#reformed rake

[theenemiestoloversclub]

“you can’t turn a hoe into a housewife”

oh yeah? then what’s this?

[crazy-ache-formerly-secret-santa]

Come on Elain, pick up your husband from Home Depot…

[betterbooksandthings]

Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey

Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey set sail on a love story filled with sea shanties, record stores,  Hollywood stars, and one of the best reformed rake tropes I have ever seen. Fox Thornton is a notably-flirtatious king crab fisherman who is at a nexus in his career. No one has ever taken him seriously, but know his best friend wants him to become Captain of the ship, something Fox knows he doesn't want. Hannah Bellinger is a dedicated production assistant from Hollywood determined to make her mark in the music department. Instead of designing the soundtrack for her life, she wants to design the film soundtrack. When an opportunity at work comes up to pitch a new filming location, she knows it's her chance to show initiative. Hannah offers up the small fishing town where her sister is, the place where her biological father was from. Hannah is sure she can crash with her, but her sister's guest room will be full and the only other place to stay in town is with her long-distance friend Fox. Will they maintain their friendship or will they defy town gossip and allow things to develop into something more?

Let me just say this book is working through a lot. Yes, it is a genuinely funny and cute romantic comedy. It is also examining the role of toxic masculinity in the formation of intimacy or vulnerability in young men. It looks at the difficult ways we manage our perception of ourselves and our ability to take up space in the workforce. It follows a young woman's journey to accepting her connection to her deceased biological father. Ultimately it unpacks the way internalizing personality traits informed by others' treatment can harm anyone. I really loved the way Bailey cares about approaching difficult subject matter and working through it in character interactions. 

Now, it helps that our protagonists are absolutely adorable. I will protect Fox and Hannah at any cost. Their relationship formed over a shared language of music was wonderful. It was nice to see how they both acted as a sounding board for eachothers work-based insecurities. I also enjoyed watching Hannah and Fox navigate their jobs outside of their shared apartment. They were actually shown being competent at their jobs and it paid off in the narrative. Their emotional and vocational journeys went hand in hand and readers are allowed to believe their paths are growing in a similar direction. 

The clash between the big Hollywood production and the small town was easily smoothed over so it never becomes an antagonistic focus in the text. The secondary characters are fully formed and a helpful way of informing character development. Musically, the book was my jam (seriously the soundtrack would absolutely rock). I am down with the concept and characters, so I would highly recommend giving this book a go. If you were a fan of That Kind of Guy by Talia Hibbert this book is right up your alley. Get ready to place your shipment for Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey set to release March 1, 2022. Thank you, Avon and Harper Voyager via NetGalley for providing the eARC of Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey in exchange for my honest review.

[howifeltabouthim]

She could feel a tightening in her breasts merely at his look and wondered if her hardened nipples showed through the gown. But she could not expect that detail to escape his experienced eyes—and she knew beyond a doubt that he was very experienced indeed. She did not mind. That was the past. This was the present and the future. She was his present. She did not doubt his love for her.

Mary Balogh, from Thief of Dreams

[absolutebl]

Please Explain Fiat?

Caregiver Codependency & the Salvation Trope 

Salvation or the reformed rebel trope is a pretty rare in modern romance literature these days. It’s most commonly seen in historical romance as “the reformed rake.” Netflix’s Bridgeton utilized this trope. Sometimes our het hero will be saved (in sweet & spiritual romance or even lit fic) by the birth of the first child. (And yes, we are all aware of the religious connotations.) 

Essentially, it's the concept that love of the right one can morally redeem a bad boy. 

In Yaoi we usually see it as a seme being saved by the affection of the perfect uke. 

Fiat’s version, where the uke is bonkers, actually ties to BDSM romance - where the submissive is going crazy because he doesn't have the right Daddy (or any Daddy) to discipline him. It's an extreme version of caregiver codependency. 

Basically, since Fiat can’t have Leo, yet Leo has been acting as seme/Daddy for years without physical/romantic bonding, Fiat is a loose cannon. 

Leo has been unintentionally running a long con tease on Fiat’s uke instincts. Fiat goes out of control when Leo is out of town because he depends on Leo to be his foundation at all times. His moral compas is missing. 

Fiat acts the way he does because his character is composed of: 

an inability to make sensible judgement calls, 

an unformed core identity without ethical grounding, 

and chronic abandonment issues.

Fiat is looking for total support from a lover - it’s ironic that he lands on Type, but not unexpected, since Type has such a strong personality. 

Incidentally one of the reasons I like TharnType as a couple, problematic as they can be, is their lack of codependency. They don’t have a standard seme/uke dynamic, despite all of Tharn’s seme efforts. They’re almost a subversion of the salvation trope. Type is not an uke, he’s a boyfriend. He likes Tharn’s care, might even rely on it, but he’s not going to outsource any of his decisions, feelings, morality, or identity to Tharn. 

It’s actually not odd that Fiat would target Type as a possible Daddy since this isn’t about top/bottom it’s about power and control. Type gives off Daddy energy, especially with his patients and in the workplace. 

The salvation trope can also be written to reform a villain, where that villain becomes a good person after they fall in love, because they outsourced their moral compass to their lover. (As writers this can be fun because then if you remove the love interest, the villain can go utterly evil but the audience still sympathizes.) 

Whether you hate, like, or understand Fiat will depended on how you feel about this particular trope. 

*updated* 

Other Characters in BL Using this Trope 

Pei Shou Yi & Yu Zhen Xuan in We Best Love: Fighting Mr. Second. 

(source)

[tina-glasneck-author]

Kelly McClymer: The Magic of Twins

Kelly McClymer (@kellymcclymer) shares the inspiration of making her twin characters switch places at the alter. #CWAB #Romance

I always wished I had had a twin. Someone like me, but different. Someone who would know me better than anyone else, and who’d always be there for me. I knew what my twin relationship would have looked like because my mom was a twin and I had grown up watching my mom and my aunt interact in that coveted twin bubble where it was just the two of them against the world (the world defined as seven…

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