#hmmm what to read next

[moonpaw]

unfortunately im getting bored with the lord of the rings books... gotta find something else to read

[shrews-art]

I could write a whole essay about how Victor Vale and Kell Maresh are two sides of the same coin, opposites yet somehow similar when it comes to their relationship with pain

[neverlearnedtoread]

Spinning Silver

⭐⭐⭐⭐; the staryk king and mirnatius with the word 'wife' on the board: there's only one thing more horrible than a wife.... *rips off paper* MY wife

Oh?? 👌😉😏

women are fucking amazing and wonderful and terrifying and unequivocal badasses. especially to their husbands. it's about the fantasy of a marriage you have no control over being perfectly suited to you in ways you didn't even know it could

inhuman fae creatures that actually have a separate culture and set of rules they are governed by. they're much more powerful than humans, of course, but they are bound to their laws, and if you're smart you can work with that

fairytale-esque magic system that relies heavily on (1) trickery (2) Having Audacity and (3) the rule of threes 😉. we love a soft magic system that rewards big swings and BDE!

not one, but TWO separate arranged marriages engaged in HEATED pvp AKA two people bound in hostile matrimony trying to kill each other while having 'wait, are they hot? fuck!' moments

you can be cold and practical and still be a good person. you can be strong enough to protect yourself without sacrificing others. with a good enough grasp of contracts you can force a demon to leave your kingdom AND husband unharmed in a 2-for-1 deal

No.. ❌🤢🤮

multiple POVs with no names for chapter titles so you have to figure out who it is from context clues - if you're like me and love a little puzzle to go with your reading time, you'll really enjoy it (Novik does it VERY well) but if you get confused easily or don't wanna put in the brainpower its annoying and overly complicated

if you don't like enemies-to-lovers where they actually argue and are ideologically opposed, you're not gonna enjoy the romance subplots. this is not a 'forbidden-lovers' kinda enemies-to-lovers. this is firmly in the 'my husband misses me a lot - but his aim is getting better!' zone

really quick wrap up - it gets tied up a little too fast after the final confrontation with the Big Bad. i wouldve liked at least to have irina POV at the end because her side of things just. gets left hanging

Summary: Miryem is a daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, and though her father doesn't have the hardheartedness to be a good one, she'd rather be despised for what she's owed than starve. Her knack for the trade, coupled with her sharp tongue, draws the ire of her village, and even more alarmingly, the Staryk's attentions; faerie creatures who only covet gold, they take her offhanded boast that she can turn silver into gold quite literally, and show up at her door to hold her true to her careless words - which, honestly, kind of backfires on them when she rises to the challenge and upends their realm into complete disarray, so maybe there's a lesson there for the next group of nonhumans to learn: don't bet the house against a human girl whose Had Enough Of All This Bullshit. She might win.

Concept: 💭💭💭 I don't know Rumpelstiltskin's story very well, and Ice Kingdom aesthetics aren't my favourite (you can blame it on my residual dislike of Frozen), but I DID read Uprooted before this. I wasn't as into the book blurb as I was with Uprooted, but I'm an experienced (and opinionated) enough reader to know when to trust my gut - if I find an author's writing style easy to read, and I enjoy how they handle their themes, I'm not afraid of diving into deep waters. If it's that bad, I can always DNF

Execution: 💥💥💥💥 As I've come to expect with Novik's writing, a wonderfully easy read; the storytelling voice flows smoothly and makes me want to keep on reading. No slogging through difficult to understand passages and too slow pacing for me! I instantly wanted to collect every POV character like puppies in a basket, no matter how brief their sections were. I will say the ending does forget what it wants to say and simply ends on a happy note, instead of a complete thought. It doesn't tie in the POV characters together strongly enough - I would've loved to see an epilogue scenes with the 3 main female characters supporting each other, or at least being three distinct Bad Bitches!

Personal Enjoyment: ❤❤❤❤❤ Mostly because of Irina and Miryem (and Wanda)'s absolute BDE. They truly brought their stories to life and felt very dynamic, constantly driving the story forward through their actions, especially because their personalities and characteristics were so well-suited to the challenges they faced (Miryem rules-lawyering the Staryk, Irina taking to politics, Wanda keeping faith despite all the shit she's been through). Honorary shoutout to the complete hilarity of Mirnatius's POV (though ultimately it IS more indulgence than necessity, I respect Novik for it) - may he spend the rest of his life desperately drawing his wife in vain search of her bad angles!

Favourite Moment: the running gag of mirnatius losing his fucking mind trying to prove irina isn't hot. you know that post that's like 'find a blorbo to draw and your art skills will start improving so much faster'? irina is his blorbo. special mention of the scene he gets jealous realizing a random guard has a crush on his behated wife and immediately jumps to the conclusion that irina would want to fuck the guard for the sake of the kingdom. babygirl the hoops you are jumping........where is this gymnastics routine even going 😭 this man is not beating the meow meow allegations..

Favourite Character: It's really a tie between Miryem and Irina, who are both so similar yet different at the same time. Miryem's BDE was enjoyably explosive - she throws it in everyone's face, which is perfect to play off of the Staryk's otherworldly impassiveness. Irina's BDE was a lot more...steely. Quietly coming into her own as she realized how adept she was at politics, and how perfectly well-suited that made her to being tsarina - and when they finally met each other? it was so funny when were like 'hey...why dont we kill our husbands via pokemon battle??'

[lonicera-edulis]

Behold! 'Tis I, the mysterious Bagginshield Cryptid, returned from the deep woods and here to visit you with another Bagginshield question. . . What is your favourite headcanon?

The question puts me in stupor truly 🤯 I can't make a list when thinking of it. But I prefer how Sansûkh handles them, over what any Everyone-Lives-AU can offer (just because I don't want to throw away LOTR storyline and like some suffering I suppose, and Thorin needed a few decades of therapy before getting into a relationship xD). But it doesn't mean I don't like these AUs ☝️ And I haven't read enough stories to know/remember of more headcanons I am afraid. Sorry for this awkward answer, brain bad 😵‍. But hopefully some headcanonny things are seen through my art.

[we-love-morioh-cho]

Hmm 🌝

[soot-and-salt]

8. Did you cut something out of the outline or an early draft? What was it and why did you decide to cut it?

I guess I'm asking about WSBE as a whole. Also would be interested what your favourite installment is so far (for any reason, vibes included!)

<3

Henchy, my dear!!!

(Question from this list of fanfic author questions - come ask me more!)

8. Did you cut something out of the outline or an early draft? What was it and why did you decide to cut it?

Ahahahah... hah..... ha..... oh god. I said it earlier, I plotted this whole series embarrassingly, pathetically late in actually writing it and it caused a lot of stuff to get cut. A whole installment, in fact. There was a different part three that I actually posted and deleted after a few hours because it just didn't feel RIGHT. Thankfully, some parts of it will show up later, but the stuff in it didn't feel EARNED yet. I didn't realize at the time that it was just out of place in the timeline of the story, because the story didn't have a timeline yet. Because I have no idea what I'm doing.

I will say there was a scene in an early draft with the hotel experiencing a black out which freaked everyone out and Lucifer had to try and fix. I was going to use it as a way to shove him and Alastor together but it didn't work. The vibes of it became the elevator scene in WSBE 5, which I think definitely worked better. Plus, writing a black out? Nightmare. Never again.

And as for your bonus question, I think my favorite installment right now is definitely WSBE 6: Forever Yours, Noctural Me just because I love the dream scenes so much. Gothic heroine Lucifer! C'mon!

I'm also deeply fond of WSBE 2: A Taste Of The Divine because I just really like the vibes in it. The grand ball, them dancing together, the scene in the office, Alastor drinking his blood. I was like caffeinated up to the gills writing it and it fires on all cylinders.

Henchy, as always, you are wonderful. <3

[miyakuli]

It’s been months I haven’t read any books; I used to read in transports in the past but with my current work I have less travel to do, and I have trouble to read at night bcs it makes me fall asleep x’)

I read a lot online but I missed holding a book in my hands so I tried to get back to it, so I chose the book that inspired one of my most favorite movie, Howl’s Moving Castle <3333

It was super charming and quite different in the ambiance; more energetic and more humorous touches. And boy, Sophie has such a strong personality in it xD and that’s nice she is not just a simple girl (no spoil), that gave her more depth. The witch of the waste is also much more cruel and intimidating in this one (her goal is horrible, uhhh) I also like how the universe is more detailed with objets, places and spells that weren’t in the movie!

Something I couldn’t get used to though is the french name they gave to Howl, “Hurle” >< it sounds like the conjugated verb “hurler” that means “scream” XD so I always had the impression Howl was screaming all the time lol at the same time it matched his more chaotic personality in the book x)

I had to say but I think Miyazaki sublimated the story <3 it moved me more with the poetry of it and how the relationship between Howl and Sophie developed (in the book I found their romance appears too suddenly at the end). Also, I think the theme of self-confidence is better represented too (just the fact that Sophie breaks the spell as her own as she learns to love herself, that only is for me the best message). I also think the end of the book is super rushed (o.o)’ I was a bit confused haha

I’m glad I went back to read with this book and it’s been so long I meant to read it so now I can say I know both book and movie x)

[myloveforhergoeson]

wait omg july 1 i get to post my june reading round up :)))

[dykeandballs]

!

[daz4i]

apparently when I'm up for 20 hours straight and try to post i forget chunks of words at a time and miss entire sentences so nothing makes sense. i am so sorry

[last-answer]

hmhmm thinking abt my highschool assigned reading books

[bunnihearted]

the truth is that 98% of ppl who have children should not have children. most ppl arent fit to raise them, and dont even really want them themselves. everybody just fucks like rabbits and breed like cockroaches and it's vile and repulsive. ppl are repugnant and there is no real or logical reason that the entire world should be littered with "humans". it's so fucking gross.

[neverendingford]

.

[frecht]

warm up today in illustration was to say something about our thoughts on book illustration/an illustrated book that has inspired us and i spent 3 minutes giving the most nonsense ramble of all time and then had to define middle grade as an age group bc i forgot that not everyone is always thinking about books and publishing

[pseudowho]

Kento was often quiet, but, swirling his whiskey over dinner, his silence hung heavy with words unspoken. You looked up at him, reading, shrewd.

"...what's up?"

"Hm? Ah, nothing."

"Uh-uh. Out with it, Kento."

Kento put his fork down, his brows furrowing. He plaited his fingers in front of his chin, resting on them.

"Would you...be upset if I had a work wife?"

You chewed, hmmm-ing aloud.

"Well, that depends. Do you think she actually has romantic feelings for you?"

"...no."

"If you talk about me, is she ever disrespectful? Like she wants to replace me?"

"Not at all."

"Do you like her?"

"...yes. She's a good woman."

"Oh, okay. Does she give you secret blowjobs in the storecupboards?"

Kento was aghast, mute with outrage, one hand pressing to his chest, pearl-clutching. You laughed into your pasta.

"Calm down, precious. That's a no then." You put your fork down, taking his hand from his chest, and swirling your fingertips on his palm.

"Then, I'm fine with it. I trust you to put a stop to things if they become suggestive. I know you're obsessed with me, and I know she hasn't got a chance even if she tried anything. Okay?"

Kento still pondered, his skin prickling, his food untouched, and you continued.

"Most importantly, are you upset with it?"

"Yes." He burst out, stabbing his pasta. "It's...disrespectful. Unprofessional. I have one wife, and that's the way I want it to be."

"Then, there's your answer. So stop worrying, eat your dinner, and tell her in the morning."

You continued eating. You felt Kento's eyes on you, calloused warm fingertips stroking your inner wrist, trailing suggestively up your forearm, and your smile grew as you chewed.

"...stop staring at me, Kento."

"No. You're lovely."

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Around mid-morning the next day, you received a text...and another, and another...and anotheranotheranother, your phone blowing up in your pocket.

"Jesus--alright--give me a minute." You said aloud to nobody in particular, putting your tea down.

You opened your phone to a slew of messages from Gojo, and read them with a growing smile.

Shoko is so upset

Nanamin doesn't want to be her work husband

This is fine for me because I need a work wife and she kept saying no to me

So tyvm

She's my wife now

As you laughed, reaching for your tea again, your phone began to ring; Kento. You answered.

"Hey, lov--"

"Is Gojo texting you?"

Your phone buzzed again, blowing up against your ear, and you snorted with laughter.

"Kento, save her. Save Shoko. You have a duty. Be a good work husband."

"--but I don't want another wife--"

"--and you'd sentence her to Gojo? Kento. She's my best friend."

Silence. A huff. Kento hung up as you laughed. Tapping your phone against your thigh, and biting your lip, you tapped out a message to Shoko.

He's all yours. Make sure he takes a lunch break. He likes the pastries in the cafeteria on Tuesdays but never manages to get one, help him out. If he's grumpy he's probably just hungry. Force him home on time. Good luck.

[tardis--dreams]

*googles* how to say no to invitations after having been actively excluded for months without sounding like a petty bitch