This romantasy novella drained me of life

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[@ReadswithRachel]

Parade's summer sale is the biggest of the year and with my code READS50 my audience gets 50% off site wide (excluding final sale items). This is the perfect time to stock up! yourparade.com/READS50

[@ABalloonInNeed]

can we not give her the same nickname across her lover and her GRANDMA

[@KuroibaraKitty]

When you said "Fern with an H" I genuinely couldn't imagine where that H went. Fhern, Fehrn, Ferhn and Fernh all seemed genuinely plausible and equally unnecessary.

[@elenar9901]

I thought "Hern" 😭😭

[@TheLivsouza]

I thought Phern 🫠

[@stellablake6200]

Wow I just left like the exact same comment lol there are truly so many options

[@jennyjoseph778]

I immediately backtracked the video and looked desperately through the screenshot trying to find his name for 5 minutes (i couldn't focus on reading so i just looked around frantically)😭

[@ezk05]

searched it up👍 it’s fehrn , which out of each placement , would probably change the pronunciation the most🦐🦶

[@Beargrin89]

Waiting for a author to be brave enough to write a story about an absolute tank of a woman and her 5’ nothing wizard boyfriend.

[@MykkiOnTheCusp]

I would read this.

[@bellekoelzer4821]

God please, if there were any romance books like that then maybe I’d actually read romance

[@adrianavanhoofrodriguez576]

Allow me to introduce myself

[@hannahchatterley5329]

It isn't exactly that, but The Wolf and the Hawk by Julien Greystoke includes a warrior woman and she is allowed to be big, muscular, and strong! It's a self published fantasy romance by another KZbinr.

[@abelvanvroztco.7949]

Almost there, but mine could be different. In Operation ZEIT, there is FMC who being a paladin/bloodhunter knight with shiny armor, the 173cm tall warrior princess who might be cold hearted as exterior, but she actually sealed kindness and determination to uplift justice on kingdom that currently ruled by her wicked queen stepmother. Too bad, she is paired with one of the MMC brothers, the fighter/barbarian 166cm tall middle brother who might be seen stern outside, but friendly and humorous inside. At the other hand, another one of MMC brothers is a wizard/sorcerer, 168cm tall, goofy and laidback eldest brother. He get paired with another FMC, the 168cm tall ranger/druid who fonded to nature, mostly serious and determined when it comes for mystery and investigation. But still, she has some soft side of natural calls and dream cottage life

[@billiep1603]

Calling a grown woman “little girl” is so… creepy and infantilizing. Oh also thanks for dragging Rhysand I think about my hatred for him constantly.

[@tsifirakiehl4250]

Yeah, unless the characters are supposed to be doing ageplay, it just SCREAMS “pedophile, but too afraid of being arrested to actually molest children and thus imagining a child when sleeping with a grown adult.”

[@scarabeedae]

rhysand hater nation strongest in da world !!!!!

[@randompromises1038]

You take your hatred against him back, he invented feminism 🥺

[@fluerqueen8218]

@@randompromises1038 HELPP😭😭😭

[@ettaetta439]

Rhysand literally was there fighting for women's rights with Elizabeth C. Stanton back in the day. He was THERE at the stonewall riots along with Morrigon. You take that slander back!

[@michellelies]

WHY do romantasy authors INSIST on having the love interest call the FMC "Little" as a nickname? Is it just to reemphasize how big the man is compared to the teeny tiny girl?

[@belovedwinter]

I was thinking this at so many points in this video. It's a literary red flag for me, now.

[@kbird6208]

It was also creeping me out that she's not a "minor" (though what age is a minor if you live hundreds of years?) but he's referring to her as a little girl 😫

[@michellelies]

@@belovedwinter YES. There is correlation in my brain b/c every book I've read it in winds up being gross af.

[@DarwinRoger893]

It'd have been funnier if she was 6 foot two or something, with big muscles. Then calling her little *insert petname" would be hilarious and ironic.

[@tsifirakiehl4250]

Yeah, unless the characters are supposed to be into consensual ageplay, infantilizing a love interest like that just screams 🚩✨BIG🚩✨RED🚩✨FLAG🚩✨

[@Mushroomelixir]

The way they talk about the mcs body is so menwritingwomencore 😭😭

[@amara560]

The absolute truth

[@demigoddessreads]

i still haven’t recovered from “werewolf doing espionage”

[@Cakelynn6]

LMAO this made me CACKLE

[@GanguroKonata]

It's a powerful description

[@Cryptiddies]

WAIT - If she's telepathic, why does she need to be told they're bad? Why is it such a shock?! What!

[@SilverDomainShrine7]

I feel like it would’ve made sense if her telepathy was unpredictable and struggled to how to handle it. And the werewolf shifter dude could be a guide line to help her handle it better. But seems like the author just made the mc’s telepathy a plot convenience. So it flopped and there’s so many questions 😭😭

[@Cryptiddies]

@@SilverDomainShrine7 This is literally something I would've RPed with one of my best friends on AIM or something when we were 12 year old girls.

[@Marie45610]

Shh, don't ask questions. It breaks the "immersion".

[@SilverDomainShrine7]

@@Cryptiddies the way cringey rp from middle school actually helped me improve my writing style on what NOT to write 😭

[@SilverDomainShrine7]

@@Marie45610 You right tho 😭

[@MariaRodriguez-dx6sm]

My biggest frustration with romantasy is that the authors only use "fantasy" as an aesthetic for a very average wish fulfillment "romance" or just "erotica." They never really consider worldbuilding, the mechanics of magic, politics, economic... or even logic consequences for their characters' actions. As a reader of high fantasy, it totally breaks the immersion for me

[@michellelies]

This is so true. It's like Genre Fanfiction. If you want to write smut, I will still likely read it, but you gotta market it as such.

[@marumae]

Same! As a Fantasy reader first (and as a former history major) it breaks the immersion for me immediately if I'm wondering on the politics/economics/functionality of a world. Sometimes if it's a good enough story I can ignore it, but it rarely is. Someone on Rachel's Fourth Wing review said "She might have paid attention to her world building if she wasn't too busy making her Barbie's kiss" and now I can't stop applying it to romantasy. 😂

[@vanilla7349]

Have you tried the folk of the air trilogy? Imo it's amazing and very slow burn, but you learn a lot of interesting things about the world and the romance is almost like a subplot, but in a good way that always makes you want more 😄

[@inklingofadream]

Feels like the result of the recent trend to prioritize "spice" above all. It always seems to be the first genre/trope on the list and driving a rec. We can have litersture that's both narratively and erotically fulfilling! I believe in us!

[@maevem316]

At the very least you can use the fantasy worldbuilding for some weird magic sex stuff, but noo, it's the same characters and sex you get in like... all smut, but with a coat of poorly thought out fantasy paint on it.

[@Nico-qh2mi]

As an asexual, when I heard "the HEAT is on" I thought you meant the witch had already started committing arson by chapter 2

[@ReadswithRachel]

I wish

[@YinYangAngel55]

12:19 that sentence about the fire witch explaining her appearance just reminded me of the sentence "she breasted boobily to the stairs, and titted downwards." I really hope the book ended up on the menwritingwomen reddit.

[@vanilla7349]

Rachel: "His name is Fern," Me, listening only: okay... Rachel: "with an H" Me: 😄❔❔❔❔❔FERH? HERN????????

[@aromaladyellie]

Fhrn

[@emackenzie]

"A life sentence of indentured servitude" is not.... a thing. Indentured servitude is, by definition, servitude with a _defined expiration_ and servitude is voluntary, as opposed to enslavement being involuntary. If she's there against her will with no expiration date, that's not indentured servitude, that's slavery

[@emackenzie]

It sounds like she's _treated_ like an indentured servant, but I don't believe she would legally be considered one Eta: I don't know why I'm so surprised this half-baked romantasy is just using words however it wants, I should be used to this by now

[@awkwardhandmovements]

Little Girl and Little Dragon? Allow me to go barf my guts up.

[@GothVampiress]

i'm going to write a romantasy between a pale, gaunt villain-coded guy and a fat man, so these two archetypes can finally have a fair shot

[@unlimon6382]

Like OK KO pretty much

[@LorewithouttheE]

the way i would 100% read that 👀

[@ledafrost]

wouldn't this be good omens fanfic 😂

[@ezk05]

@@ledafrostliterally what i was gonna say LMAO😭😭

[@Keter9793]

There are two wolves inside me, one is ace, the other one is confused.

[@DarwinRoger893]

You have two wolves inside you, one is a witch, the other one is a werewolf

[@elliot1260]

Oh no 😭 The misogyny in this book is OFF THE CHARTS! Constantly infantilizing this 30 year old woman with "little girl" and "little dragon"... Yet sexualizing her at the same time? Men will be men, even in romantasy books, I guess. Such a perfect example of women being seen as both children and sexual objects by men in this patriarchal society. I was hoping we'd have moved past that in literature by now... 😩

[@zigscha]

“Peaked interest” kills me so much 😭. A single round of editing could catch that.

[@bbo7002]

"Peaked" interest makes me so feral 😅 I definitely don't want to be too judgemental about spelling bc you never know what's going on with someone else, but like...... please, please just ask someone else to look over your work before publishing. The only thing that bothers me more than peak vs pique.....is discreet vs discrete 😭

[@jackalyn00]

I just don't understand why we get the same exact FMC and male love interest over and over again. It's fantasy and somehow it still has the most boring relationship dynamic in the world 😭

[@LorewithouttheE]

FOR REAL i am so beyond tired of Tiny-But-Big-Tiddy Woman Who Is Spunky But Submissive and Big-McLarge-Huge Man Here To Protect & Dominate getting smashed together. ENOUGH. PLS I BEG. 😮‍💨 where's the tall lady & the short dude (so long as it's gonna be differing genders)? where's women having the stronger/tougher personality, and/or men having *actually* gentler ones rather than "he's So Bad & Scary (not really) but makes the exception for the FMC because she's Different & Hot"? where's a dynamic that actually lets them get along when they first meet? none of the tropes are bad of course, not inherently, they're just WAYYYY overused. it's like going to a restaurant and the only thing on the menu is chicken nuggets - regardless of how much you like chicken nuggets, it's boring not to have variety in selection.

[@vanillaplanifoliae]

i agree, also what are some relationship dynamics you would wanna read about?

[@ironicallynice]

OK I need help with acronyms, all the help I can get actually.

[@vanillaplanifoliae]

@@ironicallynice pretty sure 'fmc' = female-main-character

[@killingyoursoul22]

Because a lot of romance being published right now appeals to people who read y/n reader insert fanfics, so your fmc and her male love interest has to be generic enough for people to insert themselves in.

[@platedlizard]

A Crush is absolutely a thing, although I think she's using it wrong. A crush of people is a situation in which a crowd of people are pinned against a bottleneck. This is frequently deadly, whenever you hear of a mass casualty event at a concert or sporting event it's usually a crush. Crushes act more like a fluid than a group of people, the sheer pressure of the crowd takes over and even breathing becomes impossible because when you breathe out you won't be able to breathe in again. Truly horrifying stuff.

[@Cryptiddies]

Yeah, I think "throng" of people might have been more in line with what the author meant here.

[@isaacbenrubi9613]

The concept of a "werewolf doing espionage" is absolutely hilarious. What's next? Vampires doing money laundering?

[@aliaspurr9745]

I mean, according to the extended vampire lore, vampires are extremely obsessive over numbers and counting. So a vampire money launderer is plausible within lore

[@nancyjay790]

Well dang. Now I want to read a book about a mafia vampire family doing money laundering, maybe between covering up their trafficking of food sources (say in this world, a vamp has to bite a human several times to "turn" them, so they ship people out after a week or so and take new victims). Dang it.

[@KittenJune96]

Actually vampires were already doing that. That's how so many of them are so rich.🎉

[@GeneralNooters]

I wish 😂 I hate saying that I think that’s the switch up the fantasy genre needs

[@TheNumnutRandomness]

What's next? Vampires drinking lemonade??

[@lilybenderskaya2233]

Regarding this particular novella, it wasn't even the bad sex scenes, or the stupid nickname, or the instalove that made me blaaaaargh all over my browser. It was that thing where he's all, 'nooo, you mustn't kill!!!11' The man can do whatever, but the woman must stay pure, and that effin' trope shows up so much, and every time I hate it so much! At least his entreaty was ineffective this time, but it did make me hate his ass.

[@TheSkepticalCat]

That part was so stupid to me. Shouldn't he be cheering her on because it helps their goal??

[@lilybenderskaya2233]

@@TheSkepticalCat That!

[@palindont9238]

T. Kingfisher does fantasies with adult main characters, and none of them have perfect bodies. None of that purity mess either. Her Paladins series is just top notch AND the books feel cozy, even when they're packed with action. The men in her books are good people too, which is honestly so refreshing. She's from NC and I was floored to read such fun romantic fantasy from a fellow North Carolinian. I can't recommend her enough as a palate cleanser between all the bad dark romantasy. If you're reading this, and you're looking for a fantasy book written for adults, try her out! I started with Paladin's Grace and went from there.

[@vanillaplanifoliae]

agreed, i'm gonna recommend Silvia Moreno-Garcia as well :)!

[@Bookishghost]

You know what would have fun… if they were already a couple who liked to roleplay as enemies

[@inklingofadream]

When people recall calling eyes "orbs" as a somewhat embarrassing fanfic trope from over a decade ago it's not a challenge! "almond pools,' hearing that I was 50/50 between it being her eyes or a bizarre, perhaps even alarming reference to... something else. I don't even know what, but you pop that in at the beginning of a sex scene and I get Concerned.

[@kbird6208]

I went to the same dark place 😂

[@xRaiofSunshine]

Not the orbs! 😭

[@TheNumnutRandomness]

Calling eyes "orbs" is monumentally better than whatever the fck "ferocious olives" was for The Lovely Bones 😭

[@Silvychan13]

The first time I came across ‘orbs’ as a descriptor in an R.A. Salvatore novel I laughed and then remembered it was published in the early 1990s. Those fanfic tropes have to come from somewhere 😂

[@michellecgb]

I think the author forgot they made her telepathic. That’s the only way it makes sense

[@weirdobookclub]

I do not appreciate these call outs on our Friendversary. IN MY DEFENSE and because context matters... I liked this because: 1) I read a lot of WAY WORSE THINGS and in comparison, it shines 2) I was reading Haunting Adeline at the same time, see point #1 3) it was horny af and I was good with that

[@weirdobookclub]

"Trigger warning: ice hockey" still haunts my dreams

[@ReadswithRachel]

Friendaversary or… Friend-adversary? 😈 jk love u

[@GanguroKonata]

Honestly you're so real for this one

[@finchfry]

This response has the energy of "...and you did it at my birthday dinner!"

[@elvingearmasterirma7241]

Okay thats fair. I too would prefer this book over Haunting Adeline

[@alinastarkov9793]

So this is another writer that should have stayed on Wattpad/ Ao3. Can publishers stop green lighting authors that are still learning to fucking write. Thanks for the trauma Rachel 😂

[@ScarsFromTomorrow1]

Ironically there are a ton of super talented writers of AO3. Meanwhile I feel like everything published in romance recently is written like something I’d have written at 14.

[@joyc.e.7511]

​@@ScarsFromTomorrow1right? Some AO3 authors are just good writers period and I wish they're stuff got published instead of stuff like After and 50 shades.

[@10puppyluv]

​@@ScarsFromTomorrow1honestly that's the frustrating part there's so many good fics and authors on AO3 and yet the ones that get book deals seem to always be so meh

[@ScarsFromTomorrow1]

@@10puppyluv I mean there’s “wattpad studios” and Wattpad is well known in the fandom world to be the place where bad writers go 😂

[@skittlecornnation4323]

A lot of these are self published because publishers are very elitist atm

[@tamalito97]

See what i don't understand is why say this is a fantasy romance novella and not just erotica which imo would make more sense? Like, i wouldn't be questioning world building if, from the start, i knew the whole point was just the sex scenes?

[@ReadswithRachel]

EXACTLY. Like I triple checked those tags because I rate and review differently if it’s stated that it’s intention is to be erotica

[@ramalam98]

me out loud 4 minutes in: "What do you MEAN Fern with an H??"

[@tsifirakiehl4250]

Yeah, I’m running through all the possible spellings, and all of them look stupid. Fernh? Ferhn? Fehrn? Fhern? Hfern? None of them look good, and now my autocorrect hates me even more than it already did.

[@DarwinRoger893]

HERN

[@omgmo1962]

My girlfriend and i met in a writer discord set in an urban fantasy castle setting with a sort of espionage sort of mission statement. Some of our characters were a lesbian wolf shifter and a fire witch couple, and for a hot second i wasnt convinced this WASNT theft from a cindictive former member 😂 very quickly was proven wrong

[@ettaetta439]

And if it IS plagiarism from you guys (probably not but let's just pretend), then they made it straight! During pride month 😔

[@Bishopfish]

When you said “her walls clamped” I pictured the EXACT SAME THING and went “oh, like the-“ out loud as you started playing the clip LMFAO

[@meatofmink]

this book may of been goofy but the links awakening reference was 10/10

[@orionsbelt25]

I kinda hate that he calls her little girl from the very first second they met when he was trying to kill her. Maybe we can build up to the cringe pet names?

[@fairytzarina2466]

I think people underestimate how hard it is to write telepathy well, cause the power can be quite well over powered. Unless you're going to intentionally write a counter to it. Like in x-men Charles Xavier can change your personality he does it to Sabretooth to make him not murder people anymore. There is a reason why Mageneto has a fancy helmet. There is a reason why the various writers have had to develop ways of resisting telepathy because the power theoretically is obscenely powerful. Also there needs to be a good explaination for why the character uses their telepathy the way they do, cause it feels like no one thinks about the overarching ethics of telepathy, or maybe I just think about it too much.

[@exist4046]

in Wings of Fire, which debatably isnt even that well written (its Warriors Cats levels, maybe a bit better due to it being only one or two authors lol), they handle the whole ‘mind reading’ thing in at least interesting ways, with whats her name literally hating it because she cant control it and it causes her paranoia and she constantly feels like shes manipulating people because she can read their minds and KNOW just what theyre after and shit like that.

[@fairytzarina2466]

@@exist4046 This sounds kinda like the episode of Buffy the vampire slayer where Buffy gets telepathy. I forget how but she cannot turn it off and starts to lose her mind. Like I just wish people who wanted to use telepathy thought about it more because there so much that could be done with it but most people are just like "oh they can read minds" but then don't really engage with what that means.

[@exist4046]

@@fairytzarina2466 i think it works best when its a limited power, like a character can use that power but it takes some crazy amount of energy that bites them in the ass later

[@joyc.e.7511]

No no, I think about it that deeply too. The violation of privacy and how society would deal with it are things I consider often as an aspiring writer. My Hero Academia did a good job with the stigma around a student who had brain control powers. His ability was considered inherently villainous and he's lived with that stigma around him.

[@isaacnewton9021]

'Fire' by Kristin Cashore did a decent enough job of handling a protagonist with telepathic/mental influence powers, I would say. She hates the idea of violating people with it, but also has to use it fairly often to keep herself safe, and because the land she lives in has a lot of creatures with mental powers, people there are more likely to resist. Because her telepathic powers, and those of others, are written to be part of the setting, and people know about them from living alongside them for uncounted years, and can thus defend themselves from being puppeteered and shut her out. She's still powerful and dangerous, but in a intrigue-y kind of way that more often than not puts her in pretty risky situations, given that she's in all other ways a regular minor noblewoman for the setting. I kinda rec it, though it's merely 'good' and not mindblowing, I would say. Anyway, I think a big part of the overpowered problem with this powerset is the improbable secrecy of it, in a lot of cases. Not reacting to the thoughts and feelings of those around you would be quite hard, especially if your telepathy is new, and people aren't stupid, so they'll probably get suspicious pretty fast if you start pre-empting them too often, especially if you're otherwise not incredibly observant. People being aware of telepathic powers goes a long way towards neutering them, as does remembering that a telepath usually doesn't have many other powers to keep them safe. Also, again, some kind of requirement for mental influence, like trust or some level of emotional openness, thus mirroring the power of irl persuasion via speech, goes a long way. And then you get, like, actually sociopolitics happening around your setting's powers, and that's almost worldbuilding, and holy crap we are out of YA 'fanfic with the serials filed off' territory :O

[@lycianempire]

This guy is so bad at espionage that by the end I was just picturing Jason Statham in Spy. All confidence and bluster, completely incapable of doing his job properly.

[@H-mz4hy]

Yes. The doing the deed is like plugging in a USB and downloading information from the other person. That's canon now, no one can tell me otherwise.

[@kbird6208]

With the little status bar creeping along

[@Mushroomelixir]

I literally thought this book was named sweat inferring for so long and thats on dyslexia

[@ironicallynice]

That would have been such a different book.

[@Mushroomelixir]

@@ironicallynice it would make it so much worse 😭😭

[@keepittoyourshelf]

You never should let that bit about Rhys go. The amount of people that conveniently forget about that is astounding to me.

[@seraphonica]

speaking of her psychic powers going underused, instead of just "grandma told me they'd abuse my powers" how much better would it be for her to read someone's mind, perhaps her grandmother, and experience their horrible memories of being checked for powers or having the powers exploited

[@sciencefantastic]

29:00 - Thank you for more Rhysand mudslinging. He’s a creep and I hate him too

[@jennyesevik7162]

Crush is used to describe when there are too many people in an enclosed space so they end up "crushing"/stomping each other. Like when there are too many people in the crowd of a concert and some of them end up being crushed to death. It's weird to see the word used to just describe a crowded kitchen, unless there was a real fear of death or injury in said crowd.

[@maddoraptor]

37:46 - the snarky "until dawn? ambitious" had me CACKLING. Another awesome review, thank you for this!

[@sunfastrose]

Oh god, when you said Fern with a ‘h’ it immediately reminded me of Black Dagger Brotherhood which I just cannot. Specifically - “Rhage”.

[@kbird6208]

I decided it was Hfern

[@mst3kharris]

Phury?

[@pagesinked]

Love the makeup, you look like Shego from Kim Possible 💚🖤 Thank you for reading these books so we don't have to. 🙇🏻‍♀️

[@ReadswithRachel]

Shego?! This is the best compliment I have ever receivef

[@bibliophile2012]

I love what you were saying about conventionally attractive bad guys. I always thought it was cool that in the Alanna series by Tamora Pierce that the bad guy being super attractive and beloved by most people was such a cool twist, that it showed that you never know by looking at someone if they are good or not

[@emackenzie]

55:00 I'm sorry, "the white wolf" and the witch who passes out after over using her power to conjure enough flames to destroy their enemy? Is this another Witcher fanfiction or are people just getting lazy

[@artemisvoltaire4743]

Fehrn is ... a choice. I died at "is it a dog bed?"

[@user-kt3zv1cm5j]

i know we always say 'someone should write xyz' but i cannot even express how much someone needs to write a book about a grizzled 45 year old man with massive bonkhonagahoogs just described exactly like men write women's. If only this author had that realised this would be a ten out of five stars if the female lead was instead a big-tittied noir detective style man with a voice like michael madsen's. All other elements of the atory to remain the same including the pet names.

[@PetalsAndPlague]

I think the taking of the magic and "soul death" is sorta like becoming Tranquil in Dragon Age. It's sorta like being lobotomized?

[@GanguroKonata]

I've heard crush used for a crowd of people but, like, only in the instance of it being a rush towards one place ending with it being dangerously packed

[@FuzzyTrekkie]

I was initially watching this vertically on my phone so I couldn't read the text. Rachel: "It's Fern with an H" Me:.... "How the-- Where?"

[@tsi_lusine]

I would argue "hockey" IS a trigger.

[@kbird6208]

😂

[@bbo7002]

It is to ME 😭 "The Wrong Pucking Number" dealt so much psychic damage, it was so awful. Weirdo Book Club here on KZbin made a hilarious video about it tho, so that makes up for it! 🤣

[@jacobdavis3359]

Don’t worry I’m using the power of horror to bring you back

[@hatchet1013]

A couple things. If italicised words drive you nuts, I can't wait for you to read When the Moon Hatched. I absolutely DESPISE pet names being 'little *insert animal here*'

[@ReadswithRachel]

I live in fear of when the moon hatched

[@TonksTheFool]

Ironically I've used this in my book draft but it was quite literally meant to be antagonistic to the heroine to goad her into fighting/seeing her flaws. It was by a pagan god character too who likes being a little shit in general, so it was never meant to be this endearing name so much as 'you are quite literally tiny to me, what kinda audacity do you have climbing up my mountain despite me challenging you to do it, you're not meant to win this you little shit!?' Plus, harpy like birb so I got my giggles since he's a god of the hunt, so calling her a little mouse was just fitting. Since in the grand scheme of things, it was set up to be unwinnable. He upgrades it to little fox later but he's still a shitlord who would also call the beefiest manly warrior 'Little sword' to piss him off. But when it comes to full on LOVE interests???? PLease no, I agree. I think the naming 'little *insert animal here*' can work if it's not... y'know... a guy flirting and meant to be endearing. I'll MAYBE let an older lady get away with it, cause elders. But if a dude ever called me little anything I'd lose my shit.

[@DarwinRoger893]

I can think of ten hilarious versions of this: Little capybara Little moose Little Chihuahua Little kangaroo Little badger

[@grimlesbians]

noo theyre not that bad i swear, we just need to get more creative with the pet name format. my compact minotaur. my undergrown goblin. my half-pint unicorn. my tiny centaur. my itty bitty hydra.

[@fuentes_fantasy7906]

@@TonksTheFool In my book, one of the antagonists uses "Little Queen" for the FMC to intentionally diminish her. It's not meant to be affectionate. The love interest just uses her name.

[@Abi-xl7sv]

The usb comment made me actually cackle 😂

[@TheYasmineFlower]

I'd have loved if the Seal of Alwhatever would have been a literal seal. The sea doggo kind.

[@5PctJuice]

I need it to be said that at 22:44 all I could think of was the Whose Line skit where Ryan Stiles, pretending to be Drew Carey, said "when I'm with a woman I go 'ooooooooooooooo'"

[@wyrdness]

I'm sick right now so the Star Wars clip and the "try and brace it with something!" made me laugh so much it started a coughing bout. Totally worth it. Unlike the novella you were reviewing, it sounds like exactly the kind of romantasy that gets a DNF from me.

[@lagggoat7170]

20:48 I did think "sex" before you said it. Because it seems like that kind of book. Also btw I cant help but be reminded of a german meme. Its from a porno and starts with a girl being caught in a fire station trying on a firefighter suit. A guy confrints her, accuses her of being a thief... and THEN he calls "Alert Alert!" (memed part) which makes firemen come running with avmatress - you can guess where it goes from there

[@sardonisms]

This book and the plot holes in the telepathy gave half-asleep me an idea for a character who's telepathic but can only hear thoughts that are about them. I think it'd be an interesting limitation on a power that can easily break a narrative.

[@varying-quality-creations]

It took me until right now to realize that book was saying "almond shaped pools" rather than "pools of almond" like how some people use pools to describe blue colored eyes. Now I'm just wondering: pools of what? Water? Milk? Blood? POOLS OF WHAT?

[@CorwynsWorld]

Stepbrothers and Star Wars had me howling 😂

[@jennderqueer]

i gagged hard more than once during this video

[@ReadswithRachel]

My job is complete then

[@rightsarentpolitical]

I laughed so hard while trying to be quiet while my son is sleeping that I nearly choked on my gum. My husband was like, what the hell? 🤣

[@spcbnd1087]

Why WHY do these authors make the FMCs so stupid? Like, yeah so badass and smart but literally I rarely see it actually be true?

[@tsifirakiehl4250]

Too many authors don’t actually know how to write smart characters, so they just hope that if they talk enough about how smart a character is, the audience will believe it. (Of course, the audience almost never believes it, but that doesn’t stop author after author from thinking that maybe this time will be different.)

[@erebusmint]

Oh I could go off about this forever. It’s one of the main reasons I’ve had an increasingly hard time finding fantasy, sci-fi, FICTION IN GENERAL that I can stomach reading. I used to swear when I was younger that I’d never fall out of YA/more light romantic leaning books, but as I’ve grown older and more mature, a lot of literature seems to have stayed in the past. The “strong independent female main character” who doesn’t need anybody and ALLEGEDLY does things herself ends up always needing some love interest or man to do everything for her and she acts stupid and vapid and helpless and it’s infuriating. Its so difficult to read

[@monster-enthusiast]

Noooo werewolves are my favorite. I barely recovered from hearing about Ali Hazelwoods book, and there's anotherrrrrr????

[@seanboggs215]

The world of darkness calls to you, friend.....🐺

[@monster-enthusiast]

@@seanboggs215 No. I like my werewolves well written.

[@seanboggs215]

@@monster-enthusiast *Sad pupper noises*

[@monster-enthusiast]

@@seanboggs215 😈🐺🐺

[@heather9130]

@@monster-enthusiast Please recommend me well written werewolf fiction. I've been suffering from too many duds

[@RosseRue]

You are so valid for not trusting Natalie's perspective on books while anything Carlton wrote is in the picture 😂😂 poor woman experienced too much with that one. And I can see how you'd think this book is good in comparison

[@nancyjay790]

I'm confused. So... in this novella, is there a difference between being a slave and being an indentured servant? Servant usually implies a couple of things: a time limit ( even if only once the servant is deemed no longer useful to the household), and something obtained for service, whether doled out in increments over the period of service or at the end of the specified time limit. But if all a "servant" gets is food, clothes, and a corner to sleep, with maybe some "favors" given by a master or mistress either from good mood or a whim... how is this not slavery?

[@BrookhousianNightmare]

There was a song by Sting back at the end of the nineties about a thief stealing into a woman's room to steal her jewels and they fall in love, and there is probably like a fifty percent chance this writer was listening to that song on repeat

[@ann-gt4hh]

alright so.. almost 15 mins in what I'm hearing is that the bad witches needed to be a cult. All of the negative words, "indentured servitude" for example, should be words that outsiders use, but inside the witches call it something like "life of service" or maybe "dedication to the cultname" Like. So much would make sense if this was a cult that she fell into. Maybe the grandma had managed to escape the cult and that intro was the last memory the mc has of her. And it would also help explain why she wouldn't recognize the word the werewolf uses to describe the thing he's after. Cults use different words to other the members, so they don't feel in place with non-members. He'd call it X and she'd call it Y, and only after he reveals more details she'd be like "you mean Y!" but thats just my idea, as someone who seems to only write about mcs who were born into cults and escaped them lol. (i wonder why 🙃) also: The best "fighting while teaching" scene imo is Jack Sparrow teaching Will Turner in the first movie. I will always think of that when a fight turns into a teaching moment bc very few ever do what potc did in that scene.

[@evilernie1369]

A crush is when a crowd of people surges in a small area to the point where people begin crushing each other and are unable to move. I guess it makes sense in this context? It's pretty horrific

[@danaparsonsliquidcosmosart2669]

Anyone else zoom in on Rachel's bookshelf for new reads? .. just me? Lol

[@ReadswithRachel]

Let me know which ones you picked 😃

[@lilybenderskaya2233]

Oooh, favorite novellas, you ask? Empress of Salt and Fortune, by Nghi Vo (and sequels, which, as a bonus, can all stand alone) Ring Shout, by P. Djeli Clark And What Can We Offer You Tonight, by Premee Mohamed All Systems Red, by Martha Wells (and sequels. Yes, this is Murderbot. :) Alice Payne Arrives, by Kate Heartfield Passing Strange, by Ellen Klages

[@beaniebaby485]

I second Ring Shout!

[@machinegods]

Murderbot is my favorite! It got me back to reading after years and years. Highly recommend.

[@erinraewatson]

Yes, love Nghi Vo's work!

[@jenny5272]

Well this video has ruined all the dragon themed nicknames I use for my cat 🤣

[@valerielevasseur8674]

43:39 Improve your experience by hearing "dog" spelled as "dawg."

[@mikankitsune0440]

I've made the peaked/piqued mistake often enough to where I laugh at it now. Everything else makes me want to put on a suit of armor and grab a giant red pen for protection.😮‍💨

[@84rinne_moo]

23:22 I know some other authors like to do that with other phrases like “oh stars!” Etc in place of “oh god!” to make it seem more like a different world, never really thought how it was kinda off til now!

[@Lavran]

39:53 It's even weirder for my asexual ass lol, it's just so absurd 😂 I don't even read that type of books, but it's always so entertaining to watch you review them!

[@NateReadsDiversely]

Me at 19:17 : They're STILL talking????

[@ashannaredwolf8485]

If you’re going to write a trope-filled erotic story in a fantasy setting, there are literally ready-made fantasy tropes for world-building and magic systems. Just fill in the details around your pron Mad Lib style for a crumb of plot.

[@irispurpurea2616]

For good romantasy I highly highly recommend T. Kingfisher’s Paladins series it’s so good and the world building is deep and fascinating! Also Freya Marske’s The Last Binding series!

[@maenochka1833]

I'm not saying this book is a prime example, it just reminded me of this, but I've noticed an uncomfortable romantasy trend where one half of the main couple is racist or bigoted towards the other half and their people (with some not-so-subtle genocidal plans they're either a part of or strongly in support of). At least until the love interest shows that They Aren't All Bad while they do some fetishy sex in between. Surely to god people can write enemies to lovers or some Romeo x Juliet group conflicts that aren't actual Fantastic Racism.

[@themagicalmooncow3879]

RACHELLL! I have a fire mage book recommendation. It's called the targeted mage by Melissa caruso. It's a fantasy, no romance, there is political scheme stuff, and I really liked it.

[@themagicalmooncow3879]

Tethered mage*

[@nopelahoma]

When Rachel says "with a pause" and my brain first thought "paws" because werewolf

[@justokayemilay6029]

I love your recaps/review/rants. And i love it when you match your makeup to your clothes.

[@saxyrocks]

"is it a dog bed?" 💀

[@starshapedseal]

fern with an h now means that this man's name is hern pronounced fern from now out. i'll accept nothing else.

[@PosiWritesStories]

As an Owl House fan, hearing the name “Odalia” brought me back. EDIT: my ears don’t work, I heard the name wrong.

[@vanillaplanifoliae]

wait is that not the main characters name?

[@andiman44]

Idalia is close enough 😅

[@kaleehall6271]

the wolf howl made me cackle💀

[@theedexterspeckman6512]

wait a minute… villain is pale and gaunt… utilizes shadowy tendrils… QUAN CHI??

[@jadedoni6447]

Telepathic? More like telepathetic 😭

[@almi8151]

Mother feeds us well this week

[@awkwardpotato27]

My favorite novella will always be "The Yellow Wallpaper." So creepy and powerful!

[@hoppystar439]

A cute, cozy, high fantasy romance webtoon I can recommend is A Spell for a Smith. Its currently ongoing but so far its very sweet. Its between a reclusive witch that lives in the woods and a dwarven blacksmith.

[@elliemr5427]

It truly bothers me that people use trigger warnings as the equivalent of fanfic tags in ao3. Use the real fucking words and do not use it for marketing, cause it leaves people who need them hanging.

[@MetastaticMaladies]

Yay! I just finished binging all her videos yesterday and she uploads a new one today, lucky me. I’m so addicted to these

[@stephennootens916]

A werewolf as a spy makes me think of Robert R McCammon horror spy novel The Wolf's Hour that is on TBR list.

[@seanboggs215]

It's a great book. 😊

[@krixkhaos]

Rachel: "Please, sir... may I have some... lore?"

[@Sistertotherain9]

Look, if you want to do a novella, you have to justify your shortcuts. Why not just make the witch the spy's inside contact? If you want to keep the mistrust and threats, have her replace the original stablemaster contact he was expecting to meet, and he can still threaten her at first sight. Have the witch previously overhear enough of the stablemaster's thoughts to get most of their plan, and she's just jumping at the chance to escape her servitude and a creepy captain who keeps harassing her. Have the spy be more professional and more suspicious of her, have him figure out that she's not really a vetted contact when she slips up and brings him the wrong thing or bluffs through something she should know. Have the witch "betray" him to the guard captain so they can all get into the dungeon where the stablemaster is because she's the only one who knows what and where the McGuffin actually is. You could actually make it kinda tense if she's so far been an "out for herself" character. Then she kills the creepy guard and they all escape with the doohickey. The wolf spies can be so impressed with her deception, powers, and quick thinking that the want her to join them. There's a non-annoying way to write this!

[@annajensen7360]

You're an actual genius, you should be a script doctor/editor

[@Sistertotherain9]

​@@annajensen7360I dunno about a genius, but I do know my tropes. I loathe the entire mate trope and werewolves as possessive alpha dudes trope, and the dynamic between them grosses me out, but you could have all that without a stupid plot, so there'd at least be something to enjoy.