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Books I used to love, but not so much anymore

by Pilar

As we get older our tastes change. It happens to everyone. This means that there are certain things that we might have loved at some point, but not so much anymore. I don’t know about you guys, but I am very intense and straightforward about the things that I like. I become incapable of speaking about anything else, I force my loved ones to indulge in it as well (some way or the other), I only watch videos or listen to music/podcasts related to that particular thing… I become a monster essentially. However, like anybody else, I do grow out of things.

Recently, I’ve noticed that I don’t talk much about certain books anymore, but I used to love them at a time in my life. I would constantly reread them and recommend them to everyone I knew (even if they didn’t actually read them). Because of that, I thought I would share with you guys some of those books and discuss what exactly I thought was so amazing about them in the first place.

๐Ÿก My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick. ๐Ÿก

PEOPLE. Can you believe that I was obsessed with this book, but I completely forgot about it? The only reason it’s on this post is because I checked my Read List on Goodreads. My Life Next Door was one of my favorites back in the day. For those of you that haven’t read it, it’s about this girl, Samantha, that lives a pretty regular, uneventful life. Her mom is strict and very serious about what her daughter is allowed to do. However, Samantha’s very intrigued about their neighbors, who are the complete opposite of her and her family. They are loud and messy and overall chaos. But they are also amazing, loving people. So, it is no surprise that she’s very drawn to them, particularly to one of the oldest kids, Jase.

As expected they slowly fall in love and then drama happens. I do think this is a pretty good book. The romance is cute and I remember I loved the relationships between everyone in the family. Despite everything that I liked about it, I don’t think the writing was exactly my cup of tea. For some reason when I think about this book I don’t think about breezy fun and light romance… In fact I always think about it as gray. This isn’t a bad thing, but I’ve always pictured this story in my head with a kind of somber filter. Don’t ask me why though.

[Goodreads]

๐ŸŒธ Epic Fail by Claire LaZebnik. ๐ŸŒธ

I am a huge Pride and Prejudice fan. But that doesn’t mean I read that first. In fact, the first time I ever knew about that story was from this book, Epic Fail. I KNOW, I know… Please don’t kill me, but I was pretty young. I thought that reading a classic was the most boring and tiresome activity in the world. I much preferred reading a fun, youthful version of it all.

I still think this is a pretty good adaptation, despite what most people think. There are better ones, though. Epic Fail, in my eyes, is centered towards a younger audience. Now that I think about the story, the narrative and the writing… It all seems a tad immature. This Darcy wasn’t as heroic or quietly handsome, Jane was a bit annoying and I absolutely did not like their little sister (I don’t in the original either so that’s not surprising). I did think that the main drama with ‘the bad guy’ was pretty interesting and it took me by surprise the first time I read it. I also liked Elise’s characters, though I don’t think her personality is identical to Elizabeth’s.

Overall, pretty sweet. I don’t recommend it if you prefer to read original takes on these kind of stories. This is literally the same as Pride and Prejudice, only that it all happens in the 21st century.

[Goodreads]

๐Ÿง To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han. ๐Ÿง

Again, please don’t kill me. It’s not that I don’t like this series, it’s just that I’m not as intense about it as I used to be. If you don’t know what this is all about, we follow Lara Jean who is a generous, sweet girl and lives with her two sisters and her father. They are all very close and form and adorable family. Lara Jean is such a romantic that whenever she fell in love with a boy, she wrote him a long, passionate letter declaring her love. But, she never sent them because she only did it for closure. Instead, when she finished writing them, and, therefore overcame her love for them, she would save them in a box. However, her life is completely turned upside down when one day she discovers that all of her letters have been sent…

This series is, without a doubt, insurmountably cute and has all of the feels. The writing is light and fun, and the characters are all adorable and likable. I definitely recommend it and think it’s worth it. The only reason I don’t love it as much anymore is because I’ve outgrown it. Despite that, I still insist that its pretty good.

[Goodreads]

๐Ÿ’™ The Selection by Kiera Cass. ๐Ÿ’™

Most people don’t like The Selection series, but I’m not one of those. I absolutely LOVED this series when I first read it. The story is set in a post-apocalyptic world and we follow America Singer, a girl who belongs to one of the lowest social classes. However, everything changes when she must participate in a contest to seduce the Prince and, hopefully, become the next princess (kind of like the Bachelor). Unfortunately, things aren’t as simple as they appear, considering that the kingdom is amidst political turmoil and thoughts of rebellions become more and more real.

I will be honest, I still think this series is good and I would be willing to reread it. In my opinion, Maxon was amazing, the political situation was interesting and I really enjoy reading books that resemble the Bachelor. Despite this, there are a lot of things that happen that I think are very annoying and definitely dampen my memories of it. Though, I do have an unpopular opinion and it is that I prefer the last two books… Don’t kill me, but I don’t mind Eadlyn (as much as everybody else hates her). I had an amazing time reading her story and I think it’s very adorable. Not as dramatic as Maxon and America, but I enjoyed as much as theirs.

[Goodreads]

So those are some of the books I used to really like! Granted, I do have very fond memories of all, but now I do recognize that they’re not the most memorable and thought out stories ever. Nonetheless, I do recommend them if you want to have fun with short, breezy stories.

What are some of the books you guys used to love? Let me know in the comments!!