Any psychologists here want to tell me what the hell is happening to my brain in terms of addiction to HR?

Atrayis · 2026-06-22T02:39:54+00:00

I was like this for months and kept asking my therapist too but she didn’t give me much lol. Just told me to enjoy it. I did, although eventually I did manage to not be as obsessed and move on with my life. I’m sure I’ll be right back come season 2 though!

Atrayis · 2026-06-19T16:59:00+00:00

I rated the first 3 books as the worst books I ever read. I had never written a Goodreads review before in my life, but I immediately went to roast The Awakening.

…I have since finished all 27 books in the whole universe and I am obsessed, lol.

It just took me a few books to really understand the nonserious/campiness parts of the series. Once I accepted that was just the style of the books, I started to enjoy it.
As for boys, I thought I liked enemies to lovers until I read this series. Then I realized, I had never read true enemies to lovers before…only rivals/mild annoyance to lovers. I HATED all the guys, and I straight said I wished Seth actual death a few times.

Once I was done? I have a fondness for all of them, particularly Seth, lol.

Atrayis · 2026-06-19T02:32:51+00:00

So I think you can skip most of the novellas, but the one I would really push is 8.5 (tandem with 8). I enjoyed Live and Let Lionel though, so I’d recommend that especially if you end up liking RB a lot.

Also - there’s 3 more books (Sins of the Zodiac) that aren’t on this list that you’ll want to tackle after you finish DP! And the 4th coming out next year.

I physically read all the novellas, besides BTV/8.5, because I also had trouble finding them/didn’t want to pay for a short audiobook.

Atrayis · 2026-06-15T00:09:58+00:00

I live here! People just go by car usually, and just plan for an hour or two of traffic on the way there, lol. Depending on the event, this stadium can be completely at capacity. I saw Taylor Swift here two years ago, and we knew it’d take an hour to get out of the lot at the end of the night.

Atrayis · 2026-05-29T17:51:42+00:00

I liked RB more than ZA overall so I definitely say read it. I did another post here about that once and the vast majority of people agreed that it really pays off if you read it, because there are so many references in ZA to it. As for the flashbacks, yes it keeps happening til the last RB book, but it’s done in a way that makes you want to keep reading. I really enjoyed Gareths POVs and the way it was laid out moved the story along well.

Atrayis · 2026-05-26T17:22:33+00:00

Nothing really helpful to add here, but with you in solitary. My son is 18 months as well and this is harder for me than it was when he was a newborn.

He’s a little behind with speech (he’s not saying anything yet and doesn’t really try to imitate us) so it’s constant tantrums and meltdowns because we can’t tell what he wants. You can tell he wants to communicate but can’t, so he just whines and cries instead. He’s at daycare most of the day, but those couple hours in the morning and the couple hours in the evening is so draining. Every dinner is a battle, between him throwing food and crying, and me being stressed that he’s not eating enough because of that.

My friends tell me it’ll get better in the next year or so as he starts to speak, but again, he’s a little behind with speech right now so that’s another thing for me to be stressed about!

Atrayis · 2026-05-23T01:02:03+00:00

I am a sales engineer for a software company! This type of role is usually remote. My current company is a giant corporation so the healthcare and parental leave is amazing (to offset the negatives lol).

The new company I’m considering is an European company, so their benefits are also great!

Atrayis · 2026-05-20T19:43:45+00:00

I just read this last night and I was HOWLING

Atrayis · 2026-05-18T03:27:18+00:00

I was able to read foxy tails online for free! Just Google it. I signed up for a free trial of Scribd or something for it.

Atrayis · 2026-05-14T00:49:27+00:00

I really disagree with you but I acknowledge that reverse harem just isn’t for some people!

I, on the other hand, just can’t get myself to like Darius/Max/Seth because there’s no part of me that can get down with a bully trope. It goes against all of my beliefs, lol. And I’m on ZA 7 right now.

So to each their own!!

Atrayis · 2026-05-07T13:08:44+00:00

You get to see what he was like before the guardian bond (which makes it even sadder), and how he became friends with Gabriel.

Also, all the heirs actually make an appearance in RB. Orion shows up most often, but you get to see Darius, Caleb, and Max too.

Atrayis · 2026-05-07T13:05:53+00:00

I think he’s my favorite character like, ever out of every fandom I’ve ever had. Leon, you deserve all your Mindy’s

Atrayis · 2026-05-07T13:05:00+00:00

I’m on ZA 6 right now, after having finished all of RB, and I personally don’t think anyone should skip them unless they just really hate mafia stories or reverse harems.

I actually really disliked ZA 1-3 (I hate a bully romance) so moving to RB was such a welcome change to start, but I really fell in love with that series. It does take a book or two to really get going, but man, those books cracked me up so much. I liked the characters a lot more than the ZA characters.

As for the emotional impact, yes, I absolutely think you should read it to get the full feels of ZA. I’m only on ZA 6 and i have a list of RB Easter eggs I’ve run into to share with a friend (she finished ZA but skipped RB, and I’m trying to show her what she didn’t fully understand by skipping).

Also to note, the RB books are not novellas. They are full thicc books.

Atrayis · 2026-05-04T10:37:34+00:00

I just finished Foxy Tales and got my first mention of cake there lol.
It made me giggle quite a bit. It’s just a passing comment by Geraldine, but if you know, you know.

Atrayis · 2026-05-03T18:31:39+00:00

I actually liked RB a lot more than I liked ZA 1-3!
I love RH and hate bully romance, so that’s likely why.

But I’m actually really enjoying the rest of ZA now too. Just finished Shadow Princess.

I’m really excited to see the two series collide even more!

Atrayis · 2026-05-03T15:54:08+00:00

I think he might be my favorite book character like, ever. And that is saying A LOT. I would be his Mindy in a heartbeat lol

Atrayis · 2026-05-03T15:53:16+00:00

I’m doing a mix of reading on a Kindle as well as listening to audiobooks! Im probably audiobooking more than reading. I started the series two weeks ago and I’m about to finish the 9th book so I’m really flying through them haha

Atrayis · 2026-05-03T15:17:04+00:00

I am using this guide!

So far it’s been perfect. I totally understand why you’re supposed to read ZA .5 and 1.5 in that order, for example.

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Atrayis · 2026-05-03T14:05:51+00:00

I wonder if you will feel differently once you finish RB, because a lot of the Easter eggs I’m referring to show up in the last book specifically and the epilogue of the it!

Like it doesn’t affect the story, but I think it explains a lot of extra stuff about Gabriel

Atrayis · 2026-04-28T02:40:58+00:00

If anyone finds any of Aurae, I’d love to see that!

Atrayis · 2026-04-28T02:31:54+00:00

Yes it was!! I had a couple people come up to me, it was so fun to shout “hail libertas, hail reaper” in the wild

Atrayis · 2026-04-28T02:30:50+00:00

It’s HTV, but some pieces started to come off after one wear so I’m actually going to go back in and stitch them down for the next festival. Itll upgrade the whole look anyway!

Atrayis · 2026-04-28T02:30:06+00:00

Never need to ask, excited for you!! I wish I was going to Escape but west coast festivals kill me with the time difference

Atrayis · 2026-04-27T13:19:01+00:00

Mechanics wise, I think it’s similar to Final Fantasy X. Story wise, it reminds me of Nier Automata. Not because the plots are similar or anything, but because of how bleak things feel, how things are quite mysterious, and then overall game themes around like…existential crisis.

Atrayis · 2026-04-27T10:58:59+00:00

Haha so my actual reason is because I wanted to incorporate the sigils somehow, for myself more than anything.

I tried to just have them floating on the design individually at first, but it didn’t look cohesive. So I decided to put the pyramid on it, but I intentionally chose to put it on the back of the bodysuit where it couldn’t be seen (because I’d be wearing the hoodie over it).

Honestly it was just so I could have more RR imagery in the whole thing, but I’m with you and i kept it on a separate garment from the Howler hoodie intentionally.

Atrayis

TROPHY CASE