#i mean there are no spoilers but it's from the patch 5 epilogue so

[valentjin]

linkedin profile pic energy

[systemic-dreams]

Karlach has a happy ending. Going to find a fix for her engine with her best friend(s)/potential lover? Fun. The epilogue party even mentions that they have a lead on a fix if she goes with Wyll. Just because it's not explicitly shown on screen in a 2 minute long cutscene doesn't mean she doesn't get to be happy.

lol, you went on anon to give me this milquetoast take?

I don't even know what you're responding to.

Maybe you should get together with some friends and play Dungeons and Dragons?

I recommend Descent into Avernus which is the campaign that canonically takes place before and leads into the events of Baldur's Gate 3. It features our favourite damsel in distress and Wizard of the Coast's favourite punching bag - Grand Duke Ulder Ravengard, aka Wyll's dad. With a guest appearance by the Archdevil Zariel, whose Evil Minion you can become. Get experience first hand of how not fun Hell can be for people like Karlach by enlisting in Zariel's army today! Well, not today, because the first leg of the campaign will take a few sessions.

Without getting into spoilers, I can tell you that some very interesting stuff happens in the lead up to bg3. None of it really makes me believe that Karlach is going to have 'fun' or 'be happy' during her time in Hell. But it will probably make for a good novel. Hopefully they don't kill her off.

Oh, and this ending you're talking about was only made available after Patch #5 (Nov 30th 2023). It was explicitly released in response to fandom complaints that there was no happy ending for Karlach so... I guess it worked? If randos are coming out of the woodwork to tell me she gets a happy ending. Though, I question the choice to send her back into Hell when you had the Gondians and the Ironhands who could make City Watch robots and blackpowder bombs. Could they not fix her engine maybe? With one of their engines. That seems like a plot hole.

If that's not an option, what about asking for Divine Intervention from one of the party's many Gods? Or, you could do Resurrection when Karlach does die since you get that spooky Thay Grimoire and unlock its secrets in Sorcerous Sundries. Or maybe you could do Reincarnation since we have twO druids in the party for some reason.

Polymorph? High level polymorph anyone?

You could go to Waterdeep and talk to the Wizards? Elminster could get off his lazy cheese-loving ass and do something? Like cast a Wish spell? How about an item that casts a Wish spell? You could go on a quest for that. Or, what if, get this, you could bargain with Raphael, for Karlach's freedom? 🙃I think I would actually give him the tadpole for that one.

Anyway, I still think there's no true happy ending yet but maybe they'll patch that in too. Act 3 needed a lot more polish imo. And I don't think anyone should be turned into a squid if they don't want to be.

[chronurgy]

Bg3 ending thoughts

Under a cut for length and spoilers. This post only covers the original ending sequence, I'll cover the patch 5 epilogue in a separate post

So Vesper did end up freeing Orpheus. I didn't think they would! I couldn't understand why so many people did, because freeing him seemed like such a bad bet but the emperor really ratcheted up the sketch factor at the end there. I think if he'd just been 40% less sketch it might have worked out. Ah well.

Aaand then right after freeing him, Vesper had him turned into a mind flayer. Oops. This was actually a very vicious and calculated decision on Vesper's part - they hadn't liked some of the stuff Lae'zel had been saying about reestablishing a Gityanki empire (a new and unified Gith empire that managed to drive back the mindflayers might not actually be good news for the rest of the mortals) and what Orpheus said about not forgiving or forgetting their abuse of his powers registered to them as a threat. So refusing the transformation got them three things - a solution to the problem of the empire, the removal of a threat, and not becoming an illithid themself (giving up their newly won freedom from Bhaal to become a mindflayer? No thanks). Ends justify the means baby.

They destroyed the brain instead of dominating it (though it was very tempting for them).

They killed Orpheus as well, in the end. They would have let him live since in their eyes the major threat was neutralized (him showing up to get revenge with an army) and told him he didn't need to die since he seemed to be in control of himself. His response about how he wanted to die while he still had his soul though.....who were they to argue with that logic? They'd done the same thing when they'd defied Bhaal, after all. So they do kill him.

Lae'zel does go back to the Astral plane to lead the revolution. Vesper's thoughts here are that a more populous style uprising is likely to have better outcomes for the people of faerun than a reestablished empire, especially if lae'zel who has a new appreciation for the world and its people is leading it.

Karlach goes to Avernus with Wyll. Vesper ended up leaving the choice to her, and she chose Avernus. This was a situation where Vesper really felt like they couldn't tell anyone what to do. They walked willingly to their death after considering the alternatives, but they're also still here, so they're not quite sure what to say.

Vesper convinced Gale not to ascend and leave the crown at the bottom of the river. They also accepted his proposal and went with him to Waterdeep. It was very cute!

I think I'll reload in a bit to try the dominated brain endings because I'm very curious about them

[benichi]

Collar X Malice - Unlimited - Spoiler Free Mini Review

- Unlimited - revisits the World and stories of Collar x Malice in varied ways. There are After Stories (also referred to as Epilogues) for the 5 Love Interests from the first game. Side stories that focus on (you guessed it) side characters plus the so called ADONIS mode which will give you the chance to find out more about the organizations members.

+ As with the first game both art and music are very nice. It's a blend between content from the previous entry, which gave a nice sense of nostalgia, and newly created sprites and music. I'll address the elephant in the room: considering the allegations against H*namarua M*i I did feel a little... odd looking at the art. But I'll have to take it at face value for now since there hasn't been any more news and the art - as we see it in game - looks good (aside from a few weird anatomy situations).

+ After Stories (Epilogue). These are probably what people have been looking forward to the most. It's nice to see these characters again and even more so to see how they act in a relationship. Personally I very much enjoy seeing how couples are once they're officially together (not just to the point until they get together) so I loved these. Obviously some stories more than others, we all have our favorites and so on. But overall I found all of them enjoyable and I think there's nice variation of fluff and drama between the stories. The only thing I'd like to remark is that there aren't a lot of puzzles, though I haven’t really made up my mind on how I feel about that. Because on one hand it’s nice they put more of a focus on the day to day lives, but on the other I do enjoy some good puzzles. So I’m kind of in the middle here and just wanted to point it out because the first game did have more.

+ Side Stories. There are 3 stories in total that consist of 2 parts each. I very much loved two of them, the third felt a little forced in my opinion (you’ll see which one I mean once you get there) but either way I think all of them are a nice addition for those that would have liked to spend some more time with certain side characters in the main game.

+ ADONIS. I'll be honest I loved this. Even if I do love me some sprakly butterfly Otome that Aksys seems to be against so much there’s definitely a big part of me loving dark and morally challenging stories. I don't even want to say too much but this mode was right up my alley and I hope people can get into it unspoiled. As I said in the beginning here’s where you’ll have the chance to find out more about each Adonis members, their motivations and stories. This obviously includes their leader (which a lot of people have always wanted to find out more about - me included). This mode may seem a little confusing at first but once you start playing it’s actually quite simple but still effective. The (true) ending was done well and I do think that ADONIS is a great way to say goodbye to the world of Collar x Malice.

- The limited edition feels like minimal effort. And not just for - Unlimited -, personally I find none of the LE Aksys puts out appealing. Compared to all of the content the Japanese version got we’re really getting the short end of the stick here. Again, this is how I feel about it. I’d love to buy some LE Otoge but not like this.

- The localization. I specifically chose “localization” because most people seem to be talking about translation which isn’t quite it in my opinion. Especially putting this game on Google Translate level. As someone who has played my fair share of Google Translate-esque Otome I can reassure you that C x M - Unlimited - is still far from that. I think to be on GT level it has to be at a point where you can’t even understand what’s going on at least half of the time, which is not the case here.

-- BUT there are some major problems. I’ve already talked about this previously so I’ll be keeping things a little more brief here...

My biggest issue is that the game often times feels unpleasant to read. Which is obviously a big problem for a visual novel. The game cuts sentences in a weird way that makes you wonder if part of it is missing - which is my main gripe cause this is a constant thing. There’s random numbers that shouldn’t even be there in the text, off wording and even coding issues (text outside the box or in places it shouldn’t be,...). So as I’ve said previously I do think that it’s difficult to put something with this much text out and do a completely flawless job. If there were some spelling mistakes here and there I wouldn’t mind it that much. In C x M - Unlimited - however there are times when it will be one mistake after the next in a consistent manner (Takeru’s AS is  w i l d), then things will be perfectly fine again for a little while only to jump back to paragraphs of odd words, text outside the box or just awkward wording. It kind of feels like some of the employees took their work seriously and tried to put a good product out while the other half slept on their keyboard.

Conclusion: should you buy this? If you’re a big fan of the original I do think so, yes. I don’t really like the idea of boycotting or anything like that, I don’t think that’ll get us anywhere. Especially if you liked the original you shouldn’t deprive yourself of this experience. But we do have to hold Aksys accountable for what they’ve done. Because even if the Otome fanbase is struggling to get releases we shouldn’t just be happy getting Otoge at all - we do want quality.

Again this game is still far from some of the other bad localizations we’ve had to deal with, you’ll always understand what’s going on. However, I do have to say that the price of 50€ for the game - as it is right now - is not acceptable. I wouldn’t mind paying that price for a VN with great localization, but as you can see currently this game has too many issues to call it that. So if you’d like to hold off that’s perfectly understandable. Aksys is aware of their displeased fans so now it’s on them to take action.

I do think that we are a well- and outspoken fandom, so if you haven’t yet consider writing Aksys a polite email about the issues with - Unlimited -. Especially so if you’re reluctant about buying the game in it’s current state.

In short: Great game, as of now not so great localization. Let’s hope they put out a patch and - even more importanlty - that they’ll do better next time. Piofiore’s release is not that far off after all.

[patrickstargang]

To Heal (Shadow of Kyoshi fic)

Chapter 1: The Other Side of Peace

Chapter 2: Master and Student

Chapter 3: A Cause for Celebration

Chapter 4: Taking Off The Mask

Chapter 5: Call to Action

Epilogue

*Disclaimer: this entire fic is a massive spoiler for Shadow of Kyoshi so if you haven’t read it I would recommend doing so before reading this

The great rain that had poured over the Fire Nation’s crops seemed to have traveled all the way to Yokoya. Luckily the strength of the storm had died down since then, as it could have brought caution for flooding the town’s harbor. The patter of water droplets against the wooden boards of the Avatar estate was a calming ambiance, a perfect sound to continue sleeping if it hadn’t leaked through the ceiling. One leak, in particular, was right above Rangi, becoming a nuisance as she slowly woke up.

Her eyes squinted, rubbing them to clear her vision. Once she came to her senses, she noticed something was off. A different air to the room. She glanced at the other side of the bed to find Kyoshi wasn’t there. The lack of an impression on the cushion signaled that she had been up for a while. At the same time, while Rangi noticed the change in the room, it wasn’t an unusual occurrence either. Kyoshi had been up earlier than practically everyone since they agreed to reside in the estate. But she also noticed that Kyoshi would stay up later than everyone else, a new concern added on for Rangi to worry about. She sighed deeply, hoping today would have been a change of pace.

Rangi stood up firmly from the bed. She didn’t require her walking cane anymore, as the progress on her health was faster than anyone would have expected considering how serious the injury was. She solemnly dressed in the usual Fire Nation military attire and arranged her hair into a topknot. She made her way through the hallways of the estate, some still battered after their fight with Yun. They were painful reminders of the events that conspired many days ago, but also for a time where they were blissfully unaware of the deception Jianzhu had enacted.

Rangi came to an open space in the estates, a space without a roof that would have been used as a garden one day, but for now, was just a big patch of grass for visitors to enjoy the outside air. This was where she usually found Kyoshi, trying to converse with her past lives or prepping the negotiations for Fire Lord Zoryu to admonish the Saowan clan of their charges. But she didn’t find her here. All that was left was a tea set, with a cup filling with rain that poured out onto the grass, and a half-peeled orange.

Skipping meals again? She thought to herself in disappointment. She stared out through the wall of rain that separated the creaky wooden coverings from the soft dirt of the grassy patch. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the door to a room that was slightly open with light peering out of the crack. Rangi straightened her eyes and made her way to the room, ignoring the tea set for now.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rangi slid the door open with hesitation, mostly due to how jittery the frames became over numerous months without being replaced. She found Kyoshi, hunched over a table with an ink canister to her left, a lit candle to her right, and a letter containing Lao Ge’s updates on the Fire Nation in her hands. She broke her attention from the letter to see Rangi standing at the doorway.

“Hey,” Rangi wore a slight but sincere smile on her face. Kyoshi returned it back. She made her way to Kyoshi’s side, focusing her attention on the towering woman while she brought her attention back to the letter. “What's new today?”

“Not much, it seems that Zoryu’s keeping his end of the bargain, but we’re still keeping an eye on him just in case he decides to throw out the plan. So far he's been talking with a few of his chancellors to remove some of the Saowan clan from house arrest, but there's still those that were put in prison. Lao Ge will let me know if he gets out of line. And if he does, well…..you know.”

The warmth that Kyoshi radiated when Rangi first walked into the room quickly faded away. She knew that disposing of Zoryu was always going to be a possibility, but the thought of having to kill again to keep some perceived form of “peace” was continuing to strain her mind. This feeling transformed her face to a mask, one that was stoic and devoid of emotion.

Rangi’s concerns came back in full force. She would be lying if she said that she was truly behind this plan. It went against her own code of honor that she has been following since childhood. In fact, it went against her own basic morals. But she knew that the situation was dire, many people's lives might be on the line. She also knew that it wasn’t the easy solution, Kyoshi knows the ripple effect this would have across the Fire Nation. It was a last resort and nothing else. With time, Rangi started to understand why Kyoshi worked in the ways that she did. But it still felt wrong to her.

Rangi turned her head to the side, trying to hide her face. Kyoshi’s lips parted as she was about to say something to her, but decided against it. Then a different thought came into her head.

“Also….your mother will be here later today. Along with Sifu Atut.”

Rangi huffed, reverting back to a familiar expression, that of annoyance. “Great,” she said sarcastically. “I can’t wait.”

“I’m not excited to see your mother either, but it means you’ll get the proper healing for your wound.” Kyoshi then took a curious look at Rangi, examining her more sturdy posture. “But come to think of it, you’ve bounced back a lot more than I thought you would. I said you might catch a fever but I haven’t seen any signs.”

This relaxed Rangi from the previous topic as her annoyance quickly subsided into playfulness. “Maybe my strong will has been keeping me alive.” She gave her a cheeky glance as Kyoshi rolled her eyes at the firebender’s comment.

Then Rangi slipped her hand into Kyoshi’s, softly entwining their fingers. “Or maybe its that I have a great healer.”

Kyoshi tried to hide her slight embarrassment before Rangi gave her a kiss on her temple. For this point in their relationship, a gesture like that might have appeared childish, but it broke the tension with a bit of sweetness. They both laughed, enjoying each other's company as they let their current responsibilities be set aside for just a brief moment.

But it didn’t take long for reality to set back in for Kyoshi. Something else was on her mind, something that wasn’t the future of the Fire Nation. She thought about what might become of the woman she loved. Her recovery has been steady, but there was still the pressing question of permanent internal damage. The thought began to fester deeper into the back of her mind. She began to grapple with the thought that maybe she didn’t really save her. Her mind began to drift to those she tried to save, but couldn’t. She felt like she let her guard down again, allowing fate to take another jab.

Rangi was still smiling, she was caught up in the moment. But her face changed as she remembered why she came to her in the first place. “Well, I’ve actually got something I need to ask you. Have you been skipping meals again?”

Kyoshi stayed silent for a good while, eventually bowing her head down.

“Kyoshi, we’ve been through this! You can’t keep doing that, it's not healthy. Especially for someone under as much stress as you are. You need to eat.”

Kyoshi sighed, but tried to conceal it. She wished stress was all there was, but it was much more than that. Her sigh quickly became a chuckle. “It’s okay. You don’t have to worry so much about me.”

“But I do! You’ve been like this ever since we met back at the palace. I’ve been trying to help you get back on a normal eating schedule, but now I think it's only gotten worse.”

Kyoshi slowly turned to face Rangi. She looked like she was struggling to keep the mask on, pretending that everything is okay. “Its fine. I don’t want you to worry about my health, not when you haven’t gotten proper treatment for your wound.”

Something about the way Kyoshi said those last few words unsettled her. Before she might have said that in a somewhat combative tone, but now she sounded soft and withered. It wasn’t just her voice either, she looked tired. Not the kind of tired that could be cured with a good night’s sleep, something more than that.

“Besides, I don’t mind being hungry.”

Rangi didn’t know much about Kyoshi’s childhood in the streets but hearing this gave her a different perspective on everything. She knew what it was like to live off of rations from her time in the Academy, but she never knew what it was like to not know if you could even find a morsel for the next day. This was a feeling she never had the displeasure of knowing.

And it filled her with anger. The same kind of anger she had back at the lake in Hujiang. Part of it was anger at Kyoshi, for feeling like she might deserve any of this. That she deserved any of the horrible turns that have taken outside of her own control. But another part of it was at the world, for making her believe she deserved this pain. To say she got a real deal on life was a gross understatement. She didn’t deserve to punish herself for what the world had done to her.

But Rangi had to conceal that anger. Expressing her outrage wouldn’t help anybody. It was a feeling she would have to tackle someday soon, but today wasn’t that day. What Kyoshi needed was food. “Well, who's taking care of who now? Like it or not you need something to eat-”

Right as Rangi was getting up, she felt a tug at her wrist. Kyoshi was holding on to her tightly.

“B-Before you do that, could you stay here. Just for a little bit. I’m almost done with the letter, then you can make me eat whatever you want.”

Rangi looked down into her eyes, comforted by the sincerity of her words. She wasn’t putting on a mask right now. Without hesitation, she sat back down next to Kyoshi and laid her head against her shoulder. Kyoshi let out a long, breezy sigh as she returned to the letter.

Kyoshi was once again enveloped in a warmth that she missed for some time. Even after they reunited, they didn’t always get the chance to be alone. It felt like something she dearly needed right now. But moments of peace caused suspicion and worry in Kyoshi. Her life had always taken a turn into tragedy right in the middle of peaceful moments. A sinking feeling crept up on her, a sinking feeling about nothing she could identify. Her mind went to Rangi’s injuries again. She thought about the news she might get from Atut once she heals her. What would it mean for the rest of their lives? She wished she could silence these thoughts. That they could all just fade away.

As she finished the letter, Kyoshi attempted to calm her senses by focusing on Rangi’s breathing and the sound of rain coming from the open doorway.

[blaperile]

Homestuck Epilogues - Meat - Page 5

[terramythos]

Notes from my October Daye reread, #7 Chimes At Midnight. Or, "don't eat evil pie if you're planning to overthrow the government". Advanced spoilers, please read the books, etc. 

Reminder right off the bat that sweet fashion disaster May used to be an eldritch horror of the night???

-the month name in her case seems to be a coincidence? (But like. How could a name like May Daye be a coincidence. Come the fuck on.)

-Goblin fruit is super yikes. Super addictive drug that inevitably leads to death?

- Tybalt and Toby domestic shit hell yeah

Tybalt: arrested for being horny on main

- Toby: let's visit the Queen, who demonstrably hates me, about the goblin fruit problem. What could possibly go wrong (spoiler: a whole lot)

-"i may be a composite of multiple dead people, but I'm not stupid" May is nonbinary, pass the fucking tea

-The Gang Overthrows the Queen

Quentin is such a good kid! Fuck!

-I just... love the characters and how they've developed over the series. Quentin is great, Tybalt is great, The Luidaeg is great... October has changed into a more open and less depressed person. It's great! I mean, everything goes to shit over the next 2 books, but we've come so far!

-Quentin getting extremely upset that The High King didn't notice the Queen didn't have a legitimate claim to the throne? Haha. Haha. *takes another shot*

-Quentin: we could just like... TELL the High King that shes not a legitimate ruler. Like we literally could just call him up and say--

Toby: he would probably kill us and how would we do that anyway

Quentin: *silently screaming*

Have I mentioned I LOVE the Luidaeg? Shes such a great character.

-the implication that tybalt's archaic speech is at least partially just to fuck with Toby is so fuckign funny god they're so cute

GOD...

-Quentin not quite bowing to Arden, or at least not as formally as the others. That's foreshadowing. God damn it.

- The Undersea: is relevant

Me: wow I knew we introduced all that lore 2 books ago for a reason

- "Princesses aren't exciting. I've met Princesses." I am so glad I am not ACTUALLY drinking every time Quentin's identity is foreshadowed, because this book alone would have killed me by now.

- everything: goes to shit

Me: ah, there it is

- Toby becoming instantly addicted to goblin fruit and forgetting 2 of the most important people in her life has me at a severe oof. :(

- fucking props to seanan for making pie legitimately threatening.

- October Daye patch 7.1 notes: due to balance concerns, toby has been shifted back to more human.

Gameplay effects: hair is brown again. blood magic effects and self-healing have been reduced by 75%. Iron resistance increased 75%.

-Theres a line about how Tybalt should have known better than to believe anything could have gone right for very long and. Yikes in context. Yikes with knowing Tybalt's backstory.

- fun lore with the Luidaeg offering to turn Toby into a Selkie to save her from impending death. Being like... technically the Selkie Firstborn. And how much doing that would actually cost. It's certainly something to file away for later because I don't imagine we would introduce a concept like that and then abandon it...

-SUDDEN HEAVY SETUP FOR BOOK 8 STUFF. SUDDEN BOOK 1 BEING RELEVANT. Why did Evening, some random noble, have a fucking ancient powerful artifact just kinda... randomly in her possession? INDEED.

- toby: Why does the name Eira Rosenhwyr sound so familiar?

Mags: Oh she's a Firstborn

Toby: Right, that definitely explains it one hundred percent. Time to not think about it at all ever again.

- TOBY I'm aware you're kind of out of your mind right now but surely you can see the aesthetic similarity between EIRA ROSENHWYR and EVENING WINTERROSE. Ajdjenskkelbsbd

- I fucking googled it and Eira Rosenhwyr translates roughly to "Snow Rose Evening" lmfao

- Mags, continuing exposition: yeah she always had this Snow White thing where like she never stayed dead for long

Me, considering book 1's central conflict and how Evening was described multiple times as Snow White: 🙃

- I really appreciate the fact that whenever Walther shows up in a book he pretty much saves the day in a major way just by making like. A potion

- toby: magic is weird. Candy made from my blood that temporarily curbs the effects of addiction? Right

Walther: you're dating a cat

-I forgot we learn The Luidaeg's actual name in this one???? "Yeah I'm Antigone what up"

-OH THATS WHERE THE "ANNIE" PSEUDONYM COMES FROM. God damn it.

-God I love Danny and his godawful expletives "Oberon's scrotum". God

- I haven't mentioned it too much but there are soooooo many good tybalt and toby moments. They have such a good and loving relationship. Boy I die

-there's a bit where Toby consumes some of the Luidaeg's blood for Reasons and gets a brief Luidaeg-POV flashback.. which shows the Luidaeg protesting Amandine abusing Toby as a kid. So even though they don't really meet until book 1, it puts her first unofficial appearance in a new context. Just some all powerful ancient sea witch checkin up on her niece at Safeway, y'know

- god the first Cu Sidhe shows up in this one and he just looks like a glam rocker who's also sort of a dog. Jesus christ

- they just act like dogs too and it is so funny. Fucking zero attention span, super excited and happy at being told they did a good job.

- arden: there's no way you're amandine's kid. She would never sleep with a human. Her husband would be pissed

Toby: ??? My mom isn't married?

(Oh boy that's gonna be a fun one)

AND, AFTER SIX AND A HALF BOOKS OF SOLID FORESHADOWING:

We get the Quentin reveal. The alcohol poisoning ceases.

-There's some real good irony in like. THE Crown Prince getting apprenticed to Toby, who is a member of Faerie's biggest underclass. And they become fucking BFFs over the course of the series. That's some good shit

👌👌👌some GOOD👌 shit right there

-God just going back there are SO many hints. I noted a lot of them on this series reread but some of my favorites are the real subtle ones. Like Quentin in book 2 being inexplicably amused when Toby orders him to do something.

- Like?? She makes the kid do chores. She's almost gotten him killed like half a dozen times. That's just some... premium good shit.

Well the book sums up that revelation pretty well lmao

- Did... did Arden just imply Toby's mom caused the 1906 San Francisco earthquake...? That is certainly something I either missed or forgot. How is that like even a thing

- The night haunts are cool as shit and I'm glad they're showing up as bigger players. And now we have setup for Toby owing them a favor. Delightful.

ME SIPPING THAT LUIDAEG LORE JUICE

- October Daye patch 7.1.8 notes: oh god we fucked up we fucked up changes reverted

-Blood magic CPR? Canon. Then again I'm pretty sure Toby was established using blood magic to resurrect someone in book 2. So. Book 2 is still relevant

God I'm such a sucker for this angsty shit. And of course this would be Tybalt's solution, considering his backstory. God. Fuck

-I like how they went from enemies to like ridiculously sweet and affectionate lovers.. but it's not 100% perfect, they still have arguments and disagreements. But it all comes down to them caring about each other. That's some good shit right there

- Dianda being a huge badass and just singlehandedly taking out six guards while iron poisoned. a good development.

- new toby power of literally stealing someone's powers by drinking their blood. We're going like full vampire here huh

- and The Queen... who we establish actually traded her name away... manages to escape. Wonder when she shows up again 🤔🤔🤔

- ok god the fucking short story epilogue is SO GOOD. Luidaeg POV!!! Luidaeg lore is always good but this is one of the only parts we have seen Amandine. It reveals that The Luidaeg literally has just been October's guardian angel for years, which explains why some all powerful sea witch just stumbles into Toby's life???. Amandine is a fucking brat. It foreshadows fucking... SOMETHING with the goddamn month names. And it sets up Eira. God next book is going to be so good.

- There are interesting parallels between Toby and her mom. Amandine was trying to turn Toby into a human for fucking years?? As some kind of shitty experiment? Almost succeeded until The Luidaeg intervened. There's all these lines about how Amandine had stolen centuries of Toby's life, how Toby would be defenseless and Faerie would still know who she was even if Amandine succeeded. What does this say about Gillian? Toby turned her completely human in book 4 to save her life. There's no way that's not going to come back in a big way.

-What. Is with. The month names. Seriously we have not had any new ones since 3 but that's still like 5 characters. I know there are several more coming in the next few books and I still don't know why the fuck lol

-This book was mostly the final setup for next book, which is an absolute fucking bombshell. Probably the best book in the series and that is saying something. I'm excited to reread it. But on it's own this one is a good read too... love that we finally got the Quentin reveal!! The horrific Queen is gone for now! Stuff!

[neni-has-ascended]

Any thoughts on the new SU episodes from two weeks ago?

So, in general I was very pleased by how the decided to handle this storyline. In general it wasn’t quite as explosive as I would have hoped, but nevertheless very satisfying. That doesn’t mean it was flawless, of course (what ever ist? I do think there’s quite a few things that could have been executed much better) but it did avoid quite a few terribly annoying tropes while playing into a lot far more pleasant ones.

I’m taking the more detailed view of mine under the cut, to avoid spoiling latecomers!

SPOILERS START HERE

Now we’re only falling apart:

I’m glad the fantheory that Sapphire was gonna betray the CG turned out to be bullshit. It would have been terribly out of character for her to betray her friends and love over something that a person who, for all intents and purposes, is already dead did. Now, running away and crying over it? That I can get. 

What needs to be understood about Sapphire as a person is that she doesn’t just hate the Unknown; she is terrified of it. Thanks to her futurevision, there has almost never been a time in Sapphire’s life when she’s felt like she couldn’t guess the correct course of action in any given situation, or when she didn’t have an idea of what was going to happen. Even Steven’s character development throwing off her calculations wasn’t so bad as that she was completely blindsighted. The one other time this has happened before was when she hooked up with  Ruby and then she had, well, the fact that  at least it led to Ruby and her saving one another to comfort her. Here? She must feel like shes done everything right in a Visual Novel game and yet the script STILL somehow tossed her into the worst possible ending route. I’d ragequit too! 

As for the revelations regarding Pink: They were exactly what I already assumed from the moment of the twist. I knew this was probably exactly as it happened. Pink was naive to what it  meant to colonize a planet, and when she figured out she got sick in the stomach from realizing what’s going to be lost by the end of it. And of course, her sisters didn’t listen, because they’re Blue and Yellow and Blue and Yellow don’t listen to anything that doesn’t align with “the old order”(TM).That Rose Quarz as such, design and all, was Pearl’s idea, surprised me positively. I really like that detail. It shows that Pearl had so much creative potential right from her creation that was being squandered by her assigned role as a servant and only goes to show how flawed the Diamond’s hierarchy of thinking living minds of any sort could be forced into specific castes is. Pink being a little *too* excited at the prospect of fusing with Pearl (or any gems in general) was pretty cute too. She really just wanted to enjoy life. I am starting to feel like each Diamond represents one aspect of the mind; Yellow is cold logic, Blue is emotion and Pink is passion (which can lead into love). Makes me wonder what White is. 

What’s Your Problem

I’ll admit, I was faked out at first. I genuinely thought  season 1 Amethyst was suddenly back at it again, just not caring about the consequences of her actions. When I realized this was actually her slightly misguided attempts to keep Steven from destroying himself over the fiasco his mother caused, I was very positively surprised. Steven really said it best: Amethyst and Steven are the two Crystal Gems who have grown the most as people thanks to overcoming the questions regarding their places in the world. Also, Steven being so incredibly insistent about playing therapist for her kinda reminds me of how I can be with my friends as well, ahaha- Actually, my friends are often like Amethyst in this episode too.

The Question

A RUBY EPISODE YES YES YES YES-

Honestly, I hope that now that Ruby and Sapphire are married and have that to validify their bond aside from their fusion, we’ll see more episodes with them acting independently. As much as I like them as a unit in Garnet, I love them as individual characters as well, especially in how they bounce off each other, something usually only see when Garnet struggles with herself briefly. (Still wanna see them play Meat Beat Mania against one another, and see if that’d lead to the same disaster as when they played it as Garnet-) 

Ruby was adorable in this episode. Charlene Yi may not be a good singer (sorry-) but she is an amazing actress, who I always love to see in anything, no matter what, when she just nails this flaming little ball of nervous badassery whenever she’s on screen. Hope Sapphire ends up sharing her newfound love for comics. Wouldn’t it be cool to see Garnet argue with herself over ships in the background of an episode sometime?

My only complaint is that the proposal could have been an episode all on its own. I would have loved to see more of Ruby and Sapphire deal with coming to terms with the fact that their fusion can’t always be 100% stable and that’s okay and doesn’t make then any less of an amazing couple and team. Doesn’t change the fact that the proposal was cute as heck. Like, I swear, Ruby is a million times better at proposing than me. When I proposed I just ended up flipping the table over my plans halfway through and throwing the ring at him like a moron-

Made of Honor

Should have been a Two Parter. At least. Like, goddamn, this was way too important a plot point to just throw it out in a single 10 minutes segment, you guys! This just continues to show the problems with the Steven Bomb format. This thing needed to end on a climax after 5 eps, right? Not sure if that’s how it was planned, probably not, but that’s what it felt like. There should have been more of a storyline with Bismuth running of and trying to figure out stuff, kinda like Ruby. Heck, maybe those things should have overlapped somehow, I wouldn’t be able to come up with anything brilliant off the top of my head. However, Steven should have had to invest way more effort  into patching things up with Bis’. Bis’ just learned that her entire style of life was built on a lie. I would have been interesting to see her just go into a state where she randomly starts building spires, trying to fulfill her purpose again in utter defeat, until Steven snaps her out of it. That would have conveyed things a bit better. 

I have no problem with Bismuth rejoining the team. She saw that her plan of assassinating key figures in the enemy forces only lead to the entire rebel army basically being nuked.That definitely was enough to shock her out of her genocidal intentions. So yes, I do accept that explanation. In the end she was just as naive as Pink, but in a different way.

Reunited

Let me get out of the way that the first half was all kinds of amazing for one single reason:It had a marriage scene that a) Didn’t come at the tailend of the story and b)Didn’t involve pain and disaster for everyone involved! I’m so sick of marriages in media only being used either as elements of an epilogue (”Happily ever after!”) or as a source of drama. As if working relationships were boring or something. They’re so interesting, especially when written right! Totally ignoring the gay aspect of it all (which is a great thing all in of itself), this is one of the best marriages I’ve seen on TV period! No arranged marriages, no annoying love triangles, no jackass suddenly bursting in going “I OBJECT TO THIS UNION” no bride suddenly bursting into tears because everything is horrible, no “And they lived happily ever after SHOW OVER” BS. Just a proper, nice step in the development of two characters. Also, Garnet’s dress is friggin’ gorgeous

The second half is where the special loses me a bit. Not with the script, that one is pretty great. Aside from once again relegating Peridot to comic relief, that is- Seriously, she can’t even get to use a single attack drone? Tch. Cheep. She has actual skills, you guys! Don’t treat her like a Magikarp! User her assets! 

What lost me was the art direction and animation. While there was a lot of beautiful animation, especially on Blue Diamond, there was also plenty of derp, slow scenes, awkwardly choreographed battle moves... And the way Stephen using his telepathy to resolve the battle was portrayed visually was just very uninspired. It made the characters’ movements look so awkward. I wish they’d invited Horikoshi back in for this scene, because he managed similar scenes back in “Mindful Education” way better. Oh well... All in all, the art direction of that specific scenes just left me deeply underwhelmed.

All in all, however, this has been a very nice storyline so far. Can’t wait for the pay-off!

[athalwen]

Wit/Hoid in the Oathbringer Epilogue

We got a lot of information about Hoid from this book. Maybe not a ton of backstory stuff, but his vibes completely changed, and I’m TOTALLY on board with this. I was fascinated by, interested in, and curious about Hoid before this book (because who isn’t?) but after reading Oathbringer, I feel like we’re able to understand him a little bit better on an emotional level--because we actually see emotions from him, because he has real, meaningful, human interactions. There’s actually quite a lot of this in “Aim for the Sun,” which I’ll ramble about at any time... probably later...

Anyway, the lovely co-host and I spent some time going through the epilogue and assembling some things that we learn about Hoid and quite a few things that we can infer about Hoid, but it’s Hoid, so there’s never any way to tell for sure... 

Oathbringer spoilers below the cut. 

--“Not a mask he put on. Real sorrow. Real pain.” 

Hoid does care. He’s not a cold, unfeeling immortal, and we got to see some of this earlier with Shallan. That’s probably got to be hard, too, because if you know you’re going to outlive pretty much everyone and everything, caring about people is going to cause a lot of pain. Hoid has seen worlds burn, and he’ll probably see it again. (Source)

--Hoid’s inability to cause physical harm also extends to himself, which is why he has to have the Thaylen man punch him in the face. (Source)

--He can’t control his healing the way someone like Wayne would be able to. “He had a few days, with his healing repressed, until the tooth grew back.” 

This makes it seem like, unless he purposefully represses some magic, he can’t control whether he heals or not. It’s gonna happen. Probably not terribly significant, but interesting. 

--He does care about being well-received. This is getting into speculative territory, but he says he’s reluctant to leave the city because he’s had a better audience here than with the lighteyes. Brandon has said that Hoid’s able to control how much or how little he cares about what people think of him (source) but I wouldn’t be surprised if, after being hated and ridiculed for so long, it felt nice to be around people who actually appreciated him. 

--Rayse would destroy the city without hesitation if it meant he might be able to end Hoid. This statement by itself is terrifying, but it doesn’t tell us much. Is Rayse afraid of Hoid? Afraid of what he might be able to do? Does he just hate him enough to want him gone that badly? Either way, they used to be friends... what happened there? I need answers...

--“The right concoction had made him lose his hair in patches.” 

It’s been a bit since I’ve read Elantris, so forgive me if I’m wrong, but isn’t there a potion thing in that book that does exactly this same thing? Either way, it doesn’t feel very Rosharan to me. We haven’t seen anything from Stormlight that hints at concoction type stuff. 

--Hoid has made rag dolls before. Kind of random, but the ease with which he wraps the cord around the rags betrays some kind of past experience. I don’t care how clever you are, you don’t do this quickly and efficiently without having done it before, even if you’re able to examine a finished product before you begin. Which he doesn’t.

--‘One more. One more, then I go.’ 

Okay, I love this line. It’s what he thinks when he leaves his conversation with Kheni to go find the little girl. To me, this sounds like Hoid has to force himself away. Like he has to force himself to stop helping people. It’s the kind of thing I think when I’m watching Netflix instead of doing homework, because I know that homework must be done, but I don’t want to leave Netflix. So Hoid doesn’t want to stop helping these people, even though he knows he has a bigger mission in the city. Hoid knows these people, he knows their names and their situations, so it sounds an awful lot like he’s been doing this for a bit. I absolutely adore this. We haven’t really seen this from Hoid before. (I have a theory about this, but it’s pure speculation and emotional analysis, so I’ll refrain from clogging this post). 

--You can tell a lot about a character from their narrative voice. What’s important to them, what stands out, how they view the world. That being said, this epilogue is written from Hoid’s perspective, and the line “he felt life from one” is such a throwaway comment that I nearly missed it the first time I read the paragraph. It’s in the middle of a paragraph, and isn’t even the focus of the sentence. Being able to sense life is such a normal thing for Hoid that it doesn’t even stand out in his narrative. 

The only way I can think of at this moment (please correct me if I’m wrong) to sense life is with Breath. First Heightening grants “Increased life sense,” which is kind of vague, and Fourth Heightening grants “Perfect life sense,” which is less vague, but we still probably don’t understand exactly how it works. So if Hoid is using Breath to feel life, he has... a lot of it. At least the Second Heightening, we think, and maybe more. There might, of course, be other magics that grant some form of life sense. We don’t know everything about Hoid, not by a long shot, and he’s got magics we’re not familiar with. 

Disclaimer: Breath and Awakening are the magic system I’m the least familiar with. I’m not sure if life sense increases gradually as you get more Breath or if it hovers around the same point until you reach the Fourth Heightening. 

--He doesn’t change his voice, vocabulary, or speech patterns to talk to a child. No baby voice from Hoid. I approve of this. 

--Speculation time. Hoid spends so much time in this chapter talking about art, which is kind of his thing, but the fact that he carries this conversation on among multiple people, some of whom are undoubtedly very confused, makes it clear that he’s probably talking to himself more than them. Talking to himself about what, then? Art? Or, perhaps, talking to himself about himself? 

--So, Cob. Kheni’s husband. This is also the name of Wax’s carriage driver in Bands of Mourning, which takes place, timeline-wise, after Stormlight 5. I’m just suspicious of someone who seems to like Hoid and who later holds the same job that Hoid had one book previously. 

--Speaking of Cob, he asks Hoid to stay a little longer, to which Hoid says, “I should think you are the first to ever ask me that, Cob. And in truth, the sentiment frightens me.” 

I think that Hoid is genuinely afraid of emotional attachment and vulnerability. We see a lot of this in his earlier interactions with Shallan, which I won’t get into right now, but some of the things I’m studying have to do with conversational tactics and emotional vulnerability, and I’m very, very interested in how they apply to Hoid. I’ll talk about this for days. 

--So, Hoid knew this Fused lady, Vatwha, and their relationship was presumably a non-hostile one. I just find this interesting. Also, he can hide from people who are trained to look for him, plus Odium. I’m just appreciative. 

--How does Hoid know specifically where the spren is? Odium’s people have been looking for it, but he just knows. We were getting tired at this point and didn’t really speculate on this beyond... “magic”

--The book never SAYS that he bonds the Cryptic, which, coming from Sanderson, means we have to be careful with assumptions. But... all the clues are there. To me, it felt more like a “coming soon...” and less like a “but did he or did he not bond with this spren?” So I’m going to continue forward assuming that he’s got a new friend. (And Hoid needs friends. Please give him friends)

--So, he refers to himself as Wit, not Hoid. I’ve always found this interesting. I DON’T think that he’s got the same things going on as Shallan, but Brandon has said a couple things (here, here) that make me wonder about what’s really going on in Hoid’s head with his different aliases. 

--As a note... I love Hoid’s vocabulary. “What a conundrum” is a wonderful phrase to hear him just casually use. And, earlier in the book, “Don’t be persnickety.” Amazing.

I’ll wrap up there for now. I’ve probably missed a lot. In my defense, it was 3 am. I need sleep, but I’d rather have the cosmere. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, or argue anything I might’ve interpreted oddly, or just talk about stuff... I love this kind of thing. 

[corpo-rat]

so you wanna play saints row

ok, so in case ive managed to get anyone interested in this series, i thought id type up some stuff about where to get the games that might be helpful. buckle up kids, lets get started [last update: 10/8/2018]

first off, you play the whole series as the same unnamed custom character, called playa/boss. in the first game there isnt a female option, but dont let that put you off!! from the second game onward you can play a female character, and customize them all the way down to their voice

Saints Row 1

now, saints row 1 is xbox 360 exclusive. if youre a console hoarder like me and you have one, the game is like $10 in the marketplace, but if you dont then thats where this post comes in saints row 1 is now backwards compatible with the xbox one!! but if you dont have an xbox of any kind then this post might help you

here is a playthrough of the entire game, missions and all, no commentary, so you can still experience the first game. alternatively, here are the cutscenes only (unfortunately in lower quality), if you dont care about mission dialogue (the game will make less sense this way but w/e)

prologue | vice kings (part 1) (part 2) | los carnales (part 1) (part 2) | westside rollerz | ending (start at 5:23)

if you do have an xbox and are playing it yourself, the game can get kind of hard at parts, so as @hawkewouldbethere suggested (thank you!!), here is a list of cheat codes to make it easier (you dial these on your phone with the # included, then theyll be added to the cheat menu on your phone. you can then navigate to and use them at any time)

#2666 - infinite ammo

#777468 - infinite sprint

#3855432584 - restore all health

#66639 - give cash

#778 - fully repairs the car youre driving

#463464836277 - gives the car youre driving infinite mass so it smashes others out of the way

Saints Row 2

saints row 2 is available on PC, xbox 360, and PS3. if you hate buggy pc ports you might want to get the other versions if you can. the audio quality of the PC port is not great, its buggy, and crashes a lot in fullscreen. plus the dlcs are only available on the console versions. i own both pc and xbox 360 versions, and personally i prefer the pc port despite its downsides (i use mods & record clips for gifs, so)

bad pc port aside, i do recommend getting sr2. its usually considered the best in the series, and its my personal favorite as well (note: there is a secret(ish) mission in this game that wraps up events from sr1. if youd like to play it, here is a guide)

if youre playing sr2 on pc, then i greatly recommend installing the mod gentlemen of the row (theres a spoiler for the third game on this page though, just dont read anything til you get to the “gentlemen of the row” banner). i could describe this mod to you but ill just quote the explanation from the site

“The Gentlemen of the Row Saints Row 2 Super Mod is a massive integrated collection of mods from myself and other Saints Row modders. It offers 100+ new clothing items with 120+ new logos, improved weather including a darker nighttime and more vibrant colors in daytime, plane and boat mechanics for customizing, additional missions, new vehicle dealerships, new weapons, new cribs, new homies and gang styles, new taunts and compliments, new walking styles, 100+ new ambient music tracks for purchase, more car paints, more skin colors, tattoos, makeup, optional 360/PS3 onscreen prompts, new cheat codes including NPC morphs, and tons of tweaks and bug fixes.”

now, if you dont want to deal with any of that, @block-of-writers has given me links to their playthrough of the entire game, missions and all (thank you so much!!)

prologue | the brotherhood | sons of samedi | ronin | epilogue & secret mission

Saints Row: The Third | Saints Row IV

saints row the third and saints row IV are both available on PC, xbox 360, xbox one, and PS3. IV was also made compatible with the PS4

there is also a mod similar to gentlemen of the row for saints row the third, named gentlemen of steelport. it adds things like mission replay, and you can get it on the same page i linked earlier

here is a playthrough of all of saints row the third plus the gangsters in space dlc (thanks to @block-of-writers again!!)

there is also sandbox+ for both srtt and sriv (srtt ver | sriv ver). this adds something akin to console commands that can be used via keyboard shortcuts, and theres a command list on each page. it differs for each game, but in sriv you can toggle animations on yourself, disable the HUD, enable flycam, teleport to different maps, etc. its not something you need but ill add it in case anyone wants it

Gat Out Of Hell

there is also gat out of hell, which is sort of a standalone post-game dlc for saints row IV, available on all the same platforms. this means you can play it without a copy of IV, but if you have IV installed it will automatically import your character from your latest save. as of the last SRIV patch, character import to gat out of hell is broken. heres a very complicated tool you can use to forcibly import your boss via hex editing (i used it and while theres a bug with a high pitched voice, it works perfect otherwise)

here is a game movie version of gat out of hell, with all the cutscenes and important bits of gameplay

and thats all!! have fun

[lexxikitty-blog1]

Dating Sarah Cooper by Siera Maley

Read: November 2015

Rating: 4.5 Stars

I was thinking, somewhere near the end, that this seemed like more of a 4 something star book than a 5.  By the time the book ended, I couldn’t remember why and thought it more of a 5 star book. If I had recalled and rejected whatever my initial thought was, I could happily mark this a five. As it is, I’ll just put it as 4.5 for now.

With that out of the way I can turn to how I’m not sure how to say anything about this book without being all spoiler-y.  I mean, it’s true that the book opens with this prologue chapter that is set, chronologically, about eight months after the start of the book. Not counting the epilogue, the book ends roughly at that point as well. Including the epilogue it ends 2 weeks later.  

So – this book involves Sarah Cooper and Katie Hammontree, high school seniors in a small town in Georgia.  They are the kind of people you might spot who seem to always be connected at the hip. Have been since at least kindergarten.  Hanging all over someone as best friends doesn’t exactly make someone, or two people into a couple – as in a relationship coupling.  Though it can be misinterpreted by outsiders (and, for that matter, those inside).  That ‘misinterpreted by outsiders’ comes to the forefront relatively early in the book.

Katie, while walking home from school, runs into this big jock guy who is bullying a fellow male student. Katie puts a stop to it. Jake, the kid who had been in the process of being bully-ed, has a severely bruised lip.  During the process of dragging Jake back to her place so she can get her friend, who plans to go to medical school, to patch him up  (‘She likes playing doctor’), Katie learns that Jake had been bullied because he is gay.  Also that he is a fellow senior who she hadn’t recognized.  

So, back to Katie’s, Sarah enters the scene and is all huggy, and all over Katie, Jake comes out of the bathroom and sees this and puts 2 and 2 together and invites them to a club he belongs to at school.  Sarah’s all excited about joining another club, since it will look good to colleges, so accepts immediately.  Jake leaves. Shortly thereafter they realize that they didn’t learn what the club was.  

Fast forward to about 30 seconds before the start of this unnamed club – Katie, Sarah and Jake are standing outside a door.  I don’t recall what the exact words were, but basically Jake says something like ‘let me go in first, I’ll let them know a lesbian couple will be joining our gay club’ and then enters the room. So, not only is it a gay club, it’s a club that will think they are lesbians.  They stare at each other.  Then Sarah gets this calculating look in her eyes (okay, I might be making up that part, she did come up with a plan though).  Sarah pulls Katie in and they meet the club.  Sarah informs them that she’s actually bi, and Katie’s a lesbian.  She doesn’t inform them, though, that she’s pretending and is using this to get ‘attention’ from a guy she’s had a crush on since freshman year.

And so, the book unfolds from there. Two best friends forever being mistaken as a lesbian couple, one realizes this is her chance to add ‘attention’ to herself and drags the other into ‘it’.  And they spend the next 8 months ‘pretending’ to be a ‘gay couple’.  

Now I’m back to not knowing what to say. I figured that whatever it was that was holding me back from giving a five star rating would pop up and I could tackle it. But it didn’t appear . . . so . . ..  I liked Katie and Sarah.  There situation was unfortunate in once sense and fortunate in another that I won’t mention here.  The plot was solid.  There was enough of an end-story to fill me in.  Though I wouldn’t mind, say, a sequel.  Maybe they could end up at college together?  And yes, that did pop up in my mind – the fact that one, Katie, planned on going to a local college, and the other would be going to some further away place.  They didn’t seem like a high school fling type of thing, but that is left hanging. What’s next?

[bentchcreates]

Carla De Guzman Trio

(Marry Me, Charlotte B; Driving Home; and Up All Night)

I took too long to post a review of Carla’s book that I was able to read and finish two more of her short stories. Heehee. I’m posting these review in the order that I’ve read them. :)

Marry Me, Charlotte B

This was actually my first book from her. I got my copy at MIBF 2016, the same day I first met her, but I went ahead and read her other books first. LOL. This was also the last book I’ve read in 2017 and ugh, I don’t know why I waited so long to start with it. I liked it so much!

It felt like a reality show Devil Wears Prada*, which I think was a strong influence in the writing of this, but it’s wonderfully separate from that because the romance here is swoon-worthy friends-to-lovers. I also love that (spoiler alert?) Nellie undergoes a mini-makeover, but (another spoiler alert) she didn’t really need it. LOL. I don’t want to say anything anymore because I feel like I’m just gonna go ahead and tell you the story, haha. But watch out for the conflict (Rob’s fault, but not entirely)and the brilliant way they patch things up, the red-herring, and the side romance of Nellie’s clients. It’s amazing! Robert is charming and clueless at times, which made him even more adorkable in my opinion.

I also love the pop-culture references especially the RuPaul ones; and the word-styling** was perfect. It made the reality-TV setting more authentic.

Admittedly, I was confused in the first few paragraphs because I thought Charlotte B was the name of the protagonist, so I didn’t understand why everything was revolving around Nellie.  After about three pages, I read the blurb behind the book and it finally made sense! Hahaha! I love the Charlotte B character, though, and I rarely do fancasts of books I read but I couldn’t shake the image of Jessica Lange being Charlotte. Jessica Lange in AHS Coven, but less evil glam, and more Miranda Priestly-boss levelz. ;)

Also, Donna is the level of chill I will forever aspire to be. Now that I think about it, maybe the character is also influenced by another Donna character from that TV show with lawyers that I sometimes watch with my cousin. (I completely forgot the title, I’m sorry. I’ll edit this when it finally comes to me.)

I absolutely enjoyed this book more than I expected. The print book is quite thin so I was pleasantly surprised when a lot of things happened (a lot of kilig-things happened, specifically) and towards the end, I kind a forced myself to slow-read the last few pages because I didn’t want it to end yet, I didn’t want to leave the universe Carla created yet, but no such luck. I was super excited for things to fall into place for my girl, Nellie.

*I have only seen the film (a fifty times, at the very least) and haven’t read the book yet. **WillReadForFeels taught me this word over at Litsy. XD

The following are two short stories available for FREE at Instafreebie (links below)

Driving Home

I remember feeling ridiculously giddy when I started reading this because the heroine, Isabel, picked an orange (my favorite color) Volkswagen as her car. (I love Beetles, but my heart belongs to the Samba!) Also, Nacho, her LI, is a tall man (my heart belongs to them, too, choz) and this is a bestfriends-to-lovers story that spans a couple of years (slow-burn romance burns my heartstrings on fahyerrr)

It’s quirky and light-hearted, and while it’s deeply rooted in local places (compared to other books by Carla featuring amazing places all over the world) the sense of adventure is still as fascinating to read.

I also love the shout-out to Ang Bandang Shirley in the dedication at the end of the story. I don’t remember ever hearing a song from them before (I’m so sorry again, ehe) but I’m adding them now to my Artists To Discover playlist.

Up All Night

This is another adventure I thoroughly enjoyed. This time, Carla takes the readers to Hong Kong and Macau with a cute MC (another Canlas girl!! I’m so happy!) and a crushable LI. This combination of protagonists exuded strong Asian Drama feels for me and when this story becomes adapted on screen (TV or Movie, idc) I know I’ll bingewatch this several times. LOL.

I love the photo inserts (taken by the author/with the author herself) and the inclusion of food in the cultural aspects of the tourist spots mentioned in the book. I especially loved the ‘pink slip’ incident and the special restaurant date that resulted from it. The end scene made me squeal internally at 2 AM, so be prepared for that! Heehee.

I need more of Penelope and Anton!! So bad! I mean, I liked how this short ended, but may I demand for an epilogue from the author? Like, maybe a 30k worded epilogue (lels) because I need to know what happens after that end scene happens! I have so many follow-up questions! Haha

4.5 of 5 Stars for each. I loved all these stories! They were awesome books to start 2018 with and I am looking forward to reading more from Carla this year!

Blurbs:

Marry Me, Charlotte B!

“Marry Me, Charlotte B!” premieres their first ever season! 

Chronicling the everyday life of the fabulous wedding planner Charlotte Bertram and her team, the show features wedding planning tips, a colorful cast of characters, and an unexpected love story. The season focuses on Charlotte B’s biggest challenge yet—planning the royal wedding of Pop Princess Renee Winters to her beau Congressman Ewan Walters, while searching for her apprentice. Will it be her sexy son Robert? Her quiet assistant Nellie or her fabulous receptionist, Donna? Diva meltdowns, wedding madness and gorgeous weddings set in the beautiful backdrop of San Francisco come together to make for great reality TV that will have you screaming, Marry Me, Charlotte B! Marry Me Charlotte B airs its first episode…right now.

Buy Links:

Marry Me Charlotte B!:

Amazon Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Marry-Me-Charlotte-Carla-Guzman-ebook/dp/B00WG9Y4G4 Print: https://somemidnights.typeform.com/to/eQWo23

Up All Night: https://www.instafreebie.com/free/Qm5Ie Driving Home: https://www.instafreebie.com/free/580X3

About the Author:

If you ask Carla what she does for a living, she will tell you that she’s not quite sure.

By day, she works a regular day job and writes for a lifestyle website. By night, she’s an author and an artist, spending her midnights at her desk and making these silly love stories. She loves to travel, coming home to her dog Kimchi and spending her weekends having dinner with her crazy family.

She’s currently on a quest to see as many Impressionist paintings as she can, and is always in search of the perfect pain au chocolat.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/somemidnights

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/somemidnights

www.somemidnights.com

somemidnights@gmail.com