#immortal beloved trilogy

[20smthnreviews]

Immortal Be-loved this series

Ok so after like 8 years I finally got my hands on the last book in the Immortal Beloved series by Cate Tiernan. I read the first two as a teenager, over and over again, so this book series is kinda special to me and it makes me insane that twighlight got the reception it did & noone's ever even heard of Immortal Beloved.

Anyway.

As a normal person does when having just finished the last book in a series that is now a decade old, I went looking for fanfic. AND THERE IS NONE. screaming, crying, throwing up, etc. So I went onto goodreads, bc I had to make sure I wasn't the only person who read and loved this series - thankfully I am not. There's a lot of praise for this series (and well deserved praise at that!) but the ones that caught me off guard were the bad reviews. Most of them were complaining about how they didn't like the main character, or the books are too slow, or the fact that for a grounded fantasy book it has shockingly little in terms of big fight scenes or crazy magic shenanigans... Which just tells me that they missed the point.

This book series isn't really about magic or fights or anything like that. It's about reconciling who you used to be with who you are now, learning to make better choices for yourself and the people around you, learning to forgive yourself and be better, just in and of yourself, among other things. It's about learning who you are, and that there's no expiry date on anything, there's always time to do better.

Does it have magic? Yes. Does it have fights? Yes. A compelling story and frankly a super-hot love interest? Yes. Are these what makes the books good? Well they help, sure, but the heart of the books doesn't come from them.

Quite a few of the positive reviews talk about having a warm & fuzzy feeling after finishing these books and I so relate to that. These are the people who got the points the books make, the importance of slowing down and stopping yourself from just diving head-long into yet another distraction. The books are slow, yes, but they're intentionally that way, and if that's not your cup of tea then so be it - I don't know why you'd critise a book for that though.

My only gripes are that the last book 1) has an entirely different cover art style to the first two? and 2) the ending does feel a little rushed. It would have been lovely to have a couple more chapters to resolve the romance plot line (we get so little of it in the first place T-T) and a few loose ends - as is it does feel a little "and-they-all-got-happy-endings-and-everything's-great-The-End". That being said, no book is perfect and the reasons I love this series WAY outweigh the couple pernickity bits I have... If Tiernan were to write a flash-forward novella though, I'd be a very very happy gal. (We're going to avoid the fact that that is HIGHLY unlikely to happen. The last book came out in 2013.)

TLDR? Read these books, please. I need someone to talk to about them! If not for that, then come for the dry humour, spikey but loveable main character and the sneaking suspicion that the books might be teaching you something...

[saphira-approves]

Alright buckle up y’all, I’ve got a book series recommendation and propaganda under the cut for any fans of the Inheritance Cycle.

If you read our beloved farmboy-turned-dragon-rider books and had a particular fondness for: the idea of an order of individuals chosen to be both partner and rider to powerful and beautiful magical creatures; Snowfire; an immortal evil that resurfaces in disguised and unexpected forms (specifically referencing the Draumar cult which we now know had influence in Galbatorix’s rise to power); and/or the juicy juicy drama of complicated parent-child relationships, then oh boy do I have a recommendation for you.

Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar series, comprising of many, MANY individuals novels, trilogies, and short story anthologies. I don’t currently have a count for the exact total of published books, as I’ve been getting most of these from my local secondhand bookstore, but she’s been publishing these books since 1987 and is still writing them today in 2024.

Since this is such a huge collection, it can be hard to know where to start, so first of all I’d like to assure you that you can start pretty much anywhere, with any of the individual novels or series, so long as you make sure to find the first installment of that series. Personally I started with The Black Gryphon, which seems to be one of the chronologically earliest books; Arrows of the Queen of the Heralds of Valdemar trilogy would also be a good place to start, being the first published Valdemar book, though I haven’t actually read it yet—I only just got my copy today, actually!

At any rate, wherever you start, there’s a lot to look forward to. Lackey has a knack for writing characters with depth and complexity, giving them flaws that are so well balanced by endearments that even at their worst, you can still understand and empathize with them; she absolutely refuses to write idiot-plots, allowing her characters not only to remain consistent with their established characterizations, but also to communicate with each other and allow their relationships to evolve as the characters do. Characters are allowed to make mistakes, be vain and stubborn and prideful, get angry, get jealous, get scared, and yet afterward still be received with love and forgiveness when they apologize. The magic is beautifully described and, at least for me, easy to understand; the schemes are clever, diabolical, and exciting to watch unfold. There is true, pure evil in the villains, and satisfaction in their endings.

There’s also a decent amount of diversity, which may or may not be surprising, depending on what you’ve read of 80s/90s SFF. Of the handful of books I’ve read so far, here are my observations: Lackey writes fantastic and complex women full of depth, emotion, and ingenuity, each as different from each other as their backgrounds would demand. There are several canonically queer characters across the timeline, including a main protagonist. Lackey’s worldbuilding establishes several unique and disparate cultures, drawing clear influence from many non-European real life sources, with featured characters of those cultures given, in my opinion, respectful and appreciative spotlights. There are characters with disabilities, respected both by the narrative and the characters around them. There are also non-human cultures, characters, and protagonists!

As fantastic as I have been finding these books, it would be remiss of me not to add that these books will not be for everyone. They are firmly adult fantasy, and Lackey does not pull her punches when she wants her characters to suffer. There is torture, sexual assault, suicide. Not all of this is graphically described, but some certainly is; most of the graphic stuff I have so far read is of about the same intensity as the torture scenes of Inheritance, but some of the abstractions are much more intense, and I get the sense that some of what I haven’t yet read may be both graphic and visceral. That being said, if you could handle Game of Thrones’ graphic violence and assault but disliked the persistent pessimism of that series, this one might be right up your alley!

Anyway. That’s all from me for now. I’m off to go read about characters bonding with magical creatures somewhat beyond mortal ken and going on fantastic and harrowing magical adventures. :)

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV Ep3 Musings - Claudia & Louis (Spoilers)

I'm still teary & choked up while typing this. SUPER emotional episode. It's incredible how much they packed into one ep, too! But the second half of the ep was BY FAR the most emotionally impactful IMO. Jacob's acting is just WAY too good; he had me choking up something fierce.

Louis taking pictures of his food for no effing reason like all the social media girlies do; I love it.

Louis STILL tryna be Claudia's knight in vengeful black. U_U But just like before when he tried to save her from Lestat, he can't save her from Bruce or the Theatre or even his own eff-ups. DANG. 😔

YES YOU DO. If you wanna keep pestering her about trauma she doesn't want to think/speak about, then be prepared for the consequences.

AMC, you GOTTA kill Bruce on-screen for us, either in QotD during all the Burnings, or during the PL trilogy (Killer's death was GNARLY).

LOOK AT MY DAUGHTER ALMOST CRYING RIGHT THERE. God's strongest soldier, she's suffered more than Christ, JUSTICE FOR CLAUDIA. All rapists deserve the death penalty, IDGAF.

Understatement of the century.

I CACKLED at that literal DEMON TIMING. Armand was already AT the door while y'all were concocting your lies! Then he just strolls on in, uninvited! 😭

BULLSH!TE. Not that it matters, since vamps have SUPER-HEARING and can READ MINDS, you morons! Pack your bags and go back to America RIGHT NOW. 💀💀💀

Louis, beloved, bless your heart, but if you don't take your garbage attempts at lying back to NOLA and stop playing with this ANCIENT immortal dressed in all white like the effing BOSS PIMP you USED to be.....

Alpha DADDY Maitre Armand Sir, I take back every bottom Uke Omega joke I ever said about you~! 😍

Yeah, about all that.... 😬

Aaaaannnnnd THIS is where you effed up, Claudia.

And Armand heard the WHOLE THING. 😭

Look at her FACE. 😭😭😭😭

They KNEW she hated being treated as a child, and they KNEW her time was numbered cuz she lied about breaking their Great Laws, so they DELIBERATELY made the "Baby LouLou" role to humiliate her, and EXPLOITED her image to bring in extra revenue (how many BLACK actresses did they ever have in their coven/stage? ZERO); all while KNOWING they were gonna kill her and Louis ASAP.

I hate this Theatre coven with ever fibre of my being, Maitre.

Excellent point, Louis. Cuz I noticed in Ep2 that their apartment is kind of crappy--I assumed it was cheap & low class cuz of the tenants all being college students & sex workers, and I noticed a bunch of chipped paint everywhere; on the doors & walls.

They're slumming it in a studio, sleeping in the living room, as neither has their own room & she has to use a Murphy Bed. Major step below 1132; the exact opposite of how book!Claudia & Lou lived in Parisian opulence--highlighting my point that AMC!Claudia got NOTHING out out being a vampire.

But it's also pointing out how Louis covers all the cracks--in his MIND, in the lies he tells himself, just to live with the glaring problems he desperately wants to cover up & deny.

I'm finna yeet myself out the nearest window.

This is SO bizarre, cuz in this version Lou KNOWS Lestat's not really dead! In the book Lou set him on FIRE. So ofc he'd think Les was really dead. But here it makes no sense why he's carrying all this guilt!

Armand knew Lou & Claudia LIED, sure--but he SHOULD know Lestat's still ALIVE--he's probably chained up in the Theatre basement in one of those friggin "wet room burial vaults!"

THANK YOU.

The guilt is out of control. Louis, if Les couldn't tell you loved him after ALL OF THAT, then he's a effing fool who neither understands nor deserves you. Now go chop his d**k off!

Is that what you tell yourself when DreamStat's in bed with you every night? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

I haven't seen mental trauma treated so well in Horror media since Senua's Sacrifice; this is incredible. 👏

Lou, give yourself a bit more credit--you're doing the best you can! :( Even if your best is an entire travesty. U_U

NOBODY TALK TO ME!

Just when I thought she was having a breakthrough, she doubles down on thinking Lestat lied to them about Europe being terrible. 🤦

(The way Lou clutches his pearls like he's having a heart attack--STOP it, ma'am~! 👌) And YES, you should've told her that you folded and spilled the beans to Armand and that she was walking into a trap, WTF!?! 😡

Jacob, your GirlDad is showing; PLEASE have mercy on us! 😭

EMMYS. 👏 GRAMMYS. 👏 OSCARS. 👏 TONYS. 👏

[nellasbookplanet]

Book recs: vampires

Listen, vampires are a classic for a reason, but they have also been done to death (pardon the pun) to the point that finding books that are creative with the premise can be a bit of a slog through tired old tropes. Hopefully this rec list can be to a bit of help for all vampire fans out there wanting something fresh!

For details on the books, continue under the readmore

Previous rec posts:

Really cool fantasy worldbuilding

Really cool sci-fi worldbuilding

Dark sapphic romances

Mermaid books

Sci-fi vampires:

Fledgling by Octavia Butler

Octavia Butler my beloved, literally you cannot go wrong with one of her books. Fledgling follows what at first seems to be a ten-year-old amnesiac girl, who finds out she is in fact a decades old vampire on the run from others of her kind. The vampires here are a separate species from human, not supernatural, and are as a whole very fascinating and unsettling. Come in prepared for fucked up power dynamics.

Blindsight by Peter Watts

Vampires and aliens and questions of the nature of consciousnesses, oh my. Not a vampire novel so much as a scifi novel about aliens in which there also happens to be vampires (one of which is captain of a spaceship sent to explore an alien ship just entering the solar system). Another example of vampires as an entire separate species, but more horror focused than Fledgling. No, seriously, this book will fuck you up, highly recommend if you're okay with a lot of techno babble and existential horror.

Peeps (Peeps duology) by Scott Westerfeld

Young adult. Vampirism as a sexually transmitted parasite that turns most people into bloodthirsty monsters. Cal is an asymptomatic carrier working to find other infected before they hurt people, including his own former girlfriends. But there is something else lurking in the dark, an ancient enemy of the vampire parasite...

Post apocalypse vampires:

The Hallowed Ones (The Hallowed Ones duology) by Laura Bickle

Young adult. Katie is an Amish girl eagerly awaiting her rumspringa, when she gets to try out the outside world. But before she has the chance, something happens to the Outside; a nearby town is wiped out, and something evil stalks the night. To protect their community, the Amish elders decide that no one can leave and no one can enter the sacred ground that makes up their home. That is, until Katie finds an injured young man and decides to help him.

The Company of Death by Elisa Hansen

Wild mix of genres, where a zombie apocalypse has struck and vampires gather up humans to keep their food source from going extinct, a robot travels across America with a young man she's tasked to keep safe, and former-vampire-hunter-recent-zombie Emily teams up with Death himself to stop the apocalypse. Features bi and ace characters! Bonus rec: the author also runs the youtube channel Maven of the Eventide, where she talks about various vampire media. Check it out!

The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden trilogy) by Julie Kagawa

Young adult. Another zombie apocalypse (well; feral vampires) scenario in which vampires gather humans up to keep their food safe. Allison Sekemoto hates vampires, but when she ends up on the brink of death and is offered a way out, she has no choice but to take it. Hunted by a mad vampire and forced to flee the relative safety of her city, Allie must enter the post-apocalyptic outside world and team up with the free humans roaming there, seeking a cure for the undead plague that ravages the world.

Urban fantasy vampires:

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Queen of fucked up gothic horror, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, comes for vampires in this gritty novel following Domingo, a garbage collecting street kid in a Mexico City where vampires walk the streets. His life gets turned upside down when he meets Atl, a vampire descendant of Aztec blood drinkers who’s on the run and needs all the help she can get.

Sunshine by Robin McKinnley

Urban fantasy on a level of its own, where dangerous magic exists alongside humans. It keeps you guessing and much is left unexplained; if you want clear answers and explanations to everything you might be disappointed, but if you want a world that feels mysterious and dangerous and lived in you'll probably like it. It follows a baker who, after getting kidnapped by vampires, gets embroiled in a dangerous struggle and has to team up with one of them to survive. The vampires here are really inhuman and unsettling.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Young adult. After vampirism swept the land, special Coldtowns were built to quarantine anyone bitten, whether they have turned or not. After having survived a massacre at a party in which her ex-boyfriend got bit, Tana sets out with him and mysterious vampire to reach the nearest Coldtown, not knowing if she’ll ever be able to leave it again.

Modern vampires:

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Swedish literary novel set in the 1980s. Follows twelve-year-old Oskar, a troubled and bullied boy who befriends his new neighbor, Eli. But there’s something strange about Eli, such as her only coming out at night. Also available as two separate movie adaptations (I highly recommend the Swedish original; the American remake is perfectly adequate standard horror fare, the original is a masterpiece).

Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda

Literary novel following Lydia, who’s grown up as a vampire under the thumb of her mother, who’s been obsessed with self-hate over their existence as blood drinkers. Finally on her own for the first time in her life, Lydia moves to London hoping to make it as an artist. But surviving alone as a vampire is harder than expected. Slow and fairly light on plot, but utterly captivating.

Companions of the Night by Vivian Vande Velde

Young adult. After Kerry saves a young man from three attackers who claim he's a vampire, she's drawn into a dangerous game and forced to work with a manipulative vampire. Pre-cursor to the modern ya vampire genre, Companions of the Night utilizes many of the same tropes but in very different ways, making it a unique experience.

Historical and fantasy vampires:

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

Dracula inspired novella, following Constanta, who’s turned from a medieval peasant to an undead bride. As time passes the relationship between Dracula and Constanta grows all the more strained and potentially dangerous. Teaming up with his two other consorts, she seeks to unravel her husband's secrets. Sapphic and polyamorous.

The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez

Having escaped from slavery in the 1850s, young Gilda is taken in by a vampire, and eventually finds herself turned as well. Consists of a series of novellas following Gilda throughout the centuries, from the past to the present to the future. It’s also sapphic!

House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson

In a world where the rich drink blood to preserve their health, Marion applies to a position as bloodmaid in a notorious noble house far from home. Suddenly showered with luxuries and debauchery, Marion soon gains the interest and favor of Lisavet, countess of the house. A fresh take on the idea of vampires and deliciously dark sapphic romance.

Bonus AKA I haven't read these yet but they seem really cool

The Hunger by Whitley Strieber

Ancient vampire is on the hunt for a new partner, none of which tend to last long.

My Soul to Keep (African Immortals series) by Tananarive Due

I keep seeing this one described as a vampire book, and once stumbled on the description "almost a vampire book" and listen by now I'm simply curious to see what it's about.

Team Human by Justine Larbelestier & Sarah Rees Brennan

Young adult. As far as I can tell, a satire on typical ya vampire romances.

The Madness Season by C.S. Friedman

*chanting* vampires in space vampires iN SPACE

The Lost Girls by Sonia Hartl

Young adult, sapphic. Three vampire girls turned and abandoned by the same vampire get together to stop him from turning yet another girl.

The Balance of Fates by Raquel Raelynn

Young adult, sapphic. A girl enters a competition against vampires and werewolves, complicated by her feelings for one of her vampire competitors.

[lossis]

No, cuz The Children of Time trilogy is so wild to me?! Spoilers, obviously.

Like, there are humans. And then they all fucking die because some people got pissy they lost a war about terraformation and went 'Aight, Imma head out' and proceded to wipe out everyone.

Avrana Kern is a woman. And then a computer-woman thing. And then ants. And then she is every single AI that is used in a spider-human civilization.

Spiders become sentient, and I got attached to them and I cried, and I am not ashamed to admit so, Kern got pissy at the last remaining humans so she hates them now and then they are good because they got infected by a virus created by spiders so they are. Empathy.

Kern is literally god, but also sucks at it (girlfailure; complimentary), the spiders and humans meet a race of inteligent octapi who scream their innermost thoughts constantly because they do not know themselves how they evolve and they have also the attention span of a toddler and so created wormholes?!

And there is also a microorganism from an alien planet which is many and capable of copying entire people into them and literally killed billions of octapi because a human got stung by a turtle.

The octapi evolved because autistic science man (Senkovi my beloved) decided that might as well do something with my life because all humans are dead.

And then These-Of-We just unlock immortality for everyone and they can change bodies now because octapi and spiders and humans can just. Exist.

And witch crows <3

[moondragon618]

~ About Me ~

You can call me Moondra or Moon, Lunar/Luna, Cynder, Dream, or Reverie :) My pronouns are they/them, it/its, she/her, and multiple neos which I'll list here:

xey/xem/xeir/xeirs/xemself

fae/faer/faers/faerself

sh:)/h:)r/h:)rs/h:)rself

lun/lunar/lunars/lunarself

moon/moons/moonself

dre/dream/dreams/dreamself

drae/draer/draers/draerself

dra/dragon/dragons/dragonself

🌙/🌙s/🌙self

🐉/🐉s/🐉self

Feel free to use any of these or you can ask for my preference, but I'm not picky lol :)

I'm a bi + grey aroace genderfluid enby, I'm fine with all gender neutral terms, and gendered terms (excluding woman/man & female/male) are fine too especially if it's funny :) I'm also (self-diagnosed) ADHD + Autistic and have social anxiety- be warned I'm often very slow to respond to asks/reblogs/DMs/etc and that's probably why lmao. I'm also fictionkin with my kins being c!Dream/Divine c!Dream, Protegeinnit/Divine c!Tommy, and Cynder from the Legend of Spyro trilogy :)

~ Interests ~

I'm currently a dsmp/c!primeboys enjoyer as you've probably noticed lmao, and I'm a fanfic writer and occasional sort-of artist :)

Some of my other interests include Gravity Falls, The Owl House, Undertale/Deltarune, the MCU (specifically Irondad lol), Markiplier/Unus Annus, and the Legend of Spyro trilogy (my first fandom <3)

~ Some tags I use ~

c!prime thoughts for all of my c!Prime analysis posts :)

my writing which has all my fics + me talking about my writing lol

Immortal c!Prime- Immortal c!Prime AU (also includes Divine c!Prime where c!Dream becomes a god and makes c!Tommy into an angel)

Shapeshifter c!Dream AU (exactly what it sounds like lol)

Hybrid c!Prime AU (in which c!Dream in an ender dragon hybrid and c!Tommy is a cardinal avian)

ad infinitum :) - My c!Dream kin tag, also includes Immortal/Divine c!Prime :)

everlasting daydream ❤️- My Protegeinnit kin tag, technically also my Protege AU and c!Dream butterfly chat AU tag lol (though for the sake of organization I may make a separate tag for that later)

rp c!Prime :) - posts reblogged from my c!Prime RP blogs :)

~ Before You Follow ~

First and foremost: I absolutely Do Not support cc!dream in any way. I enjoy c!Dream strictly as a fictional character. I completely understand if others personally find c!Dream posting uncomfortable and if that's you, then you might want to block me. If you harass me over this, or for not supporting cc!dream, or any other reason lol, enjoy getting blocked on sight <3

As for a DNI, I don't really care as long as you're not on some terf shit, generally just hateful and/or bigoted, super NSFW, or shipping incest or adult/minor ships (p*ppytwit/blr this means you too stay tf away from me istg). cc!dteam and cc!wilbur stans will also be blocked on sight, and same goes for c!Dream apologists I Do Not fucking trust you lmaooo

~ Links ~

My Ao3

My Writing Masterlist (I desperately need to update this lmao)

My RP blogs:

c!Prime- @haver-of-wives & @your-eternal-nightmare

Divine c!Prime- @your-divine-nightmare & @/angel-of-reverie (this one's having some technical difficulties rn, tumblr stop immediately flagging it as explicit the second I try to remake it challenge (impossible difficulty))

Please check out Stemms, my beloved QPP <3333

Please check out Midnight, my wonderful friend <3

Anyway that is all enjoy my deranged fandom blog lmao :)

(Post dividers by @cafekitsune)

[mermaidsirennikita]

reincarnation romance??? 👀

mmmmhmm! Exactly what it sounds like, lol. The lovers have been reincarnated--and a lot of the time, I personally think a lot of authors just go "and that's all I need to do!" Many of them don't layer the romance to the degree that they should.

The books that have done it well:

The New Camelot Trilogy by Sierra Simone. Many people do not realize that this is a reincarnation romance, and it technically doesn't spell it out until book 3, but... My guys and girls...... There is a man.... named Merlin...... telling my girl Greer to "save her kisses" or else something REEEEEALLY BAD will happen, and then she ends up in a love triangle with the beloved noble leader man and his angsty, envious best friend/comrade in arms. Among many other things. Idk how anyone is surprised that it's a straight up reincarnation story.

The reason why it works is that like... while I feel there are immediate connections between the leads connected to their past lives, there are also a lot of issues carrying over that they really have to grapple with and grow within. Like, yay, we love each other, but also all those jealousies and resentments and conflicts remain.

Her Lyonesse series is also, I assume, a reincarnation series--but that's not confirmed yet. I mean, it's in the same universe. And it's about Mark and Tristan and Isolde... so I'm gonna assume...............

Dreams of a Dark Warrior by Kresley Cole. This works for me because a) the book has an amazing framing device that sets up the love story as like, a viking saga essentially--because they met during his first life when he was a viking b) only one of them actually gets reincarnated. The other is immortal. And so you have this incredible angst of a woman who's watched this man die over and over (specifically after they get physical), resolving to not get involved with him in his next life to spare him, only to be thrown into his world again when he kidnaps her because in this life, he's against everything she is.

Like... the way she milks it in this book!!! She knows it's him immediately when they make eye contact! He doesn't know her at all! They hate each other! She taunts him about being Irish in this lifetime! She regales him with details about the sex they had in his past lives!

(Kresley did another book with reincarnation that was good but made way less of an impact on me, Wicked Abyss.)

[fourorfivemovements]

I was tagged by @rebeccamarinwife (thank you :)) to list my top 5 favorite movies and let people vote on which one fits my vibe:

I tag @agoldenbear @cafeomancer @feralgodmothers @misskittygrimm @amoursdivines (if you'd like to do it ;))

[comicgeek2003]

Archnemesis Dad

A father or father figure who also happens to be a prime candidate for the title of a character's Arch-Enemy.

Some will abandon their kids. Some will come to betray their children at a crucial moment. Some are just downright abusive. A select few will go the extra mile to take every action and every opportunity to foil their children's plans and ruin their lives. Some will even go so far as to try kill they own children. They could be anyone on a story whether he's the Big Bad, The Dragon or something else entirely, any story featuring him is likely to be emotionally charged at the least.

It's not necesary that the father and child in question has to be bad and good respectively; both could be villains or antagonists, but they also tries to fight with each other for any reasons.

Normally this will be a personal case, and may well tries to convince him/her to ally with them, but not always — particularly cold-hearted fathers may declare that they have no children and treat the child in question as just one more problem to be solved.

Examples:

Aquaman: Black Manta to his son, Aqualad. Black Manta has vowed to one day gut his own son like a fish just to torment Aquaman.

Inside Job: The source of most of the problems in Reagan Ridley's life is no one more than his father, Rand Ridley. In the Season One Part One finale, reveals that he erased Reagan's memories of her only Childhood friend, Orrin Cartwright to force her to focus on her academic work and be his "insurance" in Cognito Inc makes it clear that Rand is a selfish, narcissistic piece of shit who only views Reagan as an extension of himself, and doesn't actually care about her, and after Reagan tries to cut him out of her life, he ends up being the new boss of Cognito, Inc.

Star Wars Original Trilogy: Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker to his son, Luke Skywalker. For years, Luke believed that Darth Vader was the one who killed Luke's father, not knowing they were one and the same. In addition, Luke personally witnessed him killing his mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and his friend, Biggs Darklighter. On the flip side, Vader believed Luke never existed due to Padmé Amidala supposedly dying by Vader's hand. After learning the truth, Vader spent years attempting to convert Luke, doing several act such as: harming Luke's friends, cutting off Luke's hand, and traumatizing Luke by telling him the truth about his heritage. Fortunately, after accepting the truth, Luke becomes determined to redeem Vader.

Avatar, The Last Airbender: Zuko and Lord Fire Ozai. During the eclipse, when Zuko renounces trying to be the son Ozai wants, Ozai reveals that he was willing to kill him when he was not even in his teens.

Game of Thrones: Tywin Lannister to Tyrion Lannister. Tywin despises his son for "killing" his beloved wife and being a whore-mongering dwarf, while Tyrion despises his father for treating him with contempt.

Metal Gear: Big Boss is the main antagonist of the first two games titles and is revealed to the player in Metal Gear Solid to have been Solid Snake's father (though Snake himself seems to have known this much earlier).

Once Upon A Time: Peter Pan to Rumplestiltskin a.k.a. Mr. Gold. His father even threatens to murder Rumpelstiltskin's lover and son just because it would spite Rumple. Peter also tries to take the heart of his great-grandson Henry for immortality, even though this will kill Henry. It'd later revealed Peter Pan/Malcolm abandoned his son so he could regain his youth in Neverland, and later says he always saw his son as a burden.

OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes: In the aptly-named episode "Big Reveal" we learn that Professor Venomous is the former hero Laserblast and KO's father.

Castlevania: when Dracula's human wife Lisa was burned as a witch, he went on a revenge against humanity. However, their son Adrian chose to honor his mother's last request not to hate humans, and took the name "Alucard" to show his opposition to his father's ways.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2: Peter Quill a.k.a. Star-Lod finally meets his biological father, Ego, a cosmic entity and a omnicidal who Peter and his team have to stop from destroying the universe and turn it into an extension of himself. And let not forget that he willingly killed Peter's mom and all his children he had with different women cross the universe because they had no his cosmic powers.

[gael-hightower]

The literary works of Lord Gael Hightower, Master of the Arts

While not every piece that Lord Gael Hightower works on reaches the public, at twenty-nine years of age the Reach's Master of the Arts has put into the world pieces that are both politically and socially relevant, as well as others that are more intimate and emotional works.

Collection of sonnets: Gael began publishing his poetry in his early twenties under the pseudonym Hadrian Dunn to hide from his father, who never approved of his son's artistic inclinations. The work became beloved by nobles and the literate common folk alike, appreciative of the author's emotional vulnerability while making clever use of historical and religious symbols in the works. In the present day, as it has become well-known who the author of that poetry is, the sonnets have been compiled and bound in a tome of poetry, occasionally called The Dunn sonnets.

The Ballad of Thorns and Roses: This was the first work by Gael after being appointed Master of the Arts by King Cedric Tyrell. The Ballad is a trilogy of plays, written in exquisite verse, which chronicle relevant events of the Reach in a fictionalized manner. To some, the tragic trilogy not only represents the current zeitgeist of the Reach, but is a profound exploration of unavoidable and timeless conflicts of loyalty, justice, and revenge. Each of the three plays was first performed at The Garden Court theater in Oldtown, but the theater company has performed them in several regions within the Reach by now.

Civil war work: During the period of turmoil caused by the false king Alaric Tyrell and his wife, Sienna Merryweather, Gael wrote several poems that reflected the situation of the realm and offered solace during such a harsh period. None of the pieces were overtly political at first glance, though with deeper analysis there are clear symbols and literary devices in place to denounce Alaric and his false queen, as well as those who sided with their faction.

He who speaks with the voice of the gods: This epic poem consists of one thousand stanzas and is an ode to Lord Leyton Hightower's participation in the reclaiming of Alaym. While Leyton is never mentioned by name throughout the work, there are enough clear references within the poem to make it very clear that he is the source of inspiration for it. Through the epic poem, the author grants his brother epithets that both allude to his identity as well as uplift him as a legendary figure (High-hearted Hightower, the Voice in Alaym, Shepherd of the Just). In this work, Leyton is immortalized as a most unlikely hero, detailing all stages of the septon's presence in Alaym: his arrival to the battle-torn region in Andalos, his unfaltering stance to avoid violence as he did the gods’ work, the ethereal silence that fell on the camps as he spoke to encourage the men in the camps, and his last stand prior to the return to Westeros.

[regardstosoulandromance]

review: once upon a broken heart by stephanie garber

As someone who is a little too online in the bookish community,  I've been hearing people sing the praises of Stephanie Garber’s Once Upon a Broken Heart since its publication in 2021. Although the spin off to the Caraval series, general conscientious is that it’s not required to read Caraval before Once Upon a Broken Heart. It was an easy read I tore through one afternoon while sick on the couch, this highly popularized novel was not worth the hype it gets. 

For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings... until she learns that the love of her life will marry another.

Desperate to stop the wedding and to heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic but wicked Prince of Hearts. In exchange for his help, he asks for three kisses, to be given at the time and place of his choosing.

But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game—and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’d pledged. He has plans for Evangeline, plans that will either end in the greatest happily ever after or the most exquisite tragedy… (summary via Goodreads)

Once Upon a Broken Heart would be an amazing fantasy novel, if you’ve never read a fantasy novel before. Unfortunately, the world building is messy and nonsensical, prioritizing aesthetics over substance of any kind, character, plot or otherwise. Instead of a narrative that makes sense, Evangeline Fox is a heroine with pink hair and pretty dresses, Jacks is a cocky magic boy who always seems to have an apple at hand and a detailed description of his mouth. 

Evangeline’s motivations are clear, because she tells us constantly, but there’s no emotional depth. She originally visits Jacks because she believes her boyfriend Luc has been bewitched into marrying her step sister Marisol. What’s so great about Luc, you may wonder? I’m not sure, Evangeline likes him, but we don’t meet her beloved Luc until nearly two thirds through the book, and he’s only one the page in a single chapter. 

None of the character relationships are fleshed out, instead relying on fairy tale tropes to fill in the blanks the lack of development leaves. Evangeline’s step mother is cartoonishly villainous, Marisol is predictable the villain, and after Evangeline’s original visit to Jacks she lets the story take her along instead of controlling her own narrative. 

Jacks is a Fate, a trickster demigod also known as the Prince of Hearts. He’s cocky and crafty and as in folklore, making a deal with him often comes with unintended consequences. He likes apples and if he kisses anyone but his One True Love, they’ll die. He’s the annoying bad boy character to a tee complete with a tragic backstory as to why he’s heartbroken and I just didn’t care for him. I don’t care for his kind of over confident character type and I will admit that’s more of personal preference than anything else.  

Then, inexplicably, they introduce vampires two thirds of the way through. Fates are immortal yet can be killed, adding some stakes to Jacks existence, but they can also be turned into vampires? So in this world, vampires rate higher than the god-like characters. The inclusion of vampires was just too random and strange, kind of a pointless addition for the drama and creepy aesthetics of it all. 

A big draw of this trilogy is the slow burn romance between Evangeline and Jacks. In this first book, the pair are barely friends, more like reluctant allies. This is fine, totally in line with a slow burn narrative, but neither character was interesting on their own let alone together. 

The concept of the novel was an interesting one; a fairy tale land, the pink haired heroine, making a deal with a magical prince of hearts are good ingredients of a story. But where Once Upon a Broken Heart falls flat is in the execution. It’s equal parts confusing and unnecessarily convoluted while being boring and mediocre. My biggest complaint about the book is that the writing style is utterly insipid. It’s basic and lifeless, without anything interesting about the narration, sounding far too young for a young adult novel. It truly feels like baby’s first fantasy novel with all flash and no substance. 

[chiakinanami82]

Albedo Piazzolla: Best Villain

      If you’re a Nintendo fan, you’ve probably heard of the Xenoblade Chronicles series. Well, a couple of years prior, Monolith Soft released a trilogy of games known as Xenosaga on the PlayStation and later on, remakes were released on the DS only in Japan. This was Tetsuya Takahashi’s second attempt at creating an epic sci-fi story spanning multiple games, anime, and manga. I could go on and on about this game, but then this essay would never end. One of my favorite villains ever hails from this game. Let’s talk about Albedo Piazzolla. Also, there will be spoilers for all of the games, so please stop if you don’t wish to be spoiled. Anyways, I’ll start with the basics.

         Albedo has a ton of qualities that make him unique, charming, and terrifying. First of all his design is striking, especially with the sharp shape of his cape and the overall white everywhere. The cape provides him with a unique silhouette. His English voice actor, Crispin Freeman, surely brings this character to light expertly. His theme is brimming with madness, which is fitting for a man as insane as Albedo. Most characters in fiction who are deemed “insane” are simply sadistic sociopaths, but Mr. Piazzolla is truly insane. This is seen in his encounter with MOMO, which I’ll go into more detail in the fourth section. He’s also hilarious at times, especially with “Yo, Rubedo.” It’s such a great line. Even his name is significant. Albedo is one of the steps of the alchemical process and he has relationships with Nigredo and Rubedo, the other two steps of said process. Now, it’s time for his backstory, as it ties to both Rubedo and Nigredo.

         Albedo’s and Rubedo’s connected pasts is the main aspect of Episode II. All three of them are Realians, artificially made humans, created by Dmitri Yuriev to combat an entity called U-DO. Because they are unique, they’re bullied by the other Realians. Albedo, protecting his twin brother Rubedo, beats up one of the bullies. Alby doesn’t understand why it’s a problem, considering that he thought that all of them had the ability to regrow limbs. It is here that he realizes that both Rubedo and Nigredo will die before him, and he breaks down into tears while hugging his beloved twin. After a while, the encounter with U-DO arrives. Rubedo receives a vision of the destruction of the universe. This freaks him out and he cuts the link, leaving all of the others to die or to be driven to madness by U-DO. This gives a proper reason for this man’s insanity. While we’ve seen his past and come to know his general traits, let’s look at a few scenes to really illustrate my points in action.

         Albedo Piazzolla has some of the best, most memorable scenes in all three games. In Episode I, he kidnaps a young Realian girl named MOMO, and he sits on a pile of her sisters’ corpses, holding one in his arms. He breaks the arm of the deceased girl and tosses her aside like a doll. In the Japanese version, he brandishes a knife, but it was removed in the American version, which honestly improved this scene. He dismembers both his arm and his head, showing his immortal power, all while a choir of haunting voices fills the atmosphere up with utter dread. Another significant scene is when Albedo learns that his healing powers are unique to him. First, he demonstrates his powers to Rubedo and Nigredo by blowing off his head and instantly healing. The two are surprised. Albedo realizes the implications and runs to his brother, hugging him and begging him not to leave him, tears leaking out.

         This essay spells out Albedo’s backstory, specific moments, and overall character to showcase this insane mad lad. Usually, I’m not a fan of insane villains, but Albedo is the exception.

[lettherebemonsters]

Who’s the Milkman? /gen

The Milkman is essentially the Michael Myers stand-in for the Netflix trilogy Fear Street.

His name is Harry Rooker and was a beloved member of the 50s Shadyside community, where he delivered milk to the people living there. For some reason, a member of the Goode family sacrificed Harry to Satan for power and privilege, forcing a kind man to do horrifying things against his will.

Now he's an undead/immortal slasher that kills people after being summoned. He has no choice in the matter.

[annemariewrites]

List of all the books I’ve read

just wanted to keep a list of what I’ve read throughout my life (that I can remember)

Fiction:

“Where the Red Fern Grows,” Wilson Rawls

“The Outsiders,” S. E. Hinton

“The Weirdo,” Theodore Taylor

“The Devil’s Arithmetic,” Jane Yolen

“Julie of the Wolves series,” Jean Craighead George

“Soft Rain,” Cornelia Cornelissen

“Island of the Blue Dolphins,” Scott O’Dell

“The Twilight series,” Stephanie Mayer

“To Kill a Mockingbird,” Harper Lee

“Gamer Girl,” Mari Mancusi

“Redwall / Mossflower / Mattimeo / Mariel of Redwall,” Brian Jacques

“1984,” and  “Animal Farm,” George Orwell

“Killing Mr. Griffin,” Lois Duncan

“Huckleberry Finn,” Mark Twain

“Rainbow’s End,” Irene Hannon

“Cold Mountain,” Charles Frazier

“Between Shades of Gray,” Ruta Sepetys

“Great Short Works of Edgar Allan Poe,” Edgar Allan Poe

“Lord of the Flies,” William Golding

“The Great Gatsby,” F Scott Fitzgerald

“The Harry Potter series,” JK Rowling

“The Fault in Our Stars,” “Looking for Alaska,” and “Paper Towns,” John Green

“Thirteen Reasons Why,” Jay Asher

“The Hunger Games series,” Suzanne Collins

“The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” Stephen Chbosky

“Fifty Shades of Grey,” EL James

“Speak,” and “Wintergirls,” Laurie Halse Anderson

“The Handmaid’s Tale,” Margaret Atwood

“Mama Day,” Gloria Naylor

“Jane Eyre,” Charlotte Bronte

“Wide Sargasso Sea,” Jean Rhys

“The Haunting of Hill House,” Shirley Jackson

“The Chosen,” Chaim Potok

“Leaves of Grass,” Walt Whitman

“Till We Have Faces,” CS Lewis

“One Foot in Eden,” Ron Rash

“Jim the Boy,” Tony Earley

“The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox,” Maggie O’Farrell

“A Land More Kind Than Home,” Wiley Cash

“A Parchment of Leaves,” Silas House

“Beowulf,” Seamus Heaney

“The Silence of the Lambs / Red Dragon / Hannibal / Hannibal Rinsing,” Thomas Harris

“Cry the Beloved Country,” Alan Paton

“Moby Dick,” Herman Melville

“The Hobbit / The Lord of the Rings trilogy / The Silmarillion,” JRR Tolkien

“Beren and Luthien,” JRR Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien

“Children of Blood and Bone / Children of Virtue and Vengeance,” Tomi Adeyemi

“Soundless,” Richelle Mead

“The Girl with the Louding Voice,” Abi Dare

“A Song of Ice and Fire series / Fire and Blood,” GRR Martin

“A Separate Peace,” John Knowles

“The Bluest Eye,” and “Beloved,” Toni Morrison

“Brave New World,” Aldous Huxley

“The Giver / Gathering Blue / Messenger / Son,” Lois Lowry

“The Ivory Carver trilogy,” Sue Harrison

“The Grapes of Wrath,” and “Of Mice and Men,” John Steinbeck

“The God of Small Things,” Arundhati Roy

“Fahrenheit 451,” Ray Bradbury

“The Night Circus,” Erin Morgenstern

“Sunflower Dog,” Kevin Winchester

‘A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” Betty Smith

“The Catcher in the Rye,” JD Salinger

“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” Sherman Alexie

“Bridge to Terabithia,” Katherine Paterson

“The Good Girl,” Mary Kubica 

“The Last Unicorn,” Peter S Beagle

“Slaughterhouse Five,” Kurt Vonnegut Jr

“The Joy Luck Club,” Amy Tan

“The Sworn Virgin,” Kristopher Dukes

“The Color Purple,” Alice Walker

“Their Eyes Were Watching God,” Zora Neale Hurston

“The Light Between Oceans,” ML Stedman

“Yellowface,” RF Kuang

“A Flicker in the Dark,” Stacy Willingham

“One Piece Novel: Ace’s Story,” Sho Hinata

“Black Beauty,” Anna Seawell

“The Weight of Blood,” Tiffany D. Jackson

“Mulberry and Peach: Two Women of China,” Hualing Nieh, Sau-ling Wong

“The Weight of Blood,” Laura McHugh

“Everybody’s Got to Eat,” Kevin Winchester

“That Was Then, This is Now,” S. E. Hinton

Non-fiction:

“Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl,” Anne Frank

“Night,” Elie Wiesel

“Invisible Sisters,” Jessica Handler

“I Am Malala,” Malala Yousafzai

“The Interesting Narrative,” Olaudah Equiano

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” Rebecca Skloot

“Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” Harriet Jacobs

“The Princess Diarist,” Carrie Fisher

“Adulting: How to Become a Grown Up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps,” Kelly Williams Brown

“How to Win Friends and Influence People,” Dale Carnegie

“Carrie Fisher: a Life on the Edge,” Sheila Weller

“Make ‘Em Laugh,” Debbie Reynolds and Dorian Hannaway

“How to be an Anti-Racist,” Ibram X Kendi

“Maus,” Art Spiegelman

“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” Maya Angelou

“Wise Gals: the Spies Who Built the CIA and Changed the Future of Espionage,” Nathalia Holt

“Persepolis,” and “Persepolis II,” Marjane Satrapi

“How to Write a Novel,” Manuel Komroff

“The Nazi Genocide of the Roma,” Anton Weiss-Wendt

“Children of the Flames: Dr. Josef Mengele and the Untold Story of the Twins of Auschwitz,” Lucette Matalon Lagnado and Sheila Cohn Dekel

“Two Watches,” Anita Tarlton

“The Ages of the Justice League: Essays on America’s Greatest Superheroes in Changing Times,” edited by Joseph J. Darowski

[heavenboy09]

Happy Birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊 To 1 Of The Most Incredible & Greatest Actors Of Our Times & Has Been Hailed The Face Of Versatility In Acting & 1 Of The Greatest Actora Of His Generation.

Hailing all the way from New Cross, England 🇬🇧

He is an English actor and filmmaker. Known for his versatility and intense acting style, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and three British Academy Film Awards. His films have grossed over $11 billion worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing actors of all time.

Born On March 21st, 1958 In New Cross, London.

the son of Leonard Bertram  (1921–1985), a former sailor who also worked as a welder, and Kathleen (née Cheriton; 1919–2018). He said his father was an alcoholic who left the family when He was seven years old. His older sister, Maureen, is an actress better known as Laila Morse; she performed in His directorial debut Nil by Mouth (1997), before taking on her most famous role of Mo Harris in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.

He attended West Greenwich School in Deptford, leaving at the age of 16 to work in a sports shop. He played piano as a child, but he gave up his musical aspirations to pursue an acting career after seeing Malcolm McDowell's performance in the film The Raging Moon (1971). In a 1995 interview with Charlie Rose, he said, "Something about Malcolm just arrested me, and I connected, and I said, 'I wanna do that.'"

He began acting in theatre in 1979 and made his film debut in Remembrance (1982). He continued to follow a stage career in London's Royal Court and was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, with credits including Cabaret, Romeo and Juliet, Entertaining Mr Sloane, Saved, The Country Wife and Hamlet. He rose to prominence in British film with his portrayals of Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy (1986), Joe Orton in Prick Up Your Ears (1987) and Rosencrantz in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990), while also attracting attention as the leader of a gang of football hooligans in the television film The Firm (1989). Regarded as a member of the "Brit Pack", he achieved greater recognition as a New York gangster in State of Grace (1990), Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK (1991) and 

He would have gained the greatest recognition of all when he starred in the Most Important Role of a Lifetime

As The Infamous Vampire 🧛‍♂️ In All Of History & Based On The Actual Person In Life but Fictionalised In Novels

Count Dracula

 in 

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992).

He portrayed the villains in films such as True Romance (1993), The Fifth Element (1997), Air Force One (1997) and The Contender (2000); corrupt DEA agent Norman Stansfield, whom he played in Léon: The Professional (1994), was called one of cinema's best villains. He also played Ludwig van Beethoven in Immortal Beloved (1994) and later appeared in franchise roles such as Sirius Black in the Harry Potter series, 

&

Lieutenant / Commissioner James Gordon in The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005–2012)

Critics never fail to single Him out... he is one of a few truly great living actors—arguably, even, the best." Of his diversity, Yahoo! Movies noted that he had "gained a well-earned reputation as a brilliant chameleon"; the Houston Chronicle dubbed He Is "the face of versatility".He was regarded as one of the greatest actors never nominated for the award.

Please Wish This Distinguished & Devoted Actor Of English 🇬🇧 Filmmaking a Very Happy Birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊

You Know Him & You Already Love Him

The 1

& The Only

MR. GARY LEONARD OLDMAN 🇬🇧

HAPPY 65TH BIRTHDAY 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊 TO YOU MR. OLDMAN & HERE'S TO MANY MORE YEARS TO COME.

[mermaidsirennikita]

What are your favorite oops we're married now books?

Hmmmm... I don't have a lot of "woke up married" books that I love? Lead by Kylie Scott is a solid read, but it's probably my least favorite Stage Dive book. What Happens in Scotland by Jennifer McQuiston is a very cute and fun book (and it's basically "woke up married" but with Scotland instead of Vegas in the 1800s) and I'd definitely recommend it, but it's not a FAVORITE of mine.

When a Scot Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare is sorta this and it's very classic to me. Like, she didn't accidentally marry him, but she accidentally got engaged to him and now she's basically gotta marry him. And she didn't even know he existed lol. Alexandra Vasti's In Which Winnie Halifax is Utterly Ruined is also a fun variation, though in this case she did in fact accidentally make up a WHOLE husband who shows up.

My beloved Princess by Gaelen Foley is like... It's an oops we're married on his end situation... but it's not an oops we're married on HER END situation lol. Very "Well, That Escalated Quickly". You bang one princess and get caught struggling to pull your pants back on by her dad.... (And she's all NO DAD IT'S FINE HE KILLED NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. An incredible, incredible novel that everyone should read.)

LOL WAIT Kerri Maniscalco's Kingdom of the Wicked trilogy literally has this to the point that the heroine is like "WAIT. WE ARE WHAT NOW" and hero is all *grumble grumble* magic *grumble grumble* oops.... BUT WAS IT AN OOPS?

The Music of Love by S.M. LaViolette is another great "well that escalated quickly" shotgun wedding books. Oops you slept with your employee a week after meeting her oops she's pregnant oops you're married. It's one where they're wildly attracted to each other but need to learn how to be a COUPLE.

Lol you could say that every werewolf or vampire book in particular in Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark (a series I love inordinately, of course) is this because the werewolves find their mate and are like "MATE MATE MATE WIFE WIFE WIFE" just like, carrying these girls around like a football, and the vampires very literally call their mates their "Brides" (though this turns out to be a gender neutral term later on, which we love) and in turn are all "BRIDE BRIDE BRIDE" about it.

Omg The Viscount and The Vixen by Lorraine Heath is a great book and PERFECT for this. This is the one where the heroine answers an ad placed by an old man basically asking for a wife, and basically if she answers and signs his contract and he doesn't marry her, she gets a huge payout. And his son shows up like "Obviously she's trying to scam my dad and THIS! WILL! NOT! STAAAAAND". But she's already signed! However, the contract doesn't say she has to marry his dad... it just says she has to marry a man of his line who's GOING to have the title if he doesn't have it already. CHECK AND MATE! HAHA! THE HERO SHALL SIMPLY MARRY HER INSTEAD!

An underrated banger, tbh. I really need to reread/relisten.

Accidentally Compromising the Duke by Stacy Reid has some of this. The heroine meant to compromise this other guy by walking in on him while he was sleeping, but accidentally did it to this duke who was actually in the market of a stepmother for his kids (with the understanding that he would not sleep with the woman because trauma lmao, doesn't work out that way) so he's like "WHATEVER. FINE." And in the next book in that series, Wicked in His Arms, the hero was simply intending to have a conversation with the woman he severely dislikes, in his closet, but then he deflowered her and then they ran directly into his mom and shit right after so now they're married oops.