#Christmas Story Hallmark style

[emmanuellececchi]

Christmas story - Hallmark style

So here is the "Faramir in a mall looking for a last minute gift"

So here me out (now that I see it!)

So Faramir is tired, it's the end of the day and he has to find a gift for a girl his father is presenting to him. Now that his brother has gone live the good life with his boyfriend (and thus facing the wrath of their father), Faramir is left the unwilling heir of their father company. And the Valars know his father and him do not see eye to eye.

But, in the hope of bringing some peace in this season of festivities, Faramir decided to accept his father tentative "matchmaking". but he's not happy.

So here he is, in the escalator, trying to think of something. Then, he arrives in front of a shop where a young woman is pushing a guy out. The guy is visibly angry and Faramir feels the need to come and help... until he realized the girl has no need of his help.

The guy leaves after a mall cop comes by, called by the owner of the shop. Now Faramir is standing in front of the shop, feeling awkward. And not wanting to see the beautiful young woman looks at him angry, he decides to go into the shop.

To realize it's a shop for all things horse and cow-boy. And he has no idea what to do with that. The girl is nice, as all vendors are, and seeing his face, she asks if she can help.

Faramir, feeling more and more the fool, and not helped by the beautiful girl's eyes, nods and follows her around.

---

Eowyn is tired, exhausted and frustrated. days spent working on the farm, taking care of everything while his uncle is healing. Even now with her brother back, most of the time she has to do it all by herself.

At least, Taking the guy's out helped her let go of some steam but she was glad Ioreth took care of calling the guard. Eowyn does not like to make a scene. Then there is this guy who looks like he's a rabbit in a lamp light. All frozen and shy. At least he's cute.

And then he begins to speak about his brother and his brother in law who owns a horse farm and how he would like to find something for them both, to celebrate their new life. She hears the longing and for a moment, she wonders if it could be possible that his brother and her cousin...? no, that would be really weird.

---

They speak and chat and Ioreth is waiting patiently, but now it's time for her to close the shop. She offers to Eowyn to close behind her and to Faramir to stay a bit while she "officially" close. Eowyn will balance the account in the morrow. Ioreth leaves with a smile, hoping her hunch is a good one and that Eowyn will keep this beautiful smile she hadn't seen for a while.

---

Now they have all the time in the world. They spent the evening in the shop, talking: family, missed opportunity, and so on. Eowyn orders some sandwiches and they pick-nick in an empty alley.

---

Faramir ends buying something. For Eowyn. Not in this shop. But for their first date. Not with his father. And not in a fancy restaurant.

---

Eowyn will not spend Christmas with her uncle and brother and cousin. She will leave for an unplanned vacation in a cottage where Faramir and her will go fishing on ice, read books, ride horses and just spent the best time in the world.

---

Denethor will send the very unhappy girl away, thinking that, maybe, if both his sons are leaving his side, he might have something to do with it (Yeah I know, Christmas Miracle).

Théoden and Eomer are a bit disappointed that Eowyn won't be there (she cooks so beautifully) and a bit worry. But still happy that she might have find a good guy. (Eomer still want to meet the guy even after what Boromir told him).

Boromir and Theodred are just smiling to each other, thinking they might join the new couple, after a few days. To let all the drama behind them.... and to keep an eye of thing. Just in case.

The end.

[fandomtales]

Rekindling Christmas - Chapter 2: A Chance Encounter (on Wattpad) https://www.wattpad.com/1392494546-rekindling-christmas-chapter-2-a-chance-encounter?utm_source=web&utm_medium=tumblr&utm_content=share_reading&wp_uname=AnaMaria380008&wp_originator=OYjjQ9AYW3ZkwjOq9zZMLekXiU%2FFKfA7k7V7RVMSCuN9DmO5sJ7pWnA8SfmOS40A%2FidWNb1E6SzIk53G%2FdA00m2Ec1sjSM5M9KHplhTHxwBiC%2BnuYk5nvyHVqF627JVk In the cozy, snow-covered town of Evergreen Valley, two childhood sweethearts, Sarah and Michael, are about to have a holiday season they'll never forget. Sarah, a successful marketing executive in the bustling city, reluctantly returns to her small hometown after a decade away to spend Christmas with her family. Michael, a dedicated high school teacher and coach, has never left, and he still carries a torch for the girl he never stopped loving. When Sarah and Michael unexpectedly cross paths while preparing for the town's annual Christmas festival, their old feelings are reignited. As they work together on the festival's decorations and activities, they both realize how much they've missed each other and how strong their connection remains. But life has taken them in different directions, and there are secrets and misunderstandings that need to be addressed. Can they overcome the challenges of the past and embrace the magic of Christmas to find their way back to each other's hearts? "Rekindling Christmas" is a heartwarming tale of love, forgiveness, and the power of homecoming during the most enchanting time of the year.

[lesbianrobin]

upcoming fic preview: "Buck Home For Christmas"

a hallmark-style christmas story about love, family, and firemen.

A dark red tow truck with a wreath attached to the grille approaches.

When it comes to a stop by the Jeep, Buck reads Diaz Automotive on the door before it opens. He sees a shiny black work boot and swears he can taste peppermint in the air.

Diaz jumps down from his truck with an easy grin.

“Howdy, neighbor,” he says.

He’s about Buck’s age, with big brown eyes and tanned skin. His dark hair is windswept and his cheeks are flushed, like he drove all the way here with his windows down. His deep green sweater is—is stupidly tight, actually, the guy must work out, like, a lot. His teeth are weirdly beautiful. His canines are especially prominent when he smiles.

“Hi,” Buck says.

Diaz arches an eyebrow. “You Evan?”

“Buck,” he corrects. “People who know me call me Buck.”

“Buck, then. I’m Eddie.” He holds a hand out. When Buck grasps it, he realizes that Eddie’s hands are bigger than his.

His jaw aches. He should probably stop clenching it.

“Thanks for coming out, Eddie,” he forces himself to say as they shake hands.

“Pop the hood for me?”

“Huh?”

Eddie’s still holding his hand as he glances at the Jeep over Buck’s shoulder.

“Oh!” Buck lets go and scrambles to the hood. He lifts it as Eddie approaches. Eddie leans casually over the open engine, whips his sweater off to reveal a white t-shirt, and—okay, yeah, that’s a whiff of cinnamon and pine. That’s fine.

“I think it’s a coolant leak,” Buck says, taking a step back.

“Well, no,” Eddie immediately replies, tying his sweater around his waist, biceps bulging.

“No?”

Eddie points to… something. Look, Buck wants to know about cars, they're just so boring, and everything under the hood just kinda looks the same to him. It drives Tommy nuts.

Eddie pulls out what Buck knows is the dipstick, and asks, “When was the last time you changed your oil?”

“Uh.”

Eddie does not seem impressed with him.

“In my defense,” Buck starts, and Eddie says, “The oil is the lifeblood of the car,” and Buck finishes, “My boyfriend was supposed to change it last.”

Eddie blinks. He cocks his head, a vaguely amused look on his face. “Boyfriend?”

“Y—yeah. Yeah, he’s a big guy—uh, car, big car guy.”

“Well,” Eddie says, replacing the dipstick and leaning further over the engine, forcing Buck to notice his irritatingly impressive ass, “Not big enough.”

“What?”

“He’s killed your engine, bud,” Eddie says, “I’m gonna need to check back at the shop, but I think he used the wrong oil. That’s why it overheated.”

[fictionadventurer]

Thoughts about A Biltmore Christmas that could drive me to write fanfiction (spoilers for everything):

The story of his death was a plan "we" concocted just in case. "We" suggests there were multiple people involved. My best guess is that Ava also saw Lucy disappear, and so she was primed to buy it when Jack told her this wild story of time travel.

Maybe the prop guy was involved, too? Repairing a magical time travel artifact has got to give you some insight into the existence of magical time travel.

I still thing that one bearded guy in the crew is a time traveler. He seems more casual about it. Time traveling to help a classic Hollywood film crew just for fun. He could help arrange things, too.

The story of how Jack managed not to get fired after helping a criminal escape against direct orders from the head of the studio.

About five minutes after Jack decides to stay in the future, Margaret stumbles upon them. Her shrieks of joy can be heard from space.

Lucy: Okay, Jack, time to fly back to Santa Monica....oh, wait, you have no ID. /Margaret, somehow making a facial expression that is the equivalent of fifty-seven ecstatic emojis all at once: ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!!!

Lucy: Excuse me, Mr. Tour Guide Riker, sir, I have a film star from 1948 here what do I do with him, please?/ Mr. Tour Guide Riker, handing her a manila envelope: Here are all necessary identification documents to set him up in a modern life. Please ask no questions.

(I know what Tour Guide Riker's name is. Tour Guide Riker is funnier).

Alternately, the thrilling legal battle of trying to get Jack some documentation, the same way that kids whose parents don't get them birth certificates have to.

Lucy comes home to her sister, trailed by the 1948 actor from the film they've watched multiple times a year since they were kids. Lots of freaking out happens.

Jack, who has trained as an actor in an extremely outdated style, struggles to find a job not only because of his dubious legal documentation, but also because he has zero marketable skills. With the same happy-go-lucky pluck that led him to travel eighty years into the future for the sake of a girl he'd known for a couple days, he makes the best of it and becomes an amazing house husband.

Jack watching the remake of His Merry Wife!, and having a lot of opinions about the comparative skills of the new actors. Is either extremely amused at the new Charlie actor or offended by his very existence. (I can't imagine the Hallmark actors would favorably compare to the original).

Jack: Honey, I'm sure you're an amazing writer, but I can't even begin to wrap my head around the new style of movies.

Lucy: Puts Jack through a months-long training course of classic movies to catch up on the history of cinema.

Jack Huston is an obvious stage name. Jack starts going by his original name in the future. It takes a while for Lucy to adjust.

Jack has to catch up on all of history for the past seventy-odd years. Too much amusement potential to even know where to start.

Did Jack fight in WWII? Does this affect his life at all?

Semi-regular encounters with classic Christmas movie fans: "You look just like Jack Huston." "Yeah, I get that a lot."

Jack cosplaying at Biltmore at Christmastime and having the time of his life quoting the film and getting pictures from people who are amazed that the staff found such a good impersonator.

[silverflqmes]

໒⦂ 𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐊𝐘𝐔𝐔 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐌𝐀𝐒.

notes. reposted and edited from wp! happy holidays and merry christmas to those who celebrate!

genre. fluff + crack

ft. tooru oikawa, tetsuro kuroo, rintaro suna, shoyo hinata, kenji futakuchi, hajime iwaizumi, osamu miya

gender neutral! reader

➫ 𝓞𝗜𝗞𝗔𝗪𝗔 𝓣𝗢𝗢𝗥𝗨 ୨୧ ˎˊ˗

⌗ HOT COCO HOT COCO HOT COCO

⌗ he loves to sit near the fire place with either you seated on his lap or just plopped up above him on the couch or beneath if you're more my style AHAHAHAHA

⌗ LOVES HALLMARK MOVIES i mean look at him, he would so watch them.. but he wouldn’t mind the classics like elf, christmas story ( my fav fr ), the home alone duology or national lampoon’s christmas vacation🫶

⌗ "I LOVE YOU I LOVE I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOUUUU Y/N-CHAAAAANNNN!!" — after watching elf and doing last minute christmas shopping going up the escalator ( he’s silly )

⌗ would totally play old jazzy christmas songs and pull you close to him, swaying gently in the kitchen or by the fireplace to the melody with the smell of balsam in the air❤️

⌗ you already know he would have lured you under the mistletoe too somehow🧎

⌗ "oh wow! i wonder how this got here!!🙀"

➫ 𝓚𝗨𝗥𝗢𝗢 𝓣𝗘𝗧𝗦𝗨𝗥𝗢 ୨୧ ˎˊ˗

⌗ y'all woke up LATE on christmas day istg, but tetsuro hooked you up real nice with presents ykyk he made that bank af and worked those extra hours just for you<3

⌗ THE DECORATIONS ARE SO PRETTY ISTG WHO LET HIM HAVE THIS MUCH TASTE, WHO ALLOWED HIM TO SLAY THAT HARD

⌗ unlike kawa, kuroo took you for dinner and made a day out of it? he took you ice skating, out to see the lights and decorations, tossed a few snowballs at you to piss you off🧎

⌗ "come onnn, i promise i won't let you fall~"

⌗ it ends up snowing a bit later into the night on your way back home, so he gave you his scarf, long coat AND mittens.. hooked you up fr

⌗ except.. nothing fits aside from the scarf, but are you complaining? no🙄 although you did yell at him for it cuz he could get sick</3

⌗ he had an entire argument prepared as to why he wouldn't get sick and you could have sworn that he mentioned the periodic table somewhere🧍‍♂️spoiler alert- he gets sick the next day

➫ 𝓢𝗨𝗡𝗔 𝓡𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗢 ୨୧ ˎˊ˗

⌗ ngl at first you were SO confused as to why suna didn't have a christmas tree in his living room, but one in his bedroom until christmas day..

⌗ Y'ALL DID NOT MOVE THE ENTIRE DAY

⌗ "rin, we gotta open the presents y'know.. and i kinna want breakfast.. we gotta get up at some point."

⌗ "the presents are under our tree over there by the dresser, just peek under and you'll see them. as for breakfast, kita-san’s coming over with everyone later. problem solved."

⌗ tbfh the laziest christmas you could ever imagine, but like you can’t complain, it was nice to just unwind a bit

⌗ he did keep the spirit of the holidays with a good bit of christmas movies, for sure the grinch who stole christmas ( it’s his favorite )

⌗ later on, true to his words, kita showed up around 7:30 with the rest of the team and y'all had sum good ass food and hot coco after reluctantly dragging suna out of bed to get ready🤲

➫ 𝓗𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗧𝗔 𝓢𝗛𝗢𝗬𝗢 ୨୧ ˎˊ˗

⌗ boy are you in for it🧎

⌗ shoyo woke you up at four in the morning with natsu in tow, dragging your ass to the living room where the tree was filled with a wide arrangement of presents

⌗ you were still half asleep and since you were staying at shoyo's for the holidays — you uh.. weren't allowed to start opening gifts till seven LMAOO so you guys started guessing the presents instead; yk getting a feel of them

⌗ "WOAH THIS ONE'S SUPER BIG, I-IT COULD BE ANYTHING!"

⌗ "sho, the only thing it's gonna end up being is a wake up call to your mom and then you'll never know what it is."

⌗ tobio comes over later and y'all have a snowball fight together🥺

⌗ you and natsu won LMAOOOO poor lil birb was upset, but your kisses made things better for him❤️

➫ 𝓕𝗨𝗧𝗔𝗞𝗨𝗖𝗛𝗜 𝓚𝗘𝗡𝗝𝗜 ୨୧ ˎˊ˗

⌗ ugh yes dateko's baddest bitch😩 another grinch enjoyer tbh

⌗ this man woke you up with a snowball to your face before shouting out merry christmas

⌗ although it was a cheap shot, getting you while VULNERABLE, you couldn't stay mad at him, as you loved this piece of shit so dearly😪

⌗ HOWEVER. that didn't mean you didn't get his ass back the minute he dropped his guard when you went outside to turn your christmas lights off for the day

⌗ "huh, so you think you can be a cheeky little shit with me on such a loving day? and get away with it?"

⌗ "and what? you don't hear me complaining, now do you kenji?”

⌗ in spite of being complete little shits to each other, you laughed it off after awhile and just spent your evening curled up together on your couch with a plate of sugar cookies that you both had baked the night before ( ofc you can guess there was a war of flour and baking tools then too )

➫ 𝓘𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗭𝗨𝗠𝗜 𝓗𝗔𝗝𝗜𝗠𝗘 ୨୧ ˎˊ˗

⌗ y'all have the coziest christmas honestly

⌗ you and hajime don't wake up too early or too late; it's just the right time and you're both completely prepared for all that's to come for the day

⌗ the two of you start off with unwrapping presents, then iwaizumi makes you the BEST breakfast ever istg, TELL ME HE DOESN'T COOK RN IF YOU WANNA GET TUSSLED

⌗ ngl tooru taught him some good shit when it came to making hot coco and you swore you were just about ready to tap into heaven at that immaculate taste

⌗ "oh my gosh, haji, what did you put in this, it's so.. it's better than amazing!"

⌗ "while i want tell you, i'm ‘sworn to secrecy’, his words not mine, by that fool oikawa with his secret recipe bullshit." he can’t lie though, whatever tf tooru invented was otherworldly..

⌗ not even an hour later you found it on starbucks' secret menu app and you showed it to your boyfriend who flipped his shit before sprinting over to his friend’: house with two snowballs in hand ( with hard snow.. praying for my man to dodge more than ever ); the outcome.. wasn't the prettiest😔

➫ 𝓜𝗜𝗬𝗔 𝓞𝗦𝗔𝗠𝗨 ୨୧ ˎˊ˗

⌗ FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD did i say food? yes, food.

⌗ all you two did that whole entire day was EAT?? NOT EVEN THAT BUT YOU HAD A WHOLE CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER TOO THE NIGHT BEFORE HXJSKSKS OSAMU DOES NOT PLAY GAMES WHEN IT COMES TO CHRISTMAS

⌗ atsumu invites himself over as usual and there's chaos in the kitchen of course..

⌗ "OUTTA THE WAY 'SAMU, I WANNA DECORATE COOKIES TOO!!"

⌗ "if you don't quit whinin' right now 'tsumu, i'm gonna beat yer ass and toss ya out in the snow."

⌗  bantering aside, the cookies were super pretty?? they tasted heavenly too, cookies from scratch go hard and whatever recipe those two were taught.. yum

⌗ osamu had nonalcoholic eggnog prepared for you and him to have after atsumu went home and the two of you exchanged the presents you had for one another before cuddling near the tree and fireplace for the night<3

notes. forgot to repost this before with the other reposts but it was kinda out of season.. so i waited for the holidays to blow in to fixed them up a bit and post them on here. furthermore, super sorry for the lack of activity, been working on my og wip as of late and my longer fics on wp :’) hope you understand</3

↳ return to main masterlist . request rules . send an ask

[dayenurose]

I know this is a bit late in coming, but it is here (at last!). For @roguegambitweek Day 3 - MojoWorld.

I decided to do something a bit different this year for my annual Romy fic rec list. Instead of simply making a list, I decided to write a fanfic fic rec fic. This layers within layers effort was certainly a stretch of creativity, but I think it turned out rather well. I hope you enjoy!

TGIRomy by DayenuRose

Summary:

Rogue and Gambit receive a mysterious invitation to a movie night. Will the accept the invitation, or is it a trap? Will Rogue, Remy, Jubilee, Kitty and Logan agree on what to watch? And, why is no one paying attention to the commercials? Find out all this and so much more when you tune in for TGIR!—Thank God It’s Romy! Fridays at 8/7 Central.

(Read on [ao3])

And now for the main feature…

T.G.I.Romy - A MojoVerse Fic Rec List

The premise of this rec list is relatively simple–fics which could be a show on Mojo-verse TV. Most of these are some variety of AU or crossover, although a few are a bit more ‘canon compliant’. I’ve broken the list into two. The first half are the ones which appear in my fic rec fanfic. The second are those fics which fit the topic, but I wasn’t able to include in the fic. I hope you enjoy these fics.

Reality TV

Beauty and the Geek, X-Men Style by Chellerbelle @chellerbelles [ao3] [ff.net]

Rating: T | Universe: Evo | Words: 73,969 | Status: Complete

Summary: AU: The cast of X-Men Evolution does the reality TV show Beauty and the Geek. Can ten beautiful women and men, and ten intelligent men and women learn to become a whole lot more?

Notes: Chelle created a fun opening credits of the show. There’s a link in the first chapter “Notes.”

Sitcom/Holiday Special

Everyone Loves ROMY! - HOLIDAY SPECIAL Episode by NicoPony @nicopony79 [ao3] [ff.net]

Rating: G | Universe: Comics | Words: 12,610 | Status: Complete

Summary: It’s Christmas Eve on Krakoa with Mr. & Mrs. X. What holiday surprises are in store for our favorite couple and their family? It’s up to one merry Elf to make the season bright! Guest appearance by the Man in the Red Suit!

Notes: Written in script format.

Hallmark Movie

Chapter 5 - Day 4: So Close to Reaching That Famous Hallmark End of Fourteen Ways to Fall for You by lettersfromnowhere @lettersfromn0where [ao3] [ff.net]

Rating: G | Universe: X-Men | Words: 2,549 (Chapter 5) | Status: Complete

Summary: Day 4: this is why you should never give aliens access to TV movies - you’ll probably end up with a simulation somewhat like this over-the-top royal-and-commoner AU straight out of a Hallmark movie.

Notes: Each chapter is a different ‘genre.’ Chapter 5 focuses on our Hallmark Movie theme, though the whole story is a fun read. While the chapter begins (and ends) with a framing device which is part of the greater story plot, the chapter does work as a standalone.

Western

Gambler’s Bounty by Sandmans_Raven @sandmansraven [ao3]

Rating: T | Universe: X-Men | Words: 31,150 | Status: WIP

Summary: Shady things are afoot in Colorado. Who is Dr. Millbury and what does his miracle elixir actually do?

Notes: All of Sandmans’ fics are a great read. I highly recommend all of them.

Heist

Lebeau’s Eleven by IlargiKat @ilargikat [ao3]

Rating: G | Universe: Comics | Words: 14,182 | Status: WIP

Summary: Planning a heist is not easy, especially when you need special skills to pull it off. The luck of being an X-Men is that the skills are within reach, maybe not people willing to commit a heist.

Notes: While the G Rating is fine for the majority of the story, Chapter 5 is really more of a M rating.

Sci-Fi - X-Files

Strange Encounter by Valerie J [ff.net]

Rating: T | Universe: Comics | Words: 16,662 | Status: Complete

Summary: When a strange woman falls out of the sky without being harmed, Mulder and Scully are sent to investigate. X Men X Files crossover.

Faith and Dreams by Valerie J [ff.net]

Rating: T | Universe: Comics | Words: 64,232

Summary: Sequel to Strange Encounter. Dana Scully never really expected to see the mutants again. But when tragedy strikes, Dana finds herself embroiled in an alien conspiracy that threatens not only her world. But the Xmen’s as well. X Men X Files crossover.

Notes: Here’s two episodes for the price of one.

Special Features

Heist - Round 2

Counting Drinks by Sandmans_Raven @sandmansraven [ao3]

Rating: T | Universe: Comics | Words: 2,092 | Status: Complete

Summary: It’s a hot one at Gus’s Saloon.

Notes: If I could choose the way Rogue and Gambit the live action universe, it would be in a Leverage-esque series where Rogue and Gambit pull off heists and cons in order to help those who get taken advantage of by the rich and powerful. From time to time, they are joined by the Thieves Guild and their closest friends—Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine (Laura and Logan). When I read this fic, I felt like it would be a perfect episode of this show.

Bonus Heist Non-Fic

Playing for Keeps by NickBateman [YouTube]

FanFilm: (no summary on site) - Gambit is invited to an exclusive poker game featuring the worst of the worst. When the stakes are this high, did anybody actually expect this to play out differently?

Note: Who said all fan creations must be fanfics? Enjoy a fanfilm. This heist/con would also fit for an episode of my imagined series.

Sci-Fi - Matrix

Chapter 4 - Real Love of Threads by Ludi_Ling @ludi-ling [ao3] [ff.net]

Rating: M | Universe: X-Men | Words: 11,176 (Chapter 4) | Status: Complete

Summary: Whilst on a mission Rogue and Gambit become stranded in a world where the very reality of their love is tested. Movie-crossover.

Notes: Like “Fourteen Ways to Fall for You,” each chapter is a different universe. This was also another fic I read early in my Romy journey. It introduced me to many different worlds where we might find Romy (some worlds are comics adjacent while others are created out of whole cloth for this fic).

Quick content warning for the Matrix chapter - there’s some Rogneto and cheating. The OTP is definitely Romy, but Rogue is ‘technically’ in a relationship with Magneto, so your mileage may vary.

Sci-Fi - Pacific Rim

Compatible by DayenuRose @dayenurose [ao3] [ff.net]

Rating: T | Universe: Comics | Words: 2,891 | Status: WIP

Summary: Rogue is a former Jaeger pilot who has no interest in finding a new drift-compatible partner. Gambit is a potential Jaeger pilot who is unable to find a drift-compatible partner. Sparks fly–both figurative and literal–when these two meet. She wants nothing to do with him. He wants to understand her. WIll Rogue and Gambit be able to help each other gain control of their powers and reach their full potential in time to help save the world?

Sci-Fi - Star Wars (Clone Wars)

A Long, Long Time Ago: X by Seagull18 (crossoverqueen9703 on ff.net) [ao3] [ff.net]

Rating: G | Universe: Evo | Words: 22,928 | Status: WIP

Summary: “Routine missions” are a joke to anyone remotely connected to a Skywalker, but if really shouldn’t include Anakin and Ahsoka getting caught by pirates and escaping with the master bounty hunter that caught them in the first place.

Or: Remy Lebeau, better known as Gambit, had never been one for subtlety; when he wants something, he rarely lets petty things like laws and common sense get in his way. If common sense said kidnapping Jedi and selling them out to pirates after siad pirates tried to kill him for cheating at gambling was a bad idea, he had no intention of listening to it.

Or: The only people with worse luck than the Skywalker lineage are X-Men. Rogue planned on spending her week freeing prisoners, test subjects, and slaves from a bunch of lame space pirates. The plan did not work.

Or: Post X-Men: Evolution Gambit and Rogue in Clone Wars.

Notes: This fic appears to end at Chapter 17, but the fic is marked as a WIP. Take that as you will.

War Film/Period Piece

Uncanny X-Men 1943 by stellarose [ao3]

Rating: M | Universe: X-Men | Words: 44,114 | Status: Complete

Summary: X-Men AU. Emma Frost runs Division X, a classified squad within the secretive Special Operations Executive based in London. It isn’t their job to win the war, only to save those they can. Emma’s squad of Psylocke, Angel, Logan, and Fantomex set out [to] rescue three mutants trapped in occupied and increasingly hostile France. But when the mission takes a turn for the worse, Emma and the team must decide if they cut their losses, or fight twice as hard to bring everyone home.

Notes: Romy is a secondary couple in this fic, but I do enjoy and highly recommend it. I read this early on in my Romy journey and this fic has always stuck with me.

[quinloki]

WIP game!

rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your wip folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Tag as many people as you have wips. People send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, then post a little snippet or tell them something about it!

〰 〰 〰

Thanks for the tag @shaanks \o/ I'mma try not to tag any of the same folks you did, to make sure and spread this around, wish my luck y'all

/hides face/ all your wips huh... 😳K. I'll just stick with what I'm actively working on, not the ones I tucked into hiatus so I could breathe a little easier. (NONE of these are SFW).

A Truly Mythological Christmas - Marco x Reader Hallmark AU - part of my 100k writing challenge for this month. Uses a lot of Hallmark style movie tropes, but also turns them on their head too.

Starling - Crocodile x Reader Omegaverse yandere multi-ending short story that became an unplanned part of my writing challenge this month ^^;

The Dragon's Clause - Sabo x Reader Fantasy AU where Sabo's the "grand duke" of the Gao Kingdom. He's friends with the Dawn Kingdom's newly crowned prince Ace, (and second prince Luffy)

Hey Doll - Thatch x Reader Government Mandated Marriage AU.

Heart of Gold - Law x Reader - The Grandline Metro AU, the last of the first four books for the series.

Just Like Fire - Ace x Reader - Modern AU where the reader is Sabo's sister. People are "cursed" vs having DF, and Ace is a fire fighter ^_^ Just 2 more chapters to go, I'm hoping to wrap it up before end of January 2025

By Any Other Name - Host Club AU - multi-series. The main story line will shatter into different endings like an otome game.

Souled Out - Demon!Eustass x Reader - You've lost your soul and summoned a demon to help. He has an appetite unrelated to your soul.

Hat Trick - (ah ha, oops, don't have this on Ao3... ) Law/Reader/Kid - Modern AU where polycule saves the day.

Passing Fascination - Yandere!Eustass x Reader - slow going, but canon-style AU where Eustass decides you might be the only One Piece he needs - whether you want him or not.

Honeysuckle: Red - Vampire AU I've been world-building. The Honeysuckle series will cover quite a few blorbos, but :Red is Eustass Kid x Reader.

Whew.

OH! and uh... The Pact ^^; Which is my OC Quill, and my friend's OC Lil' and it's a Quill x Marco (but I am oddly EXTREMELY shy about sharing it.)

Tagging: @lyndsyh24, @hannahbarberra162, @fanaticsnail, @mamaalpha, @cebwrites, @cyborg-franky

@theaceofflamesposts, @sanjis-all-blue, @leftsidebonfire, @mydisenchantedeulogy, @thus-spoke-lo, @vegalustirra

And anyone so inclined to join in can consider this an open invite \o/

[shay-the-writer]

December Writing Prompts

November didn't go as planned but whatever. It's Christmas time now. The following are a list of Winter/Christmas-themed prompts.

Going camping at a cabin in the winter // Snuggling up at a cabin for a weekend // Staying at a ski resort

INSPIRED THE PLOT: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Watching the Christmas classics together

Making Christmas cookies and/or desserts

Character accidentally wishes for it to be Christmas every day and it comes true

Decorating the house for Christmas // Buying/Bringing home/Putting up the Christmas tree

Sharing/Remembering Christmas memories

Christmas morning

Listening to Christmas music // Child has a Christmas concert/pageant

Christmas shopping

The smell of Christmas trees/cinnamon/any scent that makes you think of Christmas

Christmas wishes (normal ones, not like prompt 5)

Character A has cold hands/feet and Character B warms them up

Falling in love throughout the month of December

Being with family/Having, and making, a family dinner on Christmas Eve or Christmas night

Getting cozy by the fireplace

Experiencing the first snow of the season

Character A notices Character B is cold and gives them their coat

Getting snowed in

Making gingerbread men and/or a gingerbread house

Hot cocoa

Going ice skating

It's Christmas Eve and the snowstorm outside caused a complete blackout for the whole night

Writing a letter to Santa // Visiting and getting pictures taken with Santa

Sharing a moment at midnight on Christmas Eve/Day or New Years Eve/Day

The Most Magical Time of the Year

Naughty/Nice OPTION 1: Much like the Trick-or-Treat game from my Halloween prompts, it's a Truth or Dare-ish type of game

Naughty/Nice OPTION 2: Write a Nice story (G-rated, wholesome content), then rewrite it as a Naughty story (explicit and definitely not wholesome content)

Office Christmas parties don't have to be boring

Wrapping presents late at night on Christmas Eve

Red & Green

Silver & Gold

Character dresses up as Santa Claus for an event/family gathering/for Character B's kid(s)

Characters A & B have to play Santa & Mrs. Claus for a night. Perk: They do not like each other and are forced to play nice for the kids ... but, as the night goes on, their feelings for each other change

Santa Claus is real

Candles and a character's love of/obsession with them

Sharing a blanket on a cold night

Going sledding

Riding in a sleigh

SNOW DAY FUN

Warming up in a big bathtub

A couple gets cozy underneath the lit up Christmas tree

Two people (friends/lovers/enemies-to-lovers) in a store/mall over Christmas (just ignore the fact that everyone has phones, and stores and malls have security cameras or guards and the situation would, in reality, get resolved quickly)

'Twas the Night Before Christmas ...

They nearly burn the house down (baking goes awry/fireplace/candles [way too many candles in such a small space]/decorations can be a fire hazard)

Getting stranded on Christmas Eve (in a stalled or stuck car/at the airport/at someone else's home/in an elevator/at a hotel or motel, without their luggage or with less luggage than they'd brought with them)

Mistletoe (meeting someone for the first time under one/potential couple meeting under one, accidentally or intentionally/accidentally meeting under one with someone they don't like/doing something other than kissing under one)

A Hallmark-style fic

SONG FICS: CHRISTMAS EDITION

All I Want for Christmas is You - Mariah Carey

An Old-Fashioned Christmas - Frank Sinatra

Baby, It's Cold Outside [a non-predatory version, obviously]

Blue Christmas

Hard Candy Christmas - Dolly Parton

Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)

Christmas Eve - Kelly Clarkson

The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)

A Christmas to Remember - Amy Grant

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

I'll Be Home for Christmas

It Must Have Been the Mistletoe - Barbra Streisand

Last Christmas

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Merry Christmas, Darling

Miss You Most (at Christmastime) - Mariah Carey

Please Come Home for Christmas

Santa Baby

Sleigh Ride

This Christmas

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Underneath the Tree - Kelly Clarkson

White Christmas

(There are no TV or movie quotes this time since I didn't have enough of either that fit for the season)

[palmtreepalmtree]

Alright my friends - the twinkly lights are up, the house smells like pine, you've got every manner of red-green-and-gold wrapping paper shoved in a corner - without a doubt it's that time of year: Christmas. As you know, I've been disappointed to see so few entries into the Christmas rom-com genre this year from Netflix, so I've started to explore further afield to find something ripe for your enjoyment.

And now, I'm pleased to present...

The Worst Movies on HBO/MAX/Discovery+/HGTV??? (idefk), Right Now!

As it turns out sometime last year Discovery+ teamed up with MarVista to produce some Christmas romance content with random tie-ins to their FoodNetwork/HGTV network stars. This has created some really... oh, let's just call it interesting content.

I mean... you gotta know from the outset that there's no way these will be good. NO fucking WAY.

FIRST, as a whole, I don't think these movies know what their purpose is. Are they supposed to promote the reality shows of their cameo stars? Are they supposed to give their reality stars an opportunity to flex some acting muscle!? Are they supposed to be *GASP* good stories? NOBODY KNOWS!

SECOND, it's possible that the point of these movies is just to promote the reality show format as like... a concept. But the thing is -- NOT TO FORESHADOW OR ANYTHING -- that comes with some very weird baggage. LIKE SUPER WEIRD.

Let's break these down in round-up style.

The first movie that apparently created the mold* was Candy Coated Christmas (2021) - *pun intended. This vehicle cameos Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman, who gets about two minutes of screen time which apparently warrants her this kind of promotional one-sheet placement:

...like okay.

A shocking number of these stories involve people who are in financial peril. In this one, a hotel heiress finds herself on the brink of bankruptcy, and, on daddy's orders, she heads to a small town to evict the peppermint farmer tenants at her family's property who are, you guessed it, on the brink of bankruptcy.

In this movie, the spirit of Christmas (or spearmint gum in this case), is a plan to rescue these two financial catastrophes, oh, and they fall in love. Sure. Why not.

This movie is an empty candy-coated shell of a romance that I can best describe as serviceable. But apparently it was enough of a hit that the rest of the movies followed. So we can blame this candy cane for the Christmas rogering that followed in 2022.

Continuing from worst to most egregious...

A Gingerbread Christmas (2022) - This one cameos that Ace of Cakes dude (no idea his name and not interested in looking it up) who is judging a gingerbread competition that the main character desperately needs to win to save her dead mom's foundering bakery - YES another fucking business in peril.

Her love interest is the general contractor/baker/single dad who has taken up daily residence in the bakery where he is apparently simultaneously working on fixing the place up and also doing all of the baking........?

Yeah, it makes little sense, and yet somehow this is not the worst of the four entries this year.

Both of these actors are people you'll recognize and will have you thinking heyyyyy where is she/he from? (Let me help you out: The Good Place/Reacher). They're fine.

This is fine.

It's just... not going to leave you feeling much of anything. And that's the exact opposite of what these movies are supposed to do. You're not killing me, you're just boring me. There's nothing spicy in this gingerbread, baby! ZING! Nailed 'em.

There's a kind of nice subplot about a new immigrant entering the contest as well, but maybe I have a soft spot in my heart for that. This definitely does not seem like it's going for the same audience as some of the Hallmark movies, but it's also only gesturing at substantive things rather than really delivering anything of substance. Hey guys, did you know that immigrant Muslims can celebrate Christmas too!?

MOVING ON.....

One Delicious Christmas (2022) - Alright... where do I even start here??? Continuing on our theme of struggling businesses, this one slightly breaks the pattern by telling us a story of the owner of a boutique inn who needs to find a new chef for her family business so that she can bring on a financial partner to help ease the strain of her sole ownership.

The cameo in this one is Bobby Flay who comes in as a restaurant critic to comment on the food. Sigh. I know. Look I'm just reporting here, don't harm the messenger.

Alright there are three things here that just drove me completely batty: First, and I hate calling this shit out, but I gotta say the lead actress here has some partial vocal fry thing going on with her voice that is just impossible to watch for an hour and a half. I just wanted to shake her and be like BREATHE THROUGH YOUR CHEST. Fucking hell. It's a trial being me sometimes.

Second, obviously the theme here is cooking, but the whole story is based around the fact that the chef is doing new and risky recipes that the inn owner is nervous her people won't like... but like... the recipes are super basic? Like scalloped potatoes instead of mashed? Lobster bisque!? None of the new menu items read as dangerous or cutting edge -- especially if you watch the Food Network -- SO WHAT THE FUCK IS THE POINT1?!? Argh, okay.

Last, and this is just a weird thing that probably only I noticed, but like all these movies seemed to go out of their way to do mixed racial castings, which is a good thing, but then they also seem to have not made any adjustments for that in terms of story.

In this one, the love interest/chef is played by a Canadian actor of Filipino ancestry -- but his character name is Preston Weaver. Preston. PRESTON. PRESTON. There are also repeated references in the story to cooking for and with his grandmother, but no mention, not even one, that maybe her cooking wasn't American-style food? I mean, it is perfectly possible for a person to have their family immigrant story have happened so long ago, that even their grandparent doesn't make traditional foods from their country of ethnic origin, but it also seems WEIRD. Like some sort of weird white washing??? idk. Jury is still out on this I guess. I just don't think it would have killed them to reference one Filipino recipe or technique, especially since that's a pretty rich food culture. You know, as compared with making a main plot point that the fucking LOBSTER BISQUE keeps selling out.

(Is there a whiter word than bisque? I don't fucking think so).

I HAVE GONE ON TOO LONG. THE NEXT ONE.

Designing Christmas (2022) - Alright, I'm running out of steam and so I'm gonna make this one quick. This one cameos that dark haired lady from Love it or List it not sure her name not looking it up (Hilary???). This one is about a couple who work as a designer/contractor pair on a reality show and in order to save their failing show they decide their last show of the season will be a restoration of her family's old home that she just purchased and SURPRISE TO NO ONE WHO WATCHES THESE SHOWS there's a crack in the foundation blahblahblah WHO CARES!?

NO ONE.

This one really suffers from the fact that the male lead is just boring.

Honestly, that's a theme throughout these movies. The male leads are super weak and boring. Tepid. Just absolutely forgettable characters played by actors who are deciding whether the fuck to fire their agents.

What's weird about this one is the way that the production really styles it after a reality show -- even including those restoration classic before and after reveals. But that is nothing on the last one......

A Christmas Open House (2022) -- Alright the cameos in this one are that Hometown Whatever couple who have been "restoring" houses in their hometown in someplace in the south and by restoring, I mean flipping but under the guise of home restoration.

ANYHOW - the plot is that this big city house stager teams up with a realtor to sell her family home to make sure her mom gets the best purchase price on the sale. It's just like those old Christmas classics that really capture the Christmas spirit - A Christmas Carol, Miracle on 34th Street, It's a Wonderful Life. You know. Really in that anti-capitalist vein.

Deeeeeeeep sigh.

So... I don't even know how to say this. But this movie involves a Christmas miracle.

See, it turns out the house stager accidentally gave the furniture company the wrong credit card number, so the day before the showing ON CHRISTMAS the furniture people came and took back all of the perfectly staged furniture and GASP knocked down the (fake) Christmas tree! WHAT ARE THEY GONNA DO1?!? HOW ARE THEY EVER GONNA SELL THE HOUSE ON CHRISTMAS NOW!?$!

BUT IT'S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE

The whole town shows up to bring them furniture that they can use to stage the house before the potential buyers arrive. Like... they show up with their odds and ends so that the house can be staged. SO THAT THE HOUSE CAN BE STAGED FOR SALE. Are... are you guys with me here? The miracle that the whole town rallied behind was bringing FURNITURE to STAGE A HOUSE. FOR SALE.

I just... I am walking away.

We are so fucking far from Dickens here we might as well be in a new fucking holiday.

And we are.

Because that's the whole point of all of these movies.

It's not Christmas.

It's American Christmas.

For all the shit that the nostalgic, small-town worshipping Christmas movies get this time of year, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say these movies are more insidious. Instead of blatantly trying to valorize the small town spirit, the support of family and friends, and getting back to your roots, these movies are like the Scooby Doo villain of Christmas movies. Rip off the mask at the end for the big reveal:

IT WAS CAPITALISM ALL ALONG!?!?

Anyhow, I don't know who was supposed to read these scripts before they became movies, but everyone involved will probably be laughing all the way to the bank.

Don't watch these. They're not funny enough to be worth the soul-gutting feeling of realizing what these movies are for.

Nothing.

Empty.

Spiritless.

Candy-coated capitalism.

[treakaluigi]

Middle Aged roomates Hoops & Yoyo aka where are they now after the 2000s/2010s AU

Possible Storyline (press read more)

"after working for Hallmark for many years when they were young adults making e-cards, physical cards, merch, a Christmas and Halloween TV special, a Christmas album, and a collaboration album with Parry Gripp, Halmark no longer needed the relatable cat and bunny duo in the late 2010s. They tried to get acting gigs to in bigger roles no one wanted to hire them, so they decided the leave the famous internet webtoon life style and went back to their normal life as it was before and went their sperate ways until years later in the present decade as they are now roomates having terrible jobs"

Hoops: "the pink kitty now in his late 30s turning 40 has been working at another office job, with shitty co-workers, and a boss who out right hates him for making those e-cards in the past, Hoops sorta regrets his Internet celebrity past as he somewhat hates to be recognized by his fans but in a way it brights his spirits whenever people tell their stories of how both hoops and yoyo brought people joy from their childhoods along with living as a roommate to his long time friend and now possible crush Yoyo"

Yoyo: "the green bunny who is also in his late 30s has become a part time indie musician, as he is now a stay at home employee, he doesn't even know what this job is as it's a mixed bag of online orders type for different corpate stores, as he also has to deal with multiple orders at once along with costumer service calls he gets as stress gets to him Along with Hoops he is mixed on getting recognized by his fans he hates it but still loves to here the childhood memories stories that his fans tell him as it also brighting up his spirits to keep him going along with his long time friend also possible crush hoops"

Piddles: "both hoops and you don't know what happened to piddles. The last time they talked was the day Hallmark no longer needed them, they both theorize Piddles probably wants a private life and no longer wants to be associated as a famous webtoon celeb, and wants to live a normal life"

[pandabibble]

So the reason you can't do a Channuka version of those hallmark christmas movies

is because they're christian conversion narratives. This is almost a tautology as the hallmark style movies are made by weirdo evangelicals but even with other classic "christmas" stories you still see it: A Christmas Carol, Dinner For One, A Miracle on 45th street, Trains Planes & Automobiles, David Cronenberg's The Fly, Die Hard, Its A Wonderful Life, The Irony of Fate, The Snowman, The Grinch etc... The crux of a "good" christmas story seems to be that:

usually over the course of a night, generally christmas night or near christmas,

someone or a group is changed as people by events outside their control,

which causes them to be transubstantiated into "good people" or at least "better" people (the cop in die hard learns to kill again, for instance)

This is one of those things that I end up thinking about during hanukkah because the concept of a "chanukka movie" has had a few dybbuks inflicted upon it in the form of the Adam Sandler movie "8 Crazy Nights" as well as the weird christian-media style "Channuka movies" that are produced with equal artlessness to any hallmark christmas movie to trick grandparents desperate for jewish media into buying them. The standard model for these supposed chanucha movies has the exact same stupid christmas narrative of any overt christmas movie, with someone learning "a lesson" and becoming a "better person" because of the holiday: again, basically a conversion story, and even worse in 8 Crazy Nights because Adam Sandler is in it.

But enough about what a chanukah movie isn't, it's important to go over what Chanukha itself is and isn't: it's not a "festival of lights" (it's not really about the light, and I feel a festival of light by its nature tends to very specifically limit the maximum number of candles involved) but it is about lighting things on fire and them burning, nor is it really a winter festival despite it's timing in winter, but it is about persevering longer than expected which works as a thing to have in mid winter. That persevering element also comes along with the sanctification/reclamation of a space that has been violated or threatened in some way... and also it's really a hyper-specific celebration of specifically the minorah itself. In theory there really should be some sort of nationalistic, militaristic aspect to the holiday but even if you try to focus on that as a core feature it collapses back into just a "resanctification/reclamation" because it's not really about the maccabi revolt itself (except for when minorah makers take liberties and put an elephant motif in reference to that one son of the high priest who got stepped on), it's much more about the revolt ending and the hasmonean kingdom beginning the rebuilding after the war. It's V-E or V-J day, not pearl habour.

So taking all that and condensing it down again and trying to apply it to movies, a hanuchah movie we should be looking for themes of:

A community or communal space suffering some sort of tragedy or threat

2. Survival against the odds (ideally over multiple nights) ideally through their own abilities rather than external forces

3. at the end of the story the community or space must be reclaimed or strengthened by the events of the story

This gives us some weird condidates: a lot of zombie movies work slightly too well for this, as do a lot of creature feature type movies... not Alien or Aliens on account of... the obliteration of the colony and the ship respectively, but Tremors and Tremors 2? WEIRDLY, yes, John Carpenter's The Thing brings a lot of flame, and while the research base is fucked, they save the world. By lighting more and more things on fire as the nights pass.

Anyone who brings up Mad Max 2 or any other Mel Gibson movie is getting shot. Can't we all get beyond thunderdome?!?

On a brighter note, probably the best example of a movie that fits the bill for a khanucha movie is Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - you could object to it on the basis that the movie SORT OF is about the main characters being changed by the events of the movie but a christmas movie where the protagonists are all deeply traumatised at the would form almost a negative image of a christmas movie. On the other hand, Gondor and the battle of Pelennor Fields? Survives longer than anyone expected. And what saves it? that's right, the beacons were lit, one after another.

And was not Denethor covered in oil? And did not Denethor burn longer than anyone would have expected?

[emmanuellececchi]

Writings list/ce que j'écris

Completed fanfiction / fanfics complétés:

Loki x Sif (Post Thor movie/Marvel) on AO3 in english :

Two of a kind

It has be elves...

FFXVI/FF16 on AO3 in english

Between a song and a book (Joshua x Reader)

A snowball fight (Joshua x Reader)

Autumn crocus in the meadows... (Joshua x Reader)

LOTR/AU Hallmark movie - in english

Crazy decorator Eomer meets surly electrician Gimli - Collab with @lucifers-legions: inspired by various discussion on tumblr, by Hallmark movies and many other things " helping a Scrooge rediscover his Christmas spirit, and revealing the true meaning of Christmas to those who may have lost sight of it along the way".

LOTR in english

A momentous Wedding : a collection of short stories, drabbles, prompt and so on. Independant chapters - more or less centered around Eowyn and Faramir's wedding (WIP - more chapters to come).

The white swan of Dol Amroth : a take on the romance between Eomer and Lothiriel. Short stories, multi-chapters and so on. Independant chapters (WIP - more chapters to come).

In dark time we sing : created for a fandom event. Who keeps the lore and knowledge alive in Rohan?

The end of Gimli son of Gloin : this is the story of what became of Gimli after the end of the war.

Absurd headcanon : LOTR and hobbit characters and cats

Faramir and Eowyn Christmas Story - Hallmark style : a very short one shot inspired by a profile pics I did.

Original Tale - inspired by LOTR and people of tumblr

The last tale of the Woodland

Published work

La petite boule de Noël/ The little Christmas Ball : Christmas tale on amazon (.fr, .com, .ca) en français et/and in english.

Books review (In case you're curious)

WIP/travail en cours:

Original work

The Dark Lady by the sea : medieval romance - First draft, worldbuilding and editing - currently at 179K word count.

An Alberta romance story : modern romance - being edited - currently at 50K word count - summary /excerpts

Les Princesses et le dragon (the Princesses and the dragon) : a funny tale for chidlren - 2254 word count - Being prepared for eBook publication (french only for the moment) - excerpt

Le voyage de Lily (Lily's journey) : 22 k word count - Written as a tale for children - editing needed.

Fanfiction

Two Idiots in Love: FF16 Fanfic - Joshua x reader - first edit finish, second soon.

Following a dream : Fanfic FFXVI Joshua x OC - Finished/editing (65 k words)

Lots of other ideas : LOTR, FF16, FF14.

List of Not-yet-written fics

Looking for a beta-reader (français/english)? Don't hesitate to ask. I love reading and if I have time, I'll do it gladly! Fantasy, SF, LOTR, FF16, original or fanfiction - Comments, suggestions, continuity, worldbuilding... Et je peux aussi pour les textes en français ;)

[fandomtales]

Rekindling Christmas - Chapter 1: Home for the Holidays (on Wattpad) https://www.wattpad.com/1392493404-rekindling-christmas-chapter-1-home-for-the?utm_source=web&utm_medium=tumblr&utm_content=share_reading&wp_uname=AnaMaria380008&wp_originator=q9k63%2B8d8wKcq998IRKGKIQyhmzoo3XPnrpngmdkwhglSWQFYC4ba25yfuKVFyQgOfYb8F%2BnW%2B97ELjJdNi2fh5cmAod8yQB%2FXBxwLliBJrpUaRT9QZk1ZaUXrDQeNMf In the cozy, snow-covered town of Evergreen Valley, two childhood sweethearts, Sarah and Michael, are about to have a holiday season they'll never forget. Sarah, a successful marketing executive in the bustling city, reluctantly returns to her small hometown after a decade away to spend Christmas with her family. Michael, a dedicated high school teacher and coach, has never left, and he still carries a torch for the girl he never stopped loving. When Sarah and Michael unexpectedly cross paths while preparing for the town's annual Christmas festival, their old feelings are reignited. As they work together on the festival's decorations and activities, they both realize how much they've missed each other and how strong their connection remains. But life has taken them in different directions, and there are secrets and misunderstandings that need to be addressed. Can they overcome the challenges of the past and embrace the magic of Christmas to find their way back to each other's hearts? "Rekindling Christmas" is a heartwarming tale of love, forgiveness, and the power of homecoming during the most enchanting time of the year.

[cherryblossomshadow]

Hallmark movies are fascist propaganda

Excerpts (all bolding mine):

Hallmark then flip-flopped, apologizing for pulling the ads and claiming they have been "a progressive pioneer on television for decades" and "committed to diversity and inclusion." Which is, of course, laughable to anyone who has even glancing knowledge of the channel's offerings. Running down this year's schedule of Christmas movie offerings is like a trip into an uncanny valley of shiny-teethed, blow-dried heteronormative whiteness, with only a few token movies with characters of color. It's like watching "The Stepford Wives," but scarier, since the evil plot to replace normal people with robots is never actually revealed. None of this should be a surprise, because Hallmark movies, as cloying and saccharine as they are, constitute the platonic ideal of fascist propaganda. That is probably a startling statement to some. When most of us think about fascistically propagandistic movies, we think of the grotesque grandeur of Leni Riefenstahl's films celebrating the Third Reich — grand, but cold sweeping shots of soldiers goose-stepping and flags waving, all meant to inspire awe and terror. But the reality is, even in Nazi Germany, the majority of movies approved by the Nazi minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, were escapist and feather-light, with a Hallmark movie-style emphasis on the importance of "normality."

.

Instead of characters driven by real feelings, therefore, the guiding hand of "normalcy" pulls the characters along through narratives — and unsurprisingly, that idea of "normalcy" doesn't have a lot of room for the true diversity of American experiences.

.

Sadly, it's hard to imagine it being any other way. The qualities that people cite when they defend Hallmark movies — comforting, formulaic, soothing — are all a result of the aggressively conformist impulse that drives them. And that impulse and fealty to the dominant culture stands in direct contrast to the values of diversity Hallmark facetiously claims to hold. Hallmark movies, with their emphasis on returning home and the pleasures of the small, domestic life, also send a not-at-all subtle signal of disdain for cosmopolitanism and curiosity about the larger world, which is exactly the sort of attitude that helps breed the kind of defensive white nationalism that we see growing in strength in the Donald Trump era.

.

If you don't believe me, listen to authoritarians themselves. At the Federalist, which is ground zero website for generating frankly fascist "culture war" arguments, Hans Fiene argues that, "culturally speaking, Hallmark Christmas movies are noticeably Christian." By this, Fiene isn't talking about characters who actually go to church or pray — even self-identified conservative Christians don't want to see that — but a set of patriarchal and authoritarian values that are more about white evangelicals defining themselves as an ethnic group, and not about a genuine feeling of spirituality. The movies always depict a "heroine who begins the story loving her self-involved life in the city chooses family and a life of self-sacrifice in her hometown," he writes, arguing that it's the "last remaining hideout" for those who want a fantasy of a world where "the cynicism and immorality of modern life aren’t allowed." By "cynicism and immmorality," Fiene explains he's talking about "fornication" and acceptance of "sexual deviants," by which he means LGBTQ people.

.

None of this, of course, means that everyone who watches Hallmark Christmas movies is some kind of fledgling fascist. These movies are not for me, but I believe people when they say they find it relaxing to watch these predictable movies that have low stakes because none of the characters feel like real people. I've got my own flavors of trashy entertainment I fully enjoy without mistaking it for high art. (Baby Yoda, what's up?) Still, it's critical to be mindful of the role that Hallmark movies are actually playing in our society. The very fact that they're presented as harmless fluff makes it all the more insidious, the way they work to enforce very narrow, white, heteronormative, sexist, provincial ideas of what constitutes "normal."

.

Ultimately, there's a reason that authoritarian religious right groups like One Million Moms and American Family Association — who made the initial demands on Hallmark to end the lesbian-inclusive ads — believe that the Hallmark Channel "belongs" to them. They may use euphemisms like "family friendly," but as there is nothing more family friendly than light PDAs from loving couples at weddings, we can say for certain that is not what bothers them. Instead, it's because they believe Hallmark is "safe" because it excludes people who don't fit their extremely rigid ideas about what constitutes "normal." "So many people feel betrayed because this is one of the very last channels that families could go to and not be bombarded with politically correct commercials and the LGBTQ agenda," the American Family Association griped in a press release. Note that the language is solely that of exclusion. This isn't about Christian conservatives wanting more Hallmark movies that show characters who actually go to church or anything like that.

What makes something "family friendly" and "Christian" is who is not allowed inside the fantasy land of impossibly expensive rural houses and women who are realizing that they wanted to just get married to the boy next door all along.

Ultimately, there is probably no way to square the claim to believe in "diversity" with fascistic impulse that guides the current crop of Hallmark movies, which center always around these frankly MAGA-style ideas about what constitutes "real" America. As the Jewish movies show, the best that Hallmark can do is some token "diversity" that wipes out most of what makes people actually diverse. Their money comes from selling a vision of America that increasingly authoritarian conservatives wish to believe once existed and can be restored again — an America that excludes most of an increasingly urban, racially diverse, cosmopolitan nation. That won't change no matter how many inclusive Zola ads the network airs.

[dodger-sister]

The reviews I wrote for Letterboxd on all the Christmas movies I watched this holiday season…

16 Christmas movies:

Christmas at the Golden Dragon: I wanted something funny & light. But this was way too “Hallmark” for me. Not a comedy at all. Osric Chau looked good, but that wasn’t enough to save it. This movie desperately wanted to be Love Actually, right down to the opening voiceover. It was several winding stories all intertwined together, like Love Actually, centered around staff & customers at one restaurant during the week of Christmas. I fell asleep during it, woke up, rewound, fell asleep again. To be fair, I have been sick with the winter crud, but still, this was too saccharin & predictable for me to stay awake. But if you like that straight up predictable Hallmark Christmas movie vibe that definitely spreads the message of community, then maybe this would be your cuppa. Will be rating on a Hallmark esque Christmas movie scale.

Christmas with the Campbell’s: Ok, this is one I had never heard of even though it’s written by Vince Vaughn (who is a continuing theme throughout my Christmas movies this year). It stars Alex Moffat of SNL fame and also Justin Long & Brittany Snow, both of whom I crush on. It’s a parody of every Hallmark Christmas movie out there. If Alex Moffat as the meanie big city boyfriend doesn’t convince you of that, wait until you meet Justin Long as the loner poetic cowboy and hear every ridiculous “country boy” saying that comes outta his mouth. I will say, it has some vulgar humor, so might not be for everybody. And, to be honest, I’m a go big or go home kinda person. If you’re gonna parody something, go big. Think “They Came Together” or “Spaceballs”. Still, while it took me until Justin Long showed up to realize it was indeed a parody and not just a regular Hallmark movie, I did enjoy it. Won’t be a Rewatchable, but I’m glad I gave it a watch. I laughed out loud more than once.

Dear Santa: This was fun! What if a kid accidentally addressed his Santa letter to Satan and then Satan showed up? But as a Christmas family comedy movie. It was family friendly but also exactly what you expect from Jack Black playing Satan. There were several adult jokes that’ll have the adults barking (or bleating…watch the movie, you’ll get it) with laughter, but will definitely go right over the kids’ heads. While simultaneously having plenty of jokes the adults won’t laugh at, but the kids will think are hysterical. This is not gonna be one I rewatch regularly, but I can def see myself rewatching it at least once. Jack Black is so good with kid actors. He has an empathy that comes through in all of his characters. The end (No Spoilers!) felt a little too saccharin for my tastes. I don’t even wanna give it a pass just because it’s a family movie. Kids can handle topics like death, divorce, and selling your soul to Satan. But overall, do recommend! Wait for the surprise cameo near the end, early 2000s comedy fans.

Elf: I mean, if you don’t know that Elf is one of the greatest movies, let alone Christmas movies, ever made, like, what are you doing in life? Listen, I’m not usually a Will Ferrell fan. His comedy is usually too over the top for me. But I look at this as a Jon Favreau movie more than a Ferrell movie. But they really couldn’t have cast Buddy better. I love how it has the feel of an old 70s Christmas special with a more modern comedy style. + a great cast and both Ed Asner as Santa and Bob Newhart as Papa Elf will never be beat. So yeah, what if one of Santa’s elf’s adopted a human and that human grew into Will Ferrell who then had to convince one of the grumpiest Scrooges to find his Christmas spirit? And what if I got goosebumps during the climactic moment of the film every damn time? We watch this every year while putting up the tree. & yeah we quote this movie so much, year round. A modern Christmas classic for the whole family! (Yes, I know it’s 20+ year old movie, so not *that* modern.) Thanks, Buddy!

Father Christmas Is Back: No. Just no. So the humor was kinda Wes Anderson but British? Which was fine. I like that style. That wasn’t the problem. No, the problem was that the characters were all awful. And I don’t mean like badly written. They were terrible people who all seemed to genuinely hate each other. I was sure they’d reconcile and find the meaning of Christmas but, like, maybe they shouldn’t? Maybe they should be one of those families that goes it’s separate way and has nothing to do with each other. And I honestly didn’t want them to find the holiday spirit…they didn’t deserve it. Also, you don’t abandon your kids for 27 years. There’s no excuse for that. The only 2 characters I liked were the two younger guys and they both seemed like they could do better than the women they were with. Anyways, I didn’t like any of the characters. So…no.

Four Christmases: So I knew I had seen this before, but I remembered simultaneously enjoying it & not liking the message. I couldn’t figure how both things were true. But ok, what if 2 significant others have distanced themselves from their toxic families & instead go on vacation every year, but then their families find out & guilt them into coming home? So, once again, Vince Vaughn. And also Reese Witherspoon. And a ton of people that won’t just have you saying, “Hey, it’s that guy!” but like you’ll actually know all the actors names, they’re that big named stars. Just a stellar cast. Playing horrible people. But ok, in the day & age of “you don’t have to see your family at the holidays if they are toxic or abusive. Don’t put yourself through that just cause they’re blood” & you watch this movie and say, “yeah these people are all pretty awful,” and the only ones you like are the two main characters and you think they should get the hell out of there. But yet — probably because they got such a freaking ridiculously talented cast — you’re still laughing your butt off somehow. While the issue I remembered having with it the first time was it seemed as if they were pushing the idea that the only way to be happy is to be married and have kids, but as it turned out, it was more about opening yourself up more. But the new issue I have for watching this movie was everybody’s hella toxic and Vince & Reese shoulda bounced. I watched it twice now. I won’t watch it again. If you like Vince Vaughn & Reese Witherspoon it’s worth a watch. But just be aware it doesn’t hold up like the other Vince Vaughn movie that I’ve watched recently, Fred Claus.

Fred Claus: Vince Vaughn movie #3, lol. What if Santa…a) were played by Paul Giamatti & b) had a ne’er-do-well brother? And what if that brother were Vince Vaughn? This was my second time watching this movie & it is definitely a Rewatchable for me. Vince Vaughn movies are easy to consume. And, because it’s a family movie, it holds up well. Some 2000s era movies? The jokes don’t work or are inappropriate 20 years later. But this holds up well. And it answers one of two main griefs I have with the Santa mythos — how can we have a naughty or nice list? Children’s brains are still developing. They lack impulse control. They model what they see from the adults in their lives. And they are not inherently naughty — they are just often in bad situations. Does Santa account for that? Kids aren’t bad, they just sometimes have bad behavior. And Vince Vaughn is gonna take on The Man about that! Of course, The Man is Santa. (My other grief is that the elves need to unionize, but I guess I’ll hafta be the one to write that movie!) Def recommend!

Haul Out The Holly: I never know how to rate movies like this. If I rate them on an overall movie scale, they’re not gonna get a ton of stars. But if I rate them on a “Hallmark movie” scale, this one is at the higher end for me. I mean, once I got past my disgruntledness at HOAs and, like, let people celebrate the holidays how they want, forced cheer isn’t real cheer! But it’s a Christmas movie so you know she’s going to find her Christmas spirit by the end. (I get the purpose of HOAs but I really don’t like em). This is Lacey Chabert (Party of Five, Mean Girls) and I have discovered that she funds her middle class LA life by doing two Hallmark romance movies a year, two Christmas movies a year, and round it out with a dozen or so voice spots on DC animated shows. Good for her! So this movie is about a girl whose parents ran the HOA when she was growing up and were like off the wall about Christmas stuff, so she ended up getting kind of disgruntled about it, but now she’s a grown-up and she’s come home for Christmas. Some new cute guy is running the HOA and he’s trying to force her to have holiday cheer, which she doesn’t wanna do. The best part about this is the zany cast of neighbors. It felt very Gilmore Gils/Northern Exposure. It made me think ‘what if the Cougar Town people were in a Hallmark-esque Christmas movie”. I’ve been sick, so a movie where I know all the beats is comforting. But then the zany cast of characters threw in unexpected comedy. So it wasn’t as cookie cutter as most of these kind of movies are. Yes, it was a cheesy movie about someone finding their Christmas spirit, but there was more comedy to it than I expected. So again, how do I rate this? Was it a great film? No. Did I enjoy it? Yes, absolutely. Will I watch it again? Possibly. What kind of stars do I give this when it’s going up against the kinds of movies I watch during the other 11 months of the year? I guess I’m just going to rate this on a Hallmark esque Christmas movie scale.

Haul Out The Holly: Lit Up: Yep, there’s a sequel. Lacey Chabert & the zany cast of characters are back in full swing, but now there’s influencer neighbors trying to ruin the HOA’s Christmas plans! I did not like this one as much as the first one. But it was still hitting all the right beats, while simultaneously throwing in some wacky comedy. I just found the new neighbors to be such terrible people, I didn’t care about their redemption arc. So while I was happy to see the gang back together, this one I won’t be rewatching. Will be rating on a Hallmark esque Christmas movie scale.

Hot Frosty: A top notch Hallmark-esque Christmas movie that borders on parody. They didn’t break the fourth wall & look right at the camera and say, “we know this premise is ridiculous, just roll with it,” but they might as well have. A sad lonely lady (once again, Lacey Chabert) at Christmas puts a magical scarf on a super sexy snowman sculpture and he comes to life…in the form of Dustin Milligan (Schitt’s Creek, Rutherford Falls). He’s gotta be 40 years old, like, he should not be *cut* like that, dear god. But also, he’s still dorky enough to not be intimidating. Is it weird he’s basically a child in his understanding of the world and yet we are suppose to want them to date? Yes. Does the movie make it easy for you to accept that and move on as fast as the townfolks accept that he is a snowman and just roll with it? Yes. I’m telling you, they could have just turned to the camera and said, “we know it’s ridiculous that everyone in the town is just immediately accepting that a snowman came to life, but if they’re willing to roll with it, so should you!” Anyway, Lacey Chabert and Dustin Milligan have really great chemistry together. & I loved all of the townfolk characters. And Dustin Milligan is just so adorkable that you can’t help but love him. Plus Craig Robinson & Joe Lo Truglio stole every scene thy were in. But yes, the premise is ridiculous, & because of that —not in spite of it— this was an absolute delight. They knew the movie they were making and they leaned into it. Go big or go home! I will definitely rewatch this movie next Christmas. Will be rating on a Hallmark esque Christmas movie scale.

The Merry Gentlemen: This was a Netflix produced, PG rated, Magic Mike esque Christmas movie starring my boooooy, Chad Michael Murray (One Tree Hill). This movie asks the question — have you ever wanted to see Rex Manning do a sexy dance? (Max Caulfield can get it! This whole cast can get it!) When a Broadway dancer returns to her hometown at Christmas and finds her parents are in danger of losing their bar —once the hotspot in town— can she pull off an all male shirtless Christmas dance revue to save her parents’ bar? Yeah that’s it, that’s the plot. It’s not deep, it doesn’t have to be. It’s all the beats you expect from a Netflix Christmas movie. There’s romance & family relationships and it’s so predictable that I actually said the last line of the movie out loud right before he said it, because it was so obvious. Does it matter that it’s predictable? Not at all. If you’re watching this movie, you know what you’re watching for. Yeah it was totally fun, and not just for the shirtless dudes. All of the characters were very likable. And it was just a fun little movie. And it was nice to see Chad Michael Murray on my screen again. My only complaint is that Michael Gross (Family Ties) plays the Dad in this and he did *not* get up on stage! As someone who has had a crush on him since I was like 10 years old, this was very sad for me. Will be rating on a Hallmark esque Christmas movie scale.

A Merry Scottish Christmas: Lacey Chabert, the fourth & final! This was too Hallmark esque for me. But I watched it for one reason…the reunion of Scott Wolf & Lacey Chabert! (Party of Five fans say whaaaat?!) The problem with this was 2-fold. For one, there was way too much talking. It would have worked better as a book. They were faced with a big dilemma and just rationally talked out their options for 90 minutes, while also getting a lot of information about the quaint Scottish town they were in. And secondly, the reveal was obvious from the start but I thought it would still be a cute movie where estranged siblings rekindle their bond while getting up to hijinks investigating their mother’s big secret! It was ripe for Hijinks Ensue. Instead they figured out the secret right away and spend the rest of the movie talking about what to do with said information. On the plus side, Scottish accents! And Scott & Lacey still have that amazing sibling relationship chemistry. And there were a few nods to Party of Five, one very obvious one for anyone who ever watched the show & one that only someone who has seen the show a few times through would recognize. (The latter made me burst into tears because it hit me right in The Feels). Seeing these 2 together again was great. Not enough to ever watch this movie again though. Will be rating on a Hallmark esque Christmas movie scale. Allowing points for their great chemistry. Not allowing points for my own personal nostalgia.

Nutcrackers: This was exactly what I expected and wanted from this movie. Grumpy corporate big city uncle forced to care for his newly orphaned, unruly nephews & their farm at Christmas. I knew the beats it would hit and was comforted by that, while still enjoying the jokes & performances. The fun surprises in this were that the four boys are actually brothers and this is the only film they’ve ever done. Perhaps they’ve done stage? They are all definitely dancers. And I just love they cast real brothers & that these kids did so well in this film. The other thing is that they incorporated The Nutcracker ballet into this & the boys are wonderful dancers & the big ballet scene toward the end was so moving. Idk that it’ll be a Rewatchable, but maybe? Either way, I’m really very glad I watched it.

Red One: Sis & I saw this at theater and you get exactly what you think you’re gonna get and it’s fun & filled with Christmas hijinks & action & cheer. It’s Chris Evans & The Rock saving a jacked JK Simmons Santa Claus from Sabrina the Teenaged Witch. Also Krampus shows up and, I’m sorry, but both Krampus & the security guard polar bear can *get it*. Daaamn. Don’t judge me! But yeah, fun action Christmas movie where everyone’s hearts grow 3 sizes at the end & The Rock smashes a lot of people. The rest of the cast is filled in with stellar actors too. There’s not much else to say because you get exactly what you expect with this movie and it’s delightful fun for both families or just adults who like The Rock movies or Christmas action movies with some comedy thrown in. Do recommend!

A Sudden Case of Christmas: Naw. Didn’t like. So what happens when a child realizes her parents are getting divorced and this will be their last summer vacation together? Apparently they throw one last Christmas, is the answer. But first of all, there was too much talk about spousal cheating and divorce. & I know, Christmas supposedly saves families, but as a child of divorce, like no that’s not how it works. Also, it all takes place at the grandpa’s hotel which is on the verge of bankruptcy. Tbh, having your quaint hotel throw Christmas in July as a pre-arranged theme where people can vacation —especially like the one side character who only gets his daughter in the summer so will never get to spend Christmas with her— this is a good way to bring in some business. But it has to be pre-planned, you can’t just throw it at the current guests there for summer vacation who didn’t sign up for Christmas. Because it’s a Christmas movie, all of the guests roll with it, but no wonder he’s bankrupt. Also, there was a weird storyline where the little girl had a boyfriend that was her Christmas boyfriend and now she’s there in the summer and he has a summer girlfriend, and it was all weird, especially because they were 10 years old. So now theres a storyline about 10 year olds “cheating”. Too much cheating. That’s a big issue for me so I did not like this movie. Otherwise it was fine. The acting was good, it was cute, they had hijinks, they hit all the Christmas movie beats. There wasn’t really a problem with this movie, except that I did not care for the plot or the characters. Will be rating on a Hallmark esque Christmas movie scale.

Unaccompanied Minors: What happens to unaccompanied minors flying alone during the holiday season when there’s a snowstorm and everyone gets trapped at the airport? Hijinks Ensue. I have seen this about 4 times now. It’s a Rewatchable for me. It’s the 2000s, with a tween Tyler James Williams (Everybody Loves Chris, Abbott Elementary). It’s a Family movie. The kids will love all the shenanigans the kid characters get up to. The adults will love the who’s-who of the early 2000s comedy scene. Every actor will have you saying, “hey, it’s that guy!” And, of course, we learn a valuable lesson at the end of the movie. I like Family movies. The kid actors are not too cheesy or saccarrhin. It’s just fun antics & holiday cheer.

[noahsbookhoard]

📚December 2024 Book Review📚

Happy New Year everyone! And to end it up with only one day of delay here's the last reviews for 2024!

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

It was interesting but not my favorite Atwood so far. Grace's point of view was sometimes hard to follow, but the change of writing style to mark the difference of class and education between her and the doctor was a meaningful choice. I liked the mystery, the contradicting versions of what happened and the confusion of the poor doctor trying to unravel all this.

I am not opposed to open endings so the lack of answers at the end was not a problem to me but I understand that it can bother others. When you write about real events it's delicate to whether someone is or isn't guilty, better to let the readers judge by themselves.

Le Père Porcher (Chroniques du Disque-Monde #20) by Terry Pratchett

I wanted to reread it for Christmas season and, for a twist, to read the french translation by Patrice Couton. I don't credit translator enough but I always heard the highest praise for his work on the Discworld Novels. They are well deserved, the translation is amazing! Incredible work on the names, hilarious translations of the puns, it works so well! The story itself is just as good as I remembered, Death is really an amazing character.

Soie by Alessandro Baricco

I don't see the appeal. There is some nice writing, the repetitive aspects give it a nice fairy tale vibe but that's it. It barely mention the journey to Japan, barely mention silk. Which is the damn title. Instead you have a guy that travels across Europe and Asia to cheat on his wife. This wasn't was I hoped for from the title and blurb, I am just disappointed.

A Day of Fallen Night (Root of Chaos #0) by Samantha Shannon

I loved The Priory of the Orange Tree when I read it three years ago so I was excited to read the prequel. If you are like me and picked if long after reading book 1, I strongly recommend catching up on the lore before reading and if you haven't read book 1 yet DO NOT start with A Day of Fallen Night: this might be a prequel but it is not an introduction.

That said I loved it, convoluted and lore heavy as it is: it brings back all the places I loved in book 1 with even more details put on the world building and tradition. The multiple point of views are well used and they come together in really satisfying ways. Even if the threat is more or less the same as in The Priory of the Orange Tree the way they figure a solution and the fight was so good!

Retour à St Mary (Cosy Christmas Mystery #1) by Carine Pitocchi

Plain bad, and that's not the just me saying it, that's 100% of my local book club. Don't hope for a whodunit, the mystery barely qualifies as a police novel, the investigation is confusing and the culprit, obvious. This is also half of a Christmas cheesy hallmark romance. The bad half that is, because at the end Unsufferable Female Lead takes a train and just leaves behind Secretly In Love Childhood Best Friend Who Happens To Be An Anglican Priest For Some Reason Male Love Interest. It just sucks. Don't bother.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

I really liked it, the main character spiralling down pulled me down two and at several moments I was genuinely spooked. I read it a little too quickly to fully appreciate it tho I think, I will need to reread it again!

Prince Caspian (The Chronicles of Niania #02) by C S Lewis

I don't really have much too say. Just like the first book I had watched the movie a hundred times before and I was just too old for it. It is a cute story tho, I love the talking animals, especially Reepicheep.

Winter Spirits short story collection

Overall a nice read: this is an anthology featuring 12 different authors which means 12 different spin on the spooky christmas ghost story. There's only one I actively didn't like and four where I went to check what else the author had done because I needed to study how their brain worked. I originally picked the book because it features a story by Stuart Turton, who wrote The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. His story is good but I especially loved those by Laura Shepherd-Robinson, Andrew Michael Hurley, and Natashe Pulley.

The Agatha Christie Book Club #1 by C A Larmer

This was fun but not as good as reading an Agatha Christie novel. The investigation is a little convoluted, with clues that aren't really clear to the reader. And honestly if I were the characters being interviewed by the book club member twenty seven times in one week I too would have been annoyed and slammed the door. It was a bit frustrating that the pay off required to have biographical knowledge of Christie's life. It was all explained in the end but you couldn't really follow along. The book is good but my expectations were miscalculated, I'll adjust when reading the rest of the series.

The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei

This wouldn't be enough to call it Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade In Space but this is very much what it is. And more. It has some really cool element of world building and alien species with complex history and dynamics. The characters were very good too, the relationship between Uncle and Maia I was especially fond of, medic is touching too, I just took most of the book to warm up to Will. Emotional, action packed, full of twist and investigation and museum heist. Very warm recommendation.

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

Gut punches galore. It had been a long time since I read a horror novel that genuinely scared me and boy was I scared. I have next to zero knowledge of the US South but the description were so vivid I could feel the heat. Also a gold star for most fucked up gay relationship to Andrew and Eddy, this should be so hot but somehow it is, good luck to Sam unpacking this mess.

A Local Habitation (October Daye #2) by Seanan McGuire

This. Was. Wild. Never saw so many deaths and especially main characters narrowly avoiding death I was SO SURE I had figured it out and in the end I was barking at the wrong tree. What a ride. I am growing very fond of October Daye and I hope we get to see more of Quentin too because he's a good kid. I was promised by