Dear Tologs,

Welp, here we are. It’s Thursday, April 30, 2020, and let’s just say that, in the beginning of the year, I did not think this was how I was going to spend my last month of school. It’s my senior year, and like seniors all over the country, I am mourning the loss of monumental, once-in-a-lifetime experiences that mark the end of our adolescence. But during this downtime, perhaps unsurprisingly to some of you, I have been reading in excess. I can’t believe I am confessing my guilty pleasure to the world right now, but I can’t hide it any longer: I love YA romance novels.

Yes, you read that right. I, the girl who gets uncomfortable if I’m within 50 feet of a guy, am a sucker for romance. I sit in my bed and read about how Raven has to deal with going to a new school where the BMOC (big man on campus) hates her. For quite some time, another FSH student and I (you know who you are) have made our own sort of book club for hopeless romantics. We get to discover how Raven and the BMOC are inseparable and will love each other for as long as they live. Now, don’t ask me what specific books I read or what the titles are because I am not a masochist. There is a reason I have a Kindle; they are very good at hiding the books I read to the outside world. 

Despite my desire to stay inside all day in my bed with my Life cereal and Kindle, I sometimes remember that I should get some vitamin D. But just because I go on walks, it doesn’t mean I have to stop reading. Quarantine has opened my eyes to the world of Audible. Yes, this Audible is the same Audible that all YouTubers were sponsored by in 2016, and, yes, I did get a one-month free trial. Now, whenever I venture into the outside, apocalyptic world, I pop in my AirPods and press play on my books and listen to all the arguments Raven and the BMOC get into during their quirky journey to finding love. I even got to listen to a book while I was making a sick hair wrap. Listening to books will never be as satisfying or fulfilling as reading books, but it is nice to expose myself to the real world and see neighbors I haven’t seen in my 17 years of existence. 

Reading YA romance novels can never replace spending time with my friends at school, getting acai bowls with them and having game nights, but reading gives me the sense of normalcy of my life pre-COVID-19. Who knows, maybe I’ll venture into nonfiction. Nah. I think I’ll stick with Raven and the BMOC. 

Stay reading,

Kristen