First, here are some important stuff for you to check out:
This carrd compiles a lot of resources about petitions you can sign and ways to donate
https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/
Check out this playlist of black booktubers
Check out the Blackout Buddy reads readathon (Which I will try my best to complete the books within the timeframe. I have them both, they’re on my kindle and I have this week off so hopefully I’ll make good progress on them)
On to the tag. this tag was created by yerabooknerdzoe, if you haven’t already you should check her out, she is absolutely hilarious. This tag is basically centered around tropes that Zoe does not like.
Eavesdropping w/ miscommunication – Name a book you heard great things about and expected to love but ended up hating
I could probably give a list here… but I’ll go with Caraval by Stephanie Graber. This book was hyped to the heavens as the new Night Circus and as some amazing magical performance thing and firstly, there was no performance magical or otherwise. Secondly everything else was also poop (except for the cover, that was gorgeous). So yeah, this book sucked, I hated it.
Love Triangles – Name a series where you can’t pick your favourite book
First, let me say SAME! Love triangles (and polygons of any description, we don’t discriminate here) suck and they should just die.
A series I couldn’t pick my favourite… I could once again give a list, but I’ll talk about one I’ve not talked about before and that is Nevermoor by Jessica Townsed. I’ve not posted a review of this because I’ve not really posted much at all, but I binged the two books in this series earlier this year and it is now one of my favourite middle grade series. It’s so much fun and I honestly could not pick a favourite. I’m so excited for the third one coming out later this year!
Not Like Other Girls/Didn’t Know I’m Beautiful – Name a book that has a pretty cover but was boring as all hell
Once again, yeah I agree. This trope is overdone and annoying and it makes it sound like being a girl like other girls is an undesirable thing or that being aware of your beauty is a bad thing. And I bought into that lie for a long time as a youngin and it harmed me. I am a woman just like any other and that in itself is a good and beautiful thing. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
As for my choice for the prompt, I will go with The Magicians by Lev Grossman. I really wanted to enjoy this book but honestly I was bored out of my mind. I DNFed it at around 180 pages or so. I just could not get through it. I do really like the cover though.
All-Consuming Love – Name a book that gave you a book hangover
Ah yes! You know when you pick up a cool sounding fantasy and you’re really excited because there’s dragons and magic and whatever and the first 100 pages are wonderful and you fly through them, and then Jane meets Tarzan and it’s all about their boring, awkward romance and the dragons and magic just get lost. And it sucks. If I wanted to read a romance, I’d have picked up a romance.
Have you ever gone to a beer festival and tried honey mead for the first time and found that it’s delicious and tastes nothing like alcohol and before you know it you’re throwing up on someone’s shoes in a train on your way back from Oxford and then you wake up the next day and you wish you hadn’t woken up at all? No? Me neither. But that’s the level of hangover that this book gave me.
Douchebag Boyfriend – Name a book that took you a while to get into, but you ended up loving
Yeah… why is that a trope? Although, I will say I’m a sucker for the brooding guy with a tortured past blah blah (I’m looking at you Will Herondale) trope which is very close to this one. And I know it’s trash and if someone actually behaved that way in real life, I would tear him a new one. But for some reason, I read about it and I love it. What is logic? But then there’s also the “He was a douchebag before but she fixed him” angle and yeah… I hate that one.
I can’t really think of anything right now. I’m sure there are some, but I can’t think of any. So instead, I’m going to go with one that I put off for a long time because I wasn’t sure I would enjoy it and ended up absolutely loving it and that is the Bear and the Nightingale series by Katherine Arden. This series was honestly a balm for my soul. I loved it so much.
Tell us your favourite or least favourite trope!
I think my least favourites have probably mostly been covered. There are a few more like the new kid in a small town school one that really annoy me. As for my favourite, I’d say probably discovering magical abilities, magic schools and assassins.
A Book Nerd 