The Storyteller

**Spoilers Below**

By: Antonia Michaelis

5/5 🧊

Do you ever find it odd that we like the bad boy? Many people idolize Joe from You and he's an actual murderer! I don't want to spoil this story, but since I did give a warning, I have to say this book is a little similar. I wanted to be disgusted with the main character, but teenage me just wasn't.

It makes me wonder why we tend to like the "bad boys" (and girls for that matter). Why we root for them to succeed even though they did so many horribly wrong things! I read this book as a teenager and absolutely loved it, but now as I'm writing this review, I realize how messed up this book was... I mean there were some seriously deranged parts. Sometimes I wonder if YA lit plays on our warped ideas of what love could be. I always wonder if they push toxic relationships and why that is...

Think about Twilight. Edward is a stalker and in the fourth book, their intimacy is just... rough. It seems odd to have that in a book designed for teenagers to read. Many teenagers who have never been kissed or in a relationship. I think it sets up weird expectations and almost trains us to tolerate more than we should. Is anyone else with me on this?