#Book drama | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

crow-caller · 2 years

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Tiktok sensation LightLark is the final boss of bad fantasy YA— a failure built on aesthetic boards and tropes, unable to pretend it has a heart

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A full summary with spoilers, analysis, quotes- and so much more on the subject of a book you should never read. This is a long piece. Like ‘Youtube Video Essay’ long.

Lightlark is joyless, a husk beyond parody, a checklist of every Island of Blood and Bone and Glass and Hearts that has come out in the last five years, built and sold on tropes and aesthetic boards. This is a book written by an author who is not a writer. It would fit in on the dregs of an amateur writing site with eerie perfection.

But Lightlark is more than that. You see, Lightlark is… a TikTok book.

EDIT:

Thanks :')

There's now a video version. I heard Tumblr likes video essay long watches on obscure very specific content... may I introduce you to:

youtube

I'm not making a dime on this, I have no horses, only like 70 hours of work looking at this mess of a book and I just want to make sure everyone knows how bad it is. Let's be bitter at this multimillionaires flop together.

#Alex aster #Book drama #Book Review #booktok #fantasy #fiction #Lightlark #Review #romance #writing #YA #YA books #YA fiction #young adult #Youtube

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anoonzee · 5 months

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This article from the Mary Sue has all the correct and chronological details of Reviewbombgate: The Cait Corrain Fuckup Story. The article even defended and praised the Reylo fandom when it reached the part about Cait's (possible imaginary) friend Lilly the alleged "reviewbomber" being an "alleged" Reylo.

The article is now updated with the news that Illumicrate, Del Rey Publishing AND Cait's literary agent have dropped her like a hot potato. Girl had everything and she wasted it with fake reviews.

And as a cherry on top, this Tiktok summed up how badly Cait Corrain ruined herself.

TL;DR - It's not Goodread reviews that help sell the book; it's word of mouth from trusted reviewers.

WORD.

OF.

MOUTH.

rachelwithreads (the lady in the Tiktok) said it best about Cait Corrain: she didn't understand her audience AND she didn't care about them.

Girl just played herself.

#reviewbomb 2023 #cait corrain #book drama #how do you eff this up so bad?

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sluttypatrickstar · 5 months

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cait corrain got dropped by her publisher, agent, and illumicrate lol. wishing all the best for the debuts they review bombed next year 💖💖

#cait corrain #book drama #what frustrates me is other authors implying that this has happened before?? super fucked up

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reblogalanaartdream · 5 months

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The writer of iron widow sharing the tea about that awful Cait Corrain

#book drama #the tea on the book drama #cait corrain #cait corrain drama

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fixyourwritinghabits · 2 years

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countblucas: A lot of adults, and I mean probably a staggering number of them, haven’t mentally and emotionally matured. They aren’t self aware enough to realize that, oh I am an adult reading something targeted to teenagers who are developmentally different than an adult. And if they feel the same as they do as adults as they did at teens (or think they do) then these YA books should reflect their tastes. 1/2

A lot of people don’t realize how much their perceptions truly change. They think at this current point in their life they’ve always been this way. But a person’s perceptions are drastically different at age 15 to age 25 to age 35 and so on. 2/2

A not insignificant problem with adult books I will absolutely admit to is that there's no way to tell what the next step up is from what you've been reading for the last ten years. If you try to leap from Nicola Yoon to Ken Follett right away, you are probably in for a bad time. My favorite book may be Shelley Jackson's RIDDANCE, but good lord am I not going to recommend that to someone who has no idea what they're in for.

This is why New Adult is something much talked about on twitter - a step up for those passing through college and beyond, not the limited romance genre it's currently stuck at. I don't necessarily agree that it requires it's own genre - plenty of books that fit this description do exist and I worry it would end up pigeon-holing a lot of woman authors - but that lack of guidance is definitely there, and it's very easy to fall off the reading wagon as a busy adult who can't find what they like.

I have absolutely no problem with adults who read YA and still like it, telling people what they should or should not read is quite silly. I, an old foggy, still read YA/MG both because I write for it and because I like it. But like you said, people don't tend to realize why these books aren't clicking like they used to, and boy the lack of self-reflection is frustrating.

#book drama #also hey kids did you like HOUSE OF LEAVES #did you want it to involve 1920s spiritualism and weird-ass shit?#read Shelley Jackson's Riddance Or The Sybil Joines Vocational School for Ghost Speakers & Hearing-Mouth Children!

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bookphile · 1 year

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I’ve been in the book community for over a decade at this point, and I’m still somehow surprised when I hear about an author acting like a jerk towards a reviewer. It’s the year 2023, how do authors -- especially younger authors who grew up with the internet -- still don’t know online etiquette or author v reviewer etiquette? And worst of all, I don’t understand how other people can watch them behave like a jerk and still support them in any way.

#This is about CJ Pipper dog pilling on a book reviewer and sending people to mass flag their account and getting it perma banned from tiktok #booklr #book drama #book news #how many authors have we had behave this way #this is as bad as lauren hough last year #she's the new anne rice

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frankchurchillsaysrelax · 4 months

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the latest booktwt drama is actually fascinating while simultaneously being so dumb

i highly recommend watching the withcindy video about it

#booktwt #book drama #cait corrain

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whimsyandbooks · 5 months

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Okay, so I got an eARC for Crown of Starlight by Cait Corrain, because I loved Play to Win and I was sure CoS was going to be great. BUT. With everything coming to light about the shady stuff they've done, I can't rate or read it in good conscience. So, others who rate books on NetGalley, what do I do? I don't want to potentially ruin my feedback ratio for such a stupid reason, and I don't want to leave a blank and/or review that would make Del Rey not want to give me early copies again. Help?! Do y'all think they'll remove it from NetGalley? should I just review it as DNF?

#netgally #net gally #book review question #book review #Cait corrain #crown of starlight #help #book drama #author drama

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rubiatinctorum · 4 months

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oh you guys would not BELIEVE what you're missing over on twitter right now, it's days like this i'm glad i kept my account. someone with one of the ugliest book covers to ever try to be the kindle version of shovelware and over-expository plasticky feeling prose is trying to cry copyright over sun controlling powers.

#rubia speaks #writing #books #book drama #i try to stay out of book drama bc it's a bad look for authors to join the fucking circus but. HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS #laura m davis #nova's playlist #what is it this month with authors trying to bring down people better than them to get some quick internet fame #first it was the review bomb person and now it's this shit

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theinquisitxor · 2 years

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Book drama?? Tell me everything! 👀

It's a lot to explain, so buckle up.

(Also, I'd like to preface this by saying that this is an on-going story, and I don't have the answers, and everything going on is purely speculative and opinionated)

Alex Aster went off as a viral Tiktoker who got some sort of outrageous book deal (we're talking 7 figures) when one of her Tiktok's of her book pitch went viral. She has since made quite the internet presence for herself and is a marketing queen.

Her book, Lightlark, is coming out on the 23rd. And people have started to get ARCs, and many have realized that the book is... disappointing. And not necessarily how Aster marketed/pitched the book.

Some people have started realize that there is something fishy going on, and have been speculating that she is an industry plant, engaging in the mass market of booktok, the publishing industry trying to make a new star, and paying people for good reviews.

So:

Aster claims that she was rejected by many (16?) publishers before her viral tiktok and she has a very 'bootstraps' story of how she has been so successful. She also got a movie deal, and is friends with many other young, ya authors who have found themselves recently very successful.

Her social media is full of her 'story' and promotion for her book, and general 'successful young woman' type stuff. She is also latinx, and has been marketing her book as a poc story.

On her social media, she was pitching her book as a hunger games and acotar mashup (or really, just a mashup of any and all ya/fantasy tropes).

Flash-forward to the past few days when people's pre-orders and ARCs have started coming in. People have started to make comments about how poorly written the book is, how it's not what they were expecting, and does't contain the stuff that Aster put in her videos.

It was also just revealed that her sister has a business that is worth something like 220 million, and that Aster comes from a place of privilege and wasn't necessarily open about that. I don't really care if she is privileged or not, but she created this 'bootstraps' image about herself when her family gave her a 15k loan. Other writers (like Victoria Aveyard) have been very clear about the privilege they come from, and that's great, good for them. As long as you are clear about it.

There are also some fishy 5 star goodreads reviews. These accounts have no image, only a couple of other ratings, and just seem like bot/fake accounts expressly there to boost the ratings. Now that the goodreads page has been flooded with lower reviews, the average rating is down to something like 3.6 stars. But-- people are saying that negative reviews are being deleted (which is only fueling the speculation that she is an industry plant).

I really don't know what to think right now. Do I believe people saying that the writing is poor, and the book is overall bad? A little. But some people seem to be genuinely enjoying it, and that's great for them. I don't necessarily think she's an 'industry plant' but rather someone who is privileged and lucky, and wrote some generic ya booktok fantasy that was wayyy overhyped (by herself) and now it's starting to come crashing down. Or it's all just a way for more marketing/sales. Who's to know.

#alex aster #lightlark #booktok #book drama

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stormblessed95 · 10 months

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Not the middle aged cishet white man crafting an entire persona online to pretend to be a young out and proud lesbian author to promote his own Sapphic romance books he wrote as own voices and get more of a queer following. What the actual fuck is wrong with him?! Even interviewing his own persona for an author interview as himself and having "her" promote his books to "her" audience since they were "good friends."

It's Adam Gaffen and AC Adams btw. For anyone who wants to look into this more. God, the audacity 🤢😭

#book drama

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west529 · 2 months

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SPOILER ALERT🚨

I’ll post here some revelation from Lightlark that I can remember in order to compare the changes when the movie is released.

Celeste was a traitor. 💔 She wasn’t even Celeste at all��

Grim and Isla were in love, even before the Centennial. But Isla’s memories were erased, by Grim himself.

Isla had powers all along but Aurora had Terra and Poppy made her to believe otherwise.

Terra and Poppy killed Isla’s parents, all from Aurora’s threat to perish all Wildlings.

Aurora was supposedly engaged to King Egan, the brother of Oro, but the King loved Violet, a Wildling. This was her Villain arc, she spun the curses, accidentally. Aurora was quite a yapper XD

King Oro fell for Isla thinking it was because of her Wildling powers and He seemed to despise Isla for it — always standing His guard. But when Isla told her secret he realized that it was natural all along since Isla didn’t yield any power to enchant (or at least not encouraged making it dormant almost useless).

The Starstick was not a Starling Relic, but a Nightshade Relic!

Just the major ones I remember, I don’t think they’ll do a big change in the plot since these are common important parts… but we never know. 🙏🏻

#lightlark #alex aster #ya fiction #ya books #young adult #book romance #bookaddict #book drama #booklover #books & libraries #bookworm #bookish #book review #books and reading #literature #book quotes #movies #universal

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sule-skerry · 7 days

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You are 51 years old and your dad is literally Stephen King. Be a sweetheart and don't whine about a three star Goodreads review.

#this was so bad I thought it was a bit #book drama

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storminmoon · 1 year

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Read somewhere that the things you don't speak of, don't die. They are buried alive and will return, to haunt you.

storminmoon

#aesthetic #celia st james #evelyncelia #harry cameron #style #spilled ink #tshoeh #larry stylinson #armie x timmy #cmbyn #love poem #english literature #book drama #poems and poetry #artwork #art

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cicadabooks · 1 year

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https://upstreamreviews.substack.com/p/not-dead-yet

I’m surprised this wonky book world news about this author (Susan Meachen) hasn’t made it to Tumblr more yet. Tldr: faked her own death two years ago and then popped back up recently.

#susan meachen #books #book drama #well #that's something all right I guess

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infinitemonkeytheory · 5 months

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There’s no real good lesson here — outside of obvious things like, “Hey don’t be weird and do racism and bigotry against your fellow authors?” I want to say, again, be aware of your fellow authors as community rather than competition and try not to fall prey to the teeth-grinding hustle-culture “don’t gotta run faster than the Obscurity Bear just gotta run faster than the author next to me” attitude but mostly, it’s the “don’t be weird and creepy” thing. Be good to other authors, be good to yourself, don’t make it weird. I’m not sure it gets much more complex than that.

#book drama #goodreads

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