#prettyygirlx

[library-mermaid-blog]

I'm in a reading rut! Do you have any recommendations? Books like The Raven Cycle series, maybe? ❤️❤️❤️

@prettyygirlx  Hi!! Do I EVER haha, sorry that I had to let this sit for a few days until I had time to actually answer fully! I’ll divide these as book recs from one character each, with associated themes! As a note, I’ll include non-YA books that are nevertheless thematically similar bc as we know TRC is a witticism-riddled YA romp with decidedly darker themes….we have been blessed. For ease of bookmarking, I’ll include a summary from goodreads + a link, and I’ll comment briefly on why I recommend it for fans of TRC, too!

Book Recommendations Based on The Raven Cycle:

• • • BLUE SARGENT’S REC: • • • — The Basic Eight by Daniel HandlerFlannery Culp wants you to know the whole story of her spectacularly awful senior year. Tyrants, perverts, tragic crushes, gossip, cruel jokes, and the hallucinatory effects of absinthe – Flannery and the seven other friends in the Basic Eight have suffered through it all. But now, on tabloid television, they’re calling Flannery a murderer, which is a total lie. It’s true that high school can be so stressful sometimes. And it’s true that sometimes a girl just has to kill someone. But Flannery wants you to know that she’s not a murderer at all – she’s a murderess.REC BC: First of all, Daniel Handler, also known as Lemony Snicket. And I’m not biased bc he wrote a series about children who share my last name; he’s just a truly enjoyable writer to hear from. A smart, dark book with an unreliable narrator and plenty of high school fun. Heathers meets The Secret History (also on this list).• • • HENRY CHENG’S REC: • • • — Six of Crows Duology by Leigh BardugoSix dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone…Kaz’s crew are the only ones who might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.REC BC: Similar sense of humor and camaraderie with our titular Band of Snarky Weirdos, themes of the search for a home and a meaningful purpose in the world, and how to communicate that with others. Not to mention that Wylan Van Eck Is My Golden Son, and in my head…I play a supercut of Blue Sargent and Noah Czerny and Henry Cheng and Kuwei Yul-Bo’s Fabulous Four friendship.• • • ADAM PARRISH’S REC: • • • — A Great and Terrible Beauty (+ Gemma Doyle Trilogy) by Libba BrayA Great and Terrible Beauty is a curl-up-under-the-covers kind of book … a vast canvas of rustling skirts and dancing shadows and things that go bump in the night. It’s a vividly drawn portrait of the Victorian age, a time of strict morality and barely repressed sensuality, when girls were groomed for lives as rich men’s wives … and the story of a girl who saw another way.REC BC: Mysterious and Unknowable AF, Adam Parrish would devour the hell out of this book tbh. This is an eternal favorite of mine, not just for its rich setting and amazingly creepy scenes, but for the relationships, characterization, and abject hilarity that Bray somehow manages to fit seamlessly into a novel about death and gas-lit darkness. In true Parrish tradition, this series is about carving your own destiny, the influence of power and sacrifice, things that go bump in the forest, and mysterious surly men who want you to join them on a vision quest for totally platonic reasons.• • •  PRESIDENT CELLPHONE  RICHARD CAMPBELL GANSEY III’s REC: • • • — The King Must Die by Mary Renault“Men would be as gods, if they had foreknowledge.” In myth, Theseus was the slayer of the child-devouring Minotaur in Crete. (Theseus is) a king of immense charisma, whose boundless strivings flow from strength and weakness—but also one steered by implacable prophecy.REC BC: Mary Renault is famous for her historical fictions and retellings of myths. Her Theseus novels are elegant explorations of how a man becomes a legend, how a legend becomes a myth, and beyond and before all of that, Death. This is not a lighthearted adventure book, but it is a truly gratifying novel to read.• • • NOAH CZERNY’S REC: • • • — The Secret History by Donna TarttUnder the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality they slip gradually from obsession to corruption and betrayal, and at last - inexorably - into evil.REC BC: This book always makes lists with TRC for a reason. It is deeply settled into ‘purple prose’ (aka long descriptions are given precedence over snappy action) but I personally believe that it is even more rewarding for that. The experience of reading this book is paramount to the plot itself, IMHO. You’ll find yourself writing down quotes every few pages, for sure.

• • • RONAN LYNCH’S REC • • • 1. Stare for way too long and give him a tin of organic shea butter from your dreams. 2. Become a farmer3. Profit.60% of the time it works every time.jk but rlly• • • RONAN LYNCH’S REC • • • — The Diviners Series by Libba BrayEvie O’Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City—and she is pos-i-tute-ly ecstatic. It’s 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult. Evie worries he’ll discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far.REC BC: We all know Ronan Lynch reads turn of the century girl power YA in his spare time, c’mon. And we all know Ronan and Adam are picking out their books together. No but really, I love Libba Bray. I included her twice for a reason, she’s hilarious and she’s great at her job. The Diviners features an oddball cast of characters with supernatural secrets (we all know how Ronan Lynch feels about these,) centering on Evie, who was recently kicked out of her hometown for being a little too much…herself. I really hope that you find something you love, either in these or using these as a jumping-off point! I’m about to start The Foxhole Court which I know is also adored by TRC fans, so if you haven’t checked that out, I can’t personally recommend it yet bc I only rec things I’ve read, but go for it!

[100funfics]

I absolutely love your stories! Your writing is fantastic!!

thanks

I made the post because I'm working on a couple of different things - one is a kind of explicit fic dealing with consent issues in the omega!verse, but I have high hopes for the plot, I guess? When that's finished I'll probably link to it but not directly post it on here, just because it's a joint endeavor and I'd feel uncomfortable posting porn on the 100funfics blog.  

But on the other side of the spectrum I'm working on a format-era fic with nate and sam because I can, and I'm not sure exactly where it's going but I like the music that I'm associating with it.  So that will be interesting.

Other than both of those, the new 100funfics chapter will be up as soon as I figure out what I'm going to write.  Much love!