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[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll


A monstrously large horde of rulebooks, supplements, and sourcebooks for Trail of Cthulhu, the tabletop roleplaying game of eldritch Cthulhu Mythos investigations using the GUMSHOE System from Pelgrane Press.

Bundle of Holding: Trail of Cthulhu MEGA

Fairy Tales, Brenda Jackson, & More

Mar. 16th, 2026 03:30 pm
[syndicated profile] smartbitches_feed

Posted by Amanda

No Mistress of Mine

No Mistress of Mine by Laura Lee Guhrke is $1.99! This historical romance features a second chance, opposites attract romance. Some readers had difficulty liking the protagonists, while others really enjoyed the scandalous heroine. It’s book four in the American Heiress in London series.

USA Today bestselling author Laura Lee Guhrke is back with the latest in her dazzling An American Heiress in London series, in which a reformed rogue finds all his honorable resolutions tested by the only woman who ever broke his heart…

After spending his youth as one of the wildest rakes in the ton, Lord Denys Somerton has devoted the past six years to putting his past behind him. He is determined to fulfill his duties, find a suitable wife, and start a family, but that plan changes when Lola Valentine—the red-haired temptress from his past—returns to London, sparking the same irresistible desires that almost ruined his life once before.

Lola is a woman with no romantic illusions. She knew love would never be enough for a British lord and an American girl from the wrong side of the tracks. For Denys’s sake, she walked away from him and the glittering life he offered. But when an unexpected inheritance brings her back to London, Lola discovers the passion between them is as hot as ever. Can they vanquish it, or will it burn out of control again and destroy them both?

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

I Dared the Duke

I Dared the Duke by Anna Bennett is $1.99! This is book two in the Wayward Wallflowers series and features a grumpy hero and some forced proximity. Readers say this is a great light read, but at times requires some suspension of disbelief.

DARE TO FALL IN LOVE

Alexander Savage, the Duke of Blackshire, is known throughout the ton for three things: the burn scars on his neck, his ornery disposition, and the trail of broken hearts behind him. None of which would concern Miss Elizabeth Lacey in the least—if she weren’t living under his roof. As his grandmother’s companion, Beth is all too concerned with the moody and compelling duke. Incensed by his plans to banish the sweet dowager duchess to the country, Beth refuses to do his bidding. If Alex wants her help, he’s going to have to take her dare…and grant her three wishes.

Alex adores his grandmother, which is precisely why she must leave. A string of unfortunate incidents has him worried for the safety of everyone around him—including the dowager’s loyal and lovely companion, Beth. But the notorious wallflower isn’t as meek as she appears, and as their battle of wills heats up, so does Alex’s desire. He’s dangerously close to falling in love with her…and revealing secrets he’d rather keep hidden. How can he convince her that his darkest days are behind him—and that, for the first time in forever, his heart is true?

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Spilling the Tea

Spilling the Tea by Brenda Jackson is $1.99! This is a standalone contemporary romance, with main characters healing from trauma. Have you read this one?

Ninetysomething Mama Laverne is determined to find all of her great-grandchildren their perfect match before going home to glory. So far, her success rate is 100 percent—and she intends to keep it that way.

After sustaining injuries in Iraq, Chancellor Madaris was told he’d never walk again. Chance credits his great-grandmother Mama Laverne with giving him the will to heal and prove the doctors wrong. He has a healthy respect for her meddling ways and knows he’ll eventually end up next on her matchmaking list.

When Zoey Pritchard was eight, she survived a car accident that took the lives of her mother and father, and was sent to live with her great-aunt who refused to speak about her parents. Zoey has no memory from before the crash, but she’s been having the same dream over and over…

Searching for answers, Zoey travels to Houston, where she uncovers a scandal involving her parents and the wealthy and powerful Madaris family. Her trail leads her straight to Chance’s door. The dislike and intense attraction are instant and simultaneous. But to help Zoey restore her memory, he grudgingly introduces her to his great-grandmother…

Was it chance, or Mama Laverne’s plan, that threw this pair together?

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Apples Dipped in Gold

Apples Dipped in Gold by Scarlett St. Clair is $1.99! This is book two in the Fairy Tale Retellings series, though I can’t quite place which fairy tale it’s based on or just an amalgamation of a few.

Orphaned at a young age, Samara is left under the care of her three, horrible brothers. Just when she thinks she cannot take another day of their abuse, a handsome prince offers for her hand in marriage.

Samara’s brothers agree in exchange for a large dowery but on her way to her new kingdom, her carriage is ambushed by Lore, the wicked Prince of Nightshade.

Samara believes that the fae has snatched away her chance at freedom to punish her for her crimes against his kind but punishment is only half of Lore’s plan.

The truth is that the Elven Prince has pined after Samara for seven long years. She is all he can think about—a toxin in his blood. Can the Prince of Nightshade, whose power over poisons rivals none in The Enchanted Forest, manage to find a remedy or will he succumb to her love?

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Admin: Loss of a member

Mar. 16th, 2026 10:20 am
cereta: antique pen on paper (Anjesa-pen and paper)
[personal profile] cereta posting in [community profile] agonyaunt
As some of you already know, our wonderful [personal profile] minoanmiss left us on March 3rd. Her loved ones asked us not to make any public announcements for reasons involving her family of origin, but we've been given permission to announce to the community now.

Those here in [community profile] agonyaunt will remember her for her contributions from Ask A Manager, and her insightful comments on family, found family, and other topics. The wider fannish community will remember her for her amazing fiction and her art, particularly her drawings of Minoan culture. Others will remember her for her amazing fruitcake and other culinary adventures.

[personal profile] sabotabby created this lovely portrait. I think I will try to remember her this way.
pauraque: drawing of a wolf reading a book with a coffee cup (customer service wolf)
[personal profile] pauraque
I liked this book when it was a fantasy noir starring a biracial knife-throwing assassin with magic hands in 1940s New York who's trying to get out of the business but keeps getting pulled back in. But that book wraps up about a third of the way through the actual book. Then it turns into a completely different book where the assassin moves upstate with her boyfriend and the story becomes about slimy small town politics and the characters' profound guilt for their actions in the city, and I became increasingly confused about what the book was trying to do and decreasingly satisfied with my reading experience.

Part of the problem is that Dev (the boyfriend) kind of rubbed me the wrong way and I didn't feel invested in the romance between him and Phyllis (the assassin), so shifting the focus more to their relationship was not going to work well for me. I actually liked both characters less and less as the book went on, and by the end I was feeling pretty fed up with both of them. A late promotion to the group of main characters is Tamara, Dev's ex, who comes to have a close bond with Phyllis as well. There is some interesting complexity to the dynamic of this trio, but I ended up frustrated with the way it was handled.

relationship endgame spoilersIt seemed to me that this was going in a poly triad direction, and then backed off of it. And I mean... it's not not poly. Phyllis, Dev, and Tamara have a one-night threesome, and Tamara also has a boyfriend who's deployed overseas, and in general it is not a book that assumes people only love one person at a time. I did appreciate that. What specifically threw me was this passage in Tamara's POV:
Sure, she and Phyllis had kissed that night with Dev and even now, in certain light, she didn't mind the notion of touching Pea [Phyllis] until she came. But the love she felt wasn't really that kind—it was a blood love, a bone love, and it ricocheted off of her other loves at unexpected angles.
Maybe I'm misreading the author's intention in pushing away the idea that Tamara's love for Phyllis is "that kind", or maybe I'm misunderstanding what "that kind" is supposed to be. But to me it read like the poly dynamic was being held at arm's length, which was not the direction I'd hoped it would go. I guess the Tamara/Phyllis relationship is ambiguous and not clearly defined as (queer)platonic or romantic, which sometimes I like, but the way it was presented here didn't land for me.

I also didn't understand what we were supposed to take away from the reveal of how the magic in the book works.

worldbuilding and plot spoilersOnly certain rare people have magic, and only people of color. It's eventually shown that the magic is a gift from their ancestors, who intended for their descendants to use it to fight white oppression. But if the ancestors are displeased with how the magic is used, the magic can turn against its holder or disappear completely. This explains why Phyllis loses control of her hands—the ancestors wanted her to assassinate the sadistic mob boss Vic (who is white), but by that point Phyllis wanted to stop killing so she didn't do it. She spends the rest of the book trying to make amends for the murders she's committed, yet her hands continue to torment her for not killing Vic, and she eventually sickens and dies. Dev, who also has magic, does kill Vic, and is tortured by guilt for the rest of the book, and he also dies. Tamara has magic too, and also becomes consumed with guilt because even though she never hurt anyone directly, she worked for Vic and looked the other way; she tries to sacrifice herself to save Phyllis but doesn't succeed.

To me it ended up reading like the characters were being punished for not living up to binding magical agreements that they never consented to or even knew about, which override their own agency and moral convictions. What are the ancestors trying to accomplish here? How does any of this help in the fight against racism? We're told that magic is getting rarer, but it's not really explained why. I know it's not because people of color in the 1940s don't need the help, and I can't imagine the author is saying it's because they're not worthy of it, but... what, then? Phyllis and Dev's daughter is supposed to have extraordinary powers, but I don't think that's explained either and I didn't have a clear sense of what she's expected to do. The whole cosmology of the book didn't make sense to me.

It sucks because I find Johnson's prose excellent, and the first third worked so well for me. I really didn't want to have to say I don't like this book! But alas, here we are.
darkjediqueen: (Default)
[personal profile] darkjediqueen posting in [community profile] fan_flashworks
Title: Plant of First Beginnings
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: No Warnings Apply
Fandom: S.W.A.T.
Relationships: Donovan Rocker/Molly Hicks
Tags: Getting Together, Fluff
Summary: The plant was a mystery.
Word Count: 949


Just one thing: 16 March 2026

Mar. 16th, 2026 06:45 am
[personal profile] jazzyjj posting in [community profile] awesomeers
It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished!

Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!
conuly: (Default)
[personal profile] conuly
And isn’t everything risk?

The beloved lives
Then dies,
Then (if we’re lucky)
Rises again
Into a poem or song

Or into the world
In some other form
Impossible to predict.

Simplest story, oldest tale:

Sparrows sing it
From every hedge;

And swallows, also,
From their nests on the ledge.


**********


Link
[syndicated profile] smartbitches_feed

Posted by Lara

DNF

Miss Wick and the Duke Dilemma

by Violet Marsh
March 17, 2026 · Forever
Historical: European

This book is ludicrous and not in a fun way.

Before I let my rant get away with me, the blurb:

Eoin Aucourte, the newly minted Duke of Foxglen, always played by his grandfather’s rules. But now that the old man is dead, Eoin’s first decision is to track down his long-lost mother. The only problem? He’ll have to visit the infamous Black Sheep Coffeehouse to begin his search. Rumor has it that the owner, Miss Hannah Wick, knows all the gossip from the dingiest St. Giles alleyways to the glittering ballrooms of Mayfair. But the whip-smart daughter of a pirate also has a way of making Eoin forget all the lessons on propriety that his grandfather ruthlessly instilled in him.

The Duke of Foxglen represents everything Hannah disdains about the nobility. Even worse, his grandfather exiled her papa from England, setting her father on the course of piracy and endangering her entire family. Seeing an opportunity to seek vengeance on his family, Hannah pretends to “help” the shy, surprisingly handsome duke—but soon realizes Eoin may be the first truly honorable noble she’s ever met.

With every clue they uncover, their search intensifies … and so does their attraction. But with so many secrets between them, does love even stand a chance?

I was already on the back foot when I started this book because I haven’t read the others in this series. Usually with historical romance, that’s no big deal. In this case, it’s quite a big deal. I reached 66% and I still didn’t understand the back story and how all these characters connected to one another.

So yes, that made me grumpy. Fine, I admit it.

As stated in the cover copy, yes, Hannah is a pirate’s daughter and co-owns a coffee house. She has a vendetta against the Aucourte family because they impoverished her father and grandfather through the enclosures of the 18th century. So when Eoin shows up asking for help tracking down his mother, Hannah sees a chance for retribution and agrees to help him in order to better facilitate her revenge.

I realise this is a common plot structure.

I’ve read books that do it well.

I’ve read books that mess it up.

This one was downright painful. Hannah wrings her hands and frets and feels guilty constantly from around 40% in. Yet she doesn’t speak up about any of it. It’s beyond tiresome. It’s particularly tiresome because it is clear from Eoin’s behaviour that he would not actually be upset about her ulterior motives as he has no love for his father’s family.

Oh and that mystery they need to solve – finding Eoin’s mother and sister?

Show Spoiler

Solved at 55% in. They followed 1 (one) clue which was a dead end and then found the pair by chance. Ridiculous!

Speaking of ridiculous …

Spoilers and animal abuse

There is an abused, scarred, mangy bear in this story. Strike one. Can’t stomach animal abuse in a ROMANCE.

They do not immediately rescue the bear. Strike two.

The bear is deployed in the world’s stupidest plot point. Strike three.

I’m done.

What’s that you say? A stupid bear-related plot point? Yes: Eoin and Hannah are sitting in his mansion’s garden when they hear a roar. A bear, not a trained one, mind you, has been released in his garden in the world’s most ridiculous assassination attempt.

Is there a fence?

Who transported the bear?

How did they convince the bear to stalk and try to attack Eoin and Hannah? I repeat, this is not a trained bear. How is this an effective strategy? No idea.

It is not just the bear that’s ridiculous. There’s an equally ridiculous parrot and a cuter, but still bananas, gosling. Neither of these two are abused but they do also form ridiculous plot points.

I was also annoyed by how Eoin’s body was spoken of. He’s described as huge and looking like a prizefighter. Only, he can’t fight at all. His tremendous size is mentioned ALL THE TIME. I would argue it’s brought up even more than his character. It felt like the only thing that mattered about him was how he looked and I found it nauseating.

I am all for some wild escapism in my romances, especially historical ones. There is a quagmire of shit in English history and I understand not wanting to stare it in the face while trying to engage with some dopamine. But a plot has to be at least a little bit plausible, in my opinion. This book is not even remotely plausible and because it felt insulting to me as the reader, I found it hard to enjoy.

Is there anyone that would enjoy this book? I think someone who is interested in substantial whimsy in their romances might have an easier time of it. Someone who has read the prior books in the series. Someone who hasn’t read the ‘ulterior motives’ trope a million times, too. And I’ll be honest: someone who isn’t a middle-aged grouch like me.

You can't take the sky from me.

Mar. 16th, 2026 12:06 am
rogueslayer452: (Firefly. Malcolm Reynolds.)
[personal profile] rogueslayer452
Nathan Fillion just announced that there's a Firefly animated show in the works, set to be taken place between the first season and the movie.

This is quite a whiplash in terms of Whedonverse news lately. First, the BTVS sequel series got cancelled, and now we might possibly be getting more Firefly in animated form. What's next? A Dollhouse revival with Dichen Lachman and Enver Gjokaj being a central part of the story? (Actually, that would be pretty dope, ngl.)

With that being said, this came as quite a surprise. There was some vague buzz about Nathan going to tease us with something in relation to Firefly, however we've been hearing these kinds of things for years and it's usually just either an event or some kind of merchandise, and it's become kind of an inside joke among fans about "maybe this time it'll be a season two!" when we know that's not the case. So I wasn't prepared. Since it's still in the development stages I'm not getting my hopes up just yet knowing how fickle the entertainment industry is especially these days, however I can't help but feel tentatively optimistic for the possibility of this actually happening. It seems they're actively determined to make it so, and Nathan is probably the biggest advocate for more Firefly anything. I know some fans are disappointed about this being animated and not live-action, which I completely understand since I also wanted that too, but when taking into account how long it's been unless they were going for something many years after the events of Serenity with the crew, doing animation is probably the safest choice. I also have additional thoughts including my personal concerns about things, but that'll be for another post.

So. A second season of Firefly in animated form. Whodathunkit, huh?

so tired

Mar. 16th, 2026 09:00 am
tielan: (hates it we does)
[personal profile] tielan
Every time I lay down for a nap or an early night, or stay in bed for a longer sleep-in, I get disrupted by someone.

I'm not sleeping well. Is it a stress thing? A perimenopause thing? A thing with the weather? A 'life the universe and the end of the world as we know it' thing? Who even knows!

Unfortunately, I don't get a break in evening events until Thursday. And while I could stay home for each of them, in the first instance I'm the president, in the second a young woman is coming along for the first time, and in the third it's a social event.

I think I may have to take the sleeping drugs tonight. Well, melatonin.
soricel: (Default)
[personal profile] soricel posting in [community profile] fandomweekly
Theme Prompt: #292 – Daydreaming
Title: The Ordinary World
Fandom: Raven Cycle
Rating/Warnings: G
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 656
Read more... )
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:
March 17 & 19
March 31 & April 2
April 7 & 9


Good... evening? Morning? 6^^;; Looks like it's just another Lonely Prompts Monday, and I'm sure everyone wishes it was still Sunday, right? ♫ (On a positive note, if you're reading this, you've survived the Ides of March!) 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.

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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.

Daily Happiness

Mar. 15th, 2026 09:32 pm
torachan: an orange cat poking his head out from blankets (ollie)
[personal profile] torachan
1. We made mac and cheese for lunch inspired by the ramen mac and cheese we had at DCA last night. Added dashi in the water while the macaroni was boiling, and topped with furikake (all we had was gomashio, which is a mix of black sesame seeds and chunky salt) and it was delicious but we decided adding toasted panko really would make it better, so we actually ended up making it again for dinner with the panko. It was so good. Carla bought a different type of furikake at the store today but I just used the gomashio again and that went so good with the panko. Will definitely be making mac and cheese this way again.

2. A couple weeks ago I got the annual Costco rewards gift certificate and we finally braved Costco today so we could use it. We weren't going directly home, so that saved us from being tempted by any perishable products and we pretty much stuck to our list of basics that we needed to stock up on.

3. The weekend is over and I'm not thrilled about that but it was a pretty nice weekend overall.

4. Molly loves being in this window, hidden behind the curtain.

This is the yearly reminder

Mar. 15th, 2026 10:07 pm
conuly: (Default)
[personal profile] conuly
that the Roman calendar was batshit.

Today is the Ides, okay, and yesterday was pridie Ides, so far so good, and the day before that was three days before the Ides, because the Romans a. counted backwards and b. did this weird inclusive counting, so Friday, Saturday, Ides = three days.

(Which is also how Good Friday is three days before the Resurrection, when it blatantly isn't.)

***************************


Read more... )

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