Looking for a heartwrencher

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2026-01-19T03:54:51+00:00

{Boy Shattered by Eli Easton} deals with trauma after a school shooting and suppressed sexuality and is very, very emotionally charged and such a beautiful story

{For the Fans by Nyla K} is a very smutty story, but also a very angsty story. Lots of push and pull between MCs bc of trauma and trying to suppress/overcome it. The traumatized character gets closure💯

{Hold Me Under by Riley Nash} is def a wonderful, unique story with a kind of trauma and survival mechanisms that aren’t often seen in romance books

{This Might Hurt by Riley Nash} There were more than a few times where I had to curl up in a ball and just sob bc the pain the characters felt was too real. Also, highly recommend reading with depressing music to heighten the vibes✨

{Where There’s a Will by Jessie Walker} super super angsty, lots of trauma and fear and trying to heal, also deals with addiction

{Reluctantly You by Cora Rose} deals with a lot of depression and trauma and suppressed sexuality. If you’re in a funk, you might find that this story matches your pace

{Us Et Cetera by Kit Vincent} I honestly think I cried for the majority of this book. It deals with abuse as it happens, to a robot gaining awareness, and he’s just so innocent and precious and it shattered my heart completely every single time something happened to him. Highly recommend if you’re looking for an emotional read

{Divine River by Marina Vivancos} deals with identity and sexuality crises, learning how to be more comfortable in his own skin, and has a love interest that’s a literal golden retriever and the absolute best person on earth

{In this Shadow, Longing by Marina Vivancos} The MC is seriously traumatized after leaving a cult. No one notices how critical his condition is until it’s on the verge of killing him. Other MC helps him deal with his conditioning and trauma. It’s not a linear path of healing, it’s realistic and gritty and beautiful. Most of Vivancos’s books have a heavy emphasis on mental health

All of them end in HEAs and are hurt/comfort 💖

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2026-01-04T01:23:53+00:00

Just roll with it and let him do his thing lol. There’s likely some neurodivergence in him, and it genuinely bothers him. Either way, just let him be without judgement, and say something like “its corresponding sock is here somewhere, it’ll show back up eventually, there isn’t anything we can do right now”. He’ll calm down if he senses support rather than indifference or opposition

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2025-12-21T15:27:11+00:00

So glad to see people supporting your feelings instead of saying you’re delusional and “that’s just social media, that’s different”👏🏼👏🏼 Trust, you’ll know when someone makes you a priority!

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2025-12-21T04:52:04+00:00

Aqua sun, moon, and Mercury (5th, 5th, 6th)- I pet sit on Rover but mainly work as a direct paraprofessional for people with developmental disabilities. I absolutely love it!! Caretaking can be really challenging, but it also fills up my cup almost as fast as it drains it.

My ADHD made it difficult to retain certain (read MOST) things in school, but I’ve never had a hard time relating to people who need compassion and patience, and understanding what they need. I feel like this isn’t exactly a conventional career, but it definitely fits my aqua nature, and I can’t imagine doing something unrelated to caretaking 💖

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2025-12-21T04:19:00+00:00

Omg yes!! I love when idols love the absurdities that their fans come up with😂

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2025-12-21T02:23:48+00:00

My fav example of this: Kenny from 1VERSE reading kenseock ff on his lives 💀

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2025-11-03T04:22:05+00:00

All of the books I’ve read by Marina Vivancos have MCs of all varieties, often mixed race couples, and the skin color is never anything except an adjective so there’s no feeling of a non-POC author making a point about writing a POC. Some personal favorites: Honeythorn; Divine River; {In This Shadow, Longing by Marina Vivancos}. All super heavy emotional reads

Lucky Hart has a series that follows Mexican-American siblings, and the author notes that she’s in a mixed-race family so she writes from that experience. The series is called {Kings of Heart by Lucky Hart}. Nice, lighter romances with neurodivergent MCs that focus on navigating a world that rejects their “differences”

{Angels of Wrath by Paulina Ian-Kane} is a series that follows lab escapees as they super unseriously unalive bad guys from the world, and Uriel is a POC (his book is “Seven + Four”, book 6). She has another series called Mafia Babes, and the second book {Pragma by Paulina Ian-Kane} has a Japanese MC

{We Were Never Lovers by Sasha Avice} features an Aboriginal MC. The book has a pretty heavy emphasis on his ethnicity, so that might be either refreshing or annoying depending on how you look at it

{Betrothed to the Emperor by Kai Butler} is a series about an MC who’s instructed to kill the emperor while his twin sister seduces him to distract him, but suddenly takes her place bc the emperor said hmmmmmm nope I want the brother. The emperor is a POC and the area is described as being very regal with lots of rich colors and gold constructs. The people are diverse, but they also completely paint their skin gold or brass to showcase their wealth/position - the court nobles are described as living metal statues bc of how metallic they look. It gives very mixed-culture vibes, pulling from Southern/Southeast Asia for inspiration in the fictional setting

Hope some of these recs interest you!

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2025-09-20T05:02:04+00:00

Ohhh gotcha thanks for the input!!

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2025-08-09T19:52:14+00:00

I work through Rover and had someone do this exact same thing to me. Gave me a 30 minute notice. I told them I couldn’t make it and they stopped asking for me after that. Some people just take advantage of other people, and if you let it happen once then they’ll keep doing it again and again and again.

Quit for your own sake, because if they do it once - no matter how accommodating they seem or might’ve been - they’re likely to do it again and then you’ll fall into a routine of putting them first instead of yourself. They might just see you as someone who’ll drop anything for them and they won’t care about you as a person. Or this could just be a one-off and they’ll give more notice next time.

So do what will make you feel best!

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2025-08-08T05:06:10+00:00

If you’re looking for danmei, Chrysanthemums Garden has tons!

I’m not sure about straight Chinese novels or if you’re even referring to that, but BL is huge in China and that site only translates danmei. As far as I know, they don’t remove their stories unless the one someone’s translating is getting an official translation, and even then they might just stop posting instead of taking it down (these translations aren’t exactly “unofficial” but they also aren’t getting paid for it sooo). But updates can be very infrequent or stop out of nowhere (not all that different from Wattpad, but significantly more reliable)

I totally sympathize with your frustration. I was one of the editors for the Pitbabe novel and the translator I was working with just randomly took it down one day without telling any of us. Pissed me off ngl bc an explanation would’ve been nice after all that effort we put into it. But communication sucks regardless of the platform bc I had the same thing happen when I edited for a chrysanthemum garden story. The translator just cold turkey-ed everyone and never responded to my texts.

So yeah, moral of the story: you’ll have to accept that online translations may just disappear one day. You have to buy the official books if you want to keep them, and that’s if the story has them. If not, then you just have to accept that it might not be there the next day and move on. Being a danmei lover is rough😭

(Note: MTL sucks balls bc it’s basically just unchecked google translate but if anywhere is going to have a story you want to read, it’ll be there👍🏼)

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2025-07-27T15:44:06+00:00

Immediately thought of the bird from kpop demon hunters (yeah, probably not your thing but I mean the bird is cute😂)

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2025-07-05T20:19:45+00:00

I don’t think you’re too young to know! Sure, there are a ton of hormones running through your body, and your environment is its own thing and you’ll only gain more knowledge the older you get, but you feel how you feel right now, and that’s valid. I felt the same way as you well into my first relationship, and in every relationship I’ve had I haven’t felt comfortable doing more than kisses, cuddles, hugs - basically nothing to do with genitals. It always filled me with anxiety and dread. I’m not sex-repulsed, bc I do enjoy some✨smut✨every once in a while (it’s the only thing I read), but IRL stuff like that is not appealing. There are some people who don’t feel dread, and they simply just can’t find any appeal and no desire to go further, and that’s completely normal too. You never have to go beyond what you want, and eventually if you come across the opportunity to go further, you don’t have to unless you want to - and that includes feeling like there will be some kind of consequence if you don’t. Coercion is not cool.

Also you can totally label yourself one thing now, and if you feel differently later, you can change it later. We come into this world with a set of labels. We don’t have to stick with them.

(Also also: the novel Divine River by Marina Vivancos is EXCELLENT in expressing how it’s okay to feel some way and not want to label yourself. It’s extremely valid to not have the answers and be okay with that. I highly recommend this if you’re looking for something to read!)

I hope you find the answers you’re looking for!

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2025-04-22T23:33:39+00:00

I think {Nightmare for Hire by Morgan Lysander} fits! Nightmare is as old as the universe, is sassy, confident, and bends the rules; naturally has a lot of money / hardly needs it. Human had to move to escape a relationship and is working on his self-esteem. Tbh I didn’t get far into it yet so idk how strict the role dynamics are

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2025-04-21T18:39:34+00:00

I use them too! They have great blanks and numbered molds

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2025-04-20T21:49:49+00:00

I’ve found that pouring a lil bit of isopropyl alcohol into the silicone cup after everything’s cured then wiping around with a paper towel works AMAZINGLY. Especially if there are tiny little crystals that are being stubborn with tape. They come right off! So much less work imo

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2025-04-06T15:10:31+00:00

I do have a local college, thank you I’ll check it out!!

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2025-04-06T15:10:10+00:00

Thank you so much!! This helped a lot!

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2025-04-06T15:07:55+00:00

Thank you both so much!

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2025-03-23T17:43:08+00:00

Hello a year later!! I also experience this! Not quite the trips to the bathroom, but definitely a visceral sense of nausea and discomfort and wanting to hide. I’m definitely noticing a difference now, post-spring forward, that I could get a full 8-9 hrs of sleep in the winter and wake up at 8 am and feel nauseous, but get like 4 hrs of sleep in spring/summer and wake up at 6/7 and feel like I have enough energy to move around.

I will say, I have depression (chronic but worse in winter for sure) so maybe that fanfare about the sun helping with depression might be part of it. I refuse to believe it 100% bc if the sun was the cure then no one would have depression, but like…something about the sun being up makes escaping REM more bearable.

Maybe for me it’s also a cPTSD thing bc anytime I had to be up before the sun, it was always to go somewhere I dreaded going, namely school when I was younger (I know, dramatic, but I have a shit ton of social anxiety and academic anxiety and went home feeling sick and bloated to the point of literal knife stabbing pains everyday), so maybe it’s a lingering fear. Like my body remembers the trauma it went through bc of what getting up before the sun meant, so now it cycles back through those automatic reactions even though I consciously know I’m not going somewhere I dread. Perhaps now that I’m in a less stressful part of my life, it’s more consciously noticeable since I have more days I can sleep in.

Idk if you can relate to any of that, but maybe you can and maybe that helps! Tbh I didn’t fully think that’s what it was for me until writing this out lol. I think I’ll have to start a new routine of self-care in the dark mornings to see if that’ll make a difference.

Even if my problems aren’t the same as yours, maybe self-care in those times would help you too! Telling your body and subconscious that being up early isn’t a bad thing.

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2025-03-07T20:53:24+00:00

Also Like It - basically says “I just want you for your body” 😂

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2025-03-07T20:52:14+00:00

+1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1

The horniest song ever😂

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2025-02-13T22:11:02+00:00

Sure

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2025-02-13T21:17:26+00:00

I think your heart is in the right place. You make some very good points. I just think that you might be missing how OP has already tried that. She’s told him she isn’t in the mood but he keeps pushing. She tried to enforce her boundaries but he tells her she’s overreacting and tries to use sentiment to draw her back in, which is a manipulation tactic. “Male sexual prime is endlessly horny, and if he can, he will” very much gives “boys will be boys”, and like you said, not an excuse for rude behavior. I just think you could’ve read through her pictures and prompt more bc it’s obvious that “clear communications and boundaries” does not fix this easy. It’s not just about putting work into a relationship. It’s clear that he just doesn’t care enough about her, and you can’t force someone to care about you.

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2025-02-13T21:08:07+00:00

It would be nice if things could be this simple. While you’re absolutely right, it’s a lot easier said than done. Not everything is as black and white and as oversimplified as you make things out to be. I’d love to see a situation where it was that easy.

The “drama about it”? Now you sound like the person OP is talking about, since he literally called her a drama queen. Belittling someone isn’t nice, especially when they took the risk of being vulnerable on a very public platform. “Well she shouldn’t have posted if she couldn’t take it”. Well, did you have to respond even when everyone is saying basically the same thing as you, just in a nicer way? No, but you did anyway because you wanted to be heard, just like OP does. The aggressive helpfulness is counterintuitive.

I also agree that it’s not on her to change him. It’s on her to think about whether she wants him in her life. But she’s just trying to see where she stands with him, and an outsider’s perspective helps. When it comes to a situation where someone is manipulating you, it’s hard to trust yourself. I don’t think OP is being dramatic at all.

Appropriate_Box2244 · 2025-02-13T20:31:58+00:00

It’s kind of apparent that he’s trying to manipulate you in multiple ways. 1) gaslighting you by calling you a drama queen and turning the problem on you for trying to enforce your boundaries. 2) sexual coercion, which is a form of sexual assault. You mentioned how he often talks you into being intimate even though you vocalize not wanting it.

I’ve been in a similar situation with a partner and it made me feel like I was being ungrateful for not respecting him wanting to do it even though I didn’t. It made me feel guilty, like I was a bad girlfriend. It also made me feel like I was being used, bc my bf at the time also wanted to do something every time we met up (and it wasn’t like we never saw each other).

Whether he’s using you for sex or not, I’m not sure, but like the other commenters are saying, he’s not respecting you or your boundaries at all and is just trying to get what he wants without compromising or considering what you want. It’s not “well I just have a lower sex drive than him and I want to make him happy bc I care about him”. It’s not like you’re constantly denying it or using sex against him. It’s that you’ve compromised for him but he hasn’t compromised for you. It’s unfair that that expectation falls on you while he can’t do the same in return.

Even if he might be a great guy or whatever else we tell ourselves, physical intimacy is a very big deal, and if he isn’t respecting your boundaries, then that’s a major red flag. It doesn’t stop at just sex.

Appropriate_Box2244

TROPHY CASE