mermaidsirennikita
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Caroline. 29 Sagittarius. Writer. I talk a lot about romance novels.
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I don’t want boring, common ways of being bad. I want ways that rattle me to my bones, that send me to my knees in repentance, I want to be the kind of bad that leaves me wrung out with bite marks blooming purple on my body. I want to go to the brink of not knowing myself. I want someone to take me there and hold me by the neck and make me stare at an entire reckless realm of possibility. What’s the point of sex if you don’t feel like every dark crevice of your soul has been exposed to the light? If someone doesn’t take your lust and your shameful thoughts, and twist them into a spell that leaves you panting like a dog for more?
American Queen by Sierra Simone
#new camelot#romance novel blogging#romance novels#greer doesn't get enough credit for being That Girl tbh#never forget that there are two different scenes in that series#where she has sex with embry#and afterward he like does a survey of her body#and is like 'i am HORRIBLE'#bc you know bite marks bruises blood etc#and greer goes#'nah you're GREAT :D'#she's.... just That Girl#and it makes the series so refreshing god just give me heroines who are like#unrepentant about their sexuality
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Have you read Prince of Dreams by Kleypas? Is it good?
I haven't--it's on my list, but I'm not quite there yet. I've heard good things, though! it sounds very Old School Kleypas, but I'm personally a fan of some of her older books.
(not the ones set in America)
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#that time we watched my name is doris while democracy was under fire
FOUR WOMEN. ONE MOVIE. A NIGHT TO REMEMBER.
@saint-cecilias @mermaidsirennikita @bluetiefling
#AAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!#OLIVIA!!!!!! THE SCREAM I JUST SCREMT#oh my god dude i am LIVING#ot4: thanks we hate it#ot4: imperial cuntiness#ot4: so beautiful in the face#ot4: doom sluts nation#LOL ESPECIALLY THAT ONE#'twas a day spent with us all texting each other like 'haha! i hope america doesn't blow up! crazy huh?'#i was peering out my window bc i was (and remain) convinced that.... where i live would be a particularly dodgy location#to be in#if that happened#and then at like 9 PM we were like whew what a day so.... that movie where max greenfield maybe fucks sally field.......#we still on?#truly. when our records are unearthed 2k years from now. the aliens will be stunned
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fellas, is it normal to feed the object of your vengeance her favorite meal and also champagne and the finest of red wines before having sex with her twice more in the same night (after the first incredibly quick time)? is it normal to take the object of your revenge out on the town and rent a barge and start physically shaking and fighting back the urge to vomit when she says things that remind you of your revenge plot that's going to break her heart?
#romance novel blogging#yes this is still the footman by s.m. laviolette#she gave this man one good clench and his entire scheme has been derailed
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He put it in and lasted like 39 seconds it was glorious to read
currently reading S.M. LaViolette's The Footman, which I kind of went into blind and less than halfway into the novel the following has occurred:
--our heroine, a lord's daughter, impetuously kissed the hero, a footman, when they're both teens
--they are caught in what is really barely a kiss, and her father and her fiance (horribly abusive, as a TW) frame this footman for rape and have him sent to the GALLOWS
--his uncle breaks him out and sends him to America, where he becomes a self-made businessman
--and over 15 YEARS!!!! LATER!!!! he, full of hatred and not realizing that the heroine really didn't do anything on purpose and has in fact suffered more than he has, returns for REVENGE, and she doesn't recognize him because he's a redhead and was wearing a footman's wig when she knew him and he was SCOTTISH LMAO and he's DROPPED HIS ACCENT, and he's like??? vengeanceseducing her?
--which honestly like, I know he has a big revenge plan, but right now he's jut making out with her and being super disappointed when she resists his seduction and handing her money and horses and stuff, so I don't SUPER get how this is coming out to revenge, but I'm SURE IT WILL!!! SOMEHOW!!!!!! MY BOY HAS THIS ON LOCK!
#romance novel blogging#he’s like my ultimate revenge will be fucking her!!!#which weird but okay#and now I know that man is gonna be like ‘…. That was embarrassing I should do it again’#just to SOLIDIFY the revenge
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this man, while kissing this sleeping woman's shoulder (he is still covered in semen): "perhaps busting a nut has drained me of my power"
currently reading S.M. LaViolette's The Footman, which I kind of went into blind and less than halfway into the novel the following has occurred:
--our heroine, a lord's daughter, impetuously kissed the hero, a footman, when they're both teens
--they are caught in what is really barely a kiss, and her father and her fiance (horribly abusive, as a TW) frame this footman for rape and have him sent to the GALLOWS
--his uncle breaks him out and sends him to America, where he becomes a self-made businessman
--and over 15 YEARS!!!! LATER!!!! he, full of hatred and not realizing that the heroine really didn't do anything on purpose and has in fact suffered more than he has, returns for REVENGE, and she doesn't recognize him because he's a redhead and was wearing a footman's wig when she knew him and he was SCOTTISH LMAO and he's DROPPED HIS ACCENT, and he's like??? vengeanceseducing her?
--which honestly like, I know he has a big revenge plan, but right now he's jut making out with her and being super disappointed when she resists his seduction and handing her money and horses and stuff, so I don't SUPER get how this is coming out to revenge, but I'm SURE IT WILL!!! SOMEHOW!!!!!! MY BOY HAS THIS ON LOCK!
#romance novel blogging#he's like staggering outta the room to down a drink so that he can refocus on revenge#wiped the cum off with a robe and then PUT THE ROBE ON#and is now talking to his employee in a collapsed state#the employee who is like 'sir i can see your balls in that robe just so you know'#he has a semi bc he wanted to fuck her all the way. we're in a bad state here#the only sm laviolette hero i've read with any true dignity is probs joss gormley
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Mr. "I SHALL HAVE VENGEANCE" just begged her to jack him off (only once he gave her like 3 orgasms to be fair) and after she did he literally.... passed out
and when he wakes up cuddling her (he is covered in his own semen, the dignity has gone out the window) he's like "the vengeance plan is going PERFECTLY"
currently reading S.M. LaViolette's The Footman, which I kind of went into blind and less than halfway into the novel the following has occurred:
--our heroine, a lord's daughter, impetuously kissed the hero, a footman, when they're both teens
--they are caught in what is really barely a kiss, and her father and her fiance (horribly abusive, as a TW) frame this footman for rape and have him sent to the GALLOWS
--his uncle breaks him out and sends him to America, where he becomes a self-made businessman
--and over 15 YEARS!!!! LATER!!!! he, full of hatred and not realizing that the heroine really didn't do anything on purpose and has in fact suffered more than he has, returns for REVENGE, and she doesn't recognize him because he's a redhead and was wearing a footman's wig when she knew him and he was SCOTTISH LMAO and he's DROPPED HIS ACCENT, and he's like??? vengeanceseducing her?
--which honestly like, I know he has a big revenge plan, but right now he's jut making out with her and being super disappointed when she resists his seduction and handing her money and horses and stuff, so I don't SUPER get how this is coming out to revenge, but I'm SURE IT WILL!!! SOMEHOW!!!!!! MY BOY HAS THIS ON LOCK!
#romance novel blogging#alright bud#naturally this was a mediocre handy at best#and to make matters more humiliating (for him) he's like lying down on the bed and she's straddling him???#which is hot but the abject begging for sure intensified
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Can you rec more books with the hero and the revenge plot but of course falling in love in the process?
For sure!
Historical:
The Return of the Duke by Lorraine Heath. The hero in this book lost his title/family when his father was convicted of treason. So it's a matter of both revenge and proving his father innocent (both because dad and because title) and getting some revenge, and the heroine HAPPENS to have been his father's mistress. HOT.
Glory and the Master of Shadows by Grace Callaway. Wei isn't out to get revenge against GLORY, but an extremely traumatic backstory and a desire for vengeance is very much a part of this story. Fun fact: Grace was in part inspired by wuxia with this book, and that is SO COOL and you can see it as you read the book. Vengeance is something you see featuring in a lot of wuxia films.
The Marquess Makes His Move by Diana Quincy. The hero in this book is both getting revenge and getting validation against the heroine's husband, as he fucked him out of his land, I believe? So he's disguised as a footman while doing so. But oops, now sexual tension is developing between the hero and that horrible dude's wife...
Never Seduce a Duke by Vivienne Lorret. As far as the hero knows, the heroine stole a priceless book from him (an Arthurian cookbook, it's crazy) and he comes upon her years later and wants the book/revenge. However.... they did fuck before she seemingly ran... and he did leave behind a bit of a SURPRISE with her...
The Prince of Broadway by Joanna Shupe. Clay agrees to teach Florence how to operate a casino (she wants to open one for ladies) while secretly plotting revenge against her father. Yet, oops: he played himself.
Beyond Scandal and Desire by Lorraine Heath. The classic book in which Mick Trewlove sets out to seduce his legitimate brother's fiancee as a part of his long-term revenge against his father.
A Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean. My favorite MacLean--Bourne knew Penelope when they were kids, and then lost everything in a gambling situation. Years later, he returns and forces her to marry him as a part of his revenge plot wherein he's collecting all his land again (part of which is now connected to her dowry).
She Tempts the Duke by Lorraine Heath. This isn't a revenge against the heroine situation, but the hero is consumed by a desire for revenge after his uncle tried to kill him and his brothers when they were young--the heroine was his childhood sweetheart. It's like one of those things where he needs to decide if he can let himself love her or if he's going to be obsessed with vengeance, and it's honestly really lovely.
A Rose at Midnight by Anne Stuart. The HEROINE wants revenge against the hero because he essentially abandoned her and her family to the Reign of Terror. She actually tries to kill him at the beginning of the book. Check your triggers, but it's deliciously good.
No Good Duke Goes Unpunished by Sarah MacLean. The hero wants revenge against the heroine... after he finds out she's still alive... because she accidentally framed him for her murder....
Again the Magic by Lisa Kleypas. McKenna and Aline fall in love as teens, but her father forces her to send him away. McKenna seethes in raaaage for years, then comes back as a successful businessman to seek revenge against Aline.
What I Did for a Duke by Julie Anne Long. The hero in this one was cucked by the heroine's brother... so he decides to seduce and ruin the heroine as revenge. Unfortunately for him, she gets wise FAST.
Shadowheart by Laura Kinsale. Allegreto is motivated by a desire for vengeance and, you know, dominating part of Italy. He forces Elena to marry him to further his plans, only to find that she's his weakness. Check your triggers!
The Last Crimes of Peregrine Hind by Sierra Simone. M/m edition. Peregrine kidnaps the dandy hero for revenge, and essentially, bargaining and BDSM ensue.
The Madness of Viscount Atherbourne by Elisa Braden. The hero compromises (ruins, really) and marries the heroine as vengeance against her brother, who killed HIS brother in a duel.
The Ranger by Monica McCarty. The hero in this one is a spy behind enemy lines--and those enemy lines are run by the guy who murdered his father. And the heroine... is that guy's daughter. Fab.
Paranormal:
Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison. The hero, a godlike dragon shifter, kidnaps the heroine to get revenge on her for stealing from his horde. The theft is one penny. Fortunately for her, he is quickly like "SHE IS THE PRETTIEST GIRL IN THE WOOOORLD".
Lothaire by Kresley Cole. Lothaire's entire motivation is a 67-step plot to reclaim TWO different vampire thrones, as revenge for being disinherited and also losing his mother, because of course he has mommy issues. Acquiring his Bride and getting his full power is a part of that, which is why he kidnaps Ellie and plans on destroying her soul to install the goddess he thinks is his REAL Bride, because his Bride can't be a hillbilly, right???? (he's an idiot and I love him)
Dark/Mafia:
Mafia Madman by Mila Finelli. Enzo kidnaps Gia in order to get revenge against her brother-in-law, Fausto, for blowing up his life. Unfortunately, Gia is an amazing nightmare woman and therefore his perfect match. This stands alone, but I do think it's better if you read Mafia Mistress and Mafia Darling first. They're both so fun.
King's Captive by Amber Bardan. The hero kills the heroine's father and then sweeps her away to his private island... ostensibly for revenge. The twist ends up being what he's seeking revenge FOR. Notable for the "sensually masturbate to the mixtape I gave you while I stand on the other side of the door".
Fantasy:
The Winter King by C.L. Wilson. Wynter began a literally war to start a war against the heroine's family, as they killed his family. The war ends, he marries the heroine as a part of the treaty, but he isn't done with the whole vengeance thing yet...
A Heart of Blood and Ashes by Milla Vane. The hero wants revenge against the heroine's father for a similar reason--killed his family. The heroine, however, offers to marry him and help him seek revenge because she wants her own revenge. Famously, this is the one where she jacks the hero off using her brother's blood as lube. It's INCREDIBLE.
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Liana de la Rosa calling this wave of "feminist" heroines in historical romance a new marketing tactic is hard facts
#all well said and true#amalie wrote an excellent sapphic history in the pride not prejudice collection would rec to everyone seeking wlw#romance novel blogging
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INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE
1.02 | After the Phantoms of Your Former Self
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@pscentral event 26: minimalism
TITANIC (1997) dir. James Cameron
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whether it's 50 pages or 500 I don't think anyone, myself included, is prepared for the kind of gremlin I'll become if a fresh New Camelot book enters the world
#romance novel blogging#i'll NEVER. EVER. EVER. EEEEEEEVER. be over it#(and yes this is based off things sierra simone has actually said!)
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currently reading S.M. LaViolette's The Footman, which I kind of went into blind and less than halfway into the novel the following has occurred:
--our heroine, a lord's daughter, impetuously kissed the hero, a footman, when they're both teens
--they are caught in what is really barely a kiss, and her father and her fiance (horribly abusive, as a TW) frame this footman for rape and have him sent to the GALLOWS
--his uncle breaks him out and sends him to America, where he becomes a self-made businessman
--and over 15 YEARS!!!! LATER!!!! he, full of hatred and not realizing that the heroine really didn't do anything on purpose and has in fact suffered more than he has, returns for REVENGE, and she doesn't recognize him because he's a redhead and was wearing a footman's wig when she knew him and he was SCOTTISH LMAO and he's DROPPED HIS ACCENT, and he's like??? vengeanceseducing her?
--which honestly like, I know he has a big revenge plan, but right now he's jut making out with her and being super disappointed when she resists his seduction and handing her money and horses and stuff, so I don't SUPER get how this is coming out to revenge, but I'm SURE IT WILL!!! SOMEHOW!!!!!! MY BOY HAS THIS ON LOCK!
#romance novel blogging#obsessed with the laviolette game#she's yet to miss for me#from what i've been told this book weaponizes groveling
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Weekly Book Recs 4/12/24-4/26/24
Regarding the Duke by Grace Callaway
I have a new favorite Grace Callaway! Amnesia, as a trope, is very hit or miss for me... but when it hits, it really hits. What also hits? A stern, revenge-driven man who can't admit that he's in love, AND a marriage in trouble, and that same man completely breaking down when he realizes that he was So Wrong About Everything. This book has all of that, plus a very conventionally feminine wife and mother heroine who's so sweet yet also so fun. It's also super, super hot. I had so much fun. I was so Swept Away. It's great.
The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton
Gays In Space, the book. This is out in June, so I'll give more of my thoughts sometime next month but like... This is billed as a sapphic sci-fi romcom, and I wouldn't say that's WRONG, but there's a lot more to it. Like: grief, mystery, the temptation of running away from reality, and the problem with falling for a hologram. I was really impressed.
Played by Naima Simone
Another one that's not out for a while (September, to be exact) but like... A firefighter finds the sad journal of a growly hockey-playing widower and finds herself falling in love? Despite him being unable to offer anything emotional? PLEASE.
The Duke Redemption by Grace Callaway
If there's one thing I love, it's a book where they fuck first and have feelings later. And in this one, they fuck... immediately. Like, within twenty minutes of meeting. But it was a masked orgy situation! And she was hiding her identity due to her hideous (not hideous) scar! And she's a surprise virgin but really good at hiding it! This is a fun gender-flipped Beauty and the Beast situation, with the kind of light mystery Grace Callaway loves, and a hero who literally paces back and forth after finding out he accidentally deflowered this woman (who refuses to marry him) because he's NOT! THAT! GUY! (Anymore.) Also, they have sex in a cage, which I always approve of.
The Return of the Duke by Grace Callaway
Do you like a sweeping marriage of convenience story, with a heroine who needs to be My Fairy Lady'd? Look no further. Severin is looking for the ideal duchess (he has a whole "was raised on the mean streets but found out he was a secret duke" situation) to help him introduce his four(!) illegitimate siblings to high society. Except then he accidentally deflowers (again, love this) a tinker's daughter in the WOODS and is too honorable to NOT marry her, and also she's HOT, so even though he Cannot Love, they'll just have a fun fuck marriage, right? Even if she can't say the "H" sound? Sure. Fancy is actually such a great heroine, and this actually works very well in a way that I think a lot of books with this scenario wouldn't. And it's HOT, with a third act reveal that's so bonkers it's delightful.
The Trouble with Inventing a Viscount by Vivienne Lorret
Another ARC, so I'll stay somewhat tight-lipped. But suffice to say--this is about a hot girl who knows she's a hot girl (how refreshing) conning a con man, only to have him show up a year later pretending to be the long-lost viscount she's been betrothed to since infancy. And he's fully prepared to scam his way all the way to the altar, whether they like it or not. This has the single most insane erotic eating (not that, literally eating food) scene I have ever read in my life. Like, they're having a picnic, but it feels like he's hitting it raw. I was. So happy.
#romance novel blogging#book recs#romance novels#weekly book recs#book reviews#books#lol i forgot to do this last week and by the time i remembered i was like... let's just double up
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Millie Bobby Brown as Elodie
DAMSEL (2024) Dir. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
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You mentioned how authors are forced to write differently with trad publishing vs indie , which ones do u mean? I'm curious...
"Forced" probably isn't the right word, but "heavily encouraged" [by the companies signing the checks] is closer.
Here's the thing with traditional publishing right now. You walk into a bookstore or Target or whatever--you may very well find some very high heat books. I've seen Sierra Simone in Target. However, all those titles were originally published independently, and Sierra works with a publisher who essentially strikes a deal where they handle print and get the books into those stores, whereas (from what I can tell) she maintains the digital rights.
Traditional publishing offers some releases that are quite high heat, but like... Tessa Bailey's trad books, for example, aren't touching the upper echelons of indie in terms of heat. Because trad is meant to appeal to as broad an audience as possible, and tbh, trad has been swinging safer in a lot of ways.
Ali Hazelwood's books are praised for being high heat--The Love Hypothesis only has one full sex scene, though it's long. If you've read Ali's fanfiction (... which I have) she writes way dirtier than that. She mentioned on a podcast that when they were shopping TLH, she was encouraged by her agent to trim the sex down to make her MS more appealing to publishers. That's the kind of thing I'm talking about.
With historical romance, I think there's a little more tension, because trad is very confused about who they're marketing historicals to. Like, some of them still seem to be pointed towards conservative white ladies imo--women who want a very sort of... straight, missionary, wait until the wedding night type of historical. Whereas I think they should be making more of an appeal to a younger gen. Some of them seem to be basically giving up on that, though. But I digress.
ANYWAY.
Authors I can think of right now--Minerva Spencer writes indie historical romance under the pen name S.M. LaViolette. Some of the LaViolette books are straight up erotic historical romance so obviously they're higher heart than her trad books. But even those that aren't are much higher heat than her traditional books. Like Hyacinth for example--not an erotic historical imo, but it has waaaay more sex scenes, and more creativity (hero coming untouched during a whipping scene, butt stuff which you HARDLY EVER see in trad historicals).
Joanna Shupe has published trad and indie HR. I consider her books on the higher heat end of trad historicals. However, if you read her indie novellas, they are higher heat, they're kinkier--all that. Lol never mind her mafia romances which are a very different game. In indie, Joanna did a BIG age gap romance, a virgin auction romance, a scene where the hero licked up his come and the heroine's ~virgin's blood~ after he deflowers her... you're not gonna see that in trad lol.
Eva Leigh also writes on the higher end of the heat scale in trad, but her indie historicals are different--and it isn't just the explicitness or quantity. As with Joanna, it's the kink, too. The creativity. She wrote MFM, age play, etc. You can just go a lot further.
And I mean? I would also say that you can see a big difference in authors that aren't hybrid. Grace Callaway has tons of sex scenes in her historicals, and they're long and creative and she DOES in fact include butt stuff in the books! Nicola Davidson does really fun poly historicals. When Sierra Simone wrote historicals, there was obviously group sex, kinky stuff, etc.
You just see a really big chasm, bigger than I'd say you see with other subgenres, between trad HR and indie HR. And I can only assume that it's because of an industry pressure. With indie, you can do whatever you want. With trad, there's a standard to conform to because before you sell to readers, you're selling to a publisher.
#romance novel blogging#and to be clear lol i do love trad books by all of the above authors... like most of their books!#i'm just kinda mad at how trad treats historicals
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did you ever read gabriel's inferno? if yes, what did you think of it?
I have not--I remember considering it, but it sounds very "my unconditional love as a Sweet Compassionate Woman will save this man", and I.... struggle deeply with that premise lol. Like, I love a horrible hero; I am less into a Redemptive Unconditional Love of The Heroine story.
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