#like alisha rai has a story like that. i love her so i tried but i just can’t. why are u naked in a room with your brother.

[thewingedwolf]

i’ve never been able to truly get into the summer i turned pretty because i actually refuse to read “two siblings married to the same person” threesome stories bc like,,,, i have to draw the line somewhere okay but even as a teenager i read the series and went “this one actually would have worked if they just both were with belly” and how dare jenny han make me think that thought!!!!

[wrrgod]

( HENRY CAVILL. THIRTY-TWO. CIS MALE. HE/HIM. ) in texas, WOLFGANG ACKERMANN is more commonly known as SERGEI DAHL. they’ve been living in stratford for SIX MONTHS and currently UNDERCOVER ATF AGENT / BARTENDER AT DESEO. some say they are APATHETIC & DECEPTIVE but i’m more inclined to believe those that say they’re PERCEPTIVE & RESILIENT. if you walk by their house, you can sometimes hear I WILL NOT BOW by BREAKING BENJAMIN playing from their window. ( blood stained shirts, watchful blue eyes always observing the world around him, the smell of freshly brewed coffee, driving in a highway with the windows down, looks that could kill. )

PINTEREST BOARD !

NAME. wolfgang ackermann sergei dahl. NICKNAME. sergei. AGE. thirty-two. GENDER. cis male. PRONOUNS. he/him. SEXUAL ORIENTATION. bisexual. ROMANTIC ORIENTATION. biromantic. HOMETOWN. seattle, wa. OCCUPATION. undercover atf agent / bartender at deseo.

ZODIAC. capricorn. POSITIVE TRAITS. perceptive, resilient, adaptable. NEGATIVE TRAITS. apathetic, deceptive, stubborn. TEMPERAMENT. choleric. LANGUAGES SPOKEN. english, french, portuguese, spanish, a bit of italian.

HEIGHT. 6′4 EYE COLOR. blue. HAIR COLOR. black. TATTOOS. tba.

QUICK INFO.

trigger warnings: murder, death, violence, child abuse ( implied ).

born in seattle, washington as wolfgang ackermann, though he’s always preferred to go by ‘wolf’. he’s had a bit of a rough start in life — his family was well off financially, which exempted them from struggling with money, but not from struggling with everything else. 

when wolf was around four years old, the family relocated to london, england ( his mother’s birth country, coincidentally ) due to his father being transferred at his job. that was where his sister was born and where they stayed for the next decade and a half or so.

his father was a mean aggressive prick, a firm believer in expressing his apparent superiority through his physical strength and the occasional screaming match. nothing made him happy, and the frustration with his own self and his own life led to him taking it out on the ones he was supposed to love and protect above all ; his family.

although wolf always tried to hold down the fort and keep him controlled / satisfied ( and most importantly, away from his mother and younger sister ), unfortunately he didn’t always succeed.

when wolf was on his mid teens, his sister ( who was around fourteen years old back then ) got ambushed when she was on her way back home from a sleepover. a robbery gone wrong, the young girl was shot and taken to the hospital on critical condition, but she didn’t make it. that only made things worse in the household.

after that, they moved back to the usa. wolf’s coping mechanism was to shut himself down, more than ever. as a nineteen year old, freshly enrolled in college, there were many paths he could’ve taken. the one he chose was education. burying himself in textbooks, he was determined to get out of his house and make something of himself — for his sister, if nothing else. she always dreamed of big things and a bright future, to leave their troubled past behind. a ray of sunshine where her brother was all grey skies. 

his sister’s murder crushed his mother’s heart, in special. she fell into a pit of grief, heartbreak and alcohol to try to cope. nothing wolf did seemed to help, and not long after, the woman ended up succumbing. once again, his method of coping was to shut the world around him down and work hard, harder each day.

he graduated in law and eventually worked his way towards being an atf agent. he doesn’t know what exactly led him to this particular field, but that’s only because he doesn’t allow himself to stop and think about it. deep down, it’s obvious enough ; it’s entirely easy to drown himself in work and very few people question it.

now he’s undercover ; stationed in stratford, where everyone knows him as sergei dahl, partnered up with alisha gotti ( now known as nina devi ) as newly-weds in order to gather information about the clubs and all that good stuff.

the position as bartender at deseo for his cover job is very convenient. people, specially drunk people, are prone to spilling everything to a bartender without even thinking about it. he’s found that it’s almost natural. the fact that it’s at a strip club ran by former diablo members, where other members from both mcs constantly hang out at, is wonderful as well.

constantly trying his hardest to bury his past and memories. will likely never talk about it with anyone ever, which in a way is a perk of being undercover. sergei isn’t wolfgang. they don’t have the same story. 

usually a bit stoic and apathetic. it would seem he has no feelings but the truth is he just controls himself very well. on the job, as sergei, he forces himself to be more responsive and lively ; pretty much the opposite of his true self.

WANTED CONNECTIONS.

once again, my two brain cells can’t come up with a long list, but i’d love to brainstorm some connections with him. he’s been around straton for six months. maybe some unlikely friends, informants, training buddies, fwbs ( would be people he releases pent-up tension with, very on the dl so this can be a bit tricky ), people he’s befriending for information on the clubs, frenemies and anything else that works that we can come up with !

[gonewiddershins]

Romancelandia you don’t have to ask I’m just gonna say it anyway~

Original Post Here

Barbara Cartland: Favourite author?

Courtney Milan.

Alisha Rai: Favorite era? (i.e. when they were written, not when set)

Current! I’m ecstatic to see how much more punk the romance novel genre has become lately- so many authors explicitly talking about race and class and gender and mental health and neurodivergence in so many interesting ways. Independent publishing opening up entirely new avenues which were not recommended for traditional publications. It’s exciting and wonderful.

Eve Dangerfield: Favourite setting for historicals?

Not sure if my opinion matters here because I have read books from very few eras? I think my preferences have moved to mid-to-late Victorian era for England-based books, but what I really want more of is historicals on other (non North American) continents. I badly want to do a romance in Historical India that is not about Englishmen, for example. Like a Muslim and Hindu falling in love during the Aurangazeb era, maybe. 

Anne Mather: Favourite contemporary setting/sub-genre

Again, I haven’t really read enough to form a nuanced opinion- when I look for contemporaries, my first priority used to be “does this make me laugh?” Which is um- a relic of a bygone era, because that used to be the only thing I wanted from contemporaries. 

Right now, I try to get read more of diverse romance in contemporary eras. Again, including non-American/English nationalities.

Georgette Heyer: Third or first person tense?

Either will do. It’s not really a factor in how much I enjoy a story. 

Lisa Kleypas: Hero/ine you’d most like to date & Jane Austen: Hero/ine you’d most like to be friends with

Same answer to both of the above categories. I’ll take anyone who I think is a rational person who forgives misunderstandings ans does not try to actively make them. I’m not really that picky. 

Amanda Quick: Hero/ine you most relate to

At the time when I first read it as a dramatic early twenties person, Minerva Lane from Courtney Milan’s The Duchess War spoke to me. There was a lot in there about fear and having to push yourself down fro the sake of survival that was similar to my life back then. I cried a lot when I read that book. 

More recently, I really wanted to snuggle up to Verity Plum from Cat Sebastian’s A duke in Disguise because her feelings of independence and placing it above pretty much everything else her life is... yeah. A lot of what Verity says sounds intimately familiar. 

Julie Anne Long: Historical or contemporary?

Historical. Given a choice between two books which are similarly positioned in terms of tropes I like and hate, I’ll pick a historical every time. 

Mariana Zapata: Open or closed door sex scenes? & Anne Hampson: Erotic or clean romances?

Ninety percent of the time I’m thoroughly disinterested in the sex scenes, and sometimes I am actively annoyed at the many pages of boning happening while the protagonists barely have an emotional connection. That said, there are plenty books which have no sex scenes where I am reduced to gross sobbing because GODDAMMIT THERE IS TOO MUCH SEXUAL TENSION IN THE AIR GIVE ME BONING.

I am still thirsty about Jo Beverley’s The Unwilling Bride. There was so much sexual tension and growth and Lucien was hot as hell but there was no sex scene. //grumbles

Elizabeth Hoyt: Paranormal or science fiction?

I haven’t read that much SF romance, but I’m going to pick it anyway because the usual tropes associated with Werewolves/Vampires bug the crap out of me. 

Nalini Singh: Favourite tropes

Both the protagonists have problems with stakes, and one is not there to manic pixie the other. Protagonists have relationships (non-romantic) outside of the romance. Subversions and reversions of gender norms. Banter and Snark. Character tries very very hard to not be emotionally vulnerable, but goddammit there are these stupid feelings. 

Alyssa Cole: Least favourite tropes

Prolonged Miscommunication. Slut shaming, especially when coupled with I Have Had So Much Sex and I am So Experienced hypocrisy. Gratuitous sex with no emotional connection. Protagonists immediately throwing over all other friends/family/loved ones for the sake of their new romantic interest. False competence in female characters which immediately get thrown to the wind when the romantic interest comes on scene (Ahem. Never Judge a lady By Her Cover.)

Rose Lerner: Favourite / Least favourite series

Nope.

Sandra Marton: Favourite romantic non-romance or love story

Unspoken Trilogy, by Sarah Rees Brennan. It is in part a fascinating exploration of privacy in a relationship- most of the rest of it is about friendships and platonic relationships. There is also a cult of sorcerers trying to take over the world via human sacrifice but I continue to insist that’s mostly just setting information. 

Skye Warren: Any problematic faves?

I have a depressingly large soft spot for anything funny, and I will forgive a lot of despised tropes if a book makes me laugh. I’m easy.

Specific examples: Until You (Judith McNaught), Dragon Shifter Series (Katie MacCalister).   

Ainsley Booth: Position on HEAs

I’m cool with those.

Abby Green: Position on HFNs

I like these better than HEAs, because the characters I like tend to be difficult and also fighting various difficult scenarios so it’s far more likely that more problems will pop up in their lives than not. 

Kristen Ashley: Position on the “romance novels are feminist” discourse

Conflicted. I think many romances are feminist, but there are an equal number or more which are patently not. Like all other genres, it has to be judged on a book by book basis, not for the genre as a whole.  

Carla Kelly: Position on the “calling romance novels trashy is problematic” discourse

Yes. Outright dismissal of an entire genre is just dumb. 

Diana Palmer: Position on the “are romance novels porn” discourse

Ha, no. Porn is porn. 

Johanna Lindsey: Position on the “romance novels represent the female gaze” discourse

Yes, I guess? In many romances the way men are portrayed is markedly different from the way they are seen in other genres. Again, this is not a universal constant- all romances do not show men in the exact same way. 

Also, it is hard to find any other genre with a larger proportion of characters, viewpoints and conflicts centered around women so there’s that.   

Mary Jo Putney: Position on the “calling romances without sex ‘clean’ or ‘sweet’ is implicitly slut shaming romances with sex” discourse?

Yes. Just call them romances without sex. What are we, the moral police?

Cara McKenna: What’s your hot take on the “forced seduction” trope?

I understand the time and place where there scenes were popular, and the social norms which prompted them. I’m still uncomfortable with them and there are may things I’d rather read about so I avoid them.    

Abigail Barnette: Opinion of Fifty Shades of Grey

Never read it, don’t plan to. Like I said, sex is not really my thing.

Tessa Bailey: Opinion of Twilight

I gobbled these books like a maniac when I first read them and there is a lot of pure entertainment in there and there is so much emotion. That said, they are not quite as interesting on re-reads. :(

Kathleen E. Woodiwiss: Opinion of Pride & Prejudice

I’m not comfortable with the prose, which means i prefer to watch/read adaptations. Most notably the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. 

Lynne Graham: Opinion of Harlequin Mills & Boon

Meh. 

Tessa Dare: Opinion of bodice rippers

I mean, I would be fine if there wasn’t so much of people causing their own problems by refusing to talk to each other. 

Sylvia Day: Opinion of Fabio

I did not even know he was a real person till like- recently.

Roni Loren: Opinion of male romance authors

Yes please. Particularly if they are writing under female pseudonyms. With this, we are getting the exact same thing that female authors did and have to go through- a forced perspective from people oft he other gender. That can only lead to more nuance and acceptance and I am all about that.  

Courtney Milan: All-time favourite romance novel & Jana Aston: Favourite contemporary romance & Judith McNaught: Favourite historical romance

Nope.

Alexa Riley: Physical or digital books?

Digital. I tend to make a lot of highlights and notes and that holds up much better with ebooks. 

E.L. James: Internal drama or external drama

Characters who are not getting together/along because they can’t communicate with each other are better off not being with each other in the first place. So if that’s what internal drama is then I prefer the external type. 

Sarah MacLean: Favourite heroine/s & Maya Rodale: Least favourite heroine/s & Penny Reid: Favourite hero/s & Megan Hart: Least favourite hero/s & Stephenie Meyer: Favourite and least favourite couple/s

I have types rather than specific examples. Most of it has already been detailed out in the tropes questions.

Beverly Jenkins: First romance novel you ever read

Almost Heaven, by Judith McNaught.

Sabrina Jeffries: How long have you been reading romance novels?

14 years or thereabouts.  

Loretta Chase: Last romance novel you read

A Duke in Disguise by Cat Sebastian. I’m currently reading An Unconditional Freedom (Alyussa Cole) and Earthrise (MCA Hogarth).

Christina Lauren: Do you need to start a series from the beginning, or can you just dive in anywhere?

Anywhere is fine.

Chuck Tingle: How strong does your HEA have to be?

Not much. See the HFN answer. 

Julia Quinn: Underrated author/s & Mary Balogh: Most overrated author/s & Violet Winspear: Most overrated book/s & Sara Craven: Most underrated book/s & Susan Elizabeth Phillips: Best romance by a debut author? & Madison Faye: Favourite romance by a non-romance author

Error Report: Cannot Compute, not enough data.

Nora Roberts: Least favourite hero and heroine archetypes

Eloisa James: What are you reading when you’re not reading romance?

Fantasy, Science Fiction, YA, Comics, Mysteries, Fanfiction, Nonfiction. I’ll read anything. 

Teresa Medeiros: Other media property you wish was a romance novel

Idk what this means?   

Laura Lee Guhrke: Last romance novel you DNFed

I think it was Elizabeth Kingston’s A Fallen Lady? Which was actually a GOOD book and I skipped ahead to scenes I really wanted to see and those scenes made me cry but also... there was not much about the romance itself that I was really interested in. I loved the heroine to death though. 

Cat Sebastian: Alpha, Gamma, or Beta heroes?

Depends on how they are written, but I confess an Alpha is so easily made into an irredeemable dipshit.  

Jeannie Lin: Ideal hero and heroine archetypes

Family-minded hero stressed out about taking care of his family. Independent, business minded heroine. 

Helen Hoang: Sexually experienced or inexperienced heroines? & Lucy Monroe: Sexually experienced or inexperienced heroes?

Experienced heroines and inexperienced heroes. Play against the type!

Lorraine Heath: When you choose a book do you look for tropes, plots or authors?

Authors, then Tropes. I barely pay attention to plots. 

C.D. Reiss: Puns in titles: 👍 or 👎?

YES. I have picked up books purely because of punny titles. 

Emily Bronte: Favourite cover designs/illustrations & Maya Banks: Least favourite cover design 

I suck a remembering covers so this question is going to get skipped~

Penny Jordan: What would you like to see more of in romance novels?

Diversity and cliche subversions. 

Lauren Blakey: What would you like to see less of in romance novels?

Overplayed cliches played in the same way again and again. Relationships based entirely on sex. 

Betty Neels: What do you think are the high and low points of the genre?

Highs: Romancelandia is probably the most intelligent and nuanced fandom I have ever been a part of and I have been a part of many fandoms. The genre is very, very diverse and there are so many experiments going on in the fringes. Questions and stories about the emotional components of relationships can never get old because there are too many permutations to explore in a few lifetimes.  

Lows: The core of the romance novel industry is still trying desperately to hold on to tropes and themes of older days, many of which are regressive. 

Jill Shalvis: Finish this sentence: “Romance novels are__________”

complex social commentaries. 

[headachebrain]

My Favourite Books of 2018

I read 64 books this year. It was a hard year. And when things are hard, all I want to do is read and forget who and where I am. Here’s what I really loved.

My overall favourite book of 2018

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

A spec fic YA novel about slavery, the Civil War and zombies. The main character Jane was smart enough to kill a herd of zombies, play dumb when white folks tried to question her and get out of some sticky situations. It was jam packed action from beginning to end. I’ve been raving about this book all year.

Favourite non-fiction book

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

This book didn’t come out this year but I finally got around to reading it. It’s one of those books that everyone should read. It tells the ugly truth of the American justice system from the perspective of a lawyer who works to get Black folks off death row. Required reading.

Book that made me cry the most

Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

This is the kind of novel I wish existed when I was a teenager. A story written in verse about a Black Latinx teen girl who finds herself through her writing. As I wrote in my Goodreads review: “I can't say enough about this book. I'm 32 years old and if I had this book when I was 15, with a Black girl on the cover who is sad and feels lonely and the only thing she has is her writing... it would have meant the world to me. And as an adult it still meant the world to me.”

Saddest book of 2018

Less by Andrew Sean Greer

This was a novel about Less, a gay man who turns 50 and receives an invitation to his former boyfriend’s wedding. Instead of going, he decides to travel the world. Less is a writer. He’s in love with someone he isn’t with and he’s sad. The writing was incredible. I loved every second of it.

Favourite romance

A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole and Hate to Want You by Alisha Rai (tie)

Two romance novels by women of colour about women of colour falling in love. Both of these novels had everything I love in a romance - interesting characters, complex plots, steamy sex scenes and tension. They were feminist romance novels featuring independent women and consent. Both of these novels were so much fun.

Favourite memoir

Heavy by Kiese Laymon

This is the kind of book I’ll read again and again. Kiese laid himself bare in this book in a way I’ve never encountered. At times it made me uncomfortable. When I finished it, I sat in silence. A heartbreaking, beautiful look at what it means to grow up a Black boy in the American south.

Favourite YA

Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kahn

A teen novel about a Black girl who’s bi-romantic asexual finding love? This novel tore me apart in the best way. I cried and cried. From my Goodreads review: “This book wrecked me. I've never seen myself so clearly reflected in a character. Alice is me in so many ways and her story was proof that people like her, like me, are deserving of romantic love. I'm not sure if I'll ever find someone like Takumi but it was wonderful to read their love story and hope it could be true one day.”

Honourable mentions:

The Perfect Nanny by Leïla Slimani

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesymn Ward

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

There, There by Tommy Orange

Monsoon Mansion by Cinelle Barnes

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

Ayesha At Last by Uzma Jalaluddin

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi

Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper

My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

[willreadforbooze]

Hey everyone!!

Hope everyone had a great Tome Topple! I failed lol.

Sam’s Update

I’m backkkkkkkk!!!! No more travel for a while I am SO excited. SO EXCITED. I am, however, in probably the biggest slump in my life. I haven’t finished a book in two weeks. I know, give me all the shame

What Sam Finished:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA *sobs*

What Sam DNF’d:

The Stars We Steal by Alexa Donne: I tried. It’s just not for me. I think this book was intended for folks who like romance, while I wanted to know more about the rebellion and it wasn’t getting to that fast enough.

What Sam is Currently Reading:

The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter: I picked this up for Tome Topple because one of the prompts was to read a book by a black author in honor of Black History Month. This was pitched to me as “african-inspired fantasy with dragons.” SIGN ME THE FUCK UP. I have found however, that this has become a military story. Not a bad one, just… not a dragon book. It’s picking up though (at 75%) so we’ll see how it ends.

Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe: Book club book and Tome Topple pick that I also didn’t finish. I’m enjoying it, but I just can’t force myself to read it. Our main man Corin is at magic school. Everyone at magic school has an attunement, which lets them access a certain type of manna to access their skills. Corin, poor thing, is made basically an engineer… not a battle dude at all. But he also may have accidentally let loose one of the Big Bads so. I think this book is really funny lol. It will make for good discussion this weekend.

Fire by Kristen Cashore: I have this on hold for now until I finish Rage of Dragons cause of Tome Topple, which I didn’t actually finish. sigh.

Minda’s Update

Didn’t get a lot of reading done last week, but there’s always this one.

What Minda is reading now:

The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow – Still enjoying, just slow going since I picked up the below for book club.

Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe – Book club! Reading while breastfeeding and there’s a lot of that, so will be done before this weekend.

Ginny’s Update

I went to NY for the weekend and walked about 20 miles in two days so I’m keeping this short

What Ginny Finished this week:

Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe: I read this for book club and really enjoyed it. The character had some interesting characteristics that I haven’t seen particularly often before (without it being a big deal) and I enjoyed the magic systems.

What Ginny is Currently Reading:

Hilariously Ever After by Various Authors: this anthology has been mostly miss. I trucked my way on through a lot last week and Ive ended up skipping some of the books entirely because Im sorry but. Patient dating their gyno not my idea of a good time.

The right swipe by Alisha Rai: this is much more my speed. Rhi is an app developer who started and feminist friendly dating app. She wants to buy the older school dating service and their new speaksperson is hot as balls and also the guy who ghosted her months earlier. Theres a fun sense of humor as well as coverage of CTE, prior emotional abuse, and just some heavy feelings all around. Im really enjoying this so far.

What Ginny Finished during the off week:

On the Come Up by Angie Thomas: great book set in the same universe as the Hate U Give shows the community a few years later with an aspiring rapper. Bri is really bold and not great at holding her tongue which makes for a believable if frustrating character. Solid book.

The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams: god this book was a delight. Pro baseball player fixes his marriage by reading romance novels. The macho, romance reading friends were ridiculous (sometimes a little too much) but a lot of fun and I love some of the points this book made.

Borderline by Mishell Baker: set in a world where magic exists but is hidden from most but the Hollywood elite, Millie, a young woman with BPD and some pretty serious injuries from a suicide attempt becomes a magic PI. This is another case of an interesting character that could be frustrating. The author did a good job of explaining how BPD affects people and it helped make this book that much more interesting by having a reason that the main character was acting irrationally.

The Keep by Jennifer Egan: fuck this book.

Until next time, we main forever drunkenly yours,

Sam, Ginny, and Minda

Weekly Wrap-Up: Feb 17 – 23, 2020 Hey everyone!! Hope everyone had a great Tome Topple! I failed lol. Sam's Update I'm backkkkkkkk!!!! No more travel for a while I am SO excited.