What if I redid the folklore book tag? (folklore book tag round three)

Oh nooooooo, am I doing the folklore book tag again?

Jenna @Bookmark Your Thoughts tagged me and I am therefore compelled.

(Thank you for tagging me, Jenna! It’s a super fun tag!)

I WILL NOT BE STOPPED.

The Rules

• Link to the original creator: Ilsa @ A Whisper Of Ink
• Tag at least 3 people.
• Declare the rules and list of prompts in your post.
• Thank whoever tagged you and link to their post.

Note: Ilsa has permitted us to use her header graphics, so please make sure credit is given to her!

Surely I’ve already written about how I finished If We Were Villains and lay on the floor trying not to cry.

Surely I’ve mentioned how I told the friend I was meeting that I needed a few minutes to process the ending.

Surely I told you that I read Fangs in its entirety to recover from the hole If We Were Villains left in my heart.

I will never be the same.

I’m so thrilled about the existence of One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston. I have just enough room in my heart for a sapphic time-travel subway romance.

I’m currently heartbroken that this book won’t be published until May 2021. I want a copy SO BADLY.

For the most part, Mexican Gothic is an intriguing, tightly-plotted horror novel.

I thought I knew what to expect with the creepy house, lecherous family members, and haunted mine.

I never saw the true plot coming.

WHY do I let Book Twitter talk me into reading thrillers?

I picked up The Return for spooky season because I THOUGHT it would be a cool, creepy monster story.

Instead, it was very bad.

All the necessary elements were there, but they weren’t conveyed in a way that promoted tension or scares.

During the climax, the protagonist sits across from the Big Bad and listens to them monologue. There’s not a gun trained on her or anything – the two of them are just chilling in the restaurant. Talk about anticlimactic.

I have a bad habit of reading books that make me cry on the ferry.

I read Bingo Love: Jackpot Edition thinking it would be a FINE AND NICE STORY ABOUT TWO GRANDMAS IN LOVE.

Don’t mind me, just crying over queer literature on the ferry ONCE AGAIN.

I wrote about my desire for a follow-up to Bitterblue a month or two before Kristin Cashore announced Winterkeep.

Cashore FINALLY wrote a book about Bitterblue and Giddon, just like I always wanted.

I basically willed this book into existence.

In fourth grade, I saved up my allowance to buy The Official Hamtaro Handbook.

As a kid, I tried to fit in by absorbing information about pop culture.

From this book, I learned every possible fact about Hamtaro, even though I’d only ever watched AT MOST six episodes.

Weirdly, knowing facts about TV did NOT endear me to other kids.

(Fun fact: typing out this story inspired me to look into getting an autism diagnosis.)

I read Searching for Grace Kelly the summer after I graduated from college.

The book, I believe, takes place during the summer.

Better yet, it’s set in NEW YORK, a summery-seeming place.

There’s intrigue and infidelity and characters falling off buildings.

I’m actually kind of bummed by this book’s treatment of women.

HOWEVER, Searching for Grace Kelly did have a SURPRISINGLY excellent love interest named Pete.

Man, even if Watch Over Me isn’t my favorite Nina LaCour novel, it still punched me right in the soul.

Protagonist Mila starts the book having aged out of the foster system.

While surviving the foster system is a feat, aging out of it doesn’t do much for one’s sense of worth or belonging.

What follows is a story about an isolated farm house covered in fog.

It’s all very melancholy.

I’d been “handling” climate change by not thinking about it.

Reading Lindy West’s The Witches Are Coming made denial impossible.

I’m so sad, angry, and scared.

Corporations are unbelievably selfish.

I’m in the middle of Girls season 4, during which Hannah pursues an MFA.

I took a break to read Bunny, a horror novel set at an unnamed college MFA program.

The parallels between the two are striking and make me NEVER WANT TO ATTEND GRAD SCHOOL.

I’m really glad I finally read Bunny during spooky season. It was ACTUALLY SCARY, UNLIKE The Return.

I probably have to go BACK to therapy to figure out why I love mean girls so much.

Violet Saunders and Harper Carlisle of The Devouring Gray are both grieving.

Violet wants answers.

Harper wants revenge.

These ladies question everything and accomplish much.

Also, Harper infiltrates a cult and swordfights with one hand.

She’s the coolest.

Even though The Luminous Dead wasn’t the terrifying thrill ride I expected, it still had more than a few good scares.

While reading, I kept looking over my shoulder jumping at loud noises.

The Luminous Dead exploited my fear of being watched by an unseen presence, which I HATE.

I still have the creeps.

I swore I wouldn’t get invested in the Cinder/Kai romance during my Lunar Chronicles reread.

I failed.

THIS PAIRING IS DREAMY AND AWKWARD IN THE BEST WAY.

I forgot that Cinder kisses Kai at the ball? I read that part and lost my mind.

This series is the best.

I CAN’T TALK TOO MUCH ABOUT HIM but I really bonded with Mr. Scratch from The Scapegracers.

He’s made a STRONG IMPRESSION for a character who doesn’t appear until over halfway through.

I think he’s the cutest.

He also facilitated one of the book’s best twists.

I am afraid to google fanart because it can’t be as cute as the Mr. Scratch in my head.

Phew, I’m in luck: there’s no fanart…yet.

I loved learning about the creation of The Deep, a story that started as a poem that turned into a song that became an Afrofuturist novella.

I liked the ideas but had a hard time following the plot.

I was expecting a more emotional read, so I didn’t know what to do with the more cerebral and experimental elements.

I still gave it 3.5 stars.

I added a bonus prompt based on folklore’s hidden track “The Lakes.”

I am not one for making graphics, so here it is in text form.

the lakes

a book, character, or fictional relationship that inspires you

Sure, I talk about The Priory of the Orange Tree too much, but I really love it.

This book (which I still have not finished) showed me that one can write ensemble-cast fantasy that is both accessible and compelling.

I’ve long shied away from writing fantasy because it intimidates me.

I could do it, though. It’s possible.

Writing about folklore got me back into listening to folklore.

The album’s got such fall vibes! It’s a blast!

Yes, sometimes I cry while listening, but it’s CATHARTIC.

If you haven’t done this tag (or listened to folklore) yet, NOW’S YOUR CHANCE.