chapter55
I love layered characters and complex relationships, from raw, emotional stories like Boys of Tommen to high-stakes romance in Shatter Me and Zodiac Academy. Slow burns are my favorite.
652 points
chapter55 commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
you ever look at your bookshelf like. wow. love of my life. eternal soulmate. emotional support collection. and still be like… “yeah but not right now” ??
CONGRATS YOU’RE IN A READING SLUMP 😭
idk what it is about reading slumps but they sneak up on you randomly. one day you’re devouring 500 pages in a sitting, and the next??? you just can’t get urself to sit down and read 50 pages without quitting.
and the worst part?? you STILL want to read. you still love books. you’re just sitting there, staring at your TBR like it personally betrayed you and expecting it to fix itself.
🧠 it’s giving: — “i want to read but nothing sounds good” — “i’ll read after this episode” (10 episodes later: still no reading) — “i just need to find the right book” but the right book is in another dimension apparently
and then there’s the guilt. the unread books judging you from the shelf. the unfinished series. the friend who lent you a book six months ago and keeps politely asking if you’ve “had a chance to start it yet” 🫠
🚨 but here’s the TRUTH: reading slumps are NORMAL. they don’t make you less of a reader. they don’t mean you “lost your love for books.” it’s just your brain hitting ✨ burnout ✨ and saying “let’s chill for a sec.”
🤍 WAYS TO GENTLY UN-SLUMP YOURSELF (WITHOUT PRESSURE):
📖 reread an old favorite — nostalgia is a powerful drug. find the book that made you feel unwell in the best way and revisit it. comfort reads are undefeated.
🎧 try an audiobook — especially if you’re in your ✨ i-have-no-attention-span ✨ era. listen while walking, cleaning, or laying in bed staring into the void. it counts.
📚 read something short — novellas. graphic novels. poetry. books under 300 pages. we’re rebuilding momentum, not running a marathon.
🛋️ romcoms will save you — zero braincell reads with ✨banter, chaos, and pining✨ are a CURE. you will read 200 pages in one sitting and feel ALIVE again.
💀 lean into the chaos — mood read something unhinged. messy main character? fake dating? one bed? whatever sparks a little serotonin.
🔁 accept the slump — sometimes you just gotta ride it out. watch a show. romanticize playlists. organize your bookshelves for no reason. it’ll come back. it always does.
📉 WHAT NOT TO DO: — force yourself to finish a book you’re not into — start five books at once hoping one will “stick” (you’ll just feel overwhelmed 😭) — guilt trip yourself like you’re failing at a hobby
YOU’RE NOT FAILING. you’re literally just a tired reader. take a break. your books will wait for you. and when that one scene or that one quote finally hits again?? oh we’re BACK. we’re READING. we’re OBSESSED.
📣 ROMCOMS THAT HAVE GOT ME OUT OF SLUMPS: (warning—these books may not work for some ppl so don’t get mad)
💘 The Love Hypothesis — fake dating, grumpy x sunshine, STEM girlies, and an emotionally constipated man who is secretly obsessed with her?? YES MA’AM
🎧 Better Than the Movies — childhood friends, romantic playlists, iconic YA energy, and a scene with a slow dance in the rain that lives in my head RENT FREE.
👟 The Cheat Sheet — best friends to lovers, football star with a secret crush, and fake dating (again bc it always works). SO CUTE IT WILL HEAL YOU.
📚 ANYTHING BY LYNN PAINTER — literally pick one. — Mr. Wrong Number? ✨chaotic texting & messy girl rep✨ — The Do-Over? ✨time loop romance and emotional growth✨ — Better Than the Movies (yes again)? ✨peak romcom nostalgia✨ — Love Wager? ✨pure banter, zero stress, full joy✨
Lynn Painter writes books that feel like your favorite comfort movie.
💬 drop your favorite slump buster books below — like the ones that made you feel giddy, unwell, and suddenly fluent in book quotes again. we’re building a ✨ healing list ✨
#ReadingSlumpSurvivor #BooksWillWait #RomcomsSaveLives #ZeroBraincellReads #BanteryAndBeautiful
14chapter55 commented on a post
"“Yet,” the blond lad chuckled with a wink." GERARD GIBSON 🥺
3chapter55 commented on a post
chapter55 commented on a post
chapter55 commented on a post
chapter55 commented on a post
"“Yet,” the blond lad chuckled with a wink." GERARD GIBSON 🥺
3chapter55 commented on Lizzyfoureyes's review of Keeping 13 (Boys of Tommen, #2)
View spoiler
6chapter55 commented on a post
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chapter55 commented on LotusXheart's update
LotusXheart wants to read...
Tress of the Emerald Sea
Brandon Sanderson
2chapter55 commented on LotusXheart's review of Deep End
So I read it.... Honestly I feel like the main couple would have more chemisty if he was a PIECE OF CARDBOARD! The only reason this book has that 1 star is because Adam and Olive were mentioned (from the love hypothesis)..
3chapter55 commented on LotusXheart's update
LotusXheart wants to read...
My Fault (Culpable, #1)
Mercedes Ron
2Post from the Pagebound Club forum
you ever look at your bookshelf like. wow. love of my life. eternal soulmate. emotional support collection. and still be like… “yeah but not right now” ??
CONGRATS YOU’RE IN A READING SLUMP 😭
idk what it is about reading slumps but they sneak up on you randomly. one day you’re devouring 500 pages in a sitting, and the next??? you just can’t get urself to sit down and read 50 pages without quitting.
and the worst part?? you STILL want to read. you still love books. you’re just sitting there, staring at your TBR like it personally betrayed you and expecting it to fix itself.
🧠 it’s giving: — “i want to read but nothing sounds good” — “i’ll read after this episode” (10 episodes later: still no reading) — “i just need to find the right book” but the right book is in another dimension apparently
and then there’s the guilt. the unread books judging you from the shelf. the unfinished series. the friend who lent you a book six months ago and keeps politely asking if you’ve “had a chance to start it yet” 🫠
🚨 but here’s the TRUTH: reading slumps are NORMAL. they don’t make you less of a reader. they don’t mean you “lost your love for books.” it’s just your brain hitting ✨ burnout ✨ and saying “let’s chill for a sec.”
🤍 WAYS TO GENTLY UN-SLUMP YOURSELF (WITHOUT PRESSURE):
📖 reread an old favorite — nostalgia is a powerful drug. find the book that made you feel unwell in the best way and revisit it. comfort reads are undefeated.
🎧 try an audiobook — especially if you’re in your ✨ i-have-no-attention-span ✨ era. listen while walking, cleaning, or laying in bed staring into the void. it counts.
📚 read something short — novellas. graphic novels. poetry. books under 300 pages. we’re rebuilding momentum, not running a marathon.
🛋️ romcoms will save you — zero braincell reads with ✨banter, chaos, and pining✨ are a CURE. you will read 200 pages in one sitting and feel ALIVE again.
💀 lean into the chaos — mood read something unhinged. messy main character? fake dating? one bed? whatever sparks a little serotonin.
🔁 accept the slump — sometimes you just gotta ride it out. watch a show. romanticize playlists. organize your bookshelves for no reason. it’ll come back. it always does.
📉 WHAT NOT TO DO: — force yourself to finish a book you’re not into — start five books at once hoping one will “stick” (you’ll just feel overwhelmed 😭) — guilt trip yourself like you’re failing at a hobby
YOU’RE NOT FAILING. you’re literally just a tired reader. take a break. your books will wait for you. and when that one scene or that one quote finally hits again?? oh we’re BACK. we’re READING. we’re OBSESSED.
📣 ROMCOMS THAT HAVE GOT ME OUT OF SLUMPS: (warning—these books may not work for some ppl so don’t get mad)
💘 The Love Hypothesis — fake dating, grumpy x sunshine, STEM girlies, and an emotionally constipated man who is secretly obsessed with her?? YES MA’AM
🎧 Better Than the Movies — childhood friends, romantic playlists, iconic YA energy, and a scene with a slow dance in the rain that lives in my head RENT FREE.
👟 The Cheat Sheet — best friends to lovers, football star with a secret crush, and fake dating (again bc it always works). SO CUTE IT WILL HEAL YOU.
📚 ANYTHING BY LYNN PAINTER — literally pick one. — Mr. Wrong Number? ✨chaotic texting & messy girl rep✨ — The Do-Over? ✨time loop romance and emotional growth✨ — Better Than the Movies (yes again)? ✨peak romcom nostalgia✨ — Love Wager? ✨pure banter, zero stress, full joy✨
Lynn Painter writes books that feel like your favorite comfort movie.
💬 drop your favorite slump buster books below — like the ones that made you feel giddy, unwell, and suddenly fluent in book quotes again. we’re building a ✨ healing list ✨
#ReadingSlumpSurvivor #BooksWillWait #RomcomsSaveLives #ZeroBraincellReads #BanteryAndBeautiful
14Post from the Binding 13 (Boys of Tommen, #1) forum
I am split open by the truth of you, the way your voice trembles when you say his name, the way your eyes dart away, as if you can hide the bruises from me, as if the ache in your bones could ever be invisible to the boy who has loved you ever since he first laid his eyes on you.
There is a violence in me now, a storm that has no words, only the desperate need to shield you, to take your pain and make it mine, to become the wall that nothing and no one could ever break through again.
I want to see— show me, show me all the bruises he put on you, let me trace every mark, let me memorize the map of your suffering so I can carry it, so I can hate him with every cell in my body, so I can love you harder, deeper, with a fury that burns.
I am not gentle, not tonight. I am hunger and rage and devotion, possessive in the way a drowning man is possessive of the air he cannot lose. I want to take you in my arms and never let go, to make you understand that no one will ever hurt you again, not while I am breathing, not while my heart is still a weapon I would turn on anyone who tries.
There is a sickness in my stomach, a disgust that coils and tightens every time I picture his hands on you, his voice poisoning your dreams. The thought of him— his breath, his fists, the way he made you flinch— it makes me want to tear the world apart piece by piece until there is nothing left of him but dust and regret.
I want to hurt him. I want to make him beg, to see fear in his eyes, to let him know what it is to be powerless, to have someone bigger, someone angrier, someone who loves what he tried to destroy stand over him and promise that this is the end.
I want to break every bone in his hands, the hands that dared to touch you, to mark you, to make you feel small. I want to see him crawl, to hear him sob, to watch him understand that he is nothing, that he cannot win, not while I am here.
You are everything— the reason I wake, the reason I fight, the reason I am more than just a boy with fists and promises. I am obsessed with the sound of your laughter, the way your hair falls over your eyes, the way you look at me like I could save you even when I am the one begging for salvation.
I want to erase every memory he left on your skin, replace them with my hands, my lips, my whispered vows in the dark. I want to be the only ache you ever feel, the only shadow that follows you home, the only name you say when you are afraid.
Let me see, let me hold you, let me be the one who breaks for you, who burns for you, who would tear the world apart just to keep you safe.
You are mine— not as a possession, but as a promise, as a prayer, as the only thing in this broken world that is worth saving.
And if he ever tries to take that from you again, let him know he will have to go through me— and I will not stop until there is nothing left but your freedom, your safety, your heart beating steady against my own.
2chapter55 commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
okay so here’s the thing: i am SOOOO TIRED of books acting like “strong female lead” means “emotionally constipated sword-wielding pick-me with no personality except violence and eye rolls.” like no offense but girl being cold and rude for 300 pages isn’t strength. it’s just dry.
💅 STRONG ≠ BORING. GIVE HER SOME RANGE. i want flaws. i want ambition. i want softness that’s not weakness. i want a main girl who can destroy a man’s ego and cry when someone tells her they’re proud of her. STOP GIVING ME GIRLBOTS™️ WITH NO EMOTIONS.
because when it’s done RIGHT?? when a female character is strong, scared, soft, ruthless, and emotionally complex?? LITERATURE. i am EATING. i will go to war for her. i will tattoo her quotes on my forehead. i will physically fight her enemies.
📉 WHEN SHE’S “STRONG” BUT SHE’S JUST... MEAN FOR NO REASON like okay cool, she can kill a man in 2.4 seconds. slay. but where’s the depth?? does she have dreams? internal conflict? a bestie? a purpose outside of the love interest?? OR IS SHE JUST THERE TO BE “DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER GIRLS” 😭
the “not like other girls” pipeline is OUT. OVER. DEAD.
👑 STRONG FEMALE LEADS WHO ACTUALLY CLEARED??:
🖤 Jude Duarte — the blueprint. the original delulu warrior princess. she was out here scheming, lying, surviving, breaking every rule, and kissing enemies while threatening to stab them. a menace. a mastermind. the moment. ✧ strength = ambition and strategy.
🔥 Juliette Ferrars — the GLOW UP OF THE CENTURY. she went from scared and isolated to leading a literal rebellion, learning her power, unlearning her trauma, and choosing herself every 👏 single 👏 time. ✧ strength = vulnerability + growth + choosing softness without losing your edge
🌪️ Paedyn Gray — built herself from the ground up with literally NOTHING. no powers, no privilege, no protection — just her brain, her guts, and a sharp tongue. she played the game better than the players. ✧ strength = surviving when the world is against you + making people regret underestimating you
🐍 Tory Vega — a whole damn queen. trauma? yes. chaos? double yes. loyalty? ride or die. she gets torn down 500 times and gets up 501. her grief, rage, and raw power??? unmatched. ✧ strength = being a hot mess and the most powerful person in the room
👗 FEMININITY =/= WEAKNESS STOP ACTING LIKE liking dresses or wearing makeup makes her “less strong.” i want the girly girls with glitter eyeshadow who will kill a man at dawn. i want warrior princess energy. i want the ones who cry when they’re hurt and STILL WIN.
🩸TRAUMA ISN’T PERSONALITY — IT’S A STARTING POINT a tragic backstory is NOT a character arc. show me how she heals. how she evolves. how she lets people in. how she makes choices and faces consequences. don’t just slap on “oh she’s strong because she has no emotions now.” that's lazy writing, bestie.
show me girls who: — forgive people who don’t deserve it — take up space — refuse to let their pain define them — survive and still choose softness
that’s power.
so yeah. don’t give me a Strong Female Lead™️ with no depth. give me a real one. with morals she’s still figuring out. with friendships that actually matter. with goals, regrets, sass, softness, sharpness — all of it.
#LetHerBeLayered #GiveMeGirlsWithGrit #SoftAndStrong #StrongFemaleLeadsThatSLAY #SwordAndLipGlossEnergy
drop your fave book girlies who made you feel seen, unwell, empowered, and slightly afraid. i’m ready to simp again 😤📖💅
23chapter55 commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
Post from the Pagebound Club forum
okay so here’s the thing: i am SOOOO TIRED of books acting like “strong female lead” means “emotionally constipated sword-wielding pick-me with no personality except violence and eye rolls.” like no offense but girl being cold and rude for 300 pages isn’t strength. it’s just dry.
💅 STRONG ≠ BORING. GIVE HER SOME RANGE. i want flaws. i want ambition. i want softness that’s not weakness. i want a main girl who can destroy a man’s ego and cry when someone tells her they’re proud of her. STOP GIVING ME GIRLBOTS™️ WITH NO EMOTIONS.
because when it’s done RIGHT?? when a female character is strong, scared, soft, ruthless, and emotionally complex?? LITERATURE. i am EATING. i will go to war for her. i will tattoo her quotes on my forehead. i will physically fight her enemies.
📉 WHEN SHE’S “STRONG” BUT SHE’S JUST... MEAN FOR NO REASON like okay cool, she can kill a man in 2.4 seconds. slay. but where’s the depth?? does she have dreams? internal conflict? a bestie? a purpose outside of the love interest?? OR IS SHE JUST THERE TO BE “DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER GIRLS” 😭
the “not like other girls” pipeline is OUT. OVER. DEAD.
👑 STRONG FEMALE LEADS WHO ACTUALLY CLEARED??:
🖤 Jude Duarte — the blueprint. the original delulu warrior princess. she was out here scheming, lying, surviving, breaking every rule, and kissing enemies while threatening to stab them. a menace. a mastermind. the moment. ✧ strength = ambition and strategy.
🔥 Juliette Ferrars — the GLOW UP OF THE CENTURY. she went from scared and isolated to leading a literal rebellion, learning her power, unlearning her trauma, and choosing herself every 👏 single 👏 time. ✧ strength = vulnerability + growth + choosing softness without losing your edge
🌪️ Paedyn Gray — built herself from the ground up with literally NOTHING. no powers, no privilege, no protection — just her brain, her guts, and a sharp tongue. she played the game better than the players. ✧ strength = surviving when the world is against you + making people regret underestimating you
🐍 Tory Vega — a whole damn queen. trauma? yes. chaos? double yes. loyalty? ride or die. she gets torn down 500 times and gets up 501. her grief, rage, and raw power??? unmatched. ✧ strength = being a hot mess and the most powerful person in the room
👗 FEMININITY =/= WEAKNESS STOP ACTING LIKE liking dresses or wearing makeup makes her “less strong.” i want the girly girls with glitter eyeshadow who will kill a man at dawn. i want warrior princess energy. i want the ones who cry when they’re hurt and STILL WIN.
🩸TRAUMA ISN’T PERSONALITY — IT’S A STARTING POINT a tragic backstory is NOT a character arc. show me how she heals. how she evolves. how she lets people in. how she makes choices and faces consequences. don’t just slap on “oh she’s strong because she has no emotions now.” that's lazy writing, bestie.
show me girls who: — forgive people who don’t deserve it — take up space — refuse to let their pain define them — survive and still choose softness
that’s power.
so yeah. don’t give me a Strong Female Lead™️ with no depth. give me a real one. with morals she’s still figuring out. with friendships that actually matter. with goals, regrets, sass, softness, sharpness — all of it.
#LetHerBeLayered #GiveMeGirlsWithGrit #SoftAndStrong #StrongFemaleLeadsThatSLAY #SwordAndLipGlossEnergy
drop your fave book girlies who made you feel seen, unwell, empowered, and slightly afraid. i’m ready to simp again 😤📖💅
23chapter55 commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
curious about what constitutes a 5-star read for all of you, since these days i really find myself questioning where my line is between a book that's a 4.5-star and a 5-star. for me, i feel like a 5-star read really has to rock my world a bit, in a way that kinda just leaves me staring out into space for a bit.
so, what makes a 5-star read for you? do you have to feel a certain strength of emotion, or need your worldview sufficiently challenged, or is it more general vibes?
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