Down the Rabbit Hole

High school senior Cameron Bright’s reputation can be summed up in one word: bitch. It’s no surprise she’s queen bee at her private L.A. high school—she’s beautiful, talented, and notorious for her cutting and brutal honesty. So when she puts her foot in her mouth in front of her crush, Andrew, she fears she may have lost him for good.

In an attempt to win him over, Cameron resolves to “tame” herself, much like Katherine in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. First, she’ll have to make amends with those she’s wronged, which leads her to Brendan, the guy she labelled with an unfortunate nickname back in the sixth grade. At first, Brendan isn’t all that receptive to Cameron’s ploy. But slowly, he warms up to her when they connect over the computer game he’s developing. Now if only Andrew would notice…

But the closer Cameron gets to Brendan, the more she sees he appreciates her personality—honesty and all—and wonders if she’s compromising who she is for the guy she doesn’t even want.

Normally I am very picky when it comes to contemporaries. I enjoy them, they’re my guilty pleasures when I just want a solid read to fall in love with characters and the issues they have to overcome in their own lives, but very rarely do I do so in such a way that it makes me laugh and cry and feel for them the way I have with this book.

If I’m Being Honest features a protagonist I didn’t think I would love that much. Not only is she brutally honest to a fault – like, the word blunt has no meaning in her vocabulary – but she definitely falls under the category of mean girl more than your typical shy girl/people pleasers I find in YA contemporaries as our heroine. Yet, there is something refreshing about her because of this. The authors do not just write her as someone who is “bad” so simply, but is nuanced, especially in the way she becomes “better”.

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discussion

Let’s Talk Bookish – What is Your Posting Type?

August 6, 2021August 5, 2021 Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books & Dani @ Literary Lion, where they discuss certain topics, share their opinions, and spread the love by visiting each others’ posts.

AUGUST 6: WHAT IS YOUR POSTING TYPE? (SUGGESTED BY NICOLE @ THOUGHTS STAINED WITH INK)

Prompts: Everyone blogs differently, how do you do it? Do you schedule posts long before they’re published, how long? Do you write several drafts of a post and edit them, or do you not edit at all? Perhaps you simply write a post and put it up for the world to see immediately? There’s no right or wrong answer!

Welcome to August everyone, and a brand new month of LTB topics, hosted by Rukky and Dani! If you haven’t already, please follow them over there on their blogs for their content as well, I have linked them in the quote above. If you have any LTB topics you’d like to see, you can also suggest it over on Rukky’s blog. Today’s topic is certainly a personal one, and I’d love to see what other bloggers have to say about their own style!

Here at DTRH we tend to try and have scheduled posts, but more often like a weekly rotation, rather than anything months ahead of time. We do try and discuss and check in with each other every so often to touch base and plan ahead. Since we both have busy lives, it’s just easier to stick to something with a bit more structure, just so that the blog could semi-run itself, even without much communication (should we be too busy to do so).

I personally write a draft, and try to edit it while I still remember the book that I’m reviewing. Or if it’s a discussion post, I will often write and edit it at the same time. I don’t usually like coming back and re-reading my post, wondering what I was thinking and then trying to edit it again. For me, it’s a bit more of a time-sink than I’d like it to be. I do occasionally gloss over a post before posting if I have written the draft a long time ago, just to see if anything is amiss. Other than that though, nope! Just a one time write and edit.

I rarely write anything spontaneously, although perhaps if there’s a pertinent world issue or something, there are times where it might come up. I am not against spontaneous posts, but I much prefer to work on a schedule, just so that I can plan ahead with my time. That being said, sometimes I’ll have more energy to write a review or a post ahead of time, so I’ll “spontaneously” write it, but not post it until an appropriate time. Does that count?

What about you all? Do you work like an engine and constantly churn out posts? Or perhaps have spurts of energy to create? I’d like to hear about it, whatever it is!

recommendations

If You Loved Set Fire to the Gods…

August 5, 2021August 4, 2021 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Welcome to another segment of “If You Loved This”! As book 2 is coming out just around the corner, I thought it would be great to discuss other books that may be of interest if you enjoyed Set Fire to the Gods by Sara Raasch and Kristen Simmons. Whether you heard of this book before or not, let me introduce it to you now.

About the book (review here)

Ash is descended from a long line of gladiators, and she knows the brutal nature of war firsthand. But after her mother dies in an arena, she vows to avenge her by overthrowing her fire god, whose temper has stripped her country of its resources.

Madoc grew up fighting on the streets to pay his family’s taxes. But he hides a dangerous secret: he doesn’t have the earth god’s powers like his opponents. His elemental gift is something else—something that hasn’t been seen in centuries.

When an attempted revenge plot goes dangerously wrong, Ash inadvertently throws the fire and earth gods into a conflict that can only be settled by deadly, lavish gladiator games. The fights put Madoc in Ash’s path, and she realizes that his powers are the weapon her rebellion needs—but Madoc won’t jeopardize his family, regardless of how intrigued he is by the beautiful warrior.

But when the gods force Madoc’s hand, he and Ash uncover an ancient war that will threaten more than one immortal—it will unravel the world.

If you love fierce challenges between competitors for a high stake prize…

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