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LOVE FOR LOVE'S SAKE (2024) episode 1 | episode 8

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Holding hands

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Little kissies from Phaya

THE SIGN (2023) EP. 2 + EP. 7 + EP. 8

+ Bonus :

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It happens to be my birthday. Usually I try not to make a thing about it, but I realized that I do want something for my birthday…

I would love it if you would  contribute to this de-mining effort to help save Ukrainian civilians. It’s a pressing and super impactful way to spend a few dollars. Donate for Ukraine to make me happy for my birthday?

Thanks. 

bit.ly/DemineUkraine

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You Should Read: Golden Stage

aka Huang Jin Tai, 黄金台 

What is it?

A Chinese historical danmei (BL) webnovel.  English translation with epub or pdf here.

Characters:

Fu Shen (above right)is a General posted on the border of the Empire, a war hero responsible for turning back invading forces and keeping the country safe, and loved for being a morally upright and true man. Unfortunately his fame and popularity make the Emperor nervous, and he suffers an accident which crushes both his legs.  He returns to the capital a broken man, in a wheel-chair.

Yan Xiaohan (above left) is the head of the Flying Dragon Brigade, the Emperor’s own force, an Imperial Inspector Envoy.  He has a reputation for cunning and brutality and total lack of morals in service of the Emperor and his own ambition. 

Plot:

The emperor has the brilliant idea to use an old law to force these two men to marry one another, thus putting Fu Shen into check with his loyal dog tied to him, and making sure neither of them can marry and have heirs and thus gain more political power.  So it’s ARRANGED MARRIAGE TIME.

However, what no one knows is that these two famous enemies are secretly pretty friendly, even though they argue and disagree a lot.  And they have a friendship in the past.  Moreover, Yan Xiaohan might have been carrying a secret torch for Fu Shen for years…

The first half of the book explores the setting and characters, their newly married state, and then coming to an understanding with each other.  (I.e. they are madly in love well before the halfway point.)  The rest is all political intrigue and drama and the two of them using their various skills to uncover and triumph over their enemies and remake the empire around them for the better.  While they are Very, Very Married and adorable. 

Why You Should Read It:

This is a super fluffy book where the couple is super happy and gets together early and you get to enjoy them being couple-y for most of it.  They occasionally get separated and have to suffer but are very cute about it and how they reunite.  Very low on angst but high on drama.  They’re also two extremely competent political entities so in that sense it’s competence porn getting to watch one be a super awesome leader of troops and one a fantastic back-room manipulator. 

I think this would be a really good intro to danmei, or a first book for someone just exploring beyond MXTX.  It’s not Xianxia or Wuxia, actually, just straight historical drama with no real supernatural elements.  (Other than some herbs and drugs and medical things that don’t function EXACTLY realistically.  There’s a lot of TCM kinda stuff happening, mention of qi, etc.)  There are a lot of names, but mostly they all fall into a couple of important families and it’s not too hard to keep up.  (There are a lot of Fu’s but the story mostly tells you who they are when they appear. ) 

It’s full of fun fandom-friendly tropes like arranged marriage, secret pining, faking being enemies while secretly being in love, the sneaky manipulative one will do anything to protect the shining good one, and even sex pollen.  And there’s not really anything objectionable in the story: no dub-con or controversial sex stuff, or any of the darker elements some other danmei get into.  This is definitely a comfort read.  The sex isn’t explicit, though it makes sure you understand that it is happening in a few places, but mostly it’s a fade to black situation. 

The only potentially controversial thing is that because they are legally married in Ancient China, one of them (Yan Xiaohan, because he is lower status) is referred to as “wife.”  This is sorta of nodded to tongue-in-cheek as a formal status thing, and the couple definitely tease each other about it a LOT.  This couple is all about the snark, btw.  Snarky flirting and fake pretending-to-be-upset.   And if it helps, this has nothing to do with sexual role.  It’s at least implied that Yan Xiaohan is the “top” or “gong” in bed even though he’s the “wife.”   He is at least some of the time.  It’s not explicit enough to be totally clear and doesn’t seem to be something the author is very concerned about.

Also this novel does contain “sex pollen” basically an incense made from a flower that is a powerful aphrodisiac, but it’s handled so incredibly well that the only time it plays a role onscreen it’s very clear that everything that happens is consensual and between established partners.  It would be a basically textbook “how to do consensual sex pollen” example.

I will also say I enjoyed having a disabled protagonist.  I’m physically disabled and I was worried Fu Shen would get a quick, miraculous cure or something that would annoy me, but actually he has to deal with a lot of disability for a good portion of the novel, and though he improves and eventually gains some of his functioning back with mobility aids, he still has the injuries and it’s sometimes an issue.  So that was like an 8/10 handling of that in my book.

As a final note, the extras are also great, and one of them is notable.  There’s a background queer couple that meets a tragic end in the main novel, and the longest extra is actually a reincarnation/amnesia fix-it fic for that couple.  Now THAT’S the kind of fan service I want from my authors!  

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❤️‍🔥

Timelapse⬇️

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My first embroidery portrait

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i'm curious to know the ratio of writers to readers on ao3 so here's a poll. when i say writer, i mean people who have published works on ao3, doesn't matter if it's once, or if it was ages ago, or if it's a regular occurrence. when i say reader, i mean people who have never published a work on ao3. the reader vote still counts if you don't have an account on ao3. if you're a writer who is also an active reader, please still click on the "writer" option!

please do boost this so it reaches a larger sample space!

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My School President out of context

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Julia Stiles as Kat Stratford 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU (1999)

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this does in fact awaken a lot of things

THE UNTAMED 陈情令 (2019), ep. 3

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DANGEROUS ROMANCE (2023)

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WEDDING PLAN: THE SERIES [2023] EPISODE 3

bonus:

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Dangerous Romance - coming August 18th

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Beautiful 😍

pisaeng x kawi: kisses so far

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👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻.