#best alpha male romance novels

[foxglovegames]

Trouble Comes Twice - the Postmortem

We celebrated Trouble Comes Twice's anniversary around a month ago! We'd hoped to post this postmortem back then as well, but it's taken us a moment to find the right words haha.

Anyway, we hope that this postmortem can give our players and other visual novel devs some insight into what the development process looked like for us. It's also a great way for us to look back at what went well and what went less well.

We'll be taking about the ideation phase, our (lack of) marketing for the Kickstarter, and also sharing (what we can) on our earnings from the game!

Coming up with Trouble Comes Twice

The original tone of Trouble Comes Twice was a lot more comedic and packed to the brim with anime tropes we enjoy. Most didn't make it into the final game, but some stayed and evolved e.g. all of the love interests are based on popular visual novel archetypes - the childhood friend, the tomboy, the shy girl, and the bad boy. 

Some, like Cameron and Zoe, changed a lot from their concept while Adrian and Stephanie stayed quite loyal to our original ideas of them. Cameron's character actually underwent the most changes after the initial reception to the demo, where a lot of people felt like he was too much of an ass haha. (Fortunately, he became a fan favorite when we dropped the new demo!)

The premise with the bet was something we invented to create some drama and establish a common plot thread throughout each route. Honestly, looking back, we would probably have approached the bet differently if we wrote it today and a lot of our pre-planning was... clumsy, at best. Still, it was a labor of love and I'll never forget the fun and excitement we had everyday balling ideas for the characters and coming up with their designs.

As Melli and I are just writers with limited coding experience, we worked with a past game jam friend to code the GUI and set up the base for the game (though the actual scripting was done by us and Melli put everything together in the end). Our biggest expenses pre- and post-demo was the character art and CGs, meanwhile we relied on free music and BG packs to save money.

Why a bisexual romcom?

So, this was sort of a no-brainer to us. We had decided right from the start that both twins could date both the male and female love interests, and (at the time) we feel that a lot of similar games had playersexual MCs rather than established bisexual/pansexual MCs. While playersexual charas are also awesome, we wanted to write a romcom where the main cast are always queer regardless of who you end up romancing. 

At the same time, bi/pan people don't all approach romantic relationships the same way e.g. Cameron is confident and has experience dating people of all genders, while Adrian's demi and Jace still struggles a bit with his attraction towards men. We know that some of our players felt like that made certain routes less romantic than others and we hear you on that feedback and have 100% taken it into consideration for our future romance games. But anyway, that was our thought process behind Trouble Comes Twice's romance dynamics!

Preparing for Kickstarter & the actual Campaign

Our Kickstarter launched at the start of August and let me tell you, we were nowhere near as prepared as we should have been. 😭 We hadn't set up a Steam page yet, we were trailer-less, and we only had a couple of hundred followers across our socials at best. I feel that there's a lot more successful Kickstarter projects to refer to and even a lot of marketing guides and advice now, but mostly it's on us for not researching more. 

The Kickstarter campaign did surprisingly well despite the lack of promotion and only having a rough alpha demo - we were even able to double our goal! - but we  wouldn't recommend what we did for other devs.

You should invest time into making a good demo, spend time building an interested audience before launching your campaign, and research so you've got some kind of marketing plan. We were lucky with word-of-mouth and that other visual novel devs with larger followings helped share our game, but we should have made more effort reaching out to bloggers, streamers, and game sites. Some crowdfunding successes may seem like they came out of nowhere and were just pure luck, but there's usually a lot of grinding behind-the-scenes that you don't notice.

The post-Kickstarter era, at least for us, was the harder bit. We now had 353 loyal backers who had expectations based on promises we had made and we had to make sure we met those expectations while also staying true to our wants as the devs. It was a learning process for sure, but we're fairly proud that we always did our best to keep our backers in the loop. It's frustrating to write an update explaining that the game has been delayed again, but backers are more open to being understanding than you think as long as you communicate!

A tip we'd give to new devs considering Kickstarter: Don't overestimate what you can do, but overestimate what you need. There's always hidden costs, unexpected taxes/fees, and other unknown obstacles that might eat up your budget. In our case, we made enough to make the game as planned, but had to change CG artists around halfway through development which meant our original budget didn't cut it anymore. Fortunately, we had earned a decent amount from our Patreon and pre-orders that we were able to use to complete the CGs, but that isn't always going to be an option for everyone and that also meant we were unable to use that money ourselves. (We didn't take any money from the original Kickstarter campaign, so whatever was earned through patreon and pre-sales was our only "salary" at the time.) 

Writing the game

Writing is, for obvious reasons, one of the most important parts of a visual novel. Melli wrote Jace's routes and I wrote Hazel's routes, which removed some pressure off our shoulders compared to trying to write over 300,000 words all on our own. 

It's fun working with another writer, but there are also some unique issues and considerations that come up when you're writing a game with two protagonists split between two writers. Especially because at the time, there weren't many visual novels with a similar set up to refer to.

The main things we learned, were:

Consistency. We wanted each couple to have their own dynamic, but the characterization needs to remain consistent between routes. You don't want Adrian in Jace's route to feel like a totally different character in Hazel's route. Additionally, we had to be careful that the tone and writing style of the protagonists' POVs still felt like you were playing the same game. Some routes can be more comedic than others, but we've got a problem if Hazel's routes are all (unintentionally) more serious/angsty in tone than Jace's or vice versa.

Watch out for your word count! Longer does not always equal better and writing eight routes, we had to put some restrictions in place. Even when writing on your own, it can be tough to guess how long your story should be, and it was important to us that the routes were roughly the same length so that none felt more "canon" than the other. However, with two writers who have different writing styles and ways of planning, it was tricky to compare our outlines and we struggled at times when it came to matching each other's word counts. Moving forward, we're probably going to be more lenient when it comes to word counts - some routes have to be longer than others, it doesn't mean that route is automatically more "important". We're also doing more regular meetings and frequent check-ins to make sure we're on the same page. In the future, we hope that should save us a lot of trouble when it comes to pacing! 🙈

Balancing your own wants with the wants of your players. In theory, these overlap most of the time. But making a commercial game (that people had already "bought" through the Kickstarter), there is some pressure when it comes to meeting certain expectations. We can't always just write what we want and assume everyone else is going to love it, but we also don't want to neglect what we personally like. We had a survey for the beta where we were able to get regular feedback and a lot of helpful advice. We definitely want to continue with surveys in the future - they are a great way to gather opinions from different players and figure out what works versus what doesn't! 

We took on too many tasks outside writing that distracted us. This bit is sort of inevitable for indie devs like us. 😅 Working with a limited budget and limited resources, you just end up having to wear a lot of hats! We think we did quite well sharing these duties though, and moving forward (thanks to you guys) we can afford more hands on deck to help us out. 

Marketing

The bane of every indie game dev's existence... although secretly, I kind of enjoy marketing but don't tell anyone that!

Having learned a thing or two from promoting the Kickstarter, we spent more time researching games marketing but in the end, trial and error was the best teacher.

As we got closer to the release date, we were posting almost daily on social media and grew our Twitter to over eight thousand followers. We didn't have any viral posts, but we saw a consistent growing interest in our game and it was such a motivation boost to see comments from potential players being excited for the game. We know a lot of devs have said that Twitter didn't help their game much but according to our stats, a decent number of our players found us through the platform. 

We saw less success here on Tumblr. Perhaps we haven't cracked the code here yet or maybe we're just comparing our numbers from Twitter unfairly! We're not hung up about it though, we love it here because it feels easier to connect with our followers and other devs there, and it's nice because we're able to write longer posts like this one! 💓

Aside from posting on social media, we reached out to several streamers and some bloggers prior to release to send them free game keys. 

We also commissioned some art from other artists to share, as we obviously couldn't reveal ALL our CGs before the release lol and visual posts tend to do a lot better in our experience. It was so much fun to see the characters in other art styles and we hope we can afford to commission guest art pieces a lot more frequently in the future!

In hindsight, we definitely regret not releasing a trailer sooner! We underestimated how much interest a good trailer could garner and delayed setting up our Steam page because of it. Steam was the platform where we sold the most copies and most of our buyers found the game through Steam itself.

Also, posting your trailer on youtube adds another site where you're promoting your game so there's really no reason not to get that trailer done as soon as you can. 

Final Notes

After the initial stress, we were pretty happy with our release! Although there were some things we would go back and change if we could,  that's just the nature of these kind of things. For the most part, we're proud of what we achieved and happy that we have learnt so much from Trouble Comes Twice that we can take into consideration for future projects.

We can't share exact numbers, but we wanted to open up a bit about our earnings for the game to help other aspiring devs: As of writing this, Trouble Comes Twice has earned close to 85,000 euros. This counts our profits from 2020 to now (the Kickstarter, Patreon, pre-sales, and actual sales). Removing fees, taxes, the salaries of our talented artists and other freelancers, as well as the money invested into our next game, our personal pockets did not see anything close to those numbers. But we're super proud of how much our little game has made and so grateful that it's allowed us more creative freedom with our next title! 

So, what's next?

You might have heard but for the past year, we've slowly been working on the demo and upcoming announcement for our next visual novel:

A 17+ supernatural neon-noir romance game about monsters, love, and other horrors. 

Play as vampire detective Circe (female protagonist) or hellhound cop Dante (male protagonist) and delve into the mysteries of North Haven, where demons, vampires, and supernaturals hide in plain sight among humans.

The game features six routes, with three romance options available to each protagonist. Dante only has male romances and Circe has both male and female romances. 

The game tackles a darker, more angsty tone compared to Trouble Comes Twice. Still, we hope that those who decide to check it out will enjoy it! We plan to announce the game this coming Autumn. Follow our Twitter (we're still not calling it X sorry) or Tumblr to stay up to date.

[mermaidsirennikita]

I'm finally getting into historical romance after avoiding it for too long. Weirdly, this is because of Bridgerton, even though the show is often boring and the books feel as old as they are. Can you help me find overtly feminist books with sex scenes that are meaningfully connected to the characters and/or the plot. I enjoy fic, but I want the exact opposite of it when I'm reading a novel. Thanks!

Sure!

Scarlett Peckham is a great starting point here. Her books are on the more creative side re: sex scenes (by which I mean mildly kinky lol but also INTENTIONALLY kinky, as in the characters know what kink is) but she's very interested in the movements around them and come from diverse backgrounds. Her recently-concluded Society of Sirens trilogy is about a group of friends who campaign for women's rights, etc; what makes it more interesting to me than say Evie Dunmore books (I'll be honest, not a big fan of those, and they WILL get recommended to anyone who asks for feminist historical romance) is that the heroines legitimately come from different walks of life. One of them is a "rakess" who's basically a high class lady gone rogue; one of them is a biracial heiress; one is a courtesan who actually doesn't hate sex work but also can acknowledge its pros and cons.

This series also has some of the more consistently... I don't wanna say "beta" heroes, but none of them are alpha males and they're also not straightforward "cinnamon rolls".

Sarah MacLean has a great ongoing series called Hell's Belles about a group of female friends who fuck shit up for the sake of helping women who need them. The most recent book hits on the subject of abortion rights especially, which I looove. All MacLean books are written with feminism in mind, but this series is probably the most explicitly feminist.

Joanna Shupe is another author I'd blanket recommend on that level. Her Uptown Girls trilogy has a heroine, for example, who wants to open a casino for women and hits on things like an "unconventional" happily ever after (i.e., one where being together and happy forever doesn't necessarily mean marriage and babies.... people HATED that Florence and Clay were like "oh we're just gonna fuck each other and not have kids for the rest of our lives" and I liiiived).

Her Fifth Avenue Rebels series is also quite feminist, both casually and more politically. Our first book has a tennis playing heroine, and the last focuses on a heroine who spends a lot of her free time providing birth control to poor women, while also being upfront about her sexuality, the fact that she's had an abortion and doesn't regret it, the damage the Comstock Act caused... Also, her hero is completely in awe of her. I WOULD recommend reading this series in order, as they're all good and that last book is at its best when you see the buildup of the leads beforehand.

Grace Callaway definitely has a lighter tone... while actually hitting on some pretty dark shit... But if you want something that's feminist, super sexy, and kinda campy, Lady Charlotte's Society of Angels is literally Victorian Charlie's Angels with a female "Charlie". There is a lot of sex in these books, but I find it really fun and about getting the characters to bond. She also gets into subject matter that a lot of (white) authors don't... Like the Opium Wars.

Beverly Jenkins, of course, is one of the best out there. Her characters are more quietly feminist, but it's kind of an obvious part of the stories because she's not interested in white society at all. She also writes excellent female friendships and familial relationships. I'd recommend trying Forbidden (the Black heroine goes out west and becomes a cook, falls for a rich white man, thinks they can't be together, is unaware that he actually is NOT white and is the son of an an enslaved woman and a plantation owner who left the South and is now passing) or To Catch a Raven (really fun heist-y romance that involves the THEFT OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE) to start, though Indigo is my favorite of hers.

Diana Quincy writes really fun, feminist-streaked romance novels, some of which star Palestinian characters. Her most recent book is The Duke Gets Desperate and I fucking loved it. An American businesswoman inherits a castle and shows up like "Okay but we need to start hosting paid tours here because otherwise it's a money pit and I'm selling" while the duke who insists she did not actually inherit gasps in horror because you can't! Host! Tours! IN A CASTLE!!!!

Hotel of Secrets by Diana Biller is a great one. The heroine is the third generation to run this hotel in Vienna after her grandmother and mother did. They've also been consistently officially single (her grandmother actually has a female partner and her mother is a rich man's mistress) and illegitimate. The heroine is very independent, has no shame about her sex life, and is both funny and practical... Then people start trying to kill her and the strait-laced undercover American spy who's been at the hotel has to save her. Also he's a virgin. Fast-paced, funny, super romantic, and very unconventional.

Minerva Spencer has an entire trilogy about a group of women who perform in a circus—The Wild Women of Whitechapel. Very feminist, very fun, there's dueling and boxing and men who are very happy to be with women who could step on them.

Definitely get into Adriana Herrera's Las Leonas series—it's about a group of friends who leave the (now) Dominican Republic for Paris. You get everything from birth control to Lesbian Paris discussed, as well as tons of romance, fingerbanging on the Eiffel Tower, and more.

[animehouse-moe]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks....

You're all good! This is the first time I've been asked this. I'm usually terrible with favorites so I always feel like I don't pick the "best" in hindsight, but I'll try to be as accurate as possible. These will also be in no particular order since they all occupy such different areas.

(edit: I just realized in my incredible morning brain state that this said male or female, but I only read the female part haha. So this is just the female lineup, I guess).

Iwakura Lain - Serial Experiments Lain

Lain's a character that has, and will always remain enigmatic. Subjectivity and personal experience remain intertwined with works like Serial Experiments Lain, so what each individual takes away from it will change. Personally, what makes me love Lain is her desperation to communicate, to connect with the people around her. To make friends, to do fun things with them, to understand the people that comprise her life. But that desire spirals, she gets absorbed (like so many do) and becomes something else entirely. Fracturing and separating herself, spreading those instances across the internet in a desperate way to connect. For existing prior to essentially all forms of social media, it depicts the struggle and addiction that trouble countless people in freakishly accurate fashion.

Iwakura Mitsumi - Skip and Loafer

Had to put them next to each other on this list haha. Iwakura Mitsumi though. I don't hate the approach of a lot of Shojosei in terms of high school slice of life/romance, but I find much more to love with the more grounded ones than the more fantastical, just a personal preference. Anyways, Mitsumi. She's just the perfect representation of high school life. A dash of confidence, a good bit of deep seated anxiety, lots of stress over school and friends, but a positive and hopeful outlook in spite of her stumbling and struggles that's wonderfully accented by blossoming feelings of love. She just occupies a space that is very rare these days, so of course I love her.

Ryougi Shiki - The Garden of Sinners

Okay, hot take since (spoiler) Saber's not going to be on the list. I just haven "completed" Saber's story if that makes sense. I've read a lot, experienced a lot, but I haven't gotten 100% of it like I have with Shiki. That said, Shiki's story. I mean, as a character they're so damn hard to really capture. After all, there's more than one of them, and their story is told through the experiences of others. Shiki as a character, and The Garden of Sinners as a series, just holds a special place in my heart as Nasu's first real creative work that remains untethered by the requirements of a visual novel. If Nasu's work on the VNs is the base level, then The Garden of Sinners stands a cut above from start to finish.

Hatsuseno Alpha - Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou

A robot that is startlingly human, but surprisingly childlike. Alpha was is just the perfect vehicle to experience YKK through. Vast understanding and interest, but meaningful naivete and curiosity. She explores a world peacefully accepting its death, and is able to pull such beautiful moments from it. She doesn't struggle or bemoan the end, but rather takes it in stride and focuses on the beauty of humanity, how it's adapted, what's been lost and what's been created in its stead. It brings it all together under this character that is so deeply passionate about exploring life even under these circumstances, that you can't help but feel an indescribable warmth in her story.

Biwa - Heike Monogatari

Okay, maybe I'm cheating a little bit with Biwa here, but it's just a character that I think is incredibly beautiful. Witnessing the murder of her father, she's taken in by a clan doomed to death, where a man possesses a similar ability to Biwa. Together, she struggles to create the family she never had, all the while forced to come to terms with their deaths. She fights tooth and nail to keep them alive, but her attempts are futile. In the end, she is given her adoptive father's ability and completes what one might call the "cycle". Seeing life and death, the eternal struggle that will never change, she experiences her life, her family, her future and past to its fullest, and commits her life to telling the story of the Heike that she was so fond of. It's a beautiful story centered around Biwa's experiences, and her fear of death and not having a family, truly wonderful stuff. Also Aoi Yuuki kills it as Biwa.

Kusanagi Motoko - Ghost In The Shell

This was baby's first big kid series for me. I'd always watched anime here and there, but mostly things like Bleach/Naruto/DBZ. Ghost in The Shell was the first really big series I'd dip my toes into via those 4 minute YouTube videos at 480p. Kusanagi's nature as the bridge between technology and humanity is endlessly explored and just such a great idea, that through the countless (good) iterations, there's a wealth of her to experience. Undoubtedly an iconic series, and one that's certainly remembered very fondly by me.

Kirigoe Mima - Perfect Blue

Mima's an incredible character driven to the psychological breaking point. Under the scrutiny and pressure of being an idol, the facade begins to crack and what seeps out from the gaps is nothing short of incredible. Satoshi Kon remains a wizard in what he did with his works, and for me, Mima's character in Perfect Blue is the pinnacle of that. An implicit story of the stress and strain placed on idols (and the entertainment industry at large) by those that string them up and sell the souls of these girls, Perfect Blue and Mima remain in a realm of their own in a lot of ways.

Nozomi - Sonny Boy

Well as they say, the proof is in the pudding, and the pudding in this case is Nozomi's name. Translating from Japanese it means "wish" or "desire" in English, and is the personification of Nozomi's role in Sonny Boy. As close to a catalyst as one can be, she spurs on the wishes of the characters around her, providing the foundation for our main character Nagara to grow and develop. In the end, the desires of each individual can be connected to Nozomi, even in her death. She's arguably more central to the plot of Sonny Boy than Nagara, so of course I see her as a deeply special character.

Kamikoshi Sorawo - Otherside Picnic

A somewhat different pick to help round out the list. Sorawo Kamikoshi, and Otherside Picnic at large, are certainly things that I don't think most people would fall in love with. But I did. The vitriol that her character expresses, the toxicity and self hatred and destruction. Her character is a very damaging and "bad" one, but that's what I love about it. There's no grand scheme behind Sorawo's personality, or any ideal that her character chases. She follows the whims and curiosities of her life as she willingly casts herself into the abyss of the Otherside alongside Toriko, and along the way, she learns to slowly grow and improve as a person while maintaining her core personality.

Osaki Nana - Nana

The duality of Nana as a character is just so well done to me. A character with two sides isn't anything special, but I think the way that Yazawa approaches her as a character, and introduces those cracks in her façade and the struggle that they represent is just really, really good. It has me really desperate for Yazawa to return from hiatus and continue on with Nana.

And that's the list. I know I've left off characters like Tohru or other massively popular (and well written) leads and characters from shojosei series, but a lot of what I desire out of a character can't quite be found in a lot of what ends up popular and translated (and what I tend to remember) I feel. If you take a look at the list, for example, you'll find that the majority of my favorites are from older series, as well as ones that feature more "tragic" or "twisted" characters. Personally, I find a flower most beautiful after you've understood how it's wilted and withered before it fights to bloom once more. Endless blooms that grant an eternal summer are undeniably beautiful, but that beauty tends to lack context and in turn can become simplicity. So that's my list, as imperfect and everchanging as it is. If I'm asked once more in a year, it will probably look startlingly different, but that's how these things will go with me.

[cosmicangst]

Hello! Do you have any favorite romance novels to recommend that are not YA? Thanks!

OH THE PANDORAS BOX YOUVE OPENED ANON ehem a not so exhaustive list

historical romance (this is my main genre so there's more books here)

bringing down the duke and a rogue of one's own by evie dunmore - part of a series but both can be read as stand-alones. victorian period ft suffragettes. the second one in particular is my absolute favorite. it's very Gender with an insouciant dandy and an ambitious activist leader, both lonely and stubborn.

the brothers sinister series (especially the countess conspiracy) and the turner trilogy by courtney milan - will admit i read these books a bit ago so i don't remember much of the details only to say that courtney is a brilliant romance writer so i automatically trust her any time i read her books. she makes the unromantic very romantic in a very grounded way. for example in one of the brothers sinister books, the couple has sex for the first time and it turns out to be understandably mediocre. but this becomes a starting off point that actually brings them closer together. i just love the touch of realism and imperfection she brings in a genre that's built off of heightened emotions and almost fantastical perfection in relationships.

the devil comes courting by courtney milan - separate rec because this is part of another series which i haven't fully read yet. but i just had to add this because i find it remarkably unique among the genre. the events span years (rather than the shortened time frame of most romance novels) and a large part of the courtship is epistolary. it's also interracial and does not feature a white person! (heroine is chinese and hero is black.) one of those hr books that is equally historical fiction as it is romance and explores a period that i think hasn't been touched upon as much yet.

a week to be wicked by tessa dare - the best romcom-y hr ive read! it's a zany road trip with a romance that happens so gradually it really does sneak up on you which is the best kind.

the belle of belgrave square by mimi matthews - marriage of convenience. read this recently and every plot beat was absolutely perfect. the reveals, the commitment between them, everything just made sense. nothing was extraneous.

convergence of desire by felicity niven - also marriage of convenience. I LOVE THIS HEROINE. she's on the spectrum and he has a toxic relationship to sex. he is absolutely not attracted to her in the beginning but the honesty she gives to him while she pursues her own ambitions has him absolutely at her feet by the end.

my deceitful duchess by aydra richards - nerdy virgin ass hero which is a breath of fresh air from all these alpha males. has one of the best grovels over a misunderstanding that absolutely makes sense and isn't contrived 👌👌👌

when beauty tamed the beast by eloisa james - read this a long time ago but this is the first romance book i read so i have a lot of fondness over it. a kind-of retelling of beauty and the beast. top notch banter.

suddenly you by lisa kleypas - older heroine and younger hero! virgin spinster and novelist starts a fwb relationship with her publisher. a bit dated but still a fun read.

devil in winter by lisa kleypas - oh very dated but a classic amongst the romance community. marriage of convenience. the hero sebastian is both loved and reviled (and rightfully so i think) by his readers but i just have so much fondness for evie and the way she absolutely does not give a shit about how intimidating he is.

a rogue by any other name by sarah maclean - childhood friends reunite years later. read this a loooong time ago and i don't remember much except he does the absolute most to push her away because of Revenge reasons and the fallout from that is delicious

a lady's guide to fortune hunting by sophie irwin - MY CURRENT LOVE. enemies to lovers with my favorite heroine. she is cunning and scheming and absolutely shameless without being a complete asshole. the hero is also equally savvy enough to match her wit and catch onto her grift. the interplay between them of trying to outscheme the other is hilarious and delightful.

contemporary:

georgie, all along by kate clayborn - sweet, slow romance where the drama happens around the couple rather than between them except for the very end and even that is handled pretty maturely. not a big fan of third act breakups in general unless it's for a very good reason so this one sidesteps that by not prolonging it.

against a wall by cate c. wells - small town enemies to lovers. one of those read with your pussy books. hero is kind of a dumb brick but he knows it and owns it and i admire him for it. heroine is the town pariah and spoilers he literally fights the whole town for her sake. get you a man!

the kiss quotient and the bride test by helen hoang - both feature leads on the spectrum. i've seen criticism regarding how she handles neurodivergent characters but reading her author's note, i can tell she definitely pulls a lot from her own experiences being on the spectrum herself so i don't really understand the crit tbh. kind of veers to melodrama a little at the very end but i eat that shit up

the hating game by sally thorne - overexposed now in the rec circles but still a mainstay for a reason. enemies to lovers workplace romance with two leads that are kind of deranged which i love. great prose, great banter.

the billionaire's wake-up call girl by annika martin - billionaires have no rights but just suspend your head for a sec. they could have made him a millionaire and functionally nothing would've changed. anyway also a yummy enemies to lovers with a case of mistaken identity.

well met by jen deluca - kind of like georgie, all along in that the heart of it is just two very normal people falling in love in a very normal way that feels true to life. setting is a renaissance fair which is delightful.

kiss an angel by susan elizabeth phillips - dated as all hell and has some troubling parts with a batshit premise. but the last several chapters honestly make the book and i reread it from time to time so im obligated to include it on this list.

bass-ackwards by eris adderly - okay TW on workplace harassment BUT JUST READ PAST CHAPTER TWO I PROMISE. if it's still not your cup of tea totally understand but anyway... er, workplace romance.

people we meet on vacation by emily henry - ive described this book before as when harry meets sally if harry and sally were making a travelogue. the best friends to lovers pining is actually painful.

other/kinda out there:

radiance by grace draven - arranged marriage interspecies romance! i love this one because both of them thinks the other is actually very ugly so they fall in love purely through their friendship.

transcendence by shay savage - OK LMAO hear me out: caveman and a modern human sent back in time due to shenanigans all from the caveman's pov. the premise is batshit and it's obvious which fandom this was originally a fanfic for if you think about it for more than a second but this author makes it work???? have no fucking clue how she did it but by god she absolutely did

last light by claire kent - apocalypse romance. kind of road trip with survival elements. again i just love unlikely romances where the couple isn't that attracted to each other from the start and having that gradually change through time in a way thats not signposting to the audience.

ghost walk by cassandra gannon - funniest shit ever. ghost who died in the revolutionary era meets a psychic who works as a walking tour guide and recovering from a nervous breakdown. absolutely ridiculous and over the top. insta love which i normally dont like but this was so campy and fun i didn't even care

all cishet but you can find my queer recs here

[belle-keys]

why do you think its a sign of media illiteracy when one dislikes lolita? i mean it has everything to do with the fact it was written by men since women romance literature is about self fulfillment fantasy to be dominated by hot alpha male but when you read grey or similar books it's obvious from the start this book isn't trying to be labelled as masterpiece, form of art to be workshipped etc. why people can't treat lolita the same way? why when men write about their sexual fantasies it's called art, top 100 books you need to read before you dir, that you need to separate artist from art, even though his wife admitted nabokov indeed had such fantasies so it's confirmed, but when women write about their own sexual fantasies is immediately labelled as oh, she hasn't had sex in 10 years time, so she tries to live her life through characters from her book? double standards at its best.

let's get into this mess of an ask lmao.

Firstly, I have no idea why you're assuming I don't like it when woman write their sexual fantasies in books. I read and enjoy a lot of that. Just because some misogynistic and hypocritical people are somehow cool with the male gaze but not the female gaze doesn't mean that I'm one of them. You're also assuming that because people trash on female writers' works and don't take it seriously means we should, what, automatically do the same for Nabokov? As revenge? Like, what kinda logic is that?

Secondly, you're assuming Lolita is Nabokov's sexual fantasy which is categorically incorrect and is a gross misreading of the book. Nabokov himself was sexually abused as a child and moreover spent the years after the publishing of Lolita trying to campaign for publishers not to use pictures of little girls on the book cover so that his book wouldn't promote the objectification of Lolita's image. Google is your friend to find all of Nabokov's anti-pedophilia and anti-Humbert stances. The podcast I linked also has an episode that gives a fact-checked biography of his life and the writing of the book.

And an even more glaring flaw of your argument here is that you seem to think Humbert's perspective mirrors... Nabokov's. Vladimir Nabokov is not Sam Levinson, you know. The book is a criticism of the way men treat women and view little girls, and the way a brilliantly evil mind who possesses a way with words can manage to trick you into sympathizing with him purely because of his "fancy prose". But the whole point of Lolita is that you're not supposed to side with Humbert, no matter how well he constructs word palaces in his self-defense. Nabokov created Humbert with the explicit purpose of criticizing and condemning... Humbert. Which he effectively does through the use of sature and irony and unreliable narration in the novel.

Like, please. Hate Lolita because you think it's bad, or it's poorly written, or it's overrated. But don't hate it in the name of all the women whose works aren't taken seriously or because you insist it refers to Nabokov's point of view. Hating Lolita, or any book, isn't a sign of media illiteracy. It's the reasoning for the hate which is what could be. You're entitled to your own opinion, but this opinion here just kinda sucks.

[strewbi]

this woman really named her alpha male protagonist orc in this romance novel fucking DOUG. that’s the work of someone with no grip left to lose. DOUG. even if he ran the flagship Best Buy in Tucson, if he was the romantic lead it still wouldn’t be DOUG. He’s an orc! throw in some consonants. I’m supposed to imagine someone moaning DOUG at the end of a fat knot? I’m gonna have to pronounce it stupid in my head just to get by. Doog, Dowka.

[sexcromancy]

bowie, what does it mean that bride is only "sort of" omegaverse?

thanks for asking, bowie. i've thought about this a lot, so allow me to clarify.

I want to start at the beginning, with ali's omegaverse fic. I'm linking one example of several, notable because it has an arranged meeting component (relevant to bride) and because she cited a johnlock omegaverse work as an inspiration for her worldbuilding (this gave me, to put it lightly, a fright). I think that's where I initially connected Ali and omegaverse early on in my interest in her work. i could see the shades of it in her first three novels, but my analysis faltered as i tried to bridge the gap between those and her fic. when i read bride, this clarified.

ali has often used emojis to describe the book on instagram: 🐺 for werewolves, 🩸 for vampires, and 🪢 for knotting. this allows for some level of euphemism in her Instagram posts, meaning she doesn't have to explicitly get into the kinkier parts of the story in public. she does also make a lot of puns on the word knot but it still feels like an in-joke - if readers want to understand what a knot is, they have to read the book. i attribute this coyness in part to the significant leap between her first three contemporary adult romance novels and this new foray into much more explicit supernatural romance, and specifically the introduction of knotting and interspecies kinks that might be unknown to the average booktoker.¹

now, to get into the actual content of bride. the book is a vampire-werewolf romance novel, where the vampire (stylized vampyre) is a woman named misery (!) and the werewolf (stylized were) is a man named lowe. lowe is also the alpha of his werewolf pack. mates are a factor in the worldbuilding; some but not all weres have them and recognizing them is scent-based. knotting happens only in sex between mates. lowe and misery's romance is framed by their arranged marriage, a political deal to ensure peace between vampyres, weres and humans.

if we refer to the original supernatural rpf kink meme prompt that is supposedly the origin of "omegaverse", there are three key elements: 1) social roles, in this case "alpha male and bitch male" which later became alphas and omegas; 2) dog-like sex, "the knot, tons of come"; and 3) mating/biologically enhanced long term monogamy.

bride has #2 for sure. it's not the full extent of their sexual dynamic, but those two elements are certainly present. it has #3, although I think this is somewhat complicated (but not exactly subverted) by it being an interspecies romance. it's technically not a biological "mating" bond in the way weres in this world understand it. instead, lowe recognizes misery as his mate by scent, and misery, unable to reciprocate biologically, chooses to define herself as Lowe's mate at the end of the story. i appreciate that this introduces an element of agency for misery, which is what i normally struggle with in soulmate stories.²

it's #1 where I get sort of tripped up. in this book, biological determinism wrt social roles as it is portrayed in most omegaverse fic³ does not exist. lowe is an alpha, but his closest confidants are "seconds," not betas, and it's more a social/political role than anything else. there are no equivalents to omegas. however. the interspecies aspect of the relationship does still introduce elements of biological determinism, ie, sexual urges that can't be controlled; physical needs like hunger literally and metaphorically standing in for sexual desire. misery is also, crucially, a social outcast to her fellow vampyres, occupying a similar role to the omega social role in many omegaverse works. I cannot deny that's a lot of similarity, but for whatever reason, ali chose to elide this particular element of the worldbuilding. my best guess for this is empowerment of misery as a character. as mentioned above, she has more agency than many damsels in supernatural romance novels. empowered heroines with their own plot, relationships and sexual desires are an important part of popular contemporary romance; often books with too weak a heroine get lanced on tiktok (as was the fate of anastasia grey, for example).

finally, i want to talk about to inspiration. ali cites the johnlock fic as a framework for her reylo fic, and she has repeatedly spoken about her longstanding love for fanfic, obviously including omegaverse. but as an informed reader of her books, I think I can actually trace some aspects of bride further back. in the press tour and marketing for bride Ali continuously brings up nalini singh, an author who has been publishing interspecies romance since 2009. the first book of that series, slave to sensation, shares a lot of DNA with bride, especially in how our main characters connect and differ from each other other.⁴ the kink meme prompt largely credited as the origin of omegaverse in fanfiction dates to 2010. other supernatural romance authors Ali has cited as influential, like kresley cole, have been publishing even longer.⁵ the original kink meme prompt was obviously hugely influential, and I am still happy to credit it with those three specifics of omegaverse. to my knowledge, none of these prior romance novels include those elements in that combination.⁶ my point here is more that omegaverse was joining an existing lineage of erotica related to interspecies/animalistic/monsterfucking sex, rather than creating an entirely new mode of erotic engagement. ali, in bride, was combining and reworking these ideas that were so evidently influential to her development as a romance writer.

personally, I believe that Ali, in bride, is participating in the longstanding tradition of creating conditions for her romance novel characters that will best facilitate hornier and hornier scenarios. just as misery lark is the vampyre collateral, a political role invented for the plot, jensen ackles was assigned the newly created role of bitch male/omega because that made the most sense for the fantasy our requester was entertaining. worldbuilding in these books serves the primary purpose of enhancing and creating scenarios for horniness, which means that often it can be somewhat loose. I certainly had a million frustrated questions for Ali while reading bride, but I had to keep reminding myself that it's not about what part of the US the story is taking place in, or the political realities of a world with three separate species-specific governments. its about hot vampyre-werewolf sex and the catharsis of enemies-to-lovers. and also how good peanut butter is. thanks for reading.

footnotes

1. i have seen many, many booktokers and tubers discuss how this was their first foray into supernatural romance, and they wouldn't have tried it if not for enjoying ali's previous books. i have a whole other post to publish about profit incentive and marketing on ali's books, which i'll hopefully remember to link here when it's done. suffice to say, enormous win for ali's team.

2. it does not, however, allow any agency for lowe; he is in his own little romance-as-horror plot wherein he is suddenly having uncontrollable physical reactions to a member of a different species, about whom he knows nothing. luckily for him he has a blood-drinking kink. yay!

3. for an excellent reading of biological essentialism in same-gender omegaverse pairings, read my friend ari's post. heterosexual omegaverse pairings do not have the distancing aspect ari discussed, but they sexualize the same dynamics that come out of sexist, bioessentialist hegemony. exploring why this is hot to straight women has been a large part of my ali related work.

4. i also read slave to sensation for research purposes. do not recommend. as discussed above, though, i think a major difference is that the dynamics in singh's books (and similar) are dated and adhere pretty strongly to bodice ripper tropes. ali is taking those ideas and translating them into a contemporary romance voice.

5. again, to be addressed in my marketing post, but i have my suspicions about these inspiration plugs being strategically picked for which authors have upcoming books to promote side-by-side with ali's. its totally possible she also read and loved them, but its hard to ignore she and nalini singh share a publisher.

5. as Lindsay Ellis fans may know, there are many popular straight omegaverse series out there, but i couldn't find any evidence that those series pre-dated the kink meme.

[piduai]

😍 she learned to settle! #truelove

also "not many people with whom she felt so safe" about the guy who gets her involved in all kinds of bullshit when he's not busy choking her. lmfao

ok i'm being facetious. he did push for the implementation of a new job title that would allow her to practice medicine despite being a girl. the narrative makes this guy stumble a couple of times when it's desperate to remind everyone that he's half alpha male on his mother's side, but since this is ultimately a cringe ass fantasy fulfillment romance, he needs to have her best interests at heart if he wants to keep his dreamy guy status. whatever

tbh the story goes through a handful of metamorphoses and by the time the last full volume is out, it's unrecognizable. it starts off as court drama slash light mystery, maomao is a rare female sherlock holmes stuck in a fictionalized chinese emperor's harem as a servant girl. lovely premise. usually long-winded stories tend to get better as they go with the best arc being around the middle or the third quarter. this one, though, has had its prime within the first quarter, and becomes increasingly mid after that. because it betrays that premise that made it nice actually.

second quarter is maomao being stuck with the purple guy as he courts her. the narrative completely abandons the lovely rear palace, the mystery solving and the complicated family dynamics of different whomsties in lieu of that guy desperately trying to make her his concubine, while she's none the wiser and does pretty much nothing on her own. boring! a very prolonged and embarrassing flop era.

third quarter gets a bit better, the guy is put on a high shelf and maomao starts her medical training. no sherlocking but she's dissecting bodies, which is nice. nothing much happens, she's just chill for a while as she passes time pursuing a new interest. it was a nice segment actually.

then fourth quarter she sets on a voyage for reasons unknown, because surely this diversion will be of no importance later. i think. i can't say i liked the western capital arc 2: 2 western 2 capital. rather than maomao it was more about chue. i liked chue. i think i'd grow much more fond of her if she ever made it into the anime but tbh i don't really see it happening, it's one 12 episodes cour per one volume, and since this industry simply does not make titles that aren't one or two cour at most, i don't really think volume 12 will ever see the light of day. adventure, sure. they had locust plagues and then new family drama nobody gives a fuck about because it's not interesting. eh, whatever.

to be honest i'm not particularly invested. if the anime is a solid 8.5 in my book, the light novels are maybe a 5.5. passing, but not good, hardly decent. if they were good, i'd be either invested or feel attachment, but it's neither. i love maomao, she's a wonderful character, thoroughly unique, very charming, but the romance aspect severely weighs her down and makes the story worse than it could have been. in all honesty i didn't want to watch the anime initially because the guy on the poster gave me the impression that it will turn out to be exactly what i'm talking about, but then i read the synopsis and it said that he's a eunuch. i was like ok cool maybe they'll just be besties or something. i mean, he IS her watson. but you know... it could use some work.

would i call this series overall GOOD? nuanced question. the anime is good, everything else isn't. would i recommend it to someone in good faith? the anime yes, the light novels definitely not. do i LIKE this series, everything considered? not really. i like maomao. i like lakan and fengxian. i like a handful of other characters. i don't really care about the story overall, i found its execution boring, and i don't care how it develops further because it's predictable and not exciting.

i think the fault with it is that, conceptually, it's a shoujo at heart, despite the manga being published in a seinen magazine, and it has the shoujo vibe and fanbase, neither of which are to my taste. it's not a bad series though.

all in all i think i will read the rest of the volumes as they come out, given that i don't forget that they exist. but i don't really care about this story overall. this is what happens when something is character driven with a loose plot, in the end it's not very strong. i don't think that the hole gk left in my heart could ever be filled by anything else. i don't think i will ever earnestly love again.

[safarigirlsp]

What would the guys enjoy doing with you for Christmas? As a bonus, what are their favorite Christmas movies? Thank you for all your incredible stories! They’re the best of the best! 💛💛💛

Christmas HC’s for Modern Jacques, Mills, Flip, Kylo, and Clyde.

Thank you for your ask! These HC’s are always fun! And I figured I can sneak in one more blurb both for @writer-wednesday and one more for Clyde because I plan to retire him from my writing this year so I can focus on the big bad guys I like so much! From here on out, it’s going to be Jacques, Flip, Mills, and Kylo for the foreseeable future, and I couldn’t be more excited! 

Edits by @kyloremus

AO3

Modern Jacques

Jacques’s gifts to you start by ensuring he is as handsome, well-groomed, and well-dressed as possible. He will have a fresh manicure and pedicure, a facial, immaculately trimmed beard, and perfectly coiffed hair before your date begins. His dress will be impeccable and his cologne expensive. He always looks great and is the most fashionable and debonair of men, but for special occasions, he takes extra care with his dashing presentation.

As a connoisseur of the finer things in life, he is a man who will spare no expense to wine and dine you. Unlike most unfortunate bumbling men, Jacques is a natural romantic. His overtures never miss their mark and he always puts a smile on your lips. Classical romance appeals to Jacques, so he often greets you with fresh flowers or artisan chocolates and a quality bottle of wine. He’s also masterful at seduction, and like all the best lovers, he gets your mind in an erotic mood long before he entices your body.

For a Christmas Eve date, he will begin the day by leaving a package on your bed in the morning that contains a designer dress, French lingerie, and a note telling you where and when to find him once you’re wearing his gifts. He will have planned in advance with reservations at an exclusive restaurant where the wining and dining begins. Afterwards, he will take you home and continue wining and dining you with wine and chocolates. He will put those huge hands of his to use and give you a first-class massage that he will keep relatively tame until you want him to make you feel even better. After pleasuring you the first time of the evening, he will share a sensual bath with you and then have you again. Along with more wine.

His actual gifts to you are things like original oil paintings and first editions of poetry and novels -- things that are as timeless as his love for you. He is also not above giving you a playful striptease or putting a ribbon on his cock like the gift it is.

Regarding movies, Jacques loves the classics but he can’t stand the singing, the dancing, and the camp. Something sober like A Christmas Carol narrated by Vincent Price is a win in his book. Even better, he likes a new fresh take on a classic. So as far as classics go, the revamped and much darker FX’s A Christmas Carol is one of his favorites. He also argues you can’t go wrong with The Lion in Winter, even though it’s not technically a Christmas movie. He has a weakness for lionhearted imperious redheads and Katherine Hepburn still had it even when she was older. Speaking of imperious redheads, one of his favorites is Maureen O’Hara, so even though he thinks the movie is juvenile, he is always willing to watch Miracle on 34th Street.

 Mills

Mills is active and adventurous. For gifts, he thinks less along the lines of things and more of experiences. Having adventures with his girl and creating memories are the best gifts he can give and receive. He has taken you on some spectacular Christmas trips, such as to après ski lodges and climbing glacial mountains in Switzerland. A lodge in Zermatt with an unobstructed view of the Matterhorn is a favorite spot of his. That is what he will do for every Christmas if circumstances allow. Mills is a true alpha male, rugged, and steeped in robust masculinity. As such, he will also do whatever it takes to put a smile on his girl’s lips and he will always give one-hundred percent for her.

Picking out a tree together is his idea of a fun and simple Christmas date when the stars don’t align for something more extravagant. He would never settle for buying a tree, or worse yet having a fake one, when he can take you out and chop down your own. He will let you pick your perfect tree, all while making a day of it. Mills will be prepared with thermoses of hot chocolate, which may or may not be spiked with peppermint schnapps, and he’ll bring his own large axe along.

In the search for your tree, he will capitalize on the snowy forest and incite at least one snowball fight with you, which he will win by tackling you to the ground and smothering your protests with his lips. When it comes to the tree-chopping, he knows how much you enjoy watching him get worked up and sweaty, see his muscles strain and his hair ruffled and wild. He also knows how much fun you have watching him wrestle with a tree that is several feet taller than he is when he fights it into place in your living room. He plays it up for you, grumbling and cussing and making an ass of himself for your amusement. At home, in addition to the tree, he has mistletoe strategically placed to his advantage. A steaming hottub outside in the frigid cold is also a must, and he will make you shudder beneath the water while above steam enshrouds you and icicles form in both your hair.

In the event, you want to do something else for Christmas, Mills is always along for the ride and a perennial good sport. If it makes you happy, and results in him getting a reward after, he will happily endure an ugly sweater party and let you dress him up as horrendously as you please.

Although not really a Christmas movie, he loves Everest, a movie about men facing the elements and harrowing odds in the most dreadful conditions on Earth. For a romantic movie, he allowed you to bully him into watching A Winter’s Tale. There’s something timeless about a rough-cut man defying space and time to save the woman he loves. He knows all the best Christmas movie drinking games, too, and he usually wins them.

 Flip

Flip always has a hell of a time trying to find the perfect gift for his girl. He’s not romantic by nature and a lot of romantic overtures make him feel like a preening peacock and has him wanting to kick his own ass. He is, however, very innately sexy in an animalistic way and he uses that to his advantage with women, whether he’s just playing the field or once he’s found the one. He has a cocky charm that he exudes effortlessly, and he is sometimes unaware he’s made a woman swoon until he catches her ogling him. He’s also just fine with making an ass of himself to make his girl laugh, which is always endearing.

He gets himself in trouble by being a sarcastic jackass, which is also an innate facet of his personality and transfers to gift-giving. Complaints he hears often from you are his late nights, and never knowing where he is and what he’s doing during those long hours. As a solution, he got you a police scanner one year, calling it an FPS – Flip Positioning System. He was baffled when he was forced to sleep on the couch for Christmas and for a few days after. He’s still salty about it instead of being thankful he didn’t get slapped. The best gift he’s given you was an original Colt .45 that he had custom engraved with your initials and his.

A perfect Christmas date to him is a long weekend away from the bullshit of everyday life. A few days spent in his cabin in the mountains with no distractions between you makes for a perfect Christmas. He will fill your days with slow dancing, warming you up after a day out in the snow, alternating between making you laugh and making you sigh in front of a roaring fire at night. He’s also great at manning a grill and cooks the juiciest steaks. Toasting smores over an open fire for desert makes them taste even better.

And if you happen to get snowed in and have to return a few days later than planned, that’s a bonus gift for you both.

You should have known better than to ask what his favorite Christmas movie was. He cocked a sarcastic eyebrow at you when he told you Die Hard. He can certainly relate to John McClane. He gets stuck working too much on Christmas and on top of it, his vacations have a way of taking a nosedive. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is another favorite. It happens a lot where all hell breaks loose around him and he’s stuck cleaning up the mess and solving the case. He also relates to men whose mouth and sarcasm write checks their fists have to cash. In The Ref, Flip can commiserate with Dennis Leary on being stuck in a situation he’d prefer to punch his way out of.  

 Kylo

Kylo has a level of intuition that borders on the mystical, which is deeper still with his lover. He always seems to know exactly what to do to make you smile, and this obviously translates to gifts. He has an eye for the opulent and the lavish, and he enjoys nothing more than spoiling his lady and treating her like a queen. Jewelry always hits the mark, and he loves seeing it sparkle on your skin like winter frost on Christmas morning. Kylo also loves that anyone seeing you wear something so exquisite will know it came from him and that you belong to him. Trips abroad to exotic destinations like a Christmas market in Prague, or to a transparent igloo in Lapland under the northern lights, or an extravagant shopping excursion to the likes of the Champs de Elysée are also in his repertoire.

Wherever you may be, he brings your traditions with you to celebrate in any location, no matter how far you find yourselves from home. Spending Christmas Eve in with you and toasting you at midnight is but one of your many traditions together. A favorite tradition between you and Kylo is exchanging the lists you’ve made for each other detailing the particularly nice and especially naughty things you’ve each done throughout the year. It’s romantic to reminisce, and it also adds an extra layer of spice when it comes to dolling out treats and/or making amends as the situation demands. He will happily let you use him in any way you see fit to atone for all his naughtiness throughout the year. You’ll never forget the night he improvised by tying you up with Christmas lights before having his way with you.

Kylo’s favorite festive movies are the best of the baddies. Krampus is the best Christmas movie in his opinion. Unlike most unrealistic simpering plots, the nasty family in Krampus actually gets their comeuppance without salvation. Bad Santa also represents his level of holiday cheer. Violence, sarcasm, and alcohol are the best and only ways to deal with all the intrusively obnoxious vapidity commonly described as ‘cheer.’

 Clyde

Clyde is old fashioned, and also knows he can’t go wrong with the tried and true. For him, the holidays are about family. Since you became family for him, he can think of nothing better for Christmas than doing something homey and traditional with you. He loves taking you out for a day in the snow or shopping in the old part of town at the authentic general store - established in 1899 and outfitted today with a myriad of festive decorations.

Clyde always has a Christmas party of sorts at his bar on whatever Saturday falls closest to the 25th. Every year, he takes it as a personal challenge to create a new custom drink for you. Something as spicy and sweet as he says you are. He will wear the obnoxious ugly sweaters you get him and slow dance with you to all the sappy Christmas songs you can play on the jukebox while the bar regulars heckle him. He doesn’t care. He only has eyes for you.

Afterwards, he will take you home for a Christmas movie marathon, wearing pajamas and fuzzy socks. He will make mulled wine on the stove and he always learns how to cook anything you particularly like. He’s not a bad hand at baking either. He will miss most of the actual movies because he will be too busy enjoying you instead of watching the screen.

For Christmas movies, he loves a good heist flick. He’s also a sucker for a good dark comedy. The Ice Harvest is a great witty heist-gone-wrong movie. Fargo is close enough to a Christmas movie. It’s good fun watching stupid criminals and inept cops with bad accents. Brings back fond memories for him.

*******************************************************************************************

© safarigirlsp 2022

[youngpettyqueen]

finished The Price of the Phoenix! review under the cut-

tldr: this book is gay as FUCK and on top of that its quite good

im gonna get it out of the way right now: Kirk and Spock are gay as hell in this book and its actually insane to read. every interaction between them- whether it be the original Jim or the clone James- was dripping with tension and longing and actual textual love. this was Amok Time levels of "how the fuck did this (insanely gay shit) air" and I applaud Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath for it. Spock's unwavering loyalty to Kirk, both Kirks, and it being his driving force throughout the novel, the mind link between him and James, the raw emotional state he's in... and both Kirks and how they rely on Spock, know him, love him... LORD

ahem. anyways. this is a GREAT Spock novel. the character exploration for Spock here is just so good and so compelling. this is Spock at some of his lowest, barely holding himself together, fighting his emotions down and just trying to keep going. Spock wants Omne DEAD and he wants to be the one to break his neck. he's so viciously furious and grief-stricken, its honestly beautiful to read him in such a volatile state. this isnt a side of Spock we often get to see, and what else could bring him to this point besides the faked death of his captain, the abduction, the cloning... great to see just what will drive Spock to literal murder and vengeance. his POV chapters were my favourite throughout, especially in the rare tender moments he shared with James. so many facets of his character are on display here, and all so wonderful to read

my second favourite part of this novel was the Commander's presence. what a POWERHOUSE she is. I thoroughly enjoyed how she effortlessly manhandles both Kirks whenever she needs to, and how bad this throws him off. she's a wicked fighter, every fight she has with Omne is fantastic to visualize. shes also ruthless and cold, with a lot of great Romulan logic on display. I love love love that she was one of the main characters in this novel, I love how we got to see more of this genuinely fascinating character, makes me wish we got more of her and the Romulans in TOS. her romance with James was predictable, but I found I quite enjoyed it, especially since they made it very clear that she wouldnt be bowing to him, nor him to her. they'll definitely make for an interesting couple

the issue of the two Kirks was a fascinating thread throughout. its quite the moral conundrum- the rights of the original, what to do with James, what rights does he have as a copy, what can they ask of him, etc. I dont think theres honestly a true right answer, and thats the conclusion they all seem to reach, as the best they can do is send to him to Romulus with the Commander as her princeling. its not an entirely satisfying conclusion, but I think thats deliberate, because I dont think there is a satisfying conclusion in this scenario. they cant keep James on the Enterprise, they cant just let him loose, the best they can do is keep him under lock and key and secrets on Romulus as the Commander's boytoy. a fate I wouldnt mind, tbh, but hey thats just me

Bones gets a couple of chapters, and I loved his. his relationship with Spock is what shines most for me from his chapters- his care for Spock is made very obvious, and the two of them are shown to be able to talk with just their eyes, much like Kirk and Spock do. I wish we could've had more with Bones, but that would've thrown off the structure and flow of the story, so I understand why his chapters were limited

Omne himself was an interesting villain. I wasn't super invested in him, but I did find the idea of him interesting. I think he's the weakest part of this novel, in that his whole thing relies on the idea of the alpha male, and a lot of him felt like... how do I describe this. you know when youre a kid, playing some sort of battle with your friends, and you make some shit up like 'oh you cant get through my shield' and 'I have a SHIELD BREAKING HAMMER'? thats what Omne's repeated one-upping felt like, after a point. the fight scenes with him were good, I could very much buy that he was physically stronger than our protagonists, but when it came to his tech and especially his last appearance on the Enterprise... yeah. im not saying I disliked it, but it did feel weak

overall I quite enjoyed this book. it was a slower read, I tended to read a chapter or two before going to bed every night, and I liked it that way. not one I picked up and tore through, but that isnt a criticism. sometimes books just want to be enjoyed slowly, and this was one I felt I wanted to take my time on. for my first TOS book, I thought it was really good, and ill definitely have to look into some more TOS books to read once im through my current to-read stack

[anghraine]

For the ship ask game, Elizabeth/Darcy

Sadly, the long post that got eaten was my original response to this. It had a lot in it, but I'll do my best to remember it.

So! Elizabeth/Darcy is the queen of ships, the terror of the seas, the—yeah, I ship it.

1- What made you ship it?

I don't remember! I was only eleven. I think I considered Mary/Darcy briefly for some reason, but (properly) discarded it. I do remember that I really wanted Elizabeth/Darcy to happen from quite early (I thought Wickham was obviously lying), and partly because of that and partly because of missing things on my first read, I was genuinely surprised that Elizabeth refused him! I thought she'd accept because of her family's situation etc, and then they'd have to deal with their conflicts in marriage.

(This isn't an unusual fic plot, and I myself wrote a fic that was meant to lead to Elizabeth and Darcy having to deal with their issues as a married couple—though I never got to the marriage part—so maybe not quite as batshit as it seems in retrospect, lol.)

2- What are your favorite things about this ship?

There's a lot that I love, obviously. I love the youthful energy of their dynamic, even when it leads to mistakes. They really feel like peers. I love the sense of balance between them. It doesn't rely on everything about their thoughts, feelings, and actions being individually equivalent or even always similar, yet these individual things add up to put them on a par intellectually and morally in a way that is actually pretty unusual for Austen.

I love that they're both clever and truly ethical with a bit of an edge that makes both of them impressive, and both of them very compelling characters in general and together. Yet when they fall in love with each other, they're both rather silly about it.

Despite being borderline ace (and lesbian!) myself, I also enjoy the sexual charge between them. I think that, despite the restraint of Austen's style, it's pretty glaring, especially in the last third or so of the book.

Oh, and I love something that I don't always with other ships. They end up with pretty much everything they could conceivably want out of life, we're assured of their eternal gratitude for their marriage (this is the final line, in fact), they get ... it all. It's not all that common for me to encounter a ship treated so generously by its author, without it feeling forced or saccharine.

But it doesn't feel that way at all (for me). I think there's a reason that it's such a juggernaut in the fandom and people are often so ??? about alternate pairings. You can feel the favor of the narrative itself for them, the way it's so fundamental to the fabric of the narrative that nearly everything in it serves to further the Elizabeth/Darcy plot in some way, yet in a way that makes the novel feel rich and engaging rather than shallow. And at the same time, they have it all! They're smart and hot and good and in love and happy and will never have to worry about money or anything worse than minor inconveniences from extended family, they're going to continue to grow as people, they're—it's so nice and so satisfying in a way that's actually really hard to execute well and it's done so well here.

3- Is there an unpopular opinion you have on this ship?

Many, lol. Despite their immense popularity, I think in some ways that the ship is kind of a victim of it, because there are these inescapable pop culture osmosis ideas of them that just strike me as either reductive or simply wrong. I don't think Darcy is a brooding sexy alpha male romance hero or that Elizabeth is a feisty individualist woman ahead of her time.

I think they're both very much of their time, actually! Darcy is not old-fashioned for the time and Elizabeth is not ahistorically unique. In fact, I would like to see depictions leaning into them as products of their time rather than away (I know of a few, but it's not common in the way I'm thinking, esp given my preference for the 1790s setting).

[allthingsdarkanddirty]

SENSATIONAL SMALL TOWN COVER REVEAL  Dare you not to swoon for the gorgeous covers of When Love Heals by Janine Infante Bosco!

Coming January 14, this tissues-required romance is a brother's best friend, single dad, small-town read.

Preorder at your favorite retailer!

Luke Lanza has never known a life without duty. Hopelessly responsible, this single dad is devoted to his business and his family, so he's quick to promise his dying brother that he'll always look after Cara. But beneath the layers of his grief and commitment, Luke is carrying a shameful secret: he'd do anything for Cara, no matter what.

As Luke and Cara begin to lean on each other, Luke wrestles with his feelings. Cara, on the other hand, can’t stop running away from her agony. Soon, Luke is terrified that he might lose her, too. Can he accept the truth before it's too late for him to save Cara from herself?

About Janine

USA Today bestselling author Janine Infante Bosco lives in New York City, she has always loved reading and writing. When she was thirteen, she began to write her own stories and her passion for writing took off as the years went on. At eighteen, she even wrote a full screenplay with dreams of one day becoming a member of the Screen Actors Guild.

Janine writes emotionally charged novels with an emphasis on family bonds, strong willed female characters, and alpha male men who will do anything for the women they love. She loves to interact with fans and fellow avid romance readers like herself.

She is proud of her success as an author and the friendships she's made in the book community but her greatest accomplishment to date would be her two sons Joseph and Paul.

Find Janine Online

Amazon - https://amzn.to/2GPQxHS

BookBub - http://bit.ly/2XYCjuR

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Website - https://www.janineinfantebosco.com

[theweirdspacejellyfish]

books on the kindle unlimited

dead poets society by N.H kleinbaum

summary: todd anderson and his friends at welton academy can harldy believe how different life is since their new english professor, the flamboyant john keating, has challenged them to " make your lives extraordinary!" inspired by keating, the boys resurrect the dead poets society -- a secret club where, free from the constraints and expectations of school and parents, they let their passions run wild. as keating turns the boys on to the great words of byron, shelley, and keats, they discover not only the beauty of language, but the importance of making each moment count. can the club and the individuality it inspires the pressure from authorities determined to destroy their dreams?

the last courtesan of olympus by amanda meuwissen

summary: aikos is the best at what he does, the most skilled and coverted acolyte of aphrodite, and he knows it, but when his beauty and allure attracts the attention of the gods themselves, his ascension to courtesan takes a turn he never expected. straight to olympus. given by zeus as a gift to eight of the male greek gods, aikos must please each of them and decide between them who he will serve, without earning himself a tragic end. can he choose when the one tenet of aphrodite's temple he knows the least - love, in all its forms - is the one he most needs to understand now?

united eart: rough beginnings by R.M almonte

summary: a young boy who loses his mother. a junkie father whose only emotion is numbness. guided by some outside force. stevie must learn his true inner power. driven to follow his dream, stevie must go beyond the norms of everyday society. how do you learn to do something no one else has done?

bro and the beast by L.C davis

summary: when a musclebound frat bro brad gets run off the road by a reckless driver, he thinks its game over. when he wakes up inside his twin brothers favorite corny shifter romance novel, he realizes the real game is just beginning. desperate to get back to a world where hes top dog, brad find himself in the crosshairs of raul, the menacingly hot hero of the wolfs mate, whos intent on teaching brad a whole new meaning to the word alpha. not only does raul insist that brad is an omega - his omega - but brad is going to have to come to terms with the fact that he isnt just a part of this fictional world. hes a stand - in for the main character, and the only way out is to make sure he gets to his happily ever after.

pond water by rian mileti

summary: the toxic pond she wont stop drinking... in the quiet town of elmhurst, where secrets fester like toxins, a simple pond holds the key to unraveling a web of deception that spans generations. meet jared, a battle-scarred navy seal whose quest for peace becomes a battle for survival when the towns poisoned pond threatens to expose the darkness lurking beneath the surface. bobbie jo, the enigmatic neighbor with secrets of her own, may hold the answers jared seeks, but her motives are as murky as the pond itself. when haunting discoveries emerge from the depths of the toxic water, it sets in motion a chain of events that will force jared and his loyal friends to fight for their lives. as they navigate a landscape of treacherous lies and inexplicable horrors, the neighbors will stop at nothing to keep the truth submerged

[yuexuan]

[Review] 会读心与不标记

Title: 会读心与不标记 I Can Read Minds But Will Not Be Marked

Author: 佐润

Length: 117 chapters + 16 extras

Tag: Modern, a/b/o, mecha, interstellar

Summary **taken from novel updates**:

Lin Han, the best Omega of the Empire, was the core mecha designer of the National Military Academy. In addition to his amazingly high concentration of pheromone and spiritual power, no one knows that he has also awakened a bizarre ability – mind reading.

Just putting his hand on someone else’s hand, he could know what was in the other person’s mind.

The situation in the empire was changing and the storm was coming, and Lin Han, as the most outstanding mecha designer of the Military Research Institute, met with that high and mighty general of the empire. Lin Han had to take off his gloves and shook hands politely with this cold and icy male god of the empire.

[So fragrant.] [I’m hard.] [Want to mark.]

Lin Han, “????”

The youth coldly lowered his face and drew back his hand expressionlessly, ‘Sorry for the intrusion.’

Novel | Novel[translated]

Comments **contain spoilers**:

An interstellar love story between omega!Lin Han and alpha!He Yunting, filled with romance, fights against aliens, and conspiracies. As the summary explained, Lin Han is capable of reading people’s minds, including that of the socially awkward general He Yunting’s mind. He met He Yunting during a dinner, where he witnessed an assassination attempt made towards the general. Subsequently, multiple assassination attempts were made towards He Yunting, all involving omegas with their glands removed. 

Eventually, Lin Han found himself embroiled amidst the conspiracies surrounding He Yunting: cases of abnormally strong omegas with their glands removed, a planet of betas becoming zombie-like and aggressive, aliens that appeared out of nowhere to attack the Empire, and the royalty’s potential involvement in these cases. 

A few highlights:

I love their pet Gu Lulu that they got from another planet. It is so cute and cuddly, plus the way it would cry whenever it thought that Lin Han abandoned it. 

Ji Meng’s death was very sudden. But because of it, it is also one of the more impressionable deaths I had come across in quite awhile. 

The overall plot is decent - all the overarching storylines do come together eventually, even if they were predictable. But apparently this is the author’s first serious novel, so it’s pretty decent!

There’s quite a few nice smutty scenes in there~ Mecha and sex? C’mon, it’s kinky~

The story manages to scratch some of my a/b/o itch. I was looking for a/b/o stories that don’t involve school-type fluff-only romance, so it’s nice to see some conspiracy and politics involved in an a/b/o story. 

Some of the not-so-enjoyable parts:

MC could have so much more potential. I like that Lin Han wanted to use his mind reading ability to help He Yunting at the start (e.g. by sussing out who is trying to target the general). But beyond a few inconsequential times that he used the ability for plot purposes, it is generally only mentioned in the context of Lin Han knowing He Yunting’s adoration for him. 

The last part about Lin Han’s mother and her romance with the prince, plus Lin Han’s true identity as a prince, is very, very forced. Felt like it didn’t play a prominent role in the novel and was just added on to give Lin Han this cool identity (maybe so that he can be the general’s equal?). Also, for the longest time the story teases at Lin Han being special because of his spiritual and mind-reading ability, so that there is high stakes since he would be targeted for gland-removal. But it turns out that the villain didn’t even really consider him when Yunting intervened. Overall, the final reveal is rather anticlimatic. 

Also, He Yunting’s attraction to Lin Han is not really logical…? Apparently he willingly loses his memories so that Lin Han can’t read it and learn about his mother’s past. But there wasn’t really anything worth being upset about, so it ended up reading like a forced romance plot point.

[mybookplacenet]

Featured Post: In His Keeping: Taken by Mia Frances

About In His Keeping: Taken: Sylvie Jenkins has fallen on hard times. She's lost her job, her apartment, and is down to her last can of peas! Desperate, she agrees to take a job with reclusive writer Connor Hudson at his isolated mountain retreat in upstate New York. Sylvie assumes he's a poser, a writer wannabe. She has no idea he's actually a bestselling author and billionaire entrepreneur. Their first encounter proves disastrous. He greets her in all his naked glory; and shocked, she faints dead away. Sylvie's convinced her employer is a pervert. But she can't leave…she has no money and no prospects. She needs the job. She'll just have to try to make the best of it. Mr. Hudson is a dour, dominant, and demanding boss. He issues orders and expects her to obey them, but Sylvie has a rebellious streak and gives him a hard time. She doesn't like playing power games, especially not with him. She bristles at his condescending attitude toward women in general and her in particular. As far as she's concerned Connor Hudson though male model handsome is a jackass. Connor can't believe the cheek of this sassy little imp! He's used to women fawning all over him, begging to do his bidding. But his wealth and position don’t impress or intimidate her. He finds her indifference toward him intriguing. He's never known a woman who didn't welcome his advances…until Sylvie. She ignores him, when she isn’t arguing, or cursing him under her breath. This alpha male decides his feisty assistant needs taming. And he’s just the man to do it. He's determined to make her obedient, respectful, and submissive. Sylvie eventually succumbs to his charms and against her better judgement finds herself falling in love with Connor. But something's wrong. He says he can't love her. Not now! Not ever! He’s keeping secrets. The cops think he's a serial killer. People who love him die...violently. Is her sexy boss a cold-blooded killer? Targeted Age Group: adults Written by: Mia Frances Buy the ebook: Buy the Book On Amazon Link to Series Buy the Print Book: Buy the Book On Amazon Author Bio: Mia Frances is the pen name of author Mary Vigliante Szydlowski. As Mia Frances, she's the author of the dark, post-apocalyptic romance, TRIBES; steamy romantic suspense novel, Little Girl Lost; and the IN HIS KEEPING erotic romantic murder mystery series: IN HIS KEEPING: TAKEN, IN HIS KEEPING: BANISHED, and IN HIS KEEPING: CLAIMED. Her Science Fiction works include novels: The Ark (Jarl Szydlow), The Colony (Mary Vigliante), The Land (Mary Vigliante), Source of Evil (Mary Vigliante), and novella, The Hand of My Enemy. She's also the author of the psychological thriller, horror novel, Worship the Night; and Dark Realm, the tale of a dystopian world ruled by Satan. In addition, she's the author of mainstream novel Silent Song. She’s also published 11 children's books: There's A Mouse In The House, Are We There Yet?, Little Sowbug & the Big Flood, Ghoul School, Millie Muldoon & the Case of the Halloween Haunting, Millie Muldoon & the Case of the Thanksgiving Turkey-napper, Millie Muldoon & the Christmas Mystery, A Puddle for Poo, Kia’s Manatee, The Duck in the Hole, and I Can't Talk I've Got Farbles In My Mouth. Her stories appear in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Dog Did What?, Volunteering and Giving Back, Merry Christmas!, Mom Knows Best, and Life Lessons from the Dog. Her short stories, articles, children’s stories, essays, and poems have appeared in books, magazines, newspapers, and on the web. She's a member of the Authors’ Guild, Society of Children’s Books Writers & Illustrators, Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America), and Romance Writers of America. Follow the author on social media: Learn more about the writer. Visit the Author's Website Facebook Fan Page Twitter Instagram Pinterest LinkedIn YouTube Read the full article

[writergrls-blog]

The Enforcer: Eternal Redemption

New Novel out soon...

Think: Clueless meets Dracula. A fantasy/romance/paranormal genre book.

An elite warrior, Edwin Aldemeer, the protector of members of an exclusive Council of Elders from the Vampire community, who frequent the old haunting grounds of their ancestors. A brutal, murderous clique who were so heinous even their own kind banded together to eliminate them.

Edwin Aldemeer, sired by one of these loathsome creatures, has inherited their cunning, intellect and power. He has bested each foe who threatened his charges for centuries… down to the modern day.

Now, a new danger lurks within the midst of his world.

Althea Adams, the newly turned daughter of an Ancient Vampire, Marcus Ignatius, has stirred up a hornet’s nest by supporting a young vampire who has fallen in love with a human female… which goes against the ‘Code’ that all must obey.

Edwin finds himself caught between his duty to the Realm and his growing desires for the unorthodox, spirited enchantress.

The Enforcer finds Althea irritating, naïve, and a pain in his ass. But he cannot deny the attraction. No matter the danger it presents to his world.

#alpha male #romance # vampire #threesome #sexy content #cute protagonist #humor