Sorry for the epic length! The discussions I wanted to have about The Husband's Secret and Good Girls Lie particularly made the video v. long! Timestamps for those who want to skip around: 01:08 Wilder Girls by Rory Power 07:06 Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl 14:26 The Lovely and the Lost by Jennifer Lynn Barnes 19:13 The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty 22:53 SPOILERS for The Husband's Secret (discusses fatphobia and ableism. TRIGGER warning for discussion of weight/numbers.) 31:18 Good Girls Lie by JT Ellison 42:47 Lock Every Door by Riley Sager 47:25 The Swallows by Lisa Lutz
Your time, use it how you see fit . I’m a fan of your opinion as well as your advice. Happy writing and reviewing! Figures I get an unexpected chance too read save the cat and it’s packed in a box in storage. Thank you for YOUR time. Mike
It deserves the hype. And I know hype is so dangerous in the book community. It's also tricky for me b/c I am friends w/ the author, but I picked up the book not knowing what to expect and then I was pretty impressed. It captured my attention in a way that honestly most YA books don't anymore.
Sometimes life sucks and stuff happens. I like stories that don't always give happy go lucky endings because someone is disabled. It's not shaming the person or the disability, but life is not always sunshine and rainbows. And the stereotype fat girl loses weight and gets the guy, is not bad perse, stereotypes exist for a reason, because they happen often enough in reality. It boils down to the fact that the person didn't just become hot, they were always hot, but most people will avoid fat people, at least at young ages, as you age and grow mentally, people start to get more understanding and less judgemental. And hotness and beauty relies on the way a person percieves themselves. If you think you are ugly, people around you will pick up on that insucurity. When you lose weight, it can go a long way to raise self esteem and people pick up on that, and that, more than weight is the reason fat girl loses weight get "hot" and all the guys.
I've seen the cover for Wilder Girls multiple times, but I must not have read the synopsis because your description wasn't at all what I was expecting! Also, as you were talking about it, my reaction was 'that sounds like a Jeff Vandermeer novel', and then you mentioned Annihilation a few seconds later. That definitely doesn't sound like anything I've come across in YA before.
Another thing that bothers me is that Polly could have been a tennis player even without her arm. I mean, look at Bethany Hamilton. She lost her arm after a shark attack and she still was able to become one of the most famous surfers of all time.
I heard Wilder Girls called "Lord of the Flies but with girls," and that made me immediately preorder it. I was a little skeptical. I've been burned before. LOTF is about struggling with one's humanity, being trapped and isolated, fighting nature, and mystery, with beautiful writing. Most books just get the isolated part, though Beauty Queens was hilarious. Sorry, rant over). Your description backs up the LOTF comparison, and I can't wait to read it!
I bought and just finished reading Wilder Girls because of your recommendation. I also like creepy body horror stories, which made it an easy read. The writing is solid, especially for a debute. Sometimes the pace was a little slow but I couldn't stop reading. There is a constant underlying tension. I give it 4 stars. The end...what the hell? I need a sequel. Thanks for your reading wrap-up.
Thank you! It's the Kathleen Lights Zodiac palette from Colourpop so I bought it for only $14.50! I played around with the colors and I'm v. pleased w/ the results!
Totally agree on hating narratives where the fat girl gets skinny and now all the boys like her and she's SO much happier than when she was fat. Especially when it's clearly not being done in any way to subvert that trope or show that sort of thinking is harmful. Also I'm VERY excited to read Wilder Girls
**SPOILER FOR THE HUSBANDS SECRET** In the epilogue, why didn't Liane just write it as though Polly did still get the racket and became a disabled athlete? Maybe end up in the Paralympics? I feel like that would've been such a better, non-ableist thing to do. idk :/
*good girls lie* in the video you said that schools wouldn't limit the websites students can use. I don't know to the extent it happened because I haven't read it, but that does happen. In my old school, they had blocked snapchat, instagram, most porn sites, reddit, and youtube. It does happen, just most students use a VPN to work around it, though you can't use a VPN on school computers because you have to download a software.
Jennifer Lynne Barnes is/was a professor and has degrees in psychology/psychiatry so she's obviously super good at research and I feel like all of the books I've read of hers has such emotional resonance. I've read her first four series but haven't read any of her newer stuff of the last few years when she's gotten more popular. Really excited to give The Lovely and the Lost a try!
I really enjoyed Neverworld Wake for straddling the line of the age ranges. I agree that the ending was incredibly earned. I think I read this book in 2 days, very quick for me. Loving these longer videos, Alexa! I can't wait to see more!! :0)
Thanks for the warning! But its good to know. Also kudos about mentioning and analysing the fat shaming attitude and abelist one! Its a sticky problematic issue (for some atleast) - and its an eg of something difficult where as a reader we are unsure if its authoral bias (emphasised or otherwise), character pov and how we think it was used and why.... e.g. read a book where the eastern asian character is kindof described as less beautiful but then later theres a southern asian character decribed as beautiful... :L good to discuss! (Novel tea mini topic??) A good topic against the ableist stuff I liked, was a movie based on a true story called Soul Surfer (2011) :)
about what you said about good girls lie; i went to a private school and we weren’t allowed to use phones there either! and the websites we were able to access through the school’s computers were also limited (content not appropriate for school would be automatically blocked by the system) so all of that rly resonated with me haha
I look forward to your videos and seeing this just made my Tuesday! I wanted to ask, if I’ve never read Jane Eyre, do you think I should read that before Brightly Burning? It may be kind of fun to read BB then JE, but I thought I’d get your take!
Alexa Donne that's what I'll do then! Can't wait to pick it up! Again, love all your content - especially the sims video! I was like "worlds collide, worlds collide" 😂
I know you don't like fantasy but I'd LOVE to see your take on the Bartimaeus Trilogy. (I believe it was published as YA or middle grade but it always struck me as an adult, new adult, or at the very least late YA novel
Wilder Girls is definitely on my to-read list! I would recommend the Thickety series to you based on the “creepy woods” theme of this video. This is my number one favorite series of all time and although it is considered a book for ages 10+ on Amazon, it is extremely grotesque, tragic, and downright horrifying at times. When you were talking about The Neverworld Wake, saying you loved how weird it was, well, The Thickety is WEIRD.
I read an article where the people from silicon valley are indeed sending their kids to tech-less schools. Lots of hands on farm-like activities. It's not all of them, but seems like a growing trend, because they are more in tune with the statistics of what tech is doing to children. They also have the privilege to do this, whereas middle and lower classes 1) need their kids to be ahead of the game tech-wise to compete and 2) need tech to supplement education and 3) serves and childcare in a sense since they can't afford nannies and such. But I agree, many books just blow when it comes to portraying kids, teens, and young adults.
Ha, that is amusing. And, well, had the author done their research and used that kind of reasoning, I could have bought it! It's really all about how you write something, and having enough logic to support the suspension of disbelief. The line between lazy and good writing :) (also the old hipster in me kind of likes the idea of the techless school lollllll)
@@AlexaDonne LOL, agreed. No matter what a writer puts down.... They gotta sell it. Werewolves aren't real, but Rachelle Mills damn well makes me believe every word.
@@Agentmg17 Ha, yes! Or like the last book I read, The Swallows, was completely ridiculous, but the storytelling supported the set-up, so I was able to suspend disbelief and just enjoy myself. It's never the what, always the how :)
Schools block websites all the time or they monitor what is being posted on websites that are visited. There are, of course, work arounds that students inevitably find lol
To be fair to one of your technology gripes in Good Girls Lie, in 2011, when I was in high school, our internet had restricted websites. That just taught us how to use proxies and VPNs lol.
Was interested to see this video title! I'm brainstorming on a stand-alone gothic novel at the moment. This is going to sound weird, but I was planning it as an adult novel, but throughout most of the story, the heroine will be underage. I'm thinking it will be a little more literary than commercial.
Publishing Question: I know when you’re querying literary agents it is typically expected that you query one agent at the agency. Not more than one at a time. But what if you are querying multiple manuscripts? Would it be acceptable to send one manuscript to one agent at an agency and your other manuscript to a different agent at the same agency?
It is not advisable to query multiple manuscripts at the same time. You should do one at a time. Otherwise it muddies the waters and you'll annoy agents if they find out you're doing it.
I really hate when people harp on weight and is like "No one can ever love you because YOU'RE FAT." Honestly, I don't even like my doctor telling me I'm fat when they know I'm trying to lose weight. I also hate the Fat to skinny and the "ugly" to pretty thrope. It needs to die with all those turn of the Millenium teen movies that cut a girls hair and put her in contacts to make her pretty or the girl who finds her self esteem when she loses weight. Also, you are not fat you are beautiful.
Alexa, real quick. Do I get an Editor first or an Agent? Please help me. My manuscript is complete. It needs developmental editing. I'm so overwhelmed. I don't know what to do next. Thank you!
If you haven't gotten critique partners, you need critique partners. Working with those and learning to self-edit is essential before getting an agent. I have videos on both topics!
@@AlexaDonne ..okay. The problem I'm having is, what to do first, second, third. At the moment I'm on my 27th edit and need help. I Googled>>>>What's the difference between Critique Partners and Beta Readers? Im still not sure. Is it about swapping manuscripts? Sorry to sound so unlearned about this business but this is my first rodeo. I'm so green🤢 thanks!
The swallows actually sounds like my highschool. Ours was called the freshman 500. No website but was surprisingly organized. They each put in money to participate. (The first year the pot ended up being 500 dollars) the guy to sleep with the most freshmen got the money. Totally disgusting.
Alexa is raving about "The Lovely & the Lost"...I open my TBR list to add it, then Alexa says "trigger warning! Does the dog die?" I gasp and promptly close the app. Then Alexa explains...and I let out my breath and continue to add it...whew! Thanks for clarifying, Alexa! I think I can handle it now...
I loved big little lies but the husband's secret I thought was pretty bad. The reveal is highly predictable and the characters were a little dull. But I really recommend big little lies.
At least the public school I went to (I graduated high school 2018) they did limit the websites you could access on school computers and when connected to school wifi. So J.T. Ellison did something correct... but I don't think they did it intentionally...
Me, doing other things while listening: Alexa: Wow, Tess is a bitch Me: Yoooo! 😂 I've been wanting to get my hands on Wilder Girls for awhile now! I'm even more excited now! 🤪 You going off about the Husband's Secret and the weight thing had me laughing and cheering at once because honestly SAME. I LOVE your book review videos. I think most of us are always looking for good material to dig into.
Yeah, I'm still uncomfortable with it? Like... I didn't land on this in the video, but having edited it and watched it through, I think what didn't sit with me was the fact that, as usual, the POV MC who matters in this scenario is the pretty thin girl and her feelings. Even if we're meant to go "wow, she's very cruel to her poor cousin," her poor cousin is still a prop and a trope--the pretty fat girl who got thin and got a man. What's the story from Felicity's POV? What are the depth of her feelings, which I imagine are complex. One of the reasons I loathe this trope is I've been the fat girl who lost weight (temporarily lol), and I have many friends who did gastric and dropped down a ton--and all of us struggled with our feelings about the change in external perception, treatment, etc... it's not as simple as losing weight and your life becomes magic? And MOST people who lose that kind of weight do not keep it off. "Fat girl gets skinny and finally is happy" is just a tired trope--you need to be able to find happiness where you are, because self-worth shouldn't be derived from external appearance or validation? So this is me projecting a LOT of feelings onto Liane Moriarty's choices lol. (and interestingly, Liane Moriarty is not a tiny human so it had to be a conscious choice? wish fulfillment?)
@@AlexaDonne Yeah if it's really that prominent I more than likely would have stopped reading altogether. I've never been a skinny girl and being compared to my friends/sisters/etc was bad enough, let alone having to read stories that treat fat people like they're unfortunate objects that need to be changed to deserve love. That in ITSELF is absolute bullshit, like you said. A person's body shape is not what shapes their destiny. Fuck these no-win scenarios people who aren't traditionally "beautiful" get thrown into, honestly. I agree that "fat girl gets skinny & happy" trope is tired and UN-FREAKING-TRUE. Hearing from Felicity's side of things would have probably been exceptionally painful. What was going through her head during that weight loss process? Did she have to remind herself constantly that no one would love her unless she got skinny? Or did she do it with a healthy mental focus? Who knows. The fat girl's POV doesn't really matter a lot of the time, does it? It probably was some kind of wish fulfillment because what's messed up is a lot of us who grew up being compared to smaller people have had that fantasy where we think things would just be easier/better if we were skinny. (which isn't true, but I'm sure you get my drift.) ...you know what don't feel bad about the projection cuz I'm apparently in a bit of the same boat.
Oh I'm super interested in the differences for adult and YA thrillers, please, please! And I totally get what you mean about the fat shaming and how to draw the line. I'm okay with a character being racist, cruel, rude, fat-phobic, sexist IF it's a part of the characters flaw and isn't being praised as "good behavior" in the book. The truth is that awful things exist and I don't think we write well when we ignore the ugly in humanity. It's one thing if you're showing a character being a shitty person though, and it's another if it never comes to light that it's wrong. And it may be that the character never gets over that side to themselves, but there's a way to write something to make it apparent, at least by the end of the novel, that their racist/sexist/fatphobic thoughts are a moral failing. But no one can really give a check list of when that's been accomplished successfully. There is no formula for it, and it's very subjective. Some readers could miss the underlying theme/message of the flawed narrator
I need to ask a serious question(s) and, as you're an author, you seem uniquely qualified to address it. The inquiry directly pertains to characters in novels and was sparked by your review of The Husband's Secret. I will try to articulate this as clearly as possible. Here goes. Not everyone is a good person, has good thoughts, or does good things. People are a conglomeration of flaws, prejudices and foibles. By the same token, those people also aren't always the bad guy, just not always great people all the time. When narrating a person with a less than stellar inner monologue, do you worry about the group of people that character might offend or do you just go on with it because, in the end, that's who this person is and they're part of the story? Additionally, not every story has a happy ending or a satisfying conclusion. Does that mean that it deserves to be told less than stories that do have those things? Please understand that I don't disagree with any point you made in your review on this particular book, I haven't read it. I just rabbit holed on RUclips and ended up here and the question was formed in my brain as a result of the review. Where does the line exist between 'this person/part of the story isn't super great or socially acceptable' and 'all people with bad thoughts are bad guys, they get theirs and all turns out right with the world because I'm the author and that's the way I say it is'? What are your thoughts?
I hate Liane Moriarty's books, I've tried to read them and have DNFed all of them because I just hate her characters. I feel bad about it because everybody loves them but I think they're not for me. As usual, thank you for mentioning pets dying in books, that's the only thing I find hard to read so I appreciate knowing about it in advance. I'm definitely getting Wilder Girls as soon as I can!
Speaking of writing characters that don't behave how they really would in real life, you see this all of the time in TV Shows related to teens... adults are horribly written to just be awful or immoral. (See example in Pretty Little Liars where one of the teachers has a relationship with a girl that is like 16... I mean yes it happens but just eww).
Sorry for the epic length! The discussions I wanted to have about The Husband's Secret and Good Girls Lie particularly made the video v. long! Timestamps for those who want to skip around:
01:08 Wilder Girls by Rory Power
07:06 Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl
14:26 The Lovely and the Lost by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
19:13 The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
22:53 SPOILERS for The Husband's Secret (discusses fatphobia and ableism. TRIGGER warning for discussion of weight/numbers.)
31:18 Good Girls Lie by JT Ellison
42:47 Lock Every Door by Riley Sager
47:25 The Swallows by Lisa Lutz
Your time, use it how you see fit . I’m a fan of your opinion as well as your advice. Happy writing and reviewing!
Figures I get an unexpected chance too read save the cat and it’s packed in a box in storage.
Thank you for YOUR time. Mike
Holy shit, 54 minutes?! Is it Christmas????!!!😊
LOL I tried so hard to shorten it but then decided that Book Fam would be fine w/ it :P (plus I have timestamps if people want to skip around!)
This could last me Eight Crazy (Jewish) Nights! Hahahaha
We like the long vid! Thank you Alexa :D
@@AlexaDonne I'm totally down, it will kick off the insomnia binge I pencilled in for tonight XD
Do you think you'll do a review on thrillers focused on hauntings and witches? I would love to hear what you think about that type of genre.
My best friend bought Brightly Burning as an early birthday gift! Can't wait to read. 😍🤩
I've been seeing things about Wilder Girls as of late....thanks for covering it!
It deserves the hype. And I know hype is so dangerous in the book community. It's also tricky for me b/c I am friends w/ the author, but I picked up the book not knowing what to expect and then I was pretty impressed. It captured my attention in a way that honestly most YA books don't anymore.
i'm working on a WIP with cutthroat boarding schools and creepy woods! so, this video is coming at the perfect time for me omg
This video added so many books to my TBR! Thank you for the engaging reviews. I'm already excited for next month's wrap up.
Sometimes life sucks and stuff happens. I like stories that don't always give happy go lucky endings because someone is disabled. It's not shaming the person or the disability, but life is not always sunshine and rainbows. And the stereotype fat girl loses weight and gets the guy, is not bad perse, stereotypes exist for a reason, because they happen often enough in reality. It boils down to the fact that the person didn't just become hot, they were always hot, but most people will avoid fat people, at least at young ages, as you age and grow mentally, people start to get more understanding and less judgemental. And hotness and beauty relies on the way a person percieves themselves. If you think you are ugly, people around you will pick up on that insucurity. When you lose weight, it can go a long way to raise self esteem and people pick up on that, and that, more than weight is the reason fat girl loses weight get "hot" and all the guys.
I LOVE the in-depth long review videos.
I've seen the cover for Wilder Girls multiple times, but I must not have read the synopsis because your description wasn't at all what I was expecting! Also, as you were talking about it, my reaction was 'that sounds like a Jeff Vandermeer novel', and then you mentioned Annihilation a few seconds later. That definitely doesn't sound like anything I've come across in YA before.
Just got The Wilder Girls but I might have to wait until October to read it lol. Also the eyeshadow looked AMAZING
Another thing that bothers me is that Polly could have been a tennis player even without her arm. I mean, look at Bethany Hamilton. She lost her arm after a shark attack and she still was able to become one of the most famous surfers of all time.
YES exactly. It just seemed like such a stupid oversight, due to the author's limited view of disability.
@@AlexaDonne Agreed. By the way, I love your channel. Your videos are funny and your make many solid points. :)
I heard Wilder Girls called "Lord of the Flies but with girls," and that made me immediately preorder it. I was a little skeptical. I've been burned before. LOTF is about struggling with one's humanity, being trapped and isolated, fighting nature, and mystery, with beautiful writing. Most books just get the isolated part, though Beauty Queens was hilarious. Sorry, rant over).
Your description backs up the LOTF comparison, and I can't wait to read it!
I'd say it's a pretty accurate comp! It asks a lot of questions about human nature and survival for sure :)
@@AlexaDonne Excellent!!
@rycbar123 Ooh, good to know that too! Thank you! It certainly looks intriguing...
I bought and just finished reading Wilder Girls because of your recommendation. I also like creepy body horror stories, which made it an easy read. The writing is solid, especially for a debute. Sometimes the pace was a little slow but I couldn't stop reading. There is a constant underlying tension. I give it 4 stars.
The end...what the hell? I need a sequel.
Thanks for your reading wrap-up.
THAT MAKEUP !!!! AMAZING
Thank you! It's the Kathleen Lights Zodiac palette from Colourpop so I bought it for only $14.50! I played around with the colors and I'm v. pleased w/ the results!
@@AlexaDonne Kathleen Lights could sell me anything ! and if its zodiac themed even more so !!!! it looks great
One hour of thrillers and messed up people....YES!
Totally agree on hating narratives where the fat girl gets skinny and now all the boys like her and she's SO much happier than when she was fat. Especially when it's clearly not being done in any way to subvert that trope or show that sort of thinking is harmful. Also I'm VERY excited to read Wilder Girls
**SPOILER FOR THE HUSBANDS SECRET**
In the epilogue, why didn't Liane just write it as though Polly did still get the racket and became a disabled athlete? Maybe end up in the Paralympics? I feel like that would've been such a better, non-ableist thing to do. idk :/
*good girls lie*
in the video you said that schools wouldn't limit the websites students can use. I don't know to the extent it happened because I haven't read it, but that does happen. In my old school, they had blocked snapchat, instagram, most porn sites, reddit, and youtube. It does happen, just most students use a VPN to work around it, though you can't use a VPN on school computers because you have to download a software.
Definitely want to read Wilder Girls. I like your honest reviews.
Love your reading wrap ups!
Jennifer Lynne Barnes is/was a professor and has degrees in psychology/psychiatry so she's obviously super good at research and I feel like all of the books I've read of hers has such emotional resonance. I've read her first four series but haven't read any of her newer stuff of the last few years when she's gotten more popular. Really excited to give The Lovely and the Lost a try!
Already posted a comment but just saw in your show notes that you're launching a podcast. I LOVE PODCASTS.
Yeah Novel Tea Show is up to six episodes now! Check it out 😀
I really enjoyed Neverworld Wake for straddling the line of the age ranges. I agree that the ending was incredibly earned. I think I read this book in 2 days, very quick for me. Loving these longer videos, Alexa! I can't wait to see more!! :0)
Thanks for the warning! But its good to know. Also kudos about mentioning and analysing the fat shaming attitude and abelist one! Its a sticky problematic issue (for some atleast) - and its an eg of something difficult where as a reader we are unsure if its authoral bias (emphasised or otherwise), character pov and how we think it was used and why.... e.g. read a book where the eastern asian character is kindof described as less beautiful but then later theres a southern asian character decribed as beautiful... :L good to discuss! (Novel tea mini topic??) A good topic against the ableist stuff I liked, was a movie based on a true story called Soul Surfer (2011) :)
Thank you for in-depth dog tw. I am a person that needs this.
I agree with you on everything about Neverworld wake. I loved it, read it last week. Immediately ordered Night film, it's on its way 😁
about what you said about good girls lie; i went to a private school and we weren’t allowed to use phones there either! and the websites we were able to access through the school’s computers were also limited (content not appropriate for school would be automatically blocked by the system) so all of that rly resonated with me haha
Im soooo excited for Wilder Girls. I recently read Sawkill Girls. Another creepy YA, hoping for more weirdness.
I look forward to your videos and seeing this just made my Tuesday! I wanted to ask, if I’ve never read Jane Eyre, do you think I should read that before Brightly Burning? It may be kind of fun to read BB then JE, but I thought I’d get your take!
Definitely don't have to read JE first! Honestly if you don't, you'll be more surprised by BB, which is a pretty faithful retelling.
Alexa Donne that's what I'll do then! Can't wait to pick it up! Again, love all your content - especially the sims video! I was like "worlds collide, worlds collide" 😂
I know you don't like fantasy but I'd LOVE to see your take on the Bartimaeus Trilogy. (I believe it was published as YA or middle grade but it always struck me as an adult, new adult, or at the very least late YA novel
Wilder Girls is definitely on my to-read list! I would recommend the Thickety series to you based on the “creepy woods” theme of this video. This is my number one favorite series of all time and although it is considered a book for ages 10+ on Amazon, it is extremely grotesque, tragic, and downright horrifying at times. When you were talking about The Neverworld Wake, saying you loved how weird it was, well, The Thickety is WEIRD.
I was excited for Wilder Girls but now I need to read it.
The Lovely and the Lost makes my psychology senses tingle. ALSO DOGS. omg I was just typing "DOES THE DOG DI-" then you answered haha
I loved loved wilder girls so much, it goes into my top 20 fave books ever tbh
Oh the Wilder Girls sounds like a book I will love. I like body horror and gross stuff. I’m going to have to check it out.
Woah the bird wings on the cover of The Swallows look like faces
I read an article where the people from silicon valley are indeed sending their kids to tech-less schools. Lots of hands on farm-like activities. It's not all of them, but seems like a growing trend, because they are more in tune with the statistics of what tech is doing to children. They also have the privilege to do this, whereas middle and lower classes 1) need their kids to be ahead of the game tech-wise to compete and 2) need tech to supplement education and 3) serves and childcare in a sense since they can't afford nannies and such.
But I agree, many books just blow when it comes to portraying kids, teens, and young adults.
Ha, that is amusing. And, well, had the author done their research and used that kind of reasoning, I could have bought it! It's really all about how you write something, and having enough logic to support the suspension of disbelief. The line between lazy and good writing :) (also the old hipster in me kind of likes the idea of the techless school lollllll)
@@AlexaDonne LOL, agreed. No matter what a writer puts down.... They gotta sell it. Werewolves aren't real, but Rachelle Mills damn well makes me believe every word.
I hope i didn't come off as a douche mentioning the article. It just happens to be something I came across last month.
@@Agentmg17 Ha, yes! Or like the last book I read, The Swallows, was completely ridiculous, but the storytelling supported the set-up, so I was able to suspend disbelief and just enjoy myself. It's never the what, always the how :)
@@Agentmg17 not at all! I really find it interesting :)
Schools block websites all the time or they monitor what is being posted on websites that are visited. There are, of course, work arounds that students inevitably find lol
What Alice Forgot was my favorite by Liane Moriarty.
I definitely plan on picking up more books by her! Maybe I'll do that one next since I'm already spoiled for Big Little Lies...
To be fair to one of your technology gripes in Good Girls Lie, in 2011, when I was in high school, our internet had restricted websites. That just taught us how to use proxies and VPNs lol.
therainbowmarbles I was going to say the same. They block social media, YT, etc
Agreed Good Girls Lie is not great but, Ash doesn’t die on the gate in the book. That was Becca.
Was interested to see this video title! I'm brainstorming on a stand-alone gothic novel at the moment. This is going to sound weird, but I was planning it as an adult novel, but throughout most of the story, the heroine will be underage. I'm thinking it will be a little more literary than commercial.
Publishing Question: I know when you’re querying literary agents it is typically expected that you query one agent at the agency. Not more than one at a time. But what if you are querying multiple manuscripts? Would it be acceptable to send one manuscript to one agent at an agency and your other manuscript to a different agent at the same agency?
It is not advisable to query multiple manuscripts at the same time. You should do one at a time. Otherwise it muddies the waters and you'll annoy agents if they find out you're doing it.
I really hate when people harp on weight and is like "No one can ever love you because YOU'RE FAT." Honestly, I don't even like my doctor telling me I'm fat when they know I'm trying to lose weight. I also hate the Fat to skinny and the "ugly" to pretty thrope. It needs to die with all those turn of the Millenium teen movies that cut a girls hair and put her in contacts to make her pretty or the girl who finds her self esteem when she loses weight. Also, you are not fat you are beautiful.
Alexa, real quick. Do I get an Editor first or an Agent? Please help me. My manuscript is complete. It needs developmental editing. I'm so overwhelmed. I don't know what to do next. Thank you!
If you haven't gotten critique partners, you need critique partners. Working with those and learning to self-edit is essential before getting an agent. I have videos on both topics!
@@AlexaDonne ..okay. The problem I'm having is, what to do first, second, third. At the moment I'm on my 27th edit and need help. I Googled>>>>What's the difference between Critique Partners and Beta Readers? Im still not sure. Is it about swapping manuscripts? Sorry to sound so unlearned about this business but this is my first rodeo. I'm so green🤢 thanks!
The Seallows sounds awesome. I need it. Why can't it be September now?
The swallows actually sounds like my highschool. Ours was called the freshman 500. No website but was surprisingly organized. They each put in money to participate. (The first year the pot ended up being 500 dollars) the guy to sleep with the most freshmen got the money. Totally disgusting.
You don't even need two arms to play tennis...
Alexa is raving about "The Lovely & the Lost"...I open my TBR list to add it, then Alexa says "trigger warning! Does the dog die?" I gasp and promptly close the app. Then Alexa explains...and I let out my breath and continue to add it...whew! Thanks for clarifying, Alexa! I think I can handle it now...
Alexa at 25:02...LMFAO!
I loved big little lies but the husband's secret I thought was pretty bad. The reveal is highly predictable and the characters were a little dull. But I really recommend big little lies.
At least the public school I went to (I graduated high school 2018) they did limit the websites you could access on school computers and when connected to school wifi. So J.T. Ellison did something correct... but I don't think they did it intentionally...
Me, doing other things while listening:
Alexa: Wow, Tess is a bitch
Me: Yoooo! 😂
I've been wanting to get my hands on Wilder Girls for awhile now! I'm even more excited now! 🤪
You going off about the Husband's Secret and the weight thing had me laughing and cheering at once because honestly SAME.
I LOVE your book review videos. I think most of us are always looking for good material to dig into.
Yeah, I'm still uncomfortable with it? Like... I didn't land on this in the video, but having edited it and watched it through, I think what didn't sit with me was the fact that, as usual, the POV MC who matters in this scenario is the pretty thin girl and her feelings. Even if we're meant to go "wow, she's very cruel to her poor cousin," her poor cousin is still a prop and a trope--the pretty fat girl who got thin and got a man. What's the story from Felicity's POV? What are the depth of her feelings, which I imagine are complex. One of the reasons I loathe this trope is I've been the fat girl who lost weight (temporarily lol), and I have many friends who did gastric and dropped down a ton--and all of us struggled with our feelings about the change in external perception, treatment, etc... it's not as simple as losing weight and your life becomes magic? And MOST people who lose that kind of weight do not keep it off. "Fat girl gets skinny and finally is happy" is just a tired trope--you need to be able to find happiness where you are, because self-worth shouldn't be derived from external appearance or validation? So this is me projecting a LOT of feelings onto Liane Moriarty's choices lol. (and interestingly, Liane Moriarty is not a tiny human so it had to be a conscious choice? wish fulfillment?)
@@AlexaDonne Yeah if it's really that prominent I more than likely would have stopped reading altogether. I've never been a skinny girl and being compared to my friends/sisters/etc was bad enough, let alone having to read stories that treat fat people like they're unfortunate objects that need to be changed to deserve love. That in ITSELF is absolute bullshit, like you said. A person's body shape is not what shapes their destiny. Fuck these no-win scenarios people who aren't traditionally "beautiful" get thrown into, honestly. I agree that "fat girl gets skinny & happy" trope is tired and UN-FREAKING-TRUE. Hearing from Felicity's side of things would have probably been exceptionally painful. What was going through her head during that weight loss process? Did she have to remind herself constantly that no one would love her unless she got skinny? Or did she do it with a healthy mental focus? Who knows. The fat girl's POV doesn't really matter a lot of the time, does it? It probably was some kind of wish fulfillment because what's messed up is a lot of us who grew up being compared to smaller people have had that fantasy where we think things would just be easier/better if we were skinny. (which isn't true, but I'm sure you get my drift.)
...you know what don't feel bad about the projection cuz I'm apparently in a bit of the same boat.
And I agree! The whole Felicity thing with her weight was so ridiculous.
I don't know what school you went to but my schools wifi absolutely censored certain websites.
Ps Happy holidays
I feel smarter after watching this
Oh I'm super interested in the differences for adult and YA thrillers, please, please!
And I totally get what you mean about the fat shaming and how to draw the line. I'm okay with a character being racist, cruel, rude, fat-phobic, sexist IF it's a part of the characters flaw and isn't being praised as "good behavior" in the book. The truth is that awful things exist and I don't think we write well when we ignore the ugly in humanity. It's one thing if you're showing a character being a shitty person though, and it's another if it never comes to light that it's wrong. And it may be that the character never gets over that side to themselves, but there's a way to write something to make it apparent, at least by the end of the novel, that their racist/sexist/fatphobic thoughts are a moral failing. But no one can really give a check list of when that's been accomplished successfully. There is no formula for it, and it's very subjective. Some readers could miss the underlying theme/message of the flawed narrator
I need to ask a serious question(s) and, as you're an author, you seem uniquely qualified to address it. The inquiry directly pertains to characters in novels and was sparked by your review of The Husband's Secret. I will try to articulate this as clearly as possible. Here goes.
Not everyone is a good person, has good thoughts, or does good things. People are a conglomeration of flaws, prejudices and foibles. By the same token, those people also aren't always the bad guy, just not always great people all the time. When narrating a person with a less than stellar inner monologue, do you worry about the group of people that character might offend or do you just go on with it because, in the end, that's who this person is and they're part of the story?
Additionally, not every story has a happy ending or a satisfying conclusion. Does that mean that it deserves to be told less than stories that do have those things?
Please understand that I don't disagree with any point you made in your review on this particular book, I haven't read it. I just rabbit holed on RUclips and ended up here and the question was formed in my brain as a result of the review. Where does the line exist between 'this person/part of the story isn't super great or socially acceptable' and 'all people with bad thoughts are bad guys, they get theirs and all turns out right with the world because I'm the author and that's the way I say it is'? What are your thoughts?
I hate Liane Moriarty's books, I've tried to read them and have DNFed all of them because I just hate her characters. I feel bad about it because everybody loves them but I think they're not for me.
As usual, thank you for mentioning pets dying in books, that's the only thing I find hard to read so I appreciate knowing about it in advance.
I'm definitely getting Wilder Girls as soon as I can!
I didn’t really care for Neverworld Waske. I thought it was very predictable. And very slow in the middle.
First Pessl's book also have a teenage protagonist, but I wouldn't call her YA writer.
What grandma is this?!? 😂
Speaking of writing characters that don't behave how they really would in real life, you see this all of the time in TV Shows related to teens... adults are horribly written to just be awful or immoral. (See example in Pretty Little Liars where one of the teachers has a relationship with a girl that is like 16... I mean yes it happens but just eww).
Lol im writing a boarding school book
Anyone read 'The Wife Between Us'?
I did. I liked. It was around 4 stars for me. I even did a review of it on my channel 🤗I recommend reading it over second book by the author.