#merrin replies

[merrinish]

getting to know you questions, tagged by @lissa

Last book: I finished Tough Guy by Rachel Reid and it's my favorite so far and I think that's because it has the least amount of hockey in it. Now I'm in the middle of . . . Common Goal and not loving it as much. Also reading The Sicilian Inheritance because it came off hold at the library and also I need to make my brain do something other than HR universe.

Last song: I've been listening nonstop to my Hollanov playlist, the last song was Hudson by the Favors.

Last movie: Death on the Nile 2022 which I did NOT care for.

Last series: I haven't escaped the cottage. But I also did watch the first half of Bridgerton season 4.

Salty or sweet: Both is good 🤝 <- same

Coffee or tea: Coffeeeeeee but I am trying to work through a backlog of tea as well.

Working on: I started a new fic last week and maaaannnnnn the writing muscles are out of shape. I'm not telling you a single thing about it. (Unless someone asks.) (Or unless I've already told you about it.)

Tagging: @seascribbling @swaps55 @mallaidhsomo @crescentbunny @screwyouflightlieutenant @writes-in-space and anyone else who wants to participate!

[merrinish]

You went to PEI because of Anne of Green Gables too? That's so cool! 💖

I did!! It was 2019, I think? Or somewhere around there. PEI had been on my bucket list since I was a child and read Anne of Green Gables and watched the movies with Megan Follows, and I finally made it happen. We camped, stayed in Dalvay by the Sea where they filmed one of the poetry reading scenes, toured the Anne of Green Gables house, saw the play, all the things. It was so delightful!!!

[merrinish]

Do you like me? 🥰

we have like four different conversations going on four different apps girlfriend of course i like you lol

[merrinish]

What are 5 things that make you happy? After you answer, pass the question to the last 10 people who reblogged your posts! Let's spread positivity!🌻

Thank you so much for tagging me!!!

Friday night Warframe with @swaps55 @screwyouflightlieutenant and @n7zachammer. I just love having a standing appointment to have a good time shooting aliens with some of my favorite people.

My Tuesday night in person RPG group. We've been playing Lord of the Rings recently but have also done a multi year campaign set in the Expanse universe. They're ridiculous and I love them.

I went on a hike this morning and the weather in Austin has been perfect lately, we stole swaps' pleasant SoCal weather, it was only 75 degrees!!

I recently read What Monstrous Gods by Rosamund Hodges and really enjoyed it, love finishing a good book that ties up all the loose ends.

I recently helped a friend (and old coworker) of mine get hired at my workplace and I'm really excited for them to start next Monday. It's gonna be a much better work situation for them and I get a stellar new coworker that I already know and love.

This was so fun!!!

[merrinish]

Hiii! Once you get this, you have to say five things you like about yourself, publicly. Then you have to send this to ten of your favourite followers

I like my hair, it's very curly and bouncy and brings me joy when it's not bringing me frizz.

I like my writing, I reread my fics a lot because I write things I want to read and sometimes I'm very impressed by a turn of phrase or the way I conveyed an emotion.

My sense of humor. It's dry, it's sometimes biting, but man I love to make people laugh.

I like that I'm an extroverted introvert and I like that I've figured that out about myself instead of letting everyone tell me that I'm obviously an extrovert bc I'm so friendly.

My asexuality. It took a while to figure things out, but I like knowing this about myself and I like the ways knowing this has helped me understand so much about myself.

[merrinish]

Having never read the Bridgerton series, I didn't know about issues in Pen's characterization. What did they change about her?

Gonna go ahead and put this behind a spoiler tag just in case

The biggest change, I think, is that in the books, Lady Whistledown only ever punched up, not down. She never ruined anyone's life, never repeated gossip that someone couldn't recover from.

Marina was an offscreen character in the books, married to Phillip Crane (who you see her with in season 2), but she lives and dies off page and only really comes into play after her death. The fact that she's added to the show in season 1 and then Penelope has Lady Whistledown reveal her pregnancy so Colin doesn't marry her? All because Pen's in love with him? Gives a massive ick.

She also never had to out an inappropriate friendship/budding romance between Eloise and a shopkeeper on Rotten Row because it never happened in the books. This whole massive fight between Eloise and Pen in the show never happened in the books and in fact, they were an example for Lady Danbury of how nice female friendships can be, because there was no jealousy between them.

Also also, the carriage scene in the book happens after Colin follows Pen to the church where she drops her articles, because he sees her walking in a bad part of town. He kisses her in the carriage after he's found out she's Lady Whistledown, so he proposes knowing full well who her secret identity is. Which isn't character assassination so much as something I'm kinda nervous about in the second half of the season.

I understand why they felt the need to add some faults and make the characters more modern and interesting, this just felt way too over the top for me. They made her a vindictive bitch when she never was.

[merrinish]

If you get this, answer w/ three random facts about yourself and send it to the last seven blogs in your notifs. anon or not, doesn’t matter, let’s get to know the person behind the blog! (no pressure! ❤️)

This is so fun, thank you!

My favorite color is pink and I have zero shame about this.

My favorite book is one that punches you in the face repeatedly with how sad and beautiful it is because I like crying while reading more than almost any other emotion.

I have meat space friends, but all of my very very very best friends have come from fandom, spanning decades of friendship at this point, and I think that's beautiful.

[merrinish]

Book meme, 1, 20, and dealer's choice!

From here

Best book I've read this year

Okay so. I've read a couple of five star reads so far this year and I refuse to pick just one of them, so I'm gonna talk about a couple.

The Deep by Rivers Solomon - gosh but I loved this. It started as a song by The Clipping that was commissioned as part of a This American Life episode on Afrofuturism, then became a book by Solomon. The premise is that mermaids are a race of beings descended from the children of pregnant slaves thrown overboard on the journey across the ocean. The premise was so interesting and the story was so frickin good and the SONG is SO GOOD. I had Daveed Diggs read it to me.

How High We Go In the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu - a virus is uncovered in the Arctic Circle that breaks free from containment and soon infects the world. It's a rough read but it is so so good, the way the stories weave together and connect is a beautiful, heartbreaking puzzle.

Wanderers by Chuck Wendig - This book clocks in at 800 pages and I read the hardback and let me tell you, it should have felt like a CHORE just holding this book and it did not. I blew through it in 4 days because I could not put it down. It's an apocalyptic novel about a group of people, wanderers, who one day just start walking down the street, completely unable to be stopped or moved or redirected, and what comes after.

All are five stars and if they sound good to you you should definitely read them.

20. Where and how do you find new books to read

A wide variety of places, tbh. I like wandering my local library and pulling books that look interesting and have pretty covers. Some recs come from friends. I have a KU sub for my monster romances so for those it's mostly "people who read this also read" at the bottom of the page. I get a lot of orcs but I've gotten some other good stuff. Word of mouth recs from friends. Tiktoks, although I've been burned a lot by tiktok so it kinda depends on the person reccing it.

Also @swaps55 and I have a bookclub that we haven't done in a while where we buy each other books that we love and want the other person to read and I've read some dope ass shit that way.

Dealer's choice: What kind of romance tropes do you like/dislike

Favorites: friends to lovers, hurt/comfort, man being absolutely down bad/devoted to his lady, pining (especially if it is over a period of years)

Dislike: any sort of love triangle, miscommunication tropes

Also basically anything set in a contemporary setting? I just don't read a lot of contemporary romance unless it's also got, like, vampires or werewolves or whatever. Contemporary romance just does not have what I'm looking for in life.