#noah x mc superior !!!

[retvenkos]

in my limited downtime, i’m replaying it lives in the woods (and eventually ilb) before i start to Truly Dig Into the absolute masterpiece of it lives within, and guys,,,,,,,,,,,,,, i forgot how much i love andy kang <3

[teenwvlf]

mc is a fucking dumbass for not noticing this but this is the cutest shit ever

[olivershen]

Noah x MC After Love Island:

❥ your first few nights in bed together are full of soft, lingering touches

❥ you’ve never been one for delayed gratification but Noah turns out to be the most patient man you’ve ever met

❥ you ask him about this once while tangled under the sheets

❥ “I’ve waited so long to have you, I just want to savor every moment and commit them to memory.”

❥ mornings are spent tracing lazy patterns on each other’s skin and exchanging sleepy kisses until one of you musters up the energy to put on the kettle

❥ most days, he picks you up after work so you can take the long way home and just talk

❥ you never had the chance in the villa so you now spend as much time as possible learning everything about each other

❥ which is why you also enjoy showing up at the library to keep him company as he closes up

❥ you may or may not have snuck in a cheeky kiss in one of the dark corners while no one was looking

❥ he likes to read you poetry about love

❥ sonnet XVII by neruda, i carry your heart with me by cummings, how do i love thee by browning

❥ he knows them all and he recites them to you with reverence

❥ you’ve always found poetry to be too highbrow; but with his gentle and steady voice, the words seem like they were written just for you

❥ your first petty squabble was about which Pride & Prejudice adaptation is superior - the 1995 BBC limited tv series or the 2005 film

❥ you have no idea how he managed to convince you to get a pet snake but you are now proud co-parents to a corn snake you’ve named Crowley

❥ sometimes you catch him gazing at you while you’re doing the most mundane of tasks

❥ you always throw him a little wink and he laughs before reaching over to kiss you gently on the lips

❥ “what was that for?”

❥ “nothing. i’m just... ridiculously happy.”

❥ and so are you, to be honest

❥ it all could have gone so differently, but you’re happy to finally be here now, because this, right here was worth the wait

[lovelahela]

OH MY GOD THID IS????? SO PRETTY I'M SKKFKSKF NOT OKAY

IT LIVES 3 AU: where they bring mc back and noah and mc finally get together.

[ravenadottir]

priya has been on my mind a lot recently and i’m just so freaking upset that she wasn’t a li. but let’s say that she was. how do you think her route would have been? what would you change?

also i just want to add that your brain is really hot, like it amazes me how much thought you put into your answers <3

🌻 route starter: in a challenge, preferably on the slime one. instead of marisol, priya’s the one you can rub against, and the thought bubbles could foreshadow how unusually into it she was.

🌻 operation nope: after she made an advance on noah, she would still be into him, but perhaps after mc had talked to her, she would realize how much she feels comfortable, and safe, whenever mc was nearby. and when mc wasn’t, because she felt disappointed by her choices, priya was deeply embarrassed because of it. she would only understand the harm of making an advance on noah because mc was disheartened by it.

🌻 casa amor, there should’ve been a challenge where a girl chooses who they’re gonna kiss, and priya could be the one, and argued “it’s just for the fun! imagine the guys’ faces when we do this.” but not realizing she wanted to kiss mc because of the attraction she feels. priya is stunned herself, enjoying every second of it, possibly blushing and tweaking with her hair afterwards.

🌻 mc x boys: casa amor, whether you go for someone new or not, would make her a bit jealous, because mc was either being loyal to someone in the main villa, or you was exploring things with someone new. priya would lie about how much fun she was having, trying to convince herself everything was fine, but being deeply confused, watching mc getting with other people.

🌻 afterparty conversation: would’ve been amazing! she would, with every interaction, realize this wasn’t just a friendship, on her side of things. it started out as a girl crush, because mc is so chill and caring, and it’s developing into something stronger, but she stays in denial. the night breeze and the alcohol are perfect to make priya a bit pensive about how she actually feels.

🌻 back to the villa, she’s glad that noah stayed loyal, but she cares most about mc being in danger, in case her partner brought blake back, or simply confused on why she despises the casa amor boy next to mc. “he’s a good guy, i don’t know why i don’t like him, babes.”

🌻 noah x hope drama: she doesn’t care at all for the drama happening with hope, and when things get cleared, she’s already aware of her crush.

🌻 night of the dumping: mc is not not allowed to save her, only being able to recouple with jakub, lurik or elijah, or already being unavailable because of a casa amor guy.

🌻 while packing her things: she would’ve told mc the haze of confusion she had been for the past few days, and just how much she regrets holding herself back before that moment.

🌻 a kiss should happen here, because i love drama. she loses herself in this kiss, giving her even more reason to be upset and frustrated for leaving.

🌻 she gives mc the sunflower perfume bottle, leaving the villa, disappointed. 

🌻 there’s foreshadow about a girl returning.

🌻 on day 24, mc is invited on two dates: a boy and a girl want her to have breakfast on the vineyard.

🌻 she returns, along with hannah and lucas/henrik. that’s the moment she says how much she regretted not following her heart before, and how hard it was to watch mc get along with someone.

🌻 finishing the date with: “babes, i will understand if this is not what you want, but i can’t keep it to myself anymore. i told you i have feelings for you, and if you want to explore this, i’m willing to give it a try, too. but if you don’t want to, then i’ll leave it quiet, and not talk about it again. we can go back to being friends, and forget i said anything.”

🌻 mc would have the option of giving her a quick kiss. 

🌻 the recoupling: shannon and elisa are dumped, along with a boy, possibly returning!lurik.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

🌻 priya would only return if you had “unlocked” her route. otherwise, she would stay dumped and only see you at the afterparty.

🌻 the afterparty: there would be a couple of dialogue moments showing how much she thought about being with a girl, but the timing wasn’t right. “i guess i should’ve listened to my heart back then, and told her how confused i was. but now... i don’t know. i guess i lost my chance.”

🌻 wedding episodes: she would be an option, just like lottie and hannah were. with one difference: she would’ve said something that sways your decision right after the proposal.

priya being an option on the main storyline doesn’t affect the dynamics, we would’ve had priya disappointed at bobby, after being dumped, hope terrified she would try to steal noah again, and probably having her telling us a bit of goss!! AND the thought of elisa, returning!lurik, marisol and priya chasing mc, besides her partner, gives me life!

it would be a win-win, and the superior slowburn that we deserved!

damn, this one got long, but like, she deserves it, i reckon. hope this is what you were looking for, anon...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“also i just want to add that your brain is really hot”

this is the best compliment i’ve ever got, so like... oof! thank you!

i’m all melty now... and um... yeah! i’m gonna end the ask before i keep babbling!

[slothgiirl]

these r notes for me but writing noah x mc fanfic like

angst

"you can let go now jane. we'll take it from you. we'll take over"

confirmation they're soulmates bc they save each other in the end (powers)

noah being oblivious and pinning for mc for the longest time

domestic nonsense which i love incorporating for some realism and relationship development

trusting and confiding in each other and very much being found family in a way that the others just aren't bc of their shared shitty parents

mc having had a thing w connor and noah is jealous and he knows there's no reason for him to feel like that when he's basically moved in a mc and they have this weird power thing they're figuring out and they literally feel asleep last night after watching x men first class bc mc is right it's the superior x men movie and now very relatable to their life and okay he might have had a thing for mc when they were kids-might definitely still have a thing for her but...who is he kidding he's jealous

[stina-is-a-punk-rocker]

to all the boys i’ve loved before: the good, the bad & the ugly

THE GOOD

I live my life with the belief, not in any religion, but in several other truths: pineapple topping on pizza is a crime against humanity. FOUR is the superior One Direction album. The book will always be superior to the movie based off of it.

Actually, maybe we have to reconsider that last one.

I first watched To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before expecting a slightly polished version of a Disney channel original. I was- to my surprise, and delight- proven wrong. Sure, the premise is a bit flimsy (why, in god’s name, would Lara Jean put her letters in envelopes and address them if she had no intention of mailing them?); there’s a multitude of cliché YA tropes (naïve, introverted MC meets floppy-haired white boy ft. some reincarnation of Regina George who happens to be his ex with a vendetta against the poor, innocent MC; the GBF); I’ve got several concerns about the casting (the Covey girls are supposed to half-Korean. The actors playing them don’t even have the same ethnicity? Nor do they look like they could pass for siblings?); and the soundtrack is- well. They could’ve done better.

BUT. And that’s a big ‘but’, which is why it’s in all caps. There were so many things I loved about the movie, so much more than the ones that bothered me. My little Asian heart always bursts in joy whenever I see a positive representation of someone like me in media- I don’t care if they’re South Asian or East Asian or SEA or Middle Eastern or anywhere else from the Asian continent. For so long, the only representation in Western media- if any; having Asian characters is a rarity- were perpetuating stereotypes; Lara Jean and her sisters are such a breath of fresh air. Noah Centineo’s… well, a lot of people find him cute, and he’s got a charming smile. Kitty is my spirit animal. And the aesthetics are so cute- Lara Jean’s wardrobe is a dream, and her room even more so. I loved the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before movie, and I will go to my grave defending it.

Since I loved the movie so much, surely, the book would be better! Right?

… Sigh.

THE BAD

The cover’s very cute, I’ll give it that. Arty font, reminiscent of something you’d find in a love letter, good call. The color scheme’s adorable. The girl on the cover is very pretty. And, um… that’s about it.

Right off the bat, Lara Jean’s monologue made me go, oh. It’s that kind of protagonist. The one who spends way too much time telling and not enough showing (blame all the writing advice videos I watched on YouTube. It never used to bother me before, but it’s all I can see now).

(Also, “After I write my letter, I’m no longer consumed by my all-consuming love.” You’re proud of that, aren’t you, Miss Jenny Han?)

And, see, I wouldn’t mind (I probably would) if Lara Jean’s thoughts were particularly riveting. Mildly entertaining, at the very least- that’s all I’m asking for.

Lara Jean is uninteresting; almost painfully so. Film-LJ’s quirkiness barely translates to the pages. Sure, Lara Jean likes romance… and baking… and antiques… and writing letters to boys who are supposedly out of her league and who could never fall for little old her. And she’s a bad driver. She idolizes her older sister. Decent character traits for a YA protagonist. And, as far as I recall, no internalized misogyny that comes in the form of slut-shaming, which is a rarity for the genre of YA. Great.

And yet there’s something about book-LJ that feels so… contrived. A little Mary Sue-ish, if you will. Papery.

Which can be said about almost every other character (except Chris and Kitty. Margot, to an extent, but I don’t like her).

There are loads of useless info-dumps strewn throughout the story, which makes me wonder if it wasn’t edited. The writing’s just… bad. It’s more like a Wattpad story (when did ‘Wattpad story’ become the paragon of bad YA? Honestly speaking, though, all the popular Wattpad books give the website a bad name. There are some incredibly well-written works on it- yes, even Harry Styles fanfiction. Not every Wattpad story is going to be *bleh* After or The Kissing Booth. But I digress). Lara Jean goes into too much detail about her outfits and the trivial details of… everything, really. And, well, no one gives a fuck.

Which brings me to: the love triangle. Beloved of all YA clichés, pretty much a staple in the genre at this point. Always with the female main character choosing between two men, both conventionally attractive in a very Eurocentric way. Usually, it’s painfully obvious who gets the girl; “Emma Notlikeothergirls has to choose between the handsome, confident, gorgeous, athletic, strapping Ashton Dreamboat and that rando who lives next door, Billy Whatsisname. Whoever will she choose?”

I’ll give credit where credit is due. The book makes both Peter and Josh (unrelated, but why are the boys’ names so standard Hoosier boy-ish? You’ve got girls named Genevieve and Margot, and the boys are pretty much the twelve apostles) pretty evenly matched. Josh has the whole boy-next-door, childhood friends, I-have-always-loved-you cliché going for him, while Peter’s the popular boy, the jock, the guy every girl wants to be with and every guy wants to be.

And yet they’re both complete dicks.

I’m supposed to be rooting for one of them. Team Peter or Team Josh; either Peter-Jane or Lara-Josh. Either the guy who’s got nothing but his looks going for him, or the guy who slept with her sister and kissed her without her consent. hOwEvEr WiLL sHe ChOOsE???

And I was never really convinced that Peter actually developed feelings for Lara Jean, ever. Maybe I’m just oblivious, but they seemed more like friends instead of lovers. I was lowkey shipping Lara Jean x Chris, even though I knew that was plain wishful thinking; I already got my Asian MC, this won’t be getting too diverse.

Other clichés I’m tired of seeing but were unfortunately present: Lucas, the token Gay Best Friend (I was annoyed with the movie for making him the Rafiki to Lara Jean’s Simba and nothing else, but rereading the book made me realize that they didn’t have much to work with in the first place); Margot, the Bitchy Sister (I never forgave her for lying to their dad about Lara Jean having sex. Seriously, how low can you get? JOSH kissed LARA JEAN, not the other way around! Margot’s supposed to be the same age I am, I think, so I believe I have the ability to call her out on her bullshit); Genevieve, the Bitch Queen Extraordinaire; Kitty, the Annoying Younger Sibling (but I love and cherish her so I don’t mind it).

“The sibling dynamic was surprisingly better written than a solid 75% of the book,” says me, an only child.

Also, a final complaint: is having sex that big of a deal? I get Lara Jean being (rightfully) horrified at the accusations, and Peter Kavinskydick deserves a decent roundhouse kick (the movie did a better job of making Peter’s actions forgivable), but why does everyone else care? Seriously, do you have that little fodder for gossip?

THE UGLY

Am I going to complain about the sequel to the movie based off of the sequel to the book that I can’t remember anything of besides the fact that John Ambrose was ten times the man Peter Kavinsky was? You bet I am.

In all honesty, I can’t remember much of the book version of P.S. I Still Love You. Rest assured that I was Team John Ambrose all the way, both while reading the book and watching the movie. I don’t want to make myself suffer through the book again, so I’ll resort to bashing the movie sequel.

This movie sucked balls. Not on the level of Sierra Burgess is a Loser or Swiped or The Kissing Booth or- yikes- The Kissing Booth 2, but it was still pretty bad. It’s pretty obvious that the two movies weren’t directed by the same person. For all its plot-related shortcomings, the first film was charming and pretty widely well-received. The second film takes all that charm and cuteness and fluff and flushes it down the toilet, along with the tiniest bit of affection I had for the character of Peter Kavinsky. Lara Jean, too, to an extent.

At least Peter and Josh were evenly matched. John Ambrose is lightyears ahead of Peter. And yet Lara Jean chooses Peter because… the first dick is the best dick? Make it make sense!

She’s leading John Ambrose on during the entire film, and I normally hate using that term because it’s such an incel way of putting things. But she doesn’t tell John Ambrose about Peter and her dating, even though she’s had the opportunity to do so countless times. She gets mad at Peter for being close to Genevieve, and yet? Hypocrite much? Not to mention she kisses John Ambrose, right before she’s like, “whoops haha guess I don’t like you that much after all :/ lol my bad”.

John Ambrose deserved better, and that is the hill I will die on.