Have you ever wished you could receive a little guidance from your favorite book boyfriend? Ever dreamed of being the Chosen One in a YA novel? Want to know all the secrets of surviving the dreaded plot twist? Or maybe you’re just really confused about what “opal-tinted, luminous cerulean orbs” actually are? Well, popular Twitter personality @broodingYAhero is here to help as he tackles the … he tackles the final frontier in his media dominance: writing a book. Join Broody McHottiepants as he attempts to pen Brooding YA Hero: Becoming a Main Character (Almost) as Awesome as Me, a “self-help” guide (with activities–you always need activities) that lovingly pokes fun at the YA tropes that we roll our eyes at, but secretly love.
As his nefarious ex, Blondie DeMeani, attempts to thwart him at every turn, Broody overcomes to detail, among other topics, how to choose your genre, how to keep your love interest engaged (while maintaining lead character status), his secret formula for guaranteed love triangle success, and how to make sure you secure that sequel, all while keeping his hair perfectly coiffed and never breaking a sweat.
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Come for the laughs, stay for the meaningfulness.
Brooding Ya Hero: Becoming A Main Character (Almost) As Awesome As Me is brilliant, clever, funny, and touching. It is two books for the price of one: half story, half writing advice. They’re woven together so you can’t have one without the other, making it more than the sum of its parts.
The story has a great plot, some twists, beautiful character development, and an ever-changing setting. It follows Broody McHottiepants, the hero we already know from every other YA book, as he tries to write his own book. Blondie DeMeani, his evil ex-girlfriend, is watching him from the shadows, and she has her own nefarious goals. Broody finds out that writing is not as easy as he thought and that there’s more to a book than himself. Blondie is more than the usual storm of clichés as she takes back her agency.
The writing advice is Broody’s own book and what he thinks YA is all about. It’s extremely self-centered and bit naive at times, but he makes a few good points along the way. There is some very well hidden wisdom in his words. Some of his advice can be used in real life as well.
In the end, this is a love letter to YA. It celebrates its beauty, its diversity, and its huge role in people’s lives. But this book doesn’t forget YA’s shortcomings, and it calls them out with sagacity and a great sense of humor.
To top it all off, you’ll find amazing illustrations throughout the pages. They’re stunning and hilarious, and they bring Broody and Blondie to life.
Now you go out there and be a main character!
Tongue in cheek, cheeky, sarcastic, sardonic, funny, in short, this was a hoot to read. Sometimes you want serious and sometimes you want nutty. I’m glad I have this it’s truly an entertaining read.
Hysterical satire!
This send-up of the YA plot devices is a corker. Broody McHottiepants will have you laughing out loud.
Screwtape-esque.
Essentially, the living incarnation of the stereotypical YA badboy breaks down the formula for writing a ”good” YA novel. A parody of the genre.
A good chunk of the actual writing came off as stereotypical and shallow- not the main character, who is meant to be that way, but with regards to the self-aware analysis. There were some great gems of pretty decent writing advice littered throughout, and there are some laugh-out-loud zingers in there, but it’s not constant.
I eventually dropped this book because a lot of the jokes about brooding males and special females got old, and also I felt that the author (the real one, not the fictional one) was a little too fixated on diversity for diversity’s sake without any real justification (following up statements with “everyone is white, of course,” and such.)
Some good learning opportunities for struggling writers and an okay way to pass the time, but it didn’t quite click with me.
I paid money for this book thinking it would be funny. It isn’t. I can’t get into it, so I haven’t finished it. Don’t waste your time or money.