This started off as an original female character fanfiction for The Lost Boys (1987) film. It morphed into something more and was published as an original work.

It reads like an early 2000s fanfic. Everything is overly described, the language is flowery and repetitive, epithets are used constantly, and the story is bloated with unnecessary characters and plot.

It's a dense read and I wouldn't say it was enjoyable.

This may be a very specific memory but in the 2000s there were fanfiction authors that wrote insanely long self insert fics.

They would go on for years with regular updates. Plots would become convoluted, there were so many unnecessary characters and the self insert would be perfect and everything revolved around them.

This is giving the same vibes and it's unlocking some cringe memories.

Does anyone remember them?!

This is a The Lost Boys (1987) self insert fanfic turned original work.

If you want to get hammered, drink every time the words ivory or obsidian are mentioned. I'm 50 pages in and I think I'd be passed out.

It's also set in 2037? But not like a cool 2037 with crazy tech. It's like 2018.

#RiordanverseReadalong has finished the Heroes of Olympus series

Here is the book club's rating of all of the books. Do you agree? Disagree?

Son of Neptune was definitely my favourite

July's #bookspinbingo

I'm mood reading too much to put down titles

@thearomaofbooks

I dipped in and out of this. Some of them I liked more than others

#QueerBC

This entire series was boring. I don't think I was ever going to love it because I'm a Latinist. Riordan's interpretation of Rome and Roman religion annoyed me.

Even ignoring that element, there were too many characters and POVs. It really slowed the book down and I honestly didn't care about many of the characters.

Also, not sure if it's my ace showing but damn did I not care about the teen romances.

#RiordanverseReadalong

Like a lot of Riordan's books, this was very formulaic, repetitive, and too long. It was an underwhelming book for me.

I liked the magic, the different take on divinity and divine children, and the world building.
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Another fanfiction rec because Jon Antilles is amazing and needs to be in more stuff

The Haat Mando'ade think Jon is a spirit of the Force/Manda because he does all the things Jon does and speaks an older version of Mando'a

All Mandalorians have a competency kink. I don't make the rules

I've not read any of these but they are part of the Classics Remixed series that looks absolutely amazing.

I've included it under nature because a lot of classical literature is assumed to be about the 'nature' of mankind but usually that is the experience of white cishet men.

I'm interested to see different imaginings of these stories.

#PrideRecs2025

Selling books at another fair. I decided to start The Beautiful Mystery because I figured I could dip in and out .... I think I was mistaken

The messy aftermath of destroying a government. I loved this, but I can understand why many people didn't.

It's very different from Iron Widow, the tone is different, there's a lot of political discussions, and several important characters are side lined.

It made sense to me. This was a young, uneducated girl, full of rage and hope, trying to survive a catastrophe she caused.

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I don't think this counts as YA. It's a bit misleading though I guess you can't change it mid-series?

July‘s pick for #QueerBC is Nino Cipri!

If you‘ve read this author before, drop a recommendation or let us know what you‘ll be reading.

This isn‘t an author I know so I‘m excited to see what people think.

You;‘ve still got time to read June‘s author Zen Cho or recommend some books for #PrideRec2025

My ebook hold just came in! Urgh. I have work the next few days.

Looking for some recommendations for my Mum. She really enjoyed these books and the Bella Ellis series.

There has to be a murder or something, it can't just be a slice of life or romance. She doesn't like twee cosies either 😅

Either author/character insert or historical murder mystery.

I'm getting my Christmas plans in place because she's ridiculously hard to buy for.

I hated the writing style. It was so dense and confusing, it did not help the paper thin plot or the terrible characterisation.

I went with magic #PrideRec2025

These are all books containing magic or fantasy elements

Helen and Paris‘ love story but make it sapphic and mafia.

I don't think the Greek mythology element works at all. It's barely present and labeling it a reimagining gives expectations that the book doesn't meet.

It's an easy, fun dark mafia romance. That aspect of it is pretty good, it's not to my personal tastes but I can imagine a lot of people will enjoy it.

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I was really interested in this book, the magic system is unique and it's urban fantasy, but I struggled with the writing. It was hard to follow and juvenile.

Aside from two characters, the others were assholes with no personality that communicated via banter. I legit couldn't figure out who was talking sometimes, they were all the same.

There were also some things that rubbed me the wrong way including some mean jabs about weight.

Thought this was an appropriate bookmark

I loved the first one! Can't wait to read the second one

I wanted so much more of this, more depth, more narrative, the rather simplistic format left me a little bereft. It's still an amazing book though.

#QueerBC

Orange for #PrideRec2025 which is for healing

I went with books that bring me a lot of joy because for me that is very healing. These are all books that I will or have re-read and they are some of my comfort reads

Kicking off #PrideRec2025 with a more literal interpretation of spirit. These are all books that feature ghosts or spirits

Some of my favourite ghostly reads, great for spooky season

It is time to pick the #QueerBC author for July;

https://forms.gle/wFB1MJ7b7vk9FwzG9

There's a lot going on in June because of Pride

The chosen author is Zen Cho

There is also #PrideRec2025 where you can recommend books around the Pride flag and there's even a bingo board for those that like that.

I've been reading d&d books to prepare which is why I've got lots of days with only a few pages written 😅

There were some great reads this month and apparently they were longer than last month!

#MonthlyWrapUp #PuddleJumperWrapUp

Ellie needs therapy, not a new relationship. The romance was the least interesting part of this book.

I really enjoyed the food, family, and cultural dynamics. The romance was tepid -cute and fast paced but nothing interesting.

The writing was very bland for me. I kept zoning out as I was reading.

#RiseUpReads @Catsandbooks

I'm very disappointed, this just didn't work for me. I found it so dull.

I really wanted to like this, the idea sounded amazing.

So apparently this series is being adapted and this is a promo picture? I honestly don't know if it's fake. It's really giving 2005 fanedit

If it's real I'm gonna watch the hell out of it because it looks terrible

ETA: Maybe not, the production company is owned by Tosca Musk (Elon Musk's sister) and she shares some of his beliefs

That‘s pretty much a wrap on May! How are we all doing? #GottaCatchemAll

I think I‘ve hit all my easy prompts and now I‘m looking for books to fill them 😅

I know a couple of you haven‘t been logging month by month (which is fine) so I‘ll do a mid-year post in June and see how many books have been logged overall

I don't think I'm going to finish anything in the next two days, I'm catching up on Critical Role one shots.

I think I'm doing really well with reading off my shelf this year.

Peerless was my favourite, beating SVSSS 3. I haven't ordered the second volume nectar if I do I'll be pre ordering volumes I could get for Christmas

#2025stats

Take what you need from this book and discard the rest. It's dense, not easy to read, and contradicts itself all over the place. The author also has internalized misogyny which shows up a lot.

It's mostly well researched and informative, though nothing groundbreaking. The sections on gender and identity were poorly done, insultingly so.

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That just turned my stomach

I didn't like the couple or the plot very much. I mostly stayed for Jude and the Sheriff flirting

Yes, yes lovely lovely now where's my Jude/sheriff book? Book 4 is about Wilder a character we've never met before

Insert evil Hercules disappointed gif

It is the last book of the Farseer Trilogy! How is everyone doing?

We‘re reading this book through June and then starting the LiveShip Trader trilogy in July #RealmofElderlings

I'm very behind. I'll jump in with the LiveShip Trader books but I've not been feeling Fitz recently

June is the start of the Kane Chronicles for #RiordanverseReadalong

New characters, new mythology, and hopefully new fun!

We are starting with The Red Pyramid

This is open to anyone that wants to join, there is a book club on Storgraph linked in the comments

@LitsyEvents @mom2bugnbee

June's #BookSpinBingo

I read both #BookSpin and #DoubleSpin for May which I'm pleased about!

@TheAromaofBooks

Is cutesy dark romance a genre because this is that

My #Roll100 June picks

81 is one I always save for #Wintergames and never read ... so I think I'll do that againt his year

98 I already read, 97 is this which I got free from Kindle. No idea what it is

42 oh look a Star Wars book I'm going to ignore but I like having it on my shelf

It is nearly June! How did this happen?!? Here are the #Roll100 rolls, I tried to go for colourful dice

Roll 1 = 81

Roll 2 = 98

Roll 3 = 42

42 was also rolled in March. I've you've read it then pick a number above or below

Share what you are reading!

Here is the bingo board for #QueerBC Pride month

You can use it for your #PrideRec2025 or use it for books you read in June

It is June soon and that means Pride! To celebrate #QueerBC is encouraging people to recommend LGBTQIA+ books and authors themed around the 8 colour Pride flag. It‘s interpretive so don‘t worry too much!

For example you could interpret Yellow - Sunlight as a book set in summer, with a yellow cover, grumpy/sunshine romance

You can post however you want, one rec per post, mega rec per post, comment below

Use tag #PrideRec2025

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A political drama set during the Sui dynasty with a slow burn romance featuring espionage, hate flirting, and political machinations.

It is slow to start and there is a lot of information which can be difficult. I read up a bit because I was getting lost with what kingdom was where and why they didn't like or did like the Sui dynasty (this helped a lot).

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More books should have embellishments

The second half of this was much better. There are just too many characters and too much going on and yet it's still so slow. I skim read.

#RiordanverseReadalong

This is going up early because I‘m slammed this week and the weekend is Eurovision!

June‘s pick for #QueerBC is Zen Cho!

If you‘ve read this author before, drop a recommendation or let us know what you‘ll be reading.

I loved Black Water Sister, can‘t recommend that enough. I‘m going to try Sorcerer to the Crown as it‘s been on my shelf for ages.

I'm going to be running a few of the heists from here. I think I'll do a review for each one and how it went 😅

I really didn't connect with any of the characters. It wasn't a bad read, it just didn't work for me.