#at least he mellows out and would probably only get mad about Morally Big things

[turnaboutimagines]

maybe 136 for Edgeworth owo? i feel like edgeworth probably gets all angry whenever he loses a case so it fits him

Ooh, for sure!  I wanted to write for PW:AA era Edgeworth after 1-2 because, uh, that was probably real rough, buddy.  He crushed a paper cup with hot coffee in it during 1-3 when it seemed like he was losing the trial so…Prompt 136 ( “You’re upset.” - “I’m not.” - “I know that face. That’s your I’m-upset-with-you face. And your eyebrows - they get really expressive when you’re mad.”) is from this list.

When you heard that Edgeworth had finally lost a trial, you were quick to make your way up to the prosecutor’s office.  After knocking on the door and not getting an answer you knock again and state your name.  You wouldn’t be surprised if he’d turn you away or ignore you, but it was worth a shot, anyway.  As the proverbial thorn of friendship in his side, you at least had to try, like always.

“…Come in.”

Oh no.  The sight that greets you when you open the door is not a good sign.  He’s standing in front of the window, seemingly staring out over the city.  That’s a new brooding position, you could only assume that it means this was an advanced state of brooding.

“Here to tell me ‘I told you so,’ are we?”

You sigh, closing the door behind you before treading across his office.  There isn’t just a note of bitterness in his voice, it’s more like an entire symphonic movement.

“Not at all!  I just wanted to check on you, is all.  When I heard you lost, I was worried about how you were handling it.”  When you stop beside him and look up at him, whatever it is you were about to say flies the coop when you catch sight of the expression on his face.  

He spares a glance at you from out of the corner of his eyes, the scowl on his lips deepening at your expression of concern—whether from doubt or annoyance, you couldn’t tell.  He’s got a white knuckle grip on the saucer and the delicate handle of his teacup, you’re surprised it’s able to withstand that type of force.

“Wow.  You… sure are upset, huh?”

“I am most certainly not.”

However, his eyebrows are drawn together so hard that he’s got the Grand Canyon between them.

“Mm, I don’t buy that for a moment.  I know that face.”  You narrow your eyes and gesture by circling your finger in the direction of his head.  “That’s your ‘I’m-upset-with-the-world face.’  And you know how I know that?  It’s because of your eyebrows get really expressive when you’re upset.”  To clarify your point you scrunch up your face as dramatically as you can to emulate it.

He looks away from you, his finger entering its metronome mode on the edge of the saucer.  “E-Excuse me…!?  I don’t look like that.”  He sighs before his expression seems to harden, you can imagine the severity of the glare even when it’s not directed toward you.  “I should have known you only came here to make a mockery of me.  Like always.”

It’s a herculean feat to resist the urge to roll your eyes, but you somehow do and take a deep breath in as your own expression hardens.

“Miles, I was explaining why your bluff was bad to you, while also teasing you just a little bit.  It’s hard not to.”  He’s too cute and it’s too easy.  You cross your arms over your chest.  “You know that’s how I am, just as I know you take yourself very seriously.  But that’s not what I came here for today.”

“And, pray tell, what did you come here for?  If not to rub salt in my wounds or mock me, I fail to see what other motive you could possibly have as I doubt it was to check in on me.”

“Ooh, now that’s just cold!”  You uncross an arm to point over at his chess set, his gaze follows the gesture after catching it from his peripheral vision.  “But I did come to see how you were doing, but also to play chess with you, of course!  Wanted to keep you from brooding, y’know…?”

It’s subtle, but you can see his nearest brow twitch through a few different positions before settling into a slightly less intense angle.  He takes a long sip from his cup of tea, evidently thinking, before turning back to the window and setting his tea down on the top of the shelf.  The death glare is absent, but the furrow is still very much there, but it looks…more contemplative, you think?

“I…I do not brood.”

That’s certainly not the answer you were expecting (nor were you anticipating the little falter in his voice) and it takes all of your willpower to not laugh or stare adoringly at him.  This man’s really going to be the death of you one of these days.

“M-Miles, you do a lot of things and brooding is most certainly one of them.  I don’t know if it’d be possible for you to brood more than you presently do, I think it might be impossible… but you know what you also do?”

“What?”

“You also always beat me in chess,” you say, gently grabbing his nearest arm and giving it a gentle tug toward the chess set, only for him to go rigid at the contact.  “C’mon, it’ll be fun…!  Like always.”

He sighs, but relaxes and follows your lead, “Please don’t jinx it.”

You let out a laugh and, you swear, you see the dent between his brows ease ever so slightly and the corners of his lips quirk upwards just a tad in the ghost of a smile.  But that was probably just your imagination…

Because Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth does many things, but anything close to genuinely smiling isn’t one of them.  Not yet, at least.

[starfanatic]

Luke Skywalker vs Rey... Nobody

I hate the argument that a lot of sequel trilogy stans use whenever anyone criticized Rey or labels her a Mary Sue. It’s probably the weakest argument a sequel stan can ever possibly say to me. (Besides the people hate Rey because she’s a women argument).

Lets compare them shall we?

Luke Skywalker in A New Hope is whiny, inexperienced, and very naive. There is multiple moments in a new hope that proves this. When he was whining about not wanting to stay on the moisture farm and wanting to join the Academy like his friend, Biggs. He constantly was slightly annoying throughout the film, especially to Han. When Han named his price and Luke was like “We can buy our own ship with that!” or when Han was flying the Milennium Falcon and Luke was practically yelling in his ear to go into hyperspace. Han and Luke did not get along at first because of Luke’s behavior. Luke went against Obi-Wan’s orders and saved Princess Leia, not thinking of the consequences. How he could possibly be killed or put in a cell with the Princess. He doesn’t think of a plan to get out AFTERWARDS only the spur of the moment. He was constantly shown to be inexperienced and needed his friends help or HE WOULD HAVE DIED THE FIRST MOVIE. While on the millennium falcon, Obi-Wan taught him things about the force. Maybe not a lot but he knew how to use the simple basics of it. Like sensing the force and letting it guide your actions (as Obi-Wan was trying to teach him before). For once Luke listened and trusted Obi-Wan and destroyed the death star.

Lets do Rey now WHOOP. So far the only personality flaw she seems to have is that she’s also naive? She had the same wide-eyed innocence as Luke had but it’s different and here’s why. Rey never suffers for any of her so-called almost non-existent flaws. Rey is experienced enough to hold her own in a fight against men WAY stronger then her (that’s realistic though but that’s one tool in her belt). She’s bilingual. She can fly the millennium falcon better then Han Solo even though she never flew one before. She is constantly saving people by herself, never the one being saved. (Before y’all bust my balls, Rey escaped that damn starkiller base by her damn self. Luke didn’t and couldn’t). She uses powers that takes years to learn and the excuse is the force dyad. So she downloads Kylo’s skills and training. Great. Magnificent. Rey is on a amazing start. And this is the first movie! She can only get stronger from here.

Luke is more mature and responsible in ESB. He’s a respected hero of the rebellion. Luke still struggles using the force. Even with the training Luke goes through with Obi-Wan he had to truly focus to pull the lightsaber to him. Plus as a common occurrence, he still needed help from his friends. He’s not invincible. He actually gets severely hurt (makes sense). He goes to Dagobah to get trained (because unlike Rey he doesn’t have the “learn force jedi shit that takes years to learn” cheatcode). And then he’s impatient. He wants to learn how to use the force so he can help his friends. Luke is again reckless, impatient, and he’s also insecure in his own belief. Him not believing he can lift the X-wing was why he couldn’t. Against his master’s and Obi-Wan’s orders he decides to save his friends. It’s a noble reason to but it still got him fucked up. He got his hand cut off, he was beaten and humiliated, and then he was told a horrifying revalation that twisted around everything he knew and believed. He was scared of Vader, you can see it on his face, but he did not succumb to fear.

Rey goes to the island to convince Luke to go help them fight the war. Why doesn’t Leia go instead? Who knows. Why does Luke act the way he does? Who knows. Luke dismissed her and was quite rude to her. Rey was having cute little talks with Kylie Renner in their little force dyad BS. She called him a monster and a murderous snake. I like the insults. It fills me with joy! But then she finds out the truth. Rey did do something reckless and stupid but as usual she doesn’t suffer the consequences to her actions. Technically she’s morally superior to Luke because she saw the good in him and felt like she could turn him to the light (after slicing his face open. Ok). Rey decides to give herself up to the First Order thinking Kylo would save her. And he does. So she wasn’t even wrong... Rey fight the very elite guards of the (bootleg emperor palpatine) Supreme Leader Snoke. Reminder, TFA and TLJ are like 3-4 days apart. She had zero training within these days. Luke refused to train her so don’t start that bullshit. Luke trained her for like 5 minutes and none of that training had anything to do with lightsaber dueling. Rey is then told she was a nobody. Now why did Rey cry about this? I truly don’t know. How the hell would Kylo accurately know that Rey’s parents were nobody? Didnt Rey been know this from the force awakens? Eh whatever. She tries to force pull the lightsaber from Kylo Ren and do a dumbass tug a war instead of walking up and grabbing it. It reminds me of JJ and Rian fighting over where the star wars sequels). Anakin must be screaming and yelling from above... or below... idk. The lightsaber then breaks. Rey then saves her friends by showing her once again superior piloting skills that rival or is possibly better then Anakin Skywalker himself. Hitting 3 in one shot? You go girl! She then uses the force to effortlessly move the big ass boulders out of the entrance to save the resistance. Last I remember... Luke struggled to do that with a few way smaller rocks and was also focusing hard to do.

Luke is finally at jedi status! Woohoo! Now Luke first saves Han from Jabba. It shows his very dark side tendencies by choking the guards (like father like son). Luke thinks of a actual plan before going in (CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT). Luke “Chanel Boots” Skywalker goes to Yoda on his death bed. All he wants is answers but Yoda wants to be cryptic as fuck. Luke has been lied to for years by his mentors and his family. Luke’s father isn’t hero Anakin Skywalker but actually a big, asthmatic, merciless, murderous asshole who has a choking kink. Luke then says he cannot kill his own father and Obi-Wan, who believes Vader isn’t a human but a machine, has no faith in Luke. He believes that Luke will fail and the Empire would win. Luke feels the conflict and good in him that nobody else does. He knows that Vader is unloyal to the emperor and he actually cares about his own son. When he is with Han and Leia he realizes he made a mistake and has a bad feeling about it. (*gasp* Luke is not being super reckless). He’s not arrogant (not in anyway) but he’s completely confident that Vader would turn. (He isn’t flawless there is still obvious problem with this plan he has. He fails, the empire wins. He dies, the emperor wins. Vader doesn’t turn, Luke fails. Luke almost succumbs to the dark side and it’s actually plausible he might fully turn. He wants to desperately save his friends and his father has done horrible things to Luke. Luke had every reason to kill Vader. But he doesn’t. He throws the lightsaber away and foolishly puts his life in Vader’s hand. Luke doesn’t save the galaxy because he can make things levitate with the force. He wins because he had the strength to resist the dark side and has so much love and pure good in his heart he saw the good in his father.

Rey starts off with a training session (no idc it’s too fucking late now. 3 movies in? Is she doing reverse character development?) and basically Poe gets mad at Rey for not accompanying them on missions. I still don’t know why she needs training, when she is at a decent strength to fight elite guards, fight kylo ren, and a variety of other things that typically takes a long time to learn. After finding out Palpatine returned, Rey goes on a mission to find the way finder almost like a shitty videogame. I don’t even want to talk about the force dyad anymore because it’s fucking dumb. Rey gets chased by the force order and hear this out, FORCE HEALS (i forgot what the animal was but idrc). Which means Rey had the power to stop the painful truth of death themself. Why am I not surprised? Rey did something that no other jedi nor sith or jedi have ever done this. Anakin went to the dark side to save the ones he love. This movie was just a slap in the face to Anakin. Rey then fights Kylo Ren and lost??? again it seems a little too late and it also didn’t make sense. Rey defeated those guards all by herself with Kylo needed help from her. She’s obviously the better lightsaber duelist but hey, at least JJ was trying to mellow her out a bit. Rey stabs him while our beloved Princess died. She then regrets her decision and as always, doesn’t have any consequence to her actions. By the force I forgot, the whole scene where she is revealed as a Palpatine? Completely invalidates the first two movies but eh whatever. She uses a power that only the elite sith does... something Kylo Ren himself could not do (and he’s on the dark side). Rey “killed” Chewie but actually no she didn’t because Chewie is perfectly fine. Rey is supposed to be all dark and edgy now, “you don’t know me” BS. Yeah I’m sorry I won’t tolerate this because my only allergy is the fish smelling coochie bullshit called the sequel trilogy. Rey got scared of her dark self. Well at least JJ tried? Rey then almost gives up but Luke was like “nah fam you cant”. Rey dies trying to fight Palpatine but then as usual, she gets zero consequence cuz Benny Simp saved her using the force. Then she kissed him... no. No. No. This made my eyes burn like they just threw bleach in my eyes. It made no sense. “A Kiss of Gratitude”? What the shit was that? GIRLS DO NOT INSPIRE TO BE REY.

[sonia7atm]

BRIDGERTON BOOK SERIES REVIEW.

So here it is, before I start I just wanted to say that I’m in no way shape or form an expert in english or literature for that matter. English is my third language and I’m studying science. Having said that, I have read all eight books in less than two weeks and I have a lot of opinions that I wanted to share so here they are. Obviously: SPOILERS AHEAD

The series in its entirety

The bridgerton series is probably the best written series that I have ever read. I loved the fact that it is made up of 8 books, but also the way the books are structured. In each of the books we focus on one of the siblings and their significant others, and even when the side characters are there, they are not really a main focus of the story. This means you can pick up a random Bridgerton book without having read the other ones and you would not feel like you are missing something. I really liked this because it meant that with each book you were getting to know a different sibling, thus you are never really bored and there wasn’t unnecessary drama happening with the already established couples, which is refreshing at the least.

However, it does have setbacks. In some of the books, you find that this side characters really change from the way they appear in the background or the other novels, and it can be difficult to digest at first. Another flaw that I found is with the brothers' books. When I was reading some of the books dedicated to the men of the family sometimes I found that we don’t spend enough time with them and when you finish the books you don’t have an understanding of who they are. Maybe I’m not making sense but I’ll elaborate in each book a little bit more.

But in the end, even these little flaws, I had a great time reading the books and finding out what was happening with the family.

My favourite book - AOFAG

I know some people have trouble ranking the Bridgerton books, especially, the favourite one, but I’m not one of them. I am obsessed with “An offer from a gentleman”, I love the story, I love Sophie, I love Benedith and I love Violet Bridgerton with all of my heart. This book is great from the start, even though b, the third book you know a happy ending is what the book is leading to, it still excites you and makes you wonder. AMAZING DARE I SAY.

Sophie is one of my favourite characters in all of the books. She has a strong morals system and you get really inspired by her. All of the things she goes through are horrible, but she still remains such a calm and kind individual that I cannot help but stan. HARD. She has very strong ideas and morals and she sticks with them even when they mean losing Benedict. I found this message really important and powerful because we usually see the opposite: people changing their views for their significant other, and I don’t think it's right. So, hereby I declare Sophie QUEEN of the Bridgerton clan.

Moving on to Benedict, I heard a little bit of criticism with his actions in this book and I see where they are coming from, but I don’t share them. I think Benedict is one of the brothers that suffers from a really deep female counterpart and as such his thoughts are not fully explored. In my opinion Benedict is tormented by the fact that he is the second Bridgerton and nothing more (similar to Colin and kinda Gregory really), and also by the fact that he lost the woman at the ball. On top of that, Sophie comes along and he starts falling for her and he feels guilty that he is falling for someone else, so he doesn’t fully commit to Sophie but also doesn’t really leave her. It’s a messed up situation and he doesn’t make the best decisions but I understand his actions and I support him. The only thing that really annoyed me about Benedict is that he doesn’t recognize Sophie at all. I wanted to hit him, hard, in the head, with a fucking piano.

Now the best of the best: Violet Bridgerton. She was the surprise character of this book in that prison scene. In the previous book you still see her and like her but she saves the day in this one, and I felt like I really knew her after that. She is not the typical ton mother, she really values their children’s happiness and takes everyone under her wing. She knows who she is and the importance her family has and she uses her powers for good. I gained so much respect for her. A surprise character and a great one.

To sum it up, Benedict and Sophie are perfect to each other, like this mellow entity. Two kind souls, always happy, always calm. Of course they live in the countryside, they could not live anywhere else.

Top tier books - WHWW, RMB, TVWL

WHEN HE WAS WICKED

This book wrecked me, I have to admit I was a mess, I could not deal. A tragic story with so much longing and guilt and despair, I love a drama, man this is great. I went in knowing the basics of it but I was not prepared.

The poor Francesca has the most devastating story in my opinion: she suffers from infertility, her husband dies, she doesn’t feel like she fits in her family, and when she falls in love Michael is sick, WHY?!. Throughout the book you get to see how strong she is, how strong-willed she is. We are not talking about this enough. She loves with all her heart and she suffers with all of it too. She and Michel have a really strong chemistry and it translates really well. I think she was really clever to wait and think before committing to Michael, and I see how she would need to see him in danger to really let herself fall completely. In the end, she knows what losing someone you love feels like and she doesn’t want to feel that again. I understand. Also, an important part of Francesca's journey is to realize that loving someone else doesn’t diminish her feelings for John, and I love how Michael acknowledges it. 

Michael is a really interesting character who falls in love at first sight with the wrong woman. He is fully aware of this fact and it is really good to see that he doesn’t doubt his love for her, but is instead aware of the impossibility of doing something about it. Even when he can do something about it, his respect for his cousin is always present. The guilt he feels for loving Francesca both when John was alive and after he died is so different but so well written. It’s eating him up and It is painful to read to be honest. However, I found that said guilt disappeared rather quickly after his conversation with Colin. I may be the only one but I was a little bit put off by it, and that’s why this is not my favourite book in the series.

THE VISCOUNT WHO LOVED ME 

The bees, I could talk about the bees for days after reading this one. This one has a lot of Bridgerton backstory, and it explains so much of the rest of the bunch even if not directly. So I would say not to skip it (but why would you skip any of them?).

Kate Sheffield is one of the best written characters in this series. She is complex, fierce but delicate, confident but self-conscious. I would kill for her, she deserves it. Her family dynamics are impeccable. You feel the love between these three women and the roles they have, and you get them really quickly: Edwina is the little sister, a little naive but good-hearted, Kate is the fierce older sister and Mary is the compassionate step-mother. I really enjoyed their dynamics. The introduction of Kate’s character is by presenting her goal for the season: defend her sister. When Anthony enters the pool of suitors, she obviously opposes and their back and forth shows she is very witty. But as the story goes on we get to see her insecurities and fears, in a way that it’s so in character but at the same time so different from the start. It’s amazing and I can see why she is such a fan favourite.

Anthony is a baby.We can see how Edmund’s death really scarred him, and those wounds are deep. He believes in his own demise so blindly that it is conditioning all of his decisions.He grows a lot until he is able to share them with Kate and they bond so beautifully over it. Getting to see that, was something that I loved and enjoyed so much. It makes you really connect with both of the characters and it explains so much of his behaviour, that even if he frustrates you, you can’t be mad because you understand where he comes from.

Newton is the guest star in this one and I would like to take our time to appreciate the captain of the Kanthony ship. This little dog is such a plot device, put there to cause havoc and bring Kate and Anthony together, it is so funny. He smelled Anthony and decided he wanted a new dad. Put a plan in march, probably alerted his friend, THE bee.

ROMANCING MR BRIDGERTON

The message of this book is amazing. The journey they both go through to re-know each other is beautiful. Penelope and Colin have known each other for years, and they both have a version of the other in their minds but as the story progresses they unveil hidden personality traits about each others and I love how it is acknowledge and developed into a clear message of “people are flawed and not the perfect individual you wish them to be, and that’s ok”. It is really necessary and it made me reflect on my own relationships and how I could improve them. Colin and Penelope have to be my favourite couple of the series, but, because they were because of the show and not the books, when I finished this book I was left feeling like I wanted more, and that is why it is not my favourite one.

This is the book where readers find out Penelope is Lady Whiseldown and it is a big plot line. However, this revelation is maybe halfway through the book and until then, Penelope's inner monologue doesn’t reveal anything. I would have loved to really focus on it and know from the start how she really did it but at the same time, we get to see so much of Pen’s growth anyways. She is shy and kind but when she is with someone she trusts (in this case Colin and Lady Danbury), she is full of wit and boldness. I see myself so much in these characteristics that I cannot help but make her my favourite character in the series (totally biased but it is what it is). She starts with a sense of discontent about her, she knows her fate and accepts it but, she doesn’t necessarily like it. She is trying to change the way people see her and Lady Danbury helps a lot with it. She and Colin spend a lot of the book kind of on opposite sides in part because of their own demons, she wants to prove herself and at the same time is faced with the realization that the Colin she made up in her mind is not the real one. It really makes you wonder if it’s a happy ending at the end of it, because they both have such strong points but they are so diverse. At the end, after they talk about it, their relationship is full of devotion and you feel how they are making each other focused and better. I would die for them.

Colin is such a tumultuous character and it is a stark contrast on how we get to see him in the previous and following books. He is used to putting the charm on and fooling everybody but, of course, in this book we explore his inner workings and now we know the truth. He is just a lost puppy, looking for something to do with his life, and he is so focused on this search and runnin away for his family that he doesn’t see that there is already something that he is good about: writing. His relationship with Pen is obviously key in all of this searching because it pushes his limits and makes him think. His realization, of both his vocation and his love are slow and steady. He sometimes jumps to conclusions and rushes things *ahem*the proposal*cough* but not love, and once he commits he does it fully. The “stay, stay, stay” scene is a monumental hallmark in the book. We see Colin really deciding and choosing Penelope and Lady Whistle down with all that it entails. And later on, he opens out about his jealousy over her work, but he does it when he is ready, and Pen allows him to come to her when he needs without judgement. They are so perfect it hurts. 

The lack of Eloise is an insult to my soul but we get Lady Danbury as the guest star. She is on Penelope's corner helping her navigate the ton and her relationship with Colin, as a mother figure would. I believe she at least has a big suspicion that she is LW, but I might be wrong.

All-nighter books - OTWTTW, IIHK. ON THE WAY TO THE WEDDING

Gregory’s book is full of twists and turns that you just cannot put it down. Not the fact that the main female character is Lucy and not Hermoine, like Gregory thinks half of the book, just because you don’t. It is pretty clear that Lucy is our heroine so the fact that Gregory falls for her is not a twist itself because we (and Kate) already know. But in my opinion, the fact that it starts with Gregory interrupting the wedding and then it goes back and explains the backstory to you, so it is constantly leading up to it. 

Lucy is not the most interesting of the female leads but it is part of her charm. She is a normal girl, her life is already arranged, so she doesn’t feel the pressure the rest of them do, she is just enjoying herself. She doesn’t believe in love, and it is so funny how in denial she is about it, until it all explodes. 

Gregory’s life was influenced by her brothers before him and his big family but he feels so alone because of the age difference. He is trying to find his place in life and, because he saw all of his siblings fall in love he wants the same thing so badly, that he confuses desire with love. He is so precious, and must be protected at all costs.

The last few chapters are action packed, there’s an urgency in everyone's actions: Lucy, trying to save her family and Gregory, trying to save Lucy. I couldn’t figure out what was going to happen and that hooked me. The fact that the wedding actually takes place is the most shocking plot of all of the books.  

To conclude, Gregory owns my heart and I trust him with it.

IT’S IN HIS KISS

This story is another “all-nighter”, because it revolves around a mystery and the search for Gareth’s grandmother lost jewels. This quest brings Hyacinth and Gareth together, with a lot of Lady Danbury’s help. It’s really interesting to read about the felonies they commit, all of them instigated by Hyacinth, who, in my opinion, is chaos personified. 

Hyacinth is the most forward-thinking woman of this series. She is outspoken, confident, loud and apologetic. All of these traits really set her apart, because she doesn’t play by the rules of society, she does what she pleases, and she should. She is the typical little sister, a little spoiled but with a good heart. Her conversations with Violet are really touching. 

Gareth on the other side, is not in a good place with his family, and it is endearing to see how shocked he is by the Bridgerton’s closeness. He has a severe lack of self love, and sees himself as an imposter, and not worthy of Hyacinth. But when he falls, OMG, HE FALLS. His attitude towards Hyacinth’s personality is amazing because he loves her exactly as she is, and knows he will be following her orders for the rest of his life. Adorable. (He is the “That’s my wife” meme).

Lady Danbury is again the guest star and it only helps to cement her as the cool grandma that we all aspire to be. An honorable mention is Anthony getting super-duper happy that all of his sisters are married and therefore he is free (my poor guy).

However, the main issue I have with this book is that the decision of getting married is really attached to Gareth’s need to vex his father, who is a horrible person, and it makes me mad. 

Not my favourite books - TSPWL, TDAI

TO SIR PHILIP WITH LOVE

In this book Eloise decides running off to meet a possible husband is a great idea. Her brain, I can’t. Obviously the Bridgerton brothers follow her and force the two to marry anyways, although they were already falling in love when they found her. Phillip, Eloise's love interest is a loner and lives outside of the ton and I think that these traits really work with her because they are polar opposites but at the same time they fit so well. The relationship Eloise has with Amanda and Oliver is so cute, because you can see that these kids just need some attention and help navigating the world without her mother and Eloise is there for them.

However, even though I loved their storyline and I wanted to rank this higher I couldn’t. The other Bridgertons are a big part of this book and when I was thinking back on it the parts that I remember fondly the most are when Anthony, Benedict, Colin and Gregory arrive to kill talk to Philip, and then when Charles is ill and we get to see Benedict and Sophie as parents. So, I like this book because of side characters and not the main ones, even though I know there is nothing wrong with them. However, I do think the book is ok and I would recommend it nevertheless.

THE DUQUE AND I

I don’t have much to say about this book. The r*pe is completely unnecessary in my opinion. Daphne and Simon have terrible communication skills, but so do Kate and Anthony, for example, but still, the repercussions are not that severe. It is so much worse in the books and it has no consequences whatsoever. Up until that point, the enemies to secret dating to falling in love is such a classic thorpe that I usually like, but I cannot separate the two of them. In fact, I would advise to skip this one.

Hapily Ever After

Thank you to the heavens for this book. It is just a little exploration of all of the sibling’s future and an extra story for Violete.

Daphne’s story revolves around her last pregnancy. A surprise one when she is quite old. I found it really sweet and it looks like she and Simon are really happy with their life so good for them. Also, Colin and Penelope visit with all of their children so I’m obligated to like it.

The TVWLM continuation is a get together in Aubrey Hall for a Pall Mall rematch. I had so much fun reading it and getting to see all of the Bridgertons interact in a “relaxed” manner.

Sophie and Benedict’s story focuses on Posy and her search for a husband. She is lovely and I do want her happiness but getting to see Sophie and Benedict interact while actually together was a treat. I feel very blessed to see them be the balls of sunshine they both are.

Then we get to see how Eloise found out Lady Whisheldow’s identity. It was fun, and we get to see Pen and Eloise being friends, which we don’t get enough of in their respectives books. Colin and Penelope leaving the wedding early, was a gem. They are a couple of horny idiots and I love to see it. After that, we focus on Eloise again and we get to see a little bit more about Amanda and Oliver.

One of the main things about Francesca in her book is the fact that she wants a baby, and it is never resolved. In this one, we get to see how Francesca and Michael become parents and it's another heartbreaking one. We get to see how worried Violet is for her and also how Michael and Francesca talk and understand each other. They are one of the best relationships on this series, I said what I said.

In IIHK the diamonds are never found, but we find them here. It is great to know they were not missing and also a relief to know that Gareth was able to rescue the family even without them. The fact that Isabella actually finds them and proceeds to say nothing is hilarious. But when Hyacinth finds them the happiness she feels is so wholesome.

Then we get to see Gregory and Lucy’s twins be born (their 8th and 9th children). It is not an easy task and for a moment I was afraid for Lucy but it all works out in the end. It was filled with great moments but the one that I like the most is when Gregory says that Katherine gave him purpose in life, because he was meant to be a dad. I cried ngl.

And lastly, we meet Edmund. He is very present throughout the book but I was not expecting to grow so attached to him with this little story. It is divided in different stages of Violet’s life and obviously we get to see her romance with Edmund. I loved the little details, his behaviour reminded me of Gregory but he eats a lot like Colin so it is great to see where they get their traits from. The later parts, after he dies, show you how much importance Violet puts on remembering him and preserving his memory. They were truly soulmates, and it is such a shame that their time together was cut short.

[shinneth]

Gem Ascension Tropes (White Diamond-specific: K - P)

Primary General Post ♦ Full Article ♦  Primary Peri Post ♦  Primary WD Post 

Karma Houdini: Pretty much everyone except Steven is fully aware she is this no matter how decisively she’s been defeated. When Steven spares her with an Energy Donation, she proves this when she retaliates with that very energy.

Killed Off For Real: White shattered into a ring of dust moments before Homeworld followed suit. She ain’t coming back from that.

Know-Nothing Know-It-All: For being the Diamond of Omniscience, White has one hell of a selective memory and for the most part all but disregards Steven and Peridot’s identities and lives on Earth. She is solely focused on who they are as Diamonds; White speaks as if they never had lives or a purpose elsewhere. This behavior works to the Crystal Gems’ benefit on more than one occasion throughout Act III. Literally, the only time White seems to have any kind of awareness of Steven and Peridot’s Earth lives is when she’s part of the Celadon Diamond fusion.

Lack of Empathy: A bit of a given when one considers the countless amounts of lives she’s ruined at best (outright ended at worst) even before the events of GA. Not to mention the fact that White makes it very clear that she doesn’t see herself at fault for anything that ever went wrong with Homeworld and isn’t sorry for a single crime she commits. Losing Pink Diamond is probably the closest White ever came to averting this trope, but that was also largely her fault (that she, shockingly, refuses to own up to). Pink’s spirit outright admits she’s the only soft spot White has that the Crystal Gems could exploit to appeal to her alleged “better nature” … but given the lives she’d shatter before reality finally makes her face the music, it really isn’t worth the effort.

Last-Second Chance: After Steven grants White an Energy Donation at her request before leaving, she’s extremely offended by how neutral he’s behaving around her. She’s also not taking Peridot’s mellowed down stance on her well, either, given everything she put these two through, and by extension, all their friends and everyone she ruled over. To be treated like she’s irrelevant is far worse than being reviled, as it makes her feel insignificant despite being who she is. Despite Steven’s good intentions, White sees this as a Cruel Mercy. So, against all rational thought, she attempts to throw a last fatal parting shot In the Back at the Crystal Gems before Peridot nearly turns it into a Backstab Backfire (which she only defies at the last second after the sheer satisfaction of terrifying White is far more rewarding than simply taking her life).

Let’s See YOU Do Better!: Literally the only somewhat-valid ammunition White Diamond has against the Crystal Gems towards the end of Act III is her speculation on whether or not they can do a better job at handling an entire empire than her. The Crystal Gems maintain their positive outlook on how life will play out from here on out, but every single one of them has at least some degree of concern on how they’re going to handle adapting millions of confused and terrified Homeworld gems to Earth, as well as how to handle the issue of the colonies inevitably falling apart unless they get involved. The only thing that’s certain at this point is that the Crystal Gems won’t be following White Diamond’s example.

Light/Bright is Not Good: She is a Complete Monster, and also the lightest, whitest, and brightest of the entire cast by far.

Logical Weakness: Since White Diamond’s powers of omniscience largely rely on her ability to Body Surf through the bodies of gems she hijacks with her pallification, it stands to reason that White is screwed and practically blind if she is in a situation where there are no gems for her to use as puppets. In Act III, Pearl manages to create a vaccine that grants gems immunity to her influence (though it can’t cure gems that are already infected). By Chapter 5, all of the living Homeworld gems – regardless of their health – were migrated to Earth courtesy of Steven and Peridot. By Chapter 7, Garnet and Moonstone dispatch all of White Diamond’s proxies after the real White fused to become Celadon Diamond. This left White with no means of observing the world through her subjects’ eyes, and the Crystal Gems were immune to her influence. White also could no longer hide behind a mass of clones; she had to confront the Crystal Gems directly from that point onward.

Mad Scientist: She, Yellow, and Blue were behind the development of all Unwitting Test Subjects prior to Peridot. The reason, at least as far as White is concerned, is little more than For Science (and whether or not diamond dust is a viable component to add to injector fluid to better a gem’s inherent skill). This trope’s more of a thing for Peridot’s case specifically, since she’s the only test subject who got an extra element in Yellow Diamond’s shard thrown into what made her; White’s rationale for this was to see not only if she could grow a new Diamond from another gem, but to see if a gem from the bottom of the caste system can rise all the way to the top through this experiment. Surprisingly, White ended up being successful on both points.

Manipulative Bastard: Might as well be White’s middle name. She pulls a very long and elaborate game with Peridot to wear down her defenses, then at the right moment, targets Peridot’s weakness for Steven to overcome the Determinator. From that point onwards, Peridot becomes very easy to manipulate over to her side. Although it isn’t long before Peridot (as Chartreuse Diamond) pulls a Heel-Face Turn, all White Diamond has to do is trap her again along with her friends and then make Peridot’s resolve crumble with a single Armor-Piercing Question about her inability to fuse (with some heavy implication that her very influence is hazardous to Steven’s health). With that, White is able to force Peridot into a fusion to form Celadon Diamond, and as a bonus, has Peridot as a permanent hostage.

Master of Illusion: Conjures an illusion of Steven that even bears his voice with the sole purpose of distracting Peridot long enough for her to lose in the ongoing struggle to keep her neck from getting lacerated. She ripped it straight from Peridot’s own mind, as a bonus.

Meaningful Title: The Diamond of Omniscience; as a serial Body Snatcher, she can oversee everything going on in Homeworld without ever having to leave her palace.

The Mentor: Makes herself out to be one for Peridot in Act III when she ascends and becomes Chartreuse Diamond, but it’s all an act to keep Peridot Properly Paranoid about using her new powers too much.

Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds: White really didn’t think through her rebooting-Homeworld plan very well. She obviously had no plans for precautions on how to protect her own subjects from the planet’s inevitable destruction, let alone the infrastructure of the metropolis or even herself. Arguably, White might have survived such an event in peak condition, but there was no evidence whatsoever that she had any plans for damage control or any form of a Plan B if this process didn’t work the way she intended it to. Ironically, Homeworld did end up getting reborn, albeit through natural means – in other words, it’ll be millions of years before the new Homeworld would even be inhabitable. It also happened without any input from White whatsoever, and frankly couldn’t have worked out with her as an element even if she did live to see it.

Mind Hive: Utilizes proxies to resemble identical copies of herself via Clone by Conversion of several pallified gems fusing together.

Mind Rape: Resorts to this after accepting that she can’t break Determinator Peridot any other way.

Moral Event Horizon: Objectively, White crossed this a loooong time ago; she’s every bit as responsible (if not more so) for countless acts of global genocide and everything else inherent with being the ruler of a densely-populated planet where Individuality is Illegal and life can be forfeit merely on a whim. In terms of Gem Ascension, well… the easy answer would be the moment she (as Celadon Diamond) blew up the Crystal Gems’ spaceship, resulting in the attempted murder of Greg and actual murder of Pumpkin in Chapter 7 of Act III. But honestly, her very first heinous action of killing Blue Diamond in Chapter 6 of Act I could count, too. Then there’s the slew of atrocities White’s committed between these two moments…

Narcissist: No matter how often she screws up, White Diamond will never admit to being anything less than perfect. Even when it’s painfully obvious how ignorant and delusional she is late in Act III, at no point does White even show the slightest hint of self-awareness of her own insanity and ineptitude. She blames Homeworld’s crapsack state on everyone else, which is why she wants to form the Diamond of Miracles to reboot the planet back to its previously-perceived “perfect” form it once was thousands of years ago.

Never My Fault: Homeworld is dying because of her by Act III. It was already merely a shell of its former self prior to GA, but that was also largely due to White Diamond’s carelessness. Still, despite being shown all the evidence that points to her as the cause, she will point fingers at literally everyone else to blame for the state of Homeworld before ever considering her own responsibility.

No One Sees the Boss: Downplayed in that White Diamond has clearly been seen in canon by several of the main characters before GA even starts, but it’s made clear in Chapter 6 of Act I that this is actually a very big deal. Historically, White Diamond almost never shows herself, and Peridot confirms that it’s actually taboo to even talk about White, or even namedrop her. This has been the case not only in modern times, but even Lapis and Bismuth can’t recollect anything about White Diamond when they lived on Homeworld many thousands of years ago as well. As GA progresses, the trope becomes averted, as White is pretty much forced to step out from the shadows to address her subjects in order to fill in for Yellow and Blue Diamond after killing them both in Act I.

No Sympathy: Surprising, isn’t it? The self-centered, morally-bankrupt, and single-minded main villain of the main story doesn’t give two hoots how much others around her suffer as a consequence of her actions. Most of the time, White is shown not acknowledging someone’s turmoil at all, even when it’s shoved right in front of her face. 

Not So Omniscient After All: With Steven and Peridot sending away all remaining gems on Homeworld to Earth, then later Garnet and Moonstone destroying all of her remaining proxies, White Diamond no longer has the means to be anywhere and everywhere. She can’t exactly be a Body Snatcher (nor a Body Surfer) if there are no bodies left for her to hijack. She can’t even use the Crystal Gems for that purpose, as by that point they’ve all been immunized to her pallification.

The Omniscient: Official title is the Diamond of Omniscience. 

The Perfectionist: Per canon, but subverted and deconstructed in the GA continuity. Much as White strives for perfection, even within Act I it’s apparent how unhinged and imperfect White truly is through her actions and judgment. She honestly does more damage to herself and her plans than the Crystal Gems do. At no point does she consider herself responsible for driving Homeworld so far into the ground that it can no longer sustain itself; all White cares about is creating a miracle to reboot the planet to its former “perfect” glory, so that she can continue pretending she runs a flawless empire.

Possessing a Dead Body: While pallification technically doesn’t fully kill a gem, they’re little more than a vegetable after the fact, whether they’re directly being controlled by White or not. Played a little more straight with the White Diamond proxies, which are made up of several pallified gems forcibly fused together to take on her appearance and likeness; White directly controls those more so than the standard pallified gem, and Chapter 7 of Act III proves the gems who make up these proxies are impossible to save; even poofing a proxy will automatically shatter every gem in that “fusion”. The fact that they weren’t transported to Earth with the other Homeworld gems by Steven and Peridot (who even rescued standard pallified gems) is also indicative that they are well beyond saving, and therefore the proxies are little more than several dead gems melded together.