I’m loving the exploration of want vs need, desire vs familiarity. This line sums it up so well:

“But she wanted it and you could want something bad enough that you needed it. You could want something so bad it became indivisible from your survival.”

Novels about marriage often reduce to this simple question: when desire fizzles out, when complacency sets in, who do you become? Do you recognize yourself anymore? Did you lose yourself? And, since this answer is almost always yes, can you find yourself again without hurting your spouse?

Cora has not even considered Eliot’s feelings in all of this. She’s only focused on her desires at this point, and I’m anxious to see what happens when the marital consequences of her actions come to a head.

Hello! I have a bit of a fun challenge for you guys - aka i am desperate, so I thought I’d come to the one place I think can really help me out 😌 I’m looking for a book to essentially represent me and my partner in this period of our life, and would love some hyper-specific recs to romanticise my life. I’ll dot point the requirements for ease of reading - ‘I would have written a shorter letter, but I didn’t have time’ 😐

—MF romantic leads (no sexuality preference besides that they are into each other at the very least)

— University / academic setting ! Bonus points if it’s a historical university with dark academia vibes 😌

— Either a student x professor situation, or both students

— Smut preferable, kink encouraged (also happy with romance-heavy, sexual tension etc. if not full blown smut lol)

— Fantasy and non-fantasy are appreciated equally

Context on MY life if anyone is feeling extra generous and is able to match a book to my life in an even greater capacity lol:

I’m doing my clinical masters in psych, he’s doing his PhD in environmental science. He is also a tutor/lecturer, has how own office, etc (I do not 😡) - hence the professor x student being acceptable lol. I mostly love and read themes like dark and light academia, cosy fantasy, castles, potions, magic, cottages, countryside, the usual shebang (I’m a simple creature hehe), but would also love some non-fantasy recs that I wouldn’t normally go for, given that they are along any of the lines mentioned.

Thank you so much in advance for anyone willing to take on my request - I’ll owe my life to anyone who finds me a book to obsess over 😌😌