that a single reader can restore faith in an authors story with one comment.
Don’t ever feel like your words aren’t going to make a difference.

- An author who just wrote a full paged upcoming plot on a near hiatus fiction thanks to a random encouraging guest viewer.

juneacademia:

fuck literary gatekeeping, read whatever you want.

cecile-dormeau:

Heartless by Marissa Meyer

☆☆☆☆☆

An absolute must read.

“Long before she was the terror of wonderland, the infamous Queen of Hearts, she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love.”

This novel brings readers excitement and illicit romance between two star crossed lovers.

The protagonist, Katherine, is the daughter of a noble and only wants to open a bakery to share her love of pastries with the folks of wonderland. But fate has other plans when she is suddenly told of the foolish King’s desire to marry her.

I found this novel to be painfully beautiful because as the reader we already know that she is going to marry the king. We know how the story ends. We know and yet we hope stubbornly that she will succeed in her quest to follow her dreams by opening a bakery and be with the one she loves. And when she ultimately fails we can’t be surprised; we knew this was coming.

I give this book 5 stars because I will be crying over this book ‘till the end of time.

For someone who has typed upwards of 200,000 words for their novel, taken advanced English all their life, has a family of multigenerational English teachers, and has a formidable library in their room, I sure can’t spell worth a damn.

I spent a length of time I will not disclose cursing spell-check, more confident than I had any right to be that “paid” was actually spelled “payed.”

Bibliophile: A lover of books; one who loves to read, admire and collect books.

(also known as me)

tonight i saw you
with my eyes closed
in a vague sense of reality
far from my own

tonight i held you
with my hands gripping the sides of the bed
you sent lightning through my system
even across a world away

tonight i felt you
when i wasn’t reaching
tonight i knew you
when i was still out of my head
and tonight i heard you
when everything else fell silent

you were lovely
you had an impeccable sense of humor
my parents loved you
you were godly
you treated me with respect
i loved your laugh
your smile was strangely addictive.
it’s a pity i don’t remember your face;
or your name

i remember meeting you at a coffee shop, though
i was reading and you were reading
we were sitting across each other
never really minding each other’s business
until you looked up, and you saw me
and i looked up, and i saw you
and you smiled
that strangely addictive smile

and so every morning from now on
i’ll be hanging out at coffee shops
reading some book
waiting
for you
until you come
and smile at me
wih that strangely addictive smile

i think i might just fall in love with you
soon.

damn, i blame the smile.

when busy streets are silenced
and colored lights flicker to grey
when the city sleeps
and we look at each other

our differences
glare at us
wide-eyed; blinding.

Open Book on Tablecloth – Ithell Colquhoun

Open Book on Tablecloth — Ithell Colquhoun

Open Book on Tablecloth, c.1927-30 by Ithell Colquhoun (1906-1988)

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Well, Well, Well (Chiffon in Green) – Dominic Chambers

Well, Well, Well (Chiffon in Green) — Dominic Chambers

Well, Well, Well (Chiffon in Green), 2020 — Dominic Chambers (b. 1993)
 

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Studio – Benny Andrews

Studio — Benny Andrews

Studio, 1967 by Benny Andrews (1930-2006)

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Reification #80 – Dario Maglionico 

Reification #80 — Dario Maglionico 

Reification #80, 2021 by Dario Maglionico (b. 1986)

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Poised – Anthony Goicolea

Poised — Anthony Goicolea

Poised, 2017 by Anthony Goicolea (b. 1971)

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Warning: This is a rant!

I’m reading this romance book and it’s bad. Granted, I’m only 16% into the book, but I’m truly hating it. The book is bad in that hard to explain way, where the writing is bad. It’s not the grammar or editing, but just the writing. I’m not going to say the name of the book, but here’s a screenshot of 1 page of it from my iPhone kindle. But first context.

The main character is 18 and she dreams of independence and wants to go to college with dreams of a Ph.D. But when she’s sold off by her father into an arranged marriage, she just accepts it. Her father is a U.S. senator (the most believable part of the whole situation) and he’s marrying her off to a rich family so that family can back his next campaign. Her new fiancé is only 26, and he’s handsome, so that’s fine. Her father could have married her off to an old bad of dirt, but he didn’t. She met her fiancé at her 18th birthday party, he was her birthday present (no joke). The scene below happens 3 months later, at their second meeting — their wedding day.

Now, I often find romance novels to be problematic because of all the genres out there, romance seems to be one where many bad writers make their names. The main character is compelling and her story has a lot of potential, but I have to keep rolling my eyes to the back of my head because of how badly this writer keeps butchering the story and characters. It’s bad.

I’ve read really well done books about dominant men and the women who love them. Books where the idea of, “you married him and so he owns your body now,” runs rampant. I’ve accepted a lot of sketchy writing from authors in the name of a good and well told story, but this one is just so bad. My whole mantra while reading this has been, “she’s only 18, she probably doesn’t know any better.” ‍♀️

It seems to me that this author only knew what they wanted these characters to do, not how to actually write them doing it. So, things are just thrown at the reader and we’re expected to process it and it’s problematic implications and move on. The section that I highlighted above, that statement is incredibly sexist and demeaning to women, but it is said in the book with no modifiers and no push back. How can someone who just wants to break free from her father and go college just unquestionably accept that ridiculous advice. And even worst, this is the 1st book in a trilogy and I, for the life of me, don’t know how that is possible.

This is where I’m always unsure what to do next with these types of books. Do I keep reading in hopes that it gets better? Or do I just stop the torture, but never know what happened to these characters? This is the dilemma that these types of books place readers in. At it’s the dilemma they place me in, and it really sucks.

Up in the Air Series

By:R.K Lilley

I read these books years ago and they are so good. I keep going back to them and I reread them every year or so. I think that they’re a really great representation of what a BDSM relationship can look like. They are lovely books and very well written.

When I finally got around to reading Fifty Shades of Grey books, I was expecting them to be like the Up In the Air series. However, they were not anywhere near as good. If you’re in the mood for some kinky romance, check this series out. These books are worth the read.

You can find the link to my book and Etsy shop in my bio. ❤