mucsiog
“You are mine, you shall be mine, you and I are one for ever.” Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla
292 points
Post from the Nightshade: An Enemies to Lovers, Dark Academic Romance (Sorrowsong University) forum
Initially chose this for a tattoo session, but now I'm back to it. Wasn't expecting it to go off the walls so early on, but I'm here for it. It's so unserious but fun at the same time.
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Nightshade: An Enemies to Lovers, Dark Academic Romance (Sorrowsong University)
Autumn Woods
0Post from the Spares forum
I'm really digging this book. I love the setting of a grungey built-up cyberpunk city and Jack is a really entertaining narrator. When I'm reading this it feels like I'm watching a film or a TV series because of the vivid descriptions and the overal vibes. I love that not only are the computers completely sentient with their own "versonalities", but that they're also aware of how they wind humans up by being purposefully dense for the sake of it. I also particularly like that tasks on a desktop computer are animated on screen, with a simple task like file sharing being played out by the computer as if it were going to another room to fetch a dossier. I could really see this being an adult animated TV series in the style of Aeon Flux.
0mucsiog commented on a post
We had a tie between Carmilla and House of Hunger, so I added my own tiebreaking vote for Carmilla :) Carmilla is a quick 108 pages, and is the foundational Sapphic Vampire novel that most other stories in this quest draw inspiration from. Excited to read with everyone this fall!
Quick reminders:
- Readalong will happen during the Pagebound-wide Fall Seasonal Readalong (Sept-Nov)
- There is no additional badge for participating, but you will of course make progress towards the quest badge!
- Discussion will still be on the Carmilla book forum, not in the Quest forum
10mucsiog commented on a post from the Founder Announcements forum
The Fall Readalong has officially started! Check the Discuss page to see the book picks & badge. If this is your first Pagebound readalong, click the purple info icon next to the Fall Readalong header on Discuss for more info. A few reminders:
- If you've already finished a readalong book, you can earn the badge by commenting or posting in the forum
- Keep posts authentic! Please do not post "Just posting for my badge", or "This was good" (ie a post that is a review). Not sure what to post? Comment instead :)
This season, a few of the Top Contributors are hosting unofficial readalongs in their Quests. These are meant to help build community in the Quest, and encourage everyone to work towards the next badge level together! You will not get a special badge for participating in these, and the convo should still happen in the book's forum, not the quest forum. Here's a list of Quests hosting a readalong; might be a good time to join one of these Quests if something catches your eye ;)
- Sapphic Vampires Quest: Carmilla
- Monster Romance Quest: The Orc Prince
- Games and Trials Quest: Phantasma
- LGBTQ+ Sci-Fi & Fantasy Quest: A Treachery of Swans
- Fantasy and Sci-Fi with a Side of Romance: Raven Scholar
- Cozy Fantasy: The Spellshop (already included in the PB-wide Fall Readalong!)
As for product updates, we've made some quality of life improvements since our last check-in (example: search taking you to Books instead of Users when you press enter) but our largest improvement has been in site performance. Response times were getting pretty crazy with all the new traffic, and we're now consistently at low response times :) We also started beta testing the app! Still working through bugs so it's perfect for launch, but progress is well under way. We're hoping for a September launch but ofc will depend on how beta testing goes this month.
Lastly, we've been seeing such amazing convos in the book forums and the Pagebound Club. It's amazing to have a community this thoughtful, nuanced, and respectful. You all make Pagebound such an incredible community, so thank you!
Happy Reading, Jennifer & Lucy 💜💙
98mucsiog started reading...
Spares
Michael Marshall Smith
0mucsiog finished reading and wrote a review...
This was a really nice cosy read to end August on. It’s been on my TBR ever since I saw it once day on my Instagram explore page, and even though it’s YA, I decided to give it a shot.
The premise is colourful and unique, and I’m obsessed with Valentine Academy. It reminds me a lot of my own secondary school — burgundy, red, and pink uniform, semi-private Catholic convent with a brother school beside it with the same traditional buildings — except it’s a romanticised version of it. The characters themselves were also great fun, and I loved their dynamics with each other and Charlie.
Charlie himself was an entertaining narrator. He spoke like a teenage boy and acted like one too, and even when the internal dialogue was a bit too casual for my tastes, I still felt it suited considering his age. I also really enjoyed how his transness never took a back seat in the narrative. Naturally, Charlie is extremely anxious about his secret being revealed in such an orthodox setting, and I loved the moments towards the end where Charlie openly talked about it to other characters. Jasper was also was really interesting, especially at the beginning of the third act. I liked seeing him and Charlie’s vulnerable moments, and was kicking my feet during the last couple of chapters.
I found the writing itself to be very straightforward, and that it felt exhausting at times when not-a-lot was going on in the narrative — especially in the awkward phase between the first and second acts. I do feel like that a lot of my gripes with the writing are a result of this book being YA, a genre I have long outgrown, so it’s natural that it wasn’t going to be a favourite of mine or blow me away.
Overall, I think the book is just okay. It was straightforward in its storytelling, themes, and dialogue, and it never felt like it was over -extending to get its points across. It was so refreshing to read a book written by a trans author about a coming-of-age story featuring gay and trans characters. I think it is really important that this book, and other stories like it, are made accessible to teenagers in their local libraries and bookstores.
0mucsiog commented on a post
I was nervous after getting this because it was only after I saw people calling it published Drarry fanfic, but I’m so relieved because it absolutely isn’t lmaoo I really don’t understand where people see Drarry in this book. Like the cover, maybe, but for me that’s the only similarity.
5Post from the And They Were Roommates forum
I was nervous after getting this because it was only after I saw people calling it published Drarry fanfic, but I’m so relieved because it absolutely isn’t lmaoo I really don’t understand where people see Drarry in this book. Like the cover, maybe, but for me that’s the only similarity.
5Post from the And They Were Roommates forum
I was in need of a palette cleanser, so I’m excited to start this ! ☺️
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And They Were Roommates
Page Powars
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0mucsiog wants to read...
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0mucsiog wants to read...
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