hi i'm jules, thanks for checking out my page :)
i post about my favorite books and the books i'm reading at the time! i talk about how to block spoilers in the second link down below; please give that a look over if you're worried about me spoiling anything for you.
the basics, so that you know if my page is a good fit for you:
my favorite authors are ana huang and h.d. carlton!
my favorite genre is dark romance! ( i also love psychological thrillers and mythology retellings!! )
my favorite book of all time is that sik luv by jescie hall; honorable mentions include verity by colleen hoover and the song of achilles by madeline miller!
here are some fun links you might need!!
a list of the books i've read in the past months
( link for mobile users: https://juleworm.tumblr.com/fin )
a complied masterlist of all of my book reviews
( link for mobile users: https://juleworm.tumblr.com/reviews )
and some general things you should know about me before you follow!
( link for mobile users: https://juleworm.tumblr.com/gen )
[[ BECAUSE OF THE THEMES OF THE BOOKS I READ, AND THE TOPICS DISCUSSED ON THIS BLOG, I ASK THAT YOU BE OVER 16 TO FOLLOW AND INTERACT. ]]
hi guys i'm so sorry i haven't been reading the past few days i've actually been writing :) i'll keep you posted with whatever book i decide to read next!
i have no idea what book to readdd i downloaded if we were villains last night cause its one of the only books i was considering reading that was on kindle unlimited but i'm not sure if i'm actually gonna read it, i have no idea if its good
red white & royal blue's alex and henry remind me of the song "not warriors" by waterparks
"there's nothing in my system, so i'm feelin' what i feel for you
i'm sweatin' out potential but i'm nervous at my central for you
there's nothin' in my system, so i'm feelin' what i feel for you
there's nothin' left to miss except the shots i take, and phone calls with you
and i just need you to feel it, too"
"you couldn't get much sleep, i found you just in time
but hey, for what it's worth; i think you saved my life"
Hiii I saw your post about Punk 57 and the main reason i liked it because it basically took me a day to read. I went in knowing it reads like a Wattpad fic so I kinda just didn't really deep dive into anything and just read it for what it is. I cringed and the spicy parts and kinda skipped over those. But Misha is basically every guy I've ever had a thing for soo idk kinda had a soft spot for him. Hated ryen she was the worst. Idk I wasn't obsessed it wasn't my favorite idk why it's being hyped on social media but i liked it probably would not read again. I gave it a 3/5 on goodreads
hellooo!! thank you so much for letting me know! i genuinely was curious and i'm glad you didn't take it as an offense, haha.
i think i understand liking misha to an extent? i agree, ryen is rather insufferable LMAO but i can understand having a soft spot for misha. i just think he was so unnecessarily mean for no real good reason if that makes sense. he also had no reason to string ryen along like that, i think he should have been up front from the start. could've avoided a LOT of the major plot point dilemmas.
and i agree, it took me about a day or a day and a half to read it as well. i think part of the issue for me was, like you said, it's written like a wattpad fanfic and had i known that, i probably would have been more patient and less scrutinizing with it. i don't think it lives up to the hype on social media; either that, or social media just isn't elaborating or reflecting better about what the book is and why they liked it, if they like it to embrace the cringe or whatever.
i didn't mind the spicy scenes that much, but there were definitely a few moments where it was... interesting to say the least hahah. i think i gave it a 2 when i first finished it because iirc i didn't mind the ending ( it's been a while though, i'm not sure if that was why or not or if the ending actually is good but i can't remember why else i rated it higher when i first finished it ) but i think i bumped it down to a 1.5 a few days later the more i thought about it.
i just felt like nothing really happened. it was like 300 pages of just vague plot and confusing characters and a really cool plot idea that just failed in execution. i mean the bullet point summary of pen pals for 7 years having a sudden fall out and then the trope of one of them knowing the other but not acting on it sounds so fucking cool and that's why i read it but something about the actual book and how it turned out just felt so... odd to me. i can't really place it.
i dunno. i think i should just admit that penelope douglas's writing style just doesn't agree with me for some reason. i liked credence well enough for it's characters; i LOVED kaleb, he's one of my favorite book characters ever as far as characters go, but i could never get over the plot and how it was all like... almost incest and they'd mention it every once in a while so it was sort of impossible to just forget about it. every scene with jake made my skin crawl. i feel like penelope is just rather overhyped in general for some reason.
i sort of want to read devil's night, have you read that series? i see people saying it's really good and that it's her best work, but after credence and punk 57 i'm... apprehensive at best hahah.
thanks again for the ask! really appreciate it!! :)
RED WHITE & ROYAL BLUE - CASEY MCQUINSTON
genre: romance ( enemies / rivals to lovers )
overall rating: 5/5
"spiciness" rating: 1.5
content warnings:
- sexual content (vague and nondescript)
- implied grooming / sexual harassment by person in power
- homophobia ( but nothing too bad or violent )
- politics
- racism ( again, nothing too bad or violent )
- abuse of political power
- nonconsensual outing of queer people
i got a little carried away talking about it ( still spoiler free, though ) so i'm putting a read more. please carry on!
overall thoughts: god what can i even say to do this book justice? it's amazing. i can't believe i put this book off for so long. politics and everything surrounding it are a big stressor for me and i was worried that it would stress me out reading about it, but instead i found myself rooting for the characters and was relieved to find that politics were more of a background feature for most of the book.
all of the political views of the main surrounding characters were all things that i agreed with, which helped too. the president of the united states is a woman, her staff is mostly made of queer individuals including her immediate family, and it was very refreshing to see; not to mention the president and her family are originally from mexico city. so not only was the president a woman, she was a poc, which was absolutely amazing. hats off to casey mcquinston!
as far as actual story of romance involving the two main characters, i'm not sure how i never figured out before reading that it was enemies or rivals to lovers, but i was pleasantly surprised and it made a damn great story. our two main characters are both incredibly well balanced as far as good and bad qualities, and they each have their own arcs that are very fulfilling and amazing to read about. it all feels very natural.
it was very difficult to put this book down. i probably would have finished it all in one session if i was physically able, but i've been traveling for two days and busy in between stops. it was all i could think about while i was busy though!
i was also very pleasantly surprised by the humor in this book; just how much and how well done it was. the characters feel so real and the dialogue between them, in e-mails, in person and over text all feels so real and natural for their age group. i will say that some of the jokes were now a bit dated, but i'm sure if i had read this around when it first came out, i would have been laughing my ass off. to be fair, i still was at a lot of parts!
would i recommend it?: yes. absolutely. wholeheartedly. i can't think of a single reason not to recommend it. i believe everyone should read it, and if any of the above political views upset you, then you are the problem, not the book. it's so wonderfully inclusive in every way imaginable and it has very much earned the place in everyone's heart that it currently has. it definitely lived up to the hype and then some.
if you haven't read it yet and it's been on your TBR for years like it was mine: this is your sign to read it this pride month like i have!! you will NOT regret it.
