5 Books I *Used* to Love

hi, yes, hello
*taps computer screen*
is this thing still working?

Sorry it's been so long! (note: read 'sorry' in Canadian accent.) I've started back up at uni, which you may recall from my last blog post, or if you're following me on twitter!! <- that's a hyperlink, you can follow me through there.
Anyways, I've seen a few booktubers make videos about books they used to love, and giving their reasons. (specifically, ProblemsofaBookNerd and PeruseProject.) I love this, because not only is it super self reflective, but it's also a great way to recognize the problems in books you loved in the past that make you want to cringe now.
(Also, I haven't really been doing any fun book reading, and I thought this post would be easy enough to put together.) Okay, let's go! *opens Goodreads to remember the books I've read*

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Ransom Riggs) 
My look back to this book may come from my disappointment from the last book, Library of Souls. I absolutely can't knock Riggs' writing, because I think it's fantastic. I just can't get on board with this series anymore. Jacob and Emma's relationship kinda creeps me out, since Emma had a relationship with his grandfather. I just don't believe the hype in it anymore. Trust me, I was all about that Miss Peregrine's hype, and it definitely is a stand-out book in the YA section because of it's plot, but looking back it's not as good as we all thought. It's actually pretty slow and there's not much character progression and development. Sometimes I wonder if this could've done better in the adult fiction section.

Mistborn/The Final Empire (Brandon Sanderson) 
Not sure if you've heard, but Brandon Sanderson is a homophobe and I have no room in my life for authors like him. I do greatly admire his talent for fantasy writing, but I cannot support him anymore. Looking back, too, this is completely reflective in his writing. If you didn't know, Mistborn/The Final Empire mostly follows a young woman, Vin, who's taken in by a group of men who mentor her to be a better Mistborn (a person who ingests basic metals to give them magical abilities). However, very soon, Vin's life completely revolves around the men around her and though she's the "most powerful Mistborn" she's never really able to be the most powerful in her group or grow as a woman. Needless to say, I've gotten rid of all my BS (ha!) books.

The 5th Wave (Rick Yancey)
Bottom line with this book: I bought the hype. I think this book and the series is boring. When I look back, this series (aka the first 2 books, because I never read the 3rd) took me so long to read... and I think it's because I was bored. Looking at my review on Goodreads, too, I wrote "definitely not a fan of the first half of this book." Yancey is great at endings, not at beginnings. I didn't have any connection with the characters, either, they felt very one-dimensional. 

Shiver (Maggie Steifvater) 
I'm not the biggest fan of Steifvater, and I'm so glad I'm finally coming to that conclusion so I don't bother with her novels anymore. That's not to knock anyone who does, because I can totally understand why. The Shiver series, in particular, is one that I picked up shortly after Twilight because I heard many claims that it was similar. You can look at my Goodreads and find that I rated this 5/5 stars. Looking back though, I realize how cliche this series is... and it is similar to Twilight. It's about a human girl obsessed/in love with a supernatural dude that is possibly neglectful and emotionally abusive. The difference, is that I still like Twilight despite its flaws mostly for nostalgia reasons, but I think Shiver is just not my cup of tea.

A Court of Thorns and Roses (Sarah J Maas) 
*gasp* Okay so I've tried to type out numerous blog posts about my thoughts of SJM and how I feel about her problematic-ness. I don't really want to get into it, mostly because it comes out on Twitter once in a while [particularly my love for this tweet]. In regards to this post though, here's what I have to say.
I love this trilogy. The first book I don't love anymore, though. *Possible Spoilers Coming* Looking back, the relationship between Feyre and Tamlin is so toxic, but it's written to be viewed like it's okay, and I have a problem with that. It's not until the second and third book that the behaviour is recognized and condemned, and I can't even bring myself to try and re-read it to put my finger on example. I do still think there are problems in the other two, and I recognize them. But I can't bring myself to recommend this series unless I warn people about the first book, and I certainly don't recommend it to teens.

Going through my Goodreads, looking for books to put on this list, I actually came across a few that I like more than when I initially read them, so I think it'd be interesting to do a reverse post to this one. Stay tuned.

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