virtubookreviews:

This book was so wonderfully beautiful in every way. I love the way that Julian was able to cover so many young adult issues in a way that every teen/ young adult could relate to. There were so many times I found myself smiling because I understood exactly what a character was feeling. This book is so diverse as well. You can definitely find a piece of yourself in one of the characters being that there are characters from the lgbtq+ community( including aro-ace which was extremely exciting for me to see). If you love coming of age films, you will definitely love this book.
Wes deals with having a crush on his best friend and finding out a way to tell him while also saving the bookstore he works at(which also stores so many childhood memories). I am so glad that I could finally find a book that I can relate to and have so much fun reading. If you check this out, lmk what you think :)))
Rating: 5/5⭐️
Quote I loved: “Love is the very definition of confusion”

an-absolute-nightmare:

“It turns out life isn’t a pile of bad days and then you fall in love with someone who fixes it all. Life is a series of embarrassing, funny, and sometimes brutal moments. Romance might be in there too. But if you’re lucky, you’ll fall in love with your own amazingness and stumble upon a few kickass people to go on life’s adventures with you.”

-Savannah Kirk, Laguna Love Blues

Julian Winters, The Summer of Everything

So… I have some exciting news:

I’M WRITING MORE BOOKS!

I’m so grateful that my next YA book, RIGHT WHERE I LEFT YOU, will be published by Viking/Penguin in Spring 2022. Can’t wait for everyone to meet Isaac, Diego, Davi, and all the other characters in Isaac’s journey.

i love YA fiction but it’s so funny to me that a bunch of sixteen year olds are walking around murdering people and sacrificing themselves for love and martyrdom and the Greater Good and i’m sitting here doing calculus like “yes this is relatable i too hold my enemy at sword point and would be easily able to knock out a man three feet taller than me” whereas in reality i can’t win an arm wrestling match and i leave the house once every three months

books i love and why you should read them

1. instructions for dancing by nicola yoon

• absolutely perfect meet-cute
• made me question my existence multiple times in the best way possible
• comfort book tbh
• basically changed the entire way that i look like love and life
• such realistic, raw emotion??? how?
• the main character has a really dry sense of humour and i love it
• really fast read!! i finished in two days

2. orlando by virginia woolf

• it makes me feel really cool while reading because it has dark academia feminist vibes
• also victoria woolf is a queen
• it’s based on a real life queer love story
• some of the lines just made me sit back and go. oh damn,
• it’s surprisingly easy to read
• (also full disclosure i have Not finished this yet but i love it so far)

3. six of crows duology by leigh bardugo

• be gay, do crime
• six teenagers who don’t know what the fuck they’re doing and manage to break into one of the most secure prisons on the planet and also basically take down a government
• inej ghafa.
• lots of rep!!
• you get the awesome magic from shadow and bone without suffering through alina starkov’s internal monologue
• “my ghost won’t associate with your ghost”
• there’s a massive fandom of chaotic gays so u will find a home among us <3
• the character development is literally flawless

4. scythe trilogy by neal shusterman

• i’m a simp for citra okay i admit it
• but also the worldbuilding of this book is just. perfection
• and it has limited characters but each one is so three-dimensional and you really go into depth about how each one of them thinks and feels and aaaa so good
• the power dynamics that are created between characters are amazing

5. an ember in the ashes quartet by sabaa tahir

• helene aquila. that’s it.
• ok no that’s not it
• but helene aquila and elias veturius are literally perfection; this book was written for the bisexuals /j
• all three main characters are absolutely incredible
• the number of plot twists??? im? how *sobs*
• oh yeah this book will make you sob a lot
• but it is worth it
• the worldbuilding is so solid and i love the way that she uses magic in both the worldbuilding and the character development
• also omg the character relationships? laia and elias and elias and helene and helene and laia and the way that they all develop i can’t
• brown rep <3

6. red white and royal blue by casey mcquinston

• it’s set in an alternate 2020 which was way better than ours so it’s great if you’re into escapism and like to avoid your problems by dissociating into fictional lands
• alex claremont-diaz owns my entire heart
• gay
• gay fluff
• childhood rivals to enemies to reluctant allies in a time of crisis to growing trust to friends with mutual pining to friends with benefits with mutual pining to lovers
• it’s a hell of a rollercoaster
• also lots of politics! if you’re into that kind of thing

7. a court of thorns and roses by sarah j mass

• don’t read it <3

do you pronounce it “enemies to lovers” or “unhealthy obsession with someone falling in love with you for your flaws”?

Mislabeling books as YA

Anyone following my main account will know that I’ve been ranting there about seeing books that definitely aren’t YA being labeled as YA on Instagram, goodreads, and booktube.

The specific books that I’ve noticed are all written by women, have f/f romances and explicit sex scenes, and have elements besides those sex scenes that also shouldn’t be considered YA.

In case you don’t know, YA means Young Adult, and it’s one of the most popular genres on book social media from what I can tell. Don’t be mistaken. YA is it’s own genre. It has its own publishing imprints. Agents specialize in representing it. It has its own sections at libraries and bookstores. There are rulesets of what can and can’t exist in YA stories. And this is exactly as it should be.

This isn’t exclusionary, or it at least shouldn’t be in the ideal publishing/bookselling world. This is so that a specific age range of people have books at are challenging to them, engaging to them, and safe for them. There are specific ways that YA books handle sex, violence, character, romance, and even worldbuilding and plot. There can be incredibly violent YA books, for example the Hunger Games. But how the book approaches violence, shows it, and has the characters engage in it is what matters. That’s why there can be YA horror, romances, and every other sub genre that adult books have (well maybe not erotica).

This is important. Teens and young adults (and even older adults who are comfortable in this genre) should be able to pick up books and know that there are certain rules that won’t be broken. Certain lines that won’t be crossed. Certain elements they can expect to see or avoid. This isn’t the books being deemed lesser or anything along those lines; it’s about the books being specifically tailored for certain rules and age ranges.

This is why mislabeling adult books as YA is a problem.

When it happens, it almost always happens to a female author. I’m not sure if it’s specifically SFF women authors or if that’s just what I notice because it’s my genre. There’s definitely sexism in that, as YA is often deemed a “female genre,” as if genres have genders. But why does it matter if an adult book gets put on the shelf next to YA books?

Because young adult readers will pick it up, trusting that it’s YA when it actually isn’t.

Teens and young adults can definitely read adult books; I pretty much skipped past YA entirely and dove right into adult SFF, but I also knew I was doing that. Teens browsing the YA section and picking up an interesting looking book called the Poppy War definitely aren’t aware they’re doing that, and they’re being exposed to content that—by the rules of their genre—they should not be being exposed to.

This is unfortunate for the young readers who might be exposed to content they aren’t comfortable with, of course, but it also negatively affects the authors of these mislabeled books. Those authors don’t have a say as to where a random bookstore or library decides to place their books, or how a blogger decides to describe it. And when their books get sold to an age range it isn’t designed for, they get perceived as not doing their job correctly or not taking enough care.

Too many female authors have been getting undeservingly slammed recently as a result of this. They are either accused of not taking enough care to avoid young people (not the target audience) from being exposed to that content, or they get accused of being disrespectful to YA if they try to make is clear that their books aren’t for a YA audience. Again, this doesn’t mean only adults can read it, it just means that younger people should be careful and maybe make themselves aware of the content before going it. @coolcurrybooks made a good post detailing this issue. This effects the readers but also the the book’s reviews, sales, and the author’s reputation.

This is important for people beyond booksellers and librians. Readers and people who talk about and recommend books should be aware of this issue, for their own comfort and to avoid exposing other people to books they might not be comfortable with. It’s not fair to these authors who publish under adult imprints and with adult agents that their books get criticized for being adult. They did what they were supposed to, and it’s other people’s errors that cause this issue.

One very easy way to know if a book is actually YA is to look for the publisher and make yourself aware of what the adult imprints and the YA imprints are. Look at that and don’t just label a book YA because an instagrammer made a pretty picture of the book and tagged it as such. And for the love of god, do NOT harass authors over their books being mislabeled or them trying to ensure their books aren’t mislabeled.

Blog Tour - In the Serpent’s Wake by Rachel Hartman - Review

Blog Tour – In the Serpent’s Wake by Rachel Hartman – Review

Hello bookish lovelies! Happy Tuesday! Welcome to my stop on the In the Serpent’s Wake by Rachel Hartman blog tour! You can check out the rest of the tour here!

ABOUT THE BOOK: 
Title:  In the Serpent’s Wake
Author:  Rachel Hartman
Release Date: February 1st, 2022
Published By: Random House Books for Young Readers
Pages: 512 pages
Find it: Amazon, B&N, Book…

View On WordPress

Well, I’m 24 and haven’t got my life together yet. 

For some reason I didn’t see this coming, always assumed I’d grow up, write my books, publish them and make something for myself. A part of me still assumes one day I’m going to be a profesional (as in I make a living off of) author. 

The more down to earth side of me assumes I’ll more likely end up a university teacher who clearly wishes they’d chosen a different degree but can’t afford the financial strain or time investment to actually change career paths. 

And honestly, I’ll probably be happy either way. 

I wish I had more time at the moment to write and draw and just enjoy life. But given where I live, the financial state of the world, I’m just happy I have the money to get a coffee in the morning, and the resources to self-publish the stories that mean the most to me. 

So, to celebrate another year of moving forward in life even if the direction isn’t the best. 

Dear Dragon (the ebook version) will be on sale Dec 14th at 8 am PST up until the 21st! 

As well as in the UK from the 16th of Dec up until the 25th (why different? Because I forgot I have to program both the US and UK separately. I’m sorry. I’m not good at marketing). 

It’s my birthday sale and also the christmas sale if you’d like to give it to any YA fantasy dragons fans! 

I’ve got another two weeks of just intense exams, will probably be a bit busy for a couple of days after for christmas, but after that I’ve got a bit more time off and about seventeen drafts so expect more posts from me shortly! 

I also just want to thank everybody for being here! For a long time my posts got one or two notes and suddenly I have over three hundred follows and that’s kind of amazing. I’m glas my writing advice has been helpful or at least relatable to so many people. 

If I don’t find time to post again, have great holidays! Hopefully it gives you all some more time to work on your stories.