What are you currently reading?

Emilia Hart - Weyward I've been wanting to read this for ages and it was absolutely worth the wait. I only started it yesterday but I'm already uhh 53% through
Kelley Armstrong - Bitten A comfort re-read, dipping in and out as my mood pleases. I have so much love for Jeremy, for Clay, for the pack
Annie Worsley - Windswept My current borrowbox read - I'm about 1/3 of the way through, and I'm not quite sure what I think of it
Alice Roberts - Ancestors I have a teenytinyhugeass crush on Alice, not gonna lie. I'm about 75% through and should hopefully finish it soon

What did you recently finish reading?

Stephen Fry - Mythos 5/5 stars. Greek mythology at its most charming, clever, and chaotic. Stephen Fry retells these ancient stories with so much warmth and humour, I felt like I was being let in on the juiciest gossip from Olympus. Smart, sharp, and ridiculously entertaining — a perfect read for mythology lovers and curious mortals alike.
T Kingfisher - A House with Good Bones 5/5 stars. What starts as an odd visit home turns into a quietly horrifying unraveling of memory, family, and something deeply wrong under the wallpaper. It’s southern gothic with teeth, and I loved every uncanny, bug-filled page.

What do you think you’ll read next?

Mary Shelley - Frankenstein
Erin Sterling - The Kiss Curse
Poppy Z Brite - Exquisite Corpse

You know that moment, a few pages into a new book or fanfic, where you realise, oh no (but actually oh yes)—this is going to hit every one of your buttons? I love that. Some tropes just get me, no matter how many times I’ve seen them. I will fall for them again and again, gleefully, like it’s the first time. So today, in no particular order, here are the ones that always work on me.

Fake Dating
Top-tier. Always iconic. I don't care if it's full-on romcom chaos or angsty mutual pining in disguise, if two characters have to pretend to be together for Reasons? I'm in. Especially if they’re bad at pretending. Especially if they’re too good at pretending. Especially if one of them catches feelings first and doesn’t know what to do about it. Especially that moment, you see it coming from a mile away, that moment when, as the reader, you see the date turning real but they haven't yet twigged? It's delicious.

Grumpy x Sunshine
Give me the sour-faced one who doesn’t know how to deal with feelings, and the beaming one who crashes into their life like a golden retriever in human form. Let them banter. Let them slowly learn each other’s edges. Let the sunshine one get quietly intense sometimes, and the grumpy one be soft underneath. Peak comfort.

Forced Proximity
Trapped in a lift? Snowed in at a cabin? On the run and handcuffed together? YES. Stick them in a space they can't leave, turn the tension up to eleven, and just let me watch. Bonus points if they have to share resources, or reluctantly open up. All the better if one of them is injured and needs looking after. (Caretaking! Another micro-trope I fall for every time.)

Only One Bed
Look. It's a classic for a reason. Whether it's awkward bed-sharing full of “we’re definitely not touching” tension or the inevitable snuggling that definitely doesn't mean anything (until it does), I eat it up every single time.

Small Town Romance
There's something about the slower pace, the community vibes, the way people keep running into each other all over town. Maybe one of them is just passing through. Maybe they went to school together and haven’t seen each other in years. Maybe the town itself becomes a character. I love it all. Bonus if there’s a grumpy x sunshine and only one bed in the inn.

And here’s the weird bit: the tropes I love to read aren’t always the ones I love to write. Like, I adore fake dating on the page, but I almost never write it. Same with small town settings - I’ll devour them in books, but when I try to write them, I bounce right off. Meanwhile, I find myself writing intense, emotional dynamics or complicated power shifts, even when I’m not actively looking for those as a reader. Isn’t that odd? Not in a bad way, just... interesting. Like there’s a different part of my brain at work when I write, with its own set of fixations and fascinations.

Anyway. I could probably keep going (mutual pining! found family! hurt/comfort! age gap! power imbalance! kink!), but I’ll stop before this turns into a novella. What about you—what are the tropes you can never resist? And are they the same ones you end up writing?

today was a hard one. everything felt heavy and off-kilter, and finding glimmers wasn’t easy — but it felt important. small anchors, even if they’re a little wobbly.

🛏️ I had a proper lie-in this morning. Didn’t rush, didn’t feel guilty. Just let myself rest, and it felt right.

🍃 My Isabelle plushie was soft and solid and there when I needed grounding during a panic attack. Small comfort, big anchor.

📝 Coming back to blogging has felt really good — like reclaiming a piece of myself. Even better, I’ve been getting some lovely comments that have made me feel seen and appreciated.

That’s me for today. If you feel like sharing your glimmers, I’d love to read them 💛
Be gentle with yourself, especially if the good things were hard to find.

three tiny joys, glimmers, or moments of soft comfort from today

💇‍♀️ Got my ( hair dyed magenta! ) Bright, bold, and very me — it’s always a bit of a transformation, and it felt good to see that vivid colour in the mirror again.

🎾 Jannik Sinner, Ben Shelton, Grigor Dimitrov, and Mirra Andreeva all won their Wimbledon matches today — every one of them brought something joyful to watch.

🍔 Takeout burgers for dinner. We were completely wiped — two hours at the hairdresser left us sore, dysregulated, and done. The burgers weren’t fancy, but they were warm and easy and enough.

That’s me for today. If you feel like sharing your glimmers, I’d love to read them 💛
Be gentle with yourself, especially if the good things were hard to find.

I've been wanting to get better at noticing the small, good things in my days, especially the quiet ones that are easy to miss when I'm overwhelmed, in pain, or just having a rough brain day. I keep going back to 3_good_things_a_day but figured I'd share them here too.

So this is me, starting a little series called glimmers and good things: three things each day (or as close to daily as I can manage) that made me smile, feel seen, feel safe, or feel a tiny spark of joy.
They won’t always be profound. Sometimes they’ll be “I had a nice sandwich” or “Carlos Alcaraz didn’t destroy my soul today.” But they’ll be real, and I want to keep track of them.

three tiny joys, glimmers, or moments of soft comfort from today
🧡 Someone sent me a gorgeous pic of ( Darren & Simone ) they found online because they knew I’d love it and wanted to make sure I’d seen it. It made me feel so known.

📚 Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant Tumblr reblogged my review of Rolling in the Deep (!!) and I am still quietly screaming about it.

🍕 Friday night comforts: pizza, mango Pepsi Max, Nutella ice cream, and Carlos Alcaraz winning his 3rd round match against Struff. We feast. 🎾💛

That’s me for today. If you feel like sharing your glimmers, I’d love to read them 💛
Be gentle with yourself, especially if the good things were hard to find.

Challenge #1 Journaling Prompt: Light up your journal with activity this month. Talk about your goals for July or for the second half of 2025.

June was a bit of a blur, honestly. I read a lot — but only finished four books. I posted 8 fics and wrote a lot more in my head. I got very distracted by Roland Garros (because how could you not?!), and now Wimbledon’s here to steal what’s left of my focus. That’s okay.

So I’m going into July with gentleness. Here’s what I’m hoping for, aiming toward — not in a pressure-y way, but in a “this would feel good if it happened” kind of way.

📚 Reading Goals
I want to read 6 books this month, or at least finish 6. There are currently 12 books in progress. Oops.
Also:

• Prioritise a few summer TBR titles
• Tackle my mountain of library loans (13 books out, most nearing their final renewals 😬)
• Catch up on posting reviews
• Keep going with “20 mins a day” as my baseline
• Read for joy, not pressure

✍️ Writing Goals
There’s a lot on this list, but I’m not expecting to do all of it — I just want to keep the creative momentum going, especially when the ideas are flowing.

• Finish A Field Guide to the Sinner Pack
• Update:
  • You Wouldn’t Take My Word for It If You Knew Who Was Talking
  • I Had the Time of My Life Fighting Dragons With You
  • The Courage of My Convictions
  •  Wolf-Tethered
•  Maybe write or post a one-shot, just because·
• Keep sharing, even if it’s scary — people want to read these stories

🌿 Life Goals
Soft intentions. Low stakes. Good food. Hopefully fewer appointments. But also:

• Make a doctor’s appointment to talk about the arthritis diagnosis
• Day trip to the RAMM in Exeter + sushi 🍣
• Visit Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm 🦙
• Reclaim one chaotic space at home (possibly the laundry chair)
• Come back to Dreamwidth, and stay
• Cook something that feels like summer
• One proper lie-in, no guilt
• One evening offline with candles, music, or silence

If I do all of this, amazing.
If I do half, still pretty great.
If I just read something I love and write one scene that lights me up, that’s enough too.

Let’s see what July brings 💛

We are coming up to the point in the year where I usually post a warning that we are coming into the two weeks of the year where I get very excited about the sportsball...

...except, I don't know if you've noticed at all over the last year...

... but I haven't exactly *stopped* being very excited about the sportsball. At All.

I keep most of my squee and ramblings to my tennisblr but you can absolutely feel free to come friend me over there, should you wish to experience the full impact.

So. Um. FORZA JANNIK! 🧡🎾🦊😁