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betterbooksandthings · 4 months

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The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst is a delight. When revolutionaries force the librarian Kiela to flee the burning library she works for with her assistant Caz, a sentient spider plant, she returns to the small island she grew up on. She left with what may be the last remaining rare spell books from the capital's most prestigious library. Now, the only way Kiela and Caz can protect the books is to keep their existence a secret, even though helpful neighbors keep coming around to help them. Will they be able to protect their secret as the temptation to use the information inside the books to help everyone they meet grows? Can the surly Kiela resist the ever-helpful, sunshiny Larran forever? If you are looking for a warm hug of a cozy fantasy book look no further.

Now, I was inclined to like this book after enjoying many books in the cozy fantasy canon and many of Sarah Beth Durst’s backlist. Nevertheless, this book is a delight. The Spellshop explores what it means to come home and how people can redefine what home means to them at any stage of their lives. Kiela begins the book as an isolated character whose primary interactions are either with Caz or a library patron. She ends the book as a member of the community who cares about others and is cared for. Everything from the character dynamics to the magic system, to the political unrest just makes sense. As an aside if you are looking for a fantasy book that references the negative environmental effects of wealthy corporations and groups misusing natural resources to the detriment of the rest of society, you have found it.

Simply put, The Spellshop is a likable book. I like the main character and her slow-burn romantic relationship with her neighbor who just so happens to be her long-lost childhood friend. I like her friendship with her sentient plants. I like the townspeople and the bakery and the mermaids. The book just brought a smile to my face the whole time and I cannot recommend it more.

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst is set to release July 9, 2024, from Bramble with sprayed edges to complement its gorgeous cover, so I would recommend preordering a copy as soon as possible. I know I will. Thank you to Bramble for an eARC for an honest review.

#The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst #book review #cozy fantasy #fantasy romance #Sarah Beth Durst #book blog #bramble #tor #magic is a metaphor for late stage capitalism

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shallansolem · 3 hours

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ARC Review: The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

The Spellshop is everything I've ever wanted from a cozy fantasy. I am so in love with the island of Caltrey and the wonderful cast of characters. This story is brimming with fantastical creatures including winged cats, a sentient spider plant, seahorses, and mermaids. The story itself was so cozy and delightful while still keeping me entertained and wanting to read more. The stakes were high enough that the story wasn't boring and not too high that it was stressful. This book feels like being wrapped in a hug and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a cozy fantasy book with romance and found family. Perfection.

This book will be out on July 9th, 2024!

#cozycore #cozy fantasy #romantic fantasy #books #cozy books #reading #cottagecore #book review #book recommendations

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abigailspinach · 1 month

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https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/7-things-i-learned-while-writing-across-genres

This year, I have three drastically different books coming out:

The Lies Among Us (Lake Union, February 2024)—book club fiction about sisterhood, grief, and the corrosive nature of lies, as seen through the eyes of a woman who does not exist.

Spy Ring (HarperCollins/Clarion Books, May 2024)—a kids book that mixes a contemporary treasure-hunt adventure with historical facts about the American Revolutionary War.

The Spellshop (Macmillan/Tor/Bramble, July 2024)—a cozy fantasy about a rogue librarian and a talking spider plant, full of stolen spell books, unexpected friendships, sweet jams, and even sweeter love.

You don’t have to put yourself in a box (unless you want to).

You sometimes run across writing advice that tells you to pick a lane and stay in it. Build a brand. Grow a readership. Hone your craft in a single genre aimed at a single audience. And yes, that is absolutely a valid approach. But you don’t have to! You can build a writing career by exploring multiple passions at once.

Everyone’s path is different. Just because you started in one genre or one age group doesn’t mean you can’t also write other kinds of books. There is no One True Way to be a writer. It’s okay to make your own way.

Identify the heart of your genre.

The key to writing different kinds of books is identifying the beating heart within each genre. Once you know what the driving force behind the type of story you want to tell is, once you’ve absorbed that on an intuitive level, you’ll be able to find the voice for your book.

But the first step is to find that heart.

For me, the core of book club fiction is theme. Everything else is in service to the aspect of the human condition that’s being explored within the novel. In The Lies Among Us, I wanted to unpack the concept of lies. I made the choice to delve into this universal theme that is invading every aspect of our lives—through politics, news, social media, and so forth—through the highly intimate lens of a family drama.

My main character can see the physical manifestations of the lies we tell. Harmful lies exude a toxic sludge that churns through the streets. Beautiful lies drape illusions over painful realities. And she has to learn to navigate all of this in the wake of her mother’s death and somehow connect with a sister who can neither see nor hear her.

#sarah beth durst

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booknutmusings · 2 months

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The Spellshop

by Sarah Beth DurstFirst sentence: “Kiela never thought the flames would reach the library.”Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!ARC provided by the publisher.Release date: July 9, 2024Content: There are some intense moments. It will be in the SciFi/Fantasy section of the bookstore. Kiela was content with her job as a librarian in the stacks of the Great Library of Alyssium.…

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#bookish books #fantasy #libraries

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bookishbluehead · 3 years

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Review: All of us Villains by Amanda Foody & Christine Lynn Herman

Title: All of us Villains Author: Amanda Foody & Christine Lynn Herman Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult Series: All of us Villains #01 Publisher: Tor Teen No. of pages: 400 Publication: November 9th, 2021 Date read: September 5th, 2021 Rating: 4,5/5

Synopsis:

You Fell In Love With The Victors of The Hunger Games. Now Prepare To Meet The Villains of The Blood Veil. After the publication of a salacious tell-all book, the remote city of Ilvernath is thrust into worldwide spotlight. Tourists, protesters, and reporters flock to its spellshops and ruins to witness an ancient curse unfold: every generation, seven families name a champion among them to compete in a tournament to the death. The winner awards their family exclusive control over the city’s high magick supply, the most powerful resource in the world. In the past, the villainous Lowes have won nearly every tournament, and their champion is prepared to continue his family’s reign. But this year, thanks to the influence of their newfound notoriety, each of the champions has a means to win. Or better yet--a chance to rewrite their story. But this is a story that must be penned in blood.

Review:

The Hunger Games with magic? I was sold once I read the description of this book and wanted to read it right away. It was different than I expected but that was so much better. We are experiencing this story with various characters, who all are very different but on some level they are the same. All 7 are selected champions from their family to win the competition and kill all the others, so that their family can rule over the city’s magick supply and the most powerful ressources. What I maybe liked most about this book is that you get the story from a lot of different characters who are in the competition, not just one. We learn a lot about all of them and their motivation to be where they are, beside staying alive. The teens form alliances in the tournament even though they know it’s mostly only a question of time when they’ll turn against each other. I liked the fast paced writing style, the whole story was a little slow in the beginning, since we are meeting all the champions first and get to know them but once the tournament starts it picks up a lot of speed and I couldn’t stop reading, because I was rooting for all of them. I can’t wait for the second book and see how everything turns out for our villains.

#all of us villains #all of us villains series #amanda foody #christine lynn herman #booklr #books #book review #young adult #fantasy #review #book reviewer #book blog #reading blog #book recommendation #iamreading #amreading #booklr review #books i read

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2021ya · 4 years

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ALL OF US VILLAINS

All of Us Villains #1

by Amanda Foody & Christine Lynn Herman

(Tor Teen, 11/9/21)

9781250789259

Add to Goodreads

Purchase from Bookshop

You Fell In Love With The Victors of The Hunger Games. Now Prepare To Meet The Villains Of The Blood Veil. After the publication of a salacious tell-all book, the remote city of Ilvernath is thrust into the spotlight. Tourists, protesters, and reporters alike flock to its spellshops and historic ruins to witness an ancient curse unfold: every generation, seven families name a champion among them to compete in a tournament to the death. The winner awards their family exclusive control over the city’s high magick supply, the most powerful resource in the world. In the past, the villainous Lowes have won nearly every tournament, and their champion is prepared to continue his family’s reign. But this year, thanks to the influence of their newfound notoriety, each of the champions has a means to win. Or better yet--a chance to rewrite their story. But this is a story that must be penned in blood.

#all of us villains #series starter #christine lynn herman #herman #amanda foody #foody #tor #tor teen #fantasy #high fantasy #queer lit #november #nov 9

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hatofmischief · 4 years

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:o Does she have something in Lakewood too? Wilhamena is asking for... reasons.

{YES OF COURSE

Locations of said teashop/spellshops

Lakewood (tea & witchraft)

Beach City (tea only)

The Boiling isles (tea & witchcraft)

Xiolin Showdown universe (probably in a town/village near the dojo) (tea & witchcraft)

Candy Kingdom (in a nearby village) (tea & witchcraft)

}

#ooc #this is for her main verse and not her nanny verse or her kingdom hearts verse #sunnyshubofmuses #♠︎ headcanons

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sarahbethdurst · 1 month

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B&N Top 100!!!

THANK YOU to everyone who preordered THE SPELLSHOP and made it a Barnes & Noble Top 100 Bestseller!!! I'm thrilled and so very grateful! B&N 25% Off Preorder Sale continues through today, April 19th! https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-spellshop-sarah-beth-durst/1144151173?ean=9781250333971

#books #sarah beth durst #the spellshop #new books #barnes and noble #preorder sale #cozy fantasy #talking spider plant

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ginger-and-mint · 6 years

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Ryder eats something that really doesnt agree, maybe a spell goes pear shaped or he gets a recipe a little off. He has to spend the rest of the day working despite feeling very sickly and trying to present himself as normal to everyone else, while nauseous and stuffed. Eventually cant handle it anymore and .. hm, emeto or soothing? not sure how mean to be hehe

This took me longer than planned – I loved this prompt and wanted to wait until I had the chance to spend some time and make it good! Please enjoy~

The trouble, as it so often did, all boiled down to bad luck and poor timing

It’d been late on Wednesday night when Ryder had noticed one of the big tonic-brewing pots leaking white smoke from its seams. He’d checked the magic-containment sigil inscribed into its base and found it cracked right down the middle, catastrophically failed from overuse.

The repair would’ve been simple for a scribe-mage. Had there been more time, Ryder would’ve called on the spellshop downtown and had someone come up to fix it. But RAMA was expecting an order of tonic by the end of the week and working a whole day with only one pot in operation wasn’t going to cut it.

There was a di-mage equivalent to the containment spell. It wasn’t often used, and when Ryder dug it out of one of the ancient books sitting on his shelf, he realized why. The filling was an intimidating mix of rich dairy products, greasy fried foods, and citrus fruits – the perfect recipe for horrible indigestion. And the spell didn’t call for a small amount, either.

But Ryder hadn’t felt he had much of a choice. So he’d gone into the brewing room with an armload of food and shambled out some time later with a very full, very unhappy belly.

But the brewing pot was working again, and that was what mattered. The discomfort would fade in time.

Or so he’d thought. An hour later, Ryder still felt horribly sick.

He hunched over his desk a little as his stomach rumbled inside him, pushing up a soft, queasy burp. It had been gurgling almost continuously for the past ten minutes, its heavy, viscous contents churning sluggishly. All Ryder wanted was to slink off and be sick – or in lieu of that, to go upstairs, draw the curtains in his bedroom, and take a nice, long nap until his belly settled. But the day was still young, and the spell needed to run, and he had work to do….

“Ryder?” Grayson’s voice floated over from the main area of the room, where he was setting up materials for a researcher who was coming in to cast later. “This cooler thing isn’t working. What should I do?”

“One moment.” Swallowing heavily, Ryder braced a hand on his desk and pushed himself to his feet. Standing up made him feel extremely nauseated – he had to clench his jaw against a wave of dizziness, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

His stomach sloshed and gurgled with each step, but he felt he managed to look relatively normal by the time he knelt next to where Grayson was working. “Where’s this broken cooler?”

“Here.” Grayson held up the small metal bucket, designed to keep spell ingredients cold. “It won’t turn on.”

“Ah. They’re old. Sometimes they just need a good shake.” Ryder gave the little machine a thump and handed it back to Grayson as it whirred to life.

“Got it. Thanks.” Grayson set the cooler down, running a hand through his hair. “Um – Ryder, can I ask – are you feeling all right?”

Ryder couldn’t keep a stony frown from stealing over his face. “I suppose you can hear my stomach?”

“Uh. Yeah, kinda. Also, you just look sort of… bad. No offense.”

“Well, I’m in the middle of a challenging spell. But it’s nothing to be worried about.” Ryder’s frown deepened as his belly gurgled loudly. He had to stop himself from pressing a hand to the accompanying cramp. “I know it sounds bad, but it’s merely the ordinary inconveniences of being a di-mage.”

Grayson didn’t look convinced. “Maybe you should take some tonic?”

“Not needed. Don’t concern yourself with this, Grayson.” Ryder stood up, swallowing heavily against the lurch of his belly. “Just finish your work and then go get yourself some lunch.”

Back at his desk, Ryder wiped the sweat from his brow and tried to focus on paperwork. He managed a to do a little, but soon he was leaning back in his chair with his hands folded over his rolling stomach, breathing slowly.

There was no denying it – his nausea was getting worse and worse. As sick as he felt, as much as he longed to give his stomach the relief it was pleading for, he had to keep the spell down–

–and then his belly groaned and surged in a way that made him press a hand against his mouth. When he took his fingers away, they were clammy and trembling, and Ryder knew suddenly and clearly that his insides were going to have their way.

He lurched to his feet and walked stiffly out from his alcove. “Grayson? Would you keep an eye on things for a few minutes?”

“Uh, sure.” Grayson glanced up at him. “Are you–?”

Ryder didn’t hear the end of his question. He was already moving purposefully across the room, down the back hall, up the steps to his living quarters.

He had been planning to take care of things in a careful, controlled way – drink some water to dilute the magic before pressing his finger to the back of his tongue – but it was already too late for that. He could feel his stomach fighting to squeeze as he reached for the handle of his bathroom door.

He barely managed to fall on his knees before he was being very, very sick.

Vomiting up an active spell was never pleasant. But even with the intensity of the cramps, the easing of the pain his belly was so immense that Ryder sighed gratefully between retches. It almost felt good to cough up the last of it, to rid his insides of the last vestiges of that foulness. Afterwards, all he could do for a minute or two was sit huddled on the floor and breathe, basking in the warm fuzziness of relief.

He felt so much better.

Eventually, he rose and stumbled to the sink to rinse his mouth and splash some water on his face. He still felt shaky as he made his way back to the Soothing Room – throwing up always made him feel off – but it was still better than suffering through such a full, sick belly. At least he could focus on something other than how awful he felt this way. He’d have to figure out something else with the brewing pot, unfortunately, but that would sort itself out, surely…

He rounded the corner to his alcove and stopped short.

A mug of tea was sitting in the middle of his desk, steam curling lazily from its surface. The spicy scent of ginger hung in the air.

He glanced over his shoulder. The room was empty. The setup Grayson had been working on was completed, and his apprentice himself was nowhere to be seen.

"Huh!” Ryder murmured aloud. “I told him not to worry! But does he listen? No! Stubborn boy!”

He eased himself into his chair, raised the mug to his lips, and took a long draught. The tea settled in his belly, warm and soothing as a blanket.

I’ll have to have words with Grayson, Ryder thought, about how his refusal to listen to me will make him a wonderful soother someday, and he smiled as he took another sip.

#catch me sleepin at work 2morrow because I stayed up to write kink fic hehe #Ryder #Grayson #ginger and mint #gnm snippets #tender breadbasket #wobbly breadbasket

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bbangsoul · 6 years

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double, double toil and trouble

title: double, double toil and trouble

pairing: matsui jurina/watanabe mayu

wordcount: 1633

summary: Mayu curses a princess, but the result isn’t what she expected.

notes: inspired by this post; crossposted on ao3

Mayu is having a bad day. A beyond bad day. First, a bird chirping outside her tower window woke up her in the afternoon. Before the sun had set. Mayu has not woken up to sunlight in over five years, and had not been planning to for the rest of her long, illegally-gained immortal life. And then she finds out that the spell book that she had requested at the local witches’ library had been snatched up by Witch Kashiwagi Yuki of the Western Peaks. Damn that black hearted woman! Have she no regards for the library rules?! And now, here Mayu is, walking through the nearby kingdom to head to a spell shop to find another copy of the spell book that she had requested for, grumbling to herself and occasionally hissing at the sun.

“Princess Jurina!” a faraway shout sounds through the crowd, but it’s ignored by Mayu, too lost in her own thoughts. But she’s soon shaken out of her thoughts when a force knocks her over and sends her tumbling into a nearby puddle.

“Whoops!” says the person who knocked her over. Mayu looks up and glares, ready to curse the person into the next realm, but suddenly freezes up. She’s beautiful, Mayu thinks to herself as the person helps her up with a bright grin on her face. As radiant as the summer sun itself.

“I’m so sorry! Are you okay?” the person asks, bringing her face close to Mayu’s to inspect her for any injuries. Once their eyes meet, Mayu swears on the devil’s grave that her long dead heart had started beating once more for a short moment. She slowly nods and a relieved smile graces the stranger’s face. “I’m glad.”

“Princess Jurina!” a shout sounds, followed by rapid footsteps getting louder and louder.

“Ah! Looks like it’s time for me to go!” Jurina grins, quickly waving at the witch before taking off. But then she screeches to a sudden stop, runs back to Mayu, and loosens her emerald cloak to drape around the witch’s shoulders. “There you go,” she says, with no sense of urgency in her voice despite the men chasing after her getting closer and closer. “Wouldn’t want you to catch a cold now, would we?” Jurina runs off again with a cheeky wink and a frozen Mayu in her wake.

Mayu continues to stare at Jurina’s shrinking back but is shaken out of her reverie when the men chasing after the princess bump into her, slamming her into a wall, before continuing on without glancing back. “As expected,” Mayu sneers, glaring at the men running off. “Mortals are trash.” She roughly dusts herself off, her bad mood returning. She continues on her way to the spellshop, mumbling and grumbling under her breath the entire time. So what if the princess is as radiant as the sun? Mayu hates the sun anyways.

But still, the emerald cloak remains firmly draped over her shoulders.

Mayu can’t let it go. The incident had left a bad taste in her mouth, and as a witch, it goes against her principles to not take revenge against those who wronged her. She had fried the bird that had woke her up and ate it for dinner. She casted a spell to make it storm in the Western Peaks for the next month, knowing that Yuki hates the rain because of the way it messes up her hair. And now, she’s going to curse the princess and her kingdom.

“Hmmm,” Mayu hums to herself, thoughtfully flipping through a spellbook. “I wonder which curse I should go with?” She sighs as she closes the spellbook and grabs a nearby heavy tome to start flipping through. “Ah!” she suddenly exclaims. “A love curse! Yes, of course! A curse to stop her from finding true love, what every princess dreams of.” She scurries off to her bookshelf and heaves out a thick grimoire, slamming it down on her work desk. She hurriedly flips through the pages before letting out a small noise of victory as she finds the page she’s looking for. “You better prepare yourself, Princess Jurina,” Mayu says as she glares at the castle from the window of her tower.

The princess’s room was easy enough to locate, and even easier to sneak into. These mortals and their overblown pride, Mayu scoffs as she breezes past the guards on her broom and charms the lock on the window to open. And now time for the theatrics. Mayu quietly climbs through the window and settles in a chair, waiting for the princess’s arrival in the darkness of the room. Or maybe this pose would look more threatening, Mayu thinks as she shifts in the chair. But then the door opens and Mayu rushes back into her original pose. “We meet again, princess,” Mayu starts off in a low voice.

Jurina steps closer. “Sorry, but who are you again?” Mayu almost falls out of her chair in offended shock, ready to blast the girl with the curse theatrics be damned!

“How dare you not recognize me after how you’ve wronged me!” Mayu roars, standing up out of her seat.

“Ah, sorry,” Jurina casually apologizes, as if Mayu isn’t two seconds away from ripping her heart out. “My eyesight is kind of bad. I can’t see very well in the dark.”

Mayu sighs before snapping her fingers, and immediately, the lamps within the room lights up. A smirk settles back on the witch’s lips as the lamps illuminate her face.

Jurina’s face instantly lights up in recognition, a bright smile gracing her lips. “Ah! The cute girl from the market!”

“W-what?” Mayu stammers.

Jurina walks closer and moves her face close to Mayu’s. “I’m right, aren’t I? How are you, by the way? You didn’t catch a cold, did you?”

“Uh,” Mayu manages to squeak out, flustered by the bombardment of questions and the close proximity of Jurina’s face. “No, I didn’t catch a cold. Thank you for the cloak.” (Even if Mayu is about to curse the princess, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t have manners. After all, Mayu was raised in a dark, ominous tower and not a barn.)

“That’s great! I’m glad,” Jurina says, hands grasping at Mayu’s shoulders.

“A-anyways,” Mayu exclaims, roughly brushing Jurina’s hands off of her shoulders. “You have wronged me! I curse you so no man loves you ever again!” Before Jurina can say anything else, Mayu recites the rehearsed spell and hits the princess with it. Jurina glows with a soft green hue for a moment as she stumbles back a few steps. They stare at each other in the aftermath of the spell, brought to a standstill.

Mayu tries hard to maintain her glare as Jurina blinks at her. And then — “Really?!?” Jurina exclaims.

“W-what?”

“No man will ever love me again?!?” Jurina asks excitedly, grasping Mayu’s hands in hers.

Mayu blinks. This was not the reaction that she had expected. A small, confused “Yes?” is all she can reply with.

“What about marriage? Will they ever ask for my hand in marriage again?”

Mayu shrugs. It’s not like she really cared enough to think about the technicalities of the spell. “I mean, I guess not…” she trails off, still confused as to what is happening at the moment.

“This is amazing!!” Jurina exclaims, crushing the smaller woman in a tight hug. “I’ve been trying to get all of these princes and nobles off my back ever since I turned of age. You have no idea how tiring it is to have to deal with marriage proposals day in and day out,” Jurina complains. “But now it’s over! Ahhhh!!” the princess squeals. “Miss, you’re my hero! I’m so happy I could kiss you right now!”

And before she knows it, Mayu feels a soft pressure against her lips. Her eyes widen, and she stumbles back and out of Jurina’s embrace, fingers pressed to her lips in shock. And this time, Mayu knows for sure that her long dead heart has started to beat again. There’s no way to mistake the feeling of it slamming around in her chest.

The other girl doesn’t seem to notice her shock, and seems to be doing a weird sort of dance in victory. She then suddenly turns to Mayu and asks, “What is your name?”

“Mayu,” the witch responds simply, still having a hard time wrapping her mind around the current situation.

“Mayu, will you marry me?” Jurina exclaims, coming closer to hold the witch’s hands in hers again. Jurina’s eyes shine with earnest affection, and Mayu’s heart slams even harder against her chest.

“W-what? No!” Mayu vehemently shakes her head.

“Why not?” Jurina whines.

“We barely even know each other!” Mayu argues.

“Then, may I court you?” Jurina asks, still not letting go of the shorter woman’s hands. She waits patiently as Mayu gapes at her, no sounds coming out of her mouth. A few moments pass by in silence before Mayu manages to close her mouth back up and respond with a hesitant, shy nod. Jurina squeals again, before pressing another quick kiss onto Mayu’s lips. “Great! Then Friday at the town square, two hours past sundown? There’s a festival being held at the moment, and their cotton candy is superb!” Mayu manages another confused nod. “I will see you then!” Jurina says, punctuating the promise with another kiss. Mayu is pretty sure her newly beating heart is about to jump out of her chest at the moment. “I have to tell my maid about this,” Jurina says before sprinting out of her bedroom. “Masana! Guess who just got herself a girlfriend?” is all Mayu hears echoing down the hallway before the bedroom door slams itself shut.

Mayu blinks. What did she just get herself into?

#SKE48 #Matsui Jurina #AKB48 #Watanabe Mayu #JuriMayu #just casually posting all of my fics on this tumblr

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