Tag: Always Raining Here

September Summary

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I was on vacation for 2 weeks in September, so I’m pretty satisfied with what I read this month. My monthly challenge was to start re-reading the Throne of Glass series in anticipation of the series finale coming out at the end of October. My monthly summary is:

Books read: 8
Pages read: 3,312
Main genres: Fantasy
Favourite book: Wuthering Heights
Favourite Re-read: Crown of Midnight

Like I said, I started off the month with the first 3 books in the Throne of Glass series: Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, and Heir of Fire. I’ve been dying to re-read this series for a while now, but I made myself wait until closer to the release of the last book so that it would all be fresh in my mind. Throne of Glass was one of my first major fantasy series, so I was curious if I’d like it as much the second time around, and I absolutely did! I’d forgotten just how epic Crown of Midnight was and I even upped my rating of Heir of Fire from 3 stars to 4 stars the second time around. I enjoyed it a lot more this time.

I read two audiobooks this month as well. I bought a copy of Wuthering Heights on Audible on impulse when they had it on sale for $5. I listened to Emma earlier this year and was keen to try out another classic. What I was not expecting was how much I absolutely adored Wuthering Heights! I know it’s a polarizing book and I know a lot of people who hate it. I kind of anticipated I wouldn’t like it as I don’t love a lot of classics, but I was so very wrong. I won’t go into detail what I loved about it though as I wrote a very detailed review about my thoughts.

The second audiobook was Neverworld Wake, a young adult/sci-fi/mystery thriller novel about a group of teenagers forced to live the same day over and over again. It had an interesting enough plot, but I didn’t love it because I thought it could have been better executed.

I also read two ARC’s this month, although I was a bit late reading the first one as it’s already been published. I read The Lost Queen, which is the first book in a new historical trilogy about 6th century Scotland, and Girls of Paper and Fire, a new YA fantasy book that I’d been hearing lots of good things about. The Lost Queen fell into the trap I’ve been having with a lot of my books lately in that I liked it at the end (appreciated the story), but found it kind of boring to read. In contrast, Girls of Paper and Fire was wonderful and kept me on the edge of my seat with the most wonderful queer relationship at the center of the story.

Finally, I read a short graphic novel/web series that’s set in Vancouver called Always Raining Here. This one was a quick read to boost my numbers, but I keep seeing it at my local bookstore and was intrigued about it. It’s about two gay high school students and the pressures of succeeding in high school and the struggles of being a gay teenager. I had mixed feelings because I liked parts of the story, but found other parts extremely problematic.

Anyways, I read some pretty large books this month, several were over 500 pages, so I’m quite happy with what I read and thrilled to be heading into October and November, which are easily my favourite reading months!

Always Raining Here

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Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Authors: Bell + Hazel
Genres: Young Adult, LGBTQIA+, Graphic Novel
Pub Date: Mar. 2016 (read Sep. 2018)

Note: This is a review of Volumes 1 & 2

Okay, I keep seeing this graphic novel at my local chapters because it’s set in the lower mainland and I was intrigued, so when the mood struck me I read both volumes of the original webcomic online.

It’s a short series about two gay high schoolers, Carter and Adrian. Carter is super horny when he first meets Adrian and decides to pursue him since he’s one of the only other gay guys in his school. Adrian is still getting over his relationship with David and wants nothing to do with Carter. But eventually the two have an awkward interaction at a party and become friends.

I really didn’t like the first volume. Carter was way too creepy and persistent in chasing after Adrian. Adrian keeps telling him to back-off and leave him alone and Carter just keeps hitting on him. The creepy non-consensual come ons are never okay. Not in straight relationship, not in same sex relationships. Never.

Carter finally gets his shit together though and interrupts two sexual harassment scenes at a party that looked like they were about to turn into rape and Carter takes several punches to the face to protect the victims. After this, Carter and Adrian finally become friends for real.

I liked Volume Two. The characters had very little depth in Volume 1 and not a whole lot happened. Volume 2 was almost twice as long and had a much stronger story. Honestly, I don’t even think Volume 1 is needed, especially with all the creepy shit that went down. Carter and Adrian actually seemed more like real teenagers in the second volume.

Adrian is stressed out about doing well in school and at the same time trying to focus on his role in the school’s musical theatre production. Carter on the other hand, is a bit of a drop out who just doesn’t care about school. He stops hitting on Adrian and the two actually start to develop a real friendship. What I liked about this volume was the way that it flipped the story. Carter seems like the messed up one in the friendship, but it’s actually Adrian who starts losing it with all the pressure he’s under and takes advantage of Carter.

Teenagers are put under a surprising amount of stress in high school, between being expected to do well in classes, participate in extra-curriculars, and still maintain a social life. I thought this was portrayed well in Always Raining Here and that it provided some good insight into why teenagers tend to act out. Both boys were under a lot of pressure from their parents, while also trying to navigate the confusing world of teenage hormones.

The artwork was pretty decent, but inconsistent. I read this as the webcomic though, not the published graphic novel, so I’m not really sure what changes were made in the published version. Sometimes things were a little confusing, but I think that’s due to the nature of the comic and that the two creators were working on this while being in school full time. Overall I’d give it 3 stars because I quite liked Volume 2, but I really didn’t like Volume 1.