*tap tap tap is this thing on? Anyone here?*
I decided I don't want to abandon LJ after all. I think I'll keep both this and tumblr. This is going to be a catch-up post...
1. I am behind on pretty much every drama - I am enjoying Gu Family Book a lot, but I haven't yet watched past ep 12.
2. I watched Before Midnight (which was beyond amazing and felt so real - my favorite movie this year, by a mile) and Star Trek Into Darkness (which should have made Kirk/Spock slashers very happy but I was too busy drooling over Benedict Cumberbatch).
3. Am still ridiculously excited for The White Queen:
Though don't get me started on some of the stuff in the books (hint hint: Philippa Gregory's obsession with incest is not mine).
4. Cannot wait for The Heirs because that is one ridiculously amazing cast. Though aren't Lee Min Ho, Park Shin Hye and Kim Woo Bin way way waaaay too old to play high schoolers? At least Choi Jin Hyuk is not playing a high schooler.
5. I've been reading a ton, some good and some not so good. By far my biggest obsession out of my latest batch of books is Tabitha McGowan's The Tied Man. If you don't mind really explicit and really dark (really really dark - I was literally peering through my fingers for some parts), I very much recommend - the two main characters are amazing and I loved the whole 'heroine rescues the hero' set-up because how often does that happen? I blathered about it on and on at goodreads, but in case someone would be interested and isn't on goodreads, the set-up is as follows: Lilith Bresson is a controversial but acclaimed avant garde painter. At 28, Lilith is successful, tough as nails, blunt (mainly she just doesn't give a fuck about social niceties) - she is a survivor of a broken family and unhappy childhood and can by now pretty much cope with anything life throws her way but that makes her rather detached emotionally. It's just as well she is the way she is, because she is going to need all her toughness for what follows - she gets pressured by her unpleasant father into painting the portrait of Lady Blaine Albermarle, a noted philanthropist and society hostess who runs an isolated island luxury retreat (no cellphones, no gadgets, no nothing). She arrives at the seemingly idyllic place and quickly realizes that the pleasant facade hides some severely awful things - most of them centering on Lady Blaine's beautiful and haunted 24-year old companion, Finn Strachan. Fwiw, when reading, I pictured Finn like this:
The bulk of the book follows what happens after Lilith is dragged into the island's darkest secrets and how she rescues Finn - initially through providing hope and friendship and loyalty, but eventually in the physical sense as well. The narration alternates between Lilith and Finn (both of whom I pretty much unquestionably adore) and there is an amazing love story hidden in all the horror (the book slowly lures you in and you think it won't be that bad and then it gets darker and darker and...). I confess I spent the bulk of the book wanting to rescue Lilith and Finn and to murder Blaine, usually at the same time.
I was trying to be kinda vague outside the cut because I am not sure how much spoilering people are OK with, but in case you haven't figured it out, Blaine has a number of unsavory businesses and one of them is whoring Finn out to clients who are willing to pay top dollar for a gorgeous young man who cannot say no (Blaine is holding his sisters' lives over his head - long story) and who they can do pretty much anything to, short of killing him. Be warned, there are some severely creepy noncon scenes in the book.
Normally, I love my heroes clean-cut and alpha and Finn is neither - he is a former male prostitute who used to work the Dublin streets (long story - short version being worst childhood ever), got lured in by Blaine and who tried to get out when he realized what was going on only to find out he can't - he can't run because she brings him back and he can't even kill himself or she will go after his family. By the time we meet him, he's been with her for three years and he's pretty much as emotionally dead as one can get and still be alive - he is managing to make it through with the help of nicotine, alcohol, drugs, and emotional shut down. That is a big part of the reason Blaine brings Lilith in - it's no fun torturing someone who just doesn't care any more. She notices Finn reacting to Lilith's appearance on some show and decides to combine having her portrait painted by a famous artist with the fun of making Finn suffer some more.
One severe miscalculation - Lilith is bloody-minded, strong, hates games, and decides that what is going on should not. And thus the plot of the book. This book is by turns horrific and very funny and always nail-biting and I love how strong both Lilith and Finn are - Lilith can pretty much dismantle mountains with her force of will and Finn is such a survivor (who somehow manages to keep his humanity and even a very bleak sense of humor). Their love story is incredibly moving to me - in the middle of all the insanity, they are just so very normal together, which is necessary because things keep going from bad to worse. At the end of the book, I breathed such a sign of relief because the whole ordeal is over, but it's relief tinged with apprehension - our protagonists are free and out of immediate danger but the fact remains that Finn is addicted to drugs, which is not a healthy long-term situation, he is incredibly mentally and emotionally damaged, possibly permanently (and physically he is not in the pink of health either), and while he has never had a truly normal life, the last three years have got to have given him total PTSD and trauma he might not be able to ever fully process.
The author is writing a sequel and the first chapter is out as a preview and it looks to be just as good as the first book ((everything is pretty much perfect in it, from Lilith slugging a photographer for saying something nasty to the utterly heartbreaking bit where Finn pretty much has to barricade himself in before he feels safe enough to change clothes). I cannot wait for the book to be out!
1. I am behind on pretty much every drama - I am enjoying Gu Family Book a lot, but I haven't yet watched past ep 12.
2. I watched Before Midnight (which was beyond amazing and felt so real - my favorite movie this year, by a mile) and Star Trek Into Darkness (which should have made Kirk/Spock slashers very happy but I was too busy drooling over Benedict Cumberbatch).
3. Am still ridiculously excited for The White Queen:
Though don't get me started on some of the stuff in the books (hint hint: Philippa Gregory's obsession with incest is not mine).
4. Cannot wait for The Heirs because that is one ridiculously amazing cast. Though aren't Lee Min Ho, Park Shin Hye and Kim Woo Bin way way waaaay too old to play high schoolers? At least Choi Jin Hyuk is not playing a high schooler.
5. I've been reading a ton, some good and some not so good. By far my biggest obsession out of my latest batch of books is Tabitha McGowan's The Tied Man. If you don't mind really explicit and really dark (really really dark - I was literally peering through my fingers for some parts), I very much recommend - the two main characters are amazing and I loved the whole 'heroine rescues the hero' set-up because how often does that happen? I blathered about it on and on at goodreads, but in case someone would be interested and isn't on goodreads, the set-up is as follows: Lilith Bresson is a controversial but acclaimed avant garde painter. At 28, Lilith is successful, tough as nails, blunt (mainly she just doesn't give a fuck about social niceties) - she is a survivor of a broken family and unhappy childhood and can by now pretty much cope with anything life throws her way but that makes her rather detached emotionally. It's just as well she is the way she is, because she is going to need all her toughness for what follows - she gets pressured by her unpleasant father into painting the portrait of Lady Blaine Albermarle, a noted philanthropist and society hostess who runs an isolated island luxury retreat (no cellphones, no gadgets, no nothing). She arrives at the seemingly idyllic place and quickly realizes that the pleasant facade hides some severely awful things - most of them centering on Lady Blaine's beautiful and haunted 24-year old companion, Finn Strachan. Fwiw, when reading, I pictured Finn like this:
The bulk of the book follows what happens after Lilith is dragged into the island's darkest secrets and how she rescues Finn - initially through providing hope and friendship and loyalty, but eventually in the physical sense as well. The narration alternates between Lilith and Finn (both of whom I pretty much unquestionably adore) and there is an amazing love story hidden in all the horror (the book slowly lures you in and you think it won't be that bad and then it gets darker and darker and...). I confess I spent the bulk of the book wanting to rescue Lilith and Finn and to murder Blaine, usually at the same time.
I was trying to be kinda vague outside the cut because I am not sure how much spoilering people are OK with, but in case you haven't figured it out, Blaine has a number of unsavory businesses and one of them is whoring Finn out to clients who are willing to pay top dollar for a gorgeous young man who cannot say no (Blaine is holding his sisters' lives over his head - long story) and who they can do pretty much anything to, short of killing him. Be warned, there are some severely creepy noncon scenes in the book.
Normally, I love my heroes clean-cut and alpha and Finn is neither - he is a former male prostitute who used to work the Dublin streets (long story - short version being worst childhood ever), got lured in by Blaine and who tried to get out when he realized what was going on only to find out he can't - he can't run because she brings him back and he can't even kill himself or she will go after his family. By the time we meet him, he's been with her for three years and he's pretty much as emotionally dead as one can get and still be alive - he is managing to make it through with the help of nicotine, alcohol, drugs, and emotional shut down. That is a big part of the reason Blaine brings Lilith in - it's no fun torturing someone who just doesn't care any more. She notices Finn reacting to Lilith's appearance on some show and decides to combine having her portrait painted by a famous artist with the fun of making Finn suffer some more.
One severe miscalculation - Lilith is bloody-minded, strong, hates games, and decides that what is going on should not. And thus the plot of the book. This book is by turns horrific and very funny and always nail-biting and I love how strong both Lilith and Finn are - Lilith can pretty much dismantle mountains with her force of will and Finn is such a survivor (who somehow manages to keep his humanity and even a very bleak sense of humor). Their love story is incredibly moving to me - in the middle of all the insanity, they are just so very normal together, which is necessary because things keep going from bad to worse. At the end of the book, I breathed such a sign of relief because the whole ordeal is over, but it's relief tinged with apprehension - our protagonists are free and out of immediate danger but the fact remains that Finn is addicted to drugs, which is not a healthy long-term situation, he is incredibly mentally and emotionally damaged, possibly permanently (and physically he is not in the pink of health either), and while he has never had a truly normal life, the last three years have got to have given him total PTSD and trauma he might not be able to ever fully process.
The author is writing a sequel and the first chapter is out as a preview and it looks to be just as good as the first book ((everything is pretty much perfect in it, from Lilith slugging a photographer for saying something nasty to the utterly heartbreaking bit where Finn pretty much has to barricade himself in before he feels safe enough to change clothes). I cannot wait for the book to be out!