8/15/2022 0 Comments Contradictions book tag!Hey ya’ll! I’m so excited to be back and blogging for this summer. *sound of a record screeching* Um…so this was written back in early July. I never posted it because I forgot to make a graphic for it and I’m just now rediscovering it. I decided let’s not waste the content or a chance for ya’ll to read my continuous stream of thoughts sooo here’s the article. Hope you still enjoy! Lol. I found this tag from Jesse’s channel, Bowties and Books and I was so excited to answer the questions on my own. I don’t think the tag started on their channel but make sure to check out Jesse’s channel as well. I Love This Genre But Hated This BookFrom Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout. I typically love fantasy romance (aka, I typically love & read Sarah J. Maas fantasy romance) and so I thought I would love this. If you haven’t been updated on the blog, I dnf’d book two in the series for a reason. Haha. Basically it was boring and a little repetitive after the first book. There was a lot of lying and deception that felt so unnecessary and then the hero is supposed to be this “sexy bad guy” we’re supposed to root for, but I ended up just not really liking him. He didn’t seem all that big and bad, the heroine kept making dumb decisions–she forgives him, then she doesn’t, and on and on. Soo, long story short, I want to say it’s this book but I think I read a contemporary by this author too and didn’t like it so it’s probably just me. 😅 I Rarely Read This Genre But I Loved This Book Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots. Y’all know that this blog reads and rates romance. All types, forms and subgenres. But I was a little burnt out from the romance at the beginning of the year and wanted to “expand my tastes” (it did not last long lol). But this was my first fiction book of the year and I loved it. I rated it a high 4 stars because it was a superhero story where the heroine works as a henchman for this super bad guy. She then rises in the ranks after shit happens to her. It’s literally an evil villain arch story and I lovedd that. There were still some parts to be desired (I wanted the main bad guy to be more bad, in the end I wanted our main character, Ana, to still be at the top of her game, I also wanted romance–sue me). But overall, I enjoyed it! So I would highly recommend. Plus, it’s beautifully queer. And Sea of Ruin by Pam Godwin. Now, I know I literally just said that I read all romance subgenres, but in the spirit of contradictions, I rarely read dark romance. Just because all that trauma can be a lil much for your tender hearted girl. But I was so intrigued by the idea of pirates and a female pirate? Bye. I had to. It’s taken me literally 2 years to work my way up to this one but in quarantine I finally bit the bullet and I actually loved it. It definitely gave trauma, but the ending was pleasantly surprising. I wanted more relationship development in the end but for a dark historical romance (which is something I also rarely hear about or gravitate towards) this shit was kinda fire. Though I do think it might take me another 2-3 years before I can pick something up like this again. I was clutching my pearls the entire time. Haha. I Love This Trope But Didn’t Like This Book The Royals Next Door by Karina Halle. Firstly, I personally love Karina Halle and her books. I binged like 4 of her standalones last year and was just eating them upppp. So when I heard that she was coming out with a book with a next door neighbor's trope? Enemies to lovers? Bodyguard? (even if it’s not her bodyguard) romance??? I was like hell yes. And it just didn't give! It was boring, and just felt really underdeveloped in so many parts for me. There wasn’t enough time with them spent together doing fun things. And he was mean. Not misunderstanding, just mean and I did not like that. And then their relationship conflict/the thing that kept them apart just didn’t make sense to me so, three stars for this book. I Hate This Trope But Loved This Book Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake. I Hate small town romances. Typically. They’re always slow paced, and the town is always boring, and nothing exciting ever happens because one person or another is always running from something and it just follows a very traditional plotline. There have been a few exceptions such as Penny Reid’s “Winston Brothers” series and C.M. Owens “The Wild Ones” series but those were also classified as romcoms. (And they were hilarious) but most small town romances are not those. But this book? Oh my gosh, definitely one of my top favorites of 2022. First of all, it’s queer. *heart eyes*. Second of all, the character development was soo good, which I think is pivotal when you’re going to drop your characters into a small town. It’s dual POV so we get to understand both of our main characters–Delilah and Claire–so intimately. And then! Even the side characters were developed beautifully too. It felt like within this small town they were dynamic and complex characters and I loved that. I can go on and on about this book but I’ll save the real review for another time. But this is probably my new favorite small town romance. Ever. I Love This Author but Didn’t Like This Book The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren. I think I’ve only read two books by this duo and honestly, after reading this one and hearing other reviews I’ve been scared to pick up another one by this author. I read this book back in 2020 and it was fine. First of all, the lack of smut? Ugh. Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating was such a dream! The characters were so dynamic and funny and they just worked but in this book they just fell so flat for me. The situations they were in felt too unrealistic, the conflict was just boring. Soo, yeah. 3 stars. I heard the Soulmate Equation is really good, and I’m scared I won’t enjoy it but maybe I’ll add it to a list tbr somewhere soon and bite the bullet. And who knows, they might regain a new fan. I Previously Disliked a Book By This Author but I Loved This Book Window Shopping by Tessa Bailey. So, I originally tried to jump on the hype and started reading “It Happened One Summer”…and dnf’d it barely like 12% in. It wasn’t even because the main character in that book was too dimwitted (we love a brainless beauty–I promise I’m not being mean, that is supposed to be her characterization haha). But I thought the hero was just being sooo mean to her. I stopped when he was talking shit in the grocery store. I probably can go back, and definitely want to give this book another chance simply because I picked up “Window Shopping” while I was in London and just fell in love with the writing. The story, the characters, everything worked for me. So I’m thinking, I just need to give “It Happened One Summer” another try…but originally, I thought Tessa Bailey was not for me. I love to be proven wrong. lol I Love This Cover But I Didn’t Like This Book Isn't it Bromantic by Lyssa Kay Adams. Idk why but I love the fun, colorful, cartoony book covers. Not always, but sometimes I’m just like: “This book is cute, I want it on my shelves”. Good thing I don’t buy things BEFORE reading them lol. I really wanted to like this book! But I guess I should have had a feeling because the first book in this series was really good, I hated the second book and the third book was just okay. So now we’re at the point where I didn’t have high expectations for this book going in and it was just…meh. The girlies didn't give raving reviews either, so I'm still probably gonna read the next book if I'm bored but I wish I could have said I loved this book because of the cover. But I just didn’t. 🤷🏽♀️ I Didn’t Like This Cover But I Loved This BookSeven Days in June by Tia Williams. Mainly because the cover gives off “women’s fiction” vibes and I didn’t know it was a romance until I heard the booktube girlies talking about it. Also, for how beautiful and amazing this story is, I feel like the cover should be 10xs better than what it is. The color blocking on the shirt? Please. I just feel like it looks so bad. Especially because the people on the cover are gorgeous! The book is about single mother Eva Mercy reconnecting with her childhood lover Shane who was writing love letters to her in his books! Like please. They reconnect and fall back in love, it’s about love and healing and trauma. Ugh. So, I’m glad I read this book despite the cover anyway because I love this book so much. Captivated by Tessa Bailey and Eve Dangerfield. This book was so fun and unique but I just don’t like particularly sexy covers. Like, I don’t mind when certain male bodies are on covers, but especially for this as a kinky romcom, the cover also feels like it doesn’t really match the story. This book is about Autumn who contemplates going back to Australia after she breaks up with her boyfriend, instead she gets it on with her sexy landlord and kind of finds her away around the city in sexy and fun ways. But like, I'm not eagerly running out to put this book on my shelves because the cover is kinda cringe. It gives 2012 contemporary and that’s fine! But definitely not the vibe I’m going for on my shelves. lol. The Mindfuck series by S.T. Abby. Okay, so all versions of these covers are just bad. I love the idea of the red, but one of them gives creepy basement horror vibes–not sexy, serial killer baddie vibes. I guess the newer covers fit the story more but if I didn’t know what this book was about I would not pick it up at all. And the lingerie ones are just weird. Both covers look like they were made on a bad editing app and I know that sounds so mean, especially with my audacity and lack of technological skills, but as a book cover? Y’all can do better than this. But yeah, this series was fucking amazing, so fun, loved the mystery, loved the romance. It was just straight vibes. Read more about my thoughts and feelings here. Honorable Mention! Punk 57 by Penelope Douglas. So I originally had this book down under the category: “I Love This Author but Didn’t Like This Book” but then I looked up my GoodReads review and realized that I literally can’t trust myself lol. So I was thinking about why I had this book here and just wanted to talk about my conflicted feelings with bully romances and why this book is a literal contradiction. It was again, a part of my experimentation phase where I wanted to read different romance subgenres. I had heard this was a standalone and I lovedd Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas and it was my first ever book by her so I was like, Punk 57 will be great! And okay, I really connected with some of the messages in this book but I hate bullies. It was a lot darker for me than expected and put me in a bad mental health space afterwards which was weird. This book is also somewhat an epistolary romance and I hate epistolary romances. Like reading about bitches falling in love digitally or over letters? Please. Then why am I reading a book man? So yeah, long rant–I don't like bully romances and found that out after reading this. But I still think I loved what this book had to say. So apparently it’s 4 stars on GoodReads. But we never can trust my thought process anyway. Lol. This category is called: Book I read, loved, will never read again because I realized I hate this trope. 😂 ~~End~
And that’s it! I know it's been awhile, I'm trying to find my new voice on this platform that still makes posting enjoyable for me. I’ve been really getting into book challenges and book tags lately so I’m hoping to bring more of those onto the blog soon. But this was a lot of fun. I think the traditional style of book content containing lists and tbrs and recommendations can get a little redundant so I think this can be a fun way to spice things up for me and for you. So definitely stay tuned and let me know how yall are doing! I’d love to know and follow me on my socials, Goodreads and Instagram. If I can't update here, you’ll definitely hear more about what I'm reading on there. Until Next Time! With love, -Arianna
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AuthorI'm an 21 year old girl who lives in NY. I love to read and write and fashion is my life. Follow me to find out more! Archives
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