shine until tomorrow

"Ordinary Love" by Marie Rutkoski

Emily has, by all appearances, a beautiful a townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, two healthy children, and a husband who showers her with attention. But the truth is more Emily’s marriage is in trouble, her relationship with her parents is fraught, and she is still nursing a heartbreak from long ago. When Emily runs into her high school best friend, Gen, at a cocktail party, that heartbreak comes roaring back. But Gen Hall is no longer the lanky, hungry kid with holes in her shoes who Emily loved in her youth. Instead, Gen is now a prominent Olympic athlete with sponsorship deals and a string of high-profile ex-girlfriends. Emily and Gen circle one another cautiously, both drawn together by a magnetic attraction and scarred by their shared history. Once upon a time, Gen knew everything about Emily. And yet, she still abandoned her. Can Emily trust Gen again? Can they forgive each other for mistakes they made in their youth? Can Emily risk her children, her privacy, and the fragile peace she has found with her family just to be with a woman she loved long ago?

A sweeping queer romance, Ordinary Love is the beautiful, wrenching, completely seductive story of two people trying to forge a path through fear, bound by a love they discovered when they were too young to understand its power.

2. "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again…

The novel begins in Monte Carlo, where our heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage. Orphaned and working as a lady's maid, she can barely believe her luck. It is only when they arrive at his massive country estate that she realizes how large a shadow his late wife will cast over their lives--presenting her with a lingering evil that threatens to destroy their marriage from beyond the grave.

First published in 1938, this classic gothic novel is such a compelling read that it won the Anthony Award for Best Novel of the Century.

3."Neuromancer" by William Gibson

Case was the sharpest data-thief in the matrix—until he crossed the wrong people and they crippled his nervous system, banishing him from cyberspace. Now a mysterious new employer has recruited him for a last-chance run at an unthinkably powerful artificial intelligence. With a dead man riding shotgun and Molly, a mirror-eyed street-samurai, to watch his back, Case is ready for the adventure that upped the ante on an entire genre of fiction.

Neuromancer was the first fully-realized glimpse of humankind’s digital future—a shocking vision that has challenged our assumptions about technology and ourselves, reinvented the way we speak and think, and forever altered the landscape of our imaginations.

4. "Yesteryear" by Caro Claire Burke

Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle – and her followers are sick with envy. Her charming farmhouse on her working ranch is artfully cluttered, her husband is a handsome cowboy, her homemade sourdough boules are each more beautiful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers and industrial-grade ovens behind the scenes? What her followers don’t know won’t hurt them.

Then, one morning, Natalie wakes up in a strange, horrible version of reality. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Is this a hoax? A reality show? A test from God? Natalie knows just two things for sure: this isn't her perfect life, and she must escape, by any means possible.

As darkly funny as it is shocking and gripping, Yesteryear is an electrifying examination of tradition, fame, faith and the grand performance of womanhood, from a thrilling new talent in fiction.

5. "Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs To Die" by Greer Stothers

All his life, Sir Cameron has stayed as far away from danger as possible. He is, quite frankly, too handsome to die a violent and pointless death in battle. But when the Church hands down a prophecy to his fellow knights predicting that the only way to defeat their nemesis, the mad sorcerer Merulo, is to kill Cameron, he finds himself in a situation too sticky for even his considerable wiles. Short of ideas, Cameron throws himself on the mercy of the one person who now actually wants him to survive: the mad sorcerer.

Merulo isn’t thrilled to be babysitting a spoilt, attention-seeking knight, but fate has tied them together. And transmogrifying Cameron into a vulture is at least a great source of entertainment. Cameron, meanwhile, is on a voyage of self-discovery. It turns out he’s really, really into surly sorcerers who lock him up and tell him what to do. Who knew?

As a legion of knights surround their stronghold, the sorcerer’s poisonous ambitions draw ever closer to fruition. Cameron is quite invested in not dying, but he finds he’s also invested in Merulo. And sometimes, supporting the sorcerer you care about means taking an interest in their hobbies. Even if that hobby is trying to kill God.

Even if it might get you killed, too.

6. "Welcome to Night Vale" by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor

From the creators of the wildly popular Welcome to Night Vale podcast comes an imaginative mystery of appearances and disappearances that is also a poignant look at the ways in which we all struggle to find ourselves…no matter where we live.

Located in a nameless desert somewhere in the great American Southwest, Night Vale is a small town where ghosts, angels, aliens, and government conspiracies are all commonplace parts of everyday life. It is here that the lives of two women, with two mysteries, will converge.

Nineteen-year-old Night Vale pawn shop owner Jackie Fierro is given a paper marked "King City" by a mysterious man in a tan jacket holding a deer skin suitcase. Everything about him and his paper unsettles her, especially the fact that she can't seem to get the paper to leave her hand, and that no one who meets this man can remember anything about him. Jackie is determined to uncover the mystery of King City and the man in the tan jacket before she herself unravels.

Night Vale PTA treasurer Diane Crayton's son, Josh, is moody and also a shape shifter. And lately Diane's started to see her son's father everywhere she goes, looking the same as the day he left years earlier, when they were both teenagers. Josh, looking different every time Diane sees him, shows a stronger and stronger interest in his estranged father, leading to a disaster Diane can see coming, even as she is helpless to prevent it.

Diane's search to reconnect with her son and Jackie's search for her former routine life collide as they find themselves coming back to two words: "King City". It is King City that holds the key to both of their mysteries, and their futures…if they can ever find it.

7. "Thrown Off the Ice" by Taylor Fitzpatrick

Mike Brouwer is one of the last of a dying breed. He isn’t on the roster to score goals or defend the net. His job’s to throw hits, punish any opponents who even think of taking a bite out of his teammates, and to entertain fans’ bloodlust while he does it. And Mike is very good at what he does.

At eighteen, Liam Fitzgerald already has more talent in his pinkie finger than Mike has in both fists, so Mike’s not entirely sure why the kid starts following him around like a duckling. But he quickly learns that Liam’s as tenacious as he is talented, and lets nothing stand in the way of him getting what he wants. And apparently, what he wants is Mike.

Mike knew he was making a mistake when he let the rookie climb into bed with him. He just didn’t know it was a mistake that’d follow him for the rest of his life.

8. "Dungeon Crawler Carl" by Matt Dinniman

You know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what’s worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic intergalactic game show. That’s what.

Join Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, as they try to survive the end of the world—or just get to the next level—in a video game–like, trap-filled fantasy dungeon. A dungeon that’s actually the set of a reality television show with countless viewers across the galaxy. Exploding goblins. Magical potions. Deadly, drug-dealing llamas. This ain’t your ordinary game show.

Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to the Dungeon. Survival is optional. Keeping the viewers entertained is not.

9. "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison*

ok, goodreads is letting me down for this one, so this is what's important to know:

AM is a supercomputer that gained sentience and killed all humans except for five people and it's keeping them alive and torturing them as revenge against its creators. Ted, one of these survivors, tells us their story.

*since it's a short story we could always decide to take a look at some more stories by Ellison, e.g. "Greatest Hits" is a collection of some of his stuff but that would be a decision for when we read I Have No Mouth

sidenote: i didn't add a ton of info 4 each team because

1. they basically all got blown up

2. the best way to get into a team is literally to just watch the games and see what vibes with you

3. im probably going to edit this closer to the season w/ more info, i just wanted to get a basic little thing out know because a few people have mentioned wanting to get more into the pwhl to me, so i want a post to send to them

other resources:

New r/PWHL Frequently Asked Questions! : r/PWHL

Which PWHL Team Should You Root For?

The Fan Base | PWHL - Professional Women's Hockey League

The Purple Sheet - PWHL Stats, Scores & News

PWHL Insights - Celebrating the best hockey moments in league history.

Where to Watch | PWHL - Professional Women's Hockey League

JOCKS IN JILLS - SEASON 3 - YouTube