Paper Fury

I acknowledge the fact that I am about as romantic as a potato.

But as I get older and more feeble (I’m twenty f i v e), I do have way more soft squishy feelings for romances in books than I used to. I have tropes I am so so softly fond of. I have ships I will lowkey die for. I often find myself in the midst of reading a slowburn romance and muttering, “Just kiss, you child onions.” I also like writing my little squishy romances…!

I know it’s popular to proclaim your book boy/girlfriends and such, but honestly??? If I “fall in love” with a character, I either want (a) to protec them, (b) to be them, or (c) for them to protec me????? Like yes, thanks, I love you, Lila Bard, would you pls take care of everyone who’s ever annoyed me. Thanks so much.

But HEY. It’s February, which is such a notorious month for talking about romance…so I’m going to show up to the party this year with…

and obviously list some of my favourite ships along the way (!!!!)

ugh look at me and all these FEELINGS what is this how ancient am I

 

Top Ten Tuesday | Favourite Couples In Books

This is just downright cute because it starts with two people absolutely proclaiming there is “Nothing” “Going On” “Between Them” “At All”. Whatever you sayyyyyyy. And they usually are working so so hard to keep up the “fakeness” that they actually end up being a 100% better boy/girlfriend than anyone else.

Like is anyone a more dedicated boyfriend than Peter K “faking” it for Lara Jean???

And o h   h e l p — in The Caged Queen it was an arranged marriage and Roa stood there telling herself there was NO WAY she’d fall for Dax, the tyrant’s son. Ever. She is using him. This is fine. She is only cuddling up to him a night because her feet are cold. This is…fine.

 

 

  

This one is also the DEATH OF ME. When both characters are very very clearly in love but…neither side admits it, so they both sit there thinking…”No they do not ((insert sad sniffle)) love me at all….do they even see me????”

YES YOU LITTLE FROZEN REFRIED BEANS. THEY’RE PINING AWAY IN THEIR CHAPTERS TOO.

It also can come with this heartbreaking bittersweetness when one side doesn’t think they deserve to be loved. So they keep to themselves. They want the best for the other (as well as being frightfully jealous) and they almost don’t say anything ever…

…UNTIL THEY DO.

 

 

  

Alright you see me hopelessly self-promo-ing A Thousand Perfect Notes, but it took me sEVEN Y E A R S in Azkaban to get published ok, and so let me force you all to behold my cover all the time. But that aside: I wrote an entire romance based on the fact that August just kept feeding Beck until he associated her = with good food = good times. I think she Pavolov’s Dogged him.

And Words On Bathroom Walls is criminally underrated but Adam literally turns up to bake lasagna for his wished-for-girlfriend.

Lastly, hi, to my disaster kids, Sam and Penny. Who I love so much and who met over coffee and donuts and then later, Sam had a panic attack and fainted from heat stroke because he wouldn’t change out of his aesthetic black jeans and Penny had to scrape him off the road. These two. Aw.

 

 

   

Maggie Stiefvater is my QUEEN of slowburn romance. And it’s arguably one of the best tropes out there, because instalove feels so insipid, but slowburn is just this agonising s t r e c h of learning someone and waiting for them and building up tension.

So here for it being 300pages before they even hold hands. Bless.

 

 

   

I do want to acknowledge that this trope can be written as super problematic and harmful…which is not !!! what I’m here for !!! No thanks.

The kind I love is when: they’re pitched against each other due to being on opposite sides of a war. Or they’re naturally in each other’s way. Or standing between each other and a goal. It’s just the whole “WILL THEY KISS?? WILL THEY STAB EACH OTHER??? WE DON’T KNOW” which I am fantastically fond of. Also it’s stressful because I secretly (shh) want my ships to be Okay In The End™ but with this lot you can never tell.

And what is a book if it doesn’t stress you out, hmm??

 

 

   

This one usually falls solidly in the category of WHOLESOME. And, hey, sometimes it’s nice to see two friends grow up and tumble into love (although staying friends is just as valid). Unless, of course, you are Julian and Emma and your childhood-friendship-turned-romance will literally ignite a monstrous curse. But anyway.

I also feel like these ships are more likely to last. They KNOW each other. It’s not a fleeting crush built on expectations. They’ve usually seen each other at their grimey worsts and what’s more romantic than seeing your crush covered in toast crumbs and with twigs in their hair and knowing they do gross things, like eat marmalade.

 

   

This is wholly brought to you by YGRITTE AND JON SNOW from Game of Thrones (shh no this isn’t YA but let me have it just for a second) because they are one of my life’s OTPs. Like Ygritte just flirts to make him so soooo uncomfortable. He is like so naive and innocent (lol not for long, this is GoT) and she’s THRIVING mocking him.

I swear every time this sort of pairing comes up, I get far too invested.

And I love Tanner from Autoboyography flirting with the pastor’s kid (hOLY HECK DO I LOVE SEBASTIAN AND TANNER) and Gabriel spending the whole time flirting with Nathan who is oblivious until he basically gets smacked in the head. By Gabriel. But you know. Romance is difficult, ok.

tell me your favourite romance tropes!?? do we have any in common? and like who are you most favourite ships of all ships?? (time to be mushy for a sec)

It’s that time of year when I dramatically fling myself upon the table and confess I am so so behind on my TBR pile.

And then at least four and a half of you kindest readers pretend to be shocked. The rest of you are just sighing and saying, “SURPRISE WOW CAIT.” Look, ok fine, all the time sometimes I collect more books than common sense. Other times they just manifest in my room. That’s not my fault. I swear the library books follow me home.

I also have realised I’m very bad at time-awareness and keep thinking I can do 3 hours of reading in 15 minutes. So odd that this doesn’t work????

I did a similar post to this in 2017 and listed 15 books I should’ve read! GUESS WHAT. Looking back?! I realised I have now read…6 of them. Lmao. Can someone just…roll my body into the sea? I’m 3/4 there already.

 

➸ ok last year I confess to procrastinating all ebooks because I’m SO SICK of reading on my iPod screen and turning a page every. five. seconds. (But I now have a kindle!! For the first time ever!!! So this should improve!!)
➸ I felt like a beaten egg in 2018 and my brain couldn’t handle epic fantasy. So my list of fantasies is very tol. It is yelling at me.
➸ I am scared of books over 400+ pages. WHEN WILL I GROW OUT OF THIS FEAR ERMGHSGHS.
➸ I get sent a lot of unsolicited ARCs and they mount up.
➸ SOMETIMES I’M SUPPOSED TO WRITE BOOKS MYSELF. THIS TAKES MORE THAN 15 MINUTES TOO. SO RUDE.
➸ If I go into a library, I walk out with 10 more books than I should have taken. My ARCs threaten a divorce.
➸ MOOD READER. Blame it for everything else.
➸ how do I read 200 books a year and yet I’m still behind?????

so onto a list of 10 books I should’ve read last year but…oh no.

[Top Ten Tuesday ~ Books I Meant to Read In 2018 but Didn’t Get To]

1. GODSGRAVE

I love Nevernight. Love it. I even reread it in preparation for tackling Godsgrave and then I just…didn’t.

Ok aside from the fact it’s huge and I was mentally exhausted last year, I know it’s going to absolutely murder my feels!! I KNOW IT’S BRUTAL. I have seen the piles of slain readers all over twitter and my thinking is: Wait till Darkdawn is out. Be killed ONCE by two books. That’s smart. I am smart.

 

 

2. BRIDGE OF CLAY

I actually got sent a surprise ARC of this!! which is…an intense honour. But I’m also frustrated, because I knew I’d need it on audiobook (saves me from getting overwhelmed at the fact it’s 170 years long) and I wish the ARC could’ve gone to someone who really wanted it.

I meant to read the ARC anyway but then I went away for a month too. Dude.

Also why is it so ugly. My bookstagram account is coughing up blood just from looking at it.

 

 

3. SCARLET TRILOGY

I got sent the whole series from Bloomsbury with the new covers and I HATE MYSELF RIGHT NOW. I NEEDED TO HAVE READ THEM. It’s just one thing lead to another and I turned into a tree and moulted leaves for 5 months and these books stayed unread.

I swear…this year??? is the year??? I become a human???

They’re also genderbent Robin Hood I think which seems fun.

 

 

4. NOT EVEN BONES

All I can say is…I have nothing to say. It sounds thoroughly like a ME book, with people who murder supernatural creatures and sell their body parts on ebay. Or ok fine it doesn’t say “ebay”. Maybe Etsy. I don’t know where the supernatural murderers hang out.

It fell prey to (1) wrong mood, and (2) being an ebook, excuse its poor soul.

 

 

5. YOU’LL MISS ME WHEN I’M GONE

This is like illness and sisters and CLASSICAL mUSICIANS and the list of reasons I should love it could reach up taller than me. And then slap me. But anyway. I actually even have the author’s second book as an eARC too lmao maybe I will read IT on time!! But this one is a bought one, so I feel slightly less guilty.

(Also the blue/green naked spine is AMAZING for my bookstagram rainbows. Shhh. I am not shallow.)

 

 

6. FOOLISH HEARTS 

I got this as an Owlcrate book! Everyone I’ve heard of who’s read it said, “Wow I didn’t expect to ADORE this so so much!!” Which leaves me promising 15 x a week I will read it too!!

Have I?!!! No!!!!

I’m cRYinG.

 

 

7. THE POPPY WAR

This falls in the same shame-pile as Godsgrave. It is EVERYTHING I know I’ll love. But my brain just wasn’t coordinated enough to accept that words on the page actually mean things. 2019 will be different. (SHE SAYS VALIANTLY BUT PROBABLY LIES.)

Also 100% of the reason I bought this was because of twitter freaking out how excellent it is! Just in case you want to know if you’re blogger-recommendations mean something. They do.

 

 

8. WE’LL FLY AWAY

Another ebook that is looking at me reproachfully while I scramble madly through my pockets for reasons to give. Although in my defence it’s also the title of this REALLY annoying hymn and every time I think of it, the hymn starts playing in my head round and round. That’s a carousel I need to throw msyelf off, necks broken or not.

Book: hi I am–
Me: I cAN’T LOOK AT YOU WHILE YOU’RE WEARING THAT

 

 

9. SKY IN THE DEEP

I think this came out in January, which makes no sense why I haven’t read it because everyone knows January lasts 17 years. But again: it’s fantasy. Otherwise it has like sUPER COOL female Vikings and I follow the author on instagram and she’s so nice!!

I love how nice authors always write the murder books.

I will read this one this year or DIE TRYING.

 

 

10. SAY YOU’LL REMEMBER ME

I’m not actually sure why I requested this one on Netgalley, but I DID. Then I wandered away like the hyperactive squirrel I am. It sounds like a contemporary I’ll love (not-really-bad-boys doing community service, for starters, is a huge yes after I loved Letters To The Lost so much).

Also I have, um, guilt issues, because the title is literally SAY YOU’LL REMEMBER ME and I freaking forgot it was on my kindle.

I need life help.

 

➸ HONOURABLE MENTIONS 

(because I hate myself apparently and this is a post of SHAME)…(But also I swear I’m going to read this entire list this year. I swear it grrr.)

          

confession time!! what books should YOU have read last year, but you didn’t??? and do you have interesting reasons or are you a deflated cornflake like me? (are any of mine on your TBR too?)

When it comes to convincing me to try a new author…dude, you will have zero problems at all.

I WANT TO READ EVERYTHING. Things keep getting in my way, however. Like the fact that there are only 365 days in the year (rude) and I can’t read all day anyway (ruder) and I’m expected to do other human things occasionally (so so rude wow).

Of course I have my old favourite authors and I’ll read everything they write and obsess over it completely (DID YOU SAY MAGGIE STIEFVATER) but the shiny prospect of finding new favourite authors???? Bring it.

I am so easily convinced to read new authors, eat more cake, and wear a red cloak so I can skip into the woods and eat wolves. (That seems how the story went??)

 

I discovered some marvellous authors in 2018 that I’d never read from before! I’m about to whack you with a list of them (but I’ll whack you softly because I’m secretly nice, despite my fearsome demeanour) and you are so welcome.

[Top Ten Tuesday: New-to-Me Authors I Read In 2018]

1. NATASHA NGAN

I confess to being one of the deluded marmots who was like: “OH THIS DEBUT AUTHOR IS GREAT!” after I read Girls Of Paper And Fire. But…ah no, she actually wrote other books before that. Including The Elites and The Memory Keepers. So what do I know? Nothing, Jon Snow. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But I read GIRLS this year and ajfsdkald it was harrowing and powerful.

 

2. ELIZABETH MAY

Not only did I discover the stabby faerie goodness that is The Falconer…this author actually follows me on twitter and has said nice things about my book. afjksdlad my heart. Does that make me a lifelong fan?? Is my loyalty so easily bought???

UM, HECK YES.

(Also The Falconer contains a girl waging ware against 99% of faeries while falling in love with one AND it’s Scottish, steampunk, and she has a sassy pixie friend. What is not to love here.

3. KRISTEN CICCARELLI

FOREVER MAD THAT I DIDN’T READ THE LAST NAMSARA SOONER!! It’s so so good. Dragons! And the heroine is an absolute burnt crockery pot and she meets a marshmallow boy who she frequently has to save. She is very grumpy while she does this. It’s beautiful.

(Also there’s like rebellions and magical-stories and swords and things, but like: DRAGONS. That’s what’s important here.)

4. NORA SAKAVIC

Ok I couldn’t find a high enough quality author photo so instead = HAVE MY SOCKED FEET. And also my precious damaged boys from The Foxhole Court, who have anxiety and an urge to kill things and kiss on occasion and also hit things with sticks and call it sport. (I HATE SPORT. WHY DO I FREAKING LOVE THESE BOOKS.)

Literally my favourite things ever uggghghgh. I’m so obsessed.

Also there are THREE and I ate them whole in like A WEEK and there are NO MORE and I am lost.

5. COURTNEY SUMMERS

So also apparently this author has a heck ton of books…definitely more than FIVE. (This is as high as I can count, ok, I grew up a musician and we only needed to count to four mostly.) But the first one I’ve read of hers was Sadie and after it broke me into millions of pieces, I logically decided I need to read MORE. MUCH MORE.

2019 goals???

(But seriously, Sadie is about sisters and poverty, it’s about sexual assault and hunting for revenge, it’s about a girl with a stammer who’ll stop at nothing to find her sister. THE ENDING THOUGH. AJFDKSLAD.)

6. SARA WOLF

Again, she has toooons of books, but Bring Me Their Hearts was my introduction to Sarah Wolf and ooffph was this book just so super funny. It’s about witches who keep Heartless servants, aka bodyguards who need flesh to survive but will die for their witch master. Zera is just the SASSIEST Heartless ever and 10/10 will talk herself out of trouble. It’s just such a good fantasy romp, ok?! And I don’t talk about it enough!

7. MEGAN SHEPHERD

My very first read from this author is Grim Lovelies (which I keep typing “Grime Lovelies”??? But it’s ok, these little Parisian witches do take baths.) And it was FANTASTICALLY MAGICAL. It’s pretty and wicked and features the enchanted beasties that witches make in all the fairy tales. But what happens if the enchantment ends?! Or the beasties-as-humans are lowkey DONE with being slaves? It’s glorious. 10 more thanks.

8. MARK OSHIRO

Anger Is A Gift is an actual GIFT as well, thank you very very much book for existing. Also prepare to cry yourself a small salty dead sea. It’s brutally accurate with the anxiety rep (like you will ache with Moss) and, omg, the things these kids go through just to gET AN EDUCATION. They’re poor and black and queer and disabled…and this book is such an equally bitter and loving view into their lives. (Also excellent writing and characters you would die for. JUST EVERYTHING.)

9. MARGARET ROGERSON

AND HI, I LOVE FAERIE STORIES. And “love” is a little word which here means am obsessed with magical catlike fey who are curious about humaning but do it badly themselves and may yell at a teapot or kidnap a painter and then halfway through the kidnapping feel bad and pet her hair and let her save him from monsters.

Aka ROOK. I love Rook. I love Isobel (a human dealing with faeries and, tbh? Most likely to survive them all.) An Enchantment Of Ravens her first book so I’m not behind but SO excited for A Sorcery Of Thorns this year ahhhhhhhh.

10. K. ANCRUM

I LEFT THE BEST TILL LAST. Because ohhhhh wow where do I even start with one of my all-time favourite books?! The Wicker King just stole my entire heart. I read it twice last year and each time it was just…everything?!? It has soft messy neglected boys, and hallucination mental illnesses, and codependency and queer kids just trying to Do Their Best when the world lets them down. It’s dark. But hopeful. AND THE AUTHOR’S NOTE NEARLY MADE ME CRY.

(If I could only recommend one book from 2018…thiiiiis.)

did you find any new favourite authors in 2018?? have you read any of the ones on my list? (and do you try new authors a lot or stick to the old favourites?!?)

Did everyone read all the books they meant to last year?? No??? OK LET’S MAKE YOUR TBR PROBLEMS WORSE.

First of all you are so welcome, no need to thank me.

Second of all, I’m about to pile some deliciously incredible looking 2019 YA releases on your head. Unapologetically. I mean it’s not like any of us are ever going to catch up on our TBR piles as is, so let’s just make it worse and go down with a pile of books, hm?

There are so so many things to be excited about this year in the YA world…including how many diverse books are sitting atop the shelves, how BEAUTIFUL all the cover designs are these days omg wow, and how my 2nd books is coming out (and also how humble I am…so so humble).

so here are my highly anticipated 2019 YA books coming out from January to April

all covers link to Goodreads! And if you realise that you’re about to be broke this year is…not my fault.

 

Top Ten Tuesday | Most Anticipated Releases for the First Half of 2019

   

The Wicked King (#2) by Holly Black

I’M ONLY JUST DYING FOR THIS ONE NO BIG DEAL. I’ve heard the cliffhanger in this is…(excuse me)…wicked. So I’m terrified to start and also desperate. Rereading The Cruel Prince first though ahhhhh. MY FAVE.

The Curses (#2) by Laure Eve

I feel like the majority of the blogosphere didn’t love The Graces but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I adored it. I’ve been waiting YEARS for the sequel!

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokski

ok ok ok this has a found-family mischief squad and I’m pretty sure they’re going to find these magical artefacts less than legally SO I’M IN.

White Stag by Kara Barbieri

Goblin Kings and Norse mythology and a girl who probably is mean to a deer and hunts and eats it. Just guessing. I have an ARC of this and I LIKE GOBLINS.

Circle Of Shadows by Evelyn Skye 

Ok this is about a duo who are violent in a non-violent world…so I think they get into a lot of trouble. SOUNDS GREAT I’M IN. Also I loved her Russian series (and I’m on the blog tour for this eep!)

The Gutter Prayer by Gareth Hanrahan

Shhh I suspect this is actually adult fantasy but it has an orphan, a ghoul, and a cursed man who are out for revenge on their thieves guild so like YES. Also I love the title ha ha.

Stain by AG Howard 

Princess and the Pea retelling by AN AUTHOR I ADORE who brought us Splintered and Roseblood ahhhhh!! It also seems to have mutism rep so I hope it’s good!

The Girl King by Mimi Yu

I confess I only looked up the blurb just now loooool. The title is enough for me. But apparently this is two sisters who were in line for the throne, but their dad said “no! a boy must have it!” and they go on a murder rampage to get it back. Basically MOOD. Am here for this.

 

King of Scars by Leigh Barudgo 

I mean. MATE. Bring me an entire serious about Nikolai, the light of my life in the Grisha book, and I will just be here screaming happily foreverrrrr.

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

I adore this author (particularly Letters To The Lost) and she’s also said kind things to me as a newbie green author myself ajdkflsad yes I’m that easy to win over for all of eternity. Anyway! This is fairy tale retelling and the guy is 18 eternally and also a wild beast. And if that’s not what it is to be a teen…what is. Acne forever.

The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg

This seems like a really Quiet Contemporary™ about a summer and two boys and secrets. I believe this is #ownvoices queer too!

Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee

This is another Rick Riordan presents mythology tale! (Younger YA / MG) and AHHHH DRAGONS OK. It’s also a space opera with fox spirits and hopefully will be, downright, hilarious.

 

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

 

   

On The Come Up by Angie Thomas 

Ohhh this is going to be BRILLIANT. Like Angie Thomas has been a bestseller for nearly two years?! So we are in for another world changing novel I’m sure !!!

Just For Clicks by Kara McDowell

Bloggers and social media stars and SISTERS.

The Black Coats by Colleen Oakes

Girls getting revenge on men who wronged them? SAY NO MORE.

Bloom by Kevin Panetta and Savanna Ganucheau

Oh oh I’m SO freaking excited for this one! A soft queer graphic novel + set in a bakery but also with music + and the blurb says “illustrated baking scenes and blushing young love” which is enough to make me hurl myself into the future and sob over this book.

  

The Antidote by Shelley Sackier

Magic is illegal but a magical girl wants to save a sick prince?! EXCELLENT.

Enchantée by Gita Trelease

All I needed was: “Paris in 1789 is a labyrinth of twisted streets, filled with beggars, thieves, revolutionaries—and magicians…” and like SOLD. THANKS. I’m also on the book tour for the Aussie edition too eep!

Tarot by Marissa Kennerson 

Ok this sounds a little like a Tangled/Rapunzel retelling with witches in towers and fake paradises and, hopefully, some tarot cards or we shall riot quietly upon the shore, mate.

Immoral Code by Lillian Clark

It’s QUEER and there are HACKERS and what more do we even need to pitch a book as.

   

Crown Of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto 

I barely know what this is about except SISTERS and PHOENIXES and MAGIC WARS and that’s enough for me. Also that cover wants to eat me, and I’d let it tbh.

The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons

Ok this stars lost princes and treasonous princes and gods and monsters and dRAGONS and a boy ticked off that being royal isn’t always glittery. Absolutely need.

Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte 

I’m just here for this TITLE. Also it has pickpockets, murderers, queens, and thieves and black markets. I also have an ARC which makes me very very happy.

The Afterward by E.K. Johnston

This appears to be an f/f fantasy with godsgems and unlikely heroes and I am LIVING for more diverse fantasy.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

        

   

The Fever King by Victoria Lee

Ok but this is about magic and immigrants and boys with wild abilities and it be queer and I’m here for it tbh.

The Last 8 by Laura Pohl

Usually this type of storyline (ya know, aliens attack…last teens on earth etc) doesn’t do anything for me. bUT. This is promises a bi/aro Latino protagonist by a Brazilian author and I just !!!

The Weight Of Stars by K. Ancrum

Only MY MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR!!! (Well, one of them.) afjdklsad I loved K. Ancrum’s debut, The Wicker King, and this is the same universe but with f/f space-loving girls and I’m hoping for the same unique formatting!

The Time Traveller’s Guide To Modern Romance by Madeline J. Reynolds

There’s no cover/blurb yet but the pitch is: “A Victorian-era boy travels to the future and must choose between the freedom to be with the modern-era boy who captures his heart and the fate of his family in the past.” And like woah yes thanks.

   

Dealing in Dreams by Lilliam Rivera 

It’s a bit sci-fi with girl gangs and street life and found-family and IT PRETTY. I have an eARC of this one!

Meet Me in Outer Space by Melinda Grace

An #ownvoices debut about a college student with an auditory processing disorder and YES FOR NEURODIVERSITY REP!

You Asked For Perfect by Laura Silverman

Hi hi hi this is like about an anxious overachieving top-of-school and violinist boy and, wow, mood. I believe it has queer/POC rep too!

The Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds

Time-travel and tragic romances and I’m like 99% sure this one is going to bREAK US ALL.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

     

Well this is just the all important month of…The Boy Who Steals Houses!

YES NO BIG DEAL. I’M JUST SCREAMING A LITTLE! This is my 2nd book and it’s about homeless brothers who make terrible decisions and how one tumbles into a big messy family and the shenanigans that ensue. It’s about wanting to be home, it’s about thievery and anxiety and pancakes. It has #ownvoices autism rep and it is Soft but will also break you. It’s the story of my heart ok. I can’t wait for you to read it!!

oh and yeah there are other books too this month I guess.

   

The Descendant of the Crane by Joan He

Stoked for more #ownvoices Chinese fantasies! And it has an unwilling queen tracking down a murderer in a lush court setting.

The Red Scrolls of Magic by Cassandra Clare

OK ALSO WHAT I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR FOREVERRRR. This is a Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood new series and AHH!! Everything Cassandra Clare writes = I love.

The Sword and the Dagger by Robert Cochran

Completely cliche title aside…this is about a Christian princess and a Muslim assassin and Genghis Khan and I AM KEEN.

Upon a Burning Throne by Ashok K. Banker

Indian-inspired fantasy with two disabled protagonists?!? YES.

   

This Book Is Not Yet Rated by Peter Bognanni

This just promises a soft funny found-family dysfunctional crew and I AM HERE FOR IT.

You Must Not Miss by Katrina Leno

Omg I just love this author so so much and she writes the best girls and I feel like this one is going to be so special.

How To Ask A Boy To Prom by S.J. Goslee 

Ok but yes to fluffy queer romcoms. AND it has the fake-dating trope!!

Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan

This includes a pirate, a hot dog, and a carousel operator and more fluffy f/f romcoms?! We are surely being blessed.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

      

link me to your anticipated reads list for 2019 if you want to! and which of these are you super excited for?? any that I’ve missed? are covers getting mORE GORGEOUS omg.

If you ask “Is this a kissing book?” while pointing to a YA novel, the answer is usually: yes.

Finding a YA book that doesn’t include romance AT ALL is pretty much like spotting a wild faun and convincing it to make tea for you and nOT sell your soul to a random witch. It happens. But only to a lucky few of us. The rest get sold to the witch. Smh. Look at the state of society today. Witches will buy anything.

Now the conversation about whether this is good or bad comes up a lot. Which is fair! We bloggers like to gloriously dissect everything (insert happy flail) but there are SO many valid points to both side of the argument. And so I’d like to present to you one of my very lovely INDECISIVE LISTS where I talk about both sides to the kissing books and also use the word “nomance” because no one said I can’t. And even if someone said to stop, I wouldn’t. Because NOMANCE IS A THING. LET ME LIVE.

I must that I, for one, am about as romantic as a piece of bread. So it pleases me greatly to find nomance books. Yet that saying I have TONS of ships I would fight to eternity for. I ship ships that shouldn’t be shipped ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and would angrily throw a fig in a lake if an author killed off my favourite couples. Let them kiss and be hAPPY, you coward.

But the trouble is the ratio fo YA with romance vs YA without romance is…unbalanced. To say the least.

 

WHY NOMANCE BOOKS ARE IMPORTANT

➸ not all readers want or even need romance (and it’s really important, especially for teens who don’t want sexual romantic relationships, to know there’s nothing wrong with that)

➸ it’s actually heckin’ annoying to read a book where tHE wOrLD is ending and now we’re caught up in a pointless love square with lots of hormones and tension. It makes the stakes of the book seem flippant.

➸ some teens?!?! don’t have time?!?! for romance. Between school + jobs + being a druid idk what kids do these days = it’s hard to find time to find a decent human you don’t want to hit with a fork.

➸ not everyone meets their soulmate in their teens. (I personally have no interest in romantic relationships, but seriously all the boys I knew in my teens were gross??? How do all these teens in books find Peter Kavinskys and Blue Sargents???)

➸ books that put friendship first and foremost instead are super special and needed!! Without complicating them with unnecessary romances!!

➸ the amount of times romance doesn’t even fit with the book is unbelievable. Don’t stuff in romance. No one likes bad stuffing okay. Not even dead turkeys.

➸ it’s super important to have characters who are whole and happy and fulfilled without finding a love interest. You’re not “alone” if you don’t fall in love!! FRIENDS. FAMILY. YOUR PET PYTHON IF YOU ARE SLYTHERIN. All are important.

➸ look I’ll say it…sometimes society has an unhealthy obsession with romance. It would be nice if we could CHILL on thinking it is The Everything Of Life™. (I just came back to add this after seeing a post of people shipping their three year olds. And hearing someone discuss a male/female friendship duo and how they were clearly “in love” because they spent so much time together. BOTH of these are super problematic but yet not uncommon. ARgh.)

WHY ROMANCE IS ALSO STILL IMPORTANT

➸ lots of people absolutely love reading it! adore it with every fibre of their being! I’d hazard a guess that more people like romance vs people don’t like romance in stories = and this would show up in publishing stats and book sales too (which pretty much rule what kind of books get published).

➸ diverse romance representation is sooo important. Because the world has coded the POC/queer/disabled/ill people as “undesirable” for so despicably long that we NEED to see these people falling in love too. In romcoms and fantasy worlds!

➸ look it is a good subplot…wondering who will get together and if they’ll kiss or stab each other. We don’t KNOW. Exciting. And when people list favourite tropes, you better believe ones like “there was only one bed!” come up super fast. Often romance sucks IRL because there are no Blue Sargents in your vicinity to love (seriously what is wrong with real life) so people actually want to see cute couples get together and be happy!

➸ it’s good that now a lot of problematic romance tropes are being dismantled! There are WAY less possessive and gross boys in YA. We neeeeeed books with healthy romances to model for readers (especially younger teens) and good discussion on boundaries and being safe and communication etc.

➸ it’s also good to show messy romances in books too, because most teens don’t stay with their lover from highschool. So reading about a breakup or working through a tough issue can be helpful. Also probably like opening a papercut and pouring lemon juice on it bUT ANYWAY.

➸ sometimes? it just cute (seriously, I love reading soft cute and shy romances!!! I wrote one!)

 

also pet peeve?! I hate it when people ask for non-romance or very very mild romances, but phrase it as “i want clean books”… romance isn’t dirty. Can we lay that one to rest thanks. You can dislike reading romance or sex without making it sound evil.

But hey, since they’re hard to find…I’m going to merrily list some YA Books With NO Romance!

I did a list like this back in 2015 but we’re due for an update, right?! Also joining in the TTT prompt of: Platonic Relationships In Books.

All the covers link to goodreads too! Speaking of which, I have a goodreads shelf specifically for this.

NOMANCE

                               

 

NOTE: there are some side romances in some of these, but not for the protagonist.  

tell me all your feels about this! should YA feature more platonic relationships? can you add any recs to my list?? have you ever read a book where you wished it didn’t have the romance? haha And do you think YA is doing better with featuring diverse romances ??

Every so often it occurs to me that there are more books than just the shiny new ones.

This is wild information and constantly astounding. I forget there are books published before, like, 2014 when I got super into reading YA and blogging. FANCY THAT. And, as a blogging community, we do tend to all talk about the new books. What’s just released. What’s coming up. What is shiniest. What ARCs we have. What cakes we ate for breakfast because cake is the new cereal.

(Ok I admit the last thing is off-topic but very important.)

Mostly I don’t think it’s a huge shame if I mostly new books. I have lots of good reasons! And I will slide my list covertly under the table to you because you asked so nicely.

 

• newer books are actually more readily available
• SO many titles go out of print so fast, and this is sad !! but what can one do
• if you’re low on funds —> getting the opportunity to review books for free is super helpful (and obviously this is only for new books!)
• having a blogosphere all excited about the most recent super cool release turns our community into a HUGE BOOK CLUB and this is fun!!
• look i want to celebrate new authors (imagine excitedly and nervously tumbling your work into the world to be met with dead silence?! noooo. here is some cake! and I will flail over you!!)
• new books are shiny and I’m a dragon so what more can I say

I also love reading newer books because they deal with current issues.

Yes lots of old books are timeless. But sometimes I pick up a title published in 2009 and am smacked in the face with really ableist gross language, problematic diversity rep, and tropes I’m 100000% done with (IMMORTAL HOT AGGRESSIVELY MACHO BOYFRIENDS…GO AWAY). The old tropes are existing fair — they weren’t tired back then. But YA has done wonderfully marvellous things with diversity now that it wasn’t doing 10 years ago. And hey…I want to read diverse books.

I want to read about sharp girls and books critiquing the social climate and I want #ownvoices narratives and disabled heroes and POC characters not to be the background people who die off. I don’t want to see Bury Your Gays. I absolutely DO want to read diverse romances and more books written by women.

None of this is to say that older stories are bad! Many are timeless gems. Many are invaluable.

But I do think I’m more drawn to newer books and I’m not ashamed about it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ And if you don’t think cover art has also gotten 10000000 x better and I am 1000000% shallow enough to consider this a viable reason to buy new books — THEN I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO TELL YOU. Still not ashamed for this one, but probably should be tbh.

But here’s the thing: I want to read ALL THE BOOKS and I’m terrified of missing out on a good one: old or not.

So backlist books?! Yes. I still want to read you, even if I’m more drawn to the newer ones. Some I want to read because I’m terribly curious. Some I want to read because they used to be famous and missed that wild hype wave so, excuse me, I need to tagalong 10 years too late.

Now here let me introduce you to (1) backlist books I reeeally should’ve read by now and (2) backlist books I probably WON’T ever read!

Which is also part fo the Top Ten Tuesday prompt: backlist books I want to read! But, ya know, rebel me, I’m doing the inverse as well. I cannot be stopped. *

 

* I mean this is a blatant lie. I can be stopped if you give me left vs right directions because I will have to pause and consider this for like 2 minutes while staring at my hands. Also if you lay cupcakes about, I am forced to collect them. Ergo I CAN be stopped but please don’t tell my enemies.