#but if it gives me more badass carina standing up for herself

[mayasdeluca]

Doctor Carina DeLuca? Yeah, that’s me. You’ve been served. 

[moontheoretist]

I am watching What IF...?

Episode 1: What if... Captain Carter were the First Avenger?

You know... when I saw that it started from the breach in Captain America timeline and saw Peggy become a super soldier, I was pretty sure that Steve will resent her for what she did, because his portrayal in the First Avenger movie even before the serum indicated that he would be, just like he was of Bucky for being drafted while he was left behind. It’s canon behavior for him as far as I noticed.

What If..?’s Steve however is a better man. I dunno when exactly he changed, but he did. He doesn’t act as if he resented Peggy, and he seems quite ok with how everything turned out. Which is like, wow, I didn’t expect that. Also, Peggy has a far better story as Captain.

Like, she isn’t put into USO, she is denied being a soldier even, because she is a woman, the only thing she seems to share with Captain America is murdering punching bags and throwing stuff when angry, which is kinda a bad sign, but ok, everybody needs coping mechanisms. ANYWAY, when she learns where Hydra went, she quickly figured out what they were after, but the guy in charge (John Flynn), the same one who told her that she is a woman not a soldier, doesn’t want to send her there even though they still have a chance to get it back in time. So Howard steps in and her whole rebellion against the military is about not endangering everybody with a stupid ass decision made by a general who doesn’t get how important the cube is, instead of about saving just one man and accidentally saving 400 others by extension by literally going AWOL and endangering his friends like MCU Steve did. Everything about the mission which makes her recognized is about retrieving the Tesseract. And Howard gives her a uniform and a shield to do just that. All in British colors, because American military sucks.

(I love their “she just reaped the bars out, holy shit” faces xD)

AND THEN they go SAVE BUCKY. That makes much more sense story wise. And also Howard is showing Steve that technology can aid him when the serum now can’t, because Peggy is the super soldier instead, literally building better foundations for Steve’s attitude towards technology and the future. He will not be stuck in ice and come back for the Avengers, but at least he is getting better development not only in relation to this topic, but also to his hatred towards his body and his masculinity. Peggy still wanting him despite him being small and frail and now also disabled even more after he was shot and has to walk with a cane, literally builds in Steve the idea that his masculinity is not weak or bad, because he is not a macho muscly type and that his body isn’t something which he should hate or which makes him less than others. AND he is literally Tony now! I did suspect that the technology he got was a suit, but damn, is Steve in this universe fated to be the first Iron Man and then Tony second?

Lol, they named him “Hydra Stomper”.

And now Peggy teaches Steve the most important lesson “the Suit is nothing without the man inside”, which he as much as Tony needed to learn to finally feel free and not less than the others, because they rely on something. The only difference between Steve and Tony here is that Iron Man without Tony is truly nothing, because he made it, while Steve's suit was given to him, so anybody can technically pilot it. Anyway, I like this Steve so much more than MCU one.

(Which when I think about it now creates a pothole in the later part of the episode. Like why Hydra and Red Scull let the suit hanging instead of use it against Peggy? Why put Steve in chains next to it? It kinda looks like damseling him for literally no reason. I wonder why they didn’t kill him right away? Because what? Because he had blonde hair and blue eyes? Or what? Scull liked him? And we cannot even say it was done for the sake of Peggy saving him, because Peggy never sees Steve in chains. She went the other way, so why is he there? To save for whom? Bucky? It would be more logical if Red Scull just killed Steve and put the suit himself and fought Peggy in it to hurt her. Then at least space squid wouldn’t kill him, lol... ah wait. OH, yeah, Tesseract was inside the suit, so he just took it out. Still, he could power up the suit with something else and put one of his people inside to fight Peggy anyway, just in case she came for him).

AND OF COURSE HE HAD TO TRAGICALLY DIE WHEN I FINALLY STARTED LIKING THE WEASEL! LOL, we know what will happen next. He will become the new Winter Soldier, I suppose? If he survived the explosion.

Oh, they brought the original castle storyline back! It never appeared in the Captain America: The First Avenger, even though I personally remember a castle being a main stage for the whole “Steve sacrificed himself prelude” thing, so it’s nice to have a castle and an interdimensional portal back, instead of a plane battle.

“I am up for anything, but this is crazy”.

“And so is Steve Rogers”

Me: *wheezing*

Anyway, he survived. There is no Winter Soldier in this universe and Peggy gets lost in the portal, and she is brought back to 2012 by I suspect Project Pegasus as it is the “Loki’s arrival” scene.

I think that now, if we assume that everybody else is still present in this universe, meaning that Tony became Iron Man and all, Steve becoming a Hydra Stomper and working with Peggy gave Captain Carter an experience in fighting alongside someone in a metal suit. Plus her friendship with Howard means that she won’t have any bad disposition towards Tony and hence Avengers team will actually work better, and if there is Civil War it would be different and about something else, because Captain Carter knows her way around learning political related stuff, so she wouldn’t really kick Accords in the ass unless it was a Hydra plot. I also suppose that without her making Project Paperclip, Hydra would not infiltrate SHIELD, or someone else does that, and Captain Carter would notice something is not right with SHIELD, and she would root the Hydra out herself.

Also, I wanna point out that the scene in which Peggy is shown to be “smarter than Howard” is there only to establish the difference between her and MCU Steve Rogers, who doesn’t know shit about technology. It’s not that Howard isn’t smart anymore. He is a civilian, who is not a brawling type, in a room with a huge octopus which crushed Red Scull like a wooden stick. It stands to reason that he would be panicked enough to not be able to articulate properly. It also establishes that no “it runs on some kind of electricity” will happen in this universe during the Avengers storyline, where she ends by the end of the episode. It comes out a little out of the blue, that’s true, but this is not a line which only “genius” or “science type” can say. It’s just a typical sci-fi approach to the problem with anything, which also sounds smart at the same time. She could even take it out from a sci-fi novel. But I agree that they didn’t establish where that knowledge comes from in any of the previous scenes.

Episode 2: What if... T’Challa became a Star-Lord?

Lol, a vastly different reaction xD

And this was the moment when young T’Challa thought, “who needs to tell their baba that they’re going into space, anyway?” and just went and disappeared. I don’t even wanna know what Wakanda did after the prince vanished. Though it means that Shuri can become a queen and the Black Panther now, HELL YEAH!

And this is the proof that anybody who says that we have to murder someone else to “save the planet” from overpopulation is wrong. (Because they are wrong, just go and check studies about that). T’Challa just showed Thanos the benefits of equal share of the resources and saved the universe with logic and diplomacy.

And my hopes for Queen Shuri just went out the window. BTW, why Nebula turned into a living example of “blue space babe” (from feminist studies which pointed out that alien women are just human women painted colors and shown in sexy clothes or portrayed as dancers and prostitutes for the benefit of the male gaze). She got sexy hair, sexy dress, and she is later shown to be some kind of spy by the clothes she wears and her general attitude. She reminds me so much of Natasha that I am tempted to say she is a sexy spy cliché.

It’s kind of degrading after the whole episode which centered around a woman being denied being a soldier, which in the whole militaristic and male dominated setting was pretty much conveying feminist messages, while here in another male dominated setting we have only two women shown with any lines and one of them is Nebula sexy spy. It just comes across weird after the previous episode, tbh.

She even speaks like Natasha from the MCU... and she betrays just like our dear russian friend, Natasha. Anyway, it looks like Queen Shuri is still on the table! Wakanda prevails! It was not destroyed!

Ok, nevermind. She is a space Black Widow, but in this way that she plays every side just like Natasha does. Apparently... betrayal was part of the plan, lol. What is with this idea that women named with a name starting with N are good spies in this universe?

Carina the badass! GO CARINA! SHOW THEM!

At least in this universe, she doesn’t foolishly die for “drama”. Or, in MCU’s case, for exposition to show “what happens to those who touch the infinity stone”. I gotta say, her revenge was sweet.

[4-046]

Note - This is my first time writing anything, so please go easy on me :)

Soulmate AU! Where your soulmate’s first sentence you hear them say is tattooed on your arm

Idea by @akermanch on Tumblr

Art by @mushroomgrenade

Ace x Marco

“Welcome to Starbucks may I take your order?”

Those were the very words that were tattooed on Ace’s bare arms.

Ace has seen some people with the same tattoos on their arms just like him, and it’s not a rare sight nowadays. Being currently nineteen years old and almost twenty in a few months, Ace has been looking for his stupid soulmate for years. All his friends have found their soulmates, and even his stupid younger brother has Zoro!

They met when Luffy was a junior in high school, and the boy couldn’t be happier when he found out his soulmate had to redo his last year in the place. Not the same could be said with Zoro, but after meeting his hyperactive brother and falling for him after a few months, the boy wasn’t about to complain.

His other brother, Sabo, on the other hand, had met his soulmate Koala when he was twelve, and she has been like family to him since then.

All in all, Ace is happy for his brothers and is grateful for their other halves too.

But what about him? Where is his soulmate? And which fucking Starbucks do they work in?!

And now that question is something he’s been asking himself ever since he’s turned thirteen because he’s pretty sure that by then, he’s been over at least a hundred Starbucks in his state alone.

Ace is sick of getting “Nos” or sometimes a “Nah, my dude, I’m waiting for someone to order a grande skinny latte extra cream” whenever he asks a barista if they’re the one. And to make matters worse, most of the times he’d get a few snickers from people who are CLEARLY ON A DATE WITH THEIR SOULMATES.

And those days are the worst. Which are....most weekends.

Ace has been thinking of almost all the possibilities of why he hasn't met his soulmate yet. And you know what? Overthinking is seriously a bitch.

What if his soulmate doesn't even work in the United States? What if his soulmate found someone that isn’t Ace but ordered the same caramel snickerdoodle macchiato like him? Or what if his soulmate is sick of getting asked the same question and snaps at him?

Oh. Hell. No. is his soulmate snapping at him for asking that question.

Overall, you get the point, and as Ace said before, overthinking is a bitch.

Though honestly? Ace is ready to just give up right about now. As he just got another few snickers and laughs from a nearby couple grabbing their Frappuccinos after hearing Ace’s conversation with the new barista. New news, he got another no from the cutie with purple hair tied up in a chignon, she was nice enough to introduce herself as Carina, so she wasn’t that bad. The couple on the other hand?

“Y’know, I sincerely hope ya’ll get diabetes”

Did he just say that out loud?

“What the fuck did you just say you wretched fuck!”

Of course, he did.

Ace ran out of the door, not after grabbing his caramel snickerdoodle macchiato from another blonde barista and waving them off. He was taught to be polite, after all.

------------------------------------

Marco wasn’t even supposed to be in the store today, but apparently his colleague Drake had to call a day off since his soulmate came over to visit.

And would you know that,

“Y’know, I sincerely hope ya’ll get diabetes”

Was tattooed on Marco’s arm.

Marco was never a fan of his own soulmate tattoo since he thought of how distasteful it sounded.

So he normally would wear wrist bands to cover it up.

But for fuck's sake that was him!

Marco was the one to handed him his stupid secret menu caramel snickerdoodle macchiato too!

It all happened so fast, he just finished break and went out with his apron in hand, handing it to the freckled bastard. No. His soulmate now. He was handing his soulmate his caramel snickerdoodle macchiato and heard him say that fucking sentence.

His soulmate ran after saying it too, while Marco couldn’t think, his body moved on its own. And that was the best thing his body has done for him in a long while.

He thought.

Marco lost his soulmate. And he felt it too.

The bastard was lying on the ground in the middle of a street, a truck right beside him, and blood. Oh, blood. So much blood was pouring out of him, and the fucking couple was just standing there, not knowing what to do.

Marco didn’t know what to do, he can only feel a horrible stomach drop in his gut, and he couldn’t do anything but stand there and watch. Watch as the life of his soulmate drains from him, in an alarmingly fast pace.

Marco was dazed, and what brought him back was the loud sound of an ambulance coming through.

Marco couldn’t do anything but watch from afar while his soulmate got taken away.

He was terrified.

For the first time in his life, he was so scared he started to sob in the middle of the streets, with everyone watching.

He just stayed there, bawling his eyes out, until his colleague came out for him.

After getting into the staff room, Marco didn’t hear anything his colleague said until she asked him that question.

“Is Ace your soulmate?”

Looking up, Marco saw his ginger-haired colleague, her hair was tied in a messy ponytail, and her gentle brown eyes looked at him with worry.

“Pardon?” he asked

“Ace, is Ace your soulmate?” Nami asked again.

“Is that his name?” Marco’s face could be seen with confusion by now.

“The idiot that got hit by a truck outside? Yep, that’s him.” She explained.

Ace.

A-c-e.

“Ace”

His name rolled off Marco’s tongue without Marco even noticing.

That’s his soulmate’s name.

His name is Ace.

“Ace is your soulmate?” another voice chimed in.

Marco looked up. Red hair.

Why does everyone but him know his soulmate?

This is absurd.

But Marco replied to his manager regardless.

“Yes, uh, I mean, I guess? No. I’m pretty sure it’s him, but why-”

“Then why haven't you said so?” Shanks loudly exclaimed.

A tic mark formed on Marco’s forehead.

“It seems like he didn’t know until now boss.” Nami explained for him.

“Well, if that’s the case, come with me! I'm driving Luffy to the hospital now since he’s worried.” his manager loudly shouted right beside his BLOODY EAR.

But before Marco could utter out another word, he found himself standing up and leaving the store with Shanks.

------------------------------------

The ride itself was absolutely horrible.

Red Hair’s son was basically bawling for his apparent “big brother”, Marco would have to remember that later. While the other, who introduced himself as Sabo, he was quite polite, tried to calm the kid.

Apparently his name is Luffy.

And with Luffy’s bawling, he could make out that this sort of accident, in fact, isn’t the first time that happened to this...Ace. To his soulmate.

Marco is beginning to worry more now.

And according to Shanks, the reason why literally everyone in the store knows Ace but him is because he’s a regular on Sundays.

And Marco just so happens to take Sundays off.

When they got to the hospital, Marco wasn’t allowed in the patient’s room since he wasn’t “family member” according to the nurse.

Marco was his bloody soulmate!

But oh no, since he couldn’t exactly prove it, he wasn’t allowed in.

After about half an hour, Shanks came out and told him that Ace was stable, and suggested him to go back home and take the day off.

He promised Marco that he would talk to Ace and inform Marco when Ace wakes.

------------------------------------

The pain ringing inside Ace’s head was horrible, and when he woke up somewhere unfamiliar to him, you couldn’t exactly blame him for panicking.

The room was big and white, and there was a table beside him, a cup of water and two orange pills on it, a television right in front of him, and he could feel the wind to his left.

Ace looked around, but before he could move his neck further, a shot of pain ran through him.

He yelped, and not even seconds, someone barged into the room.

“WHAT THE OUCH!”

Another shot of pain ran through him, but way bigger this time, and Ace couldn’t help it anymore, as tears start spilling through his eyes.

“Don’t move so much Ace-ya, your wounds are still fresh, and you’ve been out cold a day and a half, let your body rest”

“I've been WHAT?!”

The guy that barged in just sighed in response, pushed Ace down softly to his bed, and started to write on his clipboard. He had a plastic name tag on him.

“Tr-tra-traflger-traflgar-”

Another pain shot through Ace, but this time, his arms. He could see the blue liquid being injected into his systems and roughly pulled his hand back with anger.

“What the fuck Traffy?!” Ace exclaimed.

“This is sedative Ace-ya, don’t worry, it’ll help you. You’re also just like Strawhat-ya I see, I suppose it makes sense since your siblings…” “Traffy” replied with a nonchalant tone

And Ace finally looked at “Traffy” properly, he had sideburns, a goatee, black messy hair, silver eyes, and a bunch of badass tattoos on him. He was also wearing a lab coat? Spotted jeans and a white fur hat with black spotted patterns on it.

He’s kinda hot.

But he’s not Ace’s soulmate.

“Traffy where am I?”

“You’re in the hospital, room 311. Also, don’t call me Traffy. You can call me Law.”

Ace looked out the window a bit, as it was a sunny day, birds are chirping, and he could see kids outside playing.

Law looked at him and cleared his throat a bit.

Ace turned over slowly to look at Law.

“We had to cut your hair a bit to patch you up, I hope you don’t mind. You were in a car crash, and your head was unfortunately hit, but you’ll be fine, and you can leave in about a week. I will inform your family members soon, and you would be able to see them.”

Ace nodded but stayed silent.

“Would you like anything for now?” Law asked.

Ace looked up and shooked his head.

Ace didn’t want anything now.

He’s just tired.

Ace closed his eyes, he might as well have a nap right now.

Until he felt a tap on his shoulder.

It was Law, his cold silver eyes looked at him with no emotion.

“You’re uncle Shanks wanted me to give you this piece of paper. Remember to eat your pills, and stay hydrated, call me if you need anything else with the button beside your bed.”

Handing Ace the white piece of paper, Law left without a word.

------------------------------------

Marco couldn’t sleep for the whole week without the help of sleeping pills.

Shanks didn’t call back, and he didn’t come to the store since last week, Marco was worried sick but no one could help him in any way.

This was Marco’s own problem, and this was HIS soulmate.

He’ll be fine, Marco assured himself multiple times during the day, and his tired droopy eyes were droopier than ever.

Dark circles formed beneath his eyes, and his colleagues have started to worry about him.

Marco was fine though, he must be fine.

He will be fine when Ace wakes up.

The bell ringed and without looking up, Marco automatically replied with

“Welcome to Starbucks may I take your order?”

After fumbling with his apron, Marco looked up with his pen in hand and his eyes widened.

“...Ah”

Right in front of him, stood a freckled face, half his messy black hair cut off with bandages wrapped around his head and face.

“Are you my soulmate?”

Marco’s froze.

He didn’t know what to say.

Ace looked back at him, disappointment could be seen from his face.

“Or, not. I-uh, Shanks just gave me a description that a guy named Marco with blond hair said he’s my soulmate, but maybe I got the wrong person-”

“I-I don’t understand.” Marco managed to mutter out.

“I’m sorry?” Ace asked.

“Red Hair didn’t contact me, I-I thought you were still in the hospital!” Marco stuttered out in a frenzy.

“Oh! Well, Shanks is on a business trip without any services, he would probably be back in a few days.” Ace replied, cheerfully now.

Marco looked at the freckled teen, and finally, relief washed over him, and the stress from the past week came crashing down. He reached over the counter and grabbed the teen and hugged him in an awkward position, but Marco didn’t care.

Because Ace is safe.

Ace hugged back with emotion, strong as Marco’s.

Pulling away, Marco gave Ace a tired grin.

Which Ace gave back with, but a lot brighter than Marco’s.

“My name is Ace.”

“I uh, already know that. Name’s Marco.”

“I already know that too.”

Marco would have to remind himself to kick Red Hair’s ass when he gets back.

[skarletterambles]

Pirates of the Caribbean 5

I just got back from seeing Dead Men Tell No Tales.  I have thoughts.  Quite a few of them, actually.

I should preface this review by giving a bit of background on my involvement with this franchise.  I saw the first PotC movie in the theater seven times.  I saw Dead Man’s Chest three or four times and loved it.  I saw At World’s End exactly once, hated it with the passion of a thousand burning suns, and never saw it again.

I was--and am--a hardcore Sparrabeth shipper.  The canon status of Willabeth only explains part of my disillusionment with the franchise, however.  My biggest problem was how Elizabeth had an amazing character arc over three films, going from a prim-and-proper governor’s daughter to the ass-kicking Pirate King, pursuing her dreams in defiance of society’s expectations, outwitting both the EITC and legendary pirates, leading an armada in battle...and then had it all stripped away at the end of the third movie, where she is left literally barefoot and pregnant to wait for her man to come back.  I was--and am--livid.  I felt betrayed, both as a fan and a feminist, to see one of my favorite characters do a 180 like that.

So I have very strong feelings about these movies.  I’ve tried to get over it in the years since AWE, with limited success.  Against my better judgment I did see On Stranger Tides in the theater, and thought it was mediocre.  Since Elizabeth wasn’t involved I could just ignore its existence, for the most part.

Then the fifth movie was announced, and Will was going to be in it.  I had hoped that maybe, just maybe they could try to rectify some of the mistakes (read: character assassination) of the past.

They didn’t.  But they still came up with a pretty good movie.  Honestly, I’d even give Dead Men Tell No Tales four stars out of five.  I was riveted to the screen for most of it, and it was thrilling to hear the theme music and see the familiar faces.  It was exciting and entertaining, the special effects were impressive, and there were some good laughs.  Plus, zombie sharks!

Do I have issues with parts of it?  Yeah.  And I’m going to ramble at length.

**** MAJOR POTC: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES SPOILERS BELOW ****

Sequel creep is definitely at work, where each installment has to be bigger and zanier than the last.  The gags are broader, the willing suspension of disbelief gets even more strained, the stakes are higher, and it becomes almost like a Saturday morning cartoon version of itself.  

Thinking back to CotBP, we had to buy into the curse turning Barbossa and his crew into undead, but other than that the world operated on fairly realistic terms.  Yes, there was movie logic involved as far as coincidences, travel times, fast wound recovery, and all that, but it still felt more or less like the real world.  Stakes got higher with each sequel, until we have whatever the hell that “bank robbery” was in DMTNT.  

Don’t get me wrong; it was an enjoyable action sequence, but it felt more like a cartoon than anything that could happen under the laws of physics as they exist in our world.  That’s not inherently a bad thing, but the tone was noticeably different compared to the earlier films.

Moving on, I was glad Captain Salazar didn’t have that slurpy, blood-drooling voice through the entire film.  When I first heard that in the early trailer I was both grossed out, and concerned that he would be hard to understand.  Instead it was just that one scene, and he spoke normally the rest of the time.  He was a great villain, from his badass and scary entrance through to his delightfully ironic death.  He was genuinely threatening, which was kind of surprising considering the cartoony feel of some of the action scenes.  Javier Bardem killed it.  Thumbs up to him!

The legend surrounding the trident, and the map to find it, seemed cool until you thought about it for more than two seconds, and then it didn’t really make any sense.  Calypso is the Sea Goddess in this universe, so where did Poseidon come in?  How can his trident override curses that she put in place?  If it could be broken by a single sword blow, how did it stay intact under the sea for (presumably) thousands of years?  I mean, sure, maaaaaagic, but...eh.

And why did Will get all barnacley anyway?  Elizabeth waited for him, so that part of the curse shouldn’t have kicked in.

And what will happen to the souls of the dead without the Dutchman to ferry them to the afterlife?  

And what happened to Bootstrap Bill?  Did Will figure out how to free him and let him move on to the afterlife?

And if breaking the trident cancelled all the curses related to the sea, how did Davy Jones appear in the after-credits scene?  (Assuming it was him.  The gait, crab claw, barnacles, tentacley silhouette and the music box theme all pointed to it being him, anyway.)  I could almost buy him coming back to life when the curse was broken, but as a normal human again, not ol’ squidface.  The mythology makes no damn sense at all!

This review is coming across pretty negative so far, but I really did enjoy the movie.  I thought it was much better than OST, and felt like a return to the original vibe of the series.  I thoroughly enjoyed watching (almost) every minute of it, and I left the theater grinning and humming the theme music.  As a summer popcorn movie, it’s pretty great.  It’s just when the adrenaline wears off and I start thinking and analyzing that I see the issues.  And, like I said, I have a long history with this franchise, so overthinking it is what I do.

There were definitely some surprises, although I saw a couple of the twists coming.  The instant I realized Carina was Hector’s daughter, I was like, “Well, he’s going to die saving her somehow.”  And I was right.  It was sad (and that damn monkey gave me more feels than any creepy little primate has a right to), but at the same time I’m delighted at how his character grew into so, so much more than he was originally planned to be.  He was supposed to be a one-shot villain in CotBP, but Geoffrey Rush is so damn awesome, and he and Johnny Depp brainstormed a history between their characters, decided his first name was Hector, and one thing led to another and here we are, genuinely mourning him in the fifth movie.  It was a worthy sendoff for a memorable character.

One of the themes that got raised over and over in the earlier movies was the idea that it’s possible to be a pirate and a good man.  Bootstrap Bill Turner was.  Jack is.  Was Hector Barbossa a good man?  I don’t know if I’d go that far, but he wasn’t 100% evil, either.  And he was a lot of fun to watch.

Henry definitely reminded me of Will.  He had the same wide-eyed earnestness about him, as well as the tendency to charge into danger because it’s the Right Thing To Do without thinking through the full plan first.  Elizabeth’s legacy is a bit harder to see, except in the first two scenes.  Keeping a secret stash of pirate memorabilia and legends?  Totally Lizzie.  Back-talking authority figures?  Yep, Lizzie’s genes are in there.  And later, in the jail, taking Jack’s ego down a peg by scoffing at his legendary reputation in comparison to the reality of a scruffy, rum-soaked pirate?  Also from the Swann side of the family.  So I think they did a pretty good job of making Henry his parents’ son. 

I just wish we had more information on how he was raised, and where.  I always imagined him scampering around Shipwreck Cove and up the rigging of Elizabeth’s ship(s), the mischievous pirate prince.  Based on the house Elizabeth is living in at the end, and the fact that he was enlisted in the royal navy, I don’t see that happening in canon now.

When Carina was introduced I had a couple thoughts:

1.  “I wonder if she’s related to any existing characters...  No, don’t be silly.  This isn’t a fanfic.  They’re trying to move the franchise forward into the next generation.”  (Or not.) 2.  I don’t want to like her because no one can ever replace Elizabeth Freaking Swann the Pirate King as the best female character in these movies.  And that’s still true, but she definitely grew on me.  She had a fairly good balance of “smart woman who can take care of herself and doesn’t need a man to complete her story” and “too perfect to be likable or believable.”  I could have done with a costume that didn’t draw quite so much attention to her heaving bosom, but I suppose there’s some vaguely historical style going on.

Honestly, there’s a reason her backstory could have been lifted from a story on Fanfiction.net circa 2004:  those kinds of long-lost relative reveals can be a hell of a lot of fun.  Especially when you have Jack there to tease “daddy” Hector mercilessly.

I’m glad they didn’t have her be Jack’s daughter, though.  That thought crossed my mind, too, and that would have been...not good.

Pity Hector never got to introduce himself to Elizabeth and Will as the father of their potential daughter-in-law.  Awwwwwkward!  Bwahahaha!

Speaking of the dreaded Willabeth...  Jack saw them smooching in his spyglass, made a face, and announced that it was a revolting sight.  Same, Jack.  Same.

Therein lies my biggest complaint about the movie, and, as I mentioned above, it’s just the latest sprout on a tree of dislike that I’ve been nursing since the ending of At World’s End was leaked.  How in the seven hells they thought it was an appropriate, satisfying, logical plot development for Elizabeth Freaking Swann the Pirate King to end up standing around passively on a beach in a frilly dress and a fucking corset, waiting for the menfolk to do the important stuff, I will never, ever understand.  It’s a slap in the face of everything her character arc was over the first three movies.

“Sure, little girls, you can have adventures and play pirate for awhile if you want to, but in the end you still have to get married, grow up, conform to society’s beauty standards, put aside those dreams, and take care of your husband and children.”  Fuck that with a rusty garden trowel.

And here, when they had the chance to redeem that travesty, when they could have showed a glimpse of her at the helm of her own flagship, or holding court with the other Pirate Lords, or just simply wearing pirate-type clothes and carrying a sword, for the love of all things holy, did they do any of those things?  Oh, no.  No, they doubled down and had her be so passive that she didn’t even get to speak.  (Doesn’t that mean they don’t have to pay Knightley as much?)  Literally all she’s there for is to be a reward for Will upon his homecoming, and then sleep with him--on land in a fancy house that could have been in Port Royal, for all we know.  Any journey her character had is moot.  She’s back to square one, and it makes me want to throw things.

Oops, I was going to keep that rant short, and failed.  Oh well, it’s a sore spot, obviously.  I have never felt so betrayed by a franchise as I did when they did that to Elizabeth in AWE, and it still stings after all these years.

My ire didn’t even stem from my shipping preferences, although that certainly was salt in the wound.  If they couldn’t give us a series of movies with Jack and Lizzie, the best pirates in the world, having amazing adventures while flirting like they did in DMC, at least they could have given us a sort of open ending, where she, Will and Jack all sail in their separate directions, knowing that their paths would cross in the future in any number of entertaining ways.  I’m never sure if I should blame the writers, the studio, or the actors, or all of the above, but I would have bought, like, ALL THE TICKETS to see those movies.

But, alas, that’s not what we got.  We got OST and DMTNT instead.  OST was quite forgettable, but DMTNT packed a pretty good punch and I wouldn’t mind seeing it again.  I won’t say it totally redeemed the franchise for me, but it’s got its head above water for the first time since DMC, so that’s progress.

Should you see it?  Yeah, I think so.  If you enjoyed the precious PotC movies, or just like pirate movies in general, it’s a fun couple hours.  Just don’t think too hard about it afterward (like I did.)

[books-n-wine]

~**~ ARC Review: Rough & Tumble (The Haven Brotherhood #1) by Rhenna Morgan ~**~

***4.5 “You Make Me Feel” Stars***

~ 4 Stars for Jace & Viv. .5 Stars for the Brotherhood and their girls ~

I’ve been a huge fan of Rhenna Morgan’s since reading Unexpected Eden and have made sure to get my hands on each book she comes out with as soon as possible. So when it was announced that she was kicking off a new series I pretty much stalked her SM sites for when it was coming out and I can say I wasn’t disappointed! Rough & Tumble a fun and sexy romp that gets the Haven Brotherhood series off to a great start with characters you will find yourself needing to know more about!

Jace grew up on the wrong side of the tracks and will admit that he’s done some things that aren’t necessarily legal, but he got himself on a path where he was able to make something of himself and take care of the people who mean the most to him and extend a helping hand when he can. I want my own Jace. The man is all kinds of dominate scary smexy alpha male who could give a caveman a run for his money with his protective/possessive nature but has a heart of gold that will make you swoon. He gets a wee bit hot headed, but is man enough to own up to it.

Vivienne wants desperately to live in a beige colored world based on her past. She wants a regimented existence and coloring outside the lines, much less in them, with vibrant colors is definitely not allowed. Total honesty here, I didn’t find Viv at all interesting until about the 62% mark. I liked her and found her drive to stand on her own two feet and make her business thrive,  and hell even her determination to be boring highly commendable, but she didn’t hit a cord with me until her true nature started to show itself. Her past was rough and there are parts of her present that are as well, but I never got a true connect on why she went to such an extreme. Thankfully, she comes to see that she is leashing herself unnecessarily and when she finally takes the leash off a sassy, witty and confident woman emerges.

Now with my full on adoration of Jace and my like of Viv one could believe that I had issues with their journey to their HEA, and there were some moments where I wanted to Gibbs smack both of them, but overall I liked them together, really liked them together. They complimented each other and through their interactions had them growing without compromising who they were at their core. I loved how Jace pursued Viv and even though he exerted his indomitable will on her, he did his best to always make sure she knew she had a choice in what was going on. There were some instances where that line was blurry, but considering the situations when it happened, one can’t fully be upset about it. The sexual chemistry between them was intense and when the walls finally came down, they were smoking hot. My one issue, that can be put on the ‘it’s not you, it’s me shelf’, is that I wish they’d opened up more about their pasts to each other. They find out things, but it’s from outside sources and I really wanted them to have a full on here are my wounds talk. But I did like that while it was full on insta-lust, time was taken for them to get to know each other in the present.

This was a fun read and I like the concept behind the Haven Brotherhood, it does take a bit of time for it to be explained, but when it finally comes out, it makes perfect sense. There is a bit of a suspense storyline tossed into the mix, but at it’s heart this is a character driven story and was done very well. And as most know, I’m a sucker for well written secondary/supporting characters, and this book has them in spades. From the Brotherhood to their girls, I want to hang out with them and get to know all about their pasts and how it shaped them. Sylvie and Ninette are amazing and Axel is probably my favorite, mostly because he had the most page time of the brother, but I’m totally looking forward to diving into Zeke’s book and seeing what’s in store for him.

~ Copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley ~

A self-made man with his fingers in a variety of successful businesses, Jace Kennedy lives for the challenge and he always gets what he wants. From the start, he sees Vivienne Moore's hidden wild side and knows she's his perfect match, if only he can break it free. He will have her. One way or another.

Vivienne's determined to ditch the rough lifestyle she grew up in, even if that means hiding her true self behind a bland socialite veneer. Dragging her party-hound sister out of a club was not how she wanted to ring in the New Year, but Viv knows the drill. Get in, get her sister and get back to the safe, stable life she's built for herself as fast as humanly possible. But Viv's plans are derailed when she finds herself crashing into the club's clearly badass and dangerously sexy owner.

Jace is everything Vivienne swore she never wanted, but the more time she spends with him, the more she starts to see that he loves just as fiercely as he fights. He can walk society's walk and talk society's talk, but when he wants something, he finds a way to get it. He's proud of who he is and where he came from, and he'll be damned if he lets Vivienne go before showing her the safest place of all is in the arms of a dangerous man.

Book Summary

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Published By: Carina Press

Release Date: February 20th, 2017

Pages: 432

Series: The Haven Brotherhood #1

ASIN B01N408FUM

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Rhenna Morgan writes for the same reason she reads—to escape reality.

A native Oklahoman with two beautiful girls and a fantastic husband, her resume reflects her passion for new experiences. Since graduating with a Bachelors in Radio, Television, and Film at Oklahoma State, she’s racked up positions ranging from on-air radio talent, skip tracer, and promotions director, to real estate agent, project manager, and business analyst.

Like most women, she’s got obligations stacked tight from dusk to dawn. That’s where the romance comes in. Reading, or writing, romance has been her happy place since she cracked the spine on her first Christine Feehan book years ago. Nothing thrills her more than the fantasy of new, exciting worlds, and strong, intuitive men who’ll fight to keep the women they want.

Whether it’s contemporary, paranormal, or fantasy you’re after, Rhenna’s stories pack romantic escape for the women who need it.

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