is absolutely bonkers and the narrative of the book shifts constantly, it touches on a whole bunch of real-world politics without ever actually committing to any stance, and the whole thing reads like a wattpad original work in a really bad way. but somehow there's like a whole series and it's legit popular!! i dont get it at all

This sounds like some fundie subterfuge nonsense.

They love to do this. The YA dystopia boom brought us so many books like this. Gentle Tyranny is another one, it's all about how feminism is evil.

They think that they can put a secular mask on and convert people without them realizing it. But they're really really bad at it. Like, who else other than fundies would even come up with this idea??

Was the writer a blonde white woman? I don't want this book in my search history, but I'm willing to bet I'm right

I hated Percy Jackson so so much. It was boring, the story telling was mid at best, all the characters had no personality or were really annoying and the author has literally never made a good book. All of my friends say that it was so much better than Harry Potter and this and that, maybe I’m biased cause I used to like Harry Potter but I can not stand Percy Jackson. IMO. lol

This one is testing me, not gonna lie, but I hold true to my word and accept your offering

I am going through all of the wonderful book rants that I received. I love all of them and everyone who sent them.

Even the person who trashed one of my favorite books - but don't worry, as I promised, I am not judging or arguing. I accept your rage as my own all the same.

I haven't been able to answer all of them yet, but I will.

And feel free to send in more if you want to. I am always open to them

If I ever have to read The Catcher In The Rye again I will set it and myself on fire, it is the second worst thing I've ever read, right next to the first ten pages of Fahrenheit 451. There was absolutely nothing to that book, so substance, no stakes, not even an interesting slice-of-life story, just a meandering nothing that had no incentive to finish it besides "we're reading it out loud in class and your grade counts on suffering through it."

Holden Caulfield is the worst protagonist I've ever had to sit through, he's not even tolerable levels of teen brooding or the type that just needs some guidance and he'll be okay, he's just a judgemental pathetic asshole determined to keep his pity party going way past its due date because the world is so DARK and CRUEL and kids are so INNOCENT MOM you just don't understand how INNOCENT they are GOD (I will fight anyone who says "oh but depression" because he is NOT an accurate representation of depression- he may show signed of being depressed but he's an asshole and they are not synonymous)

I just couldn't root for this guy! I genuinely did not care what happened to him! I've had to read a nice few books I didn't particularly enjoy, but I could always find *someone* to root for, *something* to keep me going, but Catcher In The Rye? Nothing. The book could have ended with Holden choosing to live under the bridge like a troll and I wouldn't have cared.

And no I don't care if "the point is that it has no point" it's dumb and I hate it.

Anyway thanks for coming to my ted talk

I got Catcher in the Rye the last time too. You went much more into detail, though, which I always love to see. Your anger is mine now

The second I saw your post requesting people to rant about shitty books one came to my mind first. The last dragon slayer. Now, when I had to read this in high school I was actually excited because for once I got to read a book with an interesting premise. Oh how wrong I was. The pacing in this book was so god awful that it was genuinely hard to keep track of what was going on. As cool was the world was, any information about it or magic was delivered in a way that’s reminiscent of dry textbooks. Never has a book disappointed me quite like that one did (and there’s even 3 more after it). Thank you for allowing me to rant about that hot garbage, I hope you have a great day :)

Your description of this book is similar to how I'm currently feeling as I slog my way through Fourth Wing. Especially with how the worldbuilding is delivered. Just dumps it onto you with large blocks of text unrelated to the current scene.

Dragons are too cool to have such bad books written about them.

This isn't so much beef but when I was back in school we read the book Unwind and we got to the part in the book where one of the characters was being unwound and how it happened and it scarred me a little bit. I also remember hating most of the characters. I haven't read this book since then, though.

I don't know anything about this book, but thank you for sharing with me

Ohhhhhhhhh i have some RAGE against Normal People by Sally Rooney. Can I understand, intellectually, that there are legitimate reasons to like this book? Yes. Do I emotionally agree with any of them? ABSOLUTELY NOT. First off this book was impossible to read easily because of the lack of punctuation, what was up with that!! Beyond that the relationship between the two main characters was just bad and really imbalanced, and also I was not interested at all. Also the weak ass Marxist commentary??? Girl didn't even commit 🤣 And to top it all off, I read this for a bookclub for a college that I did all the precollege stuff for, and they DIDN'T EVEN LET ME IN!!!!!! Anyways fuck this book so much, enjoy my rant :)

I accept and appreciate your offering.

It's bullshit that they didn't let you in. Book clubs are supposed to bring people together, but some of them get so snobby.

I am once again calling for book rants. It was so much fun the last time, and I crave more.

Do you have a long standing grudge against a book you read in middle school? Have you gotten swept up by hype only to find that everyone lied to you and the book is trash? Do you burn with rage over the way an author portrayed your favorite mythology or folklore? Is there a book or series that you once loved, but now makes you cringe every time you think about it?

Do you want to vent all of it out to someone who won't judge you, or argue with you, but will simply accept all your feelings as their own?

Hi, that person is me. Send me an ask, anonymous or not, and tell me everything you've wanted to say. Offer me your anger, your frustration, your hatred. I will hold it for you. I will take it into my heart and make it my own.

It can be any genre you want, any demographic. I will accept it all. Even if James Patterson gets involved again. (I'm not scared of you, James!!)

Here’s the link to my acatar essay

https://www.tumblr.com/emdop/637161988981768192/an-essay-on-why-i-hate-this-book-but-will-still

Also, if you search “ya essay” on my blog, I believe the other essays will show up.

Hope you like my rants. I have plenty other random specific opinions on books too lol

Ohoho, I'm gonna have fun with this. Thank you kindly

Oh, for my mobile babes here's the link

Hate the Maximum Ride series I hate it. It had so much potential but James Patterson wouldn’t know consistency if it hit him in the face. Like the part where the gang went to Antartica? It felt like I had missed a book with how much had happened. And Izzy’s mom going from dead to actually being married and thinking he was dead? Whack. Within a couple of chapters too like. I could be remembering wrong but what kind of inconsistency was that?

I've never read this series, but because my brain is utterly broken, I have watched multiple hours long videos about it. And even then, with all that knowledge, having it all condensed down to it's most straightforward and coherent, I could in no way give you a cohesive plot summary. Like, I think they stop the apocalypse, stop the climate crisis, and then it doesn't matter because the apocalypse happens anyway? Maybe? I don't know.

I don't think even James Patterson knows.

I'm starting to think he's not even a real person. Just every now and then, a book appears in the world with that name on it. It never goes to an editor, no publishing house actually handles it, it's never even been to a printer. It just appears in bookstores and we as a society just don't question it

sarah j mass antis you say? look. i checked out the first throne of glass book from the library when i was ten years old. and my friend, i was obsessed. finally i’d found what i would later realize was my favorite trope in fiction: female heroines rejecting the call. women saying "i’ve suffered enough." the first book is off to a great start, fifth grade me will not put it down. this girl is badass, she’s ruthless, she’s selfish, and she feels no obligation to save the world. "but it’s your destiny!" calls the journey, "but you’re the only one who can save us!" and the heroine says absolutely not. i will not die for you after everything i’ve already lost. and then — and then !! we make it another book or two and we discover: our heroine, who has staunchly declared that saving the world is neither her obligation nor responsibility, is in fact a long lost princess! and a magical one too! now, i don’t know about you, but i think the ruler of my country has an obligation and a responsibility to save said country. unless she wants to give up her crown and let the country democratize, her absolute power had better be used for good. i was devastated. i finished the series out of spite and never reread.

My main issue with Maas, aside from the racism and colonialism in her real life (and books), is that the fae have been my Special Interest since I was born. And what she did to them is unforgivable. Especially since she's sparked a trend and now every single fairy book (unless it's by Catherynne Valente) is the exact same garbage over and over again. I finally understand why all the vampire girlies got so mad about Twilight. But, hey, at least Meyer still had her vamps drinking blood. So they at least retained the main defining feature of their kind. Can't say that about Maas-Fae.

And I agree with you about heroines. I love a murderous, independent woman who does not care if she's the chosen one. We absolutely need more of that. But! If girl wants to be an actual literal monarch, she's gotta answer that call. If she wants to say "shove this crown so far up your ass it comes out your mouth" that's cool, no qualms there. But otherwise, no. No no no no. If she wants that position, that power, she's gotta take the responsibilities that come with it

Saw your post and who am I to deny an opportunity to rant about terrible terrible twilight knock offs?

Okay so ever since twilight came out in 2005, there's been a load of knock offs inspired by the "vampire=hot and sexy/mysterious" and while some of them are, this author P.C cast and Kristen Cast saw the idea and cranked it up more than was necessary because what the hell.

The book is called House of Night and there are lots of books. And the idea of being a vampire was that you had to be marked/chosen in order to undergo it's transformation which. If you were chosen, you had to be with a fully fledged vampire until you were fully fledged yourself which is a long process (around four years) and what is a better place than being with a bunch of fully grown vampires than a academy with other chosen with the fledglings as the teachers?

I'm not gonna lie, it's a great concept but it's terrible what the authors done with it. Transformations don't always work and the chosen sometimes die, but in order to prevent this- you had to be pretty and not fat. Shockingly this isn't the worst thing on the list of how many messed up things this book had done

Then the authors worsen the book more by having the characters be problematic. (They sl#t shame a lot and this doesn't make sense since it's common knowledge that drinking human blood /blood in general is sexual in the story)

Examples include saying the r word, fetishizing queer characters, making a white character "twins" with a black character because they're just so alike like using aave as an example (and the black character she's twinning with is terribly written as well so it just ends up more terrible)

And absolutely terribly horrendous relationships!!

The main character is the "not like other girls tm" and so she gets the bad boy, some sort of thousand year old grandpa boyfriend, a TEACHER boyfriend, and a human boyfriend 😭 (for the amount of shaming this book has, the main character is getting busy with every boy she meets)

AND WHAT MAKES THIS BOOK MORE WORSE is that they thought it was cool to use Indigenous culture but strip everything about said culture so they can fit use what they thought was cool to use in the story. Im happy for any type of indigenous reputation as an indigenous person myself but WHY

They just made the main character (who was named Zoey redbird btw, cool last name tbh but absolutely shitty character) have op powers and call her a "Cherokee princess" with no respectful mention of Cherokee culture at all. They just made their own thing and slapped the word Cherokee on it and shipped it as representation.

For a character that's supposed to be non-white, she was acting the opposite despite being close with her grandma who was Indigenous (+ being stereotypical) and inheriting op powers that were meant to be from her "culture"

PISSES ME OFF SO MUCH

I don't even know how I saw past the red flags as a kid reading this book but now that I have, I'm just so angry just thinking about it 😭

I hope this rant of mine was entertaining

I was just on the right side of too old to hear about this series back when it came out. So let me tell you, it was an absolute trip to see what was in these books when my friends started raving about them a few years later.

Like, this? This is what they were so hyped about? I'd rather them tell me how much they love 50 Shades - well, okay, that's a little too far, but still.

I truly don't understand how any woman survived the absolute peak of fatphobia that we hit in the 2000s. And I'm including myself in that. No idea how I lived through it. These were the days when people were calling Britney Spears fat for being a size 4 instead of a 0. How did women not just collectively die off? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that we made it through, but holy hell it was by the skin of our teeth.

So someone really needs to tell me what the actual hell was going on in the 2000s that made every piece of teen media present teacher/student relationships like a totally cool and not abusive and traumatizing thing. Remember how grossed out everyone was by the Archie/Grundy relationship in Riverdale? In the 2000s, no one would have batted an eye at that. It would have fit right in with every other teen show at the time. I can't watch hardly any of my favorite high school shows anymore because of that. Ugh, so gross.

And holy shit I forgot she was indigenous! Well, in heavy quotes at least. That Cherokee Princess nonsense is such a White People move and I just can't. I don't know what's worse regarding indigenous rep, House of Night or Twilight. My man Charles de Lint isn't perfect and he's fucked it up a few times, but at least he actually tries and shows respect (um, hey, if he's actually far worse than I think, please let me know).

But, hey, in maybe possibly good news, apparently the writers are trying to convince the publishers to let them rewrite the series so they can do something about all the problematic stuff. That at least has the potential of growth for them

Hi I saw you asked for rants on ya books! I couldn't think of any I really hated but I wanted to talk anyway since you offered me a free chance to ramble! Okay so I read this book a while ago so I don't remember the details well but I remember that I complained about it after reading it. I did actually like the book but it's the first one I thought of to talk about so!

The pacing in the book is wild. I was interested in the book throughout but from what I remember most of it was low key and not a lot of action, then things pick way up right at the end. The book felt like it ended in the middle of the climax! Very few plot threads were resolved and the cliffhanger felt like it came out of nowhere.

I don't remember most of the book very well but I think the cliffhanger was the protagonist got kidnapped by a major figure who I think was introduced way late but I could be wrong about that? But he was planning to work with her to achieve both their goals, and he flew away with her on a dragon. And then she fell off. I can't remember if she did that deliberately or accidently. I think deliberately would have been out of character?

I really think it could have ended with them both on the dragon. That would have left the reader considering the character's situation and future and how they'll deal with this. I don't really remember the guys offer since it got overshadowed immediately after even though it should have been a big deal.

Her falling off the dragon did not leave me thinking about how that would be resolved, it left me thinking "what the fuck." I actually think it would have been a good way to start the sequel (which I know nothing about, I haven't read it, I don't even know if it's been published or not) since it would kick the story into action immediately. Placed at the end of the book, and just happening randomly, it's just bewildering instead of exciting.

Like I've said probably several times I don't remember the story well because it's been a really long time since I read it, but I remember complaining most of the plot threads aren't resolved. I don't think they felt set up to be resolved in a sequel, either. I think that and the pacing are what made it feel like the book ended during the climax of the story, plus the twist kidnapping? (Maybe she agreed to go, actually, I don't know.) and fall feeling like it came out of nowhere. I don't think the level of tension and the stakes were balanced throughout the story.

Maybe I'm being harsh on the book because most of what I remember about it was my complaints about it, because I did enjoy reading it (I only started having problems with it after I finished it, probably because the ending was wild but in a weird way instead of in a fun way)

I keep almost knowing what book this is, but then the title just flies away. Like the dragon at the end of this book, I guess.

If anyone recognizes this and knows the title, then for the love of God please let me know! This is going to drive me bonkers

Cassandra Clare drives me insane. Like. Her books had me insane for years. Then I read Queen of Air and Darkness and. Honest to god that ending.

So. I don't remember most of the books story (let alone how it made up 3 books over 400 pages at the minimum) except that if you were legally recognised as best friends you couldn't fall in love. No one knows the cost of this. The cost turns out to be turning into giant flaming naked people.iirc. That's the ending. No destruction, no one is saved. It's just a thing. That happened.

AND LIKE. WHAT THE FUCK. It's so anticlimactic. I don't get it. I don't get where it came from. I don't get why this was so foreboding. BESIDES THD YKNOW.

Also. What's the trigger for this to happen. Because Alec loved Jace (his legally recognised best friend) but that ended fine. Was it because it wasn't required? Because Alec fell in love with Magnus at the end? IDK. but also in the upside down world, they acknowledge their in love and have sex. Which a) really bad priorities. They're in a world where the villain of the Mortal Instruments committed mass genocide and they're having sex. b) WAS IT JUST SEX STOPPING TBEM?

I'm certain there must be an explanation in the books. But I was so confused even when I was reading it. So either this was made up on the spot or I'm going insane.

Oh my God, I just found out, like today, that the entire Mortal Instruments series takes place over five months!! Five!! Months!! That's it. That is so much in such a short time.

At some point, I am going to have to sit down with those books and comb through them to lay out the time line.

Cause I feel like this is going to be a Pretty Little Liars situation where they acted like Caleb was in Ravenwood for at least a year, but because of the PLL time line, he only visited for like a weekend.

Oh, Jace and Clary are so in love....girl, you have known each other for like a day, sit down.

Also, Clary is a stupid name that I will never take seriously. My brain always autocorrects it to Celery.

to be perfectly honest, long before everyone realized jk rowling was a piece of shit, i thought her writing was terribad. fit for second graders at best, even with her aspirations to tell a "darker" story. i literally picked up a book, saw a character named remus lupin, said to myself and he's a werewolf hurr hurr. 400 pages later, big SURPRISE REVEAL HE'S A WEREWOLF. who was already named remus lupin before he even got turned. frankly get the fuck out of my face with that shit.

Dude I get it. I guessed the big twist of every single one of those books, and I was reading them back as they were coming out. Joanne does the most hand-holding foreshadowing I have ever seen.

I think everyone (including Baby Robi, I'm not innocent here) just fell in love with the sandbox she created and didn't want to look at all the cat turds that got mixed in

the catcher in the rye is horrible, the writing feels as a call for attention from a child, but a grown man writes it. It blows my mind that schools push this subpar book and demand kids read it. I have no idea why people consider this a classic

I promised not to judge, so I won't. I can see where you're coming from though

This is a nsft blog but by far the book I hate and love the most is Kneller's happy campers. The themes of hopelessness and depression are prevalent throughout the entire book, and as somebody who struggles with depression and got better, I was waiting for the same thing to happen to my main characters.

This is not the case. It's a beautiful novel that I need to reread through the lens I have now and see if I missed something in my first reading, but as I remember it, it's just edging you and has the message of "everything sucks forever" instead of "find your own happiness one step at a time". I might have been too immature to understand it though.

Please read these book if you aren't sensitive to depression, su*c*de, AH, self harm, or things of that sort, I fucking hate it so much. I also love it. It really captures the monotony and hopelessness with depression and puts a very interesting take on the afterlife.

Please then tell me what you think if you read it.

Oh yikes. Gonna stay far away from this one in that case. I really don't like depression narratives that - intentionally or not - play up the idea that it's just hopeless. I don't want sugarcoated "have you tried not being sad" stuff either. I feel like both can be really damaging. Especially since the people most likely to seek out depression narratives are people who are going through it themselves

I got this book, "The Girl Who Drank The Moon" by Kelly Smith. It made me SO mad. It's super well written, the plot makes sense. It has poetry and the poetry is nice too. You root for the characters. But it randomly switches perspectives between the two storylines endlessly and discombobulates you so bad you lose all momentum. Now all of sudden you can't read. In the end I had to just skim the fight sequences cause my brain stopped brain-ing thanks to the sheer amount of perspective shifts suddenly colliding into one.

10/10 would recommend.

It's always disappointing when there are multiple perspectives, but only one of them is actually interesting. Especially when they're very disconnected from each other

i went to the YA section several years ago since i needed a book to read to pass some time. there was this one called "the border" that had a nice looking cover that i ended up buying (was a good choice for me specifically since it taught me a few things about immigration that i had never exposed myself to, though i don't recommend it otherwise. like, at all.). the only female protagonist offered to show her tits to a kid so he'd buy her something from the corner store, and did the same thing for the main protag in the middle of the desert because she liked him(??? they were both teens, but it was still strange). ended up looking up the author years later, and yes, it is a grown ass man. the A in YA stands for AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH??????

Sometimes I think we need to ban grown men from writing teen girls. I've never seen a demographic so convinced that sexualizing children is super normal and okay

Earthlings by sayaka murata; the fmc was annoying, it was always this weird bragging mixed with "poor lil me" also, it dragged sooooooooooo bad, it felt like half the book was only 15 minutes of plot, and it was the most boring 15 minutes u could imagine, nothing happened and it keep dragging and dragging and i couldn't finish it

I haven't heard of this one, but I accept your offering and will hate this book on your behalf

This is the dawn of my Chloe Gong Era

I really want people to flood my inbox with their rants about authors and books they just can't stand, especially YA because it's so gloriously and passionately unhinged and I love it. But I am aware that I'm a tiny little blog that no one knows or interacts with. And despite being on this site for over a decade, I still don't understand the dark alchemy that drives this place.

But, hey, if you do see this, feed me your hatred. Be as vitriolic as your heart desires. Be unreasonable, be irrational. I won't judge you. I won't argue with you. I will accept your rage as my own.

Hmm...maybe this will help: Sarah J. Maas Antis, come to me and offer me your hatred

You know what, I'm about to go somewhere without internet access for a few days, so I'm going to blaze this and see what happens when I come back. For fun.

Ides of January Reading Update

The Cloisters got DNF'ed. I don't like to do that, but I had to. It was so fucking boring. The stuff about tarot was interesting, but it would only be focused on for like two paragraphs and then utterly forgotten so the protag could whine some more about not being cool enough. It was also all tell, no show. At one point, it's said that the MC has been having trouble distinguishing between fantasy and reality and might be having full-blown hallucinations. And....that's it. We never get to see it at all. If it weren't for that line, there'd be no way to know that was happening. And it's like that with everything. Awful book.

Babel is good, but it's taking me forever to get through it. I like it, it's just slow going.

So This Is Ever After is the only romance I've ever enjoyed reading. It's funny, sweet as hell, and Queer af. I don't even know why I decided to read it because I don't really like the romance genre, but I'm so glad I did.

Maus made me cry and that's all I'm ready to say about that.

Iron Widow is one of the best books I've ever read. Wu Zetian is an absolute gold medal badass and I love everything about her. I don't know if I want to be her friend, her girlfriend, or just be her; I'll even accept being her enemy if I have to. I'm just obsessed and want her in my life somehow. It's fucking brilliant and I cannot wait for Heavenly Tyrant.

The Weight of Blood is very good so far. It's a Carrie retelling set in a 2014 Georgia high school about to host its first integrated prom. I'm only about a third of the way through it right now, but I'm really enjoying it so far.

I'm gonna throw one of my hot takes out here real quick.

Speed reading is just skimming. You're missing out on so much of the book when you do it. It's really not worth it just so you can say that you read 90 books in one month. We need to stop encouraging it. The quality of a read is so much more important than how quickly you finished it. Might be mean, but I won't take your book opinions very seriously if you're just skimming.

Ever since the latest Dune adaptation came out it's been like the thing for booktubers, booktokkers, etc., to talk about how much they hate the book.

Now, Dune is literally my favorite book. I've read it so many times. I am in love with it. Not so in love with the son's additions to series, but that's a whole vitriolic rant that I don't want to get into right now.

Anyway, despite how much I love it, I absolutely do not fault people for not liking it. I can see why people would dislike the characters, would find the plot boring, think the political structure is confusing. I don't agree with those criticisms, but whatever. You don't have to like what I like. It's fine.

What isn't fine is the amount of people talking about how they hate it when they clearly didn't try to engage with it in good faith. I mean, they are really people out there saying that it lacks depth, that there's very little worldbuilding, that the characters are one-dimensional.... Honey, I don't know what you read, but it sure as hell wasn't Dune

Reading The Cloisters and can't help but wonder if Katy Hays has ever actually dealt with the kind of man who constantly invades your personal space and is always touching you in some way.

Leo isn't coming across as hot and flirty. He's activating my fight or flight every time he shows up.

He's the kind of guy I wouldn't want to be alone with