#(the intrigue)

[zer0vo]

[abs0lutegarbage]

Smosh Summer Games - Beopardy: The Physical Challenge

✨ Moodboard ✨

[here-we-lay]

Finally picked up murderbot tv series. I had it in mind ever since I saw this one meta post that got me so intrigued, and I had no idea what to expect but my gosh. I just binged s1 and it’s so so so so so good. I need s2 like. Yesterday. Pls. Oh my gosh. It’s so so so so good.

[gcantread]

July 2026 reads

[loved liked ok nope dnf bookclub*]

Immortal Game • Taipei Story • I Who Have Never Known Men • A Drop of Corruption • The Felicity Complex • The Incandescent • The Spy Who Came in From the Cold • Dreamland • The Intrigue • The Fire Next Time

Can you believe Try To Finish All These ARCs Month was a success? I read and reviewed four ARCs, an additional four books off the Bella's Book Club summer reading list, and two more I just felt like reading! And the ARCs... weren't half bad? Many had sex scenes and some had good food 😜🍲

Immortal Game [GR review] ★★★1/2☆ - Allison Saft is one of those authors whose story ideas I like in theory but never in execution. But I met her IRL this month and she was super chill so I decided, eh, let's give the Chess Lesbian rivals-to-lovers a chance. I'm glad I did, because I liked this one much better than Saft's other books! Improved pacing here.

Taipei Story [GR review]★★★★☆ - Funnily enough, R.F. Kuang falls into the same "never clicked with before" category as Saft for me. I suspected I'd like her writing better in a genre other than fantasy, and this book proved me right. (I mean definitely don't pay $650 for it but it's got great prose and voice going on.)

I Who Have Never Known Men ★★★★☆ - I'd seen lots of hype for this one, but wasn't prepared for how disturbing I'd find it. This was MY Backrooms. 10/10 showed me a terrible time

A Drop of Corruption ★★★★☆ - This series is so damn fun. I liked this even better than the first book due to the cool villain and Din's hilarious slut era (we love a sad cringe failman with a huge dick!) Can't wait for book 3 now! Too bad I'm like 27th on the holds list 💀

The Felicity Complex [GR review]★★★1/2☆ - Exactly the Good For Her™, Ex Machina-esque tale I was promised. Nothing wildly original, but a delightfully weird narrator here.

The Incandescent ★★★★☆ - An excellent @bellasbookclub summer reading rec! Loved the magic school worldbuilding and the teacher POV. Emily Tesh is batting 100 for me so far.

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold ★★☆☆☆ - I'd long wondered whether or not John Le Carré was for me, and now I can definitively say that he is Not

Dreamland [GR review]★★★1/2☆ - Saw Olivie Blake on a panel a few years ago and was impressed by all the intelligent things she had to say, so I was eager to read her work for the first time. This one was a tad overwritten/purple, but not bad. Really liked the main POV character/narrator and not just because she dropped out of the same university I did

The Intrigue [GR review]★★★1/2☆ - A solid noir tale from Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Nuance enjoyers will enjoy the nuance 👍

The Fire Next Time [GR review]★★★★★ - Absolutely floored by how good this was. Just. Every single sentence, wow. Even at the few parts that haven't aged well I found myself wondering what Baldwin would think of the modern shift toward intersectionality, and y'know, I think he'd get it. Gonna need to buy my own copy of this one for rereading purposes

DNFs: None.

July superlatives: here! (and here 😉)

Next up:

My ARC goals for August are such a random combination. We're looking at Winterveil, Christmas in Austenland, at least one of two different Jonathan Strahan anthologies, and Building 903. I also finally have The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi from the library, so fingers crossed I manage to read that one too!

previous months:

2024 • 2025

2026: january • february • march • april • may • june

[autocrats-in-love]

Prompt (409)

"They know about us," the hero said when they reached the villain, panic in their voice.

The villain's face went slack in surprise. "How? We were so careful-"

"It doesn't matter!" the hero said, grabbing the villain's hand. "We have to leave! Are you coming with me?"

The villain stared at them lovingly. "Always. Let's go."

[tragicallyinevitable]

tell me about Royal Nonsense pls!!

Oooh ok! Thank you so much for asking! I just spoke about it here, but let me see what else I can tell you <3

Remus and Sirius have an interesting (to me, at least!) dynamic in this because neither of them really wants to be there. Sirius has a personal guard forced upon him by his mother, which he is Not the biggest fan of. Remus really, really shouldn't be working this close to the royal family for reasons...completely innocuous, totally ordinary reasons.

They're just grumpy, and fed up, and fighting, and maybe they fuck nasty about it. Truly, I think they're more concerned about their situationship than the overarching royal, political drama unfolding in the background x

[whateverthevibesare]

him actually being on target, the “deny”, “defend”, “depose” bullet casings, him being HOT, him being ivy league, the scheduled youtube video, the italian heritage, i swear to god if luigi mangione is actually part of the mafia, i’m going to have to sincerely apologise to every delusional booktok girlie whose dreams i laughed, nay, CACKLED in the face of

clearly anything is possible and your wattpad ahh men DO exist 🙏🏼