I was mainly interested in this because of the title, naturally. It's basically the book equivalent of a Disney Channel Original Movie. Which! I do love a good Disney Channel Original Movie, but movies get the benefit of having an actual soundtrack and maybe some dance numbers. This was basically just the stock teen characters (a punky girl who's not like other girls because she likes 80s music, a misunderstood teen celebrity) having a stock teen romance. (I realized later that this is part of a loosely connected series of books?) I'd imagine a reader who's liked other books by this author would enjoy this one as well but for me it was just pretty flat and not was I was looking for.

This book is BANANAS and annoyingly anti-choice. Also its witchcraft reincarnation plot line does not quite add up. But also, I couldn't put it down.

http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-34-whisper-of-death/

I love the Gaither sisters <3 It was great to check back in with them, and I love how this trilogy depicts the civil rights movement in 3 different geographic locations. I listened to this on audiobook and I did love the narrator's voice, but it made it a little harder to follow all the family tree stuff that was happening? Still: the same mix of funny, touching, and inspiring as the previous 2 volumes. And it's great to see real, authentic character growth from all 3 sisters.

Uhhh this book is 800 pages long and I read it all in like 24 hours. (Granted: that 24 hours was a work holiday.) I loved it.

Spoiler

I'm SO IMPRESSED by how well Marissa Meyer can reinvent these fairy tales and have these twists that when they happen, you're like, oh right, right, like in the fairy tale, but they still feel fresh and surprising?!?

I loved the resolution for all these characters. I loved how this was basically every hurt/comfort trope ever, in space. I loveddddddd ittttttt

I cried so much at this. Travis has such a strong voice here and it felt like a really realistic portrayal of a 19-year-old boy with PTSD. (Not that I have ever personally been a 19-year-old boy with PTSD.) But also: very funny tone in places, and a great, messy family situation.

This was a lot of fun! I'd read a lot of Star Wars books when I was younger but I don't remember having read anything about Leia's grief immediately after A New Hope and how she might be concerned with Alderaan's cultural legacy. I loved her new friend..ish... person Evaan here, and I loved seeing all of Leia's stubbornness and awesomeness on display. get it, girl.

Ooh boy. I think this is a cute, funny concept & I think 3rd-5th-ish graders will really think it's hilarious. For me as an adult audiobook listener it was a little annoyingly repetitive. I think the audiobook narrator does great voice work but I ended up upping the speed just to get through the main character's repetitive complaints faster--which, again, I think the book's target audience would find each repeat increasingly funny. I also liked the new ending to the fairy tale & think it's a great choice for younger kids, but not necessarily a kids book I'd enthusiastically rec to solo adults.

I'll start by saying I'm not like a Sleater-Kinney superfan by any means, but I love Carrie Brownstein from Portlandia and other stuff! This book is beautifully written and has some fantastic lines about anxiety and the patriarchy and the power of doing stuff and of being a fan of stuff. It's really great. She does go through S-K kind of album by album, and I did enjoy reading about the process even if I haven't listened to all of their albums (though I'm sure a bigger S-K fan would get more out of those parts of the book than I did).

I'm really too young to remember most of the Riot Grrl era but I still love reading about it.

IMPORTANT SPOILER: there is a chapter about how Carrie's dogs killed her cat and IT'S VERY UPSETTING

This is definitely the most high-brow book Worst Bestsellers has done. There were parts of this that were enjoyable and well-done, but overall Franzen's Woman Problem cannot be ignored...

For 90 anguished minutes on this book:

http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-35-purity/

I feel like most of these big matchup/crossover events are just like, "Wouldn't it be cool if Magneto and Iron Man fought? HELL YEAH! Okay so now... why? ehhh... who cares?" And I'm not saying I don't get the appeal of that. OBVIOUSLY it would be cool if Iron Man and Magneto fought.

And I mean, I guess there's a point to bringing the Phoenix back... again.

Uhh this had some great moments, like Carol and Jess trying to be ladybros with Wanda, and Spider-Man... just everything Spider-Man. Overall I mostly read it because other comics kept alluding to it. I guess I could have just read the Wikipedia summary of this and been fine.