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This is a discussion thread for people who could like to participate in a Roast & Toast Virtual bookclub outside of the virtual session. The books listed below were discussed during the virtual session on June 26. Feel free to participate in the conversation whether you were at the session or not. Please note that not everyone has read these books. With that in mind, there are likely to be spoilers throughout as such please wrap content in spoiler tags.

3+ posts in this thread will count toward the Book Club activity for Camp Charming 2025 - please post in Roast & Toast thread above to claim participation.

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[spoiler]Surprise!content here[/spoiler]

Roast & Toast Not Live Discussion

So you found a book that you hated! Perfect. Roast it with us. And then give us a toast in the form of a book you loved!

Disclaimer: This is meant to spark lively and respectful conversations. Please respect other members opinions of books and come with an open mind.

THE ROASTED:

Lore of the Wilds by Analeigh Sbrana

I wanted this to be good. It had so much potential. The first 100 pages were good, the next 100 needed some consistency editing, the next 100 were bad. The last 50 pages I was begging to DNF it. The big reveal at the end didn't even seem credible. This book needed MAJOR editing to become something wonderful. It didn't get that. - Fallin

The Artic Fury - Greer Macallister

No historical research and least qualified women possible to find the Franklin expedition disaster. Additionally reveal wasn’t actually a reveal! - MJ

7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hugo by Stuart Turton

1st 100 pages don’t need to happen, very slow start. - Amy

ACOTAR Series

I wanted so bad to be into it because so many people in my friends circle are.
But I couldnt bring myself to even start it lol. and nothing about the world-building appealed to me. and then i saw that poc death in the books are used at plot devices for the non-poc characters which as a non-white person i was just mehhhh, nahhhh. - Kit

Sleeping Dogs by Sonya Hartnett

Required reading in UNI. Incest in the countryside. - Jen

Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

Siblings are locked in the attic. - Jen

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

The teacher ruined it when we read it in school. - Bee

Atonement by Ian McEwan

The annoying child character. - Bee

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Too many timelines changing throughout the book! - Bee

The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches by Gaétan Soucy

It was terrible and brilliant. Very Shirley Jackson-esque.

THE TOASTED

Fallin's Toast: The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

Beautifully written with the whimsy of a childhood fantasy novel (think merhorses and flying cats) in an adult cozy fantasy novel. - Fallin

MJ's Toast: The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
Amy's Toast: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jeminsin

Written by a black woman, blackness as a metaphor, physically hurts but is also a wonderful story of revenge. -Amy

Kit's Toast: If You Want to Scare Yourself by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg
Jen's Toast: Two Necromancers, a Bureaucrat, and an Army of Golems by L.G. Estrella

YOUR THOUGHTS

Have you read any of these? Do you have any thoughts (good or bad) about them?

The following 2 users Like Sisse Thompsett's post:2 users Like Sisse Thompsett's post
   Hermia Bonaccord, Philomena Sprout

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AMY U SHUT YOUR MOUTH.

Okay, admittedly 7/7.5 Deaths (why are there two titles? Make up your mind, publishers!) wasn't the fastest book, but it was the first time ever that the following concept did not make me want to Do a Murder:

Show

Groundhog day.

Didn't like the film, and it stressed me out in Majora's Mask xD

Nah, to each their own, but I now read any book Turton puts out because I liked this one so much <3

  

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I AM ON ABSENCE. Please PM another member of staff. IC stuff? hit me here.

— Aldous walks with a cane and pronounced limp as the result of a splinching accident. —

— graphics by lady ❤ —

I 100% misread that as being the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and thought it was fair enough that it dragged before things got gayer xD

The following 2 users Like Morwenna Skeeter's post:2 users Like Morwenna Skeeter's post
   Aldous Crouch, Sisse Thompsett

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MJ knows my soul rings to the rune of this iconic hat

Re: ACOTR - I haven't read it but Jack listened to the audio book and at one point he was folding laundry with his headphones in and then goes "AGH!"

I, alarmed, say "What???"

"The plot twist in this book is just. It's so stupid."

"Oh... do you want to talk about it? I'll listen to a rant."

Jack considers then answers: "To even explain how bad it is I'd have to give you hours of dumb explanation first."

Also- he listened to it because one of his coworkers recommended it, and he told me about it because this coworker had said "I think Aleena would really like it!" and at the time Jack knew nothing about the book but did think to himself you don't really know her well enough to make book recommendations for her, this is weird and then went and read the summary and went wow yeah you are very wrong about the kind of books she likes. And then he told me about it and I was like D< this coworker has maligned me.

  

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Set by Lady!

Re: ACOTR - I haven't read it but Jack listened to the audio book and at one point he was folding laundry with his headphones in and then goes "AGH!"

I, alarmed, say "What???"

"The plot twist in this book is just. It's so stupid."

"Oh... do you want to talk about it? I'll listen to a rant."

Jack considers then answers: "To even explain how bad it is I'd have to give you hours of dumb explanation first."

Also- he listened to it because one of his coworkers recommended it, and he told me about it because this coworker had said "I think Aleena would really like it!" and at the time Jack knew nothing about the book but did think to himself you don't really know her well enough to make book recommendations for her, this is weird and then went and read the summary and went wow yeah you are very wrong about the kind of books she likes. And then he told me about it and I was like D< this coworker has maligned me.

Can you refresh me (in spoiler tags, ofc) as to what the big twist was? The only one I can remember requires Jack to have read the second book in the series too xD

  

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I AM ON ABSENCE. Please PM another member of staff. IC stuff? hit me here.

— Aldous walks with a cane and pronounced limp as the result of a splinching accident. —

— graphics by lady ❤ —

Aldous Crouch I cannot because Jack didn't tell me the requisite hours of dumb backstory. It's possible that he got a few books bundled into one audiobook? Or possible I'm misremembering "twist" vs "plot development".

An IRL friend I know who read them (and reads a lot) described them as "so bad it made me reconsider my friendship with the person who recommended them" so I wasn't pressing that hard for a detailed synopsis xD

  

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Set by Lady!

I 100% misread that as being the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and thought it was fair enough that it dragged before things got gayer xD

I strongly disliked Evelyn Hugo until that point. And which point I sobbed and had to give it a much higher rreading. Unfortunately for me it felt like a weak ripoff of one of my all time favorite books which is way less well known but way better written.

  

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I didn't really get to add much to my Toasts but mine would have been Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faries by Heather Fawcett; it did take me a bit to get into it but the characters and attention to folklore are delightful!

And also Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver; this delightfully smutty, somewhat gross, delicious book of banter was definitely a fun read! PLEASE read the trigger warnings, they are many and... different.

  

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Bee, your roasted book reminds me of actually reading Lord of the Flies in school and being so bored that we weren't reading it faster because I loved the book. It makes me rather curious how the teacher spoiled it for you.

It also reminds me of the book I was going to roast last month but will save for August.

  

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I also read Lord of the Flies in school (probably 25/6 years ago), I think its one of those books they make everyone do. I think it was ruined for me just because I was gripped by it and reading a chapter a week then having a teacher dissect it and primarily focus on how none of this would have happened if it were girls that were stranded ruined that read.

But I read it again as an adult and found it much more enjoyable.

The following 1 user Likes Violetta DeCroix's post:1 user Likes Violetta DeCroix's post
   Millie Potts

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Bee, your roasted book reminds me of actually reading Lord of the Flies in school and being so bored that we weren't reading it faster because I loved the book. It makes me rather curious how the teacher spoiled it for you.

It also reminds me of the book I was going to roast last month but will save for August.

I didn't like the book itself either, but we overanalyzed it so badly that it took the fun out of reading. I don't enjoy picking apart books.

  

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having a teacher dissect it and primarily focus on how none of this would have happened if it were girls that were stranded ruined that read.

It would be interesting to go back to the teacher to ask her about Yellowjackets (a TV show that's basically just a genderswapped Lord of the Flies).

And Bee, I can relate. While I enjoyed breaking down some of the aspects of books we read, I found that my interpretations never matched up to what a teacher expected and it soured my interest to get bad grades as a result. I don't enjoy picking apart books any longer.

But hey, we had a conch shell in the class I read LotF in, and blowing into it was a fun distraction.

  

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I remember hating Lord of the Flies so much when I read it in school and because of that I didnt read it at all (this has not changed, tell me to read a book and I still HATE doing it, let me find it on my own and I'm ALL about it - in other words, I'm where all good recommendations go to die). Then low and behold I had to write a paper about it and (the night before it was due) I was looking for a quote to use next thing I knew I'd read from that point on, finished it, and really liked it. AND the paper got written on time too.

The following 1 user Likes Sisse Thompsett's post:1 user Likes Sisse Thompsett's post
   Millie Potts

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LotF was my favorite book to teach. I will keep up the illusion that all my students loved reading it with me. But we played Survivor and you got to vote people off your island, so that was pretty fun.

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   Aldous Crouch, Daffodil Grimstone, Elias Grimstone, Millie Potts, Sisse Thompsett

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Are you student? Learn how to earn house points!

LotF was my favorite book to teach. I will keep up the illusion that all my students loved reading it with me. But we played Survivor and you got to vote people off your island, so that was pretty fun.

I probably would have enjoyed it more if it had been interactive!

The following 1 user Likes Daffodil Grimstone's post:1 user Likes Daffodil Grimstone's post
   Juniper Edevane

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I loved Lord of the Flies when I read it in school, but it was also the book we read after one of my most hated books of all time, which is a great way to elevate any reading experience, but I wouldn't recommend it. XD

  

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set by Bee! <3