I was having a conversation with Meg and Christina about a certain book that contains a certain ship. Meg and I love this book and ship this ship unabashedly, totally, crazily; Christina nearly did, but she pointed out a lot of flaws in the bookish relationship. And the crazy thing is that normally, those issues would bother both Meg and me. Things like infidelity, lying, general shipping idiocy, lack of communication, etc. These are things I'd complained about in many a review before, flinging all kinds of reactions gifs at the internet to illustrate how DONE I was with that ship and their unshippability. But this book? This book, I shipped it like fire.
Why? Because that author is a wizard.
It's true. It's the only explanation. There are certain authors blessed with a certain
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| Evil author wizards NEVER give back your heart. |
Then there are author wizards who get me to love genres I don't normally love, like Katie McGarry, who, bookish gods help me ,gets me to fangirl over soap opera romantic contemporaries! That is not my thing, but there's magic in them thar pages. Dare You To made me full-on squeal. Then there's Tahereh Mafi, who wizarded me with her Warner and her Kenji and made me forget about my skepticism of some love triangles, who bewitched me so I wouldn't ask tough worldbuilding questions, who enchanted me with the power of her Chapter Sixty-Twos and Fifty-Fives and Fifty-Eights aaaaaaaaand what were we talking about, exactly?
And then there are those shipping wizards who get me to ship things that in real life would have me calling the cops. Tamora Pierce, who I someday may actually form a cult around, created one of my all time OTPs, Daine and Numair from The Immortals series... aka a sixteen-year-old girl and her thirty-one-year-old sort-of-teacher. Oops? WHATEVER I SHIP IT DON'T JUDGE ME. And Elizabeth May, author of The Falconer, who by the power vested in Kiaran now pronounced me a girl who once again ships teenage girls with ageless immortal beings. And I thought I was past that point in my life.
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| KIARAAAAA--No. NO. NOT Kiaran. SORRY. |
Then there's Andrew Smith, author of Grasshopper Jungle. Fun Gillian fact: I DESPISE INSECTS. My dog unearthed a gigantic dead beast in my home the other day and I screamed and cried so much that she hid under the table and I flung a towel on top of the hideous hell demon and left it there until my father could come dispose of it. #adult But somehow he got me to enjoy the hell out of a poisonous green book all about humongous insects from my nightmares. April Genevieve Tucholke, author of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea and Between the Spark and the Burn got me to love horror, a genre I usually hide from because I am a marshmallow (see: my reaction to the bug) through the power of her pretty, pretty writing, the same pretty, pretty writing that hypnotized me into kinda going along with all the things that sketchy River West was getting up to. I GOT ALL GLOWED UP.
It's official. Authors are wizards. There's no other explanation. You've been warned. DON'T LOOK THEM IN THE EYE.
What are the books that you normally wouldn't love but, due to mystical, magical authorial powers, you somehow very much do?
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Hah, willing to bet all the marbles that conversation was about Anna. I had the same problems with that, to be honest. The drama would be a major no no otherwise, but there is something about the tone of that book and the characters that just sweeps you up in it anyway. But yeah, that is why I ended up only giving that four stars.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking... I am also a marshmallow, so I was really surprised and impressed that World After by Susan Ee was feasible for me to read in spite of ALL THE CREEPY. And then I just loved the dark and gruesomeness, so I was like, woah, am I into this kind of thing now? But it's the writing, the plot, the characters, I just caaaaaaaaare so much.
Usually, though, I just fall for the same kinds of books. But I will say, Kasie West is definitely a wizard because HOW DOES SHE BRING ALL THE FEELS TIME AFTER TIME SRSLY?
Some authors lure you in their trap and once you've read their book, there is no way back. I don't read many contemporaries and when I do, I try to read the darker ones. I gave Kasie West a shot with On the fence when I wanted to try something fluffy and she got me. Now I want to read all her books [courtesy to Debby for the book pushing]
ReplyDeleteHOW DO YOU DO IT STEPHANIE PERKINS? WHAT WITCHCRAFT DO YOU EMPLOY?
ReplyDeleteLet's see, authors that have caused me to completely leave my principles/ethics/morals behind. Well, Leah Raeder. Unteachable is full of things that I'm so not a fan of and yet I SHIP IT LIKE FIRE I DON'T EVEN CARE. Same with Karen Marie Moning. Mac/Barrons had me so conflicted, I had a 5 person conversation with myself (6 if you count the moderator). Then I went one step further and typed it up. Because reasons. The Night Circus has a fairly troubling main ship and WHATEVER THAT BOOK IS MADE OF PURE MAGIC AND SPUN SUGAR UNICORN DREAMS (GO WITH IT) AND I LOVE EVERY WORD. Ditto your thoughts on The Falconer (although I've been shipping teenagers with immortal beings for years now *cough* Spuffy *cough*) The Shiver series, objectively I realize basically nothing happens in those books BUT MAGGIE I LOVE THEM SAM AND GRACE ARE LOVELY PEOPLE WHATEVER.
Ummm what else? I don't know. Other stuff. I can selective denial like a CHAMPION.
Oh, KASIE WEST. I forgive all sorts of plot stuff because her ships are so cute I can't stand it.
DeletePrisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman was by far one of my favorite books of all time. I loathe historical fiction, but Anne's storytelling is amazing and she's a WIZARD! I love, LOVE Gretchen & Daniel and currently they remain my favorite couple of 2014. I do have mad shippy love for them.
ReplyDeleteHaha what a fun post. yes, authors are wizards, and they do lure you in with their elegant writing or their interesting world building or story telling. It is quite fun when you enjoy a book you didn't think you would. Maybe for me that is the Outlander series. Historical fiction, EPIC novel length, but the characters keep me coming back.
ReplyDeleteA while back I would have said The Vampire Diaries. Because it's soap opera ish, but ohmygosh I was SO into the Salvatore bros. And Queen of Someday, which I recently read, has some issues in the sense that the character makes some really poor choices but I don't care because I liked it anyway! And I totally agree with Between & Katie McGarry (& love love love Dare You To).
ReplyDeleteYou're totally right, authors are wizards.
-P.E. @ The Sirenic Codex
Haha sometimes authors are wizards. Actually this made me think of Richelle Mead because I hated anything vampires and such and generally stayed away but then I read VA and... it sucked me in and I binge read the entire series and shipped Rose and Dimitri so hard!
ReplyDeleteWow, you are so accomplished. I was all I should do a post on this and forgot and you actually knocked one out. Good job, madam.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you already know all of my thoughts, but I enjoy your gifs and words and that thing you do.
Hahaha I love this post :D
ReplyDeleteI think that Tahereh Mafi deserves a gold star for her wizarding. I should've hated that lack of world building and that love triangle...but OH MY GOD I LOVE IT ALL SO MUCH. That series is to die for, but there's so much about it that — technically and normally — I would absolutely hate.
SO MUCH YES IN THIS POST! HAHA
ReplyDeleteBut seriously. This is exactly, EXACTLY how I feel about Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series. I love Sydney and Adrian together but I'm pretty sure their relationship in the hands of another would absolutely make me despise it and I wouldn't be able to continue the series. In fact a lot of the books contain elements I would normally hate but Richelle does something to make physically unable to stop reading.
"Authors, man..." indeed.
TAHEREH MAFI OH MY GOD. First and the only author (so far) who succeeded in making me change my ship and falling helplessly in love with THE SECOND BOY, ever.
ReplyDelete