Sophia Barsuhn > Recent Status Updates

I’m going to jump off a bridge if this discussion doesn’t stop soon.

What do you MEAN you spend more time in college talking about guys than you did in high school? That’s ALL YOU TALK ABOUT!

How convenient that the only two lesbians in this entire series are too far away to come back for Thanksgiving with the gang.

These books are at their best when we have other characters like Lori and Leslie to stem the endless flow of talking about guys, so this book is particularly excruciating to get through. Yes, this is a me problem.

Really wish the editing was better.

This is so stressful my stomach hurts. It’s so unbelievably relatable.

This is bullshit.

We’re up to twenty-one swallows in this book. It’s so endlessly frustrating.

151 pages to go.

Courtney ruins the flow of her own writing by having characters swallow for no goddamn reason. She is constantly shooting herself in the foot and it’s really annoying.

My interest is really waning here.

Whoa! 21 books in and we’ve got our first F-bomb! I actually appreciate the lack of swearing in these books, and this is coming from someone who swears a lot.

This is so embarrassing and relatable that I’m getting a stomachache.

So we’re just undoing all that character development? Great.

I’ve said it many times before, but I’m saying it again: I’m really loving this series and I wish I’d read it growing up.

What even is this scene? I’ve been enjoying this book, and this scene is kind of ruining it for me.

Woo-hoo, Amy! She is now one of my favorite characters in this whole series.

Note to all straight girls: kissing another woman is NOT like kissing yourself. Like, what? It’s frustrating how the actual lesbian character isn’t here to set them straight (haha). Like, instead of speculating amongst yourselves, why not just ask Lori? Honestly.

Omg! It’s Rosalind! She hasn’t been seen since the third prequel and I’ve missed her.

This is giving me flashbacks to being fifteen in the worst possible way.

I am way too much of a lesbian for this. I’m already tired of the word “brawny”. This series has been really enjoyable so far, but sometimes I get a little tired.

I think this is the first series I’ve ever read in my life that has an abundance of “and then everyone clapped” moments and actually enjoyed them (albeit somewhat ironically). It honestly adds to the charm.

I can’t believe I was dreaming about this book last night. It takes a lot for me to dream about a book. This might be the most violent book I’ve ever read.

That’s wildly astute of you, Lester. Well done.

I think this will be my last Richard Powers book. It’s not like he’s a bad writer; he just feels very formulaic. He also tends to bite off more than he can chew and he absolutely sucks at writing romance, which is a problem when we’re clearly meant to believe in the relationship between these characters.

So this author just pretended like he was going to fire the Chekov gun, like he took it off the wall and pulled the trigger and everything, but all that came out was a little sticker that said “bang”. I’m very annoyed and I’m annoyed that I’m annoyed. It’s so dumb.

Pages 353-358 are astonishing. The perfect picture of summer and long days and a father and daughter’s love for each other. The joy at the edge of sorrow. It’s probably my favorite segment of the whole book.

You know how in my review of the fourth book I said this series was fun if you turned your brain off? I’m recanting that statement. This series sucks. It is the worst. It is NOT FUN.

Alexa is so sickeningly, tooth-rottingly cute, and that’s not a good thing. Again, compare this character to Sammy Tillerman from Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt. Sammy is a fully-fledged character who is six years old; Alexa has nothing to do beyond being a cute kid. It’s just so obnoxious.

He’s doing it again. He’s making characters say “hhh” when they gasp or squeal. I’m pretty sure it’s meant to be a counterpoint to dragons hurring, but I hate it so much. He’s doing it again! He can’t stop!