Well, we at The Nerd Daily want to make your life even more magical by recommending some fabulous reads based on your favourite Gilmore Girls character (yes, I know, it’s terrible to make you choose, I wouldn’t be able to, either) so go forth and read, booklovers. Make Rory Gilmore proud!

YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER IS LORELAI GILMORE
You’re an avid coffee addict, can talk circles around anyone even in your sleep, and have (or aspire to) the kind of confidence that leaves people gaping at your ingenuity and quick wit. You enjoy reading books that keep you on your toes and make you have an emotional reaction – the story just has to be as unforgettable as people describe you to be.

YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER IS RORY GILMORE
You have read all the greats – from Pushkin to Tolstoy, if it’s classic, chances are a copy of it is stowed somewhere in your room. You enjoy stories that are epic, that require you to keep your wits about you while reading and make you reevaluate your values and beliefs. Classic tales with a new twist are right up your alley.

YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER IS EMILY GILMORE
You like tradition and order and you like to fit in – whether that’s in the office or in your friends group. You also have a penchant for being the leader of activities and events. You have a natural talent for making people do what you expect of them. If you find the time to read, you want something that is in high esteem and possibly with dark wit that makes you cackle in secret. You also have a hidden love for musicals and are a believer in the one true love of your life.

YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER IS RICHARD GILMORE
Ah, yes. The patriarch of the Gilmore clan, the man who adores reading about history and still can’t seem to get over mistakes made in the past. A dignified man who appreciates family values and taking responsibility.

YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER IS JESS MARIANO

While you might be seen as a bit of a bad boy or a rebel, you’re a softie at heart who believes in true love, fighting for what and who you love and above all, making the scrappy life look ridiculously hot. You read anything from Jane Austen to Allen Ginsberg – as long as it keeps you invested, you are here for it.

YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER IS LUKE DANES
You are outdoorsy and so, if you have to read a book instead of enjoy nature, it better be about nature. Or at least something about sports. Or, you know, just a book that is like Luke – steadfast, loyal and deserving of the description “wholesome grump”. You would also go to the ends of the earth for your loved ones and no sacrifice is too big to make sure that the people you care about are taken care of.

YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER IS SOOKIE ST. JAMES

Let’s face it, Sookie is wholesome, heartwarming and her hugs are probably just as life-affirming as her incredible food. 

YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER IS LANE KIM
You are all about the music – you would sacrifice everything for it and there’s no one who knows more about the best and the worst music in the world than you. You like to snatch up the aux cord on any road trip and are all about educating your friends and family with fun facts about obscure musicians that they never knew they needed.

YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER IS PARIS GELLER
It’s no secret that you are fierce AF, ambitious and determined to a fault. What you want, you get. You work hard and you don’t have time for people who will distract you from your goal. You love stories that are based on honour, moral fibre and integrity…and maybe a bit of revenge now and again.

YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER IS KIRK

You’re the person who stands out in any room, who will try anything once just to see if it suits your tastes and while you may be a bit awkward at times, your heart’s also in the right spot.

Who’s your favourite character? Or do you have any other recommendations? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Book Recommendations Based on Your Favourite Gilmore Girls Character appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Two fangirl besties discussing all things nerdy… Yes, we did a thing. A thing where we sit down and discuss our favourite things and try to convince you to join us in fangirling about them! Today’s focus, a book that isn’t talked about enough – but should be –  If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio. Read on to see us fangirl about this book and tell you why you should definitely pick it up!

A brief summary of If We Were Villains:

Oliver Marks has just served ten years in jail – for a murder he may or may not have committed. On the day he’s released, he’s greeted by the man who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happened a decade ago.

As one of seven young actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, extra. But when the casting changes, and the secondary characters usurp the stars, the plays spill dangerously over into life, and one of them is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless.

Describe If we were Villains in 5 words!

Hannah: Mystery, drama, Shakespeare…
Maša: Murder and friends! This hardly covers the complexity of this gorgeous masterpiece, but it’s a start!

What do you love most about this book?

H: The characters and the friendships they share. These relationships are so complex and riddled with so much angst, jealousy, competition, pretense and love!
M: I also love how Rio portrays that those relationships can be so toxic too. On one hand these characters share beautiful friendships (and love stories), but they are so caught up with one another that this sometimes overshadows all they do in life. Also it’s an LGBTQ+ book!
H: Another thing I love in this book is the concept of theatre and performance! All of the characters love Shakespeare and are addicted to being on stage, This book really shows what acting and words mean to people. It also shows the addictive nature of the spotlight and pretending to be someone else.
M: Yes, this will be a treat to anyone who loves Shakespeare, theatre or just dark, atmospheric, and twisted stories in general!

Everything you need to know about the main characters!

H&M: We wrote down their official “titles” but also added our own twist!

Oliver – “The Loyal Sidekick”; the oblivious one
James – “The Heroic Type”; the noble one
Meredith – “The Femme Fatale”; the heartbreaker
Alexander – “The Villain”; the troubled teen
Filippa – “The Chameleon”; the only sensible one
Richard – “The Tyrant”; the proud jackass
Wren -“The Ingénue”; the extra

Why you should pick If We Were Villains up and what themes are discussed?

M: You should most definitely pick up IWWV if you adore Shakespeare’s works or the dark academia genre in general! And even if you are a total dark academia newbie, this book will ease you nicely into it!
H: This book also deals with the power of words and at the center of it are all-consuming friendships. It shows how words can consume and how the character and the real person can start to blur into one and the same if you’re not careful. IWWV shows that acting can mean taking on a different persona and what happens when you start acting off stage as well.
M: IWWV covers a lot of themes and many of them are uncomfortable, ugly truths of our world (check the trigger warnings before you start!). It deals with trauma, drug abuse, bullying, and death, but it also digs deeper into the themes of morality, of right and wrong, of love.
H: It also tackles themes such as what makes someone a villain and someone else a “good guy”, a hero if you will. It also asks a very tricky question: “Can you do the wrong thing for the right reasons?”
M: Yes! It makes you wonder if terrible things can sometimes be justified – and under what circumstances! Basically, it is a masterful story of deceit and power and love and we HIGHLY recommend!

What makes If We Were Villains special and/or relevant today?

M: If We Were Villains is a character driven story that strays away from the tropes and keeps you guessing! It’s a story of obsession and how far we’d go for love, in the most wicked way possible! But not only in terms of romantic love – IWWV deals with all sorts of diverse relationships and we are here for it!

H: This book also highlights that pride and greed can influence a person’s actions and that they can ruin friendships. All these characters want to be the lead and they all want to be the best. This competition and tension leads them all to do things they maybe shouldn’t. IWWV has a very realistic rep of what greed can turn someone into. Another plus is that it’s Shakespeare heavy and will make you appreciate his work (I was never the biggest Shakespeare fan but after reading this book I am in love).

M: If We Were Villains could be sorted into the new adult, dark academia genre because of its main themes and graphic descriptions so keep that in mind!

Book recommendations if you liked If we were Villains?

H: This isn’t a book but the musical Bare (pop opera) is about students at a catholic boarding school and they put on Romeo and Juliet so there are certain similarities with IWWV! Another great book to pick up if you liked IWWV is Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater.

M: Of course you can also check out some other popular dark academia “classics” at this point, such as The Secret History by Donna Tartt, Vicious by V.E. Schwab, or Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo!

H: Now go read this dark masterpiece and report back to us with your feels and thoughts!

M: And don’t forget to get some tissues ready before you start!

Will you be reading If We Were Villains? And if you’ve read it already, tell us who your favourite character is in the comments below!

The post A Chat Between Two Fangirls: If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

If you love reading YA books, but you’re also looking to expand your reading tastes, you are just in the right place! Or you might feel like you have outgrown the YA genre somewhat, but you don’t really know where to start when it comes to adult books. Either way, I understand you perfectly and that’s why I came up with this list of adult fiction books that can appeal to readers that aren’t quite familiar to the genre and they can also ease your transition from young adult books to adult books if that’s what you want. There is no better time to get into a new genre than right now as we have more time to read due to the current state of our world. Hopefully, you will be able to do just that with the books that I’m recommending right now!

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

This is very accessible due to its format – it’s told in interviews and it focuses on a rock band (Daisy Jones & The Six) describing how they became famous and why they split up. What I liked the most about this book is how you can easily imagine that this band existed at some point because of how realistic the characters and the conflicts between them are. Reid’s writing is as great as always, but I might be biased as she’s one of my favourite authors of all the time. I think this book would be great for someone who’s getting familiar to the adult genre – and you can also try the audiobook which is very popular among the readers due to its full cast. 

Normal People by Sally Rooney
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository     

Normal People tells the story of Marianne and Connell, who get involved in a secret relationship during their senior year of high-school and then continue to have this on-and-off relationship during college. They come from very different backgrounds – Marianne is rich, but unpopular, while Connell is somewhat of a jock, but comes from a poor family. This book is very character-driven, each of the protagonist is on a self-discovery journey and while their life-styles keep on changing, something remains constant – their relationship and how drawn they are to each other. The movie adaptation will come out this year as well, so you might want to prepare in advance for it by reading the book!

Lie With Me by Philippe Besson
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

This is a beautiful and raw book about first love, plus it’s very short which means you can easily get into it and finish it within days. It plays a lot into the saying that you can never quite forget your first love – the book is about Thomas and Philippe who fall in love in 1980 and then get separated at the end of high-school because of their quite different aspirations. There’s a lot of longing, heartbreak, and you’ll want to keep on reading to find out what’s going to happen next to these two. Because it has so much to do with teenage love, I think it’s a great transition from YA to adult.

If We Were Villains by M.L.Rio
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

This one is so mysterious and captivating that it’s hard not to enjoy every page of it. It focuses on seven actors that are studying Shakespeare at an elite college – in the vein of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, it’s as pretentious as it sounds. The relationships between the characters are very explosive, there is murder, envy, obsession, and the book is going to keep you guessing, keep you questioning the morality of every character and whether they are innocent or not.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Margaret Atwood is a brilliant writer, but I admit that I’ve been quite intimidated by her for a very long due to the raving reviews and how much everyone loves her. I started reading The Handmaid’s Tale after watching the TV show and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. The book is so relevant even today with its brave feminist themes, the way it handles censorship ,and generally it has subjects that you will keep on thinking about even after you’re done with the book.

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Listening to the audiobook of Sleeping Giants is an out-of-the-world experience even for those of us who don’t listen to audiobooks in general. I recommend you read it in that format because the reading experience will be enhanced in that way! It’s very fast-paced and the world is very unique! It’s about a scientist who discovered in her childhood the hand of a very odd robot – later on, when she’s all grown-up, she leads this team of experts on a mission to find all of the pieces of this robot in order to put it all together and find its purpose. Everything is more complicated than that though as there are political intrigues, conflicts between the members of the team and the mystery of the origin of this robot – is it alien? Is it something else? What can they do with it?

Do you have any other recommendations? Tell us in the comments below!

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“For someone who loved words as much as I did, it was amazing how often they failed me.”

If We Were Villains is the story of seven actors who are very close to graduating an elite college and achieving all of their ambitions when tragedy suddenly strikes. The thing I loved the most about this book is how art bleeds incessantly into reality. The characters are always so focused on their performances, so much that at times they are having a hard time distinguishing between their thoughts, their emotions, their motivations, and those of the characters they are playing on stage. Likewise, the reader has a hard time understanding what’s real and what is not. You could say that the novel is constantly trying to find an answer to the debate whether art imitates life or life imitates art more.

M.L. Rio has a vast knowledge on Shakespeare and it shows as he almost becomes omnipresent in the novel, orchestrating from behind the scenes everything that happens in the lives of these seven young actors. They live and breathe Shakespeare’s works, they even speak in Shakespearean-style which makes other characters find them odd and some readers might even consider them way too pretentious, but nonetheless, I enjoyed being a part of their world. Their performances always came alive on the page and the building tension made the story so thrilling and easy to follow. From the first college year to the fourth, the students are constantly selected and sifted out until only the very best remain which obviously creates a highly competitive environment. Taking this into consideration, there is no surprise that the last actors standing are very ambitious, easily envious and passionate about what they are doing.

The characters are all presented at first as archetypes (hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue and extra). They have been playing the same characters over and over again during their four years of college and as a consequence, they started to identify with those archetypes, but as James becomes interested in trying new things and getting out of that stereotype, the harmony within the group is forever disrupted. This and the fact that they are being forced in class to reveal their deepest insecurities and question who they really are propels them all into almost-existential crises. And as they try to navigate those and the shifting, explosive relationships between them, they start to realise that they are so much more than those roles they have been attributed.

I especially loved Rio’s take on the temptress trope – the woman who’s there to be beautiful and soak into the attention of men – I thought Meredith was so much more than that, her constant insecurities and hidden desires making her a complex character that was fascinating to read about. There was also Oliver, the main protagonist , the one who rather highlights the strengths of his counterparts instead of showing off himself and that becomes visible off stage as well. We constantly see the others through Oliver’s eyes and somehow, he always succeeds in bringing out those hidden parts, the ones that don’t necessarily play into the archetypes they’re supposed to fit into. He’s also the one that introduces us to the story as a confession to the one who brought him to justice years ago on the charge of murder. He asks for immunity to the ones involved, making it obvious from the very beginning that nothing is as it seems.

As someone who adores the dark academia genre, I’ve predicted that I will love this book ardently, but I wasn’t expecting to get so invested in these characters, to see such a great analysis on what it means to be an actor – how you can lose yourself while trying to get into your character and what it means to be so passionate about something that you can let it destroy you willingly. Rio played so well with the darkness inside each of the protagonists, using jealousy and betrayal to build such intricate plot-lines. This close-knit group of friends slowly started to suspect one another, mistrust each other and it all became a terrific journey of ‘what happened? who did it? And most of all, are they going to get away with it?’ The mystery was very well crafted and I had a great time trying to figure out what really happened. The book is magnificently written and you will surely be drawn in the drama of these characters.

If We Were Villains is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.

Have you read If We Were Villains? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

Oliver Marks has just served ten years in jail – for a murder he may or may not have committed. On the day he’s released, he’s greeted by the man who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happened a decade ago.

As one of seven young actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, extra. But when the casting changes, and the secondary characters usurp the stars, the plays spill dangerously over into life, and one of them is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless.

The post Review: If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Sadie by Courtney Summers
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Sadie is the story of a young girl who’s missing and a podcast following the clues Sadie has left behind. Determined to find her sister’s killer, Sadie goes on a journey of revenge. As West McCray – a prominent radio personality – overhears part of Sadie’s story, he decides to follow up, resulting in his own podcast trying to find out where she might have gone. As America begins to follow Sadie’s story, McCray finds himself caught up in a story of abuse, neglect and pain, and you can’t help but pray to any gods out there that he will find Sadie…before it’s too late.

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

This book’s plot twist will hit you like a ton of bricks, I’m warning you. Spanning multiple years and following a tight-knit group of young thespians studying at an elite boarding school, If We Were Villains pulls you in with beautiful writing and the immediate feeling of being an outsider looking in while also belonging to a group of people who are pretentious, self-absorbed and more interesting than any human you’ve ever encountered in your life. As friendship turns into something more sinister, you will feel the dread coming…and then, in a very Shakespearian twist, there’s a murder. Now, ten years later, as Detective Colborne releases the man who confessed to the murder but never seemed all that guilty, he begs for the one thing that has haunted him this past decade: the truth about that night when friends turned to foes…

People Kill People by Ellen Hopkins
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

People kill people. Guns just make it easier.

A tale spun with a sense of dread through every page, People Kill People chronicles one week in the life of six teens in a town in the throws of political and personal tensions. Then, a gun is purchased by someone for protection and it will fire before the week is out. The question is, who’s the one to pull the trigger? The member of a white supremacist youth organization? The teen who’s scared of being attacked because of the color of his skin? The married teenager who owns a gun to be able to protect his son if the need ever presented itself? Or the girl who lost everything in a devastating accident, throwing her into a deep depression? The ending will leave you scarred for life…and shows that no hands are ever the “right” ones to hold the responsibility of another’s person’s life in them.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Ah, yes. The OG of making teens lose their minds because of a plot twist. If you watch any booktube video made after 2012, chances are pretty good that you have already heard of this one. We Were Liars has it all – a beautiful private island setting, a group of friends whose friendship turns destructive, all the lies and drama you could ever want and a plot twist that will haunt you until your dying days. A novel about true lies and dishonest truths.

The Wicker King by K. Ancrum
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Granted, this book doesn’t just have one plot twist; it’s more of an amalgamation of plot twists horrifying you in almost every chapter. But in a good way, I promise.

The Wicker King chronicles the story of two best friends, August and Jack, as Jack starts showing his first signs of a degenerative hallucinatory disorder that slowly take over their world. Jack’s visions of an elaborate, enchanting and yet terrifying fantasy world ruled by the feared Wicker King turn far too real as he and August embark on a quest to fulfil a prophecy in this magical world that will change your perception of what is real and what is imaginary. Lines become blurred, emotions heightened and your hands will be gripping the pages until the very last plot twist.

What plot twist made you completely use your mind? Tell us in the comments below!

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