#you’re writing it because it was trending on booktok

[faustandfurious]

Actually yeah I am tired of «feminist retellings» of ancient classics because I’m tired of the feminism label being slapped on mediocre books as a marketing ploy to make them seem more important than they really are

[tamelee]

fuck booktok fr it literally recommends the same ten books over and over again, mischaracterises or twinkifies half the characters and then act like theyve done no wrong when other book communities hate on them. LIKE BABES YOU LITERALLY TURNED LITERATURE INTO FAST FASHION. capatalism is at an all time high in booktok, with ppl having 200 physical tbr's and five editions of the same book. but if you say anything about it, you hated on for hating???? we really need to go back to libraries, its like ppl have forgotten those exist. anyway that was my small little rant hehe (sorry feel free to ignore)

Oooooh, book-community discourse is a thing? *-* Interesting. I do know they get a lot of backlash from the art-communities because every damn novel has one of three cover-designs and they all look the same nowadays. You can hardly tell the authors apart. Most are made by AI as well -.- (I mean, shouldn’t writers/authors and artists be on the same page about the matter? No? Imagine complaining about your writing being stolen and then using AI for your cover-art… come on now.) 

Feel free to rant always xD I’m actually happy to know I’m not the only one feeling weird about these 10’ish recommendations that you see over and over again. I picked one out that was Goodreads #1 bestseller once (2022, I believe) and seeing people rave about it and giving the monstrosity 5-⭐️ catapulted me to an alternative Universe to rethink my entire life. I don’t think I’ve ever been more confused. (Beautiful prose though, I’ll give it that.) 

((I put book-tok and -tube together because to me it didn’t seem like it’s much different? I don’t really use tiktok, but they all repost their vids and recs through yt-shorts. Not sure if putting the two together pissed someone off then, but please do correct me if I’m wrong.))

Yeeaaahh, you’re right actually. I never really sat down to think about it, but that analogy you made is pretty brilliant. I mean, it’s sad, but a lot do treat books like fast fashion from what I’ve seen. I may not like majority of these ‘trending’ books, but treating a piece of work that way (cheap and trendy) hurts my book-loving heart a little. If ever possible in the future, I’d love to have a library in my home with my favorite books. (Dark academia style of course.) I usually only buy a physical copy if I really liked it after reading the digital version. Unfortunately around here, most libraries have closed :( So I’m afraid you’re right about that as well— people really have forgotten. 

[itsthegameilike]

Best Books of 2023!

This was one of those glorious years where I read like I was thirteen again. It’s been ages since I’ve read this many books so quickly and I’m writing this list knowing full well that I may have another favorite before the end of the year. That’s how fantastic it has been. I had many lows (thanks booktok) but many highs as well and here are my favorites:

My Dark Vanessa - Kate Elizabeth Russell I read this book in January and finished it during a very gloomy day on the Oregon coast. This book is well suited to winter as it is dark, introspective, and bares your soul to you. The writing is stunning, fluid, and easy to digest, while the content shreds you to pieces. But it also empathetic and understanding and kind and handles the relationship between a young girl and her professor with the care and attention issues like this deserve. It does not stoop to moralizing, either, which I appreciated, though I heartily recommend checking trigger warnings before diving in.

Juniper & Thorn - Ava Reid Perhaps I was in a some sort of place at the beginning of this year, because this is another book that is unafraid to go to dark places. It is first and foremost a coming of age story about a young, abused woman discovering herself, what she is capable of, and what she cares about through the lens of a fairytale. And it is written like one, lush with description and transformations and tests. The main character is full of lust and rage and yearning and I loved her more than I loved any other character this year. When I say I want more of a certain type of female character, I mean ones like this. Ones that are messy and sometimes scary and sexual and desirous. Please read this, but also please check trigger warnings.

Grendel - John Gardner This had been sitting on my bookshelf for years and I kept meaning to read it, as Beowulf was a favorite of mine during my English classes and a novel written from the point of view of the monster is exactly the sort of thing I would eat up. Turns out, I was right. This is so much more than that, though. It’s a study on society, on what it is like to be an outsider, on the ways in which people we villainize have a way of adopting those characteristics to be seen, on yearning and the way it can destroy us. It’s so well written and delightfully philosophical and I would often read passages and simply sit with them, enjoying the exercise Gardner’s words presented.

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride - Roshani Chokshi I had tried Roshani Chokshi before and to no avail, so I didn’t have high hopes for this when I started, but I was so wrong. This was stunning. The prose tends towards purple, but that’s where I’m happiest, and it has an addictive quality, caught up in its own atmosphere and mystery. If you’re queer, there is so much for you here, especially in the relationship between the two main girls, who are friends that are caught in the grey area of perhaps feeling more for each other. They’re so unsure what that more really means. This is also written like a fairytale and it trends dark, but it left me giddy. Truly. This is what fantasy is made for.

The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch I finally got around to reading this and I’m so glad I did. If you want a fantasy romp with high stakes and actual consequences, then this is for you. I adored the characters, I adored the plot, and I felt so deeply for every loss and win within these pages. I love a story with a charismatic con man out for revenge and this didn’t not dissuade me from that notion. Probably the most fun time I had this year.

The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky This is not the only classic on the list, nor is it the only Russian literature on the list. Apparently I decided to tackle most of the Russian greats this year and I don’t regret it, even though it took me a month to read each one. That being said, I wouldn’t recommend this to everyone. It’s deeply philosophical, each of the three brothers assuming a viewpoint on everything from religion, to life, to morality. If religion and philosophy interest you, I think you’ll be happy. If not, you likely won’t. I loved it, though and I devoured the last three hundred pages in one sitting. I conducted conversations with myself about the book in the shower. I lived and breathed this thing for weeks. And I’d do it again. Someday soon. Not for a bit.

Piranesi - Susanna Clarke This book is so weird and I’m so glad it is and I’m so glad it never grew self-conscious and decided it was too weird. If you let this book take you where it wants to take you, you’ll be swept along on a magnificent, strange journey filled with delights and mysteries. This also gets the award for having the most sympathetic main character in books I read this year. His intelligence, his rituals, his love for the world around him, and his confusion when it all slowly gets ripped away from him is so easy to understand and adore. I’d read this book again tomorrow and the next day, too.

I’m the King of the Castle - Susan Hill Another very dark book, which I would feel bad about, but it’s who I am and what I enjoy, so there’s not much point. This book is about an unbearable, entitled, cruel little boy who psychologically tortures another little boy who moves into his house. So be warned. This is first and foremost about parental neglect and people’s ability to create their own narratives when they want something badly enough, even if the consequences are too great to bear. The writing was the best part. I still think about this author’s way with words and how she could warp your feelings with ease. Please read trigger warnings for this, as well.

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley I am so late to the party. I was supposed to read this in college, but it was at the end of term, during finals, so I never did. I’m glad I didn’t, too, because I wouldn’t have loved it the way I did at this time in my life. Seriously, if you somehow haven’t read this yet, do. Mary Shelley is a fantastic writer, a godsend of a teenage author, and I would trust her with my life.

War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy This was the true masterpiece of the year. I will never be able to do this book justice. It was often challenging, often slow, but that is nothing compared to what it gave me. I have so many scenes from this book that are little immovable stars in my head, so much my own, that they feel like my own memories. They are so bright and so sincere. I adore Pierre, Natasha, and Andrei so much. They became my family in the month that this book was my companion. I went directly into a reading slump afterwards and I still haven’t found my way out. I don’t know if this is my favorite book of all time, but it very well could be.

Honorable Mentions: Dark Heir - C.S. Pacat, A Study in Drowning - Ava Reid, Dreamer’s Pool - Juliet Marillier, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries - Heather Fawcett, My Best Friend’s Exorcism - Grady Hendrix, The Honeys - Ryan La Sala, Blindness - Jose Saramago, Greenglass House - Kate Milford, Interior Chinatown - Charles Yu, Hell Bent - Leigh Bardugo, and Snow Country - Yasanuri Kawabata.

[darrowsrising]

Do you think people on here debating over whether Red Rising as a whole is YA when using the term as it is usually used as a sort of catch, all for based off what they’ve seen online alone is silly? Like using genre to cast assumptions over any media when you aren’t not doing any general/personal trend and trope criticism isn’t going to be relevant when you’re dealing with the (long running) series in question that the publisher itself labels and markets it in a different category, because you’re going off inaccurate information? IMO yes the first series can be categorized as YA for organizational purposes and that’s that

I do think that debating the audience genre is kind of silly, especially when you look from afar or when I look niw at my own gripes with this...situation.

I remember being frustrated that Red Rising was getting trashed for 'being too violent for teens' and it really irritated me, because I was was a teenager when I started and I thought highschool years an okay age for this book - I had a dark phase ngl.

Anyway, my point is that a genre based on the audience it was written for is a marketing strategy, not a writing strategy and it comes with its own set of issues. Del Rey did their best at the time to promote a debutate in a sea of dystopian works. Judging Red Rising now based on how appropriate it is for an audience is...well, pointless, in my opinion.

I would personally declare the first trilogy as New Adult - made for the roaring 20s - with Red Rising straddling between YA and NA. Because the moment the main cast start their 20s, all YA claims kinda go out the window.

And yes, I know YA wants itself to say it is more than the age of the protagonists and we have seen more explicit YAs like Iron Widow - which has some 'it doesn't belong to YA' bullshit surrounding it. But when the entire book community agrees on that and stop trashing books for being violent, then we can re-do this discussion.

Obviously, I doubt it will happen, as publishing houses now print booktok reviews on their books. Yes, you read that right. Booktok reviews on books. Cheap marketing at its finest. I refuse to read those books on principle. And I consider this a more concerning problem.

Thanks for the ask!

[babyrowann]

this may not make sense to that many people or you might even disagree, but i wholeheartedly believe that books and the way they are written/marketed has completely changed since booktok became a thing and not in a good way….

before i get into this, i want to say that one amazing thing that booktok has done is introduce so so many people to reading and it’s let them discover a new passion they didn’t know they had and it’s let them join us in reading stories that just mean so much to you, which i think is a great thing!

that being said, booktok has amplified the “trope” trend. by this, i mean booktok has created this system where you learn about new books to read through tropes, so certain books get picked much more frequently than others ONLY because they contain specific tropes (enemies to lovers, chosen one, morally gray villain, one bed, etc). this has now cemented in place a pattern where booktok recommends books purely based on tropes, and readers are picking books bc of these tropes, so now AUTHORS are writing books that are simply popular tropes linked together, and they write a story AROUND those tropes instead of writing a story and putting some of these tropes in the story.

i’ve seen this happening especially in ya and some new adult books and i think it’s really disappointing bc so many stories and characters are feeling like a copy and paste of each other bc these authors are jumping on the trope trend to gain the visibility that booktok gives tropes. one example i can think of is aelin from tog. she was one of the first confident, strong, sassy, and feminine female characters that i read about back in 2015 and i LOVED reading about a new character like this, and i think a lot of people did too bc aelin became the blueprint. now almost every other ya fantasy protagonist is a stabby girlboss warrior… and they all feel the same and honestly are bland compared to the original (specifically poppy balfour but that’s a different post). i just think it’s disappointing bc i personally am not reading a genre i used to be very protective over bc im finding many of the ya fantasy stories i’ve read over the last few years feel the same. the same girl is the only one who can save us and is super powerful and is usually impulsive and beautiful and meets a sarcastic witty but tough love interest and maybe she’s the lost heir to the throne or related to the gods or something and frankly, it’s boring now. to name a few (from blood and ash, the plated prisoner, the prison healer, zodiac academy). give me a mc who isn’t the chosen one and doesn’t have powers but is stepping up through their own determination to help save the day, and isn’t “different from other girls”. but this kind of mc doesn’t fit the booktok tropes so :/ ALSO one last problem i have is the way booktok incorrectly markets books to gain views!! the biggest example of this i have is calling coho’s it ends with us a romance when that is only 20% of the actual meaning of the story. if that’s what’s you’re taking away from this book, then you missed the message. that’s about all i have for now, if you aren’t having this experience with books than i’m so happy for you!! and if you feel the same as me… welp

[ofmermaidstories]

13, 16, and 23!

Also omg merm I read that…….. 20k review of Lightlark that u linked in an ask recently and goddamn. I am utterly fascinated and mourning the current state of the publishing industry 🫣

13. What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy?

Okay okay okay, like, here’s the thing: given enough incentive, I will happily ignore my own boundaries just to try something new. so if you were like, “Hey Merms, I bet you couldn’t write a Bakugou/Reader fic where Bakugou cheats on us and ALSO it ends with cannibalism” I would immediately rise to the defensive and be like, ok ur on. I would be incredibly unhappy doing it, and would do my best to try and make as many other people as possible unhappy too, LOL, but I would do it.

The problem is that it would make me miserable and peevish and depressed. Like, that would spill out from my writing time and I would go about the rest of my day—if not days—acting like I was the one who’d been cheated on and cannibalised, and simmering in that anger.

I like writing about intense things. I find it (relatively) easy to do. The difficult part is regulating how I feel about it afterwards, depending on what kind of intense it is. 🥹

(I do also wonder if this is an age thing, too. Like, When I was fifteen and a kissless virgin and writing fic, one of my most popular stories involved cheating. It was very melodramatic, and I would trot out the same trope/circumstances (our MC is cheated on by their beloved partner with someone said partner has history with) again and again over the next few years. I’ve never been cheated on! I mean, that I know of (🔪). But it was such an easy to-go for me, because it always meant instant emotional validation, right? Whereas now as an adult I prefer the relationships in my stories to either be the fun thing we’re chasing, or to be the supportive bedrock we need and NOT the source of angst, because if it’s going to hurt, then it needs to hurt in a im-going-to-cannibalise-you-and-then-kill-myself kinda way and not a we’re-gonna-break-up-and-you’re-gonna-be-a-jerk boring kinda way).

16. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever used as a bookmark?

A plate and it was one time and I was desperate (and in the kitchen).

23. Describe the physical environment in which you write. Be as detailed as possible. Tell me what’s around you as you work. Paint me a picture.

My desk is in the corner; it’s covered with letters and sketchbooks and magazines and I have four BNHA figures scattered around and one little Slyvanian baby in a blue duck costume and a ceramic jar that used to be an expensive candle that now holds a variety of lip balms and ibuprofen and also a random diamond ring that I don’t wear. I’m under a window—in the afternoon the light hits the wall and lights up my corner. Next to me I have a corkboard filled with cards and polaroids from and of my friends and also a bunch of postage stamps from Japan that I collected back when I was super into stationary.

But omg, pluvi, RE: Lightlark and the publishing industry—like, we all know that the publishing industry is there to make money, we get it. And I think that Alex Aster was probably, what, one of the first in that tiktok trend to be like, “would you read [insert tropes and Pinterest moodboard here]?” so I get it, on a purely business scale, why a publisher would swoop in and offer her money and then rush to get to get the book out. Like!!! Things and trends and interest move fast!!! You have to get that book into the hot lil hands of the teenage booktokers ASAP to make that 100k advance worth it.

But it’s so jarring to see in action! Because if Aster had an editor who cared, like, maybe a few of the bigger, more jarring problems would be tightened or changed. And idk, maybe it’s hypocritical to stand here in my un-beta’d, fanficy corner and be like, “check yourself!!!!” but???????? I will always, always be more ruthless with a traditionally published piece of work because they simply have more resources to do better. They have more eyes on it (which means, theoretically, more helpful critiquing), they have the time to write it (theoretically thanks to that advance), like—there’s just more. I expect more because they have more in which to tell this story with. If you want my money (new paperback books in Australia are easily within the $18-$30 range depending on size and genre!!!) then you have to show me that you have cared enough about this product to make it satisfying to read.

[pinonhallow]

Episode 1.02

Chad rubbed his eyes as he walked into the brightly lit kitchen. It looked almost the same. The only real difference was that a few things had been updated over the years. The canisters containing flour and sugar were different, the fridge had been replaced, the walls no longer a pale yellow—instead now a creamy farmhouse white. The coffee maker now a Keurig, and the mug tree he had remembered existing all his childhood long gone.

12 years. He had been gone for 12 years. Some things felt very much the same as they had when he’d been a teenager. He searched through the cabinets, looking for the things he needed for breakfast.

He knew his father was already off at the DI offices downtown. His mother was probably at her morning Pilates class before going into her own office at the mall. His brother, well that was a mystery to him.

“We’ve got a great day planned, we’re going to go to the Valley Garden for a hike, then we’re going to go and get some paint samples because guys we’re going to set up a new streaming spot!” Kip Davis stopped, his phone he’d been using to record dropped to the ground, screen face down. “Chad?”

“Hey Skipper.” Chad looked to his younger brother, really taking him in. Of course he’d seen some of his videos over the years. He was hard to miss sometimes.

Kip slowly bent down to pick up his phone, thankful the screen hadn’t cracked. “What are you doing here?”

Chad pulled down a coffee mug, “Decided it was time to come home.”

“How long are you staying in town?” Kip gently put his phone down on the countertop as he went to the fridge. Why had no one warned him that his brother was back? Didn’t that at least get a text message? Apparently not.

“I’m not sure. I’m hoping to catch up with some old friends. I guess it depends on who is still around.” Chad put a coffee pod in the maker and selected the largest size. “I’m working on the next book.”

“More about Wick and Sketch?” Kip pulled a few prepared breakfast burritos out. “I read your latest one.”

“Wow it’s only been out a few days. I didn’t know you read my stuff.” Chad never really thought about his family, let alone his brother reading his books. “My publisher would like another book about Wick and Sketch, I’m just not sure that’s the story I need to tell.”

“Online chatter is pretty positive towards them thus far.” Kip told him.

Chad heard the coffee maker sputter with the last drops of his drink, “Skipper, how closely do you follow my books?”

Kip pulled his phone up, “Do you not know you’re trending on booktok right now?”

“I am? Wait, what is booktok?”

“You really don’t use a lot of social media, do you?”

“I have a blog on my website, and there is a Facebook page my publisher has me post to once in a while.”

“No Twitter/X, or TikTok, or Instagram?”

“No, none of that.”

Kip chuckled, “Wow, you really don’t know anything about social media.”

“I write books Kip. I focus on that, not getting distracted online.”

“Is that all I am, a distraction online?” Kip unwrapped the breakfast burritos and put them on a plate.

Chad shook his head, “No, but that’s what online and social media is for me. A distraction. If I get distracted, then I don’t write. If I don’t write, I can’t pay my bills.”

“We have trust funds.”

“And I haven’t touched mine outside of paying for college.”

Kip nodded, “I haven’t either. Mom doesn’t believe me, but Dad helps me with my business stuff occasionally.”

“I’m glad you can go to them.”

“Why did you leave?”

Chad stared at his black coffee, “I wasn’t given a choice. I was woken up one night, told to pack my bags, and that I was leaving as soon as they were packed.”

Kip shook his head, “I know I did some stupid stuff when we were young, okay I did try to revive the cinnamon challenge recently, but nothing got me sent away. What did you do?”

Chad took a slow, long sip of his coffee, “I fell in love with a girl.”

####

Doctor Trista Silversky rubbed her eyes as she checked the last patient she had to check on before going home.

Brighton Simpson.

She pulled her blond hair into a ponytail before she went into the room. It was dark as he slept, hooked up to ventilator, and other monitoring equipment. She didn’t anticipate him waking up anytime soon. Not with the swelling in his brain, and the other damage that had been done to him.

Not exactly how she ever anticipated seeing her high school boyfriend again. Yet here he was. She made notes on the computer in the room.

“He’s going to be okay, right?” the female voice startled Trista as she looked up and saw his older sister standing in the doorway.

“Bethany, um, right now we don’t know.” Trista logged out of her computer station, “He’s better than he was when he was found and brought in. We won’t know until he wakes up and right now, he’s in a coma. We put him in it, due to the swelling in his brain.”

“Do they know how this happened?”

“No, not yet. At least as far as I know. Detective Siobhan Lane will know more, she is working the case along with Detective Lucas Becker.”

Bethany scoffed, “Siobhan is really a Detective?”

“Yeah, and a damn good one.” Trista started to move towards the door. “Visiting hours are until seven, you should talk to him. Let him know someone who cares about him is here.”

“Who is his doctor?”

“I am.” Trista told her before walking off. Of all the possible family members of Brighton’s that could’ve been in town—it had to be Bethany.

Bethany entered the room as she moved closer to her unconscious brother. “Oh Brighton, what mess did you get into?”

She sat in a nearby chair as she looked at his resting body, “Mom and Dad are aware of this. But Dad can’t come because of his own medical stuff, whatever that is.”

“What are you even doing in this damn town? I wouldn’t be here if my daughter wasn’t here.” She rolled her eyes as she looked around the room, “She’s apparently sixteen. How is that even possible?”

She looked at the smart watch on her wrist and set a timer. As soon as it buzzed on her wrist she would leave. She didn’t need to sit vigil at his bedside. Besides, she came to town for other reasons. Brighton was now just a distraction from them.

####

“We’ve got flowers for Pam Mitchell.” The delivery boy smiled as he stood near the counter of the coffee shop.

“Thank you.” Pam accepted them, looking for a clue on who had sent them.

“You’re welcome, have a great day.” He was gone before she could say anything else. She sighed as she reached up to look at the note attached. No name, no initials, no real note besides they should be delivered to her, to the shop, not to her home.

“Who are the flowers from?” Abby appeared at the counter.

“Don’t know.” Pam shrugged before breathing in the scent of the flowers. “Must be a secret admirer.”

“Do we still have those in 2024? Or would it just be the start of a stalker situation.” Abby opened her purse to pull out her phone.

“Whatever let’s go with the sweet idea. Worst thing that happens is it’s someone I wouldn’t date and I have to let them down gently.”

Abby stared at her friend, “Do you not watch any kind of true crime? This is the start of a Dateline or 48 Hours. This is how you end up dead, especially if they ask you to go hiking.”

Pam blinked trying to decide if her friend was being serious or paranoid. “Abby, this is Colorado. We go hiking. Hell, I was planning on going to Valley Garden this afternoon when my shift is done. Actually, you should join me. I have a feeling you’ve got some creative block since you’re here and not working at home right now.”

Abby sighed, “Mom is working from home again. I was going to get a cold brew and work in the café today.”

“I got you.” Pam rang her up, “Hey, we’re going to moonlight tonight. Come with us.”

Abby tried to find an excuse in the back of her mind, but she knew she didn’t have one. “I will. I should be done with this project soon, so I could use a night out.”

“Wonderful!” Pam handed her the coffee, “I will text you what time we’re all meeting up.”

“Who is actually going?”

“You, Me, Maggie, maybe Trista.”

Abby nodded, “Okay, I think I can handle that.”

Pam chuckled, “You are such an old lady sometimes. Seriously, move out of your parents’ house.”

“When the time is right, I promise you I will.” Abby took her coffee and waved to Pam as she went to go finish the project she was doing.

####

Siobhan removed her sunglasses as she entered the police department. She had waited at the hospital most of the night waiting to see if Bethany would show up. When she left at seven am, she hadn’t shown up yet. Siobhan had gone home, set her alarm for a few hours and slept. She took a quick shower; her hair was still damp now.

She could only hope that Lucas found something so that they could figure out who did this to Brighton.

She went straight to the coffee maker, pouring herself a cup and then adding six sugar packets and a splash of cream.

“Lane, glad you finally showed up.” Lucas was behind her, his arms crossed and a smirk on his face.

“Tell me you have something.”

“Oh, follow me.” He led her down the hall to a conference room.

“Becker, if this is you hitting on me, I will be in HR so fast.”

“Never Lane, never.” He chuckled as he opened the door.

The conference room was filled with several boards. Pictures posted of different players in an organization. A few silhouettes to represent the few parties that had not yet been identified. Sitting at the conference table with his legs up, was Holdon wearing a visitor clip and an FBI badge around his neck.

“What is going on?” Siobhan looked to Lucas for guidance.

He licked his lips as he sat down, “Brighton Simpson is an undercover FBI agent, along with Agent Hart.”

“You’re FBI?” Siobhan sank into her seat.

“Yup, and so is Brighton.” Holdon stood up, “We’ve infiltrated this group, we’re still trying to find a few of the players. Right now, we know that that Dr. Carla Harrison is high at the top. Someone higher than her, however, ordered Brighton to be beaten. I tried to get him out before it happened, but obviously I couldn’t.”

“Great, what do we need to do to be able to arrest the guys that beat Brighton?” Siobhan stared at her former partner.

Holden sighed, “Work the case. I don’t know exactly which ones did it. Carla has some big wig of the organization coming into town. I’m hoping to get a face or a name for this person.”

“I hope so too.” Siobhan pushed herself up from her seat, “So what do we have to work together now?”

“Yeah, we do.” Lucas snickered.

Siobhan rolled her eyes. “I’m going to go see if I can put the pieces together, maybe read that statement from that damn delivery boy.”

Lucas and Holdon watched her walk out when Holdon leaned over to Lucas, “Wait the delivery boy, that blond guy?”

“Yeah, that one.”

“She still doesn’t know?”

“Nope. She always pawns the kid off on me.” Lucas shrugged, “I keep waiting for her to go through the notes and catch it, but she hyper fixates on something or someone else every damn time.”

Holdon laughed, “One day she’ll find out and I really, really hope I’m in the room for it.”

“So do I.”

####

Abby sat at the bar of Moonlight. A country song she didn’t recognize was playing as she sipped on her margarita. She didn’t see Pam, Maggie, or Trista. Why did she agree to go out tonight? She could be in bed watching Law & Order reruns.

“Long time no see.” His voice sent a shiver down her spine.

She turned around and looked up into his blue eyes, “Holdon, fancy running into you here.”

He shrugged as he sat down next to her, ordering a microbrew before turning his attention back to her. “I’ve missed you, Abby.”

“Not enough to text me or call.” She took a sip of her drink.

He studied the logo on his pint glass, “Its complicated, you know that.”

She put her hand on his arm, “Then let’s uncomplicate it.”

He placed a hand on her leg, letting it slowly move up towards the edge of her skirt, “Abby, you’re dangerous.”

She licked her lower lip, “Embrace the danger.”

Holdon pulled her stool closer to him, his eyes scanning the room as his hand moved further up. “Abby, you are tempting.”

She leaned close to him, catching that woodsy scent of his bodywash, “I’ve been craving you.”

Holdon closed his eyes, “Come home with me.”

“Anytime you want, Daddy.” She covered his hand with hers as she looked him in the eyes, “You know I’m yours.”

He smiled, he missed this, he needed this. He’d been avoiding her, even though he’d been craving her as well. He leaned as close as he could, “I can’t wait to fuck you tonight.”

Abby smiled, suddenly a Law & Order rerun wasn’t so tempting.

[nickgerlich]

Page By Page

I have always been an avid reader. It started when I was a mere lad, and my parents would buy me Hardy Boys Mysteries books, as well as take me to the library. My parents may not have been rich, but they provided a wealth of opportunity, and I am so happy that I ran with it.

As a writer today—in addition to my academic writing, I also write for several magazines and have been co-author of two books—I have come to realize that to be a good writer, one must first be a great reader. It’s kind of like photography. You learn from watching how others do it, and all that reading I did as a kid, and have continued to do as an adult, provides inspiration, new vocabulary, literary tropes, interesting twists and turns, and more. You can study text books all day long on it, but the real lessons learned are from those out there in the trenches doing the work.

As an adult, I have participated in book clubs, usually informal and mildly structured chat sessions. While we could have done these online, in the pre-COVID days the emphasis was on F2F.

COVID, of course, changed all that, forcing all of us into our cocoons and online for life, love, and work. Now that we continue to emerge in the post-COVID era (and I use that phrasing loosely, because I realize that COVID is still among us), we are finding ourselves doing a balance of both F2F and online.

And here is where all that book talk returns to the discussion. Book clubs are all the rage now among Gen-Zs and Millennials. It’s just that they don’t look a lot like how we did it in the past.

Rather than the typical high-brow book clubs of old, usually in someone’s living room with crackers and adult beverages to complement our insightful colloquy, book clubs are happening in breweries and even on group runs. Of course, if you can talk while you’re running, you’re really not running that hard. You’re socializing, but that’s OK. It’s better than being a couch potato.

And then there are social media gatherings, which can attract many thousands of people through the power of specific hashtags, like #BookTok on TikTok. That’s something your grandparents probably wouldn’t do, they—I mean we—of the tweed blazer with elbow pads set.

How we do it today, though, is not nearly as important as that we are doing it period. That’s the huge takeaway for me, and signals a renaissance in the making for the book industry. Aside from a temporary major bump during COVID, and subsequent minor decline, book sales overall are trending upward. Unit sales are up 30% since 2012.

This comes at a time when I had all but given up hope for a revival, thinking that reading had fallen by the wayside. My daughters read a lot of books while growing up, probably because they were surrounded by them in our house. It rubbed off. But I just did not see it elsewhere. I could see the decline in my students, because what comes out of a person’s mouth and keyboard is a function of what goes in the brain first. You can always tell when a person is well-read.

Fortunately, this is a situation that is correctible. Better yet, it is a breath of fresh air to learn of younger adults developing a passion for reading, and while it is an activity that we initially do alone out of necessity, it can be shared with others later in a group setting. And as we are seeing now, those groups can be real or virtual.

I’ll be understanding and say that reading is not for everyone. Some people have difficulties and disabilities. But for those who can, then I urge them to do. While the brain is technically not a muscle, it can grow stronger just like your quads and biceps. It’s just that you need to exercise it.

There’s hope for an industry as well as for a couple of generations. Keep consuming those words, and instill that desire in your kids. It’s an investment—just like my parents did—that will pay dividends years down the road.

Dr “Buy The Books” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[cosettepontmercys]

hi cossette!! re: your thoughts on what if it’s us, what did you think about they both die at the end? i’ve seen so many people who loved it, but i’ve never been able to get through it. i’m also not a fan of insta love, and this book feels a lot like that. i get the same sort of … (ick?) about the characters in tbdate where i can hear and feel that they were written by a millennial, but they’re trying to be emulate gen z behaviors/trends/styles and that majorly turns me off. curious to hear your thoughts!

hello friend! with they both die at the end, i think i hold a lot of fondness for it, since it was one of the first queer books i read/was accessible to me. a friend had introduced me to adam silvera's books, and it just happened to be at the library across from where i was volunteering at the time. when i reread it in 2020, i found that i didn't like it as much as i did when i first read it, but i couldn't figure out if it was due to being older / no longer a "young adult", if it just didn't hold up to what i remembered from it, or ... something else. in all honesty, i think i loved the concept of tbdate more than i did the actual book. i'm sure that if i reread it today, i would probably think that it feels very dated and very "millennial writing gen z" and trying too hard to do that well, if that makes sense? i don't have anything against millennials writing gen z, but i do think that sometimes they try a little too hard / swing too wildly in the other direction, and it becomes a little ... cringey? for example, i read a book where the characters texted like this (this is a direct copy/paste): U likee him!!1 Amy wrote. U luv him!!! U want to have his BEBEEES!!!111! which just made me cringe. because no one talks like that!

you are totally correct in labeling TBDATE as an insta-love story; i think that they do connect on a more emotionally deeper level than some other insta-love stories, but at the end of the day (ha) there's a lot that's lacking in their relationship.

i'll also acknowledge that i am barely gen z and also no longer in the target audience for young adult, and i try to keep that in mind whenever i read/review a young adult book. i will also say that tbdate feels very much like a recipe for booktok sensation, since booktok seems to be a fan of any book that will cause you emotional damage! i've found that on a whole, booktok and i tend to have different tastes in books, and while i know that your tiktok fyp is in theory, technically, curated for you ... but .........

come talk to me about books !! give me books to add to my tbr, books i should never read, give me your three favorite books and i’ll give you a rec, tell me what you’re reading !! just come talk to me about books 🥺

[ofmermaidstories]

first person feels like I'm not actually being included. and I read x reader cause the stories supposed to be about me bro. I hope you take this in a funny joking way thank you

I really like how the general consensus is: “first person isn’t about me, and I’m not about that 💅🏽” LMAO. I mean that affectionately!!! It like, makes sense that these are the replies, because we’re all involved in the x Reader niche and we’re coming from that perspective, an inherently self-indulgent one. 2nd Person POV, as we use it here in this corner, is unadulterated with it’s wish-fulfilment so i’m not surprised at these answers tbh.

There was like, idk, a bit of a trend on tiktok—trend is a strong word, it was maybe just something I noticed over the course of a few months on like, booktok i guess, but people would make videos or comments about the character in the book they were reading having like, idk, “red hair and green eyes” for example, and then being like, “no babe, she’s got dark hair and dark eyes like me and is exactly my height and is also me 💅🏽” and I just found that so—fascinating??? LMAO. Because to me, I see 1st Person POV narratives (outside of fic, anyways) as like…. deliberately narrow??? Like yeah, you’re focused on this one person for a reason, they’re telling you a story. I think as a writing tool, it’s a good one to use for like, idk, unreliable narrators, maybe, or even stories where you deliberately want a narrow scope when it comes to the story’s field of vision.

In fic, especially, we always seem to equate 1st Person to like, Original Characters—I’m thinking the classic, My Immortal’s Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Way—but I find that apart of the charm??? Like I said, some of my favourite books are done in 1st Person POV (Flowers in the Attic, which I’ve shilled before, opens with: “It is so appropriate to colour hope yellow, like that sun we seldom saw. And as I begin to copy from the old memorandum journals that I kept for so long, a title comes as if inspired: Open the Window and Stand in the Sunshine. Yet, I hesitate to name our story that. For I think of us more as flowers in the attic. Paper flowers. Born so brightly coloured, and fading duller through all those long, grim, dreary, nightmareish days when we were held prisoners of hope, and kept captives by greed.” and i truly, utterly and deeply believe that 1st Person was the right choice for that story, because then it gave Catherine—our main character—the witnesses to the horror that she and her siblings went through that she absolutely needed.) but writing wise, I’ve only ever used 1st Person for original ideas (romances!! I was a teenager and wrote them in notebooks and then lent said notebooks to my friends. I wrote things like… quiet mousey girls who got picked on by the hot school bully—lmfaoooooo—but then found herself growing closer to his equally hot, gentle best friend. 😌 The school Loud Mouth who gets paired with her Arch Nemesis on a project and they fight the entire time 😌😌 A spin-off with her best friend who’s falling in love with her neighbour—oh my god i gave myself everything I WANTED back then… there was no hiding. The 1st Person POV probably made it worse LMFAO. Everyone in my stories were based off of people I went to school with—my friends, people we hated, the boys we had crushes on. It was a free-for-all and it was so good, so much fun, and I will fight to death for spaces like Wattpad—spaces for kids and any other newcomer, where they can run rampant with their creativity, no matter how unpolished!!! anyways that was a tangent—).

I don’t know if 1st Person would even be a thing you could pull off with a x Reader, just given the nature of x Readers in general…… 🧐 our inner narrative is literally just about ourselves…. like, hmm. 🧐 Maybe you could??? Like, idk about the rest of you, but i don’t walk around thinking “oh my gosh, there i go, all 5’7’’ of me with my wild dark hair and my dark eyes that I blink at people charmingly when I want things” LMAOO. Like, my inner narrative is more about what I’m feeling, what’s making me feel that way, random thoughts like—I’m sitting in my chair right now, writing this, and every time i glance up I keep accidentally making eye contact with my Bakugou nendoriod and it’s a bit weird—idk. Hm. I reckon someone adventurous could pull it off… but you’d have to be prepared to do that and have an audience of like, one LOL because!!! Again, idk about the rest of you, but when I’m going into fanfic to read something I’m hunting for something specific and I am ruthless, because so often as a reader I don’t get the luxury of being that cut-throat with general literature. So I think just by virtue of being able to narrow down your searches that people are going to be more dismissive of fics that don’t have exactly what they want.

oh my God i’ve just convinced myself to write a 1st Person POV fic FUUUUUU—