#Jill Bearup

[honourablejester]

Two things! Firstly, yay, I'm back and I have reliable internet again.

Secondly, Jill Bearup has just posted a fight analysis video on my favourite movie sword fight of all time:

The Rathbone/Power fight from the Mark of Zorro. Which is a fabulous thing to stumble across the moment I get internet back. Yay!

#random #me stuff #sword fights #swashbucklers #jill bearup #the mark of zorro #basil rathbone #tyrone power #i love this fight so much #Youtube

[cloudgremlin-art]

Faux book cover for Jill Bearup’s book Just Stab Me Now- I’ve always wanted to do some faux book covers and the release of this one was the motivation I needed. That, and a good concept sketch XD

Cover art without text/etc:

Concept sketches:

#yes my art #warmcore #cloudgremlin art #illustration #just stab me now #jill bearup #fake book cover #book cover #book design

[onaslansside]

Excellent news! The novelization of the Fantasy Heroine youtube shorts series is out, and it's good! $3 for the pre-ordered ebook would have been well worth it just for Leo's POV. I mean, look at him refusing the Only One Bed scenario the author is trying to force her heroine into:

But there's so much more! There's Caroline's life, and the things that drive her to write the way she does! There's absolutely all of the characters refusing to act like two-dimensional fictional characters who only care about the superficial physical attractiveness of whoever they're supposed to be shipped with!! And instead finding partners who actually have compatible values and life goals!!!

And it's *also* still a fun silly fantasy romance adventure!

#book recs #Jill Bearup #Just Stab Me Now #Fantasy Heroine

[thegreenleavesofspring]

Girl help, last time I read a story with this many male characters I ADORED it was Lord of the Rings.

#Just Stab Me Now #Jill Bearup #I would trust Hugo Hawkhurst with my life

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Sometimes the Adaptation is the Book, Actually...

So, as I'm sure more than a few of you did, I enjoyed the heck out of Jill Bearup's fantasy heroin YouTube shorts series. And as I'm sure many of us have experienced, YouTuber books can be...distinctly hit-or-miss in terms of quality. So when Bearup announced that she was adapting the shorts series into an actual book, I was willing to give it a shot when it came out. So in Bearup's own tier list terms, I'd give this book a pretty good. Strong concept, a lot to like...but the TYPESETTING, my god. Let's talk Just Stab Me Now.

This is your spoiler warning for a book that has been EXTREMELY hyped on YouTube, and one who's story has already been told on YouTube. Here there be Spoilers.

So normally I like to start with the things I like about a book, but since I liked so much about this book and the one thing that I didn't like could have stopped me cold, we're going to start with the one thing that I think was actually bad. The typesetting.

To be clear: Bearup was extremely clear that using different fonts and margins to delineate between Caroline's world, the fantasy world, and Caroline's mind where she interacts with the fantasy characters was a considered, intentional choice. That's valid, and there is nothing inherently wrong with making that choice. It's also well done in the book, like it's consistent and well put together.

That said: Oh my god you guys, I hated it. It took me the first fifty-odd pages to get used to it, and even then, it AGGRESSIVELY snapped my editor brain's bra strap. I seriously considered putting the book down because of the typesetting, which would have been a crying shame because I really enjoyed the book overall. This might not bother some readers, but it was nearly a dealbreaker for me, so I wanted to mention it as a "your mileage may vary" kind of thing.

Other than that though, I think this book did a pretty solid job of adapting the fantasy heroine shorts into a full-blown novel.

Caroline Lindley is very much helicopter parenting her fictional characters, and the fact that they are by turns bemused and cranky about this is very fun throughout the novel. I also like that we get a lot more of Caroline in the novel than we did in the shorts series. Her story was just as compelling as Rosamund and Leo's, and I quite enjoyed having the extraordinarily modern cybersecurity subplot to balance the fantasy setting as well. I wasn't expecting that to work as well as it did, but thematically it resonated quite well, and I like the acknowledgement that while we don't use swords and political marriages so much these days, it's not like we've STOPPED having enemies and needing to protect ourselves, our homes, and our families. The relationship between modernity and "no particular historical era" in terms of thematic connections was really well done.

The general added depth to all the characters was also excellent, since we had time and space for characterization that the shorts series had to skim over for time. We really felt Rosamund's grief in the book, Leo had way more personality (and I loved that) and some of the plot stuff was smoothed and fleshed out in some really interesting ways. The caladrius was actually an inspired touch, and it tied together a bunch of slightly odd things in the series in a really elegant way. It also gave Baron Mabry and George an interesting parallel too, since they were both screwing over people for financial gain. The methods might be different, but the heart of the crimes and the harm they do are fairly universal.

As a writer, I also ADORED the conceit of Caroline being absolutely out of control in her process. She was trying SO HARD to write a standard enemies-to-lovers romantasy and literally nothing could get her plot or characters there. Every writer has been there, every writer has had little breakdowns over the story just not freaking doing what you tell it to, and there was something deeply vindicating about it. I loved the personification of the writing process.

This book also had a little bit of that Princess Bride feel where it is both a send-up of romance tropes and a deeply respectful nod to them. I don't know that pastiche is the right word here, but neither does parody seem to be, and I think we need a word for this writing mood, where you're both deconstructing and reiterating a series of tropes. I don't have a word for it, but this is a thing that pops up periodically (periodic because it's genuinely hard to do well; lean too far to one side or the other and it flops catastrophically) and we should name it.

Overall, for a book from a YouTuber--especially one who rather famously discovered halfway through the process that she does not enjoy writing fiction--I was pleasantly surprised by this book, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Bearup has told us not to expect a sequel, so I won't...but if one materialized in the future, I'd read it!

#just stab me now #jill bearup #books and reading #books #books and novels #books & libraries #book recommendations

[personinthepalace]

I am so glad that Jill Bearup liked Lockwood and Co enough to make a second video talking about the show :)

Her first video about the swordfighting in the show can be found here

#lockwood and co #lockwood and co netflix #jill bearup #Youtube #shout out to my irl friend for telling me about this #glad that she knows me well enough to know that this video will please me greatly haha

[psychicbluebirdmiracle]

Who Gave the Teenagers ⚔️Swords?⚔️

HECK YEAHHH

It's working yall we got another shout out from another youtuber we got this yall!!!

#lockwood & co #lockwood and co #jill bearup #youtube

[iamfear]

NEW BOOK YESSSSSS

#just stab me now #jill bearup #new books

[mythigal1966]

X-Cellent Use of Your Teleporter - One X-Cellent Scene

@bothsidesofaquestion

#Jill Bearup #The Amazing Nightcrawler

[shittygaypornmagazine]

Ok but what if I need a whole book about Caroline and Henry. Like what if I just. Need more.

#jill bearup #just stab me now

[loopiesounds]

" You are allowed to have feelings, Rosamund," said Caroline.

Rosamond closed her eyes, fighting to retain the detachment. "Yes. They're just not helpful right now"

#just stab me now #jill bearup #this hits hard #book quotes

[thegreenleavesofspring]

Captain Collins was not a talker by nature, and with practice, he had learned how to turn this to his advantage: if he didn't say anything for long enough, people either assumed he was stupid or forgot he was there and so didn't watch their words.

Oh look, is me.

#Just Stab Me Now #Jill Bearup

[artistsfuneral]

"I realise that you probably don't like me much right now, and I don't blame you, and I realise that this is a little forward, but... will you marry me?"

- Just Stab Me Now, p. 155

#😂😂😂😂 amazing #author goes like #wait what? this was supposed to be a fake wedding #not a real one!!! #just stab me now #jill bearup #spoilers #book spoilers #book #book quotes #bookblr

[bobbys-not-that-small]

I follow Jill anyway, but was thrilled that she pointed out how the Locknation were hard at work sending form-style emails to get her to review the sword-fighting in the show! Big up the #savelockwoodandco gang! Also watch this, Jill is great!

#Lockwood and co #jill bearup #save lockwood and co #Youtube #show analysis

[spaceroadtrip]

Just got my copy of Just stab me now by Jill Bearup and I'm torturing myself because I really want to read the entire thing right now but I also want to save it for the five hours I'll be spending on the train on Tuesday because I'll need a good book for that. But the book is sitting right next to me...staring at me. I'm going to have to hide it somewhere so I don't break down and devour it tonight

#just stab me now #jill bearup #books #i so want to read it #but i have to save it for tuesday #i don't care that i've got other books #i want to take this one

[niamhs-reading-adventures]

Happy Just Stab Me Now release day to all who celebrate! 🔪📖

#just stab me now #jill bearup #book: just stab me now #2024 new release #new release #bookblr