xoToughCookie

Hello! (She/Her/30s)┃Basil The Cat🐈‍⬛🌿┃🖤= Genre Bending & Blending •🦇Horror • 🔍Mystery • Fantasy✨ • 💖Romance • SciFi💫┃✉️Discord😊┃📽️Letterboxd🍿 & 🎮InfiniteBacklog🕹️┃🌈✊🍉😷🏳️‍⚧️☂️┃🍅≠🍎 😭

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My Taste

Reading...

82%

xoToughCookie commented on xoToughCookie's update

xoToughCookie made progress on...

The Ballad of Perilous Graves

Alex Jennings

82%

xoToughCookie made progress on...

The Ballad of Perilous Graves

Alex Jennings

82%

xoToughCookie commented on kitsulli's review of You Weren't Meant to Be Human

kitsulli

Feb 09, 2026

5.0

Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 5.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 5.0

🐛

🔥

🔪

Not sure why the worm 🪱 or pregnant man🫃 emojis aren’t available in the emoji picker. Anyway, heading into the review…

I can’t remember the last time a book made me feel SO MUCH! I put this down and immediately had to find something spicy to eat to de-stress (anyone else do this?)

This book really spoke to my personal anxieties as a gender non conforming person terrified of pregnancy. I knew this was going to be a horribly uncomfortable read, and it absolutely was. I felt sick to my stomach pretty much the whole way through. It was a very cathartic read, and listening to it via audiobook really enhanced the experience. It’s the best book I will never recommend to anyone! If you have any interest in this book, please heed the content warnings in the very beginning, they are not exaggerated!

xoToughCookie commented on xoToughCookie's update

xoToughCookie TBR'd a book

Defending A Big-Dicked Elven Wizard

Dana T. McKnight

"Pragmatic Amana Karl is a rare breed of elite mercenary, a Death-Doler; possessing extraordinary speed and strength, a proficiency in diverse weaponry, martial arts, battle experience and gratuitous scars to prove it. After an impromptu rescue of a scullery maid from a horde of goblins in the wilds outside of Murkbum, Amana agrees to escort the young woman to a camp where survivors of Murkbum have convened. But what Amana wasn't expecting upon their arrival was a deliciously hot Elf Wizard! Pulled into a protection contract with the enigmatic and powerful Gallow, Amana must navigate the wilds, psychotic ex-girlfriends, demonic threats, thieves guilds, assassins and the lustful machinations of a mysterious Elf." For fans of Dark Fantasy, Berserk, spice, slow-burn romance, magic, sword and sorcery, high fantasy, hot elves, LGBTQAI+ themes and strong female main characters. -----Rave “I feel like I’m reading Berzerk but Griffith and Guts banged it out and things didn't go south.” — Lamar Jenkins (Fake Author "But I'm Straight, Now What?")"This book lit a fire in my loins that refuses to go out!" --- Xy (normal Christian woman)"Set a new standard in Elven Dick Size"--- Ian Mckinney (local vagrant)

xoToughCookie commented on xoToughCookie's review of The Hollow Places

spoilers

xoToughCookie

Feb 06, 2026

1.5

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

🦦

☕

🌳

View spoiler

xoToughCookie commented on alexz's update

alexz TBR'd a book

15h

Defending A Big-Dicked Elven Wizard

Dana T. McKnight

xoToughCookie TBR'd a book

Defending A Big-Dicked Elven Wizard

Dana T. McKnight

xoToughCookie is interested in reading...

Cunning Folk: Life in the Era of Practical Magic

Tabitha Stanmore

A spritely and deeply researched history of magical problem-solving in a distant, unsettled, and strangely familiar time. it's 1600, and you've lost your keys. You've scoured your house. They're nowhere to be found. What do you do? In medieval and early modern Europe, the first port of call might very well have been cunning practitioners of “service magic.” Neither feared (like witches), nor venerated (like saints), cunning folk were essential to everyday life, a ubiquitous presence in a time when the supernatural was surprisingly mundane. For people young and old, male and female, highborn and low, practical magic was a cherished resource with which to navigate life's many challenges, from recovering stolen linens to seizing the throne, and everything in between. In historian Tabitha Stanmore's beguiling account, we meet lovelorn widows and dissolute nobles, selfless healers and renegade monks. We listen in on Queen Elizabeth I's astrology readings and track treasure hunters trying to unearth buried gold without upsetting the fairies that guard it. Much like us, premodern people lived in bewildering times, buffeted by forces beyond their control. Their anxieties are instantly recognizable, and as Stanmore reveals, their faith in magic has much to teach us about how we accommodate ourselves to the irrational in our allegedly enlightened lives today. Charming in every sense of the word, Cunning Folk is an immersive reconstruction of a bygone world, and a thought-provoking commentary on the beauty and bafflement of being human.

xoToughCookie commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

Nwanda

Empty book forums

How do you feel about posting in empty book forums?

How would you feel if a forum have many posts but from the same person? Is it annoying?

I'm reading a book with so little posts in the forum and I feel restricted on -in?- the amount of posts I should make. I don't think it's that much of a problem tbh, I can just do whatever I wanna do as long as its not really too many posts. But I wanna know someone else's opinion on this too.

xoToughCookie commented on a post

11h

acidicchaos

Edited

Chose Epstein over his 1 month old son in the NICU

Just a heads up, in this book he reveals that on 7/11/17 at 5:45 pm, his wife called him to say "I had received a call from Jill, my wife. She was in an ambulance with our infant son, Ayrton, on the way to the hospital. For some reason he had suddenly stopped breathing and fallen unconscious. His eyes were completely rolled back in their sockets and he was lifeless and blue with no heartbeat." While he was away on a "work trip" And "Jill stayed with Aryton, alone, for four days. She pleaded with me to come home. I called in daily to talk to doctors and discuss each day's treatment. But I stayed in New York for my "important" work. Aryton's cardiac arrest happened on a Tuesday and I did not come home to San Diego until Friday of the following week. 10 days later."

In the Epstein files it's revealed in an email from Attia to Epstein that on 7/13/17 at 12:43 am he was finalizing a meeting time with Epstein in New York. But don't worry, he can be flexible with seeing Epstein! " Sure. I can come earlier, also, if you have a hard stop at 10:00 let me know"

Even if he wasn't involved in anything else (although his name is mentioned 1700 times in the records released so far) Your important work involved meeting with Epstein (almost a decade after he pleaded guilty for child sex-trafficking) INSTEAD OF SEEING YOUR 1 MONTH OLD CHILD IN THE NICU?!?

xoToughCookie commented on xoToughCookie's update

xoToughCookie TBR'd a book

13h

Aces Wild

Amanda DeWitt

What happens in Vegas when an all-asexual online friend group attempts to break into a high-stakes gambling club? Shenanigans ensue. Some people join chess club, some people play football. Jack Shannon runs a secret blackjack ring in his private school’s basement. What else is the son of a Las Vegas casino mogul supposed to do? Everything starts falling apart when Jack’s mom is arrested for their family’s ties to organized crime. His sister Beth thinks this is the Shannon family’s chance to finally go straight, but Jack knows that something’s not right. His mom was sold out, and he knows by who. Peter rival casino owner and jilted lover. Gross. Jack hatches a plan to find out what Carlevaro’s holding over his mom’s head, but he can’t do it alone. He recruits his closest friends—the asexual support group he met through fandom forums. Now all he has to do is infiltrate a high-stakes gambling club and dodge dark family secrets, while hopelessly navigating what it means to be in love while asexual. Easy, right?

xoToughCookie TBR'd a book

13h

Hooked

Asako Yuzuki

The unmissable new novel of friendship and dangerous obsession from Asako Yuzuki, the award-winning author of the global bestselling sensation Butter. Eriko really wouldn't mind being savaged, if it was her best friend doing the savaging … Eriko's life appears perfect – devoted parents, spotless apartment and a job in the seafood division of one of Japan's largest trading companies. Her latest project, to reintroduce the controversial Nile perch fish into the Japanese market, is characteristically ambitious. But beneath her flawless surface she is wracked by loneliness. Eriko becomes fascinated with a popular blog written by a housewife, Shoko. Shoko’s posts about eating convenience store food and her untidy home are the opposite of the typical Japanese housewife’s manicured lifestyle. When Eriko tracks Shoko down at her favourite restaurant and befriends her, Shoko is at first charmed by her new companion. But as Eriko’s obsession with Shoko deepens, her increasingly possessive behaviour starts to raise suspicion. As Eriko’s carefully laid plans begin to unravel, how far will she go to hold on to the best friend that she’s ever had? Beautifully translated by Polly Barton, Hooked is a thrilling and unsettling story of the line between friendship and dangerous obsession. A delicious exploration of food, loneliness and womanhood in contemporary Japan, Hooked brings together all the ingredients for which Asako Yuzuki is so adored.

xoToughCookie TBR'd a book

13h

Aces Wild

Amanda DeWitt

xoToughCookie commented on grvhppr's update

grvhppr made progress on...

14h

Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1)

Jeff VanderMeer

75%

xoToughCookie commented on cowboyemoji's update

cowboyemoji started reading...

14h

The Quarter Storm (Mambo Reina, #1)

Veronica G. Henry

A practitioner of Vodou must test the boundaries of her powers to solve a ritual murder in New Orleans and protect everything she holds sacred. Haitian-American Vodou priestess Mambo Reina Dumond runs a healing practice from her New Orleans home. Gifted with water magic since she was a child, Reina is devoted to the benevolent traditions of her ancestors. After a ritual slaying in the French Quarter, police arrest a fellow vodouisant. Detective Roman Frost, Reina’s ex-boyfriend—a fierce nonbeliever—is eager to tie the crime, and half a dozen others, to the Vodou practitioners of New Orleans. Reina resolves to find the real killer and defend the Vodou practice and customs, but the motives behind the murder are deeper and darker than she imagines. As Reina delves into the city’s shadows, she untangles more than just the truth behind a devious crime. It’s a conspiracy. As a killer wields dangerous magic to thwart Reina’s investigation, she must tap into the strength of her own power and faith to solve a mystery that threatens to destroy her entire way of life.

xoToughCookie TBR'd a book

13h

The Quarter Storm (Mambo Reina, #1)

Veronica G. Henry

xoToughCookie commented on paigehf's update

paigehf finished a book

14h

Persuasion

Jane Austen

Persuasion is Jane Austen's last completed novel. She began it soon after she had finished Emma, completing it in August 1816. She died, aged 41, in 1817; Persuasion was published in December that year (but dated 1818). Persuasion is linked to Northanger Abbey not only by the fact that the two books were originally bound up in one volume and published together, but also because both stories are set partly in Bath, a fashionable city with which Austen was well acquainted, having lived there from 1801 to 1805. Besides the theme of persuasion, the novel evokes other topics, such as the Royal Navy, in which two of Jane Austen's brothers ultimately rose to the rank of admiral. As in Northanger Abbey, the superficial social life of Bath-well known to Austen, who spent several relatively unhappy and unproductive years there-is portrayed extensively and serves as a setting for the second half of the book. In many respects Persuasion marks a break with Austen's previous works, both in the more biting, even irritable satire directed at some of the novel's characters and in the regretful, resigned outlook of its otherwise admirable heroine, Anne Elliot, in the first part of the story. Against this is set the energy and appeal of the Royal Navy, which symbolises for Anne and the reader the possibility of a more outgoing, engaged, and fulfilling life, and it is this worldview which triumphs for the most part at the end of the novel.

xoToughCookie commented on LoopyJazz's review of Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1)

LoopyJazz

Feb 08, 2026

4.0

Enjoyment: 4.5Quality: 4.5Characters: 4.0Plot: 4.0

🌲

🧬

🤔

I had a truly enjoyable time reading Annihilation. The vibe of the entire book is created with such care and precision. It’s your ears honing in on the bass line and the deep thrumming drives you to bob your head.

Vandermeer has an intensity and care with the language as if it were a poem. This isn’t to say it is poetic in rhythm or rhyme, but the precision of word choices is done with deliberateness. Words contain so much more than meaning, they have emotionally weight, they have sound, they have frequency in context. Choosing words with these aspects in consideration allows such great effect. I adored this all the way through.

I guess my only complaint, and it is a little bit of a ridiculous complaint, is that I wanted it to mean more to me. I’m not looking for more meaning in terms of understanding the book or any sort of clarity with the purposeful ambiguity. I think we are let in on as much as the narrative would allow. I want more emotional residue, I want something sticky like sap on my brain.

I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series. I like being in Area X. I like the uncomfortable nature, it still feels more comfortable than uncomfortable crowds.

xoToughCookie commented on polterbooks's update

polterbooks DNF'd a book

A Hex for Hunger (The Rune Tithe, #2)

Alistair Reeves

Ambrose, a trans knight serving the medieval witch king, spent his life trying to be a hero. Instead, he died a villain in the name of a love he hungered for in secret. That would have ended his story, except a suspicious necromancer, Emery, resurrects him and gives him two things: a second chance and a job. He needs Ambrose to kill Morcant, a cult leader who is terrorizing a small group of students. Ambrose thought he was done with killing, but this modern world whet his appetite. If he can bring his king back from the grave, they could finally enjoy the love they’d been starved of. The witch king’s voice tells him how it can be achieved: kill Emery. But while Ambrose’s magic might hunger for Emery’s blood, his heart hungers for Emery another way entirely . . . Another delightful MM romantic fantasy from Alistair Reeves, A Hex for Hunger promises to captivate with more magic, wonder, and adventure.

xoToughCookie commented on polterbooks's update

polterbooks finished a book

Walking Practice

Dolki Min

Squid Game meets The Left Hand of Darkness meets Under the Skin in this radical literary sensation from South Korea about an alien's hunt for food that transforms into an existential crisis about what it means to be human. After crashing their spacecraft in the middle of nowhere, a shapeshifting alien find themself stranded on an unfamiliar planet and disabled by Earth's gravity. To survive, they will need to practice walking. And what better way than to hunt for food? As they discover, humans are delicious. Intelligent, clever, and adaptable, the alien shift their gender, appearance, and conduct to suit a prey's sexual preference, then attack at the pivotal moment of their encounter. They use a variety of hunting tools, including a popular dating app, to target the juiciest prey and carry a backpack filled with torturous instruments and cleaning equipment. But the alien's existence begins to unravel one night when they fail to kill their latest meal. Thrust into an ill-fated chase across the city, the alien is confronted with the psychological and physical tolls their experience on Earth has taken. Questioning what they must do to sustain their own survival, they begin to understand why humans also fight to live. But their hunger is insatiable, and the alien once again targets a new prey, not knowing what awaits. . . . Dolki Min's haunting debut novel is part psychological thriller, part searing critique of the social structures that marginalize those who are different--the disabled, queer, and nonconformist. Walking Practice uncovers humanity in who we consider to be alien, and illuminates how alienation can shape the human experience. Walking Practice features 21 black-and-white line drawings throughout. Translated from the Korean by Victoria Caudle

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