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 …

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 …

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 …

Problematic vs. Plot: When Bad Things Happen & People Act Badly, but It’s a Consequence of the Book

This is a topic that I've never seen discussed, but has been on my mind a lot recently. I'm bringing this up after seeing some controversy last month over a recent science fiction novel release, Hullmetal Girls by Emily Skrutskie, which I'll be taking examples from, but this applies to a wide variety of novels who have …

A Discussion on BooksForTrade & How It Fits into Inclusivity in the Community

Last Tuesday I posted a short skit/screenplay thing I wrote about #booksfortrade that I hoped was a more humorous, different take of opening up the discussion for today's post! (If you haven't read it yet, you can find it here! It's a good precursor to this discussion, but I do admit it's probably not necessary …

Me, Scrolling through #BooksForTrade: A Screenplay

I admit, right now it's 8:47 the night before this post is supposed to air, and at this time, I have no idea what I'm writing about. So, why not make a humorous, somewhat salty screenplay highlighting the #booksfortrade hashtag on Twitter? I'll talk more in depth about some of the topics I'm trying to …

Things that Are Iffy to Me in the Book Community (From a Teen’s Perspective)

Alright, look. You know the sayings about kids being overly honest or whatever? Well, this is an instance where I'm calling you adults out. #sorrynotsorry Even though I'm a teen, not technically a "kid," teen books still falls under #kidlit so teenagers must still qualify as kids. Semantics. Anyways, sometimes things in the book community are …

Should I Add a Wattpad Book to Goodreads?

If this post ends up being too long and there's only one thing you want to take from it, the answer is NO. Now, for the elaboration & nuances to this answer (because the real answer is actually a little more elaborate and not so cut & dry), here's some of the thinking behind it. …