All About Books- Recs,Rants,Raves

[trash4hp]

I really loved Serpent & Dove when it came out last year (despite all of the problematic elements), but I'm 80% done with Blood & Honey and man... I am really not enjoying it. It's like I'm reading a completely different story in terms of tone, plot, characters, etc.

Kinda late on this one but this isn't the first I've heard of someone not liking B&H as much as the first book which makes me a little worried for the third book because I'm like 99% sure Serpent & Dove was originally supposed to be a duology so it could be that the author didn't plan to have to extend the story hence the second book being off compared to the first.

I think B&H is a serious case of second book syndrome. It was completely unnecessary and probably only exists as a cash grab given the success of S&D. B&H did not add to the world, plot, or characterizations at all. It was literally just a bunch of running away from the bad guys and Lou and Reid fighting over nothing. The only good part was that Coco had a bigger role than just the random black side character in book 1. She was fleshed out a lot more and the book explained blood magic more (although not very well because I'm still not sure how that all works). But yeah, this book is 100% filler and has no real substance. It should have been left a duology. I'd say skip it but there's a major spoiler plot point at the end (that I'm annoyed about) that would be crappy to read about for the first time in the 3rd book.

[TheBookishBabe]

I liked Legendborn but it wasn't the best fantasy I've read this year like the Booktubers on Twitter have been hyping it as. I liked that it was set on a college campus though I didn't quite understand the early college program. I know it's a thing in real life but it was a little unclear in this story. Especially since this one required them to live on campus. The magic system was feeling a little generic until the last half of the book. I found the stuff with rootwork very interested and liked how the book never shied away from slavery. That said I didn't like how Bree was totally surrounded by whiteness and the text kept pointing it out. I went to a PWI there's other Black folks there. I would've loved to see more balance between her ongoings with The Order and adjusting to campus life. And yes I know she was approached about joining the Black Student Union. I could've done without her having two white love interests. Especially since one was the stereotypical bad boy character we're supposed to love because he's bad. Also someone please tell this author Venezuelan is not a race and there's no such thing as white passing in Latinx cultures. I know what that scene was supposed to do but it didn't do it for me. A few times with the affirmative action comments it felt like racism just for the sake of portraying racism and I thought that could've been done a little more subtlety.

Serpent and Dove started on Wattpad as Six of Crows fanfic.

[vortensity]

I recently finished Lock Every Door by Riley Sager because I was in the mood for a quick thriller and god what was up with that ending??

It feels like that whole organ farm/trafficking thing came out of nowhere

The fake out plot twist with the apartments housing a satanic cult was a little predictable but at least leading up until the point where the main character discovers it it actually made sense with what was going on and there was foreshadowing for it. It even worked with the seemingly paranormal aspects of the story so I'm just at a loss to the whole "rich people killing poor lonely people to transplant their organs into other rich people because they want to bypass the organ donor wait times" angle the book took.

For those that want to remain spoiler-free the story takes a weird turn in the last 50 or so pages that almost seems like it was tacked on because someone in publishing said the story needs to be more original Definitely soured the book for me because I was enjoying it up until that point since there were some decent suspense scenes and I liked where I thought it was going to go lmao

I just finished the audiobook for this and had the same reaction. It made no damn sense and felt like a twist that was just thrown in bc of how obvious the culprit was.

[sheslostcontrol]

I started reading Six of Crows and just don't get the hype. I'm not sure if I should come back to it - the characters seem really thin, the worldbuilding isn't great. I don't get it.

[vortensity]

I started reading Six of Crows and just don't get the hype. I'm not sure if I should come back to it - the characters seem really thin, the worldbuilding isn't great. I don't get it.

I DNFd at page 100 and dont regret it. I haven't liked any of her other books that I've read either. The OG grisha trilogy is objectively poorly written with characters that have 0 development and an inconsistently characterized MC. Ninth House was a whole damn mess and honestly fully problematic. Idk I don't think SoC will get better after the underwhelming beginning despite what others have said.

[eggiwa]

Okay y’all.. unpopular opinion because the ratings on GR are pretty low (about a 3.0) but I just finished Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas and omg pretty sure it’s my favorite book of the year. I have been having a love affair literary fiction lately (my other favorite of the year is Real Life by Brandon Taylor) and Catherine House was stunning. It is the perfect read for fall! This is my first time reading a dark academia book and it might be a new favorite genre (feel free to give recs of less popular dark academia titles). But if you love dark academia, gothic campus novels, creepy realistic sci-fi, slow atmospheric character studies of unlikeable characters, then I highly recommend it! The diversity is also outstanding, wide range of racially diverse and lgbtqia+ characters. I read a stupid amount of books (over 200 this year so far) and it takes a lot for me to gush about a book but I can’t stop thinking about this one.

okay, I'm late for this but omg I just finished the book the other day and I loved it too, also probably my favorite book of the year! I haven't seen many people liking it and the reasons people give for hating it are all things that made me love the book lol it's such a different book and the weird atmosphere it gives is so cool and disturbing, I think the author did such a good job with the "vibes" that you got lost in Catherine House as much as Ines was

[TheBookishBabe]

Why is it every time people ask for book recommendations on Twitter for Black romance people recommend interracial romance?

[vortensity]

I'm finally reading The Year of the Witching, and I'm only about 50 or so pages in so I could be missing something, but I fail to see how this is being marketed as an adult horror and not YA fantasy?

[TheBookishBabe]

I'm finally reading The Year of the Witching, and I'm only about 50 or so pages in so I could be missing something, but I fail to see how this is being marketed as an adult horror and not YA fantasy?

It's tone is pretty different than most of the YA fantasies I've read recently and it was also released by an adult book imprint. I found it had plenty of horror and dark fantasy elements. Having a young protagonist doesn't make it YA.

[vortensity]

I'm finally reading The Year of the Witching, and I'm only about 50 or so pages in so I could be missing something, but I fail to see how this is being marketed as an adult horror and not YA fantasy?

It's tone is pretty different than most of the YA fantasies I've read recently and it was also released by an adult book imprint. I found it had plenty of horror and dark fantasy elements. Having a young protagonist doesn't make it YA.

I know that the protag's age doesn't make it YA, and I'm aware it was released as an adult book. I was more talking about the writing style specifically. I feel like it reads pretty young and feels a bit simplistic. Also having a love interest introduced so early on feels pretty YA to me. I don't mean it in a bad way, I just wasn't expecting it to be like this when I picked it up expecting an adult fantasy/horror. I just wasn't sure if I was missing something, so I looked it up and saw a lot of Goodreads reviews saying it should have been labeled YA and wasn't sure if people on here felt the same haha.

I do plan to keep reading. Like I said, I'm only 50ish pages in and I haven't gotten to the dark horror elements yet, so might change my mind.

[TheBookishBabe]

I'm finally reading The Year of the Witching, and I'm only about 50 or so pages in so I could be missing something, but I fail to see how this is being marketed as an adult horror and not YA fantasy?

It's tone is pretty different than most of the YA fantasies I've read recently and it was also released by an adult book imprint. I found it had plenty of horror and dark fantasy elements. Having a young protagonist doesn't make it YA.

I know that the protag's age doesn't make it YA, and I'm aware it was released as an adult book. I was more talking about the writing style specifically. I feel like it reads pretty young and feels a bit simplistic. Also having a love interest introduced so early on feels pretty YA to me. I don't mean it in a bad way, I just wasn't expecting it to be like this when I picked it up expecting an adult fantasy/horror. I just wasn't sure if I was missing something, so I looked it up and saw a lot of Goodreads reviews saying it should have been labeled YA and wasn't sure if people on here felt the same haha.

I do plan to keep reading. Like I said, I'm only 50ish pages in and I haven't gotten to the dark horror elements yet, so might change my mind.

While there is a love interest this book there's very little romance in the story. I felt like this book fits in that nice transition space between YA fantasy and more adult fantasy.

[super_smize]

I'm finally reading The Year of the Witching, and I'm only about 50 or so pages in so I could be missing something, but I fail to see how this is being marketed as an adult horror and not YA fantasy?

I got these vibes when I read it too, particular with the ending. The first half does have an adult horror feel to it, but the second half veers right into dark YA fantasy territory, but that was just how I felt about it. I think the YA fantasy crowd would enjoy it more and I would push that type of reader towards it (or someone just starting out with horror) rather than a seasoned adult horror reader.

I had a hard time rating it as well. As an adult horror/fantasy, it was pretty meh. But as a YA horror, it was one of the best I've read this year.

[fakedroid]

I'm finally reading The Year of the Witching, and I'm only about 50 or so pages in so I could be missing something, but I fail to see how this is being marketed as an adult horror and not YA fantasy?

I read it last month and wasn't a fan for that exact reason plus the ending was absolutely terrible... I find it annoying that the publisher made the marketing so misleading by saying it's an adult horror when the writing style, plot, characterization, discussion of themes, lack of nuance, and the romance are all very YA-aligned. I was thinking it could've been originally written as YA but sold as an adult book because it definitely did not feel adult at all but that's just my personal theory lol

[smolante12]

I noticed that everyone was talking about the After series because the 2nd movie came out, so I decided to read it, too, and I personally think some of the backlash against the book was kinda misplaced. One of the biggest critiques of the book is that the relationship is toxic and abusive, but I think that was the point. It's a book about a toxic relationship, and I don't think that it's an inherently bad thing. It's not like it was a case of Twilight where it was supposed to be the ultimate love story. From the author's interviews, she knows they're both awful for each other, and that's why she wrote it. Another critique is about Tessa's character and internalized misogyny, but I didn't really read that as a "flaw" of the book either. It makes sense given her upbringing and the insecurity she feels because of the (purposeful) toxic relationship she's in. If anything, I just wrote it off as Tessa having a fixed world-view and strong characterization in that regard, but I don't think it's a bad thing.

To be fair, I didn't like the book at all, but that's just because the prose was bad, and the story was predictable. I just think that some of the critiques of this book got muddled together with people's personal tastes with a pinch of purity culture mixed in because I don't think the presence of any of the above things make it an inherently bad book. It just has really bad writing.

[TheBookishBabe]

We need more romance set at Christmas by authors of color.

[TheBookishBabe]

I wish the publisher and author would stop promoting A Song Below Water as a mermaid book when it is not. The one character is a siren and sirens in the book are nothing like mermaids. The author said out of her own mouth this isn't a mermaid book yet they keep misleading people.

[BasicBooktuber1]

I wish the publisher and author would stop promoting A Song Below Water as a mermaid book when it is not. The one character is a siren and sirens in the book are nothing like mermaids. The author said out of her own mouth this isn't a mermaid book yet they keep misleading people.

that's one of the most annoying things about buzzwords in marketing. accuracy in describing what a book aways takes a backseat to marketability and selling the book

[TheBookishBabe]

I wish the publisher and author would stop promoting A Song Below Water as a mermaid book when it is not. The one character is a siren and sirens in the book are nothing like mermaids. The author said out of her own mouth this isn't a mermaid book yet they keep misleading people.

that's one of the most annoying things about buzzwords in marketing. accuracy in describing what a book aways takes a backseat to marketability and selling the book

I've seen quite a few books this year marketed inaccurately and it's like publishers forget word of mouth marketing is also still important for books. Like you can promote a book as a rom com but when readers realize it isn't they will include it in their reviews and make sure to spread the word.

[faeling]

So I got a bit of a quandary and I can use other people's opinion.

"Hood Feminism" by Mikki Kendall is a book that I've really wanted to read. But today I found out that she spearheaded a campaign on LiveJournal that harassed a woman whose child had died, someone else doxxed the woman, Kendall then took that information to call funeral homes in the woman's area to try to locate the dead baby. She found information that confirmed that there were funeral arrangements for a baby in the area, which she then went on to say that either the woman was taking credit for a family member's infant death or that the woman must have killed her baby.

Like...holy shit. I've heard that Hood Feminism is an amazing and informative read, but idk if I can support an author in light of this type of information. I've banned authors from my personal TBR for less, but I'm also trying to be fair and wondering if maybe I'm holding a Black woman to an unfair standard (which I've been told). I'm willing to be wrong, tho.

Thoughts?

BTW here's the links:
https://www.mcclernan.com/2014/03/mikki ... y.html?m=1
https://ffawiki-backup.dreamwidth.org/4420.html

[silkytoes]

So I got a bit of a quandary and I can use other people's opinion.

"Hood Feminism" by Mikki Kendall is a book that I've really wanted to read. But today I found out that she spearheaded a campaign on LiveJournal that harassed a woman whose child had died, someone else doxxed the woman, Kendall then took that information to call funeral homes in the woman's area to try to locate the dead baby. She found information that confirmed that there were funeral arrangements for a baby in the area, which she then went on to say that either the woman was taking credit for a family member's infant death or that the woman must have killed her baby.

Like...holy shit. I've heard that Hood Feminism is an amazing and informative read, but idk if I can support an author in light of this type of information. I've banned authors from my personal TBR for less, but I'm also trying to be fair and wondering if maybe I'm holding a Black woman to an unfair standard (which I've been told). I'm willing to be wrong, tho.

Thoughts?

BTW here's the links:
https://www.mcclernan.com/2014/03/mikki ... y.html?m=1
https://ffawiki-backup.dreamwidth.org/4420.html

Oh no, this is one I intended to read too.

I don't think you're holding black women to an unfair standard if it's a standard you're applying to everyone else too and the behaviour is clearly unacceptable. I would agree that the actions reported are wrong coming from anyone.

However those sources linked are described as 'keeping tabs on SJWs' and appear to have an agenda against people who they feel have 'SJW' beliefs (which I feel is such a washy term anyway!). So I wouldn't personally trust their version of events, they're probably likely to intepret anything that the author had done negatively and exaggerate it to make her look bad. If there are some more trustworthy looking sites that are describing it then maybe I'd be more inclined to believe that's exactly what happened.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk