#Grimrose Part 1
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Some more aromantic YA books
THE GRIMROSE GIRLS / boarding school/fairytale fantasy / one of the 4 MCs is aroace
FUNERAL GIRL / paranormal contemporary / aro-coded ace MC
FIRE BECOMES HER / historical fantasy / demi-demi MC
THIS GOLDEN FLAME / ancient greek insp high fantasy / aroace MC
ELATSOE / contemporary fantasy/paranormal / aro-coded ace MC
THE BUTTERFLY ASSASSIN / contemporary dystopian thriller / aroace MC (canon in 2nd book)
NOT YOUR BACKUP (sidekick squad #3) / contemporary superhero sci-fi / aroace-spec questioning MC
NOT EVEN BONES / contemporary paranormal thriller / both MCs are probably aroace-spec, have qpr-like relationship (by book 3)
DEATHLESS DIVIDE / historical zombie fantasy / aroace MC (dual pov, she’s a side character in book 1)
*as a note, some of these only briefly explore aromanticism, and/or explore the ace part of the aroace character more. If you want more details on how much things are explored, see my database!
#aromantic#aromantic books#aroweek2023#arospec awareness week#aro books#THE GRIMROSE GIRLS#FUNERAL GIRL#FIRE BECOMES HER#THIS GOLDEN FLAME#ELATSOE#THE BUTTERFLY ASSASSIN#NOT YOUR BACKUP#NOT EVEN BONES#DEATHLESS DIVIDE#asaw#aro week#aroweek#aro week 2023
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@duquesademiel tagged me to share my top 10 books (1) of the year so here they go in no specific order bc i read a lot this year and if i think too much about it i will combust (it's dec 30th, it's illegal to think too much)
but since it's still me, you also get a loose synopsis and we can pretend this is also a book rec list, okay? it's a win-win, i know.
📚 Babel: An Arcane History by R. F. Kuang
a postcolonial view of steampunk magic England from 1982. revolution and all its ugly but powerful reality. long, but really worth it.
📚 Cenizas de Carnaval by Mariana Travacio
a collection if short stories focused on the fragility of life. read it in august i think but i still think about the stiry of the man and the glue
📚 Under The Whispering Door by T. J. Klune
magic and grief and gay and death and gay and life and GAY. loved it. not as much as the house in the cerulean sea, but really loved it
📚 Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
reading this with sand under my feet and the sound of the ocean was one of my best ideas, ngl. interesting story, not one of my faves, but it was good
📚 A Spoonful of Murder by J. M. Hall
murder solved by retired teachers. 10/10
📚 The Embroidered Book by Kate Heartfield
the story of the life of marie antoinette and her sister charlotte except they can do magic. what are you waiting for??? go and read it!!
📚 Operación Masacre by Rodolfo Walsh
non-fiction retelling of the events that occurred on july 9th, 1956, when 12 civilians were arrested in Argentina before being illegally executed
📚 Orlando by Virginia Woolf
mock-biography of the famous poet of the 17th (and 18th, and 19th, and 20th) century, Orlando.
📚 The Grimrose Girls by Laura Pohl
fairytale retellings with a macabre twist, very focused on friendship and #girlpower [part of a duology]
📚 Nosotros dos en la tormenta by Eduardo Sacheri
historical fiction about two friends from opposing revolutionary units in 1975's Argentina
📚 A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske
fantasy historical fiction about two members of the bureaucracy who represent two different worlds (that of magic humans and normal humans) who must work together when the imposition of one world over the other puts all of them at risk. [part of a series]
📚 The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic
invented sports. found family. mafia. gay and ace. it reads like a fanfiction both derogatorily and affectionately, so read at your own risk, but i did read all three books in three days
📚 El Juguete Rabioso by Roberto Arlt
alternatively titled "Silvio Astier Tries To Be The Most Successful Thief Of Buenos Aires And Fails Spectacularly At It (HAPPY ENDING)"
📚 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
not a synopsis bc you know what the book's about but just a note to say that i had this books since my last year of highschool and only now i got to read it, so yay me, tying loose ends from the worst period of my life
📚 Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhis
a prequel to jane eyre told from the point of view of bertha mason, previously known as antoinette cosway
📚 A Mercy by Toni Morrison
1680s story about a family of misfits and what happens to this group of slaves when the man who enslaved them dies
open tag bc if you made it this far i want to know what you've read so i can get recs for next year 👀
(1) sol fucked up so you get +10 recs, but you don't have to be insane like me and you can o it the normal way
#damn#i did read a lot in spanish this year#but good for me bc that's what i wanted hsjfsh#tag you're it#also i cheated with like three of these bc i read them for uni#but since i enjoyed them and they didn't feel like work i'll count them
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I posted 17,855 times in 2022
68 posts created (0%)
17,787 posts reblogged (100%)
Blogs I reblogged the most:
@madam-melon-meow
@magicalgirlmindcrank
@isolationstreet
@nightlamor
@macaroni-rascal
I tagged 651 of my posts in 2022
#bridgerton - 34 posts
#unreality - 17 posts
#personal - 12 posts
#wild - 8 posts
#lol - 7 posts
#this - 6 posts
#me - 5 posts
#lmao - 4 posts
#no - 4 posts
#spoilers - 4 posts
Longest Tag: 122 characters
#cause if i look extra feminine it earns me some of the rightful respect for humanity that is denied to me due to being fat
My Top Posts in 2022:
#5
I am thinking of him (Mandark from Dexter’s Laboratory)
9 notes - Posted July 17, 2022
#4
Why I stopped reading Grimrose Girls
Grimrose Girls was a book in my TBR pile I was hugely looking forward to but had to stop reading because of some of the choices the author made, which I found hugely disappointing (and possibly very problematic). Those of you who know me will know this isn’t something I usually do, and often even if I don’t like a book I’ll force myself to finish it.
I couldn’t do that with this one and I’d like to tell you why.
After the mysterious death of their best friend, Ella, Yuki, and Rory are the talk of their elite school, Grimrose Académie. The police ruled it a suicide, but the trio are determined to find out what really happened. When Nani Eszes arrives as their newest roommate, it sets into motion a series of events they couldn't have imagined. As the girls retrace their friend's last steps, they uncover dark secrets about themselves and their destinies, discovering they're all cursed to repeat the brutal and gruesome endings to their stories until they can break the cycle. This contemporary take on classic fairytales reimagines heroines as friends attending the same school. While investigating the murder of their best friend, they uncover connections to their ancient fairytale curses and attempt to forge their own fate before it's too late.
This book made a lot of promises and I was frankly super looking forward to it. So I make it about a quarter through the book and get to the reveal about the fairy tale characters and I realize something neat. The character’s names hint at their nature. "Ella" "Ash"worth is Cinderella. Yuki's name means Snow. The "Shiro" part of her surname may mean white. Rory's surname means Briar. Edric's name was likely chosen due to is proximity to Eric from the Disney movie, likewise Pippa and Phillip. Nani means "Beauty" and her surname means "Clever". What fun, I originally thought. The author obviously put a lot of thought into the names!
So then I got to Svenja, the only transwoman in the book. Svenja's name means "boy" "young man" or "swan".
See the full post
10 notes - Posted February 1, 2022
#3
XENA KNEW IT WAS CORNY AND GAY AND SO DOES FIRST KILL
12 notes - Posted July 14, 2022
#2
That doesn’t sound right...
17 notes - Posted March 7, 2022
My #1 post of 2022
I’ve been watching an author I follow hopelessly attempt to market his book about a Nic Cage that bites people to turn them into other Nic Cages to his Twitter audience and get absolutely no traction despite the fact that if he mentioned it on Tumblr he’d absolutely be a millionaire and its killing me.
20 notes - Posted November 20, 2022
Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →
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Grimrose [Part 1] (original piece by rainbowamory)
Some info:
Content: This piece, while it does not contain incest in the parts I uploaded, will eventually lead to consensual incest between first cousins. You have been warned.
Characters and ages: Syden (15), Cela (15), Kate (17), Sia (11), Alex (13), Damian (adult), Delilah (adult), Charlotte (adult), Leigh/Leighanna (adult), Oliver (adult), Elizabeth (adult)
-This scene is not supposed to be the beginning. There would be other chapters or scenes before and after, going more into detail about the different things covered here.
-For the concept of “Grimrose”, I was inspired by a picture of a fiery flower I saw randomly online while looking up black roses. It was tagged as ‘fantasy’ and it inspired a bit of this piece.
-Ages: I still am not 100% settled on the ages. I may stick with Syden and Cela both being 15 when they meet, but in my original roleplay she was actually one year older than him (I may go back to that, not sure). Kate is about 2 years older than Syden. Syden is 2 years older than Alex. Alex is 2 years older than Sia. Syden is 4 years older than Sia. Their parents were still young when they had them, like early 20s? Leigh and Charlotte are adults, while the others are teens in this piece (except Sia).
Names: I use placeholder names like in my first piece I shared on tumblr because I want to publish someday and I want to keep certain details to myself for now, like what the final character names will be.
-This is Draft 2.
“Wakey wakeyyy!” came the excited feminine voice right above his head. As sweet as a bird’s song it might have been were it not for how deep in sleep he was.
Syden’s eyes flew open, and he stared ahead in shock, unable to remember where he was for a moment. He was about to say it’s too early for fighting practice and was trying to figure out in a short space of time why the master of arms sounded like his sister.
He didn’t have to wonder for long. The visitor came around the bed to stand in front of his gaze and he saw that it was indeed his younger sister, Sia, dressed up in a ruffled, summery yellow dress. Her thick blond hair fell in curls over her shoulders, and she looked far more awake that he felt at that moment.
“Hey,” he said, looking up at her. He tried to shake off the tiredness by sitting up in bed. Thankfully, it didn’t take long. He was used to getting up early routinely.
“You know what day it is,” she said, beaming.
“Yes. I do,” Syden replied. He stretched his arms and placed them over his legs, waiting for her to speak.
“Do I look pretty?” she said, doing a little twirl in front of his expressionless face.
That melted him a little. “Yes,” he said with a slight smile. In trying to get his bearings right, he hadn’t realized that it was almost breakfast time. Just as Sia prepared to speak again, Henna, the maid, bustled into the room on her way to do some dusting.
��What? Still not up yet?” she said, as she went about the room, dusting the tops of the wardrobes and cabinets. “Your auntie Elizabeth is arriving in a few hours.”
Sia and Syden stared at each other.
“I thought she was coming on the 1st of the month,” he said.
“It is the 1st of the month,” said Henna, pausing for a moment to look at him with her hands on her hips.
“Oh,” he said. Sia giggled.
Henna continued with her dusting and cleaning, talking while she worked.
“They are expected to arrive in the early evening. We all have a lot of preparation to do before then.”
Syden began getting out of bed, and Sia moved aside to give him space.
“And what about us? What do we have to do?” he asked.
“The usual. Look your best,” said Henna before striding over to the window and pulling back the curtains with a swish. The sunlight streamed into the room and pierced Syden’s eyes. Once he adjusted to it, he saw that outside the world was waking up too. Birds were flying about, and the blue climbing roses that grew around his window frame were at the peak of their bloom. All the treetops of the forest which dominated his bedroom view were bathed in bright sunlight. Not a bad sign for what would be the day that marked the end of spring and the start of summer.
“Let’s go,” said Sia, taking him by the hand. It seemed the view from the window had had an effect on her too. She was eager to start the day. He followed her lead as she made her way past the halls and down to the dining room where he found Kate and Alex already seated at the children’s table. The children’s table was smaller than the main family dining table, and it was where they had shared their meals together from a young age whenever their parents had other adult guests over or when their parents weren’t home.
The table was laden with all the treats the children had come to expect for an early morning breakfast in their household. The assortment included honey-glazed sausages, piles of hot toast, platters of tiny sandwiches, wholesome soups, cupcakes, cookies, an assortment of fresh fruits, and a variety of drinks both hot and cold.
The only one of them who thought it excessive was Kate, who made a point of setting aside any food that was left whole and untouched at the end of every meal to give to townspeople with lesser means—a charitable ritual begun by their mother long ago.
Today, Kate was sitting at the head of the table, buried in a book behind her bowl of scallop chowder soup. It looked like one of her books from school, possibly an old novel.
Alex was munching on a small sandwich intently, with his gaze focused on a glass apple he was holding in his hands, seeing things in it that no one else could see. When Sia sat down, she too had a glass apple in front of her, a smaller one, resting on a little silver dais that was made for it to sit on when not hanging from a tree. The stem of the dais was shaped like a tree-trunk with silver branches that gathered under its flat top, like entwined fingers holding up a tray.
Both Kate and Alex were still in their pyjamas.
“Anyone else coming?” he asked Kate, as she looked up from her book.
“Well, I believe Charlotte is coming. I don’t know about Leighanna.”
Syden skewered a sausage and dropped it onto a plate, reached for some toast, then took a seat on the side closest to Kate. Sia sat beside him.
Though nothing seemed out of the usual that day, Kate seemed to glow with a restrained excitement. She seemed unable to stay focused on her reading, stopping periodically in the middle of a page to gaze up dreamily while stirring her soup.
Syden ate his breakfast silently like everyone else. Usually there was some talk around the table, but he didn’t really have anything special to say that day. In every sense it seemed like just another morning at their house, except that they were shrouded in a delicate air of unspoken anticipation. At least, most of them were, he thought, as he glanced at Alex who was lost in his own world, seemingly unaware of his surroundings.
Sia seemed to be the only one who was feeling talkative. She was the first to break the silence.
“Can we do fireworks in the garden?” she asked.
Syden looked at her with amusement.
“It’s not New Year’s,” he said gently.
“But it’s a special day!” said Sia, unfazed. “We haven’t seen Auntie Elizabeth in years!”
This amused Syden. “You don’t even remember her,” he said. How old was Sia when their uncle and aunt last visited? About three years old, more or less.
“She’s right,” said Kate. “We should celebrate the reunion. And fireworks sounds lovely.”
Syden turned his attention back to the remaining food on his plate. The mood continued to be solemn. At one point even Sia quieted down, and no one said another word until Chef Oliver came into the room to greet them.
“Lovely morning today, isn’t it, children?” he said, standing in his white uniform at the threshold of the dining room. His dark, curly hair was tucked neatly under his cap. His beard and mustache, the only visible hair on his face, were also well-tamed and immaculate.
Chef Oliver looked around at them, scanning the room with his dark, twinkling eyes.
“It was so quiet in here, one would think we were preparing for a funeral,” he said. “I was beginning to get worried...”
“We’re perfectly fine,” Kate assured him. “It’s just the end of the week.”
“Ah, too much play and not enough rest,” he said, glancing at Sia and Syden with a teasing smile. He knew as well as anyone that it was their summer vacation. If there was any exhaustion to be felt, it would not be coming from work or study—unless perhaps one was Kate.
“Well then,” he said. “I know just the thing that will help you children feel more awake.”
“Fireworks?” asked Sia, perking up in her chair.
“Hmm, not quite. But it might create fireworks within,” he said. He told them he would be right back and slipped out of the room. After a few minutes, he returned with a tray on which were arrayed several desserts in cocktail glasses.
“I give you… Saffron Pudding with Honey and Fire-Essence.” He wore a proud grin on his face as the children looked at the platter in awe. The puddings were a golden yellow, with a glaze of honey on top, and sprinkled with what looked like flakes of orange embers.
“It is from the Grimrose that we get fire-essence,” he said.
Syden wondered if this was the opening to one of his “food stories.” Sure enough, a moment later, the Chef was sitting at the table with them, with his arms folded in front of him on the tabletop, looking a bit somber as the children began to devour the treat.
“I want to tell you the story of the Grimrose,” he began, a distant, wistful look settling on his face and in his eyes.
“You see, long ago, in a faraway land, people lived in fear of shadow beings that would attack in the night. In one village, two children were born who had abilities that made the shadows afraid of them. For a time, these children kept the darkness away. But there came a time when the darkness came in a larger form than they could beat. Mistrust grew among the villagers.
“Every time a shadow came into the village and got away with killing, people began to think that they were coming because of the witch children.
“Suddenly, the abilities that had once been revered began to frightened others. So, when the children were still very young, they were both abandoned on a mountain range.
“They didn’t have any place to live, so they wandered the land looking for food and shelter, in exchange for protecting other villages from creatures.
“Though they met some nice folk on their journeys, they never wanted to overstay their welcome in any village, for fear that they would be prosecuted by someone that mistrusted them. So they kept moving, learning how to live off the land and keep safe from wild animals.
“They went into villages only to do their work but lived mostly in caves.
“They lived like this for years. Then came a time when they discovered something neither of them ever knew before… It crept up on them in slow steps, entered their hearts and settled there. They fell in love.
“It was then that they really felt they began to live. Suddenly all the colours of the world were a little bit more vibrant, and they could see their own future in a way they had never thought about before.
“They made plans to move somewhere where they could freely be around others and live more like other humans. As much as they loved being in nature, they couldn’t help but be drawn more and more to the warm fires, food and human company of the villages they visited.
“With their newfound love, they grew more confident and began to make plans. They saved enough of their earnings to try and buy a little house in a village. All they wanted was to be human.
“They chose the house they wanted, just a two-room place not much bigger than their cave. They paid the money and began to pack their belongings to move out of their cave and back into civilization.
“But on the night before they moved, unexpectedly, they found their dwelling surrounded by a sea of torches. The word had spread about their powers and the people from their own village had been hunting for them. You see, they believed it bad luck to allow a witch to get away. When the children were abandoned in the mountain range long ago, they were expected to die there.
“The villagers had convinced others that the shadows will stop attacking humans if the witches were killed.
“The children kept wondering, How? How did this happen? Then they saw at the front of the mob the man who had sold them the house, and they knew… he must’ve recognized the markings, the spidery tatoos of a black snake and a butterfly – the marks of a male and female witch. They had been branded long ago, to help in locating them in the event that they survived the wilderness.
“The two of them were usually careful to keep those brands hidden, but on the day they bought their house, the builder had invited them over for a meal and a bath, and his servant might have seen something while helping them wash.”
The children at the table watched the Chef in a suspended silence. He could sense their tension as they ate less speedily, focusing more on listening to the story. Even Syden put aside his slight feelings of impatience and was listening intently.
“Now here were the villagers, with torchlight flickering on their faces, looking the way they looked when on a hunting trip and just about to corner their prey. Determined, unfeeling, advancing towards them like an army.
“They had nowhere to run. The powers they had weren’t made to harm humans. There was nothing they could do…
“They were captured by the villagers and brought to a clearing where they were tied to a stake, back-to-back. They tried pleading but were beaten for every word that escaped them until they grew silent.
“Others from nearby villages were called to witness the event. Among the witnesses were some of those whom the children had helped in some way. But on this day, their faces were the faces of strangers.
“Before the night was over, the flames were crackling. The boy and girl held each other’s hands as the smoke went up around them. They were bruised in a number of ways, and they had scars from their hard life in the wild. But those wounds were nothing compared to the wounds received in their hearts on that night.
“The next day all that was left of them were ashes blowing in the breeze. A child came to visit the spot once everyone was gone and found there, in the ashes, what looked at first like blackened paper. When he stepped forward to take a closer look, he found two large black roses, with a fiery glow lighting up the dark petals from within.
“Later, it became known as the Grimrose, and that was the first of its kind.
“They say the land mourned the young witches and made the flowers grow out of their ashes.”
Sia had tears in her eyes by the end of the little story. Kate looked thoughtful and sad. Alex was leaning back in his chair, with his hand on the stem of his dessert glass, fidgeting with it absentmindedly.
Syden was thinking about the other place and the other time he had heard this story. Chef Oliver had forgotten about the myth that followed the Grimrose… about the fire inside being a sign of the undying nature of the soul. The witches died, but their souls lived on, he almost said out loud. But something about the tale always left him feeling unsettled. If they had magic, why didn’t they fight back? Why didn’t they kill all the villagers and run free? He simply didn’t believe that there was nothing they could do.
Kate said the story was beautiful. Alex asked, “Where did you get a rose to make the dessert?”
Chef Oliver seemed happy to see some interest in his work. “The cores are brought in by traders from the other world,” he said. “They have some fine spices, plants, meats… and of course, Grimrose cores. Whole flowers are rare, but I happen to have one that I ordered for my own keeping.”
He said he’d be right back and left the room for some minutes.
When he returned, he had with him an earthen black flowerpot which he was holding very delicately as if it was one of the most precious things he owned. Inside the pot was a beautiful black rose, with large, open petals. He placed it in the center of the table so the children could gather around and peer into its depths.
Just as described in the legend, the petals were illuminated at the roots by a fiery glow that emanated from the core of the rose and which burned along the inner gaps, making it look as though the flower was on fire. It had a short stem and seemed to grow directly out of the pot, so large that it obscured what was below it.
“It is hot to touch?” asked Sia.
“Yes, but more on the inside than the outside.” said the Chef. Sia leaned in for a closer look, then flinched back suddenly when some sparks emitted from the center of the flower. She seemed more fascinated than scared.
He explained that the flower grew in ashes from the other world. It was seedless and would not grow in ordinary soil. How it multiplied was a mystery. He took out a metal case from inside his pocket and opened it to reveal a transparent, hard, bubble-like object containing a flame within. It had little holes on the surface, through which sparks occasionally shot out. The ball glowed red and orange as he turned it in his hand. Chef Oliver told them that this was what the cores looked like.
“When we shake it, we get the sparks. They are hot when they are first extracted,” he said. “When they cool, they look like shiny metallic orange flakes.”
“Fire-essence,” said Sia.
The Chef nodded.
Syden continued gazing at the flower sitting at the center of the table. It was beautiful… yet, out of place.
Sia wanted to know what they were having for lunch, but the Chef insisted that it was a surprise. The rest of them were finishing off their desserts when a maid came into the room to announce that their clothes were ready.
“I will see you all at lunch,” said Chef Oliver. With a respectful bow of his head, he delicately gathered the potted plant in his large hands and headed out the door. The maid glanced curiously at the shadowy bloom as he swept past her through the doorway.
*
As the children headed up the stairs to the second floor, they passed maids who were busy dusting surfaces and carrying objects back and forth, such as fresh flowers for the tall vases spread around the house. Some of the vases reached one’s waist in height and were covered with embossed or painted images of angels and nature imagery – the kind of things his mother, Delilah, liked. All the furniture their parents chose to have in their house always had soul while reflecting wealth – according to past guests, their house was ‘an elegant mix of classic and modern design.’
When he entered his room, Syden found his clothes ready for him on his bed, freshly cleaned and neatly folded. There was a lot of white in the pile. He picked up one of the items – a long-sleeve white shirt – and breathed in the scent of it before letting it fall back onto the pile and going to his wardrobe.
He opened the large wooden doors and peered inside. Reaching in, he grabbed the darkest blackest clothes he could find (a simple t-shirt and a pair of jeans), along with some black, ankle-high shoes with white laces. The jeans had skeletal hands painted on the pockets, and the shirt had some graphics on the center along with a word or two in long letters. Wedding or funeral, this was his style, and he wasn’t going to change it for anyone or any occasion.
He dressed up and took a quick glance in the full-length mirror next to the wardrobe. Then he went outside onto his balcony and stood leaning against the railing for a while, until he eventually felt compelled to go look for the others.
He found Sia in her room, sitting in her bed with her little glass apple in her hands. Her eyes were closed as if she was sleeping.
“Hey,” he said at the door. She looked up from her trance and her face lit up.
“You ready?” He asked her, though he already knew she had been dressed and ready earlier than any of them.
Sia smiled and got out of bed with a little bounce. The two of them made their way through the house to their older sister’s room.
But Kate’s door was closed when they got there.
Syden knocked on the door. “What’s taking so long?” he asked, as Sia lingered patiently beside him.
“I’m almost done,” came the answer from within after a few seconds’ pause. Syden and Sia counted the minutes until Kate finally opened the door and let them in.
She looked at Syden with mild surprise, but soon after seemed to simply accept what she saw. His wardrobe choices were not new to her. And she seemed too happy this day to even make a passing comment.
Syden stared back at Kate’s outfit with an equally unsurprised expression. She wore a long, flowing, beige-coloured gown that went down to her ankles, complete with a pearl necklace and a pair of matching slippers. It was modest but elegant. As with most of her clothes, it made her look more mature than her age.
The sunlight pouring into her room from between the parted curtains made her light-brown hair shine like silk. There was peace in her warm, blue eyes.
“You look so pretty,” said Sia.
They waited a little longer until Kate was done with her hair and makeup, then the three of them headed to Alex’s room and knocked. When he opened the door, Syden was not at all surprised to see that his brother had dutifully worn the formal outfit that had been prepared for him. Dark brown pants, white dress shirt, a tie, and a light-brown vest.
A little smirk flickered across his face as he watched Alex stroll over to them.
“Edna’s little pet,” he mused aloud, ignoring the stern look he saw Kate give him out of the corner of his eye. As the head maid who ran the household, Edna was the one who set the tone for the day-to-day as well as special occasions. She liked to treat their home like a little doll house, and they were the dolls.
Whether they were aware of it or not, she influenced a lot of things about their presentation and manners. After all, she practically raised them, before Kate was old enough to take over.
“What took you so long?” Syden asked his brother as they made their way to the ground floor. “Were you polishing your shoes?”
Alex just stared at him with a blank look on his face, but Syden noticed the slightest blush of embarrassment. He knew Kate would scold him if he went on with this commentary, but he was satisfied, so he stopped himself there.
The four of them made their way down the grand stairs and into the main hall. From there they were ushered into the main waiting hall where they met with their parents who were already dressed and waiting for them.
They were a sight to behold.
Their mother was wearing an azure gown that reached her ankles, just above a pair of solid blue, matching high heels. With pale blond hair and creamy white skin, she was an ethereal beauty, made for the limelight. Her hair was partially done up, with a few loose, wavy strands grazing her shoulders. Her makeup was spare and natural-looking, with subtle gold tones that blended with her skin.
Their father, standing beside her, looked like a prince next to a princess. Brown hair combed in a dashing style, black evening coat with a white ruffle shirt beneath.
There was something both old and new about them.
They stood tall together to greet their children. Syden looked at them and thought, this is what the fans see every day. But to the children, they were Mom and Dad first and foremost. They were the only ones who got to see the domestic versions of their parents, off the dreamscape.
They all settled down in the Living room couches and chairs, as maids came in and placed tea and biscuits on the central table.
“We’re just waiting for Leighanna and Charlotte to arrive,” said Damian, who was sitting next to his wife on the white lounge chair. Everything in that room was whiter than usual: the lamps, the vases, the chairs, and the chandelier that hung above all of them. The only color was in the pastel pinks and yellows of the flowers in the vases and the gold details that adorned some of the furniture and the rug.
The children all looked at him.
“Leigh’s coming?” asked Syden, from one of the armchairs in one corner of the room. He didn’t feel strong emotions either way. He simply found it mildly surprising that their older sister actually found time in her hectic high-profile schedule to attend a humble family event.
To his left, on another lounge chair, he could see that Kate was thinking the same. She had that look on her face where she seemed at a loss for words. But he couldn’t tell whether she was happy about it or not.
Sia was the only one who seemed excited.
“I want to ask her what role she’s playing next!” she said, blissfully unaware of the slight increase in tension in the room.
Damian looked at his daughter and smiled. “You’ll find out soon enough,” he said.
***
After some time, they heard the doorbell ring. They waited for the maids to usher in their new visitor.
When Leighanna entered the room, everyone stood up to greet her. Her parents hugged her, Delilah kissed her on both cheeks, Kate and Sia also gave her a hug. Syden said hey, and Alex stood far off and merely watched.
She wore an open-chest, sheer gown covered in silver sequins with a split at the thigh. She looked like she was attending a first showing for one of her dreamscape stories – almost too much of a shining star for their home, regardless of the elegance of the surroundings.
Once everyone had sat back down, the maids refilled the tea and brought in fresh snacks. Syden took a moment to observe his oldest sister, while eating a raspberry-jam-filled biscuit. Her hair was blond like her mother’s, but with a little more color in it, and some streaks. Her beauty was often attributed to their mother, but Syden thought they looked very different in reality.
Delilah’s beauty was like an angel’s – there was something divine about it – while Leighanna’s looks were somehow more fabricated. Flashy clothes, glittery high heels, all that makeup. He had his theories (they all did) about what procedures she might’ve had to enhance her natural attributes. But these things were not spoken about in her presence as that would be considered insensitive…
They found out that her latest story featured her as a young woman from a small town with dreams of becoming a model.
“It’s about how far someone is willing to go to follow their dreams. If all goes well with the casting, Caleb Heavens is going to be playing my love interest,” she was saying above a steaming cup of tea.
“That’s wonderful, sweetheart,” Damian praised. “Who will be directing this one?”
Syden tuned out to the rest of the talk as it did not interest him much. Scenes and scripts, Dreamlores, fans and haters, and more glittery dresses. And names… so many names of so many people whom he had never met: actors, directors, friends of friends. Scandals, awards, achievements and disappointments.
“Caleb Heavens…” Delilah mused. “He’s very talented.”
“I hear he’s a favourite with the girls…” said Damian, smirking teasingly. “If I remember correctly, he got nominated for an award for his role in Love Overseas.”
Leighanna’s face lit up. “I know he’ll win it,” she said, smoothing out her dress over her long, crossed legs. The lights of the chandelier glinted off the sequins every time she moved.
Sia hung onto every word of it, eager for the details, even though she didn’t know as much as their parents did about that other plane of existence. But Syden wanted to be somewhere else.
Again, he looked over at Kate, and saw that she had a nervous expression on her face. Perhaps she was thinking the same thing: Their little sister was still young and impressionable. What sort of influence was Leighanna’s sharing of her carefree lifestyle likely to have on her?
As he was pondering these thoughts, the doorbell rang again. A maid with pretty red curls went to answer the door. When she returned, she had with her another well-dressed young woman – their sister Charlotte.
They had been expecting her as well, though no one knew when she was going to arrive. It was a pleasant surprise. They all greeted her just as they had greeted their eldest sister. But Syden noticed that his siblings were a little more at ease around Charlotte than they had been around Leigh. She even went over to give Alex a hug when she saw him standing at one end of the room.
“You have grown so much!” she said to him, looking at him top to bottom. “Everyone looks so beautiful!”
Charlotte was dressed in a long-sleeve burgundy dress that looked plain next to Leighanna’s sparkles. She wore loop earrings and high heels and her auburn hair fell in thick waves around her shoulders.
Once she was seated, Damian and Delilah began asking about her life. How was she doing? How was her work going? Was she enjoying the balmy weather of her new home away from home?
Charlotte seemed happy to share, though she was not as “tell-all” as her older sister was. When Caleb Heavens was brought up, she seemed a bit sad. Everyone in the family knew Charlotte had wanted to be an actress.
This is going to be a very strange day, thought Syden.
It had been a couple of years since the family had been together like this. He would say they were complete, if it wasn’t for the knowledge of the empty crib gathering dust in some dark place in the vastness of the mansion. It lingered at the edge of his memory, though no one ever talked about it.
Everyone seemed so happy. Leighanna was the first to comment on his outfit.
“Did you misplace your evening clothes?” she asked, with a raised eyebrow.
Syden stared at her unblinkingly.
“Did you misplace your bra?” he said.
Leighanna gave him a wry smile, let the comment go over her head and turned her attention to Kate.
The adults chatted some more about their lives – Leighanna more than anyone else. Syden had no interest in listening to her talk about her 17 celebrity crushes. He thought his parents were incredibly patient to listen to all this as attentively as they were doing.
In the end, it was Kate who changed the subject and brought everyone out of the Dreamscape for a moment.
“It’s great that everyone is here today,” she said. “I’m sure Auntie Elizabeth will be very happy to see us all together.”
This got them started talking about the past, about the days when their aunt used to visit them often – back when they were young children. The maids, too, seemed to recall the times fondly. The ones that were around back then remembered Elizabeth’s daughter Cela as being “very pretty” like a doll and “incredibly polite.”
Henna in particular had a lot of memories. “It was always the three of you,” she said, standing at the edge of the circle and looking lost in reminiscence. “Syden, Kate, and Cela. Always playing some game together or exploring the wilderness… So full of energy.”
“We were all heartbroken when they left…” said Delilah, taking a sip of her tea silently.
“Well, today we get to see them again, mother,” said Kate. This brightened Delilah’s mood, though she still looked a bit sad beneath the smile.
See Part 2 Here
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Ashe Reviews: The Grimrose Girls (book 1) - Laura Pohl
Spoiler free/limited spoiler summary: This girl, Ariane, dies and her three friends are trying to get over and solve her death. Then, a new girl comes to their boarding school. Also, there are weird fairytale things happening.
(I’m changing the style of my reviews)
A more in depth summary:
Ariane’s death is ruled as suicide, but none of the girls really believe that, except Yuki. They’re each coping, not well, but coping. Rory is pissed off, Ella is frantically knitting, and Yuki blames herself. This new girl, Nani, moves into Rory and Yuki’s dorm. She ends up helping them solve Ariane’s death. They find a book of fairytales and figure out that the fairytales control the lives of some of the girls at the school, including them and Ariane. Ariane was the little mermaid, Yuki is snow white, Ella is obviously Cinderella, and Rory is sleeping beauty. At the end, this girl Penelope, who was the main suspect, turns out to not be the real Penelope. Penelope was the goose girl her alter ego killed her and replaced her. Yuki murders Penelope and the book ends.
Parts I enjoyed:
-Yuki is canonically aroace. She’s best girl and I love her (as a character)
-They’re all queer. It’s queer. Very queer. Yuki: aroace icon Rory: lesbian Nani: also lesbian I think? Ella: not officially said, but she’s demi and pan. Also, there’s a trans girl, who is also best girl and I love her.
-I like how they translated the fairytales to modern boarding school. I think they’re pretty well done, except maybe Nani’s.
-The deaths. There are a lot, I won’t spoil them all, but they’re good.
-The banter and real life things that happen alongside supernatural fairytales and dying. The romantic subplot with Ella is actually decent and I didn’t hate it.
Things I didn’t like:
-The queerness seems almost forced at times. Like, it’s trying almost too hard. The way they handled Yuki coming out wasn’t really the best in my opinion as an aroflux asexual.
-Some of the banter also seems forced.
-The girls take SO FUCKING LONG to figure out the fairytale thing. It was hard to read at points.
-The ending seemed a little rushed.
-That cliffhanger, which I’m pretty sure is because it will (probably) get a sequel, but still, how dare it. This is why I don’t read series.
Favorite character:
Yuki. Reason one, I think she’s the most interesting. She’s got this mysterious vibe and her pov chapters are great. Reason two, I think she’s the least tethered to the friend group of the original three, and it’s interesting to read her interactions with Penelope. Reason three, her bottling up emotions and then snapping at the others *chefs kiss*. Reason four, she’s canonically aroace and no romace plots!!
Did I enjoy reading this? Do I recommend it?
Yes! Very much. I think it’s worth a read if you like modern fairytale retellings, boarding schools, or queer girls being friends.
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First Artfight round up!!! Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6
Characters belong to @stayingdead / @ninebrokenclocks / @baelfin / @robobot / @lemoncustard / @mothman420 / @grimrose / @twister-teller / @wheatleygrim
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