#man its been almost a year since i decided i wanted to reread and review this series and then wrote this out

[two-calicos-in-a-trenchcoat]

The Grey Wolves Series: Prince of Wolves

A review

I would like to preface this review with the fact that when I first read this series in highschool, I hyperfixated on it for several months. I was 15. I still believed myself to be cishet. Quite a bit has changed since then.......and now that I think about that was 9 years ago. Fucking hell.

This series is. Not good. I dont know much about Quinn Loftis' life (tho she did follow me on Twitter when I still had twitter) but from what I could gather is that shes a stay at home mom and very Christian. Not so Christian that she was anti Harry Potter. Im likely going to keep a twilight and Harry Potter reference counter as I reread this series.

This review will likely be a bit disjointed. I have never written a second draft for anything in my life and I dont plan to start now. This is mostly for fun and I likely have adhd and struggle to articulate my thoughts so. Fuck it.

From what I remember of this series there is. A lot going on. The first couple of books follow Jacquelyn and Fane. The next couple focus on one of Jacquelyn's best friends, Jen, and her love interest, Decebel. The next two on their third friend Sally and her love interest Colin. I'm actually pretty interested to see how much I actually remember of these books. All 3 girls are very much the stereotypical YA novel protagonist.

Unfortunately this series frequently uses the word g*psy for one of its supernatural types. As I wouldnt class these characters as Romani, I will be referring to them as "healers" after their initial introduction as I dont want to have to constantly type out g*psy and they ARE healers. (As far as I can remember, Sally is not Romani (and yes, spoiler alert, Sally is a healer), tho she IS one of the few, if not the only POC in this series. So....not great, Quinn).

I'll likely only review the first 6 or 7 books (I don't remember how many of them I got through exactly but definitely the first 6), tho according to Google there are now EIGHTEEN books in this series. I know she also had a spin off series about healers (I think I read part of the first book of that series). But holy shit. 18. Thats a lot of fuckin books for there being almost no fandom when the series was still at 10 books. She may not be a great writer but shes got passion and drive I'll give her that. And that's not even counting the spin off series. Of which there are 5 books. Or the 4 unrelated series she did before Grey Wolves. Goddamn shes been busy.

Im writing all of this BEFORE rereading the first book. But some reviews give a first impression which i cannot do as I read these books for the first time almost a decade ago. Also I kinda wanna see if I can summarize the books before I read them to see how much I remember, cuz again, this is for fun and testing my memory has always been fun for me (I used to be able to recite the entire plot of the 39 clues series from memory and I would do so often).

SO

Book One. Prince of Wolves.

Jacquelyn *last name redacted as I cant remember it* is a 17 (almost 18) year old girl about to go into her senior year of highschool. She lives in a small town in Texas with her single mom. Her dad walked out before she was born (or slightly after) and she doesn't know much about him. Her mom is *quirky*. She has two best friends named Jen and Sally. Jen is loud and vulgar and sarcastic while Sally is quiet and shy.

The neighbors across the street from Jacque are going to be hosting a foreign exchange student from romania this year. Jacque finds herself instantly drawn to this tall foreign boy with dark hair and "piercing blue eyes" and after making eye contact with him, begins to hear a voice in her head that she is SURE is his voice despite having never heard him talk before. Spoiler alert: she is correct!

The begin communicating through this psychic connection frequently. He teaches her how to shut him out so he's not hearing her every thought. He informs her that she is a werewolf!!! Or at the very least, half werewolf!!! They are True Mates™️, which is why they are able to communicate telepathically!!!

She goes into her yard to sun bathe and Fane gets Big Mad™️ as her True Mate™️ markings are on display which is a Big No No for werewolves. She doesn't know what the fuck hes talking about. She goes inside to discover what appears to be a tattoo on her (....side? I think? Perhaps on her back).

Jacque has MANY sleepovers at her house with jen and Sally to talk to them about all of these developments.

She eventually tells her mom and discovers!!! Her dad is a werewolf!!! But her mom is not so she and him couldn't have been True Mates™️ and its slightly hinted that he left because he found his True Mate™️ so even though he loved her, he could not stay away from his mate.

Jacque starts having dead animals left outside her house. At first she thinks its Fane doing a weird wolfy courting thing and gets understandably upset by this. Fane confirms that while it IS a wolfy courting thing, HE is not the culprit!

Apparently there is a pack in the area!!! And one of the wolves in this pack is interested in Jacquelyn!!! And Fane is intruding on their territory!!! And the alpha of the pack (a man in his mid to late 20s) is challenging Fane for his mate!!! The challenge is to the death!!! But don't worry!!! Fane is calling in his parents and their pack to help him handle this situation and keep Jacquelyn safe if he loses!!!

At this point they inform the family that fane is living with about what is going on. They are surprisingly chill about the whole thing. Even with having several of Fane's pack members stay with them. Theyre Very Cool People.

We meet Fane's parents. Vasile and Mina (I actually did look up Vasile's name as I kept wanting to call him Vlad and I knew THAT wasn't right)

[enigma-im]

Kindle Unlimited Recommendation

Dark Planet Warriors Series

Warning: Gore, violence, some situation of wrongful touching

Summary:

8 stories. The series begins with a bug infestation on the mining station outside of earth. A species called Kordolians are there to be the exterminators. After a meeting with a strange human our primary story kicks off while the bug story plays in background in some stories while being the main focus for several books. The consistent story for the other 8 books is a romance between the aliens and humans that results in a war for purity.

Person thoughts:

Great fuckin series. Almost every book has a different couple with only the very first couple being the focus several other times. First book is fantastic, especially the first sex scene. Its so good. The next few focus on the bug infestation till its dealt with then it gets back to the war. Don't skip them though, Riker is a treat that deserves to be acknowledged. My favorite one of this amazing series is Infinity's Embrace. That book has some dope characters. Electric Heart is my least favorite because it's like a real bad Watch Dogs (video game).

Rating: 9/10

Books:

Dark Planet Warriors

Dark planet Falling

Into the Light

Out of Darkness

Forged in Shadow

Infinity's Embrace

Electric Heart

Brilliant Starlight

Office Alien Series

Warning: Awkwardness, drug use, kidnapping (kind of)

Summary:

Three books about an office relationship with three different aliens. Each alien goes through the venture of courting a human woman. All of them succeed on confusing then educating these people on their culture. All the aliens come from the same planet that has been ravaged by a tough alien species that try to wipe them out with their superior technology. That isn't a plot point, its just an explanation. Each story shows the struggles of cultural differences and how education and understanding can help make the world a better place.

Person thoughts:

I adore this series. One book in this series actually got a perfect score from me, which is strange cause I'm a tough grader. The first book has a super awkward lad who just seems to hate everyone. Its really cute and I like them both though their relationship is filled with cringe. The second book I didn't much care for. The main love dude was kind of an idiot and was too blinded by acceptance to be a reasonable thinking alien. Still decent but Its not my cup of tea. The last one- sweet jesus- was amazing. It has a ‘my cousin Vinny’ vibe with their relationship where they fight often but its like their form of foreplay. So good. There is another series that’s super short that takes place 1 year later for each story. Totally worth a read after you read the series.

Rating: 8/10

Books:

The E.T. Guy

The New Guy

The Security Guy

(Christmas special)

Kraving Khiva

Warning: Sex workers, forced prostitution, abuse

Summary:

Eve is a virgin who is fed up with it. After her father's death she has been ghosting by in life with her best friend. After said friend points out a brothel of some interesting aliens she decides to give the place a try to finally rid herself of her virginity. After just one night she keeps coming back, falling for the sex worker. Romance ensues with lots of strife and abuse to keep the two from their HEA.

Personal Thoughts:

Man, this story represents everything I love in a story. Tons of fluff. It was a really good slow burn that I didn’t expect from a story about a prostitute. The cover gives the illusion of a typical middle aged mother romance - which I guess it is- but it has so much more. I only had one problem with the story, the ending. I felt they could have given more information but they just glossed over it. Besides that, hot book. The second one is really boring, just a slice of life that I couldn't get into.

Rating: 9/10

Books:

Kraving Khiva

Prince of Firestone

The Queen's Ransom

Warning: Near death situations, a lot of near death situations, gore

Summary:

432 pages. Long book. Jalia enters into a competition to win a great prize. The interest of great fortune is too much for her to pass up. Little does she know the treachery the competition hides or the actual prize. The king of Minotaurs is hosting an event to test the strength, endurance, and intelligence of potential wives. In a culture that values strength they refuse to accept a queen who hasn't been tried. Genius Jalia goes through challenge after challenge, nearly dying about every chapter while catching the attention of a charming king.

Personal Thoughts:

I generally don't have the patience for long books but this one never dragged on. Every chapter was captivating and riveting. The challenges were interesting and Jalia's solutions were pretty genius. The relationship between the king and her is pretty grand, I adore them greatly. My only problem with the book is all the potty humor and insults. She was a genius but her insults left much to be desired. Once her biggest annoyance is no longer in the picture does that kind of stuff end.

Rating: 9/10

Book:

The Queen's Ransom

The Kraken

Warning: Gore, racism, attempts of suicide(only 1 book), sassy AI

Summary:

A mysterious creature has lived in the ocean long ago, since the beginning of the settlement on this planet. After a nearly drowning woman is saved a series kicks off. Each book has a different relationship of humans and Krakens. Every book tells the story of how the krakens go from living in isolation at the bottom of the ocean to breeding with humans.

Personal thoughts:

When I first read this story I was just getting into monster romance. The love interests have fairly human tops but hella tentacle bottoms. So I was a little off-put by it but as I read on I didn’t care. The first one is pretty good for a start. The second one was decent, I didn’t really care for it. I actually skipped the 3rd one my first go around. Which is fine, it doesn't add too much and its short. Its still worth a read. The 4th one, fucking grand. 5th one? My all time favorite of the series! If you don't want to read them all at least read the 5th one. Like ask me for story details and I'll give you a cliff note for what's mentioned in that story then you can read in peace. 6th was ok, love the sassy AI. I didn't read the 7th one. Its two old people and I just can't

Rating: 8/10

Books:

Treasure Abyss

Jewel of the Sea

Hunter of the Tide

Heart of the Deep

Rising from the Depth

Fallen from the Stars

Lover from the Waves

Escaping Wonderland

Warning: Sexual assault, gore, lots of sexual stuff

Summary:

Alice is wrongfully placed in a psych ward that specializes in simulation therapy. She is placed in a pod then taken to the world of wonderland. This twisted version of the children's classic introduces a rapey mad hater and manipulative Red King. The main love interest is a playful lad who has more control of the simulation than most. The two run from the clutches of the Red King while trying to escape the simulation.

Personal thoughts:

I had very low hopes for this story. I didn't expect it to be as good as it was. It was a twist on the beloved movie and book. Everything was rapey and creepy and I weirdly loved it. Of course nothing too terrible happened to the main lady so it made those situations more tolerable but only just. I adore the main dude, shadow. He was a playful little mischief maker and I would die for him. What made this book better for me was when everything hit the fan they didn't rid him of his sassy personality. Most books make the cocky, silly, playful personality as something that is bad and needs to change. This one they didn’t and kept it. So good.

Rating: 9/10

Books:

Escaping Wonderland

Infinity City

Warning: Abuse, gore, sexual assault, dope ass fighting

Summary:

A city where criminals are more in control than most people think. Each book takes the reader through different adventure of different people. All having the similarity of protecting the ones they love. The first is of an assassin protecting the only woman who has made him feel so strongly. The second is with a mob boss hacker who grows fond of a shy human. The third is the second in command of the mob boss hacker who finds a pregnant woman in a menagerie and discovers she is his mate. Fourth is one of the workers of the mob boss's security team who gets taken by some slavers along with a woman he was entertaining for the night.

Personal thoughts:

First book sucked. He was obsessives and pretty much took all her choices. It wasn't till the end that he was like "my bad, you can leave if you want". Bleh. Second book was fan-fucking-tastic. Arc is a charming idiot with an amazing backstory. I didn't like the girl in the beginning but she grew on me. I love that he focuses on her but still pays attention to work and his 'family'. The third was surprisingly good. I generally don't like stories where someone is pregnant because they get boring. This one was not that. She was never a hindrance or weak, she was a badass. With her big kitty man they made an amazing duo. Also any scenes with her man and the baby made me tear up. He was so sweet. Fourth was boring, it reminds me too much of a lot of other stories.

Rating: 8/10

Books:

Silent lucidity

Shielded hearts

Untamed Hunger

Savage Desire

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

While people watch TV or Youtube in their free time, I read. I have such a weird organization with everything i read because i tend to reread stories and forget i read them. the entire time i read it im like “have i read this before?”. so for books i write them down, rate them, then review them. i didn’t post the reviews here because it would be so many spoilers. Also i sort my favorite fanfics by fandom then relationship. i read so fucking much, its a problem at this point.

If you liked this recommendation drop a like, reblog, or reply. i will perhaps do another if you all like this. i have read so many books and i can post some decent ones and some god awful ones. perhaps you all can tell me how wrong my thoughts are on the ones i deem terrible. i think we will probably agree, ‘free’ books tend to have lower standards.

[tessatechaitea]

The Extremist #3

I'm disappointed that this half picture doesn't match up exactly with the half picture from Issue #2.

It's probably good I didn't post any of the blurbs that tried to bribe him with a handjob in the backroom of the Portland Comic-con.

Anyway, let's see what happened in "July, Nineteen Ninety-Three"! I'll try to baby it up so Tumblr doesn't shit its diapers.

Peter Milligan begins this issue all Peter Milligany.

Remember that this was written in 1993 when Peter Milligan makes mention of how a person could, at some point, be alone in anything. But also imagine now how the death of an intimate would go in 2019. Back in 1993, Judy is surprised to find that she's whisked away from her grief for long interludes by the bureaucratic machinations of a death in a capitalist democracy. This same kind of thing probably still happens except with more texts and emails and less phone conversations and driving to speak to people in person. But also imagine the non-bureaucratic side of death. We probably have far less close intimate contacts in our physical space now than we had in 1993, at least by percentage when compared with all people we would consider contacts (intimates who now live in another part of the world, people we know only from online, friends of friends we've maybe met once but now sometimes interact with over social media). In 1993. it would be phone calls and personal visits with flowers and cake or cookies. In 2019, you probably receive a deluge of crying emojis and people replying "*hugs*" to your post about your world crumbling beneath you as you try to stagger on with your remaining years bereft of the person you thought you could never live without. I suppose there are plenty of apps where people could send you cakes and cookies so I suppose it wouldn't be too terrible. Should I create an app that sends cakes and cookies to people when they've lost a loved one? It wouldn't cost anything. You'd just have to send me a small cake and some cookies with every use of the app! I can't wait to get extraordinarily fat! The journey is going to be so worth it!

Grief is a savory, selfish feast.

Peter Milligan has a way of expressing potent, terrible truths in such a casual manner that most people probably don't even notice them. There's an almost expressible power in believing you're experiencing something that nobody else has or will ever experience. Or just in knowing that you lived a part of your life unknown to your closest friends and family. I cherish, greedily, the moments of my life spent alone and far from those closest to me and I parcel them out as stories in only the most meager of manners. Hell, I've probably told more about myself and my experiences here on this blog exactly because I know my friends and family don't read it. I might say this every commentary until this series is over but I still don't know if I understand the point of the overall plot. But I do understand that the plot is a way for Peter Milligan to be Peter Milligan. I understand the need for a framework to say things you want to say. Or to just put scenes out there that you don't want to bother encasing in some kind of larger whole that you're less interested in. So here's another scene Peter Milligan had to have thought about and then needed a place to mention it:

Of course people still get horny for their dead partner! But how often does anybody talk about it?! Maybe it's common and I'm just consuming the wrong kinds of media. Alex Trebek never once asked a contestant if they jerk off thinking about their dead spouse!

Netflix's Dead to Me has some pretty frank discussions about the loss of a spouse but while Christina Applegate talks about being horny and wanting to fuck somebody, I don't think she ever says she masturbates thinking about her dead husband. If the point of this story is about dealing with loss, I'm beginning to get it. And that would completely explain why I missed it at twenty-one. I'm only three pages into this issue and it's kicking me in the face with existential issues. Was I too dumb at twenty-one to understand any of this or just too sheltered to really feel it? Maybe I was just too fucking young. Judy finds the key to Jack's Extremist apartment. After looking around the place, she thinks, "It was like having Jack die all over again, but this death seemed more profound. 'I never knew you,' I thought." It's an easy statement to point out that nobody ever really knows anybody. But once, because Jim Starling wrote a terrible run on Stormwatch, I wrote an entire rant about how we all hide our innermost dark secrets from even the greatest loves of our lives. I was essentially asking how can we know anyone if we won't even let those closest to us know our most vulnerable thoughts and terrible crimes (I don't mean crimes in the law and order sense! I just mean like that time you put your finger in your ass and then made sandwiches for your friends and they all got sick and you didn't do it on purpose but you made the connection and nobody must ever fucking know! You know, those kinds of crimes. But not that specific one! I totally just made that one up for effect). So I could repeat myself or just link to the rant or just (and — Spoiler! — this is the choice I'm going with!) move on to page five of this comic book. Judy discovers an old diary written by The Extremist (but not Jack!). Then she finds some of the tapes he burned and salvages a few. She hears Jack speaking about murder and getting pissed on and, most appallingly, calling her "poor dull dead little Judy." She smashes the place up, finds The Extremist's gimp suit, and tries it on thinking, "What the fuck?! Maybe I'll feel sexy and start speaking in sex metaphors!" Then the phone rings. And I suppose the rest is history! And by history, I mean Issue #1! Except I'm only on page seven so maybe I'm jumping the gun. I guess we need to learn how Judy met Patrick and why she decided her life would be better by going out at night murdering people until she comes hard in a leather suit. Oh, I hope that last sentence wasn't too adult for Tumblr! A bunch of pages are taken up by the plot stuff that I apparently paid the most attention to in 1993 and which is the least interesting part of the story (so far!). Patrick "accidentally" runs into Judy and he pretends he doesn't know who killed Jack. He offers to help her find out if she'll pose as The Extremist and do murders and blow jobs for him. Judy is all, "What the hell! Maybe I'll understand Jack a little more! Maybe I'll know why he needed a boring piece of shit like me when he was having such fantastic fuck and murder adventures!" No wait. That's what I would say. Judy just wants to find out who killed Jack and to, maybe, feel a little closer to him. I don't think she's as amped up as I would be about the loads of indiscriminate sex and murdering of the most perverse perverts. The main story ends with Judy making her first kill. She learns that her problem was that she was always living in the past and the future. So even if she had wanted to kill somebody in the moment before, she'd be all tangled up in the past and whether the person deserved it and maybe some of it was her fault and perhaps she's been too hasty with her murder decision. And she'd also be lost in the future like how the person will stop existing and how she might wind up in prison and how the victim's guts are going to be hell to clean up off the floor. But in the moment, she can just satisfy the need without consequence or conscience! She discovers it's a thrill! Well, I could have told her that! I've been playing Dungeons and Dragons since I was ten! Never worry about what the orc did or if it deserved it or if it has family or if you're actually the asshole raiding its lovely home! The actual issue ends with Tony, the black guy on the stoop, sitting in The Extremist's apartment listening to Judy's tapes. He's just finished the last one where she says she's going off to kill Patrick and he's completely caught up in the drama. He wants to know who killed who just as badly as, well, not me but I'm sure some readers were on the edge of their seat at this point. The Extremist #3 Rating: B. I don't find myself caring about the framework. But Peter Milligan has thoughts and those thoughts are well worth the admission price to this story. In a way, this is just an extension of his run on Shade the Changing Man. It's almost the same story if you squint your eyes and unfocus your vision and punch yourself in the genitals. Patrick is the guy on Meta who was pulling the strings to get Shade to go into the Area of Madness and eventually Earth (I forget his name! I bet it was Patrick!) And The Extremist is Shade and Kathy too (they both have similarities to both Judy and Jack, so I don't mean to say either Shade or Kathy is essentially one or the other). The Extremist has crazy missions where they kill and fuck just like Shade and Kathy had! I think. I mean, probably! And Tony is just Lenny in someway that I haven't spent any time thinking about but they were the only characters left!

[soloragoldsun]

My Review of “A Wrinkle in Time”

Okay, so I just got back from “A Wrinkle in Time,” and I want to talk about it while it and my most recent reread of the book are still fresh in my mind. I’ll list the pros and cons, and give my overall review at the end.

 Spoilers ahead!

Pros:

-Meg and Calvin: Both of these characters were portrayed perfectly! Meg is an unsure, suspicious, awkward kid who hates herself and isn’t sure why she was chosen for this quest. Calvin is a kindhearted person who sees the beauty in Meg, and is a kid who is forced to hide behind his popularity and success from his abusive home life and the pressures he feels due to his position in school.

-Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which: These two were completely true to their book counterparts, with Mrs. Who quoting other people because she can’t verbalize thoughts on her own, and Mrs. Which being more of an immense entity, and rarely adhering completely to a human form. Mrs. Which was especially good. Kudos to Oprah!

-Alexander Murry: Chris Pine did a great job as Meg and Charles Wallace’s father. He has always been a great actor, and he was perfect as the loving, but goal-oriented father in this. His best moment was probably when Meg found Dr. Murry and he realized that he was on Camazotz for four years. Superb acting!

-The cinematography: Visually, this was a gorgeous film. The CG was used to its fullest potential, especially when they were on Uriel. The scenes taking place on Earth were also well-shot.

-That scene in the film when Meg asks if it’s possible to tesser back as someone else, and Mrs. Which tells her to think about all the choices, all the circumstances in the universe since the beginning of time that led to her being born exactly as she is. As someone who struggles with feelings of self-hatred, this was a very important and beautiful scene that I think everyone should see.

-The chemistry between (some of) the characters: I’ll get to why some of it didn’t work in a moment, but where the character chemistry worked, it worked! Meg and Calvin, Meg and her father, Meg and Mrs. Which, Calvin and Mrs. Who, Meg’s parents... Through most of the movie, I strongly believed in the bond between these characters and in what they were saying and doing while interacting. Most of the people in this movie acted out their parts very well.

Cons:

-Mrs. Whatsit: Two of the three ladies were flawless, but I’m sorry to say that my favorite of them, Mrs. Whatsit, was utterly ruined. In the book, she was the youngest of the three, but that manifested in a charming way, with her talking too much and getting over-excited about things. In the movie, she acts ditzy, snarky, and downright mean sometimes.

Also, she expresses her disbelief in Meg throughout the plot, when book Mrs. Whatsit was her strongest ally. She believed in her from the beginning, and they had the strongest bond out of all the bonds between the humans and the ladies.

-Charles Wallace: I can’t believe they ruined Charles Wallace so completely. I’m not sure why they decided to make him adopted in the movie, first of all. In the book, it’s stated that both he and Calvin are “biological sports,” meaning that they carry qualities that their families don’t possess, despite their blood relation to them.

Also, he was meant to be an introspective child who could read his mother and Meg. He never talked to anyone outside the family and the ladies. Calvin was the first other person he talked to. In the movie, he’s loud and obnoxious, and his abilities, along with his mental connection to Meg, aren’t properly explored.

He gave in too quickly to IT, as well. In the book, his pride is what causes him to get absorbed. He thinks that his mental abilities are strong enough for him to go into IT and figure out what IT was, so they can then defeat IT. Instead, he is overcome. In the movie, he just recites some multiplication tables, and is taken over in an instant.

-Sandy and Dennys: Or rather, the complete lack of them. The twins weren’t major characters in the first book, but they are important in their own way throughout the series, and even get their own book later on. I guess this means we won’t be getting a Many Waters adaptation any time soon...

-The removal of the star scene: Not only was Mrs. Whatsit’s character ruined, but her backstory was removed from the movie. In the book, while they are with the Happy Medium, the ladies show the children a star defeating a portion of the Darkness before going out. It is revealed that Mrs. Whatsit used to be a star, but she died in that form in order to keep the Darkness at bay. While she can manifest in other forms, she can never be a star again. That act of sacrifice adds a whole new level of tragedy to her character, while showing the children that the Darkness, while strong, can be defeated.

-The Happy Medium: I don’t know what they were thinking with this interpretation of the character. The Happy Medium is supposed to be a cheerful entity who uses a crystal ball to view the good things in the universe, and expresses reluctance at showing the unpleasantness of Camazotz and the Darkness engulfing Earth. The Happy Medium in this movie isn’t cheerful at all. While he’s certainly empathetic and good, he’s too stern and sarcastic overall to really be what he’s supposed to be.

Side note: In the book, the Happy Medium is a woman. I’m a bit disappointed that Ava DuVernay, who wanted this movie to have a diverse cast, missed a perfect opportunity for lesbian representation. When Mrs. Whatsit first referred to the Medium as “cute,” I got super excited. Oh well.

-Camazotz: So, imagine a world that used to be like Earth, a world where individuality and emotion have been forcibly sucked away. Imagine a world where a pulsing beat overcomes everything and everyone, even the children at play. Imagine a great, gray building that is the center of it all, full of workers dressed exactly the same, processing the same paperwork under yellow lights that turn their faces a sickly green color. Imagine rooms that are used to reprogram people who deviate from the norm, including a little boy who dares to bounce his ball outside the rhythm of the pulse. Imagine a world where, if you become sick, you are killed so that you won’t be an inconvenience to anyone. Imagine being in the center part of the gray building, in the presence of a brain that is just large enough to be truly repulsive, where a pulsing light goes into you, making even your breaths and heartbeat adhere to the unrelenting rhythm that permeates everything.

Now, look at the movie, which briefly shows the scene of the children playing in rhythm, followed by a random beach scene, and the man with the red eyes, who almost immediately takes over Charles Wallace. There’s no talk about what IT has done to the planet, no look into CENTRAL Central Intelligence. No scene with the little boy. Not even a look at the fear that fills the inhabitants of Camazotz. No, they just make the planet a magic place that changes forms, and throws tornadoes at our main characters. The hell?!

Also, the climax when Meg is fighting IT is too loud and overblown. IT isn’t supposed to be an Eldritch Horror that tosses her around and physically attacks her. IT is literally a brain sitting on a dais. IT enters the mind and destroys you from within, not by throwing you around with tentacles and bashing you until you’re unconscious.

-The removal of Ixchel and Aunt Beast: Arguably one of the most important scenes in the book is after Dr. Murry tessers Calvin and Meg away from Camazotz, leaving a possessed Charles Wallace behind, and they arrive on Ixchel, a planet inhabited by blind creatures that can detect the very essence of the world around them, seeing not what things look like, but what they are like. During this time, Meg, who was nearly overcome by the Darkness, is in the care of a kindly creature who she calls Aunt Beast. She has to fight the Darkness in her, and overcome her feelings of betrayal and anger toward her father for leaving Charles Wallace behind. It’s here that the ladies return and inform her that she’s the only one who can return to Camazotz and save Charles Wallace.

In the movie, she just refuses to tesser, and we go right to the climactic showdown with IT. Her father leaving without Charles Wallace isn’t addressed, and Meg isn’t properly able to overcome her grief and her realization that her father isn’t perfect.

-Mrs. Whatsit’s love: Again, Mrs. Whatsit is unfairly shoved to the side. In the book, when Meg is sent back to Camazotz, Mrs. Whatsit tells her “You have my love.” Also, Mrs. Which tells Meg that she has something that IT can never have or understand. When Meg is trying to get through to Charles Wallace, IT tells her that Mrs. Whatsit hates her. This causes her to remember Mrs. Whatsit giving her her love, which leads to her realizing that her love for Charles Wallace is what separates her from IT and what allows her to save her brother.

~

Overall, I was disappointed. The movie did come close to grasping the essence of the book several times, especially in the scene with Meg and Mrs. Which, and most of the actors did a great job. However, too many vital scenes were cut out, taking away from the overall meaning. Also, the ruination of Charles Wallace and Mrs. Whatsit, two of the most important characters in the book, convinced me that enough time was not paid to actually reading and understanding Madeleine L’Engle’s masterpiece.

A Wrinkle in Time is about many things: love, the fight between good and evil, the bonds between people, overcoming your own demons, and forgiveness. Several of these things were touched upon, sometimes very well, but it unfortunately fell short of what it could have been.

That being said, I hope this movie will end up being successful enough to allow for an adaptation of A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet. I hope that Ava DuVernay reads the reviews of her movie and is able to do better, because I do think she, and the cast she has put together, can do it.

In the meantime, if you want to see a more faithful adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time, check out the 2003 movie, also done by Disney. I think it did a much better job overall.

[kbrown78]

Monthly Wrap Up: June

June wasn't as good of reading month as May. I only read 6 books as compared the 11 books from last month and while I didn't have as many books that I hated, most of the books were just mediocre, so I didn't have as many highs either. I will say that was a good month for expanding the genres I've read and the diversity of the authors, but next month I will be doing Tome Topple and reading books over 500 pages for the first two weeks, then the rest of the month will be dedicated to doing rereads and revisiting some old favorites of mine and see if I love them just as much now.

The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu: I loved this book! It's a little hard to do a full review for this one because it's a collection of short stories by Ken Liu, but I'll do my best. First I love all of the stories, I honestly couldn't pick one favorite. Even ones that weren't one of my favorites were still very well written. The mesh of multiple Asian cultures and histories with American culture and history is so well done, and I liked the references and dedications a the end of some of them. All the stories were very touching, some darker than others but they all had a sort of bittersweet tone to them. I also loved how all the stories were varying degrees of science fiction, some having technology so similar to today's that it could have almost been a literary fiction story. The themes were all amazing (especially how the complexity of each one was written), the characters were all well written in each story. There's really nothing bad I can say about any of it. I also liked how in many, if not all, the stories had a theme of storytelling in theme and how that identifies a person or brings people together. The Paper Menagerie received 5 out 5 stars from me.

Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman: This is going to be my full, spoiler review because I tried to tag the book as I read it but I really struggled with that. In part because of the format. It is unlike anything I have ever read, and in hindsight I probably should have done this one on audiobook.  It is a compilation of interviews, military reports, surveillance videos, data from the AI, online messages, and more. It's a unique format, that can work well, and at times it did, but there were too many names just  dropped that I could not remember, and with about 600 pages in this format, the plot dragged. I think this book should have honestly been 100 to 200 pages shorter, to keep the fast pace going. The first tenth of the book I was really invested in and flew through it, but then nothing happened and I just got bored with the story. Once the virus became more of an issue and AIDAN's POV was introduced then I became reinvested. Speaking of AIDAN, the ships AI, that was without a doubt the best part of the book, with Kady coming in a close second. Any AI can bring up the question of what it means to be human, and AIDAN contributed an interesting perspective to that discussion. No, I haven't seen 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it sounds like there are similarities to that AI and AIDAN. Over the course of the book, AIDAN killed thousands of people, and is rather remorseless about it because it believes it did that for the greater good. AIDAN keeps up this cold, mechanical behavior until it starts to interact directly with Kady. In fact their “relationship” was what revived the book for me. The more time AIDAN spends interacting with Kady, they start to almost become friends and Kady definitely humanizes AIDAN and gets it to question everything it's done. Ezra and Kady's relationship was cute, since they just broke up but when the cards are down they need each other for emotional support, and Ezra was a decent guy, but he was a little generic for me and I also felt he wasn't as well developed as Kady. Kady I really liked, which is funny because she's that hard person with a heart of gold and I don't usually like that type. She doesn't deal with authority well and is absolutely willing to go rogue to help save lives, which is good in this book because most of the people in charge just make things worse (even if they don't mean to) and cause more death. So real quick the highlights of this book were: AIDAN, Kady, the unique format, the first and last 10% where the action was fast pace. The things I didn't like about this book were: how long this book dragged for, too many characters to keep track of , very few relationships (platonic or romantic) that I was invested in, didn't get to learn more about the world, Ezra's mother being the big bad (kind of tired of family drama being the plot driver in media). All in all I didn't love this book, it was okay, but I'm not sure if I want to continue with the next book (fortunately its a companion series so I don't have to read the next one). Illuminae received 3 out of 5 stars, and was pick for the PopSugar promt “book with two authors.”  

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco: This was one of the very few books that comes as close to a cover buy as possible. The cover is stunning and I do think reflects the personality and power of Tea, the protagonist. I did look at some reviews and the worst thing I can find was that this book has a lack of plot, which is something that I'm willing to overlook, particularly in first books. But this book really didn't have any plot. It started out interesting with a resurrection through dark magic, but then that story was pushed to the side until the last few chapters. The book has two separate story lines one being Tea's origin story which takes up the majority of the book, the other takes place in the present with Tea having gone dark, but the end of the book still doesn't explain why Tea was in exile. So more back story is needed which will only be in the second book, which makes the first book feel incomplete. I liked Tea, but she felt a bit naive at times and didn't drive the action forward but I could still believe that the powerful, morally gray character in the future was also this little girl. The side characters were okay, a little bland aside from Likah who was barley in the story. I did not like the romance at all because it was very sudden and one sided. The readers also see in the future how obsessed Tea still is with the guy she was in love with, which was actually kind of creepy. Most of the story was boring and I strongly disliked how similar many scenes were to Memoirs of a Geisha. The general aesthetic of the story and the imagery and symbolism was amazing. The end conflict in Tea, the old in power serving themselves and only themselves, was interesting in itself but the fact that it came in only at the very end made it feel like it was just a plot device to explain partly why Tea is so angry in the future. The Bone Witch received 2. 5 out of 5 stars because the aspects I liked were well done, but there wasn't much about this story that I liked.

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Partick Ness: This was a book I had been looking forward to reading, because I loved A Monster Calls but this was something completely different. Unfortunately, I didn't like it. This story is from an uneducated 13 year old boys point of view, and it reads like that. Had I read this book when it first came out and I was still in junior high, I probably would have liked it better, but reading it as an adult I find it to be a little immature and simple. So while the writing itself was good and the world was kind of a unique science fiction/ dystopian blend, I didn't love any of the characters, I wasn't invested in the story and there was so much unnecessary drama because no one tells Todd or Viola anything. Also there was a death in this book, that I didn't cry at, but it made me want to throw up my arms and go “Why!” I do think Patrick Ness is a good writer and I still want to read other books by him, but because of how basic the whole story was I'm not sure if I'll continue with the rest of the series. The Knife of Never Letting Go received 2 out 5 stars from me.  

The Wrath and The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh: For me this book was a fairly mediocre read. I knew I was going to read it at some point but it was an unexpected buy this month and I started getting excited for it and decided to pick it up immediately. I was hoping that it would be a sort of Snow Like Ashes, where I didn't expect much in the first book but would be pleasantly surprised. I also thought that since it's just two books that I would get more in the first book. Unfortunately neither of those happened. This story is a 1001 Arabian Nights retelling and places a heavy emphasis on the romance between Shahrzad, the protagonist, and Khalid, the man Shahrzad marries in the hopes that she kills him. For the romance being a hate to love one, it wasn't bad. I personally have a very hard time enjoying hate to love ships, but this one I think was done well because I felt like the evolution of the romance felt natural and the reason these two start out at odds with each other wasn't based off contrived drama. That being said I didn't like the lack of communication these two had and I don't get attached to cold characters and Khalid was definitely that. The side characters were decent, although the male character all felt similar (actually come to think of it the female ones did to), but I am fascinated by the transformation Shahrzad's father underwent and I wish I could have seen more of that. The friendships in here were decent, but were never the center of attention and I was never invested enough in the side character to be invested in their relationships. As for the world building, that was actually sub par for me because I thought there was going to be some magic, but there was hardly any in the story at all. In fact magic is discussed, so the readers know it exists, but never shown any performance of magic. The rest of the world I barley know anything about, so that all was disappointing. The pacing of the story was good, loved the tie ins for the retelling parts and incorporation of story telling, until the end when everything was just rushed and a bit confusing. It was decent and I'll probably read the sequel since it's just one book but I haven't read anything that motivates me to read it, so I'm not in any rush to read it. The Wrath and The Dawn received 3 out 5 stars from me.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein: Like The Paper Menagerie I had a difficult time doing a wrap up for this one, but for very different reasons. I rarely read books that are set entirely in our reality, and also don't read historical fiction, so I can't approach reviewing this book quite the same way that I usually do. Also it's difficult to review this book without giving away any spoilers. This novel is broken into two different parts, each one in a different POV identified by their code names. This is an emotional and powerful story about the friendship between two girls that takes place during WWII. One is a pilot and one is, for lack of a better term, a spy. The emotions and relationships were fleshed and well delivered in this story but there were parts that dragged the story a bit for me, so I was going to give this book 3 stars but the last 15% really got to me so I had to boost up the rating. I will say this is a very character driven story, again focusing on the two girls and their experiences in the war effort and some of the harsh realities of being involved in that. I would recommend this one to people looking to read a fictional WWII story, and Code Name Verity received 4 out 5 stars.  

[mandelene]

Rereading my old fics and reviewing them so I can make my former self cry: Part 1

It’s the middle of the night and I should be sleeping, but I’ve decided to torture myself by reading some of my old fics that I haven’t looked at in years, and when I say old, I mean old. I want to do this for three reasons. Reason 1: To remind myself that even though it feels like I haven’t made any progress in my writing, I have. Reason 2: I like finding new ways to make myself cringe and stay grounded. Keeping it humble over here. Reason 3: To prove that no one becomes a good writer overnight. It takes practice. We’re all mediocre at first, and that’s okay. It’s part of the learning process. 

So without further ado, let’s get into it. I dug up my very first Hetalia fanfic ever: “America and the Tale of the Banished Ice Cream.” I believe I had just turned 15 when I wrote this. 

Strap yourselves in. This is gonna be a messy one. Okay, here goes.

AN: WARNING! Beware of extreme fluff and the melodramatic hysterias of a young teen.

Ugh, I’m so pretentious. I’m sorry, guys

Everyone had their fears. For some it was spiders, public speaking, or death, and for Alfred F. Jones, it was ghosts.

But if there was one thing in the entire universe that was almost as bad as ghosts, it was dentists.

Going to the dentist was as bad as being told that you could never eat jellybeans again. It was simply heartbreaking. A fat old man would stand before you and scold you for indulging in the world's sweet riches of chocolate, lollipops, cookies, and soda. It was enough to make anyone distraught, let alone Alfred Jones; the soon to be hero of the world.

Honestly, I’ll take a spoopy ghost over a dentist any day. Also, I don’t know why I wrote that first part in the past tense, as it suggests that people no longer have fears. “Everyone has their fears. For some, it’s spiders, public speaking, or death. For Alfred F. Jones, it was ghosts.” Makes more sense. 

"Alfred!" Arthur called from the downstairs kitchen. "You have five minutes to come downstairs willfully and with gentlemanly dignity before I come up there and force you to comply."

Alfred grumbled some unfavorable words under his breath that would most certainly not be considered "gentlemanly".

Arthur, great parenting. Everyone knows threats always work when someone’s scared. 10/10

Of course, Alfred was a firm believer in the fact that this was all Arthur's fault. He was sure the man had hired these people to walk around and torture young teens like Alfred's innocent self. No one in their right mind would consider becoming a dentist voluntarily. Only sick people would choose to torture people for a living. No doubt they were all sadistic communists and-

"ALFRED," Arthur bellowed warningly, obviously becoming annoyed at the lack of movement taking place upstairs. "Time to go, young man!"

Alfred sighed in a very put-out way. There was still the small chance that he would be capable of guilt tripping Arthur into bringing him back home, or at least into taking him for some ice cream.

I’ve met a lot of communist dentists in my time, haven’t you? The adverb “warningly” is unnecessary as “bellowed” already gets that point across. Also, “bellowed” is kind of a cringey dialogue tag to use here, but okay. I can live with it. 

Ah, ice cream. It was yet another wonderful indulgence that Alfred had been denied of lately after his last appointment to the dentist. Oh, pistachio, chocolate, strawberry, cookies and cream, rocky road, and even just plain vanilla. He missed them all so much. They had been very close friends indeed.

Needless to say, his last appointment hadn't gone too well, which was why he was making a return visit to the office today in order to get a cavity filled. Arthur had blown a fuse at the announcement of Alfred's lack of oral hygiene and tossed out all the foods in the house that could be remotely considered junk food. No more chocolate covered biscuits, barbeque chips, gummy bears, cotton candy, popcorn, and not even those "Jaffa Cakes" that Arthur had been rather fond of at one point. They were pretty gross, but still. The thought that he couldn't even have those was jarring news.

The pretentious tone here is killing me, but I like how I added a little background to Alfred’s last encounter with the dentist. That’s a sign I was thinking about putting things into context, which is great. Also, what are you talking about, 15-year-old Mandelene? Jaffa Cakes are god damned delicious. 

He had protested, begged, and gotten down on his knees one day to plead his defense, but Arthur was having none of it, not until Alfred would learn to take better care of his teeth.

So, Alfred had set out on a mission after that. He made sure to floss after almost every meal, and brushed his teeth each morning and night, hoping against all odds that he would be granted the privilege of merely seeing his ice cream again along with its glorious icy bursts of flavors.

And thus, today became known as Alfred's Judgment Day. After getting this one, bastardly cavity filled, he might finally be set free into the beautiful world of candy once more.

However, he most definitely didn't enjoy the idea of some stranger prodding and poking at his teeth today, but he would do it for the sake of his ice cream. His blessed ice cream deserved it. He was more than determined to grit his teeth and pull through this horrible day with a proud sense of triumph. After all, he was the hero, and no damn dentist would strip that title away from him.

The diction in this whole section is over the top and tries too hard to have flair. There are also some problems with tense here, which is very common in writers who are just starting out. 

"Alfred," Arthur growled, now standing with his arms crossed in the doorway. "Downstairs. Now. I've had enough of this ridiculousness."

Alfred tried not to whine, he really did, but Arthur had no idea how painful this entire experience had been as of late. He simply couldn't help releasing a small whimper of discontent upon his older brother's ears.

"I won't be falling for your sorry little pouts today, Alfred," Arthur stated resolutely. He gave his little colony a nudge to keep him moving down the stairs and out the front door.

I say “colony” in that last sentence, but this is supposed to be a human AU, so I’ve just mixed up my worlds. 

Alfred dragged his feet to the car with no evidence of a smile plastered across his usually carefree and joyful demeanor. He grumpily plopped himself into the backseat, determined to remain discontent with Arthur's presence. He refused to sit up front next to the "git". What a jerk, and his ice cream had to be the one to suffer his wrath.

Arthur sighed exasperatedly as he drove down the road. "You know, I only want the best for you. I know your still upset that you can't have any candy, but your health is more important to me than that gunk you used to consume on a daily basis."

"It's not gunk! It's the savior of horrible tasting English food," Alfred countered, furious.

"THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH ENGLISH FOOD!" Arthur shouted, slamming his fist on the steering wheel. His cooking skills (or lack of) were an extremely sensitive topic.

Okay, there are lots of problems here. First, the diction is over the top and unnecessarily flowery. “Demeanor” doesn’t really make sense at the end of the first sentence and should be replaced with “face.” My use of “git” here is just a blatant attempt to insert some stereotypical British slang to sound cool. “I know your still upset” should be “I know you’re still upset.” Also, “It’s the savior of horrible tasting English food” is a poorly written sentence, and a boy of Alfred’s age in this story would never say something like that, realistically speaking. The capital letters as Arthur gets frustrated are unnecessary. And Arthur, calm the hell down. You’re in the car with a child. Stomach the insult and be a responsible driver. It’s not that big of a deal. 

"You wouldn't even let me have a scone, and you know how bad they are. You shoulda been happy that I even offered to try one!"

Arthur refused to respond to that comment. He swore under his breath and continued to drive, refusing to give in to the youngster's attempt at pity play.

"We're here," Arthur announced, pulling the car to a stop after a grueling amount of silence.

Alfred moodily stepped out of the vehicle and slammed the door closed, lagging behind his brother as they neared the dentist's office.

"Sit," Arthur ordered when they had entered the office. He walked up to the receptionist's desk to sign in while Alfred found a seat in the back, slumping down over his knees. This was so not cool. He didn't deserve this kind of endless punishment.

Arthur couldn't help, but feel a little sorry for the young colony as he approached his slouched form. The boy had been keeping up a grudge toward him ever since he had tossed out those horrendous snacks, and England missed the bright smile usually present on Alfred's face.

I’m mixing up my worlds again. 

"Don't fret, lad," he soothed as he sat down next to the distressed teen. Alfred's leg was bouncing up and down in anticipation, frightened at the type of torture the dentist would come up with this time.

"I don't wanna do this, Iggy," Alfred admitted sadly, a horribly adorable pout working its way onto the boy's face. His blue eyes retained the same puppy dog look ever since he had been told he was no longer allowed to eat his ice cream. The jellybeans and gummy bears were just the frosting on the cake. His ice cream had been the breaking point.

Arthur sighed once again and patted Alfred's shoulder, "I know, lad. It'll be alright though. Would you like me to come in with you?"

Alfred gave a pathetic nod.

Arthur couldn't help but smile, and ruffled the teen's hair affectionately. "Very well, then."

I can sympathize, Alfred. Dentists suck. Also, awww. This is where my descent into shameless fluff began, haha. 

The two sat in comfortable silence for a while, and Alfred watched as various children entered the office and began playing with toy trucks.

"I'm the policeman!" the youngest boy of the group exclaimed, smashing his patrol car into the leg of an adjacent chair.

"Fine, I get to be the firefighter!" another boy called out, but just as he was about to pick up the truck, the first boy accidentally smashed his car into the other's finger. The effect was instantaneous, and the boy playing the firefighter burst into tears.

"I'm sorry!" the other cried out in apology.

Then, Alfred stood from his chair and put his hand on the crying boy's back. "Hey, firefighters don't cry. You're the hero! You have to get back up and keep fightin' the bad things that get in the way. You can't let anyone stop you!" Alfred encouraged, flashing the boy a cordial smile.

Arthur smirked at Alfred's need to implant his ideal values of courage and heroism at every possible opportunity.

A little preachy and unnecessary, but okay. 

The boy stopped crying as hastily as he had started, and turned back to his game, renewed with a sense of strength and invincibility.

"Alfred Jones?" a nurse called.

Alfred groaned, but Arthur stood up beside him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"What happened to being the hero? I thought heroes didn't get scared," Arthur teased.

"Pft, who said I was scared?" Alfred said with feigned confidence. "Heroes aren't supposed to get cavities either," he mumbled as an after thought.

Arthur chuckled and guided Alfred down the hallway and into the empty room as directed by the nurse. There, Alfred took a seat in the rather comfortable looking torture chair, and watched helplessly as the nurse tied the paper bib around his neck. When she was finished, she smiled and said, "The doctor will be back in a moment," before walking out.

Afterthought is one word. Also, those torture chairs definitely aren’t comfortable. 15-year-old Mandelene hasn’t had her wisdom teeth yanked out yet, so her view of dentists is still idealistic. She’ll learn, don’t worry. 

As she shut the wooden door behind her, Alfred got the sudden urge to jump up and run out.

"Not so fast," Arthur admonished, sensing Alfred's urgency to escape the scene. He stood in front of the door and tried to look as menacing as possible.

"Be a good patient, Alfred. Sit back and relax. Everything will be just fine."

"Iggy, can we come back another day? I'm really not feelin' so good right now," Alfred feigned a pained look.

"You look perfectly healthy to me," Arthur said firmly, but palmed Alfred's forehead anyway just to be on the safe side. "No fever. Now, sit down."

I’m gonna be nitpicky here, but I have a huge pet peeve about “Iggy” being a nickname for England. But first, let me address that I’ve mixed up my worlds yet again because England shouldn���t be England here, he should be Arthur, and when he’s Arthur, he can’t be Iggy. Second, “Iggy” only makes sense in the context of England’s Japanese name, so in a fic that’s been written in English, it seems very out of place. 

Alfred grumbled unhappily again, hesitantly sitting back down on the edge of the chair. Arthur walked over and pushed gently on his chest to get him to lie down properly and took a peek at the instruments laid out on the adjacent tray resting on the table.

Arthur picked up the small drill and pointed it at Alfred. "Be a good boy, Alfred, or I just might have to drill all your teeth. MWAH HA HA HA!"

Alfred glared at his brother seriously. "That's not funny, Iggy."

"Stop calling me that."

Alfred ignored him, but couldn't stop his leg from bouncing even harder than before.

I actually like this little part here. It’s what distinguishes Arthur as being Alfred’s elder brother rather than his father, which is apparently what I was going for. The brotherly teasing develops their relationship. 

Arthur frowned and walked around the chair, observing the various stickers and cartoons plastered on the walls in order to calm the children who came in here. After all, it was a pediatrician's office. He doubted Alfred could be comforted by the smiling dragon opposite him.

"Stop shaking, lad. I told you it would be alright. I was just joking before," Arthur tried to soothe, but he had never been an expert on this whole parenting ordeal. He stood behind the chair and rubbed the boy's head, then tickled his neck.

"Iggy, stop! Y'know I'm ticklish," Alfred fumed, but let out an involuntary giggle.

Abruptly, the dentist entered the room and shut the door behind him. Alfred just about jumped out of his boots, startled by the sudden intrusion. He shook Arthur's hand off of his head and gripped onto the armrests surrounding him for dear life.

I should have said pediatric dentistry office. Pediatrician suggests it’s a primary care doctor. 15-year-old Mandelene hasn’t gotten around to practicing her medical AU skills yet. Forgive her. Also, A+ to Arthur for trying. 

"Ah, Alfred. How are you feeling today?" the dentist greeted.

"I'd feel better if I could have my ice cream," Alfred pouted, and Arthur shot him a look that plainly said "behave".

The dentist laughed, "You don't say? Well, then, let's see what's going with those sparkly whites of yours, hmm?"

He took a seat on the rolling stool next to Alfred and lowered the torture chair.

"Now, open wide," the dentist said gently.

Alfred thought he might literally be sick this time.

"Nnhmhm" he protested, shutting his mouth tightly.

"Alfred," Arthur scolded, "Don't cause the doctor any trouble."

The teen sighed a very long sigh, and parted his lips just a fraction.

"I know you can do better than that," Arthur urged.

Idk, Alfred. You should get out of there. This dentist seems like a creep. 

"But Iggy-" he whined.

"No buts."

Alfred would do this. He would do it for his ice cream. Anything for ice cream. So, he accepted his fate and wore it proudly. He shrunk back and let out a small yelp when the sick tooth had first been picked at, but managed to squeeze his eyes shut and distract himself as the dentist performed the necessary evil.

He would never admit it, but he felt much better when Arthur grasped his hand midway through the procedure, giving him some encouragement to keep fighting for that ice cream.

Oh ho ho, he could almost taste it.

Cookie dough, mint chocolate chip, and butter pecan. Just a few more minutes of prodding. He could do this. He would do this.

No novocaine? Oh, god, Alfred. This dude doesn’t know how to put in a filling. How are you not screaming? 

It felt like centuries, but at last the beloved words registered and resounded in his ears.

"All done!"

Alfred hopped out of his seat, released Iggy's hand and fought to remove the paper bib from his neck. In the end, Arthur had to help him eradicate the atrocious thing, but as soon as he was free, he stormed out the door and nearly skipped into the waiting room.

The receptionist smiled and asked, "Would you like a lollipop?"

Alfred turned around and was relieved to see that Arthur had stayed behind to talk with the dentist.

"Hell yeah!" Alfred practically cheered, tearing the cherry lollipop's wrapper away and sticking the candy into his mouth before Arthur would come barreling down the hall to take it from him.

What could Arthur possibly be talking about with the dentist anyway? Hopefully, it’s about the fact that Alfred got a filling without an anesthetic and now he’s gonna sue for malpractice. 

He sighed contentedly as the sugary flavor dissolved from the heavenly stick of salvation.

"Alfred? You've just had your teeth fixed and cleaned, and you're already sucking on that monstrosity?" Arthur shook his head in disappointment.

Still, the elder was happy to see that his brother was smiling gleefully again, his tongue now red from the artificial coloring of the lollipop.

"Maybe we could go out for ice cream. Just this once," Arthur surrendered, regretting the statement as soon as he had uttered it.

"YES!" Alfred whooped in excitement. "Let's go, bro!"

The taste of victory in all its splendor was apparent when Alfred took his first bite of double chocolate fudge ice cream with oreo cookie crumb toppings. It had been almost too good to be true.

Arthur watched in disgust. "I wouldn't be too happy if I were you. You have another check up scheduled in six months, and if I see that you've obtained more cavities in that span of time, I won't be pleased."

Man, I made Arthur into such a party pooper in this story. He’s so extra. Also, the diction is still killing me. 

Alfred groaned inwardly.

He wouldn't be able to survive the agony again. So he would enjoy this cone of ice cream while it lasted.

"Don't worry," Alfred assured his ice cream, "I won't let the mean jerk take you away from me again."

And thus, Alfred and his ice cream lived happily ever after.

For now.

“Happily ever after,” did I seriously use that cliche? *vomits* 

All in all, that was only half as cringey as I thought it would be. The word choice was sloppy, there were some grammatical errors, and I kept messing up my setting, but for a first attempt at a Hetalia fic, it could have been worse. I’ll give it a 5.5/10, 15-year-old Mandelene. You tried. 

I’ll be looking at some of my other fics soon (once my nausea from this one dissipates). I think I’ve tortured myself enough for tonight. 

[hermanwatts]

Sensor Sweep: Genre Magazines, Mort Kunstler, Vampire Queen, Boris Dolgov

Publishing (Forbes): Today, the number of science fiction and fantasy magazine titles is higher than at any other point in history. That’s more than 25 pro-level magazines, according to a count from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, amid a larger pool of “70 magazines, 14 audio sites, and nine critical magazines,” according to Locus Magazine.

Publishing (Jason Sanford): For the last few months I’ve been working on #SFF2020: The State of Genre Magazines, a detailed look at science fiction and fantasy magazine publishing in this day and age.This report is available below and can also be downloaded in the following formats:  Mobi file for Kindle,     Epub file for E-book Readers, PDF file. For this report I interviewed the editors, publishers, and staff of the following genre magazines. Many thanks to each of these people. The individual interviews are linked below and also contained in the downloadable Kindle, Epub, and PDF versions of the report.

Science Fiction (New Yorker): In her heyday, Russ was known as a raging man-hater. This reputation was not entirely unearned, though it was sometimes overstated. Of one of her short stories, “When It Changed,” which mourns a lost female utopia, the science-fiction novelist Michael Coney wrote, “The hatred, the destructiveness that comes out in the story makes me sick for humanity. . . . I’ve just come from the West Indies, where I spent three years being hated merely because my skin was white. . . . [Now I] find that I am hated for another reason—because Joanna Russ hasn’t got a prick.”

Comic Books (ICV2): Blaze Publishing has reached an agreement with Conan Properties International that will allow it to publish U.S. editions of the Glénat bande dessinée series The Cimmerian, ICv2 has learned.  The Glenat series adapts Robert E. Howard Conan stories originally published in Weird Tales into comic stories that Ablaze describes as “the true Conan… unrestrained, violent, and sexual… just as Robert E. Howard intended.”

Fantasy (DMR Books): To cut straight to the one-line review: Jamie Williamson’s The Evolution of Modern Fantasy (Palgrave McMillan, 2015) is a must-read if you’re at all interested in how the popular genre now known as “fantasy” came about. Even if it’s a little difficult to obtain and get into. Williamson is both an academic and “one of us.” A senior lecturer in English at the University of Vermont, he’s taught a number of classes that I’d love to audit (Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Science Fiction & Fantasy Literature, King Arthur).

Historical Fiction (Jess Nevins): Hereward the Wake was written by the Rev. Charles Kingsley and first appeared in as a magazine serial in 1865 before publication as a novel in 1869. It is a fictionalization of the life of the historical Hereward the Wake (circa 1035-circa 1072), a rebel against the eleventh century Norman invasion and occupation of England. Although he became a national hero to the English and the subject of many legends and songs, little is known for certain about Hereward, and it is theorized that he was actually half-Danish rather than of Saxon descent.

Art (Mens Pulp Magazines): During the summer and fall of 2019, we worked with the great illustration artist Mort Künstler, his daughter Jane Künstler, President of Kunstler Enterprises, and Mort’s archivist Linda Swanson on an art book featuring classic men’s adventure magazine cover and interior paintings Mort did during the first major phase of his long career. That book, titled MORT KÜNSTLER: THE GODFATHER OF PULP FICTION ILLUSTRATORS, is now available on Amazon in the US and worldwide. It’s also available on the Barnes & Noble website and via the Book Depository site, which offers free shipping to anywhere in the world.

Gaming (Tim Brannon): Palace of the Vampire Queen. In the beginning, there was a belief that all DMs would naturally create all their own adventures and there was no market for pre-written ones.  The only printed adventure out at this time was “Temple of the Frog” in Blackmoor.  Seeing a need, the Palace of the Vampire Queen was written by Pete and Judy Kerestan. Yes, the very first adventure was co-written by a woman. The first edition was self-published, followed by a second and third edition by Wee Warriors (1976 and 1977) and distributed exclusively by TSR.

Fiction (DMR Books): Last summer, I was fortunate enough to acquire the copyrights to Merritt’s material from the previous owners.  Along with the rights, I received a few boxes of papers, which I’ve enjoyed going through during the past few months, and which I anticipate will provide me with many more enjoyable evenings perusing them.  Among these were papers relating to Merritt and the Avon reprints.  Some of this takes the form of correspondence between Merritt’s widow, Eleanor, and the literary agent she’d engaged for Merritt’s work, Brandt & Brandt.  Others are contracts with Avon, as well as Avon royalty statements.

Pournelle (Tip the Wink): Here, all of Pournelle’s best short work has been collected in a single volume. There are over a dozen short stories, each with a new introduction by editor and longtime Pournelle assistant John F. Carr, as well as essays and remembrances by Pournelle collaborators and admirers.” My take: I enjoyed this a lot. It had been a while since I read any Pournelle (and then almost always with Niven). I’m now tempted to reread The Mote In God’s Eye.

Gaming (Reviews From R’lyeh): Ruins of the North is an anthology of scenarios for The One Ring: Adventures over the Edge of the Wild Roleplaying Game, the recently cancelled roleplaying game published by Cubicle Seven Entertainment which remains the most highly regarded, certainly most nuanced of the four roleplaying games to explore Tolkien’s Middle Earth. It is a companion to Rivendell, the supplement which shifted the roleplaying game’s focus from its starting point to the east of the Misty Mountains, upon Mirkwood and its surrounds with Tales from Wilderland and The Heart of the Wild to the west of the Misty Mountains.

Art (Dark Worlds Quarterly): Being an artist for Weird Tales was not a fast track to fame and fortune. It is only in retrospect that names like Hugh Rankin, A. R. Tilburne, Hannes Bok, Lee Brown Coye and Vincent Napoli take on a luster of grandeur. At the time, the gig of producing illos for Weird Tales was low-paying and largely obscure. Some, like Lee Brown Coye, were able to establish their reputations in the art world after a long apprenticeship in the Pulps. Most are the select favorites of fans. Boris Dolgov was one of these truly brilliant illustrators who time has not been as kind to as should be.

Tolkien (Karavansara): But what really struck me in the whole thing was something that emerged from the debate: some fans said the novel should have been translated by a Tolkien fan, and by someone with a familiarity with fantasy. But other have pointed out that The Lord of the Rings is not fantasy. And my first reaction was, what the heck, with all those elves and orcs, wizards and a fricking magical ring and all the rest, you could have fooled me.

Tolkien (Sacnoth’s Scriptorium): So, I’ve been thinking back over Christopher Tolkien’s extraordinary achievements and wondering which was the most exceptional. A strong case can be made for the 1977 SILMARILLION. In retrospect, now that all the component pieces of that work have seen the light in the HISTORY OF MIDDLE-EARTH series we can see just how difficult his task was, and how comprehensively he mastered it. Special mention shd be made of one of the few passages of that work which we know Christopher himself wrote, rather than extracted from some manuscript of his father: the death of Thingol down in the dark beneath Menegroth, looking at the light of the Silmaril.

Art (Illustrator Spotlight): Many of you have seen some of the pulp covers he created; most likely those for The Spider, Terror Tales, Dime Mystery or Dime Detective. I was recently reading a blog post about David Saunder’s book on DeSoto (I can’t find the link to the blog anymore), and one of the comments was about how the commenter didn’t believe that DeSoto deserved a book, having painted only garish, violent covers. My reaction was immediate; I felt like telling the commenter to go forth and multiply, in slightly different words of course.

Martial Arts (Rawle Nyanzi): Yesterday, I put up a blog post where I showed videos discussing Andrew Klavan’s comments regarding women and swordfighting (namely, that women are utterly useless at it.) As one would expect, this has been discussed all around the internet, but much of it involves virtue signalling. To cut through a lot of that fog, I will show you a video by medieval swordsmanship YouTuber Skallagrim, in which he discusses the comments with two female HEMA practitioners — one old, one young.

Fiction (Black Gate): Changa’s Safari began in 1986 as a concept inspired by Robert E. Howard’s Conan. I wanted to create a heroic character with all the power and action of the brooding Cimmerian but based on African history, culture and tradition. Although the idea came early, the actual execution didn’t begin until 2005, when I decided to take the plunge into writing and publishing. During its creation I had the great fortune to meet and become friends with Charles R. Saunders, whose similar inspiration by Howard led to the creation of the iconic Imaro. What was planned to be a short story became a five-volume collection of tales that ended a few years ago with Son of Mfumu.

Gaming (Sorcerer’s Skull): The Arimites have the gloomy environment of Robert E. Howard’s Cimmerians and elements of a number of hill or mountain folk. They’ve got a thing for knives like the Afghans of pulp tradition with their Khyber knives, though the Arimites mostly use throwing knives. They’re miners, and prone to feuding and substance abuse, traits often associated with Appalachian folk. I say play up that stuff and add a bit from the Khors of Vance’s Tshcai–see the quote at the start, and here’s another: “they consider garrulity a crime against nature.”

Sensor Sweep: Genre Magazines, Mort Kunstler, Vampire Queen, Boris Dolgov published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

[renafreefall]

2020 is here and with it comes another Goodreads Reading Challenge. This year I set the challenge for 50 books, I have no idea if I’ll surpass that or not hit it at all since my reading challenges are always all over the place but, hopefully, I’ll surpass it again like this year… or, last year as of today!

But while I read a lot, (great distraction from when I should have been researching for my dissertation) I am WAY behind on my blog. Like the last one was in the middle of the year and most of my reading was after that! Not to mention how far behind I am on my proof/ARCs readings! >.<

So while I start my 2020 challenge, I figured I’d start my year with an overview of the books I read after my last read/review (which was Alex in Wonderland (great book, check it out)).

Some of these books/series I’ve decided to do actual full reviews for but for the most part, very few stood out to me. That or they were rereads and I probably won’t do reviews for them, but who knows. I’ll probably reread them again so I might actually get around to taking notes as I go.

But! Last year’s theme was almost exclusively M/M fiction. So if you want an idea of M/M series to pick up, this is the blog for you, lol!

So without further ado, following on from Alex in Wonderland:

  Surreal Estate:

Sasha Michaels is a psychic with an affinity for houses. And he’s homeless. Go figure. After months of sleeping rough, he stumbles upon an abandoned house, and the lonely place beckons him inside. He’s finally safe . . . until someone comes blundering into his hideaway.

House-flipper Nick Cooper lost everything in the recession. Desperate to revive his business, he turns to a loan shark to fund his comeback project: flipping an abandoned house full of potential. But it turns out the house has an unexpected occupant.

Nick and Sasha make a deal: Sasha can stay in exchange for helping with the renovation. To both of their surprise, the closer they get to the loan shark’s due date, the stronger their feelings for each other grow. Problem is, Nick isn’t the only one with feelings for Sasha, and now the house doesn’t want to let Sasha go.

This was the type of book where I remember the punny title and I remember the gist of it – and for some reason I really remember Nick’s description of how Sasha moves when he finally learns that Sasha has a psychic connection to houses – something about him basically hugging the walls when he moved through rooms because he’s avoiding walking into ghost furniture, but the ins and outs of the story, I couldn’t really tell you.

I think I was hoping for something a bit more Haunted House-esque but horror this book is not. Overall, I remember it as a fine, quick read. Nothing monumental. Something to pass an evening when you’re between books, or need a break from another book that’s taking it out of you and need a breather lol.

Book 1 – Wolfsong:

Ox was twelve when his daddy taught him a very valuable lesson. He said that Ox wasn’t worth anything and people would never understand him. Then he left.

Ox was sixteen when he met the boy on the road, the boy who talked and talked and talked. Ox found out later the boy hadn’t spoken in almost two years before that day, and that the boy belonged to a family who had moved into the house at the end of the lane.

Ox was seventeen when he found out the boy’s secret, and it painted the world around him in colors of red and orange and violet, of Alpha and Beta and Omega.

Ox was twenty-three when murder came to town and tore a hole in his head and heart. The boy chased after the monster with revenge in his bloodred eyes, leaving Ox behind to pick up the pieces.

It’s been three years since that fateful day—and the boy is back. Except now he’s a man, and Ox can no longer ignore the song that howls between them.

Book 2 – Ravensong:

The first two books in the Green Creek Series. These will both get their own reviews so I won’t get into it. Overall, these books were SO much better than I expected. I had seen Wolfsong around for ages and seen it talked about loads but just wasn’t interested until I finally decided to give it a go – can’t really remember why. The books are long – over 400 pages each, I think. There’s a LOT of backstory – which I could find tedious but was also important – and a lot of repetition but still a very good pair of books. I’m currently about 80% of the way through Heartsong and honestly… meh. It’s been sat at 80% pretty much since it came out now because I just don’t feel it. I haven’t enjoyed it nearly as much as these first two but I’ll get into that when I finish it and write its own review.

Overall, good solid first two books though, and a decent werewolf series.

    THIRDS series:

Book 1 – Hell & Highwater

When homicide detective Dexter J. Daley’s testimony helps send his partner away for murder, the consequences—and the media frenzy—aren’t far behind. He soon finds himself sans boyfriend, sans friends, and, after an unpleasant encounter in a parking garage after the trial, he’s lucky he doesn’t find himself sans teeth. Dex fears he’ll get transferred from the Human Police Force’s Sixth Precinct, or worse, get dismissed. Instead, his adoptive father—a sergeant at the Therian-Human Intelligence Recon Defense Squadron otherwise known as the THIRDS—pulls a few strings, and Dex gets recruited as a Defense Agent.

Dex is determined to get his life back on track and eager to get started in his new job. But his first meeting with Team Leader Sloane Brodie, who also happens to be his new jaguar Therian partner, turns disastrous. When the team is called to investigate the murders of three HumaniTherian activists, it soon becomes clear to Dex that getting his partner and the rest of the tightknit team to accept him will be a lot harder than catching the killer—and every bit as dangerous.

So this is another series that will get its own blog, though I’ll review all ten main books in that one post. This is both a great series and a ridiculous series. If you’re looking for exquisite writing, realistic characters and manly manly men, these books aren’t for you. If you’re looking for a wild ride with characters and writing that is funny AF, you want this series.

Seriously, I don’t remember a series making me laugh as much as this. Like all the comedy is supposed to be comedic, these books are wonderfully funny, some of the characters are hilarious.

However, there was so much wrong with these books. The men don’t speak like men, the characters don’t grow naturally, there’s a whole lot of Tell, Don’t Show, and more. But even with everything wrong with it, I forgive it because it made me laugh so much. Except Book 5: Against The Grain – I don’t forgive that book. That was just a genuinely bad book, but more on that later.

    Big Bad Wolf Series:

Book 1- The Wolf at The Door

Hunting for big bad wolves was never part of Agent Cooper Dayton’s plan, but a werewolf attack lands him in the carefully guarded Bureau of Special Investigations. A new case comes with a new partner: ruggedly sexy werewolf Oliver Park.

Park is an agent of The Trust, a werewolf oversight organization working to ease escalating tensions with the BSI. But as far as Cooper’s concerned, it’s failing. As they investigate a series of mysterious deaths unlike anything they’ve seen, every bone in Cooper’s body is suspicious of his new partner—even when Park proves himself as competent as he is utterly captivating.

When more people vanish, pressure to solve the case skyrockets. And though he’d resolved to keep things professional, Cooper’s friction with Park soon erupts…into a physical need that can’t be contained or controlled. But with a body count that’s rising by the day, werewolves and humans are in equal danger. If Cooper and Park don’t catch the killer soon, one—or both—of them could be the next to go.

So… I really liked this series when I first read it (the first three, the fourth book wasn’t out then, I’m not sure it’s even out now but I will read it when it is)… however, now that I come to review it… I don’t really remember much of it. Which I think could be more down to just how many books I was reading at the time I read this. Like, I was burning through a book a day on top of my uni studies and my own writing so I think that’s more a statement to my state of mind then rather than the books. All I can tell you is that I remember really enjoying these books when I was reading them, outside of that, this is a bit of a dud review… so moving on.

    Prey (Infected Book 1):

In a world where a werecat virus has changed society, Roan McKichan, a born infected and ex-cop, works as a private detective trying to solve crimes involving other infecteds.

The murder of a former cop draws Roan into an odd case where an unidentifiable species of cat appears to be showing an unusual level of intelligence. He juggles that with trying to find a missing teenage boy, who, unbeknownst to his parents, was “cat” obsessed. And when someone is brutally murdering infecteds, Eli Winters, leader of the Church of the Divine Transformation, hires Roan to find the killer before he closes in on Eli.

Working the crimes will lead Roan through a maze of hate, personal grudges, and mortal danger. With help from his tiger-strain infected partner, Paris Lehane, he does his best to survive in a world that hates and fears their kind… and occasionally worships them.

Another book that I don’t really remember enough about to write a decent review on, but I do remember being impressed by how this book was tackled. It makes a change reading about a couple that’s been a couple for a while and is comfortable and set in their ways and just getting on with life. But it also made me so sad because of the direction the series would eventually have to take – but there was also something so incredibly intense about that because, as far as I know, there’s no way to avoid the inevitable. I didn’t continue the series after this one but that’s purely because this is another LONG series and I’d just come out of the THIRDS series and didn’t want to start another marathon so soon. I have the second book and shall read it in time.

  Enhanced World:

Book 1 – Five Minutes Longer:

Talon Valdez knew when he transformed into an enhanced human, his life and his dreams were finished. Reviled, mistrusted, and often locked away, the enhanced were viewed as monsters, despised by the public, and never trusted to serve in the military or any law enforcement agency.

Years later he gets a chance to set up a task force of enhanced to serve in the FBI, but with one proviso: each enhanced must partner with a regular human.

Finn Mayer dreamed of joining the FBI from the time he was fourteen and made every possible sacrifice to make it happen, including living with his selfish mother and bullying, homophobic brother and never having a boyfriend. But his undiagnosed dyslexia stopped his aspirations dead in their tracks. His last chance is to partner with Talon, an enhanced with deadly abilities who doesn’t trust regular humans with their secrets and wants Finn to fail.

Four weeks to prove himself to the team. Four weeks for the team to prove itself to the public. And when another group threatens their success—and their lives are at stake—four weeks for them to survive.

Yeah, this whole series was fairly meh. I think there might be more than 4 books, but I only read these four. Frankly, it just reminded me of a lesser THIRDS series – me and quite a few other reviewers from what I could see. I don’t really remember anything about these books other than thinking it was one of the first books where I’d seen a dyslexic character and finding it interesting to see how he was portrayed, and then very much sighing over the whole thing.

I like Finn – he’s pretty much the only thing I remember from the book – but, kinda, the whole first book was about how he could actually make it in this special agency despite his dyslexia and then he was kind of useless outside of public relations and then he eventually all but gets relegated to public relations anyway and it all just felt redundant. Just play to the man’s strengths in the first place. I just remember feeling kind of insulted as a fellow dyslexic when he was pushed out of fieldwork after trying so freaking hard.

Everything else about this series, I don’t remember. Three stars might even be a bit much since I remember so little, but there was obviously something I liked about it, I just don’t remember what. Not a glowing endorsement but just unfortunately not for me.

    Zero at the Bone:

After witnessing a mob hit, surgeon Jack Francisco is put into protective custody to keep him safe until he can testify.

A hitman known only as D is blackmailed into killing Jack, but when he tracks him down, his weary conscience won’t allow him to murder an innocent man.

Finding in each other an unlikely ally, Jack and D are soon on the run from shadowy enemies. Forced to work together to survive, the two men forge a bond that ripens into unexpected passion. Jack sees the wounded soul beneath D’s cold, detached exterior, and D finds in Jack the person who can help him reclaim the man he once was.

As the day of Jack’s testimony approaches, he and D find themselves not only fighting for their lives… but also fighting for their future. A future together.

OMG, I loved this book! This will get its own post soon but ARGH! I did not expect to love it as much as I did. It’s a looong book but so worth it. It’s just so sad that it will probably never get a sequel! The end sets up for a second book and there was talk of one, but that was so long ago, I don’t think it will happen. I hope Jane Saville eventually comes back to it but even if she doesn’t, SUCH a good book. EEY! Loved it.

  Ok, these next few books are all Book 1’s of different series. Two I really liked, most I don’t care about – but I basically can’t remember enough about any of them to bother going through the motions of finding images and blurbs etc. So just short notes. This is what happens when you read a TON of books that can be quite samey without making any notes and doing a lot of other stuff at the same time. And I used to never forget a plot, now I’d have to go back and reread the first few paragraphs to remember the full story – I’m getting old man -.-

Among the Living (Psycop 1) :

Apparently, I liked this book enough to give it  4 stars but hell if I know why. Probably just because it was a decent M/M who done it, and my favourites are M/M FBI or the likes so this was clearly close enough.

Clinch (Low Blow 1) :

… Clinch what now?

Prince of Killers (Fog City Book 1) :

I liked this book! I know I did – though I haven’t finished the second book yet (I think something about it annoyed me). I think I just wanted MORE from the characters, but I still remember liking this first book. Assassins and Spies and Crime, Oh My!

Origins (Gods of War Book 1) :

Don’t remember it but I remember I didn’t like it. I found all the characters annoying and didn’t care about anyone or anything that was happening. Pretty sure Warren (A former Navy SEAL) spent most of the time being a damsel in distress who always needed protecting while apparently being the leader of this team of misfit army rejects who never worked as a team. Just no positive impression.

Cutting it Close (Code of Honor Book 1) :

… Well, Goodreads says I read it so, apparently, I read it. I have a vague feeling I enjoyed reading it while I did, but clearly there was no lasting impression.

The Phisher King:

Eh, it was something to read. I did start the second book but finally decided I just couldn’t be bothered with the series and ditched it.

  Bedknobs and Broomsticks Series

Mainly by Moonlight:

Cosmo Saville guiltily hides a paranormal secret from his soon-to-be husband. Thanks to a powerful love spell, uncertainty threatens his nuptial magic. But when he’s arrested for allegedly killing a longtime rival, he could spend his honeymoon behind bars…

Police Commissioner John Joseph Galbraith never believed in love until Cosmo came along. Falling head over heels for the elegant antiques dealer is an enchantment he never wants to break. So when all fingers point to Cosmo’s guilt, John races to prove his fiancé’s innocence before they take their vows.

As Cosmo hunts for the real killer among the arcane aristocracy, John warns him to leave it to the police. But with an unseen enemy threatening to expose Cosmo’s true nature, the couple’s blissful future could shatter like a broken charm.

Can Cosmo find the lost grimoire, clear his name, and keep John’s love alive, or will black magic “rune” their wedding bells?

I buried a Witch:

Book, Bell and Scandal (out 2020)

I usually adore Lanyon’s work, and 3 stars because it IS a Lanyon work, but I have ISSUES with these books. I’ll discuss it more in a separate post but I’m not comfortable with the relationship in this series so far. It feels like it needs a serious overhaul but, currently, it doesn’t feel remotely healthy. Not a fave in the slightest.

    The Way of Kings:

According to mythology mankind used to live in The Tranquiline Halls. Heaven. But then the Voidbringers assaulted and captured heaven, casting out God and men. Men took root on Roshar, the world of storms. And the Voidbringers followed…

They came against man ten thousand times. To help them cope, the Almighty gave men powerful suits of armor and mystical weapons, known as Shardblades. Led by ten angelic Heralds and ten orders of knights known as Radiants, mankind finally won.

Or so the legends say. Today, the only remnants of those supposed battles are the Shardblades, the possession of which makes a man nearly invincible on the battlefield. The entire world is at war with itself – and has been for centuries since the Radiants turned against mankind. Kings strive to win more Shardblades, each secretly wishing to be the one who will finally unite all of mankind under a single throne.

On a world scoured down to the rock by terrifying hurricanes that blow through every few day a young spearman forced into the army of a Shardbearer, led to war against an enemy he doesn’t understand and doesn’t really want to fight.

What happened deep in mankind’s past?

Why did the Radiants turn against mankind, and what happened to the magic they used to wield?

Oh. My. Lord. I did not expect a new obsession to arrive through this book but there we go! I LOVED this book. Of COURSE, it’s getting its own post! But THIS is a book to be read. This is a series to be started. Go read it! This is a perfect book for people who aren’t big High/Epic Adult Fantasy readers – such as I – because it is top quality High Fantasy and is SO easy to read. READ IT!

  The Haunted (The Haunted Book 1):

Hendricks Becker-O’Malley is new in town, and she’s bringing baggage with her. With a dark and wild past, Hendricks doesn’t think the small town her parents moved her to has much to offer her in terms of excitement. She plans on laying low, but when she’s suddenly welcomed into the popular crowd at school, things don’t go as expected.

Hendricks learns from her new friends that the fixer-upper her parents are so excited about is notorious in town. Local legend says it’s haunted. Hendricks doesn’t believe it. Until she’s forced to. Blood-curdling screams erupt from the basement, her little brother wakes up covered in scratches, and something, or someone pushes her dad down the stairs. With help from the mysterious boy next door, Hendricks makes it her mission to take down the ghosts . . . if they don’t take her first.

Last completed book of 2019, and it was a GOOD one. I love me a good haunted house story and this nailed it. Shall get its own post – I think it’s up next actually – but I LIKED this horror. If you want a good YA horror, this is a great one. The ending kind of devastated me, but that’s what we have sequels for! I am ready for book 2, please!!

  And so that brings an end to this catch-up post before getting into the individual books of 2019. It didn’t include my rereads (such as The Art of Murder Series, which is a series by Josh Lanyon that I LOVE), nor all the mangas but there were some alright books in 2019. Not many STAND-OUTS but still, a mostly entertaining collection.

What were your standouts of 2019? And what are you hoping will take your breath away in 2020?

2019 Goodreads Reading Challange Recap 2020 is here and with it comes another Goodreads Reading Challenge. This year I set the challenge for 50 books, I have no idea if I'll surpass that or not hit it at all since my reading challenges are always all over the place but, hopefully, I'll surpass it again like this year...

[haleyfury]

October was a month filled with so many (good) things and moments in my academic and personal life. That being said, my life was more busy and honestly hectic than it’s ever been before. October often marks midterm season in the college world, which meant a few papers and writing assignments on my end, including having to start drafting my first of two senior research papers. I know I haven’t been too specific about my senior project for my English major (honestly I’m still working out my subtopics and arguments even with my 15-20 page draft in the works), but I can reveal that I’m talking about Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give! I’ve luckily read a decent amount of contemporary literature in my English courses, but this is my first time studying YA.

Between also balancing my course-load alongside my jobs and social time (trying to make the most of my last year living with all of my best friends), my brain has been feeling fried and not exactly in the mood to read at the end of the day. Probably also not helping my reading life, I watched so many great new TV shows this month.

I really wish I was reading more, but I’m at the point where I have to dedicate my free time to the aforementioned things. However, I 100% admit that my senioritis is definitely kicking in and I’ve been finding myself drifting  to blogging and reading when I should probably be doing school work. I think it’s also because it’s almost (!!!) the end of the year and I’ve been working on my favorites, yearly wrap-up, and holiday-themed posts, but I’ve been so in the mood to read lately because of all the new books coming out still this year (I’m looking at you, The Toll and The Queen of Nothing.

The Chase by Elle Kennedy | 4/5 Stars

I was so excited to jump back into the Off-Campus world with The Chase. Although it’s not my favorite Elle Kennedy book, I loved having Fitz as one of the protagonists.

The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh | 4/5

The most Halloween-esque book that I read in October, I enjoyed The Beautiful for its atmospheric setting and for the fact that it broke my usual reading habits with its paranormal and mysterious story.

10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston (ARC) | 4/5

October marks Christmas season prep in the Fangirl Fury handbook, which further encouraged me to pick up 10 Blind Dates. 10 Blind Dates was a fun holiday mood read. I really enjoyed its family focus.

Full Disclosure by Camyrn Garrett (ARC) | 3/5

I appreciated that Full Disclosure took on a ton of important topics, as its main protagonist lives with HIV. While I appreciated its mature discussions surrounding sex and sexuality, I wasn’t a big fan of the writing style and plot.

Crier’s War by Nina Varela | 5/5

Hands-down my favorite book of the month, I absolutely loved Crier’s War for its unique world and fantastic character and story arcs.

The Politician S1 (Netflix)- Hands-down one of my favorite TV shows of the year, The Politician stole my heart in October. It’s such a quirky show and honestly feels like a blend of Ryan Murphy’s other shows (Glee, AHS, and American Crime Story). I freaking loved Ben Platt (which led me to also being addicted to his album, Sing to Me Instead this month) and the overall cast. The show luckily came out during my fall break, which meant that I was able to binge-watch all 8 episodes before heading back to school.

Insatiable S2 (Netflix)- My guilty pleasure show the month, Insatiable season 2 was definitely more dramatic and crazy, but somehow much more developed than the first season. This show is totally not the best, especially in light of all the controversy, but it is a fun watch for me personally.

Schitt’s Creek S1 (Netflix)- I started watching Schitt’s Creek over the summer, but I struggled getting into it. My best friend (and lets be honest, Twitter) encouraged me to get back into and I’m absolutely loving it. David is for sure my favorite character.

Modern Love (Prime)- Towards the end of October, I flip-flopped between watching Schitt’s Creek and Amazon’s new show based on the Modern Love column. My favorite episodes are “When the Doorman is Your Main Man” and “When Cupid Is a Prying Journalist.”

You’ve Got Mail- I 100% admit that I am still confused over the fact that English major and lifelong reader me did not watch You’ve Got Mail until 2019. IT’S A MOVIE ABOUT BOOKSTORE RIVALS!!! I absolutely love movies from the 80s and 90s, and You’ve Got Mail was no exception.

Isn’t It Romantic? – One of the funniest rom-coms I’ve seen lately, I absolutely loved the cast (Rebel Wilson, Liam Hemsworth, & Adam DeVine) and it made me laugh out loud so much.

Reviews 

NEW FAVORITE FROM FAVORITE AUTHOR: The Fountains of Silence Review

FAVORITE LEIGH BARDUGO BOOK: Ninth House Review

THOUGHTS, FEELS & RANTS: Wayward Son Review

FALL MOOD READ: Pumpkinheads Review

PERFECT HALLOWEEN READ: The Beautiful Review

THE BOOK OF YOUR READER DREAMS: The Library of Lost Things Review

STAR-CROSSED SWOON: Twice in a Blue Moon Review

BEST NERDY ROMANCE: Comics Will Break Your Heart Review

A 2019 FAVORITE FANTASY: Crier’s War Review

Bookish Fun 

‘TIS THE FALL SEASON: The Autumn Tag

LIBRARY LOVIN’:The Library Loves Tag

Top Five Wednesday: Most Halloweenish Books on My TBR

My life happenings section always flips between monthly fangirl news or my IRL happenings, and today’s a mixture of both!

IRL 

Lucy’s Deli on Sixth- I’m in the city twice a week for class this semester, so my friends and I try to do New York things on our lunch breaks and after class. I was on Twitter one weekend earlier in October and Jess from The Book Bratz shared a photo of a stuffed/felt avocado from a pop-up shop in Rockefeller Center, Lucy’s Delicatessen on 6th. This pop-up was set up like a grocery store and featured hand-sewn and felt food. My friend and I went on our lunch break that week and we had so much fun looking at ALL the cute things.

Fall-themed Saturday- I’m always wanting to do seasonal things, so I was really excited when my best friend and I decided to spend a Saturday afternoon at a local farm. We had a mini photo shoot (okay, it wasn’t that mini or spur-of-the-moment, I came prepared with my Canon) in a pumpkin patch and then we went apple-picking. This was my first time apple-picking and while its near the end of the season where I live, the orchard was really beautiful. I think all the apples I picked were honey crisp, which I used the next day to make an apple pie.

Fangirl Things

10 Things I Hate About Pinky Cover Reveal- The cover for Sandhya Menon’s second book of 2020, 10 Things I Hate About Pinky, is officially out in the world! I love how much it compliments her other books, and I’m just so excited for this one and Of Curses and Kisses.

10 Things I Hate About Pinky cover reveal Sandhya Menon Credit: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing

More details about Sarah J. Maas’ Crescent City– I haven’t been able to find Sarah J. Maas’ full panel on Crescent City from New York Comic Con ’19, but Kristin of SuperSpaceChick included a clip of the panel in her NYCC Haul. I highly recommend checking out Kristin’s entire video! Anyway, SJM revealed more about the plot than she has ever have before. In shot, picture the ACOTAR universe set 3,000 years in the future (yes that means cell phones and cars), every paranormal and mythological creature possible, a party and half-Fae girl who finds herself involved in a murder investigation, and true to SJM, steam/romance.

Let It Snow Trailer- I’m just generally excited for Netflix’s holiday movie line-up, but I feel like I’ve been waiting for the Let It Snow adaptation for forever! This book was one of the first YA books I’ve ever picked up and while I probably need a reread, I’m excited to see it on the screen come November 8th.

Ninth House/the Alex Stern series is being turned into a TV show- While much attention in the Leigh Bardugo TV-world has been on the Netflix Grishaverse adaptation, it was recently announced that Ninth House will be adapted into a TV show by Amazon, with Leigh attached as the writer and executive producer. Since Ninth House is officially my favorite Leigh Bardugo book, I am so looking forward to seeing this show come to life!

What did you read and watch in October? Share in the comments!

BOOKS, TV & FALL THINGS: October 2019 Wrap Up October was a month filled with so many (good) things and moments in my academic and personal life.

[news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog]

'Florida' is a haunting look at the 'pestilence and dread' hiding in the sunshine state

Lauren Groff knows what you think of when you think of Florida: Disney, Miami, Florida Man.

But in her new book Florida, the writer describes a different tenor to the sunshine state.

"My Florida is different. My Florida is full of pestilence and dread," Groff told MashReads.

SEE ALSO: 7 essays that every David Sedaris fan should read

Florida is a collection of short stories set in, well, Florida, as a a series of narrators navigate their lives and the landscape in the southern state.

"This book is about Florida. But it’s not just the state, it’s about the state of dread and premonition, and the desire to push outside the realm of domesticity, and how to raise little boys and make them into good people, and it’s about snakes, and it’s basically everything that you can come up with."

To that end, the stories that make up the collection find their protagonists in a series of disparate situations. In one story, two girls are abandoned on an island and must survive without any adults. In another, a woman decides to stay in her home while a hurricane hits. And still another tracks a woman on her nightly walks because she is too angry to stay at home with her husband and kids.

But though each tale is different than the other, connecting all of these stories is a palpable sense of anger, discontentment, isolation and more.

"I don't want to write books that aren't engaged politically, and I also don't want to write books that aren't engaged with the things that are really, really weighing on me, and my anger is one of those things that are weighing," says Groff.

That's not to say that the book is to disparage the state. Just the opposite.

"I hope that Floridians will come to this book with joy because a lot of time in popular culture, we see Florida as a stereotype. And I would hope that the people that I love find complication in the book. But, the book is a work of utter love and of joy, as well as darkness, too."

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we talk to Groff about Florida. Join us in the episode below as we talk about we talk about writing, what we miss when we talk about the sunshine state, and more.

Interview highlights

(Edited lightly for length and clarity)

What inspired Florida?

The state of Florida is the massive inspiration behind the book. I moved there twelve years ago and it’s a place that I never wanted to live. I think it's because I come from the north and we have a lot of bias and a lot of scorn for Florida. And some of it is absolutely earned  — it’s the state of Disney. It’s the state that’s dangling off the side of America like an apendage, it’s a very ugly state in some ways. We have the meme Florida Man.

Because of that reputation, as I was reading, I realized that you have this deceptively hard challenge of conveying the ethos of Florida in your book because everyone has this idea of Florida already in their head. How do you tackle that?

I tackle it by trying to disregard that reputation. There is not a lot of Disney in this book. There is no Miami in this book, which is the other thing that people think of when they think of Florida. And I love Miami, I love it deeply. It’s what I thought I was getting into when I, at last, reluctantly, decided that it would be okay to live in Florida, but [my experience] has not at all been like that. My Florida is different. My Florida is full of pestilence and dread. I go for a run out in the prairie all the time and I see alligators and snakes. I ran over a coral snake the other day, which, had it sunk its fangs into my ankle, I would have died immediately.

You’ve mentioned pestilence and dread several times. Can you say a little bit more about that?

So Florida for me, the name of it, sort of is indicative of a larger emotional issue. I have children, and we are living in the most ecologically vulnerable state — Florida, within 20 years, is not going to be the Florida we know now in any way. And it breaks my heart on a daily basis to imagine what's going to happen to it if we don't check climate change, and it looks like we're not because we're reacting to it in geological time, as slowly as we possible can, and it's going to be bad. So I walk around with this feeling of both terror for the future and overwhelming love of the present and knowledge of the past. So it's almost as if Florida, for me, symbolizes a much larger emotional state of where a lot of people are right now, were we're just trying to cling to what we have at the moment and not think too much about the future because it's too terrifying. 

That's such a big thing to have to contend with: the loss of the landscape, and the desolation of a state. How do you take that idea and distill that into a story collection, and specifically these stories which are are so deeply human?

I learned a long time ago, that if you're going to write politically, you cannot write polemically because polemical fiction is terrible. I had to find a way to write politically without writing politically, to sort of sidle up to the problems that are really weighing on my heart and all I could come up with is really investing myself in these characters who are also deeply invested in these ideas. The stories come out of the characters, I hope, and they come out of the landscape, and the way the characters interact with the landscape. And the rest of the political stuff upwells from that.

So you would consider this a political book?

I think this book is deeply political. I spent a very long time writing another novel that I finished and I looked at, I thought it was kinda cool, I liked it. But it was a different direction. I finished it right after the 2016 elections and I reread it and I thought, "Oh my god. This thing is ingrown." That novel wasn't something that I wanted to put into the world anymore because the world has changed. It felt solipsistic in a way. So I threw out that novel. And in building Florida out of stories that I previously published and writing a couple of new ones, I wanted to think about writing a very political book... I don't think I can write a book that's only about books anymore.

Switching gears, one thing that I really loved of yours that I read recently is your New York Times "By The Book" interview, which I felt was such a quiet rebellion. One of the things in that interview is that you only mention women writers. Can you walk us through that interview?

Bless the New York Times Book Review because I have been a really vocal critic of a lot of their "By The Book" interviews. Not the "By The Book" itself, which I actually love, I think it's a brilliant thing that they're doing, showing us the inside of the minds of the people who are interesting in the book world. But week after week, for a long time, almost since the inception of it, these men would come in, and either they would mention two female writers, both of whom are dead, in their list of influences, or they'd mention none. Usually the younger writers and the more aware writers would make it equal. But it was so frustrating, and I kept calling out the New York Times on Twitter. And it's to their credit that they even let me do a "By The Book," even as a vocal critic.

But I wanted to show, particularly to people who would start to read it and not know what I was doing, how weird it is to see a list of only women. And I think that actually happened to a lot of people—they thought, "why does this feel strange," and they it slowly dawned on them "oh my god, she's only listing female writers."

And it doesn't seem strange when men do it and only list male writers.

And my point is, when people in authority mention writers, they confer upon those writers a leg up into the canon, and the same people get mentioned over and over again and become canon. If we're not reading outside the bounds of what we're told to read, if we're not reading outside the bounds of white male supremacy as it has been for the last millennia, then we're doing a profound disservice to the writers of the present and of the past who have been overlooked.

So my entire goal — it was a very political statement what I was doing with this — was to make it clear that this is not going to stand anymore and I wanted to bring in as many women of color, and women in translation, and women from other countries, because we are really insulated in America. We only read a certain quantity of the same people over and over again, and it's to our detriment.

Image: Riverhead BOoks

Then, as always, we close the show with recommendations.

Lauren recommends Rachel Cusk's book Kudos. "I just finished Kudos by Rachel Cusk on the train, and I am still cogitating over it because it ends with this incredible... wait, maybe I shouldn't say what it ends with, I don't want to do a spoiler! Someday if you see me and you've read this book, let's talk about the ending because I don't know what to think about."

MJ recommends Motherhood by Sheila Heti. "It's astounding. Sheila Heti is such a phenomenal writer."

And you can read Lauren Groff's "By The Book" interview here.

And as always, if you're looking for more book news, be sure to follow MashReads on Facebook and Twitter if you want to keep up with even more book news this year. 

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