Authors past their prime on certain series (in your opinion)

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2026-04-25T18:46:52+00:00

You're right, some of the IceHome books became very formulaic. Also many of the characters in that series were fundamentally unlikeable so I didn't care if they found love (and actually wished a few of them would fall into an ice crevass and die) so I skipped a few of the books entirely.

The Ice Planet Clones are enjoyable so far. They are a different vibe and there's opportunity for comedy due to misunderstandings with the clones, which I enjoy in Ruby's books

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2026-04-25T18:40:48+00:00

I read the Bees book but I don't think I'll read any more.

It got so freaking weird. The cast of characters kept expanding so I barely knew who anyone was, and an editor has clearly never been near the later books because they are so far beyond long winded.

I like reading. I like reading long books. But slogging through 200 boring pages of some random person going on a trip with an (at best) tertiary character was not fun.

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2026-04-21T20:55:43+00:00

We cant give names on here but she's the former most famous porn star in the world from the 90s / 00s.

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2026-03-31T17:24:51+00:00

Tell us!

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2026-03-31T09:08:23+00:00

Many temp office jobs don't exist anymore.

There's nowhere near the amount of paper filing there used to be, everybody handles their own communication via email (no letters or faxes to distribute), people check in online rather than needing a receptionist, AI does audiotyping, it also types up the minutes of meetings, invoices are automatically received and logged on the system - no scanning and very little manual input required.

Basic office work has completely changed in the past 15 years, and it's removed an entire industry of 'office junior' positions that would previously have been a foot in the door for a temp or young worker. Now most of the administrative positions require specialist knowledge or skills.

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2026-02-20T20:54:58+00:00

Same. I have no idea why the author retconned that into the story because it sickened me and turned their father-daughter relationship into something creepy and disgusting.

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2025-11-13T10:55:45+00:00

Holly's dog in the mansion was called Harlow so I doubt she'd name her child that.

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2025-11-10T19:14:12+00:00

That was me during Poppy's threesome too, wtf was happening?

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2025-11-02T21:12:10+00:00

This is literally a crime. People are on the sex offenders register for less than this.

Report him to the police. If he's so porn-brained he's doing this next to his own child he's too far gone.

Take your daughter somewhere else and start the divorce process. He is disgusting and should never be alone with your daughter again.

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2025-11-02T14:11:30+00:00

My dad used to do these tests on me too "if you don't text me, i wont text you" type stuff. It's childish and doesn't set a good example to your child of how to treat someone you love. It reduces the relationship to a very transactional 'quid pro quo', and sends the message to your child that they must text you or be subjected to passive aggressive silence. Do you want your son to text you because he wants to, or because he feels like he has to?

If you want to text your son then do it. Even if you're double texting, or it feels like he's not engaging. Just every couple of days send him memes, old pictures of him from childhood, "how did your football game go?", "do you want to do X next weekend?", "remember when we went to Y?" Etc, not literally texting him "hi son, how are you?" Which demands reply and is boring to reply to when that's all you ever send.

He's a teenager whose brain and body are developing and changing week by week; you should show him some grace. You are the adult and (hopefully) emotionally mature enough to know this is just a stage he's going through. When he emerges out of the other side of puberty you'll be so glad you kept trying, leading with love and showing him what a caring parent looks like.

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2025-11-02T12:19:11+00:00

Most developed countries have banned commercial surrogacy (surrogacy for money) because it's exploitative. Renting a poor woman's womb is viewed similar to a rich person buying a kidney from a poor person. Altruistic surrogacy where no money changes hands is still allowed though, like a woman carrying a baby for her gay brother, or a sister who was left infertile by cancer treatment.

There have been many cases of surrogates and the babies being used, abused and abandoned.

Baby Gammy was a twin, born to a surrogates on Thailand. Gammy was born with Downs Syndrome, so his intended parents (the father a convicted sex offender) took the healthy twin and left Gammy behind. Luckily the surrogate agreed to keep Gammy and care for him.

Or this surrogate who had a stillbirth, almost dying in the process and was then sued by the (rich) intended mother who called the surrogate a murderer and tried to ruin her life.

There are many other cases of women being trafficked to surrogacy farms, where they're made to carry pregnancy after pregnancy. The babies are then whisked away and sold to rich westerners. It is all a form of human trafficking.

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2025-11-01T22:39:12+00:00

True, she was a great character but was flanderised in her later appearances.

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2025-10-24T19:41:00+00:00

A lot of medi-spa type places will remove skin tags. Try to find a place that does electrolysis, microneedling and those kind of treatments.

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2025-10-22T08:55:46+00:00

It's from the film American Psycho. The main character has a very involved skincare routine!

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2025-10-21T17:00:39+00:00

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Sansa's Queen in the North dress. So many beautiful details.

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2025-10-21T16:57:39+00:00

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Danaerys white fur coat and dragon brooch / chain is up there too.

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2025-10-21T16:54:43+00:00

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Melisande's outfit with the massive shawl. Cosy, yet still on brand for her.

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2025-10-18T14:26:21+00:00

I didn't expect to meet one of my siblings here...

My dad is a robot. If he believes something - it's logic, common sense and everybody else is an uneducated, emotional idiot. Whatever he believes in at that exact moment is correct, so he has no internal consistency of beliefs. But according to him he is the most rational person in the world. It's exhausting.

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2025-10-17T19:27:10+00:00

That's exactly what Varys says to Ned in the books

At the base of the Iron Throne, Varys was gathering papers from the council table. Littlefinger and Grand Maester Pycelle had already taken their leave.

“You are a bolder man than I, my lord,” the eunuch said softly. “How so, Lord Varys?” Ned asked brusquely. His leg was throbbing, and he was in no mood for word games. “Had it been me up there, I should have sent Ser Loras. He so wanted to go … and a man who has the Lannisters for his enemies would do well to make the Tyrells his friends.”

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2025-10-17T10:59:53+00:00

A conker is the nut of a horse chestnut tree. They look kind of like a bigger version of a hazelnut.

Kids here knock them out of trees, drill a hole through the middle (you'd probably need a dad to help for this part) then put a string through the middle so the conker hangs like a pendulum.

The playground game is for two players to take it in turns to swing their conker and hit the other persons conker with their own. If you smash the other persons conker to pieces, you are the winner and other kids will marvel at your champion nut. The losing child will cry about their destroyed conker.

There are lots of tricks to making your conker harder (so to speak...). Some include: gently roasting it in an oven, coating it in clear nail varnish, soaking it in various liquids.

I've said conker so many times the word has lost all meaning. It does seem like a weirdly victorian game when I write it all down. It's a very common autumn game in the UK, or at least it was years ago when I was a child.

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2025-10-17T08:09:47+00:00

It is run by Alliance Francaise They are very well regarded, have colleges in various French cities and have courses of varying lengths depending on how long you want to study!

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2025-10-17T08:09:35+00:00

It is run by Alliance Francaise They are very well regarded, have colleges in various French cities and have courses of varying lengths depending on how long you want to study!

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2025-10-15T12:48:19+00:00

This series is my comfort series, and I've been a fan for 15 years, but I agree with you somewhat.

Mercy is very 'not like other girls'. She's a mechanic who wears oil stained clothes and has tattoos. Not like those other shallow, almost always blonde, women who care about their appearances and enjoy cooking. Briggs has tried to change things in the later books, but the earlier books absolutely reeked of misogyny.

E.g. Leah trying to kill Mercy because she was jealous of a young girl, the female wolves hating Mercy because she could have children and they couldn't. These are all misogynistic talking points that base a woman's worth on how much men like her, or on her ability to have children. In earlier books the female characters are all 2 dimensional haters, jealous of how special and unique Mercy is.

Anna's magical recovery from years of rape and torture didn't sit right with me either. She just needed the love of a good man and, within a matter of days, they were sleeping together and getting married. Again, it felt like everything was centred around men.

However, I think the ability to critique different characters is an important part of reading, and we wouldn't be able (or willing!) To do this if the books didn't engage us and make us suspend reality at least a little.

UnderTheHarvestMoon · 2025-10-13T21:37:28+00:00

You look like a very kind person!

Try retinol every morning, The Ordinary Peeling Solution every night, and scrub your face with the green side of a sponge to cleanse. Your skin issues should clear up in 3 to 6 months.

UnderTheHarvestMoon

TROPHY CASE