Halloween 2023 Substack Re-Post: I Read Romance, Yes I do! (& Review of Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake By Mazey Eddings)
I do read romance! I always have….but I kept it a secret for years because it seemed uncool and unscholarly. Now, I have gone public with this special interest of mine because life is too short to pretend AND then I can meet others who like the same things!!!! Then we can talk about it, go to conventions, line up to get our books signed, and buy lots of book nerd tees and stickers. I will be a “book nerd” for Halloween in fact. I just ordered a sweatshirt with a ghost on it that proclaims “Read more boooks!” by piper & ivy. Ah, book nerd book humor…what a great Halloween it will be :-)
But back to my favorite book….it is a contemporary romance! This is my specific genre of choice. For some reason, my disbelief is suspended somehow if there is too much fantasy or history. I then become very distracted while reading, unable to focus. I am quite amused at how rigid my romance interests are. It is contemporary all the way, and I would even dare to say that I get a little bored even in contemporary romance when the characters aren’t complicated (e.g., dealing with mental health issues and neurodivergence or other diversity-related life challenges). I try to break out of my shell when I attend a book club by poking my toe into other genres but it is hard and rarely successful unless it is women’s fiction with complex characters or possibly a memoir about a complex person. Hmmm…there seems to be a theme here! It’s like my brain goes on strike or something when trying to read outside my interest areas…..well, perhaps this is why that psychologist I saw said my special interests were “severely restricted” in my most recent neuro-psych eval.
The flip side of this specific interest in particular kinds of books is that I am VERY ENTHUSIASTIC when I come upon one spot on for what I like to read. Five stars! Yay! I can’t even think of any constructive criticism because the book is SO DARN GOOD. Now I am ready to gush! (Just so you know, I am still quite complementary about books I don’t like quite much…I am so sensitive to criticism that I get triggered by the thought of criticizing someone else too…I don’t like hurt feelings and I don’t like to think about hurting someone else’s feelings either :-))
So the book I want to cheer about from the top of my lungs is…Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake. I love how Mazey Eddings portrays the challenges and gifts of living with ADHD so well, and with so much nuance. A quote from page 3 describes what living with ADHD is like in so much helpful detail: “Lizzie had flitted from job to job after that, unable to turn on the responsible-adult switch everyone else seemed to have. Instead, she floundered with the basics - struggling to organize and executive tasks in an order that actually made sense, failing to remember important things that needed to get done, even keeping track of the damn time felt like an impossible feat - while the need for stimulation and impulsivity pricked across her skin.” In addition to this spot-on description, I appreciate other elements of ADHD that Mazey Eddings portrays in this book with Lizzie, her awesome heroine! Lizzie demonstrates common ADHD sensory needs, sensitivity to criticism, challenging relationships with family members, and impressive creative talents (Lizzie uses hers in baking!) backed with a strong work ethic (a common strength for neurodivergent individuals). If you like to read contemporary romance with neurodivergent heroines or just to read about neurodivergent heroines, this is the book for you! Five stars!
But back to my favorite book….it is a contemporary romance! This is my specific genre of choice. For some reason, my disbelief is suspended somehow if there is too much fantasy or history. I then become very distracted while reading, unable to focus. I am quite amused at how rigid my romance interests are. It is contemporary all the way, and I would even dare to say that I get a little bored even in contemporary romance when the characters aren’t complicated (e.g., dealing with mental health issues and neurodivergence or other diversity-related life challenges). I try to break out of my shell when I attend a book club by poking my toe into other genres but it is hard and rarely successful unless it is women’s fiction with complex characters or possibly a memoir about a complex person. Hmmm…there seems to be a theme here! It’s like my brain goes on strike or something when trying to read outside my interest areas…..well, perhaps this is why that psychologist I saw said my special interests were “severely restricted” in my most recent neuro-psych eval.
The flip side of this specific interest in particular kinds of books is that I am VERY ENTHUSIASTIC when I come upon one spot on for what I like to read. Five stars! Yay! I can’t even think of any constructive criticism because the book is SO DARN GOOD. Now I am ready to gush! (Just so you know, I am still quite complementary about books I don’t like quite much…I am so sensitive to criticism that I get triggered by the thought of criticizing someone else too…I don’t like hurt feelings and I don’t like to think about hurting someone else’s feelings either :-))
So the book I want to cheer about from the top of my lungs is…Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake. I love how Mazey Eddings portrays the challenges and gifts of living with ADHD so well, and with so much nuance. A quote from page 3 describes what living with ADHD is like in so much helpful detail: “Lizzie had flitted from job to job after that, unable to turn on the responsible-adult switch everyone else seemed to have. Instead, she floundered with the basics - struggling to organize and executive tasks in an order that actually made sense, failing to remember important things that needed to get done, even keeping track of the damn time felt like an impossible feat - while the need for stimulation and impulsivity pricked across her skin.” In addition to this spot-on description, I appreciate other elements of ADHD that Mazey Eddings portrays in this book with Lizzie, her awesome heroine! Lizzie demonstrates common ADHD sensory needs, sensitivity to criticism, challenging relationships with family members, and impressive creative talents (Lizzie uses hers in baking!) backed with a strong work ethic (a common strength for neurodivergent individuals). If you like to read contemporary romance with neurodivergent heroines or just to read about neurodivergent heroines, this is the book for you! Five stars!
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