yeah it was supposed to be a plot twist and that’s what drove me to read more thrillers because i’m not the kind of person to catch hints or easter eggs in books - or any other media actually - so it’s a guaranteed surprise but in this case that i was so excited for a female antihero (A MURDERER!!!!!) the author stabbed me in the back 🤧

the road trip is by beth o’leary, from what i remember from the flat share the filth levels on her books are toe-curlingly low, just a warning haha but what drove me to it is the dual pov which for me is so easy to be written poorly when in first person (in the case of the male MC) so i’m excited to get to it

exactly!! there’s so much emotion in a simple kiss that when you don’t describe it, it gets lost! i’m not that into the pining part of romances actually hahaha to be honest it’s rare that those hundreds of pages are paid off you know?? that’s what got me into period novels, like bridgerton the first and second book when they get married real quick and i get a sex scene halfway in. the only case lots of pining is worth it for me is when all the angst is masked by loads and loads of banter, more on the funny, snarky side

oh please ramble away none of my friends are romance readers so i need the internet on this end haha

~goodreads anon

Nah, it's literally a backstabbing. I might be too judgmental, but like a plot twist is good when there are hints across the book and you feel something is coming, but can't pinpoint it. A plot twist is not good if you can guess it after the second clue nor is it good when it comes out nowhere like a sudden second thought. I wouldn't even call the second option a plot twist. Sure, the plot takes a different direction, but like such sudden events make me feel like it was an after thought to create some sort of reaction, if that makes sense.

"Toe-curlingly low"... god, I love this xD I'm not a big fan of different povs. I can still handle two if the story is really interesting, I can go with that, but more than 2, such as Throne of Glass... you'll se me run. I finished Throne of Glass, it's not bad, but you won't see me reading that again. How many was it at the end? 7-9 povs? Nah, I don't have the patience to jump around events like a time traveller. I hope you will like 'The road trip' though. I might read it too, but first I have an endless TBR list screaming at me. :D

I get you. Sometimes the pinning is used only to expand the book and in those cases it makes me go mad. But when there is that tension and built up frustration mixed with insults, banter, and witty come backs, and you can actually feel the vibe through the story, the dialogues, the featherlight touches described... that's where I melt into a puddle. ^^

"When they get married real quick and i get a sex scene halfway in" lol, I love to see that your priorities are in place xD But yeah arranged marriage, forced proximity and the like are always a goodie. Like give me the "we hate each other, but not really, so we mask it with insults and banter" vibe. xD

‘Heloise the book addict’ masterlist | Heloise’s map

You're reading fourth wing?? Please share your thoughts. I heard it sucks absolute ass

I'm only 10 chapters in but here are my first impressions

Rebecca Soler of the TLC audiobooks, which I have listened to a small million of times, is doing the narration. Meaning I am imagining Cinder most of the time. Whoopsie.

The MC's hair. That's all I am gonna say.

The lack of description, the vocabulary, and the MC's sarcastic personality and way of speaking made me think we're in some kind of a modern dragon land. Imagine my surprise when 8 chapters in i find out they don't even have PENS because we ARE IN TRADITIONAL OLD TIMEY FANTASY.

There was a scene where the MC is in a very dangerous situation so she decides to take her mind off of it by... reciting basic information about the country she lives in. It's some of the clunkiest worldbuilding I've ever witnessed and I was too busy laughing to pay attention so now I don't know anything about the geography or political landscape. Like imagine if listing the countries your homeland borders on took up so much of your mental capacity that you forgot you were about to die.

My largest impression: this is just Divergent but they are allowed to say "fuck". It's literally Divergent. Not based on worldbuilding, but the tone and the tropes and the writing style and the characters. This book belongs in 2012 by all accounts except its publication date.

All in all: this is a Rat Circle of Hell book club pick so I did not expect to like it, but. Hot damn. I think you're right and it shall suck absolute ass

do you (or your followers) maybe have any story recs with protagonists similiar to a stain that won’t dissolve alex and/or spoils efnisien? they both have this tragic fragility/vulnerability about them that i really enjoy reading about lol

Opening this one out to everyone else, because I generally write what I can't find, and that's pretty much my main motivator as a writer, so I don't usually have recs on hand that aren't already in my AO3 bookmarks or on Goodreads.

Hey this is the perspn who told u could easily pass as a renoir model

Will you be able to share your goodreads account ?

my goodreads is private, but here are some of the books on my favorites shelf :)

and if you're following me on twitter I often share what I'm currently reading on there

could you explain why you hate evelyn hugo? 😭 genuine question no aggressiveness meant ive just heard it's a pretty popular book (haven't read it yet)

Oh yeah no worries haha

I find the central relationships, especially the main romance, to be utterly hollow and devoid of chemistry or foundation. You leave the book knowing pretty much nothing about anyone, and the writing wasn’t good enough to make up for the lack of human connection.

The other narrator (who isn’t Evelyn) was written in the exact way I would expect a white woman to write a mixed Black woman, as Evelyn was written in the exact way I would expect a straight white woman to write a bisexual Cuban woman. The twist was just kind of “oh no… anyway.”

I cared about no one and nothing in that book (except maybe the daughter who we barely saw anything of) and it was just BAD and I stand by that 😤 I think we’re just still really desperate for sapphic/lesbian/bisexual romance novels, but we deserve better than whatever that book was

Sorry if this is too broad question but could you share some recs of books/articles/readings about fairytales and/or folkloristics? It's one of those subjects I've always been interested in but I'm never sure how to find good readings for it 😅 On a similar note, do you happen to have a goodreads/storygraph acc and would you be ok with strangers following you? Totally fine if the answer is no btw! Hope you have a good day!

well let me start by saying @obeetlebeetle is by far the better person to put this question to and i would love to hear his recs if he feels like adding any : )

so far i have read the case of peter pan, or the impossibility of children’s fiction by jacqueline rose and i'm in the middle of off with their heads: fairytales and the culture of childhood by maria tatar. i tried to read princess floralinda and the forty flight tower but it was really doing NOTHING for me sorry tzmuir nation.. feel free to tell me if the ending makes it worth it or smth

on my pile: phillip pullman's edition of the grimm fairytales, fairytales by robert walser, the book of goose by yiyun li, morphology of the folktale, and the classic fairytales ed. maria tatar.

i am also getting a lot out of gothic studies which i think dovetails nicely with fairytale analysis; i recently read and enjoyed gothic incest by jenny diplacidi and the contested castle by kate ferguson ellis is next on my list. also upcoming: skin shows / gothic horror and the technology of monsters by jack halberstam, gothic queer culture by laura westengard, and queer gothic by george haggerty.

finally, i have been going back to reread authors whose plots and prose give me fairytale vibes; this is not really based on anything besides general themes of horror, domestic terror, and the violence/beauty nexus, but ive gotten a lot out of rereads of the bluest eye and the handmaid's tale and am planning to reread we have always lived in the castle next. i also want to read deerskin by robin mckinley!

additionally you might find things i've forgotten under #neverafter and/or #pure heroine

atlas complex hater why?

i meant it jokingly but also kinda not. idk if i'll actually end up being a hater, i probably won't care enough to hate hjkhkjhjkhk. i am not a big fan of the atlas six series to begin with—it is one of THEE examples of "interesting concept, horrible execution" to me. it's a mess in my opinion. and given how ta6 and tap were written, how flimsy the world building is (still! after two books!), and how the narrative was structured i cannot see tac being any better. overall, this story feels a little pseudo-intellectual to me because it takes itself too seriously without actually delivering much of the substance it is promising. so, i do not expect an ending that is emotionally resonant and/or satisfying. also, the beloveds, who know my taste pretty well, said it will most likely pissed me off so i am prepared for this book to go in a direction that will not work for me. let it be said tho, i Want to like it. i will go into it Trying to like it. but blake is always very hit or miss for me. ((good news is i finished masters of death and absolutely loved it!!))

Do you like any other social media app besides Tumblr?

I watch YouTube a lot but I dont know if that counts as social media? I really don't use any social media these days except tumblr to post things myself

Hi! I just wanted to tell you that I really, really LOVE hartswood. I read it in one go on my day off and when my girlfriend came home from work, I almost screamed at her that we have to read this book together so she can fangirl with me (she was just halfway through the door and a bit suprised by my book recommendation attack). The next day we began reading it together and she absolutely loves it, too. We love your writing style, we absolutely adore the characters you created and we are excited to see what you're going to write in the future. (Whatever it is, we are absolutely going to pre-order it, again!) Love from Germany!

Oh my gosh anon, thank you so much! This is such a lovely message aaaaa 😭😭

I am SO GLAD that you enjoyed it (and that your girlfriend is also enjoying it sdfsj) THANK YOU!!

so here comes the rant: the book is about this girl who plans since childhood to kill her runaway dad’s family but ends up in jail for the only murder she didn’t commit!!! it’s real good in making you root for a murderer and feel some sort of compassion towards her BUT THE ENDING MADE ME WANNA SCREAM i mean when the girl is about to leave jail she receives an email from a long lost brother she didn’t know she had telling her HE KILLED THEIR DAD AND STOLE HER MONEY AND IS NOW THREATENING HER INTO SILENCE - summing up: a cishet stole all her glory and hard work

i also read romances pretty much exclusively this one i was taking about had like snippets of love but now i’m jumping into a dual pov romance (the road-trip) to soothe my fluff withdrawal

you know what? these exact questions also swirl through my mind when i’m with any group of people that are not my close friends HAHAHA precisely the “am i too loud?” when i start rambling

long analytical reviews are a turnoff for me too i think i’d like them in person like in a book club of sorts but online i just skim through some when i’m not sure if i should buy a book or not - and same here, the more filth the better!! the other day i read this amazing super cute book called just last night but the girl didn’t even describe their kiss!!!! she was like “i kissed him and he kissed me back enthusiastically” and cut 🙄

~goodreads anon

Lol, that's so disappointing! I'm sorry! I know it was probably a plot twist of some kind or something but these types of twists make me so mad when I read one :D

Never heard of The Road Trip so I'll look into it!

Understandable! I mean when you are around people you don't really know or not as close with, there are always these little evil thoughts/voices trying to make you doubt yourself :)

Same. Analytic reviews are good, but like I prefer them if it's in a face to face conversation or if someone is specifically writing these reviews for the authors or readers, requesting them to review certain books. However when I read reviews, I prefer them short and sweet. Give me a short summary, the tropes that you found in the book, a short description of the characters as in broody villain or sunshine heroine etc. With that I get a small picture of what to expect and I can decide whether it interests me or not.

Oh no! I love a detailed description of intimate moments. I remember once I read a book, don't ask me what it was, and the MC kissed the FMC and that was it. After hundreds of pages of pinning, it was literally, "so we kissed"... anticlimactic if you ask me. We need to know the details. Make the kiss and filthy as possible xD But thanks for the heads up, I won't read Just Last Night. Romance is a huge part of every book I read. I'm a sucker for it. I personally don't even like when the FMC and MC don't even meet until about 1/2 of a book. Like at least make them appear for a moment here and there like Rhys was in ACOTAR. You don't have to make them the main focus, but make their presence known. Sorry, I'm rambling.

‘Heloise the book addict’ masterlist | Heloise’s map

I use StoryGraph instead of goodreads but I would love to hear your thoughts on fourth wing

*clearing my throat* my moment has come😈

i haven’t finished it yet (nearly done tho), but i’m sooo frustrated by that book u have no idea, especially since i was excited to read it bc it looked to be rly hyped up and had dragons—so i had to read it!!!

…..my biggest mistake ever. tbh it’s not the worst book i’ve ever read and i can see why people (mostly people who don’t read fantasy) enjoy it, but at the same time the writing style is SO juvenile. i’m not kidding when i say this book has the simplest prose i’ve ever read🥴. i think what’s kept me reading is 1) i bought it and i’m broke so i should at least finish it and 2) the dragons are really cool. that’s my fav part abt my reading experience tbh; i rly like all the lore we get abt them and then when they actually appear it’s fun to see how each has its own personality and just….dragons. dragons!!!! i love dragons lmao. but i hate hate HATE the world building apart from that and i know next to nothing abt the specifics of WHY tf they’re at war and i’m nearly done and also i think the romance is super tacky and not at all natural (tho it could be if we actually knew SOMETHING more about xaden’s personality and had their relationship built on actual trust and understanding instead of what it mostly is: attraction). i think those r my biggest problems: the world building is so shit that i can’t bring myself to care about what’s going on right now and i’m not buying their relationship + the prose is rly taking me out, especially since it’s supposed to be fantasy. it’s just very strange.

tldr; im disappointed by this book and i can’t possibly comprehend how fourth wing is so famous. i really really cant. i did enjoy some parts but overall there’s so many more fantasy books that do all the things fourth wing is doing but better. and now im scared to see what the future holds for the publishing industry if this is what blows up 😭

today is such a pretty day. just went for a short walk & admired the peonies in my neighborhood 💗

naruto one piece etc are for 12 year olds bruh no one who feels that strongly about children cartoons has very interesting opinions

Yes you are clearly so much smarter and mature than me yet you dont know how to mind your business ❤

comic recs comic recs comic recs [NO MARVEL-ESQUE]

kroma by de felici! severely underrated 4-issue fantasy mini series that’s about to end. the art is gorgeous and it’s about a city that’s run by fanatics who believe people must live without color in order to survive a world where monsters lay beyond the city gates and a girl that they’ve been locking away since she was a baby because they believe she’s going to bring the end times

hi i wanted to ask if you were comfortable w/ ppl following you on goodreads? if its too parasocial i would get that. i really enjoy your writing so i figured you'd probably have fantastic taste in books.

have a great day! :)

totally fine with it, i only even made it after someone on here asked me to ! and thank you that’s very sweet i like to think i have good taste too haha

however i will warn you that 1) i am a terribly inconsistent reader 2) i often forget to use goodreads for months on end and 3) the only regular reading i do atm is all in spanish. so if that’s all fine for you then go ahead.

hope you have a good day too :))

hi cossette! i hope you had an enchanted weekend 💜 if it’s alright, i’d like to ask you for some advice: what are some tips for breaking out of a reading slump? i want to read but it’s like i can’t convince my brain to do it 💔 thank you in advance!

hi sweet friend!! you're always welcome to ask me anything 🧸 i hope you had a magical weekend too!! 🤍

i want to preface this with saying that reading is supposed to be a hobby, it's supposed to be something fun for you! if you're not having fun with it at the moment, it's okay to not read for as long as you want/need to and do other things instead! there's no pressure at all; whatever reading goals you set at the beginning of the year are really inconsequential, at the end of the day. the last couple of months, i was pushing myself to read ~ 20 books a month, for no reason at all. last month, i read 25 books because i asked my friend to pick a number between 1 and 25, and they picked 23, and i decided i had to beat that number anyways. it is all very silly, and i am also very aware of how silly this all is as i'm typing this out to you! no one cares how many books i read! i don't care how many books i read either! none of this matters if i'm not enjoying it! this month, i decided to just read what i felt like reading without trying to reach an arbitrary goal, and as silly as that sounds, it really helped me. i'm giving you permission to read 0 books this month or to read 1 book this month if that is what you need 🤍 my friends are really good at reminding me that reading is a hobby and giving me permission to not read as much as i feel like i need to and to take breaks, so i figured i'd remind you of that too!

anyways, in terms of reading slumps: it might be helpful if you can identify the cause of your reading slump — are you just not feeling your current read(s)? are you having a "book hangover" from your last book? was your last read that good (or that awful)? is there other stuff going on that's making it hard to focus on reading? are you just burnt out from reading? for me, i usually get into reading slumps because i've either been just reading for content creating/reading ARCs/gifted reads/etc and not books i actually want to read, because i've just been reading too much, because i really don't like a recent read, or because i've been reading too much of a specific genre (usually fantasy).

some things that help me with getting out of reading slumps are changing genres (for example: i got fantasy'ed out earlier this year because i was trying to read a high fantasy book and then just 180'ed and did not touch anything high fantasy for months), rereading an old favorite (there's less pressure, you already know what happens, you know you love it, it's comforting), buddy reading (this one sometimes works — it has to be a pretty low stakes buddy read so you don't feel bad for backing out if you really aren't feeling that book, but sometimes i find it helpful to be able to discuss a book with someone), or listening to an audiobook! i've found that i really enjoy listening to audiobooks when i'm doing other things (cleaning, walking my dog, playing on my switch, giffing, etc.), and i've had friends tell me that listening to an audiobook while doing something else (like playing an idle game on their phone) has tricked their brain back into reading! a change of scenery might also help too — i usually read in bed before i sleep, but tonight, i ended up sitting in my chair next to toto and reading instead! putting electronics away while i read is something that i also find helpful if i'm slumping hard (less distractions).

one of my friends mentioned this tip a while back and i can't remember what it's called exactly (something about 50 pages?), but essentially, you put a bookmark/post it note/etc. after 50 pages (or whatever number of pages you want to get through) — sometimes having a physical marker helps! i've been doing this with les misérables, and it's made annotating the book a lot less daunting (even though i've read it before).

if i'm really trying to get through an ARC, and struggling, sometimes i'll text a friend and say "i want to be done with [X] pages/ i want to have finished [ X ] chapters" by a certain time and have them check in! having an accountability buddy does help for me (hence why buddy reads also sometimes work to get me out of a slump!).

the other thing i'll try if i'm really struggling is i'll pick a low-stakes book, or a hate read (but in an entertaining way). sometimes a hate read kickstarts me back into reading. going into a book knowing that i will probably not like it (for example, if it has a trope i don't like) takes the pressure off of liking it and sometimes i end up being pleasantly surprised by how much i enjoyed it!

this ask got so long, and i apologize!! i hope you get out of your reading slump soon 🤍 i'm always here if you want to chat, if you want book recs, or if you want to buddy read or anything 🤍