Thalia > Recent Status Updates

One of my book clubs is reading Demon Copperhead later this year, so I am preparing myself now to have some context for it haha.

It's been several years since I last read this book; I gave it five stars when I read the ARC, so I'm excited to re-read it (even though I don't remember anything haha).

Also did I mention that there are asterisks for the curse words?? I'm not one to use certain language either, but... like, write the words in your book or just leave them out entirely. Reading "F*** the f*** off" as a line of dialogue is the quickest way to pull a reader straight out of the narrative.

I've been totally on board with the events of this book until now - when the main character, together with her brand new love interest, are chasing the best friend to a motel and they've decided to bring love interest's cousin's neighbor's nine-year-old along for the midnight ride for kicks and giggles. Now they're staying in a room at the motel because it's too late at night to wake up the best friend... ???????????

*gag*

This girl really picked blueberries from an abandoned church, dumped them into a glass dish, sprinkled saltines on top, and called it "pie."

So far, this is a book about a girl who goes to a hundred year old lake house that nobody has been to in a decade and is surprised that it's old and musty...

Thank goodness this is over. How does this have so many positive reviews?? How does a book like this get published?? *heavy sigh*

Wow. He's really angry. I've never seen him this angry.

"Wow," I say. "I've never seen you this angry."

Every time I think it can't get worse... now we have a two-for-one.

"What?" I'm sure I've misheard her. "I'm sure I've misheard you."

This shouldn't have been allowed ONCE, this is like going on double digits now!

When the waitress comes to check on us, I order a black-and-white milk shake, and Max looks impressed and then orders the same thing.

"I forgot," he says, "what a great orderer you are. Most girls do not know how to order."

I blush.

WHAT IN THE ALMIGHTY HECK DOES IT MEAN TO BE A GREAT ORDERER???? HOW EXACTLY CAN YOU BE BAD AT ORDERING?

"Whatever," Max says. "It's not really important."

It isn't? "It isn't?

Ah, back to this...

"You're going to believe Leonardo over me?" I ask my dad. "After all he's done to you?" Leonardo really hasn't done that much to my dad except annoy him, but still. Taking Leonardo's word over his own daughter's is completely unacceptable.

EXCEPT YOU'RE LYING ABOUT LITERALLY EVERYTHING.

I used to bug him a lot, but I've come to realize that it's better not to bug him. He doesn't take kindly to bugging. Not that he gets mean or anything. He just ignores me.

Can we talk about how NOT a winner Cole is in the boyfriend department? Not to mention he ALWAYS uses her full name (so we can see the "Card: pun.) Can we dump him and move on? I have a feeling that's not where this book is headed...

Cole is a gentleman. Cole is taking me out to dinner and letting me order whatever I want. Cole is a man. Max Heller is a boy who works at a gas station. Not that there's anything wrong with working at a gas station. To tell the truth, I find it a little bit... sexy... Max in a wife beater, all sweaty, rolling himself out from under some car and standing up, holding lots of... tools.

Please, Shannon, stop.

Actually, besides when it comes to poker stuff, Cole doesn't push at all. He's never asked about my family, or about my friends, or about whether I like my job at the casino. We play poker, we talk about poker, we order room service, and we make out.

*gagging noises*

Upon asking coworker Mackenzie if she would be upset if she were making out with someone, pulled away from him, and he didn't "even try to stop you," Mackenzie's response is, "That wouldn't happen. Guys don't do that."

Then Shannon says, "But what if one of them did?" Mackenzie says, "I would think he was gay."

Apparently men who don't disrespect your boundaries are unheard of in this book.

He's looking at me seriously, and I gape at him. Is he kidding me? "Are you kidding me?" I ask.

Now I'm just determined to document every single one of these because once was dumb, twice was ridiculous, and every single time after that is inexcusable...

"Coach me?" Sounds like... work. Besides, I thought I was a natural. "I thought you said I was a natural."

CAN WE PLEASE STOP DOING THIS, FOR THE LOVE.

He loves that boat. "But he loves that boat!" I say.

TWICE in five pages. Hoooooo boy...

Oh. I didn't know Parvati wanted to go to Wellesley. "I didn't know you wanted to go to Wellesley," I say.

Yes, ladies and gents, an editor actually let that through. And while we're here, can we talk about how this girl's name is only "Parvati" because of Harry Potter?

On Max's coffee: "He's drinking it black, which I find very sexy. It's like he's strong and doesn't need to water down his coffee with sugar and cream. He can take it." WHAT EVEN. What decade was this book written in that drinking black coffee is a sign of a "strong" dude who "can take it." Take what???

"Guess I'm not used to this, hahaha!"

This book is lucky that it's been an eon since I inserted gifs into my status updates and I can't remember how to do it...

This explanation on how to play poker was the book equivalent of one of those video game tutorials where one character is like, "let me show you how it works!" and then you go through pages of click-based tutorial steps before you finally get back to the cutscene you were in.

"He... holds the cigarette out to me and offers a drag... Is he crazy? Doesn't he know smoking is disgusting and causes all sorts of horrible diseases, not to mention it makes you smell and smoky and gives you yellow teeth? Of course, Cole doesn't have yellow teeth. He has very white teeth. But not too white, not in an 'I whiten my teeth' kind of way. I hate that." Yes, the whole narration is LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME.

This is one of those "read it with the laptop open" books because there's just no way I can keep all this snark to myself...

Trying to get back into the swing of reading regularly, so I'm just jumping in with some books I own and have never gotten around to. Ah, yes, my old arch-nemesis, present-tense narration... *sigh*

This is a reread for me because it is my work book club's book of the month. Admittedly, I don't remember much except that I enjoyed it the first time around though many of my reviewer peers did not. At this point in the book, I do find myself annoyed with the British bad boy stereotype (Noah smokes???), and my fingers are crossed that the paranormal gets much more amped up,