#the villain edit

[mydarlinginej]

read my full review of the villain edit by laurie devore here.

Emily Henry meets Fleabag …and The Bachelor! An irresistibly sharp and sexy dramedy about a cynical romance novelist who goes on a Bachelor-like reality show to revive her flagging career, only to discover that while she may have just met the love of her life, the producers have turned her into the show’s villain.

Good villains make good TV.

Romance novelist Jacqueline Matthis’s big career has gone bust and she’s ditched the bright lights of New York City for her more affordable South Carolina hometown. Desperate, Jac dreams up a comeback plan—she is going to be a contestant on the 1, the most obsessively watched reality dating show in the world.

After all Jac is a romance writer—she knows how to pull off a meet-cute and create a spicy plotline.

On set, Jac quickly establishes herself as a front-runner for bachelor Marcus’s heart, but she’s shocked to discover who’s actually pulling the strings. How was she to know that Henry Foster, her last one-night stand before the show, was actually a longtime producer on the 1? Henry is just as horrified…but they can’t seem to keep their hands off each other.

As Jac plays the game and the show unfurls, she slowly discovers that she’s getting the villain edit. They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity, but as Jac’s secret plan begins crumbling around her, she’s not so sure. What happens if Marcus chooses her? Worse, what happens if her affair with Henry comes to light? What if, in trying to save her career, Jac has ruined her life?

Heartbreaking, smart, and sexy, this novel is for anyone who has ever secretly rooted for—or felt like—the villain.

my review:

A friend brought this book onto my radar after we had a lengthy conversation about celebrity/fame books, and man am I glad she did. This is actually my second full five-star read of 2024, and I am just so genuinely obsessed with it. Spectacularly fucked up and messy, The Villain Edit explores what it means to be the villain in everyone’s story—and how to find your happy ending no matter the cost.

Jacqueline Matthis is a romance author whose career recently crashed after her publisher cancelled her books. After a few months of wallowing, she suddenly decides to go on the 1, a Bachelor-type dating reality show, as a means of improving her public persona. Once Jac arrives, she has instant chemistry with Marcus, the lead, but everything soon comes crashing down when she runs into Henry Foster, the only producer she hadn’t met prior to the show—and coincidentally the man she had a one-night stand with the day before filming started. As she navigates the complexity and toxicity of a reality show set, she soon discovers that she’s getting the villain edit and must decide what she actually wants.

Again, I cannot stress how genuinely obsessed with this book I am. I read maybe 20% in one day and was like, okay she’s good, and then somehow the next day I got so sucked in and read the rest of the book in one sitting over the course of some 7 hours. So yeah, it’s that serious for me.

I loved how complex Jac’s characterization is. Her voice is snarky and up-front and not afraid to get on your bad side, a self-admitted bitch. On the other hand, though, she’s so tired of being “too much” for every guy she’s ever dated; she just wants to find love, someone who will finally accept all of her. She wants so badly to be special and to be recognized for being special, and when her career came crashing down, she didn’t really know how to cope. Going on the show is clearly some amount of self destruction (and a lot of her actions on the show are too).

read my full review here.

[vamprisms]

i feel like a lot of the 'i hate kids' crowd would be more tolerant if they understood that due to a kid's limited experience of the world that 4 hour flight might just be the longest they've ever had to sit still for or that trapped finger might literally be the most pain they've ever felt in their short life or they might not have ever seen a person with pink hair ever so of course they want to touch it or nobody's told them yet that they can't run around the museum and they only just learned cheetahs are the fastest animals so of course they want to put that to the test. how were they supposed to know etc etc.

[wondereads]

Weekly Reading Update (11/24/24 + 12/1/24)

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (★★★★☆.5)

I take back everything I said about this book previously. It's still a bit too slow in the first third for my taste, but it was genuinely a very good novel. The mystery of who Piranesi is and his journey to rediscover it were incredibly engaging once I got into it, and the House itself is such an interesting setting. It was particularly useful for my thesis, revolving around questions I'm exploring in-depth. What's better; preserving our past or moving into progress? It's also relevant to the issues of history and memory I'll be writing about as well. Overall a very well-written, excellent book.

More under the cut

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (★★★★☆.5)

Naomi Novik continues her streak of writing books meant specifically for me. From the first few pages I knew I was going to love Miryem, and I was absolutely correct. Her personality is right up my alley as a long-time fan of no-nonsense protagonists, and I enjoyed seeing her go back and forth with the Staryk King. I wasn't anticipating so many other perspectives—some of them I really enjoyed, such as Wanda and Irina, but others felt like they clogged the story somewhat, such as Irina's handmaiden. The magic was very fairy tale-esque, with most power being held in belief and ideas, such as proving a power three times making it true. Just as with what I consider the companion book to this, Uprooted, it is only a retelling in the loosest sense, really only using a few elements before creating a whole new story.

The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett (★★★★☆)

I am embarking on my Discworld journey, and I am someone who prefers to go in order. This was an odd read in that it is both quintessentially classic fantasy, such as in the writing and worldbuilding, while also clearly being a parody of classic fantasy at the same time. It was a very silly story but highly enjoyable, and I'm still trying to puzzle out that ending; I understand Rincewind is a recurring character in this series, so I can't wait to see more of him! One of my favorite parts of this book was how it put modern, real world elements in the story and, for lack of a better word, fantasized them, such as the camera that does actually have a little demon inside drawing all the pictures.

The Villain Edit by Laurie Devore (★★★★☆)

I was just looking for an audiobook for a long drive, and I happened upon this one, whose author I saw at Yallfest. This is a Bachelor-inspired novel about a struggling author who joins the competition to boost her book sales, only to be hated by the entire audience. One thing I really loved about this book was that the main character, Jac, is clearly not a great person. She's selfish, she's money-motivated, and she definitely falls prey to internalized misogyny a few times. This isn't about some poor, misunderstood, exploited saint, it's about a woman who isn't the most likable person being villainized to the extreme. Jac is complex, which is part of why I really enjoyed her, and her working out her issues kept me far more engaged in this book than the romance. Just like Jac's own books, I would say this is less a romance and more a contemporary novel, as what's really important is Jac, not her love life. There were some things I didn't like about this novel—Jac isn't the first person to think this way, and she makes some pretty horrendous decisions—but overall I quite liked this book, even as someone who doesn't typically read contemporary.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (★★★★☆.5)

This was a reread for my thesis. On one hand, it wasn't super useful for the reason I returned to it. On the other, I wish I had the time to write about gender in this book. Noemi is unapologetically feminine, but so much of her character is made up of traits that are considered masculine, especially in the gothic novels this book is inspired by. Compare that to Francis, who is soft-spoken, timid, and definitely not an 'ideal' man, and Virgil, who is overwhelmingly masculine and forces Noemi into a more feminine role. I don't have the time to truly explore this now, but maybe once I graduate I'll return to it. Anyway, this is a slow, creeping sort of horror that makes me gag every time I read it (in a good way), and I highly recommend it if you're looking for a modernization of classic gothic stories, particularly in a non-European context.

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (CR 58%)

This book drives me INSANE. I am very fortunate to have a terrible memory so that when I reread books I love I get to rediscover them. I really admire the way Muir is not afraid to leave the reader confused, as there are more mysteries than I can count in this book. Harrow is a personal favorite character of mine, and I am a Griddlehark shipper to the end. Even with just the plot, there is so much to discover in the world of the Nine Houses and what the hell is going on with God and his saints; if I had unlimited time I would be locked into this book.

For She Is Wrath by Emily Varga (CR 77%)

Another audiobook and another Yallfest author; this one is a Pakistani Count of Monte Cristo retelling, a story I'm not familiar with. Either way, I'm having a great time with this; I love Dania (I support women's wrongs), and I like that she's so murderous and vengeful, which can be something authors shy away from, especially in YA. She reminds me a lot of Jude, #1 YA protagonist. While this is less complex than an adult political fantasy, there's still a decent amount of manipulation and machinations going on, which I'm loving. Some of this feels bit awkward—too convenient or too contrived—but for the most part it's a great book.

Knot the One They Want by Harper Lennox (DNF @ 28%)

You know that one tumblr post about people being so chronically online they start speaking out against issues that just don't exist in real life, like "let men be masculine"? Well, this is "let women be feminine." The main character of this book is a very typical omega (if you can't tell from the title, this is an omegaverse), who wants nothing more than a loving pack. The author is clearly trying to strike a balance between 'the main character buys into this social structure' and 'it's bad to treat people like bargaining chips' and keeps contradicting themself, having the main character completely gung-ho about mating one minute and suddenly lamenting her lack of freedom the next. Also, the writing is very poor (I should be compensated for every time I read "gilded cage") with terrible pacing. The whole plot is a marriage of convenience; I'm over a quarter through and they haven't even gotten married yet! I have better books I could be reading.

[lillybean730]

[aphel1on]

i have such a love for characters who descend into madness or villainy out of deep, deep empathy. characters who fundamentally cannot cope with the cruel realities they find themselves in and blow up about it in spectacular fashion. fallen angel type characters with tears of outrage in their eyes. characters who break before they bend, and break so badly they splatter blood all over their noble ideals. every variation on it gets me so good

[eddies-spaghetti]

“despite everything, it’s still you” 💙

[sailorsenshigifs]

[archerdepartures116]

saw cdrama winter clothes on pintrest and wanted to draw smth

[gradelstuff]

My Hero Academia - Art Card Collection Vol. 1 from Jump Shop Online (2024)

[indy829]

My twobats edit of Batman: The Adventures Continue Season Three (2023) #2. Bruce doesn't like a blabbermouth.

[intotheelliwoods]

FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST <- <-

Fullmetal Alchemist

My entry (well, entries) for this weeks theme "Heros and Villains" for the @tmntfashioncompetition !!

Its Sprout! Dressed as the guy I might have taken inspiration from back when I first designed his prosthetic- I mean automail-

My opponent is the lovely one and only @bluesgras <3 <3

Bonus:

References:

[prismatoxic]

"chilchuck isn't a twink, he's a DILF!" now i get why you're saying that but i feel like you've maybe forgotten what chilchuck tims canonically looks like

i'm sorry but this man is a twink. also DILF isn't a body type it's a status (and technically, an opinion) so he can be both

"but he's middle-aged!" look at him. look with your eyeballs. his age has nothing to do with the fact that he Looks Like That. he's a twink. the sooner you accept this the less angry his fandom will make you

edit bc this post has become the bane of my existence:

FAQ

Q: wtf do you mean he's a dad? he looks like a kid. A: he is 29 years old, and a half-foot. half-foots are dungeon meshi's halflings, or hobbits, or whatever you want to call them.

Q: wait, if he's 29, why the fuck are you calling him middle-aged? A: half-foots have an average lifespan of 50 years. chilchuck was originally drawn with grey hairs (you can see that in the manga fullbody) but the mangaka gave up on that over time. he's middle-aged for his race.

Q: hey, doesn't that look like a little angry face on his boot in the manga drawing? A: yea kinda

[junodoom]

swordtember day 14: poisonous

i’ll be skipping tomorrow, back to swords on the 16th!

[twirlymarimo]

The General's Cozy Morning

[luzriels]

CHARLIE VICKERS in Season 2 of The Rings of Power