By Tessa Pulyer Posted on

Book Blogger Hop | What Book I’m Leaping Over in Honor of February 29th

The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Jennifer @ Crazy-For-Books in March 2010 and ended on December 31, 2012. With Jennifer’s permission, Billy @ Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer relaunched the hop on February 15, 2013. Each week the hop will start on a Friday and end the following Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt featuring a book related question. The hop’s purpose is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to their own blog.

Tomorrow is Leap Year. Name one book being released in 2020 that you would prefer to skip.

submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer

When I was working on my B.A. in English, I learned to differentiate books not by good and bad but by enjoy and appreciate the talent of the writer – which is another way of saying it’s well-written, but it’s not my cup of tea. There are lots of writers out there whose talents I appreciate, especially those you find in any college English curriculum.

One of the first things I enjoyed, after I earned my B.A., was the ability to choose books purely because it was the type of story I enjoy – ones that make me happy or feel the hope that comes with the good guys winning. And to not choose books that did the opposite. I respect readers who enjoy books that illuminate a subject and make them think, but that’s just not me. I’ve gotten a lot of flack over that in more recent years, but I am unapologetic in my choices.

So what books will I be leaping over? Ones like this one

It’s too real and, for me, just too much of what I read books to escape.

Book Description

A most anticipated book by The New York Times • USA Today • Entertainment Weekly • Marie Claire • Elle • Harper’s Bazaar • Bustle • Newsweek • New York Post • Esquire •  Real Simple • The Sunday Times • The Guardian 

2000. Bright, ambitious, and yearning for adulthood, fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane, her magnetic and guileful forty-two-year-old English teacher. 

2017. Amid the rising wave of allegations against powerful men, a reckoning is coming due. Strane has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student, who reaches out to Vanessa, and now Vanessa suddenly finds herself facing an impossible choice: remain silent, firm in the belief that her teenage self willingly engaged in this relationship, or redefine herself and the events of her past. But how can Vanessa reject her first love, the man who fundamentally transformed her and has been a persistent presence in her life? Is it possible that the man she loved as a teenager—and who professed to worship only her—may be far different from what she has always believed?

Alternating between Vanessa’s present and her past, My Dark Vanessa juxtaposes memory and trauma with the breathless excitement of a teenage girl discovering the power her own body can wield. Thought-provoking and impossible to put down, this is a masterful portrayal of troubled adolescence and its repercussions that raises vital questions about agency, consent, complicity, and victimhood. Written with the haunting intimacy of The Girlsand the creeping intensity of Room, My Dark Vanessa is an era-defining novel that brilliantly captures and reflects the shifting cultural mores transforming our relationships and society itself.

What book would you like to skip in 2020?

Hopping Around the Blogosphere

Hop on over to these book blogs to see excellent reviews on books (other than mystery or fantasy) from a few of the amazing bloggers I follow:

Cyber Punk

A cyber punk novel review from the wonderful author, Mae Clair @From the Pen of Mae Clair: https://maeclair.net/2020/02/24/13289/

Classic Literature

A classic lit novel review from the Kathy @Katie’s Cottage Books: https://katiescottagebooks.wordpress.com/2020/02/25/the-classics-club-persuasion-by-jane-austin/

Romance

A romance story review from Shanah @Bionic Bookworm: https://bionicbookwormblog.wordpress.com/2020/02/26/well-met/

Contemporary

A contemporary novel review from Claudia @ The Love of Books: http://www.theloveofbooks.co.uk/review-weather-by-jenny-offill/

Dystopian

A dystopian novel review by Witty and Sarcastic Book Club: https://wittyandsarcasticbookclub.home.blog/2020/02/25/a-girl-called-ari-by-p-j-sky-arc-review/

LGBTQ+

A LGBTQ+ novel review by JTH @JTH Books: https://jthbookreviews.home.blog/2020/02/24/arc-book-review-swimming-in-the-dark-by-tomasz-jedrowski/

Memiors

A memoir review by What Rebecca Reads on one man’s life in and escape from North Korea: https://whatrebeccasread.wordpress.com/2020/02/25/a-river-in-darkness/

And one from the lovely Shalini @Book Reviews by Shalini on Ilana Estelle’s journey with Cerebral Palsy: https://bookreviewsbyshalini.com/2020/02/27/book-review-cerebral-palsy-a-story-by-ilana-estelle-thecpdiary-reddoorbooks-bookreview-bookblogger-memoir/

Many thanks to Flora @ Flora’s Musings for this idea.

18 Replies to “Book Blogger Hop | What Book I’m Leaping Over in Honor of February 29th”

  2. elizabethjoy says:

    I’m actually reading My Dark Vanessa at the moment, it’s a very compelling but difficult read so I can completely see why it’s not going to be for everyone.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Katie says:

    Thanks for posting the blurb on My Dark Vanessa. I think I’ll hop over that one, too! Not exactly my cup of tea, either.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Staci Troilo says:

    I’d have to skip that one, too. Good call.

    And I agree with you about college reading. I had to read so many of the classics when I was getting my degrees, and I liked many of them. But there were some that were lauded that I simply didn’t care for. It’s nice to get to pick and choose now.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Tessa Pulyer says:

      Definitely! It’s funny, though, I really didn’t think about the fact I wasn’t reading by choice when I was studying, it was just after I graduated that it hit me.😊

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Mae Clair says:

    Thank you for the link to my blog post! 🙂

    I would skip My Dark Vanessa, too. Based on the blurb that one just doesn’t work for me.

    Off the top of my head I can’t think of a particular novel I plan to skip, but I do like to pick and chose my book selections based on my reading preferences. What a fun blog hop for Leap Day!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Tessa Pulyer says:

      You’re welcome 😊 Usually when I see “critically acclaimed” type blurbs for books or screen, I know I probably won’t like it. Not always, but definitely more times than not.

      Liked by 1 person

  6. kathyscottage says:

    Good morning Tessa. My blog is glitchy this morning. Thanks so much for featuring my review of Persuasion. I’ll keep trying to get my blog to cooperate. Thanks again. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Sammie @ The Writerly Way says:

    I like your way of delineating books! I do something similar. I basically divide it into books I enjoy and books that aren’t for me (since not every book is). But just because I’m not the right audience doesn’t mean other people aren’t.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. *Flora* says:

    I have become a very picky reader – hence my low number of DNFs – so rather than any particular 2020 release that I’d avoid reading this year, there will be whole genres and hundreds of books. 😉 Like you, I pick books that will entertain me and I’ll (hopefully) enjoy reading.
    I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend, Tessa.
    Here’s my BBH Post
    Flora x

    Liked by 1 person

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