#honestly a little iffy on the end of the synopsis but when am i not

[nikkywrites]

Light and What Lies Below (An Ocean Fable)

LAWLB -- a wip intro

↳ "My faith is with you," she says. "If anyone can strike this deal, it is you. You have a cutting tongue."

Genre -> Fantasy, Greek Myth Retelling

POV -> Third Person Limited

Themes -> Death, Justice and Judgement, Loneliness, Darkness and Light.

Vibes -> a handful of soft sand filtering through a loose fist, the gurgle of a nearby river, smooth black stones under bare feet, the peace and unease of utter silence, long shadows in an empty castle hall, old and cracked stone stairs leading to the uninhabitable, a white river glowing in the distance, white-blue flames and the scent of fresh ink lingering in the air.

Status -> First Draft

Blurb -> Calypso proposes a deal to Hades, offers to repurpose some of her domain in exchange for a lessening of his workload, some souls due never to touch the land of the dead.

Tags to Follow -> wip light and what lies below, wip lawlb, ocean fable

(Synopsis under cut as to not clog up anyone's dash)

Synopsis:

Calypso adores her sailors, despite the smudge of their souls staining her own. Centuries pass with her appreciation being a quiet thing: a traveling stint as a crew member, leading their shanties; directing their ship away from rough water or perched siren's song or a harbor ill in god's fury.

Some might argue her kindness is overridden by the truth of her nature -- as a goddess, she is kind enough, but goddess is not all she is.

The Kraken is reason many sailors sink to the underworld. That is just the way things are, for the longest time. Until one day, Calypso watches Thanatos reap her people's souls to take below, to be assigned their fate -- bliss, punishment or endless wandering in a field -- and gets an idea.

She organizes a meeting with the God of the Dead himself, intent on proposing a separate fate for her people. Her sailors live for the water and she sees little reason why their death should be different. The deep of her home shares a border with the land of death, after all, and it is not so different. The depth one must go to reach the underworld is the depth no one can survive in.

It's a perfect place to keep souls.

The trouble is that nothing in the underworld is ever easy. There are ghosts of the dead and the past and things yet to start haunting. The land of the dead holds more than souls and Calypso descends for more than her sailor's peace.

She descends to make a deal with a king, strengthen her bond with a friend, strike a new alliance and meet a fellow divine she's never spoken a word to but may have ample reason to want her head.

That seems simple enough.

Extra Note -> Ocean's Heart tag people will also be tagged in fables, so if you're on that list, you don't need to ask to be added. I'll create a fable and/or LAWLB taglist as needed. You can see my taglists at the bottom of my pinned post. Please specify what you want to be tagged for.

[trashexplorer]

BLCD Review: Motoyan Papa to Hitsuji Sensei

Title: Motoyan Papa to Hitsuji Sensei (元ヤンパパ とヒツジ先生)

Author/Artist: Mizuki Tama

Release Date: 2018/12/22

Cast: Hino Satoshi x Yamashita Seiichirou

Synopsis: Hitsuji, an elementary school teacher, seemed to have destiny on his side when an unknown acquaintance, Hatoyama Keiichi, and his child come late to school only to find out the past they share together…

Review Proper

As I’ve mentioned before in my release post for HibiTsumo, I might be going on a break from scanlating indefinitely. I honestly had a feeling early on that I was going to be laid off seeing as I had only been in the company for a year and all, and I’ve accepted it to a point, but yo, I’ve always wanted to be an editor ever since the start of my relationship with Junjou Romantica HAHAHAHAHA, so saying that I’m completely okay with it would be a lie. For a while, I depended on 2gether to distract me from it all, but as the series ended in such a way, I was unexpectedly more devastated than I was before watching it. 😂 So, as I try and get my shit together and hopefully get another job, I’ll be doing the good ‘ol BLCD therapy to help me cope with the stress (jfc help me, I have 40 BLCDs lined up). 

Anyway, onto the review...

I’m a Mizuki Tama fan, so I’ve actually considered buying this myself, but as these types of plots don’t really appeal to me, and I wasn’t really sold on Yamashita Seiichirou, I figured that it would be best if I just left this to chance. Fortunately for me, chance thankfully came in the form of angels and I was finally able to listen to this. 🙇‍♀️ As I’ve said earlier, plots like this don’t really appeal to me as much and I don’t think that I’ve ever considerably liked one before. I’m not really sure if it’s the mortal scar Kirepapa, Papa to Kiss in the Dark, and Papa Datte, Shitai gave me or my dislike of the general concept of having small children (which I am not a fan of) have a central part in the story that made me go into this warily, but surprisingly enough, I didn’t feel bad about it.

I do have an issue on Hitsuji because idk his unrequited feelings towards Hatoyama seems shallow? They never really shed much light on their relationship back when they were in school, and I just don’t understand how Hitsuji could fall in love with Hatoyama just like that. But, maybe it wasn’t a major crush like Shun’s crush for Tanahashi in Haru Made no Kyori. Hitsuji seems like he’s more scared of Hatoyama finding out that he’s gay rather than him finding out that he had a crush on him back in the day. However, the lack of drama isn’t really that big of a deal, it’s just personal preference.

Moving on to the voice work, wow. I don’t think that there’d be a better casting choice than these two. This was the most comfortable I’ve ever heard Yamashita Seiichirou in, and I hope that he’s able to do more roles in this tone of voice. It actually reminds me of Shirai Yuusuke esp his performance in Hinadori as Yuuchi (it has a similar plot, too). However, shouldn’t I say that Shirai Yuusuke reminds me of Yamashita Seiichirou because this came first??? OOOHHHH. Mizuhara-san and Jude were a bit too deep for him, but Hitsuji’s tone was just perfect. No strain, no airiness—just very smooth and clear. His role in Dekoboko Sugar Days was a bit iffy, but that was due to the shit plot and not any fault of his own. There’s no saving that even if the VAs cast for it were Namikawa Daisuke and Yoshino Hiroyuki. 😂 I put Saishuu Densha last on my 2019 log because I save my favorite works for last, so here’s to hoping that he was and will still be blessed with good performances and tone choices. 🙏

As for Hino Satoshi, I gotta admit, hearing him talk makes me panic about facing my unavoidable fate of listening to Given 5. 😂 But kudos to him because although I was hearing Noiz and Akihiko from him in the first few minutes, he was able to make his Hatoyama stand apart from them. Hatoyama’s a little more gentle than the stoic Noiz and Akihiko, so that was refreshing to hear.

OH! I FORGOT TO MENTION! Speaking of Hinadori, my god, I completely thought that they brought in a bonafide child on set because Hinata really sounded like a child, but it was Amasaki Kouhei! His voice in Golden Sparkle was considerably deeper, so I was caught off guard! What the heck? He’s got a great future waiting for him in both anime and BL (boy got casted in metro tho, so idk if that’s something to celebrate), I guarantee it! He and Horie Shun should be great pals!

So, we’ve got a pretty well executed plot, great voice acting and chemistry (there’s not much of a mambo here, but I really loved that extra where Hatoyama tries to host Hitsuji and failed 😂), and a pretty close accuracy to the manga. If you want to listen to something short and sweet that doesn’t have a lot of drama, this is for you. There also isn’t a lot of complicated words, so this should be good for beginners, too. I think this is a good BLCD to listen to if you want to lift your spirits up in this period. 👍

[ambagelbraindump]

Book Review #2: The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

Synopsis:

17-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso has had 27 crushes over the course of her life, and not a single one of those has been requited or even acted upon. She’s mostly okay with this, until her twin sister gets a girlfriend- and suddenly she feels like she’s miles behind where they were once equals. Molly has to navigate what is already a fraught world, full of churning emotions and hurt feelings and ambiguous romances, in the hope of finding someone- anyone- who likes her just the way she is.

General thoughts

Becky Albertalli was not messing around when she wrote The Upside. Love Simon was good, but it doesn’t hold a candle to what she’s done with this one. Things I loved: excellent queer rep, healthy discussion of difficult topics, relatability, also GayTM.

I think one reason The Upside really resonated with me is that it’s reflective of a lot of things going on in my own life at the moment, especially in regards to conversations about the importance of representation in media. And oh boy did the Upside deliver. Not only did we have a loving, supportive, (and Jewish!!) lead family with two moms, we had a pan character, several bi characters, at least two gay, and a trans character (off-screen, but still cool). There was also a mention of asexuality which was really validating for me personally. I know a lot of people would put this down as ‘pandering’, but the more I think about it, the more I feel like this is actually pretty reflective of what I’ve observed in my own circles. And maybe it depends on where you live (a university town for me), but a large number of my friends identify as bi or pan (with a sprinkling of other identities). Having such a diverse array of LGBT characters is such a fantastic change from just the one token queer who may or may not even make it to the end of the book or show.

Another reflective aspect was the sense of “lostness” conveyed by Molly throughout most of the book. I’ve had a lot of conversations with friends lately (especially those who have either graduated or never went the college route) about how they feel left behind in life, or feel like they’re missing something that everyone else just seems to get. A big part of the story was Molly’s fears about drifting away from her twin sister as they grow older; while I might not be 17, I can definitely relate with the fear of losing friends and relationships as we all go our separate ways post-college.

The Upside also came at an interesting time in my life as I am currently experiencing my first squish (aro version of a crush). To me, the whole thing is very low-key and I honestly would be 100% okay just being friends, which is a very interesting contrast to Molly’s 27 crushes and neverending quest for a relationship. Whether I’ll actually do something about my feelings is up in the air at this point, but reading this book made me wonder if I should take that first step and put myself out there.

Another thing I really liked about The Upside were the discussions of healthy sexuality. Sex was never framed as something shameful or evil, but just another part of life. Characters were never pushed to participate, but if they did, they were encouraged to be safe about it (both emotionally and physically.)

There were also a few things I was a little iffy about. This could just be part of me being sex and romance repulsed, but I felt bad for Molly that she felt like finding a relationship was something she HAD to do. And granted that’s the entire plot of the story so it would be a little weird if she just suddenly decided she didn’t need someone after all, but I felt like there was a really heavy emphasis on the idea of having a boyfriend. Same goes for the idea of sex- it annoyed me a little that Molly felt like it was something inevitable, something she had to do or she would never be valid. Again, this just might be me getting grossed out by sex and romance, but the thought definitely crossed my mind a couple times.

There’s so much more about this book I could talk about (like the Jewish lesbian wedding at the end, or the fact that Albertalli set this book in the same year that gay marriage became legal), but I have other projects and other books to read, so I’m going to stop before I write a whole book on this.

Rating

Originally I had this book at a 7 (it took me forever to get to for some reason), but as I got more invested, it moved up to an 8, and finally up to an 8.5 (listen I might be romance repulsed af but the wedding scene at the end made me cry so it gets an extra .5). The whole story was really relatable and real even to someone who isn’t a teenager anymore, and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who wants an LGBT-friendly YA coming of age novel. Or someone who just wants to read something super gay. That’s also valid.

[graceivers]

Review #42 - Park Avenue Prince

Park Avenue Prince Author: Louise Bay Genre: Billionaires & CEOs, Contemporary Romance Rating: ★★★½ Recommendation: it’s a toss-up; once was enough Summary: Sam Shaw is a self-made billionaire who has closed himself off from basically anyone and anything. Enter Grace Astor, an art dealer who claims men like Sam aren’t her type. But as Sam wrangles for her time and intimacy, Grace worms her way into his life and shows him what it means to have attachments.

Female Lead: Grace is a decent female lead. I think the best part about her is her assertion for independence. She’s consistently described as a Park Avenue princess, though for the majority of the book, Grace removes herself from associating with that part of her—her childhood, her past. She doesn’t want to be defined by her wealth, by who her parents are, by where she grew up. Another thing I really like about her is her perspective on passion and business. It’s so clear that she has a passion for what she does, that she’s knowledgeable about it. She understands that there’s business to be done as the owner of an art gallery, but she also manages to reveal her own penchants and connection to art, which I enjoyed reading about.

I thought for the most part, Grace handled her attraction, feelings, and relationship with Sam well. I was iffy on it at first given how easily she gave into him, but she was coming off of a bad end to her previous relationship. She seemed to want to dodge Sam’s advances, but in his presence, she didn’t seem to put up much of a fight. Her character kind of felt indecisive at that point, which I wasn’t a fan of. The way she handled Sam’s fears and insecurities in the latter half though, I thought that was well done by Bay. Grace showed raw emotion and vulnerability when Sam pushed her away, but she never lost herself. Sure, it took time for her to get it together a little, but there were some minute details Bay inserted in there that did in fact illustrate how Grace grew and developed from the experience. Male Lead: I’m not sure what to make of Sam Shaw. On one hand, I get where he’s coming from. His fears and insecurities are more or less warranted given his tragic history, and those fears subsequently lead him to lead the lifestyle he has with zero attachments. I mean, he doesn’t even like furniture, what the heck. He’s so emotionally closed off, which is why his feelings for Grace take him by such surprise. I liked those moments—where he was trying to figure out who Grace was and what she meant to him. On the other hand, Sam didn’t seem like he wanted to learn or change. Even when he realized that he was in love with Grace, he didn’t fight or try like he said he would. One accident and he was running. That didn’t make me feel confident in his character. I didn’t always think he deserved Grace. And yeah, he eventually came around, but I thought there were still some things he needed to work through before everything just came together so nicely for him in the end. Plot & Writing: Park Avenue Prince is genuinely a ‘it’s a toss-up’ kind of book. I honestly don’t know where I land on the scale. There were some good parts, some bad parts, some parts I wanted to skip, some parts I didn’t care about. There were moments when I thought the book was more erotica than story driven, but then other parts made me think otherwise. It was kind of all over the place for me, and I just didn’t know what to make of the book.

First of all, the summary of the book is rather misleading. Nothing in the summary is wrong per say, but that blurb does not give an adequate description of what we discover about the characters and what’s going to happen between them. It’s one of those set the stage summaries rather than actually giving readers a brief and intriguing synopsis. This is not always a big deal, but for Park Avenue Prince, I reread the summary after finishing the book and was like, ‘this is not what the book is about’. Yes, Sam is a billionaire. Yes, Grace kind of pegged him a stereotypical playboy billionaire in the beginning. But it wasn’t just about the sex or Sam chasing after Grace to get what he wants as this pseudo alpha male. There was actually some discussion about love, relationships, attachments, histories, etc. by realizing a deeper connection between the two leads.

I believed in the relationship between Grace and Sam up to an extent. I think for Sam, it was genuinely this love at first sight thing for him that he just didn’t recognize until much later. The opposite kind of happened to Grace—not love at first sight but realizing her feelings for Sam before he did. For the most part, the relationship developed nicely for me. I was not a fan of the Grace getting a tattoo moment because despite her assertion that she wanted to get one, it still felt like Sam was forcing her after he all but demanded her to do so in exchange for her taking him furniture shopping. And yeah, I know the tattoo has meaning and all that, but I still didn’t like the way I felt reading that moment. Ultimately, though, I couldn’t quite come to terms with the happy ending of the book because I thought Sam was way too easily forgiven by Grace. That and that he probably needed to work more on his fears and insecurities, but we didn’t get to see that when Bay went straight to an epilogue with them married and having a kid. Rushed? Perhaps. Undeveloped? I believe so.

Briefly, I did not categorize this as a workplace romance despite the fact that Sam became a client of Grace’s. That part of their relationship wasn’t exactly a straight-up boss-employee relationship, so I didn’t give the book a workplace romance tag. Although… I really should be more consistent with some of my tags, this one in particular. I’ll probably go through all my reviews and retag things sooner rather than later… Secondary Characters & Plots: Uh, so I totally read King of Wall Street by Bay back in late February of this year. It’s not on my review list because I only remember it being mostly erotica, so much that I did not even realize Harper and Max in Park Avenue Prince was in fact the main couple from King of Wall Street. I didn’t remember much if anything about those individual characters except that Max had a daughter, Amanda, who also appeared in this book. All of them were okay secondary characters—provided input when necessary and disappeared when not necessary. I am glad, though, that Harper was there for Grace when the latter was in that accident and then when Sam pushed her away. The same goes for Angie, Sam’s only friend. I’m happy that she pushed through and got to Sam.

I guess some of the art stuff could be considered a secondary plot. Of course I loved that Grace’s hard work paid off and that her gallery was becoming more and more successful. And again, I enjoyed the fact that Bay included the right amount of detail to illustrate how passionate Grace was about her career and where that passion came from. Favorite Part(s): Probably the conversation between Sam, Grace, Max, Harper, and Amanda when the first two went to visit Max and Harper’s. It was a fast moving scene with people going in and out, but at the same time, they were talking so realistically about anything and everything—Amanda’s cooking, Sam and Harper’s relationship, marriage, etc. I actually really liked that sequence. Final Thoughts: I’m on the fence. Park Avenue Prince is this weird jumble of sex scenes and deep conversations about fears and insecurities as well as love and marriage. I mean, when I put it like that, it honestly doesn’t sound bad at all, yet when I read and finished this book, I just didn’t know how to feel about it all. The only thing I can chalk my reaction up to is that the book just wasn’t for me. There are certainly worse books than Park Avenue Prince, but this one apparently isn’t any kind of standout to me.