Confession Number Two

Confession: Names

 

My name is Kat, and I'm a Bookaholic.

I guess it's time I started living up to the name of my blog: Confessions of a Bookaholic. Yeah. Whose idea was this, again? Anyway. I'm going to start by saying I am not Catholic. And, nothing against those of you who are, but confessions are not something I am used to. Like at all. Or honesty, really. Gosh, I guess that's the glory of the anonymous pen name, "Kat".

 

Addiction runs in my family. So it was no surprise when "-aholic" was tacked to the back of something I loved. Everyone has pet peeves when in the real world. Mine is when someone tells me (to do) the same thing over and over; repetition, and condescending peoples, especially those older than I. Most people also have pet peeves when reading. One of mine, is names. They have to be an utterly perfect fit for the character.

 

Have you ever read a book, and simply couldn't connect because of the name? I find this almost happens more with the men than the women, but I imagine that might be different for others.

 

Some names work, some are absolutely perfect, some are kind of sketchy, and some won't fit any character no matter what. Names like Gabriel, Nathaniel, Preston; most especially long prestigious names that never seem to fit with my favorite man; sweet, slightly goofy, with a domineering, possessive, jealous and loving man.

 

However, there are times where I can't help but connect. Gabriel from Rock Hard by Nalini Singh totally worked for me; Nathan from Three Wishes by Kristen Ashley; Preston from Just for Now by Abbi Glines. I know I said all three of those names were names I never thought I could get behind, but it really depends on the book.

For example, Gabriel from Rush by Maya Banks was really hard to connect with on the name level. He was fine as far as the personality level; but anytime she said "Gabriel", I just couldn't connect. Don't even get me started on Christian from Fifty Shades of Grey. "Christian", just doesn't get me as warm and tingly as "Jax", from Stay With Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout/ J Lynn.

 

Some really great names, from really great books include Celaena Sardothian, Aelin and Chaol from Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas; Kate Daniels from, well, Kate Daniels by Ilona Andrews; etc. These names really resonate with the characters, their personalities, and their situations on a level that many authors never consider for their characters. They just fit so perfectly well. Kate Daniels may be such a simple name, but with its coagulation with Jack Daniels, and Kate being such a simple, rebellious name made badass by her character... perfection.

 

Does anyone else have this same problem? Or know any other really great or horrible names?

 

I know this isn't really a Confession, more like an opinion; so here's my confession.

 

I can read a really great book, and hate it because of the character names. I'm sure I don't need to mention the perfection that is Harry Potter, but I can say for a fact, that if his name was Jerry Meyer, or Jack Miller, it wouldn't have near the same impact that it would, and I probably would not like the book, which is slightly ridiculous, but it's true.

 

XOXO,

Kat

 

 

Confession Number One

Confession: Allegiant

 

 

My name is Kat, and I'm a Bookaholic.

I guess it's time I started living up to the name of my blog: Confessions of a Bookaholic. Yeah. Whose idea was this, again? Anyway. I'm going to start by saying I am not Catholic. And, nothing against those of you who are, but confessions are not something I am used to. Like at all. Or honesty, really. Gosh, I guess that's the glory of the anonymous pen name, "Kat".

 

Addiction runs in my family. So it was no surprise when "-aholic" was tacked to the back of something I loved. That was why is it was as shocking to me as it was to everyone else that I marked a book of one of my favorite series DNF- and kept it that way.

 

I, like almost every other person across the United States but especially the world, read Divergent and fell in love with Tris Prior. I fell in love with her resilience, her deadliness, her bleeding heart and her determination. Hell, I wanted to be Tris Prior for awhile. I feverishly read through the first book and straight into the second. Inhaling every word, every sentence, every line of script that meant nothing to the paper it was written on, but everything to Tris and her story. I hit a wall when Insurgent ended and I had to wait for the release of the final book, Allegiant. The wait took forever, and I swear I could have had thirty children in the time it took.

 

But the day finally arrived when it released. It was a shot to the heart when a friend of mine, who loved Divergent as much as I, messaged me and said she hated it. That it was awful and she recommended to everyone who would listen not to read it.

This stopped me dead in my tracks.

Someone hated a book in the Divergent series? By Veronica Roth? Someone who loved it just as much, if not more than I?

 

Therefore, I procrastinated. I hemmed, I hawed and I dithered my way for months until I saw it at the bookstore, bought it and sat down to read it in a single sitting.  

I was immediately taken with the world once more. Then... the spell it had me under... started to drift away with the words "GM".

Quick Game: Read the book, and take a shot every time you read the word "GM", or "Genetically modified." I guarantee you'll kiss the postman thinking he was your boyfriend within half an hour, probably murder a coworker who was driving you crazy earlier that day and may just kill yourself with alcohol poisoning. Or because of the way the book was going. That, too.

 

Outside the fence was the same world that Veronica and Tris had just worked to take us out of. Instead of "Factioned" and "Factionless" or "(faction) and Divergent", we had "Genetically modified and not genetically modified". Another big class war. Tris and her friends had fought so hard to get them out of that world, only to be shoved in the same one again, only with different labels.

I was broken.

I smelled food downstairs and went to investigate, leaving the book to lie for days in my anger.

 

After almost a week, I sat down, forcing myself to finish, because, surely it would get better, right? Then a friend of mine told me what happened at the end of the book. As if I didn't already know, but she completely outlined it for me. Including what happens to my beloved Four as a result. I looked at the book, and threw it against the wall at page 400. Apparently, I was only ten pages away from when the book got good... and then rotten.

 

Why did there have to be  third book at all? Veronica Roth could have ended Insurgent with them realizing that behind the wall there was hope... and them going past the wall. We readers wouldn't ever know what was behind the wall... but that would have been better than this agony.

 

My confession is, in order to keep the world of Tris Prior alive and well, I didn't finish her story. Everything was different in the third book and I didn't like it. Four was acting shady and keeping secrets, not to mention he'd lost some of his appeal when we got in his head because his voice was unoriginal and the same as Tris': who is a a teenage girl. I didn't like the new labels, their inability to do anything, or the confusion and that everything that group had gone through was almost for nothing. I'm not sure if I'll go see the movie... if there is one and by the way they ended Insurgent, I'm not sure they'll make an Allegiant and I almost hope they don't.

 

XOXO,

Kat