So. Your Favorite Books Are Problematic. Now What?

It has definitely been a while since we've had a nice solid discussion, and in the year 2019, I've taken the time to really think about why I write or why I wrote discussion posts. I've taken down a few from last year, and reread others, and in 2019, I want to do better. And …

Bookish Acronyms 101: A Book Community Beginner’s Guide to the Lingo!

Sometimes when I talk on Twitter (or even this blog!) I get questions about the abbreviations I use, so I thought I'd make this list to help newbie bloggers & book community members get acquainted with some of the terminology! It'd be a total pain typing out the words "Young Adult" every time I write …

On Classics, YA, and High School English: Why Teens Avoid Classics

With the whole "Book Opinion" thing on Twitter last month (if you were on near the holidays, you know what I mean), there's been a lot of hot takes on classics and the classroom and how they apply to modern teens. And so, I'm here to bring a little perspective as a modern high schooler …

Writing ARC Requests + Why It’s a Dying Art

I think you all probably know that I have had shockingly little success with writing ARC requests, despite me being lucky enough to receive a lot of ARCs in general. If you haven't read my transparency post about stats (find it here!), I talk a little bit about requesting physical ARCs and my success rate. Which …

Bookish Musings & Discussion Time // “How Objective are ARC Reviews?” by Vicky Who Reads

I wrote a thing! If you want to read my thoughts on ARC reviews & if they're objective, check out my guest post on Lily's (Sprinkles of Dreams) blog! I touch on four reasons why I think ARC reviews seem more positive than regular reviews, as well as a bunch of other topics on the …

The Double Standard Applied to POC in the Book Community

This is a post largely inspired by what went on with Tomi Adeyemi and Nora Roberts. If you're not familiar with the situation, that's fine. If you are, please don't bring mob drama to my doorstep. Because although this post draws on what happened between Tomi Adeyemi and Nora Roberts, there is a bigger takeaway …

The Many Ways YA Books & The Community Isolates Teens

I think (I know) some people will probably disagree with me on this, but a fundamental assumption made in this post is that first and foremost, YA's audience are teens ages 13-18. This isn't supposed to be a "adults can't read YA!!!" post, nor is it supposed to argue who YA is for. I'm telling you …

It’s Been More Than a Year–So What’s Changed?: A Transparency Post feat. Stats & (Too Much?) Honesty

When I asked about whether people wanted to see this post, I definitely didn't understand just how much personal information it would involve. I spent a while thinking about whether I wanted to share a lot of very real, very solid numbers, because there are a lot of ways people could react. (Also, I contemplated …

Murder? No Biggie!: The Desensitization of Murder in Young Adult Literature

Death. Destruction. MURDER. It's all just a day's work...right? WRONG. Murder & violence in young adult fiction is something that's becoming increasingly more common (especially as characters in books become more and more mature yet remain the same age--another post on this next month), but it seems to shock readers less and less. Yet, as …

An Open Letter to Anyone Who Reads Reviews

Honestly, today's discussion is pretty straightforward and can be boiled down into one phrase (at the end, of course), but I still feel the need to emphasize certain points for any person who reads reviews. There's a whole entire community (aka the book community) dedicated to books and also reviewing books and reading reviews. And this …