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sweetlysilent · 7 years ago

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Wasn't Good Enough

Requested By: Nobody

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Description: Peter has a secret that he’s been hiding, but in order to protect you from it, he thinks breaking up with you is his only option.

Warnings: It’s sad :(

Friendly PSA: Please do not steal my writing without my permission, or flat out steal it at all. It’s super disrespectful and 100% plagiarism. So, if you’re someone who does steal other peoples’ work, think about what you’re doing before you hit that copy button. Thank you!

A/N: Ayeeee it’s my first Blurb!! I wrote this two days ago at like 2am and I was reading this imagine (it’s hella good btw go check it out) and it sparked something in me bc I could see this happening, Enjoy.

Everyone has a time in their life when they sit down and think, thinking about their past, present, and future, and simply wonder, what could you have done/or been doing different?

So you sit there, your brain wracking for the answers you lack, but there are none, simply because you truly didn’t know.

Instead, you look back on the good times, the times you’d rather remember rather than the ones that burden you almost everyday.

You’d sit there and laugh at the memories, which was all they were to you now, memories.

“Hey Y/N?” Peter questioned, looking over at you with his brows furrowed, making you smile.

“Yes, Peter?” You’d respond, a quiet giggle escaping your lips.

“If I’m standing outside, does that mean I’m outstanding?” He grinned, looking over at you as your eyes widened slightly, laughter escaping your lips as his stupid joke.

“O-Oh my god, P-Peter!” You’d laugh, making his face tint red, him beginning to laugh along with you.

“I’m serious!” He’d whine, making you laugh even harder.

Those were the good days.

And then the laughter would stop, and you’d sit there alone, blankly staring out the window, wondering to yourself, where did it all go wrong?

In a matter of seconds your life was great, you’d never been happier, but it can take even less time for it to be ruined, taken away from you, leaving you empty and broken.

And that’s what Peter Parker did, he broke you, making you feel empty and alone in just a matter of seconds.

And now, here you are, staring out the window at the busy streets of Queens, the city lights reflecting off your window into your apartment, an aching pain in your chest, your brain once again wracking for answers, only to end up leaving you with more questions.

Where did it really all go wrong? Were you too blind to see the red flags? Did you not love him enough? What had you done wrong? What made him do what he did?

A tear would slip down your cheek, a frustrated sigh escaping your lips, this was an ongoing process since the breakup three months ago.

And yet everyday, you’d sit in the same place, going through the same process, all over a boy who no longer wanted you.

“Y/N, we need to talk.” Peter spoke up suddenly, walking you up to your door to your apartment.

“Yeah, sure, what’s up?” You’d smile, turning to face him only to see his face filled with sorrow.

“This.. us.. it’s not working anymore.. I-I’m s-sorry..” He’d whisper, and for a second you thought he was joking, but when a tear would slip down his cheek you knew he was serious.

“I-I don’t understand..” You’d whisper back, your hands starting to shake, this wasn’t real, was it?

Peter would look at the ground guilty, avoiding your heartbreaking gaze.

“W-Was I n-not good e-enough?” You’d choke out, his head snapping up quickly, his eyes wide at your question.

Of course you were good enough, you were the only girl for him, but he needed to protect you, protect you from his alter ego, Spider-Man and what came with that version of him.

But, at the time, Peter couldn’t form the words, he couldn’t tell you how wrong you were and how much you meant to him, he just froze.

So, in response, you just nodded your head, your heart now shattered, your eyes bloodshot red.

And that was the last time you ever spoke to him.

Your friends would ask you what happened between the two of you, at first you’d ignore them, pretending it wasn’t reality and that it truly never did happen, but as time passed you had soon started to accept it, and then one day you finally cracked, and answered their question they had been dying to know.

You let out an annoyed sigh, stopping in the middle of the hallway, your friends gathering around you, eager to hear your answer after waiting for so long.

Your mouth parted, about to finally speak when a certain pair of brown eyes locked with yours, making your heart stop, the shattering feeling slowly creeping back into your heart.

You both couldn’t tear your eyes away from each other, his eyes looked tired and lost, while yours looked empty and alone, and before you knew it, those four words slipped past your quivering lips.

“I wasn’t good enough.”

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rosebete · 7 years ago

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Gift Exchange Fic

Happy Holidays! Hope you enjoy this, it’s been great getting to know you the past few weeks :D

Hooked on All These Feelings

The snow fell, silently, onto the grounds outside the library window. Belle hadn’t yet noticed the change in weather, as she was currently reading one of the few mystery novels at the castle she hadn’t yet read, and was getting caught up in the unravelling investigation. While admittedly slow in the setup of the mystery, the novel was swiftly growing denser and denser with each revelation. She was sat on a window seat, one leg curled beneath her, the other dangling over the edge towards the floor. The curve of her skirt – a light green that brought out the same colour in her eyes – was deep enough to cover most of her lower body in its volumes of fabric, but it was not quite long enough, given her current position, to cover the good inch of her stockinged calf that showed between her skirt hem and her boot.

The boot wasn’t hers – none of the clothes she was currently wearing belonged to her, as a matter of fact. She had arrived at the castle still in summer shoes and a light dress, to match the light, breezy October day. When November breezes had blustered across the countryside and begun to chill the castle, both the Beast and her servants had insisted that Belle wear some of the clothes in the wardrobes, since they were actually made with winter in mind. She had agreed, probably more out of her own discomfort than because the Beast had asked her to. They were still wary of each other then, unsure where either stood. The Beast flattered herself that they were closer now. It might have been because of Belle’s sweet smile, or the way she could laugh at the Beast, or crack jokes. Or it might have been because seeing a beautiful woman wearing the Beast’s old clothes, and looking far more comfortable in them than she ever had, did something complicated and strange to her heart.

Belle’s foot swung idly back and forth, in time to the rhythm of some song that only she could hear. The Beast watched her out the corner of one eye. The eyelets caught the light as her foot moved, glinting copper. The same copper could be seen in Belle’s hair, thick and resplendent over her shoulders. The Beast could count the number of times Belle had worn her hair loose on one hand. The first had been the night she ran into the woods, and the Beast had run to save her.

(She can still remember it now, over a year since the transformation, although she doesn’t like to. The loss of her temper, and the look of terror on Belle’s face. How Belle ran out of the castle as quickly as she could, reneging on her promise – and who could blame her? A guilt-ridden check of the mirror, which revealed the wolves, which resulted in her following Belle to the forest before she consciously chose to. She can still see the scars on her forearm that the wolf-fight left, no longer raised and pink, but there nevertheless. She can still remember the split-second before the wolves noticed her presence, and one was inches away from Belle’s face. She doesn’t remember fainting from shock, or the half-conscious state in which Belle eased her onto Phillippe and took her back home. But she remembers waking up in her armchair before the fire, and seeing Belle, her hair loose around her shoulders, worn out and worried, but there, for better or worse.)

The second time had been a week ago at some point during the night, when both of them had come to the library for some comfort-reading. Belle had been in her shift, dark circles under her eyes and hair half-falling out of the plait she had braided it into for sleep. It had taken her a moment to realise that the Beast was there, and she had jumped at the sight of her.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” she’d said. “I didn’t realise anyone was awake.”

“I come here sometimes, when I have trouble sleeping,” the Beast had responded by way of explanation. “Books are a comfort, aren’t they?”

“Yes,” Belle had smiled. “I never felt quite as alone, growing up, as long as I something to read. Whenever I had a nightmare, or trouble sleeping, I’d open my curtains and read by the lamplight – or the moonlight, once we moved to the country.”

“You didn’t always live in Molyneaux?” The Beast had sat at that point, realising that the conversation would not be their typical short exchange.

“No,” Belle said. “My parents and I used to live in Paris, many years ago. But there was a plague scare, when I was around five or six, and they decided to leave for Lyons. After my mother died, Papa decided to move to the countryside, and we lived in several different towns before Molyneaux.” The speech, tempered as it was with a hint of a smile, had the air of something well-rehearsed.

“Have you been living in Molyneaux long?” the Beast had asked. A decade of speaking with the same people had left her conversational skills rusty, to say the least, but she could remember the basics of politeness.

“Since I was fifteen, so … nearly five years, now,” Belle said. “I didn’t realise it had been that long,” she added in a murmur.

“Did you … like it there?” The Beast was unsure why she had kept questioning her. The topic of Belle’s life was one which could only bring awkwardness to both parties. But there was something intriguing in Belle’s words and manner which had urged the Beast to keep her talking.

Belle had shrugged. “It was very beautiful,” she’d said. “Like a painting. Or a model set. And the town was always bustling with some news or other.”

The Beast had said nothing, instead letting her tail swish silently beneath the folds of her shift. She had almost forgotten that she was wearing something feminine in front of Belle – but when trousers were more dignified for everyday use, and the cut of her old clothes only emphasised the form which she no longer possessed, it was little wonder that stays, petticoats, and bodices held little of the appeal they once had. She now only wore her shift to sleep in, and she had decided long ago not to question how her clothes had altered to her new size.

Judging the conversation to be at an end, the Beast had walked over to the farthest corner of the opposite sofa to where Belle was sitting, just close enough that the candlelight could reach her. There, she picked up the book she had abandoned earlier that day – a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo she was making her way through for the third time. Silently, the two women had read until the candle began sputtering hopelessly – and by then, the first light of predawn had begun to stain the horizon. The Beast had looked up, noticing the differing quality of light, only to see that Belle had fallen asleep in the middle of reading her book. Her plait had come fully undone by then, the shimmering ribbon tangled in her dark hair. Without putting much thought to the action, the Beast had lifted a spare throw from another chair and draped it over Belle’s body, tucking it in with almost impersonal neatness at her shoulders, knees, and feet. She’d fled in a panic moments later, once her thoughts had caught up to her again, and Belle hadn’t mentioned the incident in the week since then.

Now, the Beast realised with a rising horror that she had allowed her gaze to linger on Belle’s form for too long, and she was looking back at her with a vaguely puzzled expression.

“Is everything alright?” Belle asked.

“I – uh – well, yes – it’s snowing,” the Beast said in a clumsy rush, jerking her head to the window beyond Belle. She hoped that while she had been distracted, she had been looking at least slightly at the window, for her excuse to be at all plausible. Belle turned her head, and the Beast saw the curve of her cheeks rise in a smile.

“So it is,” she agreed. “It hasn’t snowed since – since the night I came here,” she said. “I wonder if it’ll stick.”

The Beast hummed non-committedly. “It’s a pain when it snows.”

“Really?” Belle asked. “I love the snow – even when it means extra work, shovelling the paths and taking care of Phillippe, I can’t help but look out at the untouched countryside and just … just drink it in.” She laid aside her book, keeping a finger in her place. “And you can warm yourself by the fire, just thinking about how good it is that you’re in a warm house, and can look out at the snow – of course, if it’s stormy then that’s a different matter. But I don’t see what’s so awful about snow.”

“Whenever I go out in it, the snow clumps around my legs so that I look like I’m covered in large, white pebbles,” the Beast did not whine. “I walk stupidly until they can melt off, and even then it’s a choice between letting it melt before the fire, and rinsing it off with hot water.”

“Oh, woe are the sufferings of suchlike as ye,” Belle teased. “If it’s stuck tomorrow I’m going out there, and you’re coming with me, and you’ll enjoy it.”

The Beast laughed. “I never said I disliked snow – just that it was a pain, which it is. Even you can’t deny it.”

Belle blushed prettily, and the Beast felt a sudden flutter in her chest. “That may be,” Belle said, and the Beast suddenly had to concentrate on what she was saying. “But I’d still like to go out, if it’s clear.”

“Alright, then,” the Beast smiled. The two of them smiled companionably at each other for a moment, before Belle picked up her book again. The Beast felt a hunger within her, for the conversation to continue. For her to make Belle smile or blush again. “What are you reading?” she asked casually. “You go through these so quickly, it’s like you’re on a new book every three days.”

Belle laid her book aside again. “It’s The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins. I’ve never read it before, and the blurb was intriguing, to say the least.”

“I remember that one,” the Beast said. “The one with two sisters – one ugly and intelligent, and one beautiful and naive, isn’t it?”

“And a man,” Belle laughed. “Since he begins the narrative, I’m surprised you forgot him.”

“I choose to remember the enjoyable parts,” the Beast countered. “And men, valuable though they may be, hold little enjoyment compared to the exploits of women.”

She didn’t know why she said that. She had never told a single soul outwith the castle about her nature before. But ever since she had been rescued from certain hypothermia and a blood infection, the Beast had trusted Belle. Hidden behind her legs, the very tip of her tail began thrashing to and fro as an outlet of nervous energy.

“I have to agree with you there,” Belle said. “It’s a shame that our contemporaries view women as too weak or feeble to have adventures of their own, otherwise I would scarcely bother reading about the thoughts and feelings of their male characters – which, of course, are always vastly superior to the thoughts and feelings of their female ones.”

Words which were innocent enough – a girl’s expression of frustration at not reading about adventurous, excitable women. But there was something in the tilt of her head, the shy half-curve of her lip, that assured the Beast that Belle, quite definitely, viewed women the same way that she did. The Beast smiled fully, and Belle ducked her head, allowing her hair to fall over her shoulder and hide her face like a curtain.

“You would probably enjoy this part of The Count of Monte Cristo, then,” the Beast said. “Dumas has many dynamic characters, of course. But in my reading, I had forgotten just how engaging Eugenie Danglars and Louise d’Armilly were. They are … intimate friends, who plan to run away together.”

“Intriguing,” Belle said, setting aside her book with a bookmark, rather than her finger. She swung her other leg down off the window seat, so that now her skirts hung an inch or two above her dangling toes. “But when you say intimate friends …”

“I don’t know how familiar you are with the Greek poets,” the Beast said, “but Eugenie apparently wears Minerva’s breastplate, which was said to cover Sappho.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand the reference,” Belle said.

“They are … certainly more than friends,” the Beast said with a chuckle. “Sappho lived on the isle of Lesbos, with only women.”

Realisation dawned on Belle’s face. “I see,” she said, tucking a strand of her behind her ear and winding the rest of it along her finger. “Do you have any of her poetry?”

“I don’t think so,” the Beast said. “My parents … my father prioritised Homer, Hesiod, Sophocles, Cicero, Dante – the Classical men.” Her lip stiffened. She remembered her father as a loving man, but he and her mother had died so long ago that her memories of them melded with the impressions they had left upon the castle. “Whatever female writers you find in this library are my mother’s influence, and hers alone.”

“Oh,” Belle said quietly. “Well,” she continued in a slightly brighter tone, “it’s good that Mmlles Danglars and d’Armilly have each other to run away with.”

“You can read it, if you like,” the Beast offered. She held the book out slightly, but Belle shook her head a little.

“I would, and happily, but you’re in the middle of reading it. It hardly seems fair to take you away from it.”

“I’m right at the chapters where they run away,” the Beast pleaded. “It won’t be any trouble to me – I’ll even mark the page.”

“You could read it aloud,” Belle suggested. “I – I mean,” she suddenly continued, blushing steadily, “it just seems like a simple solution to the problem – this way we can both experience it at the same time – I’m sorry, you’ve probably got better things to do –”

“Belle,” the Beast said with a small smile. “It’s quite alright. I’d be happy to read it aloud. I must warn you, though,” she said with a grimace masquerading as a smile, “that my voice will not stretch to different character’s voices.”

“I like your voice just fine,” Belle said. “It’s deep, and husky, but it suits you.”

While there were few things about her curse that the Beast was thankful for, the absence of a visible blush was one of those things. Belle had paid her idle compliments before, praising her taste in books or laughing at her jokes. Those had been, to the Beast’s knowledge, the kind of things any girl would say to her friend – or someone she was cordial with, at least. But to have a compliment from her now, with the knowledge that they were both women who loved other women …

“Come over here, so you can hear me better,” the Beast said. “Sit by me; tell me if I’m going too fast.”

Harsh words; words which Belle would have bristled at three weeks earlier. But the Beast had stammered over every one of them, and had patted the sofa beside her gently, twice. Belle stood, her skirts swinging down to the floor, and settled beside the Beast. She kept a little distance, but not enough for the Beast to be unaware of her steady breathing, and the heat of her arm.

The Beast took a breath, and began to read.

“… and the people gave a great shout. ‘Arthur is King.’”

“Told you so,” Ève said with a grin.

“Ève, you’ve read this book before,” Belle laughed. “You know what happens in it.”

“Am I not allowed to take pleasure in re-reading my own books, now?” Ève gasped melodramatically, clasping one hand to her heart. “You wound me, Belle. You really do.”

“Drama queen,” Belle smirked. She lifted a hand to Ève’s chin, and pulled her down into a kiss. Ève hummed happily, moving her hand down Belle’s shoulder to her waist. The book fell, forgotten, out of Belle’s hand to the floor as she ran her fingers through Ève’s long, fair hair. Belle’s bodice was soft against Ève’s fingers, and she rubbed in light, soothing circles as they parted lips with an intake of breath.

“Ève, you made me lose my place,” Belle complained, only half-serious. “We are supposed to be reading this to practice English for the Ambassador.”

“I didn’t catch you complaining,” Ève smirked. She slipped her hand further around Belle’s waist, shifting her closer by the small of her back, and was gratified by her slight blush. “And besides, you are the one who kissed me, so the distraction is really your fault.”

“Your interjection started this whole conversation –” Belle started, but was swiftly cut off by a rain of kisses over her face from Ève. When she eventually reached her mouth again, Belle twined her arms around Ève’s neck, the force of which sent them tumbling backwards onto the sofa. After a few minutes of thorough kissing, Belle pushed herself up on her elbows, her lips slightly swollen and her eyes bright.

“Do you ever wonder if this … this joy will stop?” she asked. “Not completely, I mean, but – well, it still feels like a honeymoon phase. I keep finding myself wondering when we’ll settle down and be calmer about everything.”

“It’s been almost a year already,” Ève said, reaching up to stroke Belle’s face. “And we’ve fought more than once since that day, my darling. This might be what it’s like for us.”

(Last January: The ball with Belle, which had been entirely Cogsworth’s idea and which had (in the end, at least) worked. Ève had worn hose and an old riding jacket of her mother’s, since the thought of exposing her ridiculous body in one of her resised dresses was too much to bear. Surprisingly, she hadn’t hated the way she’d looked. Belle, of course, had been radiant as the sun in that golden dress. Ève’s tongue had been hopelessly tied throughout dinner and on the balcony. If she hadn’t learned that Belle was also like her, and Cogsworth, she would never have even begun to work up her courage.

She skips over the evening and long night of despair, when she remembers it. If she could skip over the man in red, too, she would; but the man in red who tried to kill her is engraved on Ève’s mind forever, for better or worse. The moment of mercy she gave him, and the immediate betrayal when he saw that Belle had rejected him for something neither human nor male. To this day Ève is unsure which enraged him more – Belle could have told her, from a desperate plea in the village gone wrong, but she never had.

Instead, Ève remembers the last moments as a Beast, in the dim light before the sunrise of her twenty-first birthday, that would seal her fate. Belle crying, holding her paw to her face. The whispered hint of her lips on Ève’s palm, before Ève …

And then the transformation, and the look of disbelief on Belle’s face. The discovery that even as a woman, Ève was taller, broader, more muscular. The fear of a moment that had lasted for eternity; it was one thing to love a woman who looked nothing like one, but when presented with a girl the same age – but Ève’s thoughts had cut off there, when Belle had stepped into her space and ran a strand of her ash-blonde hair through her fingers. She had cupped Belle’s sweet, intelligent, funny – and yes, beautiful – face between her hands, and had leant down to kiss her.

And, miracle above all else, Belle had kissed back.)

“Maybe,” Belle said. She sat back on her heels, over Ève’s thighs, allowing Ève to push herself up slightly. “And I suppose you have a point about our occasional disagreements.” Ève slid a hand around the back of Belle’s neck, keeping the other planted behind her for balance.

Belle suddenly gasped. “Ève, look! It’s snowing!”

Ève twisted around to see out the one window where the curtains hadn’t been drawn – and sure enough, the snow was falling steadily outside. “First snowfall of the year,” she said, turning back to face Belle. “It’s awfully late for it. Let’s hope it sticks.”

“I hope so,” Belle said with a wide smile. “I’m more than ready to beat you again at snowballing this year.”

“Want to bet?” Ève asked, a familiar glint in her eye. “Now that I don’t have fur to stick to the snow, I’ll be faster.”

“I still managed to cover you in it,” Belle pointed out, her eyes and nose crinkling as she laughed.

Ève took the opportunity to slide her hand back down to Belle’s waist, flipping them so that Belle was lying on the couch now. Belle gasped at the sudden movement, still laughing, and Ève joined in helplessly a second later. “Careful now, Belle,” she smirked, leaning down to drop a series of short kisses to her neck. “We both remember how frozen we were last year after the battle; don’t you remember that revenge is best served cold?”

Belle shivered below her. “Game on,” she said, claiming Ève’s lips again in a kiss. “But not until tomorrow.”

“You have a point,” Ève said, pushing up off of Belle and sitting properly on the sofa again. “I suppose we should get back to Arthur’s exploits?”

“Cheer up,” Belle said, joining her and picking the book up. “Guinevere shows up soon.”

“I await her with bated breath,” Ève said. “Now, where were we?”

“Uh … here,” Belle said. “And the people gave a great shout. ‘Arthur is King’.”

Ève settled beside her, laying an arm casually over Belle’s shoulders and peering down at the book in an attempt to translate the English in her head before Belle read it aloud. Outside the window, the snow continued to fall.

Two notes:

I am very unfamiliar with 18th century literature, so I just went ‘Eh’, and made it 19th century instead. See also why Belle is reading Wilkie Collins and not another French author, and why Ève is reading Alexandre Dumas in a pre-/no-Revolutionary universe.

I also shared this with a group of other writers, when I was unsure what the Beast’s name was going to be. I jokingly said ‘Well since everybody thinks the beast’s name is adam, fem!beast should be Eve since, yannow, Adam and Eve?? Kinda like how Beau is always male!Belle’s name??’ This was both the best and worst thing to happen, as now I can’t stop calling her Ève.

#{OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD}#{i'm crying this is so perfect!!!!}#{thank you so much asdfghjk}#{eve is such a cute name???}#{and you incorporated the king arthur thing from the musical!!!!}#{minerva's breastplate i am deceased}#{and the /not/ whining about the snow}#{this is going on the fridge holy heck}#{honestly?? words cannot express how perf this is like not to be cheesy but you get all the gold stars lbr}#{imma just send you the biggest friggin bear hug through the interwebs <3 }#{dare i say perfection??}#submission

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siliconwebx · 6 years ago

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How to Create Unique Designs Using Before and After Pseudo Elements in Divi

As web designers we are always looking out for new ways to add individuality to the websites we create. Divi provides endless opportunities to produce unique layouts but there are always little additions we can include to bring a design together. This is where CSS pseudo-elements come in really handy.

What are CSS pseudo-elements?

Put simply, a CSS pseudo-element can be utilised to style specific parts of an element. There are five types of pseudo-element that do different things. For the purpose of this post we’ll be looking at ::before and ::after.

These two pseudo-elements are used to insert something before or after the content of an element. This is particularly useful since we can use them to add extra visual elements to existing images, text and anything else!

So why would we use these pseudo elements? Before and after are perfect for unlocking design possibilities without needing to add more elements or modules. Equally, they are useful for adding additional elements without having to touch html templates or core theme files.

How do you use before and after elements with Divi?

If this all sounds a little confusing so far, do not worry! If we were to use ::before and ::after when writing the CSS code from scratch, it would look a little like this:

Imagine we have a line of text with the class “text-example” – the CSS to style and customise this line would be:

.text-example {*This is where you add the styles*}

Now if you wanted to add and style a ::before or ::after element, the CSS would look like this:

.text-example::before {*This is where you add before content and styles*}

.text-example::after {*This is where you add after content and styles*}

Fortunately Divi provides easy access to ::before and ::after pseudo-elements with much less hassle. In fact, if you have ever opened up the “Advanced” tab for any module to add custom CSS code, you’ll have seen the areas that we are referring to.

These boxes provide a quick shortcut to add and customise content before and after any existing Divi module and we can utilise them to create some really flexible and interesting designs.

Sneak Peek

This is what we’ll be creating in this tutorial:

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Getting Started

For this tutorial we just need a copy of the Divi theme and a blank slate. To begin with we’ll create a new page and, after adding a page title, click on the visual builder.

Now we’re ready to begin!

Example 1: Numbered blurb modules using Pseudo Elements

The blurb is probably one of the most flexible Divi modules at your disposal. In this instance we will use pseudo elements to add numbers before each blurb to create a step by step “how it works” section. We’ll also add an arrow shape to the right to indicate the process.

What we’ll be creating:

Although this design will work with any blurb design, we’ve borrowed the blurb section from the Web Agency Layout. If you’d like to use these as a starting point you can access the Web Agency Landing Page by creating a new page and accessing the front end builder.

When your page loads you’ll have an option to use a premade layout, one of your saved layouts or build from scratch. Select premade layout and use the search bar to find “Web Agency” Layouts. The blurb section in this tutorial can be found on the Landing Page.

Once loaded, the only difference between the premade layout and our example is that we’ve changed the background of each blurb, the title and text font colour and added a little padding.

Once you’ve changed these settings on one blurb, you can right click on the module and use the “Extend Styles” to apply them to the other three.

Now that we’ve customised our four blurb modules to look as we want them, it’s time to add some code to create the numbered element. However for this design to work we first need to add one line of css to the Main Element custom css box.

overflow: visible;

This will simply allow any elements we create in the next steps to be visible wherever they overlap the edges of our blurb module.

Once you’ve done this, open up the module options and navigate to the “Advanced Tab”. Within the “before” box, add this CSS snippet:

content: '1.'; /* Adds the number 1. as before content */ font-weight: bold; font-size: 80px; opacity: 0.7; /* Makes the number slightly transparent */ color: blue; /* Changes the color of the number text */ position: absolute; z-index: 9999; left: 0; /* Positions the content 0px away from the left border */ Top:-20px; /* Positions the content 20px above the top border */

Once you have added this code snippet you’ll see the number appear to the top left of the blurb module. You can amend the number’s position by altering the “left:” and “top:” lines or change the color and font size of the number within this CSS snippet.

Once you’ve completed this for the first module, go into the three new blurb modules and change the “content:” line to:

content: ‘2.’; content: ‘3.’;

…and so on.

Now that we’ve got our numbers sorted, we need to add a little bit of css to create the arrow shape.

Open each module and enter this into the After box within the Custom CSS area:

content: ''; display:block; height:60px; /* Size of the shape */ width:60px; /* Size of the shape */ position:absolute; top:40%; right:-30px; z-index: -1; background-color: #e8e8e8; /* Colour of the shape */ transform: rotate(45deg); -ms-transform: rotate(45deg); -webkit-transform: rotate(45deg);

Now your four blurbs should look like this:

Example 2. Adding unique shapes to your existing modules

This design relies on simple but effective little code snippets that are added to both the ::before and ::after custom CSS boxes within each text module.

The beauty of using pseudo-elements here is that we can integrate unique shapes and objects to our existing modules without needing to add any additional elements or modules to our page. Because these pseudo-elements are contained within our existing modules, they don’t add any extra space to our designs and remain looking great on all devices.

What we’ll be creating:

To create the initial layout we need to add a regular section with a three column row, set to default width. Once you’ve done this, add a text module to one of the new columns.

Again, you can style this text module as you’d like however if you are following along, these are the steps to achieve this design:

Open the text module options and add your text content and a background image or background colour as required. We’ve used a normal background image with a transparent gradient on top:

Next, configure the following design options:

1.Top padding: 120px & Bottom padding: 120px

2.Text Alignment: center & Text color: #ffffff

3. Heading Alignment: center & Heading color: #f5ee5d

Now that we have all of the visual aspects in place for your first text module, it is time to add the CSS to make the magic happen. In the Advanced tab of the text module, add the following code to the “before” box:

content:''; height: 30px; /* change the size to suit your design */ width: 30px; /* change the size to suit your design */ display: block; position: absolute; border-top: solid 3px #f5ee5d; /* change the colour to suit your design */ border-left: solid 3px #f5ee5d; /* change the colour to suit your design */ left: 20px; /* change the position to suit your design */ top: 20px; /* change the position to suit your design */

And then add the following code to the “after” box:

content:''; height: 30px; /* change the size to suit your design */ width: 30px; /* change the size to suit your design */ display: block; position: absolute; border-bottom: solid 3px #f5ee5d; /* change the colour to suit your design */ border-right: solid 3px #f5ee5d; /* change the colour to suit your design */ right: 20px; /* change the position to suit your design */ bottom: 20px; /* change the position to suit your design */

Once you’ve added these code snippets to the module you will see our fancy new shapes added.

If you wondering what this CSS does, it’s actually quite simple. All we are doing is creating a transparent square that is positioned 20px away from the top and left (and bottom and right) of the text module. We then add two borders to these squares to create the arrow effect.

When you’re happy with the look of this first text module, simply copy and paste it to fill the other columns and change the text content, background and styles to suit.

The bonus of this method is that it will work with pretty much any Divi module with a little customisation. If you want to be more fancy, try adding some additional CSS to rotate, skew and customise the ::before and ::after elements even further. Have fun!

Example 3. Adding icons and descriptions to tab titles

Within this design we will take advantage of the ability to add an image icon before some existing content as well as a small text description below. This is perfect for customising the Divi tabs module a little further than you are normally able to.

Note – Although adding content via css is great for design, it isn’t readily indexed by search engines (although Google does in fact index CSS and Javascript content, it takes much longer and is unreliable at present. Search engines like Bing and DuckDuckGo do not index this content at all). For this reason your content should be minimal and you should not rely on it to influence your ranking potential.

What we’ll be creating:

First of all we need to add our standard section and a 1 column row, followed by the Divi tabs module itself. Within the tabs module, we only need to add our titles and content to each tab as we’ll be handling the styles in the next steps.

Once our content is in place, we need to begin adding content to the ::before element of the module. Since we cannot add custom CSS to specific tabs using the method we’ve followed above, we’ll need to accomplish this slightly differently.

Open up the tabs module options and within the Advanced tab give the module the class “fancy-tabs”.

Once you’ve added this CSS class we need to do a little preparation. To add some icons or images to your tab titles we obviously need to add these to WordPress. Go to the Media tab in the WordPress dashboard and upload your chosen icons as you normally would.

With your images uploaded, we need to click on each one and copy the URL that WordPress has generated for us. Go through each of your images and copy and paste these URLs into a document or your chosen notes application.

With the URL’s of your chosen images at hand, go to your Divi Theme Options within the Divi menu in the WordPress Dashboard.

At the bottom of this page you’ll see a box where you can add your own custom CSS. It’s within this box that we’ll be pasting some CSS code.

The following snippet will add the images above each tab title. Simply copy and paste this snippet into the custom CSS box and replace the content between (and including) the asterisks (e.g. *Replace this with the URL for your first image*) with the URLs you noted earlier.

.fancy-tabs .et_pb_tab_0 a::before { content: url(*Replace this with the URL for your first image*); padding-top: 20px; display: block; } .fancy-tabs .et_pb_tab_1 a::before { content: url(*Replace this with the URL for your second image*); padding-top: 20px; display: block; } .fancy-tabs .et_pb_tab_content a::before { content: '' !important; }

If you return to the page with your tabs module on, you should now see that the images have been added above each title – success!

So what about adding descriptions? Fortunately this is quite simple as well. Right below the code you have just copied into your custom CSS box, paste the following:

.fancy-tabs .et_pb_tab_0 a::after { content: 'this is a description'; font-size: 10px; padding-top: 5px; display: block; } .fancy-tabs .et_pb_tab_1 a::after { content: 'this is a description'; font-size: 10px; padding-top: 5px; display: block; } .fancy-tabs .et_pb_tab_content a::after { content: '' !important; }

As before with your images, you’ll need to replace “this is a description” with your own content. Returning to the page with your tabs module on you’ll see we now have fancy descriptions too!

Finally, we just have to apply a little more CSS to achieve the complete design shown above. Again, copy the following snippet into the same custom CSS box:

.fancy-tabs .et_pb_tab_content a:after { content: '' !important; } .fancy-tabs .et_pb_tabs_controls li { width: 50% !important; } .fancy-tabs .et_pb_tabs_controls li a { width: 100% !important; text-align: center; } @media (max-width: 768px) { .fancy-tabs .et_pb_tabs_controls li { width: 100% !important; } .fancy-tabs .et_pb_tabs_controls { padding: 0 !important; } }

This code centers your tab text and images and increases the width of your tabs to cover the entire module.

We also added some CSS to ensure the tabs look good on all devices – if you’d prefer to not have your tabs full width and stack on mobile, we’ll need to go back and surround the original CSS code in a media query. This means that on devices the size of a tablet and wider we add the descriptions and icons, however on smaller devices we will revert back to the Divi default styling.

To do this, copy the amended CSS code below and paste it into your custom CSS area in the Divi theme options panel:

@media (min-width: 769px) { .fancy-tabs .et_pb_tab_0 a::before { content: url(*Replace this with the URL for your first image*); padding-top: 20px; display: block; } .fancy-tabs .et_pb_tab_1 a::before { content: url(*Replace this with the URL for your second image*); padding-top: 20px; display: block; } .fancy-tabs .et_pb_tab_content a::before { content: '' !important; } .fancy-tabs .et_pb_tab_0 a::after { content: 'this is a description'; font-size: 10px; padding-top: 5px; display: block; } .fancy-tabs .et_pb_tab_1 a::after { content: 'this is a description'; font-size: 10px; padding-top: 5px; display: block; } .fancy-tabs .et_pb_tab_content a::after { content: '' !important; } .fancy-tabs .et_pb_tab_content a:after { content: '' !important; } .fancy-tabs .et_pb_tabs_controls li { width: 50% !important; } .fancy-tabs .et_pb_tabs_controls li a { width: 100% !important; text-align: center; } }

Adding more tabs

In this instance we have created a tab module that includes 2 different tabs, however in practice we sometimes require more than this. If you are in a position whereby you are seeking to create more than 2 tabs, we will need to amend the code you’ve just added.

As you can see from the snippet, Divi automatically assigns a class to each tab title – the first starting with 0 (.et_pb_tab_0), increasing by 1 each time (.et_pb_tab_1, .et_pb_tab_2 and so on). We’ve already taken care of the first two tabs, so when adding more we can simply copy and paste a section of the code for every new tab:

.fancy-tabs .et_pb_tab_0 a:before { content: url(*Replace this with the URL for your first image*); padding-top: 20px; }

and change the number in the class (.et_pb_tab_0) to 2, 3, 4 etc. You’ll need to do the same for your descriptions too.

The final amendment we need to make is to adjust one more line of CSS. Take the number of your tabs and divide it by 100. Note down this number and navigate to the following section in your custom CSS:

.fancy-tabs .et_pb_tabs_controls li { width: 50% !important; }

and swap the 50% with your answer. This will ensure your tabs are equally spaced across the width of the module.

For example, if you are creating a third tab, the additional CSS code you need would be as follows:

.fancy-tabs .et_pb_tabs_controls li { width: 33% !important; }

In closing

And there we have it, three great ways to utilise CSS ::before and ::after elements to create new design possibilities. Hopefully this guide will inspire you to explore how you can use pseudo-elements in your future creations – the opportunities really are endless!

The post How to Create Unique Designs Using Before and After Pseudo Elements in Divi appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.

😉SiliconWebX | 🌐ElegantThemes

#Silicon Web Design #Ahmedabad #India #Web Development #WPBeginner #Silicon URL #Web Site #Cloud Host

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betwixt-these-pages · 6 years ago

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Once Upon a [Stolen] Time Stolen Series #1 by Samreen Ahsan 258 Pages Historical / Romance / Fantasy / Sci Fi Get a copy here!

2015… All her life, Myra Farrow has been obsessed with medieval castles—and the kings and princes who once inhabited them. Now, wealthy videogame designer Steve Bernard wants her to model for a princess character in his new game. Myra can’t resist his offer, especially when she learns that Steve plans to film inside the mysterious Hue Castle—a cursed, barren, colorless place forbidden to visitors for centuries. But unknown to Myra, her soul is bound to Hue Castle by blood and sorcery. When she enters its doors, she awakens dark powers that will reach through time—stealing her past, torturing her present, and rewriting her future.

1415… Edward Hue, the last of the Hue royal bloodline, has never stood in the sunshine or held a living flower. Cursed from birth to live in darkness and bring death to all he touches, he is at the mercy of his cruel, tyrannical father, who will not rest until he shatters Edward’s soul and makes his son into a diabolical copy of himself. Edward’s one hope is the mysterious woman who haunts his dreams—who will either break his curse and bring him out of the darkness, or destroy him utterly.

For Myra and Edward, past and future collide in a tale of love, obsession, betrayal, and the hope for redemption.

Quick Reasons: interesting plot points/story line; the characters fell way flat for me, sadly; I didn’t buy into the romance in this book at all; the curse on Edward’s family was unique, though could perhaps have done with a bit more development

entertaining

1-Dimensional

insta-love

fishing for more

WUT?!

HUGE thanks to Samreen Ahsan for sending a free egalley of this title my way in exchange for an honest review! This in no way altered my read of or opinions on this book.

I was super intrigued by this book once I laid eyes upon the blurb. I mean… medieval castles? princes?! a twisting blend of the past and the present/modern day?! What could I possibly say NO to? Having completed my read of this novel, I am both intrigued and slightly disappointed. Let’s get into the whys and hows, shall we?

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There is a certain point, as a reader, where I need to be able to buy into the romance that takes up so much of a character’s mind. It is safe to say that Myra gets bitten–HARD–by a very dangerous, poisonous case of the love bug…but I had an equally difficult time trying to understand WHY. See, from the outside looking in (haha, like Myra watching Edward through the mirror, get it?!) these characters, and their emotions, did not feel quite genuine enough for me to be able to buy into a happily-ever-after for them. Don’t get me wrong, Penguins. I rooted for them HARDCORE…but not necessarily as a couple. I rooted for Myra to…do anything but swoon over and bemoan Edward, I guess. And I rooted for Edward to be able to stand up to the family curse, and his father–to break the chain of events, to free himself (in more than 1 way), to be who he was wholeheartedly and not just in pieces. Huh…putting it in those words, these characters actually remind me a lot of Bella and Edward from Twilight–I’ll have to ponder on that some more.

Regardless, the story WAS intriguing in other ways that I would have loved to see more development for. The curse placed upon Edward’s family, for instance–I’d have loved to have seen Samreen Ahsan go into a little more detail about that. Also, the magic of the mirrors was a key point that I felt was a bit flat and underplayed, though super interesting as an idea. I feel like, I suppose, a little TOO much of this story was granted to the “romance” and not quite enough to the story outside of the fairy tale. The side characters were very underplayed in Myra’s reality, as she was so focused on and driven to “win” Edward that the rest of life around her was basically nonexistent. Which I guess lends credence to the idea that she never really belonged in her world…but didn’t do much for developing her as a character outside of her role as love interest and curse breaker. Edward’s story, on the other hand, was filled with cruelty and development. The struggle Edward faced was horrifying and enlightening in turn. I wish Myra had been given just as much room to grow into herself.

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I did have a fun time reading this, despite what my review above might lead you to believe. While the premise was interesting, the story and characters felt a bit flat to me, and I couldn’t quite buy into the actual romance portion of the novel. I’d recommend this read to lovers of Kate and Leopold, magic mirrors, and family curses. Steal a moment in time with me, Penguins–but don’t let the darkness consume you.

Once Upon a [Stolen] Time: Magic Mirrors and Family Curses, OH MY! Once Upon a Time Stolen Series #1 by Samreen Ahsan 258 Pages Historical / Romance / Fantasy / Sci Fi…

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jakecgraphicdesign · 7 years ago

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Final Personal Booklet

dA lot of the focus of this project was centered around booklets, and the process behind creating them. the concept of creating a booklet to showcase our work was first introduced in the black out poetry project, where we were tasked with creating a group zine, presenting our poetry. You can read more about that lesson further down this blog. Overall, we were tasked with creating two zines, one group zine which i have already mentioned and one personal zine.

Task 1 - Selection: This personal zine was to showcase the work which we created through out this overall project, the work we are most proud. We were allowed to put anything we wanted into the book; our Basquiat imagery, our black out poems, our concrete poems etc... We were allowed 8 pages, meaning we could choose 8 pieces to put into the book (if you have 1 piece per page, which wasn't mandatory). Firstly I began to look through my work and think about which pieces would suit the book, work which wasn't only interesting but engaging. I quickly decided that I would definitely include my Basquiat imagery, as I am very pleased with how they turned out - they are each crammed with very spontaneous aesthetics, giving the viewer a lot to look at, just like in Basquiats original paintings. That complexity is why I chose to include them. I picked out 4 of my favorite designs, meaning I still had 4 blank pages for content. As this whole project was based upon poetry, I felt like including some written poetry was important. It also provided some. for the reader and displayed the range of work I have created over the project. Firstly I decided to add one of my black out poems. Choosing which one was easy as I have a very clear favorite - the one with the ghost narrative (you can read about this more on my blackout poetry post). I feel like this blackout poem marks the in between in the book - the section where visual poetry transforms into written poetry, as in a way, blackout poetry is like a blend of the two. This left me with Three pages. I already knew that the contents of each would be written Poetry, I just needed to decide what. Like the others, thus decision was an easy one to make. In all honestly I'm not extremely fond of the written poems I have have created - I didn't want to include more black out poetry because I felt this would be plain and boring, I'm not very fond of my cut out Poetry and I don't think the narratives would fit the theme which was quickly developing in my book, and finally I didn't want to include my concrete poetry because, like I stated before, I didn't want any more visual artwork. However, there is some written poetry that I have made which I do like: the randomized poems, made with a 'home made' technique based off of Neutral Milk Hotels method of song writing. At the time those poems were simply an experiment but I think the end result turned out to be some interesting poetry, I think it would make for some thought provoking statements; perfect media for my final zine. I only made 3 of these randomized poems, luckily I only had 3 pages left. Finally I had decided on all of my content.

Task 2 - Design and layout Now that I had all of the contents, the next step was simple - I needed to create the aesthetic of the book. While the contents may set the symbolic theme, the aesthetics set the tone. For example, if I chose to make all the back grounds bright and cheery, this would imply a happy, joyful atmosphere. I wanted the backgrounds to suit the themes presented within the books contents, so everything would match and be logical. In order to do this I once again studied the visual work and read through the poetry. While picking out the contents I subconsciously matched the themes of each individual piece together: there was an overall theme of the abstract and the absurd; the themes of something slightly eerie and unexplained running through out each piece. I decided to carry on with this narrative, however, I wasn't sure what the visual imagery for such a thing was, there is no limit to the possibilities when you have a theme such as the absurd. To begin I started playing around in Photoshop, which is a 'technique' I like to use. Making the Backgrounds: Firstly I simply created a new A4 layer and applied a purple to dark blue gradient. I think purpose is a very good color to use when portraying something mysterious or odd - it reminds me of space and the unknown; there isn't a lot of natural things on this earth with a purple color, and the theme of the unnatural is what I wanted. So, I had the gradient background; one effect I use quite regularly is the "Mezzotint" found under the pixelate category. Because of the transition of colors in a gradient, the effect will create this colored, speckled white noise effect. If you change the Type to "long lines" it will create this scattered glitch effect, making it look as if the bottom color is fragmenting and floating away, here's an image:

The next thing i did was begin shifting the background around, i wanted to make a sort of trippy, cosmic aesthetic. I used the “Swirl” effect which is found under the . Eventually i settled with a large Twirl in the center, which is found under the “Distort” category. I was happy with the effect, i think its quite reminiscent of some science fiction galaxy images, heres an image:

However, i felt this design was too uninteresting, i didn’t like the way the singular swirl took up alot of the background.I then had the idea of copying the swirl and pasting it above but rotating it around so that one swirl was coming down from the top and the other appearing from the bottom. Heres an image of that:

I then altered the brightness and saturation in order to make the background less bright and blinding, after all the poems are the center piece of each page. Heres an image:

I continued to play around with the effects and capabilities of Photoshop until i ended up with a background design i liked and which fit the symbolic character of the contents i had chosen. Sadly, i didn’t take any screen shots of the process as i was making the booklet, the above images are simply recreations of the process, and because of this the images wont be exactly the same as the final ones in the book.

The next step i took was to create some More interesting visual imagery for the back ground. Using the theme of the cosmos and abstract which was forming i began creating some planet like shapes. I started by simply creating some round circles, i filled the interiors with a lighter purple to blue gradient as its always more visually interesting than just a solid colour. I then continued the technique of messing around with filters, firstly i added some noise and mosaic filters to try and make them look more like planets or similar space objects. Heres an example:

Here’s an image of these orbs added to the background. I turned down the transparency so they're not too distracting:

Once i had basically had finished the background to a standard and aesthetic i thought was good the next task was to begin adding my work. As for the Basquiat photographs i had already taken some good quality photos and removed the backgrounds before hand. This made the process much quicker and faster. I didn’t want to simple place the photo on like a 2d image, so i began playing around with the perspective. This gave the image a more dimensional aesthetics and made it look as if the piece was actually suspending in space, floating around. Here’s an example image ive made:

However, i still felt as if the background and are surrounding the photograph was too plain and simple. So, to enhance the visuals and the idea that these pieces of art were floating through space i added some more, floating around it. I also changed the perspective and lightness of these so that it looked realistic, heres a recreation:

I repeated this process for all 8 pieces of work and the cover.

For the front and back covers i simply used the same background. However, instead of an image i wrote out the title “My pens about to run out, i hope you’re happy” onto a blank piece of paper. I then scanned this in and edited the quality in photoshop so that the text was clear and professional. I then did the same for the back text “It just ran out, brilliant” and then for the small blurb, also at the back.

That was a basic explanation/ walk through of how i created the aesthetics and display behind each page of the book. This was completely digital and i only used the program Adobe photoshop cs6.

Task 3 - Printing and creating

The final task was to create the physical copies of the book. I saved all of the pages and covers as JPG’s. Then i placed the pages into adobe acrobat, which merged them to create on PDF file. This PDF file could then be printed in colour. I printed the pages in A5, meaning that two printed on 1 A4 sheet. I then printed the front and cover in A5 too, onto a sheet of reinforced card. The final task was to trim down the excess paper and staple the book together. Here’s a GIF and some images of each finished page as well as the front and back covers.

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books-n-wine · 7 years ago

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~**~ Blog Tour for Sex Ed by Z.B. Heller w/ Excerpt & Review ~**~

Sex Ed, an all-new HOT and hilarious M/M comedy from Z.B. Heller is now available!!!

Jaxson Dane is harboring a secret.

Not the fact that he’s a geeky comic book lover, or that he secretly draws his own comic, Bunny Fu Ninja Warrior. It’s not even classified information that he’s out and proud!

His secret is the shame that he’s a twenty-three-year-old virgin.

Jaxson isn’t waiting for marriage or even afraid of taking that step, he just hasn’t found the one guy who will accept all of his adorkable qualities. Due to an unfortunate mishap with a self-pleasuring apparatus and his favorite appendage, Jaxson meets Tyler Mason. The emerald-green-eyed nurse is a witness to the mortifying incident, leaving Jaxon both grateful and disappointed in their one-time meeting.

And then Tyler somehow shows up at Jaxon’s family dinner.

The very dinner at which Jaxson’s hidden virginity is revealed to everyone, including the captivating nurse.

Even though he secretly found the ER situation hilarious, Tyler is also able to look past it to see Jaxson’s genuine nature and is drawn to the charming and hapless comic book artist. He’s tempted to pursue the inexperienced Jaxson, but a recent and life-altering decision puts a damper on his wants and desires. However, the more time they spent together, the more willing he is to take the risk of juggling his new commitments and winning Jaxon’s affections.

A large, insane, and meddlesome family, two prying co-workers, and a sexy nurse are all trying to give Jaxson a crash course in Sex Ed. Will he pass?

Goodreads | Amazon US * UK

I opened the nightstand and found the toy I had ordered online. A guy I knew from one of the comic forums I belonged to swore by this toy. All right, maybe we talked about all types of things and not just comics on this particular forum. One time there might have been a discussion about which character we would bang and it sort of went off the cliff from there. My choice would be Superman because I have a dream of being plowed while flying at the same time. My second choice would be Spiderman, because I would be curious as to what he could do with all that webbing. Maybe a little Spidey BDSM play?

The toy which sat in my hand was called The Jackhammer. The tag line on the construction-yellow box read, Giving you a Hand at Jacking Off. The man pictured on the box was wearing a hard hat with only the Jackhammer covering his essential parts. His face was contorted into orgasmic pleasure.

I opened the box and pulled out a plastic object that was about ten inches long. The toy was bright, school bus yellow, with one wide end that narrowed towards the bottom, giving it the illusion of a jackhammer. The fuller end was covered in a clear, soft silicone, with a hole in the middle, which I assumed is where your dick was supposed to go. I threw the box on the floor and lay down on my bed, propping a pillow under my head and making myself comfortable.

With vigorous excitement, I grabbed my stiff dick again and slipped the Jackhammer over the crown, slowly bringing it down the shaft. It felt comfortable and effortless as I wiggled it down until it hit the base. Inside of the toy, the ridges of the silicone made my already sensitive dick want to explode.

My eyes rolled into the back of my head as I pulled the toy painstakingly back up the shaft. I moaned and fisted my hand around the outside, so I could get a good grip on the toy to move it up and down. I looked down to see my shaft appear and then disappear again, the ridged edges inside rubbed against my skin, blessing me with exquisite pleasure.

I closed my eyes and brought myself back to the hypothetical frat house. Kaleb’s throbbing cock jutted out in front of me, waiting for me to take it into my watering mouth. The other brothers surround us, pulling out their own cocks to stroke while they looked upon Kaleb and I. Kaleb grabbed the base of his cock, clutched a handful of my hair and said, “open up.” Of course, I did, because I wasn’t going to deny Fantasy Kaleb. I let him fuck my mouth as I took him all the way down my throat. In this make believe world I had no gag reflex and some pretty mad oral skills.

I pulled the Jackhammer faster along my length as I started to feel the familiar sensation of an orgasm settling at the base of my spine. My balls drew upwards and I knew that I was going to blow my load any minute. I moved the toy faster, its suction tightening around me.

Then it happened. Pain. A pain like none I had ever known, almost paralyzing my body. My eyes flew open and a shriek erupted out of my mouth like a coyote being attacked by a T-rex. I lifted my head, almost afraid to look down, and tried to move the toy slightly, but was unable to, pain searing from the tip of my dick, down the shaft, and into my groin.

Holy mother-fucking douche mongers.

My heart flipped from racing with pleasure to running in fear. I started to panic while I tried again to delicately remove the toy. After several failed attempts I knew I was screwed. With precise, delicate movements, I sat up on the bed, reached to the floor and grab the box the toy came in. I examined it and searched if there was a secret release to get this fucker off. I flipped the box over, scanning the words until I saw some directions I failed to read.

Must use lubricant inside silicone to avoid rupture.

Rupture of what? My dick? Holy shit, I had a ruptured dick! I don’t want to walk around having my dick split in half. What would that mean if I had to pee? Would it go into two different streams? Do people understand how hard it is to point and aim one stream? Now I’ll have two to worry about? What about sex? Will I stick one-half of my dick inside someone while jerking the other side off? Oh, the humanity!

***4.5 ‘Shamrock & Bunny Fu* Stars***

The blurb is what caught my interest and had me taking a chance on it, because who doesn’t love seeing the geeky, adorkable character get their happily ever after? And while there were a few things that didn’t quite hit the mark for me, Jaxson, Tyler and their journey to their HEA was practically perfect! There are a lot of humorous moments, of all degrees, but there is also a whole lot of heart in the mix that made it difficult to put down and kept a dopey smile on my face until the very end.

Jaxson really is seriously all kinds of adorkable and is very comfortable in his own skin, especially with the way his family is ~ they would have the Devil looking for a place to hide when they get going. He has his insecurities tend to mess with his head, but his sense of humor, quick wit and heart make it difficult to not fall for him.

Tyler, for lack of a better description, is simply a really good guy. It may make him sound boring, but it’s the most apt and precise way to describe him. He loves his family, his job and is conscientious of how his actions may affect others. He’s sweet and charismatic with a great sense of humor and loads of patience.

The incident that brings about Jaxson and Tyler’s first collision is nothing short of painful. When I realized what was going to happen I cringed because even I know the in’s and out’s of what one is supposed to do with THAT. But after that I absolutely loved watching as Jax and Tyler got to know each other and became more. It was endearing, sweet, funny and smexy as they dealt with the various obstacles in their way and became stronger because of it.

This is my first read by the author and I really enjoyed it. The writing was engaging and flowed well throughout and the dual 1st person POV was done very well. And for the most part I loved the supporting cast of characters, some more than others, but they all made the story come alive.

My only issue, one that I waffled over for quite some time as to if it should affect my rating ~ which as you can see I did include to make this review as honest as possible ~ was that I didn’t find all the comedic parts funny. Some made me cringe and speed read through them and I’d put it at an almost 50/50 split on my reactions. This is very much a “It’s not you, it’s me” situation, what we find funny is a personal and sometimes minute to minute thing, and I know that some will be blowing snot bubbles because they find everything funny, some will be like me and others just won’t be into it. But what kept me turning the pages was Jax and Tyler and their journey, so I focused on them and it was more than worth it in the end!

~ Copy provided by Social Butterfly PR ~

As a little girl it was always a dream for Z.B. Heller to become She-Ra Princess of Power. Since this dream was unobtainable, she spent what was probably way to long in college trying to “find herself”. Becoming an artist scratched the creative itch until the stories in her head were getting to be to loud for her to get anything else accomplished.

She lives in St. Louis with her husband, son and Flemish Giant rabbit Chloe. In her spare time she likes to read, stalk celebraties on Twitter and create the type of art people scratch their heads about.

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram

#ZB Heller #Sex Ed #Blog Tour #Romance #Contemporary #Review #4Star #MMRomance #GayRomance #RomCom #SocialButterflyPR

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betwixt-these-pages · 7 years ago

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When I Wake Up by Jessica Jarlvi Mystery / Thriller / Suspense 272 Pages Aria / Head of Zeus Publishing Publication Date: June 1st, 2017 Get a copy: Amazon | iBooks | Kobo | Google Play

BLURB:

A breathtaking, heart-pounding, dark debut, sure to delight fans of The Girl on the Train and Before I Go To Sleep. When Anna, a much-loved teacher and mother of two, is left savagely beaten and in a coma, a police investigation is launched. News of the attack sends shock waves through her family and their small Swedish community. Anna seems to have had no enemies, so who wanted her dead?

As loved-ones wait anxiously by her bedside, her husband Erik is determined to get to the bottom of the attack, and soon begins uncovering his wife’s secret life, and a small town riven with desire, betrayal and jealousy.

As the list of suspects grows longer, it soon becomes clear that only one person can reveal the truth, and she’s lying silent in a hospital bed…

Author Bio

Born in Sweden, Jessica moved to London at the age of 18 to obtain a BSc Hons degree in Publishing and Business. She worked in publishing in the UK for a number of years before heading to Chicago where she edited a magazine for expats. Back in Sweden, she completed a Masters in Creative Writing. Since 2010, Jessica has taught journalism and media at a local university, and has spent the last five years as the marketing and PR manager for a British firm. Last year, she was one of the winners in the Montegrappa Prize for First Fiction at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. Jessica is married with three spirited children, and although she’s known for her positivity, her writing tends to be rather dark!

Follow Jessica–

Facebook: @JessicaJarlvi Twitter: @JessicaJarlvi Website: http://www.jessicajarlvi.com

Quick Reasons: there are some super creeptastic scenes, with a SUPER creeptastic POV; these characters are vibrant, well-written, and so individualized; I’m not so sure I like the epilogue chapter, I feel it cheapened the rest of the book somehow; this was a wild, unexpected journey–and I adored it

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entertaining

devoured it

purple prose

creeptastic

HUGE thanks to Jessica Jarlvi, Aria Publishing, and Netgalley for sending me a free egalley of this title in exchange for an honest review! This in no way altered my read of or opinions on this book.

There is something to be said about an author who, seemingly effortlessly, can weave their readers into the heart of a mystery…and keep them enthralled there throughout. Jessica Jarlvi promised a tapestry of drama, intrigue, and fear in the blurb of this book–and then delivered beautifully on those promises! I was sucked in from the very beginning, and taken through a whirling journey spanning the past and present.

These characters are SO defined–super vibrant, complex in their emotions and reactions. Each character was individualized and believable, while still maintaining a sense of “suspicion” that kept me wavering between who might have done it. In fact, I was SO focused on hoping that Jessica Jarlvi wouldn’t go for the obvious, wouldn’t take the scapegoat she provides early on, that I *might* have missed some of the hidden foreshadows….and was caught completely off guard when the answer was finally revealed! This was brilliantly written, honestly–the leaps back and forth between past and present, with the alternating POVs, only helped to confuse and meander my mind from the truth!

I’m not entirely sure I like the epilogue chapter of this book, though I feel this is mostly a personal opinion than anything inherently wrong with the writing. I just felt, after such heavy buildup and tension, that the ending sort of cheapened the read a bit–probably because it ends on a bit of a “and they all lived happily ever after” note, which I just can’t wrap my head around I guess. I wish we had been given a DIFFERENT perspective for the ending, honestly–in fact, there was at the end one character I wish we’d been shown the TRUTH of. I went so far as to imagine how that closing scene could be written, even–though I’d bet Jessica Jarlvi would do much more justice with it than I. Regardless, the rest of the plot was fast-paced and filled with disturbing tension, and I adored the read overall.

This was a SUPER creepy read filled with some unique, sometimes creeptastic, characters. The action was tension-heavy and fast-paced, though I felt as if the ending didn’t quite live up to the rest of the read. I cannot WAIT to see what Jessica Jarlvi will deliver next, as I had a ton of fun stepping out of my head and into these characters’ for a while! I recommend this to lovers of mysteries, alternate POV journeys, and slightly unhinged characters. The coma’s over, penguins; can you figure out who-dun-it before the big reveal?!

Follow Aria Publishing–

Website: http://www.ariafiction.com Facebook: @ariafiction Twitter: @aria_fiction Instagram: @ariafiction NetGalley: http://bit.ly/2lkKB0e

Blog Tour and Review: When I Wake Up When I Wake Up by Jessica Jarlvi Mystery / Thriller / Suspense 272 Pages Aria / Head of Zeus Publishing…

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