Brooke Riley | author | bookworm: aesthetics

introducing my new wip

January 11, 2023

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books i've read as songs I like

October 26, 2022

so I’ve been seeing some posts going around in the blogging community where people take songs they like as books on their TBR (to be read) based off the vibe. but I don’t have a really interesting TBR, or really one at all. there are only a few books here and there that I want to read, but I don’t have a designated list currently.

so, I decided, why not take books I love or books I’ve read, and pair them with a song I love. this will also give you more books for your TBR AND more songs for your playlists, so it’s a win-win for everyone.

without further ado…

anywhere but here | PVRIS

it feels so sad in the summer//we're goin' under//pull up the covers//sounds like car crashin' thunder//losin' a lover//your mother, your brother//I want, I want you to take me//anywhere but here//I want, I want you to take me//anywhere but here, anywhere but here

I could explain how this whole song is absolutely The Raven Cycle, but then I'd have to post all the lyrics and that is not today's post. but just go listen to the song and tell me it doesn't make you think of Gansey and Blue and the Raven Boys going out into the woods and speaking Latin to the trees.

diving bell | STARSET

oh, this wasn't in my plans//abandoned ship and heading for the sand//oh, the albatross crash-lands//I've got the sinking feeling that I never can go home//if I stare into the abyss will it stare into me//in my mind//endless sea//calling from the bottom but you don't hear me//send your line//down to me//meet me on the surface I will never leave

okay hear me out. I know y'all are probably tired of me screaming about STARSET every chance I get. I know not everyone is going to be into rock music. HOWEVER, this is Nikolai's song. there is not one song besides this one that could ever describe Nikolai more. this song is definitely my favorite song of all time, but I have always thought it fits Nikolai in the Shadow and Bone trilogy. Maybe even in the King of Scars duology. Give this song a chance, it's not heavy on the rock side, and imagine Nikolai on his airship. it fits beautifully. case closed.

winter | PVRIS

can you burn a fire in my flesh?

//cause your love's so cold, I see my breath//I can't take another night//always frozen by your side//don't lose sleep//you can steal some body heat from another//ice cold to the touch//no, I'll never be your snow-covered lover //that shit was pathetic, I need love//I'm warm flesh and blood//call me spineless, but at least I've got a heart between my lungs//you feel too little and I feel too much

Alina and the Darkling. because THE DARKLING IS TOXIC. (Mal for the win, all day every day, please and thank you.) I feel like this captures Alina's realization that the Darkling is a toxic, toxic being. also the song is a bop and deserves more attention.

I don't wanna ruin your party | Munn

'cause I don't wanna ruin your party//where you see all the damage you've caused me//you get everything that you wanted//I don't wanna ruin your party//a heart can't judge if eyеs don't see//the hellish ways you treated me//I'll take the pain and turn the cheek//I'll be the victim you'll always need

I mean... it feels very much like the beginning of the book. The way everything is going for the friend group, especially Morgan and Darby. it just feels like it fits them.

that's really all I have for today! this was a really fun post to do! I love being able to tie in two things I love: books and music.

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make sure to leave a comment as well if you enjoyed this post! I'd love to connect with you and talk about books, music, and more! and if you've read these books, tell me some songs you think fit them!

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aesthetics

{f e b r u a r y}

March 03, 2022

8 Comments

aesthetics

{ w o r d s } thoughts and feelings I didn't know what to do with

February 03, 2022

I think we as humans have forgotten how to process our feelings before screaming them into the void that is the internet. We don't let them sit in our minds. We speak before we think. Journals are a thing of the past. We type away on our computers and phones, taking the broken-hearted energy we've built up so the moment we see something we don't like, we scream at the stranger on the internet, who is only ever going to chalk us up as a hater or troll.

We don't let ourselves feel all the things we need to anymore. As children, we scream and cry when we've had enough. As adults, we bottle up every hurt, storing it in the jar of our hearts. Every word, every action, we let it add up in the jar like money for swears.

We don't let ourselves cry or scream into our pillows anymore. We just keep going until the moment someone online sparks the match to the brush built up around us.

Then all we are is fire and smoke, embers and flame. Burning, Burning, Burning until all that's left is ruin and ash, a disaster. We don't feel better, but at least our misery has company, right?

We don't tear others down to build ourselves up. We tear others down to not be alone in our misery.

If we knew how to feel, how to think, how to breathe, we'd start less fights, wage less wars.

There's always going to be injustice.
There's always going to be something wrong in this world. But hate will never solve the problem.

Words are powerful and there is a human being facing the screen. A person who feels. A person who will store up every word spoken to them online. A person who will go away broken, battered, bruised, and take their turn yelling until the fire has spread and devastation is all that's left.

Love is the firebreak

Love is the water

Love doesn't spread as loudly or as confidently as hate. Love is a quiet emotion, shown more in action than in words, making it hard to notice sometimes.

Love doesn't announce itself or demand recourse.

Love exists to heal the parts of our ever-broken hearts and make them a little less... well, broken.

It can be hard to love in a world of darkness and mayhem and pain. But love is the key to which we seek.