#the co-op

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 2/5

Book Blurb:

The all-new renovated edition with expanded scenes and bonus content!

They say love and construction don't mix. By that logic, hate and construction may as well be condemned.

LaRynn Lavigne and Deacon Leeds had one short and contentious summer fling when they were teens—certainly nothing to build a foundation on. But a decade later, when their grandmothers have left them with shared ownership of their dilapidated Santa Cruz building, they're thrust back together and have to figure out how to brace up the pieces.

LaRynn has the money, but in order to access her trust, she has to be married. Deacon has the construction expertise, but lacks the funds. A deal is struck: Marry for however long it takes to fix up the property, collect a profit, and cut ties.

Thrust into a home without walls, LaRynn and Deacon quickly learn that it's easy to hide behind emotional ones, even in a marriage. But with all the exposure and pitfalls that come with living with the opposite sex (and none of the perks, much to their growing mutual frustration) they'll also have to learn what it means to truly cooperate as a team.

Filled with crackling tension, The Co-op is a steamy second chance romance about restoration and renovation, and uncovering all the things that build character within ourselves. It's about the never-ending construction project that partnership is, and finding enjoyment at every stage.

Review:

A complicated history, a marriage of convenience, and inheriting the co ownership of their grandmothers' dilapidated building, can these two people who get under each other's skin manage to make this marriage work? LaRynn Lavigne and Deacon Leeds had a short summer fling when they were teens that ended badly.... and now a decade later they have to face each other again since their grandmothers have left them shared ownership of their dilapidated Santa Cruz building. LaRynn and Deacon get under each other's skin like no one else, yet when their grandmothers both pass they both now have to deal with the building they were both left. LaRynn has the money to help fix it but in order to get access to her trust she has to be married... and Deacon has construction expertise but has no money, so they strike up a deal to get married, fix and sell the place, and then get divorced. Yet they are also now living together as they work on fixing the building and now have to ace their past feelings as well as their new romance.... but can they make it work once everything is out in the air or was it meant to end from the beginning. Here's the thing, I loved Tarah's previous works and books and this is a complete rewrite of her previous work, however this one was a miss for me. I really could not stand LaRynn at all, she was such a childish and selfish FMC and honestly I have no idea what Deacon every saw in her. For two people in their 30s, they acted like children, and honestly everything LaRynn did just infuriated me, especially the throw pillow incident and the toothbrush thing. I just could not like this couple despite how hard I tried and sadly this was a miss for me. I do love Tarah's writing and will be reading her future work, this one just didn't really hit the spot for me in particular. While it didn't work for me, if you like second chance romances maybe give this a go.

Release Date: November 12,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[jessread-s]

*Thanks to the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*

✩🌅🔨Review:

DeWitt nails it with this steamy second chance romance!

“The Co-Op” follows LaRynn Lavigne and Deacon Leeds, a decade after their summer fling, when they’re thrust back together and have to figure out how repair the dilapidated Santa Cuz building their grandmothers left them. LaRynn has the money, but in order to access her trust, she has to be married. Deacon has the construction expertise, but lacks the funds. They strike up a deal to marry for however long it takes fix up the property, collect a profit, and cut ties. But it’s all easier said than done when sparks reignite. 

This is just one of those books that makes you feel and feel deeply. LaRynn and Deacon’s renovation of their home, themselves, and their relationship is beautiful, emotional, and messy. I think the mess is what I love most about this book. Both characters are flawed in their own ways because they are brought up by parents whose marriages were irreparable and lacked love. It is for that reason that LaRynn and Deacon struggle to communicate, especially with each other. The dual timelines and perspectives highlight how this struggle resulted in the failure of their first relationship when they were younger. 

The restoration of their grandmothers’ home forces them to form a partnership where they are more open, honest, and trusting to build a better foundation on. I was rooting for them as they worked through their grief, miscommunications, and slowly let down their walls! Their romantic relationship is definitely slow to burn, but the payoff is profound, which just goes to show that some trials and tribulations are worth enduring! 

Cross-posted to: Instagram | Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph

[jcpdiesel21]

The last two books that I've read had playlists included that are also on Spotify. I don't know how long this trend has been active, but I really like it. It's a fun way to keep the characters and their worlds alive long after I've finished reading.

[guide-to-galaxy]

Top 5 (books I’m thankful for in 2024) Tuesday

While we don’t do Thanksgiving, I know what it’s about from Adams Family Values, so I think that’s enough? But let’s carry on! As usually, thanks so much to Meeghan Reads for the prompt! 📚🚀📚 Don’t Let the Forest In by C.G. Drews (GR/SG) – As alluring as it is unsettling, award-winning author CG Drews’ debut YA psychological horror will leave readers breathless and hesitant to venture deeper…

[twochaptersahead]

Book provided for free by NetGalley

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This wasn't my favorite but was still pretty cute. I had a hard time getting into it because I found the FMC really unlikable at the beginning, but she grew on me. I did like their growth and communication development and really loved that there was no third-act break up.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy, all thoughts are my own.

Blaze

0 notes

[blueysbookshelf]

2024: Book 27 - The Co-op

The Co-op by Tarah Dewitt My rating: 5 of 5 stars I keep trying to think of what I want to say about LaRynn and Deacon…but I can't…I can't come up with anything because there just aren't words to express how beautifully fun, heartfelt and touching this book was. Between this book and Funny Feelings, I am a Tarah Dewitt lover for life…everything she writes is golden for me and that's that on that. Read this. You'll love it. I use the CAWPILE Review method for my reviews (see explanation here), just to keep me honest and help me understand what exactly I liked/didn't like. My ratings are below. Characters: 9/10 Atmosphere/Setting: 8/10 Writing: 10/10 Plot: 9/10 Intrigue: 9/10 Logic/Relationships: 9/10 Enjoyment: 9/10 Total rating 63/70 divided by 7 = 9 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 🌶️ View all my reviews

[gerardpilled]

[lokh]

(not) recognising the self in the other...

[genericpuff]

Tbh at this point you should just make your own webcomic app/website because it would probably be 100 times better than whatever going on with webtoon right now.

hahaha it wouldn't tho, sorry 💀

Here's the fundamental issue with webcomic platforms that a lot of people just don't realize (and why they're so difficult to run successfully):

Storage costs are incredibly expensive, it's why so many sites have limitations on file sizes / page sizes / etc. because all of those images and site info have to be stored somewhere, which costs $$$.

Maintenance costs are expensive and get more so as you grow, you need people who are capable of fixing bugs ASAP and managing the servers and site itself

Financially speaking, webcomics are in a state of high supply, low demand. Loads of artists are willing to create their passion projects, but getting people to read them and pay for them is a whole other issue. Demand is high in the general sense that once people get attached to a webtoon they'll demand more, but many people aren't actually willing to go looking for new stuff to read and depend more on what sites feed them (and what they already like). There are a lot of comics to go around and thus a lot of competition with a limited audience of people willing to actually pay for them.

Trying to build a new platform from the ground up is incredibly difficult and a majority of sites fail within their first year. Not only do you have to convince artists to take a chance on your platform, you have to convince readers to come. Readers won't come if there isn't work on the platform to read, but artists won't come if they don't think the site will be worth it due to low traffic numbers. This is why the artists with large followings who are willing to take chances on the smaller sites are crucial, but that's only if you can convince them to use the site in favor of (or alongside) whatever platform they're using already where the majority of their audience lies. For many creators it's just not worth the time, energy, or risk.

Even if you find short-term success, in the long-term there are always going to be profit margins to maintain. The more users you pull in, the more storage is used by incoming artists, the more you have to spend on storage and server maintenance costs, and that means either taking the risk at crowdfunding (ex. ComicFury) or having to resort to outsider investments (ex. Tapas). Look at SmackJeeves, it used to be a titan in the independent webcomic hosting community, until it folded over to a buyout by NHN and then was pretty much immediately shuttered due to NHN basically turning it into a manwha scanlation site and driving away its entire userbase. And if you don't get bought out and try your hand at crowdfunding, you may just wind up living on a lifeline that could cut out at any moment, like what happened to Inkblazers (fun fact, the death of Inkblazers was what kicked off the cultural shift in Tapas around 2015-16 when all of IB's users migrated over and brought their work with them which was more aimed towards the BL and romancee drama community, rather than the comedy / gag-a-day culture that Tapas had made itself known for... now you deadass can't tell Tapas apart from a lot of scanlation sites because it got bought out by Kakao and kept putting all of its eggs into the isekai/romance drama basket.)

Right now the mindset in which artists and readers are operating is that they're trying way, way too hard to find a "one size fits all" site. Readers want a place where they can find all their favorite webtoons without much effort, artists wants a place where they can post to an audience of thousands, and both sides want a community that will feel tight-knit. But the reality is that you can't really have all three of those things, not on one site. Something always winds up having to be sacrificed - if a site grows big enough, it'll have to start seeking more funding while also cutting costs which will result in features becoming paywall'd, intrusive ads, creators losing their freedom, and/or outsider support which often results in the platform losing its core identity and alienating its tight-knit community.

If I had to describe what I'm talking about in a "pick one" graphic, it would look something like this:

(*note: this is mostly based on my own observations from using all of these sites at some point or another, they're not necessarily entirely accurate to the statistical performance of each site, I can only glean so much from experience and traffic trackers LMAO that said I did ask some comic pals for input and they were very helpful in helping me adjust it with their own takes <3).

The homogenization of the Internet has really whipped people into submission for the "big sites" that offer "everything", but that's never been the Internet, it relies on being multi-faceted and offering different spaces for different purposes. And we're seeing that ideology falter through the enshittification of sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. where users are at odds with the platforms because the platforms are gutting features in an attempt to satisfy shareholders whom without the platforms would not exist. Like, most of us aren't paying money to use social media sites / comic platform sites, so where else are they gonna make the necessary funds to keep these sites running? Selling ad space and locking features behind paywalls.

And this is especially true for a lot of budding sites that don't have the audience to support them via crowdfunding but also don't have the leverage to ask for investments - so unless they get really REALLY lucky in EITHER of those departments, they're gonna be operating at a loss, and even once they do achieve either of those things there are gonna be issues in the site's longevity, whether it be dying from lack of growing crowdfunding support or dying from shareholder meddling.

So what can we do?

We can learn how to take our independence back. We don't have to stop using these big platforms altogether as they do have things to offer in their own way, particularly their large audience sizes and dipping into other demographics that might not be reachable from certain sites - but we gotta learn that no single site is going to satisfy every wish we have and we have to be willing to learn the skills necessary to running our own spaces again. Pick up HTML/CSS, get to know other people who know HTML/CSS if you can't grasp it (it's me, I can't grasp it LOL), be willing to take a chance on those "smaller sites" and don't write them off entirely as spaces that can be beneficial to you just because they don't have large numbers or because they don't offer rewards programs. And if you have a really polished piece of work in your hands, look into agencies and publishing houses that specialize in indie comics / graphic novels, don't settle for the first Originals contract that gets sent your way.

For the last decade corporations have been convincing us that our worth is tied to the eyes we can bring to them. Instead of serving ourselves, we've begun serving the big guys, insisting that it has to be worth something eventually and that it'll "payoff" simply by the virtue of gambler's fallacy. Ask yourself what site is right for you and your work rather than asking yourself if your work is good enough for them. Most of us are broke trying to make it work on these sites anyways, may as well be broke and fulfilled by posting in places that actually suit us and our work if we can. Don't define your success by what sites like Webtoons are enforcing - that definition only benefits them, not you.

[pillowspace]

(Unreality:) Hey, has anyone here ever played that co-op game In Stars and Prologue? I need some help. My partner recently got a bug in which they've been stuck on the third floor and neither of us know how to get rid of it. I also think this game wasn't really built well for co-op because the rest of the party seems to only be able to process one Siffrin at a time, even when it's really obvious there's two? Which? Is weird because it's a two player game, why didn't the developer bother to account for two Siffrins???

[busket]

weird and wild takes coming out of the new dungeon meshi fandom

if you can read all of dungeon meshi and see how it revels in the eroticism of consumption and plays with themes about base instinct, overwhelming desire, loving something so much you want to take it inside you and keep it there forever...if you can read all that and think that the author would be against people sexualizing her characters then I don't know what to tell you. dungeon meshi isn't horny in the way most fantasy animes are horny, but it's a huge fault to think that means it's not horny at all in a more complex and allegorical way. sex is a huge part of human instinct, just like eating, and the wires often get crossed. its that's not a bad thing because sex isn't a bad thing, lol

[creekfiend]

Kuzu: I get the impression that the vampire interview is about if everybody from your local queer scene was immortal and you couldn’t get away from them. This is an effective vampire premise because unlike most, it fills me with genuine horror

Pip: yeah vampire interview is like "what if there were genuinely so few of you that if you wanted to be around anyone who you could even slightly relate to you would have to be in a bullshit theater cult in France." absolutely chilling to imagine, thanks

[fizpup]

hello cotl fandom ive missed you

[guide-to-galaxy]

Top 5 (orange books) Tuesday

I was debating on whether to keep The Priory of the Orange Tree but it does have orange on the cover and orange in the title so I think it could count as like double or something. If you don’t like that idea go tell Meeghan Reads about it! She’s making the prompts now 🫣. 📚🚀📚 The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (GR/SG) – A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy…

[h0nkshroom]

multiplayers your cult of the lamb

[kai-7kh]

Playing co-op with a friend

The white scug => @midorii-1015