Stuffed Animal Saturday: Brooding YA Hero - Carrie DiRisio

Stuffed Animal Saturday is a meme that we post here at We Live and Breathe Books to showcase the book we're currently reading with one of our favorite stuffed animals and discuss our stuffed animal's opinion (well, it's really our opinion, but that's besides the point). We hope you enjoy our quirky feature as much as we enjoy writing it!

This Saturday, me and Sloth are reading Brooding YA Hero: Becoming a Main Character (Almost) as Awesome as Me by Carrie DiRisio and illustrated by Linnea Gear!

So Far: Sloth is really digging Broody McHottiepants and his tips from the book (I fear that soon Sloth will be going by Slothy McBroodysloth - I mean, he's already got the pose down in the photo). Broody's humor thus far is really funny, playing with the idea of YA tropes.

Sneak peek: The prologue of the book really gives a sense of who Broody McHottiepants is, so we'll share part of that from the ARC (quote may differ from final version).

Alone in his room, Broody McHottiepants contemplated his future. He was the best of all fictional characters ever created - that he knew. His phone never stopped ringing (playing his theme song, from his latest hit movie-adaptation, of course) with Authors begging him to star in their latest novels. An endlessly talented man, he'd been everything from a vampire to a quarterback. Into each novel, he brought his incredibly adjective-filled beauty, his gemstone-colored gaze, his strong, strong arms, and his potent blend of wish fulfillment and slightly toxic masculinity.

And each time, people swooned.

Everyone loved him. He'd recently opened a Twitter account, and there, loyal fans waited for him to speak his beautiful, vivid, wondrous wisdom. As the hero of so many stories, he was uniquely qualified to share the brilliant advice everyone adored.

Sure, he'd had movie and TV deals, too. Even comic books. He'd overthrown evil dystopian governments, won the state championship in sportsball, and always, always found true love.

And yet, something wasn't right. Not today. It wasn't a usual day in New Story City, the place where all character archetypes, from the wisest, old mentors to the youngest, annoying-est siblings, waited for Authors to draft them into new stories.

Most mornings, Broody woke to a summons from an Author. Depending on the type of story, it might arrive by text message, or by carrier-pigeon. Reality shifted easily in New Story City.

But it had been two weeks, and still no Author had contacted him. 

Bonus: Sloth really liked this quote about how Broody stays in shape, so he wanted me to share that as well - Sloth has already added it to his new workout regiment and suggests you do the same.

My workout routine includes eyebrow lifts (for maximum quirking potential), leaping over plot holes, high-jumping to conclusions, bench-pressing my emotions to make them easier to suppress, and climbing up cliffs I've been left hanging on.

Brooding YA Hero: Becoming a Main Character (Almost) as Awesome as Me hits shelves on October 3rd, so make sure to add it to your TBR and check back here for a review around then!

Thanks to Sky Pony Press for the ARC I received at BookExpo!

Are you and your stuffed animal reading anything interesting? 

Let us know in your own Stuffed Animal Saturday!