Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is basically a mood reading thread for the two of us. We have The NeverEnding Only to Be Added To Longlist of Books we want to buddy read throughout the year(s) but to pacify both our planner happy minds and the vagaries of our mood reading hearts we are setting this thread up so that we can jump around with our reading plans as the whim calls and still have everything in one place, (kinda) neatly.

Anyone is obviously more than welcome to join us when we start a read but fair warning that there will be no rhyme or reason to our schedule and not much of a heads up, which is the whole point of a mood read.

Books read on this thread:

2022

1. March 14 - :
DELAYED :

One more Tracking Post

And another

@Hailee
(view spoiler)[
POSSIBLE JOINT READATHONS TRACKING POST

Hay, I thought we could use this post to make a simple list of any readathons we BOTH attempt. What do you think? I can just delete the post if you don’t think it’s a good idea...felt it should be fun after a couple years to see everything we did. (hide spoiler)]

REFERENCE MATERIAL
The NeverEnding Only to Be Added To Longlist of Books We Want to BR:

(view spoiler)[
is still being compiled.....check back in a few days!
:D (hide spoiler)]

READ #1



BOOK BLURB (spoilered for those who want to dive in cold):
(view spoiler)[
Renata Viraudax is a con artist who has come to the sparkling city of Nadezra — the city of dreams — with one goal: to trick her way into a noble house and secure her fortune and her sister’s future.

But as she’s drawn into the elite world of House Traementis, she realizes her masquerade is just one of many surrounding her. And as corrupt magic begins to weave its way through Nadezra, the poisonous feuds of its aristocrats and the shadowy dangers of its impoverished underbelly become tangled — with Ren at their heart. (hide spoiler)]

Yay!! Thread looks good Zaara, thanks for butlering on this thread.

About message 5: sounds like a fun idea to me. It'll be good to be able to look back and see what readathons we went back to and which ones were one hit wonders.

I'm intrigued, this looks interesting. I might join in with you guys a little bit later. Hopefully it's not YA-like tho.

Beena wrote: "I'm intrigued, this looks interesting. I might join in with you guys a little bit later. Hopefully it's not YA-like tho."

Hi Beena, yes I'm also hoping that its adult. Looking at how its been shelved most people seem to think it is so fingers crossed they're right.

Buddy read of Mask of Mirrors is DELAYED until further notice

Yup, the MoM buddy read has been postponed to sometime in May to sometime in the near future due to epic cosmic clusterfunk and we are commissioning our Hat of Randomness to pull a lightning quick read of Red White and Royal Blue instead.



BOOK BLURB:
(view spoiler)[
First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations. The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince.

As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you? (hide spoiler)]

I'm thru 25% and loving it, which is on;y to be expected when you, Melissa AND Sha all agree on a romance.
TBH, I normally take your recommendations with a blind and touching faith but this time I admit I was skeptical (and lacked the pureness of intention :P) because honestly, i thought this was the most farout premise ever but now I got sucked into the zaniness and maaan, she makes it work. Somehow and it's even NOT CORNY and actually believable. Impressed!!!!!


Chapter 1: I literally laughed out loud at the viscount's waifs and the tragic, wanton emails about fabric samples.

"Alex is opening his mouth to retort whena royal attendant materialised at their table looking like a dense and dour looking ghost in a bad hairpiece." Who can resist?????

I'm mid Chapter 6. They just (view spoiler)[ had their first kiss on NYE and they both are freaking out and Alex is *sniggers evilly and makes air quotes* "processing"...

O boy, that scene where he calls his childhood best friend...that's one lunch date EPICALLY ruined, eh eh EEEH? (hide spoiler)]

Fave part: I loved the (view spoiler)[ poop emoji texting back n forth with kicks (hide spoiler)] and that's of course my favourite part so far.

I'm a bit on the fence about (view spoiler)[ President Mum, we'll see how it goes, how she takes it. O I can't wait to see how everyone will react when the balloon goes up..... (hide spoiler)]

Zaara wrote: "I'm thru 25% and loving it, which is on;y to be expected when you, Melissa AND Sha all agree on a romance.
TBH, I normally take your recommendations with a blind and touching faith but this time I..."

I admit to being very biased towards my love for this book and if you'd hated it, I may have had to cut off all contact 😆

But in all seriousness I'm glad you're enjoying it. This book has the real feelgood factor and is truly one of my favs. I think I'm just going to have to admit to myself that a yearly reread is a must.

Chapter 1 (view spoiler)[Enemies to lovers has to be my favourite trope. i had the biggest smile on my face starting this book. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 2 (view spoiler)[Alex saying that he prefers his romances to be Shakespearian and then Nora straight up comparing his and Henry's relationship to something out of Shakespeare isn't even subtle... I love the relationship between the Whitehouse trio and the conversation between Henry and Alex at the stable is always laugh out loud funny to me... something about them smiling widely for the cameras while insulting each other always gets me. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 3 (view spoiler)[Favourite lines:
Alex calling Henry a hufflepuff-ass bitch.
Henry telling Alex that he is 'the thistle in the tender arse crack of his life' (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 4 (view spoiler)[ the turkey phone call is such a cute moment. plus Alex being completely oblivious and not picking up on the obvious clues is always funny.
Favourite line: "He's not my friend. He's someone I like to antagonise all the time and one time, I talked about something real." "That's a friend, Alex"
The kiss!!!! 😍 And Alex finally gets a clue. (hide spoiler)]

Oh mwaahahaha the turkeys :) (view spoiler)[ buy a house in Majorca (hide spoiler)] and yea the slytherin dog was deffo one of my highlights too!!!

Hailee wrote: "plus Alex being (view spoiler)[ completely oblivious and not picking up on the obvious clues is always funny." (hide spoiler)]

Regarding this, i did not (view spoiler)[ see any of the obvious clues that Alex missed and if I had not known this was gonna be a romance that kiss would have totally bamboozled me too. Now i will go back and reread the lead up scenes. I thought it were just the booze...and then the panic... (hide spoiler)]

Zaara wrote: "Oh mwaahahaha the turkeys :) [spoilers removed] and yea the slytherin dog was deffo one of my highlights too!!!

Hailee wrote: "plus Alex being [spoilers removed]

Regarding this, i did not [spoil..."

Haha be fair the clues become much more obvious upon reread so you and Alex technically can't be blamed for not noticing. I genuinely can't remember if I noticed these things on my first read either.

Chapter 5 (view spoiler)[ I could just transcribe the whole of the conversation between Alex and Nora as my favourite part of this chapter. I just love the who thing. Nora really is amazing! (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 6 (view spoiler)[The emails at the end are brilliant. I love all the different versions of HRH Alex used, His Royal Horniness is my personal favourite though (hide spoiler)]

Hailee wrote: "Chapter 6 [spoilers removed]"

That they are...in the coming spoilers, you may see them mentioned...a coupla times...;p

I only have 150 pages left, that's despite putting the book down for a day when Chapter 7 put a silver bullet in my heart.

Ch 6

(view spoiler)[
Sunrise in the fucking moors...is not ever a way I've heard this activity described...hehehe...GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!

I liked the bit about the pair of eyes floating over a dopamine haze...

Now they are gonna meet at a polo CROQUET match or something before the rich white people sex dungeon hell...this is only my third M-M romance...and I totally vibed it when Alex freaks out for a minisecond in the tack room. But perhaps he is PROFOUNDLY SUFFERING FOR SOMETHING HE MUST HAVE DONE IN A PREVIOUS LIFE...

Eh?????
:D
(hide spoiler)]

CH 7
(view spoiler)[
1. THIS CHAPTER......so now they are past chapter 6 and are in "oh it's just physical or is it?" phase...this is usually my favourite part in the romances...
"But like. It's fine. It's NOT a whole THING... while telling each other ALL the weird inner stories.
+
I love how increasingly insulting the addresses in the emails get the hornier they are....

2. What does "thirst trap" mean, Hay? I am not familiar with the term is it something british like "chalk and cheese"?

3. This is really endearing sentence: "ALex's heart goes so fuvking wierd that he has to put his head in his hands for a full minute..." I wanted to hug him because of how much in love he is, reminds me of my little brother when he was a teenager.

4. Ok Henry is sexy n all with his cloudy mood swings and his vitriol but Remus John Lupin cannot possibly be gay despite all this wild surmising because what price Tonks and Li'l Teddy? Tho I will not mind Diggory cast in a M-M romance....:D eeeww I just had a gross exploitative Diggory Lupin mindflash that is NOT COOL.

5. Even though Bea is so far an offstage char, I get it...with siblings and any form of addiction, you shouldn't feel responsible but you kinda do. Is this really dweeby that I wonder how someone as protected as Bea would even get her hands on it? :( how do they even get their hands on the stuff?

6. Ok i dunno about you but i peeve-craze-hate the last bitter sludgy vestiges of coffee left in the pot...and will NOT ever. I'd rather go without.


7. What is this secret plotting of the Dad and Luna in Spanish? Somehow I trust the Dad even tho he is set up to be the absent parent (the Mum seems too busy despite being the parent in residence and I really don't blame her, poor kid) so wanna bet this "secret" isnt gonna come back and bite them in the boum? Do you think Luna hasn't yet realised Alex is gay or bi or have a thing for dudes?
(hide spoiler)]


This was a strong chapter but secretly, I can't wait for it all to blow up BUT BUT BUT I'm also walking on eggshells because of it. I put this book down and went and watched Gone Girl yest because of it (the CHapter 7 got me). Who can believe (view spoiler)[ in allllll this luuuuurve? Who's gonna betray and leak this to the pappz or the evil social media? And there's gonna be a breakup and a void and a reunion. When did I start clinically looking at the bomes of a romance instead of being swept away by the luuuuurve? That's all gonna come but this chapter just highlights it more. Shit, @Hailee...Alex's heart is gonna break in many small painful shards. Henry will possibly just go on a rebound or something. I'm finding Henry smokin' because accent n Anglophile n all but I'm FOREVER Team Alex. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 8

Ok I am back IN A WAY,

(view spoiler)[
1. The emails...stop sending emails. It's only gonna make it worse. Also "I knida wish people still wrote like that." O boy, Henry, don't i wish. The age of expression is dead. Nowadays ppl send emjois.
2. All this WASPy Hunter stuff is also making me want to read an actual serious election memoir. And also... have u watched SCANDAL? It went a bit off and far out and rambly after a few seasons but... :)
3. Did not like poetic Wimbledon sex scene. Song of Achilles issues. I think having begun my M-M romance journey with TJKlune this is gonna be my problem now with any M-M romance written by non dudes??? who may possibly be non gay (I'm not sure for sure what McQuiston identifies as? well it were to do with the over poetic-ness and all the awe at his "elaborate expressions of wonder and agony"...because i dont think dudes are thinking in such TERMINOLOGY when they at it...and it seems a bit off to me. SOrry! Please continue talking to me.
4. Luna and the betrayal/decamping whatevs. I KNEW IT!!! But also, I can;t quite believe it.......poor Alex he is having to take ALL the punches in this book. Spread out the pain, woman! *shakes fist*

5. I LOVE THIS SENTENCE and most importantly the lead up to it: "If Alex's head is a storm, Henry is the place where lightning hits the ground." This is exactly what love is or should be. Illuminating. Yourself and everything around. If it doesn;t make you reevaluate everything you stood for and believed and bring you a bit to the brink of yourself...if it doesnt even rock the boat... Fine! for this sentence I forgive the poetical sex spoutings. I'm prolly gonna make a quote page and stick blooming peony and sakura washi around it. Prolly snog it like Kreacher snogged the picture of Bellatrix.
(hide spoiler)]

Chapter 9

(view spoiler)[

Wired up Zahra can be a bit scary at times. Somehow Shaan stayed cool doing his job.

REGARDING ALL THE Coming Out scenes: Aaaaaaww Mama made ANOTHER Powerpoint. Those slide titles were hilarious but the Alex and June scene was the big one for me. Somehow I'm not really feeling much of the sides yet except June, they're all generically cute and quirky. STOP TRYING TO JANE AUSTEN MY LIFE! Also I had that WHitney Houston song going while I read the kimono scenes because PEZ!!! And it's nice to see ALex loosening up a bit and Henry just letting himself be and start to trust ("as if he was waiting for someone to tell him he was allowed to do it.")

7. Ok Alex is being a bit of puppy: "It's weird because I always know things about ppl, gut feelings that lead me in more or less the right direction..." *SNORT* like Luna???? Alex is still too trusting.

8. TEXAS! I love the full family scenes. In Wolfsong, the scene i remember still clearly is everyone around the picnic table teasing Joe for walking into a wall. When they're all together it's somehow NOT generic or overcute. I wish we get more of June. I somehow dont feel her with Pez. It would be TOO NEAT (like the time when everyone wanted Pippa Middleton going with Harry) like a folded tablecloth, edges tucked it. I want June to get back with her ex she never really forgot and turn her back on the white house and f.o to do ballsy fem journo stuff. Also I were more impressed with OSCAR in his minute three scene appearance than i am with Ellen so far. I don't trust myself. Is that just my skewed brain and dad craving? I also love how much Alex loves his home, what it means to him.
Those lines are so much EXTRA...."the sanity of it. The roots. He could go outside and dig his fingers into the springy ground and understand anything about himself." ANOTHER one to keep!!!! (hide spoiler)]

CH 10
(view spoiler)[
1. Uh OH! *snort with flying bogies* HRH freaked out and left. AGAIN. Yeah well. I'm kinda getting tired of it. Now ALex got on a plane.It's a romance so I guess this will end well but in real life one day this is gonna happen one too many times.

2. And now they made up and are slow dancing in a museum doing gay princely entitled romantic shit and it's supposed to be supremely romantic but somehow I am still mad at Henry bcuZ his stupid explains aren't half enough because Alex's heart is for sure gonna get trampled again. Meanwhile Luna is still out there, lurking. And everything is all up in the air....

3. *stubbornly ignores that my heart is ok squeezing a bit ok perhaps a LOT at the ring sceneexpecially when it clinks against the key*
Instead I distract myself with: are we even allowed to think "poor":D George Villiers???

What did you think of this chapter, Hay? I liked what you said about how rereads alter your stance on a book, kinda like curing leather, no? Perhaps once I read the ending, I'll feel differently about this. It's what makes P&P perfect in the balance or even an endearingly flawed book like the Binding...the balance. (hide spoiler)]

Just read your message and saw that you'd updated the thread so thought I'd write up my own notes as well:

Chapter 7 (view spoiler)[This was such a fun chapter. Alex finally talked to June but the best bit for me was the night out the six of them had. It was great to see them all cut loose and forget about their responsibilities for a while.

"A thirst trap" is a saying like "chalk and cheese" I think its a saying that compares horniness to being thirsty and desperate... ok I've just googled it to get a proper definition coz I couldn't work out how to explain it properly: A thirst trap is a type of social media post intended to entice viewers sexually. It refers to a viewer's "thirst", a colloquialism likening sexual frustration to dehydration, implying desperation. So my explanation was sort of right.

I agree that Lupin can't be gay as that would be unfair but I've always thought of him as bisexual... to many Sirius/Lupin fanfictions read in my youth to think any other way.

As to how Bea would get her hands on stuff, I'm guessing anyone with enough money can find at least one unscrupulous person who will do anything for a price.

No comment on some of the other stuff you mentioned.. I don't want to spoil anything for you... (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 8: (view spoiler)[I love the name of their group chat but my favourite thing in this chapter was the scene with Henry, Alex, Zahra and of course the star of the scene... the closet 🤣. The whole irony of Henry being shoved into a closet only to come tumbling out with another mans boxers around his ankles is just too good 🤣

I think is bisexual and/or non-binary but don't quote me on that I could be wrong. I agree with the whole termilology thing but its quite a common thing in M-M romance so I guess I've just got used to it. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 9: (view spoiler)[I've always appreciated how well Alex took being fired and saw it as proof (before he admitted it to himself) that he was well and truly in love with Henry, since before Henry that job was all he wanted.

Wolfsong is one of those books that seem to have been on my in the back of my head TBR for ages. As for Oscar, he definitely handles everything well but I won't make any comments on Ellen yet for fear of spoiling anything. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 10: (view spoiler)[maybe this is just me but sometimes i thing this is one of the most romantic chapters in the book; to consciously choose someone even though you now the proverbial shit will hit the fan once it comes out (pun intended 😉) but loving them too much to give them up... *sigh*

OOOH hahaha I have just opened your chapter notes for this chapter (I don't read yours until I've written mine up so I don't get influenced) and I guess we feel slightly different about this chapter huh. As to how the reread affects my reading of this... as a whole I guess some characters I definitely feel different about since I know how it turns out but I can't remember ever being mad at Henry... I think on my first read I found it quite funny that it was Henry, who always knew he was gay, was the one out of the two to have the cliched "gay freakout". (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 11 (view spoiler)[This chapter always hurts to read and always makes me cry... Out of curiosity did it make you feel any less annoyed with Henry? (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 12: (view spoiler)[Urgh the press are so intrusive, they really have no respect for privacy. I think though it the fakeness of the news and the fact that they have to pretend to be in hetero relationships that annoys me most. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 13: (view spoiler)[Well Zaara you did see the hacking coming a mile away, I guess having all that stuff written down it was kind of inevitable, but annoying as the intrusiveness was I'm always just kind of relieved that the truth is out so they can stop pretending. After all, they only had to pretend for the sake of other people rather than for themselves.

It's Philip and most especially the Queen that I hate. Their attitude of appearances being more important than feelings really grated. I'm glad he mother finally woke up from her grief and together with Henry they managed to stand up to both of them. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 14: (view spoiler)[Were you surprised that Luna wasn't such a bad guy after all? Or did you already suspect? I'm curious to know after your comments about him in chapter 8. I couldn't comment before in case I gave anything away accidentally. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 15: (view spoiler)[ I loved that the portrait that was chosen was more of a candid shot. I wonder if Catherine chose it. I hope she does gun for the throne, she'd be so much better than her mother and it'll give her something positive to focus on.

Maybe the ending is a bit of a cliched, wrapped up happily ever after but I think it just ends the book on the positive that you need from a feelgood book like this I think part of the acknowledgements sums the book up well "...needed to be escapist, trauma-soothing, alternate-but-realistic reality. Not a perfect world- one still unbelievably fucked up, just a little better, a little more optimistic..." and I think she hit the nail on the head with this book. (hide spoiler)]