#Playing for keeps

[tilly-tittle]

I feel like this was very significant

RACHET NEVER REFUTES IT

WHICH HE EASILY COULD SINCE ALL HE TALKED TO RODDY ABOUT IS BASICALLY “I’m disappointed in you” SO IT MAKES IT SEEMS HE DOESN’T LIKE HIM

AND RACHET WOULD 100% RESPOND WITH “if that were the case than Rodimus wouldn’t have been on the list” BUT HE DIDN’T

WHICH MEANS HE SEES/STILL SEES RODIMUS AS A FRIEND (let me have this)

Like yes Ratchet voted against him after the Overlord debacle and berated him for how he handled the Brainstorm incident (Justice for Drift and all that) but I like to think he’d still miss Roddy.

Cause despite all his misgivings, he’s still the (co) captain and he’s the one who started the quest, and sure Drift bought the ship but I like to think it was Roddy that aspired to make it home.

And it was exactly that, or else Ratchet wouldn’t have tried so hard to get this goodbye “right”.

I just really need Rodimus and Ratchet to be friends TwT

[lgbtqreads]

Happy National Girls and Women in Sports Day 2025!

Happy National Girls and Women in Sports Day! In celebration, here are a whole bunch of books that center queer girls and women in sports! (For even more recs, check out these past posts!) Middle Grade It’s All or Nothing, Vale by Andrea Beatriz Arango All these months of staring at the wall? All these months of feeling weak? It’s ending— I’m going back to fencing. And then it’ll be like nothing…

[redcarpet-streetstyle]

[bangbangwhoa]

books I’ve read in 2024 📖 no. 141

Consider Me by Becka Mack

“Liv. Look at that man. I’ve never seen such a lovesick loser.”

[umakthurmans]

[yourenotdonefighting]

Happy ending, incoming. 🫶🏻

Natasha felt him smile against her skin just before rolling over onto the bed, tugging her with him so they were laying face-to-face on their sides. “What’s going on up there?”

“Don’t know what you mean,” she said, dipping her head to reach Steve’s collarbone. He groaned, his hands gripping her hips and pulling her flush against him for a brief moment before regaining control.

“Nat, talk to me,” he prompted gently, tipping her chin up with his index finger so they were eye-to-eye.

She sighed deeply and smiled, resting a palm against his bare chest, over his heart. “I promise you, Steve, nothing’s wrong.”

Steve eyed her skeptically, and Natasha couldn’t exactly blame him. Vulnerability had never come easily, though being with him made her feel like maybe someday it could.

“Ok, then, what is it?” he asked.

“I’m a little nervous… about today,” Natasha admitted, ducking her face into Steve’s shoulder. A light chuckle rumbled in his chest, reverberating into her, and she sighed happily.

“There’s absolutely nothing to be nervous about. These are our friends, our family.”

[punk-chicken-radio]

ax trax of the week

arcadia - say the word

randomly remembered this arcadia song the other day, and my SO looked aghast, like how dare i forget. sometimes it's hard living with an 80's master champion 😂

-ax

[banksreads]

[periodically80s]

[efexbe]

consider me by becka mack

[lgbtqreads]

Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Romances of 2024

Young Adult Okay, Cupid by Mason Deaver (January 2nd) As a cupid, Jude thinks they understand love a little bit more than the average human. It makes sense — Jude’s been studying love their whole teen life. And, yes, there have been some bumps in the road, and they’re currently on probation for doing something that they absolutely, definitely shouldn’t have done… but they’re ready to prove they…

[ominous-synths-records]

Life To Life - Pete Townshend

Listen to more by this artist!

Listen to more from this album!

[oopsallgoalies]

There’s something so rejuvenating about going back to the Playing for Keeps series since it so heavily influenced the SDDU. It almost feels like research in a way if not just pure inspiration and I’m so excited to get back to writing once I’m done with the book

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 3/5

Book Blurb: From the author of Some Girls Do comes another heartfelt YA sapphic romance—starring a baseball pitcher and a student umpire who are definitely not supposed to fall for one another.

“Sapphic sports romance perfection. Swoony and romantic, but unafraid to tackle grief, family expectations, and fighting for your dreams, this is a home run of a book.” —Rachael Lippincott, coauthor of the #1 New York Times Bestsellers Five Feet Apart and She Gets the Girl

June is the star pitcher of her elite club baseball team—with an ego to match—and she's a shoo-in to be recruited at the college level, like her parents have always envisioned. That is, if she can play through an overuse injury that has recently gone from bad to worse.

Ivy isn't just reffing to pay off her athletic fees or make some extra cash on the side. She wants to someday officiate at the professional level, even if her parents would rather she go to college instead. 

The first time they cross paths, Ivy throws June out of a game for grandstanding. Still, they quickly grow from enemies to begrudging friends . . . and then something more. But the rules state that players and umpires are prohibited from dating.

As June's shoulder worsens, and a rival discovers the girls' secret and threatens to expose them, everything the two have worked so hard for is at risk. Now both must choose: follow their dreams . . . or follow their hearts?

Review:

A baseball pitcher and an umpire fall for each other despite their differences and the fact that they are forbidden from dating. June is the star pitcher of her club baseball team and she's got the ego to match. She's readily on her way to being recruited at the college level. The only thing stopping her? Her little secret... her shoulder is injured and its only getting worse with every practice and game she plays. Ivy dreams about being an umpire for a soccer team, yet her reffing isn't going to pay for her athletic fees, so when she gets offered a job as a reff for a baseball team she takes the job. When Ivy and June's path's cross during a match, they have a pretty bad start (with June throwing a baseball at Ivy's head after Ivy calls her out, and then Ivy kicks her out of the game). Ivy and June start off as enemies but becoming begrudging friends... something more as they begin falling for each other. It's forbidden for them to be dating but they can't resist... and when a rival discovers their secret relationship and threatens to expose them, things only get more complicated. Can their relationship last or will it cost them everything they've ever worked for? This was an okay read for me. I wanted to like the romance more but I just felt that it was kinda meh and I just didn't really care for either of the characters all that much. The characters just felt a bit underdeveloped and i just wasn't all that attached to the story by the end. I do think that young adult readers will have fun with the sapphic sports romance though so I think you should check it out.

*Thanks Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group | G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[yourenotdonefighting]

Took me long enough, I know.

Just the epilogue to go after this!

She was about to close her eyes, happy to stay that way for as long as they could, when her gaze landed on a small velvet box at the foot of the bed. She squinted at it, as if that might help her understand what she was looking at, but somehow without even seeing its contents, she knew.

Steve must have felt her body tense against his, because he drew her back, a worry line creasing between his brows when he saw the wide-eyed look on her face.

“What’s wrong?”

Natasha doesn’t answer him, just stepped out of his hold and over to the bed, taking the small box in her hand. Through the buzzing in her head, she heard Steve whisper a quiet “Shit” at her back.

“What is this?” she asked, not turning to face him. She can’t. Her feet won’t move, and her eyes refuse to focus on anything other than the box in her palm.

Steve exhaled a long sigh then he was at her side. She could feel his hand hovering at the small of her back, not quite touching her, like he was afraid of what might happen if he does. “You can open it,” he said, and she relaxed back into him when his hand finally closed around her waist.

For a long moment, she didn’t do anything except stare at the box. She didn’t know if she was ready to find out whether or not she was right about what was inside. But the solid presence of the man behind her, the man she had, twice now, fallen irrevocably in love with, compelled her. She squeezed her eyes shut and tipped the lid back, taking a few calming breaths.