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Listener's Unpopular Bookish Opinions | S3Ep2
648 Plays2 years ago
This week we air out our listener's unpopular bookish opinions! We discuss if we agree or disagree with your hot takes on 3rd act break ups, book ratings, and more! Huge shoutout to everyone who submitted as we couldn't get get through them all.
Follow us on instagram @BringYourOwnPod
Follow Brandi @Brandos.Books
Follow Kendra @Kendra.Readz
Follow Kayla @Kaylas.Bookshelf
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Transcript
Introduction and Topic Announcement
00:00:15
Speaker
Hi guys, you are listening to bring your own and catch all bookish most of the time podcast. I'm Brandy. I'm Kendra.
00:00:22
Speaker
I'm Kayla. And today we are talking unpopular bookish opinions. Now during season one, a couple of seasons ago, we did our own unpopular bookish opinion where we each brought one and just talked about those kind of at length. But this time we wanted to hear what you guys had to say. So we put out a poll on our socials and asked you guys to tell us your unpopular bookish opinions. And there were so many good ones. We picked a few that we're going to chat about today.
Current Reads and Drinks
00:00:52
Speaker
But before we get into that, ladies, what are you reading? What are you drinking? I am drinking water because I didn't run my dishwasher last night and my coffee pot was in my dishwasher so I couldn't make coffee and I didn't want to hand wash it. And then I am reading. I started the partner plot. Thank you, PRH Audio for the advanced audio arc. We love you guys. We love you guys.
00:01:20
Speaker
Please let us stay We would love it Because for those of you who aren't listening who are who are listening PRH audio runs your influencer program like the fucking army Oh my god, like you have to like be on it. So we're just like, okay, like I'll use it. I promise It was right me
00:01:44
Speaker
But we love them so much. And like, I discovered that you're not through them. So like, truly, thank you so much. Because like, if I wasn't in this program, I would have probably never read that book. So I'm listening to that started last night. And then I also started Woke Up Like This by Amy Lee. Is that how you pronounce your last name? It's Amy Lee. I'm only like five, four or five chapters in. It's I think it's like a 13 going on 30 type esque book where this girl is going to I'm not there yet, but I know she's going to eventually wake up
00:02:14
Speaker
like however many years in the future and be married to this guy that like she can't stand right now in high school. And so I'm excited
Millennial Culture in Books
00:02:21
Speaker
to get there. It's very, um, you can tell that a millennial wrote this, but not in like a bad way. Like, like the references are strong, but they're in high school. So I'm like, all right, like,
00:02:37
Speaker
but everyone looks like a celebrity and like, oh, he looks like Noah Centineo. He looks like Noah Centineo. Ewie, I hate that. But it's like, it's like not bad. Like, I don't know. It's not like super bad. Like the way she describes it. Cause it's like, she's aware of it. I feel like, I don't know. I don't know. But yeah, that's what I'm currently listening to and reading and drinking.
00:03:01
Speaker
I am currently listening to Swift and Saddled by Lyla Sage. Again, thank you Penguin Random House. I'm sorry. No, I'm laughing at you being like, again, thank you Penguin Random House. Again, thank you Penguin Random House audio. We love you so much.
00:03:20
Speaker
It's like, it's stressful because it's my favorite influencer program to be a part of. And it's genuinely the most stressful one because they're like, you better post.
00:03:33
Speaker
So I'm listening to that and it's Teddy Hamilton and Vanessa Edwin. And I think Teddy Hamilton is the most in his bag when he is doing, you know, small town romances. So this suits the casting quite well. I like this one more than done and dusted.
00:03:50
Speaker
Yeah, having fun. Did you say what you're drinking? Oh, so true. I am drinking a corma latte. I'm drinking water same as Kendra hydrated Queens today. I'm also listening to the partner plot by Christina Forrest. Thank you so much PRH audio.
00:04:15
Speaker
Um, you're great. Love you. Please don't kick me out. Um, and then I am also today, um, starting on my Kindle, a highly anticipated read from Ms. Kendra. She's been waiting for me to finally read it. Wait, is it clock or angel? Holy shit. You're reading it physically. I am. Ooh.
00:04:39
Speaker
No, I'm just I'm excited for you. I just was expecting audio. Was there like a reason why? Um, I truthfully, it's just because I wanted to read something on my Kindle and I didn't have anything on my Kindle. I think you do a lot of fantasy physically, too. Yeah. And like I there are so many audio books right now that I would like to get through. And I wanted to get to this book as well. So I was like, let me just do this on Kindle.
00:05:08
Speaker
I'm trying not to be annoying about it, so I'm leaving her alone. Yeah. I sent her a picture of my Kindle library the other day with it on there, and I was like, hmm, that's crazy. I don't know what to read next. And I was like, well, I'll just keep my mouth shut.
00:05:24
Speaker
But if you need help pronouncing anything, like, no, she has to send me updates. I'm just not going to be like, have you read? I know. I'm just saying, like, if you want to send any unfiltered updates, let me know. No, they can. No, they can be unfiltered, too. Like, no, you cannot take this reading experience away from me. I've been waiting so patiently. I would just love them as well, is all I'm saying. Send them to the group chat. There you go. Period. Send them to Trillian hates sister vibes.
00:05:52
Speaker
Thank you. It's been our group chat name for like two years. For a bazillion years. We can name it after my dog. I don't know if it's ever changing at this point. It's been Julien. Oh yeah, we'll just say Julien. Now he thinks I'm talking to him. Shall we chat some unpopular picture opinions? Let's do
Audiobooks as Reading and Tropes Discussion
00:06:07
Speaker
it. First we want to say that we also got like
00:06:11
Speaker
Just to quickly rapid fire some ones that we already agree with, and I think that you guys know, audiobooks 100% count as listening. We got that a lot. We also got pregnancy trope is great. You guys already know on this podcast. We are pregnancy girlies. In this house, we are, as Brady told Elsie Silver once, we are pregnancy girlies. So pregnancy trope girlies, we love that trope. So just wanted to get those.
00:06:37
Speaker
out of the way. And then just to like touch back on, if you want to hear us talk more about our unpopular opinions that we brought, you can go back to our episode in season one. I talked about specifically the pregnancy trope and I talked about it kind of at length. Kendra, you talked about flowers on covers. Starting to revolution. I get sent so many. Yeah. And Kayla, you talked about love triangles. Yes. Oh, my God. Wait, you're going to love infernal devices.
00:07:05
Speaker
Bro, she's gonna fucking eat that shit. Thank you. Okay, anyways. So if you want to hear us talk like at length about those three things, please feel free to go back and listen to our other episode. But today is about your guys' unpopular bookish opinions. We had people submit their unpopular opinions two ways so they could submit them on Instagram to us.
00:07:29
Speaker
um publicly like we could see your at names and if you did that we will be reading your at name and then you could submit them anonymously and we got a few that were sent anonymously and again we got a lot so we won't get through all them today but we'll probably do a part two and get through the rest but who wants to take the first one guys
00:07:46
Speaker
Oh, I'll start. So we got a lot of ones surrounding the third act breakup or just the miscommunication trope in general. So I'm not going to read them all, but I think this is a good summarization. This one that we got from anonymous.
00:08:03
Speaker
says the no third act breakup trend has led to a ton of books with zero story structure whatsoever. Books need conflict or they're just a collection of scenes. The climax should be about the main plot line and not some random thing that was mentioned like twice before. Agreed. And that's from anonymous. And I don't disagree. I don't disagree. Do you know what's so interesting to me is like
00:08:25
Speaker
I feel like authors saw people saying, I hate that they're breaking up for no reason. Like this isn't realistic. This isn't a real reason that they would break up. And instead of doing the work to find a realistic conflict and like a true to like real life thing that people in love are going through, they're just like, well, how about this? How about we kidnap your baby? Yeah. We're going to kidnap their baby. Oh, um, like you're fucking like,
00:08:53
Speaker
Oh, my God. You're the fourth person in this town to get shot within the calendar year. But nobody dies. Sometimes couples need to break up. Sometimes that has to happen. Or a conflict could even just be like a big fight. Like I've read so many really great romance books where there is a huge argument. But you know, these people still love each other. And it's a fucking romance book. We know they're going to end up together. So like you can have them get into big, realistic, true to life fights.
00:09:23
Speaker
and not break up like if you are truly truly have your heart set on the fact that they're not going to break up then give us something give us something i'm so sorry i'm making up this series all the fucking time but i always go back to the simple
00:09:38
Speaker
Seriously, and wild at heart, there is a huge conflict that happens. Although I guess they don't necessarily break up. There is a massive fight that they both have. And Kendra literally rereads it every single day. It's such a good scene.
00:09:56
Speaker
Yeah, that one I also think of like out on a limb where the conflict is them trying to figure out how they're going to be parents. You know what I mean? There isn't one huge massive breakup or anything like that, but it still felt like cohesive and there wasn't a kidnapping or an armed robbery or a ransom situation.
00:10:19
Speaker
Oh my god, can you imagine? What would have been the most out of left field thing? The book Jasperville would have been 10 times better if there wasn't a random like active shooter like imagine if they just broke up because their personalities like weren't jamming and like they weren't so like she had a reason to break them up but no let's just go shoot up a hotel
00:10:42
Speaker
Oh, that pissed me off so bad. Like, what the fuck? Anyways, surviving Quincy Montana will be out on Hulu. We talk about that all the time. Wild. So we agree with you, Anonymous.
Miscommunication in Romance Tropes
00:10:58
Speaker
Yes. I don't think there needs to be like a huge, there needs to be a conflict. We agree with that. But if you're a dead set on not having them break up, which we think that sometimes they should break up,
00:11:10
Speaker
then you need to put in the work to find something realistic and true to the book. I think yeah, the miscommunication trope, especially where it like becomes very silly is just when there are two adults that simply just aren't actually talking to each other. Yeah, that's really where it becomes frustrating. I think miscommunication gets paired with other tropes where it doesn't make sense. So like I think in like a fake dating book,
00:11:32
Speaker
Like it's that when it becomes so frustrating because I'm like, you guys literally were able to sit down and talk about and plan how you're going to fake date and like trick all these people, but you can't talk about your feelings. That's when it becomes super frustrating. Yeah. It's like, oh, like he has had like an avoidant communication style this entire book and like y'all's plot is like something else. Like miscommunication makes sense then. Yeah.
00:11:54
Speaker
I also think people hear things on like book talk specifically and it takes one person to be like, I don't, yeah, I don't like miscommunication and they got 10,000 likes in my videos and someone else was like, Oh, I don't like miscommunication too. Wait a second. Does this have any miscommunication? I can't stand his communication. Literally.
00:12:12
Speaker
And then it just, it goes from there. That's why I'm saying, like, I know we said we weren't going to go into detail about the pregnancy trope, but that's why I'm like, you bitches haven't read a good pregnancy trope. If you're still saying that in the year of our Lord 2024 that you will refuse to read a pregnancy trope book.
00:12:26
Speaker
Obviously there are extenuating circumstances where people have like things in their lives or whatever. Even me saying that makes me think that girl who's like the bean soup girl, do you know what I'm talking about? Where this person was like, they made, they're like, this is a bean soup, 15 different kinds of beans. They're doing the recipe. And then this girl was like, I go to the fucking comments. And somebody said, what if I don't like beans? Oh, yeah. I don't get to eat the soup. What do you mean? Anyways.
00:12:53
Speaker
I just truly believe that there are some people who haven't even tried stuff. And like you said, it's just trendy to say that they don't like something. Yeah. Okay. I'll do the next one. Um,
Surprise in Micro-tropes and Marketing
00:13:04
Speaker
Oh my God. Uh, another a non, uh,
00:13:09
Speaker
I'd rather be surprised to read about micro tropes in books than see all them listed before reading. Example, tell me it's a romance, grumpy sunshine, etc. But if there's a one bed trope, he takes care of her when sick, etc. I'd rather not know to experience the story better than have high expectations.
00:13:31
Speaker
you disagree i don't disagree oh sorry double negative there when i first read that one i thought about the fact that one of my top reads of the year last year
00:13:42
Speaker
I, this video had gone viral posting about something that happened in this book. So I was like waiting for it, waiting for it. And it was like the final act of service in the whole book. And it was like this huge reveal. It was like the secret thing. And it was, I'm not kidding you guys within the last 10 pages. I was so fucking pissed that that moment was taken from me. Like that reveal of that. Oh my God. It infuriated me.
00:14:09
Speaker
That's why I love when we have authors on, we always ask them, is there a moment from the book that you don't want being spoiled? But now it's just a marketing thing, too. That Tessa Bailey book, the viral, because the graphic had, oh, touch her and you'll die, or whatever. One thing that's really starting to bother me when I see those is if I see that he falls first. And granted, I know I'm a victim of this, because I will get on TikTok and be like,
00:14:38
Speaker
this book like it's just how like it works but like I myself I'm starting to hate when I see that shit cuz I want to be surprised all my favorite last year I probably went in with like zero to no expectations and just vibed and that was ten times better than like knowing everything
00:14:54
Speaker
Yeah, I think this is just a result of, I mean, yeah, just book talk, social media, in general, overconsumption, just people being sold strictly on tropes from a book. Now, granted, I can be guilty of that too. Like, you know, I've gotten really into the habit, like I've said before, of not reading descriptions. And usually I will go in knowing
00:15:16
Speaker
a vague idea like what maybe I'll know what the trope is but that's usually it but yeah I think a lot of people just like when you when you see an author announce their book now again it's the Tessa Bailey thing where they have the cover with the arrows pointing at the different tropes like that's how people market their book now because people want to know what are the tropes in this book and they just base their decision of reading that book off of that
00:15:41
Speaker
And that's, again, that's not necessarily bad. It's just a result of what Anon said.
00:15:49
Speaker
I think that can also even, we could speak to a larger issue, which we don't have to talk about right now for the sake of time, but like of authors writing two tropes. Yes. Instead of two a story. You know what I mean? And like, I don't want to become one of those like Twitter who's like, book talk is ruining the reading market. But yeah, I think there is, especially which we talked about on our last episode, Kendra specifically was mentioning that like the like authors can slow down. They're allowed to slow down in writing books.
00:16:20
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, we're losing we're losing recipes. And that's why like, yeah, yeah. Okay. Next
Clichés in Small Town Romances
00:16:28
Speaker
one. I love this one. Some small town romances don't need a single dad who calls his girl a good girl. That was submitted by our friend Haley at Haley's house. Like calls his partner good girl.
00:16:42
Speaker
Yeah. While being a single dad and also having a child himself. I think she just means the idea of like, oh, every small town in America has a hot single dad who's calling his, you know, significant other good girl. Much younger nanny. Yeah. Shut the fuck up. I get it.
00:17:00
Speaker
Yeah, I think it also just like, I mean, it's fun to daydream about that stuff, of course. But like, my parents grew up in small ass fucking towns. And anytime I went to visit my grandparents, like, you're not finding a Kate Eaton in those towns. I'm sorry. Not a chance. Also, like, I think about like,
00:17:20
Speaker
any grown man calling me that, and I just get the ick, so. And it doesn't work all the time with some of these small town guys, because it's just like, you're like a normal, regular, regular ass person. It has to serve the character. Ass civilian. Act like it. No, literally act like it. Along that same line, I don't think there always needs to be a nickname in books, in romance books. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:17:46
Speaker
Like I'm fine with like a good old-fashioned like babe every once in a while. Like it doesn't have to be like starlight McMuffin, you know, I Like it better when the nickname is just like a version of their name but shortened I think that's just like way better or it's like the opposite where like exactly and they're gonna call them their time. That's so cute I love that but like some random ass like hey firecracker. Shut the fuck up like
00:18:17
Speaker
Some of them are a fucking mouthful. I'm like, that's not a nickname. That's a long name. Like, what are you talking about? I have a question. So we all like Reckless was all in our top 10 books of the year last year. We love that book. Do you guys like tank? I mean, you have the infamous one from what's her name? Mariana Zapata and all roads lead here when he called her buddy.
00:18:41
Speaker
No, no, no. Because of the elf? No, no, no. For like, good old fashioned meatball, Mariana Zapata is the biggest offender of horrendous nicknames. I love to buy it so much, I just chalked it up to him being like a corny old dad. Like... No.
00:18:56
Speaker
If it was any other man, I'd be like, oh, I want a loser. But it's him. I'm like, oh, guys. And luckily he had another nickname for her, too, which is Angel. So, like, it worked. Why did he need two? That's like what most people don't even have one nickname. You know what I mean? Right. What are you? What are your family's nicknames? Like my mom and dad call me Kennypoo. My family calls me B, which is why I don't let Daniel call me B.
00:19:19
Speaker
I don't have any nicknames. The only person that has ever nicknamed me is my childhood best friend, and she did call me Red. She called me Red. Hey, Red. Oh my god. You're like, that is a romance. That is a real thing. That is a real thing. I will say that. All right. Are we ready for the next one? Yeah, let's do it. OK. Our next one is from Hey Loves Books, our friend Haley. Different Haley. Friends to lovers. Different Haley, yes.
Friends to Lovers Trope and Slow Burn
00:19:44
Speaker
Friends to Lovers is boring. False. We disagree. Yes, I do disagree. Overall, I think it can be. Sure, just like any trope can be done poorly. But I don't think overall that it's boring. I wonder if people who don't like Friends to Lovers also are not a fan of a slow burn. Potentially. I do see, I think,
00:20:13
Speaker
I've seen this issue before. A lot of the times I saw this with people we meet on vacation by Emily Henry. People were like, you're telling me that you've been friends for this long and you've never once thought about being together. That type of thing. I think a lot of people find issue with that. But that's the best part about friends and lovers is that they have thought that all the time.
00:20:35
Speaker
Right. I know you're not saying that. I just think people find it unrealistic that they haven't done anything about it for that long.
00:20:43
Speaker
My question to those people is, have you made out with every friend that you've thought about making out with? Because I have lots of friends that I've thought about making out with that I haven't. And maybe if we did make out, we'd fall in love. Exactly. So I hard disagree. I think watching two people who already love each other fall in love in a different way is one of the best things you can do in a romance book. The next one is from our friend Bryn at B.
00:21:12
Speaker
How do you say it? I don't want to say your at name. It's B due. B due reads. That's Brent.
Character Archetypes and Fatigue
00:21:20
Speaker
Okay. She said, no hate, but all the Adam driver MMCs are starting to drive me nuts. I agree. Hard agree.
00:21:31
Speaker
Our friend Gracie has a book talk bingo card where she just like tries to get bingos off a discourse. It's so fucking funny. She's at Grapey Del Taco. You should follow her. But one of her little boxes is Reylo at the scene of the crime. I thought that was so funny and I hard agree.
00:21:52
Speaker
Also, I'm just like, they are so like okay with changing Daisy Ridley's appearance. But I'm like, you guys can also then change like his appearance too. They like just make that so obvious. Do you think Jack Smith Turner was originally out of driver? No, someone commented and told me that it was like a different like it's still Star Wars, but like it's a different like ship. Yeah. Okay. Interesting.
00:22:21
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's also like, I don't know, for me, if I start to, if somebody tells me that they're based on Adam Driver, that I can't picture anybody but Adam Driver, and I don't want to picture Adam Driver for every single book I'm reading. Sorry. I know. Yeah, same. Like, how many times have you been victim to where you started to read a book and then somebody told you that it was based off of Reelofin? Only a couple. I didn't know that you, again, was initially
00:22:47
Speaker
uh, Reylo fan fiction. I think it, maybe you told me kept her. Somebody, you guys told me I would not have known, which is silly. Obviously you look at a cover. Yeah. Oh yeah. I mean the book coming out, then another, uh, the other book coming out by Julie Soto this year, not another love song cover is amazing, but that was really obvious. Obviously that was literally not.
00:23:11
Speaker
I don't think that one's as bad. I don't think that one's as bad. Oh, on the cover? Yeah, he looks like half Asian at least. But the same thing happened when Jessica Joyce dropped that fan art for you with a view. He looked Asian. I went into that book thinking that he was gonna be Asian and he was just a white guy. So I was like, oh, blah, blah. Stop drawing your white man with Asian features. If you're gonna do that, just write an Asian main character.
00:23:37
Speaker
Okay, our next one is from Elizabeth reads and she said, not every book needs spice rather have a full book of sexual tension over spice.
Sexual Tension vs. Explicit Scenes
00:23:51
Speaker
I agree. Also agree. Yep. We touched on this in our last episode as well. I think we're becoming burnt out. And I think this again kind of goes back to like a conversation we were having earlier about like writing to specific things rather or like specific trends rather than like true to a story because Kendra texted our group chat the other day and she said if I have to read one more you can take it.
00:24:20
Speaker
in a book i'm gonna lose my mind i am it's so annoying it's so annoying i will say there's nothing more rewarding and i feel this way a lot when i read like lc silver books for example i think that she is so so so good at that tension and so therefore when you do get to those sex scenes obviously her books are pretty spicy i think they're just that much more rewarding so that's what i miss sometimes in books when it's just like
00:24:48
Speaker
were zero to 100 so quickly. And I'm just like, well, it doesn't feel as fun because I didn't feel that build up beforehand. And so I'm just like, why am I reading this? Or if it's like a first chance round two book where we get it right away, but then we have to wait a really long time for it to happen again, love that too.
00:25:09
Speaker
Yeah, and sometimes these couples won't have any chemistry outside of the bedroom, and I think that's when it becomes frustrating. Ask yourself, okay, would these people be together if they weren't fucking each other? And a lot of times with books that we're getting nowadays, the answer is no. And I'm not talking about the books where they know what they are, right? Cubie Tyler, she knows she's writing erotica. That's what you're there for. But then you have books that where they try to be serious,
00:25:37
Speaker
And that's like, what are we doing? Why are they just fucking to fuck? And I also think there are talent levels in writing Spice because Katie Roberts books, every single time I read the sex scenes in her book, that woman is so talented. She is so talented. I will be reading the rest of the Dark Olympus series for the Spice alone. The plots could go completely off the rails and lose me entirely, and I will still be reading for the Spice.
00:26:06
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, this again goes back to the conversation that we had last episode specifically about YA. I think that they don't have spice or anything like that, but they're so good at building that relationship, building that tension that I don't really care. You know, like Bella Donna, I guess it kind of toes the line of YA and NA a little bit, but from the very start, like there was just, you just felt it so much and it was just so good. I love that book so much.
00:26:36
Speaker
kind of said, Oh, that's so funny. Um, well, no, I mean, obviously I, I agree with that. Cause I just, I talked about that last week, knew about last hours and stuff. All right. Our next one comes from dota the book, bitch. I love your username.
Mass Market Paperbacks: Charming or Ugly?
00:26:54
Speaker
Um, she said mass market paperbacks are cute and have beautiful covers. Brandy, I know you probably agree with this one.
00:27:03
Speaker
I think they're so charming and I think that I need Kendra! You sound like fucking that clip of Aretha Franklin when they ask her about Taylor Swift and she's like, beautiful gowns, wonderful gowns. I think mass market paperbacks are very charming. I'm glad that not every book I own is a mass market paperback, but I do like
00:27:28
Speaker
the ones that I do have where I love the story inside. I think it's so fun that the covers are what they are like bodice ripper covers because like I already love the story. But I'm not the type of person that a cover is going to like make or break reading a book for me. But like that beach read mass market ugly.
00:27:46
Speaker
Oh, well that, yeah, that's, yeah. I mean, I think they were mostly talking about bodice rippers. I mean, I could be totally wrong if, if, um, this user was not talking about that, but I, I mean, I agree. Like I think they're so camp. They're fun. They're, I don't read a lot of bodice rippers. I think I read maybe two last year, but I want to get more into them.
00:28:09
Speaker
Like, yeah, Brady's showing one right now. I'm holding up my little collection of mass market historical romances. They're so funny. Whenever I go to half price books, which is not that often because there's not one super close by me, but the sheer amount that they have of mass market paperbacks, I'm always just amazed by. There's so many. It's like they're created in masses for the market. That's crazy.
00:28:37
Speaker
I think they can be cute, I don't think they're always cute. That's what I was gonna say.
The Relevance of Star Ratings
00:28:42
Speaker
Even some of the bodyshippers are ugly. I guess it depends on the models for those ones. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The bodyshipper ones, they're just so iconic at this point. You can't modernize them. And I feel like historical romance girlies feel them closer to their heart. Yeah.
00:29:04
Speaker
yeah this comes from readsreads star rating is completely useless and irrelevant someone's three might be my five i like get the last part of that sentence i don't think they're useless and irrelevant like yeah i think it just depends on who you're following because like obviously now i know if you guys rate something like a four or a three point five i'm like all right i can like judge that for myself like okay is it worth picking up
00:29:34
Speaker
versus like when some people, some of my mutuals, some of y'all won't be, I won't name y'all, but some of y'all be writing books five stars and I'm like, ooh, I will be avoiding. I will not be reading. And I'm pretty sure people say the same thing about me to like, oh, can you get that book five stars? That book must be asked. Not for me. Yeah. Yeah.
00:29:52
Speaker
I completely agree. I think star ratings are relevant once you realize whose taste you align with. And if you don't have anybody whose taste you align with, I can see how it would feel irrelevant to you. And even it sucks that it is like this, but on Goodreads, they make or break a lot of books, which is...
00:30:14
Speaker
I mean, it sucks, but like that's how publishing has set it up to where if your book is below like a three point whatever, what is like the average on there? I forget, like a three point two or something. Yeah, it's not gonna, your book isn't gonna do well. So then I asked the question, how is Jessa Hastings writing a never two? I don't know. Cause she was already contracting. Bloom was like, we already gave her the money. She better give us a fucking book. And we can cancel that contract and she has to pay us back our advance. Like, anyways.
00:30:46
Speaker
Alright, the next one is from anonymous, and they said, not every book needs to be this think
Guilty Pleasures and Popular Opinion
00:30:53
Speaker
piece. If I want to trip down memory lane and read a Wattpad like book, let me, let me enjoy my cringy shit and rate it five stars. Which kind of touches on what you were talking about with star ratings.
00:31:05
Speaker
yeah but my thing is like yes do you but then don't be surprised when like someone oh yeah yeah yeah picks it up and it's awful you know like because you're a little bit admitting like oh this is cringy i don't know about you guys but i've like so rarely ever had anybody be like oh you're reading that and i think that's just because like i've curated
00:31:28
Speaker
my community to be what I want it to be in these online booker spaces like I follow people I like like and respect and admire and whose views I trust so I've never like posted something and have someone been like oh you're reading that right now do you guys get that it's usually like no in a positive way like oh my god you're reading that like let me know but no no never never negative I always tell people I've had like a very like opposite experience of a lot of other people on on
00:31:58
Speaker
bookish spaces because I do see like a lot of mutuals be like I posted about this book and like everyone commented how much they hated it like why would you do that I've never really had that problem
00:32:07
Speaker
I think it's more like, how do I say this? I think a lot of times people take, maybe people take it as like a sub, what do you call it? It's a sub tweet, but what do you, so, no, what do you call it? Like not directly calling you out. Yeah, I guess sub tweet. Not directly calling you out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so like, I think a lot of times people can take that as they're talking about them. And maybe they are.
00:32:34
Speaker
Maybe they are. I don't know. But I think that a lot of people can see those. Like, especially it's about a book that they love. And then they see a review video. You know, if somebody shitting on it, they're like, Oh, my God, I also just like the type of person I'm obviously not talking about, like, harmful books or anything like that. But like, I just don't really care what people enjoy.
00:32:58
Speaker
aside from, like I said, the harmful books or things like that. So I just don't take that to heart anytime I see anybody shitting on something I love, really. And if I do, I come to you too. I'm in our combat being like, ugh, so annoying. And then I move on with my life. Maybe this is because I'm a little bit older in the bookish spaces than a lot of people who are there. I just refuse to let some rando on the internet ruin my day.
00:33:25
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. I mean, now, if you two love or read a book that I love and you don't like, yeah, that hurts personally. I will take that personally, actually. But yeah, if it's just like somebody, you know, somebody random, then I'm I'm not too bothered, you know, and you can enjoy your kunji shit in peace.
00:33:47
Speaker
yeah and then i guess like there are the people though that like like actively seek out shit that they won't enjoy we've talked about this oh my god that annoys me yeah like i guess earlier when i was saying like don't be surprised when people get on and like talk about it negatively i'm talking about the people who like genuinely picked it up
00:34:04
Speaker
Wanting something better. Yeah, but like the people who just are reading it to shit on it. Fuck those guys I just like can't like and maybe people who do that genuinely enjoy that process but there are just so many books in the world that I want to read and We'll never be able to read every book that we want to read in our lifetime So like the fact that you're gonna spend time reading a book, you know, you're not gonna like just blows my mind Yeah
00:34:31
Speaker
Okay, we have a couple more.
Overhyped Books and Trends
00:34:34
Speaker
The next one is from Ayanna and I apologize if I'm mispronouncing your name girl. I love you. Ayanna reads, there's no such thing as overhyped. I agree. I think we've talked about this before. Me personally, I agree. Oh, Kendra. Oh, what are you gonna know? I don't know.
00:34:54
Speaker
Cause I definitely don't know why everyone's fucking talking about this book. You know, I don't know. I think if the hype is there, I guess the question is like, do we think that hype is always genuine? Right? Or is it like you're falling into a trend kind of thing?
00:35:12
Speaker
Because that's the only way I could see overhyped being a thing, is if people are liking a book just for trend purposes. Because if the hype is there, then I don't think it's possible to be overhyped. I think you need to know your bookish tastes. And for people who are just getting back into reading, I think that can be harder. And I think it's a lot of those people who say, this was so overhyped, this is so overhyped, like people who don't know their own taste yet.
00:35:34
Speaker
because like there are really popular books. Like I will never read an analog book. I'm sorry. I just I know myself and I know my bookish tastes. And I'm never going to read those books, even though they are massively, massively loved in bookish spaces. I know myself. I think I think like
00:35:50
Speaker
where I agree with this take is where I'm thinking of it in a way that like a book becomes super super popular because you know a lot of people really loved it really liked it and then somebody reads it and they're like this book was trash it's overhyped you know like that's where I agree with this take in that the sense that no
00:36:10
Speaker
just because you didn't like it yeah that just means that you didn't like it and that's okay like it doesn't mean that the book was overhyped it was just it's the same it's the same situation like with songs that are overplayed on the radio you know people would be like the song is so overhyped it's overhyped maybe it's just overplayed and you just personally maybe don't like it or you're sick of hearing it because it's you hear it all the time that doesn't necessarily mean it was a bad song
00:36:33
Speaker
Yeah, I guess like I feel like maybe it shouldn't even come from like the reader said like I guess you have to look at it like is this book sweeping awards? Is this book like on every news circuit? Do they have like a lot of money behind it and then you open it and it's like garbage? Maybe like overhyped should like come into play cuz I was just thinking like can you when you said music I was like Oh like I think of the Grammys and like we're always like oh my god is only there cuz it was like overhyped and like
00:37:00
Speaker
yeah i guess if you're looking at like the quality of the book versus the fan base it's kind of like the question you have to ask yourself yeah all right our last one this comes from books han reads underscore epilogues are overrated i will always have this whole conversation like underrated overrated whatever or overhyped i do think not every book needs an epilogue
00:37:27
Speaker
I will say that.
The Necessity of Epilogues
00:37:29
Speaker
I think if the author does its job, then you should be able to close that book and know they're going to be okay. But then there are authors that write amazing epilogues. I'm like, if you're going to write amazing epilogues, then I want an epilogue from you in every single book. But sometimes you don't need one. I guess the question is, from an epilogue, what do you guys want from an epilogue? What is an epilogue's job to you?
00:37:51
Speaker
For me, I want, I just want to see them happy, like later in life, just to show that they're still as in love 10 years from now as they were at the very end of the book. But like Kendra said, like, I don't think I need that. If a book is written well, like I know that they're still going to be in love kind of thing.
00:38:12
Speaker
But I also just like I just love slice of life like me personally I love that so like when epilogues are just like a little like them just like a normal day ten years from now Like I love that shit Yeah, me too. Yeah, I think when I am like reading a book, you know and Things are resolved at the end right things are resolved and I feel good whatever
00:38:34
Speaker
But if I'm still left wanting something else, that epilogue kind of helps fill that hole a little bit. So do I think they're overrated? No. I think that maybe they could be in certain instances, but I don't think overall that they're overrated.
00:38:53
Speaker
I don't think I ever get mad that an epilogue is in a book. Like, I'm never like, this doesn't need to be here. Do you think that there's such thing as too many epilogues? They put out bonus epilogues all the time, all the time, you know, like, look at this bonus epilogue and this one and this one, you know, I almost never signed up for newsletters for bonus epilogues like now I it takes I've done that exactly like three times in my reading journey.
00:39:18
Speaker
unless it's like you know for me like a reckless because i you know i'm obsessed with that book unless it's like that that level of love for a book i don't really care yeah i think it just depends i like it when like authors take some time away and then like as like a newsletter treat they're like here's what these characters are like absolutely like i like that like because i don't think
00:39:44
Speaker
Well, because Beatrice already had an epilogue, but like I didn't need that in Beatrice. You know what I mean? Like, yeah. But like getting that like down the road, like that was a nice, that was a nice surprise. And that just
00:40:00
Speaker
again for me goes back to like the slice of life thing that it's like there's nothing crazy happening in those bonus scenes it's just like seeing them living and I mean we did get a big announcement obviously for January and Gus in that epilogue but it was like so mundane they were at a Chili's to go in an airport yeah I guess like also like since I read so many like YA romances
00:40:25
Speaker
Like, epilogues aren't really a thing in YA romances, because it's just like, you just have to assume that everything's gonna be okay with them, because they're teens.
00:40:38
Speaker
Yeah, we're going to do flash 10 years from now and they're going to have kids like that's weird. Yeah, like that's just it's not how it works. So I guess I get blogs don't really make or break something for me. But I do like you're right. Like if there's not one that I have ever been like, that's fucking stupid. You know what I do hate in epilogue, though, when it's like two months from now, I'm like, what's the point of this? Just fucking write it in the book two months. Yeah, I like when there's like some time. Yeah, at least a year. Eight months. Give me eight months.
00:41:08
Speaker
Yeah, it was the only epilogue, but it wasn't an epilogue. It had to have been in every summer after, right? That's an epilogue. Yeah, it was an epilogue. Yeah, that was the only epilogue I shouldn't have existed. That was fun. Yeah, we got so many popular opinions. We'll probably have to do a part two. And we got some like series specific ones as well that we will probably talk about in other episodes as well.
00:41:36
Speaker
Thanks, everybody, for sending them in. This was fun. Some of them that I read, I was like, I guess. Yeah, a couple of them I feel like a little bit. I was like, oh, OK. OK. That is unpopular. Yeah. You're anonymous. Show your face. I'll touch you. No. Fine. Well.