I dunno about you guys, but it’s been a pretty long week for me. I’ve been personally working a lot more, so my reading time has gone down significantly. I’m also realizing that life as a vegetarian is rather difficult when you’re going out for dinner rather than cooking your own meals. There aren’t a lot of vegetarian restaurants nearby, though I imagine I’ve got more near me than most. And then it’s surprisingly difficult to find vegetarian options on a menu in a typical restaraunt. Needless to say, it makes me rather put out about my boyfriend’s dislike for Indian food, since they always seem to have amazing options for vegetarian food.

Naturally, as always, despite the goings on in my regular life, I’ve still made time for the books.

On to the updates:

So, the February Giveaway ended this week and I’ve announced the winner, which is really quite exciting! I’d like to keep the giveaways going, which is ultimately where the new Giveaway Rules Page (also located at the top of this page) comes in! It’s merely an in depth description of the rules and what to expect when entering a Reader Fox Giveaway in the future so I don’t have to continually type it out every month. I figure this way it’ll make the process a little faster and easier for me. And speaking of future giveaways, it’s also time to VOTE for the April Readalong Book, so please go do that if you’re planning to participate because you’ll be helping to choose the second option for giveaway winners!

If you do not know already, we’re reading Everless by Sara Holland for this month. As always, the only rule for the readalongs is that you read the book with me. You don’t have to finish it if there is any reason that you can’t from not having the time or deciding you just don’t like the book, but if you want to be eligible for the 3 extra entries in the end of month giveaway, you have to at least start reading and comment on one of the Readalong posts, which can all be found on the Monthly Readalong page at the top of my blog.

Books I’ve read:

WOW did I hate the main character in The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp. What a narcissistic, self-forgiving asshole. I honestly have no idea how this book is so well loved because it was extremely difficult for me to deal with the poor excuse for a human, Sutter Keely. Now, I’m not saying this was a bad book, because it wasn’t. The writing was good, the characters (while I hated them) were very realistic, and the story had a decent plot. I’ll give the author some serious props, though, because (AND SPOILERS) the characterization was extremely on point and at least Sutter realized how awful he was at the end. I do question his growth, though, because he doesn’t seem to ever really change. He gets close, once he realized how awful he was and how much he hurt the people around him, but then he just goes right back to drinking. So, I dunno. The thing I appreciate most is that this book doesn’t romanticize unhealthy relationships, but rather it puts them out there and subtly pokes at them, making (I hope) the reader realize how disgusting it is. Sutter doesn’t ever really seem to want to be with Aimee, regularly repeating that he is helping her socially to excuse his choice to be with her. And it’s so disturbingly cringe-worthy. Sutter and Aimee’s relationship is by far not the unhealthiest I’ve ever seen in a book, but I have serious respect for authors calling out relationships that hurt one or both of the people in them. If you think The Spectacular Now is a love story, you’d be 100% wrong.  🌟🌟🌟

Hello, I’m the ridiculously attractive guy who is really douchey to you most of the time, but don’t worry it’s all because I love you just so damn much that it hurts and I’m also an emotional mess because someone in my past, usually my dad, has really damaged and broken me. Brooding YA Hero takes the tropes of your typical, frustrating, and yet somehow loveable jerk hero and rolls them out into a novel. I think this book was exceedingly clever and it’s definitely a discussion YA writers should be having regularly. I think we need to take a serious look at how much cruel behavior we regularly permit in our YA male heros in order to actively change this. The misunderstood and broken boy who treats everyone like garbage but eventually has a young girl (usually a reader) pull him out of his detremental (mostly) behavior and falls in love with her is one that, frankly, I’m sick of. This is where we find ourselves falling into situations where people start romanticizing abuse. Somehow, these guys always have a carefully convenient reason for being the jerks that they are. What I’ll say about this book is that it calls out this ridiculous trope in some subtle and obvious ways, leading with a very untrustworthy narrator and a plot that ultimately teaches him a few things. This character has growth, albeit small growth. It’s definitely worth reading. 🌟🌟🌟🌟

I read The Princess and the Goblin this week, finishing it just a day ago. I love this book, I love the movie that was made for it. I think it definitely has a lot of societal influences from its time, which is understandable. I very much had a blast reading it, though, and ultimately this is one of those books that began the world of fairytales. Initially published in 1872, The Princess and the Goblin definitely shows how so many other writers pulled from its ideas as they wrote their own stories. I had serious nostalgic feelings the entire time I was reading this book, largely due to the fact that there was always some piece of it that I’d seen in another film or book that I loved. It’s not groundbreaking or anything, but it was a fun experience. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Reviews from this week:

Brooding YA Hero: Becoming a Main Character (Almost) as Awesome as Me [by Carrie Ann DiRisio] (Book Review #45)

A Court of Thorns and Roses [by Sarah J. Maas] (Book Review #46)

Under a Fairy Moon [by T.M. Wallace] (Book Review #47)

Last minute thoughts:

I’ve been trying to work on my book lately, but it’s clearly taken a back burner. I think this is partially because while I have a brilliant idea for it, muse is always something that’s a little difficult for me to come by. Ultimately, I’ve written a little more of the initial chapter and the start of another, so at least I’ve been writing a little bit.

A few last minute things in the world of the United States, I’d like to bring attention back to the March For Our Lives that is going on. Please, please, don’t stop reading about this. Keep fighting for gun control and vote the horrible politicians who wont do anything to help the people who live in this country out of office. Additionally, look into who is voting to save Net Nutrality and CALL your senators to remind them that they work for the PEOPLE and therefore need to govern for the PEOPLE instead of the big companies that want to slow down our internet access in order to charge us more.

I cannot impress enough that we need to take an active part in changing the way politicians treat people vs money. If we don’t do it now, if we don’t do it every day, if we forget and we stop, we are hurting ourselves in the long run.

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