tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-92027799762393588142024-03-14T01:22:59.691-07:00Transitive VerveThe unabashed love of everything bookishThuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comBlogger232125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-27659867806452641822022-05-12T10:49:00.003-07:002022-05-12T10:49:40.388-07:00Author spotlight: Olivia Dade<p> After my previous post on romance tropes that I dislike, I wanted this next post to be about a romance writer that I am really enjoying right now, and whom I think deserves some attention! (Note: I don't know her, have never talked to her, am not working for her, etc. I just really admire her writing.)</p><p>I am currently trying to complete Book Riot's <a href="https://bookriot.com/read-harder-2022/" target="_blank">Read Harder challenge for 2022</a>, and task #7 is "Read a romance where at least one of the protagonists is over 40." When Book Riot sent out their list of suggestions for the task, Olivia Dade's book, <i>40-Love</i>, was on the list. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaxgckfaF6yb1NQf4V47UhPWW1DBBGGNt6xOj8p95Ufuz5HrWGfyKlWp2pRL429k_Yjzb8uJJcxKSLoo3_GFzEaA0SYqzwl0eUlDlBxdja_a1u2o4KMPeAs9QnpLXcX9p-gNkCDkrTf_nigSXty1e0HOJmQMezwvQ0wXq29G0UQsGIOtyCGJfRZHy5ig/s500/511VBz6sq7L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="313" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaxgckfaF6yb1NQf4V47UhPWW1DBBGGNt6xOj8p95Ufuz5HrWGfyKlWp2pRL429k_Yjzb8uJJcxKSLoo3_GFzEaA0SYqzwl0eUlDlBxdja_a1u2o4KMPeAs9QnpLXcX9p-gNkCDkrTf_nigSXty1e0HOJmQMezwvQ0wXq29G0UQsGIOtyCGJfRZHy5ig/s320/511VBz6sq7L.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p>As you can tell from the cover, the protagonist is a fat woman. Not merely "curvy," the way some books will describe their protagonists (when really they mean, she has an hourglass figure and flat stomach, a la Kim Kardashian or something), but an actual plus-sized woman. So I saved it to my TBR list.</p><p>HOWEVER, that was not the book I ended up reading. <i>Teach Me, </i>which is in the same series, caught my eye because, well, it's about teachers!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyeY9t3TEyDHmvnYW-rcFQBtywXBZq2jvA_gVHqbBK4cphUxeEckxC1UvhxBGMXgKqZGDyBV3fhGMd1W6g7-VzbHTA4zTc6NG5crW5yMReoUGHCE2WEqU0USFenGh3KJsSnpc6hj_r7Op2VX24-dUZDAVS_vDvvLqpPpinJ-pGIUx6LfA_qMGYXtSihA/s500/415vOcW3KVL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="313" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyeY9t3TEyDHmvnYW-rcFQBtywXBZq2jvA_gVHqbBK4cphUxeEckxC1UvhxBGMXgKqZGDyBV3fhGMd1W6g7-VzbHTA4zTc6NG5crW5yMReoUGHCE2WEqU0USFenGh3KJsSnpc6hj_r7Op2VX24-dUZDAVS_vDvvLqpPpinJ-pGIUx6LfA_qMGYXtSihA/s320/415vOcW3KVL.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p>(Also, how damn cute are these covers? I'm not embarrassed about the fact that I read romance, but I kinda prefer these illustrated covers over the typical photos of nearly naked models.)</p><p>So, now we have a 40-year-old, plus-sized protagonist who is also a high school teacher? Count me in!</p><p><i>Teach Me</i> did not disappoint (and I immediately read <i>40-Love</i> and some of her other books afterward). I LOVED reading about a woman my age who looks like me (body-wise; not Asian), who also has the same overall job as I do, and is written like a fully-realized human being. The romantic struggles in this book are not due to her being fat or being "old." (In quotes because 40 seems to be old by romance novel standards.) Those are her descriptors, but they are not her entire character. </p><p>The development of the characters, as well as the romance, plus the bonus joy of realizing that Olivia Dade seems to actually know what it's like to be a high school teacher (it was probably the most accurate fictional depiction I've ever read--I think her bio said that she used to teach as well), made for a really enjoyable read, as well as an empowering one. I felt SO excited, and SO refreshed, and just so SEEN. There is no better feeling than the validation of aspects of your identity when you're reading.</p><p>I realized afterward that her name and the artwork of her books was familiar to me because I have seen her book <i>Spoiler Alert</i> in store before, and again, noticed the size of the heroine:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwjNmCXQO-PCGT5Kntpk2WiWKS9JgWhxzNYLs_9JWd0Su88bPAqagSw47kWQwXCr6kV8-zl57ghX-DAcuMFdl3zUhNrDlqEFB47O90E1GzLpjhRs085gvE7M3OzmqcoQZQyuDwzTh1EqdTEWJuXaWyQJGAHIWeUX3Nlb0wQX6QzIzIYLeI7laWehtKYg/s500/51Nn+tbvMYL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="332" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwjNmCXQO-PCGT5Kntpk2WiWKS9JgWhxzNYLs_9JWd0Su88bPAqagSw47kWQwXCr6kV8-zl57ghX-DAcuMFdl3zUhNrDlqEFB47O90E1GzLpjhRs085gvE7M3OzmqcoQZQyuDwzTh1EqdTEWJuXaWyQJGAHIWeUX3Nlb0wQX6QzIzIYLeI7laWehtKYg/s320/51Nn+tbvMYL.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><p>I had honestly mistaken this for a YA book at the time because of the cover style and the book blurb (about a girl--who is actually a woman in her 30s--who is a fanfiction writer), but being now familiar with Dade's writing, I knew it was definitely an adult novel. I read this one as well as its sequel, <i>All the Feels</i>, and I loved it so much. I loved how Dade never once treats being a fic-writing, cosplaying, hardcore fan of something as being ridiculous or frivolous--being in a fandom is often where we find community, friends, and family. </p><p>There are a couple other series of hers that I haven't read yet, but I definitely plan to! I have loved everything I've read from her, and her books have refreshed my love for romance in a big way--I am finding myself looking for similar books that are more like sexier rom coms, with dynamic characters who are more than just bombshells and beefcakes. (Another writer I'm loving: Ali Hazelwood. Maybe I'll post about her books later.)</p>Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-84722486858433085972022-04-26T17:36:00.001-07:002022-04-26T17:36:28.316-07:00Romance tropes I'm not in love with<p>As a longtime reader of romance, I naturally have preferences about what I enjoy in my books, same as everyone else. This isn't meant to be some sort of revelatory list full of deep insight, but just a share-out of what makes me choose to keep reading a book, and what makes me DNF it.</p><p>I do want to issue a disclaimer, though, that it's a list that comes from a longtime relationship with the genre. I don't think it's fair to be the sort of person who scoffs at romance, who doesn't take it seriously or see the good in the genre or has read it extensively <i>in good faith </i>(hate-reading doesn't count), and THEN come up with a list of what's not great about it--I'm making this list BECAUSE I love reading romance, and I want to see the good things get better, and the bad things decrease. </p><p>So without further ado... romance tropes (or even just literary/fiction tropes) that I'm not in love with, in no particular order:</p><p><b>Racial insensitivity</b> - This one is a "duh," but what is not so obvious is how it might show up. I'll give you some examples, without naming the authors or the books:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>A book where the main character is a white girl, and she has "endearingly" nicknamed her large Black male neighbor "Gorilla"</li><li>A book where the presumably-white female MC describes a man she's checking out as Latino and then interjects a <i>Muy caliente!</i> to further emphasize her point</li><li>A book where the Other Woman is described as Asian, meek/docile, and is basically just a sex object for the man who's having an affair with her, and has no other personality or even any dialogue. </li></ul><div>Am I calling these authors racist and demanding that they be cancelled? Of course not. But as a person of color, I have every right to close that book and move on. Especially when there are plenty of writers (of all races) who don't do this kind of thing (personally, I'd rather read a book with all-white people living in a monoracial bubble than read an author's poor attempt at diversity), and who don't respond with "Well, I can't win either way, so if you want to read better representation, you should write that book yourself!" when politely asked about it. (Yes, that happened, and I don't read that author anymore. For the record, I DO write things just for myself that I'm interested in reading, and even if I wanted to publish it, I would have a much harder time as a person of color--the systemic racism of the publishing industry is wellllllll documented.)</div><div><br /></div><div>This is not solely a romance problem, but whereas I am seeing a major revolution in YA writing of publishing and promoting diverse voices, I see that less so in romance.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The catty, crazy, jealous ex/competition</b> - I really hate this one because it is ungenerous to women in a world that seems constantly at the ready to find the most ungenerous ways to view women. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'm sure there may actually be women who are catty to each other who possessive and jealous of their current/former /hopeful love interests. I'm sure there may actually be women out there who respond to romantic competition by behaving in ways that are grossly inappropriate to the situation. But you know what? I don't care to read it. These women as they are written come across as one-dimensional. They come across not as real people, but as plot devices (because that's how they're being used). They are painted wholly as villains and treated without any compassion--no one comes into this world behaving that way--in real life, people who behave this way do so as a response to how <i>they've</i> been treated or raised. </div><div><br /></div><div>I also don't love reading YA books about mean girls, by the way. Fiction is a world where we can create ANYTHING, and in a world where we can create ANYTHING, let's not create people like that. I'm not saying all people have to be happy and goodness and light; but if we are trying to be "realistic," then make those characters actual real people with real feelings instead of just being flat stereotypes to serve your plot needs.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Love and sex are only for the young</b> - I don't know if it's just the suggestions I get (from algorithms, not people), but for a while there, every single hero and heroine in the books I was reading was between the ages of 18-28. (Sometimes the men might be in their 30s, but not that often, and they were NOT courting women their own age.) I know that the idea of first love usually happens during those years, and that's what people love writing about, but I love the idea of reading about older people finding love (again) in their older years. </div><div><br /></div><div>I know those books are out there, because I recently read some! Olivia Dade has a really great series where they are alllll in their 40s! The idea that we as older people (I'm not even 40 yet, seriously) are still capable of hope and love and passion and positive changes, even after we have "come of age," is such a beautiful one. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Love and sex are only for the beautiful</b> - Speaking of Olivia Dade, her heroines are also fat. I say that not as disparagement, but as objective description. Sometimes authors will describe their heroines as "curvy," but curvy doesn't always equate to plus-sized--it just means that their heroines are lighter-weight, probably have a flat stomach, but have an hourglass figure. And the men in romance novels are like, always super muscular and gigantic. </div><div><br /></div><div>And I guess this is fine if your purpose for writing/reading romance is fantasy fulfillment? As a society, we are conditioned to picture model-like men and women for sexual fantasy. But obviously this is fantasy and not reality, because in real life, plenty of people of all shapes and sizes fall in love with and feel attraction to plenty of other people of all shapes and sizes. And plenty of people fall in love with <i>people</i> and not merely their bodies, despite the fact that popular media loves to show headless torsos in ads. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Alpha males</b> - To clarify, I define this as men who are domineering and controlling, who are take-charge and aggressive in their romantic and sexual pursuits. I'm supposing that this is named for the idea of an alpha male in a wolf pack, who leads everyone else, but seeing as how this type of hierarchy is not something that actually happens with wolf packs in the wild, it's actually kind of a myth. (I won't deep-dive into animal behaviorism here, mostly because I'm not THAT educated about it, but from what I read, it's something exhibited by wolves in captivity because they're vying for limited resources.)</div><div><br /></div><div>ANYWAY, some women like men like this, but I'm not into it. The idea of an Alpha male isn't inherently problematic (? I'm not sure), but depending on how it's written, it definitely could be, because then you get examples of men who ignore boundaries, don't care about consent, and are possibly downright abusive. But they get excused for their behavior because REALLY DEEP DOWN THEY ARE IN LUV WITH THE WOMAN, or the woman is just so HOT for him that she goes along with it. (Note: I do not consider this the same thing as someone being Dominant, because that is a specific context where there are rules.)</div><div><br /></div><div><b style="background-color: #fcff01;">(Warning for potential trigger in this next paragraph)</b></div><div><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">*****</span></div><div><br /></div><div>Like, I read a majorly popular romance series several years ago where the man quite literally grabs the woman by the you-know-what, but after her initial shock, she starts enjoying herself? So all is forgiven? And this is after she's already spent the first part of the book being growled at and emotionally pushed away. And then even after they have their happy ending, he's still SUPER growly and possessive about anyone going near his woman.</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">*****</span></div><div><b style="background-color: #fcff01;">(End warning)</b></div><div><br /></div><div>So yeah, I'm just not into that. Again, in a world where we can create anything, why does the vast majority of the men we create need to be hyper-masculine, incapable of recognizing and appropriately managing their emotions, and disrespectful of a woman's boundaries and agency? </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>This is not a complete list, and it's also not particularly a hot take or anything--I'm sure many people are bothered by the same things--but they are definitely things that would cause me to consider not finishing a book and trying to find something else to read. Because, ultimately, reading is what I do for fun, and if the book I'm reading is not enjoyable and really pinging some red flags, why keep reading it?</div><p></p>Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-76145759721504769932022-02-03T19:14:00.000-08:002022-02-04T13:19:48.083-08:00Stealing Buddha's Dinner by Bich Minh Nguyen<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjCzk8ywTbXnEYmvMhDs-S1bf_Eu5RU8Tr7wKyajfud5rFeEMtkIWLnM1cYYglrcPkdcdsI3rwv-frnlU8k-3Un7RoGu3teXxXJlKS0XwM_B5Keu7ZGNoXmn2ThzqBCyMtVtGD8eAL6xE86vfd82BpBl75xoClfCmRexPEPHiKrZxJ0MgJGzX0pxDmbmA=s500" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="326" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjCzk8ywTbXnEYmvMhDs-S1bf_Eu5RU8Tr7wKyajfud5rFeEMtkIWLnM1cYYglrcPkdcdsI3rwv-frnlU8k-3Un7RoGu3teXxXJlKS0XwM_B5Keu7ZGNoXmn2ThzqBCyMtVtGD8eAL6xE86vfd82BpBl75xoClfCmRexPEPHiKrZxJ0MgJGzX0pxDmbmA=s320" width="209" /></a></div><p></p><p>The downside of keeping a book journal instead of writing reviews on a book blog is that sharing those thoughts online isn't quite the same.</p><p>The upside, though, is that writing a <i>journal entry</i> by hand, instead of typing a <i>review</i>, shifts the gears in my head a little bit about how I want to frame my thoughts. I initially struggled REALLY hard about how I was going to review this book, and then I ended up deleting my draft altogether. And then I thought about deleting this entire blog altogether, because I wasn't sure if I still wanted to review books so much as just ruminate on them, which is why I started a book journal for myself. I don't know if I still want to offer my opinions on books for other people anymore; I want to explore my opinions on books for myself.</p><p>For now, though, I will just share what I wrote about this book, by posting the pictures of the pages from my book journal. I don't know if I will keep blogging, keep journaling, keep posting my journal on my blog... *shrug!* Anyway, I picked this book for Task 24 of Book Riot's 2022 Read Harder challenge, which was to pick a challenge from a previous year, and I picked 2021's "<a href="https://bookriot.com/read-harder-2021-a-food-memoir-by-an-author-of-color/" target="_blank">Read a food memoir by an author of color.</a>"</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDUyQtf8BE3ok_NVxViTwfMhR94-ZyBC63AarUosc-B2XCbkJ8879Fo4qEg8PJ8gixjFurd40e7RN3SKwFdyRH0RjaE8QElsIXJ8PRO1p1lzwfS_ZvYXkWuf37yIiMgEDu4pOEAxdBERdc98wG-68m0oXdEC1kzz-UB2cEfatJd_iJgpNgzGabypgvwg=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDUyQtf8BE3ok_NVxViTwfMhR94-ZyBC63AarUosc-B2XCbkJ8879Fo4qEg8PJ8gixjFurd40e7RN3SKwFdyRH0RjaE8QElsIXJ8PRO1p1lzwfS_ZvYXkWuf37yIiMgEDu4pOEAxdBERdc98wG-68m0oXdEC1kzz-UB2cEfatJd_iJgpNgzGabypgvwg=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqUhbXHzTYty9rz4PsDXJNjYb5kwX3W1MGZE1Bz16yw-F6QGaDURGXaEW58rCPtcfBEnQonGChjKx5BgmhaL6KLGwucHxpdotuprqrWVeg0_OyqkXc5289eDIHnmLO6o2c11HcFf9BSsNw5_n6WipSKtI_IQ8UqXGIqfvBROdtHRBJ5TbtREGo3Hn_Bg=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqUhbXHzTYty9rz4PsDXJNjYb5kwX3W1MGZE1Bz16yw-F6QGaDURGXaEW58rCPtcfBEnQonGChjKx5BgmhaL6KLGwucHxpdotuprqrWVeg0_OyqkXc5289eDIHnmLO6o2c11HcFf9BSsNw5_n6WipSKtI_IQ8UqXGIqfvBROdtHRBJ5TbtREGo3Hn_Bg=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-50397762666769944432021-05-28T11:55:00.003-07:002021-05-28T12:25:43.727-07:00The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GmTVgLIKQRQ/YLEwERTF0YI/AAAAAAAA2JI/z67HPg7UKRMyiyzjKiKKablE-A9g-UjlQCLcBGAsYHQ/s450/9780525555216.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="298" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GmTVgLIKQRQ/YLEwERTF0YI/AAAAAAAA2JI/z67HPg7UKRMyiyzjKiKKablE-A9g-UjlQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/9780525555216.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div><i>The Anthropocene Reviewed</i> began its life as a <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/anthropocene-reviewed" target="_blank">podcast</a>. Perhaps I should just share the podcast's description, because I really can't explain it better in my own words:</div><div><blockquote>The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. On The Anthropocene Reviewed, #1 New York Times bestselling author John Green (The Fault in Our Stars, Turtles All the Way Down) reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale.</blockquote></div><div>I'm not sure where along the way I started listening to the podcast, but while I liked it a lot, I also found myself putting off listening to the episodes because usually, when I listen to podcasts, it's because I'm doing something else and I just want some audio to fill the space while I'm doing what I'm doing. I knew after a couple of episodes that <i>TAR</i> is NOT a space-filler type of podcast; it deserves attention, and consideration, and reflection. Thus, I have not faithfully listened to every episode, but when I HAVE had the opportunity and attention span to listen, I have been blown away by the beauty and the thoughtfulness that Green puts into his work. </div><div><br /></div><div>When I found out that he was compiling a bunch of his <i>TAR</i> work into a book, I was thrilled! Now they would be in a form that I could really take my time with and experience all at once (like, just really IMMERSE MYSELF), instead of getting a new episode every week or two. I preordered the book, and I also purchased the audiobook. </div><div><br /></div><div>(I know, I know--why buy the audiobook and not just listen to the podcast for free? It's different, I PROMISE. Not just that Green's recording of it is different, but that my experience as a listener was different.)</div><div><br /></div><div>I should've known that I wouldn't make it out of the introduction without crying. (I mean, it IS John Green after all--I have a t-shirt printed with the cover of <i>The Fault in Our Stars</i>, but instead of the title of the book, it says "This book made me cry.") I have been saying, nearly constantly, that while Green is a really good fiction writer, it's his non-fiction that really gets me. He really shines here. </div><div><br /></div><div>Yes, this is a book in which he reviews *gestures vaguely* human things, but it's also partly memoir. No matter how much of a fan you already are of John Green (even if you're NOT already a fan of John Green), you will learn things that you didn't know about him or his life, particularly his mental health struggles (even his physical health struggles), his upbringing, his influences, etc. There's so much of him in this book, that it's hard not to review the book without reviewing him as a person, but I am honestly impressed. I know that we shouldn't make heroes out of celebrities, and John Green himself would probably prefer not to be hero-worshipped, but I can't help feeling more than ever, after finishing this book, that he's one of The Good Ones. </div><div><br /></div><div>John Green knows so much about SO MUCH. I mean, yes, I already knew he was a well-read, well-rounded, well-educated person, but the depths of knowledge he displays in this book are impressive and aspirational. The word "polymath" is now in my vocabulary, and I now want to BE one, though I know I just don't have the brain capacity for it. If you check the notes section for this book, Green lists all the different articles, books, and studies he's read regarding each thing, and I am simply envious of his ability to absorb all that knowledge and then synthesize it into this beautifully written book. (I have been inspired to look up everything that he talks about though---I went on YouTube to find video of Jerzy Dudek's goal saves, and I looked up the Werner Herzog documentary about the Lascaux cave paintings--I plan to watch it when I have more time.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway... the book. I primarily experienced it as an audiobook, though I did crack into the e-book to highlight quotes and passages that stood out to me (of which there were many!). One major difference between listening to the audiobook and listening to the podcast was that, when you get all the essays all together, there forms a larger lens through which we are viewing everything he discusses in the book, and that lens, of course, is the current pandemic that we are all in. Some of these essays are from pre-pandemic times, but the book itself was finished and compiled within the last year-ish, and of course, it's hard not to talk about humans without addressing the big thing that has affected humans worldwide this year. It's hard not to talk about how humans have affected the planet, and the life on this planet, especially other humans, without talking about the pandemic, and some of the essays specifically have major resonance with current events (like the one about the smallpox vaccine).</div><div><br /></div><div>But, lest you think this book is going to be a downer, it actually has an overwhelming message of hope. Yes, humans are capable of some pretty awful things, but we are also capable of so much that is awe-inspiring and wonderful. We have the ability and the consciousness not only to effect major changes, but we can also appreciate something as simple as a beautiful leaf or a sunset. We can come together to celebrate our favorite sports team's victory. We can create amazing art. We can eat a whole lot of hot dogs. We can save millions of lives from smallpox.</div><div><br /></div><div>If this review seems circuitous and winding, it's because I am so overwhelmed by this book that I don't even know how to focus my thoughts about it. I loved this book. This book has changed me. I have read so many books that were enjoyable but then immediately forgotten, and this is not one of those books. I think reading it has really affirmed the type of human that I want to be, which is not to say that I want to be like John Green, but that I want to be a human who leaves the world better than how I found it, in whatever way I can manage to do so. (And I do like that the book gives examples of ways to shape the world that that are both small and large.) This book has really impressed upon me the power of humans, or at least, the potential for power of humans, and while I can't change what other humans decide to do, I can control what <i>I</i> do, and hope that I find other humans who feel the same way. Humans have power, and we need to decide whether to use that power for good or for harm.</div><div><br /></div><div>Lastly, I'm not even much of a non-fiction reader, but this book has wormed its way into my Favorites. It is THAT good. It affected me THAT much.</div><div><br /></div><div>I give <i>The Anthropocene Reviewed</i> five stars.</div>Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-56509477028781417892021-04-24T17:13:00.002-07:002021-04-24T17:13:33.709-07:00I binged the Shadow and Bone Netflix series adaptation! Spoiler alert: I loved it.<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7tSfikD0HmU/YISfbe6UKEI/AAAAAAAA1zs/U5viee1tRdIlWaxRJJxYKCsPiw7ZGbeFgCLcBGAsYHQ/s622/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-24%2Bat%2B3.42.59%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="622" data-original-width="494" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7tSfikD0HmU/YISfbe6UKEI/AAAAAAAA1zs/U5viee1tRdIlWaxRJJxYKCsPiw7ZGbeFgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-24%2Bat%2B3.42.59%2BPM.png" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><i>*edited to add* I apologize for errors and typos and I typed most of this with one hand while holding a fussy baby.</i></p><p>I have been SO excited for this! I'm a big Leigh Bardugo fan, and I've been following the progress of this adaptation since they first announced it and started announcing the cast members. (PS--to see my reviews of the books, click the "Leigh Bardugo" tag! I still have not read the newest Grisha series though--I am going to reread the originals first.)</p><p>I'm not going to summarize the plot here because that's easily google-able, but I will sum up the major "difference," which is that the series combines the main plot of the original <i>Shadow and Bone</i> trilogy, and then melds in the <i>Six of Crows</i> characters by incorporating some new original content plus some character backstories, since SaB takes place a bit before SoC does. So we meet the Crows before the events of the actual books take place. So it really is a full Grishaverse that we get to see, because obviously Kaz, Inej. Jesper, etc. EXIST during the events of SaB, even if we haven't met them yet, so it was awesome to get to see a sort of Prologue for them.</p><p>I'm going to talk about the two series' elements separately, but first: a warning that the rest of this post will contain spoilers for the show (and the parts of the books that they cover, obviously). If you do NOT want to be spoiled, turn back now!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RmjdZqKNRcc/YISiyFl_q_I/AAAAAAAA1z0/6mJwEntGlLIhaugE5wRsfKCckZgKy4qpgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/SandB.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="676" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RmjdZqKNRcc/YISiyFl_q_I/AAAAAAAA1z0/6mJwEntGlLIhaugE5wRsfKCckZgKy4qpgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/SandB.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><b>First: <i>Shadow and Bone</i></b></p><p>So, like my post title says, I loved this adaptation, so I just wanted to put that out there right away. BUT, I am also coming into this as someone who has read the books and liked them (I'm a bigger fan of <i>Crows</i> than SaB, fyi), so I knew everything about the story going into this, and it's a lot easier to miss the holes in the adaptation when you already know everything. </p><p>One of the changes that I REALLY LOVED was the conscious decision to make Alina half-Shu, and of course, the Shu in the book are coded as East Asian, which meant that it was absolutely intentional to have a half-Asian lead actress. The racism Alina experiences (as written into the script) is absolutely prescient--she experiences a number of micro- and macro-aggressions as a result of being the ethnicity of what her country considers "the enemy," from public harassment to a comment about getting her eyes fixed, and as someone who is Southeast Asian living right now in a time of heightened anti-Asian hate, it really hit home. And I'm glad it was made a part of the adaptation, because it's not really a thing in the books. It shows how hurtful and alienating it is, because even though she was raised Ravkan like everyone else, she is constantly seen as a foreigner (a <i>hostile</i> foreigner) because of her ethnicity.</p><p>I also just want to note that there was a lot of racial diversity in the cast, and I appreciated that a lot. Ketterdam, which is supposed to be a bustling port city, would not have looked right without a mix of races.</p><p>Another big change for me was the portrayal of Alina and Mal's lifelong friendship, and even just Mal in general. Let me be clear: I'm not a Mal fan. He's uninteresting in the book, and Alina's narration of him paints him as the jocky, popular, hot guy who doesn't notice his plain, awkward best friend. And then he's fairly resentful of her newfound power and status, which doesn't sit well with me, and overall, especially on this reread, I'm like, "Why does she even LIKE him, besides he's hot and they were kids together?" But I feel like the show did a better job of actually showing their connection and care for each other. Mal on the show has vulnerabilities, he has a "soft side" in addition to being the athletic soldier guy, and he clearly loves Alina, whether that's romantically or platonically. I never really got the sense that Book-Mal LOVED Alina, or whether he loved having his old reliable by his side. Maybe the fact that the show has some segments narrated by Mal himself is what helps with his characterization--the book series is narrated by Alina, so it doesn't really paint a full picture of him.</p><p>So, while Book-Mal bored me, I was in lurrrrrve with the Darkling, and that did not change after watching this show. I mean, yeah, he's a villain, but at least he was interesting and seductive, and it doesn't hurt that Ben Barnes is really good in this role, because he's kind of, um, beautiful. (Honestly, EVERYONE was perfect in their roles, but the Darkling specifically has been cemented into VILF status with this casting and portrayal.) They've named him General Kirigan in the show, just so he'd have an actual name--they don't actually use the term "Darkling" very often in the show itself, but I mean, it's clear who he is. Even having reread all the terrible things he's done and having watched it onscreen... I can't help it, I'd still go into a dark hallway with the guy.</p><p>The side characters were awesome, and particularly, I LOVED seeing: Fedyor, Genya, Zoya, and Baghra (aka, Madame Hooch from <i>Harry Potter</i>!). I felt like the visual world-building was spectacular, and I absolutely loved all the other Grisha and their <i>keftas</i>, and seeing how they used their powers. I thought the effects would be kind of cheesy, but I ended up liking it a lot. And the VOLCRAS! They looked like something out of <i>Silent Hill</i>. </p><p>Overall, I felt like the show really did the books justice and then some. In fact, I would venture to say the show was even better, in some respects, because it improved upon some things that I definitely was critical of in the reading. And I can't wait to see the next installment! In particular, we need need need need need to see Sturmhond. Please, Netflix, give us a season 2 so we can get some privateer adventures!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xKIbeANh54I/YISsEt7SFEI/AAAAAAAA1z8/tIhsFO7nOp0BLADRvFn-gbA13lkgjm3jQCLcBGAsYHQ/s590/Crows.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="590" height="238" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xKIbeANh54I/YISsEt7SFEI/AAAAAAAA1z8/tIhsFO7nOp0BLADRvFn-gbA13lkgjm3jQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h238/Crows.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><p><b>No mourners, no funerals</b></p><p>Interwoven with the SaB plot is the story of the Crows, which (for now) consist of Kaz, Inej, and Jesper. As I said above, this subplot serves as a prologue/prequel/whatever for the events of the actual <i>Six of Crows</i> books, and I'm really hoping we'll get to see the book story adapted as well.</p><p>I was more excited to see the Crows than I was the SaB characters--I think I did the hands-fluttering SQUEEing thing when they first showed Ketterdam and our beloved characters on-screen. All three actors cast in these roles seem to have leapt out of my head and onto the screen---I didn't think they could be any more perfect! </p><p>So, their story here is that they are trying to get across the fold into East Ravka to kidnap Alina and bring her back to Ketterdam, for a large sum of money that could pay off their debts and buy Inej's freedom from her indenture at a brothel, as well as shift some power and influence Kaz's way. I think the showrunners knew that none of us could stand waiting until we got through the entire plot of the SaB trilogy to meet the Crows, so I LOVED that they did this, because while the subplot and action were new, the characterization was perfect and spot-on. I didn't feel like any of it was weird or out of character, and it did a good job of showing their team dynamic. I love a good heist ensemble (see also: <i>Leverage</i> and <i>Ocean's Eleven</i>), and this did not disappoint. </p><p>I was extremely surprised by the introduction of Nina and Matthias and their history together. I'm not sure why I thought we wouldn't get much of them in season 1, but we got the full story of the two of them before the start of SoC (he is part of a crew of Fjerdan Grisha hunters, and Nina is captured by them, and the two of them survive a shipwreck and become friends, and then... a well-intended betrayal), and this ended up being one of the most compelling subplots of the show for me, even though (as my friend-who-hasn't-read-the-books pointed out) their story seemed pretty disconnected to the main plots of the show, which in hindsight I agree with. I loved seeing them, I have always loved Nina's character and the fact that she is a large-sized girl being unapologetically amazing. (Also, did anyone else feel like the actor who plays Matthias gives off some major Cary Elwes vibes? Anyone?)</p><p>The city of Ketterdam, as I stated above, was wonderful and bustling and exactly how I pictured it to be, dens of iniquity and all.</p><p>When I first read SoC, it surprised me how non-teenagery the story and characters were--this is not a sweet coming-of-age story about growing up, and every single character felt older than 16 or 17. This is how the show reads as a whole. No shade re: teen stories (you know I love YA), but if you didn't know this was a young adult series, you might not necessarily have sat there thinking "I'm watching a fantasy story about teenagers." (Even <i>13 Reasons Why</i>, which is far darker and more disturbing, is a teen story, as it hinges upon high school and adolescence.) I feel like this was intentional, as I don't recall any mentions of age (I mean, besides the Darkling being like, 500 years old), and there are a lot of "adult" situations and topics (human trafficking, sex work, torture, murder, mentions of rape). Like, if I didn't know Kaz Brekker was supposed to be a 17 year old, I would not have automatically thought it by watching this show. (Alina in the books definitely feels like an adolescent girl growing into herself. I mean, that's kind of a big part of the plot, I guess--learning to reckon with her power.)</p><p>And I think it works. Again, there's nothing wrong with telling teen stories, but I think making it read as "general" fantasy and not specifically YA fantasy could help with appealing to audiences who think they're too good for YA, maybe? (Fie on those people, by the way.) And if you find it unbelievable that the Crows would be able to do everything they do and all be under the age of 18, I think that conveniently leaving out that information might make it more believable. (I personally feel that teenagers are as capable of being intelligent, skilled, and perceptive as full-grown adults. Sometimes more! *shrug*)</p><p>Okay, so... yeah. This was amazing, and I binged it all in 24 hours, and would for sure watch any and all future seasons now that I know what a great job they've done with it, so... GET MOVING, NETFLIX. GET THEM DONE.</p>Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-20129532479065796902021-03-15T07:18:00.005-07:002021-03-15T07:18:49.238-07:00Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JplsuHimVqg/YE9rXXTgEsI/AAAAAAAA1bs/XtW1OA-8FvAsukw3iveSW-rGBYzafTjWwCLcBGAsYHQ/s475/31625039._SY475_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="317" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JplsuHimVqg/YE9rXXTgEsI/AAAAAAAA1bs/XtW1OA-8FvAsukw3iveSW-rGBYzafTjWwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/31625039._SY475_.jpg" /></a></div><br />A biromantic ace protagonist who is also a black woman, with a Japanese-American male opposite. This book was soooo good, and actually, took on a whole lot of education and emotional labor. If you've never understood what being asexual means, I feel like this had a lot of good explanations. (I say this as someone who doesn't quite feel like I am ace, but I'm at the lowest of the low end of the spectrum of asexuality. In fact, this book really helped me figure out a lot of things.)<p></p><p>I started reading it because I wasn't sure how it would go, a romance novel where the main character is primarily uninterested in sex (because isn't that a big part of the allure of romance novels?), but what I got was so much more than that. It wasn't just about romance, but about communication---there are a whole lot of communication issues in this book, mainly because Alice is trying to figure herself out (and how can you communicate your needs and wants when you're not quite sure what they are yet?)</p><p>It's cute and funny, and without spoiling anything, I will just say that I would actually love to read more about Alice, if there were ever a sequel.</p><p>I give this four stars.</p>Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-72463723746358637462021-02-18T12:27:00.004-08:002021-02-18T12:29:36.177-08:00A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rJAw_uTHxnw/YC6y7LCcczI/AAAAAAAA1Vo/vq2BL2u-gb0vuSsqLLcO3rIztV3sf_xZwCPcBGAYYCw/s475/54479197.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="289" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rJAw_uTHxnw/YC6y7LCcczI/AAAAAAAA1Vo/vq2BL2u-gb0vuSsqLLcO3rIztV3sf_xZwCPcBGAYYCw/s320/54479197.jpg" /></a></div><p><i>Note: This review may contain spoilers for all the previous books in the ACOTAR series, but will not contain spoilers for this particular installment.</i></p><p>The wait for this book was already extra long--all the ACOTAR books had come out a year apart, but this one came out <i>two</i> years after the last one--and it <i>felt</i> even longer, because 1) ACOFAS contained a preview of this book that was FIRE, and 2) on the whole, I was less than satisfied by the SJM release that we got last year, <a href="http://www.transitiveverve.com/2020/03/house-of-earth-and-blood-by-sarah-j-maas.html" target="_blank">the first novel of her new <i>Crescent City </i>series</a>. (I can't ever seem to remember its actual title, even right after I've just read it.) I liked it, I mostly just wished we could have this next ACOTAR book instead.</p><p>And now we have it. For starters, I want to point out that the covers have been redone for the entire series, because I think they're trying to rebrand it as adult, which I fully support because OH MAN, this book was raunchy. I mean, I'm pretty sure we were all expecting it--Cassian and Nesta? There's no way that their sexy times were going to be anything less than epic. This is not the sweet, tearful true love of Feyre and Rhys. Theirs seemed tame and romantic compared Cassian and Nesta (and we <i>know</i> it was not actually tame and merely romantic). </p><p>I know a lot of shippers were excited for their thing to develop, and I definitely was too, but I think my favorite thing about this book was that it was a book about trauma. I mean, all the previous books addressed trauma--the trauma of war, of poverty, of sexual assault, of abusive relationships--but this one was a deep dive into trauma, the difficult non-linear journey of healing, and the importance of friendships. </p><p>It's also an important lesson in the way other people should react (and the way they DO end up reacting) to a specific person's trauma. Nesta is a controversial figure even in the SJM fan community; on a recent social media post I read, the comments ranged from "NESTA IS QUEEN" to "I can't stand her, she's so toxic." And even in ACOSF itself, there are those who see her suffering, those who write her off, and those who see her suffering but also need to protect themselves from her toxicity for their own self-care. Nesta is not an easily sympathetic figure, even when we do get her (3rd person omniscient) point of view, because we can feel bad that she feels the way she does, but we can also sit here tearing our hair out that she CHOOSES to be hurtful. (She's got some great zingers, though. Not gonna lie.) I have always loved character arcs as a focal point more than action, and this book, in addition to some action, is soooo much character arc, and not just Nesta's either.</p><p>For that reason, I think ACOSF might actually be my second favorite installment of this series, behind ACOMAF. The journeys of the characters in this book really held me all the way until the end, and I have no idea when the next one will be out, but I hope it's as well-done as this.</p><p>I gave this five stars.</p>Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-11348872560995411322021-02-03T17:05:00.000-08:002021-02-03T17:05:04.110-08:00A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nWilBSO7X_Y/YBs-5LhCmxI/AAAAAAAA1Lo/hAPTnO8DTG046ueT_4rB4q7bqA4rzebjQCLcBGAsYHQ/s475/49039441._SY475_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="315" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nWilBSO7X_Y/YBs-5LhCmxI/AAAAAAAA1Lo/hAPTnO8DTG046ueT_4rB4q7bqA4rzebjQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/49039441._SY475_.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>ABFE is the sequel to <i><a href="http://www.transitiveverve.com/2021/01/an-absolutely-remarkable-thing-by-hank.html" target="_blank">An Absolutely Remarkable Thing</a></i>, which explores ideas like being human, being social, social media, etc. If you have not read that book and do not want to read spoilers for <i>that</i> book, then you might want to stop reading now.</p><p>*<br />*<br />*<br />**<br />**<br />**<br />***<br />***<br />***</p><p>Book 1 left us on a cliffhanger several months after April May was left crushed (literally) in a burning warehouse and presumed dead. We know, of course, that she didn't die because AART was narrated by her a few years removed from the events of the novel, but what we don't know is what happened in between... HOW did she survive? What happened to all the Carls? What about everyone else who was part of this adventure?</p><p>ABFE is told in alternating perspectives by ALL our favorite friends, explaining what they were up to in the months that followed the disappearance of April and the Carls:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Maya appears to be the only one in the group to truly believe that April is alive somewhere, and when the Som (the online community of Carl supporters and mystery solvers) starts talking about a rash of suspicious phenomena pointing to a small town in New Jersey, Maya heads out on a quest to investigate.</li><li>Andy has taken up April's mantle as a Social Media Personality, and is doing a pretty good job at it as well (with Robin's help), when he starts receiving mysterious advice about what to do, where to go, whom to talk to, and what to do with his money. All the advice seems to be steering him towards a specific investment that will take more than just his money.</li><li>Miranda has returned to Berkeley to continue her PhD work, but when an article about Peter Petrawicki (April's archnemesis) outlines some suspicious-sounding research being done at his new start-up, she decides she needs to find out for herself what's going on.</li></ul><p></p><p>And that's about all I can summarize for you, because the story gets jaw-droppingly twisty, with a lot of scientific, economic, and other fields-of-study speak that I'm, well, not educated enough to describe for you, but it totally and completely blew my mind and left me wondering whether Hank Green is a Ravenclaw or a Slytherin. Book 1 was not a simple book by any means, but Book 2 just added so much MORE to think about, about technology, about the nature of humanity, equality, equity, communication, education, REALITY, etc., etc. Holy cow. I wanted to highlight so much. I want to reread the series now that I've finished both books and spend more time ruminating, because I was blitzing through these to find out what was happening. </p><p>I can't say anything more because I don't want to spoil anything for you, but I will say that there were moments where I was fooled as a reader, there were moments where Hank Green recalled things that I had forgotten about that had me slapping my forehead, and there were moments where I genuinely yelled out "HA!" And he wrapped everything up quite beautifully. </p><p>I give this five stars.</p>Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-39417789044786155312021-01-26T22:29:00.003-08:002021-01-26T22:40:03.192-08:00An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ci-9K1_SDP0/YBDTmZkJggI/AAAAAAAA1Gg/eOgj7EO3J74bR7WY7JSrzVkiWtbdeJ9sACLcBGAsYHQ/s475/24233708._SY475_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="315" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ci-9K1_SDP0/YBDTmZkJggI/AAAAAAAA1Gg/eOgj7EO3J74bR7WY7JSrzVkiWtbdeJ9sACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/24233708._SY475_.jpg" /></a></div><p>"When the rhetoric is so inflammatory, so enraged, it is not surprising that some people would work together to take matters into their own misguided hands."</p><p><i>An Absolutely Remarkable Thing</i> came out in 2018, but DAMN if it isn't the most current, relevant thing I have ever read. </p><p>April May notices a giant statue or sculpture of some sort of robot while on the way home at 3am from her soul-sucking start-up job. It seemingly showed up out of nowhere, and it's kind of cool, so she orders her friend Andy to show up with his camera, and they make a YouTube video about it. In it, she "interviews" the robot, naming it Carl.</p><p>When she wakes up the next morning, she discovers that their video of Carl has gone completely viral... because apparently, over 60 other Carls had shown up out of nowhere all around the world. Suddenly, April is thrust into the limelight as the Carl representative, and as the situation gets more bizarre, April finds herself at the center of, well, <i>everything. </i></p><p>That's the premise of the novel, but it absolutely does not do justice to the complexity, the coolness, the sheer genius that is Hank Green's commentary on the internet, social media, fame, and how all those things influence both the one who is the content creator as well as their audience.</p><p>Hank Green is, of course, uniquely poised to be able to comment on such things, as one of the <i>vlogbrothers</i> on YouTube. (The other <i>vlogbrother</i>, John Green, is already well known in the book world, of course.) He's "the science-y one," between the two, so it's not surprising that there's a lot of science and math and stuff in this book, and I love how they all turn the story into a bit of a mystery, as opposed to purely a story about the rise and fall of a suddenly famous person. </p><p>We've seen those stories, and a lot of them follow pretty predictable character arcs: protagonist gets plucked out of obscurity, fame goes to their head, they experience a downfall, and then (depending on the tone of the story) they either redeem themselves or they spiral off into the darkness, a cautionary tale about the consequences of fame and power.</p><p>AART manages to include these elements, but positions April May much more complexly--probably not surprising, considering how the Green brothers' video production company is actually called Complexly, which comes from a speech John Green had made about imagining others complexly. </p><p>Note: if you think it's weird that I keep pulling in information about the Green brothers' work to talk about this novel, just remember that Hank Green IS an content creator on the internet, and the premise of this book is about the internet and content creation, so... there's a solid amount of commentary here, from a position of knowledge and experience. </p><p>April is sometimes a jerk. She sometimes (often?) makes selfish decisions. She is enticed by the idea of people caring about her opinions, and she loves seeing her engagement numbers climb. And as her platform grows in size, she finds herself becoming more and more of a product or a brand, not just to her audience but also to herself, and even in the direst or most awkward of situations, the urge to tweet or vlog or share SOMETHING with her followers starts to become more and more of a priority, even more than maintaining her "real life" relationships. </p><p>That's not something that we've all experienced, but I think the vast majority of us who regularly use the social internet can relate to on some level. (Like, why am I writing this review as a blog post for an unknown audience, when I could just as easily write these thoughts in a private notebook or doc file?) We like the validation we get when we see someone has "liked" our posts. We like engaging with commenters, even when they say something we don't like, because someone else out there took the time to acknowledge our existence. (For the record, I don't like engaging with negative comments.) Social media allows us to engage with other humans on a scale that we might never be able to reach "in person," unless we are famous--for example, I have a three-digit number of followers on my Instagram account (it's my personal account, not a "brand" or anything), and the interactions I get there FAR outnumber the amount of people I could ever personally call, email, or talk to on any given day. </p><p>So... April. She becomes one of the most famous people in the world, possibly, and it's not just because of the viral video, but because of her decisions that come after. It's made pointedly clear that while she lucked into the initial attention, she becomes FAMOUS because she worked to stay that way, and I thought this was such an interesting glimpse "behind the scenes" of being internet-famous, because the narrative we'd all like to believe about Instagrammers, YouTubers, bloggers, etc., is that they just have this sort of natural talent and they've managed to win over their hundreds of thousands (or even millions) of followers simply by turning a camera or a laptop on, but that's hardly the case. I don't mean to imply that they didn't work hard for their fame, because they absolutely do, but I think it would be naive to think that there isn't a huge ENGINE happening behind them. At a certain point, content creators are able to hire agents, assistants, editors, etc., and depending on their area of expertise, they are also sent PR materials to review or they generate enough income from their videos to purchase products as a part of their work expenses. (Hello, one of my other hobbies is beauty blogging, and no, I don't get free stuff, but I see other people receive it all the time. And, actually, even in the book blogging world, readers get put on ARC lists and stuff, or we request books through Netgalley and such.) </p><p>All this to say, this is a story about April and her decisions. And we see her decisions have increasingly far-reaching consequences as we learn more about the Carls and their bizarre effect on the world. (Not to spoil anything, but let's just say that the President of the US is a character in this novel, and is a woman. Bless, Hank!)</p><p>However, this is also a story about people, in the world. And they are their own entities. It's as if the main characters in this book should be listed as: April, Andy, Maya, Miranda, Robin, and... the internet-consuming public. And of course, there are factions: there are the people who, like April, are curious about the Carls and want to solve the mysteries and see this as an opportunity for humanity to come together and do something positive, and there are the people who are afraid of the threat that the Carls might pose, and sow fear on the internet via conspiracy theories. And (mild spoiler), from the quote I pulled to begin this post, this fear leads to coordinated acts of violence. </p><p>Thus, my comment on the timeliness and eerie prescience of this novel. I'm writing this post on January 26, 2021, and if you're reading this somewhere in the distant future, please look up the events of January 6, 2021, and all the thinkpieces examining how the US reached such a point. Of course, maybe it's not SO eerie. I'm not sure when Hank Green started writing this book, but I think that, if you've been paying attention to American politics for the last decade, which I know Hank Green has been, you probably could've seen January 6th happening from a mile away. Maybe you might say it was in a way inevitable. </p><p>Aside from all the social commentary (which is insightful and educational without being preachy), the actual plot itself was fascinating and fun. If you like stories with clues, quests, and reveals, you will like this one. The other characters, some of whom I named above, are interesting and also complex, and part of me feels like I would happily read novels featuring each of them. </p><p>Side note: because I've been a <i>vlogbrothers</i> fan for a while, I actually had a hard time starting this book because I was reading it with Hank Green's voice in my head. And of course, that just did NOT work out well, so my solution was to listen to it on audiobook, and that made a world of difference. The narrator is spectacular, and once I was far enough into the book to have internalized her voice as April's, I was finally able to read the book as text on a page. However, I should note that a lot of the social commentary parts really did come across to me as "Hank Green's social commentary as read by April," as opposed to "April's social commentary," but that didn't really bother me.</p><p>Alas, AART is part 1 of a duology, so I need to go read the second one before I can comment on the story arc as a whole. It also ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, so I am definitely eager to continue the story.</p><p>I gave <i>An Absolutely Remarkable Thing</i> five stars, because... it truly was what the title suggests. </p>Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-54371873574102610132021-01-15T17:49:00.004-08:002021-01-15T18:00:04.301-08:00Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H7AJOpe-JiE/YAI8UcXAceI/AAAAAAAA0-k/RriAJGEhJWAH0LNPMLiNJGh6gqQfCeFnwCLcBGAsYHQ/s475/52516332._SX318_SY475_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="315" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H7AJOpe-JiE/YAI8UcXAceI/AAAAAAAA0-k/RriAJGEhJWAH0LNPMLiNJGh6gqQfCeFnwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/52516332._SX318_SY475_.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div><i>Clap When You Land</i> is Elizabeth Acevedo's third-ever novel, but her second one written in verse. It is the story of two sisters separated by life, borders, and secrets, who are finally brought together when their father dies in a tragic plane crash. The inspiration for this novel was American Airlines flight 587, which crashed after departing New York for the Dominican Republican in November 2001. About 90% of its passengers were Dominican or of Dominican descent, Acevedo shares in her Author's Note. News coverage died down as soon as suspicions of terrorism were disproven, but Acevedo didn't stop researching about the passengers and their stories.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yahaira Rios lives in New York with her mother who manages a spa, and her father who disappears to the DR for a few months out of the year. She is a chess champion--or rather, <i>was</i>, until she one day learned something she wasn't supposed to know, and then stopped speaking to him.</div><div><br /></div><div>Camino Rios lives in the Dominican Republic with her aunt. Having lost her mother to illness, Camino apprentices with her aunt, a healer, and dreams of attending medical school at Columbia in New York. She only sees her father when he flies to the DR for a few months out of the year. </div><div><br /></div><div>It's not a spoiler: They share the same father, and have gone their whole lives not knowing about each other. </div><div><br /></div><div>It's a story about grief, but it's so much more than that, as we delve into the girls' lives and circumstances: their hopes and dreams, the dangers they face, their friendships, and their families. Their father, singular. The novel tells the stories of their lives in diptych, so we are seeing their layers unfold at the same time, revealing two girls with very different life experiences, experiencing the same loss and sense of <i>being</i> lost. I particularly love that the other women in their lives have their own fascinating stories as well, and there's a part of me that would love to know more about <i>their</i> stories: Yahaira's mother, Zoilla; Yahaira's girlfriend, Dre; Camino's Tia; and Camino's best friend, Carline. They're our supporting cast, but they don't feel like a supporting cast, because the life that Acevedo breathes into them makes them feel real and robust. They could each be the main characters of their own stories.</div><div><br /></div><div>And maybe that's the main takeaway: people are dynamic, complex, and we may think we know someone, but we might never know ALL of someone. Even the most despicable character in this novel has a tragic backstory that led to his being despicable. And as far as their father goes? He might be the most complex one of all of them, and the book doesn't offer any justifications or indictments of his double-life; it just states that he had one, and we see the consequences (good and bad) of his choices. </div><div><br /></div><div>This story was beautiful, sad, and absolutely compelling. And even more engrossing if you listen to the audiobook version, narrated by Acevedo herself (as Yahaira) and Melania-Luisa Marte (as Camino), with the beautiful, lilting combination of Spanish and verse. </div><div><br /></div><div>I gave it 5 stars.</div>Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-29277720242227901952020-12-31T09:58:00.003-08:002020-12-31T09:58:45.305-08:00On to 2021<p>Hey friends (if anyone is still reading this blog!)</p><p>Obviously, I haven't updated in a really long time--the truth is, ever since quarantine/shelter-in-place began in earnest back in March, I've had a really difficult time focusing enough to read even my favorites, let alone anything new. (And, I mean, I also had a baby in June, so... new parenthood and the requisite sleep deprivation have played a role in that too.) For the first time in YEARS, I have not completed my Goodreads Challenge, even though I lowered my goal to the lowest number I've ever chosen. Reading was just not really in the cards for me this year, let alone writing any formal reviews for my blog. </p><p>So what DID I read? I had a sharp drop-off in reading romance because I think I'm just tired of reading the same tropes, character types, storylines, etc. over and over. To be blunt, I'm tired of reading about beautiful white het couples' drama. Give me people of color. Give me LGBT. Give me differently-abled bodies. Give me different bodies, PERIOD--and no, calling the female protagonist "curvy" does not mean the same thing as actually having a fat protagonist, and having her family and frenemies constantly calling her "fat" does not necessarily mean that she's fat. (Also, please don't make her fat, and then make her lose weight in order to live her best life.) </p><p>I also haven't read much YA either. I did start the year finishing Jay Kristoff's <i>Nevernight</i> trilogy, which was excellent, and I did read Shelby Mahurin's <i>Serpent and Dove</i> (but DNFed the sequel because I just wasn't feeling it). <i>Aurora Rising</i> was EXCELLENT, but I had to read it via audiobook because... again, I just couldn't READ this year. In fact, half of the books that I read or reread this year were via audiobook--they really were my saving grace this year. </p><p>For 2021, I'm adjusting my approach to reading:</p><p>1) I am not going to set a number goal for the Goodreads Challenge. Instead of choosing an amount of books to read, I have decided that 50% of the books I read in 2021 should be new-to-me. That means that even if I only read two books for all of 2021, only one of them gets to be a reread. Why? Because I keep buying new books and then not reading them.</p><p>2) I'm going to try to <a href="https://bookriot.com/read-harder-2021/" target="_blank">read harder</a>. I'm not going to try and hit everything on the list (because that would be giving myself a minimum number, but I WILL try to use that list to find my new-to-me reads. (One of the categories is to read a fat-positive romance, so I AM IN.)</p><p>3) I'm leaning into the audiobook thing. If that's where my head is, then I should go with it. For example, I've keep starting and stopping Hank Green's <i>An Absolutely Remarkable Thing</i>, and unfortunately, I haven't been having luck with it. It's not because it's bad; it's because I read it in Hank's voice/cadence (because I'm a big fan of vlogbrothers on YouTube), and that's just not how it's meant to be. So I got the audiobook, which is narrated by Not Hank Green. Also, I got Elizabeth Acevedo's most recent novel on audiobook, because anything she narrates is an absolute pleasure. (Bonus of reading via audiobook is that I get a lot of knitting done.)</p><p>That's it! Nothing too lofty! I'm just trying to ease my way back into the habit of reading for joy.</p><p>Do you have reading goals for 2021? What are you looking forward to? I can't wait for SJM's new ACOTAR-universe novel (Cassian and Nesta!!!! *hearteyes*) and I have preordered a copy of John Green's <i>The</i> <i>Anthropocene Reviewed</i>, which is going to be a written collection of his (non-fiction) podcast of the same name. And Jay Kristoff is starting a new VAMPIRE SERIES!</p>Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-55647088906293491622020-05-08T07:48:00.001-07:002020-05-08T07:48:54.035-07:00Aurora Burning by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!)</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sRXXRobacvg/XrVrtZqC1gI/AAAAAAAAy8k/VXRVMxzzvhojko9nwfUl5lIxxF4hwquFwCK4BGAsYHg/40516960.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2764" data-original-width="1808" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sRXXRobacvg/XrVrtZqC1gI/AAAAAAAAy8k/VXRVMxzzvhojko9nwfUl5lIxxF4hwquFwCK4BGAsYHg/w261-h400/40516960.jpg" width="261" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Summary:</b> This is book 2 of the Aurora Cycle series. To read my review of book 1, please click <a href="http://www.transitiveverve.com/2019/05/aurora-rising-by-amie-kaufman-and-jay.html" target="_blank">here</a>. This review will contain spoilers for the first book.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Tyler Jones and his misfit squad 312 from the Aurora Legion are on the run--from the law, from an ancient evil collective threatening to take over the universe, and now... from a psychopathic-but-also-strangely-attractive Syldrathi girl. They are mourning the loss of their good friend and squad member, and they are puzzling over a mysterious set of clues and objects that have been left for them. All the while, Aurora struggles to control her powers as they search for the weapon to help them save the universe. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Thoughts:</b> I've been in a reading slump for a little while, so if there's any book that I figured could pull me out of it, it was definitely this one! This is the highly-anticipated sequel to <i>Aurora Rising</i>, and I was so excited that I bought the ebook, the audiobook, and a hardcover copy (because it comes with a signed bookplate!), and I also attended a Zoom event with Amie and Jay last night!:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MQVumIQ90Kw/XrVtgpf_7ZI/AAAAAAAAy9Q/i1eilQZuj6E7SBnr-EqkaP7KUG37Ee27ACK4BGAsYHg/Screenshot%2B2020-05-07%2B17.06.38.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1440" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MQVumIQ90Kw/XrVtgpf_7ZI/AAAAAAAAy9Q/i1eilQZuj6E7SBnr-EqkaP7KUG37Ee27ACK4BGAsYHg/s320/Screenshot%2B2020-05-07%2B17.06.38.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d3n-tquQM08/XrVtgKsWplI/AAAAAAAAy9M/Dc_k2fhfja0jHUlHWfH6jwTgm5cJmbisACK4BGAsYHg/Screenshot%2B2020-05-07%2B17.04.52.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1440" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d3n-tquQM08/XrVtgKsWplI/AAAAAAAAy9M/Dc_k2fhfja0jHUlHWfH6jwTgm5cJmbisACK4BGAsYHg/s320/Screenshot%2B2020-05-07%2B17.04.52.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So, you know... I was <i>excited</i>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I decided actually to experience the book for the first time solely through audiobook. They had a full cast of narrators, and you KNOW I can't resist that, because it adds so much my experience of the characters, so I've spent the past few days listening to it while knitting, and it was every bit as awesome as I thought it would be. I'm definitely going to go back and reread the text, just to see if I missed any nuances, but overall, it was compelling, exciting, and heartbreaking.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Saedii is the bloodthirsty Syldrathi female hunting them down, and I'm not going to spoil anything about her story, but I'm going to say that the descriptions of her totally reminded me of Demanda Riot, who was my FAVORITE skater from Bay Area Derby Girls back in the day:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n5Ldfa-vbtQ/XrVugG0ezpI/AAAAAAAAy9s/EZIf9AFi3VAzkpSDUFDFjt22_weYSr4RgCK4BGAsYHg/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="273" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n5Ldfa-vbtQ/XrVugG0ezpI/AAAAAAAAy9s/EZIf9AFi3VAzkpSDUFDFjt22_weYSr4RgCK4BGAsYHg/s320/unnamed.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So, you know, I'm already disposed to liking her, despite her being absolutely vicious. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There is a LOT that happens in this book, and every moment of it is exciting--the action barely ever lets up, and when it does, it's punctuated by moments of endearing silliness or heartbreaking sadness. Book 2 in a trilogy is usually when things start to REALLY fall apart, before getting put back together in Book 3 (and yes, there will be a Book 3!), so it was really hard to see everything happening to our favorite squad. I have a teensy bit of faith that most happiness will eventually be restored, though I don't know how we could possibly have EVERYONE back together and happy after losing Cat in the first book. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Some non-spoilery things I really enjoyed about this book: learning more about Zila, seeing Kal lose his s*** as he navigates his new feelings of <i>lurrrrve</i>, and reading some scenes that reminded me of other movies/shows. Regarding Zila: In my review of the first book, I compared this squad to the crew of characters from the tv show <i>Leverage</i>, and I stated that Zila was the most similar to Parker. Therefore, I completely fist-pumped when this book actually included a scene of her crawling through air vents, because that's like, Parker's specialty. (It was just perfect, I don't know =P) And there is a scene involving a very large animal-like creature that reminded me of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZy6G_vz_Ng" target="_blank">Luke Skywalker defeating the rancor in <i>Return of the Jedi</i></a> (I had no idea that thing was called a rancor, by the way--I had to google that), so that was super exciting as well. And there are some <i>Star Trek</i> references as well, that you definitely will catch if you're at all a fan.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">All in all, I loved it. This is a short review, but only because I don't want to spoil anything for anyone! If you don't mind snark, shirtlessness, and a whole lot of action, you should definitely pick up this book (or start with book 1!) and then brace yourself for the long wait for book 3.</div>Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-59406810376229409882020-03-10T14:32:00.003-07:002020-03-10T14:32:56.951-07:00House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-djCyWVKL0a8/Xmf7lNTgm8I/AAAAAAAAyww/bMZSuSvztcUd__cT0Bc6HYzRTo3C3fRiwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/1389816552.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1085" data-original-width="713" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-djCyWVKL0a8/Xmf7lNTgm8I/AAAAAAAAyww/bMZSuSvztcUd__cT0Bc6HYzRTo3C3fRiwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/1389816552.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
<b>Thoughts at a glance: *** (I liked it)</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Summary:</b> Bryce Quinlan is half-human/half-fae in a world where even being full human makes life hard, let alone being a "half-breed." But she has a job as an assistant to an antiquities dealer, an apartment she shares with a ballet dancer, a mercenary, and the someday-heir to the wolf shifter throne, and weekends full of wild partying.<br />
<br />
All of that comes crashing to a halt as she comes home one night to find her best friends slaughtered. The murderer is apprehended, but Bryce will never be the same again.<br />
<br />
Two years later, similar murders are being committed, and it's clear that there is a further mystery to be solved. Bryce is recruited to help investigate, due to her connections to the victims, and along with fallen angel/assassin Hunt Athalar, Bryce dives into the deep underbelly of Crescent City in order to discover the truth and avenge her best friend, unprepared for the secrets that will be uncovered.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><b>Thoughts:</b> I've read ALLLLL of Maas' other books (several times over, in fact!), and I was still unprepared for how this book was going to go.<br />
<br />
This is Maas' first officially-adult novel--all her other books, despite the very adult content, are billed as YA--so I was curious how this was going to go, aside from the assumption that there would be more sexy times.<br />
<br />
(Spoiler alert: there weren't more, but they were discussed in a more nonchalant, straightforward way instead of trying to cloak everything in euphemism. Which I think I prefer, actually, as someone who sees a lot of both in romance novels.)<br />
<br />
"So, only three stars, Thu?" Yep. I liked it. I didn't LOVE it, but I did enjoy it. My main gripe is that (for me, personally--YMMV) the first half felt like a LOT of exposition, and I'm not sure if it was all needed, at least, right where they were presented. There were SO many names, and SO many backstories, and I'm no professional writer or editor, but I found myself asking over and over, "Is this really necessary for me to know ALLLL this right now?" I mean, now that I've finished it, I can definitely see where the pieces fall together, but even so, my brain just can't hold so much exposition, so soon, Sarah!<br />
<br />
I also am not so sure how I feel about all the twists and turns of this whodunit. I've enjoyed the fake-outs and sneaky reveals in the TOG and ACOTAR series, but in this book, they just had me feeling impatient. I might reread the book sometime soon just to see if these twists were actually warranted and foreshadowed, because part of me was like, "... really? Are we being Shyamalan-ed?"<br />
<br />
What <i>did </i>I like about the book? I definitely liked Bryce Quinlan. She's got a little bit of sass, a little bit of devil-may-care attitude, and that was FUN to read. At the same time, she's also deeply multi-layered and is still grieving, and her behaviors and motivations made her fascinating.<br />
<br />
And while, yes, I did tire of all the different species names, legends, etc., I can also definitely appreciate how rich and complex this world is that Maas has built. It's very beautiful and interesting, and I don't know, maybe it's because I'm used to her other two series where we can live in those worlds and learn about them a little bit at a time, but I would much prefer the same for this one. Shorter, more edited books, but more of them!<br />
<br />
I found myself mentally comparing this book to <a href="http://www.transitiveverve.com/2019/11/ninth-house-by-leigh-bardugo.html" target="_blank">Leigh Bardugo's </a><i><a href="http://www.transitiveverve.com/2019/11/ninth-house-by-leigh-bardugo.html" target="_blank">Ninth House</a>, </i>which came out a few months ago, and was also a YA author's adult fantasy debut. Both books are a little more "modern fantasy" than "high fantasy," compared to their previous YA series, and both are whodunits that feature a heroine with a troubled past and twisty reveals. <i>Ninth House</i>, which I LOVED, was more set in "reality" than HEB, and as such, didn't require pages and pages of mythology, though I definitely had to learn a bunch of names and places for that book too. I think why I loved <i>that </i>book, and why HEB wasn't quite at "love" status for me, was because I tend to favor character development more than world-building. Yes, both are important in fantasy, but the parts that hooked me in the most in HEB were when we were learning about Bryce and her personal history. (I found myself not caring a whole bunch about Hunt's history, but I liked reading about him present-day.) In fact, once we got past (most of) the exposition, I blitzed through the rest of the book--I couldn't put it down, and stayed up until 1:30 in the morning finishing it. But it took me a full week to get through the first two-thirds! Have you ever known me to take a full week to get through ANY of Sarah J. Maas' books? I pushed through because I enjoy her as a writer, and I trusted her enough to keep going, and yes, it paid off by the end, but again... getting to that point took me a while. I'm not sure I would've kept going if it had been an unfamiliar writer.<br />
<br />
I DO like Sarah's "adult voice," and I hope she writes more adult books beyond this series, and I'm looking forward to future <i>Crescent City</i> books. As I stated above, I prefer straightforward adult language over flowery euphemisms, and I think without the constraints of trying to keep things at least somewhat youth-safe, Maas could do a lot of great storytelling. I'm just feeling like, over the years, her books have gotten longer and longer, and I don't think they necessarily needed to, and I don't know if that's a HER thing, or her editor, or both.Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-90159184520966365162020-02-16T11:34:00.001-08:002020-02-16T11:34:35.750-08:00The Life You Stole by Jewel E. Ann<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wrNxdZUd7tU/XkmU48ZHFRI/AAAAAAAAyu0/WVv3l3Zs4McW3w0ReSUqnJoLkWMNvfmyQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/49970354._SY475_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="297" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wrNxdZUd7tU/XkmU48ZHFRI/AAAAAAAAyu0/WVv3l3Zs4McW3w0ReSUqnJoLkWMNvfmyQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/49970354._SY475_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<b>Disclaimers: while my blog post itself does not contain any sexual content, this book does. This is a review for a book that is meant for mature audiences, and therefore is unsuitable for minors.</b><br />
<br />
<i>This book was provided to me for free by the author in exchange for an honest review.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!)</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Synopsis (provided by publisher):</b><br />
<i>Sex. Lies. Revenge.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>On the heels of a devastating loss, Evelyn fights to put her life back together.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Only … part of her husband belongs to another woman, and the devil owns her soul.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>“If you tell her the lie, I will tell her the truth.”</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>When her best friend goes to great lengths to protect Evelyn from destruction and devastation, mistakes are made, lines are crossed, and all trust is shattered.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>“We weren’t unbreakable.</i><br />
<br />
<i>I just needed to believe we weren’t unrepairable.”</i><br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><b><br /></b><br />
<b>Thoughts:</b> I'm glad the release date for this book got bumped up, because if I'd had to wait a full month to read the conclusion of this duet, I might have gone mad.<br />
<br />
We were left on quite a cliffhanger, and without spoiling the first book for you (since it came out so recently before this one), let's just say that this book definitely takes it up a notch.<br />
<br />
In <a href="http://www.transitiveverve.com/2020/02/disclaimers-while-my-blog-post-itself.html" target="_blank">my review for book 1</a>, I wrote about how much I loved that it made me appreciate how well-written the "small stuff" was. Book 2 is VERY MUCH about the Big Thing. Remember, this is a thriller with some classic JEA twists and suspension-of-disbelief moments. What you will read in this book? Is why I read JEA. And I have always said that such complicated portrayals and plot twists by lesser authors would fall flat, but in JEA's hands, the story ends up compelling and utterly un-put-down-able.<br />
<br />
I definitely, however, want to insert my own trigger warnings for this book, and this may be spoiling some things, but if you're sensitive to domestic violence, rape, emotional abuse, and cheating, then you may want to proceed with caution. This book was not an easy read, and I am not someone who has to deal with that sort of trauma on a regular basis, so for some individuals who <i>have</i>, this might require some preparation.<br />
<br />
I love that, with one exception, the characters in this book live in a bit of a gray area. They don't always make the right choices, but they also are extremely human, and they are living with a tremendous amount of emotional and even physical pain. It was absolutely heart-wrenching for me to read, and I felt a great amount of sympathy for them. This book really underscores how even the simplest joys sometimes are hard-won, and despite the turmoil that it put me through, I really enjoyed reading it and was glad to be a part of this journey.Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-68385178560227517582020-02-05T20:32:00.003-08:002020-02-05T20:33:06.972-08:00The Life That Mattered by Jewel E. Ann<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EWsa_rfAgRA/XjuOpkYlWmI/AAAAAAAAytQ/SyyAuHUabX03lK61NochO9WMwECKjY-KwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/49970007._SY475_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="297" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EWsa_rfAgRA/XjuOpkYlWmI/AAAAAAAAytQ/SyyAuHUabX03lK61NochO9WMwECKjY-KwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/49970007._SY475_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<b>Disclaimers: while my blog post itself does not contain any sexual content, this book does. This is a review for a book that is meant for mature audiences, and therefore is unsuitable for minors.</b><br />
<br />
<i>This book was provided to me for free by the author in exchange for an honest review.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it)</b><br />
<br />
<b>Synopsis (provided by publisher):</b><br />
<br />
<i>Sex isn’t love.</i><br />
<i>Love isn’t sex.</i><br />
<i>And friendship is neither.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>The son of a French Olympic skier and a Malaysian fashion designer, Ronin Alexander has lived the life of a nomad, traveling the world to find his next adventure.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Life takes a dramatic turn when he meets Evelyn, a beautiful scientist who owns a bath shop in Aspen, Colorado. They defy all the rules of relationships, falling hard and quickly in love.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Their world intertwines with Evelyn’s two best friends, the Governor and his soon-to-be wife. The four become close—very close.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>When tragedy strikes, things from their pasts are unveiled—unimaginable truths and the grim realization that life will never be the same.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Jewel E. Ann steps into another dimension with this mind-bending thriller, a provocative story that pushes boundaries and tests the true meaning of love.</i><br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><b>Thoughts:</b> One of my favorite JEA books (or rather, duets) is her <i>Transcend</i> duet (click for reviews <a href="http://www.transitiveverve.com/2018/03/transcend-by-jewel-e-ann.html" target="_blank">1</a> and <a href="http://www.transitiveverve.com/2018/04/epoch-by-jewel-e-ann.html" target="_blank">2</a>), in which she touches upon the phenomena of reincarnation, in a way that is fascinating and believable, and not at all corny or ridiculous. In <i>The Life That Mattered</i>, book 1 of this new duet, she does something similar (which I won't spoil for you), and I am struck again by how she manages to take on these topics or ideas in a completely brilliant way that totally has me believing all things are possible.<br />
<br />
AND YET, that wasn't even the most intriguing part of the book for me.<br />
<br />
Don't get me wrong--it's VERY intriguing. I'm so glad the release date for book 2 got bumped up, because I desperately want to know what's going on.<br />
<br />
But as someone who has a side fascination in psychology and relationships and things that make the human mind tick, I'm finding myself especially drawn to the friendship and relationship dynamics of the two main couples.<br />
<br />
Let's back this up: Evelyn is best friends with Graham and Lila. Evelyn actually used to "date" Graham, but that fizzled quickly, and over the course of many years afterward, Graham and Lila began dating, and at the start of this book, they are engaged. But there's still a bit of weirdness there, exacerbated by a bit of an intimate experience between the three of them. Evelyn, though, meets Ronin, and they fall in love quickly and get married, and Graham and Lila go on to get married as well.<br />
<br />
Their lives, though, end up completely different. Evelyn and Ronin live a simple life and have two kids and are still madly in love after years of married life; Graham goes on to become Governor of Colorado, and Lila slides into her role as Governor's wife, giving up her job and dreams of a family to help him pursue his.<br />
<br />
And this is where I am most intrigued, I think, as someone who is also in her 30s and who has also felt her best friend slipping away due to the natural course of life. (There's no drama here, by the way---we didn't fight or have anything bad happen between us. We just both have busy lives, and we don't live in the same state, so... anyway, enough about me.) However, underneath the surface of these two couples, there is definitely something <i>not</i> in line with the natural course of life going on, and I love the way that JEA manages to hint and shape those ideas as we go.<br />
<br />
Having reviewed a lot of her books previously, I have always considered her a really good storyteller. My favorite books of hers are ones where she takes a concept (reincarnation, a teacher-student affair, secret agents, etc.) that would've been ridiculously bad in the hands of a less-skilled storyteller and just really <i>goes to town</i> and weaves a really marvelous, enthralling experience for the reader. Not gonna lie, there's a part of me that feels like she could pull out three ideas from a fishbowl and still write an amazing novel with them, no matter what they are.<br />
<br />
This book has a <i>thing</i> too (which, again, I will not spoil), and I'm SO READY to find out the big revelation, but also this book has really reminded me how good she is at writing the "small stuff"--the "falling in love" stuff, the "day-to-day difficulties of building a life together" stuff, the "friendships growing apart" stuff, the "how do we balance someone else's dreams with our own" stuff... all the little pieces that fit together around the <i>big concept</i> to flesh out the story, that also need to be handled well. You have to write the details well, in order to tell the story about the <i>big concept</i> well, otherwise, it ends up being really flat and gimmicky. This book is definitely NOT flat and gimmicky.<br />
<br />
So yeah, DO buy this book to read about the extraordinariness, but also buy this book to read about the real-life, everyday stuff too. It's really good. And relatable, especially since the characters are in their mid-thirties, older than the average romance novel heroes and heroines. (I'm 37, so I'm happy to see that people my age can still be desirable and act upon their desires, because so often, the novels I read have all the "exciting" stuff happening between, like, 22-26.)<br />
<br />
Also, thankyousomuch for writing a male lead who is Asian-American. (Well, Asian-European?) So rarely in our current popular culture do we see Asian men as romantic male leads, and I REALLY appreciate that Ronin goes against the general stereotype of Asian men as being undesirable or even effeminate, always the sidekick but never the hero. (There's nothing wrong with effeminate men, but it's a problem when men of a particular race are almost always portrayed the exact same way in popular media.) So thank you for that :)Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-91658146702108404472019-11-13T16:19:00.001-08:002019-11-13T16:19:22.621-08:00Nevernight by Jay Kristoff<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WIRFZh8paW4/XcyYasjHO-I/AAAAAAAAym8/IR6h_itWe3EiXk4eIPxzKOqRfDzkFs9fgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/26114463.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="453" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WIRFZh8paW4/XcyYasjHO-I/AAAAAAAAym8/IR6h_itWe3EiXk4eIPxzKOqRfDzkFs9fgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/26114463.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
<b>Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!)</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Summary:</b> Mia Corvere watched her father die, hung for being a traitor to the Itreyan Republic. Then she watched her mother and brother get hauled off by the same corrupt senate that ordered her father's execution. And then she was taken away to be disposed of herself.<br />
<br />
But years later, Mia is still alive, and gunning for revenge. She has trained for years to merely qualify to join the legendary Red Church School of Assassins, and now, in order to be able to return and avenge the fall of the House Corvere, she will have to survive the training program, as well as her deadly classmates.<br />
<br />
But Mia has a special ability that her classmates don't have: she can manipulate shadows. As Mia makes allies and enemies alike, someone is murdering her fellow initiates. If she wants to earn her spot in the Red Church and eventually get her revenge, she will have to reckon with her past, defeat her rivals, and stay alive.<br />
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<b>Thoughts:</b> I actually finished this one a few weeks ago, and have already started the sequel, <i>Godsgrave</i>, but I felt like on second thought, I wanted to do a write-up for this book.<br />
<br />
I've had <i>Nevernight</i> since the day it came out, but knowing Jay Kristoff's writing, I decided I would eventually just read the entire trilogy in one go. (I read <i>The Illuminae Files</i> as they were released, and am doing the same with <i>the Aurora trilogy </i>and the <i>Lifel1k3</i> series, so... I figured I deserved to binge read SOMETHING.) I have managed to stay away from spoilers, but I have NOT managed to stay away from the hype, so I've been hearing a lot about the series for years, and have finally managed to dive in headfirst.<br />
<br />
To be honest though, I have TRIED to read it before, and it took me a while to get into it (and then I ended up setting it aside for later). The beginning still started off slowly for me, but what helped me push through, actually, was relistening to the parts I'd already read on audiobook--the narrator does a really great job, and it got me more interested in the events than before. Also, if you're reading with the audiobook or the ebook, it's a lot easier to ignore the footnotes. Don't get me wrong, I love Jay, and I love me some footnotes, but in the print version, I found them really distracting, so I preferred not to see them at all. Maybe on a future reread of the book, I will take the time to read all the footnotes, but this time, I just want to get the story.<br />
<br />
And what a story! This series is adult, by the way, NOT YA, even though the heroine is 16 or 17. It's a bloody, violent book, and while there isn't a lot of sex, it is fairly detailed in its description. It's a brutal, unforgiving world that Mia lives in, so nothing is held back.<br />
<br />
Mia is, in no uncertain terms, a badass. She's not always correct in her judgments or decisions, and she's definitely not a Classic Hero, but she is prettyyyyyyyyyy awesome. And the side characters are fascinating and well-written too: of course everyone loves Tric, the biracial (Itreyan/Dweymeri) boy she meets along the way, and Ashlinn, whom she befriends at the Red Church. I found Mercurio grumpy and endearing, and even the leaders/instructors at the Church were distinctive and memorable.<br />
<br />
The world-building itself is quite amazing too--in this world, there are three suns that shine on the Republic of Itreya, and at least one of them is constantly in the sky, hence the title <i>Nevernight</i>-- the term refers to the hours that, in our world, would be nighttime: the hours that we would be eating dinner, winding down, going to bed. But it's pretty much <i>never</i> night there, except on the rare occasion when all three suns set at the same time, which is referred to as Truedark. Since Mia's power is manipulating shadows, it's interesting how she plays with darkness and light. And of course, there's a whole, giant mythology behind the three suns (as well as the banished moon) and the deities they represent, and it's all very thorough and detailed.<br />
<br />
So yeah, I jumped straight into <i>Godsgrave</i>, as originally planned, because I didn't want to be left too long with a cliffhanger. Jay Kristoff specializes in torturing his readers, so consider this my way of mitigating the reader angst :)Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-23923363542543782522019-11-13T14:07:00.001-08:002019-11-13T14:07:53.685-08:00Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xhdtb8IA_Hs/Xcx2LZnqQOI/AAAAAAAAymw/3Bwoog4IW0YvzxOHnI93lsfKR-Lcbq_tgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/43301737._SY475_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="313" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xhdtb8IA_Hs/Xcx2LZnqQOI/AAAAAAAAymw/3Bwoog4IW0YvzxOHnI93lsfKR-Lcbq_tgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/43301737._SY475_.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
<b>Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!)</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Summary:</b> Alex Stern was a nobody going nowhere fast. After being the sole survivor of a horrific drug-related mass homicide, Alex awakes to a chance at a new life: a full ride to Yale in exchange for some work with its Ancient Eight secret societies, or Houses.<br />
<br />
The thing is, those Ancient Eight Houses, with their illustrious, powerful alumni that include past Presidents and other well-known figures, operate using some very old and dangerous magic. And it is the job of the Ninth House, the House of Lethe, to keep those Ancient Eight in check.<br />
<br />
Alex's work with Lethe, already dangerous and difficult to stomach, takes a turn for the worse when, first, her mentor disappears and, second, a local townie girl is found murdered on campus. Authorities are quick to brush off the murder as mundane (well, non-magical), but Alex thinks there is some House involvement. Surviving on just her street smarts, her memories of her mentor, and her unique ability, she intends to stop at nothing to unravel the layers of magic, entitlement, and privilege that surround her.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
<b>Thoughts:</b> I'm already a big fan of Leigh Bardugo, so when I heard she was writing an adult fantasy novel, I was completely psyched--I preordered it, AND I went to her book signing in Portland.<br />
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I was not disappointed. There is a lot of world-building and mythology to wade through (and as a Yale alumna and society member herself, Bardugo definitely had a lot to draw from), but once you get into the rhythm of the story, it really sucks you in. There is a lot of flashback between present day, the recent past involving her mentor Darlington, and the slightly more distant past involving Alex's past with drugs and the difficulties of her ability (she can see Grays--ghosts that haunt our side of the Veil).<br />
<br />
I think what I love best about this novel is that it draws a parallel between the seedy drug dealers and kingpins of Alex's past in Los Angeles and the powerful wealthy elite of Yale's secret societies (who eventually go on to become the powerful wealthy elite of American society in general, I believe), as if to say that it doesn't matter where you come from--predators are predators, and they will not hesitate to prey on the weak and the easily forgotten for their own gain. Tara, the murder victim, was a druggie like Alex, and that is why Alex cannot easily forget her and continues to investigate, even when told to stop. In the eyes of the powerful, women like Alex and Tara are considered expendable, a means to an end, and I <i>loved loved loved</i> seeing Alex fight back against them. Alex herself was forced to grow up too fast, falling into hard drugs, poverty, and sex for survival before she was out of high school, and in any other case, Alex herself would've been a casualty of her upbringing, long gone and easily forgotten. But instead, she essentially becomes a champion for the ones who are cast aside. I think there's a reason why Alex's past in LA is unfurled alongside the present-day events of the novel at Yale, and I think that reason is so that we can see that these wealthy elite are really no better, as long as they continue to treat ordinary people like they don't matter.<br />
<br />
Make no mistake--this is an adult novel. While some of the ugliest things Alex had experienced was when she was a teenager, I definitely would not put this on my classroom reading shelf for my kids. Alex came from a dark world, and entered an even darker one--the book opens with a scene of human vivisection, even, (Not a spoiler, by the way.) Along the way, there are scenes of graphic violence, sexual assault via drugging, drug abuse, etc. I would definitely offer some content warnings here--this book is not for the faint of heart.<br />
<br />
But it was really, really good, and left us on a bit of a cliffhanger. I cannot wait for the sequel.Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-10816661343520928012019-09-29T05:00:00.000-07:002019-09-29T05:00:08.644-07:00Perfectly Adequate by Jewel E. Ann<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v1-YusMSD8o/XZAflqAMaoI/AAAAAAAAykI/bgkYymew45ow9sap7QM92TWymLuRzNwKwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/PA%2B-%2BRB%2Bbanner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="1600" height="147" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v1-YusMSD8o/XZAflqAMaoI/AAAAAAAAykI/bgkYymew45ow9sap7QM92TWymLuRzNwKwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/PA%2B-%2BRB%2Bbanner.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Disclaimers: while my blog post itself does not contain any sexual content, this book does. This is a review for a book that is meant for mature audiences, and therefore is unsuitable for minors.</b><br />
<br />
<i>This book was provided to me for free by the author in exchange for an honest review.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it)</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Synopsis </b><i>(provided by publisher)</i><b>:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Dr. Elijah Hawkins needs … something.<br />
<br />
After his wife jumps headfirst into a midlife crisis, he’s left with his young son, Roman, and a lot of unanswered questions.<br />
<br />
That something turns out to be a someone—Dorothy Mayhem, nursing student, patient transporter, reckless driver, and emu owner.<br />
<br />
Dorothy studies humans, the neurotypical kind, through books and television. Then she emulates their behavioral patterns to fit in with her peers.<br />
<br />
But nothing can prepare her for Dr. Elijah Hawkins.<br />
<br />
Single dad.<br />
Brilliant pediatric oncologist.<br />
And the sexiest doctor at the hospital.<br />
<br />
When his failed attempts at asking her out turn into a string of playdates with his son, Dorothy finds herself unexpectedly enamored with the boy and his father.<br />
<br />
<br />
And that’s a problem, a huge one, because Elijah’s ex-wife is a famous plastic surgeon—and Dorothy’s idol.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><b>Thoughts:</b> Talk about whiplash! After the heavy, dark drama of <a href="http://www.transitiveverve.com/2019/06/jersey-six-by-jewel-e-ann.html" target="_blank">Jersey Six</a>, JEA takes us through a romantic comedy with <i>Perfectly Adequate, </i>a romance between recent divorcee Elijah and neuro-atypical Dorothy.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
While there were definitely some moments I found funny, <i>Perfectly Adequate</i> was, ultimately to me, a sweet, at-times sad, story about communication as well as about self-acceptance--everyone, not just Dorothy, had thoughts and feelings they were holding inside that they just could not communicate to others, in some way or another, and a lot of those thoughts and feelings were in relation to insecurities, self-doubts, fears, etc. </div>
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It's purposeful that we are told, repeatedly, "The spectrum is <i>human</i>." Dorothy has the most outwardly obvious struggle with communicating appropriately and hearing what others are trying to say, but in a way, both Elijah and his ex-wife Julie also struggled with expressing themselves both before and after their divorce: Julie had to walk away from their marriage in order to become what she felt was her true self, and Elijah had apparently never picked up on her frustrations, and was left with feelings of anger, insecurity, and self-doubt after their divorce. Julie and Dorothy aren't just opposites in their appearance and style of dress; they're opposite in their style of communication as well. Julie lived with Elijah for years without saying a damn word about how she felt (and granted, it's not because she is sneaky or underhanded, but because she was doubting herself the entire time, and that can be rough); Dorothy, on the other hand, couldn't keep in a secret if she tried, and pretty much always says <i>exactly</i> what she's thinking, even if it's inappropriate in the moment. </div>
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And what I really, really love about this story is that it doesn't take sides on which style is better than the other, or which <i>woman</i> is better than the other. We ultimately find out who is right for Elijah, but let's be clear, this is not a case of good girl vs. bad girl. I cannot truly say that there is an antagonist in this story, unless "the complicated, difficult parts of life that keep you from finding happiness" counts as an antagonist. If there's anything to take away from this book, it's that we're all human, we all have struggles, and we all deserve love and compassion.</div>
Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-61331556847502390192019-09-14T14:06:00.002-07:002019-09-14T14:06:49.309-07:00Some quick review blurbsHi there!<br />
<br />
I realized it's been a while since I posted--the new school year has started, and things are busy, busy busy!<br />
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I've been reading, but I haven't had a chance to sit down and write some in-depth reviews, but I thought I'd share with you what I've read since my last post, as well as some quick thoughts:<br />
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<b><i>The Night We Said Yes</i> by Lauren Gibaldi</b><br />
<b>Thoughts at a glance: *** (I liked it)</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Quick summary:</b> A year after they broke up, Ella and Matt reunite. Matt is not over Ella, and Ella wants to be over Matt. As they relive the magical night that they first got together, Ella tries to figure out whether getting back together would be worth it.<br />
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<b>Quick review:</b> This was a really cute story! If you're into realistic YA romance (realistic as in, not fantasy or scifi or supernatural), then you'll like this one!<br />
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<b><i>Lifel1k3</i> and <i>Dev1at3</i> by Jay Kristoff</b><br />
<b>Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!) for both</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Quick summary:</b> Eve lives among the ruins of post-apocalyptic, irradiated America, scavenging the heaps of electronic waste by day and bot-fighting at night. But the discovery of an android boy--not to mention, apparently she has the power to stop electronics with her mind???--among the scrap heaps will lead her, her best friend Lemon Fresh, and her robot buddy, Cricket, on a journey to discover long-buried secrets about her past.<br />
<br />
<b>Quick review</b>: This is my first read of Jay Kristoff's solo books, and I was NOT disappointed. I love the <i>Pinocchio</i> parallels and the ultimate questions of what it means to be human and what constitutes identity. I can't wait to read the last book in the series next summer.<br />
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<b><i>Competence</i> and <i>Reticence</i> by Gail Carriger</b><br />
<b>Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) for both</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Quick summary:</b> These are the final two books in Carriger's <i>Custard Protocol</i> series. (Here are my reviews for <a href="http://www.transitiveverve.com/2016/02/prudence-by-gail-carriger.html" target="_blank">book 1</a> and <a href="http://www.transitiveverve.com/2016/08/imprudence-by-gail-carriger.html" target="_blank">book 2</a>.) <i>Competence</i> focuses on Primrose Tunstall and her growing interest in the crew's resident (female) werecat, while <i>Reticence</i> focuses on her brother Percy and his interest in the new female doctor to join the crew, while the entire series in general explores themes of colonialism and cultural exchange.<br />
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<b>Quick review:</b> I was honestly sad to see this series wrap up, because not only was it the end of THIS series, but it's the general conclusion of this particular universe of Carriger's that spans three entire book series, as well as a bunch of novella's. They were both everything you would expect--witty, sweet, and funny--but I have to give a special shout-out to <i>Reticence</i> because 1) Percy is one of those people who doesn't like people, and it felt especially sweet to see him fall in love, and 2) we got to see the wholllllllle gang in this one--a lot of the major players from the <i>Finishing School</i> and <i>Parasol Protectorate</i> series either show up or are at least mentioned, and it just felt so lovely :)<br />
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<b><i>Pestilence</i> and <i>War</i> by Laura Thalassa</b><br />
<b>Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) for both</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Quick summary: </b>This is a fantasy-ish adult romance series about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and the women who end up falling in love with them.<br />
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<b>Quick review:</b> Okay, I HAD to read these, because I was like, 1) Why are they beautiful, and 2) How can you fall in love with them when their entire purpose is to wipe out all the humans? But these ended up being really fun to read, even though they are Stockholm-Syndrome-y. There's a lot of questioning whether humanity is worth saving (spoiler alert: yes) and whether love really is that powerful (spoiler alert: yes). I'm hoping that the last two won't just feel like repeats of the first two but with different leads slotted in, if that makes sense.Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-21174847935987943622019-07-09T11:55:00.000-07:002019-07-09T11:57:07.540-07:00Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag!It's July, and apparently this is a thing bookish Internet people do :)<br />
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1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2019?<br />
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2. Best sequel you’ve read?<br />
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(Well, I read all three of these this year, but yeah!)</div>
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3. New release you haven’t gotten to, but want to?<br />
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4. Most anticipated release for the second half of 2019?<br />
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5. Biggest disappointment?<br />
I can't say that I have one! I mean, I've read books this year that I didn't love, but to call them a disappointment would mean that I had high expectations to begin with, lol...<br />
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6. Biggest surprise?<br />
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The plot twist was DEFINITELY one I didn't see coming, and plus, this book challenged me in surprising ways.</div>
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7. New favorite author (either debut or new to you)?<br />
Stephanie Garber, author of the <i>Caraval</i> series (new to me)<br />
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8. Newest fictional crush?<br />
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The gang of <i>The Raven Cycle</i>, but I'm a Gansey girl for sure.</div>
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9. New favorite character?<br />
The entire gang of <i>Aurora Rising</i>. Like, their entire dynamic together.<br />
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10. A book that made you cry & a book that made you laugh?<br />
I always cry AND laugh rereading the ACOTAR series<br />
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11. Favorite book to movie adaptation?<br />
I don't think I've seen very many so far, actually. I just watched <i>Good Omens</i>, but I haven't actually read the book. So, I will just boost this one, because I really did love it:<br />
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12. Favorite review you’re written?<br />
I don't have a favorite!<br />
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13. Most beautiful book you acquired so far this year?<br />
I got the Owlcrate edition of <i>Sorcery of Thorns</i> and it's SO gorgeous!<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BzleAhjAm5D/" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A post shared by OwlCrate (@owlcrate)</a> on <time datetime="2019-07-06T18:31:28+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Jul 6, 2019 at 11:31am PDT</time></div>
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14. Books you still need to read before the end of the year?<br />
I'm currently reading Jay Kristoff's <i>Lifel1k3</i>, and plan to read the sequel, as well as his entire <i>Nevernight</i> series. And definitely books from Elizabeth Acevedo, Tehlor Kay Mejia, and Michelle Ruiz Keil. And Ocean Vuong's <i>On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous</i>. Plus...Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-5857034152933601342019-06-10T19:56:00.000-07:002019-06-10T19:56:09.655-07:00Jersey Six by Jewel E. Ann<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jaod8lME6n4/XP77SA31OmI/AAAAAAAAyfo/yQ9fwtdaMfMU5sAYFVrzSuHYHsjtwy1rgCLcBGAs/s1600/42527492.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="297" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jaod8lME6n4/XP77SA31OmI/AAAAAAAAyfo/yQ9fwtdaMfMU5sAYFVrzSuHYHsjtwy1rgCLcBGAs/s320/42527492.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<b>Disclaimers: while my blog post itself does not contain any sexual content, this book does. This is a review for a book that is meant for mature audiences, and therefore is unsuitable for minors.</b><br />
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<i>This book was provided to me for free by the author in exchange for an honest review.</i><br />
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<b>Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it)</b><br />
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<b>Synopsis </b> (<i>provided by publisher)</i>:<br />
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A hit-and-run accident leaves Jersey Six orphaned and homeless on the streets of Newark, shattering her dreams of school dances, pink nail polish, and a diploma.<br />
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Eight years later, a burn victim with amnesia wanders into Jersey’s barely-existent life. She resists his efforts to form a friendship until he reveals knowledge of the person responsible for derailing her future. Through their unusual friendship, she discovers a way to avenge the deaths of her foster parents.<br />
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All she has to do is destroy the world’s biggest rock star.<br />
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In the ultimate game of sex, lies, and manipulation, can Jersey discover the truth? Or will she be blinded by attraction, deceived by love, and destroyed by her past?<br />
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<a name='more'></a><b>Thoughts: </b>Let it be known that I am not one for gritty stories. I'm not saying they don't have merit, but I personally definitely prefer mermaids and rainbows in my romance novels, and based on what I read in JEA's romantic suspense <i>Jack & Jill</i> trilogy (reviews <a href="http://www.transitiveverve.com/2016/02/end-of-day-and-middle-of-knight-by.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://www.transitiveverve.com/2016/02/dawn-of-forever-by-jewel-e-ann.html" target="_blank">here</a>), I knew this was going to pack a punch (so to speak).<br />
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In typical JEA fashion, every character in this book is complex, multi-dimensional. There are moments when you love them, moments when you want to yell "WHAT THE HECK," and moments when you want to cry for them. There is a running theme of what it means to be a monster, or what makes someone a monster, and while there are varying degrees of "monster," no one in this book is without scars. </div>
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Jersey herself has had to do unspeakable things, has had to allow unspeakable things to be done to her, in order to survive. I wouldn't last a day in Jersey's world. In fact, this book probably should come with a trigger warning for everything that Jersey reveals about her youth in the system. But despite all that, she is not a victim. She's a little bit wild, a little bit tempestuous, but she's a fighter (literally--when we meet her, she's knocking people out in a seedy boxing gym). </div>
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But also, I appreciated that she is not a male superhero in female skin, if that makes sense. Some writers believe that writing a strong woman means writing her as a man--no emotions, no vulnerabilities, nothing that would be considered "soft" or "feminine"--but Jersey seemed to me like a roiling ball of emotions and vulnerabilities (but, you know, with hidden knives and deadly fists). She didn't shun her femininity, even though it was something that others sought to victimize; she used the fact that others would underestimate her to her advantage. </div>
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I found Ian, "the world's biggest rock star," to be the least compelling character of the bunch for most of the book, and it's NOT because he wasn't compelling!! I was definitely curious about him, and he definitely sounds sexy and book-boyfriend-ish, but the characters I really wanted to know more about were Chris, Jersey's mysterious friend who can't remember who he is or how he ended up in his current condition, and Max, the Asian woman who is Ian's manager. (I specify "Asian woman" to give you a visual, because just naming a "Max" would probably conjure up a different image entirely.) </div>
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Chris is actually the first character we meet in the novel, and when I say JEA's characters are complex and multi-dimensional, I mean that Chris is encamped in that murky gray area. Like, we feel sympathy for him because of his disfigurement, and we are on board with him because compared to any man in her life previously, he is practically a prince. Which sets up an interesting contrast when Ian enters her life, almost like an actual prince, and sweeps her into his rock star fantasy life. And then he says or does certain things that sound really gross and boundary-crossing. But then, he is also the one that comforts her when she needs safety.</div>
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And Max--I have to say, while I have commented before on a couple of other JEA books about representation, I loved that Max is Asian and older, and I saw a bit of myself in her. As a 36-year-old Asian woman, I see very little of ANY characters who might look like me or who are older than 28, and certainly not with such an important role in the story. Max, I feel, is the moral compass of a story that REALLY plays with the ideas of morals. She's the one who, every now and then, is like, "Wait, does this sound screwy to anyone but me????" while at the same time, being the safe harbor for both Ian and Jersey. And she has an interesting story of her own that I can somewhat relate to. </div>
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Okay, so Ian... again, I want to repeat that while I found other characters more intriguing, Ian himself is a charismatic, interesting dude, and I loved that he kept everyone guessing about his motives and behavior. While on paper he sounds like a savior type, he has some mysterious past that no one seems to know about, and we can't seem to figure out what exactly his deal is with Jersey. </div>
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At least, <i>I</i> couldn't--I did NOT see the big reveal coming, and that's saying something because I'm usually pretty good at figuring out stuff like that. Without spoiling anything, I will just say that it is heartbreaking. (This isn't a spoiler because JEA usually finds some way to break your heart in all her books =P) </div>
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So, yeah. I know life doesn't come with a trigger warning, but I will issue one now for y'all, that this book contains graphic discussions of physical assault, rape, and other forms of sexual assault, particularly against minors. It is not an easy read, emotionally, and it makes me want to become a foster mom to save them from some of the monsters that are talked about in the book. (I am a high school teacher, and it never feels like I can help my kids enough.) It's a gritty story with characters that straddle the moral fence, but it also makes you think about the nature of love and resiliency. </div>
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Another great novel from Ms. Jewel E. Ann :)</div>
Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-52242772130861195282019-06-04T22:05:00.001-07:002019-06-04T22:05:14.938-07:00Caraval, Legendary, and Finale by Stephanie Garber<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fPUZCa9MxUc/XPdIugzLFSI/AAAAAAAAyfI/EUxpv77-KkQwRJ_dJD4Y4PPHlM5lLpQjgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screenshot%2B2019-06-04%2B21.43.07.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="503" data-original-width="1052" height="191" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fPUZCa9MxUc/XPdIugzLFSI/AAAAAAAAyfI/EUxpv77-KkQwRJ_dJD4Y4PPHlM5lLpQjgCLcBGAs/s400/Screenshot%2B2019-06-04%2B21.43.07.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!)</b><br />
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<b>Summary: </b>This is a review for the entire series (because I read them all in one go), but I will paste here the blurb for the first book, so as to avoid spoiling anyway. My review, however, will talk about the entire series as a whole, and WILL contain spoilers for at least the first two books.<br />
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<i>Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval—the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over.</i><br />
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<i>But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.</i><br />
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<i>Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. Nevertheless she becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic. And whether Caraval is real or not, Scarlett must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over or a dangerous domino effect of consequences will be set off, and her beloved sister will disappear forever.</i><br />
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<a name='more'></a><b>Thoughts: </b>This one had been on my radar for a while, and seeing as how the last book came out last month, and the summary for the first book gave me heavy <i>Night Circus</i> vibes, I knew I definitely wanted to read it. (And I was in the mood for something heady and magical anyway.)</div>
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I read these all in succession, so they all bleed together just a little bit for me, but here goes: </div>
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<i>Caraval</i> (book 1) focuses on Scarlett and her quest to get her sister back. I loved that, just like our protagonist, I really had no idea what was real and what wasn't. It's rare when I read a book where I don't figure out the big reveal well ahead of time, and this one surprised me. The story and the writing were everything I thought it would be--rich, poetic, and completely engrossing. Part of the reason why I read the entire trilogy in such quick succession was that I didn't want to come up for air between books! <i>Caraval</i> made me want to plunge headlong into this beautiful, magical, dangerous world.</div>
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<i>Legendary</i> (book 2) is about Donatella, though Scarlett appears throughout the book as well. Shortly after the end of the first game, the sisters and the entire Caraval crew travel to the city of Valenda for a bigger, more extravagant, more high-stakes game hosted by the Empress Elantine, and Donatella now finds herself a major player in the game, seeking the ultimate prize of the man, the myth, the LEGEND himself. We meet some new characters, and we are re-introduced to some old characters. We also learn about magical beings called the Fates, who are threatening to break free and take over the Empire. </div>
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<i>Finale</i> (book 3) is the culmination of everything, as the Fates are now looking to take back their power, and the sisters are the key to stopping that from happening. There are twists and turns and intrigues, and while <i>Finale</i> is a little heavy on the love triangles, I still wasn't exactly sure how things were going to go and what was real and not real. </div>
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I gave five stars to the first two books, and four stars for the last one, mainly because I had some continuity questions after finishing it. For example (non-spoilery), there were a lot of stories and rumors about Legend that were discussed in the first book that weren't really addressed or explained after we find out his real identity, and I refuse to accept "They were JUST rumors" as an explanation, because that's too convenient and unsatisfying. I may have to go back and reread them all, just to see if the answers were there all along, but I kept finding myself asking "WAIT, BUT WHAT ABOUT ____?" as I read through the last book.</div>
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That said, it was massively enjoyable and engrossing, and for a book series that contained "only" kissing, it was surprisingly blush-inducing!! But I guess that's why we call it fantasy :) </div>
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The series left some room for further tales or spinoffs, so I hope that happens. And I would absolutely love to know more about the Fates. Maybe Garber should release collection of myths and fairy tales involving the Fates, the way Leigh Bardugo did for her Grishaverse stories. I can guarantee that even writing one for just the Prince of Hearts alone would pique a lot of interest ;)</div>
Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-10040302373083255822019-05-18T00:09:00.003-07:002019-05-18T00:11:35.097-07:00Movie review: The Sun Is Also a Star<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t-tjFaitwm0/XN-l2wLjzMI/AAAAAAAAycY/qHVRIuEKbzort_wKlbhorBRKuerh9A9lQCLcBGAs/s1600/thesun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="648" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t-tjFaitwm0/XN-l2wLjzMI/AAAAAAAAycY/qHVRIuEKbzort_wKlbhorBRKuerh9A9lQCLcBGAs/s400/thesun.jpg" width="258" /></a></div>
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<i>For my review of the novel, by Nicola Yoon, please click <a href="http://www.transitiveverve.com/2017/01/the-sun-is-also-star-by-nicola-yoon.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</i><br />
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I really liked the novel when I read it a couple years ago, so I was really excited for this movie to come out. (Not the least of all, because Yara Shahidi and Charles Melton are like, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE I'VE EVER SEEN.)<br />
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The quick sum-up is that Natasha and her family are undocumented immigrants, and the day before her entire family is due to be deported, she meets Daniel, an American-born son of Korean immigrants, on the way to a college interview. Tasha is all science and sensibility and facts; Daniel is a poet and a philosopher. Daniel is a writer who doesn't want to become a doctor like his parents want him to; Tasha is a New Yorker who doesn't want to be forced to leave the city that has become her home, even though the American government feels otherwise.<br />
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Daniel tells Tasha that he could get her to fall in love with him in one day, using scientific methods from a study he read about falling in love; Tasha is beyond skeptical. But you can probably guess where this goes.<br />
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Is <i>The Sun Is Also A Star</i> an improbable love story? Sure. It has its adorably cheesy moments and intense staring. But whether or not we agree that two people can fall in love in one day, consider that the story might be asking us to fall in love in other ways as well:<br />
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First of all, it's definitely a love letter to New York. There are TONS of movies that feature New York as its own character, and I've seen a lot of them (though I've never been there myself). I feel like, FOR ME, this is New York's <i>Before Sunrise</i> (complete with a trolley car kiss and falling asleep in a park). I fell in love with the New York that was presented to us in this movie. I even now want to go visit all of the places that were featured! We see the city through Tasha's eyes especially, because New York is where she belongs, and on her last day in the city, we see everything that she loves about it (as well as the places that Daniel loves too).<br />
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Secondly, it's a love letter to the immigrant experience, and as a child of immigrants, I related to this so strongly. Immigrant parents, bottom line, want a better life for their families. That's why they come here, documented or undocumented, because America represents a promise of a better life. But it doesn't come without struggle. I mainly connected to Daniel's story, because I too am Asian-American, and I understood both the parental-pressure-to-become-a-doctor aspect, and I also understood Daniel's brother's pushback against that pressure, wanting to be more "American," etc. And of course, I also understood that when you are the child of an immigrant, you are your parents' hopes and dreams, poured into every cell of your body. (I also loved the explanation of how Koreans--and other Asian cultures--have a different naming convention. In Vietnamese, we do the last-name-first thing too, and my Vietnamese name is just a hair different from what it is in English.) It's also a love letter to the immigrant experience from the standpoint of, Look how much pain is caused by these deportations. What made me cry during this movie was thinking about how, if THIS is how hard and sad things are for Natasha, then it's definitely worse for so many people who are going through this (and worse) in real life right now. This movie is a plea for empathy and understanding. The media likes to paint a certain picture of undocumented immigrants, and I hope this movie is one that can balance that in some way.<br />
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Thirdly, it's a love letter to the good parts of being American. When Tasha has to answer a question on a form that reads "What does being American mean to you?", we see her mental images of dancing and laughing with her diverse group of friends and eating ice cream with her family. It's freedom; it's comfort; it's space to be yourself and live a happy life, the simplest things we all wish for. She doesn't imagine money and power; she imagines those little happy moments that make life worth living, things that America theoretically promises to everyone. The movie also strongly highlights diversity, in the scenic ways that ethnic neighborhoods are depicted, to the fact that (I think?) every speaking role in this movie was played by an actor of color. I know there are some who would disagree with me, but I think diversity is a strength, and the promises of hope and melting-pots are something uniquely American to me.<br />
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Lastly, it's a love letter to love itself. Again, while any one of us may be skeptical about falling in love with someone after just one day, I like that the film (and the story) isn't REALLY trying to convince us to take that seriously, but just simply to open our minds to it. Fall in love with the possibility of love. Fall in love with the possibility of hope. It doesn't have to always make sense, and it isn't always convenient, but to quote one of my favorite movies, "love actually IS all around."<br />
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Other thoughts:<br />
- The karaoke scene--I liked that the singing wasn't a perfect vocal take.<br />
- Holy WOW, these two actors are beautiful<br />
- Holy WOW, Grand Central Station is beautiful<br />
- I really want to try that <i>bun</i> place<br />
- The music was really lovely<br />
- The one time we hear Tasha tell Daniel to leave her alone in the movie, <i>he does</i>. And I'm really glad that that happens, because we have too many stories in this world that tell guys to keep insisting, even when the girl has clearly said no.<br />
- The scene at the Bae family store was WOW, and I'm glad they kept it, because it's important to understand that POC are just as capable of racial microaggressions (and even macroaggressions) as anybody else. I am not qualified to speak on the whole Koreans-owning-the-majority-of-black-hair-care-stores issue, but it IS a thing.<br />
- The ending is handled a little differently than in the book, but not in a bad way.<br />
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So yes, I recommend this. I probably recommend it even MORE than I recommended the book two years ago, because our political climate towards immigrants has, well, become more urgent, and I think this story has become more relevant. But also, it's a nice, fluffy love story that will make you make you feel good when you're tired of thinking about our current political climate as well.Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-54658026904406162792019-05-08T10:02:00.000-07:002019-05-08T10:02:06.372-07:00Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LfcAibBjHOY/XNLel7PuaWI/AAAAAAAAyb4/4b6fLdoR9JA77BQFYHG_iuX20_Ff1_DdACLcBGAs/s1600/Screenshot%2B2019-05-08%2B06.49.28.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="476" data-original-width="315" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LfcAibBjHOY/XNLel7PuaWI/AAAAAAAAyb4/4b6fLdoR9JA77BQFYHG_iuX20_Ff1_DdACLcBGAs/s320/Screenshot%2B2019-05-08%2B06.49.28.png" width="211" /></a></div>
<b>Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!)</b><br />
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<b>Summary: </b>Tyler Jones is the Golden Boy of his graduating class at Aurora Academy. He works the hardest, has the highest marks, and is slated to be one of the BEST squad leaders.<br />
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Until he misses the big Draft, answering a mysterious distress signal and rescuing a girl who ends up being the sole survivor on a ship that was given up for dead... two hundred years ago.<br />
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So now, Tyler, who was to have his pick of the best students at Aurora Academy, is now stuck with a squad full of rejects, outcasts, and sociopaths. And moreover, the girl he rescued? They don't really know who she is or what she's doing there, and neither does she, but there is something weird and scary about her. And suddenly Squad 312 finds themselves on the run from every major governing space body, space crime lords, and even warring alien races as they try to protect her.<br />
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And also, this mismatched group might be the thing that saves the galaxy from an ancient war. No pressure or anything.<br />
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<b>Thoughts:</b> I first heard about this book when Jay and Amie talked about it while on tour for <i>Gemina</i>. That's how long I've been waiting to read this.<br />
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At the time, they kind of billed it as a something like Hogwarts-rejects-in-space (which, I mean, who could resist that?), but in truth, what Squad 312 REALLY reminds me of is one of my favorite tv shows ever, <i>Leverage</i>.<br />
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In case you've never seen it, <a href="https://youtu.be/reXPb9NpBfM" target="_blank"><i>Leverage</i> is about a group of criminals</a>--a hitter, a hacker, a thief, a grifter, and a mastermind--who use their skills to take down the powerful and wealthy, and help those who have no legal power or recourse. A <i>Robin Hood</i> sort of thing. Let me go into more detail:<br />
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The mastermind is the leader and the tactician. It's his job to manage his team and know their strengths, and to stay a dozen steps ahead of the enemy. On the show, Nate is originally just a regular guy. He was not a career criminal the way the rest of his team is, but as life circumstances draw him into that world, he ends up being one of the sharpest minds in the business. Obviously, the mastermind of Squad 312 is Tyler. At first, he's the strait-laced, never-says-a-cuss-word, never-disobeys-orders sort of guy, but as they get further into their quest (and further away from the law), Tyler really starts to shine.<br />
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On the show, Sophie is the grifter of the team--she can read people really well, navigate difficult situations using her various talents, and basically convince people to do just about anything she wants, occasionally using her beauty to do so. In this book, Scarlett, Tyler's twin sister, is the Face of the squad--that is, she is highly trained in diplomacy and negotiations, and she's fluent in many languages and customs as a part of her role. In addition to that, she is a flame-haired bombshell, and not afraid to use her sexuality to create advantages for the team. On the show, Nate is the one who manages the team, but Sophie is the one who <i>takes care</i> of everyone--Scarlett is very much the same, able to pick up on her squad members' emotions and talk them down if needed.<br />
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The hacker role is pretty obvious--he's the tech wizard who knows a lot of stuff and opens doors for everyone. Also, like one might guess, he's not the BEST at dealing with other people and might be better at machines than humans. On our squad, that's Finian. He's Betraskan (an alien race from the planet Trask), and if his snow-white skin/hair and solid black eyes don't make him stand out enough among the humans, he also has to wear an exoskeleton suit to aid with his mobility. He's got sarcasm for DAYYYYS, and it's his defense mechanism--it's possible that it's his personality, and not his suit, that makes people constantly tell him to shut up.<br />
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The hitter is the guy who is the combat specialist. His role IS violence. Kal is our squad's hitter, also known as the Tank (which is exactly what it sounds like, if you are into MMORPGs). He's from an elf-like alien race called the Syldrathi, and is the member of a specific cabal (subgroup) called the Warbringers. He's got pointy ears and violet eyes (like my favorite fae, Rhysand), and he's got some sort of a disarming touch much like the Vulcan Death Grip. He's also got long silvery hair, much like Legolas (and there are jokes about that in the book!) He's stiff and formal, and doesn't like being touched.<br />
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On the show, the thief is a woman named Parker, and in addition to being an adept lock-picker, codebreaker, and pickpocket, she's also "twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag." She's not the most adept at reading people, and she has sociopathic tendencies, including an affinity for tasers. In <i>Aurora Rising</i>, tiny Zila is not a thief (she's the science and medical person), but her disciplinary records DO mention her shooting her bunkmate with her disruptor gun over and over just to see what would happen. (It was set to stun.) She's always quietly watching everyone else in her squad, as if she's mentally cataloguing her observations like a wildlife expert, but even though she's a bit odd, she always comes through.<br />
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That leaves one more squad member, whom I couldn't fit into the <i>Leverage</i> paradigm, because she is so reminiscent of a different character from a different favorite tv show of mine: Cat is the tough, tattooed, mohawked Ace, the pilot of the team. Her nickname is Zero because that's how many targets she missed in her final exam. She's Scarlett's roommate and Tyler's best friend, and a total badass. And yeah, there's some underlying romantic tension between her and Tyler.<br />
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Alpha, Ace, Face, Tank, Gearhead, and Brain. This book is a combination of <i>Leverage</i> and <i>Battlestar Galactica</i>, and as you can guess, I was basically in love with it before I even GOT the book. The awesome official artwork helped too:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C52X1iJ7cFg/XNMCTNVUUKI/AAAAAAAAycE/q4BGdgAY1ykRvFRxbpv5e2zFn4hxuS4DgCLcBGAs/s1600/Group-shot-desktop-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C52X1iJ7cFg/XNMCTNVUUKI/AAAAAAAAycE/q4BGdgAY1ykRvFRxbpv5e2zFn4hxuS4DgCLcBGAs/s400/Group-shot-desktop-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zila, Tyler, Scarlett, Auri, Kal, Cat, and Finn<br />Art by <a href="http://www.instagram.com/kiranight_art" target="_blank">Kira Night</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Oh, right. I forgot: Auri, the mystery girl that Tyler rescues from a derelict ship. I can't say too much about her without getting spoilery, but Aurora Jie-Lin O'Malley (she's half-Chinese, half-Irish) is found on the <i>Hadfield</i>, floating lost in the middle of a major space storm. She's been frozen for over two hundred years, and when she wakes up at Aurora Academy ("Aurora" is a popular name), it's clear that this is NOT where she was supposed to be. And she keeps having weird hallucinations and blackouts. Auri is not what she appears to be (even SHE doesn't know what she is), and the mystery of her origin forms the basis for the story.<br />
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<i>Aurora Rising</i> is a fun, action-packed adventure. I was worried that it wouldn't live up to <i>The Illuminae Files, </i>because, come on, that series is efffffing spectacular, but I found that I loved this one too, for completely different reasons. <i>Aurora Rising</i> takes a more traditional fiction format (like, a regular novel with chapters and stuff), but the narration alternates between squad members, and I LOVED how distinctive each person's voices were. The only times I ever had to double-check the narrator were when I was reading Scarlett and Cat's chapters, but they were still pretty distinctive. (I think their similarities are what makes them best friends, if that makes sense.) Zila's chapters were the most amusing to me, because they were extremely reflective of her personality (succinct, straightforward, hilarious). Every single squad member is complex, well-developed, and loveably cheeky in their own way. The whole story itself has this sort of devil-may-care humor that I love so much, and despite the catastrophes and galaxy-ending-ramifications of the events of the story, I just loved the tongue-in-cheek tone that permeated through the book. It's funny and doesn't take itself too seriously (and then when it DOES suddenly get serious, you really, really feel it).<br />
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In general, the book lends itself well to cinematic imaginings--you can see exactly where you would splice certain sequences together, alternating between flashback and present-day. I actually really hope this gets picked up as a movie or a show, because I'd love to see this book visually interpreted, from some of the places they visit to each squad member in particular--I <i>love</i> the aesthetic diversity of our squad. (Look at that artwork!!) I could picture everything happening in this book so vividly, and that's kind of what helped me slam through it in just 24 hours. I DEVOURED this. There's even a particular part of the story where they are in a bar that sounds SO similar to the Mos Eisley Cantina!<br />
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And maybe that's why I ended up loving it so much. I won't be so presumptuous as to speak to Jay and Amie's influences, but I loved <i>The Illuminae Files</i> because it reminded me of <i>Silent Hill</i> and <i>House of Leaves</i>, and <i>Aurora Rising</i> reminds me <i>Leverage </i>(and even <i>Six of Crows!</i>), and BOTH contain elements of <i>Battlestar Galactica</i>, so basically, their books feel like a love letter to all of my nerdy influences. (Throw in <i>Star Wars</i> and <i>Star Trek</i> and all the <i>Lord of the Rings</i> jokes too!) <i>Aurora Rising</i> is the story of a motley, mismatched squad on a mission, and I loved every minute of it, and now I have to wait at least a year for book 2.<br />
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Note: After slamming through this book on my Kindle, I am now going back to listen to the audiobook, because they brought back ALL OUR FAVE VOICES from the <i>Illuminae</i> audiobooks, including Lincoln Hoppa, who voiced AIDAN (he's Finn for this one) and Steve West, who was the silky-voiced Jackson in <i>Gemina</i>. (He's Kal, whose voice is described in the book as "like chocolate.") From what I can tell so far, they just switch off on the narrating (so, it's not an audio drama the way <i>Illuminae</i> was), but I'm still REALLY excited to hear all these familiar voices again.Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202779976239358814.post-11373193275609936162019-04-30T08:00:00.000-07:002019-04-30T08:00:06.832-07:00This Is Not a Love Scene by S.C. Megale<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0KYC97vHRPo/XLvXBAVU-tI/AAAAAAAAybU/4Ply5Eumo8QJCJ28db25c25ROqTsvWEzACLcBGAs/s1600/This%2Bis%2BNot%2Ba%2BLove%2BScene_COVER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1047" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0KYC97vHRPo/XLvXBAVU-tI/AAAAAAAAybU/4Ply5Eumo8QJCJ28db25c25ROqTsvWEzACLcBGAs/s320/This%2Bis%2BNot%2Ba%2BLove%2BScene_COVER.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
<i>This book was provided to me for free through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.</i><br />
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<b>Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it)</b><br />
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<b>Synopsis (provided by publisher):</b><br />
<i>Lights, camera—all Maeve needs is action. But at eighteen, a rare form of muscular dystrophy usually stands in the way of romance. She's got her friends, her humor, and a passion for filmmaking to keep her focus off consistent rejection...and the hot older guy starring in her senior film project.</i><br />
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<i>Tall, bearded, and always swaying, Cole Stone is everything Maeve can't be. And she likes it. Between takes, their chemistry is shockingly electric.</i><br />
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<i>Suddenly Maeve gets a taste of typical teenage dating life, but girls in wheelchairs don’t get the hot guy—right? Cole’s attention challenges everything she once believed about her self-image and hopes for love. But figuring this out, both emotionally and physically, won't be easy for either of them. Maeve must choose between what she needs and what she wants, while Cole has a tendency to avoid decisions altogether. And her failing lungs might not wait for either.</i><br />
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<a name='more'></a><b>Thoughts:</b> Right off the bat, what I noticed about this story is that it does not sugarcoat. Maeve's narration is brash and raunchy, and I liked it.<br />
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Let's be honest here, the way Maeve would like it--as this novel is called <i>This Is Not a Love Scene</i>, you should probably expect going in that this is not some sweet coming-of-age romance. Maeve tells us straight-out that she is THIRSTY. She is on a mission to demonstrate to the best of her ability that she is NOT asexual; she is an eighteen-year-old girl with a healthy libido, and all she wants in life is for a guy to like her <i>like that</i>. I've seen a few early reviews that say she comes on too strong, and sure, maybe she does, but I also imagine that she's probably extremely frustrated. This is not a story of love, but a story about sex. Or rather, her lack thereof.<br />
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So, the first thing to keep in mind is, don't be shocked by her language and behavior. (Though, I'm not entirely sure about recommending this to younger teens.) The second thing to keep in mind is, the "romantic interest," Cole, is no romantic hero. There is no way in hell I would offer up Maeve and Cole as "relationship goals," but in a way, it's still a really important story to tell.<br />
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I will be the first to admit that I am no expert on representation of individuals with disabilities, but I get the feeling that the general narratives we're always told (as able-bodied consumers of media) is that while it's "okay" to use individuals with disabilities as INSPO (<a href="https://themighty.com/2017/10/please-stop-spreading-inspiration-porn-about-disability/" target="_blank">why it's not actually okay is a whole discussion for another time</a>), it's never really okay to see them as sexual beings who have sexual needs. And yeah, there was that one movie based on that one book (that actually gets called out in THIS book, because the ending was some tearjerker-fodder that included the character with the disability deciding that he'd rather die than live with his disability), there's not a whole lot of just, "Hey, people with disabilities also like to just eat ice cream and hang out with friends and, you know, have sex!"<br />
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Maeve is not a perfect person. She's inconsistent sometimes, she's immature sometimes, and she's problematic sometimes. She flirts with every attractive guy she can, some of whom might be older. Oh, right! She's a normal human teenaged girl! She is complex, and her relationship with her disability is complex as well. She doesn't always "suffer with patience." And sometimes she uses her disability to get out of a boring class and hang out with her bestie.<br />
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But we do also see characters who would want to use her disability to elicit an emotional response, or who are just simply insensitive. One such character implies at one point that she keep an eye on her friend because she has nothing else to do. We experience her frustration at the fact that the local ice cream place doesn't have a ramp, and she talks about how it wouldn't be a big deal if it weren't the POPULAR place for other kids her age to hang out, and she is forced to sit outside while her friends pay for her.<br />
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So we get a gamut of emotions, situations, and responses through Maeve's character.<br />
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And we also have Cole. Cole, who is a little older, and an actor in one of Maeve's film projects, and totally hot, but... while he has no problem sexting her, he is much more lukewarm in person. He's the sort of guy I would warn my friend against. What I find interesting is that while Maeve is clearly sexually interested in him, and that's kind of the basis of the story, she is also guilty of romanticizing him. She keeps referring to the time he played the Beast in a theatrical production of <i>Beauty and the Beast</i>, and I definitely personally feel like, if someone kept talking about That One Thing I Did That One Time, I would find it tiring after a while. Because Cole is definitely no prince, not even in disguise, and I think that's a significant point of characterization. Maeve is definitely wrong to romanticize him, but of course, that's just a thing we do when we have feelings for someone, right? We create an idealized version of them in our heads, and rarely does the reality live up to the fantasy. And maybe that's the lesson we're supposed to learn from Cole. This is not a love scene, and there is no soft lighting and romantic music; there is fumbling and d*ck pics and raging hormones.<br />
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The other, more "romantic" character in the story, whom I won't name (but it will become very obvious throughout the story who it is), isn't perfect either, by the way. And he is an interesting foil to Maeve's story, but I can't go into many details without spoiling, but let's just say that "health" is a broad topic, and the lack of it can affect different people in so many ways.<br />
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To quote John Green, we need to "<a href="https://medium.com/@5hreyans/excerpts-from-a-speech-by-john-green-about-reading-and-how-books-help-us-imagining-people-722d6e4ed229" target="_blank">imagine others and ourselves complexly</a>." And I think that's my takeaway from this entire thing. Unless you are already pretty involved in and informed about the disability rights movement and activism, chances are, you have a certain mental image of individuals with disabilities, and chances are, that mental image is pretty limited. (I can categorically tell you that I have so much I need to educate myself about, so I'm not here pointing fingers.) I think that a book like <i>This Is Not A Love Scene</i> (which is an <a href="https://bluecrowpublishing.com/2018/03/30/what-does-ownvoices-mean/" target="_blank">#ownvoices</a> book, by the way!) is a good step towards breaking down some stereotypes and helping us to imagine others complexly. And moreover, it's just enjoyable to read.<br />
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<br />Thuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703515335947373649noreply@blogger.com