When I Read, I Dream was a collectors series of child dolls approximately the age of a Stacie, themed around characters from children's or family friendly literature.
The word "Barbie" does not appear anywhere on the box, but they were released by Mattel using the "Timeless Treasures" brand line - not officially Barbie, but which look an awful lot like Barbies. You will usually see "Barbie" in the heading or description of these dolls on reseller sites, even though they're not officially.
This series contained four dolls: Jo from Little Women, Anne from Anne of Green Gables, Heidi from Heidi and Fern from Charlotte's Web. I really like this series and it stands out to me personally exactly because of the age of the dolls - often collectors series have Barbie or Barbie-style dolls in the lead role, or else they have Kelly or Kelly-style dolls. I like the middle child age dolls here.
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One of my all time favourite trope is: Old grumpy person lives as an outcast from society (usually by choice) and they eventually become a old happy person because some obnoxiously happy child squirmed their way into the said old persons house (and heart).
Examples of this trope are: Grandfather from Heidi, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert from Anne of Green Gables (mostly Marilla), Eda Clawthorne from The Owl House, and Mother from The Girl of The Limberlost.
Now that I go over this list I see that only Eda and Grandfather fit the criteria lmao.
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News - A new Japanese trailer for the upcoming Resident Evil 4 Remake uses a classic 70s anime style similar to Heidi, Girl of the Alps or Anne of Green Gables entitled “Bio Masterpiece Theater: Leon and the Mysterious Village!”. Titles like Heidi are a cultural icon in Japan, so it’s a fun surprise for older fans of the game series. You can watch the full video on Youtube with subtitles here.
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Reading update
Brick Walls by LA Witt - 3.25/5 stars
Honestly not a great book, from a writing mechanics perspective. This definitely could have benefited from a few more editing passes. It dragged in parts because the characters kept having the same internal monologue over and over, and there were too many scenes of the two mains sniping at each other with the exact same argument. THAT SAID, the MCs themselves were charming and likable, and the second chance romance was compelling. I also thought the cocaine addiction storyline was pretty well done, especially considering this is a hockey romance.
Deny Me, the Nightshade Boy by Mary Vanalstine - 5/5 stars
This is the debut novel of a pal! Very fun book set primarily in Minnesota. It's gay, plus there's a cat named Arwen Undómeow, which is obviously an A+ pun. Also points for a dig at Chaska.
Young Men in Love, edited by Joe Glass and Matt Miner - 4/5 stars
Nice little queer comics romance anthology.
Fire and Sand by Andrew Grey - 3.75/5 stars
The Professor's Green Card Marriage by Heidi Cullinan - 4.25/5 stars
This book was delightful and taught me that I had selective mutism as a child, despite the fact that apparently the therapist I saw insisted I didn't. I was even able to forgive Cullinan's fudging of USCIS's requirements for dramatic purposes because the story was lovely.
Up in Smoke by Annabeth Albert - 4/5 stars
Once a Rogue by Allie Therin - 4/5 stars
The Doctor's Secret by Heidi Cullinan - 4/5 stars
His Reluctant Cowboy by AM Arthur - 4/5 stars
Charmed & Dangerous: Ten Tales of Gay Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy, edited by Jordan Castillo Price - 5/5 stars
One of the best short story anthologies I've ever read. There are some real legends in here, like Ginn Hale, KJ Charles, and Jordan L Hawk. Ginn Hale's story belongs to one of my favorite genres, "Harry Potter was a defining piece of fiction for me but what if I ran with its sketchy elements?" (see also: Rainbow Rowell's Simon Snow trilogy). I think a lot of the stories in this collection are spinoffs of the authors' already existing fiction (KJ Charles's definitely is—I had actually already read the sequel to the story in this anthology), but that didn't detract from my enjoyment.
Precious Metals by LA Witt - 4/5 stars
Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood - 2/5 stars
Oof. Look, I know it's YA. But I've read some great YA—and this is not it. First off, it's a myth retelling, which I categorically despise. Second, the blurb makes it clear there's a love triangle involved. Blech. The only reason I read this one is because I got it in an Illumicrate. And to be perfectly fair, I was enjoying it a fair bit until about the last quarter. That was the point at which we got Melantho's rape scene and, very shortly afterwards, Leto and Mathias having sex, which I found extremely squicky because it was structurally and narratively very similar to the rape, even though it's consensual. It made my skin crawl. Also I really Did Not Like the fact that Leto was in love with both Melantho and Mathias (yeah yeah polyships whatever, I hate polyships though). Didn't like the theme of 'choosing' one or the other when the choice was made for Leto but she still got to take credit for it. The idea that all the death could have been avoided if People Had Just Talked To Each Other made me wonder why the book had to be 490 pages long. The ending has none of the gravitas of an actual Greek tragedy, even though that's what it's supposed to be. And like, I got it. I got what Underwood was going for like 100 pages in. It wasn't subtle. Ultimately I think a better/more mature author could have pulled this stuff off, but Underwood was twenty-one when she wrote this, and it shows.
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