Yeah, and I’d describe his accent as ambiguous Midwestern

You did yourself a favor. The answer to the mystery is so nonsenical, and it didn’t even have anything to do with the whole book.

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover. One page.

I put it on hold at the library when I was still seeing it recommended highly. By the time it finally came through, I’d been seeing a lot more critiques. But I still wanted to try it because I’d waited so long. And then the vibe on the very first page completely turned me off. I could tell I wouldn’t like the writing or the MC. Thanks for making it so easy, Colleen. 🤪

I highly recommend the audiobooks narrated by Andy Serkis (who was Smeagol/Gollum in the movies). He’s SO good at it and clearly had a ton of fun doing it. I personally find LotR kind of hard to read in physical form, but these audiobooks were perfect for my last reread.

I think it’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower at maybe 6 reads? So nostalgic and always worth revisiting. Not to mention, it’s very easy to read, so that helps.

Totally. I don’t like to limit myself when it comes to genres, but there are definitely some that I pick up more than others. I’ve done the StoryGraph genre challenge the last couple years to help me with this and it’s been fantastic.

Recs in the new adult genre, or fantasy? Honestly, I don’t really know what I’m talking about when I say “new adult” haha, it’s a very trendy phrase right now and doesn’t actually have a clear meaning. But I’ll give some (mostly) fantasy recs!

I do like all of Sarah J. Maas’s series (which is why I thought I’d like FW, sigh). Throne of Glass is my favorite, then Crescent City, then ACOTAR, which I do like but I think is the worst quality of the 3 by far.

The Six of Crows duology got me back into fantasy in a big way. I was obsessed with these. They aren’t spicy but there are several incredible romantic subplots.

The Broken Earth trilogy is absolutely brilliant. Not romantic at all, and is quite emotionally brutal, but it’s a master class in world building.

If you want some silly romance that’s just easy to read and fun, I honestly really enjoyed the Bridgerton series.

That’s all I’ve got for now. I’m relatively new to fantasy myself. I have a bunch on my list that I’m excited about, such as The Serpent & the Wings of Night, One Dark Window, Once Upon a Broken Heart, etc.

Good luck and happy reading!!

I was so sure I’d like it, I preordered the 2nd one before I even read thr 1st one. Like an idiot. The 2nd one is even worse somehow.

I hold no judgment for people who enjoy the New Adult genre. I enjoy it myself sometimes, which is why I thought I’d enjoy FW. But I feel like I can’t trust reviews for the genre anymore.

Yup. It’s disgusting but it’s so meaningful.

Rebecca and her Dutchman, Jan Maas giving the interview, the team’s argument and Isaac’s outrage, Will & Higgins’s jazz adventure, the people at the restaurant not knowing what Chicago is, Jamie teaching Roy how to ride a bike on stolen bikes, Colin and Trent bonding emotionally and then drinking vanilla vodka together, and the scene in the bus at the end??? Please

The actress is South African and I feel like she’s attempting to sound British but not always succeeding. Or she just has a Brit-ified South African accent.

I definitely noticed it now and then (for some reason, especially on the word “better” said like “bittah”) so I looked her up haha.

Fun fact: she also played Jackie Kennedy on that one episode of The Crown.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X - I started it at the beginning of September and am not yet halfway through. Trying to finish it before the end of the year, though.

It’s very good and interesting, just a bit denser than what I usually read in physical book form. I find it hard to sit and read a lot of it. Trying to read at least 1 chapter between every other book.

That’s not very long, though. In 2020, before I started making a real effort to get back into reading, it took me 6 months to read Good Omens (which I loved). And in my college years, it took me 4 years to read the ASOIAF series.

It has so much hype and I really thought I’d like it, but it missed the mark for me. :( I mostly found it boring, up until the Big Reveal, when it was just so crazy unhinged that I could only roll my eyes.

Hunger Games holds up REALLY well and only gets more and more relevant unfortunately.