Today is Thursday so volleyball, then Timber Ridge Times, then shot.

Volleyball was a little less than meh. The jerk that plays sometimes was there today and extra jerky. He makes it difficult for the rest of us to play. Sometimes he's on his good behavior. Today wasn't one of those times.

But Thursday is distribution day for The Timber Ridge Times. It's a nice little 8 sheet compendium of stuff that has gone on or is planned and other miscellaneous news from around the building. They do a nice job of it. The receptionist counts out the number of issues needed for each floor section and those of us who deliver, pick them up any time on Thursday. I generally pick up our batch on my way back from volleyball.

And then shot 4. I'm now emptied my first box of Wegovy. Next one is ready. I'm used to the sting - it's not so much the needle but the juice going in and just a bit after. I feel like it's kind of a 'good job!' message.

My last tax docs arrived. Early! They are required by the 15th. but the 15th is a Sunday and then Monday is Presidents day so I guess the investment first just said fuck it, let's just release them. I uploaded them to the CPA and sent a note - it's up to you, now!!

Last year, I ordered a large El cheapo tablet to use as a 'tv' in the bedroom. It turned out to be pretty much a dud. A large dud. So, this year, heading into baseball season, I decided to see if I could find a non dud. And I actually found several. Well, really two because I refuse to own a Samsung phone/tablet/computer. One was from a company that feels pretty shaky and you could only order it from them and all the accouterments I wanted - pen and keyboard were extra and it was pricey to start with. So that left me with Lenovo. Even that was not easy since they have two different models - one is better at some things and the other is better at others. Even Gemini couldn't make the decision for me. But, finally, I picked - Yoga Plus. It arrives tomorrow morning. Before lunch.

I love getting new tech. Which is why I have so much and don't need more but, fortunately, do not let that stop me.

Plus, I've been thinking about ditching my living room TV. If I had anything to put in its place, I might just do it. One day, if I live long enough, I'll rearrange this room and eliminate the TV and just watch from small screens. Maybe. Probably not.

The cats pulled out a plug from the bed. It's a mass of wires and cables under there and I have no clue where this one goes. The foot still rises. The head still rises. The under bed lights still work. It could connect the USB plugs that I don't use or the battery backup which has never worked. I just don't know and as long as everything is working, I'm not going to worry about it. I bought a 10 year warranty when I bought the bed in 2021. So whew.

smartbitches2_feed

Posted by Amanda

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/02/vampires-dark-romance-more/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=166340

The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love

The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love by India Holton is $1.99! I hope this deal lasts! It’s the first book in Holton’s Love’s Academic series.

Rival ornithologists hunt through England for a rare magical bird in this historical-fantasy rom-com reminiscent of Indiana Jones but with manners, tea, and helicopter parasols.

Beth Pickering is on the verge of finally capturing the rare deathwhistler bird when Professor Devon Lockley swoops in, capturing both her bird and her imagination like a villain. Albeit a handsome and charming villain, but that’s beside the point. As someone highly educated in the ruthless discipline of ornithology, Beth knows trouble when she sees it, and she is determined to keep her distance from Devon.

For his part, Devon has never been more smitten than when he first set eyes on Professor Beth Pickering. She’s so pretty, so polite, so capable of bringing down a fiery, deadly bird using only her wits. In other words, an angel. Devon understands he must not get close to her, however, since they’re professional rivals.

When a competition to become Birder of the Year by capturing an endangered caladrius bird is announced, Beth and Devon are forced to team up to have any chance of winning. Now keeping their distance becomes a question of one bed or two. But they must take the risk, because fowl play is afoot, and they can’t trust anyone else—for all may be fair in love and war, but this is ornithology.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Blackthorn

Blackthorn by J.T. Geissinger is $2.99! This dark romance released in November and I mentioned it on Hide Your Wallet. I’ve read a few of Geissinger’s previous romances and found them to be potato chip books.

From the diabolical mind of New York Times bestselling author J.T. Geissinger comes a scorching new enemies-to-lovers romance filled with explosive secrets, nail-biting, gothic suspense, and the dangerous lure of dark magic.

You never forget your first love. Especially when he’s also your worst nightmare.

Twelve years ago, Maven Blackthorn fled her small hometown, leaving behind the wreckage of her mother’s suspicious death. But now, drawn back for her grandmother’s funeral, Maven steps onto Blackthorn soil once more, only to find herself thrust into a fresh her grandmother’s body has vanished.

The Blackthorns immediately suspect the Crofts—the ruthless titans of Croft Pharmaceuticals, whose bitter blood feud with the Blackthorns has spanned generations. But when Maven comes face-to-face with Ronan Croft, the son of her mother’s suspected killer and the only man she ever loved, she discovers the forbidden passion they once shared is as alive—and dangerous—as ever.

As long-buried family secrets claw their way to the surface, betrayal lurks behind every whisper, and old vendettas ignite anew. The deeper Maven digs for answers, the more treacherous the game becomes. And the one man she can never seem to escape is hiding a truth that could burn their whole world down.

In a town where the dead won’t stay buried, is love salvation…or the deadliest game of all?

Blackthorn is a page-turning gothic romance with darker themes and scenes that may not be suitable for everyone. Please see the author’s content note at the beginning of the book.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire

How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks is $1.99! This is book one in the Love at Stake series, which came out in 2009. It’s since had a cover update. I think the setup sounds really interesting with a dentist heroine.

Nobody said love was perfect…

Roman Draganesti is charming, handsome, rich…he’s also a vampire. But this vampire just lost one of his fangs sinking his teeth into something he shouldn’t have. Now he has one night to find a dentist before his natural healing abilities close the wound, leaving him a lop-sided eater for all eternity.

Things aren’t going well for Shanna Whelan, either. After witnessing a gruesome murder, she’s next on the mob’s hit list. And her career as a dentist appears to be on a downward spiral, because she’s afraid of blood. When Roman rescues her from an assassination attempt, she wonders if she’s found the one man who can keep her alive. Though the attraction between them is immediate and hot, can Shanna conquer her fear of blood to fix Roman’s fang? And if she does, what will prevent Roman from using his fangs on her?

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Role Playing

Role Playing by Cathy Yardley is $2.49 on Amazon! Many of you were excited for this one and we had Yardley on the podcast to talk about it. Did any of you pick it up? What’d you think?

From Cathy Yardley, author of Love, Comment, Subscribe, comes an emotional rom-com about two middle-aged gamers who grow their online connection into an IRL love story.

Maggie is an unapologetically grumpy forty-eight-year-old hermit. But when her college-aged son makes her a deal―he’ll be more social if she does the same―she can’t refuse. She joins a new online gaming guild led by a friendly healer named Otter. So that nobody gets the wrong idea, she calls herself Bogwitch.

Otter is Aiden, a fifty-year-old optimist using the guild as an emotional outlet from his family drama caring for his aging mother while his brother plays house with Aiden’s ex-fiancée.

Bogwitch and Otter become fast virtual friends, but there’s a catch. Bogwitch thinks Otter is a college student. Otter assumes Bogwitch is an octogenarian.

When they finally meet face to face―after a rocky, shocking start―the unlikely pair of sunshine and stormy personalities grow tentatively closer. But Maggie’s previous relationships have left her bitter, and Aiden’s got a complicated past of his own.

Everything’s easier online. Can they make it work in real life?

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/02/vampires-dark-romance-more/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=166340

princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Mozart: Symphony No. 40

selenak

Because there was good word of mouth from various friends and trusty reviewers, I decided to give the latest Star Trek show a go, have now marathoned the six episodes released so far, and can report that word of mouth was correct: this latest installment, which is set in the 31rd century last seen in Star Trek: Discovery, shows none of the weaknesses of the third season of ST: SNW and is actually really good. Mind you, watching the first three episodes I thought, okay, they're good, not not groundbreaking, and some of the reactions made me expect more, but then came episodes 3 - 6 . building on the previous ones and fleshing out more characters, and I went "wow!" myself. And also "awwwww" at certain points. More beneath the spoiler cut.

The reason why I wasn't wowed by the first three in the way I was by the later three is that they included some clichés I never much cared for, such as a Marine, err, Starfleet instructor yelling "give me 100 pushups" . And the only school/school prank war I enjoyed fictionally was Das fliegende Klassenzimmer by Erich Kästner, plus I thought, really, do we need more mean Vulcans. These nitpicks aside (and the prank war did have its plusses as well), the first three episodes do a solid job in introducing the premise, the setting, and some of the main characters. They also showed versatality in format: the pilot episode has more action while the second episode is a classic ST ethical dilemma with lots of debate type of episode (and not the last one of the first six), and the third episode while having some serious character stuff mainly goes for broad comedy. Which is all fine, and confidence-building, but with episode 4, the show simply becomes more than that as we get our first hardcore (previously supporting) character episode which simultanously is an ethical dilemma episode and adds to the overall Star Trek lore because it tells us how the Klingons fared post Burn, something Disco did not. Now after a quiet spotlight on supporting character episode I expected the next to revert back to ensemble or main character format, but no! We got another " (different) supporting character in the spotlight" episode - which also doubled as an unabashed love declaration to one Benjamin Sisko in particular and DS9 in general. Which was great, because while other more recent ST shows did include some nods to DS9, it never got as much love as TOS and TNG did from the new kids on the block. Until now. And it was especially lovely to see because it did nostalgia right instead of going ST: Picard season 3, sigh, or follow ST:STNW's increasing tendency to become ST: TOS in its cast. Instead, it did a Star Trek: Prodigy. By which I mean: The love for the "old" characters as strong and great - but it was used in service of character fleshing out and growth of the new characters of the new show. Complimenting them, instead of replacing them. Homage, instead of a rerun. It was great. And then episode 6 went for a taut space thriller while also using what we learned so far about the characters and sharpening the profile of who seems to be the season's main villain. (And it took me until this episode to finally recall where I had heard the voice before. It was John Adams, I mean Paul Giametti!)

One more general observation: As a Discovery fan, I was delighted to see Admiral Vance again in most of the episodes, being his calm and responsible self, ditto for Jett Reno snarkng and being dead-pan as ever, and a bit surprised that Mary Wiseman has yet to make an appearance because I thought she was supposed to be a regular. Speaking of Discovery, its last two seasons feature a supporting guest star, Laira Rillak, who has both Bajoran and Cardassian heritage, and I thought that was great and that by the 31st Centuy, there ought to be a lot more "hybrids" of spacefaring nations with centuries of interaction . Starfleet Academy thought so, too, and we got indeed not just another hybrid in the regular cast but also several others popping up. And I really like the sheer number of middle-aged women we get in addition to the kids. Oh, and evidently the return to Discovery territory also meant the return to featured queer relationships. Excellent.

( Now onto more spoilery territory with comments on the individiual characters and their development so far. )

In conclusion: it's a really good first season so far! May it continue to be!

Current Mood: enthralled
Current Location: Munich

lydamorehouse

Image: the north star shining behind a loon with the words RESIST (by Jack Brinatte)

This morning Border Czar Homan says they are ending Operation Metro Surge. This is good news! I hope some of us here in Minnesota will take a short victory lap or dance in the streets a little.

HOWEVER.

There is no doubt in my mind that ICE operations will continue in Minnesota. They're just ending the surge, not their horrible, extra-legal, and inhumane work. In fact, I find it sort of ominous that they are implying that they've secured the help of local authorities. My hot take is that that just means fewer agents, more cops. Which sucks in a different kind of way because cops do have actual authority to arrest us for "obstructing" them. I still say that there are more of us then there are of them, so let them try. We can still film them. We can still blow our whistles. As far as I am aware, the first amendment still exists in this country. And, as we know from George Floyd, we can film cops just as easily as we can film ICE.

I do think that the bad guys are hoping that we'll stop feeding our neighbors in hiding, force them to come out to grocery shop or go to work, and then kidnap them. Tim Waltz has been very loud about the "economic impact" the Operation Metro Surge has been having on local shops and businesses, which is true--but, and I love you, Tim, I really do, but $$ being spent in Minnesota is not actually the crisis. Businesses struggling is just the consequence of the crisis. I'm sorry Target is feeling the pressure of our constant protests to their weak response to the 4th amendment, but, you know, they CAN DO something about it. It's the people who are being kidnapped and sent to concentration camps that are the core of the crisis. The real crisis is that NONE OF THIS SHOULD BE HAPPENING. There is a due process for immigration and EVERYONE deserves due process and humane treatment, full stop. No one should be (as someone was the other day) arrested while trying to appear in court for their immigration status hearing! That is a literal perversion of justice. And we should not stand for it. Even if we go down with this ship.

The bad guys have fully misjudged this movement if they think that the good people of Minnesota are going to just be like, "Oh, you're leaving? Ope, well, I guess I'll just stop caring about my neighbors, then!"

They have lit a fire in this state that I don't think is going to be easily extinguished. I don't even know that this announcement will change a single day in our lives. I'll be headed off to mutual aid work in a couple of hours, then school patrol after that, and singing at 6:30 pm tonight. I suspect that will be what my tomorrow looks like, too.

cakewrecks_feed

Posted by Jen

https://www.cakewrecks.com/home/reading-between-the-wrecks-2026

Chocolates? Flowers? Cutesy stuffed animals?

BO-RING.

This Valentine's day, give me something a little out-of-the-ordinary! Something a little daring! Something a little...um...

...crappy?

(Remember, the couple that leaves flaming bags of poo on doorsteps together, STAYS together.)

I'm getting kind of a mixed message here.

Ok, now it's less mixed.

Hang on. So you're saying you morph into a heart-chomping werewolf at night? Is that it?

And the call is coming from inside the house?

And you may need diapers?

But you still love me in your barbaric, wolfish way?

Aw. Well, I guess that IS kind of sweet...

Will you stop killing things while I'm trying to talk to you.

Well, I guess the only really important thing is that we understand one another, right?

[crickets]

That and house training, of course.

BAD WEREWOLF.

Thanks to Rebekah G., Meredith G., Carolyn, Brandy S., Chau, Laura E., Kerry M., Lynn B., Anne Q., & Anthony S. for reminding us to just stick with boxes of chocolates.

Unless we're werewolves.

******

P.S. In case this post wasn't painful enough:

Exceptionally Bad Dad Jokes

There are a lot of "dad joke" books out there, but this one has awesome ratings AND the word "spiffing" on the cover, so it's a clear winner.

*****

And from my other blog, Epbot:

https://www.cakewrecks.com/home/reading-between-the-wrecks-2026

pauraque

In the 32nd century, Captain Lorq Von Ray assembles a ragtag crew for a dangerous—some would say crazy—mission to harvest the superheavy element illyrion from a dying star. If they succeed, it would threaten tech megacorp Red-Shift's economic stranglehold on interstellar travel, inaugurating a new era of opportunity for struggling outer colonies. But Captain Von Ray's motives aren't just political, they're also personal, as flashbacks reveal his long history with the psychologically twisted brother-and-sister heirs to the Red-Shift fortune.

I really enjoyed this. The space opera plot is an effective backdrop for some nicely nuanced character work and social commentary. Money and class are still driving forces in this future, and people are shaped by that as much as they are by advancing technology and the cultural changes that have come with it. Besides the Captain and the Reds, the other focal characters are two crew members from Earth, one an emotionally guarded Romani kid who's gone against his people's prohibition on cybernetic implants to access job opportunities in space, and the other a socially awkward Harvard grad who has tens of thousands of notes for a novel (an ancient, dead art form) but hasn't yet written a single page. I love the development of their tentative friendship; it feels very honest about how hard it is to relate across cultural divides, and also very affectionate towards both characters. It's like the author is rooting for them even though he can't truthfully make it easy.

The worldbuilding really worked for me. There are enough surprising details and curious asides to make the galaxy feel lived-in and realistically messy, but not so many that it feels scattered. Delany has a very visual prose style and can convey exactly what he sees in his mind's eye, whether it's the unfurling sail of a glittering space yacht or the uneasy twitch of a character's cheek, and that adds to the vivid atmosphere.

I also appreciated the subtle exploration of disability in the context of a society where many things can be medically "fixed" that can't be in our own world. The author knows that this in itself would not "fix" people's attitudes about their own embodiment and others', and that elimination of bodily differences is not a utopian impulse. Characters are allowed to have complex feelings about their physical abilities—the ones they're born with, the ones they've lost, and the ones they've gained through technology—and aren't required to fully explain themselves just because other people want to know.

Criticisms? I think the book has too many characters; some of the less foregrounded crew members don't get much attention and it might have been better to drop a couple so we could spend more time with the rest. The role of female characters is particularly limited, and when they do appear sometimes their boobs are mentioned for no reason. (I am of course aware that Delany is gay. Perhaps he was subconsciously influenced by what he was reading from other writers at the time.) Other than that, this was a good read.

Content note: A character's pet is harmed, but recovers.

susieboo posting in

booknook

Title: Everything, Everything
Author: Nicola Yoon
Year: 2015
Age group: young adult
Genre: contemporary romance, coming-of-age
Content warnings: illness and medical trauma, abuse, mentions of child death, grieving / mental health struggles

“Sometimes I reread my favorite books from back to front. I start with the last chapter and read backward until I get to the beginning. When you read this way, characters go from hope to despair, from self-knowledge to doubt. In love stories, couples start out as lovers and end as strangers. Coming-of-age books become stories of losing your way. Your favorite characters come back to life.”

The cover of "Everything, Everything" by Nicola Yoon. The tagline is, "The greatest risk is not taking one." The cover shows the book's title, the first "Everything" being written in plain blue with a paper airplane over the R, the second "Everything" in white surrounded by intricate drawings of flowers, an airplane, sea creatures, and butterflies.

This was my fourth read of Yoon's debut, following 18-year-old Madeline Whittier, who was diagnosed with SCID (severe combined immunodeficiency) as a baby, and cannot leave her house without risking severe illness or death. She reads, a lot - not much else for her to do. She goes to school online. She rarely sees anyone except her mother and her full-time nurse, Carla, and when she is allowed other visitors, they have to go through a full physical and a lengthy sterilization process. As Madeline says, "It's a pain to come see me." Madeline is aware of her limitations, of the milestones she's missed and adventures she'll never get to have, but she's as happy as she can be, given the circumstances. But then a new family moves in next door, and with them comes Olly, a boy her age who spots Madeline in the window and is determined to talk to her. The two develop a friendship while emailing and texting in secret, and start to fall in love, which Madeline realizes can't end well for either of them.

For me, this is one of those books where, nearly every criticism I hear of it, I'm like, "Yes, you're right." The portrayal disability and illness is questionable (more about that in the spoiler section), and the book can be melodramatic and silly. But I eat it up every time; each time I've read this book, I've read it in under 24 hours. The romance is very sweet, and both Olly and Madeline are very likable and compelling characters. The story is a love story first and foremost, and if you want an easy-to-read, enjoyable romance, this might be a good pick for you.

I revisited this book because I've been in a terrible reading slump for the past couple of weeks, and it worked like a charm. The book flies by as you read it, with prose that's both accessible and pretty, and the inclusion of things like medical reports, book reviews Madeline posts online, and receipts from purchases she's made is a nice touch. Madeline's voice is eloquent but believable for a teenager (especially one who's been solely in the company of adults her whole life), and it was a delight to revisit this book for the first time in several years.

( Here there be spoilers... )

princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: indescribable

skygiants

I went into Lessons in Magic and Disaster somewhat trepidatiously due to the degree to which her YA novel Victories Greater Than Death did not work for me. The good news: I do think Lessons in Magic and Disaster is MUCH better than Victories Greater Than Death and actually does some things remarkably well. The bad news: other elements did continue to drive me up a wall ....

Lessons in Magic and Disaster centers on the relationship between Jamie, a trans PhD student struggling to finish her dissertation on 18th-century women writers at a [fictional] small Boston college, and her mother Serena, an abrasive lesbian lawyer who has been sunk deep in depression since her partner died a few years back and her career simultaneously blew up completely.

Jamie does small-scale lower-m magic -- little rituals to make things go a little better in her life, that usually seem to work, as long as she doesn't think about them too hard -- and the book starts when she takes the unprecedented-for-her step of telling her mother about the magic as a sort of mother-daughter bonding ritual to see if her mother can use it to help herself get less depressed! Unfortunately Serena is not looking for a little gentle self-help woo-woo; she would like to UNFUCK her life AND the world in SIGNIFICANT ways that go way beyond what Jamie has ever done with magic and also start blowing back on Jamie in ways that eventually threaten not only Jamie and Serena's relationship but also Jamie's marriage, Jamie's career, and Serena's life.

Serena is an extremely specific, well-observed character, and Serena and Jamie's relationship feels real and messy and complicated in ways that even the book's tendency towards therapy-speak couldn't actually ruin for me, because yeah, okay, I do think Jamie would sometimes talk like an annoying tumblr post, that's just part of the characterization and it doesn't actually fix everything and sometimes even hurts. But the book's strengths -- that it's grounded very much in a world and a community and a type of people that Charlie Jane Anders clearly knows really well and can paint extremely vividly -- are also its weaknesses, in that it's also constantly slipping into ... I guess I'd call it a kind of lazy-progressive writing? The book is full of these sharp, vivid, messy moments whenever it's focused on this particular relationship and Serena in specific, and without that flashpoint, the messiness vanishes. Jamie goes into her grad school classroom and thinks about how the white men are always so annoying but the queer and bipoc students Always pick up what she's putting down. Jamie's partner Ro sets down boundaries in their marriage after a magic incident goes wrong and they are Always right and Jamie is Always humble and respectful about it, because respecting boundaries is Always the Correct thing to do. (Ro is the sort of person who says things like "this is bringing back a lot of trauma for me" while Jamie's mother is actively, in that moment, on the verge of death. I'm all for honesty in relationships but maybe you could give it a minute?)

I don't know. I think there is quite a good book in here, but I also think that good book is kind of fighting its way a little bit to get out from under the conviction that We Progressive Right-Thinking People In The Year 2025 Know What Righteous Behavior Looks Like. You know. But sometimes it does indeed succeed!

I did really enjoy the book's hyper-local Cambridge setting. Yeah, I see you name-checking those favorite restaurants, and yes, I have been to them and they are pretty good. Also, as a b-plot, Jamie is uncovering some lesbian literary drama in her dissertation that gives Charlie Jane Anders a chance to play around with 18thc pastiche and write RPF about Sarah Fielding, Jane Collier, and Charlotte Clarke and sure, fine, I didn't know very much about any of those people and she has very successfully made me want to know more! There were a bunch of times she'd drop something int he book and I'd be like "that's SO unsubtle as pastiche" and then I'd look it up and it was just a real thing that had happened or been published, so point again to Charlie Jane Anders.

james_davis_nicoll

A sample issue of New Edge Sword & Sorcery, whose 2026 funding drive goes live today.

New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine: Volume I, Number 3, edited by Oliver Brackenbury

glitteryv posting in

recthething

Every Thursday, we have a community post, just like this one, where you can drop a rec or five in the comments.

This works great if you only have one rec and don't want to make a whole post for it, or if you don't have a DW account, or if you're shy. ;)

(But don't forget: you can deffo make posts of your own seven days a week. ;D!)

So what cool fanart/fancrafts/fanvids/other kinds of fanworks/fics/podfics have we discovered this week? Drop it in the comments below. Anon comment is enabled.

BTW, AI fanworks are not eligible for reccing at recthething. If you aware that a fanwork is AI-generated, please do not rec it here.

osprey_archer

I was excited about Ghost Story: The Turn of the Screw, because it stars Michelle Dockery and Dan Stevens (pre-Downton Abbey!), and the screenplay was written by Sandy Welch, also responsible for the screenplays of such winners as the Romola Garai Emma and the 2006 Jane Eyre.

However, this adaptation leaned very hard on the Edmund Wilson interpretation of The Turn of the Screw, which is that the “ghosts” are in fact products of the repressed governess’s overheated imagination. And whoever had charge of the filming clearly felt that one should never imply when one could show, so we are treated to multiple scenes of evil Peter Quinn having sex with the former governess, sexually assaulting the maids, etc, which I feel is a counterproductive choice in a ghost story.

They also introduced a frame story where the governess is in an asylum, with Dan Stevens as her psychiatrist. I always enjoy seeing Dan Stevens but I must admit that here his entire plotline seems superfluous. Why keep cutting away from the central story? It constantly undermines the atmosphere of claustrophobic horror that the ghost story is trying to build up.

So I was all set to complain about the film, but in fact I’ve been thinking about the story on and off since I saw it. Is the governess truly seeing ghosts? What did happen to the children before our governess arrived? And what truly happened in the end? So I suppose I must crankily admit that the film is effective even if it’s not artful.

Will this finally inspire me to read Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw? Probably not, as I’ve never fully recovered from how much I hated Daisy Miller. But maybe someday.

machinistm

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garryowen

Fandom: Brilliant Minds
Pairings/Characters: Josh/Oliver
Rating: E
Length: 8600
Content notes: none
ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/79357646

Summary: Carol creates a Grindr profile for Oliver, then sets him up on a date. He only agrees to go because Carol needs the motivation to get back out there herself. Oliver feels rusty and totally inept. But sometimes you just need to find the right person…

( No DM No Swiping )

nanila posting in

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!

smartbitches2_feed

Posted by Lara

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/and-now-back-to-you-by-bk-borison/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?post_type=reviews&p=166259

Rant

And Now, Back to You

by B.K. Borison
February 24, 2026 · Berkley
Contemporary RomanceRomance

When I sat down to write this piece, I had no idea it would turn into a rant, but it did. My head swirled with thoughts and all of them were burning a hole in my stomach, desperate to be let loose. Release the Kraken!

I shouldn’t have read this book. It irritated me MULTIPLE TIMES. It’s irritated me so much that I can’t even bring myself to do a recap of the premise like I usually do for reviews. I just don’t want to spend more time with these people than I have to, so here’s the blurb:

Jackson Clark and Delilah Stewart have had their fair share of run-ins over the years, often ending in disaster. While Jackson thrives on routine and organization from the comfort of his radio booth, Delilah loves the spontaneity and adventure out in the field. When they’re partnered against their will to cover the snowstorm of the century, they find themselves scrambling to figure out how to work together.

Eager to be taken seriously as a journalist, Delilah offers Jackson a deal. If he can help her ace this assignment, she’ll help him rediscover his long-lost fun side. With an undiscovered chemistry burning beneath their clashes, the unlikely partnership quickly tumbles into an easy and surprising friendship.

But when other feelings start to enter the equation, can Jackson and Delilah withstand the storm? Or does what happens in the mountains, stay in the mountains?

Before I let loose all my thoughts, some context.

This is my first BK Borison book. I know her work is popular so I figured there was a decent chance that I’d enjoy it. The writing is really strong, which grabbed me and I was only 2% in when I signed up to review it for the Bitchery. This was a book that demanded to be read. Each sentence led me to the next sentence, drawing me in. The picture that was being painted was vivid and compelling.

But then at 11% something happened. The book that had been cohesive and immersive up to that point, bounced me out of the story entirely. There’s a meeting between a radio station boss and a TV station boss and their respective weather reporters.

Up to this point, Delilah has been a quirky doormat. Suddenly in this meeting she speaks up for herself, challenging her terrible boss in front of ‘outsiders’. And she challenges him consistently during the meeting.

Huh? Is she a quirky doormat or does she not give a fuck? I know people contain multitudes, but you usually don’t display those multitudes this early in a romance novel when you’re still building the characters for the reader.

Show Spoiler

Jumping ahead to the end, the lesson the quirky doormat needs to learn is to speak up for herself and demand more.

But she did that at 11%! And then, I guess, promptly forgot about it and went back to being a quirky doormat.

Delilah is also a quirky doormat, I might add, who has the single dumbest reason for wanting the job she has. Okay, maybe not the dumbest as I’ve read some terrible books in my time. She has a hostile boss who actively undermines her. At the start she has the support of precisely one colleague who doesn’t actually do much until the end.

Show Spoiler

Yet she keeps the job because her grandpa with Alzheimer’s likes seeing her smile on his favourite local TV station.

Maybe I am showing my evil underbelly here, but that is a terrible reason to stay in a job that makes you miserable.

Full disclosure, in books, quirky doormats make me rage. I can’t abide them. I can’t stomach them. And I definitely don’t want to spend my precious free time with them. Characters in need of a spine are just so annoying.

It wasn’t just the once that I was bounced out of the story:, it happened often because these two do not know how to talk to each other about their feelings. If you like books with clear communication, this one will drive you around the bend. Delilah and Jackson are the opposite of clear communicators. When they talk about their feelings, they speak in half-truths and apparent riddles. There is zero consistency in what they ask each other for. None. Zilch. I want to be friends. I want something casual. This is just temporary. I want to be your best friend. I want ???

What? What do you want? Do you know? Spoiler alert, they have a VAGUE inkling of what they MIGHT want from each other, but not on your nelly are they going to communicate that until the last possible second.

At 71% through, I very nearly gave up on reading. Why didn’t I? It is undeniably well-written. I had to know what happened next. Even if it didn’t make sense and made me grumpy. I just had to know. So I persevered.

Everything clicked into place for me when I read the author’s bio after the acknowledgements at the end. Cosy. Contemporary. COSY. No wonder this book made me go off the rails. It was a cosy contemporary! It is entirely possible that millions will love this story if cosy contemporary is their thing. Cosy novels are anathema to me. I can’t stomach the tweeness, the gentleness, the lack of bite. I know that says more about me than I’d probably want publicly known, but there you have it.

Perhaps the inconsistencies that drove me so crazy in this story were cosy characteristics that I’m just not destined to love. I don’t know. Cosy aficionados, sound off the comments.

What I can say is that if I, terrible grump, still felt compelled to finish, then someone who enjoys cosy contemporary will probably love this story. Is this my first and last BK Borison title? Absolutely. This level of irritation is not good for me.

But do I still think that this book deserves to be read by those who will appreciate it? Absolutely, yes I do.

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/and-now-back-to-you-by-bk-borison/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?post_type=reviews&p=166259

sovay

My poem "The Principle of the Thing" has been accepted by Weird Fiction Quarterly. It is the ghost poem I wrote last spring for Werner Heisenberg: 2025 finally called it out. 2026 hasn't yet rendered it démodé.

Branching off The Perceptual Form of the City (1954–59), I am still tracking down the publications of György Kepes whose debt to Gestalt psychology my mother pegged instantly from his interdisciplinary interests in perception, but my local library system furnished me with Kevin Lynch's The Image of the City (1960) and What Time Is This Place? (1972) and even more than urban planning, they make me think of psychogeography. An entire chapter in the latter is entitled "Boston Time" and illustrates itself with layers of photographs of a walk down Washington Street in the present of the book's composition and its past, singling out not only buildings and former buildings but weathered milestones and ghost signs, commemorative plaques and graffiti, dates established, construction stamps, spray paint, initials in concrete. "The trees are seasonal clocks, very precise in spring and fall." "The street name refers to the edge of the ancient peninsula. (If you look closely at the ground, you can trace the outline of the former shore.)" "The railroad, which in its day was cut ruthlessly through the close-packed docks and sailing ships, is now buried in its turn." Five and a half decades behind me, the book itself is a slice of history, a snapshot in the middle of the urban renewal that Lynch evocatively and not inaccurately describes as "steamrolling." I recognize the image of the city formed by the eponymously accumulated interviews in the older book and it is a city of Theseus. Scollay Square disappeared between the two publications. Lynch's Charles River Dam isn't mine. Blankly industrial spaces on his map have gentrified in over my lifetime. Don't even ask about wayfinding by the landmarks of the skyline. I do think he would have liked the harborwalk, since it reinforces one of Boston's edges as sea. And whether I agree entirely or at all with his assertion:

If we examine the feelings that accompany daily life, we find that historic monuments occupy a small place. Our strongest emotions concern our own lives and the lives of our family or friends because we have known them personally. The crucial reminders of the past are therefore those connected with our own childhood, or with our parents' or perhaps our grandparents' lives. Remarkable things are directly associated with memorable events in those lives: births, deaths, marriages, partings, graduations. To live in the same surroundings that one recalls from earliest memories is a satisfaction denied to most Americans today. The continuity of kin lacks a corresponding continuity of place. We are interested in a street on which our father may have lived as a boy; it helps to explain him to us and strengthens our own sense of identity, But our grandfather or great-grandfather, whom we never knew, is already in the remote past; his house is "historical."

it is impossible for me not to read it and hear "Isn't the house you were born in the most interesting house in the world to you? Don't you want to know how your father lived, and his father? Well, there are more ways than one of getting close to your ancestors." None of mine came from this city I walk.

The rest of my day has been a landfill on fire.

Current Music: Clairo, "Bags"

gremdark

Because I'm having trouble following asleep (definitely work jitters, sigh) and sometimes internalizing the good in the world helps. So:

Boyfriend's redownloaded Bumble and has been talking to a couple people, most notably Emerald, who has met up with us to play Magic once and is coming over for dinner on Saturday. I'm making chicken tortilla soup, which is always a winner. She's a sweetheart, and I look forward to getting to know her better. Next order of business is softening her up enough to get my grubby paws on her tumblr url. I always say that the best way to tell whether a prospective friend is a keeper is to put them in a room with my stoic and silent fiance and see if they recognize how lovely and befriendable he is in spite of his retiring nature. So we shall see.

I mailed a care package to my dear friend Robin, whose birthday was Sunday. She's in grad school for accounting in Michigan after taking several years off to recover from a pair of strokes. I'm SO proud of her, and I was glad for the excuse to send her something nice. She loves foxes, so the package was fox-themed. Stickers, two necklaces (one handmade, one store bought) an art card, and a lemon candle that came in a nice box. She seemed very happy to receive it, so I think I'll try to repeat the trick after spring break even if all my finances can support at that time is a nice handwritten note.

I've officially progressed to the first interview phase for the alternative teacher's certification program I'm applying to. The internet says that that puts me in the top 50% of applicants. My fate isn't yet assured, but I'm closer! Tomorrow night, I have a webinar where they'll talk through what the interview will look like. The interview itself is next week (eek!) and will be about two hours long. The interviewer sent me a nice email after I booked my time, which feels optimistic. He mentioned that he's interested to hear about my study abroad experience, so I'll see if I can dig up my notes from that time. I also need two recommendation forms filed by this upcoming Monday. I've got my former thesis advisor and an ex boss working on them. Tomorrow I'll shoot them polite emails thanking them and making sue they haven't forgotten.

One of my favorite people in the entire universe is my neighbor, who I've known for almost a decade now. The other day I wandered into a little antique shop while waiting for a hair appointment and found a shelf of vintage cinema books. I spotted one about All About Eve, his favorite movie, and nabbed it. This afternoon, my neighbor came over for movie and writing time and brought the book along to read. Apparently he's really enjoying it, so that's a win. He's starting a new job next week, but we made plans for me to cook him dinner next Saturday. I need to riffle through my cookbooks and pick out a good recipe for it.

This morning when I woke up, the cat had worked my bedroom door open and curled up at the foot of my bed. He stayed there until I got up and spent the day following me around and sitting in my lap whenever I sat. He's the first cat I've ever lived with, and it's nice to be friends with him.

I have now tried to embed an image of the cat three different times. I am confident I can figure this out in the long run, but right now I need to sleep. So here's a description.

He's a hair overweight for an adult male cat, but the vet assures us that he's mostly just muscular. When she first saw him, she exclaimed, "Oh! A cream-colored cat!" Like most people who live with cats, I'm pretty sure he's the best and most attractive one. His eyes are on the green side of olive, and his chest and the very tips of his paws are white. His stripes are very faint, most evident on the hindquarters and tail.

As I type this, he's loafing at the foot of my bed. In five minutes, once this is posted and I've gotten under the covers, he'll pace the hallway, scratch at each of our bedroom doors, and meow plaintively for ten to fifteen minutes before giving up and sleeping on the living room couch. Sometimes, for variety, he climbs into one of the dining room chairs, pulls the nearest tablecloth corner into it, and nests in an irritatingly decadent fashion. He'll meow at my door about twenty minutes before my first alarm goes off at six a.m. Then, when I stagger out of bed, he'll follow me into the kitchen and hover while I eat breakfast.

He's surely not dissimilar from most cats, but I have a sample size of one and I dote on the lad.

Current Mood: sleepy

flareonfury posting in

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Made for

halfamoon Day 11 - The Explorer. As soon as I saw the prompt I had to do my favorite female explorers - Sydney Fox (Relic Hunter), Lara Croft (Tomb Raider), and Nell Jackson (Renegade Nell). Sydney and Lara could also represent Day 9 - The Scholar and Nell could represent Day 5 - The Outlaw.

Preview

Relic Hunter, Tomb Raider, Renegade Nell.....

April 2014

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20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30

Page Summary

susandennis - Shot number 4
smartbitches2_feed - Vampires, Dark Romance, & More
princessofgeeks - New Heated Rivalry fic: "How to Jump Off a Burning Bridge"
selenak - Star Trek: Starfleet Academy 1.01. - 1.06
lydamorehouse - ICE Leaving? Not Exactly.
cakewrecks_feed - Reading Between The Wrecks
pauraque - Nova by Samuel R. Delany (1968)
susieboo in booknook - reread and review: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
princessofgeeks - sobbing
skygiants - (no subject)
james_davis_nicoll - New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine: Volume I, Number 3, edited by Oliver Brackenbury
glitteryv in recthething - Community Recs Post!
osprey_archer - Ghost Story: The Turn of the Screw
machinistm - Masculinity, care and love under late capitalism
garryowen - Fic: No DM No Swiping Won't Get You Invitations
nanila in awesomeers - Just One Thing (12 February 2026)
smartbitches2_feed - And Now, Back to You by BK Borison
sovay - Can you see me? I'm waiting for the right time
gremdark - Five Happy Things
flareonfury in fandom_icons - Relic Hunter, Tomb Raider, Renegade Nell

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Shot number 4

Vampires, Dark Romance, & More

The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Blackthorn

You can find ordering info for this book here.

How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Role Playing

You can find ordering info for this book here.

New Heated Rivalry fic: "How to Jump Off a Burning Bridge"

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy 1.01. - 1.06

ICE Leaving? Not Exactly.

Reading Between The Wrecks

Nova by Samuel R. Delany (1968)

reread and review: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

sobbing

(no subject)

New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine: Volume I, Number 3, edited by Oliver Brackenbury

Community Recs Post!

Ghost Story: The Turn of the Screw

Masculinity, care and love under late capitalism

Fic: No DM No Swiping Won't Get You Invitations

Just One Thing (12 February 2026)

And Now, Back to You by BK Borison

Rant

And Now, Back to You

Can you see me? I'm waiting for the right time

Five Happy Things

Relic Hunter, Tomb Raider, Renegade Nell

April 2014

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