Down the Rabbit Hole

Hi friends! I hope May brought warmth and hope to your part of the world. I know it’s been tough at times but I hope you’ve been able to spend some time in a good book to be reminded that we share this world and its experiences together as long as we’re open-minded to learning. In this vein of thought, I had a post sharing some great quotes about why I read and hopefully you would find some comfort in them too. You can read that here.

Now onto the main point of this post. May was a decent reading month. I had this week off as I transition between jobs so it was a nice time to just decompress, catch up on sleep and read some good books.

What did I read this month?

4-5 Drink Me Potions

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2.5 star, YA

Review: What’s Not To Love by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka

May 29, 2021September 13, 2021 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

An academic enemies-to-lovers YA with all the nerdy drama, high school antics, and heartpounding romance of the Netflix original series Never Have I Ever

Since high school began, Alison Sanger and Ethan Molloy have competed on almost everything. AP classes, the school paper, community service, it never ends. If Alison could avoid Ethan until graduation, she would. Except, naturally, for two over-achieving seniors with their sights on valedictorian and Harvard, they share all the same classes and extracurriculars. So when their school’s principal assigns them the task of co-planning a previous class’s ten-year reunion, with the promise of a recommendation for Harvard if they do, Ethan and Alison are willing to endure one more activity together if it means beating the other out of the lead.

But with all this extra time spent in each other’s company, their rivalry begins to feel closer to friendship. And as tension between them builds, Alison fights the growing realization that the only thing she wants more than winning…is Ethan.

While enemies to lovers trope is one that many people thoroughly enjoy, I found What’s Not to Love just a tad bit over the line in the enemies territory for comfort. Ethan and Alison have spent their high school years with a rivalry that’s borderline toxic for not just themselves but those around them. If one can handle their constant arguments and one-upping one another, then by all means this is a novel for you.

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discussion

Let’s Talk Bookish – What Makes a Good Sequel?

May 28, 2021May 31, 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.

MAY 28: WHAT MAKES A GOOD SEQUEL? (M.T. WILSON @ THE LAST BOOK ON THE LEFT)

Prompts: What do you like to see in sequels? Are there any sequels you liked more than the first book? What makes some sequels disappointing? Do you feel like most sequels are worse than the original, or is that just an old wives tale? Do you get excited about sequels or do you prefer standalones?

Welcome to our last LTB in May, everyone! Today’s topic is yet another good one, and a controversial one at that, I’d say! Or perhaps not controversial, but certainly polarizing. I definitely have many friends in one camp versus the other, and I can totally see why there’d be such a variance in opinions.

For me, what I’d like to see in the sequel is a nod to the original characters and original plot, preferably dispersed throughout the sequel, but even if not, at least just a little nod of “nostalgia” really adds the feel of reading a sequel for me. I like to see at least some returning characters, in which we can see growth and change throughout the sequels (because over time, no protagonists or main characters should really remain that stagnant). Another thing I like is seeing part of the first book through another perspective, this often adds a lot of intrigue and interest, and I thoroughly enjoy it. This last one isn’t a requirement for a good sequel though, just something I like to see in one if there.

I can’t currently think of any sequels I substantially liked more than the original, but I did enjoy books 2 and 3 in the Stalking Jack the Ripper series more than the first. But just by the tiniest of margins. And these had all the elements I have mentioned: beautiful growth of characters (AND their relationships!) as well as continual nods to elements planted in previous books. It just felt like always a true continuation and something naturally progressing, rather than forcefully dragged on for the fans. Other than that though, I don’t know many (sequels way better than original) – since it’s unlikely I read the sequels if I didn’t enjoy the first book. So maybe they’re out there, but how do you expect me to read the sequel if the original wasn’t even good?

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