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“i know we’re not… friends or anything, but… i’m here for you, if you need someone to talk to.”

“i didn’t know where else to go.” / “i didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

“i feel like shit.” “you look like it, too.” *they bump shoulders*

“just… tell me what i can do to make you feel better.”

“come on, let’s get you cleaned up.”

“hey, look at me. i’m not going anywhere.”

“you seem to be the only trustworthy one around here, so can i talk to you?”

“ you know, if you’re trying to make me feel guilty, you’ve succeeded.”

“i don’t want to bother you. seriously, it’s all just… it’s a lot.”

“i don’t know what’s wrong with me. i can’t stop crying.”

“aren’t you tired?” “i’m fine. don’t worry about me.”

“there’s snot all over your shirt. it’s quite gross, actually.”

“you are, without a doubt, the most annoying person i’ve ever crossed paths with. and don’t even get me started on the sound of your voice.”

“you’re welcome to stay here, for as long as you need.”

“it’s okay to cry, you know.”

“stop apologizing. you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“we don’t need to talk, all right? let’s just… stay here, holding each other.”

“you were always there for me. let me be there for you.”

This book is out today and it's so cute!

Reasons why you should PICK UP The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri IMMEDIATELY🌿

The slowburn, enemies to lovers relationship will leave you at the edge of your seat! The tension is IMMACULATE!

The magic is so intriguing and I love the use of (mild) body horror. Plant-like body horror is one of my favorite ways to present body horror in books.

This book has some complex and well thought out political intrigue.

The female characters in this book are beyond BADASS (and I have a weak spot for Bhumika)

———

Hi bestie!! here are a couple of my favourites

adult:

the priory of the orange tree - fantasy - bisexual queen x lesbian mage who struggle to carve their own path in societies and cultures that demand conformity. meanwhile there's an evil dragon starting to wake which wants to destroy the world. there's also a contagious disease that magically corrupts people who come in contact with it in case you want to avoid it. it explores how mythologies get skewed over time and is pretty fast paced even if it's ~800~ pages long

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo - romance - it essentially chronicles evelyn's life as an actress and her romances over the decades and her secret relationship with another actress. the characters are really complex and flawed which appealed to me a lot

gideon the ninth - horror + sci fi - I know you said not harrow the ninth but. lesbian necromancers in space is an overdone description but it's essentially that. candidates are summoned from each of the nine houses so that they can piece together a secret that'll enable them to become lyctors and serve the god-emperor. everyone's very gay. the writing style might require some patience on your part though

the traitor baru cormorant - fantasy - the poppy war if it was sapphic. check the content warnings before you get into it because it deals with colonialism, how it suffocates and destroys indigenous cultures, and features lots of economics, battle sequences and characters who're so morally grey that you're literally not going to have any idea about whose side they're on. this book will wreck you

this is how you lose the time war - sci fi - two assassins belonging to opposite sides of a war spending most of the book homoerotically thwarting each other

the luminous dead - horror + sci fi - this is your go to for toxic sapphic relationships. the protagonist descends into a cave system to find something for her employer but stuff starts going wrong soon - supplies go missing and she starts to think the cave system might be haunted. not recommended if you're claustrophobic

the long way to a small angry planet - sci fi - the sapphic relationship is not very prominent but the book is very queer and you'll like it a lot if you're looking for found families in space

a memory called empire - sci fi - the protagonist steps up as ambassador to the empire when her predecessor dies. she suspects that he was killed and tries to uncover the mysterious circumstances behind his death. it explores themes of alienation from the home and your culture and the love that one harbors for a culture that devours your own anyway as much as you hate it.

the empress of salt and fortune - fantasy - the second book is actually the sapphic one but this one also chronicles the life of an empress who was involved in a relationship with her servant. the protagonist is non binary!

she who became the sun - historical fantasy - kind of like the poppy war again. the protagonist is genderqueer and it chronicles her rise to the throne. the book’s based on historical events which are retold through a queer lens. lots of books punish their protagonists for being selfish but this book said fuck you to all of them and rewarded its characters for choosing their desires.

her body and other parties - short story collection - a couple of them are sapphic

the jasmine throne - fantasy - princess x bodyguard. it has major priory vibes in the sense that the princess struggles to deliver on what the society demands of her and the bodyguard secretly practices magic

nevernight - fantasy - it's jay kristoff and I'd usually not recommend him but I like ashlinn jarnheim so I'll make an exception for her :/

young adult:

queen of coin and whispers - fantasy/romance - I thought the first half of the book was very good as opposed to the second half and it did have its issues but it's generally a fun read if you're bored - it's another queen x sworn protector relationship

wilder girls - horror - girls on an island develop strange mutations and try to survive as best as the can as they hope for a cure from the government. the protagonist is vicious in her pursuit to achieve what she wants and I love that.

the language of thorns - fantasy - grishaverse short story collection! when water sang fire + little knife are sapphic

girls of paper and fire - fantasy - it could've featured a better progression from the sort of enemies to lovers part but it was otherwise nice. I heard that the second book was bad so I abandoned the series with the first book.

sci-fi:

-this is how you lose the time war // Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

-the city in the middle of the night // Charlie Jane Anders

-upright women wanted // Sarah Gailey (nblw rep!)

fantasy:

-palimpsest // Catherynne Valente 

-the unbroken // C.L. Clark (maybe it’s not fair to recommend this since i’m only a chapter into it, but i am SO excited for this book and i already love it)

-magic for liars // Sarah Gailey

-the priory of the orange tree // Samantha Shannon

-the jasmine throne // Tasha Suri

-she who became the sun // Shelley Parker-Chan

-the chosen and the beautiful // Nghi Vo

-the city we became // N.K. Jemisin

books that incorporate both sci-fi & fantasy elements (or alternately, books about sword lesbians raised in death cults):

-the unspoken name // A.K. Larkwood 

-gideon the ninth // Tamsyn Muir ( @tazmuir )

Slow dances to your favorite tune alone or with someone you love

Random and unexpected hugs

Handwritten letters

The smell of books and the sound of turning pages

Hearing the phrase "I love you"

Compliments from strangers

Returned smiles

Someone playing with your hair

Sunrises and sunsets

Handwritten notes found in old books

Cardigans, big sweaters and knitted socks

The taste of food after a long, tiring day

When you finish reading a great book and you feel like you've lost a good friend forever

Feeling the cold wind caressing you skin and hair

When you're at the beach and you close your eyes to listen to the sounds of ocean waves crushing against the shore

Playing with children and hearing them laugh

Making lists

Long, meaningful discussions with someone who means a lot to you

Slow kisses

Being brave enough to do the right thing

Hearing "this made me think of you" and "I miss you"

Playing with animals on the street

Visiting your grandparents

Long peaceful baths

unexpected car trips

No homework

The excitement of new beginnings

Let the character have plenty of screen time before the death. Show us their motivations, dreams, and inner world, so we really connect with them.

Kill them towards the latter half of the middle of your story, instead of the end, so we get to see the proper grief and how the death has affected the other characters.

Kill them off while their at their highest, or when things are just starting to look up for them.

Alternatively, kill them in the middle of their character arc, as they’re about to change for better.

For the actual death themselves, killing via betrayal from something they trusted- be it equipment failure, or a person, or killing them of something that could’ve been easily preventable, often hit the hardest.

Show other characters grief over them. Show how they’ve been absolutely wrecked over the loss of this character.

Continue to show sides of the character even after death. Have other characters find out information about them that makes the audience wish they could explore the dead character further.

Let the dead character have an ambition/goal/dream they were super passionate about that they never got to complete.

Cause an argument/conflict between the dead character and another character right before the character dies.

Have the remaining cast face challenges that could’ve been easily resolved if the dead character was there.

Kill main cast characters sparingly. A few meaningful character deaths are a lot more tear jerking than a blood bath.

If you want to be really, really cruel, and your writing in a point of view that would allow you to do this, reveal important information about the death to the audience, but not to the characters.

If your writing in a genre were it would be possible, consider having the dead character know that they’re going to die, but not revealing it to the others.

me: *turns on the kettle* *makes myself a snack* *takes a shower and wears comfy clothes* *scrolls through spotify trying to find the right music* *makes tea* *opens laptop* *pulls up unfinished doc* *stares at word doc for five minutes*

my pile of unused notebooks: 

harry potter characters: cedric diggory