Wow - two years! That's pretty crazy! I've met a lot of really wonderful bloggers and readers in the past two years and have learned that I'm not the only crazy person who likes to read about things that go bump in the night...and in your bed! I've also met some really cool authors. Some were new favorites who were so down to Earth and others were such big authors to me that I was left star struck!
To celebrate my second blogoversary I thought I'd switch things up a bit. All this week I will be the one interviewed!
I've asked some of my favorite authors and bloggers to pick my brain and boy did they come up with some interesting questions! Some went the serious route and threw one big question at me, while others wanted to know a series of things about my reading life. Others still - and you know who you are - took a bit of a less serious route.
Here's the schedule for the week:
Mon. 7/29
Author Jenn Bennett
Giveaway: one book in the Arcadia Bell series
(US/CAN)
Tues. 7/30
Blogger Jennifer @ The Book Nympho
Giveaway: Midnight Frost by Jennifer Estep
(US/CAN)
Wed. 7/31
Author Darynda Jones
Giveaway: First Grave on the Right
(US/CAN)
Thur. 8/1
Blogger Jenese @ Readers Confession
Giveaway: Biting Bad by Chloe Neill
(US/CAN)
Fri. 8/2
Author Stacey Jay
Giveaway: Ebook copy Of Beast and Beauty
(INT)
Sat. 8/3
Blogger Laura @ Little Read Riding Hood
Giveaway: Undead and Underwater & Undead and Unsure by Mary Janice Davidson
(US/CAN)
On to day one! Today, Jenn Bennett, author of the urban fantasy series Arcadia Bell is here to make me think. She posed one BIG question for me!
Here it is:
I recently read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and discovered I can't handle books that make me cry for the main characters in every chapter. Now, I love-love-love (and want!) a few weepy moments in a story. But kids with terminal cancer who are in love and both going to die? LET ME OFF THIS EMOTIONAL TRAIN. Don't get me wrong. I 5-star loved it. I'm just emotionally wrecked by it. Granted, as a writer, I'm well aware that I'm fairly sensitive. (Forget Hallmark: I weep during commercials about freakin' allergy medication.) And I'm also guilty of putting my own characters in worrisome emotional situations. (Oops!) But for you, as a blogger and avid reader, what are your emotional boundaries? Are there any books that have made you feel too many overwhelmingFEELS? Books that made you feel TOO angry/scared/sad/grossed out/turned on/anxious/uncomfortable/hopeless? Or do you prefer stories that push you to emotional extremes?
Umm...yikes. Thanks a lot, Jenn.
I, too, am sensitive to sad things in media. I have been known to tear up at certain commercials. When it comes to books I think it depends on what is causing the emotions as to whether or not I'm okay it. I actually purposely stay away from books like The Fault In Our Stars because I can't read too many of them. I just feel completely exhausted and empty when I'm finished reading. I don't know how anyone can read books like that back to back! I can't recall ever having read anything that pushed the emotional boundary that far for me. I'm not sure if I've just been lucky or if I just do a good job of looking into books before I read them.
I read a lot of urban fantasy so fighting and violence aren't unusual to me (when reading, at least) and I watch a lot of crime dramas on TV. So, maybe I'm not as sensitive to some of those things as other people might be. But, then something will happen in a story...some little thing...and I'll be an emotional wreck. The dog died. The hero just said something nasty to the heroine. Whatever. Those little minute details are what I often get the most emotional over.
Sometimes its not that a book is really sad or anything, its just the whole tone of the book is intense and emotional and when you reach the end you really feel completely spent! This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers was like that. I stayed up until 4am finishing it and I was so completely invested in Sloane's story that when I read the end and closed the book I didn't know what to do with myself! Rachel Vincent's Prey was like that too. I was so angry with that book. With. A. Book. I cried tears of anger and tears of sadness in that one.
In the area of grossed out, I did actually have a book that I really liked but one scene made me kind of uncomfortable and ultimately, I decided not to continue the series. Jenny Pox by J.L. Bryan is a really unique story that I enjoyed, but I did not enjoy a particular scene where the antagonist - a complete arsehole named Ashleigh - used her powers of suggestion (I can't remember exactly what her magical ability was, but it was something like that) to make one of her girl friends perform oral sex on her boyfriend against both of their wills. I can't even remember now what the circumstances of this situation were, but the reason I was especially not okay with that was because this was a YA book. This would have been extreme in an adult book, but these kids were in high school. I felt very strange reading
Thanks so much to Jenn for the thought provoking question! Nothing like looking back at all the most emotional and intense books you've read in the past two years!!!
And check out the Arcadia Bell series!
Enter to win any one book in the Arcadia Bell series (pictured above)!
US/CAN only.
Like both of you I am super sensitive and cry at anything and I hate to cry, aggravates my allergies. So I try to avoid overly emotional stories, I love all paranormal and urban fantasy, & yes I cry if there is an emotional moment like if one of the characters die. Rachel Vincent's Prey was one that made me cry in anger and sadness, like you. I also read erotic romances and sometimes the characters pasts really make you weep, but the boook is still good and of course the HEA makes up for it. I think I've lucked up too, or got screened really good because I don't think I have read any that went to extremes.
ReplyDeleteHappy Blogoversary, Wishing you many more. Thanks for sharing the interview about you. evamillien at gmail dot com
Colleen Hoovers Slammed series and The Fault in Our Stars both left me a total mess and unable to start another book for a while. My family looks at me and shakes their heads.
ReplyDeleteomg, wow that's a tough one to answer, but the one that stands out to me the most is Bared to You by Sylvia Day. For this year it was both Hot Ticket and Wicked Beat by Olivia Cunning.
ReplyDeleteLike you I don't like to read things that make me ugly cry. Like The Fault in Our Stars is one I will NEVER EVER read. Like not even a little. But I do turn into a sobbing mess any time an animal is killed. Kill all the people you want, BUT LEAVE THE DOGS AND CATS OUT OF IT. I am a weirdo, I know.
ReplyDeleteIt's usually the erotica books that got to me. Lately it's "NA" Vogel House. It went too far in the sense that it felt erotica for teens. The good push would be Tiffany Reisz's Original Sinners.
ReplyDeleteI just read a book that pushed all of my emotional buttons - The story Guy by Mary Ann Rivers
ReplyDeleteI cried a lot on If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman. Her book Sisters In Sanity had me in tears too..
ReplyDeleteThe Hunger Games tugged my heartstrings quite a lot, not just with the characters but the world in general.
ReplyDeleteGreat answers, Christen! (And sorry for the intense question, LOL!)
ReplyDeleteGreat answers in the comments, too. I was considering Gayle Forman, but maybe I'll have to save that for an emotional indulgence. And THE STORY GUY: UGH! I totally cried during that one. But I loved it so much! Oh, and I'm right there with leaving the animals out of it. Don't kill the dog/cat!
OMG, any book where the dog dies. THEY KILL ME!! I'm a weeper, too. So not good.
ReplyDeleteI love a good cry and I find books like The Fault in Our Stars open me to things I may not think of. I'm also never going to pick up Jenny Pox. I completely agree about that scene that made you uncomfortable. Great post!
ReplyDeleteStacia Kane's Downside series really sends my emotions through the ringer. I love the series because of it though. It's dark, gritty, sad, frustrating and sometimes hilarious.
ReplyDeleteI find the Downside Ghosts series to be very intense and emotional. They leave me in an emotional coma for days (in a good way).
ReplyDeleteI try to avoid books that have the potential for weeping! I just read Stephen King's Joyland which you would think would be safe, but no, there is a terminally sick kid. You KNOW how that ends!
ReplyDelete