Title: Brooding YA Hero: Becoming a Main Character (Almost) as Awesome as Me
Author: Carrie Ann DiRisio
Genre: YA, fantasy
Illustrator: Linnea Gear
Publication date: October 2017
Published by: Skypony Press
Source: eARC from publishers via Edelweiss
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Buy it: Amazon | Book Depository | Thrift Books
Synopsis: Have you ever wished you could receive a little guidance from your favorite book boyfriend? Ever dreamed of being the Chosen One in a YA novel? Want to know all the secrets of surviving the dreaded plot twist?
Or maybe you're just really confused about what "opal-tinted, luminous cerulean orbs" actually are?
Well, popular Twitter personality @broodingYAhero is here to help as he tackles the final frontier in his media dominance: writing a book. Join Broody McHottiepants as he attempts to pen Brooding YA Hero: Becoming a Main Character (Almost) as Awesome as Me, a "self-help" guide (with activities—you always need activities) that lovingly pokes fun at the YA tropes that we roll our eyes at, but secretly love.
As his nefarious ex, Blondie DeMeani, attempts to thwart him at every turn, Broody overcomes to detail, among other topics, how to choose your genre, how to keep your love interest engaged (while maintaining lead character status), his secret formula for guaranteed love triangle success, and how to make sure you secure that sequel, all while keeping his hair perfectly coiffed and never breaking a sweat.
I loved this book as soon as I started it. It's a book about writing disguised as a fun, meta world full of self-awareness and all the tropes you could ever imagine. It was great!
We follow Broody on his journey to show us how to become a main character, with interjections from his ex-girlfriend Blondie. Brody is your stereotypical male protagonist: arrogant, handsome, and of course, broody as hell. Lol. At one point, I was like, "Okay, Edward Cullen." 😂 He was just terrible at giving advice... I loved it! 😆
But evil ex-girlfriend Blondie, on the other hand, had these narrative interludes and notes that were actually really helpful. And you know what, she wasn't that evil. She was snarky and confident and I loved her! She was always undermining broody and giving actually good advice... It was great! Lol. And they had a really sweet moment there at the end that I enjoyed 🥰 And even though Broody's sudden epiphany at the end kind of gave me whiplash, I was glad there was a breakthrough.
The book also had a bunch of fun little quizzes like finding out what the dark secret causes you to brood, and whether you are in love (I am not, apparently 😂). There was also a recipe, mad libs (mine turned out absolutely terrible... I loved it! 😆), and you can find out what literary device is your horoscope. Mine was Chase Scene... I don't know how accurate that is, but I do love a good action sequence. Lol. Oh, and let's not forget about the different types of love as perfumes and just the ridiculous meta similes and metaphors... It was great!
But yeah, I really loved this! I loved how it used a bunch of different tropes to explain writing, I liked the characters, and I liked the setting too. The scenery changed quite a bit into different types of genres and that was a lot of fun. The book was very tongue-in-cheek, so you just couldn't take things in too seriously, especially the things coming out of Broody's mouth. Lol. It was fun and ridiculous in the best way possible! But at the same time, it was also very informative. I definitely recommend this one! I'm only mad I didn't read it sooner because I've had an ARC of this book FOREVER! 😅
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