August Music & First Day of School

I meant to draft this post yesterday and had no downtime to do it, so this is going up a little later than I normally schedule posts. On the bright side, I can make this into an update post, too!

I compiled a playlist of all the music that really stood out to me for this month, mainly from listening to the Pop Before It Breaks station on Google Play. I started listening to it this summer and it really has shown me some awesome songs a few weeks before they start playing on the radio. It's my go-to station now \(۶•̀ᴗ•́)۶/

Google Play has also been great for having minimal ads even though I have a free account. Pandora and Spotify seem to have a lot more ads recently and it's really distracting, but I already pay for Amazon Prime and I don't think it's worth it to pay for multiple music streaming programs.

The last two songs on the playlist I actually discovered today! My college has a student radio station, and they were playing it over the PA system in the hallway I was waiting in. The station doesn't have a page where they say what's currently on (which is unfortunate), but I tracked down both songs without much hassle. 

So yeah, in related news, I started my second year of college today! It's a strange concept. I feel like I should still be a junior in high school. I had two classes today and I even managed to make a friend! I'm really not that social so this is amazing for me. I also managed to walk past my car in the parking lot after my second class. I'm totally a competent adult.

This semester I'm taking two Monday / Wednesday classes (one of which is partially online as well) and one Tuesday evening class. It's only a total of 10 credits, but I decided to cut the fourth class I'd initially added because I wasn't excited about it at all and I wasn't sure it was worth it. I'm considering changing my major back to Gen Ed because the courses for the Geography major aren't offered frequently enough to let me get my AA by the end of this year, unless I somehow luck out next semester ... But I have to apply for graduation this semester if I want to be done by the spring, so I feel kind of stuck. I'm gonna try to meet with a counselor soon and see what needs to happen. 

This summer was such a great experience all the way through and I'm so lucky and grateful for all the experiences I had and all the time I got to spend with friends. I'm a little sad to be back in school, but I know I need some routine in my life again, and I'm looking forward to sweatshirt weather and pumpkin season (ʃƪ˘⌣˘) I've already had a pumpkin pie blizzard from DQ and a harvest spice coffee from Sheetz this weekend. (The coffee was a mistake. I got maybe three hours of sleep last night. Sure did taste good, though.) 

Here's to hoping for a good fall semester! 

Otakon 2016

I was planning to make this post in the week after Otakon, and then I decided against it to post more book reviews, and then I ran out of motivation to write the rest of them and put this back on the schedule. So here we are!

This was my 4th Otakon; I started going after my freshman year of high school. This year was special because it was the last year at the Baltimore Convention Center before moving to DC, and the first day of the con coincided with my 19th birthday! This was also my first time staying in a hotel for a convention after spending my first 12ish cons commuting from home.

The Forgotten Ones by Laura Howard

TL;DR New Adult with faeries

added to TBR on Aug 2, 2016 (didn't record number OTL)

finished 8/17/16

I got this book for free thanks to Bookbub. I don't think it was on my TBR before that, so I just took a chance on it.

I marathoned this book the same afternoon I finished Wings, which, at less than 200 pages, wasn't an impossible feat. It was fairly easy to get through. Half the problem with that was that I wasn't stopping to dwell on anything that was going on.

I didn't realize it was a New Adult when I downloaded it, so once I realized Allison was old enough to legally drink, I lost some of the (small) interest I'd had. I haven't found a taste for NA yet but I decided to continue reading since I wanted to see how it would handle the concept of faeries. I didn't expect to find this premise in a NA book.

It was underwhelming. The plot like it felt a while to get going, and then even when the ball was rolling, I didn't really care much about what was going on. I didn't care enough about any of the characters to really care what they were going through, and even without that, the plot felt contrived. The involvement of the faeries was lackluster compared to what I was hoping and it didn't quite fit the book or add to the stakes like it should have.

I mainly didn't like Allison because she was a pushover and didn't really change. Her cousin easily talked her into things she "didn't want to do" and continually let her do it instead of digging in her heels or pitching a fit. The guy Allison liked wasn't characterized all that consistently, and he was weak as a love interest. Allison's family felt shallow and I'm frustrated that her mother's mental illness wasn't "real", but something caused by magic and easily fixable. That's not a healthy narrative -- mental illness can be terrible, but it's not something that goes away just like that. We shouldn't pretend that mental illness is easily fixable and that the person will go back to the way they used to be.

(I think maybe it would've been slightly better if there weren't a way to reverse what had happened to Allison's mother, but even at that, it's still unhealthy to frame mental illness as a kind of curse.)

The resolution of the book wasn't very interesting -- I was never worried about the outcome -- and when the cliffhanger was introduced in the last sentence, I was like "ha, sucks for them" and left it at that. I have no interest in what might come in the next book.

TL;DR I was really indifferent to the book as a whole, but it wasn't quite a waste of time since it was small and free.

Wings by Aprilynne Pike

TL;DR fairies are actually just sentient plants

first read unknown, second read finished Jul 8, 2012

third read finished 8/17/16

I think I first read Wings around the same time I first read Need, so I associate them with each other. I've been looking to re-read Wings for a couple years now, but my library branch only had the subsequent three books and never the first. I got lucky enough that we had an ebook copy that I could download without any wait.

(I'm currently #1, 10, 58, and 60 on four other books I've put holds on. It's so frustrating. I've been at #1 for three days on ACOTAR.)

I'm going to admit that I've got some good nostalgia-goggles with this, too. I remembered more details about Wings than I did Need, but I was kind of unsuccessful in trying to read this whole series before I started using Goodreads, so there wasn't as much to get mixed up in my mind. (The books aren't labeled with their order, so I kept checking the wrong one out and then getting confused by the timeline jumps.)

It's a decent read. The premise has always been interesting to me -- even if now I understand just how scientifically implausible it is. The plot and characters were interesting enough, and now that I have Goodreads at my disposal, I want to see whether the worldbuilding is ever explored with any more depth.

My biggest complaint is the love triangle. I didn't think Tamani was that compelling of a character (honestly, he was kind of a jerk) but I'm pretty sure he plays a big part in the rest of the series. David was such a nice kid and I'm really afraid that he's going to get pushed to the sidelines or otherwise ditched because he's human.

(Also, I wish we got more interactions with Chelsea. I liked what interactions we got but there could've been more, y'know?)

The book in general felt a little childish to me at times, and I don't know if it's because of the premise, or from being published circa 2009, or my own memories reading it for the first time. I can't pinpoint if it was specifically from the characters or the narration. (I'm not sure I agree with the third-person POV, but I'm also more partial to first-person across the board, so I'll admit this might be a problem on my end.)

I also don't remember how the ending of Wings really ties into the subsequent books, so I don't know how I feel about the ending. The ending itself felt pretty open-ended and un-resolving. I'm pretty sure what's-his-face comes back, but I don't remember to what extent.

On a fairly unrelated note, the Kindle version was super easy to get through. I marathoned my way through the book in about a day. It's so much easier to read ebooks on my HTC than my old iPod Touch, and this way I can get more books without having to leave the house! (I'm so antisocial, good lord.)

TL;DR the premise makes it worth the read in my opinion, but I'll admit that it's not perfect, and there's not much worldbuilding depth in the first book compared to what I remember from the sequels.

Defy by Sara B. Larson

TL;DR typical "warrior girl in disguise" tropes

TBR #748, added Jan 22 2014

finished 8/08/16

I've had this book since late 2014. My friend gave me a copy her sister was getting rid of, and I let it sit in my room for a year and a half. I finally got around to finishing it because I returned all of my library books. 

I initially was pretty indifferent towards Defy, but now I'm leaning more towards contempt. (Especially now that I found reviews on Goodreads that articulate better than I do. Read some of the top one-star reviews.) I think it might've been more enjoyable if I'd read it closer to when it was published and the tropes weren't as old. The experience was okay enough but it wasn't compelling, and I spent a lot of the time going "really? This is as good as we're getting?" 

The biggest issue I have with Defy is that Alex thinks she's keeping her secret so well, and then it turns out that she didn't and never got wind of it for three years. If it was apparently that easy to figure out, then why didn't she get busted beforehand?? There were also a couple plot-twist secrets regarding other people that weren't surprising. They were just kind of "... oh. All right. Moving on." (Also, how the hell did Alex survive living with a dozen guys and not let on for three years about her shark week? Periods are a pain in the ass still. There's no way she survived well in their medieval (??) world even if she weren't passing for a guy.) 

There's also the oh-so-dreaded love triangle, and honestly, I didn't like either of the guys. Neither of them were all that interesting and I don't think they would've been all that good for her. I think the story could've been stronger without the romance; there was such a good setup for familial / platonic love and it kind of got ditched. The romance also overtook any of the real danger that they were supposed to be in during the second half of the book and I got tired of it real fast. 

The worldbuilding was also lackluster, and for all the horrors of their kingdom, how did all the other guys in the guard turn out so nice? I can't really imagine why only the king and his right-hand guy would be absolute jerks and not have that pass on to anyone else. Their kingdom obviously doesn't value women for anything more than their bodies. Why are the rest of the guys so nice to Alex once they know? (I have arguments about the breeding house, but other people on Goodreads have already articulated that so much better, so I will defer to them.)

All the events in general felt too convenient for the plot. Nothing really felt like coincidence, and Alex was not the brightest or most sympathetic heroine. I never really felt like I was rooting for her -- I got the feeling she would get her way no matter what the odds looked like. That doesn't make for a very interesting book. 

All that said, it wasn't terrible to get through. I don't feel like I regret the time I spent reading, but I doubt I'm ever going to re-read it again, and I don't have much curiosity about the events after the end of the first book. The description for the second book is really uninteresting and sounds no different from the first. 

TL;DR I think I should bump my star rating down after writing this review lol. It's a decent read if you want a book for the sake of reading, but I don't think it was fulfilling like it could've been. 

Reviews I liked on Goodreads: Khanh (the Grinch), Summer, Gillian, Sandra, and Ash Wednesday. And some others, but I think you get the point. 

All The Feels by Danika Stone

TL;DR fandom takes no prisoners

TBR #1627, added May 27 2016

finished 7/30/16

I'm so torn about how I feel about All the Feels. (Ha.) I'm really enjoying this more recent trend of fandom-related YA books, and I think I finally found one that I didn't agree with.

Now, my first disclaimer is going to be that I am a cartoon-fandom person. Specifically, children's cartoons. I never got into Harry Potter or SuperWhoLock or Star Wars / Star Trek. I have a 20 minute attention span, which still leaves me 2 minutes short of the standard running time of an American cartoon. 

My second disclaimer is that I couldn't connect with the intensity of Liv's passion for Starveil. I know there are a ton of other people that could no problem, but I've never been so passionate about a single fandom like that. I think part of my problem is also that I tend to pick smaller series, like Sailor Moon well before we got any re-releases or Crystal, or Danny Phantom about seven years after it ended airing. Miraculous Ladybug is the only fandom I've joined recently that's actively airing and has the assurance of new content. 

(Starveil is described as a space opera and apparently is not based off any books, unlike any of the popular movie series I'm vaguely familiar with. Or did the Star series' books come after the movies? Does Star Trek even have books? I don't know.) 

My point with this is that Liv's passion came off as immature to me. I can appreciate her drive and her love for Starveil, but to me she felt more like a high school underclassman (or even a middle schooler) than a college freshman. And I'll admit that this might be heavily biased on my end because of the people I went to school with. Don't get me wrong, I love being a part of fandom culture, but I have trouble wrapping my head around letting it define your entire life. 

It's also possible that this is because of Liv's characterization. I never got any sense she had interests other than Starveil, even other fandoms, and her general disregard for school was hard to accept after recently finishing my own freshman year of college. College is expensive, and I can't believe that she would blow it off the way she did based on her position. 

All of the other characters felt similarly shallow. They felt more like puppets to the plot than real people. We got a hint of depth from Xander towards the end, but it was never developed. There was so much potential. We could've seen more about Liv's mother's struggle of being a widow with a fandom daughter, and how her dating after her first husband's death affected both her and Liv. I would've loved to see more of Xander's personality outside of his steampunk facade (which, honestly, would be really grating in real life) and how he became Liv's best and closest friend in a period of about five months. I especially would've loved to see more of Arden trying to be Liv's friend, instead of her only acting through Xander and only when it made it inconvenient for Liv. 

I don't like how Liv's love life was handled over the course of the book. Xander and Arden push her too hard out of her comfort zone, and their attempts really didn't do much to advance the plot or her characterization. (Xander says Liv got better at small talk, but we don't get much evidence of that. The one person she does kind of hit it off with never comes back in the story.) I think she and Xander were also too close at first for him already having a girlfriend, and then their relationship towards the end of the book felt pretty rushed and the fight they get into isn't wrapped up; it just jumps into the epilogue where they've already made their peace. What fun is that? 

I think the pacing of the plot could've been tweaked as well. I'm sad that we missed so many of the details between Liv agreeing to Dragon Con and her actually going. There's so much that goes into con prep and I think that would've been nice to explore, but all we got was a few paragraphs of her "working hard to earn spending money". We don't even see all too much of her working on Xander's cosplays. 

I do think Dragon Con itself was executed nicely. I've never been, and I've only seen a little bit of it from the cosplayers I follow, but it expanded on the little bit of information I knew (and my anime con experiences) and made me feel like I was really there with Liv. Cons really can be overwhelming like that.

(I could argue about the industry-specific aspects of it, but that goes into an argument about the plausibility of #SpartanSurvived as a whole, and I do not feel qualified to argue that here. I'm even more of a fandom lurker than Liv is and I have no experience with movements like these. My only point is that it felt too convenient for the plot.) 

(Also, I know there are cons in Denver. Why hadn't Liv or Xander gone to any of those? Those would've been much easier to handle as a first con and would've been so much cheaper. I can't imagine doing Dragon Con for your first con and wanting to go back the next year unless you're really a people person.) 

I have some minor complaints about the narration in that I think it should've been more mixed-media. Some pictures were included, though in black and white like school photocopy handouts, and an instant message interface that put Liv's responses on the left rather than the right (where Google and Apple put the senders', though maybe this was on purpose by the editors). I really do think the IM interface could've been expanded to include the senders' names and time stamps, instead of leaving it ambiguous and including "..." chat bubbles that initially made it seem like the other person's response rather than a lack of one. Real messaging is rarely one person then the other; it's usually six messages in a row from one person and then five from the other. Or accidentally interrupting the other person's thread of messages by replying to a specific bubble before they have their full thought typed and sent. 

This is actually a really tame example. I think we were talking about a thunderstorm.

Some of the text messages read more like older adults than teenagers, but I'm willing to give it leeway since some of them were from adults, and the messages are likely easier to read by the general public than teenager chatspeak. (One good thing: "bb" was used as a term of endearment, and I was very *o* to find it.) I do think the narration included some jargon that might be hard for non-fandom people to understand, though I can't think of any specific examples. 

TL;DR I was disappointed by the shallow characterization and plot railroading, but I think it could be enjoyable for people in fandoms of series that utilize film (ie, real life people rather than animation). 

I bought my copy off Amazon Prime because it was ~$5 and I was already buying The Hidden Oracle and Gena/Finn. I will admit that I'm planning on passing it on, either to a friend or to a secondhand book store. I will also admit that this was better than waiting an undetermined amount of time for it to show up at the library, letting my hype build up, and then coming to these conclusions. That would've been super disappointing. I'm glad I got to knock it off my TBR but I think it had so much more potential. 

Need by Carrie Jones

TL;DR small-town supernatural - without vampires!!

re-read finished 7/28/16

(first time read: 2009-ish)

Need is one of quite a few books that I thought I read in late elementary school but were only published after 2008 (when I moved up to middle school). It's actually stuck around with me for a while; I remember reading one of the books on our spring break trip in 7th grade (... which might've made it Need, since Goodreads says Captivate was 2010). Zara's find in Nick's car has crossed my mind more than once recently while riding around with my friend lol. I've compared him to Nick more than once even though I couldn't remember Nick's name. 

I read it the first time through the library, and I haven't been able to find a copy since I decided I wanted to read it again. (Probably because I was looking at a different library branch.) I managed to find a copy at a local thrift store and I was cised. It was at one more focused on furniture and women's clothing, no less. This one has a meager book collection and it honestly felt like fate. 

Even though I've read Need before and had fond memories of it, I still went in with a lot of gaps in my memory. It made the read a nice mix of nostalgia and experiencing the story like it was new. (I'm gonna admit this review probably has nostalgia-goggles.) 

The aesthetic was really solid. I've only been to Maine once, ten years ago and in the southern part during summer rather than Bangor-ish during October, but it brought to mind what I remember of the trip. Need is actually one of the main reasons I'd like to go back to Maine, lol. Also, the whole unsettling-creepy thing was good, and the characters kept it from getting too dark. It was good company during a thunderstorm.

(Three hours for a thunderstorm is too freakin' long. This book would take more normal people closer to four or five hours, I think, but it's a good rainy-afternoon read. I had no problem reading it in one go.) 

I like all the characters, but I will readily admit that this was probably the heaviest aspect influenced by my nostalgia. They felt like soft t-shirts, y'know? I enjoyed reading about them again but I'll admit that they were lacking a little substance. They have three more books to grow, and I think I remember more than my brain will call to mind about them. 

The romance was decent. At first I was a little worried about the potential for a love triangle, but luckily it worked out in my favor. I liked the relationship and how they act around each other (and Betty's reactions to them, oh my god she's my fave), but I am a little concerned about the alpha tendencies. I don't remember if that becomes a problem later in the series or if he grows out of it. I mean, technically he does have a reason for it, and he does apologize for his rash decisions, so I guess he could maybe be worse.

The plot was what I remembered the least from my first read, so it was like going in blind, but take that how you will, I guess? I remembered the series plot as a whole but not specifically what happened in Need. (But my memory is just sucky in general.) I think the stakes were fitting but I can also see how it could be lackluster or cliche. I can't figure out if this is part of the Twilight craze or if it beat it by a few months. (It doesn't feel like any of the post-Twilight trend books, but it would've been first published about the time I started catching wind of Twilight.) 

(Now I'm considering re-reading Twilight. Like I didn't already try and fail that endeavor once recently. Ugh. I guess we'll see.) 

Anyway, even if it is part of this Twilight-inspired trend that lasted all of my middle school career, Need goes a unique direction compared to all the other supernatural-themed books I've read. The lore isn't quite as strong in the first book but I did enjoy reading about it over the course of the series. It does dismiss some of the bigger stereotypes of the genre, and maybe combine some different aspects into single things, so it's good if you like a new take on the genre and bad if you like specific, tried-and-true things of it. 

(But let's be real, Twilight-esque stuff of the genre is kind of cliche at this point. At least in this day and age.) 

TL;DR I enjoyed it but I'm allowing myself a little bit of cynical-ness (cynacy doesn't sound like a word) because of the fond memories I have of my first read-through. I'm hoping to read through the rest of the series again and see if it continues to hold up or not. I think it's worth a try for most people. 

The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan

TL;DR don't mouth off to your supervisors

TBR #1456, added Sept 17 2015

finished 7/26/16

I was pretty hyped for this since it was a new Percy Jackson book and yet had so much potential to explore outside of Percy's shadow. It definitely didn't disappoint! 

The first thing that really struck me was how unique of a character Apollo was. I was honestly a little off-put by his narration at first, even though I knew it was because of his unique position in the story, but I can say that it does become better. Honestly, I was super impressed with how Apollo was handled as a narrating main character. He got me laughing a few times, which I don't remember happening with the past couple books in this ever-growing universe. We get to see just how his experiences over the story affect him and I was blown away by his character growth. 

(I'm not sure why I wasn't expecting anything, but hey, even immortal gods can learn lessons! Look at that!) 

Also, I'm so happy and proud of how Rick Riordan handled Apollo's identity. (I don't want to say sexual identity since it's a kids' book and is strictly PG, but I don't think romantic identity quite covers everything, either.) I was already happy about Will and Nico being shown in a positive light, and then we get Apollo, too? I don't want to say too much about it but I think Apollo is just the kind of positive character role model that a lot of kids need, not only because of his own identity, but because of how comfortable he is with himself and his children / others as well. 

Meg is also a super important character! I was surprised by the information we learn about her. I'm avoiding spoilers here too, but I think she's equally important for a lot of kids. She was definitely a kid with flaws but I'm desperate to know more about what will happen. 

One criticism I do have is all the pop culture references. Like, they're nothing new, but in The Hidden Oracle they felt especially ... time-stamped? I'm not sure how to fully explain it. As I was reading, I realized just how dated they all would seem in a few months, let alone a few years. The internet and pop culture as a whole are moving along faster and faster and I'm beginning to realize how much of a losing battle it is to try and keep any in a YA novel. They're much more suited for small or flash-fics on the internet. I think the references also have the potential to be alienating to readers who aren't familiar with the American pop culture scene. 

I saw an argument made on goodreads about the quality / pacing of the plot, and I can see their arguments. I feel like The Hidden Oracle is a standard Rick Riordan book. It wasn't exceptionally good or bad to me. The final battle did feel a little lackluster, though. It didn't feel like the stakes were all that high enough for all the drama that was being made about it. 

Percy's cameos were nice, but honestly, give the kid a break!! #LetHimBe2k16

TL;DR I was floored (in a good way) by the characters we get to know in The Hidden Oracle, and to me that outweighs any weaknesses the plot had. (I'm a character > plot person anyway, though.) 

This Trials of Apollo series has five books listed, publishing all the way through 2020. That's insane. I guess that's standard compared to the original Greek and Roman series? Though I wonder if that means that the Egyptian and Norse ones got the short end of the stick. 

Camp NaNo Reflection: July 2016

Another Camp NaNo has come and gone! I only mentioned that I was doing it this month in passing, so here's some more detail about how my month went in terms of writing.

I did Casanova again with the goal of 15k, which was my initial goal in April before I bumped it up to 18k. I didn't change my goal this time (mainly because it never crossed my mind). I still reached 21,594 words by July 31st!

My word counts this month was a lot more varied than they were in April. I reached 15k on the 18th and started slacking off after that point lol. I also struggled a lot with finding things to write about, for both Casanova and Aperture, because July was kind of a lull in my summer and I didn't have too much in real life experiences to draw from. (The 3rd is a complete outlier. I'm still not quite sure how I pulled it off.) 

I still managed to write more than 1k for Casanova on four different days this month! The 31st was definitely a surprise. I got an idea and I was able to run with it a lot further than I was expecting. Overall I'm happy with my word counts for July. 

As for the writing itself: I made some more progress on the story and the characters, but I still haven't gotten around to writing the first chapter OTL. I definitely have a better idea of how to write it and how to fit it into the progression of events, but I need to work up enough inspiration to start picking at it. I'm still hoping I can get it done before I go back to school on the 29th. (Holy crap I'm not ready.)

In other writing- and success-related news, I passed my driver's license test yesterday!! I'm a fully licensed adult!!

Long story short, I resisted getting it for very close to a year, but I realized I would be inconveniencing my parents and my friends by continuing to dig my heels in. Also, I wanted to beat some of my friends to the punch. I have a really strange sense of competition. And some really lazy friends. 

One of the (many other) influencing factors that pushed me to finally book the test was actually Toni and Carter, the two main characters of Casanova. I've been writing so many scenes of Toni driving, and almost as many regarding Carter's reliance on others because he refuses to get a license. I finally got tired of doing the same thing as Carter and decided being more like Toni would be better. 

So, I can officially say that my writing has made me suck it up and do some Adulting. 

The next NaNo event is the Big NaNo in November. I haven't decided on what I'll be doing this year; I could continue my trend and try re-drafting Casanova, or I could do something new and try drafting a sci-fi Nutcracker retelling idea I've had for a while. I've still got a couple months to decide. 

If you guys participated in Camp NaNo this past month, I'd love to hear how it went for you! 

Gena/Finn by Hannah Moskowitz and Kat Helgeson

TL;DR online friendships are nice

TBR #1337, added Jul 18 2015

finished 7/27/16

I initially considered buying this book because my Barnes and Noble had signed copies. Then I decided to check its listing on Amazon and found it for cheaper, so I was like "... why not" and bought it. It comes in at under 300 pages, so I was apprehensive on paying more than $15 for it. I was afraid of the potential that smaller = less good content. 

And now that I've read it, I can say that it was just the right length for the story it told. It's also a mixed-media format (like Illuminae), and I think that cut down the amount of pages it needed (and words overall) while still being able to tell the story so beautifully. 

I think part of the beauty is that we don't have all of the information, similar to Illuminae. (Though that was more like a tome than a YA book.) There's stuff that happens that we don't know about first-hand, since it happened IRL without any digital documentation, but all the info that was necessary was revealed through other formats. I think it definitely nailed giving information without info-dumping or being heavy-handed about it. 

This is only the second fandom-themed book I've read, behind Fangirl. I didn't get quite as strong of a sense of the show itself (maybe because Fangirl was a little more ... blatant?) but my best guess is that Up Below is like a non-supernatural Supernatural. With a Dean and Sam that aren't related. (Confession: my knowledge of SPN comes from tumblr and my cousin.) 

I'm also not quite sure of the website formats the girls used for their blogging? Some of it was more reminiscent of tumblr, and some was more like how I understand LiveJournal works. (Which, do people use LJ in newer fandoms? Asking the big questions here. I'm still a relative newbie in the grand scheme of things. #teamTumblr) I guess it's totally possible it's a big mix to avoid copyright / IP infringement and to transcend some of the divides between platforms. 

I was surprised by the direction the plot took about halfway through. The buildup for it was done well, and the turning point felt realistic in that it was just as out of left field as it would've been in real life. The mood of the book definitely changes, though, as does the formats used. I think it's important because it explores some mental health topics that aren't otherwise touched in YA, or are the focus of the book rather than an addition to it. 

(The same argument that we need more queer YA books that are about the kids doing their own things while being queer, not more books about them being hetero-divergent. I would love to see more books that feature neuro-divergent characters that don't define the entire book and plot on that fact but still include what those characters experience.) 

I'm kind of torn on Gena and Finn's relationship. I think it's important to show that romance isn't just "find the dream boy, there u go, happy ending" in real life, but I don't really agree with the hints of more than close friendship between the girls. I think that's mainly because of the age difference between them, because they're in different periods of their lives. (They're both adults, though, so it's not icky, and I never got the sense it was more than just saying "I love you" and conflicted feelings.) I can say I appreciate where they are by the end of the book, though. 

TL;DR all in all I enjoyed my read and the format was refreshing. I think it would be suitable for someone unfamiliar with fandom culture; it highlights it without including a whole bunch of jargon, and I think it showcases the better side of the community. (Except for Mallory, lol. Thank god we only had one of her in the book.) 

CWs: unspecified* mental illness causing hallucinations, death, injuries, PTSD. These are especially heavy later in the book. (* I don't remember if they ever mentioned what it was diagnosed as or if it was never specifically brought up.)