This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s spring editorial intern Alexandrea Ciardella. Find her on Instagram at @a6ysma1. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
On BookTube, the book side of YouTube, author Jill Bearup has recently released her debut novel “Just Stab Me Now” earlier this month. Though hundreds of books get published and released every year, “Just Stab Me Now” is unique in the sense that the novel first began as a series of YouTube shorts. Since Bearup’s first post, which started as a one-off joke, she’s developed a whole world, a cast of characters, and a fleshed-out plot, to the point where her audience kept asking Bearup for the full-length novel. Now that the novel is here, it’s already been a big success in the few weeks that it’s been available. The book is witty and breaks the fourth wall more than a couple of times. Let’s do a Jill Bearup book review and discuss how the novel came to be.
On June 29th, 2022, Bearup posted her first short “When You Need a Fantasy Heroine”, portraying a comedic interaction between an author and her protagonist. Since then, dozens of short videos have been posted under the series “Fantasy Heroine”, as most of the conflicts arise between Rosamund, the main character and ‘fantasy heroine’, and Caroline, the author. Most of their arguments stem from Caroline’s stubbornness to create a perfect fantasy world despite inaccuracies in the plot, and Rosamund’s equal stubbornness not to comply with the author’s demands. Despite all of the arguments they get into, Caroline is determined to finish her book, and Rosamund is determined to save her world.
After posting her videos over the course of a few months, fans kept asking what book Bearup was referencing, wanting to read more about Rosamund and Caroline. Bearup decided that due to popular demand, she would attempt to write the novel for her audience. In the short excerpts Bearup provided to promote her novel, a lot of the plot is modeled after the structure of the shorts. Caroline is an author trying to write a romance book that she hopes will help skyrocket her to bestselling author while Rosamund is trying to stop a war from breaking out. Throughout the novel, Caroline interjects herself into conversations and situations to help steer them in the direction she wants them to go in, like an omniscient narrator with an attitude. Meanwhile, Rosamund is exasperated by Caroline’s increasingly ridiculous demands.
Bearup’s book release was a success- a Barnes & Noble bestseller even before the book was released! In the following week, preorders were fulfilled, and the book became available on sites such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Counting preorders from the multiple different platforms Bearup has released her novel on, the total number of books that were sold in the first week equaled over 25,000!
I recommend this book for people who love the fantasy genre, with a little bit of absurdist humor thrown in for good measure. Bearup achieved a goal that every writer strives for, and I only hope that her book continues to grow popular!
Did you enjoy our Jill Bearup book review? Leave a comment below if you’ve read ‘Just Stab Me Now’!
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