linaewen: Girl Writing (Girl Writing)
[personal profile] linaewen posting in [community profile] writethisfanfic
Hello on Monday! How's the day going so far for fic? (If you haven't gotten started on your day as yet, how did yesterday go for writing fic?)

    - Excellent!
    - Terrible
    - Somewhere in between
    - Nothing doing

How much time have you spent on writing fic today, roughly?

    - None
    - 30 minutes or less
    - 30-60 minutes
    - 60-90 minutes
    - More than 90 minutes

In five words or less, how do you feel about that?

(no subject)

1 February 2026 10:16 pm
yuuago: (Netherlands - Rest)
[personal profile] yuuago
I feel like I did nothing this weekend, especially today, but when I step back it turns out I actually did a lot of stuff, especially today.

Like, today was:
- Cleaning
- Writing session with a friend
- Pride craft 'n chat
- ...and after that got roped into one of Pride's "Focus group" discussions, where we talk about the current state of things vs what we would like to have for the future. Plus helping them make a zine.
- Came home, stuffed my face, managed to wash the dishes
- Painted my nails
- And then suddenly it was 10PM.

And yet somehow, because I didn't find the time to work out today, and didn't actually finish all the chores/household stuff that I'd intended to do, I feel like I did nothing. ???

Brains are dumb.
creepy_shetan: color comic strip header artwork of Snoopy sitting on his doghouse, typing on his typewriter, with a speech bubble containing a red heart in quotation marks (Snoopy // what will you write today?)
[personal profile] creepy_shetan posting in [community profile] comment_fic
[ If you're interested in being a Tuesday-Thursday guest host, you can sign up here. Thanks! ❤ ]
↑↑↑ Available dates:
February 17 & 19
February 24 & 26
March 3 & 5


Hello, hello! Let's welcome in February with a nice little Lonely Prompts day, shall we? ^.^ If this is your first time at [community profile] comment_fic on a Sunday, you can either request previous prompts to be filled or share your recent fills for prompts. (Or do both, of course!) ✎

How to look for prompts:
We have plenty of prompts that might just nibble away at your brain today. You can browse through the comm's calendar archive (here on LJ or here on DW) for themed and Free For All posts, or perhaps check out Sunday posts for Lonely Prompt requests. (Or, you can be like me, and try to save interesting prompts as you see 'em... and then end up with multiple text doc files full of [themes + links + prompts] that you can easily look through and search for keywords.) Multiple fills for one prompt are welcome, by the way! Oh, and you are very likely to find some awesome fills to read as well, and wouldn't it be nice to leave a comment on those lovely little writing distractions? ~_^

Whichever you decide to do, prompt or fill (or both), please remember:
1. You can only request five prompts to be filled.
2. You can request no more than three prompts from a particular fandom.
3. You can, however, fill as many prompts in as many fandoms as you'd like!
4. In the subject line, be sure to say whether it is a request or a fill!
5. You must link back to wherever the prompt is in the community archive (whether filling or requesting), and, if you're filling the prompt, please post the fill as a reply to the original prompt.
6. If you are filling an "any/any" prompt, please let us know what fandom you've written it for (or if it's original!).
8. If there are possible triggers in your story, please warn for them in the subject line!
7. If you've filled any lonely prompts in the past week, this is the place to share them!
9. Finally, please remember to add your prompt fills to our AO3 collection: Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2026 collection. See further notes on this option here.

How to link:
[a href="http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/449155.html?thread=70682755#t70682755">MCU, Tony Stark/Pepper Potts, She's wearing daisy dukes and one of his button-down shirts.[/a]
(change the brackets to "<" and ">" respectively)
or:
http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/139897.html?thread=30155641#t30155641
Burn Notice, Sam/Michael/Fi, "It's always been you. And it's always gonna be you."

We are on AO3! If you fill a prompt and post it to AO3, please add it to the Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2026 collection.

If you are viewing this post on our Dreamwidth site: please know that fills posted here will not show up as comments on our LiveJournal site, but you are still more than welcome to participate. =)

If you have a Dreamwidth account and would feel more comfortable participating there, please feel free to do so… and spread the word! [community profile] comment_fic


A friendly reminder about our posting schedule: Themed posts for new prompts go up on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Saturdays are a Free for All day for new prompts of any flavor. Sundays are for showing Lonely Prompts some love, whether by requesting for someone to adopt them or by sharing any fills that you've recently completed.
fiachairecht: (skyejulia)
[personal profile] fiachairecht
Bring Her Bleeding Heart to Me
{ a dark femslash commentfic meme for femslash february }


Year eight! And ya ghoul's still using the promo graphics she made in 2018! Do not worry about it! You know the drill by now, February is a dreich month redeemed by the existence of Femslash February, let's celebrate our redemption from the weather by creating dark femslash! If we suffer our faves should suffer, or something like that, and also the purity brigade gets more annoying by the year.

Rules

  • You must be 18+ to participate

  • One prompt per comment.

  • Prompt comment subject lines should follow the format "Fandom - Ship - short description of prompt", for example "Fate: The Winx Saga - Farah/Rosalind - noncon somnophilia"

  • Fills should be posted as replies to the prompt comment, with subject lines following the format "FILL: Title - Rating", for example "FILL: in your dreams - Explicit"

  • 'Any Fandom', '[Canon character]/Any female character' and 'Any female character/Any female character' prompts are allowed'.

  • If filling an 'Any' prompt, fandom and/or ship names in the fill titles are appreciated but not mandatory

  • Warnings at the start of fills are appreciated but not mandatory. In fact, the entire comments section is a choose not to warn-friendly space.

  • Multiple fills and self-fills are both allowed.

  • Don't be a fuckwit. Kinkshaming, ship-bashing, and any other harassment will get you banned from my journal.

  • If you're banned from my journal you're also banned from this event.



FAQ
What can I prompt?
Any / relationship between two or more female characters, from any fictional canon(s). You cannot prompt rule 63. Female player characters from games where you choose the PC's gender (e.g. Mass Effect's Female Shepard) are allowed, canon alternate-universe female versions of main-universe male characters (e.g. Marvel Comics' Natasha Stark) are allowed.

How many prompts can I leave?
As many as you like, but each prompt must be its own comment.

Can I repost prompts from a previous year?
Yes.

Can I fill prompts from previous years without reposting them?
Sure, all previous posts are in the tag, and if you want people to see it you can link in this year's fills thread.

Are crossovers allowed?
Yes. Your prompt should make it clear which canons you're requesting, and which characters belong to which canons.

Is RPF allowed?
No, this fest is for fictional canons only. Fictionalised versions of real people (e.g. Anne/Ann from Gentleman Jack) are allowed. Kayfabe/in-character professional wrestlers are allowed. Idols and other musicians playing themselves in music videos are allowed.

What about original works?
No, but original female characters from any fandoms are more than welcome, in the form of '[Fandom] - [Canon character]/OFC' or '[Fandom] - OFC/OFC' prompts.

Is there an underage policy?
Prompt whatever you like. However, sexually explicit fills involving characters under the age of 16 need to be posted elsewhere and linked.

Do fills have to be fic?
No! Fanart, fanmixes, podfic (new or with the original author's permission), or pictures of your lovingly-crocheted Rey and Phasma dolls murdering each other are all great too.

Is there an AO3 collection?
Yes, over here, though posting is not a requirement and in the commentfic meme spirit of old I encourage you to also crosspost to your personal or fic journals. You're under no obligation to gift fanworks to the prompter, and prompters are free to reject fills - this is not an exchange. There is also a collection on Superlove thanks to [personal profile] luckyzukky! I'm not active on AO3 anymore and that collection is effectively unmoderated, but I do hang out on Superlove so give me a shout if something's up with that collection.

Can I use things I write for this to fill prompts in other events / combine prompts here with prompts in other events?
Yes, as long as the mods of that event are fine with cross-fills.

What makes fanworks dark?
I am borrowing [community profile] darkestnightex's definition, and saying it is "anything that deals with disturbing, violent, and/or depressing themes." Sexy body horror, gory murder, psychological manipulation, noncon, extreme angst, getting together in the aftermath of one character's attempted suicide, etc are all fair game, as are dark takes on traditionally-fluffy tropes such as soulmates. If you want inspiration for Situations to put your favourites in, [personal profile] summerofhorrorexchange has a fun list of horror subgenres with examples.

But that means there'll be problematic fic here!
Yes, that's the point, now take responsibility for your own internet life and go be somewhere else.

Banners + Promotion
Feel free to use the banner below to promote this wherever you like!

bring her bleeding heart to me


bring her bleeding heart to me promo banner


Femslash February With Friends
[personal profile] likealighthouse is running a fall out boy femslash febrary ficathon, if you want all your prompts to be Fall Out Boy lyrics

[personal profile] elasticella is running the fresh femslash salad bar, if you want to build prompt tables from themed lists

[personal profile] linky is running a tokusatsu femslash prompt meme, if you want more toku femslash
linaewen: Girl Writing (Girl Writing)
[personal profile] linaewen posting in [community profile] writethisfanfic
 Hello on Sunday! What kind of a writing day has it been so far today -- or if today hasn't gotten going yet, how did you fare yesterday?
 
       - I thought about my fic once or twice
       - I wrote
       - I did some planning and/or outlining
       - I did research and/or canon review
       - I edited
       - I've sent my fic off to my beta
       - I posted today!
       - I'm taking a break
       - I did something else that I'll talk about in a comment
 
Sunday Discussion:  It's a new writing week, and that means a fresh start. Maybe you had a great writing week last week, or maybe last week wasn't the greatest for getting writing things done -- what kind of goals do you have for keeping up your momentum or starting off fresh this week?

check in day 31

31 January 2026 05:25 pm
lilly_c: Mirror!Kathryn and Mirror!Chakotay being affectionate in Cracked Mirror (Default)
[personal profile] lilly_c posting in [community profile] writethisfanfic
How is the writing going today?

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 2


Today I

View Answers

wrote
2 (100.0%)

edited
0 (0.0%)

posted
0 (0.0%)

sent to beta
0 (0.0%)

researched
0 (0.0%)

planned
0 (0.0%)

had a break
0 (0.0%)

dealt with life
1 (50.0%)



We're at the end of the month, have you made any progress on your goals?

It's also Saturday, feel free to share a snippet of something that you're working on. Link to some you've posted recently. Ask for any help, if you need it. Chat amongst yourselves.
creepy_shetan: cropped color manga illustration of the inner and outer Sailor Senshi lying in a wide circle, their heads together (SM // solar system color wheel)
[personal profile] creepy_shetan posting in [community profile] comment_fic
[ If you're interested in being a Tuesday-Thursday guest host, you can sign up here. Thanks! ❤ ]
↑↑↑ Available dates:
February 3 & 5
February 17 & 19
February 24 & 26


Hey, y'all, guess what? It's the fifth and final Free for All Saturday of January! G'luck on finishing up your goals for the month, writing or otherwise. :3 There are no themes to follow for prompts or fills. If, perhaps, you missed a prompt theme that you liked, or you've had any ideas that didn't really work with Tuesday's or Thursday's posts, then today's your chance to prompt 'em. Be free, and have fun! ✎

Just a few rules:
1. No more than five prompts in a row.
2. No more than three prompts in the same fandom.
3. Use the character's full name and the fandom's full name for ease in adding to the Lonely Prompts spreadsheet.
4. No spoilers in prompts for a month after airing, or use the spoiler cut option found here. Unfortunately, DW doesn’t have a cut tag, so use your best judgment when it comes to spoilers.
5. If your fill contains spoilers, warn and leave plenty of space, or use the spoiler cut.
6. If your story has possible triggers, please warn for them in the subject line!

Prompts should be formatted as follows: [Use the character's full names and fandom's full name]
Fandom, Character +/ Character, Prompt

Are today's prompts not catching your eye? No worries, because we have plenty of older prompts that just might do the trick! You can browse through the comm's calendar archive (here on LJ or here on DW) for themed and Free For All posts, or perhaps check out Sunday posts for Lonely Prompt requests. (Or, you can be like me, and try to save interesting prompts as you see 'em... and then end up with multiple text doc files full of [themes + links + prompts] that you can easily look through and search for keywords.) Multiple fills for one prompt are welcome, by the way! Oh, and you are very likely to find some awesome fills to read as well, and wouldn't it be nice to leave a comment on those lovely little writing distractions? ~_^

We are on AO3! If you fill a prompt and post it to AO3, please add it to the Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2026 collection.

If you are viewing this post on our Dreamwidth site: please know that fills posted here will not show up as comments on our LiveJournal site, but you are still more than welcome to participate. =)

If you have a Dreamwidth account and would feel more comfortable participating there, please feel free to do so… and spread the word! [community profile] comment_fic


A friendly reminder about our posting schedule: Themed posts for new prompts go up on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Saturdays are a Free for All day for new prompts of any flavor. Sundays are for showing Lonely Prompts some love, whether by requesting for someone to adopt them or by sharing any fills that you've recently completed.

check in day 30

30 January 2026 08:03 pm
lilly_c: Mirror!Kathryn and Mirror!Chakotay being affectionate in Cracked Mirror (Default)
[personal profile] lilly_c posting in [community profile] writethisfanfic
How is the writing going today?

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4


Today I

View Answers

wrote
0 (0.0%)

edited
0 (0.0%)

sent to beta
0 (0.0%)

posted
0 (0.0%)

researched
0 (0.0%)

planned
2 (50.0%)

had a break
1 (25.0%)

dealt with life
2 (50.0%)


Discussion: what are you working on this weekend?

check in day 29

29 January 2026 08:43 pm
lilly_c: Mirror!Kathryn and Mirror!Chakotay being affectionate in Cracked Mirror (Default)
[personal profile] lilly_c posting in [community profile] writethisfanfic
Sorry I missed yesterday, it turned out to be one of those days with far too much on.

How is the writing going?

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 2


Today I

View Answers

wrote
0 (0.0%)

edited
0 (0.0%)

researched
0 (0.0%)

planned
0 (0.0%)

sent to beta
0 (0.0%)

posted
0 (0.0%)

had a break
1 (50.0%)

dealt with life
1 (50.0%)


Discussion: resources. What are some of your go to resources for writing?
These can be software, fandom specific, general research, and pretty much anything all that you consider a resource.
cornerofmadness: Angel in drag holding up cards (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness posting in [community profile] comment_fic
Hello, everyone. I’m [personal profile] cornerofmadness As a reminder, we are using a new posting schedule. Sundays are for Lonely Prompts and sharing the fills that you completed during the week, Tuesdays and Thursdays are for new themes and prompts, and Saturdays will remain a Free for All.

Today's theme is tea & Coffee & hot chocolate. Surprising no one, among of the weird wacky holidays in January are ones for tea, coffee & hot chocolate. Who doesn’t like a good hot drink. There are plenty of places to go. Who needs it to start their day? Who thinks better with a cup of tea at hand. Who dislikes them? Tea houses, coffee shops, heck give us a chocolate shop. Go wherever your imagination takes you

Just a few rules:
No more than five prompts in a row.
No more than three prompts in the same fandom.
Use the character's full names and the fandom's full name
No spoilers in prompts for a month after airing, or use the spoiler cut option found here.
If your fill contains spoilers, warn and leave plenty of space, or use the above-mentioned spoiler cut.
If your story has possible triggers, please warn for them in the subject line!

Prompts should be formatted as follows: [Use the character's full names and fandom's full name]
Fandom, Character +/ Character, Prompt

Some examples to get the ball rolling...

+ The Owl House, Edalyn Clawthorne + any, coffee is no apple blood.

+ Star Trek the Next Generation, Jean-Luc Picard +/ Beverly Crusher, no earl grey for you today. You’re trying something different.

+ Star Trek Deep Space Nine Jadzia Dax, Ben and Jake Sisko, Nog, Nog and Jake get into Jadzia’s Raktajino, not knowing it was Klingon coffee

+ Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Rupert Giles, finding a tea house that makes the best cuppa he’s had in forever

+ Hazbin Hotel, Angel Dust +/Husk (+ any) Angel introduces Husk to the Italian Moretta fanese (a combination of coffee. lemon zest, and equal parts of brandy, rum, and anisette/sambuca)

We are now using AO3 to bookmark filled prompts. If you fill a prompt and post it to AO3 please add it to the Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2025 collection. See further notes on this new option here.

Not feeling any of today’s prompts? You can use LJ’s advanced search options to limit keyword results to only comments in this community.

While the use of LJ's advanced search options is available, bookmarking the links of prompts you like might work better for searching in the future.

If you are viewing this post on our Dreamwidth site, please know that fills posted here will not show up as comments on our LiveJournal site but you are still more than welcome to participate.

If you have a Dreamwidth account and would feel more comfortable participating there, please feel free to do so…and spread the word! [community profile] comment_fic
tag= tea & Coffee & hot chocolate

check in day 27

27 January 2026 08:53 pm
lilly_c: Mirror!Kathryn and Mirror!Chakotay being affectionate in Cracked Mirror (Default)
[personal profile] lilly_c posting in [community profile] writethisfanfic
How is the writing going today?

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 3


Today I

View Answers

wrote
2 (66.7%)

edited
1 (33.3%)

posted
0 (0.0%)

sent to beta
0 (0.0%)

researched
0 (0.0%)

planned
0 (0.0%)

had a break
0 (0.0%)

dealt with life
2 (66.7%)

Tuesday - Hangovers

27 January 2026 12:30 am
cornerofmadness: Angel in drag holding up cards (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness posting in [community profile] comment_fic
Hello, everyone. I’m [personal profile] cornerofmadness As a reminder, we are using a new posting schedule. Sundays are for Lonely Prompts and sharing the fills that you completed during the week, Tuesdays and Thursdays are for new themes and prompts, and Saturdays will remain a Free for All.

Today's theme is Hangovers. Surprising no one, one of the weird wacky holidays in January is National Hangover Day. There are a lot of hard drinking characters out there. Maybe you have a newbie to drinking experiencing their first hangover. Someone who didn’t expect one? There are plenty of places to let your imagination go.

Just a few rules:
No more than five prompts in a row.
No more than three prompts in the same fandom.
Use the character's full names and the fandom's full name
No spoilers in prompts for a month after airing, or use the spoiler cut option found here.
If your fill contains spoilers, warn and leave plenty of space, or use the above-mentioned spoiler cut.
If your story has possible triggers, please warn for them in the subject line!

Prompts should be formatted as follows: [Use the character's full names and fandom's full name]
Fandom, Character +/ Character, Prompt

Some examples to get the ball rolling...

+ The Owl House, Edalyn Clawthorne + any, she had way too much apple blood the night before.

+ Hazbin Hotel Angel Dust/Husk + any, It takes a heroic amount to give them a hangover

+ Hazbin Hotel, Emily, she got into a drink she shouldn’t have in a trip to hell and is paying for it

+ Star Trek(any), any, a Klingon Blood wine hangover is no joke.

We are now using AO3 to bookmark filled prompts. If you fill a prompt and post it to AO3 please add it to the Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2025 collection. See further notes on this new option here.

Not feeling any of today’s prompts? You can use LJ’s advanced search options to limit keyword results to only comments in this community.

While the use of LJ's advanced search options is available, bookmarking the links of prompts you like might work better for searching in the future.

If you are viewing this post on our Dreamwidth site, please know that fills posted here will not show up as comments on our LiveJournal site but you are still more than welcome to participate.

If you have a Dreamwidth account and would feel more comfortable participating there, please feel free to do so…and spread the word! [community profile] comment_fic
tag= hangovers

FTH Charity Auction Signups Open

26 January 2026 06:46 pm
yuuago: (Norway - Sweater)
[personal profile] yuuago
[community profile] fandomtrumpshate is running again this year, and signups are open! Details here

Signups end on February 08th.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what the offers are this year. This is the 10th year it's run, and I have a feeling it'll be a big year.

In case there are any who don't know what it is: FTH is a multifandom charity auction in which people sign up to offer fanwork (art, fic, beta reading, etc). Others bid on them. The money raised is donated directly to charity.

check in day 26

26 January 2026 02:27 pm
lilly_c: Mirror!Kathryn and Mirror!Chakotay being affectionate in Cracked Mirror (Default)
[personal profile] lilly_c posting in [community profile] writethisfanfic
How is the writing going today?

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 5


Today I

View Answers

wrote
3 (60.0%)

posted
1 (20.0%)

edited
1 (20.0%)

researched
1 (20.0%)

planned
1 (20.0%)

had a cheeky break
0 (0.0%)

dealt with life
2 (40.0%)



Discussion: do you have favourite characters to write? or do you like to write a variety of characters?

February sign up

26 January 2026 02:01 pm
lilly_c: Mirror!Kathryn and Mirror!Chakotay being affectionate in Cracked Mirror (Default)
[personal profile] lilly_c posting in [community profile] writethisfanfic
It's time to sign up for the February WIP challenge! Some people join the challenge mid month, or comment on check-in posts without signing up, which is fine -- I'm glad there's a way for the challenge to be useful in a variety of ways. For those of you who find the commitment of signing up useful, please leave a comment with the below information.

Sign-ups will be open until the end of February.


    Level of challenge: 1 chapter, 1000 words, 1 fic finished, whatever you like
    Fandom(s) involved: if you know at this point
    What you're looking for from the challenge: this could be as vague or specific as you like: someone to be accountable to, someone to remind you to write, someone to bounce ideas off, etc.
    What you could offer other participants yourself: ditto!
    How people should contact you: DW message, e-mail, IM etc.
    Time zone: useful for seeing who might be up for a writing session at a time convenient to you


Copypaste below:



The post for hosting the daily check-in is here and thanks to everyone who helps out with this. If you're interested in helping out and there are still slots available the post remains open until the last week of the month and we generally run our week Sunday to Saturday, I'm happy to chat via PM on DW for anyone who might need it.

If you have ever completed a fic through this challenge we have a collection on AO3 and on SquidgeWorld both collections are open and unmoderated. Should there be an issue with adding a work, let me know and I'll see if there's a fix for it.

Volunteers for February

26 January 2026 02:00 pm
lilly_c: Mirror!Kathryn and Mirror!Chakotay being affectionate in Cracked Mirror (Default)
[personal profile] lilly_c posting in [community profile] writethisfanfic
Week 1: 1st to 7th [personal profile] linaewen
Week 2: 8th to 14th
Week 3: 15th to 21st [personal profile] glitteringstars
Week 4: 22nd to 28th
yuuago: (Birds - Rainbow)
[personal profile] yuuago
Petition E-7005 to the House of Commons in Parliament

I recently posted about E07027 and Section 90. E-7005 is a different but related petition: It urges the federal government to rule that access to trans healthcare is a human right. If you already signed E-7027, I recommend signing this one as well, as they tackle the problem from different angles.

It's open until March 20 for residents of Canada (including people who are not citizens or permanent residents, such as international students). Please note that if you sign you have to confirm it via the link that gets emailed to you.

What E-7005 proposes mirrors a situation in the early 2000s. Basically, in year 2000 Alberta passed legislation ruling that marriage is between a man and woman, and invoked the Notwithstanding Clause to prevent it to be challenged. Then in 2005, the federal government passed Bill C-38, which legalized same-sex marriage nationally, overwriting Alberta's year 2000 legislation. I remember working with Acadia Pride on their letter-writing campain in support of C-38, and we were so happy (and kind of surprised) the next year when it passed.

One thing I like about petition E-7005's proposal is that it would affect Canada nationally: all provinces and territories. Making trans healthcare a legal right would help all trans people in Canada, not just those affected by Alberta's legislation. E-7027 and section 90, on the other hand, would be directed specifically at Alberta (and Saskatchewan) and is I think more likely to result in UCP blowback against trans people specifically for that reason. (As I said to an acquaintance, "The UCP would lose their minds if the federal government acted against them in particular.")

Also would like to note that this new petition, E-7005, was initiated by the staffer from Wood Buffalo Pride that I was discussing the issue with recently. :') I feel really happy about that for some reason? Dude is very dedicated and he's been working really hard to combat Alberta's bullshit with what few resources he has.
Full text of the petition under the cut )

Library challenge: Romance subgenres

25 January 2026 09:26 pm
yuuago: APH Norway reading a book while APH Hong Kong falls asleep on his shoulder (NorHK - Cozy)
[personal profile] yuuago
The library ran an "Exploring Romance Subgenres" challenge, where the idea is (not surprisingly) to read works in different romance subgenres, one book each. I thought I'd post the list of what I read and some quick thoughts.

Here we go:

Holiday Romance: The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch. M/M. It's set in a sort of world in which "kingdoms" for each holiday exist hidden from the Normal World. Tl;dr the prince of Christmas is engaged to the princess of Easter, but falls in love with the prince of Halloween instead, which messes up the planned political alliance between Christmas and Easter. It was very silly, but I enjoyed it enough that I might pick up the next book in the series.

Sports Romance: Fangirl Down by Tessa Bailey. F/M. The fan of a has-been golf star ends up working as his caddy with the goal of helping him win the PGA tour - earning some cash for herself and helping him get his mojo back along the way. The characters were pretty fun, but there were too many sex scenes for my taste, plus lots of stereotypical heterosexual nonsense. Also there wasn't enough sports in this sports romance (I don't even like golf but if I'm going to read/watch a sports romance, I want it to have More Sports. Then again I'm one of those people who wanted even more skating-related stuff in Yuri on Ice.)

Romantic Comedy: Boyfriend Material by Alexis Jall. M/M. The fuckup son of an aging rock star begins dating a squeaky-clean lawyer as a PR move. This one was so-so; the main character was kind of exasperating because he created a lot of his own problems. A lot of the time that I was reading it I kept feeling like, "You brought this on yourself, bro. Grow up, calm down, and think things through first." But I did like that he was actually pretty good at his job as an event organizer (?) for a small nonprofit, and that the job-related problems that came up had more to do with people responding to the media portrayal of him rather than him being bad at doing his actual work. I did like the love interest a lot; found him very sympathetic. There was this one bit where he mentioned having difficulty engaging with queer clubs and things because only thing he has in common with the people at them is his sexuality, and.... yeahhh, I've felt that before.

Paranormal Romance: The Only Purple House In Town by Ann Aguirre. F/M. A vampire who isn't good at being a vampire (for reasons that become very clear later) inherits a relative's house and moves in; she turns it into a boarding house and ends up leasing rooms to a varied cast of characters, including a handsome hawk-shifter that she used to go to school with. I enjoyed the premise but the execution was not my thing at all. It seems to be written for the sort of audience who really likes the subtype of "found family" narratives where everyone fits into very defined roles and tidy boxes.

Romantasy: Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree. F/F. An orc pursues her dream of opening a coffee shop, and discovers maybe her "heart's desire" isn't something but someone. Yeah, I know this is more "fantasy with romance", shh it's close enough. I've heard so much about people both loving and hating this book that I wasn't sure what to expect. It was... okay! A little saccharine, but I can see why people would find it appealing. I do remember seeing someone say that "even the points where the stakes are high don't actually FEEL like the stakes are high" and I think I would agree with that. It was nice over all though, the relationship was cute, and I liked some of the worldbuilding.

Dark Romance: How does it feel? by Jeaneane O'Riley. F/M. A scientist who studies moths accidentally enters fairyland, is captured by the Unseelie Prince, and gets caught up in the conflict between the Seelie and Unseelie courts. I'll be honest, I hated this. The beginning, where the main character is in the real world and doing scientist stuff, was all right, but after she fell through the fairy ring everything was just Not My Thing. There was nothing likeable about the love interest and a lot of their scenes together had the kind of stereotypical heterosexual nonsense that I find a real turnoff (like, it was more than the usual level of nonsense I would expect in a F/M romance novel). This is the beginning of a series but I will Not be checking out the rest or anything else by this author.

Western Romance: Wild and Wrangled by Lyla Sage. F/M. A real estate lawyer falls back into love with her ex, a ranch hand. This was actually quite nice, and kind of cozy. I found the argument 3/4 of the way through the book pretty tedious, but it resolved pretty quickly. This is another protagonist who creates some of her own problems, though I found her more sympathetic than the protagonist of Boyfriend Material. I did end up with a lot of questions about how things turn out, though; like, the protagonist's parents are huge snobs who hate the love interest, and while there is a big scene where shit goes down, the issue isn't resolved at the end. Like, okay, how's she going to deal with that mess? Who knows.

SciFi Romance: Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell. M/M. A political arranged marriage between two people from different planets doesn't go as smoothly as expected due to a third party working to make the interplanetary political situation explode. I really enjoyed this! I've seen it recced around a lot, both in its original form and after it was published, so I was kind of worried I'd be disappointed. Not so! One thing that made me like it so much is that there was so much to chew on aside from the relationship. Interesting worldbuilding, lots of plot both related and unrelated to the relationship, etc. I also liked the relationship - like, those two definitely have some stuff to work through, it's kind of a mess, but I'm confident they can manage it. I'm definitely going to read the sequel.

Regency Romance: The Duke at Hazard by KJ Charles. M/M. A duke's ring is stolen after a poorly thought-out tryst, and he takes it upon himself to track down the culprit and recover it, quickly enlisting the help of a disgraced gentleman that he went to school with. This was very fun! Again, part of what it had going for it is that there is a lot of plot aside from the relationship - yes, the developing feelings are important, but there's also the matter of the quest, and all the various subplots the duo get tangled in, etc. I really liked the way things wrapped up; it was very satisfying. This is an author I'd heard a lot about but wasn't sure I would ever actually read; I really liked this one though so I might seek out some more in the future.

Highlander Romance: Under Loch and Key by Lana Ferguson. F/M. I was kind of cheating with this one, as it's actually contemporary paranormal, but the love interest is a sexy Scottish dude so I'm counting it anyway: An American visits some estranged relatives in Scotland and, while there, encounters a handsome dude with a temper who (it turns out) is cursed to turn into a lakemonster at night. The premise was silly, but fun, and I could roll with it. There were more sex scenes than I prefer, but some of them were quite Inspired, leaning into the monsterfucking premise in a way that I hadn't expected (they weren't my thing overall, but at the same time I was kind of impressed). But there was some of the nebulous heterosexual nonsense that I'm not a fan of. ...Also a major plot point hinged on the protagonist finding a diary from the late 13th century, reading it, and discovering the secret to (potentially) end the curse. Unfortunately for me I find it much easier to accept the idea of a handsome were-Nessie than I can accept the idea that an untrained rando could successfully read a 13th-century Scottish manuscript.

Whew. That was a lot. ...I think I'm going to take a break from Romance Novels and read something else now. :V Fortunately there's lots of good books out there to explore, eh.

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