Marquise > Recent Status Updates

"Devastating love story," uh? I've seen tamer horny gay/hornier bi pairs than this & with more believable excuses.

And this has a built-in voyeur.
And a M/M/F threesome. Or M/M/F/D counting the built-in voyeur.
And then a M/D dub-con (or rather a non-con) after.

Looks like the earlier controversial plot twist is the least of the issues.

I'll read this to the end. Sunk Cost Fallacy + So Bad It's Good victim = me.

My 3rd author interview is up!
https://pawntoplayer.com/2026/03/10/a...

I really love doing this. <3 You learn a lot about the backstage comings and goings of books, and some surprises, too.

Slight improvement by this point, emphasis on the slight.

There may or mayn't be hope for this book yet, there may or mayn't be some sort of inner consistency.

Still, that controversial twist is going to have a cost. Hefty.

Also wondering what the author's beliefs are, if any, because of certain weird religious stuff here.

I'll persevere till the 50% mark to decide if this is worth to keep going or bail out.

That sinking feeling when you run into a controversial plot twist & realise the book's interpretation of the Beast is worse than you guessed, and can't stop le train sur une trajectoire de collision avec la Histoire et la logique interne et la cohérence narrative de l'intrigue...

Merde!

Please surprise me in the opposite direction.

Interesting choice of narrator, and interesting storytelling style too. I was expecting a serious "tone," but got a scholarly MMC with a dry humour & a "snarky demon living inside me" plot instead.

I can see merely 5 chapters in what the author's take on the Beast of Gévaudan will be like (downsides of being familiar with the legend), yet the book's works for me so far. A case when predictability doesn't spell Doom?

Just what I needed to complete my GR experience: a pile-up of people who 5-starred a book I DNFed w/nothing negative about it besides that it wasn't for me.

Look, when someone drops a book & says it isn't for them, THEY MEAN EXACTLY THAT AND NOTHING MORE. It's not a slight or insult, it's taste, mood, maybe I was tired that day & didn't want that kind of book. Don't read more into it & ascribe things I haven't said!

#131: Have you ever won a book giveaway?

Me: here on Goodreads? Never, and I've entered 9 giveaways only for Jan-Feb (& will apply to more in the months to come). Elsewhere? No, neither, but that's my own fault as I don't apply to those elsewhere (and I don't want to be creating an account on every single social platform just to apply to only-once giveaways).

I'm not a lucky reader, I guess.

olks, folks, folks! I got accepted for an interview with a famous author. Someone I admire.

OMG! WHAT AM i DOING? OMG! I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO ASK! OMG! I'M GOING TO SCREW IT ALL UP AND DIE OF SHAME! OMG! HEEELP!

I debated this w/my besties & co-blogger before and have a fair idea of what I'll do, but I'd like to include y'all too, so:

#130: Thhose of you who have more than 1 place to review, do you pick & choose what reviews to post where?

I hesitate to post my neg reviews to my site, not for fear but for reputation-building reasons (bad optics, authors/pubs don't like neg), so for now I'm only posting my positive ones.

Twitter unsuspended me & now won't let me delete my account.

WORST social for readers. Sure, you get access to Big Name authors & Publishers & whatnot, but their accounts are ALL PUBLICITY. Most don't use theirs only for books, there's politics everywhere in "book accounts."

If I wanted politics, I'd follow you from my personal account.

Thus endeth Marquise's adventures in trying to be an internet celebrity. :P

This book cannot disappoint me, it's strictly verboten!

#plsgodamenthnx

Seriously, my February ARC pile is far more promising than my Jan/March piles. I've a ridiculous accumulation of ARCS & purchases I'm dying to read but couldn't for lack of time & Beginning of the Year Syndrome. Now thinking of locking myself up on a cabin (i.e. my room), ban myself from socials & not allow myself back till I finish all.

My second interview is up!
https://pawntoplayer.com/2026/02/09/a...

And the winner of the giveaway too.

I'm happy doing this, lemme tell you. I'll aim for doing this once per month at least. Indies & small authors are a joy to talk with regardless of whether you agree or not (and I do let them express their ideas freely), much more lovely than famous & big name ones in my experience.

Remember the author I was trying to reach out for interview but they wouldn't reply so I reached out to their agent?

Well, now the agent has answered to me (after many days of no reply, I should add), and . . . they want me to rewrite my interview request because she claims I misgendered the author and I also should change my interview to correctly gender the author, and only then the request will be forwarded.

1/2

No better way to teach you how UNIQUE GR is than trying from scratch at other socials.

There's no place like GR.
Trying to make friends elsewhere is humbling.
Trying to move your followers from GR to elsewhere is impossible.
People don't want to read/comment on blogs/sites anymore.
Elon deemed me 'sus' & suspended my newfangled account.

How am I ever gonna leave this den of depravity if everywhere else is so hard?

Ladies and gentlemen and literary animals, my first-ever book giveaway is here!

I'm so excited, I've never hosted one before, and I hope to make it a regular feature on my website.

Do participate, your chances of winning are higher than here on Goodreads. :P We're not limiting it to US-only readers.

"Just begin. It will take a while to build a following but just be consistent and keep your audience engaged. You'll develop a faithful community over time and that matters most."
- My bestie.

That's her advice to me after complaining that I don't know how to make my website grow w/o creating social accounts to promote reviews (don't want IG, FB's old folks, Tumblr's dead, Twitter's a nightmare, etc.). What say you?

Quick question: If an author that has received an award/some sort of public acclaim for their literary achievement, but doesn't answer when reached out to personally or through their agent . . . can this be considered grounds for forfeiting the award/recognition?

In such a case, if yes, what proceeds? The next in line or runner up author gets it instead, or what?

Asking for a friend. :P

So, I haven't posted a single review here in all of January (I've many drafts) to test how it would feel to take a reviewing break but continue reading & interacting here.

As I suspected, the issue is reviewing. I no longer want to review everything I read. My reviewer phase is over & overstaying its welcome causes stress.

I thrive on talking books that interest me, so the decision I made is defo the right one.

#128: When you were young and penniless, what did you do to get books (other than beg, borrow, or steal)?

I know what you do now in your ol' age, but not when you were a child/teen that couldn't afford books.

Me? I would go without & reread those I had to pieces. :'( But one day I saw my chance at riches (heh) and got my 1st job at a bookshop for a day. Bought an Austen & a Christie w/my newfangled fortune of $20.

#129: Do you trust paid reviewers and ARC reviewers or not?

I know this question kicks a hornets' nest, but... heh, let the world burn, I'm leaving anyway!


Personally, there's 3 types of reviewers I don't trust under no circumstances:
a. paid reviewers (influencer or professional),
b. reviewers whose reads are 80% or more ARC/free books,
c. literary critics.

#127: Can you remember or track back the moment you became a reader?

Talking w/my sister about our early reading memories, I realised I can't pinpoint WHEN & HOW I became a reader. It almost feels like I was born knowing how to read. :P I learnt to read entirely on my own before I could write or hold a pen (too small to go to Kindergarten) but don't recall how I taught myself. I do remember the 1st word I wrote. :D

I'd considered keeping the Questions when I'm gone, but would this be worth it?

I'd still be exposed to the same issues & leaving GR makes less sense if I'm to keep my engagement levels basically the same. Only not posting reviews would be a real change.

Trolling would continue: updates are accessible to non-friends.

I think the best idea is to reply to comments on my reviews as my only engagement here.

Thoughts?

You know one downside of eliminating DMs?

The toxicity here will be more noticeable if people are forced to do their harassment-by-DM through public comments now. There'll be a spike in nasty comments, that before were at least partially obfuscated by DMs.

Trolls are cowards & prefer to hide to avoid being flagged or to lose face.

Only today, I deleted 2 horrid comments w/personal insults. Higher than average.

Ladies and gentlemen and literate animals: Last call for sharing emails via DM! After this Sunday, they'll be gone, gone, bone, baby.

Also, those of you who aren't staying, where are you going to be at? And if you're staying, let me know. Everyone will be harder to communicate with if everyone is scattered to the four winds instead of happily gathered in this one site (thanks for nothing, GR.)

In 2025 I had to decline beta-reading (bet you didn't know it's another of my passions, eh?) for some books. I later found out 1 of them won an award, & just got told I was replaced as a beta by the great-manytimesgreat-something of the character in the novel.

Aw, no "I beta'd for an award-winning book" bragging rights for me & got replaced by a fictional character's descendant. My s(h)elf-esteem is taking a hit. :D

So, I got the Message of Doom from GR like everyone here.

What will you do now?

I'm going to leave GR (my Cub is leaving too). I've been conflicted for a long time, and I know lots of you don't want me to leave. Neither do I want to leave, but all things must end. It's not just the DMs or the limited comments, it's also that I feel much better when I'm out of GR for whatever readon and reading w/o having to review.

A schoolteacher friend of mine was sharing his dismay at his pupils using AI to read assigned books & write reports for them, & said it's so common he's already a pro at detecting it's AI on sight w/o the help of detection tools. He asked me if I could too, I said no.

That got me thinking, if schoolkids are using AI for that...

#125: Do you think there are reviewers using AI to read & write their reviews for them?

What I learnt after 12 "lais":

- He who fears cuckolding shall be cuckolded. 'Tis law.
- The number of maidens in towers is redunkulous. Sir, is this a Rapunzel cult?
- We whine that women couldn't choose, but these ladies are bold & offer themselves on a gold platter & even have a harem. Demure longing at a distance, my eye.
- The period's Yo Momma joke was killing your mum's husband to give her & your dad a HEA.

What I learnt, six "lais" in:

- So much adultery! Were there no single maidens for a knight to love back then?
- They hunt all the time. Telling a noble he's "a great hunter" is like telling a guy today he plays like Cristiano Ronaldo.
- A scorned woman calling the man who rejects her "gay" is as old as time.
- First date sex isn't a modern invention, prove me wrong.
- Their knowledge of biology is... cough.

ME: *gifts a Kindle to favourite nephew*
HIM: i wish I had time to read, but college, my GF, the cat, the dog, my modeling agency, my boss, the weather, politics, my kebab place closed.
ME: *gifts a Kindle to favourite niece*
HER: Aw, Aunt M! Please buy me this self-help book to read on my trip to the Caribbean. And this one by Hemingway too.

I should pull a Karl Lagerfeld and leave my fortune & books to my cat. :'(