#Something Unavoidable

[shey-elizabeth]

NEW RELEASE!!! Something Unavoidable is out now on Amazon and in KU!!

In Something Unavoidable, we finally get Izzy’s story. Izzy showed up halfway through book one and readers have been asking for his book ever since! He’s wild, sassy, and a little bit broken under his fun-loving exterior. He and Keegan, Split Rock’s grumpy, jaded vet, are like pieces of two different puzzles that inexplicably fit together–at least, they will once they get over how much they can’t stand each other…

💜 Age gap

💜 Small town

💜 Hurt/comfort

💜 Enemies to lovers

💜 Touch-starved

💜 Mental health rep

💜 K*nky elements

💜 I-strongly-dislike-you-but-want-you-anyway (not hate) sex

Get Something Unavoidable here: https://mybook.to/QwO5

Izzy King has a reputation. He's the wild one. The fun one. The one who does what he wants. And if he’s a little broken under his fun-loving façade, well, that’s nobody’s business—especially not Split Rock Ranch’s long-time vet, Dr. Keegan Reid. That guy is the worst. Izzy keeps his distance—that is, until his boss decides they need to work together to care for a group of rescue horses. Whatever. Izzy will do what he does best and ignore the situation until it goes away.

Keegan Reid knows what he wants. He’s happy with his practice, his dogs, his cabin, and volunteering with the local animal rescue. What he doesn’t need is chaos—and Izzy King is chaos incarnate. Yet somehow, that doesn’t prevent him from picking up the verbal gauntlet every time Izzy throws it down. There’s something about Izzy that won’t let him turn the other cheek.

Izzy and Keegan might fight like cats and dogs—but everyone knows that high emotions often hide explosive chemistry. Keegan thinks they’d be a good fit if Izzy gave him a chance. But apparently, that old saying about leading a horse to water also applies to stubborn ranch hands. Izzy’s got a past that makes him prone to bolting, and Keegan needs to decide if he wants to tame another feral creature.

Something Unavoidable is book six in the Split Rock Ranch series. It includes an age gap, sass and banter, smoking chemistry, and two guys who don’t hate each other as much as they think they do. It can be read as a standalone but the series is best read in order.

[hannaedits]

Five-Star Reads for December 2024

[klaxxi]

...the worst feeling is the sensation like you're back at the start of another cycle. you've seen the same thing happen again and again, and the end result hurts just as bad.

sure, it improves each time. you know that logically, and time does move forward. it's never EXACTLY the same

but boy does it feel it

[pidgydraws]

🥂 focus 🥂

[doverstar]

can't express accurately how happy it makes me that c.s. lewis did not leave room for many interpretations in narnia. it's christian and you can't get around it. susan chose to care more about worldly things than what matters and he said what he said. the lion is Jesus. evil is evil and good is good and people have to choose. and that makes some readers angry because it's nearly impossible to ignore and they want to ignore it. they want it to be something else and they can't make it something else without making it not narnia. love that. that is doing it right

[neigepomme]

caleb is your #1 fan so it you ever say something self-deprecating around him? trust me he'll make you apologize and cringe out real bad but in a really sweet way.

you'll comment on one of your insecurities and his head will slowly turn to look at you and he'll hit you with "that wasn't a very nice thing to say to the love of my life. you should apologize." and you're laughing at first because you think he's being dramatic. but no. no, he's not laughing. as a matter of fact, that man is dragging you in front of a reflective surface and saying, "that's one of my favorite parts of my pipsqueak. please apologize"

and you do, because caleb is Actually being deadass. it's cringe because you have to stare at your own reflection and be like, ".. i'm sorry i called your feature ugly..?" but if you push past the initial wave of embarrassment, it's really sweet how caleb cares and loves every single part of you, even those you think are flawed.

[cvl-kestis]

i'm also very annoyed about how the symbolism of cassian's character was handled throughout this season. in rogue one and going into season two, the great tragedy of cassian was that he was no one at all -- destined to go unremembered and never live to see the world he gave everything to create. he had been through hell and back not because it had to be that way but because he was brave enough to choose hell in hopes that it might make a better tomorrow. and then he was wiped off the map and the men who destroyed the death star using the plans he stole never knew his name.

according to andor season two, though, cassian was always meant to be on scarif because he's a "messenger." he has lampshaded plot armor until he can die the way he was born to die, because it was always his destiny to make sure those plans made it off that base. also, he is survived by his partner and a child he never knew about, solidifying his legacy. this... is silly. it is beyond noble for cassian to make the willing choice to be forgotten in service of a greater cause. i'm much less compelled if the story is about cassian unintentionally being dragged to his death by fate and then getting remembered as a hero.

[icecreampizzer]

normal guys. guess who started listening to tma finally. slowly going through season 2 rn please no spoilerss

[bookwyrminspiration]

🌟🎉Keepblr Wrapped 2024 🎉🌟

thanks for your patience and contributions! i've tried my best to get a good overview, but if I've missed anything you feel crucial, please do add on :)

this year was quite eventful. here's a few highlights (not in order):

Fintan Pyren won Keeper sexyman for the second year in a row

Sal (worldsunlikemyown) created a script for the Enlightened language!

Shannon announced we'd have a 9.5 instead of book 10, to mixed reviews

Unraveled's cover was revealed, and everyone tore into it. Is Keefe actually attractive? The world may never know

Tam cam. featuring months of about 10,000 different fake blogs, detectives, and accusations--to the point it needed it's own separate tag

wiityispb won the best kotlc quote bracket!

we started translating wiityispb into several languages (Punjabi) (Arabic) (Nahuatl) (Hindi) (French) (there's more, too)

people started making bingo cards for Unraveled

a handful of people tried to get kotlc trending, absolutely flooding the tag and rendering it unusable for a day or two

Lavacake (marella x fitz), and the ship name arguments it started

Roisin (camelspit) hosted a skribbli.io session!

abscourse, the neverending debate about whether Keefe has abs (he shouldn't), which also dragged asscourse back to light (whether fintan pyren has a fat or flat ass (it's flat))

Lady Cadence won the 2024 Keeper Sexywoman bracket!

the Fairy Tale AU Exchange! featuring 54 lovely works you should peruse <3

a second event, the Keeper Big Bang 2024! find the works under the ao3 collection and by perusing the keeper big bang 2024 tag!

kotlc and keepblr's Fanlore pages are now being updated by Catherine! (everliving-everblaze)

there were also several themed weeks, such as Ancients Week and Tiertice Week 2024!

the infamous Anti-Keefe Rant by Stria (the-way-astray)

Hethen, Elwin x Gethen, which also sparked ship name arguments

we tormented @/do-you-ship-this-book-couple with a million kotlc ships

Fitz Vacker won the best keeper character 2024 bracket!

During said bracket, Quil (bookwyrminspiration) developed a severe, ongoing loathing for Watson the Dog, which people torment it about to this day

We got brand new official art by chrissabug!

like half the fandom was accused of being Katie (myfairkatiecat)

Roisin (camelspit) hosted another year of Roisin's Reading Rumble!

Strieefe, the pairing between Stria (the-way-astray) and her least favorite character, Keefe Sencen. Now with 21 (and counting) different fics, 8 artworks, and 2 songs!!

A few Unraveled scenes leaked, sending the fandom into a panic--half from the contents of the leak, half from the scramble to avoid said contents

Quil (bookwyrminspiration) drew krocs, which Fin (fintan-pyren) actually made

Unraveled, book 9.5, was officially published!! (Quil, bookwyrminspitation's, notes from the tour) with canonical queer characters!! the fandom took this very well.

They did not take the timeline well. There were many debates about when the series takes place given pop culture references in 9.5

Finally, we started transing several characters genders again! Notably, Laith Vacker

This brings 2024 to a close, leaving us all still riding the high (low?) of Unraveled. Jesus fuck, y'all. what a year. can't wait to do it again <3

[serpentface]

Classic nechoi spear-hunting scene.

One of the few activities Hibrides and Janeys do alone together entirely of their own free will is hunting.

Hunting is a common pastime of nobility, most significantly in the form of extravagant multi-day social events (of which the hunt itself is only a partial component) carried out by men and dozens of dogs and attended by their wives, children, servants, as well as musicians and cooks. These hunts have functions in social networking and political maneuvering, showing off wives and dogs and khait and wealth, forging ties, maintaining allyships, and slighting rivals (particularly in the division and distribution of any captured game).

Janeys periodically attends these hunts when invited (it's rude to decline) and Hibrides is obligated to come along, and both are rather private people and not particularly fond of these high pressure, highly performative events in the public eye. Janeys DOES like hunting in of itself and frequently goes out by himself, and Hibrides often comes with him. Bringing her along started as a way to make going out alone look more normal (ie 'you bring your wife along on hunts that's what you do I'm not just going out by myself because I'm intimidated by other people this is a normal activity'), but it’s not really about that at this point.

Hibrides likes being able to get outside far away from her day to day life, being both away from the home and away from other people. Janeys just doesn't like being around most people but hates being alone. There's also a level of catharsis for both of them in doing an activity that would normally require tremendous amounts of social performance on their part, but instead being able to be completely straightforward and real with everything: their marriage is bullshit, they don't like each other at all, and they DO both like the killing of mid-sized animals with spears. In this specific situation, both of them kind of Do enjoy each other's company (in a sort of complicated way).

(Hibrides is also fairly certain that at some point Janeys is going to get maimed or killed while trying to take down boar nechoi alone, and would love to be there to see it.)

[boxheadpaint]

Heres your look into my personal life. i like movie posters but i dont like having images looking at me. when im in the bathroom and theres a magazine with a persons face on it facing the photographer i cover it up with something to block their eyes. when my threshold is low ill do it with youtube videos too. i dont need you to see what im doing or how im acting out. I dont need to have someone whose only context in that moment is a nice picture , and they can think that im strange and stupid or moving strangely. I turn the book face down and i put the phone screen down, Leave me the fuck alone

[ferrouswheel11]

The moment that made Bruce the man he is today was the moment his parents were murdered in the alley. He thinks that that moment for Tim had or will have to do with the deaths of his parents as well, like it was for him, for Dick, for Jason, all children whose lives were changed forever by tragedy. He doesn't realize that that moment for Tim was a decade ago at Haly's Circus.

Bruce thinks that he and his mission are the poison, that prolonged exposure will eventually drag Tim down into the darkness he resides in (or worse, like it did to Jason). He thinks of the child he once was, remembers that he became the Bat so that no other child might be suffer that same loss, that same transformation that he has. He doesn't realize that Tim's path was set from the very first day he can remember.

Tim doesn't know how to be any different. How to be anything other than a boy who deduced Batman's secret identity by accident. A boy whose heroes inspired him to become a detective, to pick up computer skills, to learn to fight. A boy who cared enough about two strangers at the circus to risk his life for them a decade later.

Becoming Robin was just the culmination. Becoming Robin is when everything that made Tim Tim started to make sense. The night in the alley was the night Bruce’s life changed, but that night at the circus was the night Tim’s life began.

[kelocitta]

In honor of the @rw-ship-showdown I wanted to write about Artihunter as someone who jokingly slapped them together pre-downpour and still thinks they are actually very compelling. Just not in the super soft love wins kinda way (Although I get why people like that more) And the only way I know how to do that is talking too much so heres a far too long slug essay-

Obviously the slugcats don't offer a ton of characterization but theres not nothing to work with. Their stories, whether by their roles in it or the overarching themes do provide a backbone to work with. Even gameplay itself can provide a bit. (for some more than others) Hunter, to me, is ultimately a story about selflessness. The goal is to revive Moon, which is very much an act of kindness from both Hunter and NSH. But the weight of that action is much more significant for Hunter- Hunter is deeply sick. They're on the clock, and for all their skill in combat none of that will ultimately help them to survive longer than their body can hold out. Moon is a close friend of NSH but that means little Hunter- Hunter really gets next to nothing out of helping them, and ultimately pays quiet a bit spending their limited time alive fighting to deliver that neuron so that someone else can live.

To spend ones limited days on helping another, in a game that very much stresses the unwavering cruelty of the world and nature- is pretty notable. (And you could even say that Hunter being the Hardmode of Rain World adds another layer to this)

And then we have Artificer. A storyline that very much stands out to people as more… villainous (so to speak) than the other slugcats. Artificer's story covers a lot of things. Trauma, violence, revenge, etc. Revenge is a bit of a selfish desire- That need to see someone hurt as they have hurt you. A punishment that ultimately does not fix whatever harm was done- but feels good to see because you were hurt and now those responsible share that pain.

Artificer's actions are founded in that need for revenge, their pups killed for overstepping boundaries they didn't know existed. Is it not fair for them to be angry at that, to punish the scavengers for their violence with their own? Why should the scavengers ever be forgiven when they and their pups were not? And that's how you get that loop- Harm for harm over and over.

The original action has been lost in a spiral of violence for violence. And here stands Artificer- their very spirit scarred. Not just because they sought revenge, but because they never ceased trying to scratch that itch for violence as an answer. Artificer only has two paths for their story- killing the scavenger king (Someone who, really, has little to do with the original 'crime' of the scavengers, but represents an important individual to them- as did the slugpups to Artificer), locking themselves as karma one for good and spending the rest of their life chasing creatures that no longer even fight back in a warped sense of closure- or to dissolve themselves in the acids of the void sea because they're too far gone to find any real peace.

They can't meaningfully recover from that state, not alone, twisting in on themselves. Even if they halt their actions, they've been using violence as a feeble defense against their own pain- violence that no longer has any real direction or basis. Artificer gets no real closure from killing the scavenger king. All they can do is continue the cycle, or try to scrub it away. No real peace in a prison of their own making. So you have a creature, who even with a strict timer on their life- a body that will crumble to disease, spends its last bit of time on saving another. And another who was so caught up in the pain of loss that were eaten alive by their own anger, poisoned their own soul on such a deep level even self-proclaimed gods have no solution for them. What peace can they offer each other? For Hunter, its only a fleeting moment of happiness- of selfish love, before their own body fails them. A bit of indulgence in something for themself. For Artificer, its a single, comforting thread to ground them again, something tangible to protect and care about again. But thats a thread that will ultimately be snapped under the cruel indifference of the world. Hunters timer will tick down regardless of if it takes another with it. Its a tragedy- its doomed to end badly. Whatever good it offers to either of them to find each other will only provide the fleeting comfort of a band-aid that will be ripped away too early. But all that can be worth indulging in anyway, if only for the moment. It doesn't change the ending, but the ending was never going to be happy. Its can so yuri

[nadiajustbe]

Howl absolutely steals Megan's earrings and I am not explaining this.

[buggitino]

more headcanons about sebastian solace from the hit game pressure roblox

back on my bullshit and i promise i only talk about The Situation a little bit

☆ his third arm is more sensitive than the other two (i'm thinking that either the USHD doctors fucked something up during the operation OR it grew in wrong, nerve endings closer to the epidermis and whatnot, something like that)

☆ just hates being touched in general, he’d rather initiate that contact (need an update where he gently —> not very gently shakes expendables off (depending on whether and how much they’ve annoyed/flashbanged him) when they climb him) ☆☆ part of this is due to trauma, he cant trust anyone to touch him without hurting him ☆☆ the other part is that he’s got that fucking dawg in him (i’ll get to this in a second)

☆ unlike what his new voice lines are starting to suggest about his character (i’m not gonna talk about zerum again because i think everyone knows what's happening at this point and ive already thrown in my two cents) he does NOT hate the expendables. literally his first line upon meeting him in his shop has him calling himself your friend (as strained of a connection as it may be, he could very easily not offer items, not share documentation/info, and just take the expendables data and hoard anything he picks up to make it harder for them to get to the crystal) (like yes, it's a mutually beneficial relationship but if sebastian didn't care about or sympathize with the expendables to some extent, it wouldn't be). i really do think he just has a short fuse (i'm not going to bring up trauma again, however-) and says things he doesn't mean (e.g. “they deserved it. and frankly so do the rest of you.” (im coping with the mischaracterization of these new lines leave me alone)) as a means of protecting himself and pushing the expendables further away (both physically and emotionally)

☆ he’ll act like a brat once they’re done, but he lets younger expendables sleep in his shop (he cares about them but would never in a million years let them know that) ☆☆ if a younger one comes in with a bunch of adult expendables, he’ll treat them all the same but will secretly slip the younger one some extra batteries, gauze, something unnoticeable (he feels especially responsible for the younger male expendables cause they remind him of his little brother)

☆ sometimes he thinks he can hear his family's voices on the radio, just under all the static, calling out for him like a search party would. he used to cry over this but he almost got caught once by an expendable coming into the shop so he does his best to tune it out. it’s hard. guilt pulls at his stomach every time he hears a clip of his family, begging for him to come home, to respond, something, anything, and he ignores it.

☆ autism (cause i said so) - i'm including this one for the sole reason that he does the dinosaur thing with his third arm and generally keeps his hands clasped together in the secret dinosaur position (he just like me fr) ☆☆ hates bright lights (the only light he uses/allows in his shop is the one he emits) (its a very soft/warm hue as opposed to the bright fluorescents throughout the rest of the facility) (not to bring up the flash beacon, obviously nobody likes getting flashbanged and he's got angler eyes but sTILL)

☆ he used to hate eating fish (pre-op) and now he’s pissed cause it’s all he has available and the DNA changes made it so fish is the yummiest tastiest thing in the world (i like imagining him actively fighting the urge to eat whatever fish he’s cooked in one bite cause he refuses to acknowledge that he's changed on a level that isn't physical/appearance-based)

☆ calls grown adults “kiddo” (even the ones that are older than him) ☆☆ he gets a certain kind of joy from seeing the 40/50/60 year old expendables try to figure out just how old he is after they get called “kiddo”. it’s extra fun for him when they’ve clearly already heard the rumors and/or gotten a glimpse of his file

☆ the ring is just an accessory, a bracelet on the floor or in a locker he found and liked. assumed nobody was gonna claim it and kept it (shoutout to @/lotus.eaterr on tik tok for this one!!!!)

[artbyblastweave]

The news montage sequence from Batman Vs Superman remains, to this day, one of my favorite three minutes of superhero fiction