Saturday, September 23, 2017

BroodyBFF Challenge #9- Why I Love Reading Discussion


Today’s blog post is going to be a discussion. The topic is thanks to the #BroodyBFF’s Challenge #9- The Love of Reading!


I don’t think I have the knowledge about The Bookthat made me a reader, but I’ve loved reading for as long as I can remember. My childhood classics- Lyle the Crocodile, Horrible Harry, Magic Tree House- grew into a lifetime of reading- Animorphs, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Harry Potter, The Inheritance Cycle.

My love of reading comes from a child-like sense of wonder and the desire for exploration. Reading gives me thousands of lives and experiences. I don’t have to make the same mistakes humanity has already made, there is learning on top of the emotional connect and sense of community. Additionally, reading will take me to places I will never get to see and experience. Whether the setting is far away and expensive to travel to or is a fictional location, reading is like going on vacation.

People I will never meet, plots that will never happen, things too terrible and too good to be true, that all occurs in the books that I read- especially since my favorite genres are Sci-Fi/Fantasy. Is it an escape from reality? I’m not quite sure. I feel like I am growing as a person through my reading, and that it is not quite the same as reality escaping but more of a way to further understand the reality around me. Reading makes it easier for me to imagine life from other perspectives, which I think is an important skill. Could my YA perspectives be written a bit more diversely? Heck yeah, and I know that we are getting there. The YA community seems to be the most outspoken about stereotypes and wanting real diversity from the publishing business and I know I am going to watch a new generation of writers bloom.

I love reading now, and I love the direction I’m seeing the industry head in. I’m currently reading Warcross by Marie Lu and one of her anecdotes about her writing was how long it took her to write an Asian-American character. It was a scary thing, the possibility of being rejected as a writer simply because publishing houses will only have a handful of token POC books each season. Her struggle about not openly describing characters the way she pictured them struck me, and it is so powerful that her MC in Warcross is Chinese-American. I hope all of the tremendous success this book is having will only propel the confidence of not only herself, but other authors to continue being true to themselves!


A toast to reading- may it never stagnate, and may the well of good literature never run dry.

You can check out my fellow #BroodyBFF responses on Twitter




Brooding YA Hero: Becoming a Main Character (Almost) as Awesome as Me 


The BroodyBFF's street team will run from May to November, so check back here at Love at First Write regularly for new challenges and updates, and follow me and @broodingyahero on Twitter to see the hashtags, visual challenges, and #BroodyChats! 

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Review: Brooding YA Hero by Carrie Ann DiRisio


Brooding YA Hero: Becoming a Main Character (Almost) as Awesome as Me
by Carrie Ann DiRisio
Publication Date: October 17th 2017
Publisher: Skypony Press
Rating: 5/5



An ARC of this book was provided to me by the author for winning a Broody Street Team Challenge. My review will be honest, as always.

For all Young Adult Readers, this is the book for you! This book says all the things that go through your head when reading a YA book, no matter what sub-genre. It discusses tropes, clichés, character types, genres, settings, and plots. Things we readers love to complain about and wish could change about the genre. As a reader or a prospective writer, this really is a book for everyone.

As someone who’s been following BroodingYAhero on twitter for a loooong time I was so excited to hear that Carrie was going to be writing a book from Broody’s POV. He never fails to make me laugh and this book met and went beyond my expectations.

Our hero, Broody McHottipants takes us through what it’s like to be a main character and how to be a main character an honestly it was so wholesome and inspiring. Normally after I read a good book, I go on Goodreads and like my favorite quotes- for this I would literally be liking the ENTIRE book it was a hilarious read.

Did I mention that this book is INTERACTIVE??? Not only is there plot about Broody writing a book about how to be a main character, and not only is there information delivered in an easy to learn way, but there are also fun quizzes. My entire workplace did a Madlibs from this book! I didn’t know that I could swoon over something other than our Brooding YA hero, but I did for this book. This book deserves all of the positive adjectives you can think of and shines brighter than Broody’s miraculous gemstone eyes (please don’t tell him I said that).

I know that I'll be reading this book again in the future, and that it will always be in the back of my head when the tropes I love to poke fun of inevitably recur in my future reading. I am literally SO excited for this to come out so that I can see all of the gorgeous illustrations that will go in the official release! 

You can check out my fellow #BroodyBFF 's on Twitter




Brooding YA Hero: Becoming a Main Character (Almost) as Awesome as Me 


The BroodyBFF's street team will run from May to November, so check back here at Love at First Write regularly for new challenges and updates, and follow me and @broodingyahero on Twitter to see the hashtags, visual challenges, and #BroodyChats!