hi everybody, there are mentions of su*cide/s*lf harm in the video. it is not graphically described and it is only referencing the plot points in the book. please watch with caution.
When you said "The love interest is kept intentionally vague to disguise that he's a bad character," my mind immediately turned to this quote from Terrible Writing Advice: "The love interest should be kept brooding and mysterious, which I'm using to veil the lack of details I actually have on him."
Reader : Well, love interest was as blank as a store mannequin... Author : You were warned beforehand and thus cannot issue any complaints. Reader : Still would have preferred a bit of personnality to latch onto... Author : It was INTENTIONNAL (therefore totally justified under the laws of ART). Not my fault if you don't have sufficient imaginations to project your wildest fantasies on this blank canvas. Maybe I'm not the bas author, you are the bad reader for not getting it.
There's a Japanese visual novel (Grisaia) where a well-meaning author kinda falls into this trap with their protagonist. Said protag is by no means a bad guy, bit by trying to keep him mysterious the author gives waaay too litle info and when he gives some it is done waaaay too late. So you spend your time reading a novel about Mr.Black Box of whose motivations, hopes and dreams you know almost nothing about, and this hurts the story.
@@Siahnetteand then the authors get _alllllll_ bent outta shape when someone comes along and projects something truly wild onto the love interest in fanfic (say, making them a villain lancer to the MC.)
I babysat a little dark haired girl in the early 2000s and i swear to god, she had a violet hue to her dark eyes. I think her name was Victoria, if i remember correctly. A really striking little girl. Edit: lol "hugh" sheesh 😆
This book is a prime example why Im just avoiding booktok recommendations altogether. They always hype it up to be some life changing creation and it just ends up giving me flashbacks to 2013 wattpad :D
I have the same feeling with Booktube. I've read 3 of the highest rated books on Booktube and ALL 3 were whopping 1 stars. They just SUCKED at either trying to get across the message they were trying to get across or just weren't good books. I don't understand how people gushed about the books at all, when I saw literally none of what they saw. "Oh this romance is so cute." -Romance is literally an abusive relationship. "She's strong" -Character is self centered/entitled and incredibly mean.
@@theturtlemoves9171 When you're 17 and have no friends that read, the best thing is to take recommendations from RU-vidrs who have the same tastes. I'm 24 now but that didn't stop younger me from trying to expand her horizons only to be thrown into absolute DS recommendations.
because that's literally all these books are what's crazy is how many books on wattpad are published now or just skip the app entirely and go straight to publishing because they think this is what people want now because of booktok. I remember when I was younger reading wattpad and only some of the BEST stories were published but now it is soo common ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I'm 33 and I swear I never feel older than when I talk to early 20 somethings. With kids, it's not as noticable because I've obviously felt "older" than children for over a decade, but now I am feeling "older" than legit adults and I'm like 😮💨
@@galena_bismoneu ri que nem uma possessa quando eu ouvi aquele nome. Meu irmão e meu pai fazem corvina pra janta toda a vez que a gente encontra uma pra comprar.
The fact that there's a playlist at the beginning of the book and how the "romance" is portrayed, with a side of problematic "edginess", makes me 100% sure that this originally published on Wattpad
I’m shocked that the book didn’t open with the actors the author was imagining for each character and polyvore outfit boards for every chapter. It has that kinda vibe
So from experience from this happening at my school, dating a student is not a jailable offense if they're 18 or older, but it is a fireable one. The reasoning being you're in a position of power and can be using that to manipulate or coerce them into it, or you could be giving them unfair treatment such as giving them all A's without them doing any of the work. That's the reason the government teacher gave us for why it wasn't allowed when we asked him, anyway.
One thing that bothers me about seeing that kind of relationship (in fiction anyway) is that there is A LOT of emphasis and pushback on the postion of power thing. Regardless of whether that is actually happening or is a normal relationship (what ever normal is). It's still understandable to be fired over.
Curious if it's also a rule between a student and teacher who have no academic connections to each other. Like one teaches a completely different subject to the one the student is taking
I'm sorry, but "corvina", particularly in Spanish, is the name for a species of fish, so I'm going through this video picturing the main character as a fish in a dress
I read a lot of fanfiction on AO3 and Asian Fanfic. I've read stories that are masterpieces compared to this drivel and other books that get published 👀 and they are written for fun with no aim to be published. How does this crap get sold for money 🙄 and why does anyone pay for it??? They don't know about sites where you get that for free?
"This guy isn't a red flag anymore he's a confirmed predator" girl omg that is too funny. Great review! The University setting sounds like an excuse to just get these people 1) into the right age bracket and 2) isolated, because . . . romance?
By a weird coincidence. Apparently RuNyx's first book was called "The Predator" (seems to be a mafia romance but's still funny to heard out of context)
I avoid booktok and booktube recommendations with dedication. One of my biggest gripes with dark romance is the fact that these authors keep the descriptions of the male character vague and minimal then try to pass it off as the male character being mysterious(which readers will eat up). Like no, he's not an enigma he's simply a poorly fleshed out character who the author put minimal effort or thought into.
The more and more I hear about trash romance books like this, the more I think about that one Tumblr post that says something like “You ever read a book and think to yourself ‘Wow, they really let anyone write these days.’”
There could be so much mystery around how the school keeps running if it 1. Doesn't charge intuition 2. Offers full ride scholarships to everyone 3. isn't well known. Like. There's so much mystery in that premise alone to instill intrigue and tension, with the reader and characters wanting to find out how the school keeps running.
Not gonna lie, when she mentioned that most students were teenagers my first thought was "this college is just a cover for vampires to get blood of virgins or something"... apparently it's not, but there's also a prequel in the works so, who knows?
While not "illegal", it is an ethics violation to date a student. My graduate university had a workshop for teaching assistants and one of the things they went over was "Do not date your students". Followed by "Seriously, just don't do it."
I have a working theory about why main characters are bullied in these types of books, and it's because it is an easy shorthand to garner sympathy from the reader. Obviously, bullying is bad, but to me it feels like a lot of these authors don't know how to make us sympathise with the main character any other way
the way he calls her "little crow"... I know it's supposed to be a sexy condescending pet name but literally the middle grade book I love has a (grown man) villain calling the protagonist (a little girl) that and I felt so icky hearing that in a romance novel 💀 I know it's not the author's fault but goodness me what an unfortunate coincidence 🚶♂
@@s4turnn524 yes! It was supposed to be an uncomfortable moment given the dynamics in the book and seeing it in a (questionable) romance work really doesn't help :|
As much as I stand by the fact that some of the best stories I've read are fanfics, the love interest calling the main character "little" something (usually bird, often a specific kind of bird, or occassionally some other kind of animal. Always something with infantilising vibes though) reeks of fanfic. It makes me cringe and actually kinda ruins the story every time I see it in fanfic, so I live in painful knowledge of how common it is. I have the sneaking suspicion it's usually teens writing about full grown adult characters calling the character the author relates to kiddy-fied nicknames, but I have no evidence to prove it.
The only story booktok ever recommended to me that was genuinely good was The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Even a broken clock gets the time right twice a day ig lmao
The background of this book just sounds like one of those " pov you're studying in a haunted library with ghost " dark academia playlist wth the same three piece of Chopin... I adore Dark Academia as a genre but honnestly the sheer misunderstanding of this genre and simplification of it by tiktok is exhausting.
I've never even heard of this, but I enjoy listening to you rant. And I read a book recently that had several lines about a guy "ramming into her cervix" during the sex scenes, and I kept thinking how non sexy that sounded.
1) she didn’t know how to write a 21 year old but made her that age so 18 didn’t cause a fuss 2)Hogwarts meets Crimson Peak lol 3) Christian Grey? That you? Oh..no just Gerald: carePiper CJ may get pissed someone else is stealing that story as well!
the fact that a PROFESSOR took a student somewhere in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of a storm where shes trapped in his car (also knowing how sheltered she is, and that this is her first time) wants to have sex with her, is supposed to be sexy??? that’s a predator 😭 especially when one girl went missing and one died after being near him (i didnt finish the video yet)
gross, another ableist "she has schizophrenia so that means she can see ghosts and magic!!" trope. but wait, "actually shes not schizophrenic, shes just Gets Better and is no longer schizophrenic at the end" double doozy. I swear they never want actual schizophrenic/psychotic characters, they just want characters who are "magic but its misinterpreted as mental illness." besides all the yuck of the book, I enjoyed this video! thanks for posting :)
I agreed with almost everything but the depiction of an all-consuming love. I love to read poems and books about people wanting to slither between ribcages and sleep inside hearts, metaphors of consuming each other to the bone, etc. Like THATS MY JAM lol. But I don't really crave for my relationships to be like that, because I am fully aware some feelings in books and poems are enchanced to sound better in pages but that in real life would be pretty unhealthy and not pleasing to feel at all.
So...this is Crimson Peak fanfiction set in...today? written by a then-28 year old male who is completely and undeservedly stuck on himself. I'm calling it.
Her name choose distracted me so much! My brain just made this funny association because "crow", the bird, is "corvo" in portuguese so Corvina just sound a very obvious choose to a character in a dark academy book. Also my name is Ravena (the "Brazilian version" of Raven) so... Sorry, this made sense in my head. 😅
The fact that there was an actual name that meant 'raven' or something similar that was uNCoMmON and SPeciAl, and wasn't the species name for a fish...
Under a better author, I can see the "us understanding ghosts in the future like we used to not understand schizophrenia" being a criticism of the changeling myth because some descriptions of changeling children is just early signs of autism that people in old cultures demonized. But that... would be a tricky subject to handle even for someone aware of that connection of mental illness/myth/the supernatural. And this author seems to have a poor understanding of mental illness period, so.
i really enjoy Gideon the Ninth and how in a sci-fi world ghosts and necromancy are interwoven by science but its all pretty clear that its fantastical. whereas this author seems to want to use mental illness as superpower but also refuses to diagnose the main character because then they'd have to make it accurate.
I'm not a religious person or a believer in the supernatural, but that phrase struck me as condescending. Maybe it was unintentional and the author just didn't thought of the implications of what they wrote, but the fact that the peoples of the past thought schizophrenia and other mental illnesses had a supernatural origin made think that the character was saying "maybe in 100 years we will know what mental illness makes people believe in an afterlife just like we now know that is a mental illness what causes people to act 'possessed'..." I don't know
Omg same about the phrase "nips pebbling", i hate it so much! Mostly tho bc... tmi, but I associate that phrase more with being way too cold than being aroused. So unless they're wearing tank tops in below freezing weather, i don't wanna hear it. Actually even then, I don't wanna hear it. Just, leave the nips out of any situation until they like, have a use
I can't with the book's title as "kana" means chicken in finnish. Makes me think of a gothic chicken. The fact that the main character's name is Corvina doesn't help
Ok, a shameless plug-in 'cause I just can't. I also watched Leo's review and me and my bff decided to make our own review (in Russian, though). I've studied this book meticulously, I have notes on every page. And I can tell you my professional opinion: this is the most hilarious and the most terrifying book I have ever read. It's hilariolus 'cause the author had no idea what she was writing about. My favourite example is the location of the library. Do yoy know where they keep all of their precious books. IN THE BASEMENT. Of an old castle. It feels like the author actually doesn't know what will happen if you mix books and hummidity. Vad (girl, just call him Vlad, we know you want to) talks to Corvina like a pr0n actor. No one I know talks like that during s*x! He always reffers to her "pussy" (not once there was a word "vagina") like it's a separate entity. Like, imagine your partner saying "You're a siren, but I'm a pirate. I'll impale you with my ship!" Like. Dude. No. Please stfu, you're killing the mood. But if you think for a minute it's actually a very scary story. Forget about the teacher-student or the age gap. I know age gaps even bigger than this and people are living happily together. They are both consenting adults. The problem is in details. Her situation (schizophrenic mother, isolation, voice, neglect, bad geneology) must had left her traumatized beyond belief. In real word she'd have had CPTSD. But then she finds him. She literally imprints on the first atractive man she sees. He is her hero, her strength, he gave her a little attention she craved for. However, he has all the money, all the power, expirience, influence and etc. He forbids her to interact with other males (which a gigantous red flag). But we never fancy a thought that he can fall in love with other woman. He's a womanizer (and the SH*TTIEST English teacher ever), that very probable. What would happen to her if he left her like a boring old toy?
The "fanfiction with the names changed" vibe is strong in this one... also, when it says that most students in Corvina's age-group are arround 17-19, is reffering to her classmates in freshman year, right? Because the way she describes the book makes me feel that the college doesn't exist beyond the handful of classes the main character takes
Mental illness is very real and should never become a plot device to exploit and belittle for a novel. Comparing it to the supernatural phenomena is much like how they stigmatized it in the 19th century. Also, sex being able to fix all problems is a very much flawed 19th view. This book is beyond toxic. Your reactions and opinions are priceless! Can't get enough of your videos!
Author should have just gone with supernatural mistaken for mental illness on all counts. Mother hears voices - - spirits, not schizophrenia. Dad ends himself "to protect her" - - Mo, the spirit guide. Other voices whispering to the lead-- ghosts wanting her help seeking justice. Noone is actually crazy but the townies think they are
I'm writing an academia story and I agree, major red flags even for a fantasy school. Like to the point there's no reason to go to that school except for the love interest and even then would one want to go? I'm going to keep this video in mind while writing my academia story. I'm 20, i've seen my peers be youthful and immature at times, although one things I find about this age is you realise you have a lot of adult responsibilities and you have to act mature in those moments. I also have mental illness and how it's depicted here, just no. I also don't have a car, nor grew up with one and i've ridden in a car more times than her. Like girl have you never taken a taxi? In the city?! I think what would've fixed this book (plot wise there's too much that needs fixing), is if this was a mystery thriller and the main character is either a detective or a student who's studying crime/law and we watch as they investigate and expose this red flag school. Maybe she is tempted by the love interest and either she uses that to her advantage to expose the school or falls too deep for the story to turn into a tragedy. The twist isn't even that good. Or maybe I just didn't care as much. For an academia book though, they really don't study in school that much. P.s this isn't relevant but that quote behind you is so inspiring i'm gonna include it in my vision board.
A mystery school nobody’s ever heard of in the middle of nowhere puts up strong red flags - the logical conclusion should be that the school is a front to lure in sacrificial victims for a Satanic cult, a la Suspiria.
When you got to the end I was so confused I was like “Wait, where’s the romance? They just fucked a bunch of times and talked about their childhoods.” They came off as frenemies with benefits that I legit thought I missed something.
The part of the vasectomy, the "clean" and the sex talk from... Vad? Reminded me of My Dark Vanessa, and we all know that book is about a predator and his victim coming to terms with the fact she was groomed and abused and that her relationship with (guess what, her English Teacher!) was not (again, IT WAS NOT) a romance for the ages. So... this book basically took all the tropes that are HUGE 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩and tried (I haven't read it and I will not) to make it a romance...🚩
The minute you said the school only offeres AS degrees I lost my mind. Look- I can believe a spooky cult school gets all its money from alum but not if it’s only an undergrad school??? Who’s making bank with just an AS? Who remembers AS schools fondly enough to want to donate???
@@realmcarthyOrgan harvesting, I think. That's why all the "students" are basically high schoolers (to make sure their organs are still in peak condition) and why people keep dissapearing or dying mysteriously.
@@realmcarthyOrgan harvesting, I think. That's why all the "students" are basically high schoolers (to make sure their organs are still in peak condition) and why people keep dissapearing or dying mysteriously.
I’m begging you to do a deep dive on Hunting Adeline. TikTok loves it but I read it and it was just straight up qanon fanfiction??? Evil Jewish-named elites drinking the blood of children in sex rituals? But it’s a romance about a woman getting fucked by a stalker? It’s so so so wild and I’m always like ????? When I see it on peoples “best romance novels!” Lists.
i think the weird incest plot line are an unfortunate side effect of the mortal instruments and all the people who read that originally are now old enough to write shitty wattpad romances that somehow get published
Having in mind most of these main characters in these type of romances don't have plans, projects or a life, it's crystal clear this is just an author self fan service. It's interesenting how the story basically reads as "some random day I'm getting a great chance to go to a life changing place" -AKA mysterius school, random mysterious location, magical word- (feels like wanting to break up from the routine or life she has) and I will find a man to tell me what should I do / to guide me in my life who finds I'm NOT like other girls. Feels like escapism all around.
Ok but cola came out of my nose when you said, out of nowhere "she finds a piano in the woods for some reason" and I'm holding you personally responsible for that
My Immortal actually made sense as a setting and plot. It just came out as really hilaripus due to terrible spelling, random character reactions and drama in the author's real life.
This book sounds terrible. But all I could imagine when the heroine was fascinated by his car was some Toyota Corolla. She doesn't know cars so it looks cool as all get out to her.
This!! Like its a generic black SUV and she gets extremely excited about it?? im not a car guy in any way but like at least say its an Escalade or something fancy?
So… Corvina has purple eyes and is bullied for that in spite of it being like, the coolest thing ever?? Am I tripping or does Corvina have Alexandria’s Genesis
17:49 I think it’s because of the tell-don’t-show nature of these kinds of books (badly-written romance); up until this point the audience is supposed to be attracted to this male character but now, GASP, he’s dangerous! Literally just telling the audience how to feel rather than showing the character being dangerous and threatening, and we all know that the supposed danger isn’t supposed to be off-putting anyway
It sounds like this author doesn’t have a lot of life experience and wrote themselves in? Because of all the ways to execute sex in a book they chose it via car…which is always uncomfortable unless it’s like a RV. lol Idk to me the MC and author read like they’re trust fund/prep school kids because of the lack of real world experience or excuse me “innocence.” There’s also the matter of money like how is this girl paying for shit without FAFSA? 😂 Btw incest (and it’s “technically” not incest were two of the most popular genres when it came to dvd rentals at the porn store I worked at back in the day. People are just weird and gross. 😅
i agree. the setting according to the authors note is based loosely on a boarding school she went to and i can see a lot of inspiration on the writing from popular romance novels but not so much real life experience. this isn’t bad in and of itself but the way that the romance develops and how disturbing the infantilization gets couldn’t help but find it 🤮 (also totally not surprised by that being the most popular genre 😬)
I can see the advantages from a production standpoint: Fewer sets. They meetcute in the house they live in. No extras. So maybe they advertise these more, so that they can save money?
This book gives me the vibe of originally intending it to be in high school, but someone in the authors life said it’d be creepy. So they just thought college instead. It’s still creepy tho.
i am LOSING it over the beginnings of the chapters starting with ~deep quotes and the playlist and i havent even gotten to what the book's plot is, this is gonna be a ride huh
How i would have written the book: MC is chosen to teach at the college on her way there the cab driver warns her that one she is hired she can never leave. Stuff happens she learns that she can't even leave to mail a letter Vad offers to drive her and she wonders why he can leave and she can't.Boom a better plot.
I was actually excited to read the book because of the hype around it but I was kinda not having it until the end, I was confused on what the story is all about, it's giving 2013 wattpad era😭. I still finished it tho
I just read the book and immediately started searching for videos about it, i cant believe that the writer did absolutely ZERO research, im sure she meant the name corvus (that stands for crow AND raven so when she says "it actually means raven" in the actual book it literally has no purpose) for the name corvina, but its literally just a type of ugly bony fish.
honestly,i deleted tiktok a few months ago and my reading has been much more my own,and exciting since i have been removed from the booktok world, i would highly reccomend it
I bought this book because of a booktuber. It’s an odd slow read…..but you actually made it interesting. I’m reading it while watching your review really fast.😂😂😂😂
A 7 year age gap being treated as something special in the book is so funny to me, at least when both parties are older than 21. Like that's edgy or something lol.
Why on earth did she have him have a vesectomy just to then reverse it at the end 😂 reminds me of The Office when Jan keeps having Michael getting one and then getting it reversed "Snip Snap Snip Snap! You don't know the mental toll it has on a man!"
Right, I'm very late to the party, but I can't just not comment here. As a psychology student (not yet finished, but close to the end) the ongoing romantisation and fetishisation of mental illness really drives me up the wall. Somehow they think it's sexy to be suffering from mental illness. The way those Booktok/Booktube authors love to use mental illness as a plot device is nothing but insulting and misleading in the worst possible way. Let's just take the halluzinations we have going on here. Halluzinations are a symptom not limited to schizophrenia. They can be a symptom of quite a few other forms of mental illness or physiological ailings; for example depression, psychosis or even dementia or substance abuse, just to name a few. This right here tells me that the author did a quick google search (at most!), saw that halluzination can often times be a symptom for schizophrenia and took that. Schizophrenia isn't even supposed to get diagnosed when the individual shows depressive or manic symptoms, for example, just to show how difficult diagnosing this illness actually is. I don't mean to be a smartass here, but this is just ridiculous and insulting. Comparing schizophrenia (or what the author perceives as such) to seeing ghosts is absolutely vile. This author probably thinks straight jackets and ice baths are still used as proper treatment just because it's aesthetic~ (English isn't my first language, please excuse any mistakes I made)
I know the "men writing women" meme is fun and all, but...that bra and panties tidbit out of nowhere just reminded me that I've seen far more women authors write women like that....
Listen, I wish I had the confidence to just not wear underwear. So maybe this is just a really common wish fulfilment fantasy about a dischargeless world? Idk that's all I got
The idea of not wearing underwear sounds very uncomfortable to me. I have a rather large chest, which makes it unpleasant to go without a bra, and underpants provide a bit of extra protection in case my period starts unexpectedly-and even if I’m weeks away from starting my period, there’s still the discharge…
I'm a woman who goes braless at times. I can see it being added if a romance was meant to be sexy. But while comforting a friend who just experienced a super traumatic event is not the place to put it!
37:13 NGL that sounds stolen from Rsven Boys. That was literally a plotpoint in the first book, where one of the friends was secretly a ghost who had been killed by their latin (?) teacher.
Whennever i come across videos about this book, i just laugh when creators say the girls name Corvina. Because here in my country, is a common known fish, so is not mysterious or anything. Also the fish is DELICIOUS!
i'm like about halfway through this and the character names are driving me insane, especially the main character's 😭 corvina? CORVINA? WHAT? i'm also still thinking about the fact she has purple eyes. nothing crazy but the way you described how its treated feels like the author read that one alexandria's genesis post and ran with it
...it's like Twilight and 50 Shades had a child, and that child had child with Crimson Peaks ... I've noticed... every... every Gothic themed book I've read has incestuous relations... and I've decided 😌 this is a subgenre I'd like to avoid. So thank you for this review.
a) Corvina is a fish. b) I think she is sending the letter to her mother and needs to send it right there and then because it was her birthday and she always does that and she is already late? I think but all has been wiped out by the car sex scene that follows immediately.
