How did you skip over the bit in Evermore where Damen gambles on the horse race and wins half a million dollars? And Ever is like, 'Cool.' That shit was fucking HILARIOUS.
My local library back in high school had a copy of Blue Moon wherein a dozen pages were just... not Blue Moon. Like, randomly, there was a chapter from a completely separate book just shoved in midchapter, and then it ends, and then Blue Moon just picked up several pages later, as though this interruption didn't happen.
@@crowposting I've got a copy of the _Pride & Prejudice & Zombies_ prequel _Dawn of the Dreadfuls_ that has the same thing, but with pages missing from the book that aren't the upside down pages while the upside down pages are several copies of a different scene, implying several other books are also missing pages. I will not answer why I have the prequel to _Pride & Prejudice & Zombies_ or why I consider it superior to P&P&Z.
James, maybe you will have to be the person who makes the iceberg tier list of abusive and creepy things young adult love interests do to their girlfriends
I just wish one of these authors truly committed to the horror that is this trope. Like maybe in the beginning, Ever sees this 'destined lover' thing as romantic, only to slowly realize its horrifying implications. The stalking, the 100s of years between them, the theft of her life over and over because of it, her sentence to the shadowlands, etc. She falls out of love and becomes terrified of this immortal man whose 'only concern is Ever.' Embrace the insanity and fear, dammit! That would make your story far more interesting!!!
Sounds like a good idea. If I can get the time and motivation, I might try to write something like that. A sort of dark satire of the genre, making it a horror story.
might be cool if its ambiguous whether the reincarnated girl is even actually a reincarnation or whether the guy is just a delusonal/manipulative psychopath grooming her into believing that she is destined to be his
This is such a big pet peeve of mine!! like so many "romance" authors have such an interesting set up to a heartfelt, horror story, but no. Let's do boring abhorrent romance instead.
@@ducky19991lmao i think at the end of the first book, there was a preview of the second book and they were manifesting all kinds of shit. i wanted to do that SO bad. i probably did try it, too.
That’s really cute. I remember being young and focusing so hard on spoons thinking maybe I would bend them with my mind. Yes I did that for real. Tbf I was in like 5th grade and wanting nothing more than to have magic powers.
@@travisslade6860 i tried telekinesis too... i would watch videos of people moving things "with their mind" and i refused to believe it was special effects cuz i wanted to move things with MY mind.
We all have the phase where we want magical girl powers. I used to be able to predict when the wind would blow and thought that I was Storm from The X-men. No judgment here. We was all waiting for our Owl's to Hogwarts at one point and time.
The best way to deal with personal trauma is to share about it with other people. This is why book reviewers need to exist: They prevent more people to enter in the same trap, easing their own burden at the same time. Edit: I was honestly expecting James to make a reference about the game Secret of Evermore, during that ranting of "do not confuse it with other series with similar names".
literally SHRIEKED when I saw this on my front page. I was always hoping you'd cover this one. A recent epiphany I've had about this series is that it's actually stealing not just from Twilight but from the Vampire Diaries (books) and *especially* the first few seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's actually kind of shameless how many plot points it lifted directly from that show. Also, istg Ever's two besties are just the best friends from Mean Girls?? Evermore basically doesn't have one single original idea if it's own, it's kind of fascinating.
I recently reread evermore (because i hate myself) and what struck me is just how much noel stole from other books/movies/shows, etc. Especially the best friends being the copy paste version of the best friends from mean girls and her friend crashing group therapy meetings (lifted from fight club).
@@bluehydrangea5506 Yup, the premise of a former cheerleader who becomes an outcast after gaining Sudden Magic Powers is stolen from Buffy. Damien is a mixture of Edward Cullen and Angel, but is worse than both of them. Even that Roman guy who shows up in I think the 3rd book is a mix of Spike from Buffy and Daemon from TVD, and again... way less interesting. Worse yet, the basic premise of the first book is lifted from an episode of Buffy. The villain is the love-interest's longtime ex-lover, hellbent on killing the heroine and reclaiming her former love. Seriously, it's almost copyright infringement it's so blatant. Edit: actually, as James goes along, I'm realizing that nearly all of the plotlines in ALL of the books are either directly or indirectly lifted from Buffy. The curse which won't let the main couple have s*x, a poison which is slowly killing the love interest, a new "normal" love interest who the main guy thinks the heroine would be better off with, another villainous "Immortal" who is loud and brash and s*xually alluring to the heroine with a complex past with the LI....... I think it just *is* copyright infringement. Absolutely shameless.
Ok, but by this logic very few stories are original. You will almost always find something that’s very similar somewhere. You had me until the mean girls part. I highly doubt they “stole” all those plot points. Some? Probably. But I highly doubt they Frankensteined this story solely off of other stories. It’s very difficult to come up with something that’s never been done before. Also, I frankly don’t care if someone’s story follows the same major plot points of another story. It helps people write a story without having to plan the whole thing out. You take the skeleton and build your story off of it. Let’s you focus on other things like the characters and world building. Does this story suck? Sure, but there are a lot of great stories that do this.
@@spiralphoenix9839 okay so its totally cool to be inspired by other media (ray bradbury has a whole quote on this) but noel full on ripped scenes/characters almost beat by beat/word for word from other media without bothering to put her own spin on any of it outside of some half assed red juice bs. This was a lazy af and u can just picture her thought process as "gee if i combine all these things that have made other pieces popular then im guarunteed a winner, right??? Agents will lick this formulaic piece of shit up because teens are dumb and wouldnt know good story telling if it bit them on the ass!" It lacks originality. It lacks heart. Its a pile of stolen, cliched, sterotypical crap that has aged like milk. She took the tired mid 2000s twilight formula of "girl moves to strange town then meets strange toxic stalker boy whose own kind tries to kill her" and then sprinkled in some mean girls + buffy the vampire slayer (almost verbatim) + vampire diaries characters and plot points (not tropes...*actual plot points*) and mashed them together. None of the arcs are original or even try to be. The climax is forced and contrived. Noel saw this as a cash cow, nothing else, and its super obvious based on how closely she followed twilight's plot arc/titles ('blue moon'...really???) and how flat and cliched the characters are. If i can point out the originator of *every single* character/plot point not as simply a genre trope/story structure (trust me, theres a difference), but as a very specific character/plot point lifted (stolen) from an original movie/book/tv show, etc... theres a problem. Seriously...Watch mean girls then read haven + myles' scenes. Noel seriously owes Tina Fey. P.s. "it helps someone write a story without having to plan the whole thing out". Theres a difference between following a basic story structure i.e. the heroes journey and including genre tropes/YA character archetypes vs copying/pasting the plot beats verbatim of whatevers new and trendy. This is lazy af and something that is %100 discouraged in writing classes. This is what hacks looking to make a quick buck do.
@@spiralphoenix9839 I see where you're coming from but having seen the show and read these books, the storylines are very similar and there is a lot of direct parallels. I've described it vaguely here because I'm not sure how many people have seen the show and it would take a lot of explaining, but the character dynamics and stories are very, weirdly similar and followed a very similar path. A curse that makes it impossible to have s*x is *extremely* specific, and to be clear: it was stupid in Buffy too. I'm not offended because the author ripped off a wonderful storyline, but I was struck by it because it was SO strange and specific. I don't mind authors taking inspo. I mean, honestly, I have a writing project where I was inspired by tons of stuff, that's fine. But this seems to lift specific characters and storylines straight out of something else, rearrange a few things and change a few details, then present it as is. If it's a coincidence, it's a heck of one. At the very least, it's VERY suspicious to me.
"Maybe just leave the slavery thing alone"--excellent advice that more creators need to understand "Girl realizes her magical boyfriend sucks and he becomes the villain" haven't read it but I've heard this is the plot of ACOTAR. edit after the end of the video: well there you go
I mean... kinda? It's a background thing in the later books but book 2 does have a decent page count dedicated towards it. More than I've seen anywhere else though.
It's usually how they resolve a love triangle. The 'Obvious Choice' guy who was always extra nice and sweet turns out to have been using protagonist, but 'Hot Bully' was actually being honest and open with her and is there to help.
sarah j maas (the author of ACOTAR and other series) has a thing where in book 1, the main male love interest (MLI1) is established to have a strong relationship with the female lead, and there's a second male love interest (MLI2) who doesn't have a whole lot of connection and has some red flags. By book 2 ALL THAT IS THROWN OUT THE WINDOW and MLI1 gets character assassinated so hard and thrown out and MLI2's Red flags are retconned and he's the greenest flagged guy you'll ever meet. Which is wild to me because if you like the main couple in book one, it feels like a major betrayal for the rest of the series, and if you DON'T like the main couple in book 1, then you probably either didn't finish that book or wouldn't be interested in reading the next. I remember I tried reading the 2nd book first, not knowing the one before it was actually the first one, and I was _so lost_ because I had context for NOTHING, lol.
As a person with an English accent living in the US, I can confirm that the constant reminders about the accent are 100% true to life. Nobody EVER shuts up about it. Every conversation I have boils down to "OMG I love your accent! Where are you from?" "Texas." "But your accent--" "I know. My parents are English." "It's soo amazing! Can you tell me about England? Do you like it better here?" "I'M FROM TEXAS." I am seriously considering accent reduction classes, because this post is not a joke or a paraody. This is the very real conversation I have every day with damn near every person I meet and it is infuriating.
Well, we do like an English accent but most of us are smart enough to understand you can have a "foreign" accent without being raised in that country because you learn speech from your parents. Just be glad you don't have a Texas accent! That is not a popular one.
I lived in the UK for a bit. Got similar comments except everyone was like "omg Canadian or American?" Can confirm it goes both ways, though probably less so for American accents in the UK, as Americans really do go batshit for a British accent
I had a schoolmate (5th-9th) that was extremely tall. Everything anybody talked about was how tall he was, with the “Do you play sports? You’d be amazing at Basketball” and all. I felt so bad for him😭
if you live in the US long enough the accent will fade with time. I was born and raised in the south but my parents are latinos who immigrated here as adults, my mom’s accent is very mild and although I used to have a very nondescript way of speaking english as a child, I’ve gained a mild southern accent over the years
@@emp6591People saying "Canadian or American?" further cements the fact that people calling all of North and South America just "America" are extremely stupid.
The sex thing is so funny because like, there are so many ways to get around the curse. Also is it really that easy to shed DNA and/or get it mixed up with someone else? Just gotta be creative, which I suppose is a lot to ask for when it comes to a teenage girl but Damon? He's lived 400 years. I'd like to think he's secure enough to consider strap-ons. Naming your protag Ever is madness. Like, I don't have any problem with fanfic. I write it from time to time, myself, but that is such a shitty fanfic name for an op oc. Just so you can have "clever" story or chapter names. *Exhausting*. The sounds I made during that passage you read about Ever's past life as a black slave. That dawning horror. Edit: I did a quick Google on the DNA thing, and survey says, it's a complicated matter. Probably too complicated to be a plot point in a YA supernatural romance, no offence.
To shed DNA, yes, you're basically always shedding DNA. All your skin cells have your DNA in them and we're actually working on ways to detect the amount of DNA left behind after simply touching a surface. To mix it with someone else...yeah no, that's called sexual intercourse. Or I suppose you could create a molecular blender, but I'm not sure there'd be usable results.
As someone who was never into YA, but is very into isekai and web novels, its fascinating how similar they are in going bonkers, trying to squeeze more twists out of the same premises as the popular works I just began reading a manga, about a guy who gets dumped from an adventurer team, so he builds a harem by romancing the mothers of his former team mates I totally understand the fascination of something so terrible
Oh no not that light novel LOL. Idk why if light novels does bonkers storyline it seemed tolerable compared to YA... Maybe because I consume LN more than YA
Noël is the French word for Christmas and it's also a first name and a last name. The Umlaut also exists in French, it's called a tréma, but it's not used much compared to the Umlaut in German (they look the same but they're still different diacritics with different meanings). And your pronunciation is close enough ! Ok I'll get back to watching the video now Edit: I never thought I'd hear "magical full body condom" yet here I am... These books are wild lmao
As a German I need to go "Ackchually" here: An "Umlaut" is only one of these three: Ä, Ö and Ü. The two dots above are not called "Umlaut" only the letter/sound as a whole. "Laut" means "sound" and the prefix "Um-" means "around". A is a Laut and Ä is the corresponding Umlaut, because it's being derived from A so to speak. The two dots are remnants of writing a little *e* on top of the original letter. That's why you can still replace any Umlaut by the combination of the original letter and and e. Ä = Ae Ö= Oe Ü = Ue
@@johannageisel5390 oh that's interesting, thank you for pointing that out ! When we talked about it in class we used Umlaut to refer to both the diacritic and the sound, ig because the nuance wasn't that important to us lol. Is there a specific word used in German to refer to the diacritic itself ? The internet says Umlautpunkte or Umlautzeichen idk if they both work or not 🤔
These books evoke my hidden memories of The Vampire Diaries books - and honestly, read them, they also get batshit crazy. Anyway, this Ever Series is an amalgam of all those YA stories of early and late 2000s, but I see a lot of TVD in it. Main character's family dies in a car crash ✓ (in TVD her sister survives tho) She is saved from the car crash by the love interest ✓ Her love interests are immortal ✓ She is a reincarnation of their old love ✓ The shadow realm exists ✓ She is made immortal against her will in order to save her life ✓ And probably some more. Yeah, these are common tropes and all, but TVD came out in the 90s, if I remember correctly.
Back when I was starting highschool back in 2003 or 2004 one teacher did the "stand and tell us a little about yourself" thing to introduce a new classmate. The kid standed ans said "I'm from a big city and my parents are divorced, mom was tired that I continually skipped class to go to an Internet café and play videogames with my friends, so she sended me here with my dad. Because this is an small town with no Internet Cafés, I spend my weekends getting drunk instead"
The only example I can think of where the protagonist realizes her Cosmic Love Forever Mate is an abusive creep is, unfortunately, the sequels to A Court of Thorns and Roses. It's totally clear that they only play out that way bc Maas 1.got self-conscious about the criticism of the relationship in the first book 2.got bored with the original love interest and wanted to write about an even badder boy and 3.didn't know how to keep going with the story after resolving the romance plot, so she just chose to start over. It somehow leads to some of the funniest shit and also like actually respectable she-tried moments in any of those books, though.
4. She wanted to put her MC jump in a new ML without guilty ( making the previous ML looks bad and the new one being cool), in this way freyre still look okay she just left the guy bc he was abusive 😂
The book series you are looking for is Sweep by Cate Tiernan. The love interest for the first six books is revealed to be a bad guy manipulating the main character, and he becomes a villain for the rest of the series
Wait... "the FIRST six books"? "the rest of the series"? How long is that thing? If there's anything more annoying than cliché abusive love interests, that is long-ass book series.
I was asked by my teacher to introduce myself when I was the new kid, and I saw it happen a handful of times throughout my school career. I had moved back to the US after living overseas for a couple of years, so that was probably a factor. A couple of other kids I remember were foreign exchange students. Otherwise, teachers would just introduce the new kid, allow a moment for awkward greetings, have them take their seat, and start class. Edit: There needs to be a moratorium on the names Damian, Damon, and their variants. I know this is an older book, but I've felt this way long enough time for my point to still stand. And you're absolutely right about the sex stuff. The fact we still treat virginity like it's a real thing that matters in 2023 is depressing as hell. Frankly, it was depressing in the 2010s, which is when I assume the sequel came out.
So this series is all the worst parts of Elixir (the literal first thought I had when you mentioned the elixir of life) and Fallen and Twilight and all of the knock offs in the genre. It really does feel like a parody. It really feels like the most artificial story I’ve ever seen. Also, it’s not just you. Society is obsessed with sex and by extension virginity. It’s like what you said in your video on shipping, our society puts so much emphasis on the expected path of life that many don’t notice they’re following a script let alone that they have other options. This series is just a combination of that and all the cliches of YA books and the sheer stupidity of a mindless plot and world.
Noël does not contain an umlaut. That's a diaresis. It's used to indicate that the two vowels are pronounced separately, not as a dipthong. This is the French or English use of the trema symbol, not the German. See also _naïve_ or _coöperate_ or _Chloë_ or, indeed, _Brontë_ (where it shows that the final e is pronounced in its own right, rather than lengthening the preceeding vowel).
@jon85753 _Naïve_ is, of course, a direct borrowing from French, but it's still an English word. But the usage in _coöperate_ is identical, and that's definitely an English word (albeit a rare spelling). And _Brontë_ was spelled without the trema until he added it to make the pronunciation clearer, which shows that that use of the symbol has meaning in English: it's not just an arbitrary symbol.
@qwertyTRiG thanks, I'm actually trying to get into conlanging and trying to figure out how differentiate, long vowels, and dipthongs, from two of the same vowels next to eachother, as I can't really figure out how to type macrons without copying and pasting.
@@jon85753 Irish and Scottish Gaelic both used sloped accents for long vowels (á, é, í, ó, ú in Irish; à, è, ì, ò, ù in Scottish Gaelic). They may be easier symbols to access on most European keyboard layouts.
Now I really want to write a YA parody that involves a similar setup, but the reincarnating partner isn't actually the immortal's partner in any sense, they're just desperately attaching that status to every other romantic partner they meet.
I like the idea of two reincarnating lovers who retain their memories between lives and seek each other out over and over. You could play it for drama and have the lovers be reincarnated as people on opposite sides of a war or be the same gender in a time/culture where that is not acceptable and the challenges of trying to be together in those circumstances or play it for comedy and have one of them be like “You’re unfortunate looking in this life”, or have them meet when one is still an old person and the other is a little kid and have the younger one be like “hurry up and die already so people don’t think I’m a creep in this life”
I read the first book when I was in grade 12, was so drawn in, to the point where I failed my physics test because I was up at night reading it instead of studying.
Ok I'm just gonna put all my Swiftie jokes into one comment: There's a character surnamed August in a book called Evermore? Her MIND! I'm surprised the aura colors aren't Red (Taylor's Version), Maroon, holy orange bottles, golden like daylight, his favorite color's green, ocean blue eyes, and Lavender Haze. It was his plan all along? "What if I told you none of it was accidental--"
okay i’m 11 minutes in and it’s giving major “Hi my name is Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way and I have long ebony black hair (that's how I got my name) with purple streaks and red tips that reaches my mid-back and icy blue eyes like limpid tears and a lot of people tell me I look like Amy Lee”
50:40 When you first started this video mentioning the author's name, I couldn't help but think it sounded familiar even though I'd never read these books before. Young ghost girl named Riley Bloom who has her own spinoff also sounded vaguely familiar but I still didn't think anything of it. THIS MOMENT was when I had an epiphany and went digging in my bookshelf. Turns out I have two of the Riley Bloom spinoff books and never realized it was connected to a another series lmao
I would _never_ choose a name like that. Ever. Wtf?? I already obsess about not repeating words or having the same sentence structure over and over and basic shit like that. I would legit pull out my hair if my protagonists name was a common word.
FINALLY someone is covering this book!!! I had such horrible taste in books as a kid, I love these videos sooo much. I was *OBSESSED* with this series 💀 edit: I forgot about the slave part omg nooooo 😭
When I was about 12 I read the first two because my country didn't translate the rest(I wonder why), and I was so sad that I can't read the rest because the first two were 'soooo goood'.
by God, dude, same! I love these reviews because at least in the comments I can relate to other people who at some point actually enjoyed these stories haha
I vaguely remembered the slave part because it seemed like authors at the time would only give their characters two types of past lives: super rich and famous or slave. Usually black slaves in the American south. Nobody ever had an extremely boring past life where they were, like the tenth of twelve children helping a family member on the farm who dies of some boring illness humanity has struggled against forever like tuberculosis and then is grieved by her family but it's ultimately extremely forgettable.
Hmm you'd think immortals would have developed a fighting style where they try to strike as many of the chakras as quickly as possible since its such an "I win" button.
We never find out if she’s her mom’s sister or her dad’s sister. Obviously this means she’s both. She’s clearly her parents younger half sister from when there parents met in high school, and that led to her grandparents meeting and getting married... but shock horror, the step siblings had fallen in love and so drama ensues as they date at the same time as their parents date...
I really don't agree; 90% of genre fiction seems to be a rehash of the most popular tropes of the moment. That's not a bad thing from the point of view of _selling_ books, but I can't say it "takes risks."
@@cam4636 yeah there was nothing risky about evermore....it was very much of its time (read: formulaic, esp the opening chapters) not to mention it stole A TON from other books/media that were trending at the time (twilight, buffy, vampire diaries with some mean girls and fight club sprinkled in).
Ironically, this was my first YA book of this genre (My parents got me this book when I was 11, god knows what they were thinking) and I'm thanking god everyday for this since it was also my last, reached the 3rd or 4th book before I couldn't take it anymore. Ironically this book saved me from reading Twilight.
Blue Blood and Shiver both seem very fun! Also, thanks for not doing ACOTAR, I really prefer learning about new awful books! :} One of the final points you made about "if you're writing this sort of thing, just accept it's trash" reminded me of a writing project I did as a teenager, which was this sort of thing, and I did call it 'Trash', and then as an adult I've dusted it off and started rewriting it, and it's got a small fanbase of like, 40 people (we're in a discord server, I post 1 chapter a week) and idk, there was something cathartic about writing something trashy and indulgent, but now it is much beloved and I have to overthink it to make it 'good'... alas... (I say 'overthink it to make it good' as if I didn't just spin a wheel and said "Dracula has three weed smoking goth girlfriends and they live in a cave" and decide to roll with it) Thank you for dipping into YA paranormal romance and doing essays on this genre, these videos are fun to listen to!
Ooh, Blue Bloods is by Melissa de la Cruz? She also wrote a historical romance about Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler. I only read a free preview of that book and decided it wasn't for me. She basically makes Eliza not like other girls and that made me laugh.
I remember reading the first Evermore book as a teen, then dropping it because it seemed dull. Fun to hear about all this later wild stuff I missed out on. However, I *was* really into the author's other paranormal YA series, Soul Seekers--all I can remember now is that the magic system was Native American-inspired (though not how well the author handled that) and that the love interest had a literal evil twin. Like, they did magic on them in the womb to suck all of the good into one and all of the evil into the other. The author also wrote a crossover book called "Daire Meets Ever" about the two protagonists meeting, which I'm sure is...a trip, if you're looking for any more Alyson Noel-brand weirdness to review.
OMG MEMORY UNLOCKED! i remember reading this series and getting to the last (or second to last?) book and stopping after i was like 80% in bc i didn't understand anything that was happening anymore. idk where the books went but omg
If you're looking for a story where the main character's love interest ends up becoming the villain, I would recommend the book "The City of Brass" as it handles his transition from main character to antagonist really well.
I can't believe James didn't mention how in the Summerlands Ever manifests ORLANDO BLOOM?!???? Or how at the halloween party she is dressed as Kirsten Dunst in the Marie Antoinette movie and Damen is dressed as Axel Fersen with a BULLET HOLE from the 18th century in his authentic clothes?!
oh my gosh!! thank you sooo much for reviewing this!! I was absolutely OBSESSED with this book at like ten and there are so little reviews of this just batshit crazy series. I've just started rereading the entire series and its even worse than I remember it being lol
Ironically, the "main character girl realizes boyfriend is abusive and leaves him" is actually done (horribly) in A Court of Thorns and Rose. So it is kinda funny that you said you want to read that type of plot but refuse to do ACOTAR.
Halfway through the video but I was just thinking "this could be much better if Damon were painted as a villain and the first villain and the protagonist are reveal as his victims". Then the shadowland and the grooming plot came out...
Oh my god, James mentioned this series in his 2022 wrap up video and I realised that I used to be OBSESSED with Alyson Nöel. I only ever made it to the second book in this series, but I vividly remember random scenes from this book including some party, the scene where she sees all of Damon’s pictures, and the layout of Evers room. But the thing that really got me into Alyson Nöel was her other series, Fated. That series. Was. Insane. I loved it at the time, and I would absolutely kill to see James review that one. The main girl meets her love interest in her actual DREAMS (and I think he also had an evil twin brother but I could be making that up). Plus, following the Alyson Nöel tradition of absolutely absurd names, the main girl is Daire and her love interest is Dace. I swear, Alyson Nöel is a National treasure when it comes to paranormal romance, I don’t think I’ve ever read anything as wonderfully bad as her books
I did read a book where the bad boy 'love interest' become a villain halfway through and STAYS one until the end. It was framed as a paranormal romance where he was a demon who just wanted her soul and yadda yadda yadda, but once she found out about how he manipulated her life from behind the shadows, she ditched him and he dropped the nice guy act. Thing is, the relationship was so well done that I just wanted them to be friends again, and he was so charismatic (while also being punchable), that I thought they'd end up getting together by the end, but no. Also, the protagonist was an average teenage girl, yet would take down ancient beasts using her wit rather than physical prowess or convenient magical powers. Both of them were constantly one upping one another and it was a delight to read. Unfortunately, but the author took it down from the site it was hosted in years ago, presumably to publish it. I've yet to see it again, which is a shame because it wipes the floor with all these cash grab YAs, and I think the author was a teenager when she posted the draft on the site I read it on. It makes me think of all the talent rotting away in the world because great people don't get the same chances as these mediocre authors do. It's sad.
Oh god I have distant memories of reading the first (and maybe also the second?) novel when I was in school. WILD how weird it gets after a while. And also weird how apparently every bad YA book gets a german translation (definitely didnt read it in english). Tbh id be kinda interested in Shiver, I read that one too as a teen and while I as a werewolf fan disliked that wolf system, I also remember some creative ideas like the heat makes you stay human/menigitis part. And I while I dont really like that book (or any of Stiefvaters other books), I really enjoy the artwork she draws, so in a way I am a fan of hers anyway
A big sign of a not so great author is when they over-describe or explain something. They have a picture in their head and they want to put that same picture in someone else’s head. That’s a very bad way of writing a story. Leaves little to the imagination. Makes the reader bored. They don’t want a play by play. So when the first thing in a story is a terrible over-described scene it’s a bad sign
I read one of these books when I was younger and couldn't remember the name of it for the longest time! I eventually thought I just dreamt it up, it felt like a weird crossover between the vampire diaries and buffy
My head-canon is that 15th century Damon drink the elixir at 14 years old and stopped aging then, but since the elixir makes you tall and buff he could pass for 16 years old, 17 maybe. Trying to claim he was 18 is right out though, and that’s why he goes through the rigmarole of faking emancipation. Because lying and saying he’s 18 or like a legal adult is just too far out. It makes it way funnier because now Ever is dating a 600-year-old magic hunk but he’s is only 5’8” with a boyish face. Also a bunch of the historical images where he’d adopt the fashion of the era he has to be wearing fake beards and mustaches.
Staring at my copies of these INSANE books while watching your video and contemplating re-reading them for pure laughter. What a fantastic 2 hours, thank you 🙂 *also, i absolutely forgot jude existed
Aaah, Evermore. "Para Sempre", as I grew up to know it, since I read the brazilian translation at the age of 15. I remember really liking the first book. It was kinda weird sometimes, but it was a fun read and I finished it in a couple of days. Blue Moon was a slog, but I managed to finish it eventually. I never finished the third book. Don't even remember the name. I'm writing this comment before watching the video. I have no idea what happened past the second book, and I'm sure I'm in for a ride.
One of my highschool teachers did introduce a girl once. She actually became my girlfriend a few months later, she wasnt sat next to me though. I had to walk across the classroom to talk to her but fuck if I didnt get up and do it as soon as I could lol
Ok so I read the books that followed her sister Riley and her time in the afterlife. LOVED them so much as a kid. When I found out about this series when I was older I read the first book and absolutely HATED it. Love seeing it get torn to shreds. I think there were two times Ever played a part in the plot for the Radiance series. First book I think Riley goes to this place where you can see the living, but it’s kinda just like viewing them like you would a tv show. Second time it’s a much bigger plot point because she does this whole thing to make a dream for her where iirc they briefly interact.
I read evermore when I was within the targeted age demographic, and this book made me believe I had the worst reading comprehension skills. The writing was so chaotic that I couldn't keep up with the story, but I thought I was the problem because a large publishing company wouldn't just publish a poorly written book, right? Then I forgot about the book for many years until I watched this video, and now I feel validated
I kinda want one on Bluebloods. I adored that series as a young teen… I’d also like to see life as we knew it and shiver as I remember liking those too.
If I remember properly Vampire diaries was the one to popularise this type of YA books. I'm surprised you didn't mention it considering one of the main love interest is named Damon and is also Italian.
I read the first book in high school, and i usually don’t overly critique books ( a interesting universe is usually enough), but I remember hating this book (the love triangle killed me. The dude chose the murder of his girlfriend. Like at that point they deserve each other). Also I totally misremembered stuff. I remember the colours explanation at the beginning being about flowers not auras. I totally forgot like most of the plot. All I can remember is that they met at high school, he gave her a flower, he’s immortal because of a potion, and the love triangle showed how hopeless the characters are. No way was I gonna give the series another shot. You have the patience of a saint. Also now having watched Vampire Diaries…is there a reason for the similarities between TVD and this book series?
I remember reading this series when I was in high school. I liked them enough I owned the books. But when I moved out they were ones that got put in the pile to donate. They were good for at the time but not anything I would go back and read. Great video! I didnt know I needed to hear about these books again, but here we are
I know we ask for too much from YA books to actually go into all the horrible things that are implied in them off-hand, but now I really want a book about a person doomed to be immortal without their consent and their 'creator' not understanding why they'd be mad about such a thing. Maybe like a psychological thriller, or some existential horror piece.
I read Evermore (only the first book) when I was 11, and remember it only cause it was the first book I thought was truly bad. At that point I didn’t even know bad books existed! So yeah, I don’t remember a thing about the plot, but the book itself left quite a mark.
You single handedly brought me back to my highschool days. I didn't actually read the first book evermore but i read like three/four in the series all because i read the spin off story with her dead sister
I don’t know if anyone else remembers this series, but I would love if you talked about the Tiger’s Curse series (the Tiger Saga). 4, technically five (the fifth book came out so many years after the fourth I never read it) and it’s a story about a girl who helps two centuries old princes from India break a curse that transformed into immortal tigers. There’s one, among many, major, MAJOR flaws…the mc is an American white girl who could arguably be the worst YA paranormal romance protagonist I’ve ever seen. Aside from the beginning of book 2, these books are fairly quick and just…insanity, so many wtf decisions were made and I would be so happy if you covered them. But also this video didn’t disappoint, and I dodged such a bullet in high school XD. Great review looking forward to the next one.
@@funpolice5821 I don’t know if I should say “you’re welcome” or not XD. Though I’m happy to know I’m not alone who were so into those books back in the day.
I know my twin liked Red Queen when we were younger but I also don’t know anything about the series so it’d be cool to see you review that. If not Red Queen then Blue Bloods sounds interesting enough for a review.
I definitely confused this with the Evernight series.. teen girl, vampires, love triangle, etc., etc., it's insane how interchangeable these YAs are 😂 Please do Evernight next. It goes wayyy off the rails at some point too lol
OMG I remember renting this book from my local library when I was 14, I only read the first book but loved it SO much. If you haven't already, you should read/review The Devouring, Wicked Lovely, or The Uninvited. If you were to, I would love you even more than I already do.
I'm going to be different in my recommendations, just because it's something I'm surprised hasn't been done much before -- the original _Gossip Girl_ book series.
I don't normally have anything of substance to comment but I did want to say, I really love watching your videos. Your commentary is some of the best out there in booktube. That's all, have a great day. 😊
Oh my god I completely forgot this series exists, I remember reading the first two books when I was in middle school and the second one was so bad I gave up half way through. Pretty sure it was the first book I ever dnf’d lol
Yeah, I remember just not being able to follow wtf was going on in the second or third book and I ended up dropping the series. This was me as a 13 year old Twilight fanatic too, like my standards were NOT high and this series still didn't surpass them.
I remember reading this book series when I was younger but I think I stopped around the 3rd book. I know I at least read the first two because I remember the whole curse of them not being able to bone thing very vividly. That was the first thing I remembered when I saw this video in my recommendeds. I also completely forgot she had any friends.
Dear lord, this made me remember that my aunt had bought me a copy when I was a tween, I remember reading it and thinking it was not great. Might still have it somewhere
Please do Wither, I was worryingly obsessed with it when I was part of the target audience (the first book anyway - in the second one she...joins the circus or something?)
There are actually some x-men issues that Magneto uses a "magical full body condom" to touch/have a relationship with Rogue (don't ask, I read those a decade ago lol)
I think this series is interesting because all teens are learning about death and understanding this terrifying concept of not existing anymore but like all teen books the story was too afraid to make any actual points about death or mortality. Everyone who dies, dies super easy and is brought back to life easier. The bag was fumbled, and the opportunities were there- especially with the introduction of the tree of knowledge and all the sort of religious topics and places. It's a real shame cause this could have at least been an interesting story about accepting death and patching your own philosophy from each of these fractured beliefs.
i only recently found your channel and my god are you a gem. literally you are so hilarious and well spoken and all of your reviews feel like a conversation and it's amazing!!! love your work frfr. also, i think you should definitely read red queen. and as another suggestion, maybe try out the cruel prince? personally i enjoyed the series but i feel like you'd roast the shit out of it LMAO
How did you skip over the bit in Evermore where Damen gambles on the horse race and wins half a million dollars? And Ever is like, 'Cool.' That shit was fucking HILARIOUS.
My local library back in high school had a copy of Blue Moon wherein a dozen pages were just... not Blue Moon. Like, randomly, there was a chapter from a completely separate book just shoved in midchapter, and then it ends, and then Blue Moon just picked up several pages later, as though this interruption didn't happen.
I own a copy of the name of the wind where a chunk of pages is in the wrong place, but that sounds even more fun
Quick add break 😂
I own a copy of Junji Ito's Tomie where a chunk of the pages are flipped upside down and backwards.
@@crowposting I've got a copy of the _Pride & Prejudice & Zombies_ prequel _Dawn of the Dreadfuls_ that has the same thing, but with pages missing from the book that aren't the upside down pages while the upside down pages are several copies of a different scene, implying several other books are also missing pages.
I will not answer why I have the prequel to _Pride & Prejudice & Zombies_ or why I consider it superior to P&P&Z.
@@crowposting I love Tomie and would be so upset if that happened to me!
James, maybe you will have to be the person who makes the iceberg tier list of abusive and creepy things young adult love interests do to their girlfriends
Ugh, I don't wanna though.
@@JamesTullos could you do Darren shan pls 🙏
@@Diamondr11Blue Thanks, now I remember that that exists. 🤣
@@JamesTullos just like Atlas
@@Diamondr11Blue Like review a book? He’s reviewed Demonata
I just wish one of these authors truly committed to the horror that is this trope. Like maybe in the beginning, Ever sees this 'destined lover' thing as romantic, only to slowly realize its horrifying implications. The stalking, the 100s of years between them, the theft of her life over and over because of it, her sentence to the shadowlands, etc. She falls out of love and becomes terrified of this immortal man whose 'only concern is Ever.'
Embrace the insanity and fear, dammit! That would make your story far more interesting!!!
Sounds like a good idea. If I can get the time and motivation, I might try to write something like that. A sort of dark satire of the genre, making it a horror story.
might be cool if its ambiguous whether the reincarnated girl is even actually a reincarnation or whether the guy is just a delusonal/manipulative psychopath grooming her into believing that she is destined to be his
No but seriously she’s literally a slave he owns in one of her lives and he hides that from her
This is such a big pet peeve of mine!! like so many "romance" authors have such an interesting set up to a heartfelt, horror story, but no. Let's do boring abhorrent romance instead.
i read the first book in sixth grade and i would try so hard to see my own aura and other people's auras. this book briefly had a chokehold on me.
I would try “manifesting” objects like they do in the book 😂😂 spoiler alert it didn’t work 🙁
@@ducky19991lmao i think at the end of the first book, there was a preview of the second book and they were manifesting all kinds of shit. i wanted to do that SO bad. i probably did try it, too.
That’s really cute. I remember being young and focusing so hard on spoons thinking maybe I would bend them with my mind. Yes I did that for real. Tbf I was in like 5th grade and wanting nothing more than to have magic powers.
@@travisslade6860 i tried telekinesis too... i would watch videos of people moving things "with their mind" and i refused to believe it was special effects cuz i wanted to move things with MY mind.
We all have the phase where we want magical girl powers. I used to be able to predict when the wind would blow and thought that I was Storm from The X-men. No judgment here. We was all waiting for our Owl's to Hogwarts at one point and time.
As a former YGO kid too, your comments about autocorrecting "Shadowland" to "Shadow Realm" was very on point.
The best way to deal with personal trauma is to share about it with other people.
This is why book reviewers need to exist: They prevent more people to enter in the same trap, easing their own burden at the same time.
Edit: I was honestly expecting James to make a reference about the game Secret of Evermore, during that ranting of "do not confuse it with other series with similar names".
Yes you right 👍
And then go into Everquest while talking about Secret of Evermore
literally SHRIEKED when I saw this on my front page. I was always hoping you'd cover this one.
A recent epiphany I've had about this series is that it's actually stealing not just from Twilight but from the Vampire Diaries (books) and *especially* the first few seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's actually kind of shameless how many plot points it lifted directly from that show. Also, istg Ever's two besties are just the best friends from Mean Girls?? Evermore basically doesn't have one single original idea if it's own, it's kind of fascinating.
I recently reread evermore (because i hate myself) and what struck me is just how much noel stole from other books/movies/shows, etc. Especially the best friends being the copy paste version of the best friends from mean girls and her friend crashing group therapy meetings (lifted from fight club).
@@bluehydrangea5506 Yup, the premise of a former cheerleader who becomes an outcast after gaining Sudden Magic Powers is stolen from Buffy. Damien is a mixture of Edward Cullen and Angel, but is worse than both of them. Even that Roman guy who shows up in I think the 3rd book is a mix of Spike from Buffy and Daemon from TVD, and again... way less interesting.
Worse yet, the basic premise of the first book is lifted from an episode of Buffy. The villain is the love-interest's longtime ex-lover, hellbent on killing the heroine and reclaiming her former love. Seriously, it's almost copyright infringement it's so blatant.
Edit: actually, as James goes along, I'm realizing that nearly all of the plotlines in ALL of the books are either directly or indirectly lifted from Buffy. The curse which won't let the main couple have s*x, a poison which is slowly killing the love interest, a new "normal" love interest who the main guy thinks the heroine would be better off with, another villainous "Immortal" who is loud and brash and s*xually alluring to the heroine with a complex past with the LI....... I think it just *is* copyright infringement. Absolutely shameless.
Ok, but by this logic very few stories are original. You will almost always find something that’s very similar somewhere. You had me until the mean girls part. I highly doubt they “stole” all those plot points. Some? Probably. But I highly doubt they Frankensteined this story solely off of other stories. It’s very difficult to come up with something that’s never been done before. Also, I frankly don’t care if someone’s story follows the same major plot points of another story. It helps people write a story without having to plan the whole thing out. You take the skeleton and build your story off of it. Let’s you focus on other things like the characters and world building. Does this story suck? Sure, but there are a lot of great stories that do this.
@@spiralphoenix9839 okay so its totally cool to be inspired by other media (ray bradbury has a whole quote on this) but noel full on ripped scenes/characters almost beat by beat/word for word from other media without bothering to put her own spin on any of it outside of some half assed red juice bs. This was a lazy af and u can just picture her thought process as "gee if i combine all these things that have made other pieces popular then im guarunteed a winner, right??? Agents will lick this formulaic piece of shit up because teens are dumb and wouldnt know good story telling if it bit them on the ass!" It lacks originality. It lacks heart. Its a pile of stolen, cliched, sterotypical crap that has aged like milk. She took the tired mid 2000s twilight formula of "girl moves to strange town then meets strange toxic stalker boy whose own kind tries to kill her" and then sprinkled in some mean girls + buffy the vampire slayer (almost verbatim) + vampire diaries characters and plot points (not tropes...*actual plot points*) and mashed them together. None of the arcs are original or even try to be. The climax is forced and contrived. Noel saw this as a cash cow, nothing else, and its super obvious based on how closely she followed twilight's plot arc/titles ('blue moon'...really???) and how flat and cliched the characters are. If i can point out the originator of *every single* character/plot point not as simply a genre trope/story structure (trust me, theres a difference), but as a very specific character/plot point lifted (stolen) from an original movie/book/tv show, etc... theres a problem.
Seriously...Watch mean girls then read haven + myles' scenes. Noel seriously owes Tina Fey.
P.s. "it helps someone write a story without having to plan the whole thing out". Theres a difference between following a basic story structure i.e. the heroes journey and including genre tropes/YA character archetypes vs copying/pasting the plot beats verbatim of whatevers new and trendy. This is lazy af and something that is %100 discouraged in writing classes. This is what hacks looking to make a quick buck do.
@@spiralphoenix9839 I see where you're coming from but having seen the show and read these books, the storylines are very similar and there is a lot of direct parallels. I've described it vaguely here because I'm not sure how many people have seen the show and it would take a lot of explaining, but the character dynamics and stories are very, weirdly similar and followed a very similar path. A curse that makes it impossible to have s*x is *extremely* specific, and to be clear: it was stupid in Buffy too. I'm not offended because the author ripped off a wonderful storyline, but I was struck by it because it was SO strange and specific.
I don't mind authors taking inspo. I mean, honestly, I have a writing project where I was inspired by tons of stuff, that's fine. But this seems to lift specific characters and storylines straight out of something else, rearrange a few things and change a few details, then present it as is. If it's a coincidence, it's a heck of one. At the very least, it's VERY suspicious to me.
"Maybe just leave the slavery thing alone"--excellent advice that more creators need to understand
"Girl realizes her magical boyfriend sucks and he becomes the villain" haven't read it but I've heard this is the plot of ACOTAR. edit after the end of the video: well there you go
I mean... kinda? It's a background thing in the later books but book 2 does have a decent page count dedicated towards it. More than I've seen anywhere else though.
It's usually how they resolve a love triangle. The 'Obvious Choice' guy who was always extra nice and sweet turns out to have been using protagonist, but 'Hot Bully' was actually being honest and open with her and is there to help.
I think it's the plot of Frozen, sort of.
he got character assasinated but somehow became cooler when he was a villain
sarah j maas (the author of ACOTAR and other series) has a thing where in book 1, the main male love interest (MLI1) is established to have a strong relationship with the female lead, and there's a second male love interest (MLI2) who doesn't have a whole lot of connection and has some red flags. By book 2 ALL THAT IS THROWN OUT THE WINDOW and MLI1 gets character assassinated so hard and thrown out and MLI2's Red flags are retconned and he's the greenest flagged guy you'll ever meet.
Which is wild to me because if you like the main couple in book one, it feels like a major betrayal for the rest of the series, and if you DON'T like the main couple in book 1, then you probably either didn't finish that book or wouldn't be interested in reading the next. I remember I tried reading the 2nd book first, not knowing the one before it was actually the first one, and I was _so lost_ because I had context for NOTHING, lol.
As a person with an English accent living in the US, I can confirm that the constant reminders about the accent are 100% true to life. Nobody EVER shuts up about it. Every conversation I have boils down to "OMG I love your accent! Where are you from?"
"Texas."
"But your accent--"
"I know. My parents are English."
"It's soo amazing! Can you tell me about England? Do you like it better here?"
"I'M FROM TEXAS."
I am seriously considering accent reduction classes, because this post is not a joke or a paraody. This is the very real conversation I have every day with damn near every person I meet and it is infuriating.
Well, we do like an English accent but most of us are smart enough to understand you can have a "foreign" accent without being raised in that country because you learn speech from your parents. Just be glad you don't have a Texas accent! That is not a popular one.
I lived in the UK for a bit. Got similar comments except everyone was like "omg Canadian or American?" Can confirm it goes both ways, though probably less so for American accents in the UK, as Americans really do go batshit for a British accent
I had a schoolmate (5th-9th) that was extremely tall. Everything anybody talked about was how tall he was, with the “Do you play sports? You’d be amazing at Basketball” and all. I felt so bad for him😭
if you live in the US long enough the accent will fade with time. I was born and raised in the south but my parents are latinos who immigrated here as adults, my mom’s accent is very mild and although I used to have a very nondescript way of speaking english as a child, I’ve gained a mild southern accent over the years
@@emp6591People saying "Canadian or American?" further cements the fact that people calling all of North and South America just "America" are extremely stupid.
The sex thing is so funny because like, there are so many ways to get around the curse. Also is it really that easy to shed DNA and/or get it mixed up with someone else? Just gotta be creative, which I suppose is a lot to ask for when it comes to a teenage girl but Damon? He's lived 400 years. I'd like to think he's secure enough to consider strap-ons.
Naming your protag Ever is madness. Like, I don't have any problem with fanfic. I write it from time to time, myself, but that is such a shitty fanfic name for an op oc. Just so you can have "clever" story or chapter names. *Exhausting*.
The sounds I made during that passage you read about Ever's past life as a black slave. That dawning horror.
Edit: I did a quick Google on the DNA thing, and survey says, it's a complicated matter. Probably too complicated to be a plot point in a YA supernatural romance, no offence.
To shed DNA, yes, you're basically always shedding DNA. All your skin cells have your DNA in them and we're actually working on ways to detect the amount of DNA left behind after simply touching a surface. To mix it with someone else...yeah no, that's called sexual intercourse. Or I suppose you could create a molecular blender, but I'm not sure there'd be usable results.
As someone who was never into YA, but is very into isekai and web novels, its fascinating how similar they are in going bonkers, trying to squeeze more twists out of the same premises as the popular works
I just began reading a manga, about a guy who gets dumped from an adventurer team, so he builds a harem by romancing the mothers of his former team mates
I totally understand the fascination of something so terrible
Oh no not that light novel LOL.
Idk why if light novels does bonkers storyline it seemed tolerable compared to YA...
Maybe because I consume LN more than YA
@@2006HondaCivicD is because YA tries to present itself as super serious, while LNs often embrace the trashyness
I hate harems and revenge plot stories.
Sounds like a revenge plot dreamed up by a twelve year old Call of Duty player.
By 'romancing' we of course mean 'buying them as slaves' because Isekai.
Noël is the French word for Christmas and it's also a first name and a last name. The Umlaut also exists in French, it's called a tréma, but it's not used much compared to the Umlaut in German (they look the same but they're still different diacritics with different meanings). And your pronunciation is close enough ! Ok I'll get back to watching the video now
Edit: I never thought I'd hear "magical full body condom" yet here I am... These books are wild lmao
Just commented something like this! You explained it way better, though.
he mentioned the "magical full body condom" in other videos
@@johncosco2348 oh I don't remember it, I guess I need to watch more of his videos
As a German I need to go "Ackchually" here:
An "Umlaut" is only one of these three: Ä, Ö and Ü.
The two dots above are not called "Umlaut" only the letter/sound as a whole.
"Laut" means "sound" and the prefix "Um-" means "around".
A is a Laut and Ä is the corresponding Umlaut, because it's being derived from A so to speak. The two dots are remnants of writing a little *e* on top of the original letter. That's why you can still replace any Umlaut by the combination of the original letter and and e.
Ä = Ae
Ö= Oe
Ü = Ue
@@johannageisel5390 oh that's interesting, thank you for pointing that out ! When we talked about it in class we used Umlaut to refer to both the diacritic and the sound, ig because the nuance wasn't that important to us lol. Is there a specific word used in German to refer to the diacritic itself ? The internet says Umlautpunkte or Umlautzeichen idk if they both work or not 🤔
I always love the random German sentences on the thumbnails.
It always tells you something about the mood of the book
These books evoke my hidden memories of The Vampire Diaries books - and honestly, read them, they also get batshit crazy. Anyway, this Ever Series is an amalgam of all those YA stories of early and late 2000s, but I see a lot of TVD in it.
Main character's family dies in a car crash ✓ (in TVD her sister survives tho)
She is saved from the car crash by the love interest ✓
Her love interests are immortal ✓
She is a reincarnation of their old love ✓
The shadow realm exists ✓
She is made immortal against her will in order to save her life ✓
And probably some more. Yeah, these are common tropes and all, but TVD came out in the 90s, if I remember correctly.
I also saw those parallels. Who knows? Maybe Evermore was somewhat inspired by the TVD books...
Back when I was starting highschool back in 2003 or 2004 one teacher did the "stand and tell us a little about yourself" thing to introduce a new classmate. The kid standed ans said "I'm from a big city and my parents are divorced, mom was tired that I continually skipped class to go to an Internet café and play videogames with my friends, so she sended me here with my dad. Because this is an small town with no Internet Cafés, I spend my weekends getting drunk instead"
That's asserting dominance out the gate. What a power move.
Absolute chad 😂
Was his name Hunter Biden?
Then everyone clapped
The only example I can think of where the protagonist realizes her Cosmic Love Forever Mate is an abusive creep is, unfortunately, the sequels to A Court of Thorns and Roses. It's totally clear that they only play out that way bc Maas 1.got self-conscious about the criticism of the relationship in the first book 2.got bored with the original love interest and wanted to write about an even badder boy and 3.didn't know how to keep going with the story after resolving the romance plot, so she just chose to start over. It somehow leads to some of the funniest shit and also like actually respectable she-tried moments in any of those books, though.
4. She wanted to put her MC jump in a new ML without guilty ( making the previous ML looks bad and the new one being cool), in this way freyre still look okay she just left the guy bc he was abusive 😂
The fact that James mixed up the guy who wrote 13 Reasons Why with Jay "I peaked in high school" Kristoff will never not be funny to me
I need James to diss Jay Kristoff’s writing, his books will never fail to be edgy and self-absorbed
The book series you are looking for is Sweep by Cate Tiernan. The love interest for the first six books is revealed to be a bad guy manipulating the main character, and he becomes a villain for the rest of the series
Wait... "the FIRST six books"? "the rest of the series"? How long is that thing? If there's anything more annoying than cliché abusive love interests, that is long-ass book series.
@@smaaythere are 15 books apparently
@@ilovetaylor2169 jesus christ, why so long?
I was asked by my teacher to introduce myself when I was the new kid, and I saw it happen a handful of times throughout my school career. I had moved back to the US after living overseas for a couple of years, so that was probably a factor. A couple of other kids I remember were foreign exchange students. Otherwise, teachers would just introduce the new kid, allow a moment for awkward greetings, have them take their seat, and start class.
Edit: There needs to be a moratorium on the names Damian, Damon, and their variants. I know this is an older book, but I've felt this way long enough time for my point to still stand. And you're absolutely right about the sex stuff. The fact we still treat virginity like it's a real thing that matters in 2023 is depressing as hell. Frankly, it was depressing in the 2010s, which is when I assume the sequel came out.
BEST BOOKTUBER LETS GOOO
James’s genuine smile at how batshit these books are is so wonderful and wholesome
"what is it about being a YA author that makes people lose their minds?"
i think you got it backwards there
So this series is all the worst parts of Elixir (the literal first thought I had when you mentioned the elixir of life) and Fallen and Twilight and all of the knock offs in the genre. It really does feel like a parody. It really feels like the most artificial story I’ve ever seen.
Also, it’s not just you. Society is obsessed with sex and by extension virginity. It’s like what you said in your video on shipping, our society puts so much emphasis on the expected path of life that many don’t notice they’re following a script let alone that they have other options.
This series is just a combination of that and all the cliches of YA books and the sheer stupidity of a mindless plot and world.
Noël does not contain an umlaut. That's a diaresis. It's used to indicate that the two vowels are pronounced separately, not as a dipthong. This is the French or English use of the trema symbol, not the German. See also _naïve_ or _coöperate_ or _Chloë_ or, indeed, _Brontë_ (where it shows that the final e is pronounced in its own right, rather than lengthening the preceeding vowel).
Huh, what are English words that use that? I've only ever seen it in words like Chloë, words that are influenced by French.
@jon85753 _Naïve_ is, of course, a direct borrowing from French, but it's still an English word. But the usage in _coöperate_ is identical, and that's definitely an English word (albeit a rare spelling). And _Brontë_ was spelled without the trema until he added it to make the pronunciation clearer, which shows that that use of the symbol has meaning in English: it's not just an arbitrary symbol.
@qwertyTRiG thanks, I'm actually trying to get into conlanging and trying to figure out how differentiate, long vowels, and dipthongs, from two of the same vowels next to eachother, as I can't really figure out how to type macrons without copying and pasting.
@@jon85753 Irish and Scottish Gaelic both used sloped accents for long vowels (á, é, í, ó, ú in Irish; à, è, ì, ò, ù in Scottish Gaelic). They may be easier symbols to access on most European keyboard layouts.
Now I really want to write a YA parody that involves a similar setup, but the reincarnating partner isn't actually the immortal's partner in any sense, they're just desperately attaching that status to every other romantic partner they meet.
That is kinda the thought process of the BBEG of the Course of Strahd DnD campaign.
I like the idea of two reincarnating lovers who retain their memories between lives and seek each other out over and over. You could play it for drama and have the lovers be reincarnated as people on opposite sides of a war or be the same gender in a time/culture where that is not acceptable and the challenges of trying to be together in those circumstances or play it for comedy and have one of them be like “You’re unfortunate looking in this life”, or have them meet when one is still an old person and the other is a little kid and have the younger one be like “hurry up and die already so people don’t think I’m a creep in this life”
I remember reading this in middle school, i was a completionist so i kept going and i was just miserable reading it the whole time😭
I read the first book when I was in grade 12, was so drawn in, to the point where I failed my physics test because I was up at night reading it instead of studying.
talk about questionable priorities
@@redherringoffshoot2341 I was a dumb child😂
Ok I'm just gonna put all my Swiftie jokes into one comment:
There's a character surnamed August in a book called Evermore? Her MIND!
I'm surprised the aura colors aren't Red (Taylor's Version), Maroon, holy orange bottles, golden like daylight, his favorite color's green, ocean blue eyes, and Lavender Haze.
It was his plan all along? "What if I told you none of it was accidental--"
okay i’m 11 minutes in and it’s giving major “Hi my name is Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way and I have long ebony black hair (that's how I got my name) with purple streaks and red tips that reaches my mid-back and icy blue eyes like limpid tears and a lot of people tell me I look like Amy Lee”
If you don't know who dat is, get da hell out of here!!
No Preps 💀
Stop flaming!!
omg lmao
I will never escape My Immortal 😭🙏
50:40
When you first started this video mentioning the author's name, I couldn't help but think it sounded familiar even though I'd never read these books before. Young ghost girl named Riley Bloom who has her own spinoff also sounded vaguely familiar but I still didn't think anything of it. THIS MOMENT was when I had an epiphany and went digging in my bookshelf. Turns out I have two of the Riley Bloom spinoff books and never realized it was connected to a another series lmao
Couldn't get past that the author named the character Ever..
Ikr! How could she ever come up with a name like that.
I would _never_ choose a name like that. Ever. Wtf?? I already obsess about not repeating words or having the same sentence structure over and over and basic shit like that. I would legit pull out my hair if my protagonists name was a common word.
FINALLY someone is covering this book!!! I had such horrible taste in books as a kid, I love these videos sooo much. I was *OBSESSED* with this series 💀
edit: I forgot about the slave part omg nooooo 😭
When I was about 12 I read the first two because my country didn't translate the rest(I wonder why), and I was so sad that I can't read the rest because the first two were 'soooo goood'.
by God, dude, same! I love these reviews because at least in the comments I can relate to other people who at some point actually enjoyed these stories haha
I vaguely remembered the slave part because it seemed like authors at the time would only give their characters two types of past lives: super rich and famous or slave. Usually black slaves in the American south. Nobody ever had an extremely boring past life where they were, like the tenth of twelve children helping a family member on the farm who dies of some boring illness humanity has struggled against forever like tuberculosis and then is grieved by her family but it's ultimately extremely forgettable.
Hmm you'd think immortals would have developed a fighting style where they try to strike as many of the chakras as quickly as possible since its such an "I win" button.
We never find out if she’s her mom’s sister or her dad’s sister.
Obviously this means she’s both.
She’s clearly her parents younger half sister from when there parents met in high school, and that led to her grandparents meeting and getting married... but shock horror, the step siblings had fallen in love and so drama ensues as they date at the same time as their parents date...
Shadow and Bone does exactly that. First love interest of main heroine becomes a villan after first book
Lol won't be fun if this all happens in an adult book but with main character succumbing to all this for new life
Lol won't be fun if this all happens in an adult book but with main character succumbing to all this for new life
You have to give it to YA fantasy. It takes risks. Sometimes you do get gems. There are no breakthroughs without risks
I really don't agree; 90% of genre fiction seems to be a rehash of the most popular tropes of the moment. That's not a bad thing from the point of view of _selling_ books, but I can't say it "takes risks."
@@cam4636 yeah there was nothing risky about evermore....it was very much of its time (read: formulaic, esp the opening chapters) not to mention it stole A TON from other books/media that were trending at the time (twilight, buffy, vampire diaries with some mean girls and fight club sprinkled in).
Ironically, this was my first YA book of this genre (My parents got me this book when I was 11, god knows what they were thinking) and I'm thanking god everyday for this since it was also my last, reached the 3rd or 4th book before I couldn't take it anymore. Ironically this book saved me from reading Twilight.
Blue Blood and Shiver both seem very fun!
Also, thanks for not doing ACOTAR, I really prefer learning about new awful books! :}
One of the final points you made about "if you're writing this sort of thing, just accept it's trash" reminded me of a writing project I did as a teenager, which was this sort of thing, and I did call it 'Trash', and then as an adult I've dusted it off and started rewriting it, and it's got a small fanbase of like, 40 people (we're in a discord server, I post 1 chapter a week) and idk, there was something cathartic about writing something trashy and indulgent, but now it is much beloved and I have to overthink it to make it 'good'... alas... (I say 'overthink it to make it good' as if I didn't just spin a wheel and said "Dracula has three weed smoking goth girlfriends and they live in a cave" and decide to roll with it)
Thank you for dipping into YA paranormal romance and doing essays on this genre, these videos are fun to listen to!
Ooh, Blue Bloods is by Melissa de la Cruz? She also wrote a historical romance about Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler. I only read a free preview of that book and decided it wasn't for me. She basically makes Eliza not like other girls and that made me laugh.
I remember reading the first Evermore book as a teen, then dropping it because it seemed dull. Fun to hear about all this later wild stuff I missed out on.
However, I *was* really into the author's other paranormal YA series, Soul Seekers--all I can remember now is that the magic system was Native American-inspired (though not how well the author handled that) and that the love interest had a literal evil twin. Like, they did magic on them in the womb to suck all of the good into one and all of the evil into the other. The author also wrote a crossover book called "Daire Meets Ever" about the two protagonists meeting, which I'm sure is...a trip, if you're looking for any more Alyson Noel-brand weirdness to review.
I moved a lot. I only had the introduction thing once in a private school in grade 2.
It was mortifying.
OMG MEMORY UNLOCKED! i remember reading this series and getting to the last (or second to last?) book and stopping after i was like 80% in bc i didn't understand anything that was happening anymore. idk where the books went but omg
If you're looking for a story where the main character's love interest ends up becoming the villain, I would recommend the book "The City of Brass" as it handles his transition from main character to antagonist really well.
I can't believe James didn't mention how in the Summerlands Ever manifests ORLANDO BLOOM?!????
Or how at the halloween party she is dressed as Kirsten Dunst in the Marie Antoinette movie and Damen is dressed as Axel Fersen with a BULLET HOLE from the 18th century in his authentic clothes?!
oh my gosh!! thank you sooo much for reviewing this!! I was absolutely OBSESSED with this book at like ten and there are so little reviews of this just batshit crazy series. I've just started rereading the entire series and its even worse than I remember it being lol
Ironically, the "main character girl realizes boyfriend is abusive and leaves him" is actually done (horribly) in A Court of Thorns and Rose. So it is kinda funny that you said you want to read that type of plot but refuse to do ACOTAR.
But he did say if someone wrote that kind of a book it would be popular and ACOTAR is really popular
Im seething at his refusal to read ACOTAR, what a missed opportunity
Halfway through the video but I was just thinking "this could be much better if Damon were painted as a villain and the first villain and the protagonist are reveal as his victims". Then the shadowland and the grooming plot came out...
As soon as he said "Antebellum South" I knew where it was going, and as he kept reading, I was desperately hoping it would take a turn
It did not.
Oh my god, James mentioned this series in his 2022 wrap up video and I realised that I used to be OBSESSED with Alyson Nöel. I only ever made it to the second book in this series, but I vividly remember random scenes from this book including some party, the scene where she sees all of Damon’s pictures, and the layout of Evers room.
But the thing that really got me into Alyson Nöel was her other series, Fated. That series. Was. Insane. I loved it at the time, and I would absolutely kill to see James review that one. The main girl meets her love interest in her actual DREAMS (and I think he also had an evil twin brother but I could be making that up). Plus, following the Alyson Nöel tradition of absolutely absurd names, the main girl is Daire and her love interest is Dace. I swear, Alyson Nöel is a National treasure when it comes to paranormal romance, I don’t think I’ve ever read anything as wonderfully bad as her books
I did read a book where the bad boy 'love interest' become a villain halfway through and STAYS one until the end. It was framed as a paranormal romance where he was a demon who just wanted her soul and yadda yadda yadda, but once she found out about how he manipulated her life from behind the shadows, she ditched him and he dropped the nice guy act. Thing is, the relationship was so well done that I just wanted them to be friends again, and he was so charismatic (while also being punchable), that I thought they'd end up getting together by the end, but no. Also, the protagonist was an average teenage girl, yet would take down ancient beasts using her wit rather than physical prowess or convenient magical powers. Both of them were constantly one upping one another and it was a delight to read.
Unfortunately, but the author took it down from the site it was hosted in years ago, presumably to publish it. I've yet to see it again, which is a shame because it wipes the floor with all these cash grab YAs, and I think the author was a teenager when she posted the draft on the site I read it on. It makes me think of all the talent rotting away in the world because great people don't get the same chances as these mediocre authors do. It's sad.
IM SCREAMING!!! ive been begging for you to review this book series for like a year!! thank you fr im so happy
Oh god I have distant memories of reading the first (and maybe also the second?) novel when I was in school. WILD how weird it gets after a while. And also weird how apparently every bad YA book gets a german translation (definitely didnt read it in english).
Tbh id be kinda interested in Shiver, I read that one too as a teen and while I as a werewolf fan disliked that wolf system, I also remember some creative ideas like the heat makes you stay human/menigitis part. And I while I dont really like that book (or any of Stiefvaters other books), I really enjoy the artwork she draws, so in a way I am a fan of hers anyway
A big sign of a not so great author is when they over-describe or explain something. They have a picture in their head and they want to put that same picture in someone else’s head. That’s a very bad way of writing a story. Leaves little to the imagination. Makes the reader bored. They don’t want a play by play. So when the first thing in a story is a terrible over-described scene it’s a bad sign
I yelled NO when you got to the plantation house, and again at the description of the other girl, and AGAIN at Damon buying her 😵😵😵 I’m dead
2:18:39 I thought you meant that Redo of Healer thing and my eyes went super wide😭😭
I read one of these books when I was younger and couldn't remember the name of it for the longest time! I eventually thought I just dreamt it up, it felt like a weird crossover between the vampire diaries and buffy
I'd completely forgotten about Zoey's mum dying in HoN
My head-canon is that 15th century Damon drink the elixir at 14 years old and stopped aging then, but since the elixir makes you tall and buff he could pass for 16 years old, 17 maybe. Trying to claim he was 18 is right out though, and that’s why he goes through the rigmarole of faking emancipation. Because lying and saying he’s 18 or like a legal adult is just too far out.
It makes it way funnier because now Ever is dating a 600-year-old magic hunk but he’s is only 5’8” with a boyish face. Also a bunch of the historical images where he’d adopt the fashion of the era he has to be wearing fake beards and mustaches.
Staring at my copies of these INSANE books while watching your video and contemplating re-reading them for pure laughter.
What a fantastic 2 hours, thank you 🙂
*also, i absolutely forgot jude existed
Aaah, Evermore. "Para Sempre", as I grew up to know it, since I read the brazilian translation at the age of 15.
I remember really liking the first book. It was kinda weird sometimes, but it was a fun read and I finished it in a couple of days.
Blue Moon was a slog, but I managed to finish it eventually.
I never finished the third book. Don't even remember the name.
I'm writing this comment before watching the video. I have no idea what happened past the second book, and I'm sure I'm in for a ride.
James, thank you for making this sacrifice for us.
I've also been really loving watching all your reviews lately!
Good on ya with the facial hair! What's disgusting is calling someone disgusting based on their looks
It's also blatantly incorrect as it frames his face very nicely.
One of my highschool teachers did introduce a girl once. She actually became my girlfriend a few months later, she wasnt sat next to me though. I had to walk across the classroom to talk to her but fuck if I didnt get up and do it as soon as I could lol
Ok so I read the books that followed her sister Riley and her time in the afterlife. LOVED them so much as a kid. When I found out about this series when I was older I read the first book and absolutely HATED it. Love seeing it get torn to shreds. I think there were two times Ever played a part in the plot for the Radiance series. First book I think Riley goes to this place where you can see the living, but it’s kinda just like viewing them like you would a tv show. Second time it’s a much bigger plot point because she does this whole thing to make a dream for her where iirc they briefly interact.
I read evermore when I was within the targeted age demographic, and this book made me believe I had the worst reading comprehension skills. The writing was so chaotic that I couldn't keep up with the story, but I thought I was the problem because a large publishing company wouldn't just publish a poorly written book, right? Then I forgot about the book for many years until I watched this video, and now I feel validated
I kinda want one on Bluebloods. I adored that series as a young teen… I’d also like to see life as we knew it and shiver as I remember liking those too.
If I remember properly Vampire diaries was the one to popularise this type of YA books. I'm surprised you didn't mention it considering one of the main love interest is named Damon and is also Italian.
Another way to do that room scene is by describing how mc feels out of place in such a lavishly decorated room that feels empty of love.
Would love to hear your take on Blue Bloods and the Shiver series😁
God I havent even watched the video fully and this book gives so much Wattpad supernatural romance I cant even.
I read the first book in high school, and i usually don’t overly critique books ( a interesting universe is usually enough), but I remember hating this book (the love triangle killed me. The dude chose the murder of his girlfriend. Like at that point they deserve each other). Also I totally misremembered stuff. I remember the colours explanation at the beginning being about flowers not auras. I totally forgot like most of the plot. All I can remember is that they met at high school, he gave her a flower, he’s immortal because of a potion, and the love triangle showed how hopeless the characters are. No way was I gonna give the series another shot. You have the patience of a saint.
Also now having watched Vampire Diaries…is there a reason for the similarities between TVD and this book series?
Supernatural YA Stories always feel the same, Evermore is exactly the sames as other stories i checked out, such as the Fallen and Elixir series.
YOU ACTUALLY DID IT THANK YOU SO MUCH!! just shared this video!!
Oh god I read this book for summer reading when I was younger. I was so concerned and bored but also confused and a little interested
I remember reading this series when I was in high school. I liked them enough I owned the books. But when I moved out they were ones that got put in the pile to donate. They were good for at the time but not anything I would go back and read. Great video! I didnt know I needed to hear about these books again, but here we are
I know we ask for too much from YA books to actually go into all the horrible things that are implied in them off-hand, but now I really want a book about a person doomed to be immortal without their consent and their 'creator' not understanding why they'd be mad about such a thing. Maybe like a psychological thriller, or some existential horror piece.
I read Evermore (only the first book) when I was 11, and remember it only cause it was the first book I thought was truly bad. At that point I didn’t even know bad books existed! So yeah, I don’t remember a thing about the plot, but the book itself left quite a mark.
You single handedly brought me back to my highschool days. I didn't actually read the first book evermore but i read like three/four in the series all because i read the spin off story with her dead sister
oh my god seeing alyson noël’s name made me remember reading her other series in like the 6th grade
I don’t know if anyone else remembers this series, but I would love if you talked about the Tiger’s Curse series (the Tiger Saga). 4, technically five (the fifth book came out so many years after the fourth I never read it) and it’s a story about a girl who helps two centuries old princes from India break a curse that transformed into immortal tigers. There’s one, among many, major, MAJOR flaws…the mc is an American white girl who could arguably be the worst YA paranormal romance protagonist I’ve ever seen. Aside from the beginning of book 2, these books are fairly quick and just…insanity, so many wtf decisions were made and I would be so happy if you covered them.
But also this video didn’t disappoint, and I dodged such a bullet in high school XD. Great review looking forward to the next one.
What a throwback! I was worryingly obsessed with these books 'back in the day'! Did not expect to be reminded of that demented time in my life
@@funpolice5821 I don’t know if I should say “you’re welcome” or not XD. Though I’m happy to know I’m not alone who were so into those books back in the day.
I know my twin liked Red Queen when we were younger but I also don’t know anything about the series so it’d be cool to see you review that. If not Red Queen then Blue Bloods sounds interesting enough for a review.
I definitely confused this with the Evernight series.. teen girl, vampires, love triangle, etc., etc., it's insane how interchangeable these YAs are 😂 Please do Evernight next. It goes wayyy off the rails at some point too lol
OMG I remember renting this book from my local library when I was 14, I only read the first book but loved it SO much.
If you haven't already, you should read/review The Devouring, Wicked Lovely, or The Uninvited. If you were to, I would love you even more than I already do.
I remember actually really liking Wicked Lovely. I did read it in middle school but I wonder it that series still holds up.
I'm going to be different in my recommendations, just because it's something I'm surprised hasn't been done much before -- the original _Gossip Girl_ book series.
In my opinion you look great, so ignore anyone who says otherwise
I don't normally have anything of substance to comment but I did want to say, I really love watching your videos. Your commentary is some of the best out there in booktube. That's all, have a great day. 😊
Oh my god I completely forgot this series exists, I remember reading the first two books when I was in middle school and the second one was so bad I gave up half way through. Pretty sure it was the first book I ever dnf’d lol
Yeah, I remember just not being able to follow wtf was going on in the second or third book and I ended up dropping the series. This was me as a 13 year old Twilight fanatic too, like my standards were NOT high and this series still didn't surpass them.
@@primrosetthaha same, I was in the height of my supernatural romance era and I still couldn’t make myself read this series 😂
I remember reading this book series when I was younger but I think I stopped around the 3rd book. I know I at least read the first two because I remember the whole curse of them not being able to bone thing very vividly. That was the first thing I remembered when I saw this video in my recommendeds. I also completely forgot she had any friends.
Dear lord, this made me remember that my aunt had bought me a copy when I was a tween, I remember reading it and thinking it was not great. Might still have it somewhere
I just wanted to say that I speak german and I love your thumbnails
Please do Wither, I was worryingly obsessed with it when I was part of the target audience (the first book anyway - in the second one she...joins the circus or something?)
There are actually some x-men issues that Magneto uses a "magical full body condom" to touch/have a relationship with Rogue (don't ask, I read those a decade ago lol)
two and a half hours??? yesssssssss
I think this series is interesting because all teens are learning about death and understanding this terrifying concept of not existing anymore but like all teen books the story was too afraid to make any actual points about death or mortality. Everyone who dies, dies super easy and is brought back to life easier. The bag was fumbled, and the opportunities were there- especially with the introduction of the tree of knowledge and all the sort of religious topics and places. It's a real shame cause this could have at least been an interesting story about accepting death and patching your own philosophy from each of these fractured beliefs.
i only recently found your channel and my god are you a gem. literally you are so hilarious and well spoken and all of your reviews feel like a conversation and it's amazing!!! love your work frfr. also, i think you should definitely read red queen. and as another suggestion, maybe try out the cruel prince? personally i enjoyed the series but i feel like you'd roast the shit out of it LMAO
Aah man blue bloods and shiver, that brings back angsty teen memories😅
New episode of James ranting about an old YA book and me loving every bit of it.
I was OBSESSED with this series when I was younger and I’ve never heard anyone talk about it before!
I LOVED this series in high school so much. I've been wanting to reread this for forever.