#the reason i like themis bc the concept is good but the execution can b… clunky. so it’s perfect au food <3

[chryzure-archive]

30,22,24,25,26,18? (I love hearing all ur book thoughts🥺👉👈🤍)

(I’m so glad, because I often have heated thoughts on anything I’m reading and I hate overwhelming people 😖 so I very rarely talk about them. I’m thinking of talking about them more on a blog setting though,,, not sure though!)

18. A book that’s well-written that you dislike.

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins. It was pretty easy to get through, well-written, an interesting take on Jane Eyre (which I loved, but I was very icked out by Rochester (rightfully))—but it felt very flat for a “feminist” retelling. I was disappointed by the plot twist, I didn’t care about any of the characters (even Jane??? Bad sign, and I really didn’t like her personality—which was something I adored about her in the original book), and, despite the beautiful cover, I couldn’t help but think it was taking up space on my bookshelf that would be better suited for a worse-written book that I’d enjoyed more. Also, this book didn’t have the same punch to some of the trauma Jane experienced as it did in the original book. Like, the “red room” from the original book? It’s inspired concepts in my own stories because of how fascinating it is! There was nothing fascinating to me in this book.

Now, I’m also going to add this, even though I don’t think it’s well-written. Others think it is though, hence why I think it counts for this question, but I highly disagree with them—A Court of Thorns and Roses. Oh my god. Holy hell. I mean, do I need to go on? It has the worst fucking pacing I’ve ever seen in a series, they did the whole “switch up the love interest and demonize the old one” thing that I complained about earlier, they acted as if this new love interest wasn’t toxic, and for everyone raving about it being a “feminist” story and a fascinating, “well-written” Beauty and the Beast story, it sure was Absolutely Fucking Awful! Feminist?? Absolutely not. And don’t even get me started on the “hot” sex scenes. WHAT!!!! NO??? It’s not! It’s cringe and it makes me so uncomfortable.

In conclusion: I very obviously gave away my copies to my secondhand bookstore for store credit and got my childhood favorites instead.

22. A book that got worse on reread.

My condolences to my younger self, but Ruined and Unbroken by Paula Morris. I don’t regret buying them or anything, but the love interest is in two chapters, the ghosts aren’t even scary or magical?? It’s a lot of personal drama rather than ghost drama, and that’s pretty unfortunate for a duology (??? If I’d even go so far as to define it as that.) that revolves around the book being in a paranormal category. All the buildup is boring on the reread, and I keep screaming at the main character to stop being so naïve when everyone’s made it clear that they hate her because she’s an outsider. She’s all, “Oh, maybe they’re not so bad!” Girl, they’re plotting your murder and they’re being randomly nice because they’re planning on getting you to a secondary location to kill you.

It’s not that it gets worse on reread, but I keep on thinking How to Hang a Witch and Haunting the Deep by Adriana Mather are better than they are, then I go back and reread them and I’m reminded that she doesn’t know how to write convincing characters, nor does she know how to properly pace her novels. BUT this is an example of one of my guilty pleasure book, since I love the AU potential.

… Actually, I think a huge reason I think these books are better than they are is because my AU is so fun and interesting. I do this a lot with movies where I hype it up because I’m remembering my AU (and I love my AU so much, so of course the movie’s going to be good!!!). Then I watch the movie, turn to my sister and I’m like, “Please don’t judge me. My AU is so much better than this.” And she’s like, “Every time, Memorie. You do this every time.” “I know and I am ashamed.”

24. A book where you agree with its message but dislike the story.

A Witch in Time by Constance Sayers. Yes, you are not your past (past lives, in this case), and you can break the cycle! However, the romance was… really weird, in that I never felt there was a payoff for the actual love interest, but the crappy (and sometimes abusive, in certain lives) boyfriend—who was very clearly not the love interest, I cannot stress this enough—got romantic scenes. It was… a mess. I can’t go into depth about it here because I have way too many thoughts. Most of them are confused and disappointed. It’s not actual anger. But you’re telling me you had a fun story where the main character keeps getting reincarnated, her love interest’s torture is that he has to watch her fall in love with a scumbag then have her heart broken, and she has a curse where she can only live to 34 before she dies and restarts again, and you managed to make it boring??? I understand making it confusing, but boring. I was bored! The most interesting part was the beginning, when her magic started lashing out because she didn’t even know she had it! And then suddenly, she knew how to use it fifty pages later?? In a 500 page book??? Okay. ://///

25. A book on your B-tier: Not one of your favorites, but one you enjoyed.

I have so many of these. Like, a lot of these. I love a lot of books that I’d never say are my favorites simply because clunky prose, stories that fall just slightly short, or are otherwise lackluster. I call a lot of them popcorn reads to defend myself.

(This isn’t a weird thing, since every reader has these, but I feel extra shame since I’ll adore a book and hype it up, only to have someone read it and tell me they thought it was only meh. I feel like I have to defend myself.)

A non-extensive list includes:

The Ghost and the Goth (plus the other two books in the trilogy) by Stacey Kade

Night Music by Jenn Marie Thorne

The Beholder by Anna Bright

I’ll stop here, but I have… 100+. I was counting on my “Read” list and… yeah. Yeah.

26. An author on your B-tier: Not one of your favorites, but one you enjoyed.

Hmm, so I don’t know if I’d say B-list, since these authors I‘m going to mention are all authors that I have read and will continue to read every single one of their books, but Katie Alender, Marissa Meyer, Heather Dixon, and Esther Friesner. They’re all dependable authors and I highly enjoy their books. I wouldn’t say they’re all my favorite books though.

… I do feel bad for putting Marissa Meyer there though. I rescind that, just because I own all her books and I’ve read all of them with great enjoyment. Even the stories that aren’t normally in my typical wheelhouse.

30. A fictional book that taught you about/increased your interest in a real-life subject.

Bad Girls Don’t Die by Katie Alender! I’ve become extremely fascinated with photography because of it. That’s actually why Azure’s a photographer now—because I loved the way the main character in this series talked about photography!!!