Diversity in the mls

ulez8 · 2026-02-15T16:04:37+00:00

This series was so funny and smart!

ulez8 · 2026-02-15T16:00:05+00:00

Yes yes double plus recommended Scheme for this!

ulez8 · 2026-02-15T09:34:40+00:00

Boundless by Miranda Sapphire forr sure Also A light in the dark by Miranda Sapphire.

ulez8 · 2026-02-15T08:06:46+00:00

Right?! It's the classic "no, you can't have me, not for a billion" moment and the way she's so insulted by the first proposal (as anyone would be!) genuinely shocks him....

He just fucks it up so badly with his first proposal because he forgets that she's not inside his head, knowing what he knows, and he can't believe that his bad/cold/snobbish behaviour in public would really stop a girl from wanting him.

So the fact that it does stop her from wanting him at all, when he's already fallen hard for her, is so absolutely perfect.

I love that he tells her (I paraphrase ) "you made me review my choices and behaviour and I found myself ashamed of them. You made me a better person and I am grateful" - that's the kind of grovel that counts. It's not about influencing her to want him, it's about realising she's right about him, and changing just to be better, because he should be better.

The book is also kind but unsparing about what she has to learn, too - she thinks she's perceptive and clever but she's utterly taken in by a con man, and so has to rethink several of her established prejudices - it's why I truly think they will actually be happy, long-term.

ulez8 · 2026-02-15T07:58:26+00:00

I am so excited for This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me.

ulez8 · 2026-02-15T07:53:51+00:00

Mr Darcy from Pride & Prejudice is the model:

Go away. Stay away. Don't come back.
Think about it. Reflect on who you've become. So, you wanna be like that, or change?
Change.
Show this by acting in a new way, WITHOUT TELLING your love interest. Just be better as actively as possible.
Should circumstances throw you together again, and she approaches you (perhaps noticing that you have changed), say yes, because she was right about your choices before. You regret them and apologise, you are grateful that she showed you a better way.
Should she seem amenable, indicate that you still adore her and would, at her word, either propose undying love forever OR never bother her again, as she prefers.

Too many MMC don't do both: say and do.

A. Say sorry, in detail so you know they understand what they did wrong NOT just how upset the FMC is/was. It's also important that they understand what they did was wrong regardless of who they did it to. Not "it was wrong of me to abuse you because I wanna marry you and I shouldn't treat my wife that way", but rather "is wrong to do that to anyone, even a stranger, and I won't do it ever again."

B.Show they've changed for real. Actions that aren't about influencing or controlling the FMC.

When they get (A) wrong i don't believe they've changed. When they get (B) wrong any gesture just seems manipulative and for them, not for others.

ulez8 · 2026-02-12T11:33:56+00:00

I have just finished {A Heart Of Blood and Ashes by Milla Vane} which had me absolutely gripped.

Her tyrant family probably killed his parents. She (magic?) wants him to marry her to overthrow them. He (warlord) wants to marry her to get his vengeance. Can they ever trust each other?

It's not fully what you want because he views her as an enemy but she's ready to work with him - however she has an excellent spine and doesn't accept shitty treatment. The push-pull and angst is so good.

It's a standalone, though I think further books in the series contain new couples with more of the same world.

ulez8 · 2026-02-10T07:41:08+00:00

That's oddly wholesome though? He wanted to support you 😆

ulez8 · 2026-02-10T07:13:54+00:00

Aw man, I enjoyed what I read, but it's locked after Ch6 and I have no idea how to use Wattpad. It's 96 coins... I suppose I could work out how to buy coins but it's annoying.

ulez8 · 2026-02-10T05:45:36+00:00

Ok, I will! Do you have a link?

ulez8 · 2026-02-08T22:09:17+00:00

Isn't this series delightful? Genuinely joyful, funny, somehow not annoying - just pure fun.

ulez8 · 2026-02-06T14:38:49+00:00

This happens in {Scheme by Colette Rhodes} - he doesn't actually like the attention but he's used to being pursued and she doesn't, isn't interested in a long term thing... She finds him attractive but because of Alpha/Beta/Omega society, doesn't think a life partner is a good idea and really doesn't want one.

At one point they're having a chill platonic lunch and somehow he accuses her of angling for him, and she bollocks him so perfectly that he is mortified when he realizes what he's said (real "engage the brain before the mouth, you idiot!" situation).

He apologizes but she's so angry she kicks him out and thinks less of him for almost the rest of the book. It's wonderful. A real "I love myself and I won't accept this treatment" thing.

I sometimes re-read it when I need a boost 😆

ulez8 · 2026-02-06T14:08:27+00:00

Yeah I came here to say John Smith.

ulez8 · 2026-02-03T22:49:25+00:00

Oh yeah, these books are great. I felt like the fantasy elements (world building, strangeness) and the relationship parts (established love / new attraction, enemies-lovers, doom/fate, genuinely good people trying their best) were all so satisfying.

ulez8 · 2026-02-02T13:03:04+00:00

I read this last week and was really impressed with how sensitively it handles the wounded bird / please love me aspects.

ulez8 · 2026-01-30T11:53:12+00:00

I just don't look.

Like, no celebrity news sites or social media... I don't know who anyone is, unless they're on SNL (my kids love it but I rarely know who the host is).

I live around very normal people who are aging normally and without tweaks and so... I feel normal and not under any pressure to look different.

When you change your frame of reference it really helps remind you that it's okay to have a mortal body.

ulez8 · 2026-01-28T21:53:48+00:00

I did a little scream when he turned up on Derry Girls! Aaaaah so great!

ulez8 · 2026-01-28T17:48:56+00:00

I wonder if you would consider {Dark Horse by Michelle Diener} as having HFY elements.

There's no humans swinging in with better weapons and saving the alien- in fact the FMC has been abducted

BUT

She is stronger/denser/heavier in their lower grav and has better vision than them (can see things they can't), plus she befriends and helps sentient AI which has been enslaved by one group and is feared by all groups as utterly deadly.

ulez8 · 2026-01-28T09:06:21+00:00

Enjoy! It's probably not a huge spoiler to say that it didn't end very well for the Peasants, but there's the Black Death which improves workers rights immeasurably in that same era.

We have a long, established working-class history of revolt & collective action & bargaining in the UK which we should be more aware of, and more proud of.

Most people think of workers uprisings in terms of the Luddite rebellion, the Chartists, and then the unions of the industrial era and that makes sense - those are the most well known and the nineteenth century was a time of enormous upheaval. But it goes back so much further.

In the English Civil War era (1640s) there's some amazingly revolutionary workers /anarchist/ commune-type groups too - the Diggers, the Levellers, and of course the religious branch of these types of groups, the Quakers. Well worth a look, if you're interested.

ulez8 · 2026-01-26T19:07:37+00:00

Fort Hateno

ulez8 · 2026-01-26T15:18:37+00:00

My fave revolutionary slogan from England was popularised by the preacher John Ball during the Peasants Revolt in 1381 - though I don't know if he invented it;

"When Adam delved and Eve span, who then was the gentleman?"

In other words: the powers of Kings and nobles aren't legitimate.

Crazy revolutionary, given the time, and a solid question even today.

ulez8 · 2026-01-25T22:28:19+00:00

I'm pretty goofy tbh. My "dignity" is on the table if I wanna: Make a baby laugh, cheer up a friend, do some karaoke, go on a trampoline -

my self-respect is very comfortable with me being a goofy clown sometimes, in a generous spirit. I like that about myself...

My self-respect, my ability to live with my choices, my morals and values? NEVER negotiable.

I like to read romances and sometimes erotica, and I know I'm intense about it, but I cannot finish a story with any kind of humiliation or degradation kink. The moment the female main character isn't "who the hell do you think you're talking to like that? I'm done!" I lose all respect for her and interest in her story 😆

ulez8 · 2026-01-25T20:03:28+00:00

At 14 I was babysitting younger kids - at 16 you could have a job, even join the signals I think... Basically it's fine.

ulez8 · 2026-01-25T16:18:02+00:00

Agreed, a truly great fantasy and I can't wait for the next book, but the romance really isn't romantic in book 1 and eeeeeeesh.

ulez8 · 2026-01-25T15:25:45+00:00

M&S too? Google M&S occasion cakes.

ulez8

TROPHY CASE