mybookishthrills: discussion

18 Comments

At the start of the new year, I set myself a brand new Goodreads' reading goal for the year. Last year I tackled my 40 books goal, which might not seem like much for most people, but for me, as a really picky reader, this was a lot. For whatever reason though, I felt like I could up my own game in 2017, and I set my goal at 50 books.

As nervous as I secretly am, I am happy to report that I read 5 books in January, and am currently 2 books ahead of schedule...Only 45 books, and 11 months to go...*nervous chuckling*.

Anyways...After a pretty decent month of reading, here I am, happy to be bringing you my January wrap up!

1. "Crooked Kingdoms" by Leigh Bardugo

RATING: ★★★★★/5/5

My last read of 2016 was 'Six Of Crows', which I had been meaning to read for literal ages. I finally did, and holy mother of God...it was so good!

Whether you've read this book or not, all I'm going to say is Jesper and Wylan are my babies, and also Kaz Brekker is my son, and no one better touch my thieving and bomb-making little sons, or they'll have me and my cap locks to deal with!

This duology was honestly so entertaining! Once you start, there is literally no going back, because you get so invested with these characters you just have to see them through every fight and battle.

It was so good, and I adored how this duology wrapped up. ~~Although I'm secretly hoping for a continuation or a spin-off hehehe.~~

2."The Art of Crash Landing" by Melissa DeCarlo

RATING: ★★★☆☆/3/5

This one I randomly picked up from the library shelf when the title caught my eye. Like honestly...that's one hell of a title. And it fit the story perfectly too! This book is about a young-woman who's life is in turmoil and she travels to her mother's hometown in an impulse and out of desperation. She ends up finding more than she anticipated in this town, including answers to questions that had kept her restless in her own skin.

I liked this story well enough. It was relaxing and calming after reading a few fast-action fantasy books. I think I picked this book up at exactly the right time, and it really helped my enjoyment of it.

The main character was really relatable and the plot was interesting enough that it kept me reading, but it wasn't mind-blowing or heart-breaking the way a five star read would be for me.

3. "The Diabolic" by S.J. Kincaid

RATING: ★★★★☆/4/5

I had my doubts going into this one, just because the concept sounded like it could really easily run into a cliche, so I was quite apprehensive. However, I read it, and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

It was a cool, YA science-fiction/fantasy, and had some pretty cool scenes and images.

I liked the concept of the universe in which this story is set in, and mostly, I was really warmed by the underlying message of marginalization that I found in this book.

You can find my full thoughts, and a thorough review here.

4. "The Unseen World" by Liz Moore

RATING: ★★★★★/5/5

This was my second 5-star read of the year, and it came somewhat as a surprise. I picked this book up knowing only very vague details about the plot. Therefore, I didn't really have many expectations at all, which I feel was the reason why I had such an amazing experience with this book.

This also entailed some important aspects of LGBT+, and the community's experience in 1980s.

It was really engrossing, it pulled me in and didn't let me go till the last page. It broke my heart and put it back together, all while making me feel nostalgic as hell. Overall, it was lovely and I recommend this book to absolutely everyone!

You can find my full thoughts, and a thorough review here.

5."The Smell Of Other People's Houses" by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

RATING: ★★★★☆/4/5

This is another one with great characters who pulled me and had me by my heart strings throughout the whole book.

I adored the simplicity of this book, and the story that it told. Although it had a slow beginning, in my opinion, it eventually hit the ground running and didn't stop until it wrapped up in a really satisfying and gratifying way. It was so heartwarming and honest, I loved it!

I would recommend this book to everyone, especially if you're someone who has a few hours to sit down and read it all in one go...I think maybe this book would be enjoyed the most in such manner as it is well-paced and quite short.

You can find my full thoughts, and a thorough review here.

That wraps up the list of books that I read in the month of January, 2017.

Tell me in the comment below what you've been reading this year, and which of the above books caught your eye, or you've fallen in love with previously?

Let me know in the comments bellow. All comments are massively appeciated!

All the love,

Samanta.

12 Comments

As readers, we have all come across stuff in YA books that have made us curl up and scream into a pillow, throw the book across the room or out the window, shriek so loud your dog goes akimbo, or in severe cases burn those books and post pictures.

That got quite poetic...That's how passionate I am about hating some of these tropes that I have come upon when reading YA ~~i haven't burned any books myself because that's not nice in my opinion.~~

The following are the five things in YA that make me hate my own existence and some of my life choices...Enjoy this piece of mess.

The Scorned Bad Boy/ Dark Lord Who's Actually An Abusive Asshole

Okay, 95% of us are guilty of having fallen into this trap before, especially some five years ago when the internet was brimming with books that glamorized and romanticized psychotic assholes whose abusive behavior towards a romantic partner was excused by a 'traumatic past'....Ughhhhhhh.

There's nothing wrong with a misunderstood and misjudged 'bad boy' in books every now and then, when there's an actual back-story, plot and character development...However, more than half the time, that bad boy is just a freaking asshole, and really...there's nothing 'bad' about him beside his cowardice and narcissism.

God help me if I ever come across another one of those, I've only just recovered my sanity since the last time I encountered one of these.

The Unsuspecting 'Chosen One' Who 'Didn't 'Ask For It'

This is pretty much every character ever in YA fantasy and dystopia. The normal, 'every-day' gal in jeans and a tank-top who conveniently knows how to fight with a knife and swing a mean punch, and is suddenly thrown into a dystopia where they're the 'chosen one', but oh god 'they never asked for this'...Cue the five pages of self-pity and whining, self-depreciation and 'they must be mistaken'.

There is literally nothing worse than this piece of shit plot-line in YA. If you're going to write about some poor idiot who ends up in some messed up situations, then make them grow as characters, make them reflect upon what has happened to them, make them DO something about it instead of going with the flow and seeing what happens while magically being the only one not getting killed...Like ????. It's a tired trope, we've all read it a million times over, and the only time it was acceptable was when J.K. Rowling actually did it properly first.

Love Triangles - ESPECIALLY: "I love you but I also love your brother"

Okay this was maybe an appealing trope like 356 years ago...but it's literally done now. It's been done thousands of times. It's tired. It's on the death bed. I don't understand why you people keep putting it on life support...It's literally as appealing now as punching yourself in the face.

Especially the new 'twist' on it that I've seen popping up in recent years, the 'I love you, but oh your brother who is my best friend is kinda cute too" trope? Yeah that needs to go. It doesn't make love triangles better. It makes it worse and even more disgusting. Not only are you emotionally cheating on your partner then, but you're also literally putting a rift in a family. Like get the hell out, I've no pity for your stupid ass who just 'can't chose'...

I fullheartedly give permission and encouragement for someone to write a book where the two siblings realize the abusive asshole that the main character is being, and they kick them to the curb with their super-sibling love....Honestly, you can title it "The Last Breath of Love Triangles"...I'll give you an award.

The Whiny, Pessimistic Character With No Personality

I don't know about anyone else, but when I'm fifty pages into the book and the only thing I'm getting from a character is annoying ass whining about 'how horrible' their life is, and how 'everything's going to shit'...like first of all, do I care? And second of all, what's the point of all your whining?

A character is not made more interesting or mysterious when they're being pessimistic assholes, trying to ruin everyone's day with their annoying sulking and self-pity. Honestly...get your shit together and go on an adventure that is actually worth the pages of a printed book.

Such characters tend to be those that literally have no personality. They're only personality is whining and listing all the things that are wrong with their lives. Their whole existence is just misery. That's it. That's the whole book.

Undeveloped Flaws/Disabilities for the Sake of 'Diversity'

As annoying as a bleak character is, a 'flawed' character who is only 'flawed' for the sake of not being bleak, gets under my skin ten times more. You can tell, when you read some YA books, that the 'curvy' or the 'limping' girl is only so to give her a certain edge. Ughhh.

It's so transparent that the author has done this for that reason when such fact is stated about the character and then nothing is ever brought up about it again. The character goes about behaving like the 'bleak' character, except whenever it's convenient, their 'flaw' is brought up.

Don't even get me started on stuff like throwing in a different race sidekick, giving them zero plot points and zero personality, and calling it a 'diverse' book...You can politely fuck off with your so called 'diversity'.

.....

So, that concludes the five things in YA that literally get my blood boiling and my sanity edging towards the cliff's edge with every word of this nonsense. Hope you've enjoyed my angry babbling, hehe.

Let me know in the comments below which one gets under your skin the most, and tell me what YA tropes you're super tired of seeing. All comments are so, so appreciated!

All the love,

Samanta.