#i am sure there are better quotes for Arjun that show his love-

[livingtheparadoxlife]

Day 3: Arjuna and Draupadi

'Shakra's son presented all the beautiful and expensive gifts that Shakra had given. The ornaments, which he lovingly gave to his beloved, Sutasoma's mother, glittered like the son's rays.'

- Yaksha Yuddha Parva

"He is gentle, generous, forebearing and famous. He is brave among men. He is in control of his senses and serves his elders. Desrire, fear or avarice will never cause him to abandon Dharma. He never performs a cruel act. His energy is equal unto the fire god. His name is Dhananjaya and he is my husband."

- Draupadi Harana Parva

@theramblergal @pandavapanchaliweek

[kugisakiis]

My personal problems with The Sophomore...so far

Like I said last night, I am not entirely upset with James’s new look because A) I get why PB had to do it and why they will probably have to change a lot of faces soon as well; B) I decided to make James my LI because I liked his story and the whole colleagues as lovers trope is hard to resist. 

So his looks to MBJ had something to do with it, but as a whole i liked his story so I was like why not?? Even after the Hollywood thing when I was ready to kick his ass to the curb I was like well I wanna see how this relationship fixes itself and they grow from it. And in my mind they did manage to grow from it with time and their love is stronger because of it.

Now my main gripe has to do with yeah, his face is changed but I notice it so much now because of how so boring his story is. Not just him but all of the LI’s, you can get over the looks because MC’s smile creeps me TF out sometimes but that’s not why I love her. If the arcs were better I feel like people would be upset, but they would be like well his story is still interesting let’s see where it goes? I’m romancing James and I’m so bored with him…and even somewhat with Zig. Now Zig makes my heart flutter, but his story is basically wrapped around his issues with Manny and somewhat on fitting in. I had no idea he was working as a barista again until this last chapter, which is odd if you are dating him?? I mean I remember him alluding to the fact he quit to focus on school and football, now it’s like oh hey you’re working here again. Not to mention how he doesn’t smoke now?? But did in that one scene??? But anyway I’m digressing.

My main issue has to really do with the arcs…ALL OF THEM! Becca, MC, Zig, James, Kaitlyn, Chris, Abbie, Tyler, Zack…the entire crew. AND THE STORY!

I would love to see Becca actually getting a job and trying to calm down her personality from the get-go and patch things up with Maddison. Which I think they will aim to do before the book is over….maybe?? She could have hashed out this Madison stuff earlier and try to deal with her parent’s divorce and the fact she is no longer IT GIRL. I mean she could have pulled a Rachel Green.

Chris needs to learn time management. Period. Point. Blank. He is captain, but his whole student president thing is dropped like he can’t do both?? I mean they had that one scene with him and Arjun arguing and now it’s like it doesn’t exist. He spends 90% of his time being stressed over football and getting Manny and Zig to be besties. It’s not going to happen my friend, play to their strengths as teammates and keep it moving. You are on a college campus, they don’t have to run in the same social circles. And now he is going to be gone the rest of the book?? And let me say this NONE of my MC’s would ever have motivational quotes on the ready. I mean it was meant as a joke but it just seems so cringey because well can’t Chris motivate himself?? He is the captain and the goal of the captain

Kaitlyn…I forget about her the bulk of the time. She is doing things with her band and the MC randomly runs into her like they are in the same apartment building and not HOUSE. She has her band to prove she is better than Natasha and that kinda falls, I mean the newspaper drama was a build up and it fell flat. I’m happy for her development but we don’t see her outside of that. She just had a concert at their house and we don’t see her unless it’s band stuff. When Reyna was sneaking around, you can’t make me believe no one else was awake or didn’t hear it and decide to check it out with MC?

Zack?? What does he do again besides watch HGTV. I mean he pops up a few chapters back for a few lines on going to fix up something and then dips out again.

Abbie and Tyler’s entire appearance hinges on their crazy relationship with Sebastian (who can we stop hating now) and their relationship issues. They are all friends and go to school together but you wouldn’t actually know that outside of random times they pop up and Abbie needs a break from Tyler.

James oh James the entire reason for this post…his story is so blah. I mean I’m not sure if they are writing him out of the story or going to continue with his relationship with MC. Because he pops up with newspaper stuff or the MC helps him with his future. Not saying I want the drama of, oh no I’m failing and can’t graduate?? But more into his school life would be idea or even how he is Vasquez’s legacy holder and not the MC. I would love to see how their relationship progresses since James is a graduate (unless he comes for his Masters??) and they try to balance life as a much more distant couple. Though he could come back to college, you never really know.

And Zig I find him in an awkward position, we see how he doesn’t really fit in and has problems opening up and now with the MC he is able to let his walls down. And I get he wants to help Manny get over his toxic bullshit, but man recognize a lost cause and let it go. Manny is a jerk and takes every moment to be one even if you’re nice to him. I would love to see more of how he balances a job (he has apparently again), football and school more. The newspaper bit got me interested. And as a LI I want more scenes of them just being wholesome, I love the romance scenes but the one where they just cuddled in the last book or he called her was much more satisfying. But again he is going to be gone for the rest of the book more than likely. I enjoy his arc the most and the fact he has been in the later chapters more.

The MC in this book seems to be taking the title of Mom Friend™ to heart in literally everything she does. In the first series, she had a purpose and hobby OUTSIDE of being a nursemaid to her friends 24/7. In the previous books we had “Will the MC be able to stay on campus and not have Vasquez fire her while trying to adjust to college life??” or “How can the MC juggle finishing her novel and new changes surrounding her life??” Now it’s like “Can MC swoop in to solve her friends’ many problems while throwing the perfect party???” The MC legit has NO hobbies outside of assisting her friends and being the Mom Friend™ which is so irritating. I know she had the lack of hobbies before but at least you could count writing as a hobby. 

What makes theses arcs so glaring is the fact everything feels empty. This book has no real direction or narrative making you want to just say “Wow! I can’t wait until the next book to see what happens!!” Even with the newest update on James’s graduation it was like “oh wow…a newspaper assignment and graduation in one. Can’t wait.” It’s literally just a series of random episodes all bound together by the MC basically sticking her head to see what’s going on.

In Book 1, she was doing assignments for Vasquez and her roommate problems just kinda happened naturally and she became involved. Chris was her roommate and was unsure if he was into her or Becca, Kaitlyn was her best friend, roommate/possible love interest who partied way too hard, James was lying to his parents and roped her into being his fake fiancee and they both worked for Vasquez.

In Book 2, it was more or less the same but amplified with her being a good friend and helping Chris with his campaign, trying to keep Vasquez’s secret and hurting James, and trying (and in some cases failing) to be there for Kaitlyn when she came out to her parents.

In Book 3, she was trying to write her book when her friends problems just circled around her—Chris continuing to be student body President and not understanding how to manage his time, James going off to Hollywood and being starstruck and taken advantage of by Yasmin, Kaitlyn working with her band and while trying to branch out over does it. Zig appears and is rough around the edges and has a hard time trusting people, Becca has issues with her family but is slowly trying to be a good person.

Each of those scenarios involved the MC because she was connected to them from the get go. This doesn’t include her ties to helping Zack when he was away from Brandon, helping Tyler and Abbie with their relationship and being supportive. All of the roommates hanging out and spending time together. She was just being a good friend. Even in Book 3 with Becca softening up and Zig showing up, she kinda got roped into that as well. It happened naturally.

Now In the Sophomore…MC literally goes around solving problems with everyone’s arcs and they just feel disjointed. You halfway forget that everyone sans Abbie and Tyler actually live together. 90% of the time you get MC in the house with maybe Chris or Kaitlyn doing their thing or if everyone is together it’s for a party. I don’t know anything about Zack this book outside of him taking up a new hobby in building…Abbie and Tyler are no where to be seen except when they are having relationship issues…Kaitlyn is MIA except for the band and I could go on and on.

The point is that none of it strings together outside of the MC taking it upon herself to be their helper. Maybe in the first series their arcs were this simple, but the love interests arcs seem so weak by comparison due to how lackluster the MC’s life really is. We know nothing of her school life, just parties, the newspaper and the football team. Even her involvement with the newspaper seems to be weak, she sees Reyna every so often and gets assignments from James. We don’t know who else is working on it and if it weren’t for Reyna being listed as a potential love interest, I’m not sure we would know her either. I hope in Book 2 (if there is one) that we get more of a story and something to do and spend diamonds on outside of outfits for parties and romance scenes. I’m 50% sure I’m going to keep playing for the diamonds, but I would at least like to enjoy the story I’m playing yanno.