#Burn For Me

[fated-mates]

An episode for the old school romance readers in the audience, we're talking about kidnapping this week! A trope that either absolutely works for readers (aka us) or absolutely doesn't, we talk about why that is, how the original romances of the 80s and 90s installed these buttons and how we still see the bones of old school kidnapping in delicious romances of today. That, and Jen reminds Sarah of books she wrote one time.

[all-about-books-baby]

Self care

[brutalandbraty]

No Flame Burns Forever by Alex Stoddard

[sebeth]

If the clouds split open and an archangel descended onto the street in all his heavenly glory and tried to make Rogan see reason, he would fail miserably and have to pack up flaming sword and go back to heaven in shame. - Nevada Baylor, Burn For Me by Ilona Andrews

[paintedcrows]

Whenever Bill sees KingOfNJ's fics through Stan's eyes he just thinks they have the same taste in fanfiction (disgusting. unthinkable) continued

[stargirl230]

you’re my hero!

bnha doomed yuri was not on my 2024 bingo card

(no reposts; reblogs appreciated)

[bruciemilf]

Batman isn’t a mask; It’s a leash. In this essay I will—

[stemmmm]

more people gotta try this shit where bill has not improved and will not change but he's just chilling so its fine probably. its great

[jadedbirch]

Gather around, my young friends and fellow dinosaurs, let me tell you about some BULLSHIT no one ever tells you about. I'm talking about menopause and perimenopause. Now, menopause has a very stringent medical definition. You have to not have had a period for exactly 12 months and a day to be considered in menopause. All the bullshit before that day once you start going through The Change is considered perimenopause. Here's some bullshit you might experience that people actually talk about when you're in perimenopause:

- shorter time between periods

- irregular periods

- hot flashes and/or cold flashes

- fucked up sleep

- OMG NIGHT SWEATS

- Vagina as dry as the Sahara desert

- lighter periods and/or endless bleeding like it's The Flood but it's in your pants

- lack of interest in Adult Fun Times

This time of joy can last anywhere from a couple of years to a god damn decade and there's no medical way right now to predict it.

Here's some of the REAL bullshit they don't tell you about but your dinosaur aunt is here to let you know:

- You can start perimenopause in your 30s, don't listen to idiot doctors who tell you you're "too young" because they don't know your body like you do.

- Perimenopause will make you HELLA DUMB. Seriously, I'm talking Bigly broken brain. Brain fog? Check. Short term memory? Wave goodbye to it. Ability to make words form out of thoughts? Yeah, good luck to you.

- Perimenopause can cause horrible fatigue because in addition to losing estrogen, you're also losing testosterone. Oh and that also leads to muscle wasting, cool cool.

- Things might suddenly hurt more because estrogen is known to be neuroprotective.

- If you're super lucky like I am, and like to collect rare illnesses, you might even get Burning Mouth Syndrome 💀

- And meanwhile, while you're going through this bullshit, you'll be getting gaslit by doctors who are operating based on 30 year old debunked data about how HRT causes breast cancer (not really) and that they shouldn't put you on it until you're in actual menopause. (Data shows starting HRT early can potentially prevent Alzheimer's in later years.)

- There are entire online clinics right now (I use Midi Health) focused on providing care for peri and menopausal patients and they will happily prescribe you HRT even if your regular PCP or OBGYN do not (if you meet the criteria). I've been pretty impressed with how holistically they view the patient. For full disclosure, I learned about them from my integrative health doctor and they do not accept Medicare (yet).

I'm 46 years old right now and I've been symptomatic for perimenopause for the last 8 years, although it's gotten the most dramatic in the past 2 years or so, which I hope means I'm almost done, holy hell. Yeah I was on the early side, but if it can happen to me, it can happen to you, so it's never too early to think about these things. And I hope to at least spare some of you the mind-fuckery I've been through because no one told me about most of this stuff, including my own mother who just DOESN'T REMEMBER what happened to her and now I completely understand why. And because I also have a connective tissue disease, I used to just dismiss my pain and fatigue as being caused by that illness rather than the loss of hormones.

Anyways, this is why we need Elders in our lives, so they can do Grandma Story Hour like I just did and validate you when the entire medical field tries to gaslight you. I hope you've found some or all of this educational/useful. Please share with your friends because we really do NOT talk about this stuff enough. (Ewwww Moon Blood!)

Stay well, and don't let the bastards grind you down!

[brittanybwrites]

Second time reading Ilona Andrews this month, feeling very proud rn

[bethfuller]

changing faces.

find me on instagram !

[sidcrosbrainworms]

today’s ao3 experience

[akanemnon]

Kick that cupid to the curb!

FIRST - PREVIOUS - NEXT

MASTERPOST (for the full series / FAQ / reference sheets)

[all-about-books-baby]

Reading Update!!

I have finished 3 books so far this year, which I’m fairly impressed with given everything I do on a daily basis.

1. The Heart Principle: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

2. Burn For Me: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

3. Fix Her Up: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Clear least favorite was Fix Her Up. It wasn’t especially bad or anything, it was just pretty fine in comparison to the other two.

I’m currently in the middle of three books right now:

1. Pride and Prejudice (Reread)

2. House of Flame and Shadow

3. A Song of Wraiths and Ruin (Reread)

I read and LOVED A Song of Wraiths and Ruin back when it first came out, but got so busy with grad school that I never got a chance to read the sequel, so I’m rereading as reminder.

Pride and Prejudice is great! I want to read more classics this year, but I don’t want it to be stressful so I’m taking my time. Loving it way more than I did the first time when I read it for class.

Definitely think I should’ve read A Court of Silver Flames before starting House of Flame and Shadow, but we are in it now!

[pooptoucher4000]

i kno bill canonically loves pain i just wanted to draw him making a funny face