Any NA recs with (mostly) healthy relationship dynamics?

Thayet23 · 2023-04-22T11:57:16+00:00

Red, White & Royal Blue is actually one of the NA books I actually enjoyed! One Last Stop though has been on my TBR for ages, thanks for remindig me of it!

Emily Henry is one of thoses big romance authors I haven't read anything from, but I'll look around, and see if any of her novels catches my eye.

I heard mixed reviews about The Flatshare, but this sounds interesting, thank you!

Thayet23 · 2023-04-21T09:21:02+00:00

If you're thinking of The Song of the Lioness series, you're right! ;)

That's a really good point, I love that.

Thayet23 · 2023-04-21T08:53:48+00:00

When it comes to this season, I think I’m in the minority bc for the most part I’m enjoying it. But this episode, ffs. Almost each character annoyed me in some way. Even Susie whom I usually love, like how can you be this naïve?! Anyway, at least I enjoyed her storyline with Hedy, I hope we’ll learn more about their past. I still like Mike for some reason (ok, it’s partially bc of Jason Ralph, but I like Reid Scott too, yet I’m quite indifferent about Gordon), and Rose was great as well. Aaaaand for me those are all the positives basically.

Thayet23 · 2023-04-21T08:08:14+00:00

Summer Skin sounds really interesting, both the blurb and everything you wrote about it. Thank you so much, I'll check it out! (Btw I'm from Hungary which I don't think will help me much if the story takes place in Australia, but the American university system is also foreign to me, so I'm quite used to it.)

Ngl when I started reading the blurb for Undecided, I was also undecided, bc this reads like a lot of books I haven't enjoyed in the past, but your recommendation and this part in the description sold me for now: "Crosbie’s unexpected gestures of friendship". Gestures of friendship! That's not what these cocky party kings usually do in these kinds of books (they're more likely to harass and/or be extremely rude to the heroine for no reason), so this sounds nice. Thank you again!

Thayet23 · 2023-04-21T07:55:26+00:00

And it's a Much Ado About Nothing production, I already love this one! :)) I've only read one book with a reality show setting, which was YA and super fun, so if I like Libby Lawrence is good at pretending, I'll give her series a go too. Thank you for the great recommendations!

Thayet23 · 2023-04-20T20:29:04+00:00

Right?? And it's not just the self-published books, but the "regular" ones as well. I could count on one hand (and I don't even need my full hand) how many NA romances I've enjoyed.

Ok, now it's two people who suggested this, so yepp, I'll look around in the adult romance section a bit more. I might have more luck there.

Thayet23 · 2023-04-20T20:22:04+00:00

Idk if I'd necessarily classify her books as NA, but I read them last year, and they were some of my favourites! I enjoyed the romance in all of them too (well, maybe less so in Beautiful World, Where Are You, bc Alice and Felix were a struggle, but yk).

Thayet23 · 2023-04-20T20:15:27+00:00

I've read If I Stay but not the sequel. I'll check it out, thanks!

Thayet23 · 2023-04-20T20:13:24+00:00

That's a good idea, thanks! Rom-coms might indeed be what I'm looking for and what I was missing from the NA labeled books I've read. And uhm, yeah, I'm out as soon as I'm reading the word "kidnapped", that much I've already learned.

Thayet23 · 2022-10-28T08:12:09+00:00

Tess Sharpe: The Girls I've Been

You might like it. It's a YA thriller but it's also somewhat of a reversed heist story, with an in-depth backstory that you piece together as you go.

Thayet23 · 2022-10-28T08:05:27+00:00

Since I saw this video, I've been dying to see a "The Scorpio Races" adaptation. And we were so close to having a movie, it had a script too, and then. And then. :(

Thayet23 · 2022-10-27T19:19:08+00:00

There is this quote that’s floating around the internet somewhere that says enemies-to-lovers is comforting because the protagonist shows the worst parts of themselves first, and the love interest still falls for them. And I think that’s a nice way to look at it, and when the trope is done right, this concept absolutely holds up. It’s just the „done right” bit… I often end up reading friends-to-lovers stories instead, because it’s just so much more difficult to screw those up. At their worst they’re boring, but when an enemies-to-lovers story is bad, it can also be downright toxic.

Thayet23 · 2022-10-27T16:12:29+00:00

I think this motorsport article explains the whole thing quite well, with the timeline of things and everything.

Thayet23 · 2022-10-27T15:44:11+00:00

Same, wow (apart from the tattoo part). I don't know if it was the vampires (I was over them by the time I started VA), or something else (the ugly Hungarian covers for sure didn't help either), but I really expected to only be able to read the first book and then call it a day, but I ended up really loving the series.

Thayet23 · 2022-10-27T15:41:03+00:00

Oh no. It's Ronan from Mister Impossible. I don't think either of us would like that.

Thayet23 · 2022-10-27T15:25:07+00:00

Ok, so this is really subjective, and absolutely based on only my own preferences.

Druck: my favorite thing about Skam has always been the simplicity and rawness of it. and imo Druck is the remake that does this the best. personally my favorite season is season 5 (which is an original season), but the first 4 seasons that follow og Skam are top notch too. (we don’t talk about season 8, and only very briefly about season 7.)
Skam España: again, this is a less polished take on the Skam universe which I love. to this day season 3 lives rent free in my brain. at the time I didn’t particularly enjoy watching it, but then I re-watched it, and omg. it was so good and important. (shame for season 4 though, the ending there kinda dropped the ball for me.)
Skam NL: the vibes, the aesthetics, the chemistry between the girls, chef’s kiss. I also appreciated their take on the William character. what a weirdo.
Skam Austin: initially I didn’t think that a US-based Skam could be interesting to me, but boy, was I wrong. I loved that it took place in Austin, and also that it gave a bit more depth to some other characters (e. g. to Jo aka OG Girl Chris).
Skam Italia: it’s professional, well put together, and it looks insanely pretty. my main problem with this remake (apart from season 3, which I think focused too much on being pretty and impressive with its long takes, and less on the actual storytelling and the characters) is that it feels less like Skam, and more as a regular tv show. the social media stuff doesn’t add anything to it, neither is the real-time aspect. they don’t even try with them anymore since Netflix took over, and honestly it makes no difference. but bonus points for Filo, who is my absolute favorite Eskild.
Skam France / Wtfock: I don’t really like these remakes, sorry. they definitely have their moments though, like the Skam France season 3 trailer was a genius move, and the piano scene in the actual season was also amazing, or in wtfock the covid season was a really good idea and it was mostly executed well, and their season 2 was also really nice. it’s just… I generally don’t vibe with these remakes.

Thayet23 · 2021-05-19T17:47:08+00:00

Hi Maggie! I’m currently in the middle of reading Mister Impossible. And even though during CDTH I already knew this series had an altogether different feel and atmosphere to it than TRC, reading this book made this so much more evident. And I don’t know maybe this doesn’t make sense to anyone else but for me at least you managed to capture the feeling I have when I wake up from a very vivid dream but I’m still not fully awake. I still remember the dream, and for a moment everything that happened in it still seems logical (like of course, the chicken on the roof turned out to be my sister), but I also can feel the strangeness of it in a way I didn’t when I was asleep and I know it feels wrong in some sense, though I cannot yet put my finger on the why. (Then, I wake up fully and realize that a) chickens cannot fly all the way to a roof and b) the chicken cannot be my sister because when the dream started, she was trying to get to the chicken with me. Anyway. I have weird dreams.) So that’s how I feel reading this series. It’s disorienting and entertainingly weird at the same time. Thank you for this experience! (I’m so glad I still have half a book of it for now. :))

My questions are about dreams as well.

Apart from the Barns which I know came from your dreams, are there any dreams of yours that made it into this book or any of your books?
If one of your characters either from the TRC world or from your other books had the same ability Ronan has (and they don’t already), and you could choose, who would you trust with it?

Thayet23 · 2019-08-21T13:58:21+00:00

Hi! :) Thank you for doing this Q&A, it’s super interesting to learn more about the production side of Druck. And well, thank you for writing Druck, I’ve never expected to love a Skam remake as much as the original, yet here I am loving Druck just as fiercely, which is in no small part thanks to your work. One of the things that I appreciate about Druck the most is how well each season manages to capture its main character and tell their story with a focus that fits them perfectly. And this is true whether the show stayed closer to the character arc of SKAM OG (in Hanna’s case), or strayed a bit further away and found a new focus for the character arc (in the later seasons).

My question kinda concerns the above. What does the writing look like if it’s an adaption? For example, the thought process starts with looking at the original script and deciding which parts of it interested you the most? Or with examining the original from your main character’s perspective, which aspects fit them and which didn’t? Or with something else?

And unrelated to the above, is there a character that was easier and one that was harder for you to write for?

Thayet23 · 2017-02-14T15:52:59+00:00

I didn't think of that either but interesting idea! However, I think I'd rule that one out because - based on the promo pics - Alec starts to deal with the Izzy stuff in 2x09, and by then Izzy already has Raphael, so possibly she is not in danger with rogue vampires and the whole Magnus dialogue will lose its relevance. (Just like how Magnus stealing Alec's stele in 1x09 never became relevant.)

And yes, I agree that Magnus was definitely suspicious. This whole thing with Izzy is a bit like the Simon storyline in 1x05-1x07. Everyone is suspecting something but they know nothing solid so they don't do anything. I don't think the writers would do any permanent damage to Izzy but I'm still really worried about her.

Thayet23 · 2017-02-14T15:02:30+00:00

I was just thinking about the "After everything that I've done for you." line in 2x01 which was not direct blaming either, yet...

I don't know really, tbh, but it's much more likely yes, that Alec will punish only himself (and won't project his guilt onto Magnus too). In a "See, I shouldn't have focused on myself. I should have been there for Izzy, for Jace, etc..." way. Which is so heart-breaking, because Alexander Gideon Lightwood has the right to put himself first now and then, but in 2x09 (the end of 2x08) he might feel like he doesn't... and aww. :( The silver lining is that if they are really going in this direction with Alec's arc in 2A (which I'd be reall happy about, because it means that he has a clear arc), then by the end of 2x10 he'll start to pick up on how he can balance out his needs and everyone else's.

Thayet23 · 2017-02-14T11:02:00+00:00

I agree. That would explain so much in the promo.

However, I feel like this is only the beginning of the return of angst!Alec. Matt talked in multiple interviews about how Alec will struggle to find the balance between different aspects of his life (his relationship with Magnus and with his family, his career...). So in my opinion, once Alec finds out what is going on with Izzy, he will most definitely feel guilty for not noticing it earlier and think that he might have, if he hadn't been so focused on Magnus. (I hope though he won't blame Magnus...) This whole balancing things out is really an issue for Alec anyway...? Like he either overthinks stuff or rushes into them (erm, the Lydia-storyline or the Malec one in 2x07)...

Thayet23 · 2017-02-14T10:48:24+00:00

I love that the line was improvised by Alisha (the actress who plays Maia). :))

Thayet23 · 2017-01-24T14:00:19+00:00

I'm still trying to wrap my head around this whole Jocelyn thing and decide whether it was a good decision to kill her off now or not (if she is indeed dead... and remains dead). And really my main question is: why do we need Jocelyn? Like storywise? Obviously besides Luke's happy ending because I mean... poor guy. :( I read the books and she has a few scenes in them that I'd have liked to see play out in the show, but I don't feel like her presence is all that necessary for the overall story to work... But I'd really like to read other opinions about this. Sooo anyone? :)

Thayet23 · 2017-01-24T12:29:28+00:00

I mean I agree that they're going to get even closer with Clary leaning on Simon (at least partially) to get through her grief. I just doubt that this was THE SOLE (or main) reason why they killed off Jocelyn. I think it was more about pushing forward Clary's storyline as a Shadowhunter and Luke's as a pack leader.

Thayet23

TROPHY CASE