Week #142 of Reading Like A Maniac

Hi.

I have a feeling I’ve chosen huge books in a messy week, I mean, I know for a fact I could’ve read more than just these two but I had my Portuguese final exams, three expositions in a row for University classes during the same week, my annual birthday pijama party with my Parabatai, while attending my regular University classes and teaching ESL for young kids. It was definetely a demanding week since I’m also writing and trying to find inspiration in my inner teenage girl, while trying to avoid falling into depression cuz lately my family and money issues have taken a turn where if I wasn’t able to read I would waste myself on lasagnas and other junk food of the sorts. So this is like therapy for my lonely little heart. Anyways, here it comes, the two too long books I chose to read.

First was ‘Isabel, la conquista del poder‘ by Martín Maurel, book two in the Isabel trilogy. Its literal translation is “Isabel, the conquest of power”.

Newly crowned Isabel has become the first woman in Castile to have it without her husband in the room, and now she’ll have to face the consequences of a raging King, as little Juana becomes more powerful in Portugal and is willing to do what it takes to get the throne that’s hers by blood. Besides plots and political turns there’s the two faiths against Isabel’s Catholic fervor: Moors and Jewish, one’s loyal and passive willing to see a bright future while the other is agressive and clever ready to attack to defend their rights; soon both will face Isabel for who she is, a pious yet fierce Queen.

I’VE NEVER BEEN SO ANNOYED WITH HISTORICAL CHARACTERS MORE THAN NOW.

The book itself was genius, adorably written that allowed me to know what went on in Europe from people of all backgrounds, the greed of Portugal and Spain, the injustice suffered by the Muslim and Jewish, and how monarchs didn’t give a shit about their people as about their own hypocritical faith, together with the Catholic church, obviously. I mean I could side with many in here, starting with poor little Juana who suffered a lot because of her mother, aunt and uncle, she was the one who wanted nothing then wanted what was rightfully hers until she was what everyone wanted her to be just that it wasn’t enough nor right at the time she became that. This girl had the courage her father lacked and the rightful claim her aunt lacked. I mean, Isabel only wanted the throne, the power, as she with her ludicrous husband said “Castile would be better with murderers but not with the infidel”, that quote made my assumptions true since it proved they didn’t care about the people but about their own fanatism as with their selfish greed, it was such a hypocrite move coming from them: the Queen who changed her mind about what was right according to her faith and what Catholic representative knocked her door that day, and a King who cared only for glory and his own conquests more than anything, stepping above his own daughter’s happiness to meet his ideal future. There’s where I found another victim of their treachery, the Infanta Isabel who was treated poorly by both her parents and found true love in her duty only for it to be shattered by Ferdinand’s selfish murder. Then was the whole Inquisition move that made me want to strip myself of my Spanish last name because Holy Christ! So much intolerance and hatred, unchristian stuff but these people actually believed murder and torture was an excuse to give them infidels to Christ, I was horrified by the treatment to the Jewish community, what’s to come to the Muslims and what even those converted to the “true” faith, it was murder, it was horrible and just unfair. It was just a wish to hurt others and I was left feeling impotent for all those who were damaged by these fanatics. RIP to those poor souls.
😩😩😩😩😦😦😦

The second and last book I was able to read was ‘Broken Throne‘ by Victoria Aveyard, a companion novel from the Red Queen series.

After getting the Republic the Reds needed in the former kingdom of Northa, how can Mare go on after murdering a boy she once loved? How can Cal keep going after the traumatic events that led him to change his heart and mind? How can Evangeline move on from her cold heart and embrace her luck? How those who survived dealt with love? How those who perished went completely lost? Venturing over the past, present, and future, it’s our time to know what’s hiding in this universe and its very own heart.

I THOUGHT THIS WOULD BE FAST PASSED UNTIL I CHECKED THE ACTUAL AMOUNT OF PAGES.

So I only expected little happy short novellas and perhaps a group of official pictures, but hell I got a lot more, like things I didn’t I would actually want like the confirmation this is a fucking dystopian future like for many years I was left wondering if it was really that or another planet or another dimension but damn, even Julian read a bit of Batman right here so great to understand that this could be our ending. In other news, who could imagine that Coriane’s story would be so ethereal and just heart wrenching, her testimony was filled with a different view on love, sometimes it consumes you but not in a giggly stupid way, instead it takes over while you’re going through some depression and adjustment to new changes, as with a bitch who’s making you bi-polar as suicidal. I felt bad for her, I mean I’m pretty sure she would have loved seeing that even though her son was a great warrior he also had the greatest heart. So you can only imagine how thrilled I was when I read his stories with Mare, I was so giggly as a child only caring about their undeniable chemistry and how everyone around them know they’re meant to be, besides knowing they had kids and they named one Shade was the fucking sweetest! However, not everything was happy, obviously I cried during the last Cal and Maven tale, damn seeing how badly Elara screwed up her own son making this naive young child into a madman for her selfish purposes, and how Cal kneeled to his grave was everything I didn’t I would feel depressed at. I mean I loathed Maven abd still do, but he was a victim and once he was a sweet innocent boy whose only loving partner and companion was his good big brother. 😭😭😭😭 #FuckingElara

Music Killed the Lazy Author #2

Hi, I wasn’t actually going to post cuz somehow my selective short-cut memory tricked me into thinking I had written like a little nothing these couple of weeks, which was obvi wrong! My brain loves playing with me, I don’t like it.

I’m writing this as I’m trying to upload whatever I wrote, regularly I did this without forgetting but I mean it has been weeks since I’ve updated my Wattpad account, my profile picture remains the same of a year ago, that’s serious memory loss for me! Also, my keyboard is a little broken, the ESC and ! button are fucked for good thanks to my exasperation and bad ideas while trying to help my little brother do his homework. It’s messy trying to be “exclamative” with no exclamation mark. But whatever, lets talk about my achievements while writing and managing to get an A on my Portuguese V midterm, as juggling it with a job and my regular classes besides an awful cold/throat ache that is resolved to stay for a couple more days still.

Anyways, last week it was all about dealing with the feeling of “I know I’m screwing my daughter up but the pain is too cruel so I’m gonna keep hurting my daughter”, that Lottie’s mother was going through. Her backstory is a complicated one and is one of those real characters that knows she’s being selfish but knows heartache too well to allow her kid to go through that as well, or at least that’s what she keeps telling herself. In truth, Cordelia just wants to never acknowledge her loss, how death hit her heart hard, how she fears she might return to that misserable state of depression so she only keeps pieces of her good memories in her head, never speaking of it. I mean, to the eyes of Lottie, she had to go through some tough shit with her father, so her dad could have been an ass that broke her mom that she just wants to keep him hidden; no matter what, our girl wants to know what the hell happened and what was he like. They are both so different, whereas Cordelia is more composed she can explote and do things she regrets later, she’s willing to cover her actual intentions just so she’ll remain in her little bubble of memory loss, while Lottie is more no-nonsense when it comes to things she has to discuss, our girl can be hurtful and again say things she could regret but that’s cuz she grew up with no filtre when it comes to get what she wants, to get what’s fair in her sight. She is obviously spoiled, even though she won’t admit it, she’ll be faithful to her nature even if it crushes those around her. And we’ll see to that later on future chapters.

However, this week I focused on Lottie’s daddy issues, since even though she grew up without her father, she somehow has that ache to get that comforting paternal figure she once kinda had with her grandfather, but here we see that she never got over that lack of a dad in her childhood. This idea that if her father had been there, she wouldn’t be so reckless nor her mom would be such a newbie at being a mom, and perhaps she would have a regular loving family. Everything would be alright if he had been there for her. I must admit that his concept of the ghost figure being the key to all our problems came from my own life, till now I feel that way about my grandfather. I mean he was that beloved grandpa figure who left us too soon, and thanks to all the issues I had while growing up, mainly my parents’ separation following my dad’s infidelity which gave me this idea that if my grandpa would have lived longer he wouldn’t have allowed my dad to ruin our family and that he would still be with us, therefore I wouldn’t have trust issues and I would be more confident. I wanted to give that ‘childish’ concept to Lottie cuz I knew how it felt, I knew how to write it so I gave it a go to add a new layer to her personality and make her even more complex and shattered. Besides I wanted to acknowledge that just because she never knew her dad, I mean it remained a ghost of perfect “What ifs” for her, because there was no information. Her mom gave her no picture, her sister gave her an idea of this ideal father so that’s what she cherishes to the point of stealing to get a bigger picture on her dad, as getting a bigger yet vulnerable connection to Dillon in the process. Whic was exactly what I intented, the romance part is turning out difficult for me, I don’t know, I don’t want to make it predictable nor cheesy, I just want it to happen and be a thing in the most fluid way.

About music… well, I discovered the beauty of Hayley Kiyoko‘s songs and I’ll apply them to Lottie’s fun side, Crystal’s new found wonder and some of Sam’s new thing with Hennie getting steamy. While I also dealt with NF and tha tragic song named ‘How Could You Leave Us’, that helped a lot with Lottie’s sense of betrayal that goes back to her childhood with an absen minded mother and ghost for a father. And going back to Sam and Hendrick’s hot new sort of friendly agreement into sexual intercourse, aka friends with benefits I found ‘Señorita’ by Shawn Mendez and Camilla Cabello, to be so meant to be, I’m prety sure I’ll love writing more of that ill-fated relationship.

Anyways, that’s it for today. BTW, I’m still trying to copy all chapter two into Wattpad but it refuses to do the fucking trick, wish me luck for the next hour.

Week #141 of Reading Like A Maniac

Greetings from the land of almost depression, I truly don’t know why I always get like that when I’m alone or when the internet slows down, it gives me permission to evaluate and drown in my thoughts and that’s something I always try to avoid I mean that’s what made me depressed that Summer of 2015 and I promised to never go down that path again so… HERE’S what I read this couple of weeks, btw next week comes another update on my journey through writing a simple NA Ya-ish manuscript.

First book I read, I was expecting since I finished the first season of the TVE tv series, ever since I knew there was some written work behind the successful tv show. I’m talking about the first book in the Spanish trilogy of the same name,  ‘Isabel: Todos conocen a la reina, pero ninguo a Isabel‘ (Isabel: Everyone knows the Queen but nobody knows Isabel) by Javier Olivares.

Isabel of Trastamara was raised to be Castile’s Infanta and nothing more, as the only daughter of late King John and half-sister of King Henry, however she lives a fantasy in a happy castle with her mother and younger brother John. Soon after the announcement of the first pregnancy of her sister-in-law Queen Joanna of Portugal after years of trying and rumors of infertiliy, Isabel and little John are forced to leave her home and venture in a Court of lust, secrets, pain, sin and injustice, as they are now pawns in a political game that does not want King Henry’s new coming child on the throne and could cost more than Isabel and John’s childhood.

LONG AF BUT WORTHY.

Somehow I felt there were more pages than the number I was given, it’s not that it wasn’t interesting or breathtaking but sometimes I felt I was not gonna finish the book on time and I was right since it took me more than two weeks but hell it was worthy. Having watched the TV series already, it took me back to that Isabel cherished and loathed at the same time, her stolen childhood and naivety, her determination and stubbornness as her conniving religious obsession and her uptight personality, again I was proud and heartbroken by her choices. And I must say that the fact this book actually shared the right age and appearance of this young princess was such a jewel because that wasn’t transmitted in the TV series because of budged perhaps, but it made so much sense. It even humanized Joanna of Portugal so much more, one prefers to demonize her but she was afraid and felt that these children could take every single little thing she had gained in Castille by just existing, she had no love until she met Pedro and finally understood what having a family meant. And like in the series, I just hated Ferdinand, such a dick, I know these were the middle ages but damn this dude didn’t realize even then that Queens in their own right were different, they weren’t meant to be just lawful stupid wives destined to bare kids and leave it all to their husbands; on that instance I preferred Gonzalo, that man truly admired and would have been a better husband than Ferdinand ever was. Anyways, no need to say I enjoyed the first book and I’m gonna keep reading the other two books in a near future, perhaps each month would be more suitable for my schedule.

The second book I read was eye-opening stand-alone titled ‘Kings, Queens and In-Betweens‘ by Tanya Boteju.

Nima considers herself the most plain of teenagers, she’s not girly yet she does not think of herself as a tomboy, she has a crush on her straight girl friend and has some untouched abandoment issues thanks to her mom’s departure; she’s your regular unmipressive girl next door until the Summer arrives and her heart is shattered by the soft words of rejection, whoever she soon sees herlsef sorrounded by a world of magic, glamour and drag personas where she finally feels she can escape her shell and just live.

WAS I EXPECTING MORE? YEAH. WAS I STILL PLEASED? HELL YEAH.

I must admit I felt drawn to this book because of my whole RuPaul addiction and the fact I’m interested in the wonder of the LGBTQ community, but I ended up bonding with Nima and her insecure not talkative self, I’ve been there feeling like “what do I do next?”, “is everyone thinking I’m the most boring/embarassing person ever?”. So I understood that imminent fear of judgement not only of others but of myself, besides the whole parent drama that I had in my childhood. I was able to bond and cherish a book character that represented this community, I got to see my drag addiction as the *no pun intended* faery godmother helping a young girl in her path of self discovery and to just look at life’s bright side with cheering personas and a bubbly way of being. I became appreciative of Nima’s story, because my darling fellow reviews, this was Her story not other characters that were great and complex like Gordon or her robe loving dad, but weren’t the intended focus of this book and who knows perhaps Tanya will write an spin-off to fulfill their povs with answers but now it’s time to celebrate how entertainingly and magically represented one can feel during Pride Month with this lovely tale.

Final book I read was the first in the NA ‘Briar U’ series by Elle Kennedy, titled ‘The Chase‘.

Summer has been defined by the spoiled and bimbo tags all her life until people get to know her, finding her kind and quirky with a huge love for life and joy; however, the guy she’s currently interested in does not want to be around her and just called her shallow and superficial so what did she do? Got kssed by his friend in New Year’s Eve right before moving to their house as a roomate. Fitzy wants to avoid girls like Summer, no matter how fun and seet she can be, she’s his friend’s sister and his other friend’s new object of love so she’s a big no no. But once their feelings get too close, will they come together or fall apart because of their own wrong idea of the other?

I SHED A TEAR OR TWO.

I was looking for an easy read with some sassy happy ending and that’s exactly what I got, and that’s as I’m just finding out I skipped a book in the previous series, the last one and that this just spoiled its outcome. I guess we cannot have everything in life, right? Anyways, this story was a complex yet fun adventure, I was waiting for insta love meets hot one night stands with generic couples but these guys were complicated! Summer might seem like that rich mean girl that just gets it all but she’s a free spirit, she’s a nice girl with a beautiful joy for life as she deals with her own issues like her learning problems as her own self sabotage when it comes to trusting her own accomplishments, while Fitzy took me a little harder to figure out and had me stressed and annoyed big part of the book until I got that he was an undecided prick he’d involuntaryly forced himself not to be open to others and not get himself in a social super dramatic position, all because of his parents selfishness and that he needed Summer to scape that protective yet damaging bubble. I found myself relating to both cuz I am that voice that tells me I’m not smart enough or pretty enough for everyone, and I’m that almost robotic person with what could look like no feelings because of my parents issues, I got them in a level I never thought I would relate to an NA character, so thank you Elle Kennedy for giving me strenght that things can get better and sometimes we’re good enough and perhaps we can explore our comfort zone, thanks for making me feel not so weird about these quirks. 😊😊 Besides addressing serious problems like harassment in College and feminism, I just fucking loved it! 😘

Music Killed the Lazy Author #1

HI.

So I promised I would start doing this on April… and we’re starting June so hey, I’m so inconsistent when it comes to anything but work and reading, but anyways I’ll give you now what I promised.

I will not say writing was my call when I was a kid, I mean my mom loved to say I read a lot when in reality I just knew how to read but it wasn’t like I had my own books at home and I loved reading because of the joy of doing it so. I grew up with this lie all until I actually was given a book I thought was interesting back in 6th grade of Primary School I think, it was about witches with lots of historical and mysterious facts, as well as gracious pictures that my dad couldn’t or didn’t want to afford at the moment so what did my mother do? Oh, yeah, she was such a criminal printing a copy of the original book so I could read it and get an A… It wasn’t such a big deal back then in 2007, at least not in my country, so I read it because I adored the stories and got an A, and corrected my classmates like an annoying brat about their misconceptions, I must say that as an 11-year old I took revenge on my nemesis correcting her public statement that witches were imprisoned when the book clearly said “burned and hanged” in front of the whole class. Then years 2008 came and I watched Twilight for the very first time after getting drawn by a huge poster in the front ot the cinema, anyways it wasn’t until a year later that I found out it was a book series and bought the books with my allowance one by one for 5 or 6 months, I remember I finished New Moon in two days and was impressed as heck. So I knew I had to write something… Anything at this point, so I chose Green Day’s Jesus of Suburbia’s long ass music video as synopsis for what I wanted to write, I did it in what I know realize must have been a beta version of a website where anyone could upload their stories, and of course I wrote the draft of a little beta version of what could be a short story in Spanish, it had promise but it wasn’t as juicy as a real tale. So I watched the New Divide music video having ew Moon coming soon and I couldn’t help myself but to creat my own Twilight, yeah, ampires and a family of them with a human girl or was it a boy? I seriously cannot remember but the thing was I was stuck with those stories in my head, then I finished school thinking I wanted to do make-up for a living and ended up studying English but not as for English literature but the language, turns out I was pretty good at it and I got more and more into reading… or at least reading synopsis of books in TeenReads, then I got my dad to buy me my first book being City of Ashes, I had already seen the movie and got some spoilers thanks to wikia so I fell in love with it while listening to the TVD playlist of Spotify, you know when there was not such thing as a premium account on Spotify… I fell in love with books and now I’m a nonstop reader who writes her own stories, some of which are small drafts like this sci-fi teen romance I made when I was still not in University. Then I realised I got this ideas and kinda like trailers in my head when I listened to music, and I started to write them down so I woul never forget based on aesthetics and what I wanted to happen, I mean if there was not gonna be any stories like that I was meant to made them.

So that’s what I’m current doing. Writing a manuscript that came to my mind when I was 18 I think, now it has changed a lot, not because of creative growth but mostly  cuz of the computer I had all the inofrmation and inspiring pictures on died and it’s too expensive to transfer all that to my new computer, is a mess so I had the idea and the idea of the characters as their arch but I had forgotten their names as well as their distinctive looks. I almost lost it when I realized that not only ws my Netbook dead with some fashion cuts I had but also most of my synopsis… So last year I started writing this tale that was firstly named “Heartbreakers” which, yeah, was inspired by the Marina and the Diamonds’ song as by most of this YA thing the CW had in the days of the OC and Gossip Girl, it was soap opera-ish with some actual character development, so I felt the urge to write about it and I changed its name to “WRECKING the heartbreaker“. So I’ll tell you a bit of what it is about: “A girl meets a guy and they fall over heels for each other, but there’s the issue that he’s a shameless womanizer and she’s a merciless meneater, both used to get what they want by any seducing available. He’s always being the popular jock with abandonment issues thanks to his mom and she0’s being the It girl without going for it with no real boundaries given by her mom. He’s middle class and she’s a rich girl. Together they are the perfecf mix for disaster, and none is willing to give up on their selfish desires, not even for the other.” And yeah, I know it might sound childish for a 22 year old to be writing YA, but this is such a smooth calssy NA that I was interested on with no shame. I found the story compelling and while I explored the characters and gave each of them a believable arc, I was enchanted by them… To te point to writing them making some bad choices and still finding some motherly love for them. As a plus, I must admit that I give my characters storylines that deep inside me I wanted to be a part of no matter how twisted nor how egotistical it might be, I wanted to be that unintentional popular girl who was just gorgeous with an active sex life that in any world would be consider a slut for sleeping around but for her she was enjoying her secuality without hurting others nor herself, and I found myself creating Liselotte (yeah, I have a thing for Versailles): a girl with some unresolved problems like her mom not giving two shits for her when she was little, living with no rules with all the money in the world but still choosing not be a mean girl, for whom not believeing nor caring for love was a self defense mechanism for some dreams shattered about her first sexual attachment to a guy. I created ‘Lottie’ as this untouchable It girl, who actually loves with all she has and fights for those she cares but with some psycho in her willing to defend her things no matter the violence she could use to get her way nor her manipulative bone when she’s hurt and wants revenge. I got her scenes with songs like ‘Horns’ by Bryce Fox, ‘bad guy’ by Billie Eilish, ‘like that’ by Bea Miller and’ 5 In The Morning’ by Charli XCX.

There’s also Dillon, our main hot guy, our protagonist that first came to mind as Declan Coyle from Degrassi (dreamy!) and ended up looking like Don Benjamin (H-O-T), with no real storyline more than just being her match and being a total dick to her in future stories and on this one too, breaking her heart and shit but I recently turned him into a more human version of that beta model, he still makes irrational choices but has more depth with his own absent mother and his fear for expressing love… He knows how to flirt and be a generous lover but knows nothing of being in a loving relationship with someone he actually cares for. Sometimes I think of him as a lost puppy with anger issues and who just needs someone to be insistent being annoying to him to et him to his senses; his dad loves him but Charlie is not enough to fill the black hole his choices have driven him to, it might seen cool and badass to be a guy like him but it has become a kinda like a manic disorder, he just can’t stop being a dick to girls. Songs like ‘I’m a Mess’ by Bebe Rexha, ‘Living Death’ by Marina and the Diamonds, ‘You Found Me’ by The Fray and ‘Hurt’ by Johnny Cash.

However, I had some problems trying to write the moment where they would eventually fall in love, or at least have the balls to give in into what they were feeling to just kiss without caring the world falling apart around them, I needed that emotion of them connecting and continue conversations without staying like  “I really don’t know this emotions, I liked guys before but never actually interacted in this flirty ay with anyone so… what comes after? how does one carry this connection scenes? how does it happen in real life?” . I mean I found me asking these things to a friend about his relationship and still I was like NO! There has to be a moment where you feel that click of *connection* I mean i can’t believe that feeling just grows gradually and is moe like you get use to the person. It has to be so much more than that, so I wrote it like that: Each of them bessoted with each other while a sort of date out in he middle of an elementary’s playground, I made it happen and I was ok with the outcome.

Also I dealt with inner feelings of other characters, like Crystal, that was the only name I seemed to remember from my lost archives. She’s your typical unexperienced, sweet, smartass girl with nothing better to do than remember the good old times she spent with her former best friend Kenneth. They are estranged to each other but become social when their new friends Dillon and Lotte start spending some dangerous time together. Crystal obviously is too naive to figure out the true issues of everyone around her but is willing to stop stressing herself with more worries and lets hereslef loose to stop Kenneth from trying to boss her around like he did before. So I’m dealing with this type of archaic character as the 22 year old I am who’s no longer that girl, so it’s hard making her a good natured girl without making her a cliché, so here’s my attepmpt to humanize her by giving her a love for fashion she’ll never will dare to use beside she can’t really afford those clothes. So besides beign mature but still a kid with a crush, she’s good at style and dashion when it comes to help other people. This way she’s the complete opposite of otte in some ways, she will never be bold enough until she’s got her mango+vodka drink, can become bossy and unexpected but remains true to herself by trusting others and finally seeing the good in herself instead of only glorifying others.

I also ventured to write my first sort of explicit sex scene, that0s when I knew it was a classy NA,  no longer YA. I did it on a nightclub, sort of like that first scene in the Michelle espisode of Skins US, just that more descriptive and focused on them two instead of the noise of the club itself merging with the couple. It was embarassing and I totally forgot to put a condom on them, I edited that part later; it was messy but I had no need to mention penies nor vaginas, not even boobs so yeah, it was classier than most NA’s, there was no excesive talking between them but just two people enjoying sex against a wall in a club near their friends. I had this idea and it took an spontaneous twist when I typed it with my phone, yeah I write with that before going to class and once I arrive home to save time.

So that was road till now, I’ll keep you aware of my progress and I’ll keep reading just that this last book has been too long, longer than I expected but so worthy!!!

Week #140 of Reading Like A Maniac

Good morning, y’all.

So this week has been indeed exhausting as college student willing to do some business, but at least I’m getting paid (normal half University classes, partime job as an ESL teacher, partime Portuguese student, advisor of “tesina [baby thesis]”); as I’m awfully annoyed by the spoilers on Reddit about #GoT’s finale which as I never expected will be dessapointing. Anyways, I had time to read ONLY two books, which is quite an embarrasment for me as a reviewer and a fangirl, and I can only hope that with the upcoming freedom I’ll have on my Sundays after the TV series end, I’ll have more time to spend reading like the maniac I am.

First book I read was The Savior by J.R. Ward, book number 17 in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series.

Murhder’s insanity was not as simple as everyone thought, it has a sad act of selfness as a blackbone. He never meant to betray his Brothers nor his King, however they were so ready to turn their backs on him, but now he’s in need of all their help to fullfill his purpose: To save those innocents, he couldn’t save in the past. But there was one thing he never expected to find in the process of extraction: a female, a human female that makes him want his sanity again.

I WAS NOT PARTICULARLY INTERESTED IN THIS BOOK.

Soooo. I actually never really cares about Muhrder, I didn’t actually remember his name, I mean he was Xhex’s ex lover for all I knew. He was mad so I couldn’t care less but the moment he explained why he got like that, all the sacrifices he made to protect those he cared for and the he met Dr. Sarah who’s another little sweetheart like him and goes through all that shit, I mean it was pretty sickening that no brother of the Brotherhood was not willing to help this couple until the truth was unveiled, not even when they saved John. That’s what annoyed the heck out of me, I mean that was just plain mean for my new ship. They’re both weirdos and I love them, we must protect this slowly building family of three from that bible darkness wondering as a Contrary to the Scribe Virgin. We need to kill that thing.

The second and last book I read (which took me a long time for a change to read) was A Mad Zombie Party by Gena Showalter, the last book in the White Rabbit Chronicles.

Frosty is dead alive, after Kat’s painful passing he has been on a rampage of self-loathing and sleeping around with everything that, at least for a night, looks like his girlfriend. So when she appears breaking up with him and trying to help him move on, he just won’t take it. Specially if it comes with a dissatrous plus: Milla, the traitor, one of the bastards responsible for Kat’s dead, now ready to protect Frosty at all costs for some hope of redemption.

OF COURSE I WANT A SPIN-OFF, HOW DARE YOU LEAVING ME LIKE THIS, GENA?!

I wasn’t expecting much that the same cliche story over and over again of the unexpected pair finding love in eah other… I mean I didn’t even remember Milla well I just knew Frosty and Kat were fun together and now they’re having this last book so I wasn’t sure. Then I dive thinking about how amazing their backstories are and how well they complemented each other and I knew there was gonna be angst but I want it! There were moments I wanted to be like Milla cuz girl could keep her face straight despite all the funny shit that came out of her and Frosty’s mind but damn she didn’t value herself enough until the man did it himself and she thought herself as worthy only because of it, cuz she was “worthy of him”, of being loved which was not quite feminist for my taste 🤔🤔😐 but I let it go since we have a ten years time jump with the gang’s kids and a possible romance between Kat and Milla’s brother whose name I literally cannot recall! So Gena… It’s been 2 years… Girl, give us a spin-off, please! 🙏🙏🙏

Week #139 of Reading Like A Maniac

Hi, ya’ll.

We’re about 7h to watch a new #GoT episode, and I’m trusting no bitch in Reddit since I refuse to acknowledge those so called spoilers as the real deal, no freaking way. Anyways, this week I managed to read 4 books that weren’t really on my monthly TBR list, I wanted to read 5 but I guess time wasn’t working on my favour, as I was in midterm exams and next week I’ll be shifting from a regular University class to my extracurriculars on Portuguese, I still don’t really know how I’m gonna make it but I’ll figure it out. Wish me luck!

First I read Avenged by Amy Tintera, book #2 in the Ruined trilogy.

Em just wants peace, to be reunited with her love and build her kingdom from scratch: a new beginning for her people. And Cas is trying to pick up the pieces of his life and what’s left of his realm. But things will not be as easy as they wished, there will be blood, betrayals, heartbreak and death, because Olivia wants her revenge and nothing more than a gory war to bring her enemies’ destruction and her rage’s fulfillment.

DAMN, OLIVIA’S CRAZY AF.

So yeah… great followup, I was intrigued and shocked, as well as amazed by the creativity here and how our darling Em dealt with everything despite being bested and having no powers more than her will to fight and love, she’s a true heroine. While on the other side there’s crazy Olivia who gave me the chills and some gratification by killing almost every fucking member of the Oslo royal family, I mean that’s a bitch you do not mess with but once she reached the point of questioning her sister’s right to rule by trapping her, there the crazy bitch lost me for fucking good. I mean she’s unreasonable and just plain heartless, she has no morals nor a single redeeming quality, she’s just like a child trying to get what she wants in a temper tantrum 😠😡. In other news, I ship Iria and Arren so fucking bad 😍, and can we please kill Jovita already? I need her smirky head on a silver platter. 😏 That traitorous idiot is just so irritating, I can’t handle any scene she’s in so props to Amy Tintera for accomplishing our hatred for her.
PS: I’m still shipping the hell out of Em and Cas, non stop. Their love gives me life and increments my youth. 😁😘

Then I read its inmediate follow-up, named Allied.

Now there’s no way of stopping Olivia’s wrath, she kills and tortures with the blink of an eye wreacking havoc in Lera after destroying another royal family. She doesn’t trust Em, and will do anything in her power to stop her big sister from getting back with Cas, even if it means ending her for good. Em knows she’ll have to stop running, and start acting on what she doesn’t even want to discuss: her little sister’s fall.

I WANT TO SAY THAT AMY TINTERA IS AN ACTUAL YA FANTASY GODDESS.

I mean I knew there was obviously going to be a happy ending, I mean it’s Amy after all, but I had no idea about how we could fix all this mess as solving the Olivia thing because my first thought was murder but then Em refused and she actually gave some true reason why she couldn’t do it which made me reevaluate myself 😓 as to where have my boundaries gone after many tv series have affected my sense of reality, and then Cas was thinking the same thing which gave my headaches but I guess it was for the best 😢. In other news, my darling Iria suffered like hell and I was cursing Arren for not coming for her earlier, I mean I can only imagine how traumatic it must be to see your foot cut like that without a warning, she went through enough but she kept fighting in the battle and did what nobody dared to save her love in a desperate human move. Which made me not question myself that much 😳, cuz death sometimes is necessary when there’s no other way out. Btw, I just realized that the Ruined people will eventually become extinct and create a half blood breed that’ll be the most badass humans ever living in Lera, that example shall be Em and Cas’ future royal kids. 😍

Third I read was The Calling by Kelley Armstrong, from the Darkness Rising trilogy.

Maya knows the forest fire was not an accident, she knows Rafe lied and she knows her whole life has been a lie. Now she knows, and she’ll have to endure even more pain to try stop the St. Clouds enterprise from ruining what’s left of her for good. All with the help of her friends, who may be as ‘different’ as she never thought she could be.

SO IT’S BEEN A LONG LONG TIME SINCE I READ THE FIRST ONE…

My alliances have shifted obviously, I’m no longer that little 18 year old who wanted the Maya to end up eloping with Rafe and forget all his lies, I have grown and sincerely want her to just find out what’s going on, stops being so trusting in strangers and everyone in general, besides she has to stand by her bff not this guy she just met and felt an obvious attraction to as the naive sheltered teenager she’s been for her entire life. Maya needs to grow and begin acting on her animalistic impulses when her life and the one of those she values is in the middle. And I just want her to find my adorkable runaways👏😻 from the previous trilogy so they can share their gained wisdom with her. In other news, Sam is a badass and totally ships Maya with Daniel 😸; also Nicole is fucking nuts 😲 and I want to find out if that’s just her personality or it has to do with her alleged supernatural persona. I’m curious AF. 🤔🤔

Lastly I read the final installment in the previous trilogy, named The Rising.

Life on the run is not what Maya and what’s left of her friends initially had in mind, looking for spies and trying to find the subjects of the fallen project Genesis. She’ll have to face former traitors and the fact that her happy ending might not be freedom, that her regular life is all she could ever dream of even if it means a life full of secrets and lies.

IF I RECALL CORRECTLY I STARTED READING THIS WHEN I WAS 17-18, NOW I GOT MY CLOSURE.

My perception of the story and characters changed dramatically, I mean when I found out about the final love interest of Maya by accident I was like, I’m fine not reading the next ones I’m not even going to look for the following books cuz my ship was definitely not taken into account and I’m not happy about it. Then I was like ok, I can now deal with the idea of this person taking over Rafe’s place and started reading like nobody’s gonna dare to try to stop me from finishing both sequels no matter how soft they are compared to other urban fantasy YA books. And I noticed a pattern when it comes to the ships for Kelley, she never makes the endgame OTP the obvious call until the very end, I mean not even the main character knows about her feelings till the end and I learned to live with that. Anyways, let’s try talking about how these can trust in others almost too much, they are definitely more vulnerable than Chloe and her crew. I mean Maya chooses words and I guess that’s a smart move but when you’re trapped in the town from The Giver one just doesn’t give up fighting. I hope Kelley actually makes a followup where the kids are not kids anymore and finally scape to live regular lives while dealing with their supernatural aspects, I’m expecting an actual reckoning, a true rising of these kids.

Week #138 or Reading Like A Maniac

Hi, y’all.

Happy Easter, I guess. No chocolate eggs for this university student, just my little cousin’s obssesion with watching videogames’ reactions on YouTube and Roblox, it’s particularly annoying but IDK, I’m ok with that for now while listening to ‘Thank U Next’/’bad guy’ looking for some peace to write this entry… And he just kicked my smartphone with his nasty bare feet, yeah, we’re literally sharing the same couch in my Grandmother’s living room and I’m using his brother’s laptop, It might not be the most comfortable nor lawful way to post this but whatever. Anyways, I managed to only read 4 books this week, (I could have finished 5 but I should’ve star the damn book earlier) which are not from the same theme or author whatsoever.

First book I read was the emotional ride that’s named What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton.

Cassidy ‘Sid’ Murphy was your regular girl. She was nice and friendly, she was a sensible daughter to her single mom, she was a comforting shoulder to her two best friends, she was an alright student and a great cheerleader. She was never truly confident but she was fine, except things changed since the skii trip; she became a shadow of her former self. She can’t remember what happened that night but it doesn’t leave her alone with a pending secret, that night has left her allienated from everything she loved and she’ll have to figure out what to do with herself next.

THE BOOK GAVE ME WHAT I WAS SO DESPERATE TO PUSH OUT OF ME.

In a rape story, she. we deal with the aftermath, we always pity the victim, we think she’ll never be OK and just hope for the best, for her to stop remembering the horrific experience… I guess that’s what made this book different, that we saw and truly felt Sid trying to runaway from what happened no matter how much it hurt her as we saw her trying to hope for a good future in Liam’s laughter filled with innocence and in Corey just being there for her telling her how special she truly is. We felt her driving herself crazy and in. path of self destruction, we suffered the explosion of hurt and tears when she saw the newspaper and just couldn’t contain herself anymore, she needed to cry and remember and scream once and for all but she wasn’t alone, her family was there to hug her and let her believe in that hope. 😢All I can say is that it as beautiful how I felt so connected to her that while writing this I’m still crying nonstop as I listen to ‘Sleeping At Last’.
Now let’s go back to my fangirl not serious self for a while, Corey was the sweetest guy ever, the kindest and the best love interest I read in three years. This was a definite golden boy who deserves the world and my darling Sid deserves a life of hope and glee with him forever. 😍😢😍💓

Next I read the stand-alone that totally should be a dulogy, trilogy or a fucking series, known as To Kill A Kingdom by Alexandra Christo.

Princess Lira has dedicated her young life to take princes’ hearts to earn her spot as a succesor to her devilish mother, she hasn’t care about their backstory nor about their loved ones but about the young hearts she’s extracting in cold blood. Mermaids were not meant to be friendly sweet creatures but deadly killing machines to any human daring enough to sail and venture in their oceans. But things change when she saves a prince instead of killing him, now her mother will punish her with the worst pain possible and send her after the heart she missed inside Prince Elian’s valiant chest.

THIS IS ‘THE LITTLE MERMAID’ WE ACTUALLY DESERVED.

I must admit that I was reaching half the book and I wasn’t convinced on keep reading it, it was too slow and there was a void feeling of dread I hadn’t read about in a long long time so I can admit I was about to give up when shit started getting real entertaining with its badassery plus some realism that our main character was not just immediately good at everything not even at walking nor at fighting which was a joy cuz Lira was not your typical heroine, she was broken and heartless to a point which is why seeing her evolve in her humanity was just gorgeous and actually thrilling. Then I fell in love with the world building and I just needed to finish the damn story. I mean it’s obviously a retelling of “The Little Mermaid”, but a dark one, a smart one and one women (little, young or old) could feel proud of feel represented by because here the princess mermaid isn’t a fool ready to lose her pretty lifw under the sea for a soulless little bitch she calls her true love. Here she’s in charge of her decisions when her mother turns her into a human, she chooses to mistrust people around her and then faces the reality she’s not evil or plain cruel but willing to make a change for he benefit of her people.👏👏🐟🐠🐡🐚 And the Prince was a definite turn on cuz he’s actually fucking worthy. 😘😏😏

Third I read Ruined by Amy Tintera, first book on the trilogy of the same name.

Princess Emelina has been on the run, ever since her mother was killed and her sister was kidnapped, the magical land of Ruina has been shattered and burned down by the kingdom of Lera. She never developed a power but she’s not human like her enemies, she has the wit and brain to make a plan that’s give her the revenge she craves and freedom for her people, waiting for her sister’s coronation as little Olivia is the one who carried the powers of the two so she should reign instead of a useless runaway princess. But Emelina never counted on slowly learning to appreciate the son of the king who destroyed her peace, specially since she’s pretending to be his betrothed to get some answers and release some havoc.

DAMN, I’M BACK AT IN MY FANGIRL MODE. 😍

I have to admit that when I first started reading this I was not sure if it was gonna be epic, after reading a couple bad reviews I was expecting a cliché story so I was down to get entertained but not in a quality level; can you imagine my shock when I read it all and began fangirling nonstop? Yeah, it happened. I’m craving for this ship to solve the issues of the world, end their own power hungry tortuous families and just be together to create a better world. Now I know that I shall always trust any new Amy Tintera content. But talking a bit of spoilers, damn I’m seriously afraid of Olivia, I mean I grew to hate Fabianna and the fucking annoyingly named political cousin because they we’re unapologetic and such bitchy traitors to their newly installed King, but with Olivia I mean she’s nuts and psycho before she was sent to be experimented on, I mean the girl beheaded people as a normal heir presumptive duty for her cruel mother and now she’s actually angry and super wild so yeah, life sucks for my ship till now.
PS: I so want for Em to get a strong as fuck power of she literally taking over her throne to end her psycho sister and get together with lovey Cas. That would be just perfect. 😘

The last book I read was a light stand-alone titled Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood by Eileen Cook.

It’s senior year and Helen couldn’t be happier for the greatest oportunity that has open to her: she’s ready to get back at her former bff Lauren Woods. After all, Lauren was the reason she had to move to New York on her freshman year, she betrayed her, used her to gain popularity, lied to alienate her, destroyed her confidence to make herself feel like she was the best… until she did. That’s why now, Helen is coming back with few pounds less, a new nose and some pretty awesome plans to take over her tormentous school and ready to ruin Lauren Wood for good, like an Avenger empowered by karma itself.

IT WAS A DECENT BOOK. ONLY FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES.

It was cool, a nice concept though I don’t know why I thought it would involve murdering Lauren Wood, maybe I’m just reading too much mystery novels but I liked its honesty because some people just won’t learn their lessons by karma, they just will keep making mistakes against others to make them feel special. But it’s always up to us to drive away from those peeps and just live for ourselves. I mean talking about the plot, its main message was to move on and focus on ourselves though our main character seem to not get it but thanks to karma itself and some guilt, she finally came to her senses. It was nicely written even though it was no masterpiece, only for entertainment purposes and not get bored during Easter. 😊

Week #137 of Reading Like A Maniac

Hi, ya’ll. So I know I promised more than just an update on my reading progress but I literally had no time, I got myself some extracurricular and more dissapointment since I still will be missing two courses this cycle at University, it sucks but I’m kinda getting over it, I guess. Anyways, I’ve also been writing more of my book in Spanish, it’s looking good till now but I wish I had more time to at least move on from the first part of chapter two, FYI my chapters are long as F, I’m already 70 something pages in so wish me luck. BTW, in a week #GoT returns to our lives so I’ll be happily retwitting many fan comments on the show’s premiere and of course, on my darling OTP “Jonerys”. Anyways, I managed to read 16 books this week and I’m fucking proud, seven of which were graphic novels but still.

First book I read was an anthology stand-alone that gave me the creeps, I’m talking about Slasher Girls & Monster Boys by April Genevieve Tucholke, Stefan Bachmann, Leigh Bardugo, Kendare Blake, A.G. Howard, Jay Kristoff, Marie Lu, Jonathan Maberry, Danielle Paige, Carrie Ryan, Nova Ren Suma, McCormick Templeman, Cat Winters and Megan Shepherd.

In an anthology series that’ll make you tremble trying to remember the good old days of AHS and classic horror, twisted rabbits and ghostly creatures will hunt you, creepy old men and unbelivable surgical moves will tame you, fights against death itself and covered accidents will scar you… for good.

TALK ABOUT FRIGHTENING TALES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WITCHING HOUR.

I actually wasn’t expecting much from this collection of stories, I got into because of some authors I truly admire but now nothing really got me scared. I read the first take and was intrigued by the bird girl, such a magnificent character but still it wasn’t scary at all. Then I hit the Carrie Ryan story and I knew fear had just started shaking in my head and shivering skin. The whole rabbit creature had me only imagining its shape and its humongous ears, how awfully creepy and just disturbing it would be to find that, knowing my reaction would be so different than its main character’s: “Oh hell no, in outa’ here!”. I still get a little cold by just thinking about that creature. Next was April Genevieve tale of those kids that no matter what wouldn’t get away with what they’ve done, no matter how little or big their involvement with the murder of that ethereal girl really was. They all got what they deserved, it was one of the stories that let me angsty but with a sense of relief that at least justice was served. Other story worth mentioning would be Marie Lu’s and her Girl Without a Face, which was just another tale of ghostly or psychological revenge, i guess we’ll never know for sure.
All of them were good, non of them as perfect as the ones I just mentioned but I could find that many of them let me not only scared for the rest of my night at literally 3:20am but with the idea this had such female empowering, these ones weren’t all damsels in distress and if there were each one of them had their counterpart no matter how rude or just or badass they were. This ghosts, mean girls, protagonists were someone nobody would ever wish to mess with.

Next I read the dreadful Dangerous Boys by Abigail Haas.

Chloe only managed to save one Reznick boy from the fire in the cabin, but everyone knows there were two brothers inside. So who did she save? Her loving overprotective boyfriend or his dangerous warm brother? In a thrilling story of desperation, lust and violence, a fragile mind tired of life will succumb to the darkest desires the human body can crave.

NOTHING CAN OVERCOME ‘DANGEROUS GIRLS’, BUT THIS WAS PRETTY CLOSE.

Now that I’ve processed this book, it should have been named Dangerous Boy or Dangerous Girl and Boys but whatever. This one made me feel attached to the protagonist in a deeper level, I mean we had the same daddy issues with our family and our education and sort of moms that kept us apart from our dreams, and that darkness that somehow keeps glowing but I keep Chloe and I apart with the hunting animals thing, ok sometimes I want to hurt people bad like crazy bad but I never involve animals in my insanity so yeah, we’re not so equal anymore. Anyways, I felt this story was about how someone can just show you a world inside of yourself that you never knew was available, he showed her that dark part that was kept buried beneath layers of fake goodness and ideals of normality. She had so much hatred, tiredness, broken dreams and felt so trapped, she had to unleash that darkness without putting anyone but herself first. It all started with a fling and ended up with Chloe plotting her next murder, which I applaud (the choice: her awful unapologetic disgusting father). Leaving that aside, I just realised the title was okay because Ethan was also dangerous, he was to attached (almost obsessed) to Chloe, or the idea he had of His perfect girl to the point of letting her get away with murder as well as also attempting to murder his own brother. It was one of those shocking books that made you sick with those justice deliverers named cops protecting each other’s asses but never the ones who truly needed justice, it made us go down the spiral without our humanity in Chloe’s head with no remorse, no emotions, no childhood feeling but freedom, too much freedom. 😈

Third I read Providence by Caroline Kepnes.

Chloe and Jon were the best of friends, despite him being weird and she letting her “friends” torment him, they know they are meant to be… until one day when he’s kidnapped and she relies on the easiest path forgetting about him. Now he’s back, but he’s different and she’s no different from what she used to be with him; but he’s not just stronger, he’s dangerous and a tread to anyone around him so out of his affection for her he runs away once more while she never gives up on what is meant to be.

I FEEL EMOTIONALLY ATTACKED BY CAROLINE KEPNES.

The first 100 pages had me on-board, I was into the angsty love story, then it gave me the first blow, it Cecilia Ahern-ed me with the lovers’ heartache over the years, over their first individual times (kisses and sex), how they tried, how Jon was so desperately hurt and couldn’t live with himself, how Chloe regrets her past choices and lives with them now in phantom agony. It did had that effect filled with tears and just fucking agnst, it was torture and then when they finally are able to be together I cried again, I was oh finally we’re gonna have a happy ending but NO! Caroline didn’t Cecilia Ahern-ed me, she did me worst with them being apart from each other again. 💔😭 There were moments I got incredibly bored but whatever, but if I had to appreciate something would be the connection of these two star-crossed lovers and the whole thing that Jon had that made him dangerous. Props to that.

Then I read the murderous anthology stand-alone known as Mujeres Asesinas (Lady Killers) by Marissa Grinstein, first book in the series of the same name.

They say women are the weak sex, women are incapable of violence, women are too dumb to plan attacks, women are true to the loving nature. But sometimes… women can kill. Kill a dying husband, kill an anoying lover, kill another women, kill their own innocent children, kill friends. All for money, pain, hatred or just because; in this anthology representing some lady killers of Argentina, you’ll discover how sometimes women can be more cold blooded than men think.

MURDER, ALL I SEE IS BRUTAL MURDER.

Yeah, except for that poor old lady giving her husband some rest to end his cancer without pain. That was kinda premeditated but fair, she didn’t do it out of hate but put of care😢 Anyways, it was a great sometimes gruesome compilation of real Female Killers, some killed in cold blood that just terrified me, others out of insanity that scared me even more because of how twisted those people were and others relied in arsenic way too much, I’m actually really surprised how come forensics would fail at giving the right cause of death, I’m no expert but I think there has to be a big difference between cancer or a heart attack and death by poison. 😒😒

Fifth book I read was Final Girls by Riley Sager.

Years ago, three girls were the only survivors of different massacres, they all tried to move on. Lisa tried to help other girls in her place, she accepted she was a Final Girl and advocate to stop this things from happening again. Sam dissapear in thin air, she chose to erase herself from the radar of annoying journalists and the pain of the torture she went through. And Quincy is still living of xanax prescriptions, her addiction to wine and her baking blog with her supportive boyfriend, she wanted to dissapear but Lisa insisted on keeping in touch while Sam never even contacted her. All she wanted was peace, after all she doesn’t remember a thing of when the murders started all until a cop shot the insane killer; investigators always believed she was hiding something but that’s all she knows, right? While she tries to remember, Sam appears on her door and Lisa appears to have killed herself. Nothing can go back to normal, not when you stopped being normal years ago.

NOW I SEE IT WAS OBVIOUSLY WRITTEN BY A MAN.

As far as the plot, it was good I was into it from the first two chapters, I was curious though right in the moment I had read someone comparing it to Gone Girl, I was like “It’s obvious this girl remembers it all and she killed her friends”, but i had to guess again. All until Sam was said she killed before, then I was like “She’s psycho, somehow the bitch did it!”, but no I guessed wrong cuz I surely was not expecting to be that person. I mean I had a little ridiculous theory of this been a complot between this person and Joe being his brother and I was only three chapters in so I had no idea of anything, I was only theorizing but it never came back. Until that bullet came, I was thinking fake Sam did it, and now I feel bad for poor Joe. He was a bit off but he was kind and nice to Quincy, way better than her so-called friends, they could have been endgame! 😭😭😭
Now I’ll explain my head capital letter statement: I felt that the author wasn’t venturing inside the female mind, male characters were given ridiculous male hating archs, so it was so desperately trying to be female friendly making them all actual victims, that fall for the first nice guy being part of their little harem of encounters. Besides, it kinda portrayed Quincy as too guilt ridden, she was like a shell, that could be PTSD but she was so vague. Other thing that annoyed me was how convenient everything was for hee in the end, she wasn’t guilty of murdering her friends but she hit the coma out of that hobbo, she has anger management issues, hee mother is an uncaring bitch and now she’s a good Final Girl? It was too cool to be real, I needed less convenience and more realism, no matter how difficult and unhappy it would be. She was sheltered instead of actually surviving in her own two feet, she was helped. So… Yeah. 😒😒

After that I read the quirky story known as Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke.

Wink has always being weird with her huge amount of sibblings and the fact her mom reads cards for a living in her farm, she truly doesn’t care what people say, it never affects her but she does affect others… like Poppy. Poppy doesn’t like Wink, she rules with her breathtaking beauty and evil ways, she’s a bully and is proud of it but she wants more, she wants what she cannot have… unlike Midnight. Midnight is her current boy toy, a simple guy with mommy issues and a soft spot for both girls and a weak disposition for everything else. In out story, one is a villain, other a hero and all there’s left is harmful secret.

I’M STILL MILDLY CONFUSED AF.

So nobody can deny it had beautiful writing with an almost ethereal and poetic distinction to it, with its mysterious somehow appealing main characters and a universe where human rules don’t seem to truly apply, with a surprising revelation almost getting to its end, however there was some unfinished business to me in the end… like she died or didn’t? I need some normal answer, please 😓 (I don’t know if maybe I’m too dumb to understand this but whatever). It wasn’t the most amazing book with the greatest plot and unnerving mystery i was looking for but I won’t deny its delicate graciousness.

Seventh book I read was Two Can Keep A Secret by the talented Karen M. McManus.

Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus Random House Children’s Books

Ellery has always been a different kind of girl. With an only friend outside her twin brother, with a drunken irresponsible mother, with a fascination of murder mysteries. So when she and her twin are made to live with their grandmother, she sets a plan to discover what truly happened to her aunt years ago, all they known was she dissapeared and another girl (a prom queen) was found dead years later. Both were beautiful and were unsolved mysteries. She’s just curious but becomes too noisy when another girl (a contender for prom queen) dissapears as threats start appearing at school, all against the next prom queen who dares to be crowned.

I’M A FIRM BELIEVER THAT WHEN SOMETHING SHOCKS YOU, ONE MUST ADMIT IT: I WAS SHOOKED!.

You know what I truly enjoyed about this book the most was the fact I literally never guessed who could have been the murderer during those pages, I was totally not expecting it to be that character nor the reasons neither the fucked up backstor, not even the twisted truth behind and supporting these crimes. I was like getting everything wrong being so like Elery, I’m her trying to solve this book mysteries thinking I have it all figure out with my brainstorming look for suspects when I had no idea of fucking anything. I mean I even made up a theory of Sadie being the killer all along, because that’s what happens when I think of twins being involved in a murder: one must have killed the other and is now taking her name and who knows perhaps her children… but I was wrong so, whatever. Props the author for always surprising me and giving me exactly what I want with this twisting plot! Such a refreshing breath of life into this genre mixed with YA. 👏👏👏

Later I read Loved by P.C. and Kristin Cast, the first book in the House of Night Other World brand new series.

Zoey Redbird is ruling as the new High Priestess along with her sworn warrior and lover Stark, in peace but away from her friends with equal responsabilities, but at least she’s at peace shapping the future of vampyres in North America. All seems good until Kalona makes her wonder is Neferet is truly imprisoned and she’s not planning to destroy her prison, so the other Nerds come home to try stopping something awful to cover the face of the Earth when something goes terribly wrong… Something worst than the return of Neferet.

IF FATE DIDN’T KILL THAT HATEFUL WOMAN, I WAS VOLUNTEERING.

Ok, so let’s keep this straight: I’ve read all the ‘House of Night’ books and I was never a hardcore fan, it was mostly cuz all of the drama and their unrealistic lovable characters besides I always had some feud with Zoey Redbird, I just couldn’t stand her existence and dating life but whatever, people grow I guess. So I actually ventured here with the wrong idea that I was gonna read stories about some Afterlife for all the adult characters who died in the original series, I mean the name Otherworld gave me that vibe, however, I found myself enjoying what I’ve been given which was pretty entertaining and actually fucking creative with all the alternative dimensions going on, and still I have my complains because the first thing I thought when I saw “Kalona’s” white wings was this is not him, he seems to awkward and he wouldn’t be so ok with warning Zoey about fucking Neferet so yeah, this is definitely the godforsaken white bull; but nobody even questioned this until half of the book I think, so yeah I was upset by their ridiculous confidence and lack of intelligence for connecting obvious dots. 😑😑 Anyways, I enjoyed it and I can’t believe I’m actually pining for Zoey and Aphrodite now, I mean I was partying when the last one’s mother ODed, it was glorious I mean the bitxh was gonna become the next Trump, she needed to be stopped. 😒😐

Ninth book I read was the previous’ sequel named Lost.

Kevin has returned to his fateful land to remove Neferet from power and stop the spread of a plague of red vampyres, but getting the help he needs to destroy the High Priestess will end up being harder than he initially believed when even the Rebels refuse to believe his twisted tales of other dimesions. While Zoey keeps thinking her Other brother might be in danger as she tries to cover her real interest: Heath and the fact he’s alive there, risking all her sanity and love with Stark.

WOW THIS ACTUALLY TURNED OUT TO BE REALLY CREATIVE.

The world building was ‘awesomesauce’! I actually can’t believe I quoted that, but I just did and I don’t regret it; it is after all part of the folk talk in the HoN universe. And wow, the whole other world thing blew me away, I mean I must admit that when I read the synopsis for this book I was already so ready to crucify Zoey for screwing her relationships once again, for still hanging on Heath and his sorry ass again therefore breaking Stark’s heart without mercy; but then I read the whole book and I now I offer my apologies to this mature young woman who’s not jeopardizing her relationship like in the past because of a dead ex. In other news, what the hell do you mean Aphrodite actually died in this other world?! My sweet bitch! WTF! It hurt but at least she and Kev had their time together, they loved each other and he gave her some confidence she never thought she needed besides I need to know if he’s ever gonna find love again perhaps with Erin, I mean the girl’s alive in the other world and if I haven’t forgotten this she wasn’t in any serious relationship so that could work, idk I just love to theorize. 😓😏😓😏😏

Next I read the first seven volumes of Deadly Class, the most badasss graphic novel I’ve ever read, by Rick Remender.

Marcus’ life stopped when that fucking jumper fell on his parents, after that event his chances were dimished and now (in 1988) he’s living on the streets barely surviving each night, with nobody but himself to protect and avoid thinking the crimes he’s searched for by the police. All until he’s rescued by a group of dangerous yet enigmatic assassins who now want him to join an elite school to become one of them, but in Kings Dominion School for the Deadly Arts, he’ll run more danger than everywhere else. Sorrounded by murderous teenagers and savage teachers, he’ll have to become a Rat and survive.

1. Reagan YouthPRETTY COOL AND EXCITING.

    

   It was definitely worthy, the plot mixed with great graphics and kickass impossible fight sequences was a joy to read and watch. And if I had a complaint would be how easily Marcus got convinced into staying with these deadly assassins, I mean first he was like hell no dude I’m not that crazy but then after a (literally) couple of phrases from Says he’s definitely on it. It was too quick, I wanted development but I guess it’s OK if we got to see that last picture of the academy in all its splendour. 👊👊

   

2. Kids of the Black HoleDEFINITELY TOUGHER AND WAY MORE COMPLEX THAT THE FIRST ONE.

   This time the plot was more than Marcus’s pov which made me incredibly happy, we got to see a heartless side of Saya totally not giving a fuck about her alleged best friend, surprisingly not about her assassin ways of combat, while we also saw a heartfelt side of Maria that just took over my emotions, she grew incredibly attached to someone she thought was gonna give her all the love she still believes as real when she was paid with betrayal and her heart hard as a rock to avoid thinking good of others and start insanely killing everyone of her target with a passion I actually loved seeing in the graphics. As we got to know the lunatic family of rednecks with a tie to Marcus’s past, those people were fucked up I mean they had foetuses in jars, dogs and a human naked in cages on their basement and a sheep or goat on their living room. So fucking creepy! 😨

   

3. The Snake PitDAMN, EVERYTHING IS SO SCREWED UP.

   My heart yearns for who became my favorite character right away, my darling Maria and her sorry ass outcome, and I won’t fully believe it until I see a corpse in the future volumes. She was complex and real whereas Marcus is going down hill on mushrooms and his STD besides her not so possible little foetus which I also don’t believe. I mean he was the only one considering that Maria wouldn’t just be gone without nothing else, while other firmly believed the story Master Lin wanted them to buy. and what the fuck is wrong with Says leaving her mates and so called friends on a mission, she left them behind like she was somehow planning this thing, it wasn’t good! and I have no doubts that there are no codes in here and only Maria has a heart and a hope for a non violent future. 😰😥

   

4. Die for MeNOBODY’S ALLOWED TO SAY ‘DEADLY CLASS’ IS BORING.

   Damn, that was a shocking thing to read and watch. I mean… WTF just happened?!! It was violence and heartbreak at its finest filled with plot twists and seeing how the actual bad guys showed their faces and there was nothing we could have done to stop it. Those I began liking are just the worst and those who I believed were memorable little dummies we’re slaughtered like fucking pigs. I seriously don’t know how this thing will eventually keep going if the godforsaken main character is Dead! wtf?!!! 😨

   

5. CarouselI THOUGHT IT WOULD NEVER BE AS GOOD AS THE PREVIOUS ONES, I WAS SO WRONG.

   So we get this new set of characters who were like really interesting and diverse, we got that minority pain aching from native Americans, Vietnamese issue holders and African conflicted girls. But seriously we got great characters like Z and her inner violence only willing to show when someone unable to help himself is in danger, she’s like a heroine who I truly believe ia good at heart and only kills for the greater good, then there’s the German dude who’s plain kickass and still manages to be just and good fun with his friends, besides he genuinely stands up to the Russian closeted dick, one has to love that dude. Finally there’s Mr Vietnam who wants his American inheritance way more than the father who raised him and who’s more than just a funny little flirt with a bog fucking mouth, he’s a damn traitor (I’m OK with that, cuz you know I don’t like the main Traitor😏😏). In other news, I’m so glad Petra is suffering from the death she caused, how crazy she seems like really unstable with that blonde hair and googly eyes. 🤐 Bitch deserved it. Overall, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would but I still want those bitches to pay for what they di to my crew, even for fucking Marcus. 😤

   

6. This is Not the EndMY BAES ARE BACK.

   More exactly, my girl Maria is back and I was so relieved to see her alive and finally having a chance of living the life she wanted, when she can trust Marcus won’t break her heart and destroy her trust once again, a life away of crime and pain, at least after the prologue.😍😍😘😘 In other news, I like the whole redeeming arch they gave to Petra with Mr Germany, I liked them together and sort of making her be sort of normal once again, besides she probably scarred the Chubby egomaniac kiddo but you know she’s still shady hiding the murder she commited to Marcus. 😒 And wow I never thought I would ever ship Z with that native American kid but damn, he seems decent too judgemental but kind enough to respect her privacy but trying for her to open up to new sinful experiences. And fucking Quan has to come and ruin it all like the little bitch he is. Got I hate that kid.😡

   

7. Love Like Blood

   DAMN, THINGS GOT MESSED UP.

   It was another roller coaster like when there was the mass genocide in the academy to replace finals, There were moments I asked why on earth and how fucking come are these people still alive?! I men Brandy got really beaten up but she kept going at it, desperate and vicious in her attempt to hurt Z and got our resident native American’s fingers off, I mean give me some of her resilience for breakfast please! Then we had our fun with Marcus redeeming himself for becoming a murderer, featuring Willie’s ghost to give Viktor a go and try trusting him, after all he’s just bother damaged child like the others. All while Petra received a final blow in the shape of karma provided by (immortal?) Brandy which left Marcus and my sweet German guys whose name is to fucking hard to memorize so heart wrenched because of their feelings for her whether it was a pain for not being able to forgive her truly or the undeserving love the other professed. And if I had to add something up… I would still refuse to acknowledge that in every new volume they keep writing Marcus as he was Saya’s boyfriend when she allegedly killed him, he was single (since he believed his actual girlfriend to be dead) and she had fucking broken up with Willie for Christ’s sake! 😠

Week #136 of Reading Like A Maniac

Good morning,

So if last week I was a bit annoyed by the fact I’m not signed up for university yet, this week I’m just depressed trying not to cry by reading lots of books that can make me forget that I’m obviously gonna lose this fucking cycle and not because I failed classses, no. Thanks a lot, dad! For lying to my face and avoid having an actual conversation with me. Anyways, leaving that aside I’d like to tell you I managed to read 9 books, I think, I watched the ‘Heathers The Musical’ episode of Riverdale which was not good at all except for the performance of ‘Seventeen’, and I watched Drag Race live for the first time without forgetting about the time it would air. So I’m ok when it comes to my sanity, however I’ve read abot some serious, a bit creepy, mysteries, I decided to call this my ‘Creepy Sherlock Fase’ which is seriously helping me get through my issues.

The first book I read was ‘Be Not Afraid’ by Cecilia Galante.

Marin has not being herself ever since her mother commited suicide, she was supposed to take care of her depressed mother an afternoon but chose to stay with a friend, when she  returned she knew it was all her fault. Now in another town, her father barely talks to her and she keeps seeing things that should not be there with no medical explanation other than insanity. She has not been the same since the most popular girl invited her over, since she was pranked in the most cruel and inhumane of ways, the things that were done to her that day will remain in her memory. Now that same girl seems to be changing, becoming something else, something that could have been unleashed in her scarring prank, something out of their control.

IT WAS NOT THE GREATEST READ, BUT I DON’T REGRET IT.

I honestly think it fulfilled its purpose, it wasn’t boring and the main character was really likeable. The whole exorcism arch was a bit too much like all exorcism/supernatural movies or tv shows, and the romance was like something pulled out of Wattpad but overall I enjoyed the plotline. I guess it managed to keep my attention, which is one the greatest accomplishments a book of this caliber can achieve; I guess it had what it takes to entertain an avid reader of the supernatural. 👻👹🤷

Next I read ‘People Like Us’ by Dana Mele.

Kay keeps running nonstop. She ran to denial when her BFF died, she ran to a preppy boarding school when her brother died, she ran to popularity when she was nothing, and now she’ll have to run for the truth after finding a girl’s body in the lake right when she and her friends were about to take a bath. Somehow her friends knew this girl, somehow Kay knew this girl, somehow all her cruel ways are exposed and she becomes a suspect. Things couldn’t get worst after she finds a threatening message from the dead girl on her dashboard, one that now forces her to lose all she worked so hard to gain and to go back to the first place she startedrunning from.

DAMN, GIRL! I’M STILL NOT OVER THAT ENDING.

I ventured thinking oh this is definitely going to be like PLL and the Private series, I’m on it, but then the characters were genuinely mean and like a dull persona, with so many blackbones on display, which got me more into it cuz it was intriguing together with the fact our main character is I think bisexual and in dull/wicked/depressive mode on. Then there was the whole “who killed the little vixen?” thing and I just knew it had to be Brie, I mean I just watched the whole 4-episode Ted Bundy Netflix show and charismatic little bitches are on my list so she was my first and only suspect till I started doubting others (mostly the fucking cheating Ex), but she was always first since I just didn’t like how she broke badass Kay’s heart over and over with no remorse whatsoever. But then it all fell on the theatre goth chic, Nola, she was the typical first option being the stereotypical dark weird girl who knows about technology and hacking things, besides she had an obsession with Kay. Figuring out her motives was indeed a shock and all her twisted background and her deal with Bianca, she’s your typical sociopath going psychopath in the blink of an eye. Whereas, the whole ending plot twist had me shook, I was not expecting Kay to be that involved in her brother’s murder nor for it be so repulsive, but I can definitely see that incident shaping her, more exactly ever since Megan’s suicide I think she felt responsible and that ultimately lead her to a troublesome encounter with suicide just around the corner, now you just add up some bullying and helplessness feeling, but let’s not forget her parents reckless neglect then you get the perfect recipe for your typical depression driven teenage suicide. 😧
Anyways, the plot was great and once you read that last line you realize why she was ao dull and tired all the time, perhaps she could have had a cute little chance with Greg or fucking Brie (I still don’t like the bitch), but now we’ll never know. 😢 However, I’ve made my own AU for them as a pairing in my mind where she just forgets her issues and seeks his help and they fall for each other and he accepts her shit, and they live happily ever after. 😳 Well, it was creative with the whole poems in the recipes on that Revenge website and the passing was so on point. It’s a definite must read, and it should have its own Netflix 8-episode 1-season series 🤓.

Third book I read ‘Liars, Inc.’ by Paula Stokes.

Max has had a shitty life since his father died but things got better when he was adopted, things got better when he became friends with the most popular new boy Preston, and things got even better when he started dating Parvati. His little crew made him feel safe and gave him the oportunity of a lifetime when Liars Inc came to be a reality, a network of lies for money that only benefits Max. Nothing could go wrong, right? But what happens when a fake alibi leads him to become the number one suspect of a dissapearance, or a kidnap, or a possible murder?

IT WAS A LITTLE LESS THAN I EXPECTED, BUT STILL GOOD READING MATERIAL.

I have this thirst for mystery novels oriented to youngsters lately, and this had such hype that people compare it and even said it was better than the previous book I read this week, so I said ok why not. The plot compelled me and the fact the cover I got said it was like the next ‘Gone Girl’s or something made it even more appealing. To the point there were moments I was doubting Parvati like she was gonna come up with that ‘Cool girl’ twisted yet memorable monologue, however things got even more boring from my suspicions until they mentioned this thing about Preston’s dad being involved, that got my attention and though the theory was pretty ridiculous and too rushed to be true, it got me. Then I was thinking omfg what if all this time Max was Preston’s brother who somehow lost his memory or something, idk, however that one was killed off when she found Social Services’ Anna and i had to come up with other theories, but still until they were trapped in that cabin I genuinely beloved Parvati was working with “Preston” this whole time. Anyways, the epilogue was a bit too happy for my taste in mystery novels, but whatever, the passing was ok and the twists and turns could be better or a little more polished for all I know. But if there’s something I must give to Paula Stokes is that she can write some memorable main characters that one just wants to know, no matter how imperfect they are, one can just feel them making us tremble with desire or fear. 😉😎

Then I read ‘Genuine Fraud’ by E. Lockhart.

Jule is broke. Jule is a college dropout. Jule was a loser in her preppy boarding school. Jule was best friends with the most popular girl. Jule loved Paolo. Jule lost her parents at a young age. Jule became a talented hero trained by her ‘aunt’. Jule lied. Now she’s being chased in Mexico, she just feels that perhaps she will eventually have to pay for her sins, for her choices but she won’t go without a fight. After all, isn’t that what this truly is? The story of a hero?

IT’S A MOSTLY CONFUSING YET NONSTOP RIDE.

I must admit I was looking the next Liars Inc. or at least some We Were Liars hyping twists, some mystery that kept me on the edge of insanity or something. I was disappointed that while reading the first chapters I was utterly confused and I understood nothing of it, however I kept reading no matter how annoying this whole backwards chapters were, all until we realise this girl Jule is posing as her suicidal friend Imogen to some friend, then there was the fact she had a connection to this girl but murder was out of the question since they were bffs, right?! 😅 Well, the book told me to think again and keep reading cuz bang she just killed an annoying brat with a cat statue, and then one just knows what this whole suicide was all about but somehow you still want to read more of what happened before Puerto Rico, and you realize you want to get why and who was this person all along. Then there it is, the entire journey of twisted emotions Jule went through to get in and out of Imogen, to get to be herself in the most psychopath way possible. 😲😲😵
Wow, this was cool however I should have known what to expect when it comes to slow as f passing with E. Lockhart, but whatever I was entertained and I wish Paolo the best of luck and, also some of it to Jule or some justice at least. 🙄

Fifth book was ‘There’s Someone Inside Your House’ by contemporary romace author, Stephanie Perkins.

Makani Young did something bad back in Hawaii, but she won’t tell. Makani did something she thought was good in Nebraska, but she won’t act on it any longer. She could be easily framed for the recent bloody murders in her new small town, but this time she will tell and act because only this time: it wasn’t her. But that could be the last of her concerns when she discovers she’s not to be frame but just another helpless victim.

THE MOMENT I READ STEPHANIE PERKINS’ NOVEL, I NEEDED IT.

And also the moment I read Stephanie Perkins I knew that no matter how gory it would be or how many psycho murders there were, we would get some cutesy little contemporary romances, so yeah; it was really good but not the best in its genre since it had a happy closure, there we’re sad traumatic deaths but still it was like the preteen version of Scream, however I actually enjoyed this kind of no back story murderer, here we got a true psycho killer with no particular sad background reason why he actually did all this madness but insanity in its purest shape. Then when it came to our valiant protagonist, we got a girl with a dark past and disgusting parents that one just wants to shelter cuz she’s being fucked up really bad by people she trusted the most and by the hypocrisy/cruelty of many around her. Our darling girl deserves the family she know has with grandma Young and Ollie and her remaining friends(?), she’s definitely traumatized, even more than ever but I’m pretty sure Stephanie Perkins made sure she can move on from this awful situation, a girl just knows. 😢😳

After that I read ‘The Cheerleaders’ by Kara Thomas.

A few years ago, cheerleading was allowed. A few years ago, two cheerleaders died in a car accident. A few years ago, two other cheerleaders were murdered in cold blood. A few years ago, another cheerleader commited suicide: Monica’s older perfect sister. Her family was never the same, she was never the same no matter how much she acts like she doesn’t care. But now few years ago have passed, and new clues involvin the cheerleaders’ tragic passing are handed to her, Monica knows those were not simple tragedies, but have to be something more.

I’M GIVING IT ONLY FOUR STARS CUZ I WNTED A DIFFERENT KILLER. IT WAS GOOD ACTUALLY, I ENJOYED IT.

Nowadays, it quite rare for me to be immediately into a book the moment I start reading its first pages but damn this definitely did it for me. It was so hard for me to engage in a mystery High School reading since some of them are conducted by drama queens but here we have a conflicted girl dealing with depression and a family who doesn’t help her at all with a mere hug or understanding chat, Monica is one of those characters so complex you took a long time to get and to truly like, perhaps not as a cutie you want to protect but as a bad as a ballsy brave girl with fuel in her veins, a girl who’s far from perfect but a character you learnt not to judge and just go along hand in hand, she was written so beautifuly, just so you know. FYI, I had read some of its topics were abortion and sexual assault, so in my mind there was an ending involving the PD and some awful rape, and then there was another ending involving Ginny being assaulted and the cheerleaders knew it so they were killed by her father so yeah, I was so wrong😲😲. I’m right here thinking that this showed us that not every death has a back story and a bad guy, sometimes people just can’t deal with the pain of being alive, death turns to death and there’s nothing we can’t do to change it. 😢

Seventh book I read was ‘Lies You Never Told Me’ by Jennifer Donaldson.

Elyse is sixteen and she already lives like an adult, she pays rent, she feeds her drug addict mother, she works hards long hours to keep them both alive, studies hard to be ok in school and somehow managed to get casted as the lead in the new ‘Romeo and Juliette’ performance. Gabe is seventeen and he has everything he could want: he has a hot rich crazy girlfriend, he has a loving supportive family, he has a remarkable group of no nonsense friends. But Elyse and Gabe have never met, however they share something in common that could lead their paths to cross: they’re both in love with people they shouldn’t.

YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MANY TEARS I SHED.

Damn, that’s what I call a book and not only because I found out the whole mystery behind this two teenagers who didn’t know each other way before, I mean I hadn’t read the synopsis correctly and I was ike this girl is this other girl so yeah, but then they didn’t have the same name so they weren’t? but I changed my mind when she saw Cat interacting with her ‘father’, I appreciate that twist cuz it made sense and it was so heartbreakingly real that I cried over our girl’s unfortunate prison of a life situation, it was so unfair and tragic. 😭😭😭 But also because I had this idea for a manuscript that had kinda the same twist but in a more graphic shocking yet scarring way. Anyways, this book was written correctly respecting the naively of adolescence and how when you grow without love that innocence is just shattered until you’re groomed by the devil, it had so much pain and undeniable truth, besides I kinda wanted more of the psychology of Sasha, so twisted that one would think is too unreal to be truth but many times it is. 😰

The following book I read was ‘The Darkest Corners’ by the talented Kara Thomas.

Tessa and Callie were best friends, no matter how different they were until a tragic night when Callie’s cousin dissapeared when she was babysitting them. People looked for her but found her dead and these young girls helped get her murderer into prison without mercy for the deaths of others like that cousin. They lost contact and faced death in their own way, but now they’re reunited knowing they lied and that the Monster who killed all those girls years ago might still be alive ready to kill again.

SOMEHOW I’M ALWAYS SURPRISED WITH THESE BOOKS.

Now I cannot longer call me a mystery know it all, this gracious author has made a fool out of me intriguing me with her twists, misleads and her thing with the murderers being kinda close with the victims so yeah, but damn I was not expecting to be that surprised. I mean my only theory was that the murderer was Callie’s dad Rick, I mean he had this porn thing before getting into poker, he could have been Lori’s secret father as Joslin’s and perhaps even Tessa’s, I mean I had already conjured this little story of him being the twisted killer and then he wasn’t and I wasn’t that amused with the real Monster Killer but then we got the twist with Anette and the ultimate twist coming from Tessa’s true origin which made Anette into one of the most demented villains I’ve ever read about, it all came from a sense of hatred and desperately angst to be loved and having this twisted idea of a happy family when she’s just nuts. 😲 Anyways, the book was good and somehow I always feel the author’s main protagonist is always numb inside. idk.

Book number nine I read was ‘Dear Killer’ by Katherine Ewell.

Kit was never meant to have an ideal childhood filled with love and friends. She was conceived to be a killer just like her mommie dearest, she was given no time nor love by her rich busy father, she was trained like a moral nihilist to continue the legacy her mom left. Now as a teenager, she has become a legend like ‘Jack the Ripper’, as the Perfect Killer leaving no trace more than a letter from those that wanted her victims dead. But when she choses to kill the monster instead of the prey, all she’s done, all her mother put in her head could be gone for good.

THIS IS TRULY THE PATH OF AN ADOLESCENT MURDERER, WITH ITS OWN EMOTIONAL RIDE.

I felt ultimately, that it was like a coming of age for Kit, since we first have this cold blooded girl that just kills because her mom raised her for that, then we have the guilt she never thought she would feel over her actions, “perhaps she ain’t an assassin but a vigilante”, the urges and conflict within her first crush being a truly worthy person that goes beyond attractiveness, then her mother brainwashing her again into stop her natural teenage evolving process by driving her insane, then she seeing the monster she has become and accepting her fate before completely loosing herself for another heartless kill. I understand why many will never get this book, the non-stop numbness of the main character is pretty unreliable, as with the unbelievable tactics Kit has to uncover her tracks, but I think that if you actually pay attention to her backstory one can just get the emotional rollercoaster she’s opening herself to and how her parents lack of love crashes her evolution once again, like they did when she was an innocent child right when they shaped her into this. 😢
Btw, I always thought this was gonna be like a hardcore JD and Veronica from Heathers little romance. A girl can dream, right?.🤔😓

Lastly I read ‘The Fever’ by Megan Abbott.

Deenie Nash had sex with a boy she didn’t care. Her friend Lise had her first orgasm with a boy she cared. Her other friend Gabby left her friends to be with a bad girl. And they all three went somewhere they weren’t allowed to deep inside their small town. They’re just teenagers trying to overcome her disasters, when Lise becomes sick and havoc wreaks with a disease that could be contagious, that could be deadly, that could be just a mistake.

PRETTY FRIGHTENING.

I don’t know if many people get the idea in their heads that these are teenagers, and no matter how much we want all girls to be friends you know, all girl power, sometimes we just hate each other. Specially, when we are teenagers, perhaps not to the point of poisoning someone but our emotions whether wicked or friendly are strong, hormones and everything, so whatever we go through no matter how simple and ridiculous it looks from above the adult perspective, it feels like the end of the world for a teenager: like our own CW show from the early 2000’s. Leaving that statement aside, i take these reads quite seriously so I don’t go around trying to mock the content I’m given, therefore I genuinely explain that I felt it treated a serious issue like chaos over a small incident, how the belief we’re dealing with an epidemic can lead us to become part of it, how our brain reacts to destruction and how it actually feels like the end of the world when there are no clean answers. How a crush with the right amount of help from our peers, can make us betray our Co sense and do stuff that we only see in stalkers, we take it as a joke until nobody laughs but ourselves. It’s not about Mary Magdalenes vs Holy Marys, but about the issues we’re dealing with, within the small details i could rescue like Eli’s obsession with young small girls, and a bit with his sister😩, then the hidden violence behind Tom😕 responding to the slow burning lack of interest his ex wife shows for her divorced family🙃, and perhaps how non of us are truly naive in our own way, how our little mistakes can turn up being awful whether it’s a reality or only in our heads. 🤔
Btw, I love how Megan writes, so soothing.

Week #135 of Reading Like A Maniac

Hi, ya’ll- I seriously don’t know why I keep greeting you like this since I’m not even from the south, but I gues it’s just a style option, right?.

Anyways, I managed to read four books (one of which was a sort of graphic novel or comic, I’m not really sure how differentiate them), I actually enjoyed and had a hard time trying to finish them, IDK why I’m becoming so lazy when it comes to reading new books or just long ass books, it’s like I’m becoming old when I’m only 22! Well, I really don’t know what else to write in here… Oh, maybe I’ll start giving you entries on Saturdays since April to let you know about the manuscript I’m currently writing since last year in Spanish, it’s a new adventure I’m not willing to let go that easily, besides I could tell you about a time where my previous manuscript went to hell when I drop my Smartphone on the toilet on a drunken night. Dude, I actually have a lot of stories to tell you!

The first book I read was the penultimate book in  the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard, named King’s Cage.

Mare’s nightmares have come true and she’s become a slave of a maniac false king, one that she thought she loved but with every new torture he imagines for her, she begins question if his madness goes beyond hectic jealousy of Cal, or it might be deeper and darker than just hatred. But this new King is more than a maniac but a political mind that might ruin everythin the Red rebels have achieved not only within other royals but in the hearts of the small folk tired of a nonstop war.

“I GIVE YOU A FOUR CUZ YOU BROKE MY HEART, DUDE, AND THAT’S NOT FAIR”.

So idk why my first thought when I started reading this was that perhaps we were gonna spent a while with crazy Maven and then the crew would come for Mare and we would be OK, crazy, right? I mean the title itself says King’s Cage which obviously meant spending tiring and nauseous huge amount of time in confinement. Anyways, I just wanted to stab Mare and Cameron when reading their first povs, I was hating Mare for still have feelings for that creepy nut case and I was hating Cameron for being such a bitch about Mare, I was complaining during 60% of the book, it was unbearable but I still read it. And when my ship was reunited and had their moments I was like “every storm has its rainbow” when those last chapters broke me into millions of pieces and made me cry at 3am, I should be sleeping not crying Victoria Aveyard! 😭Well, whatever now I can only hope fucking Cal, who I worshipped like a teenage girl, can go back to his fucking senses and he better beg for forgiveness, fucking beg for it! 😠😠💔💔

Next I read the final installment in the same series, named War Storm.

Mare just had to choose duty over love, the greater good over an uncertain future as Cal’s mistress, her integrity over greetyness and selfishness. She chose good over evil, so why does she feel so broken? So destroyed to pieces? But the world is not only crumbling in her heart but all around her, there’s danger and death right every turn she and her allies take. There’s treason and lies, there’s murder and torture, and finally giving up to her power could help the world, but will she be able to control it or she’ll just end up with her hands covered in blood (silver and red) once again?

WOW, IM STILL RECOVERING FROM THIS MADNESS.

It all started like a heartbreaking journey to some suburb like nation that’s really safe and socialist and pure and with lots of bisons that I so love, with the heartache the last book left me of my characters standing up for what they believe in with no time for their starcross love. While somehow Victoria Aveyard made me love Evangeline, I hated the girl’s blind trust in her father but I fell in love with her kickass personality, so unapologetic and she gave my ship a night of passion and recklessness which I appreciate. Anyways, I grew to adore her and specially when she was finally able to speak in her own voice to her parents and run the fuck away, even though I don’t like Elane at all, my home girl deserves better than that little shady weak link. In other news, I got to feel a bit bad for Maven I mean the kid’s sick literally he saw no reality; and I think we can all agree we wish we could have read more entries about Cal’s mom, she sounded like an interesting character and we would have felt his tears in a more relatable way if we knew more from her pov and tender heart. 😳😳

Third one I read was a gothic sort-of-classic named My Sweet Audrina by V.C. Andrews.

Little seven year old Audrina Adare lives under the shadow of her dead sister, they had the same name and now her parents try for them not to have the same end, so poor little Audrina is a prisoner in her own home. With no friends other than her wicked cousin Vera, with no love other than her parents’ poisonous charm, with no life beyond old Whitefern Mannor. She’s tol she’s an special girl, forced to reemember her sister’s horrid passing and to never recall how time goes by; it all seems like a cruel nightmare but what does she know, Vera says, she’s the town freak.

I CAME HERE FOR THE DRAMA, NOW I’M NOT SO SURE.

Soooo, where do I begin? The story itself, the plot and twists provided with drama were pretty good, I mean they were sick but really recklessly impressive. However, this is not a book for you if you want to fall for characters, I mean I reached the end and I was cheering up for Audrina until fucking Sylvia had to fuck her sister’s future away from this madness and her own in the process (yeah, I spoiled myself about the second novel ‘Whitefern’😨). I mean not a single character stayed likeable, and the lack of feminism shows us the awful unapologetic man’s world port VC Andrews most have lived in, I mean if I could have my way and somehow upgrade this even more than what Lifetime did (yeah I watched the redeemable adaptation), I would have made Audrina give herself some love and kick Arden’s idiotic ass the moment they started dating and he began acting like a sexist dick. I would have made her stand up to her father and force her aunt to help her run the fuck away from that sick mannor. I mean everyone was so twisted and ridiculously sexist that I would have shipped her with Lamar more than with Arden. And what about a seven year old’s obsession with adult like talk and everyone’s boobs?😲😲.

Then I read was the comic/graphic nvel named Wires and Nerves, Volume 2: Gone Rogue, from the Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer.

The mutant wolves will not give up the fight, as things get complicated when Cinder arrives Earth after announcing her abdication and the new Republican era for Luna once she steps down. Nothing could get worse, right? Only if a friend and ally turns to a traitor by joining forces agains the crew, will Iko defeat this threat or she’ll be just another casualty?

I ALMOST FAINTED FOR A MOMENT.

Wow, what a great conclusion. Of course it felt fairy tale like but I guess it was enough for my heart, this one that loves this series since day one. It focused in all important matters, like Iko and Cinder’s friendship, Iko’s undeniable loyalty and humanity (my home girl is just perfect 😍😄), as the rough yet adorable edges Wolf can have when it comes to love for Scarlet or his new chosen family, Cress’ badass innocence and cleverness, Winter’s oddities, as Kinney’s journey to discover what it truly is to feel. Plus, the graphics were perfect, I mean they truly showed us Thorne’s flamboyant personality, 😂 which added a lot to the story.
PS. : I almost died when they got Iko the first time, and also the catering guy. 🍱💁

The last book I read was the full of twists stand-alone mistery novel Sister Sister by Sue Fortin.

Alice was always the pretty sister, she was just perfect with a sweet nature, one just couldn’t forget or stop loving her, not even when her father took her away from her family and nobody saw her since she was a young girl. Her older sister Clare lived with her mother, tried looking for her but never accomplished anything. Now she’s about to turn 30 with a stay-at-home husband and two little girls still living at mum’s house, her life couldn’t be more regular until her not so little sister comes back trying to effortlessly take everything she work so hard to get. Is Clare losing her mind over jelousy, or Alice is the wicked psycho who wants to get rid of her?

READING MY FIRST CLUE/SPARK OF DOUBT ON THIS, I WAS LIKE “I KNOW MYSTERIES, I HAVE IT ALL FIGURED OUT”, I GUESS I DIDN’T.

I mean I got the obvious twist, the not so “related” tragic truth but the partner in crime plot twist gave me the satisfaction I thought I wasn’t able of feeling again. No author shocked me and villified characters as much as Sue Fortin, she gave them human but unforgivable mistakes that I wouldn’t forgive, but they surely had to, except Clare and her mom, that relationship is shattered forever. I mean I only feel entirely bad for Chloe and Alice, oh and I really like the Stepmother, those were characters one truly felt bad for. But anyways, what started as a boring little storyline while I read the first seven chapters, ended up being such a hit in my Mystery Bookshelf, not because of the plotline itself and its arch but because of its actually surprising twists that had me on the edge of my sit.