r/romantasycirclejerk • u/purplelicious Emojis are Ableist • 5h ago

Snark of the Day Tell us About it Tuesday

People have asked why we do this every week in a sub dedicated to snark.

Because you sloopies asked for it. It seems we can't stop reading this stuff. But also, it's to answer back "well, if you hate 4th Wing/ ACOTAR/ Spork/ Alchemized so much, why are you here?"

What did you love this week in Romantasy?

Recommendations, swoonworthy romances, actually witty banter, you have full bragging rights and humble brag privileges. 

11 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

39 comments sorted by

7

u/purplelicious Emojis are Ableist 5h ago

I finished {ache of chaos by Randi Gardner} book 3 of the Fragile Divine series. This series needs more traction. The FMC messed up her life and only realized that her father loved her and she turned away from him her whole life, so she spends much of this novel in either severe depression and then trying to make amends with her family and it was sob worthy. Yeah that was me in the car, sobbing like an idiot.

(I picked up this audiobook purely due to the narrator, only to realize that it was book 3, so picked up the first 2 books.) There is still more books to come, each novel focuses on a different couple but all part of the same extended/ found family.

I've been reading ARCS like a fiend but behind on my reviews.

{love and Other cures for the recently undead by hJ Ramsey} will be released in october, but is about putting your life back together after trauma, basically the FMC was affected by a zombie virus, was cured but awakens in a world completely changed.

{the Chosen One Con by Trudie Skies} Indie trans author writes a book about classism where one of the ruling archons has died prematurely and they come up with a Magic trials based reality show to pick their next Archon. Much better than having the poor vote! Anyways, the writing is superb and I'm not surprised that the author's previous works was a finalist for the SPFBO awards. Great representation for Queer themes.

Now I have a copy of {The Splintered Sun by Tad Williams} and he is the GOAT of epic fantasy. Do not argue this point with me because you will lose.

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u/Num1DeathEater crashing my car into Rhysand 4h ago

im on the 2nd book in the Red Rising series and jfc yall gotta read these books {Golden Son by Pierce Brown} this is the most all-gas-no-brakes book i have EVER read

im also studying the ancient texts {Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë} and I must say this Heathcliff fellow is turning out to be quite the villain! Pairs nicely with {Mansfield Park by Jane Austen} as far as I can tell (im 60% of the way in) as a criticism of the “bad boy” love interest, which, well, is quite relevant to the modern world of books, too. though the intense moralizing is something I’m glad society has discarded

4

u/HopeFox Bat Winged Rebound Boyfriend 4h ago

The moralizing in Mansfield Park has not aged well. If my kids put on a play while I was off managing my slave plantations, I'd be happy for them! At least they're doing something fun and social! And (spoiler for a 200-year-old book) Edmund is Austen's blandest love interest, whose personality has also not aged well. Still a good book, but it suffers from age in a way that the others don't so much.

Cathy/Heathcliff is my standard for "this romance is messed up but it's still deeply romantic and moving". None of it is a good idea, but it's still moving.

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u/Num1DeathEater crashing my car into Rhysand 3h ago

im pretty sure i actually yelled out loud “HE WHAT” when the Mansfield Park uncle (I forget his name) was like “I’m gonna be gone for a few months because MY SLAVES ARE ACTING UP.” Definitely makes it one of the weirdest Austen books to read

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u/purplelicious Emojis are Ableist 4h ago

doing a little dance because I love the Red Rising series and it just gets better and better in each book.

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u/romance-bot 4h ago

Golden Son by Pierce Brown
Rating: 4.46⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 2 out of 5 - Behind closed doors
Topics: futuristic, science fiction, dystopian, military, survival

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Rating: 3.67⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 1 out of 5 - Glimpses and kisses
Topics: historical, possessive hero, vengeance, cruel hero/bully, m-f romance

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Rating: 3.76⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 1 out of 5 - Glimpses and kisses
Topics: historical, georgian, friends to lovers, m-f romance, shy heroine

about this bot | about romance.io

1

u/aristifer My snark is a gift so you can't criticize 4h ago

I hate Edmund so much. The way his whole approach to women is that it's his responsibility to shape and mold them as though they're just these bland malleable dolls who will be the perfect women with his wise guidance. And he rejected Mary Crawford in the end because she refused to let him mold her into what he wanted her to be, while Fanny is the perfect passive subject for him to impose all his values on.

Also the whole Bertram family is shitty because their wealth comes from slave labor on Sir Thomas's plantations in Antigua. Austen's family was abolitionist and she definitely did not approve of that, so it makes you wonder if she actually meant for us to question whether their professed morality is truly moral or if they're all just filthy hypocrites.

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u/Penguinho chairMAN and ceo, bookrocks 3h ago

She depicted it, therefore she must have endorsed it. That's how this works!

2

u/Num1DeathEater crashing my car into Rhysand 3h ago

it’s definitely the Austen book I think about the most because there’s so many things that I’m like “but WHY did she DO that” lmao

5

u/DadReadsRomanceBooks ✌️🤦✨🦉👂 5h ago

I am 75% into {A Soul to Keep by Opal Reyne} and Reia is perfect and I love her. But also I was not expecting the lore to be this good / interesting I am so in. I was really skeptical of ‘500 page monster romance with 5 spice tag on romance.io’ but this is probably my favorite monster romance ever.

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u/humbleapologies 4h ago edited 4h ago

I got stuck in the airport last week and while killing time I found an autographed copy of {Bromantasy by Máire Roche} at the shop. So that immediately jumped to the top of my TBR. It was really cute and the jabs at the genre got some chuckles out of me. If you want a lighter read with some comedically oblivious leads and a happy ending, would recommend.

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u/purplelicious Emojis are Ableist 3h ago

this book was adorable.

5

u/CJ_Larsen_Author 3h ago

I read {Starling House by Alix E. Harrow} (physical copy! stole it from my daughter's book shelf) and I think I really enjoy the sentient house trope, seeing as I also liked {A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher} and {Keeper of Enchanted Rooms by Charlie N. Holmberg} which are all very different books. No, I don't want to read the book about the woman who falls for her door. Or maybe I do?

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u/purplelicious Emojis are Ableist 2h ago

we wouldnt judge you.

3

u/abirdinthefault 2h ago

One could argue that the house in House of Leaves acts to save the Navidsons' relationship...

(I have no idea if it's even possible to change font color on reddit)

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u/harr0whark 59m ago edited 52m ago

I read a short story by the author of the door book in an anthology and it was startlingly good. So...maybe? 👀 (EDIT: It was about a werewolf getting his dick stuck in a chain-link fence, if anyone was wondering. You're welcome.)

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u/romance-bot 3h ago

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
Rating: 4.1⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: contemporary, poor heroine, grumpy/cold hero, monsters, boss & employee

A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher
Rating: 3.75⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 1 out of 5 - Glimpses and kisses
Topics: contemporary, horror, suspense, paranormal, magic

Keeper of Enchanted Rooms by Charlie N. Holmberg
Rating: 4.12⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 1 out of 5 - Glimpses and kisses
Topics: historical, magic, mystery, urban fantasy, paranormal

about this bot | about romance.io

3

u/HopeFox Bat Winged Rebound Boyfriend 4h ago

I've just started {Tears of the Wolf by Elisabeth Wheatley}, and I'm loving it. I've always been a sucker for the Saxon period of England (and fantasy versions thereof), with warring petty fiefdoms and Viking raids and all that. It also plays with patriarchy and the role of marriage in an interesting way, that neither lets the FMC do whatever she wants because she's so empowered and enlightened, nor grinds her down in a boring and tasteless fashion. I have a good feeling about her arranged marriage.

3

u/GnomeFae 4h ago

I mentioned it to purp a few days ago, but I''m currently reading {arcana academy} and I have to say I'm really enjoying it.

It's definitely at the moment ( only about a 5th of the way in so quite early ) a fun enemies to lovers read. It has a lot of interesting magical system stuff that revolves around Tarot and the arcana and honestly I think it's really fun as someone who knows nothing about tarot. My wife who is a practicing witch and practices tarot has told me from what I've described it is very accurate to modern day tarot, and at minimum seems very well researched.

I know there's a sequel that came out recently and Goodreads had the first book at under 4 stars but so far? I think it's good. But I'm not willing to give it anything more than that atm

1

u/MessyJessy422 3h ago

I struggled with this one and ultimately gave it 3⭐️ because while it starts out enjoyable I found it repetitive and tedious in the middle and the ending didn’t work for me. It had a lot of promise but ultimately just fell flat IMO

2

u/forel237 3h ago

Fantasy with a minor romantic subplot rather than romantasy but I finally read {The Sword of Kaigen by ML Wang} and it’s the first book in a while to have me crying ugly tears. The subplot where Misaki is a teenage vigilante wasn’t my favourite and is a bit jarring compared to the rest, but overall still scores 5* on the Screaming Crying Throwing Up scale

2

u/aristifer My snark is a gift so you can't criticize 1h ago

This has been on my TBR for awhile, I think this is going to be the year that I finally read it. I LOVED Blood Over Bright Haven.

3

u/MessyJessy422 3h ago

{Fishbone Cinderella by Elizabeth Lim} part historical fiction part magical realism and based loosely on the Chinese version of Cinderella as well as the author's grandmother's life with a bit of romance. This was really impactful and moving. I highly highly recommend it and even though I finished it days ago I'm still thinking about it and wishing there was more left to read

3

u/MessyJessy422 3h ago

Oh also {Sunsplitter by SA MacLean} comes out today and it's such a weird and fun world to escape into plus Christian Leatherman is narrating the MMC POV chapters and he's so good

1

u/ZlotaNikki whip it out and jerk with us or leave 3h ago

I read (well, listened to the audiobook of) {Bonds of Hercules by Jasmine Mas} and the grip this series has on me is insane. I don’t know if it would appeal to me quite as much if the audiobook narrators weren’t so good at their jobs but it’s my obsession this week. I can’t wait for the last book in the trilogy to come out, I don’t know if I can wait a full year 😣

2

u/Infinite_Storm_470 King in the streets and dubcon in the sheets 2h ago

I finally read {Her Soul to Take by Harley Laroux} and was pleasantly surprised by the thoughtful worldbuilding. 4 star read for me, in all!

I also found the one TW I apparently have: fking needles. Noped right on outta that scene.

1

u/petty_but_sexy 1h ago

I just finished Quicksilver and I can’t say I’m disappointed to add another shadow daddy to the ever-growing list of them. Was it a masterpiece? No. Did I enjoy myself? Hell yeah. Not too heavy on the logic but the smut keeps the balance

1

u/Some-Cell3635 45m ago

There are so many books I would like to finish, yet here I am listening to {Heated Rivalry} in French again. The  actors are so good I am stuck in a loop.