#jackson (hbfm)

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Handbook for Mortals chapter 11

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Chapter 11

Overall, keeping [the Mac/Zade/Jackson love triangle] to ourselves kept our work environment drama free.

God knows that there's probably enough drama at the theater without that mess. I'm sure Sofia brings an entire circus's worth of drama every single day.

If I had written on a piece of paper all the things I wanted in a guy, well, [Jackson] would have fit it to a T, except my ideal guy would also have powers. I had learned from my mom that it’s easier when you are both magick— it’s actually deeply frowned upon for someone like me to end up with a mortal.

I literally forgot that Zade is supposed to be a witch. So I'm sitting here thinking “Superman”, but she's thinking “Harry Potter”.

I had learned from my mom that it’s easier when you are both magick— it’s actually deeply frowned upon for someone like me to end up with a mortal. It’s practically a law for us to not be with our own kind. My mom instantly became an outcast for having me with a mortal.

I'll call this “this could have been interesting if expanded upon, but I know that it'll probably never be brought up again”, part 710823098109823908123.

Mac, was also a mortal and we clearly had our differences—but so much passion had sparked between us.

Passion. Spark. Um... bitch where?

[The random stranger at the bar] was obviously hitting on me, even though I was not even remotely interested— not just because I already had one too many prospects, but also because I am not the “get picked up at a bar” kind of girl. He was funny and it was kind of fun to have him fawning all over me and, honestly, it was better talking to him than standing by myself awkwardly.

She says this, but at the same time, the narration has shown NOTHING but guys tripping over themselves about Zade.

Oh, but this is at a BAR, so I guess that it's DIFFERENT?! (Despite the fact that she also works with this guy.)

“Oh! Sorry, I must have zoned out. What was it?”

“What’s your favorite clothing store?”

Really? We're really going to go from “Mac having a pissing contest because he wants to be with Zade” to “Shallow females” with barely taking a breath?

Making excuses of an oncoming migraine, I excused myself from the girls’ conversation so that I could leave before I started banging my head against the table.

Chapter 11 summary: The ENTIRE first two pages of this chapter are nothing but stream of consciousness writing as Zade basically screams at the concept of dating Jackson and then switches over to screaming at the concept of dating Mac.

Zade goes to the bar to hang out with everybody after work. Jackson gets called away on band business, so Zade ends up just floating around and talking with a bunch of people. She's talking with somebody from work that she doesn't know well when Mac comes over and asks her to do shots with them. Zade says that she'll go, but the guy, Justin, gets belligerent over her leaving. Not being forced to leave: Zade awkwardly trying to tell Justin “thanks but no thanks” and then leaving. Justin gets into Mac's face, and a bunch of the other guys show up. A fight breaks out, but ends almost as soon as it begins.

As the Justin incident breaks up, Zade lingers near where Tad and Mac are, and hears Tad chewing Mac out about his shitty, possessive behavior towards Zade. Jackson comes over and asks Mac if he's okay following that. But he also chews Mac out, and says that “Zade can take care of herself”.

The book then takes a hard left away from that, and Zade is dragged into a conversation with nameless, faceless “girls” who will not shut up about clothing brands.

[percontaion-points]

Handbook for Mortals chapter 9

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Chapter 9

Once I was inside, a bouncer checked my ID. He eyed me up and down and gave my ID a long hard glance before handing it back to me and stamping my hand. My baby face always made them double check and usually bouncers would look at me the way he did—they never looked like they believed I was actually old enough to be in a bar.

To be fair, the narration has given us zero indication that Zade didn't just graduate from high school the day before she left home. She sure doesn't exactly act like she's old enough to rent a car.

IT DOESN'T HELP THAT THIS FUCKING BOOK IS LABELED AS BEING YOUNG ADULT. THIS GIRL IS CLOSER TO MY AGE.

He startled me just a little bit when, as he started to release me from his hug, he kissed me lightly on the lips. It was one of those kisses that a friend might give you and it would not mean anything—or I could have taken it in a much more romantic way. I wasn’t sure how to take it and, of course, I wondered what Mac thought since I was sure he had seen Jackson kiss me.

Ah yes, a love triangle. Because this book is hitting every single cliché, so we might as well have two guys fighting over the girl who has the personality of soggy bread and whom they have zero romantic chemistry with.

Before Mac could say anything else Tad, Cam, and Riley were now in front

of me and I quickly hugged each of them.

“Hey, Sweets,” Tad greeted me.

“Hi,” Riley added with a smile.

“Hey there, pretty girl,” Cam cooed, always the constant flirt.

Nothing quite like some wish fulfillment of a girl who disappears into the background but wishes guys would pay attention to her. Zade exists, and guys swarm her.

“You know, Jackson is a great guy, but he’s so focused on the band. With someone like that, romance always comes third, after the band—and then work.”

Really? Are you seriously trashing on another guy to get the girl right now?

Did Mac think we were dating?

Considering what Riley told Zade about what he knew about Mac, you'd think that Mac would be way more cautious about getting into any relationships.

Ah, but that doesn't fit into the narrative of the author's wish fulfillment of being banged by a hot guy!

I shrugged and declared, “When life hands you lemons . . . ,” then turned and left her on the ground.

Chapter 9 summary: Zade is a little anxious to go into the bar, but she does after giving herself a bit of a pep talk. Inside, she goes over to Mac and the others, but she's also greeted by Jackson and the rest of the band. Jackson kisses her directly on the lips, which startles Zade and seems to make Mac jealous.

The band starts to play. After a while, Mac makes kind of a rude remark about musicians being on the road a lot. He then tells her that he kissed her the other day because he was jealous that Jackson had asked her out. Zade feels a lot better about their relationship, but also reminds him that she did promise to hang out with Jackson after the show. Mac agrees, and seems to like the fact that Zade promises only to hang out with Jackson for drinks and food, and nothing else. The band plays a song that Zade feels was written just for her, which makes both her and Mac uncomfortable. After the show, Jackson and Zade hang out, but Zade can feel Mac's eyes on them, and knows that Jackson is aware of it, too.

When Zade gets home, she decides to consult her tarot deck about the entire thing. The POV switches over to Zade's mom, Dela, and she's also reading tarot at the same time, before a random unrelated person comes in for a reading.

A few days later, Zade goes back to the mall because she realizes that she needs more “going out clothes”, which she never had any use for in the small town where she grew up. She decides to get a drink, since shopping is thirty work. However, the guy at the drink shop is way too into Zade, which causes the female employee to snap at Zade and randomly pick a fight. Zade gets angry when the girl refuses to listen, and decides to explode the container of lemonade, but makes sure that nobody but the employee gets hit.

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Handbook For Mortals chapter 8

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Chapter 8

Though, actually, since day jobs are rare in the entertainment business...

No, they're unusual in Vegas. I wouldn't say that they're rare, since there's always SFW stuff to take the kiddos to in the middle of the afternoon.

Hell, Zade herself just said two pages earlier that they have a 3 PM matinee every Saturday.

“So, Zade, you still gonna come see our band play tomorrow?” Jackson asked. He had asked me this earlier when we were eating together in the Employee Dining Room, which we cleverly refer to as the “EDR.” He had told me more about the original band that they had, that played their own songs and what they called themselves.

“Oh, yeah, Plain White T’s, right?”

Oh my god. CAN WE NOT.

Carrot Top and Wayne Newton grinned when they saw me, and I couldn’t help but let a smile spread across my own face as I stopped to greet them.

I know that both of these people are awkwardly dated references, but at the same time... the author suddenly wonders why she gets two C&D letters in the mail.

“You know why guys fawn over you, and some girls can’t stand you?”

It would be one thing if everybody fawned over Zade because of some underlying magical thing.

But we're 8 chapters in now, and she's literally done magic once. The magic in this story almost seems like an afterthought.

And, most importantly, how did she know about my magick?

Chapter 8 summary: One day during a rehearsal, Zade is left standing on the platform with Riley for a long while. She asks him why it is that Mac “Doesn't date other performers”. Riley says that it was before his time, but from what he can gather, Mac fell hard and fast for a girl who wasn't that into him. And the entire thing broke him.

As a bunch of them are leaving for the day, Jackson tells Zade about his band, and invites her to come listen to them. The others complain that the band plays mostly covers, but that their original stuff is pretty decent. Zade agrees to go, although Tad gets jealous when Jackson kisses Zade on the cheek before he leaves.

After everybody else goes, Mac asks Zade what she's doing for the rest of the evening. They agree to ride their bikes through the desert. However, as they're doing this, it starts to rain pretty hard, and they take shelter under the awning of a shop that closed a long time ago. It's chilly, so Mac holds Zade against him, and then they kiss. Zade brings up his rule, but he assures her that he's not doing anything he doesn't want to be.

The next day, Zade goes shopping, and we spend an unholy amount of time with descriptions of the dresses she tries on but doesn't buy. She also tells the interested shop clerk about how she's interested in both Jackson and Mac. After, she goes to get some other items, like shoes and bras. She randomly runs into two minor Vegas-based celebrities, who obviously know Zade. I mean... who doesn't?

As she's heading to the parking lot, she runs into a random girl who starts talking about Zade being powerful. She then blasts Zade against the wall using magic. Zade doesn't know what's happening, and decides to fight back, since it's what the girl seems to want. After pushing the other girl away, the girl seems happy, hops into a car, and zips away like nothing happened.

Lil, one of the costumers from the show, comes by seconds after this fight is over. Zade tries to ask about the weird girl, but Lil hadn't seen anything. This makes Zade even more curious about what just happened.