#alex woodroe

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: Tenebrous at 3

Matt Blairstone: i'm matt blairstone of tenebrous press Blairstone: publisher of such quality literature as split scream Blairstone: featuring bitter karella's The Ballad of Horse Girl Blairstone: available where ever fine books are sold King: sorry, what was that name again? King: i forgot Blairstone: it's bitter karella Blairstone: B-I-T-T...

Blairstone: a lot of people know us mostly as the publisher of Bitter Karella's the Ballad of Horse girl Blairstone: but in 3 years Tenebrous Press has published plenty of other fine horror literature Blairstone: like the anthology Your Body is Not Your Body, featuring Bitter Karella's The Divine Carcass Blairstone: and the Brave New Weird anthology, featuring Bitter Karella's Low Tide Jenny

Blairstone: i'm matt blairstone and this is my associate alex woodroe Blairstone: an authentic Romanian crone King: kind of young for a crone isn't she? Blairstone: oh it's state of mind Alex Woodroe: i cast the evil eye upon you, nenorocit

King: tell us more about tenebrous press Blairstone: well it's an indie press dedicated to all that's weird Woodroe: foolish youth hold your tongue! Woodroe: these occult secrets are not for the ears of ignorant outsiders! Woodroe: begone, outsider! your kind isn't welcome here!

King: look i'm just trying to get some service at this mysterious roadside inn at the edge of the dark woods King: and it's almost like you don't want my business Woodroe: in old country, we chase you with pitchfork mob for less than this!

King: fine maybe i'll just be on my way Woodroe: leave but be ye warned! Woodroe: stay off the moors! Woodroe: stray not from the road! Woodroe: don't go into the deep dark forest! Woodroe: and stay away from the mysterious castle! King: that's a lot to remember King: i'd better write this down

Blairstone: can you believe that we've been publishing fine horror such as Bitter KArella's The Ballad of Horse Girl for 3 years now? Blairstone: where does the time go? Alex Woodroe: only in america! Woodroe: what a country! Woodroe: in America, you find party Woodroe: in soviet Romania, party find you! Woodroe: [turning to camera] the fun fact is that pigs, like humans, can get sunburned

Blairstone: wow! 3 years! can you believe it? Woodroe: in romania, we mark occasion by sacrifice of the cockerel and eating of the turnip Woodroe: we thank president Dracula for our good fortune Woodroe: and vice president Frankenstein Woodroe: and speaker of the house wolfman Blairstone: i'm learning so much

Blairstone: of course in 3 years we've published other things Blairstone: like colin Hinkley's the black lord Blairstone: about an eldritch god in the woods menacing an innocent family Woodroe: in old country, is documentary filmed in real time as it happen

Blairstone: and Anthony Engebretson's lumberjack Blairstone: about a lumberjack who's a real fuck up Engebretson: he's also dealing with this evil imp Engebretson: but yeah also he's a fuck up Woodroe: in America, you jack lumber Woodroe: in old country, lumber jack you!

King: wow it sounds like you've got some real WEIRD literature there! Jeff Vandermeer: did someone say... WEIRDDDDDD?? Blairstone: That's right! there's so many weird and unusual books Blairstone: and its all happening right now... Woodroe: at tenebrous press!

In all seriousness, Tenebrous Press is doing incredible work on the indie horror scene and, if you haven't read their offerings, you owe it to yourself to take a gander over at https://tenebrouspress.com/. My very first story ever published was The Divine Carcass in Tenebrous' Your Body is Not Your Body, and I would not be where I am today had it not been for Tenebrous. Go see what weirdness they've got cooked up for their three year anniversary!

[do-you-know-this-adhd-character]

Do you know this (canon) ADHD character?

Proof: Discussed within the book, from chapter 2

[rosemariecawkwell]

My Favourite Sci Fi and Fantasy of 2023

[whitebelt-witch]

hej! I just finished reading Your Body is Not Your Body, a queer/trans horror anthology edited by Alex Woodroe and Matt Blairstone, and published by Tenebrous Press in 2022.

I LOVED this collection so much! As is the case with any anthology comprised of multiple creators, some contributions really hit while others really didn’t, and some were just simply not my speed. regardless of my feelings of the individual tales, however, my identity as a weird girl who loves the horrific implications of a Body In Transition left me feeling so happy that there exists enough work in this niche that is unique enough for me to have such a varied experience with this book.

Much of the writing was also quite resonant, shoutout to in particular to Ori Jay and Bitter Karella’s style. However if I had to highlight two stories for being the standout works in the collection I have to highlight Viktor Athelstan’s “Brother Maternitas” and Avi Burton’s “Fencing Chestplate.” The former concerns a devout medieval monk who undergoes a surprising change (and features an ending that had my jaw ON THE FLOOR), while the latter tale is about a young student who will take…hellish measures to make his dream sports team.

Overall though if you’re looking for weird horror fiction about bodies, I cannot recommend this collection enough!

[theweirdspacejellyfish]

trans book recs

trans rites by v.f. thompson, summary- a anthology, to embody transness is to change shape, to become something else. the theorist judith butler refers to the construction of gender as a process of ritual and naturalization. hear our screams, our howls, our primal gibbering, our moonlight dances and our bleeding guts.

your body is not your body by alex woodroe, summary- a anthology, the rules of conventional horror go out the fucking window in this collection of stories featuring cosmic malice, technological killing machines, murderous pleasure bots, acid filled alien cops, werid worm implants, witchcraft, mad science, proselytizing zombies, ghouls, sorcerers and cannibals and that just begins to scratch the grave dirt

hell followed with us by Andrew joseph white, summary- sixteen year old trans boy benji is on the run from the cult that raised him, the fundamentalist sect that unleashed armageddon and decimated the worlds population. desperately, he searches for a place where the cult cant get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with. but when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local acheson lgbtq center, affectionately known as the alc. the alc leader, nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows benjis darkest secret. the cults bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all. still nick offers benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the alc. benji accepts nicks terms.. until he discovers the alcs mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own.

bound in flesh by lor gislason, summary- an anthology, 13 trans and non binary writers using horror to both explore the darkest depths of the genre and the boundaries of flesh

[rebb003]

Book 14 of 2023: BRAVE NEW WEIRD: THE BEST NEW WEIRD HORROR VOL. 1, edited by Alex Woodroe. The title says it all, folks. Delightfully weird stuff.

[kamreadsandrecs]

Title: All the Feels (Spoiler Alert #2)

Author: Olivia Dade

Genre/s: romance, contemporary romance

Content/Trigger Warning/s: fatphobia, implied physical abuse, implied emotional abuse

Summary (from author's page): Alexander Woodroe has it all. Charm. Sex appeal. Wealth. Fame. A starring role as Cupid on TV’s biggest show, Gods of the Gates. But the showrunners have wrecked his character, he’s dogged by old demons, and his post-show future remains uncertain. When all that reckless emotion explodes into a bar fight, the tabloids and public agree: his star is falling.

Enter Lauren Clegg, the former ER therapist hired to keep him in line. Compared to her previous work, watching over handsome but impulsive Alex shouldn’t be especially difficult. But the more time they spend together, the harder it gets to keep her professional remove and her heart intact, especially when she discovers the reasons behind his recklessness…not to mention his Cupid fanfiction habit.

When another scandal lands Alex in major hot water and costs Lauren her job, she’ll have to choose between protecting him and offering him what he really wants—her. But he’s determined to keep his improbably short, impossibly stubborn, and extremely endearing minder in his life any way he can. And on a road trip up the California coast together, he intends to show her exactly what a falling star will do to catch the woman he loves: anything at all.

Buy Here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/all-the-feels-olivia-dade/16136003

Spoiler-Free Review: Oh this really was a delight to read! Any (admittedly slight) concerns I had about the leads reading too similarly to the ones of Spoiler Alert were immediately allayed once I got into the story. Alex and Lauren are both absolutely darling and their relationship developed in a way that was uniquely theirs.

Fandom and fanfic play a role in this novel, but not to the same extent as in the first one. Instead, celebrity gossip and scandal are at the center of the plot, working alongside the concept of a celebrity destroying their own career through ill-considered choices. As the novel goes on, it becomes a story about guilt and atonement, accountability and acceptance. It shows how, while it’s important to be aware of one’s own flaws and mistakes, one cannot hold oneself accountable for things that one had no control over; trying to do so is a shortcut to self-destruction.

The novel also tackles how, in an attempt to make things right, it’s possible to do more harm than good - especially when one’s “solution” to a problem oversteps the boundaries put in place by other people, or otherwise harms them. For that matter, even if the solution only harms oneself, that can still hurt the people around one because they wouldn’t want to see one get hurt in the first place.

Another important theme is how one must place value in one’s own self. While it’s possible to go overboard and become utterly selfish, it’s just as bad to constantly put other’s needs above one’s own. It’s another kind of self-destruction, and incredibly insidious because it’s easy to slip into the idea that one is doing good for the world by sacrificing oneself on the altar of unmitigated selflessness. (Incidentally it was this theme that gutted me the most, and I willingly admit I had a bit of a come-to-Jesus moment that I may need to talk over with my therapist.)

Overall, this was a lovely continuation of the Spoiler Alert series, telling a story connected to, but still distinct from, that of the first book. The two leads are really fun to read about, and following the progress of their relationship is an absolute delight, but it’s the themes interwoven through their story that really made this book really stand out and shine.

Rating: five bits of seaglass

[bethly126]

Quick Review: All the Feels by Olivia Dade

Screenshot This book absolutely is full of feels. This is a sequel to Spoiler Alert and, in the tradition of romance novels, it follows two characters introduced and/or mentioned in the previous book. Alex Woodroe is a star of the hit TV show Gods of the Gates and Lauren Clegg is the unfortunate person hired to be his minder by the show’s production company after he gets in a bar fight as the…

[thehorrortree]

[caption id="attachment_637897" align="aligncenter" width="1597"] Art by Matt Blairstone[/caption] Deadline: November 1st, 2023 Payment: $25 and 2 contributor's copies Theme: Works published between the 31st of October 2022 and the 31st of October 2023 will be considered for the Best New Weird Horror of 2022. Tenebrous Press presents the SECOND YEAR of the Brave New Weird Awards—to reward and further this unique blend of genres—and its accompanying Brave New Weird: the Best New Weird Horror of the Year VOLUME 2, showcasing the winners of the year, care of editor Alex Woodroe. We define New Weird Horror as a Horror subgenre focused on progress, creatively capturing themes and questions that bleed into fiction straight from the modern reader's life and future. It acts as a challenge to break new ground in terms of form and content and to engage with the unknown. Beyond that, New Weird Horror will be defined by the winning pieces themselves. Buzzwords: speculative; eclectic; horror-centric but genre-blended; progressive and innovative in terms of content, social themes, form, or voice; concept-driven. Does this sound like your writing? Submit your previously published work to the New Weird Horror Awards today! Disclaimer:  TENEBROUS IS A YOUNG PRESS LOOKING TO HAVE FUN IN THE WORLD OF HORROR AND BUILD A COMMUNITY OF LIKE-MINDED PEERS. WE’RE NOT CLAIMING THIS AWARD WILL WOW YOUR DREAM AGENT OR SINGLE-HANDEDLY SELL YOUR BOOK. IT’S A WAY TO SHOWCASE REPRINTS THAT WE LOVE IN A GENRE THAT WE CARE ABOUT, AND GET THEM INTO THE HANDS OF MORE READERS—NO FUSS, NO LOBBYING, NO HIDDEN COSTS. Eligibility:  Any previously published piece of short fiction under 7.499 words originally published in the English language within the eligibility period. You may submit NARRATIVE poems only; poems will be judged on their storytelling. Stories published in other languages are welcome if there is an English translation available. Reprints of stories originally published before the eligibility period are not eligible. Any work published through Tenebrous Press is not eligible. We already think you're awesome, regardless. Previous year’s winners are not eligible this year. Nominees are eligible. If you are unsure of the genre of your story, as long as it’s dark, speculative, and eligible, send it in. Eligibility period:  Works published between the 31st of October 2022 and the 31st of October 2023 will be considered for the Best New Weird Horror of 2022.  Simply: If it's published before Halloween, it competes for this year's award. If it's published after Halloween, it competes for next year's award. Final submission deadline for this year's award: November 1st, 2023. Send ARCS if necessary to get the submission in on time. Response:  AS THIS IS AN AWARD, THERE WILL NOT BE ANY REJECTION NOTICES.  Instead, if we want to award & feature a story, we will reach out to the author. There will be a published shortlist, and the shortlisted works that don’t end up being featured will still be mentioned & advertised in the anthology. Final decisions will be made before the end of the year. Results: Selected authors will be asked to sign a non-exclusive contract allowing their reprint to be featured.  A reprint payment of $25 + two paperback copies + one award certificate will be given to the selected authors. How to submit:  Submit individual short stories as a link or as a .doc or .docx ANYONE may submit up to five stories. Readers, editors, and the authors themselves are all welcome to submit ***UPDATE*** Anyone submitting on behalf of authors other than oneself is allowed to double the number of submissions. Due to increased interest and participation from editors and readers wanting to submit a wide range of authors, we’ve decided to update this rule and foster that spirit of support and community. ***UPDATE*** ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS ONLY. SUBMIT YOUR WORK VIA OUR HANDY FORM HERE, USING A NEW FORM FOR EACH STORY. Authors: Be sure your contract stipulates

you are allowed to participate in Best Of anthologies, or ask permission from your publisher BEFORE submitting.  Publishers/editors: Be sure your authors give you permission to submit their work before submitting. Readers: Do your best to fill out all the data, but rest assured that we will look for whatever is missing. Please don’t feel discouraged from nominating works just because you don’t have all the info. Other rules:  You may speak about this award, submitting to this award, and being shortlisted for this award, in any way you like.  You may have multiple submissions of the same author/publisher; up to five (see above). If we missed anything, drop us a line or DM! ***SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW OPEN.*** Via: Tenebrous Press.

[itsbuckbeakbitch]

Olivia Dade Character Zodiac Signs

I haven’t seen anything about the characters from Spoiler Alert or All the Feels signs, so I thought I’d give it my best guess...

April Whittier

Sun: Pisces

Moon: Taurus

Rising: Virgo

Marcus Caster-Rupp

Sun: Virgo

Moon: Virgo

Rising: Leo

Alex Woodroe

Sun: Aries

Moon: Sagittarius

Rising: Leo

Lauren Clegg

Sun: Aquarius

Moon: Aquarius

Rising: Capricorn

Thoughts?

[stardustandrockets]

✨️Mid-Year Book Check-ln!✨️

What book has surprised you most this year?

The first six months of the year are over, so let's have a bit of a check-in!

Best book of 2023 so far: ☆The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrew—Unless I read something exponentially better, I foresee this being my favorite book of the year

Best sequel of 2023 so far: ☆All the Feels by Olivia Dade—I haven't stopped thinking about Alex Woodroe since I read this book in February

Favorite reread: ☆A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske

New release you haven't read yet, but want to: ☆Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year: ☆New Adult by Timothy Janovsky, Bishop Takes King by Ashley Poston, and The Library of Shadows by Rachel Moore

Biggest disappointment: ☆Midnight Duet by Jen Comfort—The only reason I'm putting this here is because it was way hornier than I anticipated

Biggest surprise: ☆Even Though I Knew The End by C.L. Polk—This novella reads like a sapphic Supernatural fanfic and I am here for it!

New favorite author: ☆Kelly Andrew—She only has the one book out right now, but damn did it blow me away

Newest favorite character: ☆Colton Price from The Whispering Dark

Book that made you cry: ☆Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune—As problematic as he is, I loved this book and didn't expect it to make me cry

Book that made you happy: ☆Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee and The Princess and the Grilled Cheese by Deya Muniz—Both books were absolutely delightful and made me laugh far more than anticipated

Most beautiful book purchase: ☆The Name-Bearer by Natalia Hernandez—The Rainbow Crate edition is absolutely stunning 😍

[godlesshorrors]

𝗕𝗘 𝗕𝗥𝗔𝗩𝗘! 𝗕𝗘 𝗪𝗘𝗜𝗥𝗗! Tenebrous Press has given us quite a few weird books over the past year, but nothing can prepare you for the weirdness of Brave New Weird. An anthology of 22 weird and wild stories, Brave New Weid is jam-packed with so much weird shit, you'll lose your mind. Reading all of them will be the literary equivalent of LSD! Get ready to enter the world of weird! You won't be able to come back. Brave New Weird is a buck cheaper on Godless for a limited time. 𝗚𝗘𝗧 𝗕𝗥𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗪𝗘𝗜𝗥𝗗 𝗡𝗢𝗪! https://godless.com/products/brave-new-weird-the-best-new-weird-horror-volume-one-edited-by-alex-woodroe-matt-blairstone-1 _______________ Brave New Weird The End is Weird. In the event of cosmic fallout, it is vital that you adhere to the following: Secure your own persona, and a backup if available. A neighbor’s is acceptable. Your skin may attempt to abscond. This is normal in these situations. Ignore all notifications from your mobile devices. They are not to be trusted. Pay no mind to the details of that photograph. Yes, that one. Should your body accrue any additional limbs, please keep proper inventory; they will need to be accounted for. Avoid celebrity advice. Do not feed the bears. You will feel dizzy. You will feel nausea. This will pass. Step bravely. And most importantly: Do not panic. Featuring 22 stories previously published by some of the most dynamic independent publishers in the fields of Horror and Speculative Fiction today, as well as essays on the state of Horror fiction & comics, additional recommended reading and more. 𝗚𝗘𝗧 𝗕𝗥𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗪𝗘𝗜𝗥𝗗 𝗡𝗢𝗪! https://godless.com/products/brave-new-weird-the-best-new-weird-horror-volume-one-edited-by-alex-woodroe-matt-blairstone-1 _______________ #godless #godlessapp #godlesshorror #godlesshorrrors #horror #horrorbooks #horrorbookstagram #indiehorror #indiebooks #indiebookstagram #supportindie #godless2023 (at Los Angeles, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CoU1g2Or6mR/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[rosemariecawkwell]

Review: Whisperwood, by Alex Woodroe

● Genre – Fiction > Dark Fantasy > Fairy Tales, Folklore & Mythology● ISBN hardcover – 9781787588431● ISBN paperback – 9781787588424● ISBN ebook – 9781787588448● Pricing [USD] $26.95 (HC) / $16.95 (PB) / $4.99 (EB)● Releases July 11 2023● Published by Flame Tree Press● Distributed by Simon & Schuster  SYNOPSIS A must-read dark fantasy debut for fans of “The Witcher”, woodland survival guides,…

[kristipetersenschoonover]

Time to celebrate! ANNE RICE TRIBUTE ANTHO is here and gets awesome reviews!

Time to celebrate! ANNE RICE TRIBUTE ANTHO is here and gets awesome reviews!

IT’S RELEASE DAY FOR DANCING IN THE SHADOWS: A TRIBUTE TO ANNE RICE! Don’t miss this one—fabulous gothic stories, 100% of proceeds goes to Animal Rescue of New Orleans. No one in this antho has made or gets a dime. Help us help them! In addition, this volume, which includes my short story “Haint Gonna Happen,” has been getting rave reviews—The World According to Jay! calls it “a party for Anne…

[statecryptids]

Your Body is Not Your Body

 edited by Alex Woodroe with Matt Blairstone

For some trans, nonbinary, and intersex folks, their body can become a kind of nightmare prison. Things feel wrong or off (though obviously, this isn’t true for every gender non-conforming person, and everyone expresses their gender differently). They might feel that their body is not in their control. And sometimes, even when they do start to take command of their own appearance and presentation, someone else tries to take that autonomy from them.

This anthology was created in response to the recent attempts by the Texas government to criminalize trans and gender non-conforming youth and their families. It is an angry cry and push-back against those who try to steal a person’s basic rights to their own body.  

The stories within explore all manner of body horror, existential dread, and bizarre imagery. There are medieval monks experiencing demonic pregnancies; A housewife baking up her own Frankenstein creature; a trans boy summoning Hellish powers so he can join the fencing team; a space cathedral carrying the corpse of God to inter in a dead star; high school girls holding in their frustration and anger until they literally explode; and even more bizarre, phantasmal sights.

Horror is about exploring the dark, often uncomfortable places of the human experience and these stories can get bloody raw, exploring themes of physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault, violence, and transphobia. I definitely had to put the book down a few times to take a breather. However, these stories are not meant merely for shock value or torture porn. They are catharsis for writers and readers both. A way of capturing and dragging the horrors out into the daylight. The edits are aware of how upsetting some of these tales can be, though, and have included an appendix of content warnings for each one.

Your Body is Not Your Body is also steeped in the genre of Weird fiction, defined as a mix of horror, fantasy, and sci-fi that is experimental, and often transgressive. Several stories play with the structure of narrative, occasionally breaking it down to the point that one may need to read a few times to figure out what is going on. Or maybe you’re meant to piece together your own explanation for what is happening. This may be a bit off-putting for readers who prefer a more linear horror narrative, but the stories run through many styles, and there is something everyone can appreciate.

Your Body is Not Your Body is available in paperback from Tenebrous Press.

[christinaroseandrews]

After getting into a bar fight, Alexander Woodroe is in trouble. This isn't new. Thanks to his ADHD, he often gets into trouble. But this time it's different, the two producers of the tv show that he stars on have had enough of his antics. To keep him in line, they assign him a minder... one of the producer's cousins. A woman who looks like a bird and is remarkably unflappable. Considering that she's his minder, Alex finds himself liking her. And then feeling more...

In desperate need of a break from her life as an ER therapist, Lauren Clegg didn't expect to get a job keeping tabs on a bonafide celebrity. But to keep the peace in her family when her cousin Ron asks for her help, she gives it. Grudgingly. It doesn't help that she finds Alex attractive but also a bit of an a-hole. A charming a-hole, but an a-hole regardless. Still, she can't help but like him... and maybe even feel more for him. But her assignment is only for nine months, besides guys like him never fall for a girls like her. Except when he does...

Note: This book needs the following trigger warnings -- ableism, fatphobia, body shaming, discussion of domestic abuse, discussion of workplace harassment, discussion of sexual harassment, discussion of mental illness. There may be more I missed, but this book handles the subject matters well. IMHO Also fixed fonts and font changes are present in the finished product, it’s something to keep in mind if you have a visual processing issue like I do (dyslexia, seizure, and migraine).

Okay, All the Feels totally lives up to its title. This book hit me in the feels. Multiple times. Like so many times. When I first read Spoiler Alert, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this story. I wasn't totally in love with Alex, and Lauren wasn't a major character in the first book at all. But I trusted that the author would be able to make this pairing work, and she did.

There's a lot of good in here. First off, can we talk about how Alex has ADHD and how it manifests? We get to see his Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria and how it can cause him to make poor decisions or jump to conclusions. We get to see how the medications that he takes for it both help and hurt. We get to see his decision processes which can be a bit chaotic and feel impulsive to the extreme. We get to see how he hyper-fixates and also how he struggles. The portrayal of ADHD in this is well done and while there is no one universal ADHD experience this is a pretty good portrayal in fiction.

I also like the theme of choice that runs through this book. People have to choose for themselves who they want to be. But sometimes they needs a little help making good decisions. And that goes for everyone.

I really found myself liking Alex as a character. Especially his joy in simple things like taking walks, various fanfic tropes, and even just going on an old fashioned road trip. His acceptance of fan culture and his desire to be a part of it was adorable. I mean there's a discussion on Sex Pollen. Sex Pollen for goodness sakes!  I loved it.

I also really liked Lauren. She's comfortable and content in her skin even if the rest of the world isn't. While she doesn't like being made fun of for things she can't control (who does?), she doesn't let others define her. However, what she does do is rate her own self worth as lower than those around her. This isn't a fat person problem, although it does happen a lot with people who are overweight/fat. It's a human problem. Particularly a woman problem. And I like that her growth is in finding her worth and what will make her happy while not sucking all of the joy out of her life.

There's some great supporting characters. The cast of the show are great as in the first book. And I really liked that we got to see Marcus being a good friend. It's also nice to see a good parent in these books. Alex's mom is kinda awesome. Lauren also has her own support system, but it's smaller and that's part of her arc. There's just so much in this book that I loved. I laughed out loud so many times. So so many times. I found the little interludes great.... particularly the group chats... (it's honestly all about Whiskers ~_^)

Additionally, I loved the consent. I loved that both leads were in their late thirties. I loved that the book featured a plus-sized heroine who was okay with her weight... even if the rest of the world wasn't.

The only disappointment was that there wasn’t a pegging scene. The author states that they wrote one but it had to be cut for length. Considering that there isn’t a lot of sex in this book, I can understand that.

Honestly, I hope that there's more to this series. This book and the previous book are going on my reread list and if you're a fan of fandom and plus-sized romances, then you need to read this book.

This book hit me right in the feels. And for that it gets...

Five stars

If this is your jam, you can get it here!

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I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley