#Library Wives

[rosalie-starfall]

The Aunts

Gunpowder Milkshake (2021)

[viskiaa]

[luxaofhesperides]

OUR WIVES UNDER THE SEA

miri + leah

[clandestinegardenias]

Homegrown homemade chamomile ginger tea that SLAPS

[mashmouths]

bedazzled baby tee that says I ❤️ MY LOCAL LIBRARY

[larkbunny]

Crowley is actually quite a fan of Xena: Warrior Princess

[brenna]

In a Drawer & Out of View

Fandom: Good Omens | Relationship: Aziraphale/Crowley | Category: F/F | Rating: T | Chapters 4/4 | Words: 5,991 | Author: scullyphile

photo credit : peganum from Small Dole, England - Back garden, CC BY-SA 2.0

Summary:

Aziraphale came to apply for a nanny position, but by the time she got there it was filled. There was, however, still an opening for a gardener. The only problem? She had a black thumb. After she got the job, Aziraphale learned she'd be sharing a cottage with the nanny, who also happened to know a thing or two about plants. They decided to tend the garden and raise the child together. An arrangement of sorts. The Warlock Dowling years if the ineffables were human women.

read on ao3

Written for the Ineffable Secret Angel and Demon Exchange 2024 for @jesmalestiel

Thank you to my lovely betas and besties: @on1occasionfork & @kneelbeforeyourdogbabylon

Goblin Mention: @goodomensafterdark

Tags and excerpt below the cut:

Tags: Nanny Crowley, Gardener Aziraphale, Alternate Universe - Human, Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Ineffable Wives, Godparents, Light Angst, Happy Ending, First Kiss, Cuddling

Excerpt: She had nowhere to go, no other prospects, and, frankly, this job was her last chance for a roof over her head. If it didn’t work out, she’d be back to spending her days in the library searching for employment and her nights on friends’ couches.  When one of the staff had mentioned that the Dowlings were still looking for a gardener, her ears had perked up at the opportunity. Surely this position would also include room and board? Aziraphale was willing to take her chances for a shot at a real bed, and set about making a new plan. In her satchel, she had two versions of her CV. The first had been edited to showcase relevant work history for the nanny job. The other was a more generic version with a wider variety of skills and occupations. None of them applied to gardening, but she fabricated a plant-related hobby as she walked, pulling words from conversations she’d had with her friend Muriel, who had a lot of houseplants (ones they no longer allowed Aziraphale to take care of when they were out of town, not since she’d nearly killed them all). “I helped my mother with her garden when I was younger. Thought of myself as a guardian. Gardenian?” she rambled, trying on the pun for size. Mrs Dowling’s mouth crinkled like she’d tasted something unpleasant, so Aziraphale kept talking. “In any case, I made sure animals didn’t eat the plants, rabbits and the like, you know. I took it entirely too seriously and learned a lot from my mother about plants that way.” It was partially true. Aziraphale had often been in the back garden, playing with a toy sword. She’d been too lost in her imagination to worry about the plants at the time, however. And the game had lost its appeal when she no longer had the sword. She’d given it away to a girl in class who was being bullied.  But Mrs Dowling didn’t need to know any of that. 

continue on ao3

[hauntingmiser]

Why the hell do I imagine maruki explaining the Tumblr sexymen tournaments while roland just watches him ramble about it.

Maruki : I connected the dots!

Roland : you didn't connect shit.

Maruki : OF COURSE I DID ROLAND. OF COURSE I DID!

[hatefulbread]

our wives under the sea by julia armfield

3.75/5 stars.

***some spoilers in describing the end plot! read with caution.

i wanted and still want to give this book 5 stars, and perhaps i will come back and do just that after the ending digests a little more.

notable quotes that i'm still ruminating on;

"...the error in my reasoning was to assume that alone was somewhere you could go, rather than somewhere you had to be left."

"standing on the edge, i could feel it. the chill of the air, aching to become something else."

"when you stop underreacting, the horror is unique because it is, unfortunately, endless."

"...most things we believe will turn out to be ridiculous in the end."

our two narrators are miri and leah, a married (wlw!!! <3) couple who seem to live a very normal life. miri deals with a job that's unfulfilling and leaves her bored, leah struggles with cleaning up after herself, they have inconsiderate upstairs neighbors who blast game show TV at ungodly hours in the morning... this norm changes when leah, a marine biologist, is assigned to go on a 3-week-long research trip into the depths of the ocean. neither miri nor leah bat an eye at this, as leah often goes on trips for semi-long periods of time. but after 3 weeks and no leah, miri starts to spiral into numbness without her. after 5 months and no leah, miri starts to believe leah is dead. after 6 months, leah finally returns, horrifically changed and reluctant to talk. she spends her days soaking in the bath, craving copious amounts of salt, and not leaving the apartment. eventually, grotesque things start happening to leah's body, but she refuses to seek help. miri is jolted into even more loneliness with leah back than when she was gone. trying to piece together what happened to leah in those 6 months of being stranded in that submarine, we watch leah succumb to her unknown experience, and miri accept that the woman she loves has become a completely different person.

this book is painstakingly beautiful. the writing is unmatched. i've never been left sobbing by so many chapter closings. the way armfield writes the two narrators differing perspectives per chapter is so exact; it's still armfield in her gorgeous, poetic capture of grief-- but it's also miri... and it's also leah. she so wonderfully executes the way these two describe their experiences, every little difference they have is so obvious. miri's voice is miri's voice, leah's is so completely leah's. many author's struggle to capture the difference in character voice when writing in such a way, but armfield has mastered it.

for all the shivering prose this book brought, i felt unsatisfied with the ending. i understood why miri was led to do what she did (trying not to spoil too much), that was very clear and well justified. but i wanted to know EXACTLY!!! what happened to leah in that submarine in this way-> WHY was she physically changing, did miri and juna ever find out, where did the centre go, what happened to matteo? there were a lot of loose ends i think should have been tied up before closing this story out, and that is the ONLY thing i didn't love.

feelings;// heartbreak, loneliness, isolation, reluctance, acceptance.

[swallowedabug]

9 books for 2025, tagged by @kshaar

LEENA KROHN | Tainaron

JULIA ARMFIELD | Our Wives Under the Sea

JEFF VANDERMEER | Hummingbird Salamander

NEKO CASE | The Harder I Fight the More I Love You: A Memoir

GREGORY MAGUIRE | Son of a Witch

KAMERON HURLEY | The Stars Are Legion

CARMEN MARIA MACHADO | Her Body and Other Parties

MARINA & SERGEY DYACHENKO | Vita Nostra

CHANA PORTER | The Seep

tagging @diasdelasombra, @strangesmallbard, @duckuwu and i think everyone else who i wanted to tag has already posted their 9 books

[dramas-vs-novels]

What game were you playing?

It's called The Roottrees are Dead.

You're a geneologist who is contacted after a devastating crash kills several members of this billionaire family called The Roottrees. A mysterious person gives you a huge list of names and asks you to complete a family tree, with a particular emphasis on blood relatives.

You have a basic 1998-era computer with a search engine, library access, and a periodicals database, and you have to figure out what to search and how to link clues to form a family tree.

This is an example of the notes I was keeping the first little bit of the game. You can see how webby it gets. You have to search anything mentioned- companies, books, movies, magazines, they all lead to more information. Hell, the co-stars in shows and movies lead to other connections on the family tree.

[the-bear-and-his-sunbird]

I was tagged by @dymme thank you so much <3

Put your music library on shuffle, then list the first five songs that come up in a poll to let people vote for which one they like the most! Then tag Tumblr friends to keep the game going!

I

I must say I do not have the energy right now, so please please please (!!!) if you see this and you want to, feel tagged! Yes, you. Feel tagged and tell me what beautiful things you are listening to!!

Also @fireheartedpup. I am sorry but I am really curious.

[whitefriartuck]

So Lelith Hesperax: Queen of Knives is really just a Catra/Adora arc speedrun

10/10 best Black Library novel in years.

(I intended to read it sooner but i put another book on top of it and thus erased it from existence)

[asurrogateblog]

devastated that I will never be able to read the unpublished pink floyd book that they prevented from being released because it would quote "reveal certain indiscretions"

[thestepfordwivespoemingoctober]