[mermaidsirennikita]

Caro's Immortals After Dark Cheat Sheet

Listen. I went through a thing this year. I read every single Immortals After Dark book, basically one after the other--and I haven't been the same since. This series has it all--vampires, werewolves, witches, royal politics, fated bonds, that time Lothaire mailed his heart to Ellie and she went "oh fuck that guy", a sorority house full of immortal warriors. It's probably my favorite romance novel series.

Which is impressive! Because there are many books! I recommend reading these in order, but I know that's just not possible for everyone, and some books have triggers that will make them... just not work for all readers.

With that in mind, I've made a cheat sheet regarding the lore of... the Lore, as well as each book, its hook, its tropes, and the triggers (that I remember--please double check on sites like Storygraph if you have something that's a real issue for you to read about). I've also included the books that, in my opinion, should really be read before each book, if necessary. Some people read these totally out of order as standalones. I couldn't do that, but I do think there are a few you could read in groups, potentially.

I also break down the people you really need to know about, as well as the general mythos so that you can ideally have an easier time jumping into a book if you so please.

These are paranormal romances--most of them are fairly high heat for traditionally published romance especially, and they are fairly violent. I.... have never had more fun reading a series.

Anyway, shit is bolded if you wanna scan because there is a lot of info in this guy. I'll probably make a separate post ranking them at some point.

Happy reading!

This series functions within the world of the Lore, where immortals fight each other and work within their factions for power, while remaining secreted away from human notice.

There is currently a major event crossing the whole series, called the Accession. Every 500 years, the immortals fight each other to essentially weed out their numbers. During this time, wacky events often occur, and immortals are more likely to find their fated mates.

Several types of immortals are more likely to find "fated mates" due to their mythologies.

Werewolves (Lykae): The Lykae are exceptionally earthy, and love food, sex, and family. They have an Instinct that guides them, and they struggle to contain their beasts during points of high emotion. The Lykae revere "matehood" above all else--it's basically their religion, and they live what they view as half-lives until they find their mates, who they recognize immediately based off scent. Once a Lykae finds their mate, they must mark them, which usually occurs during the first full moon after that initial recognition. Lykae MUST transform and "let the beast out of its cage" every full moon, so this usually involves a primal chase and animalistic sex outside, during which they bite their mate, leaving a mark that is invisible to all others but immediately recognizable to all other Lykae. The Lykae can only have children with their mate. Another fun and cool thing about Lykae is that they revere matehood so much that if you are like, a Lykae's sister-in-law, he will fucking DIE to keep you alive. Why? Because if a Lykae's mate dies, he just goes fucking crazy and will, unless locked in a dungeon or some shit, kill himself ASAP.

Vampires: Vampires are either born or turned. Either way, once their heart stops (which occurs at maturity for born vampires), they lose all sexual function and desire. Until they recognize their Bride (though to be clear, the Bride does not have to be female--nor does a Lykae's mate). The vampire is then Blooded, which means that their heart starts beating again, their dick starts working, and they are much more powerful. A vampire is not obligated to stay loyal to his Bride the way a Lykae is obligated to stay loyal to his mate, but it's hard to.... resist the pull. Also, a vampire MUST get off for the first time after being Blooded while having skin to skin contact with his Bride. Otherwise, he just stays in a state of sexual frustration and can't get off by himself or with anyone else. Vampires can breed, but vampire women must eat food of the earth in order to be fertile.

Demons: Demons are INTERESTING because they have horns (and sometimes wings, depending on the breed) that act as sexual organs...? Horns straighten due to aggression or arousal, they get swollen, you can use them to... steer the demon.... to where... he should go... But also, demons have fated mates!!!! Unlike vampires, they can fuck before they find their mates, but here's the trick--the orgasm is dry. The demon has a DEMON SEAL. The demon seal can only be broken when the demon is inside his fated mate. At that point, he can ejaculate, which is way more fun for him, and after that he can theoretically come inside and impregnate anyone else. Most demons stay with their mates, and they do have claiming bites, similar to the Lykae. Their bites involve a stunning sensation because demons are usually kinda.... weird... during sex, so you'll get your little bite and then just like. Come and be a bit out of sorts. While the demon is demonic. Fun!!!

Valkyries: Valkyries do not have fated mates, but I'm including them because there are like... a lot of valkyrie heroines in this series. Valkyries have three parents--their moms are warrior maidens who give a mighty battle cry when they die, and Odin and Freya take them up to Valhalla where they promptly put a valkyrie daughter in them. The valkyries are therefore all sisters. They tend to be fun, warlike broads who live in sorority-esque houses and give piercing shrieks that shatter glass. Their weaknesses are basically like... getting distracted by shiny stuff. And sometimes--big dick energy. Has felled many.

Other species include everything from succubi, the fey, phantoms, and more--but you'll most often see a werewolf, demon, or vampire (or a hybrid fo the sort) driving that "fated mate" shit.

Key Characters:

There is only one character, that, to my knowledge, has appeared in every book.

Nix the Ever Knowing: A 3,000+ year old valkyrie, the primordial valkyrie, who is probably steering the entire plot. She's a soothsayer who is incredibly bananas due to her inability to distinguish between the present, the past, and the future. She has been responsible for like... most of the pairings, and is incurring loyalty from various immortals along the way and fucking with alliances. She also is super hot and frequently wears t-shirts that she has custom made. A certain reality TV show host has a restraining order against her, but she got his number!!! Her solo book will probably be the last one. Nix has many sisters whom she lives with, because all valkyrie are girls and they all have two of the same parents (with three parents in total).

Lothaire: Not in every book, but a lot of them, especially up to his solo book (since then, he's been pretending to run a kingdom but mostly pile driving his wife). The Enemy of Old, 3,000+ year old vampire who is the "black king" to Nix's "white queen" on their weird chess board. Tends to set up other characters in horrible situations so that he can jump in and be like "oh, you need help??? Sign my ledger and owe me a blood debt and I'll save you". Is super insane, because like Nix, his concept of time is not great. Really into puzzles and not above being distracted by the right woman taking her top off.

The MacRieves: The ruling werewolf clan, led by Lachlain, King of the Lykae. Super sexy hot, very animal, have a fun Scottish stronghold and a fun Louisiana estate and a Canadian outpost...? Have been known to chase their women through the brush like "ALL I WANNA DO IS MAKE YOU COME IT'S MY PURPOOOOOOOOSE....!"

The Wroth Brothers: Nikolai (the leader!), Sebastian, (the smart one!), Murdoch (the slutty one!), Conrad (the crazy one!). Estonian warlord types. When Nikolai was dying on the battlefield he got an offer from a hot vampire (Kristoff, sexy Not-Evil? Vampire King) to become a similarly hot vampire in exchange for doing battle, and he was like "oh word let's go please also turn my similarly dying brother Murdoch" and he and Murdoch went home to find that most of their family had been slaughtered so they were like "hey Sebastian and Conrad please become vampires" and Sebastian and Conrad went "no" and Nikolai went "well that actually wasn't an offer it was a command" and Sebastian fled to his geek castle and Conrad ran off to be crazy in the woods so now the family is..... struggling.

The Woede: Rydstrom was the king of a demon plane and lost his crown to an ultimate evil and blamed it on his brother Cade, who was missing in action in part because he'd been fostered out BY RYDSTROM'S COMMAND LOL. For centuries since, Rydstrom (the responsible daddy one) and Cade (the sexy hitman one) have been trying to liberate their kingdom, and show up to bicker and hash out shit that should probably be reserved for family therapy.

The Dacians: Ssssh these are super secret vampires who live in the mist and can't find a king so Lothaire is hoping that he can just. Become that.

The Horde: Wacky red-eyed vampires who drink from the flesh and go craaaaazy because when you do that, you often take the person's memories. Whoops!

The Forbearers: Wacky clear-eyed vampires who do drink blood, but not from the flesh, which makes them less crazy. Led by Kristoff the Gravewalker, aforementioned Sexy Vampire King, who has yet to get a book but he will once he finds his Bride, oops LOTHAIRE PUT HER IN THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN AND FORGOT WHERE SHE WAS. The Wroth brothers are Forbearers, except for Conrad because Mistakes Were Made. Sidebar: the Forbearer heroes have a tendency to be like "YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE!!!!" about drinking from the flesh once they find their fated Brides because like. A consensual vampire bite is super orgasmic, ya know? Even Kristoff was like "meeeeeh we can just like, let the married guys do that because I know I will be when I find Furie (AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA BECAUSE LOTHAIRE MISPLACED HER) amirite fellas???"

The Morior: They've been around for like... three books, so I still don't fully get them, but they're like the Avengers of the Lore, I think? But they mostly wanna decimate all my favorites, so it's hard for them. However, they do have sex appeal. Especially Rune, the dark fey who has poisonous blood.

Books, in order of release/chronology.

The Warlord Wants Forever. Nikolai Wroth (vampire) and Mysty the Vampire Layer Myst the Coveted (valkyrie) This is a prequel novella, and it is significantly shorter than the rest of the books. I will add! That some aspects of the series lore have not *quite* been hammered out in this one.

One Sentence Tease: Vampire warlord meets femme fatale valkyrie who leaves him with a magical boner for five years--and he ain't happy about it.

You Should Read Beforehand: Nothing, this comes first chronologically--but it is one of the Wroth Brothers books, along with No Rest for the Wicked, Dark Needs at Night's Edge, and Untouchable.

Tropes: Alpha Hero, Enemies to Lovers, more experienced heroine with less experienced hero (he does get insecure about it), much femme fatale activity, EXTREME orgasm denial, a good kidnapping, fucking outdoors and then your sisters walk in while he's still inside you whoops, rough rough sex

TW: The most non-consensual this series gets in a very magical way. Myst must wear a magical chain the gods cursed her with; whoever holds this chain may control her, but nobody has been able to take this chain off her prior to Nikolai; Nikolai grabs the chain and tells her to stop without realizing what it does; he realizes what it does and immediately makes tells her to come. He does not force her to have sex with him, but he does.... get the party started... with the chain. To be very fair, in context........ he has his reasons.

2. A Hunger Like No Other. Lachlain MacRieve (lykae) and Emmaline Troy (vampire/valkrie hybrid).

One Sentence Tease: The one where he cuts off his own leg to escape his eternal prison after catching A SINGLE WHIFF OF HER.

You Should Read Beforehand: Nothing, really, but Nikolai and Myst do make an appearance post-Warlord. This book is a MacRieve book, obviously.

Tropes: Alpha Hero (none of these... are not that, some are just more than others), A Good Kidnapping, Submissive Heroine Discovers Inner Strength, Growly Mean Man Becomes Her Puppy, Virginal Heroine, Primal Chase, lots of extremely wolfy behavior (Lachlain is one of the most animalistic werewolf heroes in the series), Enemies to Lovers, Werewolf/Vampire Hatred Shenanigans, Big Guy/Teeny Fragile Girl,

TW: Lots of dubcon, Lachlain basically snatches Emma out of nowhere and takes her to a hotel shower and makes her jack him off in exchange for a call to her family within the first few chapters. To be very fair, she is inwardly pretty into it. He also later tries to get her drunk through... creative means, in order to make her deflowering less... jarring. Because werewolves.

3. No Rest for the Wicked. Sebastian Wroth (vampire) and Kaderin the Cold-Hearted (valkyrie).

One Sentence Tease: The hot vampire nerd guy enters a magical Amazing Race to win local emotionless badass--complications ensue.

You Should Read Beforehand: Nothing, though some Wroth bros backstory is told in Warlord. A Wroth Brothers book.

Tropes: Inexperience Hero/Experienced Heroine, Nerdy Hero, Heartless Heroine, Amazing Race But Make It Magic, Very Embarrassed By Impromptu Sexual Encounters with the Nerdy Vampire, Mile High Club, Secret Death Sentence, Refusal to Admit Fucking Emotions, Jealousy

TW: I mean, Sebastian does sort of non-consensually bite Kaderin in a club, but it is.... very hot.

4. Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night. Bowen MacRieve (lykae) and Mariketa the Awaited (witch).

One Sentence Tease: A werewolf who's spent centuries trying to resurrect his dead mate is hit with unexpected lust for an all-powerful cheerleading witch.

You Should Read Beforehand: You don't have to read A Hunger Like No Other first, but you do get some Bowen backstory in that, plus the setup for his part in the plot.

Tropes: Widower Hero, Enemies to Lovers, Party Girl/Cheerleader Heroine, a lot of age gap emphasis (he's like 900, she's 23 and hasn't hit her immortality yet), some aphrodisiac shenanigans (immortals get super horny when transitioning into immortality... Mariketa is right in the middle of all that), MUCH FUCKBOY, Primal Chase, Light Magical Bondage, How Can I Compete With A Ghost, LOTS of Witchy Vibes,

TW: I mean, Bowen does in fact kill like five billion people and chase Mariketa through a jungle covered in gore being like "LISTEN IT'S THE FULL MOON WE MIGHT AS WELL ACCEPT IT AND GET IT ON" but that's standard issue werewolfitude.

5. Dark Needs at Night's Edge. Conrad Wroth (vampire) and Neomi Laress (ghost).

One Sentence Tease: Bloodlust-maddened virgin vampire falls in love with a fabulous hot ghost who likes to flash him her panties (as she should).

I Should Read Beforehand: You can read Warlord and No Rest beforehand, but it's not necessary. All of the Wroth brothers appear in this book, as do Myst and Kaderin, briefly.

Tropes: Virgin Hero/Experienced Heroine, CRAAAAAAAAZY hero, former sex worker heroine who isn't ashamed, dirty talk dirty talk dirty talk dirty talk, extreme devotion, everyone thinks he's hallucinating her at one point, just achingly romantic star-crossed lovers vibes because they can't touch

TW: I mean, Neomi is literally murdered by her abusive fiancee in the beginning. She's stabbed, it's quick. Otherwise, standard issue gore. Neomi and Conrad have a pretty consensual relationship, aside from her watching him shower a lot. As you would if you were a horny ghost.

6. Dark Desires After Dusk. Cadeon Woede (demon) and Holly Ashwin (valkyrie/human hybrid).

One Sentence Tease: A roadtrip romance between a sexy math professor who's doomed to carry the Dark Messiah and the mercenary demon guy determined to betray her.

I Should Read Beforehand: The Woede bros make some fairly significant appearances in Wicked Deeds and Dark Needs, but you could hack it without. A lot of Dark Needs plot points are mentioned in this one, because uh, Cade fucked up.

Tropes: Virgin Heroine/Slutty Hero, Trickery and Lies throughout, Nerdy Heroine, Roadtrip Romance, ~Let Your Hair Down And Live A Little Babe~, FWB, some pretty heavy breeding vibes due to Holly's role in the Accession

TW: Cade does lie to Holly for basically this entire book. I don't care, but a head's up. Holly is kidnapped by a demonic cult in the beginning that plans to rape and impregnate her--she stops them before anything happens. Lots of people are trying to get at Holly's womb in this one, and there is in fact a pregnancy.

7. Untouchable. Murdoch Wroth (vampire) Daniella the Ice Maiden (valkyrie). Technically a novella, but it's like... 300+ pages.

One Sentence Tease: Like, if Elsa fell in love with a hot vampire who can't touch her but CAN utilize an icicle in... interesting ways.

I Should Read Beforehand: All the Wroth brothers books, because this is the culmination of their familial arc and overlaps with them. So, The Warlord Wants Forever, No Rest for the Wicked, and Dark Needs at Night's Edge.

Tropes: Slutty Hero/Virgin Heroine, Frozen But with Porn, "Come with Me to My Siberian Palace", They Can't Touch But They Can Use an Icicle Dildo, So Much Sexual Frustration It's Actually Insane

TW: I mean, I guess Murdoch is a bit aggressive with her at points, but nothing big.

8. Kiss of a Demon King. Rydstrom Woede (demon) and Sabine (sorceress).

One Sentence Summary: Morally upright (?) demon king enters the ultimate edging contest with an evil sorceress and discovers that oh, he sure is a dom.

I Should Read Beforehand: Definitely read Dark Desires After Dusk beforehand. There's backstory, there's overlapping timelines, you see the same scene from a different perspective... it's a lot.

Tropes: Dom/sub shenanigans, edging, enemies to lovers, virgin heroine but she gave a lot of head in her day, villainess heroine/"good" hero, gentleman in the streets FREAK in the sheets, Don't Take The Girl dot Mp3 vibes, A Good Kidnapping, lots of restraints

TW: Oh, where to begin. Sabine kidnaps Rydstrom to seduce him and conceive his heir, chains him to a bed, continuously edges him to try to get him to agree to marry her and sire a legitimate heir. At one point she's pissed at him and has a bunch of servants bathe him just to fuck with his head.... Rydstrom subsequently vows to "get parity", which means he's gonna do every single thing right back at her. Also, Sabine and her sister are being held captive by their evil brother who lusts after Sabine, and Sabine has died a million times in the past, some of which is graphically described.

9. Pleasure of a Dark Prince. Garreth MacRieve (lykae) and Lucia the Huntress (valkyrie).

One Sentence Summary: Warrior woman who's taken a vow of chastity plays a game of cat and mouse with the werewolf determined to have her.

You Should Read First: A Hunger Like No Other. Garreth is Lachlain's brother, and the first chunk of this book directly overlaps with the latter part of Hunger's plot.

Tropes: Himbo(ish) hero, Alpha Hero, Vow of Chastity, Primal Chase (this is a chase heavy book), extreme devotion, roadtrip romance, Romancing the Stone/Indiana Jones vibes heavy, recovery after abuse

TW: Lucia was raped in the past by a different character and is recovering from this trauma. Garreth is very patient and gentle with her once he realizes that she needs some TLC. I mean, he still does chase her on the full moon and fuck her on a stone altar, but it is EXTREMELY hot. Lothaire shows up to steal someone's finger. This is not the last time he will carry someone's finger around.

10. Demon from the Dark. Malkolm Slaine (vampire/demon hybrid) and Carrow the Incarcerated (witch).

One Sentence Tease: Local partygirl witch sets out to deceive a seemingly-barbaric demon warrior, discovers he's actually incredibly sweet.

You Should Read First: You can pretty much read this one alone.

Tropes: Virgin Hero/Partygirl Heroine, Single Parent Heroine (adopted child), Jane/Tarzan, Language Barrier, Lots of Sensual Bathing, My Fair Lady But He's A Demon, The Father Who Stepped Up, I'm Lying To Your Fragile Heart the Whole Time, Vampire Boob Biting, Here Have the Heads of Your Enemies

TW: Malkolm Slaine was a sex slave as a child. This is not shown graphically, but it's discussed and it's a huge part of his trauma, obviously. He's pretty sexually aggressive to Carrow at first, but it's kind of more of a cultural lack of understanding/instinct issue. Malkolm is tortured largely off-page, the torture of other characters is discussed.

11. Dreams of a Dark Warrior. Declan Chase (reincarnated berserker) and Regin the Radiant (valkyrie).

One Sentence Tease: Flippant warrior discovers that the man who took her virginity has been reincarnated as her mortal enemy.

You Should Read First: You don't have to read anything first, but Pleasure of A Dark Prince has some backstory for Regin via Lucia, her closest sister. Some of scenes in Demon from the Dark overlap here; in particular, you figure out why they said Declan Chase was being punished for "putting his hand in the cookie jar", and uh. He sure did that.

Tropes: Reincarnation Romance, Villain Hero, Grovel Grovel, Addict Hero, Spunky Heroine, Inexperienced Hero/Experienced Heroine (in this life), You Really Fucking Fucked Up Man, Sensual Bathing, Dirty Talk, Sex Outdoors

TW: LOL WELL. In Aidan's original lifetime, he meets Regin when she is 12 and he is 30 and knows her father, the god Woden, has bestowed her to him. He doesn't plan on doing shit until she's well over 18, and she does depart pretty quickly, but that happens. Their first time (10+ years later) is very "no no yes". Declan Chase, the current iteration, is a heroin addict who tortures immortal creatures for a living and has been brainwashed to hate them. The heroine is in fact vivisected (not by him, under his nose, while he's been drugged) while fully conscious. Lothaire gets tortured but he super doesn't care. This one is pretty violent and intense, but an incredibly daring romance novel if you can get through it, imo.

12. Lothaire. Lothaire Daciano (vampire) and Ellie Peirce (human).

One Sentence Tease: The worst guy you know gets repeatedly emotionally kicked in the balls by a girl who ends up being way more than he bargained for.

You Should Read First: Lothaire does appear in almost every book prior to this one, and I will admit that the buildup makes the book better. Dreams of a Dark Warrior seems especially important to read before this one, though, as you get his POV and the events from that book do directly affect the events of this one.

Tropes: Villain Hero/Virgin Heroine, CrAZY Hero, Defiant Heroine, Enemies to Lovers, Morality Chain, How Do We Fuck Without You Popping Like A Grape, Mistaken Identity Issues, That "A Villain Will Burn Down the World For One More Kiss" Shit, Bloodplay Bloodplay Bloodplay, Blood BJ -> Blood 69, Drink Her Virgin's Blood, Blood Kiss, Wanna Lose Your Virginity On My Nice Couch?, A Good Kidnapping, He's Her Bitch Your Honor, Transformation, Grovel Grovel

TW: LMAO. Lothaire is a fucking dick and the book isn't shy about it. He kidnaps Ellie and plans to rip her soul from her body for like a lot of this book. He constantly mocks her hillbilly origins. Ellie takes it and dishes it back. This is a book about two people who are essentially trying to mastermind.mp3 each other, and a weird demonic goddess inhabiting the body of one of them being like "can you please stop coming on her while I'm sleeping" (he cannot). As a side note, Lothaire has a very traumatic childhood and his father does kill his puppy on the page. It's implied that his mother was raped. Lothaire beheads like five billion people in this book, I don't even know. His "mischievous youth" of skullfucking is mentioned.

13. Shadow's Claim. Trehan Daciano (vampire) and Bettina (demon/sorceress hybrid).

One Sentence Tease: Badass vampire assassin guy enters into a tournament for the hand of a princess, discovers that he should've checked her Amazon Wish List before giving her a bag of severed heads as a token of his affection.

You Should Read First: The plot of Lothaire does basically happen in the background of this book. I'd recommend reading it first.

Tropes: Mercenary Prince/Princess Classic, A Battle Royale for Her Hand, Cold Hero Goes Crazy For Her, Assassin Hero, Mild Love Triangle But Only In Her Head, Virgin Heroine, Mild Bloodplay, Public Fingerbanging, Orgasm Denial, Here Have the Heads of Your Enemies, "I Thought Sex Was Lame But Then I Had It And Actually It Rocks", Sad Masturbation

TW: Bettina is brutally beaten by a gang of evil angels in the beginning of the book. Trehan and Bettina's first encounter is like... a mutual confusion situation. No one was at fault, but still. Lots of violence and gore in this one because fight to the death and all.

14. MacRieve. Uilleam "Will" MacRieve (lykae) and Chloe Webb (human--OR IS SHE).

One Sentence Tease: Incredibly traumatized werewolf guy falls for the daughter of the man who tortured him, and that's BEFORE shit gets hard for them.

You Should Read First: Probably Dreams of a Dark Warrior, if thoust dare.

Tropes: Trauma Rama, Promiscuous Hero/Virgin Heroine, Everything Was Great Until We Found That Thing Out, Asshole Hero (but like... there are reasons), Alpha Hero, Defiant Heroine, Emotional Growth to the Max, Fucking Versus Making Loooove, CHAIN THE BEAST TO LIVE!!!!, And He Has A Sexy Twin, "I Must Now Save Her Life Through Deep Eye Contact Emotional Missionary Sex",

TW: MacRieve (the character) has the most traumatic backstory of any IAD hero, imo. He was raped by a pedophile groomer from the ages of 9 to 13 and thought he was in love with her. This led to his family being pretty decimated, and he has never gotten over it emotionally. He does not know how to function normally as a werewolf and can only have detached, rough sex. He is suicidal at the beginning of the book due to Dreams of A Dark Warrior's events (he was vivisected and succubi attempted to sexually assault him). Once he finds a thing out about Chloe, he is extremely angry (it is not her fault) and is a super big dick to her for a while. Leads to amazing emotional growth, but it is! Difficult!

15. Dark Skye. Thronos Talos (vrekener--think demon/angel thing) and Melanthe (sorceress).

One Sentence Summary: God warrior guy spent five centuries tracking down his former childhood best friend turned enemy--now that he has her, can he convince her to have sex through this weird sheet thing?

You Should Read First: Kiss of a Demon King. Lanthe is Sabine's sister, and they have a shared backstory. Dreams of A Dark Warrior may also explain some things.

Tropes: Childhood Friends to Enemies to Lovers, Virgin Hero/Experienced Heroine, Hero is A God Warrior With Antiquated Ideas About Sex, Of Course He's Also Kinky, Hero Has WINGS!!!!, Let's Fuck Through My Weird Religious Sheet Thing, Aphrodisiac By Way of Sex Planet, Breeding Because She's In Heat and He Can Smell It, WHOOPS! Baby,

TW: Thronos slut shames Lanthe throughout the book until he learns a thing. Thronos is drugged by a bunch of nymphs who try to rape him (they fail).

16. Sweet Ruin. Rune Darklight (dark fey) and Josie (vampire--or IS SHE).

One Sentence Summary: 7,000 year old sex assassin has poisonous bodily fluids--when he meets a vampiress who can drink his blood, it is PARTY TIME, motherfuckers!!!!

You Should Read First: Pretty much nothing.

Tropes: Sex Assassin Hero/Badass Heroine, She Gets Under His Cold Unfeeling Skin, He's Poison to Everyone But Her, 7,000 Year Old Man Falls for Local Millennial, Illiterate Heroine, Hero Has Sexual Hangups, Trauma Rama, Roadtrip Romance

TW: Rune was a sex slave in the past; this discussed, but not in detail. It's implied that his stepmother desired him, though she doesn't do anything to him... directly. Rune fucks nymphs for information and this is a pretty big issue between him and Josie because he refuses to commit to monogamy.

17. Shadow's Seduction. Mirceo Daciano (vampire) and Caspion (demon).

One Sentence Tease: Bros (TM) discover that they are in fact fated mates, but one of them is a noted lothario and the other basically grew up in Demon West Virginia.

You Should Read First: Lothaire and Shadow's Claim.

Tropes: Bisexuals Everywhere, Internalized Homophobia, Friends to Lovers, Uptight Loves Wild, Bounty Hunter Boyfriends, Local Idiot Refuses to Admit He's In Love

TW: Some of the language around the sex is a bit dated, imo; Mirceo has had a lot of sex but has never bottomed before and this is seen as a form of virginity? Which, I guess, and I can't speak to its relevance to men who fuck men as a cis woman, but it was a bit odd to read because Mirceo has again, fucked SO many people. Cas has a some internalized homophobia based on his culture and the kingdom he hails from. Mirceo does not, as nobody in the Dacian Kingdom cares about that shit.

18. Wicked Abyss. Abyssian Infernis (demon) and Lila (fey).

One Sentence Tease: Beauty and the Beast, but make it demonic and a reincarnation revenge grudge match.

You Should Read First: Maybe Sweet Ruin, but it's not a must.

Tropes: Reincarnation Romance, Beauty and the Beast, Lies and Trickery, Virgin Heroine/Monster Hero, Monsterfucking to the max, YOU CAN STAY HERE AND STAAAAAARVE, Being Blamed For Shit Your Past Life Self Did, Traumatic Horn Amputation

TW: I mean, Sian is pretty mean to Lila based on shit that is entirely not her fault, but otherwise this one is pretty lowkey.

19. Munro. Munro MacRieve (lykae) and Kereny (human).

One Sentence Tease: Everyone's favorite dad friend finally found his fated mate, and boy is he making some bad choices!!!!

You Should Read First: Definitely most MacRieve books, but certainly MacRieve (title).

Tropes: Responsible Hero Loses His Motherfucking Mind, Experienced Hero/Virgin Heroine, Time Travel, Bringing Your Love Back from the Dead, Monster/Huntress, Cucking Her Husband, OOPS!baby, Transformation

TW: This one is the most recently published, and honestly it's the most PC in many ways. There is a fairly traumatic birth scene.

[mermaidsirennikita]

I saw your ranking of Kresley Cole's IAD women. Do you have a favorite male character?

Yeah, I have a few. I mean, it's cliche to say this because he's like... an obvious fan favorite... But if I was really being honest, Lothaire is likely my favorite. I mean, I think he's the most developed character in the series (and once Nix gets her book, God willing, maybe she'll junior or exceed him). But he's also just so funny, and so insane, and unfortunately, very hot. How can I not love a dude who, when his pseudo-girlfriend (at the time) gets mad at him for mercilessly beheading a bunch of shifters, says it's "not like I'm going around cockslapping gnomes"? How can you expect me to not love someone who describes skull-fucking randoms as his "mischievous youth"???

And while I do think his romance is INCREDIBLE and part of why I love Lothaire is that he loves Ellie so much and I also love Ellie so much... I mean. He's one of the best parts of Dreams of a Dark Warrior, an UNDERRATED CLASSIC. He gets tortured by Declan Chase and talks about how long it took someone to cut his dick off with whip lashes once, because it's sooooo big (and since regenerated). He kicks Thad off a cliff and then Thad becomes HIS ONLY FRIEND LMAO. He wears a Panama hat??? Like Stede in that episode of Our Flag Means Death??? He blackmails Declan Chase, a man who hates all monsters, into letting him tap his blood on demand and GETS A BONER WHILE DOING IT (bi Lothaire confirmed). Regin screams to Declan about how Lothaire drinking Declan's blood means he now has Declan's memories of Declan and Regin fucking, and he walks up like "Oh nO WORRIES, I have already WATCHED YOU TWO FUCK A MILLION TIMES IN REAL LIFE LIKE A CREEP". The entire WEIRD boy's club scene where Lothaire gives Declan advice about negging Regin into forgiving him and everyone goes "Oh shit, that's great advice actually" and iT WORKS.

(And then later he gives Trehan advice about Bettina... and it works. And he gives Munro advice about Kereny... and it works. The point is that Lothaire can not do his own relationship to save his life which is why he literally lets his lungs explode in order to win Ellie's favor back, he doesn't even know how to get Ellie to forgive him without near-death.)

But I mean. There are so many heroes I love in that series, just like I love so many heroines. Like I said, I haven't given an IAD book less than 4 stars. They really work for me.

Other standout heroes for me would be like... Garreth MacRieve who I think is probably one of the best boyfriends? Of the series? Like, does he hunt Lucia across the world for a year while she's desperately trying to evade him? Sure. Does he sorta try to seduce her into breaking her supernatural vow of chastity? Yes, he does. Does e not care about her god-given mission at all because women shouldn't have to have jobs? Yeah, and maybe HE WAS RIGHT. But he's also soooo sexy, and sooooo wolfy and sooooo loyal and sooooo romantic. The butterfly he named after her! Garreth SMELLING Lucia masturbating and having a freakout because he's in a cage and she's upstairs and SHE SHOULD NOT HAVE TO GET HERSELF OFF NO SHE IS PRINCESS! Him holding his werewolfitude back as long as possible until he's like "fuck it I can't deal" and runs howling through the jungle for her??? The ENTIRE VALKYRIE PLOT OF "OH WE'LL JUST HAVE LUCIA FEEL PAIN ON PURPOSE SO THE WOLF GUY COMES TO SAVE HER"??? "She was born to be found by me"??? "Werewolves are natural investigators" lOL I CAN'T. Child-free by choice, but would have Garreth MacRieve's 7 werewolf children.

Conrad Wroth, who I think is just like.... a ragged open wound of insanity and romantic longing and pent up sexual energy... Like, Conrad has one of theeee hottest biting scenes in the series, imo. And also, just the sad hilarity of him swearing his chastity to a cult of vampire hunters, then getting forcibly turned into a vampire by his brothers and doomed to centuries of virginity??? And then he does meet his Bride and she's a GHOST??? *Curb Your Enthusiasm theme plays*

Rydstrom Woede is.... really hot... I love a morally upright man driven to horrible crimes. The minute Rydstrom THE GOOD BROTHER showed up in Cade's book, shirtless, tired, scratches all over his chest, with a woman screaming in the background like "HELP!!!" while he goes "don't. ask." I was gone. Then he turned out to be a legit DADDY who's into spanking and punishing Sabine and he feels gross and weird about it? Please. Theeeeen his first real smile in his own book is when she flips him off? PLEEEEEEEASE.

And of course, Uilleam "Will" MacRieve, "MacRieve", The MacRieve, of the novel titled MacRieve. I mean, listen, he's hot. He has such rough animalistic sex CONSISTENTLY that they call him Bucket List. But he's soooo sad. And don't get me wrong, he does some fucked up shit and I won't deny it. But his backstory. Made me cry lol. His entire journey. Made me cry. Him on his knees crying into Chloe's stomach because he wants to be better and heal for her but he can't??? Made me cry. His journey isn't for everyone, but I found it gorgeous. And also, did I laugh so much when they were like "well MacRieve, your woman needs sex healing, and we can't trust you to do it, so I don't know man maybe she needs to be double-teamed by some incubi" and he literally flinched because his inner werewolf instinct went SCREAMING at him??? Yes I did. He had no thoughts for like a solid five minutes. Just static.

... so those are my top 5... I also very much love all the other Wroth brothers (my 1D), Lachlain MacRieve (crazy werewolf king turned "Mature Dad Friend"), Bowen MacRieve (the original fuckboy/BEAST FAMILIAR), Trehan Daciano ("babe look I got you this bag of... severed heads... oh.... that wasn't...... the request..."), Rune Darklight (cue the TWO STANDING OVATIONS HE GOT FROM BITCHES HE'D FUCKED LMAO), and uh......... Declan Chase (..... I won't be defending this choice). And THAD, even though Thad isn't a hero. YET!

[brickme]

What was 80s shoujo like as a whole?

Modern. I think the 80s is when we go from the stereotype of the "retro shojo manga" to something we might look back on today and perceive to be "modern". (No value judgement implied with those words, since I like retro shojo a lot.)

Some comparisons from the same publishers/magazines:

70s

80s

70s

80s

70s

80s

This isn’t specific to shojo manga, though, since manga in general went through a similar change, e.g. shonen manga:

Another way 80s shojo might be perceived as more “modern” is how shojo moved away from fantastically “historical” and/or fantastically “western” settings and began to explore contemporary settings, including contemporary Japanese settings the readers could more directly relate to. As Japan developed and became a modern superpower, the Japanese people’s perception of themselves also changed, making contemporary settings more interesting and acceptably “fashionable”, and this trend created what we perceive to be the mainstream of shojo manga today, i.e. “ordinary Japanese school girls and their ordinary school and love lives”. (Not that this type of manga didn’t exist at all in the 70s, plenty of this type of manga was actually written which led directly into the 80s, but the titles we now consider influential in the history of manga were Not That.)

[animentality]

[animentality]

[writer-at-the-table]

Went for a walk out in Franklin, MA a few weekends ago and spotted this delightful sign.

[massachusetts-official]

Official Post of Massachusetts

[animentality]

[animentality]

[guineapiggies]

Via cid_dwyer

[so-much-for-subtlety]

[high-quality-tiktoks]

feliz día de la independencia!!

[middleearthorcseeksspaceorc]

I love how her smile just went supernova when he started singing!!

[kosmogrl]

[gay-hrithik-roshan]

[grootficguy]

i tried explaining to this girl at a party once how i could be gay and asexual at the same time and it basically boils down to never being into anyone but like once a year i’ll find a man attractive. and she was like “so what am i if i only like girls, and i’ve never found any of my boyfriends attractive and and i just wanna do cocaine all the time?” i was like “you’re a lesbian with a coke addiction?” and she was like “woooooah”. she broke up with her boyfriend that night and had a threesome with two girls in the bathtub. rebecca if you’re out there, i hope you’re going places. well, not far, since you’re electronically tagged. but spiritually.

[asksloyxp]

Maybe if I just work harder, this empty cup will pour again

[shinyrock6498]

Maybe the cup needs a bit of time to rest and refill?

[asksloyxp]

Maybe the cup needs to lock the fuck in???

[storybookprincess]

so back when my little brother was in high school, my mom went as a chaperone for their senior year field trip to an amusement park. which, you know, brave move to volunteer to supervise a bunch of high school seniors let loose in a wonderland of rollercoasters and sugar

my brother and his friends in this field trip group were truly great kids. but they were not above run of the mill teenage boy shenanigans. it’s the end of senior year, you and all your buddies are at the amusement park, you’re naturally going to want to act like a complete moron

there was one kid in the group who was especially prone to goofing around. committed to the bit, some may say. my mom knew that if nonsense was going to break out, he’d likely be at the center of it

so she goes up to this kid at the very start of the trip and says “hey, i’m kinda worried about this chaperoning thing. this might be a lot to ask, but can you help me keep an eye on everyone? you wouldn’t have to do anything big, just be an extra set of eyes for me.”

friends, this kid proceeded to run their field trip group like the fucking us marines. everyone is at the meet up spots at the designated time. everyone waits in line for the rides like a bunch of boy scouts. the second the horseplay gets too out of hand, this kid is getting it back under control

it’s incredible how differently people act based on the expectations you set. instead of going to this kid and saying “hey, i know you’re trouble, so i’ve got my eye on you,” my mom went “hey, i know you have influence in your peer group, so i think you can help me.”

treat someone like a problem, they’ll act like a problem. but give people a chance to help, make them feel important, and they usually rise far above the occasion. it was a stroke of genius that i’m honestly still in awe of

[trufflesmushroom]

patricia lockwood has officially completed 6 years of her full 1000 year sentence

[trufflesmushroom]

patricia lockwood has officially completed 7 years of her full 1000 year sentence

[laora-ryn]

Saw this license plate today and I'm still ugly laughing about it

[ilikethemwings]

[steelycunt]

is there anything more humiliating than filling in the 'preferred salary' bit of a job application. grubby victorian workhouse child cap in hand oh guvnah ill work for anyfink! oh if youd be so kind, just a tuppence for me troubles sir, honest only a tuppence!