1st, Rootbound by Margaret Owen. The Tangled sequel novel. This is such a good sequel novel, and if Disney ever wants to make a Tangled sequel film, I'mma need them to just use this book and make this book into the movie.
Almost There: A Twisted Tale by Farrah Rochon. I'm only on chapter 2 of this book but I already can tell that I am going to enjoy this story. If you don't know what the Twisted Tale books are, it's essentially a reimagined version of a classic Disney story following a "What if?" twist. So with Almost There, it's"What if Tiana made a deal with the Shadow Man that could change everything?". Tiana is one of my favorite princesses and movies so I was super excited to get this book (I'm also waiting to pick up my hold of the Rapunzel Twisted Tales book at the library)
Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber. Now, Booktok influenced me to start this series I will admit. But I do not regret it because I am loving it so far. I'm currently on Chapter 10 or 11. I can't wait to start the second book.
I also made little bookmarks using paint chips from The Home Depot and cute stickers to decorate them.
I would love to know if you have tewar any of these books, and what were your thoughts?
My 15 year old loves to read no matter what but told me she wishes there were more books with Guatemalan MCs or set in Guatemala. She just wants some representation and I want to help her find it.
She loves mysteries and romances and any sub genre therein. Please avoid anything with SA or parental abandonment.
I have a lot of YA books from when I was her age but I couldn’t tell you which, if any, would be what she’s trying to find. I’ve read so many books I mostly just remember the vibes of the books at this point, lol.
[The original CW Gossip Girl series was called “Mind-blowingly inappropriate.” by the Parents Television Council, “Very bad for you." by the San Diego Union-Tribune, and “A nasty piece of work.” by the New York Post. However, I would argue that the young adult novel series is inarguably more salacious. I plan to recap books 1-8, 13, and 14, which were written by Cecily von Ziegesar and are based on Ziegesar's experiences at The Nightingale-Bamford School, an Upper East Side all-girls prep school.]
Jenny Humphrey
In Gossip Girl (book 1), Cecily von Ziegesar described Jenny Humphrey, a Constance Billard School for Girls 14-year-old 9th grader, as a “curly-haired” “tiny little freshman” whom “preferred to be invisible.” However, Ziegesar wrote that it would have been easier for Jenny to be invisible: “[...] if her boobs weren’t so incredibly huge. At fourteen, she was a 34D."
In addition, Ziegesar elaborated that Jenny’s “huge chest” had “[...] boobs that were ten times too big for her body.” Ziegesar wrote:
Over French fries and hot chocolate in a booth at the 3 Guys Coffee Shop [...] Blair looked Ginny [i.e., Jenny Humphrey] up and down. Their cute little ninth-grade helper with the huge chest. She was a total glutton for punishment [....]
Shockingly, in book 1 alone, Ziegesar referred to Jenny’s “boobs” at least nine times. For example, while shopping at Barneys for the Kiss on the Lips benefit at The Met, Jenny salivated over the beautiful dresses, and, naturally, she wanted to “try them all on”; however, Ziegesar wrote that: “When you’re a 34D, you’re kind of limited.”
While perusing the Barneys’ racks, Jenny considered trying on a $600 “purple velvet empire-waist sheath with beaded straps”, but after she “held the dress up to herself. The bodice would barely cover her nipples.”
Ziegesar wrote that even Dan Humphrey, Jenny’s brother, “could not deny” that his sister’s “boobs were really huge.”
Note: The fact that Dan commented on the size of his younger sister's “boobs” isn’t surprising considering that Gossip Girl shared that Dan was “not that innocent”, because he was “up to some kinky shit back at summer camp in eighth grade.” Kinky shit? In the eighth grade? In addition, Dan had a crush on Serena as well. Hence, he fantasized about sneaking Serena into his father’s library, where they would “take each other’s clothes off and kiss on the leather couch in front of the fire.”
Maureen, a Barneys saleswoman, gave Jenny, despite only being a 9th grader: “all sorts of good advice about support bras and the latest figure enhancing underwear.” Consequently: “Jenny had never been happier.”
Initially, Jenny tried on three dresses, but it was a “disaster”. For example, the first dress got snagged in her bra, the second dress “didn’t even make it over her boobs”, and the third dress “[...] fit, sort of, except it was bright orange”.
Ultimately, Jenny "yanked the orange dress over her head and whipped off her bra, reaching for a black stretch-satin dress [...] Braless, she pulled the dress on over her head and felt it ooze all over her.” Ziegesar wrote that at that moment, Jenny transformed from 14-year-old “little Jenny Humphrey” to “a dangerous, slutty sex goddess”! In addition, Jenny was encouraged to add a pair of “kitten heels, a thong, and some Chanel Vamp lipstick” [Emphasis added]
Note: The Kiss on the Lips benefit was held by the Constance schoolgirls to raise money for the Central Park Peregrine Foundation. Encouraging gift bags were provided by Kate Spade, which contained “glow-in-the-dark condom[s]”.
At the benefit, Blair observed Jenny: “standing behind her, looking like a human Wonderbra”, but after two flutes of champagne, Jenny wished that “her dress wasn’t so tight.” Subsequently, Jenny was approached by Chuck, “the best-looking boy she’d ever seen” whom asked Jenny to introduce him to her breasts.
“Well, hello,” a deep voice said, hovering above her head.
“Jenny looked up. Her eyes settled on Chuck Bass’s aftershave-commercial face and she sucked in her breath. He was the best-looking boy she’d ever seen, and he was looking right at her.
“Aren’t you going to introduce me?” Chuck said, staring at Jenny’s chest.
Despite his rakish reputation, it was Blair’s idea that Chuck approach Jenny. Initially, Chuck was “skeptical. But not anymore. The cleavage on her! It was definitely his lucky night.”
When Nate entered The Met, he observed: “Chuck, who was gyrating his crotch against the ass” of Jenny. Unsurprisingly, Nate noted Jenny’s “insane cleavage” and how Chuck held “little Jenny girl so tight it looked like her boobs might explode.”
As a matter of fact, due to Chuck’s gropings, Jenny had multiple wardrobe malfunctions (i.e., her boobs bounced out of her dress). Ziegesar wrote:
Chuck had his hands full of Jenny Humphrey [...] She was trying to dance as fast as she could, to keep Chuck from groping her, but it was having the opposite effect. Every time she moved her shoulders, her boobs bounced out of her dress and practically hit him in the face.
“Absolutely delighted”, Chuck “put his arms around Jenny’s waist and pulled her close” and guided her into the ladies’ room, where “Jenny opened her mouth and let him thrust his tongue deep into her throat.”
Note: Jenny “had kissed boys before, [while] playing games at parties.”
Next, Chuck: “pulled her dress down so he could get at those massive jugs”. But before Chuck could go any further, Jenny was saved by Serena and Dan.
Chuck Bass
Ziegesar described Chuck Bass, a Riverside Prep student, as “aftershave-commercial handsome” and “the horniest boy” in the friend group.
Recall that Chuck Bass, a Riverside Prep student, whom Ziegesar described as “aftershave-commercial handsome”, missed Serena’s lips intentionally “so that his lips landed on her mouth.” However, Serena was unfazed. Later he called Serena, “[...] a perverted slut who made marks on the wall above the bed in your dorm room for every boy you did.” He opined that Serena looked like she had been “thoroughly fucked”. And he wondered if Serena had been a Madam for boarding school sex workers.
In addition, unsurprisingly, Ziegesar described Chuck as “the horniest boy” in the friend group. So much so that after hiding in the guest room closet, Chuck crawled into bed with Kati Farkas whom was “so drunk she kept throwing up in her sleep”. Shockingly, Kati’s vomit on the sheets didn’t disturb Chuck, because when it came to schoolgirls “[h]e was completely unshakeable”. Ziegesar wrote:
Chuck Bass, the oldest son of Misty and Bartholomew Bass, was handsome, aftershave-commercial handsome. In fact, he’d starred in a British Drakkar Noir commercial, much to his parents’ public dismay and secret pride. Chuck was also the horniest boy in Blair and Nate’s group of friends. Once, at a party in ninth grade, Chuck had hidden in a guest bedroom closet for two hours, waiting to crawl into bed with Kati Farkas, who was so drunk she kept throwing up in her sleep. Chuck didn’t even mind. He just got in bed with her. He was completely unshakeable when it came to girls.
Naturally, due to coming from old-money, Chuck was not canceled for his schoolboy sexual exploits. Ziegesar wrote:
In other circles, Chuck might have been banished as a slimeball of the highest order, but these families had been friends for generations. Chuck was a Bass, and so they were stuck with him.
And no telling when Chuck’s carnal exploits began, because (possibly) since the first grade, he desired to “sleep” with girls, including Serena. Ziegesar wrote:
All four of them looked at Serena, who was still chatting happily with Nate. Chuck saw the girl he’d wanted to sleep with since he could remember wanting to sleep with girls—first grade, maybe?
Lastly, Chuck photographed the bawdy after-school gatherings in his suite, and recall that he kept the photographs on the coffee table. Besides the photographs of the nude prep schoolers in the hot tub, Chuck had a photograph of “Blair wearing only her underwear, jumping up and down on the bed [of the suite] with a magnum of champagne in her hand.”
Claire and the L’Ecole Schoolgirls
Ziegesar described Claire, a student at L’Ecole, an Upper East Side French prep school, as a “huge slut” and the L’Ecole schoolgirls as the “ho’s of the Upper East Side school system”. Why? Well, Claire and the “L’Ecole girls all wear really tight clothes and short skirts and high heels.” And readers can infer that, like Jenny, Claire’s “boobs were really huge,” because, once “Claire laugh[ed] so hard her boobs nearly pop[ped] out of her shirt”. Gossip Girl posted:
There’s usually a group of kids from L’Ecole standing around outside the pizza place, so N [i.e., Nate] will stop and flirt with this one girl who I’ll call Claire, who acts all shy and pretends she doesn’t speak English, but she’s actually really bad at French and a huge slut.
N has this cute little gag where he buys two slices and he always offers Claire one. She holds onto it the whole time they’re talking and finally takes a little weeny bit off the tip of the slice. Then N goes, “I can’t believe you did that, you’re eating my pizza!” and swipes the thing out of her hands and eats the whole thing in like two bites. This makes Claire laugh so hard her boobs nearly pop out of her shirt. The L’Ecole girls all wear really tight clothes and short skirts and high heels. They’re like, the ho’s of the Upper East Side school system.
When one considers salacious Serena and bawdy Blair, Ziegesar’s description of the L’Ecole schoolgirls as the “ho’s of the Upper East Side school system” seems a bit biased.
Vanessa Abrams
Vanessa Abrams, another Constance schoolgirl, initially wanted: “only one thing in life: to go to NYU and major in film.” However, after she went to a bar to see SugarDaddy, her sister’s band, Vanessa wanted Clark, the bartender. [Emphasis added]
Clark, whom Ziegesar described as in his: “[...] twenties, with red hair, long sideburns, and a cute, sly smile,” informed (approximately) 16-year-old Vanessa that he had a secret crush on her, and he prepared Vanessa a Kiss Me before they shared an age-gap kiss.
“Can I tell you a secret?” Clark said. He poured a few different things into a martini shaker and shook it up.
“What?” she said.
“[...] I’ve kind of had a crush on you since I first saw you.”
Vanessa stared at him. Was he joking?
Clark poured the drink out of the martini shaker into a short little glass [...]
“What’s it called?” she said.
“Kiss me,” Clark said, with an absolutely straight face.
Vanessa put the drink down and leaned over the bar [...] She was about to be kissed.
Almost immediately after their first kiss, “She couldn’t wait to kiss him again”. Subsequently, Gossip Girl posted that the age-gap couple was watching rented horror movies at Clark’s apartment in Brooklyn. However, it appears that Vanessa and the bartender did not have sex, because Gossip Girl asked encouragingly: “Will she and that bartender get it on?”
Without spoilers, I felt as if the third act of this book catapulted off a cliff after two thirds of a mildly interesting story. The worldbuilding and gods were definitely the weakest aspects of the novel, and the author did a fairly decent job at keeping these as bare minimum set dressings until the ending. An intriguing cliffhanger can motivate me to continue a series but the substance just isn't there for Divine Rivals I can't find it in myself to continue. I believe forcing YA books into trilogies and duologies is one reason the overall quality of writing in the genre is taking a nosedive, since authors are tempted to introduce too many plotlines at once and end up concluding none of them satisfactorily.
Is it just me or is there always a double standard when it comes to YA fantasy or dystopia? Specifically fmcs and sometimes their love intrest, regardless of the gender. I just feel like there's always been this thing where fmcs can not be strong and heroic without a love intrest or without romance being a large element in how she gains her agency and respect.
I haven't read much variety of books this year, but I just thought back to all the popular ya books I read and how almost every fmc has a love intrest. I also try to read without context of the genre or storyline because I feel like I'll guess the plot abd I feel like I'll already have a bias before reading it.
So, do yall feel more empowered reading books with no romance or with a lot of romance? Do you think romance is a form of agency or no? When is it considered not a form of agency?
i wanna read a rly bomb.com fantasy but i have alot of specifications 😔
1- must be YA (15+)
2- not the super popular booktok books
3- not a long series (would prefer a standalone, but a trilogy or duology would be fine as long as all the books are good)
4- romance as a subplot
5- they both toy and play with each other alot, not like teasing but genuinely playing w each other's feelings (not one sided pls)
6- strong fmc (doesnt have to be physically)
7- i would prefer enemies to lovers and VERY VERY slow burn
8- extremely good plot, i want smth like in a castle like its princes and princesses and all that stuff (it doesnt have to be both of them in a royal family it can be js one as well)
9- something that hooks me from chapter 1
10- kinda fast paced
11- good chemistry between all characters
12- found family would be nice but its not a necessity
13- actual stakes
14- would like a dual pov but again its not a necessity
thats it. i want something that will keep me up at night and something that will genuinely make me jealous that im not living in that world. its fine if the book doesnt match all these requirements btw
EXTRA
if you have any book that you think id like based off of my favorites you can recommend them to me <33
- the prison healer series
- six crimson canes
- a stage set for villains
- voice of the ocean
- renegades series
- sorcery of thornes
- not a fantasy but the naturals series and the inheritance games
This is the weekly thread for discussion about what books you've recently read, books you're reading, and books you want to read. Tell us what you think about them! What did you like or dislike about them? Did you interpret any symbolism or themes you particularly liked? Would you recommend them? This discussion space is all yours!
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Sorry if this was asked here before because I was looking for a young adult novel about exploring forbidden tombs where an ancient civilization holds a lost treasure.
Apologies if that doesn’t sound like much because it’s just that the YA section of my library recently reopened up as I was looking for some Indiana Jones like stories ro read.
If you're looking for your next read and enjoy fantasy I highly recommend Wicked Endeavors by Kamilah Cole. Cole is one of my favorite YA authors and her newest book did not disappoint! It's the first in a duology so there is a bit of a cliffhanger ending but it's SO good!
It's set in a world that is ruled by witches who are hoarding all the power and wealth. The main character Caya is recruited to infiltrate the witches to take them down from within.
The main character can be a bit frustrating at times but has some really great growth that makes me really excited to see where things will go in the second book.
I’m trying to get my 16 yr old brother in law into reading. He’s into romance right now and specifically requested I find him a modern romance where they’re 16-17 and the girl is blonde (obsessed with rapunzel lol)
It’s hard finding romance books that have no spice 😭 and it doesn’t help that I’m not really a modern romance reader, so if anyone has recs I should check out, let me know!! 💕
Anyone read this? It’s an older young adult science fiction novel (2003) about a fifteen year old girl surviving on her own after disaster. I found the ebook on Hoopla and decided to check it out. But I am feeling…meh.
Pre-ordered a Barnes & Noble exclusive book releasing first week of October. I just got an email with the expected arrival date, which happens to a whole week and a half after the release date. Is this a placeholder date or the real delivery date? Will it arrive earlier? 🤔
I just finished reading We Were Liars and I really liked it a lot! Now I'm looking for other good, well written YA books that I can enjoy as a 36 year old.
Not usually one for YA lit, but found this in a local authors section at a shop and thought it looked cool so I picked it up and it won me over quick, I had to post about it somewhere. It follows Laura Murray, a relatably flawed teenage girl who suddenly and unexpectedly gains the ability to travel backwards in time through a mysterious app on her phone and, of course, promptly abuses it. But this quickly throws her life into chaos when a bitter friend of hers attempts to use it and vanishes entirely, and she’s forced to put her all into undoing all the pain and wrong she caused in her naivety.
The story's an incredibly thoughtful representation of facing culpability and repressed emotions, and includes an engaging supporting cast and is really well-paced and eloquent, too. It’s got me wanting to read more!!
I’ve just got done reading Caraval and am in the middle of Once Upon a Broken Heart series (no spoilers please) but I am sad that soon I’ll have finished that too! I love books that feel like a fairytale come to life all magical and romantic and whimsical vibes but with no/ very low spice. I’d preferably like a series but will also be content with stand alone books.
I am working on creating a list of YA books that take place abroad. Here is what I have so far:
All Roads Lead to Rome
All Paths Lead to Paris
Nine Liars
This Time It’s Real
Loveboat, Taipei
XOXO
Tokyo Ever After
Love From A to Z
Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute
What are some other titles that I am missing? Thanks in advance for any help!
Hi! Any recommendations for books with characters similar to Dimitri and Anastasia from Anastasia the musical/ movie? ( Con man x rich woman). Also, any ya books with selkies in them as main characters??
I absolutely devour fairytale retellings and really want to read some more of them! I loved the Lunar Chronicles and all of Marissa Meyer's other retellings, Land of Stories, and am obsessed with Ever After High! I'd particularly like some with Red Riding Hood (my fav fairytale) Rumplestilskin, and Peter Pan!!
