#come as you are: the romance novel

[sarahmaclean]

I’m on a total rock star kick (I mean, nothing wrong with that), and Jess K Hardy's Come as You Are is a totally delicious book about two grown-ass people who are learning to trust themselves, their hearts and each other. He’s a Pearl-Jam-era rock star recovering from addiction and now running a men's home for other recovering addicts , she’s a single mom struggling to keep her ski resort afloat. Watching them fall for each other is pure joy. (Also, it’s SO sexy!)

#jess k hardy #come as you are #come as you are: the romance novel #romance books #read more romance #romance novels #recommended reads

[tricoufamily]

did my challenge <3 came up w this story about a hitman who falls in love with his boss's new fiancé and they have an affair

#prettiest female sim i've ever made i think. see i can do it i can make female sims (do not ask me to try to recreate the success of this) #is this the most trashy romance novel idea i've ever come up with yes. am i in love with it yes #you don't even know how much i got into this ok the lore the character development the side characters #ts4 #ts4 cas #ts4 edit #the sims 4 #i named them: #jared #& #anne #tricoufamily duo challenge

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Instruction on Courtship

[First] Prev <--> Next

#poorly drawn mdzs #mdzs #lan jingyi #lan sizhui #wei wuxian #a-qing #(In case ppl are wondering: LJY and LSZ changed their hairstyles to get into character). #I love this scene very much its so silly and sweet #a-qing is WAITING though guys. Come ON #Lan Jingyi definitely is the type to read romance novels and be a deep romantic at heart. And of course vehemently deny it. #But the truth of the matter is that wwx and lwj don't follow those typical romance tropes (at least not at the moment) #wwx and lwj split up because they *know* the other one is perfectly capable on their own! It's about acknowledgement and respect. #The original line was “Why. I trust him and his skills” which is more accurate to the Audio Drama. Because that's the core of what makes #Wangxian so good! Trust!! Despite years of miscommunication- there is deep trust between these two! #They can and will delegate tasks because they are an effective team! #If you cannot trust the person you say you love and care about - you have killed that relationship. (Genuine relationship advice). #Add one more to the 'retelling of wwx's story from other's perspective' counter. #I know that wangxian get more lovey later on but I really feel like mxtx was trying to make a point here. The more interesting dynamics #are not one's that rehash lines and tropes from dime a dozen romance books (sorry boys)

[jahnavisurenda-21]

Hazbin Hotel ||Alastor X Reader||Rest A Little My Dear

It's tiring and feeling burnt out but the stack of thoughts, longing and paperwork won't let you sleep.

It had been approximately two years since that horrible night, but you're not exactly sure how time works in hell, or how many days make a year, or how many days make a month.

You asked some of your other friends as well Charlie, Vaggie, and Angel they just shrugged, although Vaggie did ask you the reason. Then looking at you she figured it,

"Oh, I see... you're still hoping huh?" Vaggie didn't want to tell it, but she thought you were hoping for something meaningless.

"Come now my dear, it's not healthy for you to be locked up in your bedroom the whole day." Alastor reminded, dragging you outside.

To cure you of your homesickness he would make the food you used to enjoy, love, and fight with your sibling for.

Alastor could have handled that, but he knew the stages of acceptance involved Denial, Turmoil, more denial, romanticizing the impossible, and then initial acceptance.

It was a while since you landed here, and the moment he had seen you he knew you could be a more hopeless case than Charlie and a complete misfits of the misfits.

"Here at least come to one of the most pleasant cities of this miserable hell!" Alastor said grinning,

Two weeks passed, And Alastor had gone out for 'Urgent matters' he thought you were to lighthearted to understand or even know about it.

That night he was pleasantly surprised to see you wrapped up with a blanket on your bed, you were taking his advice and calming down a little.

He sat by the bedside, "I know my dear, it's painful. As painful as missing my mother. You know I'd give anything to see her once again." Alastor then looked at you, "Now my dear, when I go, I hope you will help me run this hotel and not stay cooped up here. It's definitely not healthy, well I guess this is hell. Now I better get going. My dear."

"Ah there you are Charlie... why not help me out a little you see my darling Y/n will probably be all delusional again, dreaming, drifting, and mindlessly browsing all sorts of information in those content books of hers, and that picture box thing, so make sure she doesn't get a little to delusional okay?"

But Charlie knew your stubbornness passes the gates of hell and to the doors of heaven, you avoided everyone, anything to study, you studied for hours, without Alastor things got really hellish.

One day in your room staring out to the red skies, Niffty called out to you,

"So why are you such a boring person huh? Why are you not a bad girl?"

"That's because she doesn't belong here Nifftly." Charlie's soft voice called out, she then took your hand, "I know it's hard for you, to have left everyone behind, I know your longing to pick up where you left, you want to forget you are trapped in hell. I can't promise your departure back to Earth, I know your scared, but we'll be right by your side."

You laughed with tears, "You sang and told me this, you and Alastor I'll never know the secrets behind your dazzling smiles, and those songs you both sing so naturally. Thanks."

Alastor was up against the wall eavesdropping is a rude word, he just wanted to make sure you were alright. He was too respectful to eavesdrop.

An hour later, again you think because you don't know how time worked in hell.

"Ah my dear! I see your less delusional than before!" Alastor came smiling, he was really relieved you were smiling.

He had never made a deal with you, because he hoped that one day he could see you truly happy when you return to Earth happily, and when you die, he knows he would most likely never see you again and now he will have two people to give up everything for to just see them once again.

After everyone left, you took Alastor's hand, "I see your in a much better mood!" Alastor commented, "It's thanks to you."

"Oh no my dear, Just smile and one more thing just rest a little more my dear."

And smile you did, the most purest one in his eyes.

#lovestories #alastor fanfiction #alastor hazbin hotel #alastor the radio demon #alastor x reader #alastor x you #beauty #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin hotel fandom #romance #romantic #paranormal romance #romance novel #lovestory #coming of age #fluff #alastor x y/n #alastor fluff #alastor fanart #alastor fictive

[dani4the6]

Nothing more terrifying/fun than the yandere man in the game having meta information about the game. What do you mean you know what choice I picked last time? What are you doing messing with my choices?

#romance game #yandere #visual novel #symptoms of deceit #14 days with you #are the first 2 that come to mind but that’s mainly bc i haven’t played a bunch of yandere content #both great games so far (they're wips)

[mixelation]

i dug up a scene i wrote years ago for plasticity re: itachi and shitty fiction. context is that tori is hobbling around from a hip injury while they stay in a small town to figure out their lives. this was written BEFORE i decided icha icha was a Thing which is why there is a bizarre lack of mention of it. because of that, who fucking knows what this scene will look like when i do get to this part

Tori spent the next few days laying in bed and drifting between sleep and absolute boredom. She’d occasionally stagger over to the bathroom and managed to wash herself with a wet towel a few times. The ninja mostly ignored her– Sasori disappeared for a full three days to scope out a place for the sealing ritual– but they would occasionally leave her with cartons of their left-over take-out meals. Itachi brought her a truly terrible novel. No one ever offered to help her to the bathroom, which her pride was secretly grateful for. 

She decided against the soldier pills, until Sasori returned and informed her she should be getting light exercise to strengthen her bruised muscles. 

“I put them back together,” he said tersely. “You won’t damage them further by walking. I’m not that incompetent.”

So Tori, unsure of how she had accused Sasori of incompetence, popped a soldier pill and went for a walk behind the hostel. It had a tiny, largely unkempt garden, with an algae-covered pond full of koi that were miraculously still alive. Next to it was a bench that looked like it might collapse at any moment, and Itachi was tempting fate by sitting on it. 

“That book you gave me sucked,” Tori said by way of greeting. Itachi acknowledged her by turning his head slightly. 

“You look like a ghost,” he said. 

“Thank you,” said Tori, quite genuinely, and continued with her walk. 

When she’d done a full loop around the garden, and then a smaller loop around the pond, Itachi was still sitting there, ankles crossed. She sat down next to him and the bench groaned. 

“Do you want it back?” she asked. “The book, I mean.”

“No. I found it in a cafe.”

“Oh, so you didn’t read it?”

“No.” 

They sat in silence. The day was still, with little wind to rustle the leaves, and the various conversations going on inside the hostel could just barely be heard. A woman was yelling, angry, while another room was filled with drunk laughter. Next to her, Itachi looked deceptively normal without his cloak. His baggy clothes made him seem too thin, and his posture was loose and relaxed. 

“What was it about?” Itachi asked.

“Hmm,” said Tori. “A guy comes into a lot of money and moves to the country. For some reason he’s really good at hiring farm-hands to run his estate, so he makes even more money by relying on those hires. Three outrageously beautiful women fall in love with him and he has to choose one to be his wife.”

“Sounds contrite,” said Itachi, leaning back further into the bench.

“It gets worse,” Tori continued. “Almost two hundred pages in, the author remembers conflict can be fun and there’s some drama where the rich guy starts getting death threats in the mail. But then his childhood crush shows up and that plotline gets dropped for a while.”

“Is she also in love with him?” Itachi asked, the beginning of a smile twitching at the corner of his lips.

“Obviously,” said Tori. 

“And I suppose she’s also outrageously beautiful.”

“Of course. She’s the most beautiful of them all. And we’re three hundred pages in, fifty to go, and I’m thinking– wouldn’t it be a cool plot twist if she was the one sending him threatening letters?”

“That would be quite dramatic,” Itachi agreed. 

“I know, right? But then it’s revealed the threats are coming from a previously unknown character, who wants to marry one of the other girls, and he apologizes because he’s finally gotten brave enough to ask her to marry him.”

“And does she?” 

“That’s the thing! She does, but first she has to have this whole thing about how the rich dude is still better, but she’s not as perfect as his childhood sweetheart, so she might as well marry someone else. Like nothing any of these other characters do is allowed to invalidate how awesome rich guy is, even if it’s something totally normal like be a woman and not be in love with him.”

Tori had scooted to the edge of the bench by then, gesticulating wildly as she described her distaste for the story to Itachi. He barely moved at all, but did turn his body slightly more towards her to ask, “And that took fifty pages?”

“NO!” She said, waving her arms. “It took like ten pages. Then the rest was their wedding, where everyone we’ve met in this story has to give a speech about how perfect the rich dude and his wife are, and how everyone wishes they could be him. Or fuck him, if they’re women.”

“Terrible,” Itachi said, now smiling. Sort of. There was a slight raise of his lips.

“Yeah,” Tori said, slumping back into the bench. “Anyway, thanks for bringing it to me, I guess.”

“I’ll admit,” Itachi said, “I was hoping it would be about ninja. I quite enjoy civilian takes on us. It’s amusing.”

“I don’t think even ninja could have made that story better,” Tori grumbled, stretching her legs out in front of her. Her hips were sore, and stretching hurt, but in the nice way where your muscles relax afterwards. “Not even ones that cry every time they have to stab someone. Are you saying you didn’t even read the back cover before you decided it was sufficient entertainment for me?”

Itachi glanced at her. “I’ve found reading tiresome recently,” he said calmly. 

Tori opened her mouth to ask why, but then shut it. He was losing his vision. She knew that. Even without her foreknowledge, she’d seen him rubbing the corners of his eyes after reading cooking instructions, back at the base. 

“Oh,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

“Hmm.”

They sat in silence and Tori stretched her legs some more. She wondered how she’d feel after the soldier pill wore off. If she felt alright, she could see if she could walk into town and get her own dinner that night. 

“Maybe,” Itachi said, “you could tell me about the next book you read. You’re very thorough in your explanations about everything wrong in fiction.”

This time there was an actual, macroscopic smile on his face. 

“Oh,” Tori said, dumbfounded. She had thought Itachi didn’t particularly care for her. He’d told her to her face to shut up plenty of times, and he wasn’t much for for friendly ribbing like Deidara or Kisame. “Y-yeah, sure. I’ll pick one about ninja.”

Itachi didn’t comment on that. He stood, the smile drifting from ‘barely visible’ to ‘only noticeable if you know the exact line of his poker face.’ 

“Kisame wants to try a barbecue restaurant tonight,” he said. “You should come, if you can walk.”

He left. She wondered if he realized how ominous he sounded. 

#tori hasn't gotten to explain her extremely correct conspiracy theories in depth to itachi yet because he'd come back with #'i like bad romance novels where a missing-nin has been cursed to be a cat' #and tori simply isn't ready for this development and neither are you #fic: plasticity

[mermaidsirennikita]

one of the reasons why I enjoy Ali Hazelwood's Bride is that after the hero gets the heroine off for the first time, he (a werewolf) tells her that she "smells like she just came" and she's like well I did so that's nice and he's like no you don't understand now I need to eat you out it's my culture

#romance novel blogging #i love so much that both ali hazelwood and kresley cole are like #'for werewolves eating their mate's pussy is basically the closest they come to meeting god' #never forget in macrieve (about the werewolf macreieve chieftain of clan macrieve) when he like #is borderline tearful after eating her out #'so blessed. so moved. so grateful. cant believe this is my life. never going to take it for granted. always going to give back. thank you.

[friendlycursedspaceotter]

In vain I have struggled. It will not do. The past few weeks have been a torment. I cannot complete the essay on how Pride and Prejudice combats amatonormativity through the emphasis on familial and sisterly relationships, and also contains extensive evidence for my aroace Mary headcanon and how Jane Austen inadvertently created one of the first queer characters in British media by 11:59 tonight. I have fought against the threat of failure in the class, my worse judgements, and the great admiration of my beloved feminist literature teacher. I am now in need to ask her to put aside all that and end my agony.

I hate this. Most ardently. Please do me the honor of allowing me to make it into a Tumblr post.

#pride and prejudice #the thoughts of lit students everywhere #why do you have to ruin this for me #i mean come on #i mean #i know that the darcy x elizabeth stuff is the focus of the novel #at least in pop culture #but it glosses over so much #including sisterly #platonic #and also #mary's entire journey of full self-actualization #which austen herself glosses over #in favor of the romance #because even then #who would want to read a novel about a protagonist who doesn't like men /s #or even women #/s #which when you think about it #is kind of ironic #given that the entire point of the novel is to question traditional ideas of marriage #that basically a character who is canonically aroace as they can get in the regency era to even exist and to be seen #as valid #worthy of love #and also has some of the greatest lines in the novel #and film adaptations #is really awesome #because if the terms #aromantic #and

[nateezfics]

was reminded of this hongjoong from mama 2020 (not that, i ever really forget about this), and i thought all of you should be reminded too.

#you’re welcome #now suffeeerrrrrr with me #it’s been almost THREE years #i still am not over this #i’m not the same women i was before this hongjoong happened #>*woman #the carnage he left behind after he did this #if you were to ask me what hongjoong moment wrecked me The Most #It’s this fucking one #the way he manspread on that throne bypassing the crown because king didn’t fucking need it #he sat on that throne with AUTHORITY #he looked every bit like Hades come to life #like every romance novel villain that the fmc falls for #the one who’d burn the world but wouldn’t let a single flame touch her #yeah #hongjoong smut #hongjoong hard thoughts #joongie #☕️

[mariatesstruther]

okay but a modern au where tommy always takes sarah to the library and gradually falls in love with the pretty head librarian ms. maria

#tommy x maria #this has cutesy vibes but i also think it would be funny if maria was just the most intense and organized librarian anyone has ever seen #*intimidating #like she will shush you and glare daggers if you bring in books dmamaged #shes not mean or anything just intimidating because she has an underfunded but highly rated and historically important library to run!!!! #she means business!!!! #shes super nice to and good with the kids #but all the adults are scared of her #at first tommy think she keeps looking at him because she think hes cute #*thinks #when she comes up to him in the historical fiction aisle he’s elated #maria: dude. you need to stop picking up books and walking around with them if you aren’t going to put them back #maria: im sick of finding pirate themed historical romance novels in the kids section after you leave with your daughter #tommy: um. absolutely. sorry ma’am #library au #the tipsy bison #maria x tommy

[thecooler]

Harrowhark gets on Gideon's case about her skin mags then stomps off to go read a cheesy romance novel tucked in an Osteology book so she can pretend to be studying while she reads about muscular swordswomen wooing waifish nerds or whatever (she will not be analysing this further)

#gideon: whatcha reading Nonagesimus? are you blushing??? #harrow slamming the book shut: no. #gideon: osteology?? are you blushing over bones?? youre such a freak #the locked tomb #all im saying is harrows little scenario about meeting a cute flirty barista didnt come from thin air #i know she was sneaking romance novels onto the ninth i know it in my heart #baz talks

[forgetful-river]

Day 10: AUs

#SEXY VAMPIRE TIME!!!!! #fuckin love me some dumb romance novel vamps #also hehehe ms paint >:3c #rmm day 10 #rosemary month #rose lalonde #kanaya maryam #rosemary #hs #my art #homestuck #OH ALSO I reached 700 followers like 2 days ago and didnt notice! where did you people come from.

[missmaywemeetagain]

Pink Scarf the Novel (Ch. 1, Draft 1)! 💗

Do you love all things Pink Scarf?? Can you not wait for a version of it to (eventually, hopefully) hit shelves?

I've been slowly working on revising/de-Elvising Pink Scarf so I can publish it as a romance novel without any copyright issues. It's quite the process between changing names/dates/historical moments just enough to make it not an issue (making it "Elvis-like" without being actual Elvis) AND shifting the POV to 1st person while still keeping the heart of Pink Scarf intact.

Remember, it will feel a little bit jarring when you are used to the original, but think of picking this up as a non-exclusively-Elvis romance. Elvis is now "Jesse" (see what I did there? 😉) and Reader is likely going to be named Beth (or some form of Elizabeth). I was also able to fix some of the writing and plot gaps that I hadn't anticipated when I first started what was supposed to be a few-part story and not an epic saga LOL. My goal is to bring non-Elvis fans into the world of Pink Scarf, so keep that in mind!

Interested in this cool Sneak Peek of Pink Scarf the Novel?? This is a special bonus for my Sweethearts💕, Honey Babies💖, and Sugar Mamas💋 tiers on Patreon!

Don't miss out--join HERE for exclusive access!! 🎉

#pink scarf #pink scarf the novel #elvis presley #elvis #Madi's Patreon #come join ussssss! #you'll be glad you did! #elvis presley x reader #ch 1 draft 1 #💗🧣💗 #elvis smut #romance #smut #1960s

[thefiresofpompeii]

every other poster on the tube right now is advertising a new musical called ‘the time traveller’s wife’. for a blissful moment i forgot that a ‘wife’ is something that a heterosexual woman can be, and, believing it to be a beautiful lesbian tale akin to tihylttw, decided to google the synopsis to see if it was worth checking out. big mistake. ‘man first encounters his future spouse as a young girl, returns to kiss her at 18 and marry her in the future, remaining the same age as barely any time passes for him meanwhile she spends years alone pining for her distant angel’ blinks. what does that remind me of. oh yeah apparently this came before. i’m already suffering through series 5 at the current moment, so, plenty enough of that for years to come, thank you, and— what a surprise— the novel the musical’s based on was a primary inspiration for you-know-who’s weird fixation on this particular plotline. the worst part about the time traveller’s wife is that there aren’t even any cool steampunk clockwork droids or gorgeous 18th century french dresses to make up for the vomit-inducing implications. i have never been more disappointed. mind wipe, now

#in hindsight it’s funny how enamoured i was with tgitf when i first watched it. because i had in my inexperience considered it original and #clever. instead of a rehashed version of a story that already exists and is just as awful when you think about this ‘romance’ for over 2 #minutes. and then he does it AGAINNN #babe wake up it’s beating steven moffat with hammers monday #so this is where the poison root spread from. i’m going back in time to erase the novel from existence so he never reads it. come up with #better ideas. also leave little girls alone #i still love tgitf but only for the reasons above. the aesthetic and the scifi aspect. and the tragedy i GUESS. kinda because for reinette #it’s a tragedy but for ten it’s literally like. five hours max #do you think he didn’t come back for her on purpose? he couldn’t bring her along because she was too important a historical figure? he left #her there despite promising to pick her up in five minutes. knowing full well she would be gone before he heard of her again #i bet he did that deliberately. had to keep her living in hope because he couldn’t refuse her but he couldn’t take her out of her own life #wow this post veered somewhere else entirely. sorry guys #doctor who #dw #the girl in the fireplace #the time traveler's wife #jamie.txt

[mixelation]

what if i just canonize itachi liking bad ninja fiction to plasticity. what if that's just a thing that's happening

#fic: plasticity #this does mean that in reborn in au tori comes back from her third ninja con and he's like: why don't you ever ask me? #sniping her and emotionally destroying her for days #itachi does zero fannish behavior but he has read every single kitty girl stabby ninja light novel #about a young kunoichi being turned into a cat and then adopted by the enemy ninja she was sent to assassinate #also his familiarity with obscure and also extremely bad paperback ninja romances? unparalleled

[mermaidsirennikita]

🎄Romance Advent🎄 Day 12: When the Duke Was Wicked by Lorraine Heath

One-sentence summary: After losing his wife and child, devoted husband the Duke of Lovingdon becomes a dissolute rake, only to be dragged out of his stupor by family friend Grace, who wants him to help her find a loving husband.

Why read it: I recommend this book a good bit as is, but in my opinion it's right up there with Lorraine's Greatest Hits (Waking Up with the Duke, The Earl Takes All, among the general Scoundrels of St. James) and doesn't get the credit it deserves. It's incredibly emotional, super sexy, and gives you that classic "local man won't say he's in love even though all he thinks of is her and they constantly end up doing sex acts in various semi-public locations". It also presents something you really don't see a lot of in historicals, and it really asks something of the hero on a very deep level. (Also: you can always read Surrender to the Devil to see Grace's parents fall in love, and Between the Devil and Desire to see Lovingdon as an innocent boy who I guess learned a lot of shit from his eventual stepdad, Jack Dodger.)

Lives rent-free in my brain: I mean.... Lovingdon and Grace do that thing where they're casually getting drunk in his study, as buddies do, and casually getting drunk turns into casually making out and casually making out turns into him going "I want to taste rum on your lips" and she's all "oh well keep kissing me I guess" and he's all "oh great" and flips her onto her back, pours rum on her pussy, goes "I said I wanted to taste rum on lips" and Goes. To. Town. One of the most inspired scenes Lorraine has ever written.

#romance novel blogging #romance advent 2023 #romance novels #book recs #me offering you this book like a mormon missionary: have you heard of our lord and savior RUM ON LIPS #but fr i cried the first time they had (penetrative) sex it's that kind of book #comes at you with full feelings