Thursday, July 20, 2017

BroodyBFF Challenge #6- Contemporary YA Discussion



Today’s blog post is going to be a discussion. The topic is thanks to the #BroodyBFF's Challenge #6- Let's Talk Contemporary!

Honestly I don’t read a lot of contemporary. One look at my review page and you can probably tell that the majority of the novels I read are Sci-fi/Fantasy. Why is it that I avoid the genre so much? I don’t think Contemporary YA really captures anything I have experienced in high school. If I’m going to have to stretch my imagination for the plot, I’d rather it just be in a fake/fantasy setting than in a ‘real’ setting. Contemporary is kind of disorienting in a sense.

I have never felt the urge to randomly interact with a strange guy on the side walk, or at the coffee shop I frequent. I don’t believe in office romances, or falling for your lab partner in chemistry class. Heck we didn’t even have take home group projects in science in high school! (English and History, sure, but not science and teachers always let us pick our own partners. AKA you would never be partnered with Broody.)

High school for me was hanging out with friends, stressing out about assignments and fitting in my violin practice, lessons, and rehearsals into my schedule on top of school clubs. I had a great group of friends, we played instruments, watched movies and anime, and hiked together. Not a lot of drama, which I guess means not much to write a book around unless the climax was the craziness experienced before opening day of a musical.


So yeah, I guess I would just like to see more every day, relatable things in Contemporary books. And not unbelievable, far-flung, romances in a modern setting.



What Contemporary Books could convert me to the genre?


You can check out my fellow #BroodyBFF responses on Twitter




Brooding YA Hero: Becoming a Main Character (Almost) as Awesome as Me 


The BroodyBFF's street team will run from May to November, so check back here at Love at First Write regularly for new challenges and updates, and follow me and @broodingyahero on Twitter to see the hashtags, visual challenges, and #BroodyChats! 

Saturday, July 1, 2017

Month in Review: June 2017


I've decided to start doing monthly recaps; including life updates, upcoming, and book hauls (no more Stacking the Shelves).

Life Updates


This month has been me joining Instagram and becoming a rep for Literary Scents. Literary Scents is a super cute bookish candle and tea shop. You'll find me taking cute pictures of some of Miranda's products over on my instagram and the code FIRSTWRITE10 will get you 10% off your purchases! Guys- her tea literally sparkles. That's right, not only is the tea flavored and themed around your favorite books and characters, it also is full of food grade GLITTER. Perfect to accompany you on your next book read!

I've also been freaking out about grad school applications (whoop whoop), as well as figuring out my internship for next semester and trying to meet up with high school friends for the short time I will be at my parent's. This weekend marks the beginning of a road trip and my return back to campus so I'll be MIA blog-post wise the next two weeks or so as I will not be bring my laptop on the roadtrip. 


Currently Reading



Dark Breaks the Dawn by Sara B. Larson
I got an arc of Defy a few years back and have been keeping tabs on this author since! Swan Lake retelling? YES PLEASE. Picked up this book from the library cause I'm broke- hopefully I finish it today or I'll have to wait a couple weeks to get back to it!

My Posts this Month

Coming Soon

  • More Broody-prompted discussions
  • Review of Goodbye Normal by Lily N. Anderson
  • Review of Oracus by Paul Gaskill (possibly an author interview for you guys too)

 

Book Haul


For Review




Library