Haha--you finally checked'n'chucked. I think I made it to chapter 12 or 13 before I just...didn't bother to open the file again. The summaries around the internet are much more entertaining.
Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of things that Pris13 would have liked about this book. After all, Pris13 has read all kinds of goofy girlie shit that she thought was really, really awesome such as the Sweet Valley High Series, The Sunfire Historical Romance series, and the totally cracktastic Flowers in the Attic series by V.C. Andrews. In the next few years Pris13 will discover the worlds of Mercedes Lackey's white horses who save abused children and the Dragonlance books. And if the internet had been around back then, she probably would have flooded ff.net with goopy Sue filled romances about Raistlin who is so hot, misunderstood and clearly in need of the redemption that only true wuv can provide.
Hey...have you been reading my high school diaries? Except for Lackey, whom I discovered with Diana Tregarde (the urban fantasy heroine before urban fantasy, and who bafflingly didn't sell well, according to Lackey, even though there were whole tribes of crazy fen convinced that the real Forces of Evil(TM) holding her back from writing more), and only picked up the Heralds books after my need-a-talking-horse phase, that was totally me. I thought I was the only one who remembered Sunfire romances. I owned the whole set, and I'm kicking myself because I have no idea what my mother did with them. Probably moldering in the basement.
I'm not especially concerned that this book is teaching bad lessons to impressionable young girls (even though it kind of is). I read all kinds of fucked up stuff when I was that age, but even I realized that there was a big difference between what characters in a book could get away with and what happens in real life. I think that the people hyperventilating about how this is going to corrupt young girls, don't give those girls enough credit.
My back teeth grind together when I think of my daughter wanting a Bella-and-Edward relationship, but then I realize that already at three and a half, she's a lot smarter than Bella, so my worries go away. What gets me is that grown up people (consequently, those who should know better) just want to love all over it because the main characters don't have sex until marriage. Never mind that the books are full of bad writing, weak characterization, a lazy theme, and an anti-plot repellent that must have given the screenplay adaptation writers fits. But it's "recommended reads" because the teenagers don't have sex. ::head, meet desk::
Now to wash your brain out, go to the library and check out Melissa Marr's "Wicked Lovely" and while you're at it, pick up "Ink Exchange" - both have great heroines and fascinating storylines. Ink Exchange is one of those theme-y books with layers like tiramisu. Marr's writing is tight, not overblown, and her world does have that teenage tunnel-vision, but not in a self-serving way.
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Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of things that Pris13 would have liked about this book. After all, Pris13 has read all kinds of goofy girlie shit that she thought was really, really awesome such as the Sweet Valley High Series, The Sunfire Historical Romance series, and the totally cracktastic Flowers in the Attic series by V.C. Andrews. In the next few years Pris13 will discover the worlds of Mercedes Lackey's white horses who save abused children and the Dragonlance books. And if the internet had been around back then, she probably would have flooded ff.net with goopy Sue filled romances about Raistlin who is so hot, misunderstood and clearly in need of the redemption that only true wuv can provide.
Hey...have you been reading my high school diaries? Except for Lackey, whom I discovered with Diana Tregarde (the urban fantasy heroine before urban fantasy, and who bafflingly didn't sell well, according to Lackey, even though there were whole tribes of crazy fen convinced that the real Forces of Evil(TM) holding her back from writing more), and only picked up the Heralds books after my need-a-talking-horse phase, that was totally me. I thought I was the only one who remembered Sunfire romances. I owned the whole set, and I'm kicking myself because I have no idea what my mother did with them. Probably moldering in the basement.
I'm not especially concerned that this book is teaching bad lessons to impressionable young girls (even though it kind of is). I read all kinds of fucked up stuff when I was that age, but even I realized that there was a big difference between what characters in a book could get away with and what happens in real life. I think that the people hyperventilating about how this is going to corrupt young girls, don't give those girls enough credit.
My back teeth grind together when I think of my daughter wanting a Bella-and-Edward relationship, but then I realize that already at three and a half, she's a lot smarter than Bella, so my worries go away. What gets me is that grown up people (consequently, those who should know better) just want to love all over it because the main characters don't have sex until marriage. Never mind that the books are full of bad writing, weak characterization, a lazy theme, and an anti-plot repellent that must have given the screenplay adaptation writers fits. But it's "recommended reads" because the teenagers don't have sex. ::head, meet desk::
Now to wash your brain out, go to the library and check out Melissa Marr's "Wicked Lovely" and while you're at it, pick up "Ink Exchange" - both have great heroines and fascinating storylines. Ink Exchange is one of those theme-y books with layers like tiramisu. Marr's writing is tight, not overblown, and her world does have that teenage tunnel-vision, but not in a self-serving way.