RAPIDFIRE REVIEWS, April 16-May 4

So okay, I meant to keep doing the book review thing and then I got distracted. Who is surprised? Not me. Anyway, I have read several books since then! So I figured I might as well put a bunch of them in a post together.

What have I read since The Start of Me and You?

Half Bad, by Sally Green
Verdict: WOW FEELINGS, this worldbuilding does a lot with a little and I had such a hard time finishing this but at the same time I found it so impossible to put down — such terrible things are done to Nathan but I needed to see it through until the end. I really like Nathan as a narrator and main character; some of the other characters call him simple, and he's functionally illiterate, but that doesn't mean he's not still very smart. I don't usually gush over first-person pov, but in this case I don't think it could have been written any other way, and I liked Nathan's thought patterns.

Half Wild, by Sally Green
Verdict: God, ducklings, I just really like Nathan. I love him. I love Gabriel. I like Nathan's complicated relationship with his father and I may have screamed a little over Gabriel's passionate but undemanding devotion? I would like them to actually have a little bit of peace in their lives. Do not read this book unless you can handle a ton of violence and an interminable wait for the sequel, because the last chapter comes like the freaking asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, which is to say: fast and catastrophic.

The Start of Me and You

I'm making this new resolution to start writing about books that I read after I finish them, although god knows how long that resolution will last given A) the sheer quantity of books that I go through these days and B) how hard it sometimes is for me to convince myself to do anything, even the really low-effort stuff, how it sometimes feels like I have all the time in the world but absolutely no time at all to do anything of worth, but I finished this book three and a half hours ago and I'm still feeling a little wobbly so I figure it's worth an exorcism or two. Probably.

Not in a bad way. I liked this book a lot.

The summary:

It’s been a year since it happened—when Paige Hancock’s first boyfriend died in an accident. After shutting out the world for a year, Paige is finally ready for a second chance at high school . . . and she has a plan. First: Get her old crush, Ryan Chase, to date her—the perfect way to convince everyone she’s back to normal. Next: Join a club—simple, it’s high school after all. But when Ryan’s sweet, nerdy cousin, Max, moves to town and recruits Paige for the Quiz Bowl team (of all things!) her perfect plan is thrown for a serious loop. Will Paige be able to face her fears and finally open herself up to the life she was meant to live? 

Brimming with heartfelt relationships and authentic high-school dynamics, The Start of Me and You proves that it’s never too late for second chances.

12MoF: This Is The End

Previously on 12 Months of Frozen:
Prologue
March: The One Where Elsa and Anna Send a Lot of Letters
April: The One Where Elsa is the Snowman NO WAIT HEAR ME OUT
May: The One Where The Snow Queen Isn't Elsa. Also, Lesbians.
June: I Go It Old School, Take Two
July: A Wild Kristoff Appears
August: The One Where Elsa is an Accidental Kidnapper
September: The One With the Curse
October: The Other One With the Curse
November: The Curse, 3.0
December: One More Curse for the Road
January, better: Whatever, Let's Just Talk About People's Feelings

I meant to start this one earlier, so I could actually finish in February instead of March. I didn't. (But I did start on the last day of February.) I would apologize, ducklings, but I can't actually bring myself to be sorry. There have been a lot more... ups and downs, I suppose, during the past few weeks, and the problem with the up bits is that you feel like you can do lots of things but only a few things seem important, and the problem with the down bits is that you feel like you can't do anything and nothing seems important.

So it's March, now. I think we'll all live.

For this month I wanted to bring us back around to the beginning; I've done a lot of experimenting over the past few months, straying further and further from the original movie, but there were some things in Frozen that I thought could've been more interesting, and I explored them a little in my original posts, but there was always a story it seemed like I had left too late to give the proper attention to. But this is the last month, and even if I've still left it too late, as per usual, this is really the last opportunity.


Also, sidenote, actress/musician Zendaya showed up at the Oscars looking stunning in a white dress and ever since, I keep visualizing her as Elsa, so here, have a pic:

AP Images

And the dreadlocks whipping around in the ice and wind would be AMAZING.

Anyway.

12MoF: Eleven-point-five, or: "Whatever, let's just talk about people's feelings."

Previously on 12 Months of Frozen:
Prologue
March: The One Where Elsa and Anna Send a Lot of Letters
April: The One Where Elsa is the Snowman NO WAIT HEAR ME OUT
May: The One Where The Snow Queen Isn't Elsa. Also, Lesbians.
June: I Go It Old School, Take Two
July: A Wild Kristoff Appears
August: The One Where Elsa is an Accidental Kidnapper
September: The One With the Curse
October: The Other One With the Curse
November: The Curse, 3.0
December: One More Curse for the Road
January, part the first: The Eleventh Hour, or, The One Where Anna Has Powers Too

I did realise, somewhere in the middle of those last few paragraphs, that I had a better way to structure my 11th month plot (I would call it my January plot, but let's be real, that one was posted on Feb 1 and my ostensible December story was posted on January 3, so) and that was was as a YA novel.

As it happens, I'm a big fan of YA novels, so maybe that's partially my own comfort zones showing. It could be a miniseries/show, maybe, as long as that show is okay with having a ton of flashbacks. Lost and OUaT level flashbacks.

So this is a rewrite, basically, of eleven-point-zero, aka the mess that I posted on Sunday. I'm not always a perfectionist when it comes to this series, but I really couldn't let that one stand.

12MoF: The Eleventh Hour (...Month)

Previously on 12 Months of Frozen:
Prologue
March: The One Where Elsa and Anna Send a Lot of Letters
April: The One Where Elsa is the Snowman NO WAIT HEAR ME OUT
May: The One Where The Snow Queen Isn't Elsa. Also, Lesbians.
June: I Go It Old School, Take Two
July: A Wild Kristoff Appears
August: The One Where Elsa is an Accidental Kidnapper
September: The One With the Curse
October: The Other One With the Curse
November: The Curse, 3.0
December: One More Curse for the Road

It's the eleventh month, guys. Just one more month to go. Lord knows what I'll do after this is done.

Fun fact, guys: this month is a mess. Just. A mess. I don't recommend it. The best I can say is that it has interesting moments and I could probably tighten it up into slightly less of a mess? Maybe I'll try that sometime later.

12MoF: One more curse for the road

Previously on 12 Months of Frozen:
Prologue
March: The One Where Elsa and Anna Send a Lot of Letters
April: The One Where Elsa is the Snowman NO WAIT HEAR ME OUT
May: The One Where The Snow Queen Isn't Elsa. Also, Lesbians.
June: I Go It Old School, Take Two
July: A Wild Kristoff Appears
August: The One Where Elsa is an Accidental Kidnapper
September: The One With the Curse
October: The Other One With the Curse
November: The Curse, 3.0

I did, actually, consider writing a non-curse episode this month. (Last month.) Really I did. There was going to be Betrayal, and Daring Escapes, and Other Powers, and Exciting Magic Ice Communication, and all sorts of other exciting things, but I still need a little more time to work the details out on that one. Also, I like curses. Obviously.

12MoF: The Curse, 3.0

Previously on 12 Months of Frozen:
Prologue
March: The One Where Elsa and Anna Send a Lot of Letters
April: The One Where Elsa is the Snowman NO WAIT HEAR ME OUT
May: The One Where The Snow Queen Isn't Elsa. Also, Lesbians.
June: I Go It Old School, Take Two
July: A Wild Kristoff Appears
August: The One Where Elsa is an Accidental Kidnapper
September: The One With the Curse
October: The Other One With the Curse

So it turns out I really like curses. WHATEVER. YOU DON'T OWN ME.

Credit where credit is due: like half of this idea is entirely because of my sister, who very kindly let me bounce ideas off her over the course of our entire four-hour bus ride back home and (FOR ONCE) (just kidding) (mostly) was very helpfully like "Yeah, you cooooould do that... or maybe instead you could do this other thing that actually makes sense." THANKS BABE YOU'RE THE BEST.

This month we get The Curse 3: Now With Actual Villains! This is very exciting for all of us, since I am generally reasonably miserable with villains. This is also very exciting because I get to talk about how much the patriarchy sucks; I know you're all obviously looking forward to that.

Will there be more curses in upcoming months? MAYBE. WHATEVER. YOU DON'T OWN ME.

kenneth libbrecht over at snowcrystals.com