Redcandle17

I'm seeking to sell the 2017, 2018, and 2019 official ASoIaF calendars. They're all still factory sealed because, yes, I'm the sort of weirdo who can enjoy and admire my toys without taking them out of the box. They're safer in their box because I'm unlucky and clumsy and my stuff gets ruined. Anyway, below are the links to the individual eBay listings.

A Song Of Ice And Fire 2017 Calendar illustrated by artist Didier Graffet A Song Of Ice And Fire 2018 Calendar illustrated by artist Eric Velhagen A Song Of Ice And Fire 2019 Calendar illustrated by artist John Jude Palencar

But there are numerous current romance novelists who were/are part of fandom. Some of them have "filed the serial numbers off" and published writing they'd first written as fan fiction and are open about it. Some authors haven't done that, but they've talked about specific fandoms and fandom stuff enough to be 99% sure they wrote fan fiction.

I was able to finish my bind for your works and this is how it turned out 😮‍💨 If you would like a copy, do reach out to me and I’ll make you one and send it 🩶🩶

And thank you again for allowing me to typeset and bind your amazing works 🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼

That's so cool! I'm really flattered that you enjoy my fics enough to do this.

Three years ago I read the novel Devil In Winter by Lisa Kleypas for the first time. I was immediately reminded why cliches become cliches in the first place and I understood how a novel may be unoriginal but so brilliantly executed that it becomes the gold standard.

The setting is 19th century England.

Sebastian, the male main character, is jaded and cynical and debauched. He is extraordinarily physically attractive and also charming and likeable when he wants to be. He is an aristocrat who is heir to one of the highest non-royal titles, but he's also impoverished due to his father's wastefulness.

Evie, the female main character, is shy and morally-upstanding. She is the daughter and only legitimate child and heiress to a 'gaming hell' (AKA a casino) owner. She is actually physically attractive, but she stutters and it's considered painful to interact with her socially.

Evie's father thought it would be better for her if she was raised by her dead mother's "respectable" family but that family abused her in multiple ways for years. Now they're trying to make her marry a cousin so they can control her fortune when her terminally-ill father dies.

This novel is part of a series and in the previous book Sebastian abducted (with the intent to force into marriage) Lillian, a wealthy heiress who is one of Evie's friends and also the beloved of one of Sebatian's friends. He was thwarted and his friend Marcus beat him into a pulp.

Evie is desperate now, however, and seeks out a man she thinks is just as desperate. She offers herself in marriage to Sebastian, he accepts, and they embark on a breakneck journey to Gretna Green to be married immediately.

Anyway, this is the novel where the female character doesn't want to risk becoming emotionally involved with the male character because she thinks he won't be faithful so she refuses to have sex with him after the one time that consummates their marriage. He's feeling things he's never felt before. They agree that if he can be celibate for three months, then she'll have a real relationship with him.

In the meanwhile, the previously idle Sebastian decides to renovate and assume direct management of Evie's father's business and proves himself to be the most amazing man in every way.

Alice Coldbreath's Vawdrey Brothers trilogy and Brides of Karadok series are set in a fictional world inspired by Medieval Europe, and you should read them if you like knights, ladies, and romance.

Vawdrey Brothers book #1 is Her Baseborn Bridegroom, whose main characters are Lady Linnet Cadwallader and Sir Mason Vawdrey.

Linnet is 24, and owner of a very large and wealthy estate. She is the only child and heir of a duke, but due to patriarchal laws, she holds the title in abeyance (meaning she can pass the title of duke to her future son but she doesn't bear the title of duchess herself). Her father was always paranoid about her health, but after his death when she was 13, her guardians (her maternal aunt and the aunt's husband) convinced her she was extremely ill and psychologically manipulated her into staying confined to her private quarters. They also convinced her that she's hideously ugly because of her freckles and orange-red hair. Despite this, Linnet is strong-willed.

Her guardians arranged a marriage for her, but she has a reputation throughout the kingdom as hideously deformed and a cruel tyrant (her guardians collect three times the actual tax from her vassals) and her groom-to-be, whose father arranged the match for him, refuses to marry her. And so on what should have been their wedding day, his father sends his other two sons to inform Linnet that the marriage won't be happening after all.

Mason is 28, and recently promoted to general after his victorious leadership in a recently concluded civil war. He is the illegitimate son of a baron and the baron's firstborn son's peasant wet-nurse, and he has a huge chip on his shoulder about being a bastard. He has a very domineering personality and, to use romance novel reader terminology, he is a massive alpha-hole (alpha asshole).

After the Vawdreys inform Linnet and her guardians that their younger brother won't marry her, the older brother and the guardians go off to discuss the matter, leaving Mason and Linnet alone. Linnet proposes to Mason, he accepts, they marry, he banishes her guardians from the castle, and he insists on consummating the marriage immediately - all before nightfall on the day they meet! The sweet-natured Linnet immediately adores Mason, who remains in denial about his growing feelings for her while falling madly in love with her.

Something I especially liked: Linnet is self-conscious about her small breasts and asks the village witch to make them bigger. The witch, muttering about improving her self-confidence, gives her potion that she later asks Mason to help her apply. A few days later he suggests they "put honey on your tits again."

Vawdrey Brothers book #2 is His Forsaken Bride, whose main characters are Earl Oswald Vawdrey and Lady Fenella Bernard.

Oswald is 33, and the spymaster and chief advisor to the king. He is the firstborn son of a warlike baron who disliked his heir being so bookish, but due to his skill at politics he was granted the title of earl and great wealth. He's been celibate for a decade (his way of relaxing is drawing architectural designs), so perhaps that's why the king thinks he won't mind marrying the king's mistress. Oswald, however, is strongly opposed to giving his family name to the king's bastard and the king's whore and is thinking of how to maneuver his way out of it.

Fenella is 26, and has been married for the past eight years to a minor nobleman who is a low-ranking diplomat. Her husband has been away for two years and she finds out via her sister-in-law that he plans to divorce her so he can marry a woman he's met and fallen in love with. Not only would this mean social disgrace for Fenella, but the law would also let him keep the properties her father had given as her dowry, leaving her impoverished.

Fenella's father's lands bordered the Vawdrey lands and Fenella had been betrothed at age 12 to Baron Vawdrewy's heir. Baron Vawdrey eventually ended the betrothal after his family's power increased and he thought he could get a higher-ranking bride for his heir. But Fenella's desperate and she's heard that her former fiancé now holds a lot of power so she sets off for the royal court, hoping Oswald will put in a good word for her and prevent the divorce, taking their old betrothal contract with her.

Oswald is thrilled at the good fortune that falls in his lap and takes advantage of it. He convinces Fen that it was actually a marriage contract and they've been legally married to each other all these years. He insists that Fenella move into his quarters and sleep in his bed, knowing that people will assume they had sex. Poor Fen gets emotional whiplash.

And despite his libido having been so low previously that he was celibate for a decade from disinterest, Oswald finds himself insatiable with lust for his new wife. Fen, who had been totally infatuated with him during their betrothal when she was teenager, is thrilled with the private and personal aspects of being Oswald's wife but terrified and insecure of the social and political requirements.

Something I especially liked: the tapestry Fenella wove when she was 15 depicting Oswald as an angel. It's hilarious because now a not-significant portion of the kingdom would call him a devil, and also adorable.

This book introduces a bunch of characters who are the main characters of later books and/or recurring characters in the Vawdrey/Karadok series.

Vawdrey Brothers book #3 is An Ill-Made Match, whose main characters are Lady Eden Montmayne and Sir Roland Vawdrey.

Eden is 22, and the Queen's favorite lady-in-waiting. She has a very take-charge personality. She excels at music, dancing, etc. and is considered not only a patron of the arts, but an arbiter of taste at the royal court. She is the orphan niece of a wealthy courtier, and since her father lived a disgraceful life before dying young and leaving his brother to pay huge debts, she's determined to be perfectly respectable and correct in her behavior. She dresses only in black and in unfashionably conservative clothes, and is rather prudish.

Roland is 26, and a popular tournament knight who is the King's champion. He's the medieval equivalent of a dumb jock or a frat bro. Six months ago while the royal court celebrated the winter solstice a tradition required him to kiss Eden, whom he'd previously often and loudly criticized, and he hasn't been able to stop thinking about her. But he's determined to carry on with his life plan, which includes marrying the most beautiful lady in the kingdom, who happens to be Eden's cousin.

Eden tries to talk her beloved cousin out of marrying Roland right up until the night of the betrothal feast.The next morning Roland and Eden wake up naked in bed together with no memory of how they got there. After being discovered by their families, they are forced to marry and Eden has to go with Roland as he travels the tournament circuit.

Roland takes it all in stride, and now that they're married, he's happy to have Eden as his wife. Eden has more difficulty adjusting. She understands foreplay, but she's baffled as to why Roland continues kissing and cuddling her even after they're finished having sex.