#honestly people complain a lot about male authors writing female characters but sometimes female authors write the most toxic male

[hahahax30]

The author of the Bridgerton books really can't write men without a huge array of red flags, can she?

[imakemywings]

A bit controversial, hope you're not angry about me bringing it up. It's just, not to be an asshole, but the fandom's (some) outcry over sexism in Tolkien's work makes me laugh as a woman myself. I understand where they are going, but like for them to point fingers at the author for being sexist, not realizing some of their opinions are straight-up borderline sexist is too funny for me. The amount of vitriol that Tolkien's female characters receive, the way they are victims of circumstances who have to make decisions but are shamed for it ten times over while the male characters are given so so much sympathy is why I laugh at popular posts/fics whining about that. They take these female characters for granted, they ask for more but can't handle the ones who are freaking nice but had to make big decisions. What do you think about it?

Honestly, the discussion of sexism in Tolkien's work is ever ongoing, but your point is very valid and it's something I've discussed with other fans.

Setting aside a discussion of any sexism of Tolkien himself (which is present, to what degree people may debate over), often we really see the fandom just recreating a slightly different flavor of sexism?

Where's that post that's like "you all ask for more evil female characters but you can't even handle a female character being impolite 1 time"? Obviously the "Tolkien fandom" is not really the monolith the name implies, but there is a level of comedy in seeing people complain that there aren't enough plot-relevant female characters (true--Curufin's wife birthed Feanor's only grandchild, and we don't even know her name? None of the Noldor wives go to Middle-earth except Elenwe who dies on the way? [And Edhellos but that's not in Silm proper iirc]) but then ALSO go and like, call Idril racist because she didn't want to fuck her creepy cousin (overlooking that Idril herself is of mixed Elven heritage; mom was a Vanya).

I think there are a LOT of instances where female characters are attacked and shamed and subject to headcanons about their selfishness and incompetence because they were put in a very difficult situation where there was no "safe" option, and that a male character in that position would have been given a LOT more grace by the fandom (look how people will bend over backwards to argue the Feanorians are not guilty of mass murder several times over).

But this isn't unique to the Tolkien fandom by ANY means--female characters get brushed aside to focus on their male peers, villainized to suit a male character's needs, and generally looked own on across fandoms. It's just particularly ironic here because of the discussion on the sexism in Tolkien's writing--which the fandom then goes ahead and recreates, sometimes worse than it is in the books. But it is something I've seen in virtually every fandom where I've spent time (Look at the way Mel Medarda is treated by the Arcane fandom; look at the way Bianca Davri is treated by the Dragon Age fandom; look at the way Skylar White was treated by the Breaking Bad fans, etc.)

However, I do think this has actually gotten better since I was younger and involved in fandom? Obviously it varies by online space and it's still an issue, but it feels like the vitriol was far more widespread when I was a young teenager. It feels like there's been a greater movement in the last several years to cut back on this kind of behavior and encourage a more positive environment for female characters...or maybe I'm just in more curated spaces now so I don't stumble upon nearly as much of it as I used to.

Anyway, anon, if you need some Tolkien blogs to follow who give female characters their due, just let me know! Happy to give some recs.

[enbyboiwonder]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks...

Of course! I’m picking one character per piece of media, and the numbers are just the order I think of them in rather than ranking, and they may not even actually be my top 10 favorite series. I’m bad at ranking things.

Warning that I will ramble a lot (especially about Aoki) and this will get very long.

01) Ao no Hako - Chouno Hina

I just started this manga so it may be too early to judge (and I’m reading with a book club, so I won’t be advancing very quickly—the current pace is 1 chapter/week, but I’m hoping it’ll pick up later on), but I love her so far. She’s great. She’s in the gymnastics club and seems like a little force of chaos, and she enjoys teasing our MC Taiki.

02) 2.43 Seiin Koukou Danshi Volley-bu - Aoki Misao

While it may seem like my fave 2.43 character is Yuni, based on the amount of content I make (fics, drawings, incorrect quotes, etc.), that’s just because Yuni’s the easiest for me to draw and write and the most fun to put into Situations—my actual #1 is Aoki. He makes me feral.

He’s a good person but not a nice one, though he’s certainly capable of playing nice. If he doesn’t wanna do something and you don’t have the authority over him to make him do it, he ain’t doing it, and he ain’t gonna feel bad about not doing it either (you can’t tell me he doesn’t ruthlessly exploit loopholes)—unless, of course, you are one Oda Shin’ichirou, in which case he’ll put aside his own feelings on the matter and do it willingly. He’s also a scheming bastard and isn’t afraid to play dirty, especially if it’s for the sake of those important to him (which is mostly Oda, though he does care about the rest of the team, and not only because it’s Oda’s team. We don’t see much outside that, but he seems the type to generally keep his distance from others).

He doesn’t much care for people in general, but he has a weakness for the underdog (he’s getting a law degree at KyouDai, and while I don’t know what he’s planning on doing with it, he’s probably most likely to become one of those lawyers who draws up and negotiates contracts, but if he became a court lawyer, I can see him being a defense attorney just as well as I can see him being a prosecutor)—and even if that’s part of why he originally became interested in Oda, it’s not why he’s so devoted to him now. If that’s all it were, it would not have lasted 2+ years, much less beyond.

He’s selfish, but since meeting Oda, a good portion of that selfishness has been for him rather than for himself. Oda sees himself as selfish and thinks Aoki’s just being pulled along by his selfish whims, but he’s a lot less selfish than he thinks he is and Aoki’s a lot more selfish than he gives him credit for—Aoki does very little unwillingly, and Oda doesn’t see that Aoki is the one selfishly going along with what he wants and even selfishly doing things that Oda can’t and/or won’t ask for (and sometimes doesn’t necessarily want). Because he never knew Aoki before and doesn’t see how he is with other people all that often, really only sees the way Aoki is with him, he can’t really fathom Aoki being selfish. And when Aoki’s default misanthropy shows through, he gets exasperated, and sometimes he scolds him but sometimes he’s basically like, “Well he’s got a lot on his plate right now, he’s stressed, he deserves to complain/vent.” Obviously something would have to change moving forward, probably on both ends, even if it’s just letting themselves properly and honestly communicate with each other, but just. That the Aoki whom Oda sees is so different from the Aoki whom everyone else sees?

He doesn’t like sports and never planned on joining a club, but he allowed himself to be convinced by Oda into joining the volleyball club despite turning all other invitations down and despite not liking that the upperclassmen only saw him for his height (and despite, this early on, Oda doing the same)—and despite not caring for volleyball, he devoted himself to it seriously; if he decides to do something, he doesn’t half-ass it—and he got himself elected as vice prez of the student council at the end of second year so Oda would have to be captain—both because he deserves it and Aoki doesn’t care about the captaincy, and so that Oda couldn’t be switched to libero from his chosen position as left wing spiker. Though in reality they’re more like co-captains than captain and vice captain lol. He just wants a break, but also he brought like at least half of this on himself.

Oh, and most characters who are as devoted to another as he is to Oda are ranked below the object of their devotion in some way. Technically he is too, but only because he deliberately put himself there. Otherwise, they’re equals. He was captivated by Oda’s passion and determination back in first year and decided he would do everything he could to get him as close to realizing his dream as possible. Even if it meant Oda coming to dislike him and wanting nothing more to do with him after high school, though of course he still wants to be in his life, if Oda will have him.

He makes me insane. I hate him (lying).

03) Haikyuu!! - Tsukishima Kei

…Probably. My fave is definitely one of the autistic characters or else maybe Suga or Take-chan (okay so maybe not exactly “definitely”…), but it’s so hard to choose! I love so many of the characters in this series. But I have been leaning toward Kei lately. I do have two main basic types of fave characters that most fall into—the dumbass sweetheart (also “idiot (affectionate)”) and the asshole who does actually care (also “grumpy bastard”)—and he certainly fits pretty well under the latter.

He’s an asshole, yeah, but he’s not a bad guy, and probably neither of those things is ever gonna change. His snark and assholery are part of the walls he puts up around himself not just to keep others from getting too close but also to keep himself from caring, but he just is snarky and sarcastic and assholish even without them. And seeing him gradually start to let himself care (and/or acknowledge that he does care) and let himself be passionate about volleyball again… I love his character development. It was probably the one I was most excited to see, and it gets me every time, no matter how many times I rewatch/reread. That fist pump!

04) Cool Doji Danshi - Mima Takayuki

Mimaaaa. I adore him. Well, I adore all of them, but I relate most to him and Hayate, and he’s the one I kind of have a crush on, so I guess that makes him #1 lol. He’s a lil dumb, but he’s sweet and earnest and his heart’s in the right place. He never stops trying. He’s also voiced by Umehara Yuuichirou, which is always a bonus.

05) Bungou Stray Dogs - Kunikida Doppo

My ideal was born when I realized a world where people died in front of me was not my ideal world.

The love of my life. I was introduced to BSD through the anime, and I fell in love with him the moment he appeared on screen. He’s super serious but also a giant dork. He’s grumpy and has a short temper and tries to keep his distance, but he cares more deeply than anyone else, so deeply it’s broken his heart more than once already and certainly will again. But still he cares and still he doesn’t give up and chooses to do and be good, rather than become jaded completely.

I haven’t gone near this series in years, but he’ll always have a special place in my heart. (Also, Asagiri-sensei, please just let my man be happy!)

06) My Time at Portia - Arlo

Don't go getting hurt when I'm not around. I couldn't bear it if such a thing happened.

The other love of my life. I had started this game originally intending to wait and see who all is romanceable before aiming for one, but when he kicked open the door to the Commerce Guild, he also kicked down the door to my heart. I immediately knew he would be the one I’d romance, and as I continued to play the game, I only grew more certain. He’s, like, perfect. He’s handsome and kind and a total sweetheart and always tries to do what’s right. (Also I love his voice and his accent.) I’ve seen him likened to a German shepherd before, and honestly, yeah.

I’ll romance other characters in other play-throughs, but he’s always gonna be my #1.

07) Yotsubato! - Koiwai Yousuke

I love Yanda’s dynamic with Yotsuba and the antics they get up to, and he might possibly have been my fave when I first read this series in middle school, but I really love Yoh-san. I’d always liked him, but more on the periphery; I didn’t actually come to appreciate him until my recent reread. He may not have planned to become a father or really know how to be one, but he still tries his best to be the good father Yotsuba deserves (and succeeds at it, imo) and not fall into toxic parenting norms. He tries not to get angry with her or yell at her for no reason that she can understand, and he doesn’t give punishments that don’t befit the “crime.” He encourages her to be curious and to try new things and to learn by experience and to not be afraid of making mistakes—and teaches her that even if one does make mistakes, rarely is it so bad that it can’t be fixed. And! He lets himself be soft and willingly participates in femininity. (I know toxic masculinity is more of a Western/Christian thing, but it does still exist in Japan, even if it doesn’t always look the same.) He lets Yotsuba put flowers in his hair and doesn’t take them out when she goes out. When she plays with beads, he joins in without any hint of reluctance, and he proudly wears all the jewelry she’s made him. All of it’s really nice to see, and I fell in love with him a little bit this latest reread. Also he’s kind of gender, and him working as a translator from home has made me realize that maybe that’s something I can do too, if I ever learn enough Japanese.

08) Uramichi-oniisan - Daga Iketeru

No thoughts, head empty, only onigiri.

He’s one who falls squarely into the “dumbass sweetheart” category. I adore him.

I wish I could say more, but it’s been a while, so I don’t have anything more specific.

09) Ookiku Furikabutte - Mihashi Ren

I dunno if he’s actually my fave (maybe Abe? or Izumi), but currently he’s #1. I’ve been rewatching lately and I love this anxious lil birb so much. I relate to him, like with feeling like you’ll never be good enough but still not wanting to give up anyway, being torn between not wanting to be an annoyance to or be hated by others and not wanting to stop doing what you love, and with never really having a support system and feeling alienated from your peers (though he’s got one now at Nishiura, which, ♡♡♡), and of course with the anxiety and social awkwardness. Oofuri was one of my first anime and it was my first sports anime and it’s always been special to me, but it was really only with my last rewatch a couple years ago that I could really start to appreciate it. Just, the team are so good with Mihashi, and seeing it is ♡♡♡. Like, I want that. Also I wanna give him a hug.

10) Dragon Quest - Terry

He's another of those characters who's been hurt before and tries to keep themself closed off so they don't get hurt again. He also falls into the "asshole who does actually care" type. I first met him in Heroes 1, where several characters from main games get sucked into a different world/timeline. Despite being more of a lone wolf, he does join the party, but he's not interested in becoming friends or anything. As soon as he finds what he's looking for and finds a way back, he's leaving. I haven't gotten very far in this game yet, so I dunno how much character development any aside from the original characters may go through, but he does seem to get along with the others and care about them at least somewhat. But I loved him pretty much immediately, and I love him more out of spite any time I come across someone who dislikes him, starting with the person in the comments on Steam who was like Terry Is Actually A Woman Crossplaying As Link (also when I started headcanoning him as trans out of spite, but now I do it because it's fun).

In DQ6, the game he first appeared in, his sister Milly was taken away when they were young, and he was powerless to do anything to stop it or get her back, and in fact was nearly killed because the people who took Milly don't care about killing young children. He decided to become strong enough to rescue her, but somewhere along the way, he forgot his real goal and it morphed into becoming the strongest swordsman. Fast forward about a decade to the present day, and Milly has since escaped and has joined the Hero's party. The party crosses paths with him a few times, and while Milly recognizes him, he no longer recognizes Milly. Eventually we battle him, and after he's defeated, he remembers it wasn't power for power's sake that he was after and he recognizes Milly, and he joins the party. It takes some adjusting for him, and he's still kind of a snarky asshole, but he softens some and learns to start caring about people again.

[glitxhwayventeen]

Lonely Together

Jihoon: Chapter 1 (Perfect)

Characters: Jihoon x female reader

Genre/Warnings: multi-member au (different scenarios), werewolf au, fantasy, smut, angst, fluff, potential blood mentions, genocide, runaways, domestic violence, child abuse, abandonment, homelessness, hunger, violence. Any others will be put as warnings when future chapters are thought up/written.

Author’s Note: I recommend listening to Perfect by Ed Sheeran before reading this. That’s the song I thought of while writing this because it makes me feel some type of way you know?

Please remember that all of these chapters and the content within them are a work of fiction! They’re just for fun/entertainment!

Bold= Dialogue Italics= Thoughts

🥀 & ☁️

Lonely Together Master List

Chapter 1: Perfect

It had been so long since you’d been around so many people. It made you antsy. You didn’t understand a lot of what was going on in the house. The constant noise scared you. It had you on such an edge that you nearly screamed everytime one of them coughed.

To be fair, before you had met them, you’d honestly jump at footsteps. Because footsteps meant humans, and humans meant danger. Not to mention that you were still not used to being in your human form. You preferred to stay a wolf, you were stronger when you walked on all four legs, and you weren’t as noticeable.

Your human appearance was… striking to most people to say the least. Your bright eyes and darker skin with salt and pepper curly hair made everyone around you always stare at you. You understood it somewhat, you didn’t match everyone else’s looks in Korea. But that didn’t mean you liked people watching you all the time, you hated being the center of attention. So to say you were still adjusting to being around people after having lived alone for centuries was a bit of an understatement. It was all so new to you. You had a new feeling now too. You just weren’t sure what it was…

At first, you thought maybe it was hope. You hadn’t hoped in such a long time, it would bring tears to even the most hardened criminal’s eyes. But you weren’t that good at trusting that human part of you. So you decided to go off of what you knew. And, even though you hadn’t been there long, two weeks at the most you thought, you learned a lot of things about them. You knew all but one of the wolves had a mate. You knew that two of the alphas butted heads on how to lead the pack a lot and that one just watched from the side and did everything behind the scenes without causing too much distress to the others. You knew they all loved each other, no matter what they said or how much they fought. You also knew that, being around them made you feel more alone than you’ve felt in decades.

When you were younger, you didn’t mind being alone. It meant that you didn’t have to rely on anyone, it meant you only had to look out for yourself. And as you got older, it just felt… right. But being around this house full to the brim with people, you started to realize just how much you missed being part of a big family. They treated you like you were one of them. Which was weird to you… because they didn’t really know you. I mean sure they saved you from imminent death, but they didn’t know you from Adam.

The more you thought about your current situation, the weirder the feeling got. The closer you got to each one of them, the stronger the feeling got. And when you got close to one of the quiet ones in particular, you swore it felt like your heart was singing to you. It was something you weren’t sure you’d ever get used to, but it wasn’t something you necessarily hated either. Whatever the feeling was, you’d figure it out eventually or it would go away on its own… right?

Still, You got to eat first with the other mates, well the mates minus Soonyoung. He may have been Seungcheol’s mate but 1.) he was a wolf unlike the other mates and 2.) he was a male wolf so he ate just as much as the other boys did. So they didn’t think it fair that he get to eat with all of you. Or them…. Or-whatever. You didn’t know, you just knew they offered you and the other girls food first and, considering you used to have to hunt for your food or you didn’t get to eat, you were definitely NOT complaining. Soonyoung though, you learned, had a tendency to whine about any and everything that he didn’t like.

“Aww come on again! No fair! (Y/N)’s just as much of a wolf as I am! Why does SHE get to eat first when I don’t??” Soonyoung decided to voice aloud, grabbing his plate with both hands and semi-patiently waiting for his turn to grab food.

You didn’t mind of course. You did think he had a point. It didn’t seem fair to him. Either he should be eating with the other mates, or you should be eating with the other wolves. So you agreed.

“He’s got a point. I should be eating with the other wolves. I eat more than the other girls after all” you shrugged matter of factly to the lead alpha, who was also his mate, who was hunched over the stove making said breakfast.

The thing is, Seungcheol did understand the argument. And he personally saw merit to the concerns, whether it was because it was a genuine point or whether it was just from months of his mate complaining about it, he didn’t know. Still, he saw it’s reasonings and thought they could be sound.

BUUUT, he also knew that SOMEBODY would definitely NOT be happy if you had to wait and fight the boys for food. It seemed everyone, wolves and mates alike, but you understood that Jihoon had imprinted on you already. Maybe you just didn’t know much about it, or maybe you knew and just decided you didn’t want to know, either way, it wasn’t for him to decide or judge.

So, as he looked over to the table of boys who were ACTUALLY patiently waiting their turn to dig in, his eyes landed on Jihoon, who shook his head and narrowed his eyes at the older wolf in return. Of course you didn’t notice this action, you were always more in your own head than you were in conversations.

“Sucks to suck kids. I make the rules and I say you eat with the mates. End of story. Sorry love!” he declared, once again moving his eyes ever so slightly to Jihoon, who nodded his head slightly as he smiled triumphantly.

He was NOT about to let his newfound mate eat the other mates leftovers with the other wolves. No. That was absolutely NOT happening. He may not have “officially” expressed that you were his mate, but he’d be damned if he wasn’t gonna do everything in his power to make sure you were happy, healthy, and well fed.

“But-” you argued, trying to bring your point’s validity up to him again.

“But nothing (Y/N). Sure you eat more than the other girls. But you DEFINITELY don’t eat as much as the boys do. Even if you are a wolf. Besides you’re one of-” he trailed off just as someone around the room hit the table slightly and coughed. Everyone but you realized where he was going with that sentence, and Jihoon wasn’t ready to face that just yet.

“-One of our guests.” Seungcheol thought after a moment, clearly lying his ass off but hoping he did a good enough job that you didn’t notice. Luckily for him, you weren’t all that great at social cues. “Therefore you shall not be eating whatever’s left, you’ll get first dibs with the other girls.” He said as he sat one of the plates of remaining food left from what the mates couldn’t eat down on the table, kissing his pouting mates forehead in the process.

“Don’t worry about Soonyoung. He’s just a baby. He’ll get over it. You deserve to be eating with the mates.” Spoke the smallest boy of the pack with a smile that seemed to light up as bright as a bonfire whenever you looked him in the eyes. He was the one that had your heart singing whenever you were in the same room. His little declaration made your cheeks heat up.

“O-Okay, I guess. I still don’t think I’ve done anything to deserve the special treatment… but thank you” you resolved with a polite smile back, doing your best to hide the pink covering your face. His heart rate sped up to jackrabbit speed as his inner wolf seemed to beamed at your answer.

“No (Y/N). Thank YOU.” Hansol retorted with a shit eating grin on his face. What he wanted to say was “thanks for helping one of the assholes in the group become juuuuust a little less of an asshole by being his mate,” but obviously he couldn’t do that without getting his ass beat.

“Thank me? Thank me for what?” You questioned, genuinely curious as to what he was thanking you for. You hadn’t done anything to warrant a thank you… had you?

“Oh nothing. Don’t worry about it. You’ll find out… eventually” He let out, looking at Jihoon, earning a smack from the older wolf and a small growl. Though he whined for a second, Hansol still began to laugh at his actions.

“…Okaaaay…” you said, trying your best to forget the conversation as a whole so you could eat the remains of your pancakes. Man these guys are weird.

-

Jihoon wasn’t sure exactly what he should do. He knew he couldn’t deny his instincts forever. But he wasn’t so sure about this whole “mate” thing. I mean, who was he kidding, he got along better on his own. He survived on his own for his entire life, at the orphanage, at school, even in his pack. For the most part, he kept to himself. He was SEVERELY independent, and he liked it that way. People just always managed to bring attachments and strings. Even still, He couldn’t cut off his pack. I mean don’t get him wrong, he loved those idiots and would do anything for them, but fuck, if they didn’t have the dumbest ideas and get themselves into the stupidest shit sometimes.

He knew his survival instinct told him to just ignore the feelings he had for you and act like nothing happened to protect himself. It’s not like you had noticed anyways. But the wolf part of him loved the idea of having a mate. For the longest time, he had to sit around and watch his brothers find their mates and fall in deep love. He watched Seungcheol find Soonyoung first a few months after he had met him. Then Joshua found his mate, Mina, after a few weeks of knowing him. Even little Channie imprinted on his mate, Somi, after just two days of Jihoon being acquainted with him.

Before he knew it, it was just him left without one. They always seemed so… happy and he just… wasn’t. He didn’t mind of course. He was glad his brothers found happiness. But he soon came to realize how lonely being alone truly was. He’d see his pack and their mates do cute things and, his heart was struck with a dull pain that never seemed to lessen, and at the time he didn’t understand why that was. But when he saw you, he knew the whole time he was yearning for you. When he saw you, for once he didn’t completely loathe the idea of taking care of or protecting another person. Even if it meant becoming one of the “lovey people.” He saw you and, one bat of your beautiful eyelashes and he knew, he would gladly lay his life down for you. How could he not?

You were caring and kind, even if you didn’t like to show it. You held yourself high, even if you were small. You were little, but you were mighty. You were smart, yet funny. You hardly spoke, but when you did, it was always something memorable. You never seemed to hold your true self back. He already knew that you were Perfect for him, even if he’d hardly spoken to you. He just couldn’t help the sane part of him that was very weary of the whole situation.

As Jihoon debated his true feelings for you over his breakfast, the other wolves went and conversed with each other. They tried to speak to you too, but you never really had a lot to say. You preferred to listen, which they weren’t all that surprised at. Jihoon was the quiet, calm, smart wolf, so it’s no surprise that his mate was the same way. You’d both always seem to get lost in thought almost simultaneously. You’d both come back to Earth at the same time too, always with very similar excuses.

Though everytime your eyes met, you’d both look away, trying your best to hide the blushes that spread across both your cheeks. It was kind of cute and the pack loved that their brother wouldn’t have to be all alone any longer. He’d no longer have to just sit on the side lines while they all had the time of their lives. He now had you, even if you didn’t realize it yet. You could both be Lonely Together.

Another Author’s Note: I know this chapter is relatively short compared to the others I’ve written so far, but honestly, your girls tired as fuck. I work a full time job, go to school full time, and take care of a lot of my family’s household. Let’s just be lucky I can write at all. Plus, I wrote Wonwoo’s story earlier today too. So let’s just call it a success and I’ll write a better chapter for him next time!

(Updated 9/6)

[nny11writes]

For the fic writer ask game: What’s a trope that you’d like to never hear about as long as you live, let alone write? (Feel free to rant :) )

Hahahaha, sorry were you looking for one trope? 

I’m usually so positive so now you’ve done it. You’ve unlocked me complaining about random shit that doesn’t usually matter. Because the damn busted wide the fuck open! Okay, so I’m going to approach this as outside of smut fics with intense kinks I can’t stand (vore, foot fetish, scat play, etc), because that’s me getting squicked and/or triggered and not just tropes that I wish would die in a fire.

My only disclaimer up front is that if you love most of these (hopefully it’ll be obvious which ones I will not forgive/excuse you from), that’s awesome! Go for it! Read it, write it, print it out to loving re-read and paste on the walls! Fandom is, in large part, about finding your niche and enjoying what you enjoy pretty much shamelessly. So I’m not passing judgement on anyone who enjoys reading or writing (most of) these.

CW: rape, sexual assault Also I’ve had a shit few days, so if you don’t want to read someone just being negative and bitching this is probably not the post for you friend. But it all below a cut so people can avoid!

Crossover Fics/Rule 50

My main gripe with this is that without fail a series I love get crossed over with a fandom I either don’t care about or hate. Every time I’ve tried to force myself to read one it’s never worked out for me. Sometimes fics aren’t properly tagged and I’m getting into the setting only for other characters from another fandom to suddenly show up and literally I instantly loose interest. The closest I got to writing a crossover fic, was on FF.net where I had all the characters I wrote for “talking to me” when I hit a big wall of writer’s block in the hopes that writing something so different and strange for me would help. It didn’t. It was interesting for 0.2 seconds to wonder how characters would interact, but then I instantly lost interest because I end up leaning so heavily of character tropes to make it work which, for me, isn’t fun to read or write.

Like, just write fusion! I like fusion! I’m currently writing a SPOP-SW fusion! It allows me to play with characters in a fun world that I already understand, but without the frustration of characters becoming more 2D or very OOC (or both) to force them to interact with one another. Rage Fics

Honestly? If you write and post rage fics, fuck you. Full stop. Fuck you. 

I’m about to tangent, but I swear it’s related. This is the equivalent of someone tagging a character or ship or fandom they hate in a post bashing them or blasting them to hell and back. Fucking beyond rude and obnoxious. That’s what rage fics are cranked up to 11. You are 100% allowed to hate on fandom/character/ship/trope/whatever the fuck, but when you do that shit you are forcing people who enjoy the media to see/interact with your BS because you fucking tagged it to show up where we are. A great example here in SPOP is Catra. I love her! I understand why some people don’t, and they’re 100% allowed to hate her and resent that so many people like her. Recently I went to the Catra tag to find art and fic, maybe some of the top notch meta this fandom puts out if I was lucky, and got stuck seeing post after post after meta post comparing her to another character in the show to explain why she’s an awful person, badly written character, and anyone who likes her (but didn’t like the poster’s fave) was an idiot/asshole/troll/bitch/dumbass and you know what? I went from having a decent time decompressing after a shitty day at work to getting fucking sent around the sun with stress. Like, bro, I’m here to ENJOY myself thanks, and when you tag things I go to for fun and fluff when I’m out of spoons and ready to snap to ranting about hating it, you make me want to scream.

Y’all don’t know how many people are lucky that I write up responses in word so I can get it out of my system and then just DELETE the whole fucking thing. Rage fic is that same fucking set up, but instead of being a relatively quick post (where I can block the poster here on tumblr), it’s a fanfic that people are going to continue to click into over and over and over again for fun only to get body slammed. There’s no way to warn people on AO3 if something is a rage fic beyond not leaving a kudos and dropping a comment. I don’t know a lot of people who read comments first so it doesn’t always work. 

If you post rage fics, grow up. Stop that shit. Fuck you. Instead, try not purposefully interacting with fandom that makes you so mad that you think doing this is an appropriate reaction. Block tags, block users, regulate comments, go whole fucking hog. You should be able to enjoy fandom too! But if you can’t do that without tearing down other people in fandom then you make me want to beat you over the head until you self-isolate to play by yourself in a different sandbox. Seriously. Fuck you if you do this.

Troll Fics

Did you think I came on strong for rage fics? This is worse. 

If you do this? Fuck you. You get NOTHING but my pure rage and if I find this shit I will report you however I can and then shout from the rooftops about it. And I’m sure if you do write troll fics because you enjoy being purposefully offensive and triggering then you’re probably delighted that my reaction to just thinking about this is wishing I had the power to fuck up your life. 

Like, the ONLY thing I can say for rage fic is that at least typically the person writing it actually enjoys some aspect of the fandom or fandom in general. 

Troll fics are just meant to be offensive on purpose and if you write and post that you’re a bad person. No exceptions. You can make different choices and work to become a better person or a good person, but right now, right this second as you do it? You’re a bad person. You should probably figure out why you get so much joy out of posting things with the sole purpose of hurting/triggering/being cruel to others. And you might need help to do that. I legit think you should reach out to people with different opinions from your own to try and break out of it. Get a therapist. Do fucking something worthwhile, because posting troll fics is not worth anyone’s while. Fuck you. Rape as a Backstory

I hope I don’t have to fucking explain why this makes me want to literally explode. I’m purposefully not writing that as R*pe so that people with rape tagged don’t see this.

If you think that rape is the only way to push your story forward or is a great way to give a character “free and easy trauma”, literally stop. Just. Fucking. Stop. There are other ways. Really look at your work, really think about /why/ it’s so important to you that the character /has/ to be raped. Most of the time the real answer is you don’t have a reason you just chose it because you either don’t care, think it’s not a big deal, or never considered other possibilities. There are stories where rape does need to be included, stories that address the topic kindly and/or tag appropriately for it. I’ve read some of these that were really amazing, both short (<1k) and long (>100k) because the author actually took a hot second to address the topic in an intelligent way. Whether that was to dive into how it’s harmful, address their own trauma, or (honestly) even for the smut porn of it but with all the proper tags on it. If you have it to be purely enjoyed by yourself and/or others with dubcon or noncon kinks, cool, good for you, TAG IT APPROPRIATELY. Fucking bless writers who still use “Dead Dove/Do Not Eat” tags y’all are doing great work. But the vast majority using this trope? 

They aren’t that, they aren’t anything like that at all, they aren’t always tagged correctly or at all and that’s by design, it’s often for shock value or a quick ‘well that’s why they’re anti-social’, it’s sometimes used as an excuse for one character to swear off sex until the “right person” comes along to “cure them”, and they shouldn’t have ever been posted.

Redemption Equals Sex/Sexual Karma

I know this is spring boarding a bit, but please stop writing these two tropes. 

I’m exhausted  y’all. And not just because I’m asexual. This trope is disgusting and usually comes with heaps of sexism, racism, and homophobia. If you want to write smut please just write the fucking smut. I’m literally posting smut fic and am planning to work on another one tonight! JUST WRITE SMUT WITHOUT MAKING IT DISGUSTINGLY ANTI-MINORITY GROUPS AND PLAYING INTO HARMFUL STEREOTYPES.  If bad guys become good(ish) guys because a woman saw past their barriers, took care of them, are a surrogate mother, and then had wild and kinky sex with them then it’s a bad fic. Likewise, if a character is punished for having sex, or is sexually assaulted to show that they’re now bad then it’s a bad fic.

If a character’s suffering is rewarded with sex to “cure” them and “make them better” then it’s a bad fic.

There are so many ways that this shit becomes a seriously harmful fic.

Please. Please, stop doing this. I am on my knees. Stop!

I am sick of ‘Draco’s in Leather Pants’ (can’t fucking believe I’m whipping that term out again holy shit what year is it) getting redeemed because they slept with someone and now found a reason to care. Sex leading someone on the path towards redemption is so EXTREMELY rarely handled in a way that’s well done. Just. Don’t. Be an unapologetic villain lover, slap them in an AU where they aren’t a pure villain, but don’t do this. Like I wrote above, I’m also just sick of (usually, but not always) dudes who put rape in to punish (usually, but not always) female characters or to punish weak/pushover characters (usually, but not always males). And equally tired of traumatized characters “casting off their shackles” to enjoy wild and kinky sex because someone with a magic dick/strap/fingers/tongue “showed them it’s okay” and “made it all better”.

Just, don’t. Be a fucking decent human being and don’t.

Character/Reader Fics

I...I really just don’t get this? It’s very uncomfortable to me and I’m assuming that’s due to me being aroace, I can’t read them and if I try to I either become so uncomfortable I stop or so rage filled I stop. 

I don’t mind 2nd person stories, but most of the ones I see are character/reader fics and it’s...like, it’s just bad. Not “cringe” just enjoyable for me. I can’t explain why I hate this so much considering I do enjoy some 2nd person fics. Idk, I really don’t have the words to explain why these bother me so much. :\

I ain’t got an alternative, if you like these you like them, and if you don’t you just don’t. Thank you for tagging so I can avoid. Have fun on your own! Song Fics and/or Audio/Sound Cue Fics

Sorry guys, I just hate it. I can’t really read a fic and listen to music at the same time, it becomes background noise 100% and detracts from both for audio cue fics.

Fuck, just realized I don’t know if people know what those are. Audio/Sound cue fics are fics where you’re reading along and all the sudden there’s a link or URL that you’re supposed to follow to help set up the next scene/enhance it. Hate it. Hate, hate, hate. It detracts from your story and makes it weaker while being annoying and breaking me the reader out of my enjoyment of your story. Hate! Telling me in the A/N that this (or these) are the song(s) you listened to while writing, song(s) you based the story on, or even that you think they’re good songs to get you in the mood for the story is totally okay! I’ll probably ignore it unless I went head over heels for it, in which case I WILL go back and listen to all of them. (Why hello Rhythm and Blues, you punched me in the face and I now listen to every song even vaguely mentioned in the story or A/N, you’re that good, it’s so fucking good guys, I can’t stop talking about this fucking series it’s just so good?????????) Song fics are also typically in this boat for me. And I want to be really clear, not fics where a character is singing in the fic with lyrics written out. That doesn’t bother me, that song is now effectively part of the story and draws me in. But if it’s paragraphs of description before suddenly cutting it’s annoying. Why, oh why, do I put up with this misery? Still looking for a reason For now it is a mystery to me Why, oh why, do I put up with this misery? Still looking for a reason But for now it's ancient history to me

So yeah I’m making an example to complain about the example. 

But question. 

Was that needed? 

All I did was make overly explicit my feelings in this text that was already there in what I’d written. Song fics feel to me like writers who aren’t confident that their writing is good/understandable/relatable and so they are desperately throwing someone else’s creation into their own in the hopes the reader will get it. Friend, I promise you, we’ll get it without the song! The song lyrics detract when they’re just floating out there, and have taken goods fics and made them frustrating. Either that or you think you’re so amazing that your shit don’t stink and the rest of us idiots can choke because of your brilliance. I’ve found several song fics that if I copy and paste them into a word document and delete the song out, I really enjoyed the fic itself on it’s own merits in a way I literally couldn’t with the lyrics in there. Again, if you are weaving music into your fic, weave it in. Have characters sing, write the lyrics out as a character is listening to the music, quote the song in your fic (preferably without it being super obvious. I’m not saying my take on that was the best, but I did write a Catradora fic on giftly request based on a song and I 100% used lyrics from it in my prose and built my whole plot around it without breaking out to quote the song explicitly), just do something that’s not, like, punching me in the face because “clearly I couldn’t get it” or from a fear that “they won’t understand”. At best you seem insecure and unsure about your story, which is fantastic without the song. At worst it seems like you’re saying your fic is so beyond the average reader that we would never understand your vision without someone else’s original content in it.

[wasneeplus]

Responding to the Alt-Right playbook, part 1

Disclaimer: I wrote this after seeing the first four minutes of the video. While watching the rest I noticed a few things I bring up are addressed later, though in such a way as to lead to even more questions. Still, I think most of it stands, and it’s still useful as a kind of stream of consciousness response, so I’ll leave it untouched.

Sometimes, in the wee hours of the morning when I just finished reading my newspaper, I will enjoy myself with a few infuriating youtube videos. Lately I’ve been quite disillusioned by the part of youtube calling itself liberal spouting nationalist propaganda at my beloved European project, so I’ve switched to some corners of the website which are friendlier to my blood pressure. That’s how I came across a video called "The Alt-Right Playbook: The Card Says Moops” by Innuendo Studios. Apparently he is somewhat of a big deal with his 150k plus subscribers, though I never heard of him. Just two minutes into the video though I knew I was going to write this response. While it didn’t make me angry the way I might have been in the past, there’s just so much wrong here, I cant bottle this up any longer.

Say, for the sake of argument, you’re online blogging about a black journalists’ commentary on marketing trends in video games, movies and comic books and you’re saying how the vitriol in response to her fairly benign opinions reveals the deep seated racism and misogyny in a number of fan communities, most especially those that lean right,...

Quite an unlikely scenario since I’m not in the business of assuming ones leanings on race, gender or politics based on their opinions on movies, games or comic books, but let’s roll with it I guess.

...When a right leaning commenter pops in to say: “Or maybe they just actually disagree with her about marketing trends! For Christs sake, there’s no mystery here. People aren’t speaking in coded language. They are telling you wat they believe. She had a bad opinion. Why do you have to make it bigger than that? Why can’t you ever take people at their word?”

Here’s where I feel validated in making this response, because while I don’t consider myself right leaning, as hard as that might be to believe for some, this is exactly the kind of response I might have given. So props to Innuendo Studios for accurately portraying an argument of one of his opponents. Unfortunately he then continues:

You pause and ponder this for a moment. Hmmm. Uh heck with it! You’re in a discoursing mood. Let’s do this! Mister conservative, in order for me to take you at your word your words would have to show some consistency. Let me just lightning-round a few questions about the reactionary web’s positions on marketing trends.

The first major problem should be obvious to anyone right about now. How is anyone supposed to answer for the “reactionary web”? Hell, I don’t even know what that’s supposed to be. The caricature in the video wears a 4chan logo on its chest, so maybe he’s referring to the /pol/ imageboard. Well, I don’t hang out there, and I’m pretty sure most of the people who would have been critical of that opinion piece don’t either. Therefore I feel justified in ignoring that particular remark and just give my own answers to these questions. After all:  the people on /pol/ are clearly not the only ones he’s talking to at this point.

Do you believe that having the option to romance same sex characters in an rpg turns the game into queer propaganda...

No. On a side note though: the video at this point shows an image of the game Mass Effect. I remember when that game came out there was some controversy over the game showing sex scenes between the characters. Remember that this was but a few years sine the GTA hot coffee mod upheaval, so people where a bit more sensitive about such things. But never have I heard anyone complain about the same sex romance options. I can imagine there were a few disapproving voices but I never came across them, even though I followed the launch very closely at the time.

...or do you believe that killing strippers in an action game can’t be sexist because no one’s making you do it?

I believe it can be sexist, but I never seen an example of it actually being sexist. Not because no one makes you do it, though. It’s because the amount of strippers killed in video games pales in comparison to the amount of other people killed. I’m willing to bet that video games depict more men being killed by women than the other way around, with the vast majority being male on male killings. The fact that there’s one or two games where a man has the option to kill some female sex workers hardly seems significant in that light.

Do you believe that the pervasiveness of sexualised young women in pop culture is just there because it sells and that’s capitalism and we all need to deal with it...

Yes, for the most part. I guess one can add a few nuances here and there, but that about covers the gist of it.

...or do yo believe that a franchise has an obligation to cater to its core audience even if diversifying beyond that audience is more profitable?

Ooh boy, where do I start? Okay, first of all: those two are not mutually exclusive. I know there is this pervasive idea in some parts of western culture that people can only identify with others of the same sex, race and/or cultural background, but that’s just not true. As such it’s perfectly possible to be both diverse and give your core audience what they want. Criticism of a failure to do the second does not automatically translate to criticism of succeeding at the first. Where the two usually meet is when creators use the first as an excuse to take away from the second, either because of their own incompetence or their disinterest in the franchise they are working on. 

Which brings us to our second point: while diversity does not have to hurt a franchise, too often creators are too lazy to put effort in making sure it doesn’t because they haven’t got their priorities straight. They think that covering their bases in terms of diversity is the most important thing and everything else is an afterthought. The movie Star Wars: The Last Jedi, who’s cast is partly depicted in the video at this point, is actually a perfect example of this. No one thought Finn and Rose were such interesting characters that audiences wanted to see an entire subplot devoted exclusively to them. They were clearly there just to tick some boxes, not because of a creative spark that led an artist to lovingly craft these characters. The result was perhaps the most universally despised part of the movie, at least among hardcore fans. And yeah, they do deserve a bit more consideration than any other demographic, don’t you think? They are the ones who made this into a franchise to begin with. Without them this movie wouldn’t even have been made.

Lastly: there is a reason the saying “get woke, go broke” exists. If Rose was just there to appeal to Asian markets that would be one thing. I do think there’s something to the idea that putting characters of the same race as the target audience in your movie makes them easier to market. The thing is though: it didn’t work! The movie bombed in China, and I think that’s also because of the messages the creators were trying to send. To take a timeless hero’s journey narrative like Star Wars and try to insert current events and political messages in it just can’t end well. Yet, the creators persisted, and this is reflective of a lot of the culture behind those narratives. When a political message becomes the driving force behind the creative process it’s almost certain to produce sub par results. A creator has to be extremely talented to pull this off, and lets face it: most aren’t up to the task. Instead the art devolves into soulless political propaganda, and this is what stings people who love the franchise so much. Me personally, I am a big fan of making the political personal when you want to convey a political message. We can identify with personal struggles much more than with abstract political ideas. So characters should always be the focus, even if you want to make a statement.

Do you think words are inherently harmless and only oversensitive snowflakes would care about racialised language...

Words? Yes. The ideas expressed by those words? No. That’s why intention is so important to me, and the “oversensitive snowflakes” who focus on just the words are so not helping the debate in my opinion.

...or do you think it’s racist if someone calls you mayonaise boy?

Probably, yes. Though I can’t think of any reason why someone would call me that, other than to insult me by way of my race. On the other hand, I do really like mayonaise...

And as long as I’ve got your ear: are you the party that believes in the right to keep and bear arms because you’re distrustful of all authority and what if we need to overthrow the government some day...

No, no and no. I am not a party, nor am I affiliated with any party that espouses those kinds of opinions on the possession of arms. I personally do not believe in the right to bear arms, though I’m not especially passionate about it one way or the other. I guess being Dutch means I'm not really caught up in any debate surrounding arms, since it’s a bit of a non-issue here. Also: while I think authority should always be scrutinised, I wouldn’t characterise this as distrust.

...or do you believe that cops are civil servants and we should trust their account of events whenever they shoot a black man for looking like he might have a gun.

Well, aren’t cops civil servants? I seem to remember so. Anyway, I don’t think “looking like they might have a gun” is ever a good excuse to shoot anyone, so there you have it. Do keep in mind that we send cops out on the street partly to use force in neutralising dangerous individuals, so we shouldn’t be surprised when that gets out of hand sometimes. But honestly, I am not well informed enough on this topic to know how much trust to put in any side of this issue. I think looking at this on a case by case basis is the only thing we can do.

Does optional content reveal a game’s ideology, or doesn’t it?

Not necessarily, no

Is capitalism a defence for decisions you don’t agree with, or isn’t it?

That’s a rather broad statement. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t. It depends on what you are trying to defend.

Is language harmful, or not?

If you use it to promote harmful ideas, then yes.

Do you hate authority, or love cops and the troops?

Neither, really. I don’t hate authority just for being authority, and if anything soldiers and cops invoke pity in me. I guess that comes from growing up with  a PTSD ridden veteran for a father.

Well, that’s the end of the questions. One might think I wasted a lot of time going through that, because shortly afterwards he goes on to say:

Now, I know the right is not a monolith and maybe these arguments are contradictory because they’re coming from different people.

Gee, you think? However, what then follows is an excuse to lump al these people together anyway.

We’ll call them Engelbert and Charlemagne. Maybe Engelbert’s the one who thinks any institution funded by tax money is socialist and therefore bad, and Charlemagne’s the one who says we should dump even more tax money into the military and thinking otherwise is unamerican.

I happen to hold neither of those opinions. Yes, it is actually possible to completely stand behind the hypothetical statement you made in the beginning of the video, and not subscribe to typical right wing convictions like that. But I know that there are people who do, so let’s see where his is going.

But here’s the thing: y’all have have very fundamentally different beliefs and you’re so passionate bout them that you’re entering search terms into twitter to find people you don’t even follow and aggressively disagree with them...

That’s quite a lot of assumptions there mate. I don’t think this is even a remotely fair representation of your opposition. Certainly not true for me. I don’t even have a twitter account (no, I wasn’t kicked off. I never had an account there to begin with), let alone do I ever browse that website. Putting that aside though, how do you know if there’s anyone who actually does this? People can retweet things after all; maybe that’s how they find the contentious twitter users. I found your video because youtube recommended it, and I clicked on it because the title intrigued me. I didn’t set out to look for things to disagree with, despite my quips at the beginning of this piece.

...and yet you’re always yelling at me, and never yelling at each other.

Certainly not true either. I've had quite a few online arguments with alt-righters, who in my opinion differ from actual Nazi’s in only slight and insignificant ways, and fervent nationalists. Of course that’s never going to garner the kind of attention as when Sargon of Akkad sends a mean tweet to a female politician. Speaking of Carl, his vicious disagreement with the alt-right is well documented, and their hatred for him caused quite a few equally vicious attacks against him and his family. But I don’t blame you for not knowing that. The majority of both of their vitriol is still directed at the extreme left, and why shouldn’t it? I don’t think there is an extremist position so pervasive in the western media these days. Again: there is no alt-right equivalent of Star Wars: the Last Jedi, because none of those people work in Hollywood, or anywhere else of note (with the possible and unfortunate exception of the white house).

...and I can’t say how often it happens, but I know if I let Engelbert go on long enough he sometimes makes a Charlemagne argument and vise versa.

Either you’re saying that both of them contradict themselves while framing it in quite an unnecessarily suggestive way, or you’re displaying a rather tribalist mindset in which worldviews can never overlap. Either way, I don’t think the following statement is justified...

See, I don’t take you at your word because I cannot form a coherent worldview out of the things you say.

The fault might lie with you in this case I’m afraid. The reason I went over those questions in the beginning is to show that it is perfectly possible to have consistent views on all of those issues and still be counted among those who would oppose you on this one. I don’t think you really know who it is that you’re projecting all this on. You think my worldview has to have inconsistencies if I disagree with you on the nature of the discourse surrounding popular media, but you’ve yet to correctly identify any. I think the saying “truth resists simplicity” is one you should tale to heart a lot more. Case in point:

Why are you so capable of respecting disagreement between each other yet so incapable of respecting me, or, for that matter, a black woman.

While that may seem like a coherent statement at a first glance, it actually betrays an incredibly simplistic way of looking at things. You see, you’re comparing three entirely different things one can respect: the fact of genuine disagreement between two parties, you, an individual person, and any given black woman, that is: a demographic. The first has to be respected, otherwise discourse is impossible. Though it must be said that me and the alt-right probably have very little respect for each others motivations, but unlike you the alt-right doesn’t ever really ask for my respect. The second deserves respect only when earned, and the third deserves neither respect nor disparagement, because it’s an incredibly varied group of people, some of whom deserve respect and some of whom don’t.

It kinda seems like you’re playing games and I’m the opposing team, and anyone who’s against me is your ally...

That entirely depends on what we’re talking about, doesn’t it? If we’re talking about diversity in media and the issues surrounding it, I will find myself on one side of the board surrounded by people I would usually disagree with, and you would find yourself on the other side, presumably only surrounded by people who agree with you one hundred percent of the time. It seems you think it a bad thing that people can temporarily overcome their differences when faced with a common problem. That’s why some call you radical: you cannot ally with anyone who isn’t in complete lockstep with you, because they are not pure enough in their conviction. But that’s what fracturing societies are made of, so if you don’t mind I’ll stick to my methods. If that leaves you outnumbered on your side of the board it’s because you chose to champion a very unpopular opinion, and I can’t help that.

...and you’re not really taking a position, but claiming to believe in whatever would need to be true in order to score points against me.

If I did that then why even bother engaging with me? Clearly I don’t actually believe anything I say, so there’s no need to convince me otherwise. Are you sure it’s me who is supposed to have contradictory opinions? But in all seriousness, I don’t see why I would ever adopt such a strategy unless I’m either just a troll or addicted to arguments, and hey: there are people like that, but they don’t represent your entire political opposition. Get a grip.

After that we get the title drop, which, I have to admit, was really clever and amusing. I never watched Seinfeld, but maybe I should. Anyway, my free Saturday is passing me by like a speeding train, so I will continue this later.... maybe.

[graceivers]

Review #83 - The Nearness of You

The Nearness of You Author: Iris Morland Genre: Contemporary Romance, Doctors, Single Parent Rating: ★★★★½ Recommendation: give it a shot; once was enough Summary: Sara Flannigan moves back to her hometown to start again after divorcing her ex and fighting for her previously sick son. Though the town has not been and continues not to be the kindest to her, she connects with the hometown golden boy, Harrison Thornton, and finds herself in a romance that not everyone approves of.

Female Lead: Sara was a nice character, a good character, a plain and simple character but one that you sympathized with and supported. Most of her turmoil occurred in the past, but Morland made sure to refer to it so readers would be on Sara’s side, which I was. She had just enough bad luck in her past to get you to feel for her, but smartly, Morland ensured that Sara was a fighter, someone that fought as best as she could in the face of adversity. That was probably the best part about Sara—that she remained strong throughout all the challenges she had to ensure. Regardless if it was her mother’s alcoholism and neglect during her childhood, putting up with her absentee ex-husband when they were married, or caring for her son during his illness, Sara battled and never complained and never gave up. There was a lot of selflessness there, which I thoroughly appreciated and enjoyed. And yes, Sara’s character was still hesitant and sometimes even wishy washy when it came to her relationship with Harrison, but I got where she was coming from, and there was a certain logic to her behavior, so I forgave her for that. Sara was a good character. Male Lead: Kind of like Sara, Harrison was a little plain, but I still enjoyed his character and presence. Hot, protective doctor who calls out his mother for her disgraceful behavior towards the woman he fell in love with? Yes, please. For me, the highlight of Harrison’s character was surely him standing up for Sara and thus standing up to his mother. He was so direct and resolute about his stance, and I loved that. And yeah, there were other people looking out for Sara like her sister and even her mother that was coming around, but for someone like Harrison to so blatantly take her side and stand up for her and protect her the way he did, that was amazing; it was something so simple and yet extremely effective in capturing my attention and support. So, yeah, Harrison was a good character too. Plot & Writing: The Nearness of You was a rather simple and straightforward book, and sometimes, that’s all you need. I rather enjoyed the simplicity of it all—that in a romance book, the author didn’t throw in all the clichés and create maximum drama but instead let the story flow in ways that avoided unnecessary complications. The best thing Morland did was in fact keep the plot direct rather than incorporating twists and turns that would otherwise convolute her goal of showcasing the bond between Sara and Harrison and the strength of their feelings for one another.

I loved that everything we saw from the two characters was exactly who they actually were. Sara was tentative but she wasn’t secretive. Harrison was honest and direct but he wasn’t arrogant or condescending. To me, it was so refreshing to read about characters that still had layers but weren’t messy enigmas. Seriously, these two characters carried the book—as they needed to considering the simplistic plot Morland went with. If the author hadn’t written Sara and Harrison as nicely as she did, the book could’ve been boring and unfinished on my part. Thankfully, that didn’t happen.

Was the relationship between Sara and Harrison a little quick? Maybe. I bought their attraction to one another, their chemistry, their growing feelings. I don’t know. I generally liked the pacing of the story as a whole, though I do remember at a couple of points where I thought things might have been moving fast for them to already consider love when they had only been on like two dates. Alas, stranger things have happened. I still bought into their relationship and rooted for it, so the timing wasn’t too much of a hindrance.

And I just wanted to comment on Harrison’s mother. Geez, what a character. Her logic made absolutely no sense to me. No sense! So, if she had gone through the shaming of coming from ‘the wrong side of the tracks’ while she was with her husband, why in the world did she not sympathize and help Sara and positively welcome her? And then you think, maybe she was just protecting Harrison because she didn’t want him to go through what she and her husband went through. But then you realize that what she went through was because her husband’s parents disowned him. Was she going to disown Harrison for being with Sara then? No, because the whole point of her being nasty to Sara was to keep Harrison in the family and not push him away. Only, Harrison ended up not speaking to his mom anymore anyway because of all the unfortunate things she said to Sara. So that begged the question, what was the mother’s goal in trying to break them apart? I didn’t get her at all. I am interested to see if/how she plays a role in the ensuing books in the series and how her relationship with Harrison and Sara changes if they show up more.

Favorite Part(s): Harrison punching that dude who was harassing Sara? Yikes. But also, the scene where Harrison took Sara out on the boat for the first time really stuck out to me. Because of sexytimes? Maybe. But I just thought that whole moment where it was just the two of them out there and were able to talk honestly and focus on each other was romantic and… beautiful. Final Thoughts: The Nearness of You was a sweet and simple romance. Like I said before, the two main characters really carried the story. I liked that Morland didn’t complicate them or the plot overall but instead allowed everything to come as naturally as it could. There was an overall maturity to the characters and the book, and that was absolutely the right way to go considering that they were in fact grown and serious adults. The Nearness of You was a satisfying read, and I would recommend.

[aceofhearts6886-blog]

5 Reasons Fan-Fiction Is Better Than Actual TV Shows

5 Reasons Fan-Fiction Is Better Than Actual TV Shows

5.Sex 4.Sex 3.Sex 2.Sex and 1.Sex, end of list…

     Kidding, that’s just what most people think of when they hear of fanfiction. Fanfic is NOT just about people boning! I know that’s what most people think when they hear about it, but it’s really not. Yes, there is a lot of sex in fanfic, of course there is. Sex is EVERYWHERE; in every show, book, movie, commercial, everything. It is absolutely permeated into our culture. That is just the world we live in, there is no avoiding it (believe me, I've tried). Saying all fanfic is just sex is like saying all scifi is Star Wars: is it a part of it? Yes; is it a pretty significant part? For many, yes, absolutely; are there people who take it too far? Oh my god, yes. But, at the end of the day, it’s just one element of a huge, expansive universe of possibilities.

It seems like anytime you see anything written about fanfic it’s always about the most cringe-worthy things that they can find. It’s usually about how bad the writing can be, how explicit many scenes can get, or how mindbogglingly insane a story can go.  Those exist, no question and there is a reason for that; fanfic is written by the author, and only the author. For many, it’s a look into their minds, a glimpse into their inner-most (darkest, craziest, and yes, sometimes dirtiest,) thoughts. It is a way to express your most private thoughts and fantasies. For some, it's a kind of catharsis; a way to work through some of the confusing, depressing, at times even disturbing, things you're facing in your real life. For others it’s an escape from all that. It’s a way for someone who may, in person, be shy, awkward or somewhat introverted, to express themselves in a way that they simply can’t in real life.  Then there are those who simply do it because they are intelligent, kinda quirky, and creative and came up with a unique, interesting story that they wanted to share; that, or they were drunk and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

            Okay, rant done, onto my original topic. There are many reasons why some people may prefer fan-fiction to its source material, things like….  

5.Hate the way a story went? There is a story to fix that:

Fanfics are kinda like apps; there is one for everything.Ever read a book, watched a movie, or finally made it to the end of a series, only to be left underwhelmed, confused or simply with a mental loop of “Seriously!?!” This is why fan fiction exists. So much of fanfics are ‘Fix-it’ fics. Anytime I watch an episode of one of my favorites, only to be disappointed with how it went, I wait about an hour and go to archiveofourown.org. It is almost a certainty that someone (much more creative than me) was also disappointed and wrote something to fix it. Or, when they have the quick stinger for the next episode and you have to wait a week, or month or whole season, and you just don’t have the patience, damnit; there’s a fic for that. Killed off your favorite character?  There’s a fic for that. Somewhere, online, they’re still around, even years later, they're still showing up; having adventures and storylines, all happy and healthy and totally not dead (unless they’re like a ghost or vampire or something, fanfic really can go anywhere).

4.Find a narrative that speaks to you:

          I’ll be honest; all my favorite stories are slash. Slash, to those who don’t know (hi, welcome to the internet, you must be new) is when canon-ly straight characters are written as Gay/Lesbian/Bi (generally Slash is used for male characters, femslash is women, obviously). why is this so common? I don't know, It could be that there are a larger number of well written, interesting male characters. It could be because most shows just have more men on them. Or, as most fanfic writers are female, maybe they think the guys are hot and/or they are just sick of everything revolving around boobs; whatever the reason, there is a LOT of slash out there.  My favorite thing about slash is that you get actual story-lines with gay characters as opposed to just ‘gay story-lines.’ Let’s face it, most stories involving gay characters can be summed up as: denial, acceptances, depressing homophobic drama, come out, fade away ( or apparently, in lesbian stories:  all that, end up hooking up with random guy, THEN die). Look, I’m fine with coming out stories, I’m good with drama and self-acceptance and all that, really I am.  When I’m in the right mood, I may even actively seek them out. But, honestly, most of the time I’d take action, fantasy, scifi, lots of humor, sarcasm, and explosions over all that emotional stuff any day.  I don’t watch shows or read to be pulled into serious ethical dilemmas or to be depressed, angered or annoyed, I’m watching/reading to escape all that crap for an hour or so! I like cheesy quotes, ridiculous action, and completely off the wall scifi craziness. With slash, I can get all that, only with a little gay twist. See, LGBT characters in stories, to me, are kinda like the romantic subplot. I like it, it makes it interesting and adds depth, sometimes it may even be one of the main draws, but if that’s all it’s about, I’m out. I need more than just that to keep my interest. Again, that is what I look for in a story; you may actually like romance stories, you may only like stories with straight characters, you may like stories that are dark and depressing and make you dissolve into tears. Heck, for all I know you may only like stories where all the characters are anthropomorphic Tetris blocks, I don’t know. And that’s fine; that is one of the best things about fanfic, no matter where your interest lie, no matter how traditional, quirky, or even downright bizarre, you can find something that will appeal to you.

I got a bit sidetracked again (fair warning, if you can’t already tell, I do that a lot). anyways; most fanfic won’t follow cannon. The characters might not be dealing with all the same things as the show, they may not be in the same relationship as the show, they may not even be in the same universe as the show; but who cares? Despite how obsessive some of us can get, none of these shows/characters are real, they’re all just fiction, and, I figure, if it’s all fiction anyway, you may as well follow the one that is most interesting to you.

3. Expansive, immersive, unique worlds:

     Speaking of different universes, one of my absolute favorite things about fanfic are Alternate Universes. I love these because you can have your favorite characters in completely different worlds, different genres, different everything. The authors of some of these can build an entire, unique world with their words and imagery. These can go anywhere from a slight detour from cannon, to a train, plane, possibly a freaking spaceship trip from where you started, which is why it is so appealing. You can have a character that you love in a type of story that would never get to see otherwise. These can be so creative, unique and expansive, that you almost forget what it’s based on. I have read a Hawaii five-0 story where one of the main characters was a werewolf; there’s a Teen Wolf ( shut up, you can’t look up slash without running into this one, a while ago they were  actively encouraging slash) one that is set in a scifi/space type universe , complete with aliens, space battles and a collective of assassins. There’s actually a few Supernatural ones where angels and demons are similar to the show, but they’re aliens or something else instead (like I said, I like scifi). I love it when I find a really well-written AU, where you can get completely absorbed in the story. To me, these kind of stories are kinda like seeing a favorite actors that, no matter what they’re in, they still come off as the same person; Tom Cruise, Steven Seagal, Pierce Brosnan, Charlie Sheen (Wait, bad example, let’s just stick with the firsts three, okay?).

2. Stories that are exactly what the author intended:

          Okay, cards on the table? This one is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand; you get the story exactly how it was intended, not deluded, edited or censored; on the other hand you, well, get the story exactly how it was intended, not deluded, edited or censored. These works are all based on the authors’ preference; on their tastes, views and peculiarities. It can be whatever that one particular person thinks up, and, let’s face it, there are some pretty peculiar people out there ( once again, you are on the internet right now, you know this) with some pretty twisted minds, hey, for all I know, you might be one of them. Their view may not appeal to you, it may creep you out, it may disturb you, it may even offend you; but the thing is, you can always stop reading and move onto something else, not every story is written for every audience. It’s not that hard to figure out, read what you want, ignore what you don’t. It really annoys me when I read comments on a fic and someone is complaining about something that was clearly explained in the tags/notes/ex.

           This also means that most of the writing is subject to the authors level of skill; I can’t tell you how many times I’ve went to check out a story with a plot that really interested me, only to have it have so many spelling/grammar errors that I couldn’t continue, was a bit too convoluted even for me to follow  (which, with me, is saying something) or, simply, veered into a direction that I just didn’t want to follow. I’m not gonna lie, there is a lot of bad writing out there, but, the same can be said about any form of media; you can’t tell me you’ve never read a book or watched a show, got part way through  and thought “what the hell is this?”.

   See, the thing I most love about fanfiction, is that you do get to see just that one individual’s story. It isn’t a hodgepodge of ideas assembled from a group of writers like most media. It isn’t a story tossed together by focus groups, designed to appeal to the widest audience possible. It’s not about marketing, merchandising and monetary value. It’s just a story that someone came up with and felt that they wanted to share with the world, simply because they could; to me, there is something so absolutly fantastic about that (yeah, yeah that went weirdly sappy for me, but I don’t care.)

Honestly, I usually cheat when I read a story; I’ll read the last line to make sure it doesn’t end somewhere I don’t want to be; though, to be fair, I usually prefer longer stories, and if I’m gonna read +20k words, it needs to be worth it. For all of that; for all the typos, quirky spirals, and bizarre porn (I said it wasn’t all of it, never said that isn’t where a lot ends up) that exist in fanfic, there really are some amazing writers in fanfiction that totally make all the rest worth it. Which brings me to…

1.Sometimes the writing is actually better than in the actual show:

          I don’t know about you, but when I get a new favorite show, I like it right off the bat; love the characters, premise, story-lines, everything. Then it goes on for a bit and networks just. Can’t. Leave. Well. Enough. Alone. They add more characters, add more twists, kill off your favorites ( to be fair, this isn’t all on the show, sometimes the actors want to leave for whatever reason) or they add in unnecessary romances/ love triangles in an attempt to keep a show ‘fresh’. Note to TV writers  STOP DOING THAT. If it works, leave it alone; give me more of the cases, action, bantering, humor and quirkiness that attracted me in the first place because that is why I am watching this show and not some sappy/overdramatic movie on lifetime. Don’t add a random girl just so the main guys have someone to flirt with/sleep with/compete over. Not only is that sexist, but this is not the narrative most of the audience is looking for; I don’t want to see them trying to hook up with or competing over some random woman, I just want to see them; solve cases, fight, make snarky comments and occasionally blow stuff up. Is that really too much to ask?

          Sorry, this concludes the TV rant, I'm back. So, have you noticed how, after a show has been on the air a while it just kinda goes downhill? They lean too heavily on random tropes, they do a lot of ‘special’ or ‘themed’ episodes. Yeah, that bugs me too. There are some shows that changed so much that I stopped watching altogether and have switched to just reading fanfic. The reason; some of these writers are absolutely amazing at writing stories that feel like an actual episode, or an entire Season , of a show, sometimes even better than most of the actual shows writers.

An example; Psych was one of my favorite shows for quite a while. I loved the first couple of seasons, but as it drug out the stories got more convoluted and random. The premise was fantastic, but it seemed like many of the stories just kinda missed the mark. I get that it was mainly a comedy show, but it was also heavily driven by cases; for me, most of these just kinda fell flat and were forgotten in favor of slapstick comedy and the will they/won’t they relationship between the fake psychic and the junior detective he was usually working with (It’s a guy and a girl, you know they will). There are some amazing stories that are exactly like an actual episode, complete with the flashbacks and everything, only with more adventure and more compelling cases. These writers can draw you in with the first few words and keep your attention all the way through. Another of my favorites was Eureka. I actually liked this entire series, but at the end of the 3rd season they killed off one of my favorite characters. I loved the quirkiness of the show, it was funny and interesting with a good mix of scifi, humor and action. There simply wasn’t enough of this show; with fanfic you can get a lot more ‘episodes’, This has also inspired some really great AU’s. they are just as fun, interesting and quirky , as the actual show  just, you know, without the commercials.

Look, I know that many people look down on fanfiction; they see it as anything from badly written porn, the ranting of a lunatic, or basic copy write infringement.  Those stories are out there, no question, but that is just a part of it. A lot of it is well written, creative narratives that just take an existing idea and run with it; and honestly, how is that much different from any other media? Most of the characters from Star Wars are pretty much lifted from old westerns and samurai films. Every other movie or TV show that seems to be coming out is an homage to, spin-off or gritty reboot of something else. Nearly every story is going to borrow some things from others. Most characters are gonna be inspired by others, wither it’s just a bit or in everything but the name; at least fanfiction writers are honest about where they are borrowing from. Bottom line, a lot of these writers have an amazing ability to weave interesting, creative, imaginative stories better than many who get paid for it; and they’re not doing it for money, fame or other forms of personal success. They just want to tell you a creative, interesting story. They want to entertain, to express themselves, and to give people interesting narratives that they can identify with that they may not be able to find too many other places; or like I said, maybe they were just drunk. Either way, it usually leads to something pretty entertaining.

[graceivers]

Review #35 - Marry Me for Money

Marry Me for Money Author: Mia Kayla Genre: Contemporary Romance Rating: ★★★ Recommendation: it’s a toss-up; once was enough Summary: Bethany Casse attempts to leave her old life behind and start a new and more successful one. Kent Plack is a useless and lazy playboy that Beth has seemingly no use for until they strike up a friendship and find a way to help each other out with their respective predicaments. Of course, they end up falling for each other.

Female Lead: Beth was honestly one of those character I believe the author wanted to portray as strong and independent but ended up making immature. The setup for the former is all there: bad and absent parents, making sacrifices for other people’s errors, endlessly working to become financially stable. Obviously Kayla wanted us to sympathize for Beth given the unfortunate circumstances she found herself in due to her mother’s awful and repugnant behavior. And do I feel bad for her in those moments? Yes, absolutely. But then Beth reacts, and the majority of her reactions made me grimace in disappointment.

Beth is a complainer. Her reaction when her mother came to her because the former needed more money? Yes, an angry outburst is warranted TO AN EXTENT. Beth’s actual reaction went way over that extent. She was basically throwing a temper tantrum like a toddler stomping her feel, pulling at her hair and clothes, and practically wailing. Like, geez, I almost felt secondhand embarrassment reading that because it was such cringeworthy behavior to read about coming from an adult even in her unfortunate situation. A similar reaction reoccurs towards the end of the book after the major conflict between her and Kent happened—maybe with less hair and clothes pulling and feet stomping but still the same overall result. Beth wails about why this keeps happening to her and what she did to deserve this because she’s always been a good person, blah blah blah. Yeah, this whining? I was not a fan of it at all, and that made Beth’s overall character not so appealing despite the fact that she was supposed to be this independent woman. Male Lead: Compared to Beth, Kent is a child. A man-child. A spoiled and selfish man-child and everyone, including him, knows it. This, quite frankly, was a bore to read because literally right up to the very last chapter of the book, there was little if any character development for Kent. I mean, sure, there were a few spikes here and there when you could see it happening—him falling for Beth—but most of his actions remained for the benefit of himself. He mostly cared about how he felt about everything rather than trying to understand how other people would be affected by his actions. And while a part of me was rooting for him to get there, the other part of me did not believe he deserved a happy ending. Because that’s just the way the world works! “Sometimes, we don’t get what we want.” Beth literally said that to him. It couldn’t be more true. And for Kent, someone who had in fact gotten what he wanted all his life, it was time for him to realize that he couldn’t. Plot & Writing: Marry Me for Money is a quick and average read. Nothing too special or out of the ordinary here. Kayla took the fake engagement/marriage trope and tried her best to make it fresh and original by inserting different dramas and obstacles for the main leads to overcome. Unfortunately, what I felt Kayla actually did was stuff too many things into a short amount of space, which may have yielded the effect she wanted in pushing Beth and Kent together romantically but made the overall story rather haphazard and rushed.

First of all, the little kidnapping/hostage scene? Totally overdone and unnecessary. This was purely Kayla trying to insert maximum drama into the storyline and force both Kent and Beth to realize their feelings for each other. Did the intended outcome actually come to fruition? Yes. Was the method justified and/or warranted? No, not really. The scene was not treated properly given that it was actually a grave situation for Beth to be in, and such nonchalance towards the moment disappointed me. Now take everything I just said about that scene and reapply it to the sexual assault scene. Seriously, copy and paste because Beth getting attacked by whatever that jackass’—excuse my language—name was was WHOLLY UNNECESSARY and not fully executed. Don’t throw sexual assault into a story like it’s nothing. It’s not nothing.

And then there was the whole relationship between Beth and Brian. Poor Brian gets the stereotypical ‘good guys finish last’ treatment. This guy did absolutely nothing wrong, and yet because he wasn’t slightly unattainable like the playboy way Kent was written, he was immediately not good enough. And you knew, YOU KNEW, when comparing the initial relationship between Beth and Brian and Beth and Kent that the latter was going to win out. There was little contest that Brian was going to be the odd man out despite having done NOTHING WRONG. He did nothing wrong, and yet, Beth dragged him around when she deluded herself into thinking that Brian would accept her particular arrangement with Kent. Brian would not only have been a saint do so but also a fool. And poor Brian realizes this—that nice guys sometimes, unfortunately, do finish last and that SOMETIMES PEOPLE DON’T ALWAYS GET WHAT THEY WANT—so he removes himself from the situation like the good man he is. Brian deserves a happy ending way more than Kent and maybe even Beth.

The ending was rushed. I mean, the couple reconciled in the last few pages of the last chapter of the entire book. That’s cutting it close. And I know there’s a semi-epilogue added with the ‘one year later’ section, but that’s not going to convince me much that Kent and Beth are a solid couple when I’m still reeling from the fact that they just got back together like two pages ago. And yes, I know there’s Love After Marriage, a sequel of sorts to this book. So, I read Marry Me for Money a while ago even though I’m only reviewing it now, but I skimmed Love After Marriage today and was horrified how increasingly childish both characters were, so to say the least, my conclusions here are kind of right… Secondary Characters & Plots: Everyone is boring and not important or sucks except Brian. Brian deserves all the happiness in the world and a spinoff. And he does get his own book! I was dismayed, however, that he ended up being paired with Kendy, Beth’s cousin. I mean, isn’t that a little weird? You’re dating your ex-girlfriend’s cousin? It feels like Brian is basically replacing Beth with a slightly different version with Kendy. Or at least to me, that’s what it feels like. And now I won’t read Brian’s book because of that. Sigh.

Uh, I kind of already went over most secondary plots in the main writing and plot section—Beth dealing with her mother and the consequence of the latter’s actions, the sexual assault. There might have been something else since Kayla was good at shoving a lot of things into the book, but I can’t remember. It’s safe to say that I felt all this added drama was unnecessary. Favorite Part(s): Disheveled, confused, and broken Kent begging Beth to come home because he missed her. Finally, FINALLY, Kent was getting a taste of his own medicine and growing a little and realizing that his actions had consequences and that he just might not get what he wanted. That scene was when I felt the most genuine and raw emotion coming from any of the characters. I wanted a lot more of that than glossed over dramatics. Final Thoughts: Marry Me for Money is more or less quintessential fake/convenient relationship material. Kayla tries to make it original, but she only really ends up adding underdeveloped drama. The book is okay and averagely enjoyable when you’re not thinking too hard (because you’re not supposed to with these books, clearly). But there’s nothing uniquely special about Marry Me for Money that makes it a standout and worth reading.

[graceivers]

Review #32 - Seaside Dreams

Seaside Dreams Author: Melissa Foster Genre: Contemporary Romance, Law Enforcement, Single Parent Rating: ★★★★ Recommendation: give it a shot; once was enough Summary: Bella Abbascia is looking to make some permanent changes in her life to (re)assert her independence. This plan of hers includes avoiding men and committed relationships until her life becomes more stable. But when she meets Caden Grant, single father and police officer, Bella begins to find it hard to stick to that plan and resist the chemistry between them.

Female Lead: To be honest, Bella was kind of a frustrating character. Half of the time I loved her and sympathized with her; the other half of the time, this woman was a big question mark. I like that Bella realized where her life was at, did not like it, and decided to make a change. Yes, her friends were right to worry a little considering that Bella was leaving a stable job and moving, but I commend her for seeing something she didn’t like about her life and changing it. I liked how Foster demonstrated the character’s independence in certain situations like when she had to get companies to agree to sign on to her work study program.

What frustrated me about this character was how confusing some of her logic and decisions were, especially in the beginning when she didn’t want to commit to a relationship with Caden. That whole section where she was trying to explain it to her friends confused the hell out of me. So, Bella keeps saying that her ‘no commitments’ rule wasn’t because her ex-boyfriend lied to her. And yet she’s clearly afraid of starting things with Caden because she doesn’t want to get hurt again… Then she says how she’s all independent and doesn’t need a man, and yet right after that, she kind of contradicts herself when she says she does in fact want true love, marriage and kids, and the whole shebang. And then throughout the book, Bella is all shy about how she loves pink and is secretly a girly girl, but she felt the need to hide this because she doesn’t want guys to think she’s weak and vulnerable. Honestly, I think the woman’s problem was that she didn’t realize she could be—and already was—all of these things. You can love pink and still do basic carpentry. You can be an independent woman and still be soft and vulnerable. It doesn’t have to be one way or the other. Bella’s weird struggle with this dichotomy felt unnecessary for someone who seemed always sure of herself. Other than that, she was a good character. Male Lead: Caden is pretty awesome, man. I mean, there were a couple of reviews I read on Goodreads that said he was a little too perfect, which may or may not be true. But I’m certainly not going to complain. He is absolutely a committed man—to his son, to his job, to his relationship with Bella (even after he realizes his mistake). His level of seriousness, maturity (he is thirty-five), dedication, loyalty, and commitment is pretty perfect and definitely what people or at least I strive for when looking for a partner. At the end of the day, Caden is genuinely just a GOOD person, and that’s the most attractive thing about him. The way he dropped everything once he found out he had a son, the sacrifices he did in fact make to raise Evan, the way he treated and respected and loved Bella, all of it is because he is truly an upstanding kind of guy. There really isn’t anymore to it and him than that. Plot & Writing: Seaside Dreams is a nice read, a pleasant read. From the sheer number of books Foster has written, the author clearly has a formula down to her writing style. And it’s been well-received, so that’s great. Though this is the first book I’ve read from her, I’m sure that despite the different storylines, the majority of her books are going to follow this similar style. And therein lies the sole problem I had with the book: despite knowing that her other books would obviously have different storylines, it was as if reading and finishing this one revealed to me how every other book would go.

Let me expand and clarify. Foster’s writing is very… neat. Like cookie-cutter neat. A little too tidy. I guess that’s where the occasional complaint of how perfect some things are comes from. I think this problem stems a little from the fact that Foster does kind of lean towards more of the ‘tell’ side of ‘show, don’t tell’ than the ‘show’ side. Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of great moments where Foster naturally demonstrates with her scenes what she wants readers to figure out. But there were in fact a lot of places in the book where it was basically ‘and this is this, and that is that, and this is this person and who she likes, etc.’ I didn’t need formal introductions to Bella’s friends at the beginning, really. I didn’t really care which one of her friends was pining for which dude. The suspenseful/dramatic part of the story was obviously predictable, though that mattered less than how it went down. And how did it go down? A lot of referencing and honestly not a whole lot of action. I don’t need overly dramatic; that wouldn’t fit the tone Foster set for the book. But what I needed was less talking and more doing, less telling and more showing.

Caden and Bella’s relationship was overall very nice. I was skeptical at first because the first sexual moment between the two came way too quickly and abruptly that I was surprised that Foster would go that far that fast. But thankfully, it was reined in a little to allow both characters to get to know each other, settle into their feelings, and grow as individuals as well as a couple. Am I inclined to believe that Caden has not been with a woman since he was twenty and was handed baby Evan? Uh, apparently so. But clearly, that worked in his favor, so I’m not complaining.

The ending was… abrupt. I don’t like going into the last chapter knowing that there is only one chapter left for the author to wrap things up and give the readers the happy ending everyone knows is coming; I personally don’t think it’s enough room to put the relationship back on solid ground and make the ending complete. And then to shove a weird little proposal in there, that didn’t seem to fit. Seriously, if there was another chapter after Bella and Caden got back together and he proposed then, I probably would’ve been fine with it. But right there and then, it was abrupt and Foster trying to be too neat in her writing. Secondary Characters & Plots: Bella’s friends were cool for the most part. I loved that they were Bella’s family and that she could rely on them for honesty, security, and comfort. But sometimes I also felt like I got an overdose of the girls, Jenna and Amy in particular. I get it. Foster is trying to set up their characters for their respective books. But again, it was too neat. I didn’t care enough about their respective pinings for other dudes; it actually made me wish that they would end up with other guys that haven’t been established in this universe yet.

I really enjoyed the role Foster had Evan play in the book. He obviously had to be considered in all things regarding Caden’s life, but I loved that he also had one-on-one scenes with Bella. And then he had great involvement with the other secondary characters and the subplot too, which was a plus.

The secondary plot, as mentioned above, was predictable, but fine. The book didn’t need drama larger than life, and this subplot nicely included the police officer side of Caden as well as some revelations and development for Evan and other minor characters. Favorite Part(s): Bella and Evan spending time together. Almost anything with Evan involved, honestly. I was far more invested in the kid than Bella’s friends. But also, Caden in general and his reaction to Bella and falling in love with her. He has his moments where it’s like ‘holy hell, I’m falling in love with her’ but at the same time, he just rolls with it and let’s himself be consumed by a woman for the first time in just about forever. Final Thoughts: Seaside Dreams is good, cookie-cutter good. It has an extremely pleasant tone and is definitely on a more mature level (but maybe that’s because I also read a lot of overly dramatic books involving college-aged or just immature people overall). Foster clearly has a particular writing style, which works for her. And for the most part, it works for me too. I would recommend Seaside Dreams as a nice and smooth read.