[ SECRET POST #6058 + 6059 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #6058 + 6059 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 25 secrets from Secret Submission Post #866.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

04. https://i.imgur.com/qTPOJaD.jpg

[queenslayerbee]

I haven't read her first-hand, although I've had fun reading/watching reviews that trashed her books lol. If I did read them my issue would hardly be about the female protagonists though. All her male characters sound exactly like everything I hate xD

[(Anonymous)]

Any review recs?

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks!

[(Anonymous)]

No offense to anyone who gets their book recs from youtube or tiktok or wherever, you do you, but I genuinely can't understand doing it that way because you're not going to get what's good(or even enjoyable from my experience) you're just going to get what's popular. And sure sometimes those circles intersect but from my experience with books... they often don't.

Maybe it's just me but I've never had a stranger rec me a book and I've ended up liking it, I've always been bored or thought it just sucked, lol. Idk, book recs aren't something I'd listen to for anyone outside of my family and close friends because I feel the enjoyment of them is so subjective, so I'd never take the word of a stranger who may very well just have different quitting/jumping on points than me.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know if people take recommendations from booktubers they just randomly stumbled across. I know for me, I have found one whose tastes align well with mine and the way she talks about the books usually give me a pretty good indication if it's something I'd enjoy as well.

[(Anonymous)]

I do like rec lists (when they're very specific and I still vet the books and don't blindly buy) and I follow some people with similar taste so I "trust" them more, but I've never gotten people simply HAVING to read hyped books. Just. Why.
It's one thing if the hyped book in question sounds like something you'd enjoy, but to just read the book because everyone else is? Is it just cause you want people to talk to? I promise, less popular books also have fans.

[(Anonymous)]

I could never get book recs from *general* booktube (I'm not even touching booktok), but I do follow a couple people who are specifically horror readers, because I know my genre, and I can get an idea of like... oh, A and B both liked X new book, if I see that at my library it sounds worth checking out, that kind of thing. But outside of that bubble I see mostly people who read YA/fantasy/romance (I like fantasy, but I'm NOT taking recs from strangers on it bc yeah, it's very about what's popular, not good)

[(Anonymous)]

I do think there's a HUGE difference between mainstream booktok and booktok that you've curated via your own tastes. Like, I get a few 'new release/popular' booktoks that pop up now and then, but most of what's on my feed is stuff like, working on putting variety into your reading whether it's by seeking out more POC others, disability rep, LGBTQ+ rep, etc.

Also popular doesn't always mean bad. People are so quick to jump to, "Oh well everyone is recommending this, I definitely won't read it because it's gonna suck." which seems like a weird take to me.

[(Anonymous)]

It's been so long since I tried reading her first book but I didn't get any further into the series than that. It was just... embarrassing, tropey self-insert BS, as far as I can recall. I can see why it appeals to some, but it was so cringe I could barely finish.

[(Anonymous)]

As someone currently reading ACOTAR with a friend for amusement, it's straight-up making me miss Twilight.

On the plus side, if I see it in someone's stack of faves, it gives me an instant pass on any of their other recommendations!

[(Anonymous)]

I was drinking water and almost spit at it's straight-up making me miss Twilight. Holy shit, that's bad!

[(Anonymous)]

Listen, at least Bella started off with supportive if awkward family members and made her own reproductive choices.

[(Anonymous)]

Throne of Glass... one of the worst books I've ever read. I wanted a bloodbath, and instead got Barbies and an unlikeable protagonist talking big shit.

[(Anonymous)]

High-powered characters are always a tricky balance between 'the audience vibes with this power fantasy' and 'too flat, no real problems, seems fake'.

(I haven't read this series, so have no opinions on how Maas manages that balance.)

[(Anonymous)]

SA

Wait. I read one of the reviews linked up-thread. Good god...

[(Anonymous)]

I don't understand how anyone could come away from that review without disliking the reviewer as much as the book.

[(Anonymous)]

I can tell you that the main character gets her powers on accident from a group of men, so that's. something.

[(Anonymous)]

The only SJM book I've read was A Court Of Thorns And Roses, and I didn't hate it, but I definitely found it extremely bland. And the protagonist was frustratingly daft and helpless for most of it. Plus that whole riddle thing was dumb AF.

It was dull enough that I haven't gotten around to trying book two yet, even though basically everyone says it's better.

[(Anonymous)]

/God/ that riddle.

Book 2 is only better if you really, REALLY like the "bad boy has a secret heart of gold" trope. If you don't like that trope, you're out of luck.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, I kind of got that vibe based on the end of book 1. I don't love that trope. I don't hate it, but I don't love it either. I will probably enjoy book 2 more on that front, if only because I find Feyre/Tamlin i n c r e d i b l y boring, to the point where there is literally no chance that Feyre and bad-boy dude (forgot his name) won't be at least slightly more interesting to me--even if it's only because at least they have UST on their side.

Still, "I guess I'm rooting for the bad boy, since at least he's marginally less boring than the good guy, plus the protag hasn't fucked him yet so there is a smidge of UST on his side," is not exactly the level of engagement one hopes for from their fun escapist fiction. lol

[(Anonymous)]

I recently went looking for fantasy romance and her stuff made up almost the entire Kindle rec list. It was depressing. The descriptions sound terrible. The reviews are interesting because the praise is typically, “If you haven’t read this you’re [sic] missing out!” But the more critical reviews are from people who are obviously well read. The only person I know who has read them (and who used to hound me to read them) isn’t an avid reader. I can see the appeal and don’t fault anyone for enjoying what they enjoy, but it’s annoying that this is so pervasive in some circles and circumstances. Amazon at least should know better than to recommend them to me lol

[(Anonymous)]

I only ever (tried to) read A Court of Thorns and Roses; I bought it on recommendation by someone in a shared fandom who swore that if I loved Beauty and the Beast, I would love it.

I did not love it. I didn't even finish it. I don't remember much, but I do remember not liking any of the characters, including the protagonist, and not enjoying the writing in general.

And as for the love interest, I expect beastly characters to be ugly and outcasts, not (just) have beastly behavior. I have no patience for "Beauty and the Handsome Arrogant Jerkface."

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think anyone is normal about these books. I don't know how different BookTok is from BookTube, but it seems like every popular BookTuber has a video essay on the awfulness of OCOTAR. One of them accused her followers of "lying" to her for telling her the books were good, and I didn't get the impression that she was using the word "lying" hyperbolically. She really seemed to think her followers told her an objective falsehood to trick her into reading bad books, and didn't consider the simple answer of people having different opinions and tastes.