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I am kind of amused at how after months of crickets chirping LJ has exploded into sudden activity. You know it is Yuletime when...
This doesn't affect me so much, because I haven't participated in Yuletide ever before and I am not about to start when I can't even update my own WiPs, but. It does make one a little nostalgic for the days back when you would go away for a weekend and come back to 3 pages of F-list backlog.
Still trying to break out of the habit of writing blog posts in my head and then never committing the words to virtual paper, but it's difficult, because writing the thoughts down takes time and I am feeling the pinch of that enough as it is. I probably need some time off but I am using all my leave on Spain and Paris, so that isn't going to happen anytime soon. Not that I regret it- I am pretty excited about finally getting to see EUROPE - but I am a little tired at the moment.
Speaking of nostalgia, recently I have been reminiscing about one of my old origi-fic worlds, and I went poking about google drive to see if I could find any of the old planning docs. No dice - I will have to check an external harddrive if I can be bothered enough - but I did find some hilarious unfinished documents as well as a depressing number of WiPs. For example, there is a document which was PROBABLY meant to be a game blog, but the only line in it is "I had to stop myself from actually shrieking out loud: OH NO, NOT HER!!!!!!!!!!!" ... I read that and then just stared, mystified, wondering what on Earth that was referring to??? (I did wonder if it was a reference to Dahlia Hawthorne in the later episodes of Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney: Trials & Tribulations, but I seem to have a different unfinished but at least more finished than that file for T&T in my google drive so I guess not?)
There is also an unfinished gameblog for Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days. It is amusing to reread my original impressions of games a while after I played them. In particular - "The eighth mystery of Twilight Town: Xion's magically disappearing and reappearing hood." I STILL DON'T GET THAT. And it is still a thing in the cinematic HD version in 1.5, too. Why? We may never know.
Actually, speaking of reading the original impressions of games I played a while ago, having just replayed Trials & Tribulations, it was pretty funny to see some places where I apparently made EXACTLY THE SAME MISTAKE on both play-throughs. I guess some things don't change.
Meanwhile, an update on the status of what I am up to in my tragically limited free time.
Watching: Since the last post, I finished S1 of the Magi anime and have also started Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, along with the aforementioned Elementary, Once Upon a Time and Legend of Korra. I haven't started s2 of Magi, which is currently airing, because conveniently enough s1 finished about where I was up to in the manga. I am going to catch up on the manga before I pick up watching again. I also started watching the Taiwanese drama Love Buffet, because... it was there and why not? I dunno. It is based on the manga Love Parfait and I find it a little distressing when I keep veering between who I ship the main character with - it is a love triangle and at any given moment I am usually shipping her with whoever she is not in love with, which is a bit awkward. Plus sometimes I want to smack people for being idiots. Which actually is not related to the love triangle itself. I have opinions about love triangles, but these can wait until that Cassie Palmer post I still swear I will get around to one of these days.
Playing: Still stalled on AC etc, still playing Project Diva F on and off. Finished replaying Gyakuten Kenji and have now moved onto Gyakuten Kenji 2, which I have never played before so it is a new and interesting experience. Be hard to write fic about since it was never translated, but there are a lot of aspects that are quite intriguing, like Gregory Edgeworth's junior showing up. Also, I should have known it was coming, there is quite possibly a corrupt judge for a change. These games have a REALLY messed up legal system... and I am beginning to form an awful suspicion that Edgeworth may lose his badge around the same time Phoenix did...
Also, I just acquired the Tales of Symphonia/Knights of Ratatosk PS3 remake, so I am contemplating whether to start playing that.
Reading: Finished Shadowfell Book 2. That is an interesting one for me, because by book 2 it is less about the romance than the rebellion plot line, and these days usually I won't bestir myself to read something unless I have an existing attachment to it (e.g. Discworld) or I am going to ship something. And usually in books I will go for the books where the thing I ship is canon. Also, Shadowfell is set in a rather dystopian political environment, which generally isn't my thing... but I do like stories about the Fair Folk, and so I will keep reading it. Since the last post, I have also read... hmm.
This needs bullet points.
* Troubled Waters, Sharon Shinn: I really like some of Sharon Shinn's older works - especially the Samaria and Mystic & Rider series - but her more recent stuff hasn't been quite as good. Still, despite the rather lukewarm wrap Troubled Waters got, I enjoyed it, even if I didn't super love it. I will read the second book when it comes out next month.
* Daughter of the Blood, Anne Bishop: Ugh. I finished it, but I am not finishing the series. The world it is set in is pretty fucked up - full on dystopia, lots of brutality and abuse, particularly against children. It was strangely fascinating while reading, which is why I didn't put it down, but I felt disturbed when I finished it and reading the blurbs for the rest of the series didn't make me feel particularly compelled to continue it. Not my scene.
* Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Benjamin Alire Saenz: Contemporary YA, a genre I will sometimes read but isn't my one great love, because often the focus is on the main character growing into themselves, and while that is a great theme, particularly for YA readers who are actually young adults, it doesn't inspire a lot of passion in me. This one was cute though, best friends falling in love with each other while dealing with what it means to be gay and Mexican-American.
* Backstage Pass, Gaby Triana: Another contemporary YA, this one was fun enough but I enjoyed it less than Aristotle & Dante. Probably because it was much more focussed on main character growing into herself than romance. I'm shallow, okay. Maybe also because I get a bit depressed by the number of books I have read that seem to involve the female best friend's unrequited love for the main character. I mean it is better than being invisible, and it is definitely a real problem that really happens when you're gay, but it is also a bit depressing. Sometimes you want fiction to give you hope for a happy ending. It's better when at least the best friend ends up getting her own girlfriend - I have read one book where that happened - but I do still tend to end up shipping the romance that will never be anyway.
* Amour et Chocolat series, Laura Florand: Contemporary, non-fantasy romance. Another genre I don't often read! But I really enjoyed this series, maybe because of the whimsical writing style, or maybe because it is about chocolate and is set in Paris so it is removed enough from my idea of everyday life to be interesting. XD Looking forward to book 5 of this, it comes out next month.
* Prep School Confidential, Kara Taylor: Technically contemporary YA again, but also murder mystery. I really enjoyed this one. It was the first book of a trilogy, looking forward to the second book coming out next year.
* Butterfly Swords, Jeannie Lin: Historical romance... with the twist that the historical we are talking about is Tang Dynasty, China. It is the first book in the series. I wasn't completely blown away but I did enjoy it, so will probably try the other books in the series.
* Season for Surrender and Season for Scandal, Theresa Romain: Regency romance. I skipped the first book because the second book description intrigued me and they didn't sound particularly related, which... my mistake. Unlike me, too, usually I insist on reading things in order even if there isn't a strict requirement to do so. I enjoyed them enough that I will probably go back to read the first one at some point and read the fourth one when it comes out next year, but I still prefer Loretta Chase.
* Everlasting Bad Boys, anthology: As is probably obvious from the title, paranormal romance. I read the GA Aiken short story, haven't read the others. What can I say. Dragon shapeshifters, man.
* Supernatural, anthology: Another paranormal romance anthology I read for the GA Aiken short, except I read the whole thing this time. Enjoyable enough, although I will never get the overwhelming obsession with vampires. Like, this isn't like my zombie thing, I don't hate vampires, I will be happy enough to read a well-written vampire romance, but generally my first reaction will be to sigh and say "Vampires AGAIN?" and check if there are any books about other, NON-vampire paranormal races in the series.
* Nightwalker series, Jacquelyn Frank: gave the series a try after reading a short in the Supernatural anthology because the world interested me. Gave up after reading the beginning of books 1 and 2 on the grounds of mediocrity. It wasn't throw at the wall disgust (Fever series I am LOOKING AT YOU), just meh.
* Your Scandalous Ways & Don't Tempt Me, Loretta Chase: As with all Loretta Chase, regency romance. Books linked by theme (fallen women) rather than characters. The first one was enjoyable enough but not one of my favourites by her, but I really liked the second one despite the ridiculous premise - English girl gets sold into a harem when visiting Cairo as a 12 year old, 12 years later finally escapes to the consulate after the Pasha and his son are assassinated and gets taken back to her family in England with a complete lack of understanding of English customs and mores, needs to be taken under the wing of a childhood friend who is coincidentally a Duke so that her reputation won't be ruined by the scandal of being the Harem Girl. Like I said, ridiculous concept and yet somehow I really loved it. The relationship was adorable.
* It Takes Two to Tangle, Theresa Romain: Another series by this author, again Regency romance (what, I was in the mood). I liked it but didn't love it, is probably the most accurate way of putting it, but I got attached enough to the characters that I am interested to read the sequel when it comes out.
* The Proposal, Mary Balogh: Regency romance again, another of the liked but did not adore. This author has a TON of books and I just picked this one mostly at random because it was recent. First in a series revolving around a club of war veterans. Will probably read the second one at some point but I started another series by this author and that one I AM loving.
* Slightly Married, Mary Balogh: ... being this one. First book in the Bedwyn Saga, each book about one of the siblings in the Bedwyn family. First one is about the second son who finds himself in a marriage of convenience to protect the sister of his captain who died towards the end of the Napoleonic wars as he promised, because he owed the captain his life from an earlier battle. NGL, I love the whole fake dating/marriage of convenience trope, and I adored the characters, so this really worked for me. I also liked the siblings enough to want to read about them, so this is probably what I will be reading for the near future.