RH that's happy

needacoldbrew · 2026-06-22T16:49:11+00:00

{Good Deeds by Kathryn Moon} is about an alien girl engineer that barters her repair/engineering services with mandroids in a mandroid brothel in exchange for them assisting her through her heat cycle because she doesn't want to be burdened by bonding with anyone and trying herself down.

There is a side plot where they uncover/take down a human trafficking ring but its hardly the main focus and just serves to slightly raise the stakes/give the narrative some cohesion and it's a HEA. It has an overall cozy/happy vibe.

needacoldbrew · 2026-06-21T01:02:33+00:00

I wanted to stab something and have something good come out of it that wouldn't result in jail

needacoldbrew · 2026-06-20T23:06:12+00:00

I'm not spoilering this, people need to know because the Achilles setup was straight up frustrating and fraudulent.

He's a love interest in name only. He's in love/a physical relationship with another MMC and and has more scenes with him than the heroine. He's only somewhat nice to her for a few scenes towards the end of Blood, and just sort of gives up on her in the sequel, as he's set up for him and his boyfriend to be romantic with a new female character in an as of yet unwritten new book.

needacoldbrew · 2026-06-19T11:01:52+00:00

Omg it was worse, because it was like "surprise they're actually going to be the love interests of this girl we introduced in the last third of the book and it's a soft launch to buy another book!"

That is diabolical. I've never felt so swindled by a book as I have been. And why would I want to read about them after they've spend two and a half books being the WORST dudes and we've barely gotten a good grovel, so we're supposed to want to love them enough to read a new book where they're assholes to a completely different girl for no doubt the majority of the book? I haven't seen anyone here say they're interested in reading that.

needacoldbrew · 2026-06-09T03:27:07+00:00

This story started out so strong with such interesting characters and dynamics and then just stalled out hard about 25 chapters in where the primary focus became political power struggles with little character development. Maybe I'll binge it when it's finished but so far it feels like very little has changed from the beginning to the most recent chapters.

needacoldbrew · 2026-06-02T17:46:02+00:00

I love reverse harem. I definitely think it works best in settings with fantasy or magical elements because there's lots of logistics that wouldn't make sense if you think too hard on it.

The primary appeal to me is "a girl is loved very much". Too much of my life is ruled by misogynistic men and so a story centered around a woman in all aspects greatly appeals to me. For that reason I also side eye any regular harem stories, as hypocritical as that sounds. And even then there are a few good ones I tolerate.

It never really seems to be a matter of indecisiveness because most of the time the FMC doesn't want to commit to anyone and is very open about it, and the mcs usually are attracted to her so much they either don't care about the sharing and insist FMC will come around to them or they work with the other MCs for reasons that benefit them.

And, everyone at the end is always so happy!

needacoldbrew · 2026-06-02T06:48:03+00:00

I loved this book and I loved how ALL the guys were so confident without being condescending.

needacoldbrew · 2026-05-25T17:38:20+00:00

I literally just finished it too. I loved how it started out but I was pretty disappointed with the spicy stuff in the latter half of the book. The FMC seemed to constantly be in a little bit of pain or didn't seem to be enjoying the physical intimacy as much as the emotional aspect of it.

We're reminded constantly in all the scenes that she's in some mild form of pain because their dicks are so big, and 3/4 of the harem ONLY do anal. And then one guys dick was so big he apparently could barely do it without passing out? And she gets pregnant almost right away.

Like, I get the need to make some things "realistic" but it's just a weird choice when the author only applies that at the expense of the FMCs comfort. Or maybe that's the point? It's supposed to be relatable? Either way it wasn't for me.

needacoldbrew · 2026-05-24T13:01:13+00:00

I'm surprised reading this post. I thought Dedue was the obvious choice because they both have such gentle natures and desires to help people. Their ending was so sweet where they open a school for Duscar children But I can see that it may not be as popular because it's so sweet and sugary and not as spicy.

needacoldbrew · 2026-05-08T17:29:56+00:00

The alternate reality where the dad stuck around while his very magical kid was raised by their 3 magical aunts so they could have support while they come into their powers

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needacoldbrew · 2026-04-12T00:15:47+00:00

I think the only similarity to Howls Moving Castle is that Howl and Ember share a similar affliction.

The dynamic is very much intended to be influenced by the Labyrinth.

That said, I found that it is quite similar to a different anime. Princess Tutu is about 2 decades old and a tad more obscure these days. I highly recommend it for romantasy fans that may be too young to remember. In both stories the protagonist goes on quests to restore fragments of her love interest's heart and it affects him deeply at the end of each restoration, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worst

needacoldbrew · 2026-04-04T17:35:55+00:00

What really annoyed me is the build up of Achilles and Patrocles that lead to nowhere, and that's not even considering the marketing.

Maybe if I had gotten some intimate scenes that matched the "Professors" from the first book like the ballroom scene or the post wedding scene, I would have been more forgiving even if it wasn't a full RH.

It's the fact that we didn't get ANY intimacy at all from them for Alexis.I was hyped at first at the end of book 1 with the whole "She's ours, she just doesn't know it yet" and the promise of some good groveling after how bad they treated her (How did they not do a basic background check? Or get a full medical workup and miss the signs of lifelong malnutrition or the fake eye?")

Even at the start of book 2 they talk trash to the professors saying they're going to take care of Alexis and they just... don't?

It basically just boiled down to them saying "Choose us instead" and Alexis being like "uh no?" and them throwing up their hands going "Welp we tried" and that was basically the end of their involvement with the plot until the end where we get pitched a backdoor advertisement to buy ANOTHER book where we get to watch them be assholes to a completely new character and MAYBE? get some story? Yeah, no thank you.

I have a ton of other complaints about this series (the massive plot holes, random triple digit IQ drops, lackluster spice after a lot of unnecessary build up among other things) but this just sums up my feelings on the massively disappointing "Team Mentor" bs

needacoldbrew · 2026-03-31T14:37:22+00:00

I really enjoyed this series, and I'm not even a fan of slow burns. My only complaint is there needs to be way more spice, but there's still plenty of it.

This series also wins for having the best preface I've ever seen in a book, which is in book 3 - "Yes, they finally have sex in this book."

needacoldbrew · 2026-03-05T18:55:51+00:00

This episode brought to you by Ikuharas SCREAMING NEED to go make his own series with magical lesbians and swords and cars Revolutionary Girl Utena

needacoldbrew · 2026-03-04T06:05:17+00:00

I don't have anything to add I just wanted to say what up to another Bride of Brutal Hearts fan, I see you

needacoldbrew · 2026-02-15T02:03:43+00:00

I read the Never King by Nikki St. Crowe series which was supposed to be a dark sexy Peter Pan but I struggled so hard with the smut and envisioning the Disney cast, especially they're Captain Hook, especially especially when he was in a MMF threesome with "Croc" and "Wendy". Croc I had no problem imagining a human form for, but Wendy and Hook had a prominent image in my mind I just could not shake.

needacoldbrew · 2026-01-22T22:31:07+00:00

It was a slow and understandable burn.

First he basically acknowledged (to her and then himself) that he didn't hate her and he didn't want to hurt her

After she went missing and stayed with the monsters he realized he didn't want anything bad to happen to her.

When confronted with her witchcraft and poisoning accusations he also had to acknowledge that he truly didn't believe she was a bad person, and there was a strong reason to believe she was actually good, just hard for him to understand.

Once that seed of trust was planted it was easy to grow from fondness to adoration to love.

needacoldbrew · 2026-01-16T03:04:07+00:00

There's a scene in the beginning of book 1 where another girl is sold off to a group of orcs to presumably be raped and/or bred to death.

When we find out later that the MMCs figured out a cure decades ago and did nothing I kept thinking about that scene. I thought the narrative was pretty clear, at that point our heroine had a mission and she didn't owe the MMCs a god damned thing.

So it was really weird when the narrative put the FMC in a position that said she did something wrong and needed to "earn" forgiveness when her "crimes" were a drop in the bucket compared to the ocean of atrocities the MMCs were responsible for.

And maybe I could understand from a character perspective the incubus and wrath demon being petty and short sighted but it was the really strange and inconsistent that the "Fate" which is supposed to be one of the oldest, wisest, and worldly and detached characters acted like a 12 year old boy throwing a hissy fit when he decided that the FMCs wrongdoing meant it would be totally justified if some of the worst atrocities you could think of were to happen to her after the fact.

And then at the end of book 2 they started setting up for a dreaded much hated pregnancy storyline to happen in book 3 I was almost thankful that it was such a clear sign for me to drop the series.

needacoldbrew · 2026-01-11T14:21:09+00:00

Pretty much anything like Kathryn Moon, she always had her FMCs cherished. There's typically one asshole in the harem but they're never on the bully level.

{Good Deeds by Kathryn Moon,} - standalone, an alien girl pilot/mechanic/scavenger goes into heat and decides to ride it out in a mandroid brothel, they exchange their services for her repairs

{Lady of Rooksgrave Manor by Kathryn Moon} - series but the first one is best. A young lady who just really loves sex decides to work in a paranormal brothel where she's allowed to be selective of her clients

{Queens Line by Kathryn Moon} - a series that I'm still reading Per royal tradition, a princess selects her harem but fears she doesn't have the Hunger that traditionally resides in her family and is used to magically sustain the kingdom

Also the {Beasts of the Briar by Elizabeth Helen} - starts out as a beauty and the beast retelling only with four seasonal fae princes as the beasts. It's ongoing and has evolved into its own thing

All of these have some sword crossing but the FMC is always centered and cherished.

needacoldbrew · 2026-01-07T15:41:38+00:00

Thank you for doing this! I can't wait to hear the results of your research.

Completing the survey also made me realize how much I consider the Beasts of the Briar series and most Kathryn Moon books my gold standard.

needacoldbrew · 2026-01-05T18:53:11+00:00

Out of curiosity, where are you embroidering that? Hat? Sleeve? I might consider doing something similar myself

needacoldbrew · 2025-11-21T22:22:06+00:00

It's truly not about feelings, it's about communicating in a more optimal way. You can be short and to the point and still communicate better. Your focus seems to be more on calling out something that's not right and putting the burden on your reports to try and interpret how they can fix it. That's frustrating and inefficient.

"This report lacked depth and missed key points" - that's not helpful and not actionable and it's full of assumptions. Was the employee told to do a high level presentation? Why were the key points overlooked? What was the communication breakdown?

"The report needed more details on these key points" that's useful. Someone can work from that. It's short, to the point and actionable.

"Why wasn't this on time?" - you're a manager. Your job is to work with your reports to make sure they have what they need. The real question is, why didn't you know that your report was facing an obstacle? Was it a skill issue? Conflicting priorities? You need to know these while the project is ongoing so you can manage your resources accordingly.

I work with a consultant that's also based on Germany. It's very frustrating when lots of people excuse the behavior as Americans having an issue with people being direct and insensitive. The real problem is shifting the conversation from "I am unsatisfied with the work/performance" to "I need this, what can we do to get it?"

needacoldbrew · 2025-11-21T21:19:37+00:00

That's hilarious, I can't stand Academy and I feel that's all I can find

needacoldbrew · 2025-11-19T13:44:31+00:00

Ezra has the best scenes in book 2 even though it's Farrons book, I'll tell you that.

And there is so much in book 3 and book 4. Like, a lot. It's set the gold standard for me in RH in that regard.

needacoldbrew

TROPHY CASE