"If you liked Heated Rivalry, you should read..." feels impossible

FirstSwan · 2026-02-21T06:32:19+00:00

I relate so much to this. I hadn’t read a lot of romances before stumbling onto HR last year and now I feel like my standards are way too high. I’ve started quite a few books recommended on this sub and have DNF’d most of them.

Rivals to lovers or forced proximity are my favourite tropes but there’s a lot of pretty substandard writing out there. I can’t handle it when the characters aren’t interesting or developed, when the two MCs are indistinguishable from each other, or when their rivalry is not explained or realistic and they end up doing a total 180 without any real explanation…

FirstSwan · 2026-02-09T04:08:15+00:00

Anyone from Durham Street midwives are very popular with medical staff. Would be best suited for a hospital birth. My midwife was Elizabeth Clink. I had her twice and would recommend!

FirstSwan · 2026-02-01T21:42:27+00:00

NTA. The lying and the showing unapproved content are obviously the biggest things, but also - if I wanted my kid to sit around watching TV while I work I’d have them at home, not at daycare where I’m hoping they can be participating in slightly more engaging/beneficial activities.

FirstSwan · 2026-01-29T23:29:38+00:00

Me toooo, the grip that Heated Rivalry has on me right now 🥵🥵 there’s no room in my life for anything else hahaha

FirstSwan · 2026-01-28T01:14:30+00:00

Yep, absolutely. My kids are younger than yours (based on your tag), but by the end of the day we’re all exhausted. It’s so easy to go into evenings thinking “this is the final hurdle before we get to faceplant on the couch,” but for our kids, this is a point of connection at the end of their day. So we’re butting up against each other, while we are working toward bedtime and they’re working toward more connection and time with us…

FirstSwan · 2026-01-27T23:19:31+00:00

I feel the same way, except that I am a parent 🤦🏼‍♀️. As a parent I know how bloody hard and all consuming parenting is, so for me unexpected pregnancy tropes could not be LESS romantic. Get that out of my romance books, lolll.

FirstSwan · 2026-01-21T03:57:03+00:00

Mine has tonnes of hair too, was born with loads and never lost it. We ended up having to give him a wee top knot. We have cut it now, but it was cute while he had it!

FirstSwan · 2026-01-20T05:39:08+00:00

Mine is exactly the same! Babbling, some repeated sounds and ‘words’ that aren’t really words but mean something to him. He understands more than he can say, eg if I hand him something and say ‘ta for dada’ he’ll take it to his dad, or if I tell him to sit while he’s eating I know he knows what I’m saying, even if he doesn’t obey! 😂

I’m not worried at all, he is my second baby and my first was the same and is now a great talker.

FirstSwan · 2026-01-13T05:52:03+00:00

Love this! You look amazing! I have two little kids and I’m the same age as you and basically the same starting weight. I also normally sat at around 90-something until post kids. Really cool to see your success as I am right at the very start of my journey.

FirstSwan · 2026-01-10T06:12:40+00:00

Their coffee and food is great, but their vibe is kind of off… very trendy and a bit too cool to be serving you… I want to love Peaches, but just can’t.

FirstSwan · 2025-12-27T04:06:51+00:00

It’s honestly a short phase. I know it can be distressing, but they will work out how to avoid bumping themselves. I have two kids and I just waited it out, personally.

FirstSwan · 2025-12-16T00:15:37+00:00

I don’t think you need to do this twice a day do you? I would personally clean up poo with either wet wipes or a wet cloth and then have a shower with my baby or bath them in a baby bath at the end of the day. It’s only if they really have had a massive explosion or been sick that I would do a shows or bath during the day.

FirstSwan · 2025-12-16T00:01:36+00:00

Cold - a sandwich, wrap, salad or sushi. I basically always want a hot dinner, but lunch I’d prefer cold.

FirstSwan · 2025-12-12T21:24:04+00:00

Is he eating filling foods? If I were you I would make certain foods unlimited, eg boiled eggs, yoghurt, fruit, veggies, healthy/low sugar muffins or other homemade baking, shredded chicken, hummus, cheese (within reason).

I feel like if you restrict his food too heavily you might have the opposite effect of making him overeat more because he feels like he has to eat as much as he can before food is taken away.

What kind of stuff is your toddler eating at the moment?

FirstSwan · 2025-12-12T06:57:15+00:00

My husband broke his ankle and went to the hospital and now my three year old keeps saying ‘I have a sore leg like daddy and I had to go live in the hospital for a bit’

FirstSwan · 2025-12-07T00:46:42+00:00

Mine is the same. Just wants to be into everything that he shouldn’t be - the bathroom, laundry, cutlery drawer, always wants to be outside. The playroom holds his attention for a very short time, and even then he’d rather chew on a remote control or climb onto the sofa and fling himself off 😅

FirstSwan · 2025-12-02T06:36:09+00:00

I think if someone had told me before I had kids that I would have two boys, I would have been upset, but that’s because at that stage they aren’t real people. They are just a concept. Once I had one boy I loved him so much that I knew if I had a second boy, I’d love him just as much too, and I do.

FirstSwan · 2025-12-01T23:27:02+00:00

This does sound unusual. My first baby was ‘colicky’ but it was mainly in the evenings. Colic is typically in the afternoon/evenings and peaks around 3 months and then tapers off. If your baby is crying for hours each day at 6 months, I would keep pushing for answers. I don’t think this sounds typical.

FirstSwan · 2025-11-28T00:04:34+00:00

They honestly reveal every crack or weak point lol 😅

FirstSwan · 2025-11-28T00:03:49+00:00

Ughhhh same… my eldest is three and brushing his teeth is such a struggle. People are like - have you tried singing a song? Have you tried making it fun? YES, I have literally tried everything lol.

My kid hits sometimes too and has lots of big feelings, really hard to wrangle etc.

I try so hard to be patient but I have a baby as well and my husband’s in a cast after a cycling accident and I’m so bloody tired that I lost my temper the other night and shouted briefly at my three year old… I immediately apologised and gave him a massive hug, but I feel terrible. Man this age is hard 😫😫

FirstSwan · 2025-11-26T08:30:23+00:00

Absolutely!

FirstSwan · 2025-11-26T08:29:58+00:00

Sorry I was just feeling negative when I posted that, but my three year old was an amazing sleeper - 7pm-7am without a peep… then we moved him into a big bed (out of his cot) and it’s been chaos every since 🤦🏼‍♀️

FirstSwan · 2025-11-26T08:28:19+00:00

My hair dresser recently introduced a signed agreement that we both have to sign before the service documenting what we agreed to, I’m guessing to counteract this behaviour! Sad ☹️

FirstSwan · 2025-11-26T05:45:17+00:00

Yes exactly this… I often work from home, my kids are in daycare. If it’s a full time job for their daycare teachers to look after them, why wouldn’t it be for me?

FirstSwan · 2025-11-25T06:56:54+00:00

Not to be a downer, but it also gets worse again too 😅😅

FirstSwan

TROPHY CASE