Category: Book Talk

Stitch Reads Smolder (Anita Blake #29) – Chapters 1-3

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I took a break from sporking/technically hate reading the Anita Blake series after I completed my readthrough of Rafael last year. (You can read that spork here) 

I gave myself a year off from engaging with the series on any critical level because I didn’t like how much I was getting annoyed by Hamilton’s writing and her politics in and out of her universe. So I gave myself an ultimatum: no more. No more analysis. No more hate-reading. No more rude tweets backed up with screenshots. 

I gave myself a year to calm down, chill out, and see if there’s something else I love to hate(read) more. 

There was nothing else and, conveniently, the end of my hiatus landed on the release of Smolder, the latest Anita Blake book.

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[Webtoon Wednesday] My Husband, My Sister, and I

Stitch

Title: My Husband, My Sister, and I

Author/Story: muso (original story), PISTACHIO (adaptation)

Artist: WOOSA

Rating: Teen (with a dot of spice)

Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Drama, Marriage and Divorce, Revenge

Hosted On: Manta Comics

Official Link(s): English

Official Summary:

“I taste her on your lips.”

On the night of our fourth wedding anniversary, I witnessed my husband having an affair. “I love you,” he told my twin sister as he laid on top of her. This can’t just end easily with a divorce. No, I’ll make them pay for this.

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[Webtoon Wednesday] Beware the Villainess

Stitch

Title: Beware The Villainess

Author/Story: Berry and Soda Ice

Artist: Blue Canna

Rating: Teen (Light Suggestiveness)

Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Isekai/Transmigration, Romance

Hosted On: Tapas (ENG), Kakao (KOR)

Official Link(s): English, Korean

Official Summary:

Sit back and take in this romantic tale of an angelic heroine and her devoted suitors as they vie for the depths of her love… or not. This story’s about to go through some edits! After an accident, a modern-day college student awakens as the story’s villainess, Melissa Foddebrat. She’s far from anyone’s favorite, but she IS the daughter of the duke. Determined to live it up, this new Melissa is doing things her way — antiquated society, be damned! All idiots, prepare to step aside or perish!

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[Webtoon Wednesday] The Remarried Empress

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Title: The Remarried Empress

Author/Story: Alphatart (original story), HereLee (adaptation)

Artist: Sumpul

Rating: Teen

Genre: romance, fantasy, drama

Hosted On: Webtoon/Naver

Official Link(s): English, Korean

Official Summary:

Navier Ellie Trovi was an empress perfect in every way — intelligent, courageous, and socially adept. She was kind to her subjects and devoted to her husband. Navier was perfectly content to live the rest of her days as the wise empress of the Eastern Empire. That is, until her husband brought home a mistress and demanded a divorce. “I accept this divorce… And I request an approval of my remarriage.” In a shocking twist, Navier remarries another emperor and retains her title and childhood dream as empress. But just how did everything unfold?

My Thoughts:

If you’re ever wondering what series sparked the catalyst for my webtoon obsession, I think the closest we can come is Alphatart, HereLee, and Sumpul’s The Remarried Empress on Webtoon.

This is the series that I come back to all the time, and it’s given me a lot to think about when it comes to storytelling, misogyny in the narrative, and internalized misogyny in the reader. And it all starts with how Navier’s callous husband Sovieshu (known in the fandom as “Sovieshit”) brings the wide-eyed naif Rashta (who fandom calls “Trashta”) into the castle and installs her as his mistress without any thought of what that would mean for Navier’s public reputation.

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[Webtoon Wednesday] Tricked into Becoming the Heroine’s Stepmother

Stitch

Title: Tricked into Becoming the Heroine’s Stepmother

Author/Story: MOKGAMGI

Artist: HARIHEEN

Rating: General/All Ages

Genre: transmigration/isekai, romance, fantasy, family, comedy

Hosted On:  Webtoon

Official Link(s): English, Korean

Official Summary:

After her death, Daisy Heidi is reincarnated into the world of “Why Did the Duke’s Daughter Roll Across the Pumpkin Patch?”, a so-called “tragedy” novel where the beautiful heroine Pierta indulges in reckless lust and hedonism with ten ardent suitors to a bitter end. Though Daisy is reborn as a poor commoner in this world, she has one distinct advantage over others in her second chance at life — she’s the author of the original novel! When fate brings Daisy into the lives of the novel’s heroine Pierta and her dashing father Duke Henstone, Daisy vows to do everything she can to prevent Pierta’s future of despair.

My Thoughts:

A huge reason why I’m focusing on Tricked into Becoming the Heroine’s Stepmother this week is because I needed a light and cute transmigration series for my agonies.

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[Webtoon Wednesday] Surviving As A Maid

Stitch

Title: Surviving As A Maid

Author/Story: Cloud Whale Soap

Artist: Heeseo

Rating: Teen

Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Historical, Isekai/Transmigration, BL (Sort of)

Hosted On:  Tapas, Kakao

Official Link(s): English, Korean

Official Summary:

Ash Tolkayn was an ordinary office worker before she somehow became a maid in a BL novel with a scandalous love triangle between the King, his mysterious male lover, and the jilted Queen. But everything changes when the King appoints Ash as the crown prince’s new nanny… after murdering the previous one! Now, on top of juggling the duties of childcare, she finds herself smack dab in the middle of the cutthroat royal drama. Can Ash rise to the challenge and survive as a maid?

My Thoughts:

Surviving As A Maid for being one of the series that gave me trust issues when it came to a new-to-me subgenre of isekai series: girl gets transmigrated into a minor female role in a Boys Love series.

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[Webtoon Wednesday] For My Derelict Favorite

Stitch

Title: For My Derelict Favorite

Author/Story: Kim Seonyu (Original), Ryuho (Adaptation)

Artist: Kimyong

Rating: Teen

Genre: Isekai/Transmigration, Revenge, Romance, Fantasy, Time-loop

Hosted On: Webtoon

Official Link(s): English, Korean

Official Summary:

What happens after the story ends with a “happily ever after”? When Hestia enters her favorite novel as a side character, she happily fangirls from the sidelines. Thinking she’ll return home when the story reaches its end, Hestia finds that the only thing awaiting her is the tragic death of her favorite character. Now miraculously restored to the day of the ending, Hestia decides that she’ll no longer spectate from the sidelines – instead, she’ll save her derelict favorite!

My Thoughts:

I know I need to stop saying every single webtoon I read is my favorite but uh… For My Derelict Favorite is part of why I use my Webtoon account regularly. (The other reason was The Remarried Empress.) Yet another isekai romance with a white-haired hottie, this series gets me because I fell hard for the main characters and I find the female lead, Hestia, the most relatable protagonist I’ve seen in ages. After all, if I had the opportunity to fan-stitch over my side or secondary favorite character in a piece of media – wobbling between Zhuzhi-lang in Scum Villain and Suguru Geto in Jujutsu Kaisen – and save them from a certain shitty fate? Of course I would?

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[Webtoon Wednesday] For Better or For Worse

Stitch

Title: For Better or For Worse

Author/Story: Noh Hueda

Artist: Eunren

Rating: Teen

Genre: Villainess, Transmigration/Isekai, Rom-Com, Drama, Fantasy

Hosted On: Tapas (EN), Kakao (KR)

Official Link(s): English, Korean

Official Summary:

The spunky Lady Dillion didn’t realize she was the villain of a romance novel until she encounters Marquess Cedric. Seeing him jogs a dormant memory of the novel’s plot, in which her beloved younger sister dies in childbirth after marrying Cedric. Determined to prevent this, Dillion marries him herself, but what fate awaits her when she knows he’s meant to fall in love with the real female lead later? In this marriage of convenience, it seems nothing turns out quite how either of them expects…

My Thoughts:

One of the things that I love the most about the villainess transmigration genre is the way that characters come to own their space in the new world.

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[Webtoon Wednesday] Peach Sorbet

Stitch

Title:  Peach Sorbet

Author/Artist: Zang-gu

Rating: Adult (Damn near pornographic)

Genre: Contemporary, Rom-com, Drama

Hosted On: Lezhin

Official Link(s): English, Korean

Official Summary:

Moa’s in a pinch. Her friends are asking about her nonexistent sex life, but she’d rather die than admit that she’s a virgin. In a hurry, she makes up a haphazard lie: yeah, she’s had sex before. With a really hot imaginary guy called Yura! Not only is he ripped, well-hung, but he also…happens to be very, very real. When faced with the real Yura, there’s only one thought in Moa’s mind. She needs to make her lie become a truth!

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[Webtoon Wednesday] My In-Laws Are Obsessed With Me

Stitch

Title: My In-Laws Are Obsessed With Me

Author/Original Story: Han Yoon Seol 

Artist: seungu

Rating: Teen

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Romance, Reincarnation

Hosted On: Webtoon

Official Link(s): Official Korean, Official English

Official Summary:

Pereshati Jahardt is a count’s daughter who got remarried after her mother’s passing. When her father died, he left her all his fortune. Then, Pereshati’s greedy stepmother and stepsister conspire with Pereshati’s lover to kill her. However, under mysterious circumstances, Pereshati is brought back to life and travels back in time before her murder. To buy some time before getting her revenge, Pereshati visits the handsome yet notorious grand duke, Therdeo Lapileon, to marry him. During her visit, she uncovers a horrifying secret of his family. How will Pereshati deal with it? Will she be able to take her revenge?

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[Webtoon Wednesday] Flirting With the Villain’s Dad

Stitch

Title: Flirting With the Villain’s Dad

Author/Story: Dalseul

Artist: Via

Rating: General

Genre: transmigration/isekai, fantasy, romance, comedy

Hosted On: Kakao (KOR), Tapas (ENG)

Official Link(s): Official Raw, Official English

Official Summary:

Ack! I’m trapped in this webnovel, “Brigitte Wants to be Happy!” No prob, I KNOW what’s gonna happen so I’ll just—wait. I’m not Brigitte? I’m her aunt, Princess Yerenika?! Uh-oh. I’m stuck 20 years before the main plot… and everyone in my generation ends up tragically dead! Her parents, dead. Me, dead. Villain’s dad, King Euredian, dead. A-ha! That’s the key. I just need to prevent the villain from being born… time to break out some seduction schemes and flirt like my life depends on it!

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[Webtoon Wednesday] Please Kill My Husband

Stitch

Title: Please Kill My Husband

Author/Story: ONLYONE ENTERTAINMENT, CANNT WORKS

Artist: Gumul

Rating: Adult

Genre: Josei, Mystery, Erotica, Fantasy, Thriller, Reverse Harem

Hosted On: Tappytoon (English) Naver Webtoon (Korean)

Official Link(s): English, Korean

Official Summary:

Brienne Lutengard knew that her parents were selling off their daughter and their status in exchange for money. Still, she thought she’d be able to live a relatively happy life with her husband, but it’s not long until the new duke of House Lutengard shatters her dreams. Eight years later, the duke is found murdered in his residence, and Brienne is named the main suspect, along with three potential accomplices. All three are skilled swordsmen, none have an alibi for the night of the murder, and they’re all young men recently caught up in a scandal with the duchess! Did the duchess really kill her husband? And if so, what could’ve been her motive?

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Media With Pride

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This is a list blending queer media I like as a queer person or that my queer friends recommend. It’s all queer, pals. If you need warnings or want to know what I think about a specific thing, ask! Right now I just wanted to get this list out and anything else would’ve taken too much time!

Title: I Want To Be A Wall vol 1 (Honami Shirono)

Summary:

Any love story aficionado will say that the key to a successful couple is intense desire for one another—but what if the characters in question are an asexual woman with a passion for Boys Love stories and a gay man whose heart forever belongs to his oblivious childhood friend? Although romance will never be in the cards for newlyweds Yuriko and Gakurouta, the bond blossoming between them promises to be a wonderful relationship—the likes of which neither has ever experienced before…

Buy/Read/Watch Link: https://yenpress.com/9781975338978/i-want-to-be-a-wall-vol-1/

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Stitch Reads Rafael, Chapters 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, and 32

Stitch

Notes: This big installment has relatively graphic descriptions of violence, my desire to do violence (it’s really bad, I want to end the villain myself), Hector remains a sex pest near the end, body horror, some death by rats, and I guess I might cuss across this. I don’t know. I wrote this all while screaming.

On the surface, it looks as if I’m having mercy on you all by doing a speedrun through the last six chapters of this book.

But I am not.

If I were to have mercy on either of us, I would make up an ending where they all died and then move on to one of the books I want to go over because of how good they are. Instead, I am consolidating the suffering… by making the few of y’all still here go through six chapters all at once because in total that’s only gonna be like 5000 words max anyway!

Enjoy/Suffer Well!

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Stitch Reads Rafael (Anita Blake #28) – Chapters 23, 24, 25, 26

Stitch

[I forgot about posting this lol, hence the lack of header. It’s actually being posted in March 22, 2023]

Personally, I think Anita should be allowed to kill Padma.

And she’s right about why she wants to do it too:

“He’s the son of a bitch that skinned Rafael alive as torture because he wouldn’t give the rest of you up,” I said. I’d have tugged on the door handle if I’d had a hand free, but I still had a knife in each hand, which raised the question of how I had planned to open the door in the first place. I realized I’d gone for the wrist knives. I sheathed the one in my left hand in the right wrist sheath, which was on top of the wrist; the left sheath carried the knife on the underside of the wrist so I could draw them simultaneously. I’d carried them almost longer than any other weapon I owned. They’d been the first silver I’d bought after bullets. I tried to feel bad about the fact that I’d gone for a killing weapon first thing, but all I could think was if we killed Hector, it might kill Padma and then we’d all be safer.

But because that would be too easy… she can’t just do that.

Because the rats will then turn against her and Rafael and challenge him endlessly until they do succeed in killing him.

So Anita is like “okay well no matter what, I’m going to kill Hector tonight” and you know what… I want that for her. I love it for her.

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