Blue Monday

Apr. 13th, 2026 08:34 pm
alobear: (Default)
[personal profile] alobear
Blue Monday by Nicci French is the first in their Frieda Klein series, about a psychotherapist who gets embroiled in a child abduction case when she gets weird vibes from one of her patients.
I really enjoyed another Nicci French book I read last year but unfortunately this one didn't live up to expectations.
The writing wasn't bad, and I quite liked some of the characters - and I was intrigued enough to keep reading to find out where it was all going. But I came up with a theory relatively early on that would have involved one pretty terrible cliche - and then the main twist ended up involved an even worse terrible cliche, so that was a bit disappointing. Some of the sections were really very unpleasant as well.
It also felt more like a mid-series book than an introduction to Frieda because it felt like we were dropped right into the middle of her life with very few explanations of anything.
But - the biggest issue I had with the book is as follows... It's called Blue Monday. The blurb on the back starts with the words: "Monday: five-year-old Matthew Faraday is abducted." But, in the book itself, it's mentioned categorically on several occasions that the little boy is abducted on a Friday...
I'm guessing the idea behind the title (the next in the series is called Tuesday's Gone and the rest of the series continues in kind) was potentially devised quite late in the day, or at least after the book's contents had been finalised. But still, somewhere along the way, I would have expected someone in the editorial team to have spotted that error, especially since the book was published by Penguin!
So, not really a success for me, I'm afraid.

Riches

Apr. 13th, 2026 03:09 pm
mific: (Hockey sticks)
[personal profile] mific
So I'm into hockey fics now, and just realised there's a treasure trove of Helenish hockey rpf to be read. HR has taught me the basics of the hockey world, which makes the rpf easier to get into even if I don't really know the players. And I'll follow Helenish pretty much everywhere.

Two recs for now, Leon Draisaitl/Connor McDavid. Both locked to AO3.

Obligations. A long, slow burn story in an alpha/beta/omega-verse, and Helenish's worldbuilding within that is extraordinary, just as good as the way 'Take Clothes Off As Directed' deepened BDSM-verse. They're teammates on the Oilers, interacting with a mass of assumptions, miscommunication, hopeless denial, and obliviousness, so most of the fic is pining and unspoken longing badly hidden behind defences. They get there in the end, despite knowing how bad it'll be with the Press and twitter and their coaches and agents (the reactions of others plus their own idiocy replace RL homophobia as barriers), and there's finally some gorgeous hot as hell sex to enjoy after being edged for the rest of the story. It's from Leon's pov, and ends with a quiet paean to the hockey life. (17,681)

Silver Lining Playbook. Connor's pov, set at and after the recent Olympics. Non-linear plot, starting with them hooking up angrily and fake-casually, and only later we learn they used to be together then broke up due to the usual miscommunication and stubbornness. The ending's hopeful rather than resolved, and Connor's characterisation is excellent. Where the fic above was all repressed feelings and eventual fucking, this one's all fucking until eventually they talk about feelings. Very nice. (7212)

HR vid rec - To be a princess

Apr. 13th, 2026 01:54 am
mific: (Shane crowned)
[personal profile] mific
Ok I lied about going to bed.

Hilarious vid “To Be A Princess” -
set to some musical song, possibly Disney? By theburialofstrawberries.

https://www.tumblr.com/mific/813728132898177024/shane-as-princess

Damp squib

Apr. 12th, 2026 11:29 pm
mific: (A rainbow)
[personal profile] mific
As often happens, after all the dramatic warnings cyclone Vaianu was only a period of heavy rain and moderate winds where I live. Just another Sunday. More flooding elsewhere, but not too bad. Oh well, at least I got my camping gear out ready for any future power cuts. off to bed with me now, night all!

Sweep of the Heart

Apr. 12th, 2026 12:19 pm
alobear: (Default)
[personal profile] alobear
Sweep of the Heart by Ilona Andrews is the fifth book in her Innkeeper Chronicles series - which I've come back to more than two years after listening to book four.
It follows the story of Dina, who runs a magical inn that caters to various alien races from across the far reaches of space.
The series is an interesting mix between urban fantasy and space opera sci-fi - and I've thoroughly enjoyed it all the way through.
In this book, the inn hosts an inter-galactic spousal selection competition, which requires Dina to accommodate people from 12 different alien cultures, all of whom have different needs and desires, and some of whom are dangerous or in feuds with some of the others.
It's a whirlwind of a plot, with far too many characters, factions, layers and shenanigans to keep track of, but I just let the audiobook happen and loved every minute of it.
The only downside is that it turns out this isn't the last in the series, and there are major arc-plot threads still to be resolved! I guess I'm glad I have more of this world and characters to look forward to - but it's been four years since this one was published and the author is apparently focusing on a different series for now, so there's no indication as to when the final instalment of the Innkeeper Chronicles might arrive...
magnavox_23: A close of up Jack's hands, holding a photograph of Jack and Daniel embracing. Their foreheads resting against one another. (Stargate_Jack/Daniel_photograph)
[personal profile] magnavox_23
Title: "Wait, Are They Doing It?"
Artist: [personal profile] magnavox_23 
Character/Pairing: Jack/Daniel
Rating: PG

Took one of the least slashy episodes... slashed the hell out of it. *g*


(click to embiggen)

2x17 Serpent's Song

I am alerted!

Apr. 11th, 2026 02:28 pm
mific: (A rainbow)
[personal profile] mific
Minor update to yesterday's post.

One of those scary buzzy alerts on my phone just now, for the cyclone later today and tomorrow. No change from yesterday, just grumbling that I hate how those alerts startle me and raise my anxiety. Which is the point, I know! The eerie calm has broken - a light wind now and I just looked up and saw sun on the garden, but a sky becoming dark and lowering beyond. Peak cyclone time is the small hours of Sunday morning. Guess I'd better go outside and see what needs tidying away, then find the camping gas box in the garage. I'm very lucky that's all I need to do.

(no subject)

Apr. 10th, 2026 12:16 pm
lotesse: (Default)
[personal profile] lotesse
so it turns out my dad's not going to come back if I do all the grieving steps just right

Autumn garden views, and cyclone prep

Apr. 10th, 2026 03:48 pm
mific: (A rainbow)
[personal profile] mific
I haven't posted garden pics for a while due to autumn untidyness - so far as Auckland has an autumn, which is not very. Still green, just cooler and wetter. Also, I've been busy enjoying and making fanworks and have neglected the garden as it slides inexorably into disrepair. But everything's still green, and I do enjoy looking out at it so I thought you might like some views from my windows and doors. Overcast today so not ideal photography conditions, but as Cyclone Vaianu is bearing down on us in 36 hrs I figured I'd get pics now in case it's chaos by Monday. First time my landlord's property manager has ever emailed tenants with a cyclone warning and info about how to batten down! If I was still in my leaky house in the bush I'd be very worried but this flat's in a safe place - solid construction, high ground but not exposed, no big unsafe trees nearby - so fingers crossed. I'll roust out my camping gas stove and lamp in case of power cuts, and we'll see. Hope you're all safe from extreme weather events!

pics here... )
lotesse: (Default)
[personal profile] lotesse
The sort of beauty that's called human (5727 words) by lotesse
Chapters: 5/?
Fandom: Dark Is Rising Sequence - Susan Cooper
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Bran Davies/Will Stanton
Characters: Bran Davies, Will Stanton (Dark is Rising), Owen Davies, Herne the Hunter (Dark is Rising)
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Loss of Parent(s), Immortality
Series: Part 4 of Wherein was bound a child
Summary:

“We have to go,” Bran said, his voice coming out hoarser than he’d expected. “Rhys called. Trouble with my da. A stroke.”

No more needed to be said aloud. They were going back to Wales.

lotesse: (Default)
[personal profile] lotesse
Not time’s fool (13040 words) by lotesse
Chapters: 8/?
Fandom: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Caspian/Lucy Pevensie
Characters: Lucy Pevensie, Caspian (Narnia), Ramandu's Daughter | Liliandil, Edmund Pevensie, Peter Pevensie, Polly Plummer, Digory Kirke, Eustace Scrubb, Lord Rhoop (Narnia)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Post-Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Romance, Sailing, Prophecy
Series: Part 3 of An ever-fixèd mark
Summary:

By remaining in Narnia, and not going home again, Lucy had purposefully thrown herself in the path of fate, making herself the obstacle to derail the terrible train of events from its determined track, which had the prophesied end of all Narnia at its end, and her own premature death in a ruined railway carriage. She wasn’t going to let that happen. She had made of herself a lodestone, pulling fate out of its accustomed course. Inevitably, she would leave change in her wake. She meant it to be so, for the preservation of all.

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