If you’ve been following my book blog or bookstagram, then you’ll know I’ve been pretty excited for the release of V.E. Schwab’s newest novel Vengeful. It’s a sequel to her novel Vicious which was published five years ago, though I only read it this year. I really haven’t read Schwab for long, only since last year when I fell in love with her Shades of Magic series (which if you love magic and Harry Potter, or just Fantasy or books in general you should DEFINITELY read) and quickly started reading everything by her. I still have a lot to go, Vengeful is her fourteenth book and she still has a ton more of stories planned in the future, but for now I’m focusing on Vengeful.
It’s actually already out. It was released on September 25th and I pre-ordered the book in July, the first book I’ve ever pre-ordered, because I am that excited for it. I honestly don’t think I’ve been this excited for a book since Breaking Dawn came out when I was in high school, I can hardly contain my excitement! But long story short I was too excited and didn’t think about where to pre-order, and lesson learned if you live in Canada you should just pre-order a book from Indigo because if you do it through Amazon you’ll have to wait like a schmuck while all your fellow Canadian readers got it early and have already started reading it (or finished it).
So that’s what I’m doing now, waiting and avoiding spoilers, though the temptation to read reviews and find out what everyone thinks is oh so tempting. According to Amazon my book is only half an hour away and I should be getting it on Tuesday, but if the shipping gods are grateful maybe it will come tomorrow (pray for me readers).
I don’t know what it is about Schwab’s writing that gets me, but something about her words makes me cling to them. Sometimes I find a book in which it feels like I’m consuming every word I read, some sort of sustenance that fuels me. It doesn’t happen with every book, but it does with every Schwab book. One reviewer of her books said that she writes her emotions into her work, and speaking particularly of Vicious it was her anger that seemed to bleed through the pages of it. And maybe that’s what I like, that she can write her feelings so clearly that they affect readers, that people can relate to those emotions.
I want to be like that, but I’m also afraid to. Because that means vulnerability again, to put yourself so plainly on the page, and I’m not good at that. I’ve had to learn not to be vulnerable in recent years, though maybe they’re not so recent anymore. But there are certain perks to vulnerability, to being unafraid to getting hurt.
It’s something I need to get used to. At some point anyways, but not today.
But back to Schwab, the other thing I like about her is again, her honesty, but as an author. On Twitter she is always talking about the realities of an author, how difficult writing can be, how hopeless it can feel, the pressure. She describes a lot of what I feel and it makes me feel like I’m not alone, that if someone as successful as her can feel the way I do than maybe I can be just as successful one day.
Maybe.
Overall though, it’s the excitement. There’s a kind of buzzing feeling from inside when I’m excited for a new book that I only feel with certain authors, heck I don’t even buy as many books anymore (books are so expensive and libraries are your friend) unless it’s by an author I really like . And I think that’s what I hope for someday too, that I can write things that will make people feel things. That I can make them excited for something I create, that I can leave a mark somewhere.
Maybe it’s just imagining myself as an author, like I do a lot, and the reality that it’s easier to imagine these things than actually getting there. Work has been busy, and like I’ve said I’ve been stuck. I’ve had very little time to actually write or do a lot of what I want, but I know I’ll have time soon. And maybe getting excited about this book and reading V.E. Schwab’s tweets just gives me hope of what I will do someday.
Maybe.
(Picture taken by my sister for my bookstagram.)
Sarah O'Connor 