what i’ve been watching recently #10

Hello, friends!

Sorry that two posts in this series were so close to each other. I ended up watching a lot of things I wanted to share with you in the past few weeks, but the next one won’t probably be for the next few months, as I haven’t had that much time to watch anything recently, lol.

LUPIN

This super short NETFLIX mini-series gives me both Sherlock Holmes and Now You See Me vibes. I enjoyed it so much, I was mad when I realized there were no episodes left.

I think the show did a brilliant job with the characters by giving them fleshed out backstories through the flashbacks. I loved Assane and while I was familiar with the actor from other works of his, I was surprised by how quickly I sided with him and wanted him to complete his vengeance quest.

I’d only watched the first part of the trailer and I liked that it was a bit misleading throughout the entire 70% of the first episode. I am *super* excited for part 2 and hoping for the best for Assane and his family.

DIARY OF A FUTURE PRESIDENT

This original Disney+ show deserves *so* much more hype than it’s been getting and I really wish that it was airing right now on Disney Channel, as I feel like so many kids would relate and engage with it.

The show focuses on the Cañero-Reed family – the mom, Gabi, who’s starting to date again after the passing of her husband; and the kids, Bobby and Elena, who are both middle schoolers. Bobby is an 8th grader, while Elena just started 6th grade and I liked that because it gave more range to talk about the different experiences throughout middle school.

The show was *so* wholesome and adorable, while still discussing great topics, such as sexuality, racism, social activism and grief. It made me emotional so many times, as I looked back on my middle school year and got sad at how different my experience was from the supportive and amazing system these characters have. If you have kids in your life or you want to watch a show about middle-school experiences, I’d highly recommend this one!

OUTER BANKS

This is the straightest show I’ve ever watched.

And I watch Riverdale.

But, seriously, why is Outer Banks just so PAINFULLY straight? I was so sure that at least one of the main characters was going to be queer, because how could they not, this is 2020. Yeah, didn’t happen.

I enjoyed it so much, though? I liked the fact the characters were different from what I typically watch – they weren’t city kids, but they weren’t country kids either – and the acting/filming surprised me. There were so many beautiful shots, I thought the shaky camera movement during some of the scenes actually added a lot, and the fact the actors were constantly sweaty/dirty/tanned made it more realistic. Plus, the actors had a really natural dynamic on screen.

It’s super action packed and easy to engage with as well, and though I didn’t find myself getting attached to any character in particular (I liked John B a lot, but his dynamic with Sara quickly started to annoy me), I’m still looking forward to season 2.

TO ALL THE BOYS: ALWAYS AND FOREVER

Of course, I needed to talk about this movie. I am a HUGE fan of the To All the Boys trilogy and was anticipating this movie for around a year now. I finished watching it and had to stare at my ceiling for about 20 minutes because I was so overwhelmed, lol.

I really loved it: it was romantic and cheesy, just how I love it; the soundtrack is perfection; I love the friendships and family dynamics; and the conflict was cliché but still done in an interesting way. Still, I have to say I prefer the book.

I think the book just did a better job at wrapping up all the storylines, while the movie struggled a bit. Overall, some changes really bothered me: like where’s Margot’s boyfriend? Stormy? Lara Jean’s birthday celebration? Also, why does the US only have two universties: Stanford and NYU (it didn’t even make sense for her to have Stanford as her option to be “close to home” since it was an out of state university anyway, lol)?

Like I said, I still cried a lot, but I think had it been closer to the book, I’d have enjoyed it more.

Let me know in the comments what have you been watching recently and what are your thoughts on Always & Forever if you’ve watched it!

discussion: why do we have to stop calling books “underrated”? (spoiler: we don’t).

Hello, friends!

I know today’s discussion is probably going to be coming from an “unpopular perspective”, but my experience through Twitter has made me realize a lot of things about the book community. Including that it can be quite annoying, lol.

So, today’s post was inspired by a lot of tweets I’ve seen of people questioning what an “underrated book” really is. And, apparently, people have very STRONG reactions when you use the word “underrated”, lol.

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First and foremost, what is the meaning of “underrated”?

“Not rated or valued highly enough”.

We typically use this word to talk about books that we don’t see enough people praising or hyping up and that we feel like deserve more recognition.

So, here’s how I feel about it. (Pls, feel free to disagree with me in the comments!)

ONE. THE BOOK COMMUNITY IS NOT A MONOLITH

Like any other community, the bookish one is also full of “bubbles”. In the sense that, if you’re in book twitter, your experience will probably be different from if you’re on book tube, or even book blogging.

I know of books that are very popular amongst book bloggers and yet, I hardly ever see booktubers talking about it. An example is C.G. Drews’ books. As a blogger, Cait’s books are very well known within the book blogging community, as well as bookstagram, but not necessarily amongst booktube.

So for people who consume mostly booktube content, it’s possible that they’d have never heard of A Thousand Perfect Notes or The Boy Who Steals Houses.

Not only that, but some creators focus more in one genre than the other. There are some cult-classic adult fantasy out there that I’d never heard about in my life. That, of course, doesn’t mean these books are “underrated” simply because I have never heard of them, BUT it can create the feeling amongst others that this book doesn’t get recognition enough because it’s not talked about in the bubbles I am in. (Which is not the adult-fantasy bubble).

This disparity even happens between countries! There are some titles that were very popular in the US and, yet, were never published in Brazil (where I live), because Brazilian readers are not interested in this type of content. Meaning that, if I was to talk about a book for Brazilian readers, even if it’s very well-known for an American audience, it can be a completely new title for them.

It’s also important to remember that not everyone who reads is in the community actively every day. Some people simply walk into Barnes and Noble and pick up whatever seems interesting to them. And that probably means that the books who are not in the “best-sellers” display shelves probably come across as “underrated” for them, because their metric is not what’s being talked about in social media, but what’s being advertised as popular.

TWO. THIS LOWKEY LEADS TO GATE-KEEPING

Gate-keeping’s definition is “the activity of controlling, and usually limiting, general access to something”.

Even though I’m sure that some people don’t consider this a big deal, I imagine it must be discouraging to tweet about what you believe to be an “underrated” or “not appreciated enough” book just to be made fun of.

The book community should be for everyone, including the people who only read popular books! And if by their definition, this book is not “appreciated enough”, whether that is in their community and following/followers, aka, inside *their* bubble, they should be able to express that without feeling embarrassed.

When I first joined book blogging, I was very scared because I didn’t read enough books, and most importantly, I hadn’t read some really “popular” series (like Throne of Glass, Daughter of Smoke & Bone, The Lunar Chronicles). And, at the time, that was the sentiment: that some series were must-reads and in order to take part in some of those discussions, I felt the need to also read them.

Now that the sentiment has changed, meaning that the book community has grown so much that people have become tired of hearing about the same books and want more “refreshing” and “not as well-known” recommendations, the feeling also changes: now I should *not* be reading the popular books and, instead, turning into something else.

It’s a lot to keep up with.

(I also won’t even get in the discussion that when people say they want “refreshing” recommendations, what they really mean is: “I want a book series exactly like this really popular one but that is not as big”, not *actually* unknown books, such as translated works by marginalized authors.)

Basically: let people say what they want, lol. It shouldn’t bother you this much.

THREE. CHECK YOUR FOLLOWING!

I do understand that some people may feel like the act of having popular books being classified as “underrated” gets in the way of *actual* indie books being talked about in the way they should. But I consider that more a problem with the following and the part of the community you’re interacting with.

If you feel like you’re only being recommended the same books over and over, and even the “underrated” recs are already familiar to you, then perhaps that means you need to refresh your following!

There are a lot of bloggers and booktubers out there who are constantly recommending indie authors/self-published books, or simply books that are less talked about in the community.

(A personal favorite of mine is Ashley @ Bookish Realm, who’s a librarian, and has a lot of recommendations for all different genres/age groups for less-known books).

I think this feeling of frustration from people misusing the word “underrated” could change if people just followed people who then, actually gave them the “underrated” recs they’re looking for.

FOUR. THE “1,000 REVIEWS” IS NOT A GOOD ENOUGH METRIC

I’ve also heard people trying to now coin the term “underrated” to only be used when a book has less than 1,000 reviews on Goodreads.

This metric doesn’t work not only because Goodreads is not ~the~ platform, and there are plenty of people out there who read a ton and talk about their reads online and who still don’t use it.

Our Wayward Fate by Gloria Chao. Despite this book only having 814 ratings on Goodreads, I have 10 friends on Goodreads who either have read it or marked it as to-read, meaning they’ve heard about it. Gloria Chao is actually a well-known author, at least in my online bubble.

A Thousand Fires, by Shannon Price. This book only has 366! ratings on Goodreads, and yet, I remember seeing it in SO many lists of “end of the year” releases back in 2019. So much so, I was intrigued to pick it up. (And I’m not one for reading “””indie””” books).

Let’s Call It a Doomsday, by Katie Henry. This book does have over a 1,000 ratings on Goodreads and yet I hardly ever see anyone talking about Katie Henry, even though I mostly follow people who also talk about YA contemporary a ton. (To compare it to Wayward Fate, only 5 of my Goodreads friends have it marked).

A Boy Worth Knowing, by Jennifer Cosgrove. This one has close to 2,000 ratings on Goodreads, and yet, when I talked about it in my recommendations post, all the comments said they’d never heard of it before. (Only 3 friends have it marked).

Now, of course, that experiment doesn’t really mean anything, as I am comparing it to *my* perspective – aka *my* Goodreads friends, *my* comments, and what *I* see in other blogs. Which just further proves my point that the whole debacle of using or not using the word “underrated” is dumb because every person in the community is going to have a different perspective on what’s popular/what’s not.

Also, there are a lot of books who were particularly popular when they came out (2016, 2017), but are not as talked about today. And it doesn’t mean whatever discussion that book evokes is no longer relevant. So if that means adding a popular book from 2016 into an “underrated books” list, if that will make people more interested in picking it up than if it was a “backlist reads” list, then so be it! “Old” books can still be relevant. (It’s tragic to even think that 2016 books are considered “old”, when that was literally 4 years ago, lol. But that’s a discussion for another day).

SO: what are your thoughts? Do you get frustrated when you see someone talking about a popular book/author being underrated, or you don’t care? Do you think a metric should exist for how we talk about these books? What are some of YOUR personal favorite “underrated” reads? Let’s chat in the comments!

out of comfort zone challenge sign up!

Hello, friends!

For 2021, I really want to make an effort to tackle my TBR and finally pick up some of the more intimidating books I have there, also known as books outside of my comfort zone. I tend to read mostly for comfort, and I still intend on doing that, but I think it can be interesting every once in a while pick up a book that I wouldn’t normally.

That’s why I decided this year to take part in the Out of Comfort Zone Challenge, created by Caro @ Book Cheshire Cat.

Like the name suggests, the challenge is all about reading books outside of your favorite/go-to genre, mine being YA contemporaries. You have a few levels you can choose, depending on how many books you want to read for the challenge, and I thought 10 would be a good one, meaning I’ll aim for the Traveler level.

There’s also a bingo board, and I haven’t decided yet how I’ll do it, I think I’ll share it only on my wrap-up, as my TBR can change throughout the year.

For now, though, I do have a selection of books I’d like to get to to complete the challenge:

SKY IN THE DEEP. This book has been on my TBR for a really long time and it is a viking-inspired fantasy, which is what I’m most intrigued about.

THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS. This one was in EVERYONE’s list of favorites of 2020, and I have high expectations. I do love Romeo & Juliet, and most people I talked about said the fantasy was not super complicated, so hopefully I’ll fly through it and love as much as everyone else.

THE SUN DOWN MOTEL. Me after reading one (1) thriller: I can handle this! Let’s read one more! But in all seriousness, this one was a recommendation that made me intrigued, as it follows two timelines (which I love) and is set in a creepy motel.

THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE. Another one that everyone and their moms loved and said they cried over. I’ve only read one other book by V.E. Schwab before, so I don’t know entirely what to expect, except that it will probably be slow at first.

THE BEAUTY OF THE WOLF. This book’s average rating on Goodreads doesn’t make me hopeful I’ll love it, but I am so intrigued about the idea of a gender-bent re-telling of Beauty & the Beast. It is adult fantasy, though, so definitely out of my realm here.

HILLBILLY ELEGY. Non-fictions are not entirely out of my comfort zone, but I know this is darker than any of the ones I’ve read before. It’s been turned into a movie, but I want to read the book first!

Of course I do plan on reading more, but for now, these are at the top of my TBR anyway, so I hope that the challenge motivates me to finally get to them. Let me know in the comments what’s your go-to genre and if you read any of these books!

monthly wrap up: january, ’21

Hello, friends!

January is already over, which is crazy to think about! I haven’t even fully finished processing December, so that’s an issue. I have a lot to talk about, though!

HIGHLIGHTS

• I gave in to Notion! I had seen so many bloggers and YouTubers talking about Notion, but I never thought it would work for me as I am not exactly a planner and can not keep a schedule to save my life. But I had a lot of notes, especially when it comes to TBR, books I want to re-read, personal projects, etc., and it’s been so much more helpful having everything in one place. I used May’s template and tweaked it to my needs. I definitely recommend it, even if you’re not a *super* planner, it can definitely be useful, especially to keep track of TBRs!

BOOKS I READ

★★★★☆

My first read of 2021 was Tools of Engagement, by Tessa Bailey. While there were some elements of this book I didn’t love – such as Wes’ posessiveness as well as how they’d bounce between having sex talk and talking to a kid way too fast, which made me uncomfortable, lol -, I still found this to be a really enjoyable experience! I liked the exploration of Bethany’s anxiety and how supportive Wes was of her. I am not a fan of age gap romances, but I think this couple was still adorable and fun to read about!

★★★★★

I also did my re-read of Ari & Dante this year, and I am so happy for that. It was my first time listening to the audiobook and I won’t lie – Lin Manuel Miranda was not my favorite narrator. I think because he has such a well-known voice, it kept throwing me off the narrative sometimes, and I didn’t love the hyper excited voice he gave Dante, but it was still an amazing read since it is Aristotle and Dante after all.

★★★☆☆

I finally continued on with the Ember in the Ashes series by picking up its 3rd installment, A Reaper at the Gates. This book felt a bit like a filler when the author was placing the characters where we need them to for the last book. Like I said in my Goodreads review, this one feels like the equivalent of the Avengers Infinity War movie, where we watch all the characters fail for 400 pages straight, which is not exactly engaging or interesting, to be honest. There were some great twists in this one, though, and I hope to enjoy the conclusion better.

★★☆☆☆

Snowflake had been a recommendation I was excited to get to ever since I got a Kindle Unlimited subscription, but I really did not vibe with it. Some of the good parts were that it was unapologetically black and the characters were well written on their own, but I didn’t find they had that much chemistry and pacing-wise, I feel like their relationship evolved too quickly just to have a “hole” in the middle where they weren’t together and then get back at the end. I also didn’t like how the author introduced a love interest by the 80% mark and then never actually resolved the conflicit. It felt rushed and poorly done, which is why I gave it 2 stars.

★★★★☆

Another recommendation had been Go Deep, which is a really steamy and short friends-to-lovers novella. I really liked the fact, despite the short amount of time, the author was able to develop well both of the characters on their own, with their own hobbies and friendships, but also craft their relationship in a believable way. It was also really steamy, so props.

★★★★★

Concrete Rose was one of my most anticipated releases of 2021 and I’m so happy it did not disappoint. I have a full review planned that will be posted soon, where I’ll share more of my thoughts. But I just loved it! Maverick was such a funny narrator, and made me laugh out loud numerous times. This book still discusses very serious topics and I think Angie Thomas did a brilliant job at showing how the things Maverick is going through – becoming a teen dad, joining a gang, dealing – are not separate issues and how they’re all connected, so they need to be treated like so, with context. The side characters were also amazing and while the plot is not action-packed like it was on THUG, I loved it immensely.

★★★★☆

Second Chance Summer was my first Morgan Matson book and I actually really enjoyed it! While the writing was a bit more dense and detailed than I’d like for my contemporaries, I feel like it worked and made me feel very connected to all the characters, not only our protagonist. However, it also made the book quite long, and I definitely think it could’ve been edited out a bit more. Despite that, the author did a great job balancing hard-hitting topics of cancer and grief with more light-hearted moments that made this a perfect summer read. I don’t know if I’ll be picking up more by Morgan Matson, as this was the only one of her books that really intrigued me, but I wouldn’t be opposed to it!

★★★★☆

And, finally, I picked up Miss Meteor, which was so amazingly diverse and fun. Again, this book balanced well the “realistic” portrayal of homophobia, racism and bullying coming from a small white-predominant town, and a refreshing depiction of a friend group where these characters could feel accepted and safe. The sci-fi element also read more as magical realism, which I preferred, but the “enemies” to friends dynamic felt a tiny bit forced. Still, the family dynamics were A+ and each narration had a very distinct voice. The beauty peagant backdrop was also really interesting, and overall, a great time.

ON THE BLOG

January is one of my favorite months for content, as I love reading people’s recap of the past year and setting up goals/resolutions for the new one. These are my favorite posts to read & write and I was also happy to share an original tag this month!

• Favorite Books of 2020
• Goals Recap and 2021 Resolutions
• Julie and the Phantoms Book Tag (Original)

PLAYLIST

Much like the rest of the world, in January I pretty much streamed exclusively drivers license, lol. I love Olivia Rodrigo and was so happy she was releasing a single. I don’t think anyone could’ve anticipated how big the song would become! I also listened to NCT’s new album and Shawn Mendes’ and both were really good.

LOOKING FORWARD

To be honest, the thing I’m looking forward to the most in February is Always & Forever, Lara Jean, lol. My previous job is re-starting in the 1st, and I’m not exactly excited to wake up at 6 in the morning again. I also know the first week is going to be painful, but I gotta push through. Apart from that, I’m hoping the pandemic situation improves, as we’re currently back in lockdown (but for some reason, schools are still opening? I don’t understand either, trust me).

Let me know what you’re looking forward to in February and what was your favorite read you’ve done this past month!

other five things i want to see more of in YA!

Hello, friends!

Last year, I shared this post talking about five things I want to see more of in YA and I realized recently there were a few more I wanted to talk about. I think this would be an interesting topic for others to write on, so I highly encourage you to either share in the comments or on your own posts something you want to see more of in your favorite genre!

ONE. ATHLETE MAIN CHARACTERS

Every single time I watch the Olympics (by the way, I miss the Olympics, anyone else?), I am always amazed by how young some of the athletes are. Most of them are teenagers, and I always wonder how it is for them to live the regular teenage lives – with school, and crushes, and family – and also be an athlete. I’d love for more books to discuss that!

🏈 Books I know with athlete main characters:

I have read Breath Like Water, and while I had a couple gripes with it, I think the author did an amazing job describing the swimming scenes, in a way that didn’t feel overly poetic or overly technical. She found the perfect balance!

I am excited to read All the Things We Never Knew that I do know deals with two main characters who are both basketball players! I understand a lotal of zero things about basketball (literally, I think it’s fun to watch but for the most part I have no idea what’s going on), but I think it can still be interesting to read about!

TWO. THEATRE KIDS

I’ve never been a theatre kid myself, though I did take part in a production once and I was on stage! It was surprisingly easy, and I think it was more nerve-wracking preparing for it than actually doing it, if that makes sense. But my High School Musical fan self has always been interested in the in’s and out’s of theatre and it’s something I’d like to learn more about and see more of!

🎭 Books I know with theater kids:

Loveless had a really fun, modern production of Shakespeare in which the characters grouped a lot of iconic scenes from Shakespeare’s most famous plays together. The banter between them throughout rehearsing was *fantastic*.

Camp had a lot of talk on theatre outside of the plays, and it was such a delightful surprise to see Del taking part in the production later on in the book. It made this even more fun to read!

THREE. MOVIE RETELLINGS

I think any kind of retelling is interesting, whether that is a retelling of a classic or a play or a fairytale, even greek myths. But I find that most of them tend to become fantasy books, which is not my genre, but movie retellings tend to be more palpable for the YA contemporary genre. I am not a huge movie watcher, but there are definitely some iconic stories I’d love to see being explored in book format.

🎥 Books I know of that are movie retellings:

Only Mostly Devastated was a super fun gay re-telling of Grease. I loved how the author crafted the characters and the relationships and the dialogues – I really need to re-read this already!

Letters to the Lost has the same vibe of You’ve Got Mail, as you follow two characters talking to each other through letters but not knowing who the other is in real life. It’s definitely a lot darker and not as much rom-com esque, but it was still such an engaging story.

FOUR. FUN MYSTERIES

I do love myself a mystery of any kind, to be honest, but this is something really specific that I wish more books would explore. So, basically, it’s just a mystery that doesn’t have to involve murders and crimes, it can just be investigating an object that is missing, trying to retrieve a painting, following clues, etc. Basically: give me the fun part of mysteries minus the creepy things, ok? Thanks!

🔍 Books I know of that have fun mysteries:

In Now That I’ve Found You, we follow our main character trying to find her grandma who was a really big movie star back in the 50s through the streets and neighborhoods of New York. The mystery was a bit too easily solved for me, but the concept was very interesting!

In Odd One Out, there’s a side plot of the two characters Rae and Cooper trying to find a once-famous TV show host/star that has disappeared off the face of the earth! It was by far the most engaging plot of the book!

FIVE. BOARDING SCHOOLS – WITH NO MAGIC

Am I literally just against fantasy? I might.

No, but in all seriousness, boarding schools are not just a fun element whenever there’s magic involved! I did not grow up watching Wild Child and Dance Academy on a regular basis for me to find such few stories with boarding schools that are not fantastical. Plus, the dark academia trope is so in right now, we deserve more contemporary boarding school stories.

📐 Books I know of that are set in boarding schools and are not fantasy:

Her Royal Highness is an adorable sapphic romance set in a boarding school in Scotland. It even had boarding school competitions and awkward roommate pairings, so what more could you want?

Anna and the French Kiss is a major throwback, but it was set in a boarding school, and the dorm dynamic constantly made me picture these characters as if they were in college. It was still a lot of fun, though!

Let me know in the comments if you have any recommendations for me based on what I want to see more of and also what are some things YOU want to see more of in YA!

what i’ve been watching recently #9

Hello, friends!

It’s been a while since I last did one of these posts, but the end of the year was a bit slow in terms of watching. I didn’t love most of the things I watch, but I still had thoughts I wanted to share. So, yes, THOUGHTS:

THOR: RAGNAROK

This ain’t a show, but I needed to vent about this movie and this is obviously the perfect place to do so! While I had watched both Infinity War and Endgame, I had yet to watch Ragnarok (yes, I’m chaotic like that).

It’s definitely a good movie and actually funny. The dynamic between Thor and Loki will forever be one of my favorites in the entire MCU, Hulk was a delight, the new characters were all interesting and fun, and it was overall a really good time.

My one complaint is that I really wish they also gave us some deep moments. I know it’s asking too much to any Marvel movie to provide *any* kind of emotional depth to their characters, but they really had it ALL with this one: both Hela and Loki feeling neglected by their father, Thor losing his hammer, Valkyrie’s backstory and alcoholism. I understand they wanted to keep this movie funny and lighthearted, but it’s a shame they couldn’t do that and *also* have their characters be deeper than a kiddie pool. Guess we can’t have it all!

THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT

Look, I’m going to be honest: if this show hadn’t been released in 2020, it wouldn’t have been as successful. If anything, this show being the most-watched one on NETFLIX is a testament that people were really bored out of their minds and willing to watch whatever at this point.

The Queen’s Gambit is not awful, but I definitely don’t think it’s deserving of all the hype. I still liked the characters: Beth is an amazing protagonist and it’s impossible not to root for her, through all her ups and downs. Benny was also a delight and I stand by the fact that Thomas Brodie-Sangster improves 200% whatever he is in.

I just found the pacing to be the weirdest, and the lack of dialogues was also tiring. I think some scenes could’ve been further developed – especially the relationships between Beth and Jolene, as well as Beth and Townes, even Beth and Cleo – and yet, we spent like three minutes in random montages of Beth dancing around her living room per episode. Just seemed like a weird choice to me.

LOVE & ANARCHY

My best friend insisted me to watch this show for the longest time, and while I’m happy to say that I did finish it, I kinda wish I hadn’t.

Love & Anarchy is a Swedish TV show focusing on Sofie, who’s just started this new job at a publishing house. She gets caught wanking in her office by the I.T guy, who’s a lot younger than her, and that kicks off a series of dares they make to each other around the office. I didn’t know this was an age-gap romance, and if I did, I probably wouldn’t have watched it, as it makes me uncomfortable. Sofie was also married, so there’s cheating involved too.

My biggest gripe is that I don’t know what this show even intented to do. Both characters are the stereotype that you expect from them at face value – Max is a 20-year-old something with mommy issues, which is why he goes for older women everytime and Sofie is a sexually-frustrated suburban mom hooking up with the pool boy so she can feel that “thrill” again. I kept expecting that the show was going to actually do something *more* with these characters, but it never did.

The side characters and side plotlines were also pretty boring and the amount of nudity made me uncomfortable. (The guy was cute, though!) This one was a mess and I wouldn’t really recommend it.

TINY PRETTY THINGS

What is something that feels gay and homophobic at the same time?

This show had been highly compared to Élite, which is why I wanted to give it a shot, but ultimately, it didn’t really resonate with me. I think that in this attempt to make the characters “flawed and real”, the show forgot to also make them likable. There was not a single character I did like or care about, and the acting for sure didn’t help with connecting with them.

The dialogue was cringier than Riverdale’s and while I did think it was interesting how they approached certain topics – like eating disorders from a male perspective, loved that, wish they had developed it more -, most of the show was just cliché and fell in the same tropes as Pretty Little Liars or Control Z.

I also really disliked all the romantic plotlines and there was wayyyy too much problematic behavior that went unchallenged. Every episode felt like was written by a different person, with no knowledge of what had happened in the episode before – which is why the characters would be bouncing between friends and enemies with no apparent reason. It was pretty weird.

I promise the future posts won’t be as negative, I’m watching other shows I am now genuinely interested in so hopefully I’ll have better ones to share next time. If you have recommendations, let me know!

the julie and the phantoms book tag! (original)

Hello, friends!

This is my first time ever writing an original tag, which is super daunting, but I hope you guys like it!

Julie and the Phantoms was one of my 2020 saving graces and I was so obsessed with it, I watched it numerous times. So I decided to come up with a book tag inspired on the show (you don’t have to have watched it, in order to answer the tag btw!)

Also, I know Peyton Reads already came up with a JATP Book Tag, and while I definitely encourage you to check hers out, mine is quite different and we didn’t follow the same concepts or had similar questions, so I didn’t think it would be a big deal to share mine too.

As always, if you decide to answer it, please credit me (also so I can check everyone’s answers for my tag, hehe!) And feel free to use the graphics if you want to!

I really did love Sloane, from This Adventure Ends. So many things about this book were amazing, but I really liked how all the characters felt so *real*. Sloane was straightforward and honest, but also had a hard time letting people in. I also related to the way she felt like she had to tone down her obsessions so she wouldn’t come across as “annoying”, and how she never set expectations too high so she wouldn’t get disappointed. Sloane was a really complex character and I really liked and related with her.

I’d argue that Magnus’ is really iconic. This ain’t a spoiler, by the way: Magnus story only starts because he dies, lol. It’s a whole thing, and you’ll have to read to understand. BUT, I was thinking recently about how many memorable and iconic things the Magnus Chase trilogy gave us and how much I want Rick to release more books in this universe because I love everything about it too much.

“Yeah, Luke introduced you to rock” is literally a quote from JATP that makes me go feral no cap.

ANYWAY.

Considering I’ve been kind of a reader my whole life, there wasn’t necessarily one book that “introduced me to reading”. But the Percy Jackson books introduced me to book fandom, so there’s that.

As for contemporaries, I believe the first YA contemporary I read when I was in a biiiiiig fantasy mood was probably Fangirl. At the time, I was mostly reading fantasy/dystopian but I saw someone recommending this book and while it was pretty different to what I typically read, it was so fun I ended up picking several other books like this and here we are now.

Of course I’d have to say Ari & Dante. I really hope that this is a book people remember me for. In fact, recently, I got a message from a friend of mine from high school and we lost contact, but he told me that he remembered about Ari & Dante and immediately thought of me! I love that it is my legacy.

But also Maze Runner. Every single time one of the movies is on TV, my parents remember of me, and I feel happy knowing that they know it’s my favorite thing ever.

Not me wanting to answer Percy Jackson AGAIN.

But, literally though? Absolutely 10/10 my emotional support character, wouldn’t have survived without him.

Also Simon Snow from Carry On. I love Baz (even named my phone after him, funnily enough), but Simon Snow is just a child I must protect at all costs and who also gives me so much *light*.

As a disclaimer: this question is basically for you to talk about what kind of villain you think you’d be. A super sofisticated one? Or the one that lives underground and talks to no one?

I’d probably have like an evil lore behind a bookstore where I’d hide the bodies. Mysterious and quiet. Would only wear capes and gloves. Never makes eye contact, can disappear in the shadows, etc. Kinda like Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa’s love child but villain version.

I have to shoutout The Bromance Book Club. Like I talked about in my best reads of 2020, this book was as fantastic as it was because the banter between the members of the book club is hilarious. Even if the rest of the books in this series don’t appeal to me as much plot-wise, I still think about picking them up just because I know how hysterical and laugh-out-loud funny the scenes with the bromance book club are. I’m not one to read out loud with books, but it was impossible not to do so with this one.

I am not trying to cause controversy by using the word underhyped here, but I haven’t seen as many people I thought talking about Concrete Rose. Considering THUG’s hype, I’m surprised to haven’t seen this book in many 2021 releases and I’m dying of excitement for it.

I also haven’t seen many people talking about This Will Be Funny Someday, and as a Katie Henry stan, I am also *super* hyped. This one is about a girl who is into stand up comedy, and ends up lying to her group of friends that she’s in college when she’s actually a high schooler. *Chaos ensues*.

I think Charming as a Verb is a good example of a book that was able to work through a very popular trope really well.

In this one, we have our protagonist Halti feeling pressured to go to Columbia as it is his father’s dream. Even though the whole “no, dad, this is your dream” thing is suuuuper present in a lot of teenage fiction, I think the author was able to add a new layer by having Halti’s parents being Haitian immigrants, who had a lot of expectations around the “American dream”, that sadly never came true for them, making them project said expectations onto Halti and his potential.

It showed that, for a lot of immigrant kids, their parents dreams also do become their dreams in a sense, in hopes to make them proud and finally achieve what they were reaching for when they moved. It definitely made the conversation deeper and proved to me there’s still a lot of room for these clichés to be done, if done well.

It’s been forever since I last read a real slowburn romance, but Naomi and Nicholas definitely took their tiiiiiime in You Deserve Each Other.

I can’t complain, though! Their tension was the best part of the book by far! While I am not typically a fan of slow burn, I think it worked for this one so that we could root more for the characters and also so the author could have more time to develop them individually. It definitely felt like a reward when they got together!

Both of these characters are by Maggie Stiefvater, so I don’t know if she’s already given her perspective in this, but like:

Cole and Ronan. (Cole from The Wolves of Mercy Falls, Ronan from The Raven Cycle)

In my mind, they’d either love or hate each other. I can definitely see them being friends, with Cole finding Ronan’s snapping funny, and Ronan thinking Cole is an annoying show-off, but ultimately being friends?

Their banter would also be immaculate. Can Maggie Stiefvater write this crossover already?

I didn’t think I had the mental capacity to finish If We Were Villains, but guess what: I did and I even liked it?????

I may have brain cells???? Who could’ve thought.

Not me, tbh.

That’s it, friends! I will be tagging Marta, Lauren, Fiction Fixer and Dezzy (don’t feel pressured to answer it, though!) If you decide to answer it, please tag me so I can see it! And also let me know in the comments a book you didn’t think you’d be able to finish and your villain aesthetic!

2020 goals recap & setting up new year’s resolutions!

Hello, friends!

This is the last post in my 2020 overview and 100% a very self-indulgent one. I don’t know how interesting it will be for any of you to read me talk about the goals I didn’t achieve and whatever resolutions I have for 2021, but if you have yet to set up goals for the new year, maybe this post can be at least inspiring! For the most part, it’s just to hold myself accountable.

Let’s look back to my 2020 goals, and see if I even accomplished anything:

MY 2020 GOALS

1. Read 50 books. ✔️ I actually read 90, and I definitely wouldn’t have accomplished such number if lockdown hadn’t happened. In April alone, I read 12 books, and while most of my year was full of mediocre reads, I am still happy with the overall number and the fact I pulled an overachiever for this one.
2. Learn how to drive. ✖️ Since the pandemic started, most driving ed classes were canceled and, even though they’ve restarted by now, I’ve honestly lost all motivation to sign up for classes. Also, my sister has been driving more frequently, so I can just ask her to drive me places now lol.
3. Believe in my dreams and work towards them. ✖️ Yeah, this didn’t happen, lol. Even though it was such a “broad” goal, I did have specific things I wanted to do, such as get a higher paying job, save money, improve my English, etc., and none of these things happened. I dreamt a lot, though! I literally lived in daydreams this year, since we couldn’t really go anywhere. But, yeah this was a fail.
4. Find a blogging schedule. ✖️ This was another EPIC FAIL! I set up a schedule at the beginning of the year, and I probably stuck with it for like two weeks? I hate not being able to blog consistently, and I know I need to make it more of a habit, but yeah, it’s not going great. It’ll be a new goal for 2021.
5. Do not give up on writing. Or anything. ✔️ Y’all, I DID IT! I spent an entire year without giving up on mostly anything? I mean, I did give up on a few things (even some school assignments which is obv no bueno), but I pushed through many more! And I even completed NaNo, and while I didn’t finish my book (I still have a few chapters to go), the fact I did not give up on my story makes me proud.

So, overall, out of my 5 goals, I completed 2, which is kinda bad, but also considering 2020 and our circumstances, some were out of my reach and I’m not entirely mad at what I didn’t accomplish. (Except the not finding a blogging schedule thing. Jesus, when will I learn?)

Now, it’s time to set up my goals for 2021! I am going to break them down between reading and personal. I also realized I’ll be turning 21 years old, which is absolutely disgusting, and I made myself sad just writing this.

MY 2021 GOALS

READING GOALS

1. Read 70 books. Seeing my Goodreads goal go back to zero is pretty scary, but I want to push myself to read at least 6 books a month, meaning if I do stick to it, I’ll finish 72 by the end of 2021. *crosses fingers*. I really don’t want to lower it!
2. Read at least one black author a month. I had this as a mini goal last year, but didn’t really write it down anywhere, so I ended up not sticking to it for every month. But I want to be more conscious of it for 2021!
3. Finish all my on-going series. At the moment, I do have a few series I need to either catch up on or finish altogether, such as the His Dark Materials trilogy, the Truly Devious trilogy, and the Trials of Apollo.
4. Start a new series! As I finish more, I also want to start a new series. It’s been forever since I last felt myself getting super attached to characters in a series, and I’m debating between The Gilded Wolves and Renegades. Maybe I’ll even start both!

PERSONAL GOALS

1. Solo travel? Not me having a travel related goal for 2021, after a pandemic. But who knows, things can perk up! Edinburgh is my dream destination, however, I also have no money, so I’ll definitely need to save up *hard* in order to make it happen.
2. Find a blogging schedule. ISTG, if I fail this again by the end of 2021, I will have to end it all. It will happen. It shall happen. I will *not* spend two weeks without blog hopping, so I can get super overwhelmed and then skip a bunch of posts and just become a *mess*. I refuse to.
3. Take care of myself. I realized recently how much I neglect myself, and especially my own health a lot. I have pretty bad scoliosis and I haven’t had a check up since I left high school. I also keep my clothes until they’re unusable and I hate spending money in myself. I also am probably the only person to exist who does not have a skincare routine (literally I do nothing but washing my face in the shower lmao). I know I need to be better about it, but it’s something I find very challenging and uncomfortable, so it definitely won’t be an easy one to achieve, but that’s the point of setting these resolutions, right?
4. Don’t give up on things! This was an accomplished goal for 2020 I’ll be carrying onto the new year. Mostly because I am a quitter, not a fighter, lol. So I really want to stick to whatever projects I start, even if things get hard!
5. Finish my WIP! And maybe start a new project? I’ve had a few ideas recently, but I really don’t want to work on anything else until I’ve finished my current WIP. I still have a few chapters to write and I’ve been giving myself a break since NaNo, but it’s time to get back to it so I can say I’ve actually written a novel.

Y’all! That’s it! If you have any reading/personal goals for 2021, let me know them in the comments! Did you do well on your 2020 resolutions? Are you excited to set up goals for the new year or more cautious? Let’s talk!

my favorite reads of 2020!

Oh, 2020.

This mess of a year, who was not what anyone expected. In all fronts, really, because I ended up reading 90 books this year, when I totally did not even think I was going to get to 50.

In the midst of all its craziness, I read a few great titles I am excited to share with you guys. I’ll be keeping the same format of last year, except with different categories this time.

OUTSIDE OF MY COMFORT ZONE

I thought I wouldn’t understand a single thing in this book, and here it is, in my list of favorites of the year. Maybe I do have braincells after all. If We Were Villains is a cult-classic dark academia book, and follows a group of friends who study theatre and get caught up on the mysterious death of one of their members.

I spent a lot of the book waiting for our main character to catch up on thoughts we, as readers, had already predicted. But the twist at the very end left my jaw on the floor.

I loved the way the author built the characterization throughout the narration, and the pacing was absolutely perfect. I also was able to (surprisingly) follow along the way the Shakespeare plays they’re acting also mirror their own circumstances, and I feel like it was done in an incredibly smart way.

BIGGEST SURPRISE

I had such low expectations to Aurora Rising, due to a few mediocre reviews, that I was left shook by how much I actually loved it.

This new sci-fi series by the same authors of The Illuminae Files follows a similar formula: band of misfits on space, full of twists and turns and incredibly action packed. I didn’t think I’d get as attached to the characters as I did, but I *loved* especially Finian, Kal and Auri.

It was quite different from The Illuminae Files, but in a very positive way. One thing I loved was the presence of the alien species, and the development of their culture and dynamic, which was not present at all in the first series, and that was incredibly fun to read about in this one.

I really need to continue on to book #2, and I am incredibly excited to do so, and looking forward to have a new favorite series.

MOST RELATABLE

I don’t think there would be any other answer for this, but Furia. This one is set entirely in the city of Rosario, Argentina, and it follows a girl named Camila who lives a double life: in the field, she’s la Furia, an amazing footballer; in her house, she has to play the perfect daughter and her parents are not even aware of her passion about football.

This book was important to me for a number of reasons. First, it was the first ARC I ever received and I was so excited to read this one earlier, as one of my most anticipated releases. It was also a story that felt so relatable, in every single aspect: the story, the dynamics, the characters. I felt like I could be watching this take place in my hometown.

It was brilliant to read a South-American story, that also had so much drive and strength to it. Camila was a powerful protagonist, whom I absolutely adored; it was disturbing, but also important to read about the different ways women have been failed by Argentinian society; and I loved the football aspect that was the background for so many of the interpersonal relationships. This book was everything I wanted it to be and I’m so thankful I read it.

MY FAVORITE ADULT ROMANCE

I’ve been reading books in the adult romance genre for quite some time, but I had never found one that *truly* made me feel all the things.

The Bromance Book Club was amazing and hilarious. First, it contains my favorite romance tropes: the failed marriage one. Then, it also had a laugh-out-loud cast of side characters who made me so fucking happy to read about. The protagonists were also amazing, and it was a lot of fun reading the “book inside the book”.

I was so stocked to finish this book and realize, apart from a few minor complaints, I had mostly had an amazing time with this novel. I loved the pacing and I didn’t finish it exhausted from the melodrama. I rooted for the couple until the very end and the writing was super engaging. This book basically challenged everything I thought I knew about romances and I am so glad it did.

MY FAVORITE NOVELLA

I’m not sure if Sinner is considered a novella, because of its length, but I still think it is. It was an add-on to The Wolves of Mercy Falls, that I absolutely did not think I was going to love as much as I did.

The best way I’ve found to describe it is: “Where She Went’s L.A. cousin”. Set in California, this one follows Cole and Isabel, as Cole has now returned home to record a new album and a reality show, but mostly to win Isabel back. They were my favorite dysfunctional couple in the original trilogy, and I loved reading more about them here.

The reason why I say this is Where She Went’s L.A. cousin is because absolutely everything I love about that book is in Sinner as well. The discussions of music, the intense protagonist, the angsty relationship, the celebrity expectations…

Even after days of finishing my read, I couldn’t stop thinking about this book, and it’s now December, and I’m still thinking about it. It really was that amazing.

BY A NEW FAVORITE AUTHOR

I have to hype up You Should See Me in a Crown once again because this book really did blow me away. And I need to hype it up as much as I can until it gets turned into a NETFLIX film. Thank you.

This prom-com follows Liz, who’s recently gotten the news she was denied financial aid for her dream school, and decides she’ll be running for prom queen, as the winner gets a college scholarship. Liz is not popular, though, so she’s essentially climbing an uphill battle and getting through a lot of crazy shenenigans as she does so.

I feel like Leah Johnson was able to discuss several different topics, without it ever feeling “too much” or like she was not giving enough time to each one of them. This book talks about friendship, family, disability, anxiety, sexuality and being a woman of color, and the author nailed every. single. aspect, while still keeping it a fun light-hearted read that made me giggle out loud.

This book just really proved me that YA fiction tropes are not “dead” and are not “boring” – they just need to be done right, and they can still work.

FAVORITE NEW-RELEASE

Only Mostly Devastated was a *gift*. I need to re-read this book ASAP because it really had no business being as good as it was.

In this Grease retelling, we follow our main character Ollie, having a whirl-wind romance with this boy named Will, and then breaking up as he’ll be going back to his hometown. However, due to family circumstances, Ollie ends up moving permanently to the city he’d been spendng the summer in, and bumping into Will again in his first day of school. Except, Will is now behaving completely different. *Angst ensues*.

I absolutely adored this novel. From the characters, to the writing. I loved the way the author wrote teenagers that felt *real*: the dialogues were well written, and most importantly, the dynamics between Ollie and his new group of friends felt very accurate to the way I see teenagers interacting. It was definitely a bit awkward and it wasn’t instant friendship, but the development payed off.

The romance was also adorable and Ollie was 100% a chaotic and relatable narrator. I was also surprised by this book’s discussions of grief & family, and I appreciated so much the author for adding such layer.

DESERVING OF MORE HYPE

Not to trigger anyone by using the word “underhyped”, but Camp was a 2020 queer release that I feel like mostly flew down the radar of a lot of people. And it absolutely should not, because this was one of the most original and well-crafted stories I’ve read in a while.

Our protagonist here is Randy, but this summer, he’s Del. After going to this queer camp for several summers in a row, Randy has developed a massive crush on Hudson, but Hudson only ever dates masculine, butch guys. So Randy decides to “play a character” in order to get Hudson’s attention, and become Del. I was already stocked to read this synopsis and realize the author was probably going to make a critique of toxic masculinity within the queer community, and I pretty much could predict where the story was going to take us.

Except L.C Rosen did *so* much more than my tiny brain could’ve ever seen coming. This book challenges so many different queer stereotypes and, ultimately, sends off an incredibly positive and uplifting message that there is no point getting caught up in boxes, because queer-ness can mean whatever it means to you.

I loved pretty much all the characters, the theatre shenenigans, the camp’s queer history lessons, the sex positivity… Overall, this book delivered SO much, I really need more people to read it.

BEST BOOK OF 2020

I don’t think this will come as a surprise if you’ve been following me at all, but my favorite book of the year was one I read back in February, and that is Call It What You Want.

I’ve since picked up every single other contemporary by Brigid Kemmerer, but none held up to the awesome-ness of this book. Following the perspectives of two high school social pariahs, Meg and Rob, this book introduces us to a complex and rich cast of characters who all kinda suck, but in a way that just makes you like them even more.

When I say I like morally grey characters, this is what I mean, and this is what I want to see more of. Not the same badboy with daddy issues type of guy. But characters who are incredibly complex, and who make bad decisions in name of human emotions, but also learn from their mistakes and work to be better.

It’s hard for me to convince people to read this book, because the premise in its core may not seem that interesting. I just hope y’all trust me when I say that this book made it practically impossible for me to give any other 5 star this year and it pretty much ruined my standards. I love him for it, though.

Let me know: what was the best book you read in 2020? Have you read any of these titles? If so, what are your thoughts? Let’s chat in the comments!

the disappointing reads of 2020! (& extra rom-com recs)

Hello, friends!

Merry Christmas, if you celebrate it! I hope you’re having a lovely day. As a Grinch, I of course had to choose the happiest day of the year to share my least favorite books I read in 2020. Last year, I decided to match my least-favorite reads with lyrics of songs. This year, I decided that for every bad book, I’ll be recommending one of my favorite rom-coms, because, well, yes.

(As a disclaimer, I am aware I have titles in this list by authors of color/featuring BIPOC characters. So, this is not me telling you to not support an author of color and watch this white rom-com instead. I am literally just recommending rom-coms I like to make this post more positive, instead of just focusing on the things I disliked).

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Loveboat, Taipei was just an incredibly frustrating story. Mostly, because I hated all the characters: the main character who never truly took responsibility for her actions and acted like everyone else around her “drove” to do the shit she does; the two points of the love triangle that were just so one-dimensional and annoying; and the friends who were just the worst. The author tried to do a lot, but ultimately, most topics felt underdeveloped. I also recommend this video, from an own-voices reviewer, that also touches in some of the problems with the representation, because even though this is an own-voices story, it’s not free of issues.

💕 For this one, I want to recommend Diary of Bridget Jones, because it makes a better job *in my opinion* of a love triangle with a “bad boy” and a “good guy”, where both options don’t seem the best at first, but the characters are well developed enough.

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The Upside of Falling was pitched as a fake-dating story, which is already enough to convince me, but the fake-dating element made *no sense* whatsoever. None of these characters had strong enough motivations to accept being in a fake-dating relationship for starters, and the development felt so cheap because of that. Both were also big clichés – the bookworm and the jock -, and apart from discussing different family dynamics (one of our main character has divorced parents), it really didn’t do much for me at all.

💍 As a much better fake-dating story, we have The Proposal – where our main character has to pretend marry her assistant in order not to get deported. It is hilarious and the romance is *actually* believable!

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I Was Born For This was my least-favorite read and probably biggest disappointment of the year. I ended up DNF-ing this book, even though I believed I’d love it. I am a huge boyband fan myself, but ultimately, I just feel like this book had an overwhelming negative portrayal of what fan culture actually is and it made me feel awful about myself. Especially considering Alice Oseman is such a young author, I definitely didn’t expect that this book was going to send the same messages my 40-year-old uncle, that I “should not like this band, because they don’t even know I exist”, lol.

🎤 Stuck in the Suburbs is actually a D-COM, but it counts, since it’s my list. It doesn’t have much of a romance element, and is rather about friendships and being true to who you are. It also pokes fun on the idea that teenage fans are all immature, which was refreshing.

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Considering how much I loved other titles by Brigid Kemmerer this year, More Than We Can Tell really was a disappointment. This was another title that tried covering so many topics, but didn’t have enough time to develop all of them. Both of our mains lacked a lot of communication skills and emotional intelligence, and I don’t think they actually learn much about those in the course of the book. It made their perspectives particularly frustrating to read about. I also feel like they would’ve worked much better platonically, than as an actual couple, as they didn’t have much chemistry at all.

💔 The Break-Up is what Marriage Story wanted to be, and that’s the tea. It shows very well how people need to be good and ready as individuals, before they can be good to each other in a relationship, which is what I missed in More Than We Can Tell.

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I had heard a lot of mixed reviews on History is All You Left Me, so this wasn’t a huge disappointment, but I still wanted to like it more than I did. I found the first half to be interesting, but Griffin was possibly the most unlikableprotagonist I ever read about. Not only that, but all the conversations and flirting had to involve pop-culture like, you know, a millennial would, a love interest is introduced as a “plot twist” which was terrible, and the discussion the author tried to have around the only female characters who our protagonist knew was incredibly poorly done.

🍅 I don’t have any gay rom-coms to recommend, but since I read this book for the Latinx readathon, let me recommend you a Latinx rom-com. Rich in Love is a NETFLIX original set in Brazil and it’s hilarious, adorable and the side characters are all so great as well.

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bitch

I had also heard mostly negative reviews for A Thousand Fires, but decided to give it a shot anyway, because I hate myself apparently? My biggest gripe with this book was that it felt like a Divergent knock-off: the gangs were like the factions, the dynamic our main character had with her love interest was literally Tris/Four and even some scenes felt similar! There was a lot of potential for the author to talk about serious topics – such as how financial inequality and community neglect lead people to join gangs, as well as how this problem disproportionally affects communities of color, but it was a very surface-level YA book.

💃 As a movie that I feel like did a good job at both being a light-hearted story and discuss serious issues at the same time, I have to shoutout Step Up – the original, that started it all, and makes me cry everytime I watch it.

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the shape of y

While Breath Like Water did some aspects – mostly the ones surrounding the main character’s passion for swimming – really well, the actual romance was a let down. I never truly felt the chemistry between the protagonists, the presence of the side characters felt forced (especially the parental dynamic) and the ending was by far one of the most unsatisfying things I’ve ever read. Plus, the book could’ve been *a lot* shorter.

⛸ Following a protagonist who finds out a passion for figure skating, Ice Princess is a classic for a reason and does a good job with the romance, despite it being a very small layer of the story.

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That’s it, friends! Let me know your least favorite read of 2020 or a rom-com you recommend for me to check out!