#janthia

Feel free to help this breach containment- I'd love to see what people outside of my own fandoms will feel about it. (Tagging my own fandoms that I've seen one or more of these metaphors in.)

I have recently read and fallen in love with Kenna Jenkins' "Burn the House Down" and I need others to read it too because I am going FERAL bc I have no one to talk to abt this book—please some of y'all take me out of my misery and enjoy this with me. It's got a little something for everyone, too! Some of the features:

The 1st woman President (in 1945) who ISN'T demonized for wanting power

Messy mother-daughter relationships for those with mommy issues

"Love as a religion" casual queer blasphemy all over the place

Folklore vibes

a racist sexist Senator gets called out and shouted at in middle of white house foyer

A well-done and thematically enhancing pro-choice subplot

THE WHITE HOUSE BURNS DOWN

Political Hozier vibes

Wlw/mlm solidarity AND wlw/mlm hostility (2 for the price of 1!)

The tragic arc of ambition destroying everything Janine holds dear for all y'all Succession gremlins

Alternate history that ISN'T about the nazis winning

Complex drag queen character who is more than just comic relief

Attention to fashion and queer history!

A satisfying redemption arc for my fellow angst-with-happy-ending simps

aromantic rep

Indie published!

Complicated, well-developed queer main cast

Both-ways bearded marriage btw secretly lesbian president and her gay congressman best friend

TWO GODDAMN BREATHTAKING PLOT TWISTS AT THE END

I have recently read and fallen in love with Kenna Jenkins' "Burn the House Down" and I need others to read it too because I am going FERAL bc I have no one to talk to abt this book—please some of y'all take me out of my misery and enjoy this with me. It's got a little something for everyone, too! Some of the features:

The 1st woman President (in 1945) who ISN'T demonized for wanting power

Messy mother-daughter relationships for those with mommy issues

"Love as a religion" casual queer blasphemy all over the place

Folklore vibes

a racist sexist Senator gets called out and shouted at in middle of white house foyer

A well-done and thematically enhancing pro-choice subplot

THE WHITE HOUSE BURNS DOWN

Political Hozier vibes

Wlw/mlm solidarity AND wlw/mlm hostility (2 for the price of 1!)

The tragic arc of ambition destroying everything Janine holds dear for all y'all Succession gremlins

Alternate history that ISN'T about the nazis winning

Complex drag queen character who is more than just comic relief

Attention to fashion and queer history!

A satisfying redemption arc for my fellow angst-with-happy-ending simps

aromantic rep

Indie published!

Complicated, well-developed queer main cast

Both-ways bearded marriage btw secretly lesbian president and her gay congressman best friend

TWO GODDAMN BREATHTAKING PLOT TWISTS AT THE END

...anyway I'm onto my like dozenth reread of Burn the House Down bc I made the mistake of listening to The Bomb by Florence + the Machine, the ultimate Janthia song. How are y'all doing?

My guy I literally was *just* reading through a thorough analysis of why the movie felt so off! June and Rafael were so integral to the plot/themes of the story, Bea and Nora were made into completely different characters, the aspect of Ellen and Oscar's divorce being missing hit me on a personal level (even if I understood why they did it), and like...the entire last half hour of the movie, basically everything after the lake scene, felt so OFF that I couldn't stand it. Basically every questionable pacing/writing/ordering of scenes decision was made from the fact that they took out all of the queer history in the museum scene, the fact that Alex makes his speech coming out about the relationship BEFORE he talks to Henry, the fact that a queer Latino man outs them due to jealousy rather than, you know, THE RICH WHITE CONSERVATIVE HELLBENT ON DESTROYING EVERYTHING QUEER and then him literally being EXPOSED by a queer Latino man (the optics on that last one are a bit...yikes, ngl). I appreciated what they did with the movie, a family-washed queer romcom is still better than nothing, but some decisions are BAFFLING.

(Though I have absolutely no notes about how they executed the lake scene. The acting during the moment that Henry is listening to Alex's feelings confession and you can just SEE the moment he shuts down because he knows he can't give Alex what he wants? And then the shot of him in the lake? 10/10. No notes. The ONLY scene that is better in the movie than in the book.)

It was the fourth of July You and I were, you and I were fire, fire, fireworks That went off too soon And I miss you in the June gloom too It was the fourth of July You and I were, you and I were fire, fire, fireworks I said I'd never miss you, but I guess you never know May the bridges I have burned Light my way back home on the fourth of July

This is as good a place to fall as any

We'll build our altar here

Make me your Maria

I'm already on my knees

-Florence + the Machine, Bedroom Hymns

Love is like a religion. You are devoted to one person. You want to lay your name at their feet and carve their dreams into your bones. Their name becomes sacred in your mouth. Their ambitions become your own.

Every time they touch you is heaven. Every time they kiss you takes you to paradise.

Janie worshiped me as she never did anything save her own career.

And in return, I remade my world in the shape of her love.