u/5starbraincell

Sooo my romance books journey started with i hope this doesn't find you.

I had only ever read horror and thriller books because that's all that interested me, and everytime I read a romance it was a solid 1 star. Long story short, after reading i hope this doesn't find you and taking a chance on this time it's real, I realised that romance wasn't the problem, I just seemed to like YA better. To me ya did the romance wayy better that I hadn't felt in any of the books I'd read before(personal opinion don't come at me)

Then I read caraval, once upon a broken heart. Loved both of them. Those definitely come in my top favorite books of all time.

So reading all that, what kind of books would you all suggest me?

For more reference, I'll list them out.

What i didn't like

Powerless(hence didn't bother to continue the series)

Game of hearts(actually kinda ok considering I'd had a really bad luck with most romantasy)

Nightshade(makes sense ig since it wasn't my type)

The cruel prince(spare me, but I tried making excuses to like this one sm but I just couldn't tolerate it)

What i liked

I hope this doesn't find you

This time it's real

Caraval series

Once upon a broken heart series

Heartless(not as much, but definitely doesn't go on the don't like list)

Never thought I'd end up here

I know i ended up putting romance books too while I asked for romantasy suggestions, but I thought I'd be good to let you get an idea what kind of books I did or didn't like!

I keep hearing alot about Sarah j. Mass's books. I tried reading throne of glass but only read first 2 chapter I guess, I don't even remember. But since I hear so much about her I don't want to give up, but also let me know if she's worth the hype and what books would be better to start of with considering my list.

The list sounds pretty limited but there were so many that I didn't like that I didn't bother putting them on.

These are some random stuff I noticed and some extremely wild connections.

I'm like a second away from falling asleep but too restless to go cold without letting these out so I'm gonna hold that as an excuse if any of this sounds dumb later on.

Is Heather a caretaker? Kinda wild but the light switching off on its own reminded me of caretaker. The rules/rites might be different everywhere because if there's anything we've learned from the caretaker, it's that they don't stay consistent and bend themselves.

The AMOUNT of stuff I noticed between the man in my basement and we used to live here. I have been trying to search and see what people had to say about that but I haven't or couldn't find anyone talk about it so far.

The coat rack(minor)

Thomas 'rubbing his forehead with the back of his thumb'

This was kind of a consistency in the man in my basement. We see a couple of people do that including Brandon who eventually starts doing it too.

What's up with the thump/thud followed by a short scrape.

Just intrigued by the idea of 'mimics' referring to thomas's family in we used to live here. Since 'they're not what they look like'. It's been sometime but I think this was the similar idea in the man in my basement. Like weren't Brandon and mitch's father (i forgot his name) essentially replaced by some mimcs after dying in an accident.

The scene where 'it looks as though somebody else jumped inside Andrew's mind for a second, took a quick look around, then jumped back out.'

Literally from tmimb ---> the man in my basement (I'm not gonna write the full name anymore😭)

I think we know at this point that jumping into other people's pov is a thing. In tmimb we later came to know it was Brandon who'd jumped into mitch's father's mind for a second. I wonder who it was for Andrew.

Also Brandon was able to do it after he got into an accident kind of thing, so would it be the same in Andrew's case too? Was it his friend who's in a coma now?

The lone white hatchback when eve and Charlie pull up to a motel.

That's what Brandon sees a few times too.

The first time he moves into that house, and when he later changes houses.

I do know that Marcus has said that any similarities with any of his old short stories might be a coincidence and he doesn't want to get held for some similar stuff he wrote in the past with no purpose and a plan for this universe.

But he did say the man in my basement is the closest to his actual universe among them.

And another thing being the code language kinda thing in the hoax document.

I did see the solved post somewhere but I lost it(💀🙏)

So for me it turned out "At the red tree take 10 paces left then round boulder 3 go back to red tree knock 2 go back to boulder underground hatch"

And

"At the underground hatch descend take crosspose 5 seconds avoid violent host take 30 paces forward wait 3 days."

Now this could have some mistakes or typo, I could be very very late to the actual correct answer, the discussion might already be over and in that case I'm ultra late. Infinite scenarios.

But if in case no then, does that not sound like instructions for something?

I'm not sure what though, like the replacement ritual? To go into or come from one of the houses? Idkkk, I'd like to know what y'all think of that if you do know the answer.

Andddd that's it. My deepest apologies in case any of those sound dumb or baby questions because I am technically new to all this(kind of)

Also to hold my sleep deprived brain accountable in case any of those end up being nonsense.

Edit: i woke up and remembered another thing i forgot to mention lol The symbol on the underside of the banister railing when Thomas is showing his family around. "A circle divided by intersecting lines of varying lengths, all meeting in the middle" Tell me am I finally going crazy, or does this not sound similar to the circle symbol in WUTLH. I know it doesn't complete sound the same, since TC one looks a bit more complicated. But Marcus did say in one of his interviews that he'd changed it a little after seeing the cover of the book, and his sister at last did the final polished drawing. So I thought it was safe to assume that his symbol looked fairly simple originally.

Marcus kliewer is officially my favorite author. I know that doesn't really say much since he's still a fairly new author with only two books out. But i loved both of those books and they were 5 stars back-to-back.

I became obsessed and read all his reddit short stories.

And jokes aside, without exaggerating, the man in my basement is the scariest short story I've ever read. Like seriously. I was sleeping with my sisters but still too scared to even move. And I have never been that scared with any story before and I loved that feeling. I've read many horrors ofcourse but there's always a point where it falls flat. It's been a long time since I felt like that and I want more ofcourse:))

And more than just horror, ofcourse Marcus kliewer's books have alot more going on and i love that aspect too, it's so engaging.

What books would you recommend me based on what I've described?

I have always been mostly a horror and thriller reader. Project hail mary was my first book in a completely different genre.

First saw it recommended in a booktube chanel I watch alot, the humor part is what got me to read it even if it was so new to me.

I'm unhealthy obsessed with astronomy so that helped too.

And inevitably, it not only became my no.1 favorite book, but my comfort book too. It had everything in it for me, drama, tension, humor, science etc.

I cried more than once(💀) and was completely taken off guard because i wasn't expecting to get emotional at all.

I think it's the fact that we mostly end up crying when we don't expect it vs when we go in expecting to cry.

So yea, pretty clear by now.

I would love to know more books like this, unexpected but funny and heartfelt.

I live in Saudi but I'm gonna complete my bachelor in India. I have my grandparents living in Hyderabad, but my mother isn't ready for me to stay there due to family issues. So my father wants to admission me into Shadaan college in Hyderabad with a hostel.

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On the other hand my friends are going to SRM college in andhra. I just know what Google and chatgpt says about it. Noting personal from students who have graduated from there.

How is SRM really? Is it really up to the hype? What are the dorm conditions for girls? Food facilities?

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Any discrimination noticed religion wise? I'm not trying to offend anyone, these are my father's concerns and he's really hesitant to send me with my friends so I'm just trying to know as much as I can from people who have actually experienced it.

So I'm obviously in a trio and like most people I'm in a phase where I overthink over interactions alot.

It's been a little bit over one and a half year, if I were to say a time where we were the closest in these years, i would actually say in those beginning 3months. Now I'm not saying we're not close anymore, because we obviously know more about each other as of now.

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But in those first 3 months we were crazy. Talking on the group every single freaking day, for several hours.

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Now we're a bit calm and all but that's not really my point bc now we do talk almost , but toned down and comfortable.

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My point is moments where I overthink too much.

I once stopped talking to them for almost 3 months straight because I wasn't feeling it with them anymore. I felt left out, and they never really sat down with me to talk it out which now I know was because they had no idea I was feeling like that. When we did talk about it back then, they'd said that they did think i was being a bit more quieter than usual, but they also thought maybe I'm just being myself because I'm a quiet person in general.

We talked it out, they cried because they thought I was breaking the friendship or something bc I'd left the group by then.

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We hadn't had that kind of talk ever since then. I love books, alot. And there was this book that I had my eyes on for 3 years or so, but it was expensive. They bought it for me on my birthday and I can't explain how I felt that day. I cried a bit but then stopped bc we were in class and it was crowded and the last thing I wanted was for me to embarrass myself like that. I felt stupid about ever feeling left out ever since then.

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But now and then, you can't really stop those thoughts from coming, can you?

Time skip to present, we graduated and are looking for colleges.

My parents are super strict so they won't allow me to go for college in another state but theirs aren't, so one of them has already planned where she's gonna go. The other one( let's call her 2💀), is gonna go into the one which is near her state because that's what her mom prefers. 1 tells her why can't she come with her instead of going there and says she will convince her mom anyhow.

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Now this part is what made me overthink, me and 1 are the night owls so we talk all night on the group instead of sleeping so we'd been talking about this. And she said that she'd talk to my mom and try to convince her because shes fine as long as my parents atleast consider it, but that was that.

The next day when 2 woke up and came on the group is when 1 said that she could just come with her instead of somewhere else. Now to me it just seemed like she was more desperate for 1 to come with her, which could just be my brain. But it made me think that it's not that important for her if I don't come as long as 2 comes there.

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2 kept joking that she shld beg my mom instead of hers and I just said something something to leave the conversation because 2 kept diverting it towards me bc she really really really wants to talk to my mom apparently, she's been saying that since forever. So I never felt any doubt with 2. But with 1, I just feel like she's okay with wtv as long as 2 is coming.

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As a result, I end up feeling left out again. That the 2 of them are okay on their own, and I cud just go into my own college instead of begging my parents to change their mind when they're clearly fine without me.

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I know I might be wrong, I know it. And I know they're gonna blast me if they were to know this is what I've been thinking but it's just me, and I can't stop overthinking.

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I was interested in knowing how some of you guys deal with trios. Talk to me about your ways or anything(except for telling me to talk it out, I'm not here for that🫠)

Y'all, why don't you like half covers?

Never had half covers before but they look sooo nice tho? Like I've been wanting to read caraval since a long time now and the paperbacks all have half covers and that's literally the ONLY reason I'm getting a physical copy of it. Bc I could have literally just read in ebook but that half cover is the reason I'm chasing after it🥀✌️

(Plus the covers being just soooo pretty in general)

But the amount of hate I've seen on half covers, like wow💀

So I'm curious what could be the reason for such animosity lol.

Also I'm a 99.999999 horror girlie, just recently started trying romance and the half covers for horror and thriller are pretty boring. But caraval one is like genuinely so damn pretty.

Sooo, i started heartless by Marissa Meyer since it's literally everywhere. For the context, I have read books like caraval, ouabh series, powerless, just to name a few and some more stuff. I've mostly been a horror/thriller girl, but got around to romance/romantacy after caraval, so basically since this year. I've read quiet a few more books in romantasy especially bc I've just been desperately looking for another caraval😭 and as a result ended up hating alot of them bc it didn't live up to what I wanted or was expecting.

I was going in with the wrong approach and expectations and couldn't enjoy any romantasy books. So since like 2 months or so I'd gonna back to my horror niche but had the sudden urge to try out some more romantasy(because I saw this random jestor edit and suddenly became obsessed 💀✌️)

Long story short, I started on heartless and so far...y'all...I do like it. Idk how much but I do like it, which is like sooo surprising because i haven't liked anything since caraval and ouabh so I'm really excited and have really high expectations 😭.

Also I'm not a kid, if that's what it sounds like when i said i didn't like anything ever since caraval. Im 18 (yayy) but always avoided romance because I never liked any of them. Only to figure out that romance wasn't the problem, I just liked ya more than na. I found the right type for me and started liking and getting more into the genre ever since. Ya just does it wayyy better for me(personally), it's just my type. Which is why I'm liking heartless so much rn, it's giving such a cute romance energy, like hell yeah I'm here for it.

I like cath. listening to her, reading about her, the atmosphere. Just reached chapter 9 and I loved chapter 7 like that was sooo cute?

I'm really rooting for this couple ngl and I really really hope this becomes a new favorite.

Let me know what you guys think, if you've read it or are reading it and what you think about it.

Until then, high key manifesting. Peace!

Sooo, i started heartless by Marissa Meyer since it's literally everywhere. For the context, I have read books like caraval, ouabh series, powerless, just to name a few and some more stuff. I've mostly been a horror/thriller girl, but got around to romance/romantacy after caraval, so basically since this year. I've read quiet a few more books in romantasy especially bc I've just been desperately looking for another caraval😭 and as a result ended up hating alot of them bc it didn't live up to what I wanted or was expecting.

I was going in with the wrong approach and expectations and couldn't enjoy any romantasy books. So since like 2 months or so I'd gonna back to my horror niche but had the sudden urge to try out some more romantasy(because I saw this random jestor edit and suddenly became obsessed 💀✌️)

Long story short, I started on heartless and so far...y'all...I do like it. Idk how much but I do like it, which is like sooo surprising because i haven't liked anything since caraval and ouabh so I'm really excited and have really high expectations 😭.

Also I'm not a kid, if that's what it sounds like when i said i didn't like anything ever since caraval. Im 18 (yayy) but always avoided romance because I never liked any of them. Only to figure out that romance wasn't the problem, I just liked ya more than na. I found the right type for me and started liking and getting more into the genre ever since. Ya just does it wayyy better for me(personally), it's just my type. Which is why I'm liking heartless so much rn, it's giving such a cute romance energy, like hell yeah I'm here for it.

I like cath. listening to her, reading about her, the atmosphere. Just reached chapter 9 and I loved chapter 7 like that was sooo cute?

I'm really rooting for this couple ngl and I really really hope this becomes a new favorite.

Let me know what you guys think, if you've read it or are reading it and what you think about it.

Until then, high key manifesting. Peace!

I read the caretaker by Marcus kliewer guys. I'd read we used to live here around last year December, went blindly into it after a strong recommendation. And boy, did i like it.

I mean like the first time around when I read it, the book was going sooo strong, that is, until the ending came. It left me frustrated like alot of people. But the more it sat with me, the more discussions and reviews I saw, this kept dangerously growing on me. My no.1 favorite now.

I thought to check some reviews to see what people had to say about the new one, since I remember most of the people being obsessed with we used to live here.

And I was in for a surprise, bc the amount of mixed reactions I saw. For an author who blew up after his debut novel, I was expecting everyone to like this one too. So seeing all the mixed reactions, even though my heart already trusted this author💀, it did make me second guess. Eventually i said screw up and started the caretaker. Long story short, about 70% into the book, I was shocked. The only thing I could keep wondering was, 'are we reading the same book??' I was absolutely loving the book. The comments about Macy and everything in between were making me uncertain but 70% into it, and I saw no problem with macy, I didn't hate her. I definitely could see why people wouldn't like her, but she ended up working for me.

That aside, I've been curios about this. I feel like most of the people who read the caretaker are the ones who came from we used to live here( correct me if I'm wrong). So reading that I think we would have gotten a pretty good idea that, that's just how Marcus kliewer writes, he doesn't present the explanations, has the weird atmosphere.

Just genuinely wondering I'm not trying to be mean y'all🙏, knowing his style wouldn't you go in prepared for the same stuff? For everything to not make sense? For something to keep feeling off?

As far as we know, I heard that he'd said both were in the same universe, so the unanswered questions (probably) might get answered in his later books and honestly that would be cool.

I heard this one thing alot. The rites. Alot of people said it was stupid and frustrating how the 'rules' weren't even operating as rules bc they kept improvising and bending and changing and impossible to keep up with.

I could be wrong or you might not agree with it but personally, that was a killer move. That was freaking creepy.

Throughout the book it keeps making you and her believe that if only she could complete the rites successfully, everything would be fine. Literally every single time. It's like follow the rule, don't mess up, survive until the next step. And it struck me just how often the rules seemed to shift or become impossible. It was frustrating for many readers apparently but I feel like that was intentional.

The whole time we kept believing that if she just does one thing right, it'll be fine. But what we needed to comprehend was that she wasn't fighting against a disciplined human or system that follows its own rules bro, she was surviving against an entity who seemed to purposefully make victory impossible at all costs, be it changing rules.

The red sun. It felt like an apocalypse at first y'all I'm not gonna lie. Honestly that's just as scary because that ending left me unsettled for such a long time, I kid you not, I slept with the lights on💀.

But it also shows surrender, the moment she finally stops believing she can 'fix' everything. The whole time she's been carrying burdens and the ending is just kinda like, what if somethings cannot be controlled. That honestly makes it so much sadder. The same thing that happened in we used to live here. You never really end up solving anything.

I just love how it can be interpreted as the entity defeated her long before she saw the red sun. Not because she failed the rites but because it managed to convince her that there was always one more impossible thing she had to do before she deserved peace. That's creepy.

Overall, this book was a freaking 5 star for me, guys. It's like his kind of books are especially made for my taste, just what i like in my horror. And Ofcourse that's why it comes down to opinions and everyone's taste. Not everyone has to like something or hate something. We like different things and if people didn't like this one it's fine.

I just feel like it doesn't deserve the hate, you can't expect an author to publish a novel as phenomenal as the first one. That's almost impossible. Keeping your expectations as high as we used to live here itself wasn't the right approach, it's really hard to create the same feeling and journey repeatedly or even twice.

That's all, just wanted to rant guys. I'm aware just how late I am to this book, but I literally only finished it on 29th. Would love to hear you guy's thoughts or interpretations. Peace!