Because You Love to Hate Me: 13 Tales of Villainy

by Ameriie (Editor), Amerie (Editor)

Overview

A New York Times Bestseller

Leave it to the heroes to save the world—villains just want to rule the world.

In this unique YA anthology, thirteen acclaimed, bestselling authors team up with thirteen influential BookTubers to reimagine fairy tales from the oft-misunderstood villains' points of view.

These fractured, unconventional spins on classics like "Medusa," Sherlock Holmes, and "Jack and the Beanstalk" provide a behind-the-curtain look at villains’ acts of vengeance, defiance, and rage—and the pain, heartbreak, and sorrow that spurned them on. No fairy tale will ever seem quite the same again!

Featuring writing from . . .

Authors: Renée Ahdieh, Amerie, Soman Chainani, Susan Dennard, Sarah Enni, Marissa Meyer, Cindy Pon, Victoria Schwab, Samantha Shannon, Adam Silvera, Andrew Smith, April Genevieve Tucholke, and Nicola Yoon.

BookTubers: Benjamin Alderson (Benjaminoftomes), Sasha Alsberg (abookutopia), Whitney Atkinson (WhittyNovels), Tina Burke (ChristinaReadsYA blog and TheLushables), Catriona Feeney (LittleBookOwl), Jesse George (JessetheReader), Zoë Herdt (readbyzoe), Samantha Lane (Thoughts on Tomes), Sophia Lee (thebookbasement), Raeleen Lemay (padfootandprongs07), Regan Perusse (PeruseProject), Christine Riccio (polandbananasBOOKS), and Steph Sinclair & Kat Kennedy (Cuddlebuggery blog and channel).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681193656
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	07/11/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	304,064
File size:	6 MB
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Amerie is a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter, producer, and lifestyle bon vivant. The daughter of a Korean artist and an American military officer, she was born in Massachusetts, raised all over the world, and graduated from Georgetown University with a bachelor’s in English. She began writing at the age of seven, stories of fairies and pirates and witches and phantoms. She lives mostly in her imagination, but also on Earth with her husband, her parents and sister, and about seven billion other people. When she isn’t writing or creating music, she talks books, beauty, and more on her YouTube channel Books Beauty Amerie.

amerie.co
@Ameriie

Editorial Reviews

"A diverse array of high-profile authors are showcased . . . and the inclusion of the BookTubers is an interesting idea that allows for a range of perspectives. The concept alone is enough to draw readers, so stock up—it’s never been so fun to be bad." - Booklist

"An explosively entertaining joy ride of villainous goodness." - Kirkus Reviews

"A pretty wicked collection of wicked deeds." - BCCB

From the Publisher

07/01/2017
Gr 9 Up—This anthology about villains capitalizes on the fascination with the subject but fails to explore the reasoning behind it. The stories in this unwieldy collection, edited by YouTube sensation Ameriie, are inspired by BookTuber-provided prompts. Some prompts are vague, such as "A young Moriarty" for Susan Dennard's "Shirley and Jim," which presents a modern (and female) Holmes meeting Moriarty for the first time at boarding school. Others are bizarrely specific, such as Renée Ahdieh's sci-fi "The Blood of Imuriv," which resulted from the prompt "The grandson of an evil, matriarchal dictator who tried to rule over the universe wants to follow in her footsteps and accidentally loses his temper, killing his sibling in a game of chess." Thus, the entries vary in quality, making this cross-genre volume less than cohesive. BookTuber contributions range from personality quizzes and literary criticism about the tales to personal essays related to the prompts. Standouts include Soman Chainani's "Gwen and Art and Lance," which is written entirely in texts and emails among the titular characters as Gwen tries to manipulate Art into taking her to prom amid unwanted overtures from Lance, and "Death Knell" by Victoria Schwab, which offers a nuanced meditation on what it means to be Death. There are no redeeming qualities for most of the villains here, and for the most part, there's a lot of superficiality. One notable exception is Cindy Pon's poignant "Beautiful Venom" (prompt: "Medusa, go!"), which makes the Greek myth relevant to modern readers as they watch Mei Feng become Mei Du in Pon's tragic retelling with a Chinese setting. VERDICT A weak but marketable work that will appeal to fans of the contributing authors.—Emma Carbone, Brooklyn Public Library

School Library Journal

2017-05-01
Are villains born evil, or do life circumstances force them to choose a dark path?Thirteen book bloggers challenge as many young-adult authors to write stories about the villains we love to hate. There are reimaginings of familiar fairy-tale and mythological villains alongside the nefarious adventures of the newly infamous. Benjamin Alderson's challenge to Cindy Pon—"Medusa. Go!"—yields the origin story "Beautiful Venom," which places the Greek myth in an Asian setting (the collection's only sign of racial diversity). Samantha Shannon's "Marigold" is an "Erl-Queen Retelling in Nineteenth-Century London" that grants the primary female character agency denied Victorian women in real life. "You, You, It's All About You," by Adam Silvera, introduces "A Female Teen Crime Lord Concealed by a Mask." Slate, that story's villain-protagonist, deals in mind-altering drugs in order to gain control of her life after an abusive childhood. Nicola Yoon's chilling "Sera" is a "Gender-Flipped God of War" story about a young woman with terrifying powers who becomes deathly ill when she suppresses her true nature. Each story is followed by commentary from the blogger who set the challenge. Some react with thoughtful critical pieces, while others take a creative, metafictive approach to the fruits of their authors' labors. Some stories don't quite meet their challenges, but overall, this anthology is an explosively entertaining joy ride of villainous goodness. (Short stories/fantasy. 13-18)

Kirkus Reviews