#bad tog edit

[local-writer]

I haven't edited anything in forever until now, so here you go lol

[lucienarcheron]

SJM Live Event 9.26.2023

This was so fun! I loved the questions and rapport between Christian Lauren and Sarah. Below is a recap of what was discussed :)

She looks great!

They met years ago when SJM was still writing TOG (on book two)

COURTOFMASS helped narrow down the questions so AYY fandom

CL likes to see when people try to summarize the SJM’s books so they asked SJM to summarize CC

SJM’s palms were sweating (LOL) and she summarized it as “a mix of urban fantasy, fantasy, fantasy but modern world - kick ass snarky heroine who goes on a journey of self-discovery and healing with hot ass dudes and hot sex”

“Doesn’t look any family members in the eye” because of her smut (lol)

SJM doesn’t look at any theories. “I say no in the most loving way”

She doesn’t have social media on her phone so she’s not lurking around on the internet. She just wants to stay in her creative bubble. Every now and then a friend will send her something “lol look at this crazy theory” 

Creating CC / what was that like? 

It was a year-long process and ongoing as she was writing it. She’s back living in NYC and growing up in the city inspired a lot of this book. The idea came to her on a plane while on tour (possibly HOF) and she heard a piece of music, and saw Danika’s voice reaching out to Bryce. It’s when she burst into tears and Bryce came to life (she’s told us this before). She kind of worked in reverse as it unraveled in her mind. It’s something she thought about for years and it was her “fun” / side project. Over the course of a bunch of years, until TOG was starting to wrap up, she kept coming back to it. 

This was the story she wanted to tell because she loved Bryce and Hunt so much by that point. It was over the course of years daydreaming about this story and peeling away the images of the story. She had a lot of fun writing this book.

How does she keep track of the worlds she creates?

Publisher has an official bible which they constantly reference and she has an awesome editor that remembers all the important stuff and small moments/lines. She has a terrible memory in real life but SJM keeps all her stories occupied in her brain. Also keeps a bunch of notebooks.

We don’t know much about Hunt’s origin so are we going to find out about his parentage and background in the next book? 

We will learn more about Hunt in the next book. As for his well-being, “I make no promises. I’m not saying anything about anything.” LOL. “I will say that when I was working on HOSAB my editor and I were thinking about what was the most horrible thing that could happen.” Originally she considered him getting his wings chopped off again but her editor was like “what can be worse” and it’s the slave tattoo again. A new level of trauma for him to unload in the next book. “He has a lot of room to grow and shit to deal with it. Poor Hunt, he’s in for a journey coming up.” 

Will we find out more about the Autumn King? Does he connect to the Autumn Court?

Yes, we will learn more (about him not necessarily yes to the Autumn Court connection). “He’s not a father in any way.” In the process of writing and editing, he’s become one of her favorite to write because he’s so horrible and terrible. He’s capable of doing the right thing but doesn’t. He’s just a fucked up, horrible person. It’s a lot of fun to put opposing characters in a room to see what happens (bryce vs autumn king). It’s so satisfying for her to see a woman get one up on a douchey asshole.

Ruhn question - Some headcanon in the SJM fandom (that I didn’t quite catch but it made them all laugh) Something about Ruhn and vibrators? Sarah nearly fell down the stairs laughing about this. Now that she’s thinking about sweet Ruhn and where he is, she feels bad. (SARAH NO).

Talked about her writing process - Sometimes she will write a whole draft and realize it’s not what she wants. When she was working on HOFAS, she was going through some shit (didn’t want to elaborate) and she wrote the whole thing but then she didn’t like it. She was “meh” about it. She knew she hadn’t found the right story and it wasn’t good enough. She is very intense about her writing and wants to put her very best writing out there. 

There’s a little bit of an extra gap between the books because she had her baby but also she went through the first/second round of edits with other things going on that she wasn’t in the right space. She felt like she needed to throw out the whole thing and start over. She wrote a brand new draft in 4-5 weeks and then she found the story. A couple of scenes stayed from the first draft but almost of it is new. She never wants to put out any work she doesn’t believe in. “You can’t fix a blank page.” so it’s all part of the writing process for her. 

For example, the book she’s working on now - spent the whole day writing a scene but she doesn’t like it and it’s part of the process. 

What it was like waiting for readers to get to the ending of HOSAB / Another author asked about when she decided to crash her worlds together the author can’t fathom that Sarah didn’t plan this out from the beginning so when Aelin went through the worlds and Rhys sees her - “Are you some crazy genius where all these little breadcrumbs come into your brain or was it intentional?” 

Not a genius in any way. Talks about her son and how he says “I’m Sarah J Mask” - her kids keep her humble (lmao). Her son is obsessed with Taylor Swift so it doesn’t matter what she does, she’ll never be Taylor Swift so she’ll never be cool (lol). She loves Taylor and has so much respect for her and now she knows all her songs because they only listened to her in the car. She has the little golden book of TS for her son (LOL). In the eyes of her son, TS is the only creative genius and she is all for it. 

When it comes to the ending of this book, she knew for a while and knew these worlds overlapped before she started working on KOA. She knew Aelin was going to crash through these worlds and had already started daydreaming on CC. When she wrote that scene of Aelin, she wanted her to go through the ACOTAR world and see Feysand then had her go through the CC world. When she was really working on CC officially, while daydreaming about it, she got into this idea of the worlds and how they’re all technically connected. She remembered having this “what the fuck” moment of HOSAB’s ending. “I don’t know what’s happening to my body” and everything clicked in. While working on CC1, she was able to plant some seeds.

When she finally wrote the end of HOSAB with Rhys, she cried. Things had just completely gone to shit in CC and “my wonderful Rhys” comes in. One of her favorite parts that she’s ever written. 

Will we see ACOTAR characters coming in/having POVs? - “I’m not saying anything about anything.”  We will see some of the ACOTAR world. It basically picks up close to where we left off.

Is Dankia really dead - “Um, yeah.” LOL “She is dead and as much as I wish was miraculously living, she’s dead.”

Is Connor really dead - “Yes?” LOL

Does Emil really have no powers? - Passed on answering this. “I like it.”

With magic being weaker in the modern world, do mates mean the same thing in the fantasy (ACOTAR/TOG) as they do in the modern world? - Pass because (they started speaking over each other here but I assume it will be because we will understand more of this in HOFAS). 

Is Hunt really Bryce’s mate - “Am I going to destroy some kind of theory?” She answered, “YES, HE IS HER MATE.”  She talked about how she’s changed the LI in her other series (the FMC’s first LI not being her last one) but with CC she kept the same LI from the beginning to the end -  “If they both make it to the end.” (she’s so mean for this LOL)

When the first ACOTAR book came out, it was hard for her to keep Feysand a secret because people would tell her how much they loved Tamlin and she had to just smile awkwardly about it (lolol).

How much of Bryce’s power has she accessed? - We’ll see in the next book!

They talked a little about parenting and their kids aging and personal stories for a bit. 

CL mentioned SJM previously saying that people won’t need to read ACOTAR to read CC and vice versa. Is that statement still true? - “You should read ACOTAR and if you haven’t read ACOTAR and get to HOSAB, it’ll make you want to read it.” She had them put an AD in the back of HOSAB for people to read ACOTAR. She then said, “I do not stand by that statement. I renounce this statement. Read ACOTAR first.” (👀)

Discussed the cover of HOFAS and whether the cover has a dragon head - “I am not saying anything. There are always easter eggs.”  She added, “We made sure there were many easter eggs.”  It’s probably her favorite cover. It came together so beautifully. 

Did she write HOSAB in order? - She’s always super pumped to write her endings. She has to write in a linear/chronical fashion and she dangles the ending as motivation. She was powering through the rest of the book so she could get to writing the endings of HOSAB. It was the same with ACOSF with Nesta in the Blood Rite and saving Feyre. 

What were some of the most fun/favorite/hardest scenes- In HOEAB, when Hunt discovers Bryce’s unicorn collection. Sarah has collections of My Little Pony and has been in bidding wars for them. She loves them LOL.  Another scene will always be Bryce and Danika doing the drop. She still cries thinking about it. “Call me sentimental, cheesy, or whatever - I believe in our darkest moments we aren’t alone.”  That scene means a lot to her. 

In HOSAB - she loved the opening of the book where they’re basically at a frat party “Wonder where the inspo for that came from” LOL / She loves the little moments of them living their lives and getting to be themesleevs in between disasters. She loved it when Ruhn was super stoned lmao. She also loved the scene with The Hind and Ithan in the bar as well as the end of HOSAB with the Hind revealing herself to her Ruhn; she cried a lot while writing those scenes. 

She gets so emotionally involved with her books/characters. Most of the book is what she loves. She needs to be obsessed with her book because she has to read it over so many times and stay in love with it as she rereads it.

She remembers seeing tear stains on copies of her manuscripts. She loves all her characters so much and they make it worth it across all the series. They feel real to her.  She’s getting to see them in all aspects of their lives. 

Three Bigger Questions - 

One of the reasons they clicked as friends is because they have the same fangirl heart - CL loves her passion for things. How does it feel to have this fandom follow her the way she follows her favorites? Sarah mentions how she was a fangirl of CL first. 

It feels weird to even say fandom for her books. It’s beyond anything she’s ever hoped for herself. There’s no ego here but she grew up as a fangirl for so many things so it blows her mind that people connect with these characters and worlds and that they mean something to them. She also has a profound sense of gratitude that she gets to do what she loves because of the people who read her books. She’s deeply appreciative of the joy and enthusiasm we bring to the books. It’s a very humbling and moving thing to inspire someone. 

Every time she sees someone reading her book, she walks up to them and talks about it apparently! One girl on the street walked by her and Josh and they saw a tattoo of the mountain with three stars and they wanted to ask her about it. Sarah sent Josh to ask her about her tattoo. “He wasn’t cool about it, he just blurted it out.”  She then introduced herself but the girl didn’t seem to believe her HAHA. “No makeup and in regular street clothes. I think she thought I was a lunatic on the street. I don’t think she left the encounter believing it was me.” “I’m going to be quiet and not scare people anymore.” 

She saw a guy on the subway reading ACOMAF “Is he reading some sexy ass stuff on the subway?” but he was reading it because his gf was reading it.

It blows her mind seeing people read her books in real life just like seeing her book on shelves never gets old. 

Now that CC3 is done, what are you working on now? 

Currently working on/drafting the next ACOTAR novel! That’s all she will say. She has become so focused and excited writing this book. She described it as the feeling when you’re first obsessed with someone and all they’re thinking about. For the next god knows how many months or “a million years”  LOL

[acourtofantumbra]

I would love to just... even one time... have some kind of profound explanation for the parallels that are coming up during this Throne of Glass reread. Like what do I even do with this?

I haven't seen anyone draw this parallel between Elide's extra sensory bad vibes of the Stone Marshes in TOG and Nesta's vision in the Prison in ACOSF... but it's CERTAINLY there. (Edit: I fully believe some SJM scholar out there has not only found this, but drawn far superior conclusions lol & I encourage them to enlighten me please!!)

What does one do when "even Death itself bows to the 26th string" and Fae trying to claw their way through stone comes up in BOTH?! Asking for a friend.

[ladydeath-vanserra]

New Blog Bio:

I do not tolerate pro-israel, zionist shit anywhere near me. I don't tolerate anti semitism anywhere near me. I will not tolerate anyone who is upholding or supporting the ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinians. if you do, BLOCK ME

if ur gonna follow or interact with my blog pls realize I am very critical towards most acotar content, especially if it involves Rhysand. I am more-or-less a Rhys Anti until further notice and I am hard-core side eye towards Cassian until Rhysand is held accountable for being a shitty person for more than like *checks notes* two pages

I'm not a Tamlin Stan, nor do I particularly care for him, but I have been engaging in thoughtful criticisms of his actions often which involves character analysis so you v likely will see that pop up every now and then

likely you will find:

anti Rhysand

anti/critical IC

anti/critical/pro feyre

anti/critical Cassian posts, maybe MAYBE pro cassian

critical/pro Azriel- I'm pretty neutral towards him

anti/critical/pro elain content [often. w/o being tied to a ship]

pro Lucien

pro Nesta

pro Eris

most pro tog characters

anti/critical chaol (he just annoys me with his high horse)

Pro Ships:

Azriel/Eris/Nesta

Tamsand (lmao)

Feylin [book one]

Elucien

Nesta/Lucien [idk the ship name]

Feycien

Feyssian

Mesta

most tog ships

aelin/manon

malide

chaorian

Anti Ships:

Nessian

Feysand

Elriel

lysaedion

chaolena

My Specific ACoTaR Meta:

SJM + Eugenics + Ableism in her Writing

CoN + the Eternal Perpetuation of Abuse and Toxicity

SJM and the vilification of Ireland in acotar and tog

SJM could have had the HLs give their power to resurrect her wo Rhys forcing them if she played by Faerie Rules

Rhys physically assaulted Nesta

Class Warfare + Class Traitors in ACoTaR

Rhysand + Morally Grey Behavior

My Meta / Aus / etc Posts

tag -> #justice for poor cassian and poor archeron Sisters

tag -> #glasses!elain propaganda

tag -> #slavic archeron Sisters au

tag -> #fix cassians characterization challenge

tag -> #scottish!tamlin

tag -> #welsh!rhys

tag -> #disabled!Cassian

tag -> #my acotar world building

tag -> #appropriated faerie lore in acotar

tag -> #hybern Ireland

tag -> #white feminism in acotar

tag -> #eugenics in acotar

tag -> #eugenics in tog

tag -> #classism in acotar

Other Acotar Meta:

Mor SA'd Cassian

tag -> #acotar tiktok meta

tag -> #acotar meta

tag -> #racism in acotar

tag -> #Nesta is not an alcoholic send tweet

Other:

A Synopsis of The Ballad of Tam Lin

Other Fandoms:

TVDverse:

leave season 1 Caroline ALONE. she deserved better 🥺

Damon and Rose's Friendship that is ALL

"He's the 'good brother'. I'm the 'bad brother'" Salvatore Brothers meta

Esther is Mikaels victim too stop this irritating 'Esther is the real villain'

tag -> #can we stop the overt vilification of Esther Mikaelson and the UwUization of Mikael Mikaelson

tag -> #tvd tiktok edits

tag -> #Damon Salvatore

tag -> #Caroline Forbes

tag -> #Vincent Griffith

tag -> #Shelia Bennett

Bridgerton:

It's Loving how Nuanced Portia is Hours

tag -> #Portia Featherington

Shadow and Bone / Six of Crows:

The Darkling Meta

tag -> #David kostyk

Once Upon a Time

tag -> #cora mills

The Hunger Games / A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes:

Coriolanus Snow Meta

tag -> #thg tiktok meta

tag -> #coriolanus snow

tag -> #reaper ash

tag -> #wovey

Percy Jackson

tag -> #nico di Angelo

completely irrelevant:

tag -> #rural iowa

more to be added!

[highladyofterrasen7]

People who are going on my suicide note- sjm edition

Please note that this is satire and I’m not going to kill myself

Also, it’s the entire alphabet

A. People who hate rhys for how many houses he has

B. People who undermine what Mor went through (especially the Eris part)

C. People who praise Nesta for how she acted in acotar, acofas, and the beginning of acosf primarily

D. People who say it’s misogynistic to dislike Elain

E. People who came up with the “gwyn is a lightsinger” theory bc they realised their favourite ship is sinking.

F. Anyone who talks bad about my girl Feyre

G. People who say Cassian is abusive

H. People who say Rhys drugged and sa’d feyre utm

I. Anyone who says anything good about tampon

J. Quinlar deniers

K. People who say Danika was a terrible friend

L. Anyone who says Aedion’s reaction for the aelin-Lysandra secret wasn’t justified

M. People who in the same breath as attack rhys and cassian for keeping the mating bond a secret will praise aelin for doing the same

N. People who say Dorian isn’t the best tog man

O. Full and 100% chaol stans

P. That one person that said rowaelin aren’t allowed to dislike Lorcan and wrote a whole paragraph about it

Q. People who think acosf was the best book in the series

R. People who dislike acofas

S. Anyone who says anything bad about Sam

T. Anyone who is anti inner circle

U. People who ship lucien and tampon

V. People who attack fanartists for depicting utm rhys as pale when he’s literally described as pale

W. People who say manorian shouldn’t get a novella

X. Those weird people with their Eris and Nyx things

Y. People who say feyre is boring now (bc she had a baby)

Z. Anyone who uses there every breath to attack and find plot holes in sjms work (if you don’t like it, don’t read it) get a life

These are very me-specific opinions

Lmk which ones you strongly agree with

[justallihere]

fairyloot announced their TOG special editions and they’re getting dragged so bad in the instagram comments oh my god 😭😭😭 I own a lot of FL books but this set. . . 🫠

[hephs-thighs]

I’m really worried that even if TOG 2 gets released, it’s going to be really bad. Like after re-edits etc, this will be the best they still could make of the situation, just past the ‘acceptable’ mark.

Perhaps it lacks Gina’s love and care 😔

Very valid worry! When we love the existing story so much and we're so invested in it, it's hugely frustrating when new canon material feels incompatible. I see a lot of potential upset around the difficult material the sequel will have to cover. I still want to see it LOL, but I do fear the fandom fallout.

I think Gina not directing was a big loss for the sequel, but I don't want to blame Victoria Mahoney. We simply don't really know what's wrong with the film as it currently exists.

I keep hoping good news will be announced soon and all my fretting will look silly.

[a-court-of-moonlight-and-ire]

So, I usually read acotar on the bus and during class and then I come home and write these posts but I had a Certified Mental Health Moment and couldnt go for the entirety of last week and I didnt feel like reading during that time, so yeah

Anyway, Ive made it through chapter 30 I think (sry i forgor and i dont feel like taking the book out of my bag rn to check) so Ive just gotten to the point where Feyre arrived UTM through that weird interdimensional (?) shortcut and then a hand grabs her and then the chapter ends. That means Ive finally had my proper introduction to my literary mortal enemy, the man, the myth, the legend, Rhysand Nolastname, and also Feyre's sisters as actual characters instead of the weird caricatures they were previously

The stuff with Nesta and Elain is honestly baffling to me, like was there not an editor to suggest maybe adjusting those first few chapters when she decided to flesh them out more? One of the acotar critiques I watched before reading was this one by a podcast called Unresolved Textual Tension and one of the hosts kept remarking that sjm "couldnt go back to change things" in reference to her constant retconning of characters with very little elaboration, but like, why? First of all, I dont think thats literally true; to my knowledge (which is admittedly limited so feel free to correct me here) sjm had her start on fiction press with the first throne of glass book, posted serially chapter by chapter, which got really popular and was then traditionally published in 2012, but every book after that was always intended to be published as a whole work went through the whole traditional publishing pipeline with editors and whatnot. So the issues with ACOTAR cant come from it being a serialized story that wasnt properly planned out and then wasnt fixed up in editing, right? And the only other thing I can think of is that she just didnt have an editor (or atleast not a very thorough one) which, people say that a lot of her more recent work (CC series, ACOSF) feel unedited because of how they drag and how often the prose seems to repeat itself and by this point shes popular and influential enough that Im pretty willing to believe that, but was she that popular back in 2015 from TOG alone? Idk if anyone can tell me anything about this I would appreciate it

I already have a lot of thoughts about Rhysand (spoiler alert: none of them are positive) but I think I'll save those for when we get to Those Scenes UTM. For now, I just wanted to ask all the Feylin girlies who read this book before ACOMAF came out or who went into the series without spoilers: didnt it feel incredibly weird that Rhysands beautifulness was so emphasized when, as far as you were aware, Feyre and Tamlin were meant to be endgame? Like, I think Feylin is cute and all but Im not really too invested in it because I dont find either of them on their own or their dynamic together that interesting, but it still felt a little disrespectful if thats the right word. Like, I know love triangles are a Thing in YA and I know they tend to be incredibly clear-cut and its usually very obvious whos gonna get the girl from the getgo, but in those cases the protagonist generally has some kind of actual relationship with The Bad Boy to justify a weird attraction to an obviously dangerous guy, in ACOTAR Rhysand has talked to Feyre exactly one time and then he sent over a head on a spike and here she is, talking about how indescribably beautiful he is while hes making her friend and the man she will claim to love in the next chapter go down on their knees to beg for her safety. Idk man it just feels so weird

[talesofgoiky]

OMG OMG OMG just saw the update and this is!! awesomes!!!!!!!!

another weee few lol: Can objects and other species crossbreed? is that why Candi has paws in the like banner thing when normal objects don't have them? And why are evils only a threat now? did they come with algebraliens, creatures that lived in the Evil Forest but were also pushed out by algebrailens, or did the normal objects just intrude on their territory? *cutely bombards with. questions (if you don't want them or feel overwhelmed, i can!! stop tho)*

NO ITS OK i love the questions!!! asks are encouraged :3

i dont really know if species can crossbreed? they havent rlly had the chance to since theyre all kinda. killing eachother. (EDIT! its biologically impossible.. they all reproduce differently. there is no sex in tog universe) the candi with paws thing was actually just a mistake on my part, i draw objects with paws in my regular art but i forgot that they have hands in tog…

why evils are only a threat NOW is something that we’re gonna touch on later in the series… only time will tell!!!

also sorry for not fully answering your questions about evils last time!! honestly im not really sure how they became a thing either? we talked about it in the original making of tog (over a year ago now!) and the og idea was they were a physical manifestation of an objects rage or bad traits and then just.. became a species over time. i like the idea but im not sure if we’re keeping it since basically every lore aspect has changed since the original!!! ill go consult rain hehe

rain edit: thats about right ^_^

[bookofmirth]

So, ever since I finished TOG for the first time last summer, I wanted to get copies of TOG and COM to keep for myself by way of used books. Well, I finally found one. It was the only SJM book there. The bookseller said that a lot of people have asked if he had anything from her, and realized she must be very popular. Then, later, I walked into B&N and my mom (who's helping me search) and I were bombarded by tables containing all three series. I feel bad for saying this, but it's getting annoying how big she's getting. I don't remember her being this big when I first got into ACOTAR 5 years ago (which I decided to read after going through Tumble). Thus, even though I'm not an OG, I still feel rather weird with people now gushing about it. I'm not sure if it's because I'd begun recently browsing the anti-SJM tags, because those guys do have a point, I have to admit. At any rate, it's only going to get worse when the show comes out, if it ever does.

On the one hand, it's great for her that she's getting even more and more successful. For her, it's amazing that people continue to discover the series and enjoy it!

On the other hand, it's annoying as hell for the fandom.

Fandoms are a very specific little ecosystem that have their own rules and etiquette and ways of communicating, and we keep getting people here who don't understand how it works. See: people misusing the term "crackship", people not understanding that fandom is not necessarily about canon, people not understanding how to just stay in their damn lane and block tags, people not understanding how inherently queer fandom spaces are/have been in the past.

Usually, people figure it out and they stick around or they move on to something else. It's normal for people to join/leave the fandom, it's a normal ebb and flow. But now?

I like that we get more creators, more fan art, more writers, more memes, etc. But given the state of the acotar fandom right now, that comes along with loads of new antagonists and instigators, and combined with the fact that these people don't understand how fandom works... grandpa I'm tired. And it's not even just the acotar fandom! See: the whole mess with the ToG fairyloot special editions in April or whenever that happened.

Anyway, tl;dr I agree with you. I don't want to be gatekeepy, but also I do.

[violivs]

NMTDaily: Summer Tips

- “I probably look awful” *is the world’s cutest human* Hero, please.

- Goddamn though, when I first watched this, summer still meant something. Summer still meant several months of no school and nothing much to do (*snort*) instead of just being that time of year when I still spend all my time working, it’s just hot outside. What is the passage of time?!

- Hero is sweet and nice but she is also loyal. She would only be that harsh with someone if she was doing it for Bea or Leo or Ursula, I think. I think her snapping at Ben to stop watching their videos and mentioning them in his is the meanest she’s ever been, and she still manages to deliver it almost like she’s letting him down easy! Incredible.

- Beatrice: *bitching about how awful Benedick’s vlog was*

Me: *kicking my feet and squealing* You’re gonna love that stupid face!

- “I hate that hill!” Creating another parallel between Bea’s videos and Ben’s. Now they’ve both complained about the hill. Just makes me think of Ben seeing Bea walking the hill and offering her a ride all faux-chivalrously and her furiously turning him down and keeping on walking. Wouldn’t be surprised if that just happened right before this video and that’s why she’s in a Mood to rant about him.

- She is so focused on hating Ben that she willingly called Hero riff-raff! That’s dedication lol

- I do get annoyed by any Shakespeare modern AU movie/book/series that changes the character names completely to sound more modern. So SO glad NMTD stuck with the canon names and leant into the Bene-dick jokes. Even if that euphemism wasn’t in use in his time, I still think it’s what Shakespeare would’ve wanted. 😆

- Benvolio! Hamlet reference!

- In a world where Much Ado doesn’t exist, I want to know where in the world the Hobbes parents found the name Benedick. I know they’re professors, so that’s how, but you know what I mean.

- “He’s not all bad!” See, Hero can only be so mean at a time before she goes back into nice mode. I love her.

- Obsessed with Bea and Ben having classes together and having to try to keep a lid on it and not just bother each other all the time. And them both not understanding why they just can’t help but react to each other, why they care so much about everything the other person does and says.

- Ben editing Bea’s homework annoyingly (lol, I desperately want to know exactly what “postmodern bullshit” he wrote too) and being “a walking textbook” is sooooo… he just loves to learn! About everything! And share what he learns with others! All I can think about is him biting off more than he can chew at school next year in Lolilo because he’s so enthusiastic about everything. And Bea is going to go from not wanting to hear a word he says to finding his passion for it all so endearing that she can’t bring herself to burst his bubble and just communicate about not wanting an LDR. 🥺 They already wreck me!

- “Do you think you always think before you speak?” Hero with the necessary call-out!

- “Mine’s vodka!” Lol

- Bea immediately correcting Hero and acting like a know-it-all about summer right after complaining what a know-it-all Ben is. Classic.

- *googles togs* oh, swimsuits, interesting

- “Scarves that shade your face” just really reminds me of a certain reason Hero from the play has to hide her face in the future… a reference?

- “you have a lovely face! Show the world your pretty face!” An iconic line!

- Another Bea/Ben parallel! Bea says she likes banana milkshakes, and in Vox Pops, Ben said his favorite food was bananas. Can’t believe I’ve never had them go for milkshakes on a date in a fic before, note to self.

- Bea’s tip IS legit. I also think of summer as the hell months, as she put it, and staying in the air conditioning is usually my coping mechanism of choice. Girl after my own heart.

- The cute little cursive note at the end! The Hero touch.

- I love this episode, and I love how Hero and Bea both enable each other and keep each other honest, and how they get along.

💖🦩🥭

[pearblossommina]

ToG Read-a-Long, Queen of Shadows, day 9

I’m so normal about this chapter set you guys

Ch 52

"Not yet," he said roughly, his own breathing uneven. "Not now.”

BOO

BOOOOOOO

Rowan you TEASE. How dare you.

Please, my crops, they’re so dry. Please. Chomp down on her neck. Mark her up, be a beast, I know you want to do it, SO DO IT! You think Aedion has never heard the sound of people having sex in the next room?!? It’s fine! He’s a big boy, he’ll get over it!

You can be as loud as the hell you want when you’re making love, don’t let the neighbors stop you from having fun; they’ll have peace and quiet when you’re good and done.

Ch 53

AGAIN?!?

(SJM: hey are you turned on? Excited to read a chapter about Rowan and Aelin dancing around the idea of maybe potentially consummating?)

(Me: yeah yeah gimme gimme!)

(SJM: *writes about Dorian filled with doom and gloom and sorrow instead*)

(Me: *sigh*)

Who edited this. Who let her get away with this. I need to know where to send the bill for my whiplash.

Ch 54

Heyyyy well this is a surprise

Kaltain beat back the demon

(With fire) (mmmm)(sounds good I’m pretty sure we can muster some fire)

Good job Kaltain, can you tell our baby boy Dorian!

Ch 55

Lysandra god damn it

How dare you get kidnapped, my crops are turning to dust in the field and I’m so thirsty, I can’t be concerned for you right now

You better not be about to be killed violently like Nehemia

(I can’t keep going through all this intensity) (I CAN’T)(my feelings are all over the place)(what is even going ON)

Ch 56

I feel like I am actually being pranked right now

There is no way

There is no way she can keep getting away with this

Is the next chapter going to be another sad Dorian chapter, SMH

how much longer can these two possibly hold out! Another temptation and another postponement… yeesh

Ch 57

I’m getting so sick of all the war and high stakes stuff happening in this book

I AM IN HELL

Like genuinely I can tell this is important and I should care about what’s going on right now and yet, HEAD EMPTY, DON’T CARE

I WISH I CARED

BUT I DON’T

Ch 58

Plot!

I care a little bit

It made me kinda excited when Dorian managed to talk in his own voice, Dorian, what the hell have you been waiting for? The right moment when Aelin happened to be watching?

Lol

Is grandmother Matron fucking the king?

Probably not, since he has a wife

I just want to see Manon eat everybody, actually

Ch 59

My how the turn tables, CHAOL WANTS TO KILL DORIAN NOW

Chaol, are you fucking kidding me? This whole time you have been the only one holding onto hope

How could you let your hopes die now? Don’t you believe in good triumphing over evil? Weren’t you fighting for a better world, for humanity or whatever? What happened, Chaol? I thought you were on my side.

I thought we were doofuses together

Don’t leave me here to be a doofus by myself

I find Manon so sexy especially how she just effortlessly holds Chaol captive. I still think Baba Yellowlegs is the silliest name for any villain, it just rolls off the tongue in such a funny way. Shouldn’t Manon be glad that Baba Yellowlegs died, though? I mean maybe it’s bad when a witch dies because they’re so strong, but the fact that she died is what caused her and the other clans to join together and rival for a new Wing Leader, sooooo actually, Aelin did you a service, baby. If you look at the bright side. If you are capable of looking at the bright side.

Lol

Yeah! fight each other

Hot!

Ch 60

“If he had been one inch farther behind, it would have hit his heart.”

Aw shit be careful Rowan! You can’t be out here getting mortally wounded! I am so sick of it! Get your act together, what do you think this is, an action novel? NO, dummy, it’s a steamy romance, I don’t have time for your bleeding heart heroics! Literally!

The Manon x Aelin fight is pretty hot actually

I am here for it

Guys this chapter set gave me hell

IT GAVE ME HELL

It wasn’t a very LONG set but boy was it hard for me to pay attention lmao, and I KNEW, I KNEW the stuff happening after the Rowaelin tease was important but I was like what the actual fuck is this! Get back in bed! No! I hate myself - I hate everything!

[lucienarcheron]

Seeing some of those comments on the fairyloot edition of tog gives me the ick so bad. this fandom can be so disgusting sometimes.

[stargirlrchive]

Hi! Okay so I’m still on ACOFAS (I haven’t had time to read bc of a family emergency and uni finals😭) but I’m def gonna read ToG next. I’m so happy you bought it🥳 ✨

Alsoooo I need to see the acotar special edition with velaris bc I’m loosing my mind! I’ve seen it before but I can’t remember where it’s from??? I might need to buy it, it looks so pretty<3

OMG THATS SO EXCITING!!! i want to get to acosf so bad bc im obsessed w cassian and nesta, i need more of them NOW!! BUT AAAAHHHHH YES ITS SO PRETTY!!! its literally my baby, im so careful w it and i think its so beautiful!!

it’s from acrylicpics! they have an official website and also an etsy page and i got mine from etsy (i linked it for you!) :p

[archerons-arrow]

haven't read that particular series yet though I want to, but what is it with YA authors trying to branch out from the 'core' characters of a series and then utterly failing to make it interesting enough to want to continue? Like I still haven't finished the ToG series because I can't get through tower of dawn (and STILL need to finish SF lol) I mean I get wanting to explore other characters and themes? and yet?

If I knew the answer to this nonsense, I would be the leader of the free world. My suspicion is: one giant cash-grab.

Although, I would like think better of the author I was complaining about in the most recent post. But I don't know them personally so, make that coin, girly.

If it makes you feel better, ToD isn't NECESARY to finish ToG. It does have quite a reveal in it though but you can google that if you really want to finish the series. Speaking of ToG, be wary of Sarah's works from 2018 and onward. Her newer work is vastly different and questionably edited since becoming a more recognized author. Like I don't think anyone is actually asking her questions or stopping her from making bad judgement calls... (see FAS and SF among other things [again spoilers]).

I do recommend Folk of the Air series if you enjoy badasses and political intrigue. And even with this weird off-shoot I was complaining about, I still recommend it. I only didn't like how Wren's story was told because it didn't seem well put together. The ending is intriguing for a reason I cannot say without massive spoilers for the original trilogy and this duology.

[dearqueerdeers]

💕 self-love time! talk about which ones of YOUR creations (edits, artworks, fanfics) you like the most then send to other creators to do the same 💕

omfg thanks for the ask!!!

ok I only have one published fic at the moment so like. hehe 🫶

My favorite snippet from that fic is: “Sebastien wasn’t sure how long they walked together through the forest for he never seemed to tire, and his feet never seemed to ache. He had a vague sense that he ought to be elsewhere, and memories of a face smiling over a stove hovered unsteadily in his mind’s eye, but he wasn’t particularly bothered at the moment. Joe was so warm and so friendly. His laugh filled the air with radiance, and his skin emanated gentle heat. Everything about him made the bleak of winter feel like a distant dream.”

As for WIPs, the WIP I am the most in love with at the moment is a TOG AU where nile and nicky get captured on a mission (nicky is a vampire), and the only option is for nicky to drink nile’s blood to survive. obviously nile would rather lose some blood than lose a friend, but the whole thing leaves nile with #trauma surrounding nicky. she and andy bond a lot and andy takes care of her. then quynh escapes from the Iron Maiden and Nile and Quynh get super close and bond over their respective traumas & struggles adjusting to life After The Bad Thing and it’s generally meant to be very comfort found family vibes.

My favorite snippet: “over weeks, she improves. maybe. she brushes her teeth, sometimes. she helps andy do the chores, sometimes. but the nightmares keep coming. and the feelings of nicky hurting her in front of their captor keep coming. she writes to nicky more. she doesn’t hate him. she doesn’t want him gone for good. she misses him. she has no idea when she’ll be ready to see him again. she loves him. he hurt her. she hates him. he loves her. circles upon circles.”