Hello and happy Monday. It is still Sunday for me because I’ve been thinking about a new challenge I want to undertake in the future and I want to put it in the universe. Now, I’m not setting up deadlines and I don’t even know if I’m going to go through with this, but I think it’s fun to at least share the idea with you and maybe inspire you to do your own version.
Basically, for years now I’ve been thinking about how there were this authors who got me into reading YA and who subsequently got me into book blogging when I was in my early twenties, and one day they basically fell off my radar. I’m not talking about authors I read one book from, I’m talking about my favorites during 2013 and up to 2015. There were some that I started reading after that time that I won’t include here, as well as some that I might have read then but I’m still reading from or I’m planning to read from. Those honorable mentions are John Green, David Levithan, and Nina LaCour.
So, what’s this challenge going to be about? I have selected five authors who were my first favorite authors and whose books I would read religiously until I didn’t anymore. I haven’t been keeping up with their new releases for years now, and in retrospect, there are some authors that I don’t even think I like. The challenge, thus, consists of making a TBR for myself with the books these authors have released since I stopped caring about them, reading said books and concluding whether or not they hold up. This will not be so much an “is it okay to write about this nowadays?” type of experiment but more along the lines of “was I right to forget about this author years ago?”. That being said, let’s meet the authors.
Jennifer E. Smith: I think I spent as much money on Jen E. Smith’s books back in the day as I have on body modifications, which is a lot. I liked the way she crafter her stories. They were innocent and so was I when I read them. Yes, I was a virgin and so were her characters, so I think that made me relate to them. What began to annoy me about her books was the fact that most if not all of her characters were white and all her characters were straight. Talk about bland. For this experiment, though I’ll be reading:
Jenny Han: I can tell you when I stopped loving Jenny Han. It was while I was reading P.S I Still Love You (?) I think that’s the name of the last book in her To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series. I loved the first book so much that it was actually what inspired me to create my first book blog ever. But the third one, and specifically a scene in which Lara Jean goes to Peter Kavinsky’s room and basically straddles him and tells him they should have sex to essentially “get it over with…” yeah, that was when I decided I was done with Jenny Han. That scene and that book for me were so bad that I even questioned whether I’d really liked her other novels. And to be honest, I’m not sure to this day. She hasn’t released any new books since that trilogy, but I have two of her books in my TBR list, so I will be reading them as a part of this experiment.
–Fire with Fire (she wrote this book with Siobhan Vivian and it is part of a series, so I will be reading the other books as well.)
Kasie West: When Jen E. Smith was becoming too bland for me, Kasie West gave me a breath of fresh air. Her books are less memorable, but I remember them being fun and easy to go through, so that was enough for me in terms of YA romance. Whether or not it’s enough now, well, we’ll see about that. I have some of her books on my TBR list and at least one of them is part of my wishlist, so I’d say she’s the one author on this list that I am still a little interested in.
–Love, Life, and the List (this one is already in my TBR) [X]
–Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss
–P.S I Like You (also a part of my TBR) [X]
–Places We’ve Never Been (this one’s in my wishlist)
Rainbow Rowell: I read many Rainbow Rowell books when I was getting into YA. I think Eleanor & Park was my first YA book ever, and I loved it. With time I’ve come to understand that 1) it wasn’t that good, but 2) more importantly, it is a problematic book, which makes Rainbow Rowell a problematic author. And since there are so many authors and so many books out there, I don’t want to waste my time defending or giving second chances to authors. I still stand by that, but I will be reading some books by this author, not because I think she will redeem herself, but rather to have some sort of closure, maybe.
Morgan Matson: I think Morgan Matson was my gateway to other, more “grownup” authors and novels, if that makes any sense. Out of all the authors in this post, I think Morgan Matson is the best one. Her characters were the most realistic, her stories were deep and memorable, and there isn’t really any reason for me to have stopped reading her books. I think I was introduced to other authors and novels, and that’s it. I would love to read more of her books, though.
If you’re still here, thank you for reading all the way through. I’m looking forward to tackling this challenge and updating you on it. If you’d like to join me, let me know.
Camila's Thoughts on Stuff 