we do love a "she's-like-every-other-girl"-girl #basicbitchesrise

I recently saw someone say they can’t imagine the setting within the book and they read like they are “watching a movie” which got me intrigued. Personally for me when I read, I might get “flashes” of imagery but I think I’m more focused on interactions and actions! So it’s a bit like I imagine the two characters but the background is blank? I often also don’t really have the full image of the characters so it’s just two mannequin like figures. If there are paragraphs of description about the environment I may take a moment to kind of piece it together but afterwards it’s more of the feeling and atmosphere and doesn’t stick around as an image.

How do you experience stories and does it take effort if you “watch it like a movie?” Do you have a soundtrack playing in the background or is it just environmental noises? Do you even imagine how the character voices sound like? How much detail is there?

I was going through my books, everything I've read in the past 10+ years and came across authors that I had almost forgotten.

For example, Ali Martinez was an author I really enjoyed reading for a few years, she was on my radar, and I was always aware of her new releases. But at some point, I'm not sure how or why, she slipped through the cracks. Now it's been years since I've read one of her books.

Do you have authors like that on your shelves? Would you be tempted to revisit their catalog, maybe try again?

As for myself, I've just picked up Ali Martinez's latest release, trying to bridge that gap and maybe fall back in love with her writing.

Note: I'm not talking about authors we actively chose to forget for various reasons or that stopped releasing books.

This is my first Elsie Silver novel and I'm already hooked. I know, I know I should have started with Rose Hill #1, but this was the only one available on the shelves at my library (didn't realize how popular she was)! I thought if I didn't like this right off the bat then I'll return it ASAP so someone else can get their hands on it. And I have to say 20 pages in and I am totally hooked. I find both Bash & Gwen quite endearing. I was worried that Gwen was going to be obnoxious - you know when they take sunshine too far and it's just annoying. I find her playful and funny, endearing! I know this is the first 5% of a 400 page novel - but I'm excited to see where this story takes me (I can't help but say that the age gap is enticing!)