#2024 queer book character tournament

[vacantgodling]

re. about

you may call me: ren, renjamin, rimz, r.a.a, or vacant

refer to me with he/him pronouns (masculine nicknames like ‘king’ & terms of endearment like ‘dear’ or ‘sweetie’ are also good. just nothing overtly feminine like ‘queen’ is the gist)

i am 26 and my birthday is october 2

i am black, transmasc, neurodivergent, and queer (achillean or yknow gay if you want to be specific. i’m a fag ok.)

as a psa: i don’t care if minors follow me but i’m not your parent so proceed at your own risk.

aside from writing i like: playing video games (mostly overwatch, my special interest for a ridiculous amount of time. but also, legend of zelda & the sims), drawing (when it’s not annoying me), gothic literature & older books with flowery prose, the colors pink, black & gold, history, anime (older anime+demon slayer really), and i’m learning japanese (to the best of my ability. むずかしです)

re. wips

find a list of all my wips HERE! i work on them sporadically when inspiration strikes. find a wip sampler where i show off a piece of prose from the work to give you a sense of its vibe HERE!

if you’re interested in being on my taglists, fill this form out!

my 2023 year in review!

also, for ease of access: current tag games i’m doing (i want to keep track of it this year)

last line tag 2024

wbw 2024

ask games 2024 (general)

tcol character tournament!

re. connect

here are other places you can find me:

bluesky || cohost || instagram || pinterest

my partner yves and i make stories together, which is here -> @mothgrudge (i also rb a lot on @babylonsfalling)

i have a discord so if we’ve spoken feel free to ask for it (however i don’t really do servers. maybe one day, but for now no)

maybe this year i’ll work on an actual website & i’d love to make a youtube where i just talk about shit so… maybe, we’ll see...

re. navigation

talking -> musings and personal thoughts

about renjamin -> insight to me / who i am

ren analysis -> when i get meta about my wips

ren mix -> a treasure trove of my music taste

ren polls -> any polls i make

ren reads -> for my ramblings and analysis as i try to get back into books

friends tag -> talking with friends or boosting my friends work

others work -> boosting other writeblrs work

hall of fame -> praise / things that make me happy that i want to keep

ren writing -> all of my writing in one place

ren poems -> all of my poems in one place

short stories tag -> micro or flash fiction bits and bobs

ren art -> all my art

q eh you eh -> queue

sex mention -> tag for any sexual content.

worldbuilding -> all of my worldbuilding notes across all my wips

ren hot cakes -> specifically for my overly opinionated opinions

to read -> others works that i need to get around to reading

rens ocs but sims -> for when i make my ocs in the sims lol

ren plays -> me talking about video games but it’s usually overwatch

ren is jopping on main -> for the rare occasions where i talk about kpop

character stats -> when i decide to compare and contrast my ocs to see trends

#writeblr intro #about renjamin

[cj-writes-stuff]

Reading Wrap-Up | January 2024

The Witch and the Vampire by Francesca Flores Tournament of Losers by Megan Derr Quest of Fools by Megan Derr Dance with the Fae Prince by Elise Kova That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming So This is Ever After by F. T. Lukens

This was an okay start to the year; not great, but not the worst month of reading I've ever had. 2023 was basically one big reading slump until I hit December, so I'm trying to make 2024 a year of reading for me.

[mini reviews/ratings below the cut]

The Witch and the Vampire by Francesca Flores ⭐ Rating: 3.5/5

My first read of the year. Think of this book as a queer retelling of Rapunzel with a slow burn, vampire/vampire hunter, friends-to-enemies-to lovers romance. It also deals with a lot of parental abuse and trauma, so if that's triggering for you, I'd skip this one.

It's pretty good. The story follows Ava [a girl turned into a vampire against her will by her mother] and Kaye [a flame witch who hunts vampires]; they used to be best friends before Ava was turned. Ava's desperate to escape her abusive mother and step-father, so she plans an escape into the forest to find a safe haven for vampires. Meanwhile, Kaye has plans to capture Ava and fulfil her duty.

Ava's side of the story compelled me more than Kaye's because of how it handles Ava's relationship to her mother, how repulsed she is by her vampirism, and her desire for belonging. Some of it's hard to read, I won't lie.

The world building in this is strong. I particularly love the forest and the secrets we discover about it. The romance isn't as strong, in my opinion; if anything, I think that's one of the weaker elements of this story. However, the nature of the relationship between Ava and Kaye as vampire and witch and how it develops is an interesting, enjoyable ride. And just because I think the romance between them is a weaker element, that doesn't mean it's bad. I wanted them to end up together, but the ending... personally, I thought the ending was going somewhere else, and then it went in a completely different direction and I didn't like it. I'd recommend it, though, it was worth reading.

Tournament of Losers by Megan Derr ⭐ Rating: 3.5/5

This might be my favorite read of the month, which was unexpected because this is a book I happened to stumble across and got on a whim. It's an indie book, and it definitely has a personality. One that threw me off at first, but quickly reeled me back in.

I love Rath. I want only good things for this man. The guy just wants to live a comfortable life, but his father keeps getting him in debt so he joins the Tournament of Losers; every seventy-five years, commoners compete for the chance to marry into nobility. They're given a stipend to live on while competing, even for Rath to pay off the debt, he's just gotta make it through all the bullshit to get it.

It's a predictable read, but I didn't mind that. Lots of sex mentioned, but it's all fade to black, nothing explicit. It also tackles sex work as that's a way Rath makes money, but I think it covers it in a pretty humanizing way. The romance was good, I enjoyed reading about Rath and Tress together. The tournament is a fun idea. The book takes the time to show how a lot of the nobility cheat but some are legit. Highly recommend.

Quest of Fools by Megan Derr ⭐ Rating: 2/5

With how much I enjoyed Tournament of Losers, this one was just... kinda disappointing. Not bad, but it feels like a filler story rather than any continuation or second installment. Like, I don't really have that much to say about it. Warf is the best part; he's a super endearing main character to follow.

Also there's one explicit sex scene, which I thought was odd given Tournament of Losers wasn't explicit. All of a sudden, dicks were being pulled out and I was not prepared.

Honestly, I don't have much else to say about this one. It exists, and it's a let down after Tournament of Losers. Oh, and this is an indie book, too, but the amount of typos was distracting. I don't remember Tournament of Losers having that problem.

Dance with the Fae Prince by Elise Kova ⭐ Rating: 2.5/5

I hadn't ever read a fae romance before this one. I know it's a popular thing and there are a bunch of them, so I thought I'd give this one a shot and see what the big deal is. This one is inspired by Cinderella, so there's an abusive step-mother [this month really has a reoccurring theme, doesn't it...] and step sister who gaslight and manipulate Katria for parts of the book. It's slow burn, there's one sex scene that I found more funny than romantic or steamy, and has a "happily ever after."

Unfortunately, this is my most disappointing read of the month. It started out so strong! I was invested for the first chunk of this book before it grabbed me by the throat, said "just kidding!" and then threw me into an entirely different story.

I mean, it starts with the premise of Katria's shitty step mother selling her hand in marriage to a mysterious man who has a set of rules that she must never leave her room at night no matter what she hears, and that Katria must never look at him. So they talk, but she must always have her back to him, or be blindfolded, and it's interesting to read.... and then we take a sharp right turn and I'm left with my face in the dirt like, "but... but... I liked what we had going on before-"

It took a while to get back into after that, but I'm left with a lot of mixed feelings. It was fine, I enjoyed aspects of it, but overall it's disappointing... that being said, I did like it enough to pick up another book in the series, A Deal with the Elf King. Hopefully

That Time I got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming ⭐ Rating: 2/5

I mean... how could I not buy this book when I saw it on sale? And I give it a lot of credit for laying out all the explicit content warnings on the first page, which include sex scenes, light bdsm, mentions/threats of sexual assault but none actually take place, and a lot of violence. Books that are upfront with their trigger warnings are always appreciated; I like to know what I'm getting into rather than being surprised.

It's a fun book, incredibly funny, and an overall good time. Lots of sex that I couldn't take seriously. Lots of demon dick to go around. But the worldbuilding was fun, except for when it wasn't and suddenly we're dealing with serious situations and past traumas. That aspect I found more compelling than the steamy bits, to be honest.

Cinnamon's a great protagonist who doesn't want to be the protagonist, but I love her. She's hilarious and brave, and I want nothing but happiness for her and Fallon.

I struggled with rating this because I already have a skewed, personal way with my star ratings where the only star rating that I consider bad is a one-star rating. I would recommend this to anyone looking for an easy read with lots of steamy bits, comedy with a sprinkling of angst her and there, and some fantasy worldbuilding. I enjoyed it, and already bought the sequel, so even though the 2/5 looks bad, it's not.

So This is Ever After ⭐ Rating: 3/5

The best way I can describe this book is it felt like I was reading fanfiction for a fandom I'm not apart of. In fact, it feels like that brand of fanfiction where in canon, the two male best friends were just that, but they're the big ship of the fandom and this is someone's fic pairing them together.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I feel like it's a double edged sword. On one hand, I love the idea of tackling the reality of what happens after the prophecy's fulfilled and now the chosen one, Arek, is to be king when he doesn't want to be king... also, he needs to find a spouse or he'll fade away. Because sure. Even though he's in love with his best friend, Matt, he doesn't believe the feelings are reciprocated, so he turns his attentions to the other members of his party to try and "woo" them in ways that never go right. It's rom-com levels.

But... on the other hand, I feel like I missed out on that actual story. There's a lot of telling rather than showing when it comes to the big journey these characters went on to complete the prophecy. A journey I would've loved to read rather than hear about second-hand. Not only that, but the miscommunication on display here between Arek and Matt is just.... not fun. It's frustrating. It could've easily been avoided.

Also, if Arek could stop talking about his inconvenient boners, that'd be great.

That being said, I did like it a lot. It's a fun read and the characters are well written and compelling to read about. There's one element of the story that involves a diary and how that's wrapped up that I adored. I would recommend it for anyone looking for a fun and magical queer romance.

#cj reads stuff #reading wrap up #reading wrap up january 2024 #i started the month with a serious book about parental trauma and vampires and then nose dived into smut #never have i read this much smut in my life and most of it wasn't even like... good sksksks #i have a line up of sapphic romances for february though so that should be fun #and i want to read that elf king book to see if it's just as disappointing