RC Thoughts

I recently started reviewing and grading the ongoing series that have been coming to an end…

Here’s what I got so far:

Dracula: A Love Story = B

Garden of Eden = C

Parallel Universes Bureau Vol. 1 = D

Te Amo Vol. 1: Bay of Hope = A

Astrea’s Broken Heart = A

Heaven’s Secret Requiem = D

W: Time Catcher = B

Chasing You 2 = C

And the Haze Will Take Us = B

Shadows of Saintfour = B

Soulless = A

Te Amo Vol. 2: A Crystal Dream = A

Goodbye, weekend!

(Warning: spoilers)

I’m having a hard time sticking with a LI in this book. Initially I liked Volpe because he was a giant teddy bear with amusing faces. But then he became this big pity party. 🥺 Oh no, Mercy. I’m a murderer. I can’t be near you. You’re too sweet and innocent. No matter how many times Mercy tells him she knows what she wants and can handle herself, he’s still pouting around her. It gets a little annoying after a while.

So I switched to my Montclare slot. I thought there might be some angsty sexual tension there… But right now it’s feeling more like “girl with daddy issues desperately latching onto older man.” That and he consistently tells her he’s using her and treats her like a tool. Not exactly fun atm.

There’s Frank, and he’s cute and nice, but he seems a little boring. Do I really want to romance the straight arrow in a mafia story? I don’t want to hear about how breaking the law is bad, especially since I want my revenge on George! I know there’s a hidden Forgiveness route, but no thanks. That man needs to be shot in the crotch.

Anyway, I had a similar problem with 7B. Tristan was annoying, Grant was boring, I wanted to bitchslap James. So I just dropped it since the plot was so flimsy without the romance.

TSTCFV has The Count of Monte Cristo backing it, so it def won’t suffer from that same problem. I don’t know if I just need to stick it out a little longer and maybe Volpe or Montclare will get better… But I’m feeling kind of frustrated with the LIs right now. I might end up being single or just playing them all, idk.

Since we’re on the topic of sequels…

I say no to sequels. Yes to spinoffs. New characters, new angles to already established universes. No more milking the HSU to death and beyond. Also, no more Kali, Chasing Yous, or SOCN. That last one feels long enough already.

What I would like to see:

1. Soulless: A siren MC. Need I say more?

2. W: Time Catcher: There were other fronts that we never got to see. The politics within the vampire clans, the Others that opposed Vesper’s methods, the Ordinary allies. I personally would love to see more of DeeDee and the human effort they had going.

3. Seduced by the Rhythm: Just hear me out. The MC is the main dancer and choreographer at a burlesque club. It’s the perfect chance to celebrate different body types and sexualities. They’d have fun stage names like Roxie Hard and Vixen Leigh. LIs would include other dancers, possibily a regular customer, the club owner or manager, a security guard, and of course, the critic who calls it trashy. This could be something fun, spicy, and comical. Preferably written by a different author.

4. Heart of Trespia: I’m a broken record at this point. I want to sail to those other isles and see what and who are over there!

(Warning: spoilers)

I want this to happen every time Karn opens his mouth. You’d think he learned his lesson, but no…

How thick is his skull? Completely ignored everything Sailen just said. Man, I really hope there’s an option in the future that allows us to betray him or torture and kill him. Ugh… There are a few LIs that I hate (Amen, Ford, Donghyun), but Ashi takes the cake. Even Amen, who I can’t stand, has moments when he treats Eva with kindness. But not Ashi..

I did not allow him to shackle me up with his magical chains. I don’t care if it means Liren has less control of her powers. I’m over these people torturing my MC! There’s no way I’m saying yes to that! No one in their right mind would say yes to that while locked in a cage on their own ship to the person who injected them with an elephant tranquilizer!

There’s no way this character can be redeemed. I can’t wait to dump him into the Rift.

Since the next new book is Moonborn 2, I hope it’s more of a spin-off than sequel —with a new cast and completely new plot.

Why? I did not read Moonborn. Vampires and werewolves are really not my thing unless I get to kill them. The Twilight thing just felt cliché and overdone to me.

Another reason is because it’s 5 seasons long! I was willing to binge 3 seasons of SOS, but there’s no way I’m getting through 5 seasons of a vampire and werewolf love triangle.

Someone, please tell me if it’s truly worth it!!

Promo code: D96HEI2M1JX6

The cards that didn’t make it:

Too bad, because I really like both of these designs.

Hint about the new story:

It’s Moonborn. MB2 is coming. Idk how I feel about this…

EDIT: Forgot to add this.

This makes me so happy.

(Warning: spoilers)

Celeste and Sailen both said something similar to Liren. Sailen said she’s pretending to be a heartless pirate, but she’s actually a decent person.

But here’s what I don’t get and why I don’t like it. Why are these things mutually exclusive? Especially the pain and self-centeredness part? There are lots of self-centered people who can’t see past their own suffering. They take it out on other people and try to numb it with reckless behavior. The latter is exactly what Liren does. She’s a pirate.

The irony is that Sailen was trying to show Liren that people aren’t black and white. Yet… he thinks because she’s a decent person who helps people, she’s only “pretending” to be a heartless pirate.

OR… maybe she’s a pirate who chooses when she wants to help someone and when she doesn’t give a shit. She chooses who to be open with and who to screw over. She can be a dirty pirate AND a great captain to her crew. These things don’t need to cancel each other out. It’s not that hard of a concept, ya know? If anything, it’s just smart survival skills.

It bothers me that these guys are telling Liren that she’s this, but only pretending to be that. Why are the rich people allowed to be layered but not the MC? I get that the sarcasm and cockiness are her armor. But shouldn’t Liren be the one who decides who she really is? These people knew her for two days and now they think they can tell her she’s pretending to be someone she’s not.

Maybe these guys are only seeing the “untouchable, self-centered woman” because they haven’t earned her trust yet! Maybe if they stopped treating her like garbage, they’d have the privilege of also witnessing her kindness and vulnerability.

You can address the deeper issues of pain, grief, and identity without invalidating the life she’s built for herself. Let her be who she wants to be! If that means she’s a decent person capable of empathy yet still an obnoxious, loud mouthed, filthy criminal… then that’s absolutely great! She’s multifaceted.

(Warning: spoilers)

The difference is that in NGE, they used Christian mythology and language. In AN3, it’s Greek mythology, which ties in perfectly with the AOT angle.

This is exactly why the Angels were attacking in NGE. Instead of “advent” they used the word “impact.” First Impact took place in prehistoric Earth. Second Impact took place in Antarctica. Geez, is there anything original in this book? Third Impact was the end of the world.

And then there’s the Evangeli—I mean, Prometheus. I can’t believe how unexciting its debut was. All this build up and what do we get? A giant hand. Splat. That’s it? That’s IT?

Code Blue returns! 🎉

But holy moly, HS3 is half the update!

No books on pause other than LFOD and LSE. A new book on the way.

And now, the tears. 😭😭😭 The Missing… Can’t believe it’s going to be over! No more Yasin, Safaa, Kuno, extra delicious love scenes, a plot that makes sense…

Is it just me or is black Nadine’s dad Aldis Hodge?!

But WHY is he our dad?!! This sprite needs to be a LI!!!

Why are the hot sprites being used for family members? First Elian and now this Daddy! 😭😭

She’s so pretty! I actually felt jealous that I couldn’t be her instead!

Do you think her migraines are connected to the creepy stuff going on? It has to be, right? Maybe she was exposed to the flower somehow? Or maybe she calls them migraines, but she’s actually seeing things like Nadine?

He’s cute and sweet and perfectly average. He’d bring out the other LIs’ qualities as well as whatever romantic tension is growing between Nadine and our LI of choice. He’d remind us of the “normal” Saintfour and what they’ll end up fighting for.

And he’s cute.

Oh no, he’s gonna die isn’t he? 😱 He’s too nice! Like Chrissy and Bob! 😭

(Warning: spoilers)

They’ve added a second sprite for Dex, but I really didn’t want to start over again. So I’m just stuck with the glowy eyes for now.

But I really like how the story is building. It’s giving me Stranger Things meets Annihilation, which I am so excited about! I’ve been wanting a creepy psychological horror like Annihilation and this is so it!

The villain isn’t just some creepy shadow. It’s the loss of your own sanity. We as players can’t tell what’s real and what’s a hallucination. And that’s the whole point. I love how that deer is creepy yet beautiful yet disgusting all at the same time.

Underneath it all, we’ve got the teenage angst driving it. I was wary of the whole high school drama feeling cliché. I’m really happy that it actually feels relatable instead. From the principal blowing their budget on his office (my HS principal did the same thing! 🙄) to Senior Prank Day to figuring out how to be around people you see every day.

The tension with the LIs feels natural. I was dreading the typical Archie-Betty thing, but the awkward, sweet, heart-wrenchingly painful tension between Nadine and Rudy is actually really good.

I do feel like Dex gets the most screen time out of all the LIs though. It’s still hard for me to get into Dex with his freaky eyes, but I like that it’s hinting at something deeper. That maybe he understands Nadine’s grief from firsthand experience.

I like Darren, but we haven’t gotten enough of him. I also enjoyed the skatepark scene with Alice. That locker scene with Poppy was also a nice little moment that showed her true colors.

What really got me excited was the opening of the last episode with the whole group running in Old Saintfour. It gives me that nostalgic “kids can survive anything” feeling like Stranger Things, Red Dawn, Animorphs, Gone, A Wrinkle in Time, The 100…

I’m excited for it to get to that point. I really hope we get more creepy mind altering monsters. I want these kids freaking out, questioning their sanity, and clinging onto each other for dear life.

Btw, has anybody else noticed that this is the same cast as Love, Sin & Evil? You’ve got the black nerdy guy, the popular snob, the blond jock next door, the rebel in leather, and the weird goth/emo girl.

This is so much better than having to go through the same hairstyle for 4 different colors! It was so satisfying to just go to the color I wanted!

As much as I love getting all the colors for the price of one, having to tap-tap-tap in the closet feature is such a pain.

(Warning: spoilers)

We still don’t know who Riley is. We don’t know anything about her family. We don’t know why everyone treats her like a child or why she just goes along with it.

I’ve got a theory forming about who she might be. Here’s the breakdown.

Riley’s family

In the first episode, she mentions that her car was actually her grandmother’s.

But then in this update, Mrs. Romano calls her an orphan and a charity case. I don’t know if she meant that Riley was actually an orphan or if she was just insinuating that Riley wasn’t one of them.

But if she truly is an orphan, it would explain why we haven’t heard anything about her parents. So maybe Riley lost her parents somehow, then was raised by her grandmother until she died. After that, she was put in the system. The Fairchilds then took her in as a foster child. It makes them look generous and charitable just in time for Marcus’s reelection. It also conveniently overshadow’s Lily’s terrible behavior.

That town & Fairchilds

I’m getting the feeling that Riley wasn’t actually from that town. We know she stayed with the Fairchilds for that one summer when they were 16. But she wasn’t present for the first mixer with Lily’s harp performance. Sheriff Hawthorne also didn’t recognize her when she drove in.

I had previously assumed Riley was staying with the Fairchilds for the summer because she was friends with Lily. But I don’t think that’s it. I think the Fairchilds took her in and she lived with them for some time—no more than a year.

After Lily’s death, she was no longer part of the LIs’ lives. They all continue to live their lives in that town without her. Yeah, she goes to college out of town, but she left before they even finished high school.

So where did she go?

If she was being fostered by the Fairchilds, it makes sense that she’d be removed from their home following the death of one of their own children. They would’ve been deemed unfit to foster her. She would’ve been placed into a different home after that.

This also aligns with my White Oleander comparison. It would also explain why Riley doesn’t seem to have her own identity.

Not only that, Lily was about to be shipped off to a boarding school. If Riley really was being fostered by the Fairchilds, she would’ve then replaced Lily while Lily was away. But Lily dying threw a wrench in that plan. The state took her away and they were no longer able to make her part of the family.

Now fast forward five years, they’re throwing this elaborate wedding and Vivienne is oh so eager to induct Riley as an official Fairchild.

Why is everyone worried about Riley?

Declan, Fabian, Luna, and Emma all seem extra protective and worried about her. They treat her like she’s fragile. Declan and Emma have both implied that she might be a danger to herself.

So my next question is this: What happened to Riley in the aftermath of Lily’s death? Did she feel guilty and try to kill herself? Did she have a mental breakdown and get sent to a psychiatric facility? Or are they aware of some tragic past that we just don’t know about yet?

Surely, she must have some sort of traumatic past. She shakes off trauma like it’s a regular thing. She’s almost numb to it. She just picks herself up and keeps going, because that’s how she’s had to live her whole life.

I think we also haven’t seen much of her past because her life has been lived in fragments. Years with Mom. Years with Grandma. Year with the Fairchilds. Year in Foster Home 2. College.

Putting it altogether, my theory is this:

Riley was an orphan the Fairchilds were fostering as a charity case. It was supposed to make them look good. Lily had issues with the law and made them look bad. Riley was agreeable and everybody took a liking to her. They decided to ship Lily off to boarding school and to keep Riley, eventually adopting her. Everyone would forget about Lily and celebrate Riley instead. They would also get the glory for whatever success Riley achieved in the future, because without them, none of it would’ve been possible.

Lily was onto their plan and began her own plan of sabotage. She decided that if she died, then everyone would mourn her and remember her positively. While it also would make Marcus and Vivienne look like terrible, negligent parents. Marcus would lose his election. Most importantly, they wouldn’t be able to replace her with Riley, because Riley would get taken away. That’s exactly what happened.

Oh. Another thing, Lily sabotaged Riley’s future chances with Fabian/Luna. By dating them, she’s permanently put Riley in her shadow. And we see this now in the present. Riley feels uneasy pursuing anything with Fabian and I’m assuming Luna for wlw. They will always remember Lily first and are now marked with feelings of betrayal, secrecy, and being left behind.

Years later, Amelia is getting married. This is the perfect opportunity to invite Riley because she was “like part of the family.” Conveniently, Marcus is also running for reelection.

The wedding event is three months long because it’s all a plan to absorb Riley into their world. This is why Vivienne is trying to set her up with Julian. If Riley marries Julian, then she would stay in town permanently. Vivienne could continue to pretend to be the benevolent mother figure and act like Riley was the long lost daughter who returned. Riley then fulfills her role as the “trophy daughter”. She makes them look good and erases their tarnished reputation left behind by Lily. And again, whatever success she achieves in the future would be credited to the Fairchilds for their wonderful, benevolent hearts.

Going forward

Riley needs to decide who she really is and who she wants to be. She has to learn that she’s an adult now. Her life no longer needs to be dictated by her circumstances. She has the power to drive her own plot and to change it. But it’s been so engrained in her that nothing is within her control. I think somehow she’s going to have to learn how to fight for that control: for her identity and her future.

Waterlily