#Books for your sweetheart

[jjspina]

Happy Valentine's Day - Sweethearts' Day - A Day for Chocolate for Everyone!

[sentientsky]

demon muriel <3 (somewhat inspired by @underlined-in-spirit’s art, which was inspired by @phoen1xr0se’s fic!)

[ughgoaway]

thinking of annie meeting her baby sibling for the first time and im crying! -🪤

ohmygoddd she would come into the hospital room SO NERVOUS. like you've never seen her before, Annie is usually a little ball of energy but she very carefully opens the door and peeks her head around anxiously.

✿❀✿✿❀✿✿❀✿✿❀✿✿❀✿✿❀✿✿❀✿✿❀✿

auntie charli and Uncle George have been looking after her whilst you and matty have been in hospital. it turned out to be much longer than you expected because baby boy was NOT coming out without a fight, so it was a fucking rough labour.

(charli later tells you that looking after Annie for over a day made her realise her and George aren't quite at the baby stage yet, "but maybe we'll get a fish or something")

I think you're holding baby boy, and matty is sitting on the end of the bed, ready to greet Annie. she runs up to him and immediately jumps onto his lap and anxiously burrows her head in his neck, peaking out every once in a while to look at you and baby boy.

"Do you wanna meet your brother peanut?" matty asks, stroking her curls and smiling over to you. if heart eyes could be personified, it would be matty in that moment. all his family in one room, his daughter about to meet his brother and the mother of his children looking the most beautiful he's ever seen her. (You deny this considering you haven't showered for 3 days and also haven't slept in 48 hours, but matty insits)

Annie nods tentatively and crawls up the bed to you. at first, she just stares, flicking her eyes from the baby to you and back to matty with a nervous smile the whole time. she builds up the confidence to touch him, and she very softly strokes his head. she giggles at the feeling and gets slightly more brave, grabbing his hand and ginning. baby boy wraps his hand around her thumb, and annie gasps. looking at you and matty saying, "Look, he's holding my hand!!" and matty just nods with wet eyes and a Cheshire-cat-like grin.

"Can I hold him?" she asks after 20 minutes of him holding her finger. She refused to move her hand until he let go, and the little contact obviously had built up her confidence massively.

"Of course, sweetheart, come lean against my chest, and we can hold him together, yeah?" You say softly. She nods, and you pass baby boy off to matty whilst she wiggles in.

she's giggling the whole time you're getting ready, but as soon as the baby is in her ams, she's silent. just staring down at him completely awestruck.

matty is, of course, having a photoshoot at the end of the bed and tearing up at the sight of his babies and the love of his life. until George shoos him off and takes photos of all of you, and that's the pic you send to everyone to announce the birth of your son :))))

(do you like that I still haven't mentioned his name bc I can't decide lol... im like 90% on arthur tho <3)

[iguessyouregonnamissthepantyraid]

character with authority over a bunch of people, after ordering those people to prioritize their own safety and not under any circumstances try to save their leader: well this is it... it's a shame i'm gonna die here... good thing i gave my crew explicit orders to save themselves though, so at least they'll be safe 😔🙏

me, giggling and kicking my feet: AHAHAHA YOU FOOL. YOU CLOWN. GET LOVED, IDIOT. GET ABSOLUTELY FUCKING CHERISHED

[yeah-thats-probably-it]

Some moments in Much Obliged, Jeeves/Jeeves and the Tie That Binds where I Really Feel Like We’re Talking About Something Else Right Now

These are going to figure into a much longer meta post I’m writing about Tie That Binds, but that’s later and I can’t stop thinking about them NOW, so they get their own post to help me spread the brainrot around

[softquietsteadylove]

Hi! Newbie here🙈 it took me months to send my first request. Can I request something like witch Thena randomly seeing Gilgamesh in the forest and playing with her magic so she randomly turned him into a baby bear. And of course she had to face the consequences of taking care of him because bear Gil doesn't leave her alone, he always finds his way to Thena. So Thena finally gave up and took care of him, she hated it at first but bear Gilgamesh is just so cute and is all clingy to her and would also throw cute tantrums. She had to endure how messy bear Gil eats and how he needs to be cuddled up to sleep. And each night Thena tries to put a spell or a potion on him and at one point there's this last potion she has left and it didn't work. Bear Gil was just teary when it didn't work on him and Thena just had to apologize because she turned a random person into a bear forever, she could only cuddle him to sleep. But when she woke up, she wasn't expecting that the small bear she was cuddling last night was back into its original form and still cuddling with her.

And thank you! I hope this is not a lot, bye😭🙈

Thena huffed as a nose nudged her elbow. "What?"

The bear whined/growled at her, her cloak between his teeth.

She sighed. There was once a time she would have given it her coldest glare and yelled at it to get away from her. But she accepted the cloak before pulling it around her shoulders, "thank you."

The bear moaned before lumbering across the fire from her. He sat patiently, knowing how this worked by now.

It was far from their first attempt to change him back into a human.

If she knew how she had turned him in the first place, she would undo it. But it had been reactive--instinctive! She had felt a presence in the precious isolation of her northern forest and responded by sending out a burst of magic as a hand grasped her shoulder. Then, the next thing she knew, there was a small bear lying in the snow.

He was all paws, at first. Clumsy, unused to this body. She reasoned that time as a bear would do him some good! Humans were such terrible creatures, no magic at all, unconnected from the elements and the world around them.

But the bear toddled after her, whining and growling in its frustration. She had slammed her door in its face at first. But when the chill of the night set in, as did her guilt. She had only intended to let it in to warm by her fire for the night. Then she would find it a new home.

But the bear made itself at home. He got into her honey, pawed at her spell books, even made his way to her bed to snuggle up to her! She had half a mind to turn it into a mealyworm for that, but maybe its pitiful little face had gotten to her. She said just that night!

Now it was later, a number of new moons past. She couldn't undo it--she couldn't even figure out what exactly she had done to cause it! And the creature once a human trapped as a bear cub was now a midsize bear. He had acclimated to his new form, and cooperated as she tried to find ways to undo her magic.

It wasn't a spell, because spells wore off, or changed with the condition of the subject. It wasn't a hex, that couldn't be completed by reflex alone. And it wasn't a curse, because nothing had happened to her in the process. Nothing tethered her life to his.

But she had a duty to him, nonetheless. He had gotten too big for her bed, but he still slept by her hearth every night, she still shared her meals and they tried spells and potions every night together.

"This might be it," she dared to speak aloud as the steam from the potion receded. Its colour turned, and she could practically see her face in the surface of the viscous matter. She picked up a ladle of it and offered the bowl.

The bear sniffed it and recoiled, sticking out its tongue.

"Oh, stop," she chided him, still holding it out.

He puffed through his nose before accepting it in his paws. They were twice the size of her hands, now. He sniffed at it a little more before taking a lick.

She smiled as he flinched. "It's steaming hot, you."

He made a variety of sounds, and she wondered if she would ever know what he sounded like as a human. He set the bowl down and took a mouthful of snow before eating the potion with his grotesque teeth.

Thena held her breath, gripping the edges of her cloak as they waited for a reaction. The wind even this far up the mountain was chilly, but he was now to the size where they didn't really want to experiment with spells inside the cottage. The last one had doubled the volume of his fur, creating a mess that took her a week to clean in total.

He looked around him for a few moments, then at his paws, before slumping down in the snow again. It didn't work.

Thena looked down at her feet in the snow as well. Yet another failure. It wasn't just the potion, it was how truly saddened he seemed. Perhaps he was yearning for home. Perhaps it was nearing a time in his human life of significant importance. She hadn't exactly gotten around to asking if he had a family waiting for him.

The bear sat up again, although his ears had a heavy droop to them. He moaned faintly, his breath showing in the cold air from his muzzle.

Thena's throat clenched. For every time that didn't work, this was the worst. Their hopes had been high, and after more than half a year, she really did think she had found the right mix.

She had even gotten his hopes up about it. They had read the spell book together, gathered the ingredients. She had told him that perhaps this would do it--a potion to revert the development of cells. Technically it was for unpickling a vegetable, but she had done her research, and she was confident she could use it on a living subject.

She had practised on fish! All of which went to him as a meal to reward him for his help. But she had successfully used it.

"I'm so sorry."

The bear lifted its head, and even seated, he could see eye to eye with her. Even the breath from his wet black nose was visible in the air.

"I thought-" she pressed her lips shut as her throat squeezed again. She had no right to cry. It was his life which had been changed irreparably. She moved her hand to his head, rubbing the soft black fur there and around his much softer ears. When he would sneak into her bed for warmth, she would play with them while he slept. "I thought this would be the one."

The bear bellowed gently, moving his snout to brush his nose against her cheek before resting his head on her shoulder. His arm tucked her closer to him, his paw hanging loosely so he wouldn't claw her by accident. Bears had amazingly warm bodies.

Thena sighed against his neck. He smelled much better now than he did when he was small, always getting his food everywhere and needing to be brushed. She patted his shoulder, "come on."

He followed her silently, kicking snow up with his paws behind him to douse their fire. It was a sombre occasion; they could come back for her cauldron in the morning.

Thena tried to keep her tears at bay as they walked back into the cottage. She hung up her cloak while her companion lumbered right over to the fire. He dropped down on the rug she had woven for him more heavily than ever. Her heart twisted again.

He stirred as he felt her against his back.

"I'm sorry," she whispered again, pressing the tears she couldn't contain into his fur. He huffed and she nuzzled into him until it rustled her hair, "I'm sorry I have altered your life so. It was never my intention."

He didn't exactly have a reply for her.

"I won't stop," she promised, leaning more heavily against his shoulder. She was exhausted. "I won't stop until I change you back."

Even if he was a human. Even if he hated her. Even if he yelled and screamed at her as soon as he was back to being a man. She couldn't blame him for it, now could she? Even if he returned with a pitchfork to burn their cottage to the ground.

No: her cottage.

She had brought him into her home. But for him, this was just a shelter from the cold, after she had turned him into a beast. Surely he was yearning for his own home. Was he missing a wife who would say soft things to him at night? Did he have children who asked every night where their father had gone? Did their mother tell them stories of wicked witches who snapped away handsome men to be their familiar servants for all their lives?

She would try the potion again. She would test it more. She would test it on more species, larger and more varied. If a witch's life was devoted to magic and the pursuit of its endless knowledge, then she had a new mission. Her only reason for all her days forward was helping this bear become a man again. A man who would hate her and curse her name for generations to come.

She had no idea how she could sleep at all with thoughts like that in her head. But she had indeed slept, her face buried in the bear's soft fur, smelling of the smoke from the fire. But he was just so warm. She nuzzled her face against it again, even coming her fingers through it.

It didn't feel the same, though. And he wasn't as soft as he had felt the night before, either. She winced as she tried to drag herself awake. Potions still required magic, and creating a new potion or casting a new spell every night had her at her limit.

"You okay?"

"Hm," she sighed, blinking as the sun hit her eyes. She was still on the floor, she realised as she looked up at the hearth, eating up the smoke from the fire that had gone out in the night. She should have been freezing, though, if that were the case. Why wasn't she in her bed? She was on the floor. She was on...a chest.

Her head shot up. It wasn't her bear, with his massive black eyes and cold, wet nose. It was a human. A human man with a face, and a smile. It was a nice smile. He had a soft voice.

"Hey."

[morningstargirl666]

Favorite Line Tag Game

Rules: Share a favorite line that you've read or written that impacted you!

tagged by @that-sarcastic-optimist

I won't be in the history books; that's for you. But I loved you first. As long as they get that right, I don't care what they say.

~Not Easily Conquered

Tagging @stars-and-darkness

[mermaidsirennikita]

Too bad now you have to give recs of "hero goes down on the clueless heroine and she’s like wow thanks that was AMAZING, can women do that to men too? 🤔 " haha

I love the clueless heroine going down on the hero, she has no idea what she is doing but her eagerness makes it a 10, Best blow job of my life 🤌🏻

@hptriviachamp posts every time the latter thing happens with a very apt meme that makes me laugh every time (IT AIN'T MUCH BUT IT'S HONEST WORK)

I can't remember a lot of PARTICULAR moments, but for these moments or this vibe:

You should definitely try Elisa Braden for this vibe. Mooost of her heroines are virgins (honestly: too many of them for me lol, I do need a bit more variation) and they're often all "WHAT'S THIS BUTTON DO" about sex. Her Midnight in Scotland series is really good. I think The Taming of a Highlander is the one where the hero is like "THERE'S NO WAY IT'LL FIT. WE MUSTN'T." and she's like "la la la it grows exponentially bigger when I look at it, I suppose I shall attempt to stuff it in la di da" blase about it.

One Good Earl Deserves a Lover by Sarah MacLean, one of her best. The heroine's a scientist who initially gets the hero to teach her about sex only! Verbally! Before graduating to physically! Also! She's very "if he'd let me study his penis with a magnifying glass I would" in nature. I also really enjoy the scene where he eats her out, comes in his pants, and immediately afterward is caught when his buddy stumbles in like "hey where do we keep th--OH. SORRY."

The Duke Gets Desperate by Diana Quincy doesn't have this scene/a totally clueless heroine, but it does have a scene where the hero is like "my dick is trying to make friends with your pussy" so there's that.

And in the same sense, because I fucking know these authors are friends and there's no way this was a total coincidence... Frankie in Mila Finelli's Mafia Mistress & Mafia Darling is NOT a virgin by any means. But when she and Fausto make it official, they do immediately roleplay him deflowering her as if she has literally never seen a dick in her life and it's HILARIOUS. Like these are DEEPLY COMMITTED people going "oh no! what's that????" "it's my dick! it's trying to say hello!" and I. Die. Not only because it's very funny, but because it actually makes their relationship more authentic to me. That's the kind of shit you only do with someone you deeply trust lmao.

Grace Callaway is gonna give you this vibe. Not all of her heroines are virgins, but the ones who are... often are precocious... and will like stuff their mouths with the hero's dick like they're doing the chubby bunny challenge.... The Duke Who Knew Too Much comes to mind because he's like "NO WAIT STOP THERE'S CRIME AFOOT" but she's already going for it.

Speaking of, Elizabeth Hoyt's Duke of Pleasure always deserves cred for the singular moment in which the hero and (virgin, grew up as a street rat dressed as a boy) heroine are investigating crime and some evildoers come upon them and he's like "quick just pretend you're blowing me" and she does start like, a mild actual beej while he's telling the guys "PLEASE LEAVE I'M GETTING BLOWN BY MY DOXY~" but after the guys leave he's all "so you can stop" and she's like "no no no I'm going somewhere with this". This one is special to me because he makes her spit into his fancy handkerchief after and I promise that even if he didn't know it that's when he decided to marry that girl.

I would say How to Marry a Marquess is one you should check out--by Stacy Reid. It's a classic "brother's best friend teaches me how to be sexy and then things get Really Outta Hand" book. I also really liked this one scene in it when his whole "let me teach you what dudes are into" thing leads to him like, eating her out in a moving carriage and when the carriage stops he does an entire "EGADS" jump off of her.

I need to reread The Lady Gets Lucky, but that's a rake meets virgin sex lessons book, and I have to think based off the scene I remember where he's like 30 seconds away from coming just from watching her lick her lips, there's a lot happening.

[jjspina]

Hey - Guys out there! Are You In Need of a Book for your Sweetheart for Valentine’s Day?

This is a post I published a year ago that I thought would be perfect to share with you men out there this year as a reminder to shop for your sweetheart! We women love gifts of flowers, chocolates and books. Get shopping guys! Guys, look no further – JE Spina has five fabulous novels and a short story collection that will delight your sweetheart along with book trailers as a sneak peek into…

[daincrediblegg]

The more letters I read from may we be spared to meet on earth, the more I become convinced that Francis, Sir James, and his wife Ann were absolutely a throuple and fucking

[comphetkoncass]

there are ways to fix new52. the bones of interesting stories are there. i promise you. the ideas weren't bad, it was the execution and tone and characterization.

take my hand. the fixit fics will be legendary if we all work together

[depressedstressedlemonzest]

This had me legitimately crying like OH MY GOD between rumple giving one last love confession to belle and then he and bae?

I don't know which part had me crying more.

Bae being heartbroken about losing his papa even though he was still mad. That was an awesome line because usually it's like "I'm sorry" "it's okay" but begrudgingly.

This was genuine with bae's emotions. And rumples.

Great let's add cora to the Heartbreakers club.

Bitch.

"I'll take your baby"

"You only get your own child and any child I have Wong be yours."

Okay but that makes me think that not only did they totally fuck, but that regina could be rumple's. Because I can see cora using rumple's own double speak to trick him.

God I hope him nd regina don't start Mackin on one another later. This show has enough mommy and daddy issues.

Okay this is a sad scene and all, but rumple and his sluttly little elbow garter?

Next episode!

Who the fuck is the kid and the dad? Who else has present parents in fairy tales? Most of em die off or are already dead.

I love how devilishly happy regina is.

"And that's how I met your mother."

Henry is a perceptive kid, how perceptive are 11 year Olds?

[elmasinthetree]

god bury your gays is so good but i have to actively hold myself from reading it since i have to work on pws. fucking damn it.

[smallandalmosthonest]

wish i could give gideon nav some 21st century literature i think she would love the captive prince trilogy

[coquelicoq]

natsume book of friends season 4 opening sequence has got me incredibly fucked up. the lyrics. kid natsume's tiny little legs and teenage natsume watching him run. the lyrics. nyanko-sensei burrowing into his arms. did i mention the lyrics? ending frame on the fujiwara family. including natsume. because he's part of their family. as the lyrics ask him to "please [not] keep suffering alone"? somebody fucking hold me.

[rosicheeks]

hey, i know covid sucks right now, but it’ll get better ok? maybe read a book you’ve been meaning to read, get plenty to eat and drink, and take care of yourself above all. i wish i could be there to hold you and take care of you while you’re sick, but you’re always in my thoughts. and i wish it was under better circumstances, but i hope you know: i’m happy to see you on my dash again. i missed you a lot.

-🌸