#rec 117

[guessthatrec-poll]

Guess That Rec Season 2: Round 1, Poll 27

Which sounds more appealing?

#117

#118

Voting ended onJun 1, 2025

Rec #117

This is a story about a neurodivergent-coded young adult female protagonist with a tragic backstory entering a new workplace! She faces discrimination from her peers, having to win them over with her plucky attitude and problem-solving skills!

The secondary main character is a hot older man with scars. He becomes her mentor, and he's distant at first but slowly warms up to her. Eventually it's revealed that his scars are connected to her tragic backstory, and their age-gap slow-burn relationship grows even deeper from there!

The setting is modern-day, the story incorporates social media and the hip new lingo. The author even has a connection to Tumblr! It's educational, too, the author consulted an expert on keeping things realistic!

Rec #118

Think classic stories are boring? What if it had someone who died and Came Back Wrong? What if it had a diverse found family that COMMITS CRIMES TOGETHER?? Doomed love? An evil machine?? Flirtatious duels between men who desperately need therapy??? Women that do magic and fight mercenaries???? What if it had a story of rivals to lovers…. to RIVALS TO LOVERS AGAIN?????

In this boundary-pushing retelling of a classic, the author removes all the boooring historical satire and unnecessary descriptions-- putting the #GirlBoss protagonist at the front of things. As she should be.

It's got action, political intrigue, AND of course, lots of romance!!! :D Fake dating, mistaken identity, AND a love triangle (between a criminal mastermind and a bloodthirsty noble)! Do either of them have secret tragic pasts?? Will there be villain redemption?? You'll have to read to find out for sure, but know the answer is probably yes ;)

Seriously add this to your TBR! And add the sequel to your TBR! I can't WAIT for it to come out based on the already-released preview stuff (the feeeeels)-- surely it'll release soon! :')

[guessthatrec-poll]

As the #118 submitter, just wanted to reply to that #117 ask and say that your rec was really good! The reveal explanation of "I like how it's a really realistic look of what it would be like to run a dinosaur zoo, so *obviously* I avoided mentioning the dinosaurs" was hilarious and exactly the sort of thing that's great about the recs in this tournament. I've never read #117 but I'll have to check it out, it sounds neat :D

We love the spirit of healthy competition.

[guessthatrec-poll]

117 (Dinosaur Sanctuary) submitter here:

Yes! 118 is in the finals! I'm taking that as evidence that if the luck of the draw were different, 117 could have gone the distance.

I hope 118 wins, I'm rooting for you!

You've got a fan club, #118!

[guessthatrec-poll]

117 submitter here! Thanks to the 118 submitter! I hope your submission goes the distance and wins the whole thing! That way I can pretend that mine would have made it to second place if not for random chance! But seriously, I hope you do well, it's a good submission, full of energy.

I hope more people do check out Dinosaur Sanctuary! It's one of the my favorite manga going right now, and I think it's underrated! The dinosaur art is fantastic and makes them look very cute. Not in a chibi way, but in the same way relaxed and happy lions and elephants are cute at the zoo. And the consulting paleontologist does these huge blocks of text after every chapter explaining the dinosaur behavior in that chapter.

Ooh, it sounds very interesting! Thank you for introducing me and everyone on this blog to it.

[guessthatrec-poll]

I submitted 117 and I've enjoyed following along with the guesses. Especially that one saying the writing is so good it makes them want to throw up, that's high praise.

I attribute that to the fact I actually submitted it for the first tournament but I was too obvious about some of the details, so I went over it a few times to make it more vague this time around. I'm glad with how it turned out, but a little disappointed that it looks like it's going to lose in round 1.

But, 118 is a really strong submission, too, so it's just the luck of the draw. I think 117 could have gone the distance if it wasn't up against 118 in the first round.

Yeah, the list randomizer is a cruel mistress. But we're all very proud of you and rec #117 no matter what!

[guessthatrec-poll]

Is #117 Pizza Game?

Guess noted!

[guessthatrec-poll]

117 is so masterfully crafted . i cannot emphasize enough that it makes me want to throw up. absolutely expert use of the word plucky. brilliant. no idea what it is though

Rec 117 is one of my personal favorites - it's an excellent rec. As for what it is... all will be revealed in time!

[guessthatrec-poll]

I think rec 117 is November 9 by Colleen Hoover!!

Guess noted!