#I’m not anti booktok because I saw the non crazy side first

[valewritessss]

Something I find so interesting is that no adult/YA book I’ve read really left me attached to the characters, world, relationships than middle grade or kids books. Like, I was obsessed with the pjo world for MONTHS, and I still am. The Kotlc characters always have and always will be my comfort characters, and all of those books I read as a kid affected me with who I am today. Like, I’ll be going about my day and randomly think of Charlottes Web, Because of Winn Dixie, Holes, The One and Only Ivan, and just be like, damn, those were such good times. I’ll literally think of moments in those books where I felt something, and I think that’s so cool. No book made for my age now feels the same or has made me feel this certain way. I just read them and move on. There’s no book hangovers, no rereads, it just feels like a habit and not a hobby. Don’t get me wrong I love reading and some books are really good but none have left that feeling of loss when it’s over, wishing I had more of the characters to explore.

you know what i think kids/teen books do 'fantasy romance/fantasy books' way better than any of the adult fantasy books booktok raves about. i try and read some of them and 90 percent of the time its just smut and abusive relationships disguised as 'dark romance'. then i read books like Keeper Of The Lost Cities, The School for Good and Evil, Percy Jackson, Land of Stories, the Nevermoor series, that kind of thing, and they are all actually so amazing because they have fleshed out characters with flaws and an engaging plotline instead of just badly written romance. and when they do have romance it's well written and about the people rather than the tropes.