sonofgodzilla: as above so below (lachesis/rinne)
[personal profile] sonofgodzilla
We cannot escape talking about Team 8. With Abe Mei, Okabe Rin, Okubora Chinatsu, Nagano Serika, Fujimura Natsuki, Onishi Momoka, Kuranoo Narumi, Shitao Miu, Cho Kurena, Hamamatsu Riona, Fukuchi Rena, Honda Hitomi, Yokomichi Yuri, the other Yokoyama Yui, Yoshino Miyu, Oda Erina, Oguri Yui, Yoshikawa Nanase, Hayasaka Tsumugi, Hirose Natsuki, Iwasaki Moeka, and Yaguchi Moka, Takahashi Ayane joined AKB48 in 2014!

Ayane!


Along with Yui, Erina, and Nanase, Ayane was one of the first Team 8 members to appear on stage, appearing as a backup dancer in early June for the Team A Renai Kinshi Jourei revival before going to appear with the rest of her new team for PARTY ga Hajumaru yo and the later revival of Aitakatta a year later in 2015. Working as part of Team 8 as they toured Japan throughout 2016, and appearing during her time as a member of the team in Kumamoto, Sapporo, Gunma, Aichi, and Niigata, so the wiki tells me, the first big shake up came in 2017 with the announcement of her concurrent membership in Team 4, then under Takahashi Juri, with Murayama Yuiri announced as the next incoming captain. She stayed in the team for what could be considered a long time in AKB years, surviving three further shuffles until, at last, in 2023, she was moved to Team K, the last shuffle of members before the dissolution of the teams came into effect.

Like Iwatate Saho, Ayane was in the line-up for Lion wo Nerae! Also like Sahho, Ayane is one of those girls who have appeared on a lot of B sides—beginning with Theme 8 theme tune, 47 no Suteki na Machi e on Kokoro no Placard, missing out on appearing on B sides for Bokutachi wa Tatakawanai and Halloween Night, and then returning now and then until Nemohamo Rumor, where she has remained ever since. Your time will come, Ayane! You deserve to be in the senbatsu! I hope stupid posts like this will encourage people to... actually, without the general elections, I have to confess that I have no idea how the senbatsu is picked now. I assume it's all just management making choices based on who they feel is popular. Ah, go to the theatre and shout Ayane's name, I guess, you guys!

Ayane has a really cute look and a new haircut for 2026! She has always insisted that despite how young she looks, despite how her younger sister might now be taller than her, she's the dependable one and that one of her strongest features is that she "don't care about how bad things are" [sic]. I really like that! We definitely need more girls like Ayane! Keep fighting, Ayane! You'll be in the senbatsu soon!

45 Multi-fandom icons

Apr. 14th, 2026 06:55 pm
thesleepingbeauty: fashion design &hearts; please credit <user site=livejournal.com user name=littlemermaid> @ <user site=livejournal.com user name=dream_fairytale> if using on livejournal (disney princess | rapunzel)
[personal profile] thesleepingbeauty posting in [community profile] icons


All icons HERE @ [community profile] little_mermaid

Note: This post will only be open for a few weeks … after that it will be locked to members only, so feel free to join / subscribe to the community if you like my work. Thank you.

45 Multi-fandom icons

Apr. 14th, 2026 06:48 pm
thesleepingbeauty: funny girl &hearts; please credit <user site=livejournal.com user name=littlemermaid> @ <user site=livejournal.com user name=dream_fairytale> if using on livejournal (disney princess | belle)
[personal profile] thesleepingbeauty posting in [community profile] fandom_icons


All icons HERE @ [community profile] little_mermaid

Note: This post will only be open for a few weeks … after that it will be locked to members only, so feel free to join / subscribe to the community if you like my work. Thank you.

One boundary makes another

Apr. 14th, 2026 10:53 pm
sovay: (Lord Peter Wimsey: passion)
[personal profile] sovay
My father's birthday will be formally observed the next time my niece is in town, but for the day itself my mother and I baked him the chicken and leek pie which we had adapted from its recipe the two days prior that the filling can be stored in the refrigerator to deepen in flavor like a stew and a strawberry shortcake which I am currently proud of decorating with a painted marzipan man o' war after the mosaic in Leonardo Morales y Pedroso's 1930 Casa de Mark A. Pollack y Carmen Casuso.



I did not expect to receive an unbirthday present of Hen Ogledd's Discombobulated (2026), which I have been listening to since I got home and discovered the equally unexpected postcard awaiting me from [personal profile] mrissa. The inner CD sleeve includes among its notes, "The painting on the front cover is called 'It's not darkness that falls, it's light', and now lies scattered in pieces across the globe. It was chopped into 34 segments and distributed as gifts to friends and family." I flashed inevitably on Wittgenstein's Remarks on Frazer's Golden Bough (1931/1948).

Think how after Schubert's death his brother cut certain of Schubert's scores into small pieces and gave to his favorite pupils these pieces of a few bars each. As a sign of piety this action is just as comprehensible to us as the other one of keeping the scores undisturbed and accessible to no-one. And if Schubert's brother had burned the scores we could still understand this as a sign of piety.

Book Cull Reviews

Apr. 14th, 2026 01:30 pm
rachelmanija: (Books: old)
[personal profile] rachelmanija
As you may have guessed, I completely failed to live up to my goal of reviewing everything I read, even in brief. Rather than attempting to catch up to my backlog, I am re-starting from where I am.

Yesterday I did a quick book cull by pulling books off my shelves that have been sitting there for ages, reading the first couple chapters, and deciding if I was likely to continue. I focused on books I'd started before and not gotten very far into. Here are the books that landed in the "move to Paper & Clay's used section" bag.

Trouble and Her Friends, by Melissa Scott



See the new cover? If you've been wanting to read this, it's now available as an ebook!

This is a classic lesbian cyberpunk novel that I have tried to read at least three times, and never managed to get very far into. I kept putting it back on the shelf because it's a classic and probably objectively good, but I'm just not that into cyberpunk. If a lot of the action is taking place online, I tend to lose interest. Also, some books just don't grab me, due to a mismatch between me and the book, rather than being objectively or even subjectively bad. This is clearly one of them. Someone else can be thrilled to find it at Paper & Clay, take it home, and enjoy it.

The Splinter in the Sky, by Kemi Ashling-Garcia



A tea specialist becomes a spy in a far-future colonized world! Unfortunately, this starts with a prologue which reads much like the infamous "trade war" crawl at the top of The Phantom Menace. Yes, I know that turned out to be prescient, but the problem was that it was written in a stultifying manner. The next couple chapters were much more lively, but also had a tendency to clunky exposition - some of which was pretty cool, to be fair. This was the second time I attempted this book, and had essentially the same reaction I did to Trouble and Her Friends - not bad, but not for me.

Furies of Calderon, by Jim Butcher



This has been described to me as "Pokemon in alternate ancient Rome," which sounds amazing. For at least the third time, it failed to grab me. I got about four chapters in and there's still no Pokemon. Someone else will like it more than me.

The Hum and the Shiver, by Alex Bledsoe



A race of people called the Tufa have lived amongst normal humans in Appalachia since the beginning of time. They can see ghosts, have music-based magic, etc. This opens with a Tufa woman very very clearly based on Jessica Lynch, who was a real-life American soldier who was wounded and captured in the US/Iraq war, returning from Iraq. I found this in poor taste. The general style also got on my nerves.

While doing this, I got sufficiently grabbed by the openings to keep reading and finish Maureen McHugh's Nekropolis, which hopefully I will actually review. I also returned Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies and Tanya Huff's Sing the Four Quarters to the shelf.

I swear only this city knows

Apr. 14th, 2026 03:32 pm
sovay: (Silver: against blue)
[personal profile] sovay
Because I had a doctor's appointment downtown, from Storrow Drive I saw the cherry trees on the Esplanade blooming like soft fireworks in white and sugar-pink. The weather has catapulted itself into summer: asphalt-simmered air, huge tufts of cloud stacked over a haze-blue sky, lines around the literal block for Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day. Sails all over the Charles. Afterward [personal profile] spatch and I ate Greek takeout on a picnic bench by Spy Pond, watching a solitary Canada goose glide across the water as our summer in accelerated miniature looked like building toward thunderstorm. It is my father's seventy-fourth birthday.

musesfool: Barry Allen is the fastest man alive (what if you had wings and flew)
[personal profile] musesfool
Today's poem:

A Dictionary Names the Wind in the Trees
by Susan Cohen

Psithurism because
what else would we call sound embedded
with leaf mold and breath
zithering just below the daily drone
of power saws and chippers,
eons of air shifting
like an old Chevy through leaves,
riffling papery corn fields
and the eucalyptus,
stuttering through windbreaks,
jittering an aspen
in a beam of breath,
lisping nothing pins me down
in the language of the Huron,
in Olmec, in Sanskrit, chittering
all its unpronounceable names,
its tunes with the shiver of pine needles
and the moves of a river?
Psithurism comes as close
to the clash of wind and trees
as orgasm comes to the friction
of muscles, nerves, bodies,
which is to say when so many words
cannot catch it,
those of us always searching
for just the right one may
as well stop speaking
and lift our heads
like mule deer, ears twitched
for the smallest sound.

*

Somewhat important news

Apr. 14th, 2026 06:04 pm
regshoe: Geneviève slides along the floor of a big, grand room, a gleeful smile on her face and a shoe held up in her hand (Sock slide!)
[personal profile] regshoe
Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of) is going on tour again from September! It's very good, and you should go and see it if you can. :)
[syndicated profile] smartbitches_feed

Posted by Amanda

Catch Her If You Can

Catch Her If You Can by Tessa Bailey is $4.99! This is book five in the Big Shots series. It came out in January. Bailey’s romances are always a big release, so if you’re still in line for a library hold, this may be worth the sale price.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey is back with an all-new marriage of convenience, friends-to-lovers sports romance about a baseball catcher and the burlesque club owner he can’t get out of his head.

Madden Donahue, the newest catcher for the Yankees, has been in love with Eve Mitchell since high school, but for some mysterious reason, the burlesque club owner always turns him down. That never stopped him from being her self-appointed protector. Case in point, now that Eve’s sister has left Eve with her two children indefinitely, Madden steps in with a proposition—marry him for the much needed health benefits.

Eve has secretly harbored feelings for Madden all along, but there’s one problem—her best friend Skylar called dibs on him when they were fourteen. Eve has always put their friendship above all else, and she’s not willing to risk losing Skylar over a man. Raised by the local strip club owner, Eve is woefully short on friends and treasures the ones she has. But with Skylar happily paired off, Eve finds herself accepting Madden’s proposal—on the condition that their marriage remains strictly private. She’s not about to let her unique profession and maligned reputation destroy Madden’s shiny new career.

Madden won’t let Eve get away that easily, though. What starts as a marriage of convenience soon ignites into something much hotter, and now it’s up to Madden to convince Eve that their connection is far more than a business arrangement. As the passion builds, can their fake marriage become the real deal?

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

The Bookshop Below

The Bookshop Below by Georgia Summers is $2.99! This is Summers’ sophomore novel and I was pretty interested in it when it came out last November. Did any of you pick this one up?

Below the streets of London, a secret network of magical bookshops has existed for millennia. But they’re slowly disappearing, and no one knows why. Only one dishonored bookseller can uncover the truth and rewrite her story—in this spellbinding standalone fantasy novel from the author of The City of Stardust. 

If you want a story that will change your life, Chiron’s bookshop is where you go. For those lucky enough to grace its doors, it’s a glimpse into a world of powerful bargains and deadly ink magic.

For Cassandra Fairfax, it’s a reminder of everything she lost, when Chiron kicked her out and all but shuttered the shop. Since then, she’s used her skills in less ethical ways, trading stolen books and magical readings to wealthy playboys and unscrupulous collectors.

Then Chiron dies under mysterious circumstances. And if Cassandra knows anything, it’s the bookshop must always have an owner.

But she’s not the only one interested. There’s Lowell Sharpe, a dark-eyed, regrettably handsome bookseller she can’t seem to stop bumping into; rival owners who threaten Cassandra from the shadows; and, of course, Chiron’s murderer, who is still on the loose.

As Cassandra tries to uncover the secrets her mentor left behind, a sinister force threatens to unravel the world of the magical bookshops entirely…

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Without a Clue

Without a Clue by Melissa Ferguson is $1.99! This is part murder mystery, part romance. This was released by a Christian publisher, but according to Goodreads reviews, there’s nothing about faith or Christianity in the book. My assumption is that the content is less illutrative, if you will (no graphic depictions of sex or violence, perhaps little to no cursing, etc.).

A laugh-out-loud rom-com wrapped in a whodunit, this high-seas adventure proves that sometimes the best love stories start with a little murder.

Penelope Mae Dupont has one keeping her cool. Which is essential when you’re the personal assistant to renowned mystery author Hugh Griffin. But when Pip organizes a luxury book cruise featuring The Fabulous Seven–a glittering cast of seven bestselling authors known for both their brilliance and their drama–her trademark composure starts slipping. One boat. Seven egos. Hundreds of fans. What could possibly go wrong?

Well . . . murder, for starters.

On day two, Hugh is found dead–and the cruise security team proves to be utterly incompetent. Stranded in the middle of the Atlantic with no help in sight, Pip realizes if anyone’s going to solve the case, it’ll have to be her. And so, with her friend and ally Nash, the dreamy Western author who’s just as rugged as the cowboys he writes about, she puts her amateur sleuthing skills to the test.

As Pip and Nash navigate an ocean of secrets, shocking twists, and one too many red herrings, she’ll have to decide whether she’s meant to stay behind the scenes–or finally step into the spotlight . . . and maybe, just maybe, find love along the way.

In the world of mystery and love, sometimes you have to risk going overboard to find the truth.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Failure to Match

Failure to Match by Kyra Parsi is 99c at Amazon! This is the second book in the Bad Billionaire Bosses series. The heroine is a matchmaker living with the hero to help find him a match.

He’s the arrogant, grumpy billionaire bane of my existence… and now I’m his full-time, live-in dating coach.

I’ve never failed to match a client—until him.

Jackson Sinclair has dragged me through eight months of matchmaking hell, and I have the carnage of broken hearts to prove it.

But I refuse to get fired from my dream job because of some infuriatingly gorgeous billionaire and his absurd criteria for a wife.

The plan is simple.
All I have to do is infiltrate his penthouse, pretend to be his blind date, and figure out what the actual f*ck his actual f*cking problem is.
It’ll be fine. He doesn’t know what I look like.

Except I nearly drown in Satan-clair’s massive pool, he figures out who I am, and now I’m forcibly glued to his side for the next 30 days.

It’s a nightmare, until it’s not.
I hate him, until I discover everything he’s been hiding.
We fight, until the tension boils over into sizzling temptation.

Jackson Sinclair may not believe in soulmates, and he may not believe in love, but little does he know, he’s finally met his match…

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

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Posted by Amanda

This HaBO comes from Chioma, who wants to find this romance:

I read this African-American romance novel as a kid, and I am trying to find the title and author. It was likely published between 1995 and 2005. It is a standalone book set in the USA, and the cover was definitely an illustrated style—not a real photo. I vaguely remember it having a rose on it, but I could be wrong about that part.

The story opens with the biracial female lead bathing and grooming herself for a date. The book describes her braids and the yellow jumpsuit she was planning to wear. They hit it off immediately on that first date—they don’t work together, and they were never enemies. Even though she normally doesn’t do things like this, they end up having sex on his carpet that same night. Both main characters are Black, in their 30s, and have strong careers. The female lead (whose mom is black and dad is white) is a successful black woman. The male lead—whose name might be Richard or something similar—is a successful black man (he is definitely not a billionaire). I also remember the male lead has a white best friend, or his best friend married a white woman.

The female lead has a very specific family backstory. Her parents were activists during the “afros and fists pumping” era; her mother was a Black activist advocating Black rights, and her father was a white activist who joined her. Because of this, she didn’t grow up with them. Actually, they died. She was raised by her grandmother in her hometown. She has a gay uncle, a female best friend, and a family full of nosy aunts and cousins. At some point in the story, her grandmother passes away.

The major plot revolves around the male lead building a house completely from the ground up. Knowing her professional expertise, he asks her to decorate the house under the guise that it is for a secret “client.” She even visits the house while it is being built, completely unaware that it is actually for her. In the end, they get married and move into the home he built and she designed.

These are the details I remember, because I read it as a young girl (I snuck, but I am an adult now lol). Please help me. I have searched for years and I want to read it again. Thank you.

I know we can find this one!

[syndicated profile] smartbitches_feed

Posted by Amanda

Happy Tuesday!

Have I mentioned yet how busy April is for releases? This week, there’s horror, fantasy romance, mafia romance, and more on our TBR piles.

What releases are you excited for? Let us know in the comments!

The Auction

The Auction by Sadie Kincaid

Author: Sadie Kincaid
Released: April 14, 2026 by MIRA
Genre: ,
Series: Wages of Sin #1

The queen of dark mafia romance, Sadie Kincaid, begins her new explosively sexy Wages of Sin series with The Auction. Beauty and the Beast meets organized crime in this tense slow-burn romance with scorching spice, thrilling suspense, and life-altering secrets. 

I was trained to be a pawn, but I will rise as a queen.

My life has never been my own. After the death of my parents, I was saved by my grandfather, with the promise that he would turn me over to the Brotherhood on my twenty-first birthday.

I was kept away from the outside world so I could one day be sold to the highest bidder—pure and unsullied. Penance for my parents’ alleged crimes.

That’s how I come to be sold at an auction.

And who buys me but the reclusive billionaire, Lincoln Knight?

Some say that he’s a monster, more dangerous than any of the evil men from the Brotherhood. That he wears a mask to cover his scars. But I believe he’s hiding more than just his face behind his mask.

My fate is sealed when he takes me to his crumbling mansion deep in the woods. I’m trapped. Entirely at his mercy.

I have to escape.

But something here isn’t what it seems.

Lincoln isn’t what he seems. Maybe he’s not a monster at all. I’m drawn to him in a way that I can’t explain. Until I discover that his secrets go far beyond his mask.

He’s everything I’ve been taught to fear, but what if everything I’ve ever known has been a lie?

Amanda: Auction plots are kind of my catnip.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Cherry Baby

Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell

Author: Rainbow Rowell
Released: April 14, 2026 by William Morrow
Genre: ,

#1 New York Times bestselling author Rainbow Rowell returns with a breathtakingly honest novel about art and sex and forgiveness—and how imperfectly we fall in love. 

Everybody knows that Cherry’s husband, Tom, is in Hollywood making a movie…

Almost nobody knows that he isn’t coming home.

Tom is the creator of Thursday—a semi-autobiographical webcomic, turned bestselling graphic novel, turned international phenomenon.

Semi-autobiographical. That means there’s a character in this movie based on Cherry… “Baby.”

Wide-hipped, heavy-chested, double-chinned Baby.

Cherry never wanted this. No fat girl wants to see herself caricatured on the pagelet alone on the big screen. But there’s no getting away from it. Baby looks so much like Cherry that strangers recognize her at the grocery store.

While her soon-to-be ex-husband is in Los Angeles getting rich and famous and being the Internet’s latest boyfriend, Cherry is stuck in Omaha taking care of the dog he always wanted and the house they were going to raise a family in…and wondering who she’s supposed to be without him.

Cherry had promised to love Tom through thick and thin.

She’d meant it.

One night, Cherry decides to leave all her problems, including Tom’s overgrown puppy, at home. She ventures out to see her favorite band play her favorite album…and someone recognizes her from across the room.

Russ Sutton knew Cherry when she was a young art student with a fondness for pin-up dresses and patent leather heels. Before Tom.

Russ knows Cherry. He likes Cherry.

And best of all…he’s never heard of Thursday.

Cherry Baby is Rainbow Rowell’s richest, most ambitious—sexiest—novel yet. Told with deep tenderness and shot through with Rowell’s signature wit—this is a second-chance romance for grown-ups. For people who understand how rare it is to get even one chance at love, and how impossible it can feel to make it work.

New Rainbow Rowell coming out!

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Deathly Fates

Deathly Fates by Tesia Tsai

Author: Tesia Tsai
Released: April 14, 2026 by Wednesday Books
Genre: , ,

A sweeping debut inspired by the Chinese folk practice of necromancy, Deathly Fates is perfect for fans of Descendant of the Crane, The Bone Shard Daughter, and A Magic Steeped in Poison.

As a priestess paid to guide the deceased home, Kang Siying has never feared death. However, when her beloved father collapses, Siying realizes that even she is not free from the cruel grasp of mortality. Desperate to provide her father with the medical aid he needs, Siying accepts a dangerous job that promises a generous commission, and travels to a hostile state to retrieve the corpse of a missing prince.

But the moment Siying places her reanimation talisman on the dead prince’s head, rather than make the corpse obedient to Siying’s commands, the talisman brings the prince back to life. Worse, he won’t stay alive for long—not unless he absorbs enough qi, or life force, to keep his soul anchored to his body.

In return for a reward worth twice her original commission, Siying agrees to aid the frustratingly handsome prince in finding and purifying evil spirits for their qi. As they journey across the countryside, encountering vengeful ghosts and enemy spies alike, they gradually uncover dark secrets about the prince’s death—secrets that could endanger both Siying’s father and their entire kingdom.

Amanda: This sounds so good!

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Happy Ending

Happy Ending by Chloe Liese

Author: Chloe Liese
Released: April 14, 2026 by Gallery Books
Genre: ,

From USA TODAY bestselling author Chloe Liese, a clever and heartwarming rom-com that is perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Annabel Monaghan about two best friends who must fake a relationship for their exes.

Thea and Alex have three things in common—they love food, they hate where they live, and they’re both divorced. Otherwise, they couldn’t be more different.

Thea’s never cooked a day in her life. Alex is a world-class chef. Alex resents feeling stuck in his hometown. Thea resents the town for not feeling more like home. Thea and her ex are in a contentious custody battle for their dog. Alex and his ex amicably coparent their daughter. Beyond a few friends in common, a couple small-world connections (welcome to life in a mid-size city), their lives look nothing alike. Fast forward two years, and they’re truly the best of friends. No one would ever know their friendship began as a lie…

Two years ago, their exes got together immediately following their divorces, and somehow, Thea and Alex found themselves spinning a spite-fueled story about being old friends and first loves. Two years later, what began as a ruse has grown into real friendship—just friendship, despite what friends and family seem to think. But when their exes invite them on a two-week, “two family” beach vacation—daughter and dog included—Alex and Thea start to wonder if this story they’ve spun might have gotten away from them, and if it’s led them to the last place they ever thought it a happy ending.

Community fave Chloe Liese has a new contemporary romance out. 

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Save the Date

Save the Date by Mallory Kass

Author: Mallory Kass
Released: April 14, 2026 by Atria Books
Genre: ,

A romantic comedy of manners about a lavish wedding weekend gone very, very wrong with the slow-burn romance of Emily Henry and the fizzy humor of Sophie Kinsella.

The Beautiful, seemingly carefree Marigold is tired of being treated like a shallow it-girl. That’s one of the many reasons she’s excited to marry Jonathan—the handsome, kind, respectable doctor of her dreams. So when a shocking secret from her past threatens to ruin her wedding, she’ll do anything to make it disappear…even if it means tracking down a man she vowed to avoid forever.

The Maid of As the bride’s best friend, all Natalie wants is for this wedding to go off without a hitch. There’s only one Natalie has secretly been in love with the groom since college. When Marigold disappears, Natalie is forced to ask whether she can keep burying her feelings for the sake of friendship…or if she’s ready to risk everything to pursue her own happy ending.

The Olivia has spent her life cleaning up Marigold’s messes. So she’s determined to keep the wedding on track for the sake of their mother, who’s battling cancer and longs for one last perfect weekend. But when Jonathan’s best man—a prickly academic with a heart of gold—ropes her into a fake dating scheme, sparks unexpectedly fly. Will Olivia sacrifice her own happiness again, or could this fake relationship turn into the truest choice she’s ever made?

Heartwarming, hilarious, and sparklingly romantic, Save the Date will have you cheering for love in all its messy, unexpected glory.

Dahlia: This delightful rom-com is really 3 in 1, with three different female MCs each narrating her own storyline in one interwoven wedding celebration. It’s funny, it’s charming, and Kass (who you might recognize from writing The 100 as Kass Morgan) deftly makes you root for all three.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Stay for a Spell

Stay for a Spell by Amy Coombe

Author: Amy Coombe
Released: April 14, 2026 by Ace
Genre: , ,

A cursed princess must discover what her heart truly longs for in this charmingly cozy romantic fantasy for everyone who’s ever lost – or found – themselves in a bookshop.

Princess Tanadelle of the Widdenmar is disillusioned with life as a princess. She longs for real conversation, the chance to build a life of her own making, and uninterrupted reading time.

During a routine royal visit to the town of Little Pepperidge, Tandy’s dream comes true when she finds herself cursed to remain in a run-down bookshop until she unlocks her heart’s desire. Certain that someone will figure out how to break the curse eventually, and delighted by the prospect of an entire bookstore of her own, Tandy settles into life among the stacks. She finds it easy to exchange balls and endless state dinners for teetering piles of books and an irritatingly handsome pirate who seems bent on stealing her stock.

She even starts to believe she’s stumbled into her very own happily ever after.

There’s just one, minor as Tandy’s royal duties go unfulfilled, her frantic parents start sending princes to woo her, each one of them certain their kiss will break the curse. After all, what more could a princess want but a prince?

Amanda: The cover just looks so cozy.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

The Take

The Take by Kelly Yang

Author: Kelly Yang
Released: April 14, 2026 by Berkley
Genre:

A provocative, fast-paced novel about two creative women—a young writer fighting to be heard and an older producer clinging to relevancy—and the age reversal treatment that intertwines both of their lives…from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the beloved Front Desk series

Would you sell your youth for $3 million?

Maggie Wang, a broke young Asian American writer, needs a lifeline. Ingrid Parker, a veteran white Hollywood producer with her career on the edge, offers an irresistible $3 million for ten experimental medical sessions to reverse her aging, using Maggie as a transfusion partner, and mentorship.

For Ingrid, it’s a chance to reboot her fading career. For Maggie, it’s access and freedom—money to support her parents and the connections to finally get her novel published.

What starts as a professional transaction exchanging blood quickly becomes a complex psychological dance. As Maggie gains unprecedented access to Ingrid’s hard-earned wisdom, Ingrid sees in Maggie a weapon against an industry that’s been trying to sideline her.

As their relationship intensifies, the rules around aging begin to shift. So does the balance of power between the two women, leaving both questioning who holds the upper hand and what they’re willing to sacrifice to succeed.

Sharp, timely, and utterly compelling, The Take is perfect for readers of Yellowface and Such a Fun Age—a searing portrait of two women fighting to rewrite their story.

Amanda: Had a friend recommend this to me and told me it’s a better version of The Substance.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

It's maybe five minutes onscreen

Apr. 13th, 2026 11:18 pm
sovay: (Silver: against blue)
[personal profile] sovay
Things in my neighborhood are starting to bloom, so I got out of the house in the on-and-off overcast and photographed some.

When it's just me against the sky. )

I agree with this post that the human body was not designed to know what the worst person in the world is doing every fifteen minutes, but it was not possible for me to avoid hearing that the man in the White House shared AI slop of himself as Jesus healing the sick for Pascha. It was much nicer to discover that Aimee Mann circa 'Til Tuesday belonged so clearly to the elusive Bowie–Swinton species. She could have starred in Liquid Sky (1982).
lannamichaels: Matt Smith wearing headphones looking at paper. A microphone hangs from the ceiling. (matt smith has a microphone)
[personal profile] lannamichaels


Title: DVD Commentary: I Was Out Here Listening All The Time.
Author: [personal profile] lannamichaels
Fandom: Vorkosigan Saga
Series: Part 12 of Are You Out There, Can You Hear This?
Rating: G
Archives: Archive Of Our Own, SquidgeWorld

Summary: The chronicles of the Komarran forum fic.


Author commentary! )

musesfool: Kory from Titans (i must confess i still believe)
[personal profile] musesfool
Today's poem:

Eurydice
by Carol Ann Duffy

Girls, I was dead and down
in the Underworld, a shade,
a shadow of my former self, nowhen.
It was a place where language stopped,
a black full stop, a black hole
Where the words had to come to an end.
And end they did there,
last words,
famous or not.
It suited me down to the ground.

So imagine me there,
unavailable,
out of this world,
then picture my face in that place
of Eternal Repose,
in the one place you'd think a girl would be safe
from the kind of a man
who follows her round
writing poems,
hovers about
while she reads them,
calls her His Muse,
and once sulked for a night and a day
because she remarked on his weakness for abstract nouns.
Just picture my face
when I heard –
Ye Gods –
a familiar knock-knock at Death's door.

Him.
Big O.
Larger than life.
With his lyre
and a poem to pitch, with me as the prize.

Things were different back then.
For the men, verse-wise,
Big O was the boy. Legendary.
The blurb on the back of his books claimed
that animals,
aardvark to zebra,
flocked to his side when he sang,
fish leapt in their shoals
at the sound of his voice,
even the mute, sullen stones at his feet
wept wee, silver tears.

Bollocks. (I'd done all the typing myself,
I should know.)
And given my time all over again,
rest assured that I'd rather speak for myself
than be Dearest, Beloved, Dark Lady, White Goddess etc., etc.

In fact girls, I'd rather be dead.

But the Gods are like publishers,
usually male,
and what you doubtless know of my tale
is the deal.

Orpheus strutted his stuff.

The bloodless ghosts were in tears.
Sisyphus sat on his rock for the first time in years.
Tantalus was permitted a couple of beers.
The woman in question could scarcely believe her ears.

Like it or not,
I must follow him back to our life –
Eurydice, Orpheus' wife –
to be trapped in his images, metaphors, similes,
octaves and sextets, quatrains and couplets,
elegies, limericks, villanelles,
histories, myths...

He'd been told that he mustn't look back
or turn round,
but walk steadily upwards,
myself right behind him,
out of the Underworld
into the upper air that for me was the past.
He'd been warned
that one look would lose me
for ever and ever.

So we walked, we walked.
Nobody talked.

Girls, forget what you've read.
It happened like this –
I did everything in my power
to make him look back.
What did I have to do, I said,
to make him see we were through?
I was dead. Deceased.
I was Resting in Peace. Passé. Late.
Past my sell-by date...

I stretched out my hand
to touch him once
on the back of the neck.
Please let me stay.
But already the light had saddened from purple to grey.

It was an uphill schlep
from death to life
and with every step
I willed him to turn.
I was thinking of filching the poem
out of his cloak,
when inspiration finally struck.
I stopped, thrilled.
He was a yard in front.
My voice shook when I spoke –
Orpheus, your poem's a masterpiece.
I'd love to hear it again…


He was smiling modestly,
when he turned,
when he turned and he looked at me.

What else?
I noticed he hadn't shaved.
I waved once and was gone.

The dead are so talented.
The living walk by the edge of a vast lake
near, the wise, drowned silence of the dead.

*
[syndicated profile] smartbitches_feed

Posted by SB Sarah

Smart Podcast, Trashy Books Podcast
The transcript for Podcast 713. Enemies to Lovers with Alisha Rai has been posted!

This podcast transcript was handcrafted with meticulous skill by Garlic Knitter. Many thanks.

Click here to subscribe to The Podcast →

Enemies to Lovers
A | BN | K | AB
Don’t miss Enemies to Lovers by Alisha Rai, out now wherever books are sold!

And special thanks to the sponsor for episode 713, Sotto Voce Scents, fine purveyors of candles inspired by romance novels.

My favorite: Scoundrelwood, with notes of sandalwood, tobacco, vanilla and leather conjure the dark and luxurious gaming hells and gentlemen’s clubs where you can find your favourite scoundrels

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Thank you to Sotto Voce for supporting the show!

Fitness Fellowship 2026: Check-in 15

Apr. 13th, 2026 03:58 pm
sylvanwitch: (Default)
[personal profile] sylvanwitch
Welcome back to another week. I hope it's been a good one for you.

As usual, please share your progress (or lack thereof--no judgement here) with us in the comments. If you need advice, cheerleading, buttkicking, or anything I can provide, please don't hesitate to let me know.

My Week in Review )

I'm sending you all the good vibes for a healthy week ahead, my friends!

Initial Pinch Hits: #11-23

Apr. 13th, 2026 03:00 pm
longficmod: Photo of a woman tying a running shoe (Default)
[personal profile] longficmod posting in [community profile] fandom5k
We have 23 initial pinch hits! This post is #11-23. #1-10 are here.

If you can claim one of these, please comment with your AO3 name and the number of the pinch hit you want. All comments are screened.
 
Like main assignments, these pinch hits are due on 5 June, and they require a check-in during the week of 8-15 May.
 
You may ask to exchange your assignment for an open pinch hit. If you are given that pinch hit and fulfill it, this won't count as a default. Please tell me in your comment requesting a pinch hit that you are asking to swap.


PH 11 - The Pitt (TV), 鬼滅の刃 | Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Anime & Manga), Crossover Fandom )

 


CLAIMED - PH 12 - Royal Affairs - Harris-Powell-Smith, Crossover Fandom, Corruption of Champions 2, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (Cartoon) )

 


PH 13 - Stranger Things (TV 2016), The West Wing, 9-1-1 (TV) )

 


CLAIMED - PH 14 - MF Ghost (Anime), Psycho-Pass, Shin Sangokumusou | Dynasty Warriors, 機動戦士ガンダム 閃光のハサウェイ | Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash (Movies), 龍が如く | Ryuu ga Gotoku | Yakuza (Video Games) )

 


PH 15 - Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga), 僕だけがいない街 | Boku dake ga Inai Machi | ERASED (Anime & Manga), 炎の蜃気楼[ミラージュ] | Honoo no Mirage | Mirage of Blaze, John Wick (Movies), Sneakers (1992), The Fall of the House of Usher (TV 2023), Father Brown (2013), The Queen's Gambit (TV), Squid Game (TV 2021), Death Note (Movies 2006-2016) )

 


CLAIMED - PH 16 - Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer, Interstellar (2014), Cerulean Chronicles Series - TJ Klune )

 


CLAIMED - PH 17 - ไหนใครว่าพวกมันไม่ถูกกัน | Head 2 Head (TV 2025), KinnPorsche: The Series (TV), เพื่อนายแค่หนึ่งเดียว | Never Let Me Go (TV 2022), ข้ามฟ้าเคียงเธอ | The Next Prince (TV 2025), บ้านหลอน ON SALE | Peaceful Property (TV), Thai Actor RPF, เธม-โป้ Heart That Skips a Beat | Thame-Po: Heart That Skips a Beat (TV), 천둥구름 비바람 | Thundercloud Rainstorm (TV) )

 


PH 18 - Gran Hotel (TV), 무빙 | Moving (TV), 설강화 | Snowdrop (TV) )

 


PH 19 - The Amazing World of Gumball, Osmosis Jones (2001), Dandy's World (Roblox), Dandy's World (Roblox), Dandy's World (Roblox), Osmosis Jones (2001), The Amazing World of Gumball, The Amazing World of Gumball )

 


PH 20 - Baldur's Gate (Video Games), Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Video Game), Mass Effect Trilogy, Original Work )

 


PH 21 - Political RPF - US 21st c., American Civil War RPF, 19th Century CE RPF )

 


PH 22 - 獅子の踊り子 | Shishi no Odoriko (Manga), Noctilucent: Before Dawn (Video Game), Tekken (Video Games), 龍が如く | Ryuu ga Gotoku | Yakuza (Video Games) )

 


CLAIMED - PH 23 - New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Poppy Playtime (Video Game), Persona 5, The Amazing Digital Circus (Web Series) )

 

Initial Pinch Hits: #1-10 (of 23)

Apr. 13th, 2026 01:57 pm
longficmod: Photo of a woman tying a running shoe (Default)
[personal profile] longficmod posting in [community profile] fandom5k
We have 23 initial pinch hits! This post is #1-10. If you can claim one of these, please comment with your AO3 name and the number of the pinch hit you want. All comments are screened.
 
Like main assignments, these pinch hits are due on 5 June, and they require a check-in during the week of 8-15 May.
 
You may ask to exchange your assignment for an open pinch hit. If you are given that pinch hit and fulfill it, this won't count as a default. Please tell me in your comment requesting a pinch hit that you are asking to swap.

PH 1 - Mononoke-hime | Princess Mononoke, Soul Eater (Anime & Manga), ダンジョン飯 | Dungeon Meshi | Delicious in Dungeon, ちはやふる | Chihayafuru (Anime & Manga), 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney, Arcane: League of Legends (Cartoon 2021) )

 


PH 2 - Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Cartoon), Crossover Fandom, Star Wars: Resistance (Cartoon), Star Wars Original Trilogy )

 


PH 3 - Young Sherlock (TV 2026), Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse), Fallout (TV 2024), Hades (Supergiant Games Video Games), Andor (TV) )

 


CLAIMED - PH 4 - 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed, 憂国のモリアーティ | Yuukoku no Moriarty | Moriarty the Patriot (Anime), Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle, Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler, One Piece (Anime & Manga), Ready or Not (Movies), 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018), Doctor Who (2005), Original Work, DCU (Comics) )

 


CLAIMED - PH 5 - Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, Voltron: Lion Force (1984), Jem and the Holograms (Cartoon), G.I. Joe (Cartoon), Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Super Mysteries - Franklin W. Dixon & Carolyn Keene, Chalion Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold, Thunderbirds (2004), Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (TV), Masters of the Universe: Revelations/Revolution (Netflix), Crossover Fandom )

 


PH 6 - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Beware of Chicken - Casualfarmer, Dreaming of Sunshine (Fanfic Disambiguation), Crossover Fandom )

 


CLAIMED - PH 7 - 你却爱着一个傻逼 - 水千丞 | In Love with an Idiot - Shui Qian Cheng, 小白杨 - 水千丞 | My Little Poplar - Shuǐ Qiān Chng, 老婆孩子热炕头 - 水千丞 | Lǎo P Hi Zi R Kng Tou - Shuǐ Qiān Chng, 火焰戎装 - 水千丞 | Huǒ Yn Rng Zhuāng - Shuǐ Qiān Chng, 附加遗产 - 水千丞 | F Jiā Y Chǎn - Shuǐ Qiān Chng, 职业替身 - 水千丞 | Professional Body Double - Shuǐ Qiān Chng, 我行让我来 - 酱子贝 | I Can Do It - Jing Zǐ Bi, 秉性下等 - 回南雀 | Inferior By Nature - Hu Nn Qu, 江医生他怀了死对头的崽 - 葫芦酱 | Dr. Jiang is Pregnant with His Nemesis's Child - H L Jing, Crossover Fandom )

 


PH 8 - Generation Kill (TV), Justified, SAS: Rogue Heroes (TV), The Pitt (TV), The Punisher (TV 2017) )

 


CLAIMED - PH 9 - The Love Hypothesis - Ali Hazelwood, The Hurricane Wars - Thea Guanzon, Deliver Me - Ashley Hawthorne )

 


PH 10 - 杀破狼 | Stars of Chaos: Sha Po Lang - priest, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga), 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018) )

 

Yesteryear, by Caro Claire Burke

Apr. 13th, 2026 11:35 am
rachelmanija: (Books: old)
[personal profile] rachelmanija


Natalie is a wildly successful trad wife influencer. She and her husband Caleb have a farm and six adorable children, and Natalie has parlayed carefully edited clips of her perfect life into a lucrative career. (She leaves out the two nannies, 30 farm hands, and the fact that Sassafras the cow is actually four sequential cows, replaced every time one dies, like goldfish.)

Then Natalie suffers a mysterious fall from grace. And then she finds herself in what appears to be an alternate version of her own life in the 1800s, with a husband very similar but not quite identical to her original husband, and children who claim to be her own. Has she time traveled? Is she delusional? Has she gotten kidnapped into a non-consensual reality show?

This is an extremely interesting novel that makes a good companion to Saratoga Schrader's Trad Wife. The beginning of the book is extremely similar, though Natalie is much more successful than Camille. Burke's version of a trad wife influencer deluding herself and lying to her followers about her supposedly perfect life is much better-written than Schrader's. But that's a double-edged sword, because it makes Natalie much more unlikable. She's an incredibly hatable character and the book is from her POV, and that makes a lot of the book not really enjoyable to read.

But the book turns out to be much more ambitious and clever than it seems at the beginning. When I finished it, I was glad I'd read it and appreciated it a lot. That being said, I enjoyed Trad Wife more on an emotional level.

I highly recommend not clicking on the cut unless you're 100% positive you'll never read the book. I really enjoyed the non-spoiled experience.

Read more... )

Content notes: Domestic violence, rape (on-page, graphic), child abuse and neglect, farm animal neglect/poor caretaking (just mentioned), gaslighting, non-consensual drugging, current American right-wing stuff.

While attempting to buy Saratoga Schaefer's Trad Wife, I accidentally bought a different novel called Trad Wife by Michelle Brandon. And Sarah Langan is coming out with yet another book called Trad Wife in September. I am now on a mission to read all four trad wife books, to compare and contrast.

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