#than pressing upon them the idea that it should be this epic battle of tension and painful pining and everything
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my official take on the moon/qibli/winter love triangle is that winterwatcher is a much grander, epic romance, and moonbli is a much more level, sweet-and-simple romance, but ultimately i think it was a better decision to have the latter be the canon romance in a series primarily marketed towards children and teens than fall into the "bad boy" romance trope, and instead romanticize the earnest, genuine, sweet relationship
obviously there's way more nuance to this involving internalized/unconscious bias, and winter doesn't even REALLY fit into the "bad boy" archetype, but purely based on genre conventions, the gruff, rude, brooding, tortured hero VERY often falls into that category, and at the ages of 7-14 most of us were very LIKELY to be romanticizing that archetype, which again is very often treated as interchangeable with the "abusive bad boy" trope, and while i might have a few gripes with the writing of moonbli and i ENJOY winterwatcher a whole lot, i DO appreciate the more gentle, "safe" romance being treated as the ideal, rather than the tense and angst-filled nature of the alternative
#i could talk about this way more but im in the middle of rereading dod so itll have to wait#what i DO have to add is like. something something the ideal romance being the calmer safer one and how - for me at least -#those years of my life were so complicated and difficult and i made this image of romance out to be this massive painful epic tale#of heartbreak and passion and huge declarations of love and everything#but ultimately; imparting the lesson to children that a romantic relationship should be SAFE - it should be your comfortable place#where youre happy and content and feel warm and secure - is MUCH better#than pressing upon them the idea that it should be this epic battle of tension and painful pining and everything#(whether its something simply overlooked in the writing or not; the fact is winter also DIDNT ever apologize to moon for#all the hurtful things he said or did - which isnt to say hes a BAD GUY i love winter so much -#but i think romanticizing those kinds of dynamics - which is tricky but CAN be done - is better saved for works marketed towards#more mature and emotionally intelligent audiences than i think wof might be meant for)#ANYWAY I HAVE LOTS OF THOUGHTS#god im so glad i got back into this series. the literary love of my life#mine#wof#winter#moon#qibli#wings of fire#winterwatcher#moonbli#meta
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New Releases
With summer break almost upon us, or for those of us already lucky to be out, these new releases are perfect for road trips or sitting by the pool.
Virtually Yours by Sarvenaz Tash Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers
Modern love plus online anonymity is a recipe for romantic disaster in this lighthearted new romance from the author of The Geekâs Guide to Unrequited Love.
How bad can one little virtual lie be?
NYU freshman Mariam Vakilian hasnât dated anyone in five months, not since her high school sweetheart Caleb broke up with her. So, when she decides to take advantage of an expiring coupon and try out a new virtual reality dating service, itâs sort of a big deal.
Itâs an even bigger deal when it chooses as one of her three matches none other than Caleb himself. That has to be a sign, right?
Except that her other match, Jeremy, just happens to be her new best friend IRL.
Mariamâs heart is telling her one thing, but the app is telling her another. So, which should she trust? Is all fair in modern love? â Cover image and summary via Goodreads
Five Midnights by Ann DĂĄvila Cardinal Tor Teen
Five friends cursed. Five deadly fates. Five nights of retribuciĂłn.
If Lupe DĂĄvila and Javier Utierre can survive each otherâs company, together they can solve a series of grisly murders sweeping though Puerto Rico. But the clues lead them out of the real world and into the realm of myths and legends. And if they want to catch the killer, theyâll have to step into the shadows to see whatâs lurking thereâmurderer, or monster? â Cover image and summary via Goodreads
Not Your Backup by C.B. Lee
Emma Robledo has a few more responsibilities that the usual high school senior, but then again, she and her friends have left school to lead a fractured Resistance movement against a corrupt Heroes League of Heroes. Emma is the only member of a supercharged team without powers, she isnât always taken seriously. A natural leader, Emma is determined to win this battle, and when thatâs done, get back to school. As the Resistance moves to challenge the League, Emma realizes where her place is in this fight: at the front.
Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian Balzer + Bray
Itâs 1989 in New York City, and for three teens, the world is changing.
Reza is an Iranian boy who has just moved to the city with his mother to live with his stepfather and stepbrother. Heâs terrified that someone will guess the truth he can barely acknowledge about himself. Reza knows heâs gay, but all he knows of gay life are the mediaâs images of men dying of AIDS.
Judy is an aspiring fashion designer who worships her uncle Stephen, a gay man with AIDS who devotes his time to activism as a member of ACT UP. Judy has never imagined finding romanceâŚuntil she falls for Reza and they start dating.
Art is Judyâs best friend, their schoolâs only out and proud teen. Heâll never be who his conservative parents want him to be, so he rebels by documenting the AIDS crisis through his photographs.
As Reza and Art grow closer, Reza struggles to find a way out of his deception that wonât break Judyâs heartâand destroy the most meaningful friendship heâs ever known.
This is a bighearted, sprawling epic about friendship and love and the revolutionary act of living life to the fullest in the face of impossible odds. â Cover image and summary via Goodreads
I Wanna Be Where You Are by Kristina Forest Roaring Brook Press
âIn a world where itâs easy to lose faith in love, I WANNA BE WHERE YOU ARE is a brilliant burst of light. A dazzling debut.â â Nic Stone, New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin and Odd One Out
When Chloe Pierceâs mom forbids her to apply for a spot at the dance conservatory of her dreams, she devises a secret plan to drive two hundred miles to the nearest audition. But Chloe hits her first speed bump when her annoying neighbor Eli insists upon hitching a ride, threatening to tell Chloeâs mom if she leaves him and his smelly dog, Geezer, behind. So now Chloeâs chasing her ballet dreams down the east coastâtwo unwanted (but kinda cute) passengers in her car, butterflies in her stomach, and a really dope playlist on repeat.
Filled with roadside hijinks, heart-stirring romance, and a few broken rules, I Wanna Be Where You Are is a YA debut perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Sandhya Menon.
If It Makes You Happy by Claire Kann Swoon Reads
High school finally behind her, Winnie is all set to attend college in the fall. But first sheâs spending her summer days working at her grannyâs diner and begins spending her midnights with Dallasâthe boy she loves to hate and hates that she likes. Winnie lives in Misty Haven, a small town where secrets are impossible to keepâlike when Winnie allegedly snaps on Dr. Skinner, which results in everyone feeling compelled to give her weight loss advice for her own good. Because they care thatâs sheâs âtoo fat.â
Winnie dreams of someday inheriting the dinerâbut itâll go away if they canât make money, and fast. Winnie has a solutionâwin a televised cooking competition and make bank. But Granny doesnât want her to enterâso Winnie has to find a way around her formidable grandmother. Can she come out on top?
This Time Will Be Different by Misa Sugiura HarperTeen
Katsuyamas never quitâbut seventeen-year-old CJ doesnât even know where to start. Sheâs never lived up to her momâs type A ambition, and sheâs perfectly happy just helping her aunt, Hannah, at their familyâs flower shop.
She doesnât buy into Hannahâs romantic ideas about flowers and their hidden meanings, but when it comes to arranging the perfect bouquet, CJ discovers a knack she never knew she had. A skill she might even be proud of.
Then her mom decides to sell the shopâto the family who swindled CJâs grandparents when thousands of Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps during WWII. Soon a rift threatens to splinter CJâs family, friends, and their entire Northern California community; and for the first time, CJ has found something she wants to fight for.
When the Ground Is Hard by Malla Nunn G.P. Putnamâs Sons Books for Young Readers
In this stunning and heartrending tale set in a Swaziland boarding school, two girls of different castes bond over a shared copy of Jane Eyre.
Adele Joubert loves being one of the popular girls at Keziah Christian Academy. She knows the upcoming semester at school is going to be great with her best friend Delia at her side. Then Delia dumps her for a new girl with more money, and Adele is forced to share a room with Lottie, the school pariah, who doesnât pray and defies teachersâ orders.
But as they share a copy of Jane Eyre, Lottieâs gruff exterior and honesty grow on Adele, and Lottie learns to be a little sweeter. Together, they take on bullies and protect each other from the vindictive and prejudiced teachers. Then a boy goes missing on campus and Adele and Lottie must rely on each other to solve the mystery and maybe learn the true meaning of friendship.
The Boxer by Nikesh Shukla Hodder Childrenâs Books
Told over the course of the ten rounds of his first fight, this is the story of amateur boxer Sunny. A seventeen-year-old feeling isolated and disconnected in the city heâs just moved to, Sunny joins a boxing club to learn to protect himself after a racist attack. He finds the community heâs been desperately seeking at the club, and a mentor in trainer Shona, who helps him find his place in the world. But racial tensions are rising in the city, and when a Far Right march through Bristol turns violent, Sunny is faced with losing his new best friend Keir to radicalisation.
A gripping, life-affirming YA novel about friendship, radicalisation and finding where you belong.
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Sometimes, Jun felt like he had to be the absolute dumbest person on the planet.
Sure, heâd mostly gotten into university on the backs of his good grades, and sure, he was generally a good student, but that didnât erase the fact that he made some stupid ass decisions.
Namely, telling Yuuki that his next day off was Saturday without remembering why heâd had to trade shifts to make sure he had that Saturday off.
He needed a full twenty four hours to recover from a full moon.
Full moons had never been fun. It always felt like bugs were crawling under his skin and all he wanted to do was get outside and run, but there were laws about doing that around people and as a resident of Tokyo, Jun was around a lot of people.
And then he always ended up breaking something. Even though he never lost himself, despite what terrible erotic novels tried to say otherwise, it was like he had no impulse control. No matter what he told himself beforehand, he always woke up the next morning with something smashed. His family all had the same problem, and theyâd had to pack away valuables every month just in case.
No one wanted a repeat of the year theyâd broken Grandmaâs good vase.
And, of course, Jun felt like shit the next day. Shifting from a human to a wolf was one thing, but when he couldnât run the shift off, his muscles got all cramped up and he could barely move the next day, which was only made worse by a mostly sleepless night.
And on top of everything else, he had a cold.
But Jun had promised heâd meet Yuuki, and theyâd never actually exchanged phone numbers or email addresses, so Jun had no way of cancelling. He just had to throw a medical mask on and hope he didnât look like he was in pain the entire time.
He felt worse when he saw Yuuki on his phone in front of the coffee shop, clearly having been there for more than a few minutes. He couldnât even take advantage of the chance to observe Yuuki without being observed.
Jun really wished heâd done literally anything other than yelling at Yuuki immediately upon meeting. Namely, politely offering to let Yuuki sit on his face.
âHey, sorry Iâm late,â Jun said, wincing at how hoarse his voice sounded. From the looks his neighbors had given him that morning, heâd done his fair share of howling last night.
âItâs fine, I wasnât waiting long,â Yuuki replied, finishing off his text message. âHope youâreâŚare you okay?â
âIâm fine.â Even Jun could tell he didnât sound fine.
âYou look sick,â Yuuki said, reaching out a hand to feel Junâs forehead. Jun was so surprised that he let it happen. âYouâre a little warm, but I donât think youâre feverish.â
âIâm not,â Jun said. âItâs justâŚa cold?â
âSounds like a nasty cold,â Yuuki said. âSorry for making you come out.â
âCome on, you didnât know I was gonna get sick,â Jun said, waving it off and then wincing as the motion pulled one too many sore muscles.
âDo you like soup?â Yuuki asked. Jun nodded. âI know a place close by thatâll still serve miso. Want that?â
Soup actually sounded like a pretty good idea right then.
Jun followed Yuuki into a small family restaurant tucked away from the main street. It had cozy booths, low lighting, and best of all, almost nobody around. It was quiet and peaceful, and Jun released some tension he hadnât even realized heâd been carrying.
He let Yuuki handle the ordering of soup and some hot tea, looking around the place.
âDo you know the area?â Jun asked. He never wouldâve noticed this restaurant on his own, hidden away as it was.
âI grew up around here,â Yuuki told him. âIâm not familiar with all of Tokyo, but this area I know pretty well. You?â
âIâm from Kanagawa prefecture,â Jun said. The waitress placed a cup of tea on the table, and Jun scooped it up gratefully. He wasnât cold, especially not with summer on the brink of breaking outside, but the heat soothed his sore muscles anyway.
âSo youâre just here for university?â Yuuki asked. Jun nodded.
âSeidou is one of the best schools for magic in the country,â he explained. âOne of the only schools. And there are more people with magic here.â
âI always wondered why that was,â Yuuki mused.
âProbably just because itâs a big city,â Jun suggested. âMore people, more jobs, more opportunities. Itâs the same with Sendai up north. And itâs easier for us to be around other people like us.â
Yuuki just studied him, for long enough that Jun felt his cheeks flushing and the waitress brought soup for him and some kind of rice bowl dish for Yuuki.
âWhatâs it like living here and being human?â Jun asked. Even in Tokyo, after all, only about half of the residents had some kind of magic in their blood. Yuuki shrugged.
âSometimes it feels like half the city is in some secret club Iâm not invited to,â he said. âMost of the time, though, it just feels normal. Iâve always lived here. This is just how life is.â
Jun decided that was fair enough.
âSo what exactly do you study at magic school?â Yuuki asked. âIâve always wondered.â
âYou know Seidou has a website, right?â Jun asked. Yuuki looked surprised at the information, so maybe he hadnât. âWell, Iâm a practical magic major. Doesnât mean much, something like three fourths of the school is practical magic. Thereâs a lot of ways you can specialize. The people who want to be teachers have a few extra classes, and thereâs a program for people who want to specialize in combat and go into the police. I think you have to take a special exam to get into that.â
âSo what are you?â
âJust general practical magic for now,â Jun said. âI can choose to specialize later, or I can just graduate with the general degree. I havenât decided yet.â
âWhat do you do with a degree in practical magic?â
âHonestly, just about anything you want, but if you know a specific field you want to go into, you should probably pick a specialization.â
âSo what do you want to do?â
Jun gave him an unimpressed look, because he was eighteen and fuck if he knew. Yuukiâs expression didnât change much, but he also didnât press the question. It was almost too easy for Jun to direct them in another direction.
âWhat about you, what do you study?â Jun asked, almost surprised to find he was actually interested in the answer. What did arguably the hottest man Jun had ever met with a penchant for sugary coffee study.
âClassical literature.â
âYouâre shitting me.â
âNo.â Yuuki gave him a confused stare. âI like classical literature.â
âSometimes I think you picked the most unpredictable thing you could do and then did it just to mess with everyone,â Jun told him.
âPlenty of people study classical literature.â
âNot people who look like you.â
âWhat do I look like?â
Someday, Jun was going to learn to watch his mouth, but clearly today wasnât that day.
âLikeâŚa jock?â he tried, and breathed a quiet sigh of relief when Yuuki let it go.
âI wanted to go to Meiji because thatâs where my high school coach went,â Yuuki explained. âHe gave up a professional career because he wanted to give back to his school and coach the new baseball team. I always really looked up to him.â
âIs that what you want to do?â Jun asked. âGo back, teach classical literature, coach the baseball team?â
Yuuki shrugged.
âI havenât decided yet,â he said. âItâs a nice idea, but maybe I also want to go pro. Iâve had offers.â
âYou must be good.â
âIâm a starter for Meiji. Mostly, though, itâs just because I worked hard.â
Jun privately thought that Yuuki would be saving a lot of people a lot of grief by shelving his plan to go into teaching and going into the pro leagues. Every female student that was even remotely interested in men would have an epic crush on him, but there were probably a group of male students that would learn a thing or two about themselves from having Yuuki as a teacher.
Jun honestly had no clue how he wouldâve gotten through high school if heâd had a teacher that looked as good as Yuuki did.
It was almost soothing, the way their conversation turned to baseball, Jun asking questions because he understood the game in the broad sense but didnât understand the finer points of strategy, Yuuki telling him about their chances against other universities based on how the spring had gone and how their new first years were integrating in. Apparently the next tournament wouldnât be until the fall, well after Jun was done with the coven battle against Inashiro in the summer. He made a mental note to mark the games in his calendar, if only because Yuuki had worked damn hard to apologize for something he hadnât done, and if nothing else Jun could go watch him play at least once.
It was for purely selfless reasons.
Jun barely noticed the time passing, almost shocked at how easy it was to talk to Yuuki, despite how stoic he looked. He volunteered information easily enough if asked, and Jun was almost certain he had an incredibly dry, sarcastic sense of humor, but he wasnât sure. Yuukiâs poker face was really good.
In fact, it wasnât until the waitress left a check pointedly at Yuukiâs elbow that Jun realized theyâd been there for almost three hours. He hadnât felt his sore muscles since theyâd started talking.
âLet me get part of that,â Jun said, reaching for the check. Yuuki held it out of reach, and damn him, he was tall enough that it worked.
âIâm buying you food to apologize to you,â Yuuki insisted.
âThatâs the other thing,â Jun said. âYou really have nothing to apologize for. I was being a dick and I had a long shift. If anything, I should be apologizing to you. And buying you dinner to thank you for not getting me fired.â
âI donât know, my teammates said that was a pretty obnoxious drink,â Yuuki said, steadfast deadpan expression in place as he left money on the table and stood to offer Jun his hand. âMaybe I deserved to get yelled at for it, and maybe this is me apologizing for asking for a ridiculous drink.â
This time, Jun was looking for it, and he caught the barest quiver of a lip and a shaking shoulder.
âYouâve been fucking with me this entire time!â he accused. âI saw you laugh!â
âSorry, sorry,â Yuuki said, breaking down into quiet laughter that barely counted as laughter. âYou make really interesting faces, I wanted to see how long it would take you to notice.â
âButâŚyou werenât teasing me when you asked to buy me dinner.â It was less question and more statement.
âNo.â
âSo why did you feel like you had to apologize this much?â
âMaybe I just wanted to buy you dinner.â
Jun had no clue what to do with that, because now that he knew what to look for, he could see the little quirk in Yuukiâs lips. He held out his hand.
âPhone.â
âWhat?â
âGive me your phone.â
Yuuki didnât even argue, just handed his phone over. Jun scrolled through to the ubiquitous LINE app, typing his own ID into the search bar.
âThere,â Jun said, handing Yuuki his phone back and pulling his own out to accept the friend request heâd just sent himself. âNow you can text me instead of stalking me at my workplace.â
âMaybe I had fun doing that.â
âMaybe itâll be easier on both of us if you just text me next time you want to hang out.â
âIs that an open invitation?â
âYes,â Jun said without thinking. âWell, no. Exams start for us soon, and I have to study. But after that. Yes.â
âIâll text you.â
And the thing was, Jun really did need to study, but he was the most relaxed heâd ever felt the day after a full moon, and he was going to enjoy it for as long as it lasted.
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Yeah, I totally agree with this. I actually do prefer Moonbli just in general, but I thought that it was a cool thing that Tui and Moon were just like âok. So Winter is the friend but he was like. Super racist when they first met and also mean for like nearly 1/2 the series and he CAN change but also itâs a process and plus just like. Let Moon be happyâ.
Yk?
my official take on the moon/qibli/winter love triangle is that winterwatcher is a much grander, epic romance, and moonbli is a much more level, sweet-and-simple romance, but ultimately i think it was a better decision to have the latter be the canon romance in a series primarily marketed towards children and teens than fall into the "bad boy" romance trope, and instead romanticize the earnest, genuine, sweet relationship
obviously there's way more nuance to this involving internalized/unconscious bias, and winter doesn't even REALLY fit into the "bad boy" archetype, but purely based on genre conventions, the gruff, rude, brooding, tortured hero VERY often falls into that category, and at the ages of 7-14 most of us were very LIKELY to be romanticizing that archetype, which again is very often treated as interchangeable with the "abusive bad boy" trope, and while i might have a few gripes with the writing of moonbli and i ENJOY winterwatcher a whole lot, i DO appreciate the more gentle, "safe" romance being treated as the ideal, rather than the tense and angst-filled nature of the alternative
#itâs hard to explain#wof#wings of fire#moonbli#winterwatcher#wof winter#wof moonwatcher#qibli#wof qibli#ok opâs tags now so yâall can read them#i could talk about this way more but im in the middle of rereading dod so itll have to wait#what i DO have to add is like. something something the ideal romance being the calmer safer one and how - for me at least -#those years of my life were so complicated and difficult and i made this image of romance out to be this massive painful epic tale#but ultimately; imparting the lesson to children that a romantic relationship should be SAFE - it should be your comfortable place#of heartbreak and passion and huge declarations of love and everything#where youre happy and content and feel warm and secure - is MUCH better#than pressing upon them the idea that it should be this epic battle of tension and painful pining and everything#(whether its something simply overlooked in the writing or not; the fact is winter also DIDNT ever apologize to moon for#all the hurtful things he said or did - which isnt to say hes a BAD GUY i love winter so much -#but i think romanticizing those kinds of dynamics - which is tricky but CAN be done - is better saved for works marketed towards#more mature and emotionally intelligent audiences than i think wof might be meant for)#ANYWAY I HAVE LOTS OF THOUGHTS#god im so glad i got back into this series. the literary love of my life
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