#romantasy is not generally my thing but god these books are good

[chryseis]

Can someone please please please read A Kiss of Iron/A Touch of Poison 😫 I need to talk about themmmm

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Sometimes the Adaptation is the Book, Actually...

So, as I'm sure more than a few of you did, I enjoyed the heck out of Jill Bearup's fantasy heroin YouTube shorts series. And as I'm sure many of us have experienced, YouTuber books can be...distinctly hit-or-miss in terms of quality. So when Bearup announced that she was adapting the shorts series into an actual book, I was willing to give it a shot when it came out. So in Bearup's own tier list terms, I'd give this book a pretty good. Strong concept, a lot to like...but the TYPESETTING, my god. Let's talk Just Stab Me Now.

This is your spoiler warning for a book that has been EXTREMELY hyped on YouTube, and one who's story has already been told on YouTube. Here there be Spoilers.

So normally I like to start with the things I like about a book, but since I liked so much about this book and the one thing that I didn't like could have stopped me cold, we're going to start with the one thing that I think was actually bad. The typesetting.

To be clear: Bearup was extremely clear that using different fonts and margins to delineate between Caroline's world, the fantasy world, and Caroline's mind where she interacts with the fantasy characters was a considered, intentional choice. That's valid, and there is nothing inherently wrong with making that choice. It's also well done in the book, like it's consistent and well put together.

That said: Oh my god you guys, I hated it. It took me the first fifty-odd pages to get used to it, and even then, it AGGRESSIVELY snapped my editor brain's bra strap. I seriously considered putting the book down because of the typesetting, which would have been a crying shame because I really enjoyed the book overall. This might not bother some readers, but it was nearly a dealbreaker for me, so I wanted to mention it as a "your mileage may vary" kind of thing.

Other than that though, I think this book did a pretty solid job of adapting the fantasy heroine shorts into a full-blown novel.

Caroline Lindley is very much helicopter parenting her fictional characters, and the fact that they are by turns bemused and cranky about this is very fun throughout the novel. I also like that we get a lot more of Caroline in the novel than we did in the shorts series. Her story was just as compelling as Rosamund and Leo's, and I quite enjoyed having the extraordinarily modern cybersecurity subplot to balance the fantasy setting as well. I wasn't expecting that to work as well as it did, but thematically it resonated quite well, and I like the acknowledgement that while we don't use swords and political marriages so much these days, it's not like we've STOPPED having enemies and needing to protect ourselves, our homes, and our families. The relationship between modernity and "no particular historical era" in terms of thematic connections was really well done.

The general added depth to all the characters was also excellent, since we had time and space for characterization that the shorts series had to skim over for time. We really felt Rosamund's grief in the book, Leo had way more personality (and I loved that) and some of the plot stuff was smoothed and fleshed out in some really interesting ways. The caladrius was actually an inspired touch, and it tied together a bunch of slightly odd things in the series in a really elegant way. It also gave Baron Mabry and George an interesting parallel too, since they were both screwing over people for financial gain. The methods might be different, but the heart of the crimes and the harm they do are fairly universal.

As a writer, I also ADORED the conceit of Caroline being absolutely out of control in her process. She was trying SO HARD to write a standard enemies-to-lovers romantasy and literally nothing could get her plot or characters there. Every writer has been there, every writer has had little breakdowns over the story just not freaking doing what you tell it to, and there was something deeply vindicating about it. I loved the personification of the writing process.

This book also had a little bit of that Princess Bride feel where it is both a send-up of romance tropes and a deeply respectful nod to them. I don't know that pastiche is the right word here, but neither does parody seem to be, and I think we need a word for this writing mood, where you're both deconstructing and reiterating a series of tropes. I don't have a word for it, but this is a thing that pops up periodically (periodic because it's genuinely hard to do well; lean too far to one side or the other and it flops catastrophically) and we should name it.

Overall, for a book from a YouTuber--especially one who rather famously discovered halfway through the process that she does not enjoy writing fiction--I was pleasantly surprised by this book, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Bearup has told us not to expect a sequel, so I won't...but if one materialized in the future, I'd read it!

[wutheringmights]

hi! i’ve read in the dream house and speak bc of your reviews and Loved them. i find your analyses to be really insightful, i trust that when you recommend something theres Something of value i’ll get out of reading it. are there any books you’ve loved that you haven’t posted abt here yet? and how do you find new books to read? thanks for being so thoughtful abt your own writing and the books you read that it inspires me to study and improve my own work 🫡💞

Aw thank you! I always feel like I am yelling into the void whenever I make posts about the things I'm reading, so I'm glad you enjoy reading my thoughts <3

For books I haven't posted about yet... I just finished Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid (and will make a post about it soon). It's not a perfect read, but if you like horror and fairytale tropes, you'll get something about this.

Besides that, I recommend The Bell Jar by Slyvia Plath, and the works of Robert Cormier (I Am the Cheese and The Chocolate Wars are two of my favorites). If you like war stories, All Quiet On the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is required reading.

I really enjoy the works of Octavia Butler. Kindred is my absolute favorite, but Parable of the Sower is very relevant to the current political moment. Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich also scarred the fuck out of me, but is a great work on reproductive rights.

I did an entire seminar on Virginia Woolf. Besides Mrs. Dalloway, I think Into the Lighthouse and Orlando are very good.

For the classics, I love Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. One of the first classics I ever fell in love with was Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, though Great Expectations is also exceptional.

One of my favorite books of all time that I never discuss with anyone anywhere is Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, for obvious reasons. Read this book for two reasons. One, it will fuck you up. Nabokov's work with perspective and unreliable narrators is fucking insane. Second, Nabokov does something with the English language that I have never seen before and will probably never see again. If anyone has a command of the English language, it's him.

How do I find books to read? Some of the books I read before they are recommended to me by friends or by someone online. As long as you avoid romance/romantasy, BookTok/BookTube/Bookblr is a great place to get recs. I watch a lot of CariCanRead on Youtube because she reads a massive amount of books I have never heard of and is generally really honest about what books she liked/hated and why. I also windowshop at bookstores and libraries and just check out what is available on the shelves.

Honestly, the best advice I can give you is to let go of the idea of every book being impeccable art. You do not have to always be reading the Great American Novel. You can read books that are silly and outright trash. Once you shed the idea that books are some higher form of art, you remember that they are made to be entertainment. Like movies, there are going to be days where you want to watch post-modern French films or Oscar-winning movies about the turn of the century. There are also going to be days where you want to watch a silly comedy, or a trashy reality TV show, or you just go to the movies for something to do.

It's healthier for you if not every book is life changing. I have read some really bad books (some on purpose), and I have read some books that were just aggressively mediocre. Even if they didn't transform me into a better writer/reader/person, they were still worth reading. And when you give yourself permission to read books you might not necessarily like, it gets easier to try new genres and take risks on unfamiliar works. That's where you get new experiences. That's where a book sneaks up on you and smacks you on the back of the head with something that will absolutely make you change the way you see the world.

If anything, just try reading things you normally wouldn't read, be it sci-fi, memoir, historical epic, classic romance, etc.

[throneofsapphics]

Ho ho ho,

Step aside spooky season, it’s Santa’s time to shine now! ✨

I hope you had a wonderful Halloween, and are looking forward to the week ahead.

In answer to your question for me about my favourite books - Santa is a sucker for anything romantic but especially romantasy (hence the ACOTAR) obsession. I recently read and loved Quicksilver by Callie Hart and I’ve just started Powerless by Lauren Roberts which I’m enjoy so far.

An update for your gift - Chapter one is well under way and I am having such a fun time crafting some Morlain goodness for you! I honestly can’t wait to share this fic 💕

A few questions for today:

❣���Aside from Mor and Elain who are some of your favourite characters in ACOTAR?

❣️Do you have any morlain headcanons?

❣️Are there any songs that remind you of Morlain?

Oh and one more thing… myself and Rudolph put together a little mood board for the fic and its general vibes below:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DB56wtTIDOx/?igsh=MTcwMTFlbXZ2aHUzdA==

I hope that you like it and that you have a wonderful week!

Santa x

Hi Santa!!

Thank you so much, sorry this took so long, I'm just getting back on Tumblr now! I thought powerless was fun and I hope you're enjoying it! I still need to read the sequels to it. I'm checking my library for Quicksilver immediately!

Aside from Mor and Elain, some of my favorite ACOTAR characters are Nesta and Rhys.

I hope this counts as a head canon, but I picture Mor and Elain as fixer-uppers/ home renovations queens, I think they'd have a blast re-doing their future home, and want to do it by themselves.

As for songs for Morlain, if we're going an angsty route I could see them as DYWTYLM by Sleep Token or Casual by Chappell Roan or Blood Sport by Sleep Token (I'm sorry all my music is angsty or metal)

THAT MOODBOARD IS BEAUTIFUL!!! OH MY GOD I'M SO (EXPLETIVE) EXCITED FOR THIS STORY AND YOUR MAGIC! I may have stared at that for several minutes.

Hope you're having an amazing week!

[wondereads]

Weekly Reading Update (04/08/24)

Reviews and thoughts under the cut!

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (8/10)

I don’t know if I’d say this book was enjoyable; it’s non-linear and doesn’t really build up to much. However, it is an incredibly strong piece of commentary on the horrors of war as well as many other social issues. While I didn’t enjoy it as a story, I thought it was an amazing dissertation and did something very interesting with the sci-fi elements.

The Lost Heir by Tui T. Sutherland (9/10)

This is a really strong book, one that kind of politics-heavy for a children's series and is narrated by an interesting but distinctly flawed character. This one is from Tsunami's perspective who, if I remember correctly, was my favorite of the dragonets, often tied with Glory. The worldbuilding in this series continues to be pretty amazing, and the pacing is good as well. I do wish it was clarified how old these dragons would be as humans because it sounds really weird when you're trying to marry off your six-year-old to your advisor, but the dragonets tend to act more like teens than young children.

Trickster’s Queen by Tamora Pierce (9/10)

This was a strong conclusion to this duology; the way things are wrapped up on the political side do it quite well considering the real-world reflections. I liked this book for a reason I like a lot of Pierce books, which is that she doesn't shy away from the day-to-day struggles of larger conflicts. It's not all huge battles and coups, it's slowly chipping away at a regime's stability through small signs of resistance, dissemination of information, and driving wedges in the ruling class. The characters are really strong, establishing a huge cast very well, especially on the romance side with Aly and Nawat. Dove is an amazing character, and as a reader, despite her age, I could see her being an accomplished queen.

House of Crimson Hearts by Ruby Roe (18+) (CR, 13%)

I was not anticipating a sex scene within the first two chapters of this book, but I'm not complaining. I really like that this sapphic romantasy is being unabashedly sexual, something queer books can struggle to get out there. Plotwise I'm not quite sure what the long-term goal is, but I find Octavia and her backstory very interesting.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X. Chang (CR, 11%)

So far I'm kind of neutral on this book. The worldbuilding draws me in, as does some of the complex relationships being built up. On the other hand, it feels like there's a bit of info-dumping going on. Instead of weaving information into the narration, there are lumps of explanation that are inserted practically every other paragraph, which is sort of slowing things down for me right now.

Mystery Editing Stuff

I'm mostly just putting this here for my own tracking purposes, but I'm really excited to start talking about this book once it become generally available.

[starfieldcanvas]

the reason i pay attention to publisher-suggested comps is mainly because i like to judge how much of a shot in the dark it is by the publisher's doubtless-overworked marketing rep.

"for fans of" is a recommendation i expect from my *bookstore*, not the book itself.

i was about to say that the last novels i purchased didn't have comps, but i double checked while getting the links to the books (The Dawnhounds and Grey Dawn, title overlap unintentional) and apparently The Dawnhounds did — "Gideon the Ninth meets Black Sun" — but I ignored that so hard I have zero memory of the Gideon the Ninth comparison and I don't know Black Sun in any case. All I remember about how I made the decision was the blurb.

Being willing to compare yourself to something especially weird and tragicomic and genrewarping like Gideon the Ninth is admittedly a good sign, but I still can't really trust it, because it's entirely possible the publisher just punched in "queer scifi mystery" and picked whatever came back with the highest sales numbers. It's also possible that the author picked their own comps based on the kind of acclaim they wanted and then their publisher (almost certainly cutting corners on everything) didn't actually check to make sure the comps conveyed anything useful.

the thing i hate the most are generic comps. they're just offensive. if the thing you're trying to reference could be said in plain English just as easily, say it in English or die by my blade. when book ads say "Harry Potter meets x" but they actually mean "wizard school meets x" it takes years off my life. If you mean "romantasy with dragons, and also gay" do not say "Fourth Wing meets Red White & Royal Blue" that is just an insult to the noble commercial enterprise of fiction sales and i hope your company goes under.

some books just are not reasonable candidates for comps! comps should ideally suggest some combination of tone, style, darkness level, worldbuilding scope, any especially unique plot beats, any especially notable areas of focus... anything that's HARD to say quickly in English. anything you can say much faster by referencing a similar book or two instead of listing a bunch of otherwise disparate aspects of the work. which is sometimes too subtle a combination to really go well with anything currently trending.

i think comps were kind of interesting when they were an occasional tool used to help market genuine genre mashups or sell people on weird hard-to-explain things, but now that they're nigh-mandatory across tradpub they've lost their charm.

i also think it's unconscionable that authors are now expected to comp their own books in their queries. that used to be something The Rejector (an agent's assistant who judged query letters) made fun of back in the oughts! but now it's GENUINELY required in query letters, because the industry has decided if they can get authors to do the industry's job for them then by god they're going to do exactly that.

Every book marketing demands the author provide “comp titles.” I’m sure you’re familiar. “This book is like X meets Y!” “Perfect for fans of Q and Z!” And I always wonder…

Let me know what kind of books you read in the tags, I’m curious if this varies by genre

[wolfreader]

october 2024 wrap-up - young adult fiction

this month i read five (5) young adult novels and one (1) young adult novella.

we unleash the merciless storm by tehlor kay mejia 📖 🌟🌟🌟

in what is beginning to be a trend with young adult duologies i've finished lately, this was enjoyable but simply not as good as the first book. there's not a lot i can say about my specific problems with the book without spoilers, and i don't want to spoil it as i still think the series is good.

in a very general sense it felt very disconnected from the events of the first book. rather than feeling like a natural continuation of we set the dark on fire, the events of we unleash the merciless storm felt like a tangentially related story with the same characters. part of that is due to a change in perspective from dani (the pov character of the first book) to carmen (her love interest). and i understand that, given the events of the first book, having carmen's persepective feels somewhat necessary in order to remain invested in her as a character, but it did not help with the feeling that this is a separate story.

i rarely say this, especially about young adult, but i feel like this would have benefited from being a longer series. at the very least, a trilogy.

belladonna by adalyn grace 📖 🌟🌟🌟🌟

consider this a very low four star. there are some things i think adalyn grace does very well, and some things i think she fumbled.

belladonna has a really great atmosphere. while it certainly has all the expected trappings of a young adult romantasy, i think grace nails a toned-down version of the classic victorian gothic novel. it helps give the book a compelling atmosphere even in the parts that feel a little tired.

my main issue is the relationship between signa (the main character) and death. i understand that he's an ageless entity, but given that he has been actively watching over her since she was a literal infant, having him be interested in her romantically at all is incredibly strange. i think their dynamic would have been infinitely more interesting if it were parental or just generally mentor / protege rather than romantic.

most ardently by gabe cole novoa 📚 🌟🌟🌟

this is a retelling of pride and prejudice in which lizzie bennet is a trans man named oliver. if i'm referring to the events of the original novel, i will use "lizzie" and she/her pronouns, while if i'm referring to the events of most ardently, i will use "oliver" and he/him. just to clear up any confusion as i will be comparing most ardently to the original novel.

as a story, cute. as a pride and prejudice retelling, uninspired. the biggest fumble was making oliver and darcy get along right off the bat. the lasting appeal of pride and prejudice is the slow burn nature of lizzie and darcy's romance - if you're going to take out the central element of the enemies-to-lovers romance, why even make a p&p retelling in the first place? i should not be having cutesy romantic scenes before we're even halfway through.

in the same vein, having oliver immediately dislike wickham was a mistake. i mean, if he's going to get along with darcy and hate wickham right away, what's even the fucking point. why are we here. lizzie's simultaneous dislike of darcy and affection for wickham is the source of most of the drama in pride and prejudice. the entire point of the title is that it describes the main flaws of the two leads - darcy is pride and lizzie is prejudice. she makes snap judgements about people and holds onto those judgements for a very long time.

i think most ardently would have benefited a lot from being an original regency romance that is simply inspired by p&p rather than being a direct pride and prejudice retelling.

also i swear to god... why the hell did we get a fucking tightlacing scene in a book set in regency england? i understand that it's a dream sequence meant to emphasize oliver's dysphoria, but i feel that there are much more regency-period-appropriate symbols of femininity and oppression that fucking tightlacing. the popular silhouette of the regency era didn't even require tightlacing.

mysteries of thorn manor by margaret rogerson 📚 🌟🌟🌟🌟

this was cute! elisabeth and nathaniel's relationship was one of my favorite elements of sorcery of thorns; they present themselves as being cool and collected but with each other they're just dorky teens with crushes and i think that's really cute.

loved everything about silas in this as well.

threads that bind by kika hatzopoulou 📚 🌟🌟🌟🌟

one of the most original and inspired greek mythology derivatives i've read, especially in young adult. i suppose it makes sense given that kika hatzopoulou is actually greek.

the limitations on what gods can pass powers onto their descendants and the specific requirements that must be met for the powers to work are very interesting to me. in fact, i think it makes it more interesting than a world where you can expect anyone you encounter to have magical powers. excited to read the sequel and learn more about this world.

the guinevere deception by kiersten white 📖 🌟🌟🌟🌟

this is my second attempt to read this - back in high school i picked it up from the library and genuinely could not get past the third chapter. i don't know what was wrong with it or with me, i just hated it for some reason. but, i'm older and wiser now, my second hand bookstore had a copy for like three bucks, and i had store credit and nothing to read.

and this second time around i actually quite enjoyed it! very fun take - guinevere is a very interesting character. i think kiersten white does a good job at having her be very capable and competent while making it clear that she is still a sheltered teenage girl. the mystery surrounding her and her origins is very compelling.

that being said, changing mordred's origins to have him and arthur be around the same age was clearly only done for the sake of haing a bad boy morallly grey love interest to contrast with the good boy righteous king love interest. i can see where this is going from a mile away, which is a little boring. and what is even the point of genderswapping lancelot if they're not even going to be gay?