Nikki's Book Boyfriends!

I have so many book boyfriends that I can't always keep track of them!

Since Valentine's day is today and Erika's done this in the past, I thought I'd share my own top book boyfriends that I would want to be my valentine for Valentine's day. So here are my guys in no particular order:

Peeta from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I absolutely loved Peeta in The Hunger Games trilogy because he's so sweet and caring towards Katniss. He's strong and learned to protect himself, but he doesn't impose upon Katniss and totally respects her. His complicated tracker jacking just created ALL the feels.

Tobias from Divergent by Veronica Roth

Tobias is easily one of my Top Book Boyfriends. He's a total badass and everybody knows it. He's got a tough guy front that Tris has to break away (a favorite trope of mine) and the tragic backstory to top it all off.

Patch from Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

This wasn't exactly a favorite series of mine, but I absolutely loved Patch! What can I say, I like a sweet guy, but a bad boy is even better. He's a frickin amazing badass fallen angel, what more can I ask for??

Percy Jackson from Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

He is definitely the OG book boyfriend. Percy has been with me since 4th grade! While I could fill up my Book Boyfriend list with literally every guy from Rick Riordan's books, I've gone with the original sass-master himself. I just can't get enough of the messy black hair and the sea green eyes!

Uriah from Divergent by Veronica Roth

Uriah was my absolute favorite character in Divergent (It was originally Will but then Uriah got way more 'screen-time' as it were). He is just so adorable and wholesome and I am SO GLAD he and Tris became friends. There is so much humor in this series and a good portion of it comes from him!

Ash from The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Ash is 98% the ONLY reason I read this series the whole way through. The other 2% was Grimalkin the cat. His devotion and love for Meghan was so pure even though I really never grew to like her. She annoys the heck out of me- she is so frustratingly oblivious. But, I cared about her because ASH cared about her. There was so many emotional and touching moments in this series because of him. He's a keeper all right! Each book in this series get progressively better which is not something I think is normally the case, and I think it's because the side characters like my book boyfriend get so much development and time to shine.

Ziri from Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

He was so sweet and self-sacrificing. He gave up his beautiful Karin body to pretend to be a scary brute all to protect Kaoru. Heart-renching really.

Now that I'm going over them, I've realized a lot of my book boyfriends are from older books!

Who are your book boyfriends?

Leave me some new Book Boyfriend recommendations in the comments!

Cringe Worthy YA Tropes

Thoughts for Thursday is a discussion post mainly about book related things. It isn't every week, but we try to do it as often as possible.

If you've read any YA book, you've probably come across some tropes. I feel like it's unavoidable, but some of them are so overused and quite frankly a pet peeve of mine. It's pretty safe to say that if a book has some of these tropes that make me cringe, it's not going to be a favorite. It's not always going to automatically make me dislike the book though, because there might be some saving grace to the story or character that makes me still really enjoy it.

"I'm not like other girls"

This one has to be one of my least favorite tropes and for some reason it's one that I run into way too often. Personally, I don't think authors should be sending the message that the only way a girl can be powerful, is if they hate on other girls and "girly" things like dresses and makeup. I can't count the number of times that a female main character that's portrayed as badass has looked down on another female character for wearing feminine clothes and makeup. You do not have to be more masculine to be badass! As a kid, because the books I read had characters that thought that, I refused to wear dresses and thought that girls who wear makeup are too girly because the characters I idolized were super ~special~ and not like other girls. Thank god I realized how wrong I was, but it just kind of cements the fact for me that this should never be a popular trope.

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The evil popular girl that's out to steal the main character's love interest and ruin her life

This is so popular in YA books and I just don't get it. Why does the popular girl have to be evil? Why does it have to be girls against girls? Why can't girls be friends in YA books? I just have so many questions about this. It's just such a stereotype that the popular girl is a stuck up bitch that's going to steal away a guy. I have never felt that this was a good plot because I don't really get how you can steal a person away like that if the person is actually into you. Maybe it's because I don't have experience with that happening, but like I don't get it.

Love triangles - a.k.a "I can't decide which guy is hotter, but will ultimately go for the guy that is dark and mysterious"

Awhile back I did a whole discussion on love triangles. Sometimes I don't mind them, but most of the time they're just frustrating and completely unnecessary. A lot of the time they're thrown in to add some drama to the relationship and make it seem like the main character doesn't know what he or she wants. It's so over done and not done well enough for me to actually like it most of the time, so this is definitely going to be something that makes me cringe.

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Trying to be "hip" with stuff like: lol teens rlly txt like this

I don't see this very often (thank god), but when I do it just confuses me so much, especially when I was a teenager. I never texted like this, my friends never texted like this, maybe like one person, but none of us liked it. Sure there's certain things I'll abbreviate like omg or lol, but that's pretty much it. I don't get why authors think teens text like they don't know how to write. It's just kind of annoying.

"I just met you and I'm in love"

I honestly find insta love way more annoying than love triangles. I can't get invested in a couple if there isn't a build up the relationship. Why would I want to root for a couple that doesn't have a believable romance? It just feels like they're in lust or something, but love always gets thrown around when it should really just be like a crush or they're in like (is that a thing?). I don't know about you, but if I'm dating someone I'm not in love with them before I start dating them, I just really like them.

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No female friends a.k.a "I'm so much better than other girls part 2"

This goes along with the "I'm not like other girls" and also with some of the stuff I was saying for the evil popular girl trope. I find it incredibly weird that most books don't have any female friendships. The female main character almost always has male friends, but no close female friendships and they're usually not very kind to other girls. Why? What is the reasoning for this? I DON'T GET IT! I feel like it's really important to show close female friendships because girls should be supporting girls, not tearing them down.

What are some tropes in YA that you hate?

This is definitely not all the cringe worthy tropes I can think of, so there might be a part 2 coming soon!

Latest Addiction: Lipsticks

Latest Addiction is a feature on Living for the Books about addictions besides books. Addictions may include, but are not limited to TV shows, video games, music, and more.

Over the past year or so, I've become increasingly obsessed with lipsticks. I don't know what it is, but you're honestly just as likely to see me wearing lipstick as you are to see me without any. It's gotten to the point where if one of my friends wears lipstick they say they're being like me. It's not just nude lipsticks I like either. Give me all the bright, vampy, or out there colors, I'll wear them all. I am partial to pink lipsticks though (usually a deeper color not like Barbie pink).

 

Series We Don't Want to Finish

Thoughts for Thursday is a discussion post mainly about book related things. It isn't every week, but we try to do it as often as possible.

As a disclaimer we are not hating on the authors or fans or anyone, there are just some books/series we don't like and probably won't continue.

Erika

Over the years I've started quite a few series and I've kept going with a lot of them, but some of them I either lost interest somewhere along the way or never had any interest in continuing. Some of them I might have even enjoyed the first book, but for some reason I never ended up picking the next one.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

This book was so hyped back when I read it and I just don't get it! It's been awhile since I've read this book, but I remember disliking Noah and their relationship so much. There were some cringe-y lines and dialogue that made me enjoy the story less, mainly lines about Noah. Honestly, I thought Noah was a jerk and since a lot of this book was centered around the romance, I found myself not enjoying it. I understand why it's a popular book, but it wasn't for me. I debated reading the next book for awhile because I really enjoyed Mara's ability, but honestly I forgot about this series. Whoops.

Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

Oh man I still remember some of the cringe worthy lines that happened courtesy of one of my least favorite characters, Anna. I couldn't get behind the romance. I thought Kaiden was a jerk. The worst part? I wanted to love this series so bad! I thought it was intriguing and I'm always down for a a good paranormal romance, but the characters were not what I was looking for. The dialogue was pretty cringe worthy too.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas & Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

I actually really loved this series when it came out and I even read the second book, but when the third book came out I was in a reading slump so I never got around to it. And now I've heard that Maas destroyed Chaol and brought in a new guy, so my interest kinda went down. Also I'm multiple books behind now. Out of all of these, this one is definitely the one I'm more likely to continue, but honestly I think I'll stick with the author's other series.

The Selection by Kiera Cass

This is yet another book that I just don't get the hype. I wasn't a fan of the characters and the story line wasn't interesting enough to me. The main reason I wouldn't continue this is because I'm not invested in any of the characters. I didn't find America very likeable and I found myself bored throughout a lot of the story, mainly because I found it so predictable. I wanted more surprise and twists, but the ending could've been predicted from reading the synopsis.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

I didn't enjoy this book as much as other people seem to. The writing drove me crazy and I wasn't a fan of the main character. The romance was kind of predictable in the first book and I've had some of the rest of the series spoiled, so I don't really see a reason to continue it. I thought the premise was really interesting, but like most of these books the characters are what ruined the story for me. I'm definitely the kind of person that needs strong, realistic characters in order to really enjoy a book.

Nikki

(Sorry, no review links in my portion. These readings occurred pre-Living For the Books)

Matched by Ally Condie

I was so neutral after finishing this book. I'm pretty much never neutral about anything! I picked up the book because it had a pretty cover. The book to me was just bland and the writer didn't do a good job getting me to care about the characters. I normally either really like a book, or am angry about what I just read. The point of an author is to illicit at least *some* sort of emotion. The world building was alright, I didn't dislike the love triangle, just didn't care enough to continue.

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

I read the first three books and... just didn't pick up the finale? I started reading when there was all the hype surrounding these books and while I found the world building interesting, I just couldn't get myself to pick up Breaking Dawn. Probably for the best considering all that creepy imprinting between Jacob and Bella's daughter? Didn't watch past the second movie I think.

The Merchant of Death by D. J. McHale

Honestly I loved the Pendragon series and would 100% recommend it to everyone. It involves a secret group of world travelers to save each of the individual realms in order to protect reality and the characters are pretty cool and complex. I will never finish this series because I was reading them from the library years ago, the library had one of the middle books already checked out, and I was so into it that I didn't want to pause so I kinda just skipped that book and continued reading what the library had... I'll never go back and read that middle book and so it gets added to the list of series I will never finish.

The Angel Experiment by James Patterson

This is a series that started strong with a really cool plot and character concepts that just fizzled out for me. It was pretty popular and I thought it deserved the hype for the longest time. I just devoured the first 5 books and here we are, 7 years after Fang, Maximum Ride #6, was published and I still haven't read it. I just don't think I can get back into this series and finish it. I felt the same way about Cassandra Clare's books, but unlike Maximum ride I own all of Clare's books so I feel obligated to read them and catch up at some point (plus Erika highly recommended Cassandra Clare which is why I own them).

Dark Breaks the Dawn by Sara B. Larson

Sure, it's only a duology, but this book just wasn't what I expected it to be. The main character has an affinity for swans, but I'm not really feeling how it's a 'Swan Lake retelling'. I'm not really into the insta-attraction between Evelayn and Tanvir either and I needed more background about the war and the two kingdom's relations before the war, so it's just generally been a let down. The hype for this book was intense and the cover was gorgeous but I don't think I'll ever get around to reading the sequel.

Are any of these series worth picking up again? Do you have any series that you won't finish?

Latest Addiction: Breath of the Wild

Latest Addiction is a new feature on Living for the Books about addictions besides books. Addictions may include, but are not limited to TV shows, video games, music, and more. 

Recently, I was lucky enough to get my hands on the new Nintendo Switch as well as the new Legend of Zelda game and oh my god I don't think I've ever been more addicted to a video game. Ok maybe that's a lie because I've been really addicted to every other Zelda game I've ever played, but like Breath of the Wild is just so freaking pretty. 

 

Anyway, I've been playing this game almost nonstop for the past month or so. It's highly addicting and there's so much going on. Such a big world and so many things to do other than just battling monsters. YOU CAN TAME WILD HORSES. What's better than that?

While the majority of the game is running around and climbing things I don't even care. I've spent hours just exploring the huge world and I still haven't gone everywhere. I have completed the four Divine Beasts and will probably be fighting the main bad guy soon. But even with those things done it feels like the things to do in this game are never ending and I love that so much. The game also allows for so much more freedom. You don't have to do anything in a specific order, which means that every time you start a new game it doesn't have to be exactly the same. Ugh, I'm just so obsessed with this game.

What's your current video game addiction/favorite? If you don't have one, do you have a different recent addiction?

Spoilers: Love or Hate Them?

 Thoughts for Thursday is a discussion post mainly about book related things. It isn't every week, but we try to do it as often as possible.

When it comes to spoilers there are many people that hate them, while others will readily spoil plots and endings for themselves (and other people). I am one of those people that "accidentally" spoils things for people when I'm talking to them. I don't necessarily mean to, but I sometimes just get caught up in what I'm saying about a book, movie, or show and keep going until I've told the person everything I know about it.

When spoiling things for myself, I have mixed feelings about it. Sometimes I'll want to skip right to the end and read the last sentence or page because I'm too impatient to wait to get there. I've done that a lot less recently, but I still feel the temptation. The only reason that I stop myself is because I like the initial reaction I get when I read about the twist or ending when I'm supposed to. Reading things in order, usually yields the most emotional reactions from me and weirdly enough, I enjoy crying over a book.

At the same time, I like reading teasers or little spoiler-y snippets from a book I'm excited about. I remember back when The Infernal Devices books were coming out I would live for the little teasers or spoilers. They would keep me somewhat satisfied until the book came out and get me even more excited to read it.

As for spoilers in reviews, I tend to avoid them when I'm looking at other people's reviews. I also try to keep my reviews as spoil free as possible, but sometimes it's so freaking hard. Sometimes the spoiler-y thing will be something that could make or break whether someone likes the book, so do you include it in the review? I know that you could put a warning or spoiler tags, but I would rather just try to avoid it altogether or say what I have to say without actually spoiling.

It definitely seems like I have a love/hate relationship with spoilers.

Do you avoid or seek out spoilers?

Getting Back Into Blogging (& Some Tips)

Thoughts for Thursday is a discussion post mainly about book related things. It isn't every week but we try to do it as often as possible.

If you've been around for awhile or have looked back on some of my posts, you'll notice that my blog posting became really sporadic and inconsistent for quite awhile. I was burned out from blogging, had very little time to read for pleasure, and just generally busy with so many things. Basically, I stopped posting and reading when I hit college. It was so overwhelming! And I already had a ton of textbooks that I had to read for classes. Oh man was my first semester a mess. 

Luckily, I've figured out a way to organize my time so much better so I'm not frantically skimming textbooks the night before the exam. This will hopefully allow me to have more time to read during the school year! I've also gotten so much better at trying to organize posts on the blog. I also worked hard to give the blog a new look, kind of like a fresh start because I really needed it. I've also realized that I like writing discussion posts, not just reviews. Before I really limited myself to what I could post and now that I try to post what makes me happy, I'm so much happier.

One of the worst things that happened while I was too busy to blog was I lost touch with so many bloggers that I used to talk to or they also stopped blogging. It was really daunting to try to find new blogs because a) there's so many and b) I couldn't remember where to start looking for ones that interested me.

As a result of my break and trying to get back into blogging, I've come up with a few tips for people in the same place as me or even for new bloggers. This is by no means the only tips out there, but it's just some things that really seemed to work for me.

5 Tips to Get Back into Blogging or for New Bloggers

 

1. Don't stress about the # of posts

 I am the queen of stress, but I found that by not feeling like I have to post something every day I don't stress as much. I like having no brainer posts like New Releases or Can't-Wait Wednesday because they're fun for me to do and I always liked seeing new release posts on other blogs. I found those crazy helpful because sometimes I would find new books to read (and I wouldn't have to wait long for them to be out). 

2. If you're looking for blogs to follow check Goodreads groups

This for me was something that helped a lot in finding other people to follow. There are so many great book blogs out there, but I was having some trouble finding some that I really wanted to read and follow. On Goodreads there are groups specifically for bloggers and even bookclub groups usually have a section for bloggers. Personally, I find big bloggers really intimidating. I'm much more likely to comment or try to talk to bloggers that don't have hundreds of comments because I feel like I'm just one blogger in the sea of many and what's really going to make me stand out from everyone else that's saying very similar things?

3. Don't let social media consume you

I am notoriously terrible at social media. I have a Twitter, but tbh I don't really know how to use it effectively. I usually post links to my posts or other blogs, but other than that I don't really use it and I'm ok with that. I was letting myself get really stressed about stuff like Twitter before I realized that it's not really for me. I'm more of a Goodreads girl. I considered using instagram for awhile and I technically have an account, but if I do start using it I will be sure not to let it take out time from reading. It just seems like a really great community and social media is there so you can interact with others. I just think it works better (for me at least) if I keep that sort of thing secondary to reading and my blog.

4. Give it some time before looking into ARCS

Back in the day (lol I sound like I'm a grandma or something), I got a fair share of ARCS. I was in no way bombarded with free books, but I greatly appreciated it, especially because at the time most of my books were bought and books are expensive. Obviously, since I've been inactive I haven't been getting any and I didn't focus on that for awhile and now I'm just getting back into that area, but primarily through Netgalley. When you're first starting out or coming back from a blogging break, don't immediately jump back into ARCS! Establish yourself a little first and that will definitely be incredibly helpful.

5. Blog because you love reading, not the other way around

This is like key to not getting burned out while blogging (for me at least). I was getting burned out because for awhile I felt like I was reading to blog, not because I really wanted to read and it took the fun out of reading for me. It became a job and I was less motivated to read and therefore blog. Blogging is supposed to be fun! If you're every feeling like it's a job, take a step back and remind yourself why you started blogging in the first place.

Do you have any tips for getting back into blogging or for people new to it?

Thoughts for Thursday: Book Covers

Thoughts for Thursday is a discussion post mainly about book related things. It isn't every week, but we try to do it as often as possible.

Erika

I'm sure everyone has heard the saying "don't judge a book by its cover," but I'm sure I'm not the only one that really loves covers and will often initially pick up books because the cover was pretty or unusual. I feel like book covers are important because they're a person's first impression of the book. It's like when you first meet someone, you'll either have a good first impression or a bad one. If you have a bad first impression it would make sense that you would be less likely to seek that person out again and I feel like this is kind of similar to good or bad first impressions with book covers. If the book cover gives you a bad first impression will you be more or less likely to pick that book up? For me (and probably a lot of people) they would probably be less likely to pick it up. I hope some of that made sense.

There are certain kinds of covers that I absolutely love and ones that make me wonder what was going on when it was designed. Personally, covers with faces I don't tend to like as much, with a few exceptions. I think those take away the imagination of the reader if they're already given the face of the main character. I do like covers where the face is obscured or not entirely clear because it still leaves a lot up to the imagination.

Of course, the more creative the cover, the more I'm going to absolutely love it. Covers like the ones for The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater immediately catch my attention. In the YA section a lot of books have very similar cover designs. I'm sure if I went through all the books I own and took a brief look at books at my local library and bookstore, many of them would feature a girl in a pretty dress on the cover. I'm not entirely sure why this is such a trend, but I still prefer more unique covers, even if I think some of the covers with girls in dresses are pretty. 

Nikki

This is actually a really interesting topic for me because I'm thinking about working in the publishing industry after college and have gone over book covers in my Publishing in the 21st Century class, as well as with some of the authors I have worked with in the past. For my publishing class I actually interviewed a couple authors about their Trade, Indie, and Self publishing experiences and how much influence they had over their book covers! It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot to present to my class. A lot more goes into book covers than I thought, especially with the increasing popularity of ebooks. I never even considered how all of my hardcover books might look when squished into a thumbnail like on Goodreads or Amazon, but how it looks as a thumbnail is an important factor in designing a book cover.

Book Covers are the most important marketing tool to sell a book to the right audience. Having the wrong cover could be the difference between being a bestseller or not. When someone looks at a cover, they should be able to tell exactly what genre it is. For example, if I say I'm reading a romance book I'm already picturing a fat, short, mass-marketed paperback with Fabio on the cover. A lot of Fantasy books show warriors and battles on their covers.  If you walk into a book store, you might not buy a book 100% based on its cover, but you pick it up and read the blurb because that cover attracted you more than the other covers. For me, I'm attracted to covers that don't feel like they were done in a couple minutes in photoshop and are more artsy-based. Like Rick Riordan's covers.

Actually, a total example of the power of book covers in action is Laini Taylor's Strange the Dreamer. When I first saw the cover I was so unimpressed I was actually put off from buying it. I loved the covers of A Daughter of Smoke and Bone. What the heck happened??? I don't want boring half yellow half blue with some moths on it. NO THANK YOU. Even though the blurb was cool I could not bring myself to want to purchase the book. Then, I later saw the other cover. The one that was solid dark blue, like the sky before night fully comes, with a large golden moth on the cover. I was stunned. This was gorgeous!  I was thinking "How could Hodder & Stoughton even show the first cover to the light of day when they had something as gorgeous as this up their sleeves??" Then the moment of realization hit me. There were two covers because there were two publishing companies selling the same book. Little, Brown was selling the cover I disliked, and Hodder & Stoughton were selling the cover I adored. So the different publishing companies and artists Laini worked with made a huge aesthetic difference and almost stopped me from enjoying her next book. Basically, I discovered I totally enjoyed solid backgrounds with silver/gold geometric shapes and squiggles on them- so pretty!

What kind of covers do you prefer?

Thoughts for Thursday: DNF Books

Thoughts for Thursday is a discussion post mainly about book related things. It isn't every week, but we try to do it as often as possible.

Erika

As a full time student with a job, sports, and extracurricular activities my time for reading has been shortened drastically. There was time when I never even dreamed of putting a book down without finishing. I would finish that book no matter how bad. However, I've realized that I don't see the point in finishing a book I don't enjoy. Why was I wasting my time on something that seemed like a chore? I would avoid the book for as long as possible, but I would never actually put it away. I guess I felt obligated to finish it because I had this secret hope that the end would somehow make up for the other 90% of the book and I felt obligated to finish books that I received through review requests.

The important thing is that you should never feel obligated to finish a book that you dread reading or that just isn't your thing. Honestly, putting down some books that I just didn't want to read felt great because I was free to read something I would enjoy more and I would also get to avoid writing an extremely negative review that would probably end up turning into more of a rant.

I know some people write reviews for the books they don't finish, but I don't think that I'll ever do that. I might write a little paragraph about why I stopped reading, but it's not really a review and I don't rate the book. Mostly because I feel that if I haven't read the entire book I can't give a review it because I don't know anything about what happens after the part that I stopped it. I'm not saying that you shouldn't write DNF reviews because occasionally I actually like reading DNF reviews, I'm only saying that I don't like to.

Nikki 

I am actually in the middle of this debate myself with review requests. Being in the same boat as Erika, I just don't have all of the reading time that I used to. When I miraculously find time between school, projects, skiing, softball, and a different club each day of the week, I want to sit down with a book I will thoroughly enjoy. Some books I get through really quickly, especially printed copies. Print is just so much easier to read visually, plus I can take it out during class where electronics are banned.  It's one think if it was a pleasure book, I would feel a a bit guilty but I could manage abandoning it. However, what do I do when an author asks for a review of their book and here I am 2 months later not even halfway through? I feel obligated to finish and write a review but at the same time I just can't force myself to do it.

I recently pushed all of my requests aside in order to start reading The Ring of Solomon (Bartimaeus 0.5) by Jonathan Stroud. Let me tell you, it feels sooooooo good. This book has been in my possession since I met him at an event almost a year ago and I'm just now getting to it. It was just euphoric to be in control again and calling my own shots. In conclusion I guess I'm basically agreeing with Erika. You do you and avoid all of the negative emotions coming from a book you just can't get through.

On the topic of DNF reviews, I would never be able to do that. Sure I didn't like it and might want to share that, but at the same time I don't feel like it's my place to write about a book I haven't fully read. I know I personally hate when people do the same thing in real life. It's just really annoying to hear/read something when the creator obviously doesn't know what they're talking about. I wouldn't want to contribute to that problem. Not saying there is anything really wrong with the concept, but I personally would never do that. This pretty much brings me full circle to the guilt when I haven't reviewed a requested book that I didn't finish >.<

Do you feel obligated to finish a book or write DNF reviews?

Thoughts for Thursday: Adult Books

 

Over the past year or so, I've realized that most of the characters in the books I read I younger than me. It's a strange thought since I've never thought of myself as older or even remotely like an adult, but I'm 18 and I'll be going to college next school year. I still love young adult books and will probably (hopefully) never stop reading them, but I also want to expand my horizons and try more new adult and adult books.

Recently I read The Song of Achilles and I absolutely loved it. While reading it I kept thinking about whether I should write a review because I typically skip reviews for books that aren't considered young adult. But when I finished it I knew exactly what I would say if I wrote a review, but I was still hesitant. Why? I think that's partially because I've never written and posted a review of an adult book and I was almost a little scared because I've always thought of adult books as something that I wasn't old enough for or something like that. I felt like I should be restricted to only young adult books because for awhile those were the only books I could relate to. I had the same feeling when I went from middle grade books to young adult books. I think that's mostly because instead of reading about characters that are my age or slightly younger than me, they are now more likely to be older than me, which can give the book a very different feel.

I've still only read a handful of adult books and most of them were for school, but I really want to start reading some more adult and new adult books. I'm probably still going to read young adult books more than adult books, but if you see some adult book reviews pop up, just know that I'm not leaving the young adult books behind, I'm just trying to find some more great books to read.

Did you ever feel like your were confined to certain age groups for books?

Thoughts for Thursday: The Love Triangle

 It seems that almost every book I pick up has a love triangle. It’s certainly a trend in Young Adult books but I have never fully understood the purpose of putting one in a book. For some romantic tension? Or maybe the author is an evil mastermind that likes toying with readers' feels.
 

The typical love triangle in YA books consists of two guys after the same girl. I even made a diagram to go along with it because I like diagrams (and I was bored).

How many books have you read with an actual love triangle? I’m pretty sure I’ve only come across two or three. Most of the time love triangles aren’t even triangles they are V shaped. In order for it to be an actual love triangle don't the two guys have to like each other (not necessarily in love) because that line is connecting them together too. I guess love triangle just sounds better than love v.

More often than not the “bad boy” gets the girl and the “nice guy” doesn’t. Why? I know people that have been in a relationship with their best friend. I can’t think of many books where the best friend ends up with the heroine.

Love triangles can make the book interesting or it can make it unbearable. There are already so many books out there with love triangles that it gets old after awhile. The only love triangle that I loved was from The Infernal Devices because the guys in the triangle loved and cared for each other not just the girl they both loved.

Personally I would be fine with reading a YA book without a love triangle. Once in a blue moon I enjoy a love triangle, but most of the time I find them irritating. Now this may seem that books with love triangles automatically get lower ratings from me, but this isn't true. I have given plenty of books with love triangles four or five stars. The love triangle only brings down the rating if it bugged the crap out of me and succeeded in making me want to bang my head against my desk.

What do you think of love triangles?

My Book Boyfriends

I have so many book boyfriends that I can't always keep track of them!

Since Valentine's day is today I thought I'd share my top book boyfriends that I would want to be my valentine for Valentine's day.

Wolf from Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

I fell in love with Wolf right from the start. I would really love to talk more about Wolf, but I don't want to spoil Scarlet for anyone that hasn't read it yet.

Zeke from The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Zeke is so unlike many YA guys. He isn't a complete jerk to Allie and he genuinely cares about her. He was just so sweet and I need the next book so I can read more about him!

Cassel from White Cat by Holly Black

Cassel has got to be one of my favorite guy main characters. Again talking about why I love him so much would probably ruin the entire series.

Cas from Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

He is definitely my second favorite guy main character. Cas is a badass ghost killer. He also sounded just like a real guy. Plus he went to Hell and back for love. Literally.

Four from Divergent by Veronica Roth

I can't help but love Four. He's another completely awesome and badass guy that knows how to fight, but he respects Tris and knows that she can take care of herself.

Ash from The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

I love this series and Ash is probably one of the main reasons why I love it. He's so broken from being raised in the Winter Court and I loved his relationship with Puck and Meghan.

Will from Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Will is probably my favorite book boyfriend because I love his sense of humor and that he acts the way he does to protect the people he loves. He's also a shadowhunter and he reads!

Who are your book boyfriends?

What is New Adult?

Have you heard of the genre New Adult? Up until a few weeks ago somehow I had missed the whole New Adult genre. It had me confused. Why was a new genre created? Just to make everything more confusing?

I decided to do some research.



I've come to the conclusion that New Adult is like the bridge between Young Adult and Adult books.

"They’ve labeled this category “new adult” — which some winkingly describe as Harry Potter meets “50 Shades of Grey” — and say it is aimed at 18-to-25-year-olds, the age group right above young adult."

As I kept reading it basically said that the "goal" of this genre is to "retain" young readers that grew up reading the Harry Potter series, The Hunger Games, and Twilight. Interesting...does that mean I count? Since technically I grew up reading the Harry Potter series even though I'm not 18.

Apparently New Adult books are supposed to appeal to readers in the age group listed above that enjoyed those books because they are more mature (there's more intense romance and explicit sex).

Now this is what I was wondering about:

"While publishers like the concept of creating a new-adult category, its hybrid nature has been problematic. The books fall into an undefined territory between adult and children’s literature, and there is no obvious place for them in bookstores. Even within publishing houses, new-adult authors are being split between children’s and adult divisions."

You've probably heard of the book Easy by Tammara Webber. I've seen some pretty positive reviews on it so I went to my local Barnes & Noble to see if they had it. I couldn't find it in the Young Adult section so I kind of gave up and picked up something else. While walking around the store I spot Easy in the Adult section. I literally stood there for a few minutes looking at the books because along with Easy there was Stormdancer and Ironskin. Two other books I wanted to read but they were more expensive than the average Young Adult book. I knew that Easy wasn't exactly a Young Adult book but I had absolutely no idea that the other two weren't (according to the bookstore I went to). Where does the line between YA and New Adult and Adult get drawn? Is it closer to YA or Adult?

 

Why bookstore? Why not just put in a New Adult section to make everything less confusing! I don't have a problem with New Adult just the fact that there is no place for them in bookstores (yet?). Please make a special place for them because technically they aren't actually Adult books or YA books.

"Beyond appealing to the maturing tastes of young readers, these more sophisticated books could potentially draw in the millions of older readers who have flocked to the young-adult category, publishers said. A study released in September by Bowker, a market research firm that studies publishing trends, showed that more than half the buyers of young-adult books were 18 or older, and the vast majority said they were purchasing for themselves."

I've actually started to notice this. I'll be searching the shelves at Barnes & Noble and a person that is not a teenager will be looking at the same book that I just put down. Honestly I hope I'm like that person when I'm older. 

I actually think that New Adult is a pretty interesting and good idea because there are definitely a lot of readers from all different ages. I'll have to read a New Adult book sometime to see what it's like. 

Have you read a New Adult book? What are your thoughts on the new genre?

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