#this book isn't a romance but it's a really well done romance imo

[treefey]

I ran across this post that was essentially about how good worldbuilding does so many things-- OP was struck how in a period drama when there's so much emphasis on being proper, the reckless abandon of women sprinting without bonnets, etc. communicates the direness of the situation so quickly. I had something similar happen with mostly character building, but also a bit of world building.

So, I'm slowly reading through the Discworld books, in a random "whatever my library has" order. I've read several of the Watch Arc, including Fifth Elephant, where Carrot and Angua are there and together, but the focus is on Vimes. In all the books I've read so far, Carrot is steady and lucky. I'm currently reading Thud! , where the whole time Angua is so uncomfortable with Sally and is jealous of her charming vampire nature. Angua feels so on edge, brutish, kind of, around Sally. Then they have to put on the stripper's dresses and Angua thinks her gold sequined dress "just [doesn't] work" and Sally looks stunning in a simple dress.

Naturally, when she goes to the watch main office, Carrot is standing there watching her with his mouth open. Such a simple sentence. She doesn't linger on it, but we as readers know this trope. We know the "girl next door who doesn't feel pretty" makeover. And the badass woman having to wear sexy clothes to a fancy event or whatever trope. And we know Carrot. Solid, thinks of everything. He's so smitten, seeing her in a slinky dress. And just watching her. Because of all the character building and world building up to that point, that one line had me completely breathless. Like, probably more than most actual spicy scenes. He is so stunned by her he's not trying to keep the peace in the office, he doesn't move when she threatens to stab a random watch guy with a stripper heel, he's just super into her.

[breezybeej]

The Verity by Colleen Hoover Post

I want to put some of my highlights and notes here so I can reference them without needing the images on my phone. Warning: this book sucks and you will see some really stupid and weird shit in here.

This is the description of blood splashing on Lowen (the main character) after she witnessed a man get run over. I've seen some car accidents. I don't think it's very common at all for someone's head to pop like a water balloon in these circumstances.

What is cryptic here? He (Jeremy, the romance option) has seen worse than a man getting run over. I think it's pretty straight forward, babe.

This is from Verity (jeremy's wife, a comatose woman). Most of her stuff should be taken with a grain of salt for plot reasons but some of these are so ridiculous on their face that you can't really save them

Unlikely.

Licking someone's thumb like a postage stamp is just so FUCKing SExy

I cared, I heard, and I minded. Please don't talk about getting fingered at steak 'n shake

Meeting Jeremy makes you want to jump off a cliff????? Well, to be fair, me too, girl

Why is this how you describe it, Lowen. You are reading her autobiography but you are thinking about her underwear.

Okay, I love this one because there's a lot happening. 1. He walks backwards A LOT in the first half of this book and I don't know why. 2. He was on his way to the kitchen to heat up leftovers but they were already done when they arrived? 3. He pulls out a plate of pizza. So in one very short paragraph we have pizza said three times. I think this book wasn't carefully edited.

So what does that mean. If someone has a plate of peas and they do this, I imagine them poking and prodding and scooping but pizza? Is he like... picking it up and putting it down? Sliding it around the plate?

It's just SO weird to go with your wife to her first pregnancy appointment for the baby you squirted into her, isn't it.

So this is again Verity writing from opposite land but like. They very much do have sex constantly so does she feel this way or not.

This one really bugs me just because she flubbed the parallel structure on "with a broken wrist" and "covered in blood" like the reason we have mechanics for parallel structure is that the sentences feel clunky without it.

I lost count, I didn't highlight every one, but I think this is in the book at least 10 times. Colleen does NOT trust you to remember this.

Lowen, why is this a dammit. Why is that messed up. What.

Just like Layla in the other book, Layla, Lowen is a girl who knows how to eat and she's quirky for eating tacos

So why didn't she just list the vegetables. It would be faster. "He grabbed cilantro and onions." or "He grabbed onions and peppers." Like... Colleen, you live in texas and you write about tacos in your books more than once.

People hate me for suggesting Lowen is bi but..... i mean.... she was diggin through Verity's drawers too, you remember.

Why did anyone let her say epic burn in a book. Why does she use epic again moments later.

Ope, I got this one though.

Thankfully Verity has two breasts.

That's how I felt reading this book. You DO get a feeling that Colleen partially wrote this to call out her haters.

Don't say that

Here's another line that gets repeated like 6 times. I don't even know why. It doesn't play into the plot or the themes really.

God isn't that insane. Who does that. Also this is Verity Opposite land so... does she wear lingerie often?

Babe. What.

Someone pointed out that license picture are usually the worst pictures of you possible. That makes this so much funnier imo

When you say "He groans" as a single clause, it makes it sound like he's disappointed. "Ugh, babe you forgot your bra AGAIN?"

[spider-jaysart]

I feel like a Dceased video game would honestly be terrifyingly awesome to play and if done well, can also deliver very good emotional angst at certain moments, ESPECIALLY the ending, because Damian sacrificing himself and then also having his last moments with Jon to say bye literally made me cry frrrr😭😭 and that's the first time a comic book has ever made me do that (I imagine it would probably be turned into a little series though maybe just to get to that point, like...possibly three games?? Because that apocalypse lasted a long time in the books and everyone who survived grew and got older with all of the time passing by, but idrk though, unless there's a clever way that's figured out on how to fit the whole story into one game without any of it feeling weirdly rushed)

And I can imagine it having gameplay style like The last of us (except some of the main characters have abilities and others have very useful hero gadgets now) and also so many great jumpscare moments too, and like literally because it's mostly superpowered zombies now everywhere besides the regular ones, which is even more terrifying

It'd just be a pretty fun experience all of it, along with a lot of good main characters (idrk all of them though loll) to switch to during different parts of the story (but whenever it's their turn, I would really LOVE playing the Supersons the most though during it hehehe, especially in this kind of setting)

The only thing I would hate though is if the Damian x Cassie romance gets kept, because it just feels weird tbh due to her always being an originally older character that's also always actually been apart of Young Justice (she should be with Tim, Kon and Bart instead who are her main group, not the Supersons!!). And besides the romance, she was only put with the boys just to be the girl in it and also recreate a trinity thing, like Bruce, Clark, Diana, but I don't feel like that fits Damian and Jon's type of thing at all imo

I would honestly just replace her with Maya and Kathy, because they're so much more fitting for a team up with Damian and Jon, especially because of the fact that they're the perfect girls right there too who already have such close relationships with the boys that isn't forced like hers is!! Maya is Damian's sister and Kathy is Jon's first close friend, which is good enough, and I would make sure the romance is still erased, cause they shouldn't have to date just because they're boys and girls hanging out (and obviously mostly because Maya is Damian's sister too, so that would be gross)

But okay, that is just getting a little too off topic from what I'm really trying to talk about I think😳, but my whole point is that it would be really great to have an actual game like this based on the series and I would totally buy it and play it if it was real!!!

[tamelee]

Hi, do you think they'll make S and N straight in the live action movie? Like making S nicer to Sakura or not even keeping the kiss or enforcing the idea of S and N being "brothers",... Anyway, I expect nothing but still... it stings.

Hi~ Yeah I feel you.

Oh I have many expectations- 's just that not a single one is any good.

It’s highly possible they’re going to push contrasting narratives. Unfortunately. Though I don't see the point in forcing any of these ideas into a movie, because there's simply no time. It will have no meaning either way unless 'romance' is going to play a significant part in it... which also wouldn't make any sense.

It's a lose-lose for all of us no matter what you ship...

However, they’ve always done it with filler (everything aside the source material and... arguably Kishimoto's add-on's) as well as marketing material. Some is still subtle enough so people can argue about it, but argue they will. (Ah! Isn’t that so very clever?) It isn't for nothing they used to force Naruto on Sakura aggressively and love to make him look like an idiot in filler, or introduce random girl characters as part of a new movie-plot so he can not only be the Hero to save the day, no, he can be their personal Hero. Because, oh, isn’t he actually so handsome now that he saved me? It’s a lame way to check off the romantic elements they for some reason always need to add in and give to Naruto, disguising it under the excuse of “character-arc-stuff” because Naruto can't evolve even a single belief unless the girlies’ minds change about him first. Let alone narratively it destroys Naruto’s character, because a huge "problem" is that he’s people-pleasing his way to being liked and pretty much all filler I’ve come across only strengthens this flaw (I saw ‘flaw’ lovingly btw). Name a single thing that faithfully stayed true to the Manga and wasn’t made by Kishimoto:…

… right. 

Imo, best case scenario? They just leave out everything beneath the surface, pick a single Theme, focus on the Shinobi in a way that still allows for a bit of believable growth in these characters. Something that can still show the current while pushing for some realization and round it out somewhat satisfactory in the end. If they’re going to try anything beyond that, it’ll fail.

Kishimoto created art, but the sole decision for an adaptation means art is now ground through a giant meat-mill of great team-effort and commerce. Every medium functions differently and this decision alone comes with many problems. (Length ’s an important one. Structure too.) You can already see it in the interviews that are held about this project. Too many people are involved that have influential say about the outcome of the creative decisions. There’s also the lovely men in suits that have all the control and yet have zero creative-skill although they’d like to believe otherwise. Studio’s by itself have their own politics. This never bides well for adaptations. Very rarely is it acceptable. Very often it’s disappointing. Almost always it’s a high-budget fantasy. And yet they always know that fans are going to be critical and still not care. 

Stubborn as hell. 

(It’s different when it’s not really an adaptation, but more inspired by an existing story. HTTYD for example is very, very loosely based on a book-series— it has little connection, but there’s obviously still a story idea in there… )

[mermaidsirennikita]

I'm on a Lorraine Heath kick thanks to your recommendations so I'd love to know your Top Reads of hers!

Aaah I'm so glad! Lorraine is really so good. A true icon.

My chief favorites include...

Obviously, When the Duke Was Wicked, which feels stupid to say as I'm word vomiting about it right now, but in case someone is in my recs tag later, I love this book and I think it's probably one of the most well-executed romances I've ever read.

Waking Up with the Duke is one that I think has risen among Lorraine fans to be upheld as one of the best, and if I think about everything I've read by her... There's one thing that I think is, in terms of dating and the way we talk about romance, worth critiquing. But in terms of the quality of the love story, her prose, the plot, the EMOTION, it may be her best yeah. It's really moving and really angsty and it takes a truly bizarre plot and plays it so straight and gives you SO MUCH feeling. I just really love this book.

The Earl Takes All is Gorilla Twins, so you've kinda gotta read it, but it's also genuinely a great book. Like, the entire plot is incredibly wild lol, but the drama and twists are done so well. The way she does the REVEAL is not what I think anyone would expect when reading this novel. And it's so messy. God, I love it.

The Duke and The Lady in Red is another one I think we could discuss on some levels but damn did I love it. It's sooooo romantic, and Avendale is honestly a difficult hero because he's such an asshole beforehand, and he has a genuinely super rough backstory. This one made me cry, but I also found it very sexy and like, full of tension throughout because our hero and heroine do initially have a very transactional relationship that gradually becomes more genuinely emotional.

Between the Devil and Desire is one I'd argue could possibly rival Waking Up with the Duke for the crown, because it just hits every beat. A snappy, rough hero who doesn't seem to care about anyone; a chilly, bitchy (yet incredibly horny) widow who sees him as a threat on every level. One of the only children in romance who WORKS and that's because Jack Dodger is the ULTIMATE father who stepped up in romance, imo. Fabulous.

The Scoundrel in Her Bed is a recent favorite. It's second chance, it's extremely angsty, and it destroyed me emotionally. Like. This one probably made me cry the most out of any of the Lorraine books I've read because it just really luxuriated in how like. Sometimes love doesn't fix everything that's gone wrong because love isn't a time machine, but we can still move forward and so on and so on. Also, I'm a sucker for a second chance romance, especially one where they like, took each others' precious flowers and then got separated and are both now SUPER BITTER TBH.

Scoundrel of My Heart is another second chance one where it's like "what happened to us, what did we lose, can we get it back" (no but you can get something new!!!) and obviously I love that shit. It's also one of those second chance books where they were separated when they were just beginning, and they never got to have sex, and now they're back in each other's orbit and it is TENSE.

[hyena-woodie]

Alright, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - The book of Carol (seriously, that title is so long omg) is over. I've seen everything and I wanted to share my thoughts on it.

I feel like it's like a 6/10 for me, there were things I liked about it and there were things that I didn't like.

Let's start with the likes:

Carol - I loved Carol's bits, she made use of all that she'd learned throughout the years to find Daryl. She lied, she manipulated and adjusted to the situations in front of her to get him back. I also loved her internal journey with Sophia, I can totally understand that such a loss is something that might come back at some point, even after so many years. And it was good to see that she was able to find closure about it in the end.

Ash - This new character was so good, he was hot, but also sweet and you could really see that he and Carol started to care about each other. Overall just a great character with a good sendoff. Maybe we'll see him back when the series is over, in the commonwealth.

Genet - She's such a fun villain, well acted by the actress and I loved that we got a backstory for her to understand her better. I really enjoyed the scenes with her and Carol together and I wished we'd seen more of them. Her sendoff was really good too, although a bit too early for my liking (but more about that later).

Coldron - I am so happy that he finally heard how Daryl didn't kill his brother, and how he redeemed himself. I feel like he isn't a bad guy, he was just really damn angry and didn't really think about what he was doing. So yeah, good story on his side too.

Several scenes - There were a lot of scenes that I enjoyed, most of them with Carol really. Also the What? What? What? scene between Carol and Daryl was a lot of fun.

Dislikes:

Daryl's romance with Isabelle - Look, I usually am easily convinced with romances, if they are done well. I am personally more of a Carol and Daryl shipper, but if they'd done this well, I think it might have worked. The only thing is that I personally didn't see any romantic chemistry between the two of them. To me it looked like colleagues that have to work on a project together. Also, the kiss was awful, there was no buildup and also nothing after. Really unsatisfying.

Isabelle's death - that being said, I didn't like Isabelle's death either. It was kinda lame how she died, not gonna lie. And it didn't do much for me, Genet's death was even more shocking to me than hers. And I would have loved to see more scenes between Carol and Isabelle.

The villains - This is the one I hate the most, I don't understand why they chose to change villains for the last two episodes. They finally build up Genet, making her more interesting of a character and more of an understandable villain, and then they kill her off?! And then Losang, whom I actually don't find that interesting at all, fine he's the new villain, whatever. But after one episode he's killed off as well and replaced with this new chick that I don't even know the name of. I have no idea why they chose to do this, I'd have rather seen Genet as the villain until episode six.

So yeah, overall not really that good, imo.

And on the topic of romantic Caryl, where I see a lot of discussion about, I'd rather they'd just make a choice. I feel like the frustration really lies in the little hints. If they aren't going there, as Zabel recently said in an interview, then I wonder why there were hints. Like the entire episode 4 of this new season. If you want to go with platonic Caryl, fine, but then don't do those things. Make a choice people, jeez.

In my opinion, a slow organic turn towards romantic Caryl (and then a soft, old married couple style relationship with maybe an asexual Daryl), would be great to keep it fresh and create new challenges for Carol and Daryl.

And as a last note, I am not as excited for season 3, even though the trailer looks interesting. We'll have to wait and see. And why does that last clip give me the feeling that Carol might die in that season O_O

[johaerys-writes]

I ADORE your writing! Do you have any book recs? 💗

THANK YOU!!! I do have some book recs, and I'm going to separate them in two categories: a) all time faves (aka books that rewired my brain), and b) my fave books I read this year.

All Time Faves

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller: if you follow me for my patrochilles writing, then you already know I love this book 😅 It literally altered my brain chemistry when I read it and I have never been the same.

RotE: short for The Realm of the Elderlings series by Robin Hobb, it's like 16 books long and I recommend each one. Fitz is my pathetic little meow meow and the Fool is one of my favourite characters of all time. Read at your own peril LOL

Earthsea and Lavinia by Ursula K Le Guin: I'm on a quest to read everything Le Guin has written because her writing is just *chef's kiss*. I adore her prose and the way climaxes and conflict are handled, and I love the worldbuilding. Her Earthsea stories are just so wonderful and poignant, I particularly love the Tombs of Atuan and Tehanu. The latter is permanently on my reread roster, I read it once a year towards the end of the year when I start feeling blue because it's just so comforting. And I have to include my favourite quote:

"You are beautiful," Tenar said in a different tone. "Listen to me, Therru. Come here. You have scars, ugly scars, because an ugly, evil thing was done to you. People see the scars. But they see you, too, and you aren't the scars. You aren't ugly. You aren't evil. You are Therru, and beautiful. You are Therru who can work, and walk, and run, and dance, beautifully, in a red dress."

Please read it you won't regret it 😭🙏🙏

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: another long time favourite and one I reread at least once a year. It’s just one of the best books ever written (sorry I don't make the rules). I'm not sure if that is where my love of childhood friends to toxic, copedepent lovers and of unhinged, violent men in fiction came from but it sure contributed to it LMAO. I don’t consider it a romance book but I do adore the way it handles love and romance, among other things. It's just so bleak and cynical but also highly comedic in places and I could talk about it forever. TL;DR please read it haha.

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong: I didn’t like this book very much when I first started it but it had become a favourite by the time I finished it. I've reread it several times (I think just this year I've read it twice), it's just so heartbreaking and beautiful.

Fave books I read this year:

Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat: technically I finished the trilogy end of last year but I still think about it a lot. It's very well written and imo the perfect balance of angst, plot, intrigue and horniness.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik: I read it earlier this year and I literally can't stop thinking about it lol. It’s SO well written and very immersive and even though the plot itself isn't like... comforting, it felt like a great comfort to read it. Ever since I finished it, every time I start a new book I'm like "gah I wish I could read it for the first time again" haha. I'm going to be rereading it for Christmas I think!

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells: another series I enjoyed a lot this year! I listened to the audiobooks and the VA is just so good, he's Murderbot in my mind lol. I should probably reread the last few books because my attention span was awful while I was listening to them, but overall they're very entertaining but also touch upon important issues in a really interesting way.

She Who Became The Sun by Shelly Parker-Chan: I really enjoyed this book, the plot, characters and worldbuilding was very interesting and I absolutely love the way that gender queerness and "otherness" was explored. I am eagerly awaiting the next book 👀

Villains series by V.E. Schwab: a highly entertaining read, I was pleasantly surpised by how much I enjoyed this. I love me a close friends to sworn enemies story, especially when they are obsessed with each other in as homosexual a way as these two LMAO. The supporting characters were also very well written which isn't easy to find in stories with such a busy cast. Once again, eagerly awaiting the next book!

[rillette]

Would you mind telling me about Carol? I am only in the mid 70s, and feel like i haven't hit the heights of her yet, and might not for a while, so I challenge you to make me love her now, instead of later

omg okay so <3 i love carol saur much she is my problematic wife!! Putting this under a cut because umm there are five paragraphs and im not done yet teehee. this is more about carol's personality than comic plot since i dont want to spoil anything for you ^_^

She has some really great moments in the 80s with Wolfman's run and in Wein's run in the late 80s! Like with Hal, Carol's characterization gets bounced around depending on the author. imo, Carol's very best characterization is in the third Sleepers book, which, unfortunately, isn't as accessible as the comics are. DC hire me to illustrate it challenge.

ANYWAYS!! Carol is foil to Hal in a lot of ways. She's a product of her environment; her dad was a misogynist and she learnt to protect herself by putting herself first. Carol can be cruel, she can be calculating and manipulative to get what she wants and none of that is from being Star Sapphire, it's all her. This ruthlessness is part of what makes her such a good businesswoman.

Carol is also under an enormous amount of pressure and expectations. She's expected to be perfect, to follow in her father's footsteps and to run Ferris successfully. Part of Carol's obsession with GL is because he's everything she's expected to want; someone who can protect and care for her. Her romance with Hal is similar, Hal is someone that her dad can approve of because hal is the world's biggest boy scout. Carol promptly freaked the fuck out, shut down, and iced Hal out when he got the DUI because Hal was no longer the safe, squeaky-clean, boy-next-door her dad would approve of.

The other half of Carol's obsession with GL is because he's everything that she wants to be. Carol is desperate for the power and the freedom that comes with being GL. This is reflected later on, during the Predator arc. Idk if you've seen me post about that yet so I won't go into that in depth bc I don't want to spoil the arc for you if you haven't! I say that but it's a very confusing and not really well tied up arc anyways lol.

Anyways i want to talk about carol in the sleepers book now because she's fantastic in it and i need more people to read this fucking book. Carol is so. well characterized in it. She's cold and cruel and everything about her personality is layers and layers of built up defense mechanisms. She does not give two shits about other people, casually using them to lash out at hal.

She hates answering phones because her dad made her answer the phone growing up because he felt it was beneath him. She is so so painfully bored with normal life now that she's had a taste of the power that comes with being Super. She's desperate for excitement and adventure but she can't let herself become Star Sapphire. She is soooo <3

[pensbridgrton]

Thoughts of the S3 Polin? I love them and I'm so excited

i'm clearing out this inbox of mine... and i haven't properly ranted about this in a while, so... yeah. So if you're excited about S3 and don't want to hear anything negative, this may not be the post for you. (I'd classify it as bittersweet, maybe.)

I still HATE the idea of Polin being S3. I hated it when it was rumored, I hated it when it was announced, and even if I've now accepted that it's happening, I still think it was a TERRIBLE decision and actively ruins some of the elements of Polin I love the most (Namely: two characters growing up individually until they're in the right time and space to fall in love and grow together; the spinster and the bachelor; Penelope being successful for a DECADE at LW before being ready to move on; Colin enjoying his travels but being ready to settle down.)

But here we are.

Ignoring the past two weeks, I've been pretty pessimistic about S3. For me, in order to LOVE a romance I need to LOVE both individual characters. I can still like and enjoy a romance if that isn't the case, but with Polin - a book ship that is one of my all time favorites - I had high expectations in S1. My expectations post-S2 were pretty much on the floor because Show!Pen and Show!Colin - while not terrible characters in any way - are not MY characters, or at least not the ones I would die on a hill defending. In addition, while I do not care about plot in the slightest (and therefore do not care about the - frankly, sparse - RMB plot being done away with) I DO care about vibes and keeping characters in character. I love fic, obviously, but I love IN CHARACTER fic... and the show is wildly OOC fic right now. Not my cup of tea. So... really, in the end, I'm just here to support Nicola and Newts. I have always believed that S3 would be wildly popular, eaten up by the casual audience, and generally well-loved... I just felt that S3 wouldn't be my all time favorite season with my all time favorite couple as Show!Polin had the potential to be (especially if it had been S4 and had gone through with the actual slowburn, individual character development route).

Now, ever since TUDUM and some of the interviews that have come out... I wouldn't say I'm cautiously optimistic, but I am choosing to have more of an open mind and be open to the possibility that I might enjoy the main romance without having to turn my brain off. I know there are probably going to be things I dislike/despise (jealous/possessive Colin, Pen not apologizing to Marina, Marina dying, an overemphasis on the sex and not enough on the friendship, Colin's costuming, etc. who knows what else) but I know I will enjoy watching Nicola and Newts play these characters on my screen (the stills had me giddy!)

More importantly, while I try not to read TOO much into interviews, everything Nicola and Newts have said about the season so far does give me hope about Penelope and Colin as individuals. Again, I don't care about the plot. The quotes? Are fun! I'm definitely really happy about "you're my mess" and any other book quotes/scenes were get. But hearing Nicola talk about how Penelope needs to grow up, how she's terrible with men, how she's made mistakes.... hearing Newts talk about how S3 is basically a different Colin... THAT is what gives me hope. Because for me, I am always drawn to character-driven romances but it's hard to be invested in that romance if you're not invested in the characters. And again while Show!Pen and Show!Colin are fine, I really miss their book characters and hearing that they both might be GROWING into their book selves (especially Colin, imo, bc Show!Pen just needs to grow in general and I'll be happy whereas I really didn't like the writing for S2 Colin) does, actually, get me a little excited.

But yeah, I'm still here. I'll watch. I'll keep an open mind because Nicola and Newts clearly care about these characters and the romance and I do appreciate that and at the end of the day, it's an adaptation of the show and if I hate it (wouldn't be the first time!), I'll always have the book.

[more-than-a-princess]

Bridgerton!

SEND ME A FRANCHISE OR SERIES AND I WILL TALK ABOUT IT - Accepting!

JUNE 13 IS ALMOST HERE! I will not be replying to threads on Thursday. And possibly not Friday as well. Season 3 Part 2 drops and I need Polin like I need oxygen-

With that in mind, hi, I'm the Bridgerton fan, it's me.

I was about halfway through Season 1 when I decided to read all 8 of the original series back-to-back, so while I wasn't a book fan from the start, I've kept them in mind when watching the last half of Season 1 and the subsequent seasons. I like the fact that this series, written and acted, really seems to embrace historical fantasy. It's a romance series and not meant to be historically accurate at all, but I think it gives a fresh take on the Regency period that differentiates between Jane Austen and all of the various offshoots and adaptations. It's also just a visual treat, y'know? Polyester lace and plastic beads and sequins certainly weren't around in the 1810s, and yet it's just plain fun to watch.

When ranking everything, I think Season 2 is my least favorite of the seasons so far, which is apparently a spicy take on the internet. I didn't like how the show handled Edwina in correlation to Kate and Anthony, and I was disappointed to see how Kate and Anthony's engagement scene was cut from the show, or at least was depicted differently than in the book. The book version made me, truly, laugh out loud (just like Eloise facing her brothers in Book 5! I actually repurposed this exact type of scene for a RP thread a little while back because it was just too fitting).

In my other terribly spicy Bridgerton take: I think Penelope's outing of Marina's pregnancy in the show was valid. Pen has done a lot of wrong things, but Colin needed to know the full story about Marina before he agreed to marry her. I know there are lots of fans who see Penelope as the devil for this in Season 1, and while Pen isn't perfect, I think this was the morally right thing to do.

Other things I hope for in the show (as the books are done, there's little reason to speculate about them):

Season 4 is either Benedict's or Eloise's season, depending on how the last four episodes of Season 3 go. Francesca will be in the background to some degree with her husband, though I hope a certain cousin is introduced in this season or next, cough cough.

I hope the show doesn't keep all of the book canon love interests, actually. If only because Benedict's book and LI are some of my least favorites in the entire series, and I think Eloise's book love interest doesn't need the spotlight on this show because, frankly, he kinda sucks. Can you tell I didn't like her book much either, save for when her brothers come to 'rescue' her?

If this show does not include Michael Stirling (or the genderswap version that's a very prevalent rumor right now), I riot. When He Was Wicked is the best of the books, fight me.

If this show does not include Gareth St. Clair, I will riot but riot a little quieter. He is so underrated.

Let. Cressida. Be. Sapphic. The show is hinting at this SO MUCH. Just go through with it, showrunners! Give her a yearning crush on Eloise and actually be clear that she is, indeed, sapphic!

Queen Charlotte is, IMO, becoming a little stale on this show. I would not be upset if she didn't return in Season 4. In reality, Queen Charlotte died in 1818, so even with the show's messy take on the timeline in comparison to the books, it would make sense that she will be passing away in the next few years.

Violet needs her garden watered and Lady Danbury needs to deal with the fact her brother can oblige. She slept with Violet's dad, Violet can sleep with her brother.

Colin and Penelope can likely disappear after Season 3 but I will be sad about it. I love them. LOVE. THEM.

Nicola Coughlan is an actual queen and always fabulous. She's been killing it this press tour in her outfits, support of Palestine, and calling out chauvinistic male reporters by reminding them she has perfect breasts. She is ICONIC. I still need to watch Big Mood but Derry Girls is amazing, watch Derry Girls if you haven't yet.

And with that, I need to run out to the post office! I have yards upon yards of fabric to send to my dressmaker who is making new two new Penelope gowns from Season 3 for Dragon Con this year.

[moononastring]

i have the twisted series on my tbr. i'm almost done with king of wrath and i'm loving it. it's really fun and hot and a bit angsty. and i think book 2 comes out in april and i'm assuming it's kai and isabella's cause there's some sparks there so i'm eager to read it. i'll probably end up jumping into the twisted series after king of wrath cause i'm enjoying her writing style a lot. and agree i'm also really into romance books. usually i skew more toward fantasy, but romance has been my top genre read for the last few months. i will say if you try jumping back into fantasy i think you should try the wolf and the wildflower by ella fields. it gave me a lot of elucien vibes with reluctant mates and there was a lot of angst and hotness.

oh no i was excited to try the deception trilogy. that's a bummer, but guess it could save me time lol. i already confronted my friend about the creeper uncle book and she was like "oh yeah sorry forgot about that bit" uh that would have been a pretty important piece of info to warn someone about. just another reminder to always check goodreads lol

tbh i feel like book one is more a prologue into the camorra chronicles so if you skipped it i don't think you're missing much. book one is about the brother from the born in blood series (the little brother to aria/gianna/lilianna tho you said you don't remember the series so you probably won't remember him) and how he ended up with the camorra. it wasn't one of my faves in the series, i think books 2-4 were the best, but it was still an enjoyable read.

Yassssss I definitely recommend reading the Twisted series next! You actually meet Dante and Viviane in Twisted Lies! Kings of Sins is kinda a spin-off sort of? I do enjoy her style and she just does the tropes so well, it's easy to get attached. I WILL say...Book 1 (Twisted Love) was the weakest IMO but you still gotta read it though lol. It gets better with each other after that so for sure recommend it.

You had me at elucien vibes with The Wolf and the Wildflower and after looking at the book description and seeing "straight into the arms of a one-eyed warrior" IMMEDIATELY added it to my tbr haha. Other fantasy books I have plans for are The Serpent and the Wings of Night and Daughter of No Worlds by the same author and A Dawn of Onyx by Kate Golden.

Yeah that isn't something one should forget to mention HAHA but at least you know! I always say if you're interested, give it a go and if you don't end up liking it, at least you tried!

I do remember their little brother! I remember not caring much about him though HAHA but maybe I will for context at least.

[brehaaorgana]

Hmmmnmm. I have mixed feelings. It's solid as a way to help people think about how they might generally present/structure their reviews. I see the strong benefit of doing this sometimes. But some of the examples given are issues of unrefined technique in the critique writing that could still be written as "this book lacked x or y," and be done well.

And then the other obvious things are like:

1) I sometimes read books which are notable because they didn't do something, and sometimes that's very positive. (Kate Elliot's novella Servant Mage was fantastic and subversive because it didn't do something a lot of fantasy books do. The positive reviews and negative reviews both sort of balance on that tightwire of "was it good the book didn't do x, and so therefore you ended up with y?" People who expect to get X will complain it lacks X. But I basically argued "you don't get x and that makes it a better story (that actually gives you Y.)"

2) likewise with genre fiction it's important to remember there are some unbreakable rules sometimes. Op touched on this a little with their example of "low-stakes," actually!

if someone writes a romance novel and they are missing a HEA or HFN (happily ever after or happily for now) then a good reviewer should always say that, because then the book is mis-marketed. It's a drama fiction or a romantic fiction/drama, or even an erotica, etc but if the book doesn't have an HEA or HFN then as a hard and fast rule, it simply is not a part of the Romance genre. And there's no getting around that. And if I went to read a romance novel and I read reviews of the book and no one mentioned it lacked the very thing that makes a romance novel a romance novel? I would be pretty irritated!

I believe mystery fiction is also formulaic in that sense - the mystery should always get solved, or at least a part of the bigger mystery is solved.

Switching to TV shows as an example: it doesn't matter if Mulder finds out what "really" happened to his sister at the end of any given season, or even if the mytharc has a definitive answer since it relies on the notion of uncertainty and conspiracy. But more often than not, the Monster of The Week episodes get some kind of resolution or debunking, even if the only resolution is Scully creating a denial of the weird that satisfies herself. Basically it would matter a lot if no mysteries were ever resolved or solved on X-files. That would make for a dreadful show.

Saying "they didn't use chekov's gun here," sounds like an unfair critique because duh, lots of media doesn't involve chekov's gun even once! but on the other hand, saying "this story about chekov's gun never once shoots it," would be pretty fair to say, imo.

An aside: I know that OP is mostly addressing reviewing contemporary fictional books here — but as a former TA, I do think when it comes to formalist or material critique of both literature and art (which can portray fiction or a version of reality) people should often examine what isn't there, especially in comparison to contemporary works. Perhaps that also lends to my reactions: the more visual something is as a medium, the more important I feel this becomes to be aware of, if not address outright in critique. From noting very literally negative space to "this work doesn't do x thing."

Idk like this can be helpful exercise but I don't think it's universally the right way to do it.

I used to work for a trade book reviewer where I got payed to review people's books, and one of the rules of that review company is one that I think is just super useful to media analysis as a whole, and that is, we were told never to critique media for what it didn't do but only for what it did.

So, for instance, I couldn't say "this book didn't give its characters strong agency or goals". I instead had to say, "the characters in this book acted in ways that often felt misaligned with their characterization as if they were being pulled by the plot."

I think this is really important because a lot of "critiques" people give, if subverted to address what the book does instead of what it doesn't do, actually read pretty nonsensical. For instance, "none of the characters were unique" becomes "all of the characters read like other characters that exist in other media", which like... okay? That's not really a critique. It's just how fiction works. Or "none of the characters were likeable" becomes "all of the characters, at some point or another, did things that I found disagreeable or annoying" which is literally how every book works?

It also keeps you from holding a book to a standard it never sought to meet. "The world building in this book simply wasn't complex enough" becomes "The world building in this book was very simple", which, yes, good, that can actually be a good thing. Many books aspire to this. It's not actually a negative critique. Or "The stakes weren't very high and the climax didn't really offer any major plot twists or turns" becomes "The stakes were low and and the ending was quite predictable", which, if this is a cute romcom is exactly what I'm looking for.

Not to mention, I think this really helps to deconstruct a lot of the biases we carry into fiction. Characters not having strong agency isn't inherently bad. Characters who react to their surroundings can make a good story, so saying "the characters didn't have enough agency" is kind of weak, but when you flip it to say "the characters acted misaligned from their characterization" we can now see that the *real* problem here isn't that they lacked agency but that this lack of agency is inconsistent with the type of character that they are. a character this strong-willed *should* have more agency even if a weak-willed character might not.

So it's just a really simple way of framing the way I critique books that I think has really helped to show the difference between "this book is bad" and "this book didn't meet my personal preferences", but also, as someone talking about books, I think it helps give other people a clearer idea of what the book actually looks like so they can decide for themselves if it's worth their time.

[mermaidsirennikita]

Book recs for romance novels where the heroine puts a finger in the hero’s ass (or vice versa)?

YES.

Heroine on Hero:

The Master by Kresley Cole--this is Kresley so this is max "hero being extremely enthusiastic during sex and frankly just thrilled to be there". She does it during a blowjob and he's all "YOU WICKED GIRL!!!!"

Minx by Sophie Lark--my favorite Sophie Lark, and this one is great because she's like. Fully fucking him with her fingers(!) lmao. He like, EXPRESSES that he feels fucked, which is Amazeen to me.

The Rebel King by Kennedy Ryan--this the second in a duology, and you must read the first (The Kingmaker) prior... but you should, because it's fab. This is another "during a beej" moment, and I super love it because it's a like... take him out of his mind moment.

Wed to the Wild God by Ruby Dixon--fantasy romance, the hero is basically the embodiment of hedonism so he's seen it all but he's still like "WELL WELL WELL" about it because you know. It's different when you're getting your ass fingered by the girl you loooove, right? This one also has epilogue pegging!

A Holly Jolly Ever After by Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy--the one where the hero teaches the heroine how to feel relaxed during sex for their sexy Christmas movie (not porn, though he is famous for a sex tape that got out) and she does this to him during.

The Rakess by Scarlett Peckham--Historical romance, done as a part of working up to a butt plug.

Scandalous Passions by Nicola Davidson--Medieval FFM. The older heroine does this during a blow job; she's more dominant, and both the hero and the younger heroine are more submissive.

Preferential Treatment by Heather Guerre--Not sure if this is in there, but you do get an epilogue vibrating butt plug scene

Eyes on Me by Sara Cate--The heroine does this as a part of getting a butt plug in there (in public)

Mercy by Sara Cate--Might as well include this because she fully pegs him.

The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian--Heroine isn't into being penetrated, but the hero is and she's happy to oblige.

Sinner by Sierra Simone--Pretty sure this happens, and he also does things to her; vibrator, fully monty, etc.

Hero on Heroine:

The Hook Up by Kristen Callihan--I'm finishing this one right now and have really enjoyed it. It's a college sports romance, and he puts it in while they're having sex and it's very Emotional because Neither Of Them Have Done This Before.

Most Grace Callaway historicals have this. Like, it's literally a part of her playbook. Sometimes with rimming included.

A lot of the hero on heroine stuff is really more of a workup to fullll anal? Which, like. Let us ENJOY THE JOURNEY A BIT MORE, imo. Though obviously I love scenes with the full shebang.

[thoughtfulpaperback]

As I Polin Stan I feel this but I think the biggest issue with all of this is perspective.

I love the Marina storyline not for its value in a romance story, but in the shows exploration of women. Yes obviously we can hurt with Pen in this and Bridgerton is a romance, but I think what the show has done well although sometimes heavy handed is exploring how women make thier own happiness and deal with the limitations and expectation placed on them in this setting/world while maintaining complex female characters.

While people want to fully vilify the women on the show whether it is Pen, Marina, Lady Featherington, etc.

We glance over the point that each woman is doing what they got to do to survive and in doing so is bound to make mistakes due to jealousy, desperation, loyalty, duty, bad decision making skills or whatever.

Marina is scared and manipulative (less that she herself is a manipulative person and more that she does do manipulative things). She is a victim of the social constructs around her (expectations of virginal women/ideas of ruin) and circumstance (her lover dies). Her manipulations don't have to get a pass, but to pretend that she doesn't have legitimate reasons to take the actions she took is delusional.

I don't see Colin as a prop in Marina and Pens' story, and I think not having a POV for him is actually developing him. Because Colin is supposed to be "lost" his isn't a prop but he imo is supposed to feel like he has limited agency because he goes with the flow of wherever the plot is going (lack of purpose and all that). That said, while obviously polin was being shown and dragged out, because the point of thier relationship is that they grow into it (over years in the book which wouldn't translate well in the show if it wasn't shown in the previous seasons). So I don't mind no Colin pov since I think it gets the job done. He is shown as naive and definitely not mature, which was part of the goal, I assume.

I disagree that most of the Fandom doesn't care about Colin outside of being an extension of Pen. I think many people see themselves in Pen and ergo want him to hurt because they felt hurt and would want someone who did that to them to hurt as well. Which is a very human response and I'm not gonna knock people for it even if I don't feel the same. I personally want him to hurt a bit. Not actually hurt or suffer but to actually realize and regret his action (not with Marina, but his words and how he obviously was a jerk). Now that said let not pretend romance hos aren't about that angst life. Of course people want him to suffer, but I agree we need to be careful of the narratives we push and the perspectives they take or lack.

I do think much of the fandom like most fandoms on this hellsite suffer from lack of perspective and/or some outright misogyny and racism.

We don't acknowledge the complexities of characters or the fact that these are supposed to be young characters with limited choices in this setting. We don't acknowledge or recognize that some plotlines aren't about the extention of the romance, but a comment about women and the rules of society in that setting.

There are some really great Polin fanfics that don't overly vilify Marina, acknowledge the complexities of the character and situation, and recognize that the whole polin story line is supposed to be about growing up and living though experience and realizing you love someone because of not only who they have grown into but how they help you grow. But like OP state there are definitely more obviously Marina hating Polin fics which just paint Marina as this cold unfeeling person and not this teen girl who has to be shrewd because of the very scary high stakes situation she is in. And I personally hate Modern Polin AUs because in my experience they way they portray Marina is usually as the worst possible manipulator (which i mean her exact story doesnt really work in a modern context if you arent looking at the real themes of her story).

Also! While totally different fandoms, I bet some of y'all haters would be defending characters on Shamless who have done worse crap and try to trap a boy to survive in society. Just saying.

BtW Book Colin wasn't a virgin by a long shot, yeah he opens states he never loved anyone while show Colin fancied himself in love with Marina. That's freakin life. If we assume the same age differences Colin is only a few months older than Daphne who maybe is either supposed to be 18-20 years old. So my boy is on his 20s and Pen is supposed to be a teen, he can have a crush. He can make mistakes, just like pen has and will.

I agree that I feel that Colin needs more screen time dedicated to his thoughts and processing, which we probably will get now that it is his season.

The Polin fandom (over)reaction and discussion around the Marina plot always blows me away because people are so over the top about it. Like, I also didn’t love it, but I sense for incredibly different reasons.

For me, the issue is more that it doesn’t treat Colin as his own character and rather just as the plot device that exists to develop Marina and mostly Pen. Colin gets basically zero POV and *that* bugs me. It could be a great story for his development but he’s essentially forgotten. He’s betrayed by the first woman he believes himself in love with and is exposed to that truth along with everyone else in highly public and humiliating fashion. That would rattle a person’s confidence in their ability to trust their own instincts to the core! And now it’s going to happen again! He’s going to fall in love with someone who is keeping a massive and potentially life-altering secret from him. How would he not see and have to grapple with that parallel? But none of that matters to the majority of the Polin fandom.

For a lot of people, it seems to be more about the fact that Colin is supposed to “belong” to Pen and him having any interest in someone else makes him lesser. Him and how he was impacted matters way less than that it made Pen sad to watch it.

Hence why so many want Colin to have to “watch Pen with someone else like she had to do” Which completely ignores the actual story that played out with Marina and how, while I understand and empathize with her, she was not an actual LI for him?

Side note: That also kind of reflects in how the fandom casts Marina so often as the villain/punching bag but rarely is that focus on her impact on Colin. It’s almost always about Pen and how *she* felt. People care more about one unkind moment, done out of fear and desperation, of Marina towards Pen than they do about the totality of Colin.

I also think, and this is the most controversial part, that people do know deep down that how Pen handled things with LW wasn’t great but, despite complaining that no one accepts her complexity, they don’t want to grapple with her choices or actually allow her that complexity. Hence, Marina bad but also somehow Colin bad so they must suffer for causing Pen pain (however indirectly) while we must brush past the impact that LW and Pen’s choices had on Marina and will continue to have on Colin. It’s also why Colin’s pain and how he was impacted only really seems to come up when people want to make Marina look like a villain so they can argue that Pen did nothing wrong. All initial discussions about the Marina storyline centre Pen and how it made her feel.

It’s why, again, people are so ready for Colin to “suffer” and uplifting some random plot device character (I have not and will not bother to learn his name.) Because, at the end of the day, even though the person actually most hurt and impacted by Marina *and* Penelope’s choices was Colin, he committed the ultimate sin of liking someone before Pen and that matters more to most of this fandom. Because, if most of us are truly honest, Colin doesn’t matter to this fandom other than as an extension of Pen. He is her prize and not his own worthy of development and complexity character.

P. S. If you don’t believe me, spend 2 minutes perusing the Ao3 page for Polin. How many stories are about Colin truly grappling with everything vs him being ‘punished’? And how often does that ‘punishment’ feature Marina cheating on/mistreating/abusing him but still focus mostly on Pen? Spoiler: it’s a huge chunk.

[konata-izumi-kinny-writes]

Sfw Headcanons of Dating Jack Skellington

This man is so sweet fr fr, he needs a hug 🖤

[WARNING: mentions of horror movies]

HAPPY SPOOKY MONTH, YAAAALL!!!!

🖤 boi where do i start lel

🦴 Mans is a big cuddler

🧡 like for real, hes so sweet

🦴 Lots of kisses from this big boi

🖤 Like, for real, hes the most affectionate thing out there

🦴 king of the pumpkin patch, AND romance

🧡 Will scare anyone who makes you sad or angry. And he won't scare you unless you tell him you're okay with it.

🦴 hes a huge flirt. Like, the BIGGEST flirt out there

🖤 make things for him, HE'LL LOVE IT

🦴 hell, he loves you

🧡 Jack makes the best Cider and Hot Cocoa

🦴 His favorite thing to do for a date, is getting caramel corn and going for a walk with you under all of the trees.

🖤 the sun shining through the orange, yellow, and red leaves makes for a beautiful atmosphere

🦴 yall play fetch with Zero too :3

🧡 Wear a skeleton costume :)

🦴 He will either, 1: find it funny, 2: be confused, or 3: be flustered

🖤 I have no idea why, but i headcanon that Jack can play the piano and cello. I have no idea why but it just fits imo

🦴 Sing with him :D

🧡 wait- you expect me to not headcanon a disney character to be musical??... you're insane LMFAO

🦴 Pumpkin bread with chocolate chips is one of Jack's favorite things, if you like baking, make this for him lol

🖤 If you don't live with him and in a seperate house he will walk you home every single time, doesn't matter if you live next door or not.

🦴 HE👏 WANTS👏 YOU👏 SAFE👏 AND👏 IN👏 ONE👏 PIECE👏

🧡 Speaking of which, he's pretty protective of you, but not to the point where its suffocating

🦴 So its basically canon that he knows how to sew right, thats straight up.

🖤 BUT HEAR ME OUT!!!!

🦴 he makes monster plushies with it AND NOBODY CAN CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE

🧡 Like c'mon now, how can you own a sewing machine and NOT make plushies?!?! Its UNHEARD of /j

🦴 Have autism? Or anything similar to it?? HE STIMS WITH YOU!!! (Its because he thinks its fun :3)

🦴 Annoy Jack with bone puns, his reactions are priceless 🤣

🖤 His pet names for you are, Dear, Darling, and Pumpkin

🧡 He likes horror movies, if they're too much for you to handle, thats okay. Jack can always settle for less scary movies.

🦴 His favorites are The Descent, the Saw movies, Trick r' Treat (He thinks Sam is adorable), Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark (because of the nostalgia from the books), and the Fear Street movies

🖤 If you can't handle those scary movies he'll watch mellow ones with you. Like Hocus Pocus, Spooky Buddies, Halloween Is Grinch Night, etc.

🦴 He loves animals... spooky ones.

🧡 This boi wants a Bat, Frog, Tarantula, Snake, Black Cat, or maybe another ghost dog :)

🦴 As long as its not venomous

🖤 It'd be nice for Zero to have another playmate :D

🦴 okay so, while this talks about snuggling in bed and body anatomy, this isn't in a nsfw way so bear with me here lol

🧡 While yall are snugglin, you can flick his ribs to make them sound like a xylophone. You can totally play a song 🤣

🦴 Hes totally interested in your muscles, fat, and skin

🖤 like ???? How tf are you so squishy?!

🦴 He's not complainin though, he loves you how you are <3

🧡 He has cute lil monster outfits for you, Jack lets you pick out your clothes but he just has them for you just in case :)

🦴 Okay so... lets get one thing straight (unlike me LMFAO)

🖤 As a monster, Jack doesn't need to sleep, but he does.

🦴 But this means sometimes he doesn't sleep at all and just wanders around the house at 3 A.M.

🧡 and its actually lowkey scary when you run into him at those times

🦴 He just looks way scarier than usual without even trying. And oh my gosh.

🖤 There have been MULTIPLE times where Jack accidentally scared you half to death while you were looking for a snack 🤣

🦴 When all is said and done, Jack Skellington is a really sweet dude who means well. A very loving person :)))

Thanks for Reading,

HAPP SPOOP MONTH

[nat-20s]

Tagged by @marklikely to post the top 9 movies I've seen recently! I actually haven't watched that many movies lately so I'm just posting the nine most recent movies I saw in general, going from worst to best with some commentary/summary

9- 1up. A movie from fucking BUZZFEED STUDIOS about gamer girls. I quit about ten minutes in when they had a "triggered" joke. PAINFUL to watch not even bad in a fun way

8- The Book of Love- a romcom about a man who wrote a boring ass book and his translator that made it a steamy romance novel in spanish. It is neither romantic nor comedic. The main character is so DEEPLY DEEPLY unlikable. It's basically a worse version of another movie on this list (off the menu). Also by buzzfeed studios who let buzzfeed make movies

7. Thor: Love and Thunder- a sequel to Thor Ragnarok that isn't even half as charming imo. No more getting excited for Disney produced movies we have evolved past being excited for Disney movies

6. Harold and the Search For Happiness - a psychiatrist realizes he's too emotionally stunted to help his clients. Goes traveling around the world to find what takes people happy. If was okay but I spent most of it playing Hades on my laptop while it was in the background

5.- Marry Me- a romcom starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Lopez. She's a pop star who finds out her fiancee is cheating in her on her wedding night, so she married some random guy in the crowd. It's a pretty middle of the road romcom, and the "celebrity who falls for someone who's barely familiar with their work" formula I think is done better in Notting Hill, The Decoy Bride, and Music and Lyrics. Enjoyable enough

4.Off the Menu- another romcom! This one is about a guy who's dad is the president of Fake Taco Bell and he sucks. He gets assigned to go find new recipes for Fake Taco Bell and is sent to New Mexico, where he finds a small restaurant that serves AMAZING food. I can't really accurately rate how good this movie is because I would watch Santino Fontana in ANYTHING. Manages to pull of the unlikable protagonist who grows as a person MUCH better than in book of love. Also I'm a sucker for a fun scheming little kid and this movie has a fun one. It's not the best romcom I've ever seen but it's a worthwhile watch

3. Frequency- oh hey we've made it to the movies I actually think are good! Frequency is about a man who's able to communicate to his late father from 30 years ago through a ham radio. They have to solve a serial killer murder mystery together! VERY TENSE and very good!!! Also, in this movie from 1999, Andre Braugher plays a New York City cop, which is obviously very different from what he's most well known for now- a new York City cop.

2. To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything,Julie Newmar- three NYC drag queens go on a road trip to try and go for a drag competition in Hollywood. They get lost and their car breaks down, getting them stuck in a small deep south town. I know the term iconic queer cinema gets thrown around a lot but like. This really is iconic queer cinema. I like to think that it's in the same universe as The Birdcage, especially bc Robin Williams shows up for a bit part. Absolutely a love letter to drag and camp written by people who obviously had been a part of that community. Fair warning this movie deals with themes of homophobia, transphobia, racism, and sexual and physical abuse, but there's a 100% happy ending, and most of the bad things are simply feared rather than happen. Highly recommend!!! (Also in a similarish vein I'd recommend best little whorehouse in Texas)

And at Number 1:

Everything, everywhere, all at once- my summary and review is just: GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!! FUCK!!!

Tagging uhhh @queenofcryptiids @atomicelixir @friendswithghosts and @harry-trumans-dishwasher