No because I literally said in my English class that I can forgive Shakespeare having Lady Macbeth ~come it sewerslide~ but not the fact he didn't portray her decent into madness.
don't you just hate it when you're broke and can't afford college so you pass time by playing chess with a homeless guy and then you randomly inherit all of a billionaire's assets and now you have to live in his house for a year with his extremely hot grandsons to keep it and two of them fall for you and now you have to choose between the preppy and bad-boy one and then you find out that you randomly inheriting it wasn't so random and while you're searching for why you inherited it, you find out that the guy you used to play chess with is that billionaire's son (and your mom's one true love) and now you're looking for him cause he's "on the run" and now your boyfriends' mom got together with your birth dad and they're trying to kill you and then you finally make up your mind about the guy you want but it wasn't really your choice cause one of them was emotionally unavailable cause he's grieving his ex-girlfriend's death? yeah me too-
So I have my PhD in literature. I’ve been to many……. MANY classes, lectures, conferences, etc. I just wish people in my field had an ounce of the passion Cindy has when they discuss books. Academia sterilizes lit so much that you can’t just admit that you didn’t like something because the main ship didn’t go your way, when sometimes that’s all it is! And that should be enough! Books are about our reception and perception!!
Agree! I was a lit major in undergrad and had to explain many times "yes I understand this book is objectively worthy in some ways, sure I'll write a paper about it, but as an actual reading experience it absolutely sucks and you cannot make me like it"
also i know this is an unpopular opinion but my favorite cindy videos are her monthly wrap-ups because i like hearing her talk about books (that is not just about fairy dicks) and most of the books i've loved/hated, she did as well so she's a good source for book recommendations for me 😌👌🏼
The main thing that seemed unrealistic to me in the IG series was that the main girl literally wasn't obligated to join the games. She could've just sat back, enjoy her money and worry about her own life. Instead she get shot at, betrayed, a little heart broken and acted like a shitty person to her one actual friend.
i did like her participation (at least in the first book) because it showed how she didn't want to be just another game piece and she was smart enough to be a player as well! but her role in the sequel..... zzzzzz
Grayson: literally holding the estate and her life together through sheer will and kindness Also Grayson: doesn’t physically save Avery from death despite doing everything else to protect her from danger MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!!
@@withcindy pretty much. actually in a bonus chapter from Grayson's pov in the barnes and noble edition, he froze because he was thinking about Emily and how he couldn't save her so what's the point in trying to save Avery
@@withcindy Actually, in Grayson's POV it says he "couldn't move due to shock". Like bro at that point Jameson had every right to yell at you, and call you a "son of a b!tch" (let's not talk about the fact that they have the same mother).
The Final Girls Support Group would have been so good if a competent woman wrote it. It's kind of weird how men are writing women stories, like I'm fine with them writing ladies well but solely focusing on experiences that are so tied to gender is a choice.
@@kenzahcarstairs5417 I like them, too. Riley Sager is actually the only male author I regularly read. His depiction of female characters certainly isn't perfect, but I personally have found it far less problematic than pretty much every other "male author trying to write a female protagonist" book out there.
@@kenzahcarstairs5417 "Trying to be respectful." That's a good sign. I've never read or dug deep into his work but I kinda dig his books' premises but afraid I'd get eyerolling male writing female vibe.
I hate love triangles where the sequel performs a character assassination on one of the arms of the triangle because the writer doesn't know of any other way to push the MC towards the other triangle arm. Can't the writer just.... write one of the relationships as growing less romantic without essentially replacing the character with their evil/dumb doppelganger? Like, there's a difference between a character's flaws being unearthed by the plot and then there's writing a brand new character in the old one's shoes. Why do they have to betray me like that? 😢
The anime Fruits Basket actually does this really well. One of the boys realizes he loves the main girl in a familial way instead of an "in love" way because he didn't get that kind of unconditional support from his bio family. It's one of the best depictions of platonic love I've seen.
Kelley Armstrong did that in The Darkest Powers trilogy. It was done pretty well in that the guy she didn't choose was still a good guy, she just had feelings for someone else. That made rereading the series more enjoyable, because I wasn't waiting for the unchosen guy to go full villain in a fit of jealousy.
I read some article like you mentioned, about how now women dominate the thriller genre. It talked about how the roles are reversed from when women used male pen names to now men using women pen names because they think it will help their book to sell better. This seems wrong for male authors to do since back in that time women only did that because they weren’t getting published and the only way to do that was to use male pen names.
At the same time, Riley is a unisex name (every Riley I know is male), and the author also writes books under his own name and another male pen name, so are we sure how much of it was a conscious choice? I know of a few authors, like Seanan McGuire (who's up to three public pen names at this point, some fans have speculated there are more, but she already publishes at a ridiculous pace so I don't know where she'd get the time) who write under multiple pen names, mostly because it's recommended for marketing to different genres. I don't know a lot about the author and haven't read his books, though.
Jameson really went from being the chaotic, charming character saying out-of-pocket shit to add humor to just saying out-of-pocket shit for attention or to annoy someone
I was so intrigued by Xander Hawthorne in the first book but the author decided to say f*ck you and made him a background character who didn’t even get to solve any mysteries. I took that personally.
i’m really hoping she develops him more through his alluded relationship with Max in the third book but yeah she kind of ignored his siblingly relationship with Avery that was built up in the first book which made me kinda sad but oh well i still loved it 💀
I was so excited because at the end of the first book he got his moment to start finding clues on his own. And then he gets left out of every clue hunt so it can be just Jameson and Avery and Grayson. Barnes wrote multiple scenes about how Xander was ready with his team and he was going to figure everything out and then his team just split up after being in a couple chapters and he occasionally popped in to decode something and then left. Everybody but the love triangle characters were shoved to the side.
i would rather have read cindy’s sim based horror back than have read the hawthorne legacy - jameson kept asking her riddles like a troll on a bridge i was SICK of it 😭
Lol same! I always wash my dishes while listening to Cindy. I get everything done so much faster with her voice, humor and saltiness playing in the background 😌
@@withcindy The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood 😁 it's such a cute and fluffy romance book, I totally recommend it if you haven't read it already. Love you Cindy & hope you're doing okay 🥰
I also thought The Inheritance Games felt like a k-drama, which was why I guessed back then that Jameson, who didn't see the girl as a person and was being rude the whole time, would be the love interest. Grayson, who actually cares for the girl, totally fits the stereotype of second male leads in k-dramas. Still, I'm a bit appalled to find that I guessed right...
My frustration with the Hawthorne Legacy is immeasurable. The whole story got so convoluted by the end istg. Twist after twist after twist. At one point you stop caring. Like damn develop your characters a little. The book shouldn't be all about shocking reveals.
I was getting so bored with Avery and the two boys. I really wanted more scenes from the background characters or at least some more romantic development inside of the love triangle instead of everything being about clue hunting.
In The Final Girl Support Group, there was a paragraph that resonated with me. It said something like, "What is so fun watching women getting tortured and murdered?" I was just OK with slasher movies, never truly liked them. But that paragraph summarises what I feel about those kinds of films
The only slasher-type horror I ever enjoyed was Scream, mainly because they are aware of the trope and deliberate with the parodying, but even that I eyeroll watching now.
The Hawthorne Legacy's ending literally made me so mad. They gave us like 36 plot twists in the last 20 pages of the book.. FOR WHAT?? And then Avery acts like Jameson has been there for her the whole time. 90% of their interactions are about the riddle.. I can't..
@@aerogirl246 maybe when the third book comes out, and the series is complete it would be easier to appreciate the second one because then you’d see how it fit into the entire picture and how necessary certain things you didn’t like was to get the characters to wherever they end up in the third book... or you’re absolutely right and it didn’t give what you expected of it in the first place. Either ways, I would 10/10 recommend someone read it and not dismiss it based off people’s opinion
The author actually said that we would be getting A LOT of Grayson content in the third book IDK IF THIS MEANS THEY'LL GET TOGETHER BUT THE MORE GRAYSON THE BETTER
when explaining the spoilers, the star wars quote that was like "when you live as long as i have, you see the same eyes in different people" came to mind, thinking about the Tamlin Effect.
I read Jennifer Lynn Barnes' other series The Naturals, and so far she has been following a formula in writing her books (they're literally the same lmao). Soo if that continues then i think she actually is going to end up with jameson and grayson would literally not exist in the last book
@@yangs2590 here's the thing though, i fear she's the type of author that would actually show relationship development between avery and grayson in the third book, but still have her end up with jameson in the end 😭
Chinatown pretty sounds really cool, especially as someone growing up with traditional Chinese clothing it would be rlly interesting to see how that changed and developed with immigrants adopting more western styles of dress/materials !!
@@withcindy I wonder if the book would get better had the author be more of a fashion writer. (Assuming they aren't and just a casual street photographer of some sorts)
The hawthorne legacy has been bothering me ever since i read it. I found jameson annoying in the first book but he was just so much worse in the sequel. I definitely agree that he feels better suited to be a fun side character. Im really annoyed about how the author treated grayson in this book, it kind of feels like she planned out this nice story with him and avery but then she ended up preferring jameson so she made avery end up with him instead. The whole book was so frustrating, ive been complaining to my friends about it so its nice to hear someone else rant about it for a change 😌 Amazing video as usual
literally every book that I want I check to see it if you’ve read it and what your reviews are just to see if it has the Cindy stamp of approval. I’ve saved a lot of money so far
Honestly, no matter how much we yapp about Cindy being a furry crackhead. I cannot express enough how kind, generous and thoughtful she really is. Cindy you are amazing!!! I love you as a person. Thank you for being the way you are and being confident and lovely. ❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙
Ah, the "Author Changed Their Mind About the OTP Halfway into the Sequel" Syndrom... Tamlin, Grayson, the Adam guy from Shatter Me series... How many will fall victim to this insidious plauge?
I don't trust the ship in The Hawthorne Legacy, one just don't solve the love triangle the second book of a trilogy. I insit, he likes how she's a misterty, that's all. I read a tweet that quoted Jamerson saying "Those are the things I love about you", "*the things*" as in part of her but not all of her, everytime he was looking for her he was like "I have a clue", "I have a lead", "I found something". I love him but he's not in love with her.
LITERALLY!! I am team grayson all the way, and the way everything was set up, especially in book 1, i thought Grayson would be endgame. Kinda disappointed he faded to the background in book2. still hoping he will be endgame in book 3. Tho i saw this theory where he might be paired with the new family member Eve? i rlly rlly hope not tho, istg if that’s what happens im gonna cry ;-; like they’re basically cousins!!?
Yes yes yes to older women in books! I'm writing a fantasy novel right now and I'm not having any mains under 40, it's gonna be revolutionary (hopefully lol)
Another missed opportunity in The Final Girl support group is how it touched Missing white woman syndrome How they had to change one of the girl's race when they made films about her (who was Black) to gain more sympathy from the audience The book has got many ideas, but the author never dared to expand them
hawthorne legacy spoilers //// i don’t normally agree with cindy on love interest tea but she hit the nail on the head with the hawthorne legacy!! i really thought i was being delusional by thinking avery was going the end up with grayson, and maybe my own preferences were getting in the way of what the author had been setting up but i always saw them as endgame. so when she pulled that ahaha but have you considered jameson bullshit i was so mad about it, i think this is the biggest L i’ve ever taken when it comes to a love triangle cause i was soooo convinced grayson was THE one. i’m hoping for a switcharoo in book three but she’s gonna have to have a good as hell explanation for why he literally just stood there whilst avery was basically dying, it kinda reads like character assassination tbh.
I wouldn't have thought you just had problems choosing the right background. I thought it was intentional. I like the variety just like how you change eyeglass frames in each videos.
in college, I got to take a class called “The Virgin Always Lives” and it was centered around the idea of the final girl! there are a lot of interesting convos to be had around the concept
I read The Inheritance Games after your review. So I was eager to read the sequel AND I fully agree with your rants! Now I'm not sure if a 3rd book is worth it :/
Ironically when I read the Inheritance Games, I saw that the author clearly had a preference for Jameson over Grayson. I’m still not going to read the sequel because you were right about the first book therefore you are clearly right about the second too
I'm 22, and my entire wardrobe is basically the same as what the old asian ladies wear... i'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing. You know what, it IS a good thing. These ladies SNAPPED.
"I'm not seeing the sisterhood" Yes! There was one character whom I ended up hating because she constantly trashed everyone when she wasn't any better! Also SPOILER! . . . . . . .When she called the cops and got the MC arrested. I mean, I understand, but the book never gave me any reason to like her, so I was pissed off
11:03-11:16 “another thing I found out is pretty common in horror movies is that they tend to make sequels and expand the franchise where she is once again haunted by the same killer and she has to do this sh#t all over again” this is adding fuel to the fire for the Riley-Grady one sided beef, huh?
Honestly got so happy seeing the pics from Chinatown Pretty, because that's exactly how the elderly folks in my city dress. The style for young people here is really sleek, minimal, mostly neutrals which is very nice and stylish, buuuut... seeing the older ladies in my neighborhood slap together all kinds of colors and patterns in their fits is a joy to look at in the sea of cool (but a lil boring) plain black and white clothes. I'm taking NOTES 👀👀
Whenever Cindy does a BOTM giveaway, does anyone else immediately check the google form question before watching the video like its the listening section on a test?
@@withcindy It just doesn't make sense!!! And it's even worse because Grayson basically doesn't exist in this book, her sister only appears to do something stupid (I loved her in the first book) and the other brothers are meh. Jameson is the only character in this book and I don't like it (it seens like the author changed their personalities in this sequel too).
@@withcindy (Forgot to say: Cindy you just described how I feel about this book in the video, I loved it ❤) people saying that jameson and avery makes sense when they literally only talk about puzzles? rs let's just hope that Jennifer fix these problems in the last book because I've read a few of her books and I really like them but this one was just disappointing.
The only way I can describe "The Hawthorne Legacy" is this: The author was pantsing and didn't do enough developmental edits to create believable buildup to the conclusions at the end of the book. I enjoyed it and was annoyed in equal measure. At most points I was thinking "What in the 'Gossip Girl' am I actually reading right now?!" Side Note: The amount of "telling" in the latter half of the book became a bit much. Waking up and hearing that conversation. What? Urrrrgh!
Man, I thought I was the only one who rated The Hawthorne Legacy low. I’m sorry Jameson, you were a 50/50 for me here. My freaking facial expression would just turn sour🙂 Avery, I don’t know, I loved her in the first book but.. after reading I said: “What the heck.. happened? THAT WAS IT?-“ I would always laugh out loud at Cindy’s descriptions about a scene EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. You go, Cindy, lay out truth✌🏻
CINDYYY 😍 the wall behind you makes me feel like we’re in a hipster cafe together and you’re talking to me about ur recent reads 💛 if I was there I’d probably argue over the fact that u gave Home Before Dark the same rating as Shitvive The Night jk hahaha love it 😂
Hey Cindy, just wanted to say I love your videos and you've revived my love of reading. You're so funny and I look forward to your videos every week. ❤
The second I found out about there being a third inheritance games I cancelled my loan on the book. Jennifer can wait another year like she made me wait
The Hawthorne legacy was soooo effing disappointing. I’m the same I think I’ll look for spoilers for the third book before I decide if I’ll put myself through that kinda crap again!
My favourite part of Chinatown Pretty is the inclusion of the elders passion for resourcefulness, affordable housing, and accessibility. So many people don’t realise seniors are aware of socio-political situations in their region. I do agree about wanting more information about each individual, but what they have so far is a great start and I hope they continue to share more photos and stories.
I hope this isn't weird, but I have terrible insomnia and your videos are the only thing that can help me sleep peacefully. I genuinely listen to them anytime I need a laugh and to sleep.
I reallyyyy LOOK FORWARD to Cindy's book review videos because she is so honest and refreshing. Btw I can't wait for her cook and book videos because those are *chef's kiss.
I work in a jewellers and we were robbed 4 years ago (like, armed robbery). Since then, I do the same thing as that lady in Final Girls. Always memorise details about people's clothing/mannerism/gait... I never realised before Cindy said it out loud here
"Once something becomes profitable in women's areas, men have to conquer" 😔😔😔. True crime and thrillers are something i usually edge away from, mainly because the victim is always sidelined, while the attacker is constantly elevated to iconic status, hate it.
Also Graysons whole thing is protecting Avery and it’s mentioned multiple times that he feels protective over her and then when she’s in danger he just freezes randomly?? And Jameson was there too but instead of going to help Avery he rescued a clue they had found?!?!??? But then suddenly the game doesn’t matter to him?!? I don’t understanddddd
Interesting discussion about the final girl support group. Also with true crime, an interesting discussion I've seen is that more recent iterations have more focus on the victims of the crime. It was also interesting how they mentioned that it's a similar genre for majority women as war movies tend to be for men (the exploration of the most likely dangers for a person). I think the genre discussion is interesting even though I personally prefer other genres. Btw. Chinatown pretty sounds cool, I also like the focus on older people and the influences behind their choices.
bro when i foundd out this series was going to be a trilogy i thought the twist was going to be that jameson was gay or he had a girlfriend already and he never had feelings for her lmao. was not expecting him to be an actual viable love interest???
i'm just so thankful for your videos! i had a very bad argument about trans issues with a relative of mine (and it sucks more because i'm not out) and i was not doing well after that. but this video really cheered me up (especially the bit about final girl support group & the rant about hawthorn legacy). so yeah, thank you from the bottom of my heart u_u
Ugh I hate getting into arguments w relatives over those topics, I can def see how that would sour ur mood :( I'm glad this video helped make u feel better!! ♥️♥️
Nooo I'm so upset. I usually avoid spoilers if I'm gonna read a book, but I'm so invested in the (superior) ship in the inheritance games that I HAD to know I wasn't setting myself up with the sequel. Thanks Cindy, guess I'll wait for the 3rd one to see if there's still a chance ;_;
