I saw this over on The Orangutan Librarian, and since I’m also trying to avoid spring cleaning my bookshelves, I thought it’d be fun to avoid them in the same way–with this fun tag! We may end up having the same answer to one of these, too, because I got all ranty in the comments about one of the books, so stay tuned for that. This was originally created by Jen @ Book Syrup.

the struggle of getting started
a book/book series that you have struggled
to begin because of its size

I’m not usually daunted by the size of a book. I recently posted about all the tomes that I wanted to read, and it’s not even because I’m tackling them, just because I feel like I haven’t gotten lost in a long fantasy tome in a while. I will say that, when it comes to series, if they’re anywhere over three, and I haven’t been around since the beginning, I’m unlikely to read them if they’re also massive. That’s a big commitment, even though I could easily just read one and call it a day, but series readers are weird, and we hate leaving things unfinished. So while I don’t avoid books because of their size, I guess I do that to series, though I honestly can’t think of one I’m actively struggling to begin right now.

cleaning out the closet
a book and/or book series you want to unhaul

Oooh, this is a tough one. I’ve mostly unhauled all the books that I don’t like, so my shelves are generally four stars and above. There are a few lingering three stars, but that’s usually middle books that I just sighed loudly at while loving the first and third ones. I do go back and forth on the All Souls trilogy because I hate the third book, and I’m not particularly fond of the second book. But I loved the first, and I’m enjoying the show (so far), so it’s always one that I’m like ehhhhhh I’ll keep. I do think that I want to unhaul my Ellen Hopkins books, though, because while I’ve read and loved all of them at the time of reading, it’s been probably close to a decade since I read any of them, and it’s not something I would read or recommend anymore, so it doesn’t really have a place on my shelves.

opening windows and letting fresh air in
a book that was refreshing

Is it too obvious to pick RWRB? I mean, probably, but I also don’t care. It’s been refreshing every time I’ve read it, and it’s never going to stop being refreshing, so it feels like the perfect book for this topic. It does very much feel like opening a window and just ahhhhhhhh. A big, relieving exhale. I’ve often said, as have many other people, that it feels like reading fanfiction, but fanfiction is where so many of us started, and it’s one of my favorite things in the world, so getting to see such a beautifully constructed story that reminds me so vividly of why I love words so much is just–it’s the best feeling in the world.

washing out sheet stains
a book you wish you could rewrite a certain scene in

I was going to say The Damned by Renee Ahdieh, but I don’t actually want to rewrite any of the scenes, I just want Bas’ chapters to be in third person. It’s so damn annoying to flip between first and third, and there’s just no reason for his chapters to be in first person.

But if I could rewrite one scene, I’d add on a little more to the end of We Free the Stars by Hafsah Faizal. I just wanted a tiny bit more happiness with Zafira & Nasir.

throwing out unnecessary knick-knacks
a book in a series that you didn’t feel was necessary

The Orangutan Librarian picked Blood & Honey by Shelby Mahurin for this one, and yeah, I’ve got to steal that answer. It was so bad that I don’t know how I rated it three stars and not two. I think I was probably trying to be nice, but this book is just so unnecessary. Literally nothing happens in the entire book, all of the conflict between Lou & Reid was just a repeat of the first book and set their whole relationship back to the beginning, and all the rest was just filler. There’s also a character death scene that pissed me the hell off because it was just in there for shock and horror, and it was just piling on top of an already dismal book. Why do books plotted out as a duology ever extend to trilogies? IT NEVER WORKS!

polishing the doorknobs
a book that had a clean finish

I honestly felt so satisfied at the end of Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Barshadoust. It was so much more than I ever thought to hope for, and the ending was one of those semi-long, drawn out ones where we get to see all the loose ends tied together. I am a huge fan of how Tolkien takes a solid 40 pages to end his book, and that’s definitely something I’ve utilized in my own books, and no one can convince me otherwise. But I also love seeing it in other books now. Because to end something and just quickly tie a neat bow over it is almost disappointing in a way. I’m thinking of WFTS again, and one of my favorite things about that ending was that we get to see Alistair post-all the good things. I won’t spoil anything, but seeing him lounging on the stairs after everything just made my heart swell. And I want more of that! Barshadoust’s ending was very much that–we get to see all the MCs coming into their own, finding happiness, and opening the next chapter of their life. Another example of this would definitely be Lore by Alexandra Bracken scene, too. That rooftop scene is just everything I needed.

reaching to dust the fan
a book that tried too hard to relay a certain message

I feel like I’m meant to pick a book I like, and while I don’t dislike Claire Legrand’s Empirium trilogy, I also don’t like it, either. It’s a weird thing, and I need to figure out how to put into words why I’m still reading it someday, but alas, here we are because that book tired too hard to relay so many different messages, and it failed on so many different fronts. I don’t even know where to start on this train wreck of a story, but I think that one that stands out to me the most is that while it tries really hard to uplift its women, it also destroys them in big, life-altering ways, and it’s just–not a good look. Please tell me why I want to read the third book so much, I’m so confused.

the tiring yet satisfying finish of spring cleaning
a book series that was tiring yet satisfying to get through

Well, not ASOUE because that was both tiring and the most unsatisfying in the world, but since I’m not meant to be chirping one of my least favorite series right now, I’d have to say my current adventures through the Shadowhunters universe. I’m not quite finished catching up, but it’s been so satisfying to slowly see my unread books for the series dwindle down. There are some that I haven’t loved–mostly the co-written ones–but it’s still felt nice to finish them and know that I’m that much closer to catching up. And while I do love this universe so damn much, it is a bit exhausting knowing that I’ve still got four books left, despite having been on this journey for a few years now.

looking forward to next spring
tag 4 people you want to do this tag

Many of the people that I would normally tag are on hiatus right now, and I know that there’s a lot of burnout going through the book blogging community right now, so I’m not tagging anyone specific. If you’re feeling up for it, I’d love to see your answers!