#happy for katherine finally having an arc of sorts

[diver5ion]

[austennerdita2533]

Hi friend-miss you!!

Really random but do you have any recs for just like fluffy happy fun books (or Klaroline fics). Feeling very sad (I’m fine I just finally moved and my mom came over to help me but she flew out today) so just need some joy but for some reason none of my tbr is screaming joy right now 😅 probably because most of the books on my “really want to read” tbr are angsty 😂 so just looking for some other options!

-ACOTAR anon

Hello there, lovely! I miss you, too! Between working like a maniac and traveling a lot this summer, I have been the world's worst correspondent. My inbox still is overflowing with unanswered messages from months ago because I. am. awful. haha. 😬😇

I'm so sorry to hear you're feeling sad, though. :/ That's completely normal after a big move when you're away from everything and everyone that's familiar to you. It'll take some time to adjust, but I know it'll end up being a great experience for you and you'll blossom in all sorts of ways. 💖 That said, in the meantime, if I can help take the edge off your sadness with some fluffy book and fic recs then I absolutely will!

Book recs:

-When in Rome and Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams (These are the two I've read from her so far and they're in the same series. So cute! Honestly, I feel like you could pick up anything from her and it'd be adorable.)

-Funny Story by Emily Henry (Don't know if you've read this one yet but I feel like it's one of the wittiest of all her books. And Miles is a golden retriever boyfriend)

-Divine Rivals and Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross (It's a fantasy series that's set during a war between gods BUT the main characters fall in love over letters they write using a magical typwriter. It's cute, I think you'd like it.)

-The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center (I got an ARC of this a couple months ago and I absolutely FLEW through it. She writes a lot of cute romcoms) You could also check out The Bodyguard and Hello Stranger by her, too.

-Next-Door Nemesis by Alexa Martin (This one's fun because the main pairing have a history but then they decide to run against each other to be HOA president.)

-Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries and Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett (Another fantasy series, but it's more of a cozy fantasy. Emily and Wendell have THE best banter)

-Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren (I read this years ago, but I remember giggling and kicking my feet.)

-A Lot Like Adiós by Alexis Daria (Friends to lovers, fake dating, and second chance romance)

-I also currently have Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez and This Summer Will be Different by Carley Fortune sitting on my bedside table. Haven't read them yet but the summaries sounded the right combo of fluffy and summery to me

Fics Recs:

-Tbh, I haven't read any Klaroline fic in a while and I haven't bookmarked as many as I thought I did on AO3. (SHORTSIGHTED OF ME, AHHHH.) Let me have a think on this and I'll get back to you. Or, if anyone in the KC fandom sees this post and wants to drop a rec or ten in the comments then I'd be grateful.

Anyway, I hope a few things from this list will help cheer you up! *all the hugs*

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 5/5

Book Blurb: Francine always has a plan.

When her beloved grandfather, A Gung, is diagnosed with terminal cancer, she takes it upon herself to make sure he’s comforted in his final days. A Gung is old-fashioned, and the only thing he wants is a male heir to carry on the family traditions after his passing. Francine’s solution? Ask Ollie Tran, a family friend (and former crush, not that it matters), to pretend to be ceremonially adopted and act like the grandson A Gung never had.

Too bad Ollie hates to get involved. With anything.

For years, he’s made a point of avoiding the odd, too-blunt (and fine, sort of cute) Francine, whose intensity has always made him uncomfortable. So when she asks him to help deceive her dying grandpa, Ollie’s definitely not down. He doesn’t get why anyone would go to such lengths, even for family. Especially with a backwards (and sexist, Ollie keeps stressing) scheme like this.

Francine, however, is determined to make it work for her grandpa’s sake, and soon Ollie finds himself more invested in her plan—and her—than he ever thought possible. But as the tangled lies and complicated feelings pile up, Francine will have to discover what exactly she needs for herself—and from Ollie. Because sometimes the boy you always wanted isn’t what you expected.

Review:

Francine is a good daughter, she loves her family, and when she discovers that her beloved grandfather is diagnosed with terminal cancer she wants to make sure he has everything he wants... even if it means asking her former crush Ollie Tran to pretend to be adopted into her family so her grandfather can feel like he has a male heir.... but that means convincing Ollie to even go along with it. Francine loves her family, she is familial and always trying to be happy. Yet when her beloved grandfather is diagnosed with terminal cancer and tells her that he wishes he had a male heir to carry on the family traditions after his passing she knows she'll do whatever it takes to get him one... despite her already being a heir in the family. The Plan then is to try and convince her former crush Ollie Tran, an old family friend the boy Francine use to have a crush on before he got fed up with her and publicly announced he wasn't even her friend and nothing to do with her to agree to pretend to be adopted and act like the grandson her grandpa never had... the only issue is that Ollie wants nothing to do with said plan and thinks its sexist. But the more Ollie and Francine spend time together and delve into their family history the more connected they become and the more Ollie finds himself investing himself in the plan and rethinking everything he ever felt about Francine.... but family secrets will soon come out and Francine is about to learn that sometimes the boy you always wanted isn't the boy you expected. This was a really interesting story and I did enjoy the romance between Francine and Ollie. The topic of family duties and traditions that pass on as well as how we are raised and how it impacts us was so well done, and as an Asian myself, I really found the story to be spot on and well discussed. I really loved the sweet chemistry between Ollie and Francine as they both got a chance to fall for one another and I am a sucker for the "she fell first but he fell harder" trope because lets face it Ollie facing his feelings and learning that it's okay to express them and that it doesn't make him any less of a "man" for wanting to express and show them was wonderful. Overall, I absolutely loved this book and would definitely recommend it~!

*Thanks Netgalley and HarperCollins Children's Books, Katherine Tegen Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[isfjmel-phleg]

November 2022 Books

Dark Waters and Empty Smiles by Katherine Arden

I enjoyed this series on the whole, but the last book was disappointingly short. It was building toward something intriguing and then...just sort of ends? The climax/resolution left a lot of questions unresolved and didn't have the emotional impact that it could have had if it had been paced at a rate proportional to the rest of the book.

Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins

I've been meaning to get to this series for quite a while, but it didn't grab my attention as much as I hoped it would, so I probably won't continue. It wasn't bad; I just felt it was less original and with less interesting characters than Collins's other works.

The Seventh Raven by David Elliott

An unusual fairy tale retelling in that it's told through poetry--and it works quite well! It's evocative and visceral and fits well into the oral tradition of fairy tales. (Although the youngest brother's arc goes absolutely nowhere in the end.)

Between Jobs by W. R. Gingell

I have a lot of unanswered questions, but the characters and their dynamics are fascinating, and I'd like to continue this series.

The List of Unspeakable Fears by J. Kasper Kramer

This was absolute Rebekah Bait, and I loved it. Turn-of-the-century setting, eerie atmosphere, troubled young heroine whose assumptions about people lead to her need to better understand the humanity of others--a very enjoyable read.

The Case of the Baker Street Irregular by Robert Newman

I don't remember much about this one.

The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas

I enjoyed the light tone of this one and will probably continue the series at some point.

The Desolations of Devil's Acre by Ransom Riggs

I've had this book for a long time and finally got around to it. Never have been crazy about the romantic plotline, but that (thank goodness) wasn't so much the emphasis. The worldbuilding continues to be this series' strength.

A Drowned Maiden's Hair by Laura Amy Schlitz

I liked this one more than I expected to. It's set around the turn of the century and deals with an orphan girl who is taken in by sisters who are fraudulent spiritualists and want to use her to assist in their scams. Schlitz writes extraordinarily believable historical fiction, and the themes of attachment to an emotional abuser and having to realize the truth of having been used...hits hard.

Behind the Bookcase by Mark Steensland

Some fantastic creative ideas that were not developed to their greatest potential.

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

Still don't understand what's going on. I just enjoy Murderbot.

Comics (in order of reading)

Young Justice (2019) Vol. 1-3 by Brian Michael Bendis

From a narrative perspective, this series is a mess. The story meanders aimlessly, and Bendis keep throwing in new characters instead of fully developing his already large main cast. Weird creative decisions are made (this is not one of Tim's better storylines, and I refuse to believe that he would seriously use his actual surname as his new codename? even his friends think it's ridiculous!). However, this is fantastic writing for Bart (and only Bart), whom Bendis seems to understand well.

The Flash: Fastest Man Alive Vol. 1-2 by Danny Bilson, Paul DeMeo, and Marc Guggenheim

I went into this series knowing it was awful, and it lived up to that promise.

If you absolutely must tell a story in which a long-established hero gets killed off, you're going to want to build that emotional punch by immersing the audience in why they love the character in the first place. Show him at his most characteristic and endearing. Call back to earlier stories. Focus on his relationships with other well-characters to show what a hole would be left behind if he weren't there. Have him be so close to achieving a big goal, some kind of especial happiness--and then kill him.

This series...did none of that. Bart is practically unrecognizable, he's disconnected from his family and friends, and it all feels very generic. Throw in a contrived and (quite frankly) creepy romantic relationship and an unexplained return of an antagonist whose previously established so-close-to-redemption arc get brushed aside in favor of being generically Evil...and it doesn't work.

The epilogue dealing with Inertia's fate had better writing in terms of emotional impact, but I do not care for the direction of making Thad "an irredeemable sociopath" who must suffer "something worse [than being killed]."

Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge by Geoff Johns

Continues dealing with Inertia's fate, and the characterization gets even worse. I would prefer to ignore the existence of this one.

Teen Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day by Judd Winick

The transitional story between Young Justice 1998 and Teen Titans 2003. Probably a mistake considering how the latter would turn out.

Teen Titans (2003) Vol. 1 by Geoff Johns

You've probably seen me rant elsewhere about what this series did to Bart for no apparent reason. The characterization in what little I've read of this series is not great in general, and I don't have the time or patience to continue with this trainwreck.

Assorted other Teen Titans (2003) issues

Read for Thad's appearances. And apparently Bart after returning from the dead and being restored to his previous age starts spending a scary amount of time in VR vengefully killing Inertia over and over. Yikes.

Batman: The Long Halloween and Dark Victory by Jeph Loeb

I'm not an expert, but I'd call these quintessential Batman comics in their style and tone.

First ~30 issues of Robin (1993) by Chuck Dixon

These are very, very 90s so far, and my biggest takeaway is concern for this poor kid. He's doing way too much. He does not have the time or emotional maturity to handle a romantic relationship. He's trying to keep his double life secret and is operating on next to no sleep most of the time. Someone please rescue him.

[sophia-sol]

The Witness for the Dead, by Katherine Addison

I was so worried heading into this book, because I absolutely adored Addison's first book set in this world, The Goblin Emperor, but had irreconcilable differences with her most recently published book, The Angel of the Crows. And the books she's written that aren't under this pen-name are books that don't seem up my alley at all. What if Goblin Emperor was a fluke??? Well, this book might not speak to me on the same level as Goblin Emperor, but I'm pleased and relieved to report that I really enjoyed it nonetheless! Goblin Emperor was a book that took place almost entirely among the upper-class, in the closed and formal environment of the Emperor's court. Witness for the Dead, by contrast, takes place in a cosmopolitan city with characters from a wide range of social classes and experiences, and I love how the author takes this opportunity to show the differences in the way that religion and culture are lived out in this extremely different sphere. You get a very different view of the world, in a way that makes you realize just how constricted Maia's world really was. Thara Celehar, the main character of this book, like Maia is a traumatised person dealing with that trauma. But Celehar mainly deals with it by repressing like hell and throwing himself into overwork in his very stressful job of listening to dead people and telling the live ones what's what. The book is sort of a murder mystery, but it doesn't have One Main Mystery the way genre mysteries tend to. There are three mysteries that are through-lines for the whole book (a drowned opera singer, a poisoned newlywed, and a family dispute over a will) but Celehar's life is just dealing with one dead person after another, so there's lots more cases interspersed among the big ones. And the book does give you answers to all the mysteries, which is good.

The thing is....the thing is the character arc, I guess. Celehar feels miserably guilty because of some stuff from his past, and there's a scene near the end where Celehar has a conversation with someone where he finally acknowledges that he doesn't need to be holding on to that guilt, and then.....this goes nowhere. No evidence that he's internalized this truth, or evidence that he's going to work on internalizing this truth. It feels like he ends the book in basically the same place he started it: traumatized, exhausted, and unable to believe in his own worth as a person. I came to care about Celehar a lot over the course of the book, and his story ends so abruptly. The last case is wrapped up, he rejects the notion of any closer intimacy/vulnerability with a man who has made it clear he really likes him, and then the book just stops. I gather this is supposed to be the first book in a trilogy about Celehar, so presumably there are plans for a character arc to go places by the end, but that doesn't actually get the author off the hook for providing an arc in each individual book in the series! You should end a book feeling like a story has been concluded, even if you're also looking forward to reading about further adventures, and I just don't feel like this did. The ending is my only complaint about this book though, and if the rest of the series gets published SOON and the series as a whole does have a satisfying conclusion, so that going forward people can read the books as one story, then I will be happy, but as of right now I closed the book feeling like the book had led me on and then left me hanging with no emotional catharsis.

[certifiedceraunophile]

Hello! I’m your Klaroline Swap gifter👀 I am sorry it's taken me this long to reach out but I've finally gotten to it! I am excited to be writing for you and wanted to ask a few questions about your gift. Wanted to know about your all-time favorite tropes and side pairings? Any Caroline friendships you like? Any tropes or pairings you don't like? Any pet peeves with KC fic? Any smut preferences? Anything you especially want to see or any info you'd like me to know? Hope you have a great day!💖

Heyyy!! Thank you for sending me this ask, and please don't apologize, it’s all good 💖 I hope you're having a great day too! So I’ll just jump in and answer all your questions ✌🏾✨

I am so so sorry it got this long, like so long, I really tried to condense it, but I have no concept of short and concise so now I have to put this below a cut 😭🙃😭

All time favourite tropes:

[see here's the thing I dont exactly *know* what tropes are so I'm just gonna yeet a bunch of HIGHLY specific prompt-thingies that make me tingle at you and you can do w them what you wish- like take out certain parts you want to use, or base other tropes off of them anything you wish really, even if you choose to ignore all of them I won't be holding it against you dw!]

Ok so I love love the "I was just captured by the bad guys and very harshly uh demanded to sell you out, but I didnt, bc even though I might posture like you’re the scourge of the earth and would gladly see you dead, I in fact, do not want you dead and will therefore not be selling you out and will handle mild -emphasis on mild please do not hurt either of my babies too much- torture instead and oops! look at that, you just overheard this exact exchange where I stand my ground and refuse to betray you, and now you’ve gone feral over your loyalty kink and are spouting promises of never letting go of me, which honestly I cannot bring myself to be mad at."

I love love love the forced bedsharing trope which then leads to accidental cuddling, where one party [caroline] is just very very annoyed that their body sought the warmth of a cockroach fucknugget being [klaus] and the fucknugget party is just very very smug about being the other party's personal space heater, and nuzzles them and cuddles tighter and asdfghjkl I'm getting tingly just thinking about it, and like says w a husky sleepy voice “don't move” and cuddles closer. jfc please I’m a basic bitch with very basic wants.

I absolutely LOVE the "we work on opposite enemy sides, but now we have to band together to defeat one common enemy and honestly I am NOT glad that I constantly wanna throw you against a wall, and not all reasons for said wall-throwing are strictly to inflict violence on you."

I also LOVE the "fuck youre bleeding/hurt/injured and fucking hell I dont know why my hands are shaking while I attend to your wounds but god it is, and now I'm not sure exactly how deep you've furrowed into my heart and stuck yourself there like a dickheaded leech."

Now I feel like I have given you many tropes, but I also feel like i didnt in fact help you at all, bc I'm not sure these are uh tropes?? but anyway those are some highly specific...scenes?? I have a very deep bias for

[you obviously dont HAVE to write ANY of them if you dont want to]

And also if I had to give you a clear cut trope to follow, I absolutely LOVE the enemies-to tentative allies-to lovers trope, in which one party is just working really really hard to get to the lovers part, and the other is working really really hard not to get to the lovers part, but caves later on, bc really the fucker grows on you. [Featuring Klaus as the "high key besotted already pursuing Caroline"-person, and Caroline is the "I am very very annoyed w this wooing, but I am more annoyed this wooing is working"-person. And also, I like my Klaus E V I L, But really really really *soft* for Caroline.]

Also if by tropes you meant settings, Like AU's, literally anything works, I have a personal bias for Crime AU's when it comes to enemies to lovers, and Canon is the ultimate enemies to lovers AU, but honestly you can use which ever one you want, I am not entirely sure myself if I have a specific preference here, AH, Fantasy, Supernatural, Scifi, it's all good.

[I however am not extremely fond of Historical Settings]

Again you are not required to follow any of these tropes at all if you don't wish to, I just require you to have a lot of fun writing and love the beauty you write yourself first!

Side pairings:

Ok I LOVE me some Kennett [kol + bonnie] but I also LOVEEE kolenzo [Kol and Enzo], I also am extremely just *heart eyes* at Bonenzo [Bonnie + enzo], but I absolutely DIE for Kennettzo [which is OT3 of Kol Bonnie and Enzo]

Kalijah is also a-ok w me, and I feel like I dont have any other side pairings I'd like die to see I guess. If you choose not to go with these side pairings its perfectly alright.

Caroline Friendships:

Ok this I can answer without rambling like an idiot, I love love love love :

Bonnie + Caroline [like i love this so much it physically hurts me, they both deserve so so so much better]

Kol + Caroline [I will literally touch a frog, and I have a phobia of frogs, to have one full conversation w these two idiots]

Enzo + Caroline [Honestly enzoline brotp makes me wanna sob happy tears bc they are so perfect together]

Katherine + Caroline + Rebekah [bad bitch meets head bitch meets super bitch, what could possibly go wrong]

Tropes and Pairings I dont like:

NOTPS:

Kolvina, stebekah, delena, stelena, datherine, steferine, Haylijah, Marcel+Rebekah, Matt+Rebekah, Bamon, Kai+bonnie, beremy.

And I think that's about it? mostly I just hate elena stefan damon and hayley and I am not fond of them w anyone, I hate all canon Rebekah relationships, and I dont like seeing Bonnie with anyone other than enzo or kol.

Tropes:

I am totally not fond of the Kill Liz for plot reasons trope, like seriously killing Caroline's mom is not ok w me, but I am totes fine if she's like already dead as part of Caroline's backstory, just don't show me Liz dying in the story as a part of the plot.

Any form of sire-bond-y or like sire-bond adjacent or like any form of deal/bargain/agreement that gives Klaus even a tiniest bit of power over Caroline's free will and choices, is just not for me, like at all, no matter how well it's done, I can't stand it.

not fond of any form of prisoner/hostage tropes, like klaus kidnapping caroline or caroline kidnapping klaus and holding each other hostage and stuff like that.

Death as a plot point doesnt work for me? and really I'd prefer if there were no major character deaths at all.

Friends to lovers trope is not for me, childhood friends to lovers trope is definitely not for me.

I don't like any sort of redemption arc really, anything that starts with Klaus as a “bad” dude and ends with him being a relatively “good” dude is not for me.

Any form of infidelity, like ofc especially in between Klaus and Caroline is just [shudder] hard pass, but like I also hate it when Caroline or Klaus cheat on anybody at all.

Also all the tropes and like themes I'm not comfy w that I mentioned in my original Gift Request still stand.

KC Pairing Pet peeves

ok This I can answer easily bc I have like a FEW,

I hate a woobified Klaus so much, like so much, I hate all TO!Klaus characterizations but this one is the worst, absolutely not here for it, I am not here to feel sorry for this mf I want to feel really deliriously GIDDY at how evil he is and how whipped he is for Caroline, but like concentrating on Klaus's manpain is not something I really wanna read.

Caroline excusing Klaus's bullshit, or like being a push over-y “it's ok, I understand why you did it” person is not for me, bc she never was one to begin w, she never did rationalize or justify Klaus's behaviour, she always held him accountable and told him what a difficult son of a bitch he is every chance she got.

I don't like arcs where Caroline is Klaus's redemption? like Caroline bringing Klaus into the "light" or whatever I am not here for it, like at all, I like Klaus staying evil while being endlessly in love with Caroline, and Caroline being able to be w a man she knows is a selfish evil ruthless grade A asshole, but will literally also choke himself to death for Caroline, cuz the man is whipped as fuck.

I also absolutely am not a fan of arcs where like Caroline remains "pure" or whatever, like that's just not for me, I am totally fine, actually MORE than fine for ruthless Caroline who is willing to do deplorable shit to get to her goal and protect her people, like Caroline being extremely almost evilly pragmatic just gives me a boner, and pretty sure gives Klaus one too. Klaus "protecting" Caroline's so called innocence is uh off putting for me personally. And her remaining this pure white light princess of good and Klaus being attracted to the *good* in her is um, nope.

Smutty Preferences

Honestly I’m very easy when it comes to smut [and u totally dont have to write me any if you dont want to]

I do not like:

non con/dub con, anal sex, Strict and/or elaborate Bdsm themes, [light undertones are ok], drunk sex, sex that’s basically infidellity [like caroline/klaus cheating on someone else w each other] , gagging, choking, Extremely rough emotionless sex, sex as a bargain, or as a part of a bargain.

Smut preferences:

I like reading oral sex, especially Klaus going down on Caroline

light bondage like being tied up [either Klaus/Caroline I enjoy both]

Sex toys are really really good, like love reading Klaus using one on Caroline, or Caroline using one on herself and Klaus watching

I do have a special love for praise kink, especially Klaus being really just in awe of Caroline during the do and expressing it uninhibitedly

Dirty Talk is GREAT

I enjoy both Klaus and Caroline in a dominant role, but I usually love it when both of them share the dominance equally, I’m just not into “Yes master” and “Yes mistress” level of dominance. I guess the word I’m looking for is Vanilla dominance lmao.

Bloodplay is also great if they're vampires.

And Klaus and Caroline leaving marks on each other is *swoon*.

I love reading possessive!klaus and possessive!caroline in equal measure so really your choice.

Hot and Dirty sex with a an undercurrent of emotion and devotion, want and need and all that nice stuff is great!

But I do have a list of words I’m not really a big fan of coming across when I’m reading smut:

Any word for vagina that’s not wetness, or folds or lips, is squicky, cunt is not a problem, pussy however is squick.

Clit is clit; little nub, bundle of nerves, all of that makes the med student in me really anxious lmao.

Any word for Cock that’s not cock is squick.

Juices, cream, semen are squicky, I just prefer come or release.

Ok these are seemingly innocent words but moist, engorged, gaping, drooling, sopping are not words I like seeing in context of smut.

So yeah that’s about it, I know hi, it’s been what, eleventy bajillion years since the beginning of this ask, I am so so so sorry for being this difficult, and really, LIKE SERIOUSLY, except for my squicks you are more than welcome to just skip past everything else, since I’m not really that hard to please, as long as the no-no’s are not there in what I read and the dynamic I asked for is even just vaguely followed I will be really really really happy and really I just want you to have fun writing whatever you feel like cooking up, I’m superrrr excited to see your interpretation of my request!!!

[Also Please please send me another ask clarifying you got my answer and also telling me I haven't frightened you with this long ass rambling list of okay’s and no-no’s bc honestly I am just anxiously debating if I should answer this ask like this or yeet half of it and vaguely rewrite the answer.]

Hope you have a great day lovely!! I am once again sorry for being this difficult. ✨💖🤝🏾

[jane-fucking-seymour]

I've been a huge fan of LoTS for a while now, and one thing that I really admire about it is how you've built a world steeped in history both inspired by our world and unique to LoTS' world. How did you go about balancing both history and magick throughout the story alongside the characterisations from Six? As well as that, with Skyrim and FFXIV being noted influences on LoTS, in what ways, in your view, are concepts such as Light and Dark different in LoTS compared to said influences?

Tudor History helped to form the relationships between each of the characters, what type of magicks and abilities they had, and how they fit into the story.

I’ll make this a Read More since there’s a lot to cover here!

The Queens, History, and Afigmia

Catherine of Aragon was the most religious and led the country through war, so it made sense for her to be the one closest to (a) god and one of the strongest people in the Realm, let alone Afigmia (the name of the world btw; the Realm is a country in the world of Afigmia). She was also the one that survived the longest marriage with Henry, which only served to bolster her strength and have her naturally lead the party, as she was the one that was the most in tune with Henry’s tricks (even if she is shocked and horrified by the information she’s constantly getting).

Anne Boleyn was seem as a sneaky temptress and while she did have her charms, her knowledge and beliefs are what seemed to drive her in history, so she was more based on that. Plus her extremely tense relationship with Catherine (at first) made her being a shadowmancer a really nice foil to Catherine’s light-based Blessed abilities.

Jane Seymour was always in either a good or a “plain jane” sort of vibe and I really didn’t want her to be boring. At the time of first writing the story, Jane was always seen as a good person (through my own fault as well) when I knew she had just as much bite and coldness to her as a “Heart of Stone” would suggest. I also still see her as bound to obey and serve her husband regardless of what she truly thinks about him; I don’t think she really understands just how manipulated she was. Her necrotic magicks were a direct reflection of how she’s not a angel by any means, though I think people can hopefully have some sympathy for her; if this was another life, she could have been an incredible cleric and healer, if only she hadn’t been so manipulated.

Anna of Cleves was one of the toughest for me to write, but at the end of the day the musical and research taught me how badass she was, so I figured she should have the most badass powers of being wielder of a dragon’s literal soul. She was highly underestimated despite being more than capable to take on the duties required of her. She also is a really quick thinker and knows when to engage and when not to (see: historically, Anna of Cleves knowing when to leave when she’s fucked over by Henry), so she made a really good second in command of the Six outside of Catherine. I’ve got more plans for her, but she is, I would argue, the one that got away with more than she parted with when she left Henry’s side (historically speaking as well!).

Katherine Howard was a child but also seen as a temptress like her cousin historically. In LotS, she’s simply really good at illusion and charm magicks because she needed them to survive. She had a coming of age arc in LotS (kind of, it’s still ongoing) because she was just a kid. She’s not fully grown into her powers yet. She was at first a Druid because I think she’d want to just chill and watch everything and enjoy the time she had if she hadn’t been roped into what she was forced into. 

Catherine Parr is one of if not the most brilliant of mages in Afigmia, and a lot of her background is based in the fact that she literally talked her way out of being executed historically. I, like a lot of the fandom, would consider her to be the most progressive of the Six, though her historical and LotS parallels haven’t completely finished yet.

The Ladies are moreso reflections of their main queens - Maria is extremely close to Catherine, Maggie would follow Anne to the edge of the earth (and to another realm heh), Joan is very much in Jane’s corner (more than Henry realizes) and Bessie is being trusted with, essentially, the fate of the Holbein troops in the area. They all compliment their queens in ways we haven’t fully seen yet.

It should be noted that the only actual OC of the entire piece, Avril, also compliments her “assigned” queen and current partner, Anna. Avril originally started as a OC from another story I did, where she played the major villain. The idea to include her was because I wanted to bridge universes in my own stories. I also think her relationship with Anna allows for some depth that would help with making the queens a bit more human, while also avoiding any queen/LiW shipping of any kind. I was hoping that it would help to flesh out the world, too, as Avril could be anything I wanted, and could lend some feeling of “other stuff is happening too you know” in the world.

The Light, the Dark, and the Inspirations

The Light and the Dark being not so black and white was always a concept that appealed to me for a majority of reasons. I really dislike how “light means good” and “dark means bad” in traditional stories, so I wanted to turn it on its head.

You see that through the majority of our “bad” characters being somehow associated with the Light - Mary used to be a Blessed, Malus Vir (the guy that tried to take over Hidden Gem - was a Light priest. Necromancy is a corruption of LIGHT, not of Dark.

That’s not to say that the Dark can’t be bad either - obviously it can - but we’re currently in a period of history in Afigmia where the mask is being torn off of the “light is good” norm, and we’re seeing the cracks starting to shine through. Henry claims to be doing this for the good of the realm, and many believe that he is Light incarnate. They’re blinded by their own faith and the stereotypical norms; they cannot see the truth.

Final Fantasy’s Lifestream and the lore around that also helped with creating Katherine’s return as a Blessed in particular, as well as helped to bolster what necromancy could do.

I have only written two chapters since starting and finishing up Shadowbringers (well, up to 5.3) and while I’m happy to be validated in the “turn it all upside down” sort of strategy with the light and the dark, the main inspiration where FFXIV is concerned is the Fae Lands arc. There’s a big reveal coming that, if you’ve played the game or know of Il Mheg, you might be able to clue into early. It’s not the same by any means, but it’s in the same vein.

That being said, if I had to equate one of the six to the FFXIV main cast, I’d say:

Aragon: Y’shtola

Boleyn: Alisae

Seymour: Urianger

Cleves: Thancred

Howard: Ryne

Parr: Alphinaud

But again, I only just started playing that game a few months ago, whereas LotS has been in development/actively updating for over a year now.

Skyrim helped with the magicks, the dragons, and how the gods play into each other and interact. They’re a bit more human than what people think they are, basically. A lot of the magicks that you see in LotS are what I wish I could do in Skyrim, and of course the dragons are kind of very much in tune with that game as well.

There’s other inspirations as well: Runescape, Game of Thrones, Avatar: The Last Airbender, etc. 

[oliverdant]

The best thing about knowing in advance that a show is heading into its final season is the writers get to build in all the easter eggs and callbacks fans look forward to as they prepare to say goodbye to a show, and Arrow's final season will apparently take full advantage of that. TV Guide spoke with showrunner Beth Schwartz about the upcoming beginning of the end, and what we can expect from the final 10 episodes of the show that launched the entire Arrowverse. On top of guest appearances, one major death, and higher stakes than ever, Schwartz promised some major Season 1 callbacks are ahead of us, particularly in the Season 8 premiere.

Why did you guys decide to reveal in the Season 7 finale that Oliver (Stephen Amell) would die in Crisis on Infinite Earths rather than saving that twist for the actual crossover? And how does having that out there affect the direction of Season 8?

Beth Schwartz: I think we decided to do that because it's the story. We didn't want that to be the shock — that he dies. And having that tease at the end of [Season] Seven, we were hoping it would bring everyone back to be like, "How does he die? What do you mean he dies? Does he really die?" You know, because on our show you never really die. So we just thought that would be a great way to end the season basically... And also everyone's theories! Because that's the fun of watching a show and having a mystery — everyone trying to guess what's going to happen.

And speaking of those theories, is it safe to say that there's an element of surprise in store for fans?

Schwartz: Yeah, definitely. I mean, this is Arrow, so you think you know what's going to happen, but you don't really.

How does knowing that he's going to die in this crisis affect Oliver's story arc heading into Season 8?

Schwartz: I mean knowing, having the Monitor tell him that he's going to die, but he's got to do it to save the multiverse — I mean his theme of the season is a hero's sacrifice and every character's going to go through that this season. And this is the ultimate hero's sacrifice, to know you're going to die, but you're going to save so many people's lives. And that's always been the juggle of the hero, of being selfless and putting yourself and sort of your family, in Oliver's case, a little bit second so that you can do the greater good.

At what point in the series did you guys land on the idea of this has to end with him making that final sacrifice?

Schwartz: I think that's been something that from the creation of the show has been [the ending] from the beginning. I know Marc [Guggenheim] could probably answer this better, but I know that he's sort of always thought that was how the show would end.

And without Emily Bett Rickards in this season, how do you guys plan to honor her character even if we're not going to get to see her as much?

Schwartz: It's not like just because you can't see her that we're going to forget she was one of our most important characters on the show. And everything Oliver's doing, he'll be conflicted because he had to leave his family. And so that was really, as we saw at the end of Season 7, a heartbreaking and hard decision for him. So we will definitely not just skate past that... That last scene between them kills me. I can't watch it. It's just — it was so good.

How heavily is having to be separated from his wife and child going to hang on Oliver this year?

Schwartz: It's going to be pretty hard on him. But he's going to have Dig, obviously, to get him through, but it's not easy.

As for Colin Donnell coming back, was that just good timing having him coming off Chicago Med, or was that always the plan to have him back?

Schwartz: Every season we want him back. He's such a great part of the show. We always love having him back. He's such a great guy. And when we knew it was our final season, he was one of the top people. We were like, "We have to get him back for our final season." We had a whole list of actors and characters that we went through that we're like, "We can't end the show without seeing them one more time." So he was just — he's one of those.

And did a large handful of these people you reached out to say, "Yes, I'm down"?

Schwartz: Yes. Yeah, and it was fun. It's been such — I don't even know how to describe it, but this feeling of nostalgia and also kind of sadness but then happiness and gratefulness and just all these mixtures of emotions for a lot of us who've been doing this for eight years. It's a long time.

How many callbacks should we expect to see in this final season?

Schwartz: We have a lot of callbacks to Season 1 early on in, well, especially in the premiere. The premiere is very much like a love letter to the pilot, and it was so much fun to write. And the actors had a lot of fun as well. There's going to be a lot of that through the season.

You guys have said you're sort of breaking form this year. What sort of storytelling opportunities does that afford?

Schwartz: It's been so great. I mean when we figured out what we were going to do this season, it was both exciting and also we were like, "Are we really going to do this?" Or "How are we going to do this?" But since we're not going to be in Star City anymore for most of the season, it opened up our world to go to all different places, which then opened our world to revisiting a lot of old characters. Because we're not just in Star City alone. Because Oliver saved Star City last season, and we wanted this season to be — the stakes are bigger than ever. He saved his own city, which we've been waiting for him to do for seven seasons, and now he has to save the multiverse... The stakes are bigger and the world's bigger.

Does that mean that there's not going to be that traditional antagonist that carries you through?

Schwartz: Yeah, a little. It's kind of a combination because obviously he's going to be fighting someone in each episode, but there's not just one villain. The villain really is Crisis in this season.

Is there any chance that we could ever get a scene between Stephen Amell and Katherine McNamara as Oliver and Mia before all is said and done this year?

Schwartz: I mean you never know.

Never say never?

Schwartz: Never say never.

And most importantly, are we going to get to see the salmon ladder one last time?

Schwartz: We'll see it. We're going to see it in the premiere. And I've also tried to do to the salmon ladder, but I was unsuccessful. Not surprising.

[arrowdaily]

It’s May, which means one thing: Star City is danger and Green Arrow needs to save it—except, by all accounts, this year’s Arrow finale will be unlike the six that have come before.

“I think it’s a very different ending for Oliver versus a big bad than we’ve seen before,” Arrow showrunner Beth Schwartz tells EW.

In the finale, poignantly titled “You Have Saved This City,” Oliver’s (Stephen Amell) season-long conflict with his villainous half-sister Emiko (Sea Shimooka) climaxes as he tries to both foil her legacy-ruining plan and fight for her redemption. As if that weren’t enough, the ender also has to wrap the season-long, dystopic future storyline and give Felicity a proper send-off because Emily Bett Rickards is leaving the series ahead of the final season.

According to star David Ramsey, this triple whammy of family-focused material gives the finale a unique “emotional resonance.”

“There are emotional family dynamics that we haven’t really dealt with before,” says Ramsey in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, on stands now. “This finale is all about family, right? What happens with Felicity, family. What happens with Emiko, family. And I think that hits in a way that the other finale didn’t hit. So yes, you still have the explosions, you still have a lot of big action scenes, that’s part of Arrow. But emotionally, there are things happening in this finale that you haven’t seen before.”

Because this is Arrow, we also know several surprises await us, too. In fact, Juliana Harkavy definitely didn’t see the season’s ending coming.

“I was very surprised. We knew that a lot of changes were happening, but we didn’t know all of them at the beginning of the season. So, there were things in there we could never have imagined were going to happen,” says Harkavy. “Ultimately, I’m really happy with how it ended. I think it’s beautiful. It’s starting to paint a picture of how the whole series will wrap next year, because we only have ten episodes to tell the rest of the story.”

If that’s not enough to get you excited about the emotional finale, check our full interview with Schwartz below, which touches on Felicity’s farewell, the future of the flashforwards, and more.

Entertainment Weekly: How does this season’s finale compare to previous ones? Beth Schwartz: It’s pretty humongous, because not only are we telling our finale story in the present day, but we’re also having a huge finale in our future storyline. So, it’s kind of a double finale in one.

The future storyline has been a bit of a slow burn this season. What do you hope people take away from the flashforwards by the time the season ends? BS: In the finale, especially at the end of the episode, we’re gonna going to connect the present-day story and the future story. So, it’ll become clear.

Before the show returned, you said this season’s theme was about redemption. What do you hope this finale says about that theme? BS: It will definitely be prevalent in the finale in terms of Emiko and Oliver holding out thinking that she still is redeemable, and that will obviously be a struggle because she does a lot of bad stuff.

New photos revealed Black Siren and Bronze Tiger are in the mix, too. What role do they play in the finale? BS: That also tied with our redemption arc, in terms of those were two characters who, at the beginning, were villains. By the finale, because of Oliver and the team, they’re now fighting alongside the heroes, so we really loved that idea.

I know this finale will mark the end of Emily’s run as Felicity. In sending Felicity off, what was the most important thing you wanted to hit in this finale? BS: A bunch of things. She’s obviously a crucial part of the show, and we’re all super sad to see both Emily and Felicity go, so we just wanted to make sure that we honor her character in terms of her relationship with Oliver, in terms of her being a hero in her own right, as well as her relationship with Mia [Katherine McNamara] in the future. We have a lot to tie up.

How drastically did Emily’s departure affect how you ended the season? BS: It definitely affected a lot because ending such an important character on a show is such a big responsibility, and so we wanted to give her the send-off she deserves. We spend a lot of time with her.

We’re also heading into the final season. Does this finale setup Oliver’s arc for season 8, or will this be a bit more closed off? BS: It definitely sets up next season. I can’t talk too much about season 8 yet, but it’ll definitely launch you into season 8.

What’s the significance of calling the episode “You Have Saved This City?” BS: It sort of talks about his entire journey of the series. He basically starts season 1 trying to save the city, and this will bookend it in a nice way.

One of the interesting things about this season has been the tension between the present and future storylines. In 2019, Oliver and Felicity are endeavoring to create a safe world for their children, but the flashforwards reveal that they failed. Can we expect some kind of resolution to that tension? BS: Not this season, no.

So, is this the end of the flashforwards? BS: No.

I’ve heard The Flash will include its own tease for the next crossover, “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” Can we expect Arrow to include something like that in its finale? BS: It’s definitely possible.

This season has been interesting because it took awhile for the audience to find out who the big bad would be. Was that by design? Did you start out the season knowing you didn’t want to tell a big bad-focused season-long story? BS: We definitely wanted to do something a little different because we’ve had seasons where we’ve had a big bad from the beginning to end. We wanted to live with our characters and have them struggle with other obstacles. So, it sort of was in design not to have necessarily one big bad from day one to finish.

Looking back on the entire season, what are you most proud of about season 7? BS: I think it’s a combination of Oliver’s prison arc, which was such a fun departure from the show, as well as our future storyline. Both of those things were very challenging in keeping with the show Arrow and not going too far off, but it also allowed us to do something different, which I think creatively was really rewarding.

[esta-metamorfose-ambulante]

One of the few complaints I have about A Million Little Things is Delilah having Eddie's baby. Like, I get the affair carried her, his and Katherine's arcs for a while, but making them have a baby seems terrible to me. First of all, I think it is too much. Having a child out of an affair with your best friend's wife is something too painful for everyone to overcome (especially the kids). Secondly, dragging this to season two is tiring. I wish the show would've wrapped it up and move forward. How long will it take to everybody find out the truth and be able to process it? Absolutely new storylines are way more interesting than extending something that should've been ended a long time ago. Also, what does this add up to the story? Even when they all learn how to live with it because they are friends/family and they'll sort of have to, carrying this weight is too much. Imagine explaining to this child the circumstances that brought him or her into the world. It is drama just for the sake of drama and I hate it. Why not keep up the good, touching stuff and representation like masculine vulnerability, depression, dealing and overcoming alcoholism etc? There are a lot of important and relatable issues they could explore yet. However, the worst part of it is how it's gonna affect Katherine. Just when she was thinking of giving her marriage a second chance, she discovers another lie. And EVEN if she makes an effort to forgive him again, the timing is terrible because I guess Eddie won't be fully there since he will be thinking of his second child and trying to help Delilah all the time. She doesn't deserve such thing. Even if Katherine ends up back with Eddie, or before she commits to anyone, I wish she would just have fun and realize her worth first. I know she isn't the type that goes to clubs and dates casually, but I wish she would try new things, flirt, have friends (why isn't she part of the gang? Anyway, I want her more included in their stuff AND with friends that are only hers as well) and then make a choice. TBH, I don't know if she is still in love with Eddie or if she isn't ready to let go. Still, I believe that we should see more of Katherine in her own element when she's not parenting or working before a romance. She deserves more love from the writers. And if the writers' intention is not to give them a go for one more episode before finally ending their relationship, if they want to explore them or even make them endgame, I need to see Eddie being determined. I don't really think Eddie and Delilah are in love, for me they love each other and confused things at a moment they were both vulnerable. They have been separated for a while and yet they don't look devastated to me. Still, if Katherine and Eddie agree on trying one more time, I hope he is making a decision out of his heart, because he wants to be with her and Theo, not because he wants to make up for his mistakes or make his son happy. Either way, it just sucks because infidelity is always a horrible storyline and even when the person who was cheated on forgives the the cheater, it's still there. They can move on and have a perfect relationship, but you can't erase what happened before. And it sucks if the characters do have chemistry like Katherine and Eddie. I love their flashbacks, the recent bonding and everything, but this just frustrates me. It would've already been bad enough if it had happened at a moment where both couples were apart for some reason, but the fact it happened during their marriages makes everything so much worse. Or maybe if they wanted to keep the drama, they could've make Delilah be unsure about who is the father for a while and to only find out after the birth. She could've had one last night with Jon before realizing that the spark was gone. She could've had a risk pregnancy or anything that wouldn't' allow her to know until the baby was born. And again, why didn't she have any problems? I'm not mistaken she is 43 or 44 and being pregnant at this age has its difficulties. Or she could've just had a miscarriage. Idk. I just think whatever happens Katherine deserves more and I wish the writers wouldn't screw up her relationship with Eddie before exploring and flashbacking it, because they have/had potential and now it is just so complicated.

[frivoloussuits]

Suits: What Comes Next?

What can Suits do next, in 7b and 8a and beyond? It’s a question I’ve been thinking about for a while, and while I’ve explored it in fic I think it’s about time I do a proper meta post. Strap in for lots of weird predictions about how Suits can go on, and what the potential pitfalls of each route are.

TLDR: Suits is probably but not definitely doomed. Their safest option, in my opinion, is to decisively break up Donna and Harvey in 7b, give Harvey an absolutely awful time through 8a (maybe 7b and 8b too?), and double down on another ship entirely. This is not their only option; Darvey is still on the table.

Word count: ~3K

Question 1: How can they handle Mike and Rachel’s departure?

First things first, now that Mike’s leaving, the powers that be are losing the core relationship of the show. Assuming the reason Mike’s leaving is that he and Rachel got a better job/life opportunity elsewhere (as opposed to, say, the two of them get killed off), there are two options here:

1.) Brush over Mike and Rachel’s departure as a happy, happy event for everyone involved. The remaining characters move on with their lives with minimal angst. Maybe a new sidekick (Alex? Donna? Louis? someone else new?) fills the Mike-sized hole in Harvey’s plot lines.

Pros: Patrick J. Adams described Suits as a fundamentally “aspirational” show. In his opinion the show can approach darkness, it cannot dwell there. This would allow the show to carry on with its typical plot lines without angst.

Cons: This may feel out of sync with the previous seasons. If everyone can pick up and move on without Mike in a heartbeat, then why were they so dedicated to keeping him around and protecting him for all this time? Also, now that two more members of the original core cast are leaving, Suits is at risk of having too few meaningful plots. Glossing over Mike’s departure would mean dropping a major source of potential drama.

2.) Dwell on the implications of Mike and Rachel’s departure. Harvey’s abandonment issues might come back to the forefront.

Pros: Drama. Tension. Sensible, in-character consequences over the loss of the Mike-Harvey relationship.

Cons: If the show dwells on Rachel and Mike’s departure, so will the audience. And if the audience is upset about the departure, they might end up alienated, sick of the reminders of what’s now missing. Also, as mentioned above, this show doesn’t like serious angst; it might be hard to strike the right tone.

Question 2: How to end 7b?

Patrick J. Adams has strongly hinted that the finale of 7b will include the Machel wedding. 7b is also intended to serve as a backdoor pilot for Jessica’s spin-off show. That’s all well and good, but what happens to our core remaining characters, Donna, Louis, and Harvey?

Suits knows the benefits of ending on a cliffhanger (or some sort of tantalizing promise of new conflict), they've done it every season except maybe 6. I think they have to do this again. Because they’ve now lost half their main cast, they’ll probably try to hook people more than ever and give them an incredibly compelling reason to tune back in. What sort of cliffhanger they might use depends on the answer to . . .

Question 3: What’s the driving tension of Season 8a?

(8b’s also important, of course, but I think it’ll be the ending of the series. And since I don’t have a great intuition for how this show can end without Mike, I won’t make detailed predictions. All I’ll say is that I think at least 2 out of 3, if not all 3, of the Donna-Louis-Harvey group will be happily and stably in love, and I think all three will achieve some level of personal growth. I predict that they’ll all be happy with their careers and that the firm will be doing well. Either that or the firm crashes, in which case Harvey probably throws up his hands and moves out of New York, lol.)

Okay, so fandom loves fluffy slice-of-life stories that don’t have conflict, but mainstream TV shows? Not so much. There ought to be a driving conflict that makes 8a run. I think Suits can have three major types of tension:

External Tension: A mostly-new set of characters invades and raises hell. Examples include the Danbury plot of 6a, the investment banking plot of 4a, and the failed Darby merger from 3.

Pros of external tension: So many options for drama.

Cons of external tension: Meh. Suits has done this a lot already, and how do you top the stakes of Danbury? What new threat can outside characters present that we haven’t already seen? If it’s just that “the firm’s in jeopardy again,” I think a lot of viewers will yawn, but the obvious ways of raising the stakes (disgruntled ex-client attempts murder, someone ends up in the hospital for multiple episodes, Louis makes good on the Daniel Hardman death threat, etc.) would potentially be too angsty and out of place.

Another potential issue is that the end of 7b would ideally introduce this new bunch of external troublemakers, and if 7b’s finale is already packed with the Machel wedding and Jessica’s pilot plots then that’ll be tough.

Old-Conflict-Resurfaces Tension: Oooh, this one could be fun. A decent way for Suits to go out (assuming Season 8 is the end) is to do a fabulous villain team-up. Maybe Daniel Hardman’s working with Travis Tanner, who’s being paid off by Charles Forstman, and so on. More broadly, if Suits can reach into its established rogues gallery and present some old threats as more menacing than ever and weave a credible yet surprising legal plot, that might be a way to go.

Pros: Lots of options for drama, though less than above. Potentially cleaner and more elegant, since Suits doesn’t need to introduce bunches of new settings and characters. If done well, it could viewers guessing all throughout, rethinking old episodes and searching their memories for clues to unravel every new mystery. All in all this could feel like a very fitting end for the show.

Cons: This may be very hard to pull off. It can tip one way and become boring, or the other and become absurd.

Internal Tension: My personal favorite. Something changes among our central trio, and they then generate a driving plot of their own free will.

Pros: Elegant. Minimal set-up (well, no, but the setup is all the character dynamics we’ve learned so well over the past seven seasons). A great way to propel meaningful character change and wrap up the central arcs. I think audiences will care about this tension more than any other kind, because it’s all about Donna, Harvey and Louis, and those central characters are what the general audience cares about most.

Cons: We’ve already seen a lot of Donna, Harvey and Louis. We’ve seen how they react in stressful situations. Pushing them to new limits is hard, there are few events that can still do it. The powers that be would have to be pretty damn careful to keep everyone in-character without just rehashing dramas we’ve already seen.

Question 4: Who is Samantha Wheeler?

For those who don’t know, Katherine Heigl is joining the main cast of Suits for Season 8. She’s playing Samantha Wheeler, a “talented new partner at Pearson Specter Litt who challenges the status quo and will either become the firm’s greatest ally or most powerful enemy.”

It’s possible that Samantha will come crashing in and become the one-woman generator of an “external tension” that drives Season 8a. I’m hard-pressed to come up with what’s so special about this character that she can cause such big waves, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

Pros: New drama. New relationship dynamics. If she’s connected via backstory to one or more of the main characters (and she probably should be, otherwise the audience is at risk of just not caring about her), that could cause drama amidst the Donna-Louis-Harvey group. Also! She might provide new romance opportunities, and god knows Suits likes its love stories. If Darvey and Louis/Sheila are both definitively together by the end of 7, I think Samantha is even more likely to have a love interest.

Cons: Things are already changing a lot from 7 to 8. The audience is at risk of 1.) being confused, 2.) being bored because they’ve already seen too much like this, 3.) feeling alienated because this isn’t what they signed up for, and/or 4.) just not caring. Adding a brand-new main character may exacerbate these issues.

Question 5: WHAT HAPPENS TO DARVEY?!?!?!

The powers that be wrote themselves into an interesting corner with the 7a kiss. The Darvey tension’s been simmering for ages, but it’s finally been pushed so far that Donna and Harvey have to confront it. If the Darvey will-they-won’t-they dance isn’t finished by the end of 7, I think audiences will revolt.

The writers are devoting serious attention to the fallout the kiss; the consequences will propel plenty of 7b drama, and I won’t be surprised if Donna and Harvey spend 5.99 out of 6 episodes feuding. That said, by the time the season is over, the Darvey plot should be decided one way or the other to avoid the aforementioned audience revolt. Working under that assumption, there are two options . . .

1.) Darvey gets together in 7b.

I’m going to quote another Aaron (the namesake of Rick Sorkin?) discussing the long-time workplace romance of another fictional Donna: “They are in a tough spot . . . because she works for him. Besides, sexual and romantic tension is, to me, much more fun than taking the tension away by having the sex and romance.” And while I can’t find the article at the moment, I’ve seen a related quote from Sarah Rafferty, where she said that she hoped Darvey would happen in the very last episodes of the show, if it happened at all.

Why might they say this? Because hardcore Darvey shippers may be thrilled to watch an entire Season 8 of canon Darvey, but I think more casual viewers will lose interest. The unspoken will-they-won’t-they tension has captivated viewers for years, and once that’s gone so is one of Suits’ biggest hooks. If the powers that be still want the Donna-Harvey relationship to draw people in, they’d better cook up something really special to replace the sexual and romantic tension.

Donna and Harvey have prepared for this relationship for so long that a lot of the typical sources in television love stories (one of them is jealous, one of them cheats, they miscommunicate, they aren’t familiar with each others’ priorities) would make little sense; they should be past that by now. If there’s any relationship conflict, that would have to be written quite carefully.

Another option is to let Donna and Harvey be happy together and throw conflict at them from the outside-- maybe someone else comes and tries to break them up, or threaten them professionally, and maybe they close ranks and become a wonderful battle couple.

(Personal note: If Darvey gets together, I’d like to see canon unquestionably establish Donna as Harvey’s equal in 7b and 8. I want to see them contributing equally to their relationship. I want to be convinced that they’ll both be happy in the long term, that this isn’t a relationship where Donna sacrifices for Harvey but has to grovel for his support in return, and I think they’re not there yet. Harvey really isn’t there yet. Getting there could generate plot.)

So these are some options for how canon can keep viewers invested through S8, but . . . I bet they won’t be as compelling for the general audience as the 7-season mating dance.

2.) Darvey gets smashed to hell in 7b.

I know I’m the only one, but I think this is still a real possibility!

At this point, Suits is running into two issues. One, it feels overall predictable and unsurprising. Two, it feels like it’s pushing its characters out of character in order to manufacture surprises (see: Harvey’s sudden infatuation with Paula, rule-obsessed Sheila’s sudden willingness to cheat on her fiance). If they can thwart viewer expectations on one of the biggest questions-- will Darvey happen?-- while remaining true to their characters, that could be pretty damn cool.

It’s also a reasonable option, in my opinion. It could generate plenty of plot for Donna and Harvey in 8a, since they might completely burn their bridges in 7b and have to rebuild from scratch, and it also leaves room for a different central romance!

So there’s this ship that nobody talks about. It’s a m/f ship, which means it’s more likely to be canon on this sadly heteronormative show than, say, Marvey. The characters have had compelling plots and interactions from Season 1. They’ve laughed together. They’ve survived drama. They respect, care about and understand each other. They have the same interests and hobbies. They have hilariously sexual conversations. They have literally said “I love you.”

I’m talking about Louis and Donna.

Yes, I’m serious, and so was Sarah Rafferty when she claimed Donna needs someone more emotionally open than Harvey to be her “life partner,” and so was Rick Hoffman when he said, “I just don’t understand how Louis could not be attracted to a woman like Donna.”

Pros of Lonna: Surprises! Drama! I can see this being the internal tension that drives 8a, and hell, I can’t imagine a better cliffhanger for season 7′s finale than a Lonna moment. This wouldn’t be radically out of character-- I’ve been checking, and there’s a surprisingly large amount of foundational material for this ship-- yet it’d massively upset audience expectations and also the existing relationship dynamics between Donna, Louis, and Harvey.

No, I’m not forgetting Harvey. Maybe he doesn’t want Donna himself, but seeing Louis end up with her would upturn everything he thought he knew about the world. Given that Mike’s also leaving and that he might still be dealing with Paula-related guilt, this plot twist would send Harvey reeling, especially if he and Donna are still working out the fallout from the kiss. If he lashes out and screws up his professional life too, then that can generate legal plots as well as personal drama.

Long story short, Lonna is potentially a massive plot generator.

Cons: The big downside of Lonna is that (besides Rick Hoffman and Sarah Rafferty who have been discussing it at least since Season 2) practically nobody ships it. Louis is so often treated as fodder for jokes, it’s possible that audiences just wouldn’t take it seriously. Also, a lot of Darvey shippers would be furious and heartbroken.

Question 6: What’s my ideal season 7 finale?

Okay, I know nobody is actually asking this, but I want to tell you!

Mike and Rachel dance peacefully at their wedding reception, safe in a happy bubble, oblivious to the world burning down around them. Jessica’s in the Plaza lobby, threatening some poor sucker over the phone in a desperate bid to save her political career. Harvey’s locked in the bathroom, fighting off a panic attack and failing, wondering whether he’s sick because of Paula, or because of Mike, or because Donna’s not speaking to him anymore . . .

Meanwhile, Louis and Donna share a sweet, intimate conversation on a hotel balcony that leads to a sweet, intimate kiss-- only to have Donna pull back, gasping as though she’s been burned.

SUITS RETURNS IN FALL 2018.

(I don’t know about you guys, but I would so tune in for that Season 8.)

[ltbroccoli-archive]

ST ask meme - ALL OF THEM

Star Trek ask meme

Under a read more, because long.

1. Top 3 favorite female characters? Kathryn Janeway, Seven of Nine, Uhura.

2. Top 3 favorite male characters? Reg Barclay, Rom, Data.

3. Top 3 least favorite characters? Katherine Pulaski, Wesley Crusher, Jadzia Dax. (I said Travis Mayweather on my other post but he’s honestly tied with Jadzia.)

4. Favorite alien species? I really enjoy the Borg. Voyager ruined them just the tiniest bit though, by overusing them.

5. Episode plot you wish they had handled differently? Several are coming to mind, but I think I’m actually gonna go with the Enterprise finale. Which I don’t remember terribly well but I remember that it sucked. Riker and Troi? Seriously? The least that show could have done was end on a reasonably high note. Granted it was never a great show in the first place…

6. Character you feel a show could have done without? Pulaski was so utterly unnecessary, and just horrible. I realize they wanted Gates McFadden gone, which was also a mistake. Just let her stay through the whole thing.

7. Who would make up your crew dream team? Captain Janeway, First Officer Spock, Chief Engineer Reg Barclay, Doctor EMH, Tactical Officer Worf, the rest can just fight for it idk.

8. Which captain would you most want to serve under? It’s a toss up between Picard and Janeway… I think Janeway wins by the tiniest bit. Picard would also be awesome.

9. Which episode plot do you prefer?

     a. Time traveling to the past or dealing with time travelers from the future? The past. I love time travel everything give me all the time travel please.

     b. Going undercover to spy on enemies or going undercover to explore pre-warp planets? Probably the enemies, but it really depends on the episode.

    c. Holodeck malfunction or space anomaly? Depends what the holodeck malfunction is and what the space anomaly is. Holodeck malfunctions are always stupid, but we need to know if it’s the good kind of stupid.

    d. Ship being taken over or being stranded on a planet? Taken over.

    e. Rapid aging or de-aging? De-aging. “Rascals” is a gift.

    f. Diplomatic negotiations or all out battle? Both? Both is good. (Negotiate to stop the battle.)

10. Which alien pet would you most want for your own? The unicorn dog.

11. Top 3 OTPs? Janeway/Chakotay, Doctor/Seven, Rom/Leeta

12. Top 3 NOTPs? Chakotay/Seven (seriously wtf), Dukat/Winn, Garak/Ziyal

13. A ship you wish had been canon and why? Garak and Bashir. They had great chemistry from their very first scene and it’s just such an interesting pair.

14. A ship you wish hadn’t been canon and why? Garak/Ziyal. She’s barely legal. They were only doing it so the Garak/Bashir shippers had no chance. It didn’t make sense. It was forced.

15. Top 3 favorite alien crewmembers? Spock, Worf, Seven of Nine.

16. If you could steal the basic plot of an episode for one show and apply to another which would you choose? Well Enterprise directly stole plots from other shows multiple times… honestly I can’t think of any.

17. What role would you have aboard a starship? Science officer…? Engineer? One of those.

18. If you had to fight a character who would you choose? Pulaski.

19. You can undo one plot point, which do you choose? Dukat joining the Pah-Wraiths. That’s the exact moment his arc went from absolutely incredible to just… a piece of shit.

20. Which piece of technology do you wish existed in reality? Transporter.

21. What kind of stories do you hope the new show does? Explore current issues. Make important points about our current world. Make people uncomfortable. Make people examine themselves and how they behave.

22. Would you rather serve on a starship or a space station? Space station, probably.

23. Favorite tropes? The non-human character trying to figure out what the hell humans are even doing.

24. Which character do you relate to the most? Reg Barclay.

25. Favorite villain(s)? Dukat, the Borg, the Dominion.

26. Which alien hybrid offspring are you most interested in seeing? Uh… this is really not something I thought about before. Maybe a Bolian and a Klingon. See how that one works out. (Yeah I just kinda picked two random races…)

27. What do you wish they had handled differently? A lot of Reg’s later TNG episodes treated him as comic relief. I would have liked to see more of him in a serious light and less comedic. And also directly acknowledging that he has anxiety of some kind, whatever that might be, would be great.

28. Character(s) you want to cosplay as? I really don’t do much cosplay, I’d be happy just to have a StarFleet uniform.

29. Favorite and least favorite episodes? I’ll just go one from each show, this is hard. These might not be the absolutes but they’re what popped into my head first.

Favorites - “The City on the Edge of Forever”, “Realm of Fear”, “Far Beyond the Stars”, “Bride of Chaotica!”, sorry I can’t consider any ENT episode to be a favorite.

Least favorites - “The Mark of Gideon”, “Sub Rosa”, “The Muse”, “Year of Hell”, “These Are the Voyages…”

30. Something you wish you could delete from canon? That ghost trying to bang Crusher? Yeah I completely skipped that episode on my rewatch, no thank you.

31. A crossover with another show/movie/book/ect, that you’d want to see? Doctor Who, Stargate, or Firefly.

32. F/M/K. I dunno. Someone give me three choices and I’ll answer this.

33. Whose twitter feed would you most want to follow? Data’s would be a blast, I think.

34. What do you think *insert character*’s tumblr would be full of? Someone has to send a character. Since I write Reg, I will say that Reg’s Tumblr would be cats, advice for dealing with anxiety, cool space pictures, cats, engineering facts, and cats.

35. A minor character you wish had become a main character? Reg Barclay. I always want more Reg Barclay.

36. A social issue you hope the new show tackles and how? Actual gay people would be nice.

37. Character A and Character B get into a fight, who wins? I need characters.

38. *Insert crew here* is thrown back in time to *insert time period here*, how do they handle it, which fashion trends do they pick up, who threatens the timeline the most, who is saddest when they have to leave, who is most knowledgeable, who stands out the most, ect? Again, I need things. Also this would take forever to answer, so…

39. You have to relocate to a planet other than Earth, which do you choose? …Vulcan? Andoria? Some Earth colony? Yeah probably an Earth colony, if there’s a nice big one.

40. If you got a trek inspired tattoo what would it be? I don’t think I’d get a tattoo… but I mean, if I were forced to get one at gunpoint for some reason, maybe the IDIC medallion on my ankle or something simple like that.

41. Which episode(s) creeped out/scared you the most? “Night Terrors”, the TNG episode where the crew can’t dream. When Crusher’s in the morgue and all the corpses are suddenly sitting up? I lost it the first time I saw that as a kid. Still creeps me the fuck out.

42. Which episode(s) made you cry? “Real Life”, the VOY episode with the Doctor’s holographic family that you never see again. I don’t know why that one got to me but it got to me.

43. Order of shows from most to least favorite? Deep Space 9, Next Generation, Voyager, Original Series, Enterprise, Animated. Honestly DS9, TNG, VOY, and TOS are all at about the same level for me, I love them all but in different ways. ENT is a noticeable step down in quality and TAS is uh… yeah.

44. If *insert crew* ended up in the modern day what would amaze them the most? Gotta give me a crew.

45. Which alien culture would you most want to live in/would feel most comfortable? Denobulans would be super friendly, I feel like.

46. If they rebooted *insert show here* who out of modern day actors would you pick to play the main characters? No more reboots.

47. An unpopular opinion you have? Jadzia Dax is the worst character on DS9. She’s an annoying know-it-all who can apparently do no wrong. She also has no character development to speak of and her episodes were always the most boring, despite the Trill being a fascinating race. Worf deserved better. Also, Terry Farrell never seemed the right choice for the part. I was glad to see her go and I genuinely don’t understand why this fandom worships the ground she walks on.

48. Sort the crew of *insert show here* into Hogwarts houses. Someone want to send a show?

49. A favorite ST fic? I don’t read much fanfic, actually. I did read one where Q was trying to help Reg get over his stage fright. That was pretty funny. I can’t remember where it was or I’d link to it.

50. A random headcanon? At some point after the episode “Hollow Pursuits”, Reg Barclay gave Deanna Troi a damn good (and completely genuine) apology for recreating her on the holodeck for make out sessions.

[uswe]

Hidden Figures was so good, you guys. Like, I thought I was going in emotionally prepared for Taraji P. Henson to steal the space program.

And I was! Almost. Mostly spoiler-free under the cut, but it got long in my enthusiasm. I mean, major spoiler: we went to space.

There was so much more to the movie than Katherine Johnson’s integral role in the space program - Aldis Hodge is in it! Continuing his tradition of very carefully picking roles that are firmly pro-black (I’m not sure how to phrase it - he probably did a better job somewhere. But, like, the role where he spent 5 seasons as an anti-capitalist hacker? Since then I’ve seen him in Underground and Turn: Washington’s Spies and this, and all of his roles have been profoundly and definitively about black excellence). Also, he was married to Janelle Monae, and I loved them together? Like, Mary Jackson was a terrifying force of nature and I love her and she’s the best and little girls should have posters of her on their walls. Her drive and attitude as much as her astounding brain made her an amazing character. Aldis Hodge did a good job of matching the simmering rage and tension Janelle Monae brought to the table: it made them seem like a couple who’d be naturally drawn to each other.

Dorothy Vaughn, played by Octavia Spencer, was also amazing. Like, on one level, I don’t think I have ever rooted for someone’s rise to middle management before? So that entertained me. But also her judgement of how things were changing and her absolute determination to take care of her girls as things started changing rapidly and the byplay with Kirsten Dunst over names was profoundly emotionally satisfying.

And Mahershala Ali was just so cute??? Like, yes, in the part where he’s a very attractive man, but he was just so blown away by Katherine, and that’s something I see so rarely in any kind of romance: the man unabashedly in awe of the intellectual abilities of the woman and not attempting to diminish that in any way. Like, in most romances with very smart women, there’s an implication that she must be deeply lacking in some personal area and the man sort of . . . makes up for it? Overcomes her shortfalls and that’s what makes them a great couple. With the Johnsons, you see a lot of his respect for her. It’s sort of implied that she respects him, too - at least enough to marry him - and she’s definitely shown as attracted to and happy with him, but it’s never implied that she’s less than a complete and amazing person on her own, or that he sees her that way.

Also he looks damn fine in a uniform.

The main plot, the getting to space bit, was really interesting, too, and I loved that John Glenn specifically wanted Katherine to look at the numbers. That was just . . . she’d gotten so little recognition, and so it was an incredibly satisfying point in her arc for the first American to orbit the Earth to specifically recognize her achievements, by name. Mostly that whole plot made me wish I’d liked math more as a kid, and that that’s where I’d pursued stuff more.

And, finally, the bit with Stafford and coffee was absolutely amazing. A++ job bringing coffee, guy who used to be on The Big Bang Theory.

[whatanerdgirlsays]

Exactly six years ago today, I started What A Nerd Girl Says. After many other names, I settled on that one and its been my moniker for exactly six years. What started off as a way for me to share my love of all things fandom, and started as an angry girl rant to shout at the internet haters who would put down young adult literature, became something so much more. It seems insanely to me that I, Sara, Nerd Girl, am still here after all these years.

I am so insanely grateful for everything that has happened because of this blog. I may not be hugely popular. I may not have a million followers and I may not get recognized at all the book events. I may not post pretty pictures on instagram or post fun videos on YouTube. But I’ve been here for six years, sharing my passion, sticking with what I love and what is important to me and supporting the book community and the YA community in the best way that I can, in the only way that I know how to: writing.

Book blogging itself has definitely lost its popularity in the most recent years, with Bookstagrammers and BookTubers taking the forefront in popularity. And while I’ve dabbled in YouTube and I am dedicated to my Instagram, but this blog is my love and the bloggers that I started with years ago are some of my best bookish friends and we’ll stick together, for sure 🙂

Besides, I can’t even begin to explain how this blog changed my life in the past six years. It gave me a world that I finally felt like I belonged to. Even though there are days when I struggle with that, because the community has changed over the years, the fact still remains true and it came at a time when I desperately needed it. While it took longer than I wished it had, it gave me independence, confidence, ambition, determination. It helped me to become my own person and to realize my worth. What this did for me…is beyond words. It helped me make my own friends. It helped me to set my goals, fight for them and reach them. It helped me leave an unhealthy relationship. It helped me to cut out unhealthy friendships and form better, stronger ones.

I’ve also earned a place in an amazing community, becoming friends with authors and publicists and librarians and bloggers and publishers and agents and so many more. These people have helped in me, not only in my blog, but in my writing career and in my life. I will always be so insanely grateful to them and I am even more so grateful that they are helping to celebrate this awesome achievement by donating signed books and swag and exclusive interviews that you’ll get to read in the next week or so!

I’ve gotten to do so many amazing things and meet people I never thought I would meet. I’ve been on the barricades at red carpet events for movies like Star Trek, The Hobbit, The Hunger Games movies, Divergent and so many more. I’ve met celebrities like Carrie Fisher, Peter Jackson, Andy Serkis, Kate Winslet, Ashley Judd, Donald Sutherland, Jennifer Lawrence, Zoe Kravitz, Orlando Bloom, Chloe Grace Moretz, Elizabeth Banks, and so many more. I’ve met so many authors, it would be crazy to begin to name them all. I’ve gone to all sorts of event and conventions as a member of the press and as a creative professional, events I may have never had the chance to attend before that.

I met authors that showed me that becoming a published author was possible, authors that showed me how to do it, how to believe in myself and how to navigate myself in this crazy publishing world. They showed me the way, they believed in me and supported me and so many of them stood by my side and supported me when I published The Awakened back in 2015. They were there with me when I struggled through the writing, editing and publishing of its sequel in 2017.

I even went through a moment about a year ago when I told myself that I was done, that I was sick of the favoritism and competition that can occur in this community and that I couldn’t do it anymore and that I was ready to shut the door on the five years I had given to the book community. It took a lot of self-reflection and a big break from writing for the blog to see if I could keep doing it and I am grateful and happy that I did so because when I did decide to come back, I came back of my own accord, and the passion and the love I have for it was real and not forced, as it had been for a very long time.

So here is to six years of book blogging, of so many books read, of a few books written, here are to bookish friends, author friends, librarian friends…so many friends, here’s to the many celebrities and authors met. Here’s to the many reviews written and to the ups and downs. Here’s to every single person who supported me and helped and yes, here’s to the people who tried to pull me and tear me down.

Here’s to six years and here’s to many more after that.

Now, of course…let’s get to the important part…the giveaway!

THE GIVEAWAY

Seriously, there are NO words to explain how excited I am for this giveaway. Most of what is included in this giveaway was donated by the authors themselves and I am so insanely grateful for them, their donation, their time in doing interviews for me and for their friendship.

Here we go!

Prize Pack #1

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-Ahsoka signed by author EK Johnston and Ahsoka voice actress, Ashley Eckstein -Light Years signed and donated by author Emily Ziff Griffin -Brightly Burning ARC signed and donated by author Alexa Donne -#MurderTrending ARC signed and donated by author Gretchen McNeil -The Authentics signed and donated by author Abdi Nazemian -Brightly Burning tote bag and buttons donated by author Alexa Donne

Prize Pack #2

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-Always Never Yours ARC donated by authors Austin Siegemund-Broka and Emily Wibberley -Symptoms of Being Human signed and donated by author Jeff Garvin -Three Day Summer signed and donated by author Sarvenaz Tash -Just a Normal Tuesday signed and donated by author Kim Turrisi -What They Don’t  Know ARC signed and donated by author Nicole Maggi -Always Never Yours swag donated by authors Austin and Emily -Riveted Tote Bag

Prize Pack #3

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-Leah on the Offbeat signed by author Becky Albertalli -Easy signed and donated by author Tammara Webber -Breakable signed and donated by author Tammara Webber -The Best Possible Answer donated by E. Katherine Kottaras -Going Geek signed and donated by author Charlotte Huang

Prize Pack #4

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-Flamecaster signed and donated by author Cinda Williams Chima -Language of Thorns signed and donated by author Leigh  Bardugo -The Awakened signed and donated by me! -The Authentics signed and donated by author Abdi Nazemian -I, Claudia ARC donated by author Mary McCoy -Renegades poster signed by author Marissa Meyer

Giveaway  Rules and How to Enter

-The giveaway will run from today, May 23rd to June 4th. The giveaway IS open internationally!

-Winners will be chosen randomly through the rafflecopter. The winner will be contacted within 72 hours of contest end. If winner(s) do not respond within a 48 hour period of contact, their prize will be forfeited and a new winner will be chosen.

-There will be an option below to choose which prize pack you’d like to win the most, but there is no guarantee you will get the one you want the most!

-Prizes will be shipped out within a month of the giveaway month. Please keep in mind that all of the costs come out of my own personal pocket and these prize packs are expensive to send. Please be patient.

-What A Nerd Girl Says is not responsible for lost, stolen or damaged prizes.

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

Support us on Patreon for only $1 a month to gain access to monthly exclusive interviews, ARC and signed book giveaways, reviews for books I DIDN’T like and more by following the link here. 

What A Nerd Girl Says Turns 6 Today! PLUS HUGE GIVEAWAY! Exactly six years ago today, I started What A Nerd Girl Says. After many other names, I settled on that one and its been my moniker for exactly six years.

[jenmedsbookreviews]

My view this week. Well… Not strictly true as I didn’t make it anywhere near Brixton or Victoria. But I was in London for a very flying visit to look at some industrial units. What a truly glamorous life I lead right? My Thursday consisted of – drive to Ponders End (via Starbucks) – spend five minutes looking at an industrial unit. Spend an hour driving to Kingsbury, in NW London (via Costa Coffee) – spend five minutes looking at an industrial unit. Drive to Hayes – spend five minutes looking at an industrial unit. Drive home (via Starbucks). Exciting stuff huh?

The only real benefit of driving around aimlessly, apart from being able to stock up on copious amounts of coffee and blackberry mojito green tea lemonade (non alcoholic), is that I also get to listen to audio books. As I was driving for around seven hours I managed to get most of the way through a whole book, which I finished off by reading when I got home. Tidy.

I’m just starting to get into my major project now with the first training sessions for our ‘super users’ next week. I forgot to tell them that they need to wear their underpants over their trousers so I guess that’s something we’ll have to cover off in housekeeping before the session starts…

Three days of that and then I get a very long weekend off because I am going to Harrogate. Right now I am neither excited or nervous about this fact. I am kind of apathetic. I think because I am so damned busy I have no time, thankfully, to be anything but. I still have the sort of feeling of dread buried somewhere deep inside, but I’ll worry about that surfacing again on Thursday morning as I say goodbye to the poochie. Or rather as I am packing as I probably won’t get round to it much before then… It’s just four days at a book festival. It is going to be fine. I think.

So. Bookwise, this week I’ve been quite productive. Sort of. Didn’t get much reading done until Wednesday as I had blog posts to catch up on, reviews to write, and that pesky chapter three in my thriller spoof – Killer – to complete. Even so, I’ve managed to get through four books thanks to my impromptu road trip on Thursday so it could be worse. I even got book post! Yup. I am loved once more. Two fabulous little parcels winging their way to me courtesy of Penguin and Head of Zeus. First up was The Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond. I also received Behind Her Back by Jane Lythell.

Purchase wise I’ve been quite restrained. Sort of. I did a cheeky pre-order of Patricia Gibney’s third Lottie Parker novel, The Lost Child, as well as ordering a bit of a curve ball book, Wicked Grind by J Kenner (one of my guilty pleasures). Inspired by Emma Mitchell, I made a random purchase of the following: Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms, Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang, Oxford Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms. Maybe I can inject a little more variety into my ‘thriller’. Or then again, perhaps not. And it was only while I was reading the ARC that I realised I hadn’t actually pre-ordered All The Wicked Girls by Chris Whitaker, which I have since remedied.

Only one ARC downloaded from Netgalley, The Lost Wife by Anna Mansell and no new audible this week so that, ladies and gents, was it.

…

Books I have read

The Lost Wife by Anna Mansell

Fans of Sheila O’Flanagan, Amanda Prowse and Kelly Rimmer will love The Lost Wife, the compelling story of a woman’s deepest secrets, and the friends and family who must learn to live without her.

‘An incredible, beautiful story of loss, love, forgiveness, moving on, overcoming grief, redemption and above all, hope.’ Renita D’Silva

When Ellie Moran passes away, she leaves her newborn son and husband Ed behind her. Their marriage was perfect, their lives everything they had hoped for. So why was Ellie keeping secrets from Ed?

Knowing he can never ask his wife the truth, Ed is struggling to cope. When the secrets threaten to tear his whole family apart, Ed turns to Rachel, the one person who sees him as more than just Ellie’s widower.

But then Rachel discovers something Ellie was hiding, something that would break Ed’s heart. Can Rachel help Ed to find peace without the wife he lost – and a second chance at happiness?

This was a last minute pick as I am taking part in the blog tour but an absolute cracking read. His family torn apart by loss and suspicion, Ed Moran really needs a friend which he finds in nursery worker Rachel. But in trying to help Ed come to terms with what happened, Rachel makes a grave error, one which may be unforgivable. Occasionally heart wrenching and often tender this book was a welcome break from my usual crime and thriller spree. I’ll be sharing my thoughts at the end of the month, but in the meantime you can pre-order the book here.

…

The One by John Marrs

How far would you go to find THE ONE?

One simple mouth swab is all it takes. A quick DNA test to find your perfect partner – the one you’re genetically made for.

A decade after scientists discover everyone has a gene they share with just one other person, millions have taken the test, desperate to find true love. Now, five more people meet their Match. But even soul mates have secrets. And some are more shocking – and deadlier – than others…

So. I’m way behind the curve on this one. It’s one I’ve had on my Netgalley TBR for a long time and I thought I may as well make the most of my road trip and start to clear some of that backlog. So, I downloaded the audio and off I went. Now this was an intriguing read for me. I am overwhelmingly sceptical about the concept of people finding ‘the one’. Of there being that super spark which goes beyond anything experienced with any other partner, so this book kind of tapped into that scepticism and kept be suitably entertained. You’ll have to wait a while for my thoughts on the book but you can bag yourself a copy right here.

…

All The Wicked Girls by Chris Whitaker

‘Raine sometimes complains that nothing exciting is ever gonna happen in Grace again. Daddy told her careful what you wish for.’

Everyone loves Summer Ryan. A model student and musical prodigy, she’s a ray of light in the struggling small town of Grace, Alabama – especially compared to her troubled sister, Raine. Then Summer goes missing.

Grace is already simmering, and with this new tragedy the police have their hands full keeping the peace. Only Raine throws herself into the search, supported by a most unlikely ally.

But perhaps there was always more to Summer than met the eye . . .

For fans of The Roanoke Girls and Fargo, All the Wicked Girls is a gripping crime novel with a huge heart from an exceptional talent.

Now it is no secret that I really loved Chris Whitaker’s debut novel, Tall Oaks. It was my top read of 2016 and is one I recommend to anyone who asks me which books they absolutely must read. So book two had a lot to live up to. And did it? Well I’m not going to say too much as my review will be out closer to publication but Mr Whitaker truly does have a talent for capturing the spirit of small town America, for creating a suffocating and oppressive atmosphere alongside a compelling and consuming story. And characterisations… You don;t get the full on Manny experience, but the friendship between Noah, Purv and Raine was brilliantly observed. So yeah. I liked it. You can pre-order your own copy here.

…

The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan

One man is dead.

But thousands were his victims.

Can a single murder avenge that of many?

Scarborough Bluffs, Toronto: the body of Christopher Drayton is found at the foot of the cliffs. Muslim Detective Esa Khattak, head of the Community Policing Unit, and his partner Rachel Getty are called in to investigate. As the secrets of Drayton’s role in the 1995 Srebrenica genocide of Bosnian Muslims surface, the harrowing significance of his death makes it difficult to remain objective. In a community haunted by the atrocities of war, anyone could be a suspect. And when the victim is a man with so many deaths to his name, could it be that justice has at long last been served?

In this important debut novel, Ausma Zehanat Khan has written a compelling and provocative mystery exploring the complexities of identity, loss, and redemption.

Winner of the Barry Award, Arthur Ellis Award, and Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best First Novel.

I’ve been itching to read this book since receiving it from No Exit Press last month. I’m on the blog tour next week so you won’t have long to wait for my thoughts. Not always a comfortable subject to read about, it touches upon one of the darkest periods in recent European history. As I’ve literally only just finished reading, I’m going to sit and digest it a little while before writing my review. In the meantime, order yourself a copy of the book here.

…

So that’s it. Four books. Not too shabby. Not sure this will be as productive a week as Harrogate is likely to impinge on my reading a touch… I’ll give it a shot though and the travel means valuable audio book time so perhaps I can squeeze in at least a couple of titles by Sunday….

Busy week on the blog with a mix of reviews, book love and blog tours as per the norm.

Review: Cragside by L.J. Ross

#BlogTour Guest Post: Spark Out by Nick Rippington

#BookLove: Linda Hill

Killer: Chapter Three (or ‘I did warn you – these are actually getting worse…’)

#Blogtour review: The Stolen Girls by Patricia Gibney

#BlogTour Review: Dying To Live by Michael Stanley

Guest Review: Bored of the Rings by Rich Amooi

#BookLove: Catherine Kullman

Review: Nowhere Child by Rachel Abbott

The week ahead is once more pretty busy. I have more book love, blog tours and reviews to share. I start the week with a guest post from Malcolm Hollingdrake as part of the Dying Art blog tour. On Wednesday I’m finally able to share my review of The Other Twin by Lucy V Hay and on Friday I am thrilled to be opening the blog tour for Chris Curran’s new book, Her Deadly Secret. I have a little book love from Katherine Sunderland and Jane Cable and if I get time, maybe an update or two from Harrogate (but don’t hold your breath…)

And that’s it. Have a fabulous week of bookishness all. See you next week.

JL

Rewind, recap: weekly update w/e 16/07/17 My view this week. Well... Not strictly true as I didn't make it anywhere near Brixton or Victoria.

[ishouldreadthat]

It’s my favorite time of the moth!  Here’s a look back on my bookish activity this month.  Let’s see if I stuck with my April TBR strategy:

  Books I read:

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

1666: Plague, War and Hellfire by Rebecca Rideal

Red Sister by Mark Lawrence

Geekerella by Ashley Poston

The Girl of Ink and Stars by Kiran Millgrave Hardwood

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

The Futures by Anna Pitoniak

The Jungle by Pooja Puri

Northern Lights by Philip Pullman

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

The Lady and the Highlander by Lecia Cornwall

A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab

A fair few not pictured here including ARCs and books I’ve borrowed/lent to others

I read twelve books this month!  I kicked off the month with The Handmaid’s Tale, which I freaking loved.  It was my first time reading it because I was scared of potential scenes of sexual violence.  This wasn’t the case at all.  You may have noticed that I haven’t done a review of this book.  I can’t quite sort out what I want to say just yet — it hit me pretty hard!  I’ll think of something that will do it justice.

After a slowdown with 1666 and Red Sister, I wanted a few books that I could power through and use to bring my numbers up.  Geekerella, The Girl of Ink and Stars, and Caraval were all read in a single day.  The Futures was my first physical ARC and I really enjoyed it!  I’ve got a review coming up tomorrow for that book.  The Jungle was a little outside my comfort zone, but still a good and important read; you can check out my review here.  I had a massive change of heart while reading Northern Lights.  I’ve stated a few times on this blog that I felt it was going really slowly and wasn’t compelling, but that all changed around the midway point.  I ended up absolutely loving it and plan to read the rest of the books.  I finished my first Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses (‘finally!’, some of you might say).  I have a lot of thoughts about this one.  It was fun, but really problematic in a lot of ways. I plan to post a review soon, watch this space!

Finally, I blasted through A Darker Shade of Magic and The Lady and the Highlander.  The former was absolutely amazing, the latter was definitely not.  A Darker Shade of Magic has been on my shelf for over a year and I’m so happy I finally got around to reading it.  A glowing review is forthcoming.

Books I’m currently reading:

  I’m currently reading a long  overdue ARC of Sea by Sarah Driver.  So far it’s a fun fantasy adventure at sea, featuring a stubborn but brave young girl.  I’ve pulled The Wrath and the Dawn out of the ol’ TBR stack.  I’ve been looking forward to this one for ages, I’m glad I finally found it at my local bookshop.  I’ve also just borrowed my parent’s copy of The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee, which looks amazing and is all about crazy opera performers.

Books bought:

Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel

Katherine Howard: The Tragic Story of Henry VIII’s Fifth Queen by  Josephine Wilkinson

The Power by Naomi Alderman

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh

Runemarks by Joanna Harris

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

The Circle by David Eggers

Collected Ghost Stories by M. R. James

I won my copy of False Hearts and An Instance of the Fingerpost was from my book subscription.  They don’t count!

So I didn’t really stick to my two-out-one-in April TBR strategy, but I did actually read more books than I bought this month.  I think I earned a cookie for that.

I’ve had my eye on most of these for awhile.  I think I’m going to tackle The Power, Ninefox Gambit, Sleeping Giants, and Strange the Dreamer first.

So there we have it!  This is what my TBR pile looked like at the beginning of April:

Help!

This is what it looks like now.  I’ve done a little spring cleaning:

The fairy lights help dull the shame.

It’s still out of control, but I’ve shifted some stuff around and I think this is going to be a good month!  I’ll continue on with my two-out-one-in system.

How did the rest of you do this month?  What’s the best book you’ve read in April?  Got any books you’re looking forward to in May?  Leave a comment!

April is over and it was a great month for reading! It’s my favorite time of the moth!  Here’s a look back on my bookish activity this month.