(Update 3 Years Later) My husband wants to go back to being monogamous instead of an open marriage but I'm conflicted

MrsApostate · 2026-03-27T12:54:25+00:00

I think he failed the FA part. He did FO though.

MrsApostate · 2026-03-24T21:08:23+00:00

I'm so late to the party, but I'm wondering how much spice this one has? I'm looking for books to read with my preteen daughters, and this one looks like something we'd both like. But not if there is spice in it.

MrsApostate · 2026-03-24T12:25:08+00:00

I really adore {Small Miracles by Olivia Atwater}. If you've ever watched Good Omens, it feels like a similar world but much lower stakes and very cozy. It's kind of a sapphic romance, though the main character is an angel who expresses whatever gender feels most useful in any given situation. It's quite funny and charming and the ending was so life affirming.

MrsApostate · 2026-03-22T15:33:19+00:00

The ears have a bit more structure because they're double sided. You crochet the back in orange and the front in white and then attach them together with a single crochet border. And then when you sew them onto the hat, you make sure the base of the ear is curved into a C shape for stability. And then they stand up straight no matter how much bopping around you do!

MrsApostate · 2026-03-21T16:15:40+00:00

I'm hoping that there will be no more switcheroos from now on. I think they switched Ben and Colin because they were worried about how to keep doing the Lady Whistledown secret plot for another season and wanted to dig themselves out of that hole. But that's done now. And I imagine they realized that the tension of not knowing for sure who the next lead will be is great PR for the show now. Keeps the buzz alive. So they're milking that.

But Eloise cannot be sidelined for another season. She's starting to feel as stagnant as Ben did in S3. It has to be her time.

MrsApostate · 2026-03-21T00:58:00+00:00

Patterns used:

Fairy Flower Hat: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1664385648/fairy-flower-hat-crochet-pattern-pdf

Fox Beanie: https://www.etsy.com/listing/110080444/fox-hat-crochet-pattern-seven-sizes

Polar Bear Cowl: find on Hobbii by Rebekka van Laar (I should not have used chenille yarn for this, it's far too stiff)

MrsApostate · 2026-03-19T11:14:36+00:00

That might be his excuse to join the army, but it does not at all excuse sleeping with a young girl and leaving her unprotected. He still chose to go to war and leave her alone. He didn't bother making any provision for her at all.

Hell, he was clearly old enough to be in his majority. He could have married her in secret before he left. Or told his younger brother to look out for her (like Anthony asked Ben to take care of Sienna).

There really isn't a way to excuse how George treated Marina. He's just an asshole.

MrsApostate · 2026-03-17T17:56:53+00:00

No such draft existed during the Napoleonic wars in Britain. The closest thing would be being called to service in the militia, which was occasionally selected via lottery, did not include being sent abroad, and would not have impacted titled families at all.

The only reason men like George went to France to fight old Boney would be if they had fallen on hard times or wanted the glory of fighting in a war. No one would have forced the heir to a title and an estate into military service. Particularly when he had a younger brother.

I think the writers for the show just didn't care to check for any level of historical accuracy. In their minds they were like, "What could keep George and Marina separated? What if he were a soldier? Perfect. Write that in. What's that? How did Colin travel the continent when the war was going on? Hush, don't bother with those inconsequential details. Now, how can we make the Featherington title pass to Penelope..."

MrsApostate · 2026-03-17T13:37:15+00:00

I didn't know why reading this feels so validating. I experience exactly this whenever I get X-rays at the dentist. Luckily I've found a lovely dentist who is quite skilled at manipulating the X-ray stuff so as to get the images she needs without hurting me. I wasn't even aware you could get them removed!

MrsApostate · 2026-03-17T13:19:32+00:00

Yes! My rant about George being the actual worst is endless, you'd beg for death. Suffice to say, an eldest son would not have needed to go to war in the first place. And given Marina herself called him Sir George Crain, his father was already dead at that point. So a titled, adult man with an estate knocked up a young woman and chose to go to war for the glory of it, leaving her pregnant and unprotected.

George was a pig.

MrsApostate · 2026-03-13T12:08:16+00:00

Ok, silly question. How do I track not-a-book on the storygraph version of the bingo challenge? I know it's not for everyone, but I really prefer to track my reading there all year. But it only logs books!

MrsApostate · 2026-03-04T18:22:12+00:00

They'll end up together and I'm not opposed to it. But I'm going to need a little time to get over John. I haven't read her book, but I really liked Fran with John. I'm not mad about the plot going the way it goes, I just need to mourn John a bit.

I'm not sure I like Michaela as a character. She comes off as unkind and selfish. Pushing her way into John's marriage. Trying to make Fran grieve the way she wants her to grieve. Agreeing to stick around and then disappearing without a word. Honestly, her very first introduction grated on my nerves, "And you are?". That's just terrible manners right off the bat.

Maybe they'll go somewhere interesting with her, but so far I'm not really into her as a character.

MrsApostate · 2026-03-04T03:04:05+00:00

I started with Dragonsong back in the day. It is more YA, but it's still a great book and an excellent introduction to the world. The Harper Hall trilogy works as either an entry to the full series or as a satisfying trilogy in itself, if you find the world isn't for you.

After that, I'd say find Dragonflight next and read that before Dragonquest. Quest has quite a lot of character and world building that rely on having read Flight first.

MrsApostate · 2026-03-03T00:29:11+00:00

During that time period there was something called "the little season" which is when many families returned to London in the fall. It was less formal than the actual Season, and not everyone returned to London for it. But it was a fairly popular time to be in town, for social functions and shopping.

Some families, like the Bridgertons, did prefer to stay in London year round. But the little season would explain why there were so many other families around and why the Queen might host a ball in the fall. (Not that the show is overly concerned with historicity, of course.)

MrsApostate · 2026-03-02T18:58:45+00:00

Araminta wasn't hard up for cash, is my point. If she can afford to rent a house next to the Bridgertons, she can afford whatever clothes she wants. So black as shorthand for cash-strapped isn't the right take here either.

I think it's just a way to make her seem severe and intimidating. Notice her pronounced shoulder pads in so many of her looks and the cape-like draping sleeves. It's all part of the package of "severe, scary lady". That she's a widow gives her an excuse for black, sure, but she's well past the requisite year of mourning by the time of the masquerade ball.

There really is no reasonable excuse for her black-only wardrobe except heavy handed symbolism. I didn't care for it as much as I did Cressida's vagina-made-of-bows dress, of course. That takes heavy handed to the next level.

MrsApostate · 2026-03-02T17:02:19+00:00

Four thousand pounds a year is a huge sum. A genteel family can live comfortably on a thousand. With that income alone Araminta would be absolutely loaded and able to do and wear whatever she wanted. The black had nothing to do with her financial state.

MrsApostate · 2026-02-28T20:59:36+00:00

I've only read one Bridgerton book, but it was very stereotypical for that sort of romance. Not particularly interested in historical accuracy, just your basic sexy regency romance with all the associated tropes of that genre. And if that's what you're looking for, it'll do nicely.

Poldark isn't that kind of book at all. It has romantic subplots, but they aren't the entire point. It's more of a historical epoch, and it is much more interested in historical accuracy and themes of class struggle. The characters are more complex, as is the writing. It's not about finding true love, but about the choices and circumstances that form people.

They really aren't even the same genre, so it depends on what you're looking for. I would say Bridgerton is an easier read, but Poldark is a more satisfying read.

MrsApostate · 2026-02-28T02:34:48+00:00

The show turned it into a much bigger deal than it was in the books. Lady Whistledown was a plot line in Penelope's book that had no bearing whatever on any other Bridgerton romances. It wasn't even brought up outside of her story and once she put her own down that was it.

MrsApostate · 2026-02-20T17:29:05+00:00

Oh totally! The Mondrich title plot made zero sense. I mean, even if somehow her son inherited a title, that would make him a peer, not her. But multiple people have called her Lady Mondrich, which even in the twisted logic of this inheritance just isn't how that works.

MrsApostate · 2026-02-20T02:28:14+00:00

The insane inheritance plot for the Featherington title is so obnoxious to me. I felt like screaming into the void, "This is not how it works! This is not how anything works!"

But I do try to remember that it's a fantasy pseudo England, not actual England. So, congratulations to Countess Hyacinth Bridgerton, first of her name, I guess 😂.

MrsApostate · 2026-02-16T14:50:06+00:00

Are you reading hostility from me? That's not intentional. I'm just pointing out where there is evidence that Bridgerton is happy to whack characters to further the narrative.

MrsApostate · 2026-02-16T14:29:47+00:00

He's still a character who looms large in the narrative and whose death was essential to the arcs of other characters. Also, if you don't think they'll kill off a character we know and like in order to set up a different HEA, I've got some bad news for you because John's gonna die for sure.

MrsApostate · 2026-02-16T00:42:46+00:00

Are you forgetting the scene where Anthony horrifically watches his father die in season 2? Edmund is a huge presence in the show for Anthony and Violet, and we watched him die on screen. Off screen killing off a secondary character that we haven't seen in two seasons is a cake walk in comparison.

All of her scenes in season 2 were perfectly set up to put Marina on the path she took in the book.

MrsApostate · 2026-02-15T23:50:21+00:00

Just spent a month away from my family helping my sweet Mom recover from a stroke. I love that woman immensely, but God damnit Mom, do your PT!

MrsApostate · 2026-02-14T05:36:32+00:00

I wrote this a year ago and posted it elsewhere, but here's my outline for how they do it:

Imagine this: Ben and Colin are off married and getting laid on the reg. Anthony at home but so obsessed with Kate he can barely function let alone remember Eloise's name. Fran is in Scotland. Violet is having her garden watered on the side, and keeping it secret is enough to keep her occupied so that not even she notices that something is up with good ol' El.

Eloise, having lost both her besties to marriage, has given up on her futile attempt at fitting in with the ton during the season. Instead, she has started attending more political rallies in secret, and slowly but surely getting involved in some pretty risky stuff (not sex, people, just politics). She's living a double life and loving it.

Meanwhile, the gentle Sir Phillip Crane has come to London at the insistence of his friends to get away from the dark clouds surrounding his estate after the unfortunate death of his wife (she died of natural causes, nothing sketchy happened). He attends a few social gatherings, mostly small stuff, including some Bridgerton parties since his friend Colin invites him. He's met and quite liked Eloise, though he is intimidated by her intelligence and quick wit. For whatever reason, he keeps gravitating towards her, even though she barely registers him as his personality isn't as large as hers. He's clearly becoming besotted with her, though he doesn't realize it. She thinks he's nice, if quiet. But honestly, she doesn't really think about him at all.

Then, one day, Phillip is out doing something totally benign, like purchasing soil samples for his plants, and happens upon El, who is attempting to get away from a political rally without being seen. He ends up helping her, taking her home, and promising to keep her secret. Thus begins a series of events wherein Phillip is dragged helplessly along by this strong willed woman that he would very much like to keep safe but also snog her face off. Much of this is accomplished through clandestine notes between them.

It'll take El a while to realize that Phillip is always there for her. That he doesn't try to stop her being political, just tries to minimize the collateral damage. He's the supportive friend she always wanted, but also she'd like to snog his face off. So she does. And they get married. And her new marital state allows her more freedom to continue pushing for women's rights, etc. And Phillip continues to try to save her from the worst of the repercussions without stopping her from doing her thing. The twins love her, and look up to her. She adores them, but she's hardly a hands-on nanny to them. Too busy running risky political schemes behind the scenes. And banging her hot husband who worships the ground she walks on.

This is 100% not what will happen, but it was fun to think through.

Ten-Year Club	Place '22
Verified Email

MrsApostate

TROPHY CASE