mermaidsirennikita

[mermaidsirennikita]

Sweetest Scoundrel is ridiculously underrated tbh

like “she cast a forlorn look at his penis” while he’s trying to keep it together long enough to declare his love…. Inspired

#romance novel blogging

[mermaidsirennikita]

33,34 &16

33. What's a pet peeve you have?

People walking or driving slowly when there is no fucking reason to do so. Like. Move the fuck ahead. JESUS.

34. What will always make you cry?

Thinking about sick or injured kids tbh. Cliche! Weird to say! But sometimes I think about kids having conditions or suffering otherwise for no reason and it just sends me spiraling about the world and the universe.

16. What do you think makes you attractive?

In terms of personality, probably my willingness to explore and try new things across the board. In terms of appearance, eyes/rack.

#ask game

[mermaidsirennikita]

he's imagining going down on her, and then he's like "what if she was VISIBLY PREGNANT with myyyyyy baby when I went down on her" and becoming, quote, "rock hard"

this is the kind of content we need more of

fellas, is it normal to feed the object of your vengeance her favorite meal and also champagne and the finest of red wines before having sex with her twice more in the same night (after the first incredibly quick time)? is it normal to take the object of your revenge out on the town and rent a barge and start physically shaking and fighting back the urge to vomit when she says things that remind you of your revenge plot that's going to break her heart?

#romance novel blogging

[mermaidsirennikita]

30 & 31!

30. What does self care look like for you?

Ummmm when I'm being healthy it usually means giving myself a little treat, relaxing, sort of turning off the thing in my brain that makes me feel like I need to do everything that's waiting for me RIGHT NOW and checking out in a very sort of blissed way. With a book, with a concert, just laying out on my balcony and absorbing the sounds and the air.

When I'm manic it means, say, spending thousands of dollars on an all inclusive vacation in effort to avoid the creeping depressive episode!

31. Describe yourself with three singers.

Florence + the Machine, Hozier, and.... as much as I hate to admit it because she's a garbage person but she did in fact shape a lot of my musical taste growing up...... Lana Del Rey.

#ask game

[mermaidsirennikita]

3, 8, 15

3. What was your longest relationship?

Lmao like five seconds. I've never really been a relationship person, which may seem at odds with my romance novel obsession. Like, I'd love to find a forever person someday, but it's rough out here and I'm also quite independent, which takes some of the pressure off but also makes it so that I get bored and frustrated with answering to someone rather quickly. I'm a Sagittarius.

So...dating? Is one thing. Relationships where I see people for the long term? Harder.

8. What is your dream job?

Full time author. She says laughingly.

15. Describe yourself in one sentence.

A contradictory creative who loves a small group of people and gravitates between harsh reality and flights of fancy.

#ask game

[mermaidsirennikita]

6, 7, 13

6. 5 Male celebrity crushes

Dev Patel

Henry Golding

Adam Driver

Hozier

Daryl McCormack

7. 5 Female celebrity crushes

Lucy Liu

Rachel Weisz

Megan Thee Stallion

Angelina Jolie (this is kind of one of those eternal things where in retrospect I for sure was very confused by Mr. and Mrs. Smith)

Gillian Anderson

13. How do you de-stress?

Reading, as cliche as that may sound. Sometimes writing, though when I'm dealing with writer's block it can be stressful, unfortunately.

Laying out in the sun.

#ask game

[mermaidsirennikita]

what is your review of challengers?

10/10, easily the most interesting movie I've seen in quite a while. Fabulous acting, great directing, fantastic score, such interesting chemistry, completely reframed several things I thought I knew about it in the last ten minutes and somehow pulled that off. And I actually found it quite romantic and thrilling.

[mermaidsirennikita]

Exited to watch Challengers eventually but while the whole “love triangle” thing was going around in the reviews pre and post movie release the whole time I was expecting that movie to just end in a throuple 😫

As far as Sierra goes what would you recommend? I have salt kiss and american queen but haven’t started either yet.

I mean... I won't spoil, but while the movie doesn't lay everything out for you in a very explicit "this is how this works" (which unfortunately, is something a lot of American movies have become prone to... which is why this one probably benefited a lot from being directed by an Italian)

But based off my own interpretation and comments Josh O'Connor made, I don't think throuple fans will be disappointed lol

So, if you have American Queen and Salt Kiss, I'd recommend starting with American Queen as it's the first in her New Camelot trilogy. That's basically King Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere as the President, VP, and First Lady... and they all have history with each other that becomes extremely tangled emotionally (and sexually). Then you'll read the next two books, during which Mark Trevena, one of the leads of the Lyonesse (Salt Kiss) trilogy is introduced.

I would actually recommend, after you read American King (the last New Camelot book--there's also a little m/m novella you can read after called American Squire, if you so wish) reading Salt in the Wound before Salt Kiss. It's technically a novella, but a fairly lengthy one, that acts as a prequel and builds some really important background for Salt Kiss. The Lyonesse series focuses on Mark, Isolde (with whom he is in an arranged engagement, essentially--Salt in the Wound explains how that came to be and why Isolde is BIG MAD at him by the time Salt Kiss rolls around) and Tristan, Mark's bodyguard who also ends up entangled with Isolde. After he's entangled with Mark.

(Bonus: Salt in the Wound is free on her website!)

New Camelot is apparently tonally lighter than Lyonesse, according to Sierra, and I'm sure I'll agree after the next book comes out. Thus far, I'd say they're pretty much the same. Both deal with morally complicated people who often make bad calls. Both involve a lot of kink.

If you like that and want to read more poly romance from Sierra, Sherwood is another free book that's an FFM Robin Hood retelling. I haven't read it yet... I hope to soon. I know Mark is in that thing. And then there's her Thornchapel series--I'd recommend getting your feet wet with the other books before trying this one, as it's probably her darkest series. I love it. It's very Gothic, with rituals and light magic. It's about six friends; they all have sex with each other in orgy-type situations (or semi-free use situations in one case) at points, but the two core relationships are F/F and MMF. Lots of conflicted feelings. Lots of taboo. Like, TABOO, taboo.

Her Bell Brothers books (otherwise known as the Priest series) are what I would typically recommend as entry level Sierra, but if you like a throuple... start with New Camelot. It'll rip your heart out (but I promise it ends happily). It's also some of the hottest shit I've read ever in my life. Nooooobody writes a threesome scene better than Sierra.

#romance novel blogging #book recs #romance novels #lol i think a lot of people dismiss sierra as a smut~ (i don't super love that term but whatever) factory #and her prose is kinda hard for a lot of her peers to touch tbh #she writes beautiful sentences #and fascinating relationships #and she doesn't really seem too worried about the morality of her books which is so freeing to read #her characters may question their own morality but she doesn't seem interested in judging them #or forcing them into specific boxes they don't fit into

[mermaidsirennikita]

might I also add that if you enjoyed this movie and its take on love triangles then boy do I have some books for you

the weak interpretation of Challengers is that it's a story of two men in love and unable to be together because of internalized homophobia, somehow leaving out the incendiary antiheroine whose presence dominates much of the plot and character development

the more interesting (and imo accurate) interpretation of Challengers is that we are watching two people come to terms with their mutual love and passion for someone who they've both been in denial of needing, which does NOT negate the way that they need each other and relate to each other... and that is to say, I think that Challengers deeply underlines both coming to terms with bisexuality (for Art) and coming to terms with loving two people and getting different things from them (for both Art and Tashi)

(tbh I think Patrick gets both of these things early on)

anyway Challengers has an HEA if you read it right

#if more people read sierra simone there would be less 'art is better for tashi patrick is better for tashi art and patrick should leave her' #and more understanding of like... what was actually going on

[mermaidsirennikita]

9, 12, 22, 29!

9. What do you consider your biggest accomplishment?

Hmmm it's very hard for me to think of these types of things lol. But I would say... Possibly living in another country for a year in college, the first half of which I spent living on my own because both of my roommates bailed? And dealing with the language barrier, the cultural stuff--I'd never been out of the country as an adult or a teen at that point. So it was a big deal.

12. Where is somewhere you would like to visit?

God, so many places. Kyoto is a big one for me.

22. What is your most prized possession?

As of now............ Probably copy of Tender is the Storm by Johanna Lindsey (with the original cover) or my first edition copy of Dreaming ofYou by Lisa Kleypas.

29. Favorite song lyrics right now?

I'm a simple girl... the lyrics are usually from Hozier. Right now, the Unknown bridge is getting me

Do you know I could break beneath the weight Of the goodness, love, I still carry for you? That I'd walk so far just to take The injury of finally knowin' you?

#ask game

[mermaidsirennikita]

Question Game

Are we tired of these yet?

What is your nickname?

When is your birthday?

What was your longest relationship?

What is your favorite book?

What is something you're insecure about?

5 Male celebrity crushes

5 Female celebrity crushes

What is your dream job?

What do you consider your biggest accomplishment?

What is a fact about you that nobody would believe?

What were your highs and lows for this last month?

Where is somewhere you'd like to visit?

How do you de-stress?

What are your favorite apps besides tumblr?

Describe yourself in one sentence.

What do you think makes you attractive?

What is something you're really good at?

What is something you're really bad at?

A time that you told a lie.

What's a totally random and useless fact that you know?

Who knows you the best?

What is your most prized possession?

What is your longest friendship?

When did you first feel like an adult?

Do you/ Have you played any sports?

How are you feeling right now?

Are you an early bird or a night owl?

Do you believe in love at first sight?

Favorite song lyrics right now?

What does self care look like for you?

Describe yourself with 3 singers.

What makes you nervous?

What’s a pet peeve you have?

What will always make you cry?

What kind of first impression do you think you make on people?

Free Pass! (Ask any question you want that's not on the list)

#ask game

[mermaidsirennikita]

the moment of revenge was legit AWFUL in the best way, I literally gasped in abject horror

and now the fallout is happening and there’s a quarter of the book left still and this is a man who’s broken himself and a woman who’s had ENOUGH and I am on PINS AND NEEDLES

fellas, is it normal to feed the object of your vengeance her favorite meal and also champagne and the finest of red wines before having sex with her twice more in the same night (after the first incredibly quick time)? is it normal to take the object of your revenge out on the town and rent a barge and start physically shaking and fighting back the urge to vomit when she says things that remind you of your revenge plot that's going to break her heart?

#romance novel blogging #still the footman by sm laviolette btw

[mermaidsirennikita]

the weak interpretation of Challengers is that it's a story of two men in love and unable to be together because of internalized homophobia, somehow leaving out the incendiary antiheroine whose presence dominates much of the plot and character development

the more interesting (and imo accurate) interpretation of Challengers is that we are watching two people come to terms with their mutual love and passion for someone who they've both been in denial of needing, which does NOT negate the way that they need each other and relate to each other... and that is to say, I think that Challengers deeply underlines both coming to terms with bisexuality (for Art) and coming to terms with loving two people and getting different things from them (for both Art and Tashi)

(tbh I think Patrick gets both of these things early on)

anyway Challengers has an HEA if you read it right

#challengers #challengers spoilers #maybe? just in case

[mermaidsirennikita]

I don’t want boring, common ways of being bad. I want ways that rattle me to my bones, that send me to my knees in repentance, I want to be the kind of bad that leaves me wrung out with bite marks blooming purple on my body. I want to go to the brink of not knowing myself. I want someone to take me there and hold me by the neck and make me stare at an entire reckless realm of possibility. What’s the point of sex if you don’t feel like every dark crevice of your soul has been exposed to the light? If someone doesn’t take your lust and your shameful thoughts, and twist them into a spell that leaves you panting like a dog for more?

American Queen by Sierra Simone

#new camelot #romance novel blogging #romance novels #greer doesn't get enough credit for being That Girl tbh #never forget that there are two different scenes in that series #where she has sex with embry #and afterward he like does a survey of her body #and is like 'i am HORRIBLE' #bc you know bite marks bruises blood etc #and greer goes #'nah you're GREAT :D' #she's.... just That Girl #and it makes the series so refreshing god just give me heroines who are like #unrepentant about their sexuality

[mermaidsirennikita]

Have you read Prince of Dreams by Kleypas? Is it good?

I haven't--it's on my list, but I'm not quite there yet. I've heard good things, though! it sounds very Old School Kleypas, but I'm personally a fan of some of her older books.

(not the ones set in America)

#romance novel blogging

[mermaidsirennikita]

#that time we watched my name is doris while democracy was under fire

FOUR WOMEN. ONE MOVIE. A NIGHT TO REMEMBER.

@saint-cecilias @mermaidsirennikita @bluetiefling

#AAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!! #OLIVIA!!!!!! THE SCREAM I JUST SCREMT #oh my god dude i am LIVING #ot4: thanks we hate it #ot4: imperial cuntiness #ot4: so beautiful in the face #ot4: doom sluts nation #LOL ESPECIALLY THAT ONE #'twas a day spent with us all texting each other like 'haha! i hope america doesn't blow up! crazy huh?' #i was peering out my window bc i was (and remain) convinced that.... where i live would be a particularly dodgy location #to be in #if that happened #and then at like 9 PM we were like whew what a day so.... that movie where max greenfield maybe fucks sally field....... #we still on? #truly. when our records are unearthed 2k years from now. the aliens will be stunned

[mermaidsirennikita]

fellas, is it normal to feed the object of your vengeance her favorite meal and also champagne and the finest of red wines before having sex with her twice more in the same night (after the first incredibly quick time)? is it normal to take the object of your revenge out on the town and rent a barge and start physically shaking and fighting back the urge to vomit when she says things that remind you of your revenge plot that's going to break her heart?

#romance novel blogging #yes this is still the footman by s.m. laviolette #she gave this man one good clench and his entire scheme has been derailed