December 3, 2024 • 33 mins
This week Christina schools us in all things AO3 (Archive Of Our Own). AO3 is a fan created non-profit for fanfic and anyone to put their writing out into the world. While you can find just about any topic on their site, Christina shares her favorite topics to search, teaches us uninitiated how to search, and reveals some of her favorite fanfic recs.
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Episode Transcript
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Christina (00:03):
Welcome to Romance Recs, where book besties explore
the world of romance novels andencourage you to expand your
TBR.
Join us as we dive into thehottest releases and hidden gems
of the genre.
You can find us on Instagram andTikTok at Romance Recs Pod.
Hi, I'm Christina, and I'mcurrently reading Phantasma by
(00:25):
Kayleigh Smith!
Jordan (00:26):
Ooh,
Christina (00:28):
I know, exciting!
Jordan (00:30):
And hello, I'm Jordan, and I am currently reading
Snowed In by Nevessa Allen.
And I'm also reading, yeah, Iknow, brr, chilly, it's getting
cold in here.
I am also reading Sleigh Bellsand Slaughter by Alina Jacobs.
Christina (00:49):
Wow!
Jordan (00:50):
Yeah, I'm not lis yeah, I am not listening to anything
new right now.
I'm actually just re listeningto Zodiac Academy the entire
series.
I'm on like book four, I think.
Yeah, I'm on The Reckoning.
Just because I've been doinghouse projects, and I just
needed it
Christina (01:08):
And right now, we need that extra love in our
life.
Jordan (01:12):
Yeah, we need the extra comfort.
So buckle up for some bookishbanter, because It's just the
two of us unfortunately, we aremissing our other book bestie,
Dev.
She's just got a lot going on inlife right now, and she is
Christina (01:26):
for her.
Jordan (01:28):
I mean, Christina had to take a break.
She had a lot of family stuffgoing on.
Big moves.
And It's Dev's turn to have alot going on.
Christina (01:36):
Life.
Jordan (01:37):
It is so today after we do our quotes here in a moment,
we, this is all aboutChristina's first love.
Okay.
This is all about AO3.
Christina is going to lead thechat on this one.
I'm here as just her spiritguide make sure we don't rant.
And I will have some questionsfor her because I know next to
(02:00):
nothing.
I mean, I'm a very entry levelAO3
Christina (02:03):
We all start somewhere.
I started at 14, diving deep.
Jordan (02:07):
Hey, we will get there.
We will get there.
And I'm so excited to hear aboutit.
Let's do our quotes before weforget, because otherwise I
will, you want to start us offsince this is all about you?
Yeah.
Christina (02:16):
Okay, so I just read this re this book recently
called Quicksilver, you may haveheard of it, by Callie Hart.
I gave it farce.
Well, I cannot talk.
I gave it five stars.
Jordan (02:28):
She's so excited about this book,
Christina (02:30):
I really am.
I like will go on a whole raveabout this book.
I really love this book.
Anywho, this is my favoritequote of the book.
Okay, next series.
This is from the male characterto the female main character.
Nobody will ever fuck you theway I'm about to fuck you,
Sarah's Fane.
I'm about to introduce you toall seven gods.
When you meet them, don't forgetto tell them I'm the one you
(02:50):
worship on your knees.
Oooo! I know, I was like, oh,thank you.
Jordan (02:55):
can't see it, but she is blushing.
Miss inappropriate herself.
She is the most inappropriate.
She can say the nastiest thingswith a straight face, but that
quote is making her blush.
Her whole face is
Christina (03:09):
know!
Jordan (03:09):
red.
Christina (03:10):
It's because this main fan character, he can back
up what he says.
Jordan (03:15):
Oh,
Christina (03:16):
Oh, we love it, I know.
I know.
All right, Jordan, what's youryours?
Jordan (03:20):
Perfect.
All right, so mine is from TheKings of Kearney by Nevessa
Allen.
I've actually been going throughNevessa Allen's backlog ever
since I read Lights Out.
And I loved this one too.
It's an
Christina (03:32):
I've been wanting to read that one.
Jordan (03:33):
It's an MC romance.
It's so good.
I didn't think I'd be into MC,but so here we are.
You know, I'm starting to worryabout where you fall on the
psychopath scale.
In answer, he tipped his glassesdown and shot me the most
deranged expression I had everseen.
Turns you on, doesn't it?
Despite myself, I laughed.
(03:55):
I was going straight to hellwhen I died.
Because it actually did.
Christina (04:00):
girl's aim.
Jordan (04:01):
This man this man, I am officially in my blonde MMC era,
and
Christina (04:09):
oh, surprising.
Jordan (04:11):
all because of this character.
Christina (04:13):
Nice.
Jordan (04:15):
I mean, and just can't you just picture a giant,
muscly, tatted, Blonde enforcerof a motorcycle gang constantly
just pull his aviators down andlook at you over them, saying
Oh,
Christina (04:30):
Now I am imagining it.
Jordan (04:32):
Oh, I know.
Yeah.
Alright, so we both had our ownderanged, if men said it in real
life, we'd both be concernedquotes, but in fiction, it's
great.
Christina (04:45):
Yeah, it's hot in fiction, not in real life.
Jordan (04:48):
Yeah, amen.
But that's what we love.
So
Christina (04:52):
We love men written by women.
Jordan (04:54):
Yes, we do.
We love it.
We'd love to see it.
Love to hear it.
But it's the task at hand, a Othree Of our own.
Christina (05:02):
yes, ma'am.
Jordan (05:03):
Yes.
Just for the uninitiated, willyou just tell us what it is to
start?
Christina (05:10):
Sure, so it is fanfiction.
So it is anything you can dreamof whether it's something that's
already established like yourfavorite Marvel character or
whether it's somethingcompletely new that someone's
making up their own story whichlike a very famous author Sarah
J Maas started with her storiesthis.
(05:30):
So it's just where anybody canwrite a story, a poem, a song,
and publish it on this web pagefor everyone else to enjoy.
Jordan (05:40):
Yeah, so just to do a little research, I did go on AO3
today and I was like, let's lookat all the fandoms.
Because you can search byfandom, so that was interesting.
I mean, there's stuff writtenabout video games, theater,
bands,
Christina (06:01):
Rollercoaster Tycoon has a few.
I'm not joking.
I listed some of the fandomshere.
I
Jordan (06:09):
Okay, yeah let's hear it yeah.
Christina (06:11):
Minecraft, Venom, World War Z, Mothman the Star
Wars Lego movie, the Batman Legomovie, and the Lego
Jordan (06:20):
Ew.
Christina (06:21):
Bridge to Terabithia.
Jordan (06:23):
so these are like usually dirty, but not always.
They're just like fanfic.
They
Christina (06:27):
could be anything, yeah.
Jordan (06:29):
in my mind
Christina (06:29):
British Bake Off,
Jordan (06:32):
Okay, I actually would be into that.
I feel like I want a dirty likewhat happens when the cameras go
down?
Christina (06:40):
exactly, when you just gotta, you know, use up
some of those ingredients.
Power Rangers, StrawberryShortcake.
The Backyardigans,
Jordan (06:50):
No! Do you think there's Teletubbies?
Christina (06:55):
probably.
Ted Lasso, who I would be allover.
Jordan (06:59):
Oh!
Christina (06:59):
And for you, Jordan, I looked him up specifically.
Plenty of Zodiac Academyfanfics.
Lots.
Jordan (07:06):
no!
Christina (07:07):
Yes, there's something for everyone,
including you.
I looked him up.
There's some there's Lance'sPOV.
For some of them I was looking
Jordan (07:14):
Oh, they write alternate people To be fair, I mean, at
this point, Peckham and Valentihave put out so much bonus
content that they've almost doneevery alternate POV.
So I feel like it's going to begetting difficult at this point.
Christina (07:31):
But there's always new stories to have fun.
I don't know.
There's just so much.
That's what I love about Ao3.
Like it doesn't matter whatyou're into even if it's
characters that like originallyweren't together and you want to
experience that fun.
So
Jordan (07:44):
yeah.
I guess, what do you look for?
Like, when you're searching fora story, is it you're going for
a specific fandom trope?
Are you ever just, you know,Scrolling along what do you look
for in a fanfic?
Christina (08:00):
me personally, I love looking by like a character that
I'm into or specifically thetrope I really love on Ao3 that
I think you cannot top like nomatter what authors I've read,
Omegaverse.
I feel like Omegaverse haswritten the absolute best on
AO3.
I've read Omegaverse books, andthey just don't come anywhere
(08:20):
close to what you read online.
But I love looking by characterI love literally anything with
Legolas.
He was
Jordan (08:27):
Yeah, give it to us.
Dola.
I love this.
Yeah.
Christina (08:30):
Will Turner from Pirates of the Caribbean.
Jordan (08:32):
Oh my god, I remember that from our first episode.
Christina (08:34):
Sure enough, way back when I was 14, I wrote some Will
Turner fanfic.
Mmm.
Jordan (08:39):
You know what?
I don't think that's on our Getto Know Us episode.
I think that was on our episodezero that never aired.
Christina (08:45):
That's a real bummer because you made me read it and
then made fun of me.
Jordan (08:49):
Oh my god.
No, it was great.
What was,
Christina (08:53):
looking for it.
No, don't go looking for it.
Jordan (08:56):
Christina, when she
Christina (08:57):
was a Pirates of the Caribbean.
Yeah,
Jordan (08:59):
wrote and posted, it was Harry Potter and, Pirates of the
Caribbean fanfic.
Christina (09:04):
Don't look that up.
Jordan (09:05):
He went, yeah, Will Turner went to Hogwarts or
something like that.
Christina (09:12):
yeah, the whole The whole ship got sucked into a
storm and then popped up in thelake at Hogwarts.
Jordan (09:17):
You know, it was pretty good for looking back at your
high school self.
It was pretty good.
Christina (09:24):
Yeah, and I also wrote a Will Turner and I can't
remember the name of the song.
Hold on.
Mr.
Brightside.
Sorry, I just popped up in myhead.
Will Turner, Mr.
Brightside story.
Yeah at the end of Pirates ofthe Caribbean 2, I think it is,
when Will Turner sees Elizabeth,kiss Jack Sparrow, it makes him
commit suicide.
Jordan (09:44):
Oh my God, that's right.
You did tell us about that.
Oh my God.
Oh my God.
Christina (09:50):
The ramblings of a 14 year old.
Anywho, AO3 is sometimes writtenby 14 year olds, often
Jordan (09:56):
Have you written since high school and
Christina (09:59):
No, I have not been brave enough.
Jordan (10:02):
Will you?
You don't have to is thatsomething you'd be interested
in?
I need this in my life.
I need to, or maybe I don't needto see the inner workings of
your brain.
I don't know, but I think it'dbe great.
Okay.
Christina (10:15):
yeah.
Jordan (10:16):
Okay.
Why don't you give us, can weget your recs?
Some of your favorites?
Let's get into some of yourfavorites before we get too
nitty gritty on the
Christina (10:25):
As I've told you guys before, and I think I've said 9
out of 10 of my, every of myfavorites are Ralo, because I'm
a huge Star Wars fan.
So my first one is a Ralo story,but it's actually really fun.
funny.
It's called Age of Kings byDisoriented Scribbler.
It's a time traveling retellingof Star Wars with Rey and Kylo.
(10:46):
They get sent back in time tothe prequels.
it's Ray's being trained by ObiWan, and Kylo's meeting his
grandma and grandpa, Anakin andPadme.
It's so funny hilarity ensues.
It's 34 chapters, but it's Iliterally went on this long rant
once on three years ago when Ifirst read this to my husband on
(11:06):
our anniversary.
For the full anniversary, that'sall I was like, no, Russ, you
gotta hear it, not like readingin verbatim these chapters.
Jordan (11:14):
It's listen, we've been married like 12 years It's time
to really test you and see howmuch you really love me.
Stop and listen to me for thenext two hours
Christina (11:24):
exactly, that's what it was, and it was perfect.
I love this story.
It gives us a happily everafter, so it's great.
You know, it just, it gives us ahappily ever after, not only for
Rey and Kylo, but like you goback in time and you fix the
problems of the Jedi, you goback and fix the problems that
Anakin and Padme had,
Jordan (11:41):
So it makes everything else irrelevant
Christina (11:44):
yes, but it's, I don't know, it's
Jordan (11:47):
So then are they born?
Like how does that work?
Time travel is so weird
Christina (11:53):
yeah, I know, but Padme was already pregnant with
the twins at the time, so shewas already pregnant with Leia,
but Leia still met Han somehow.
I don't know, don't ask me!
Jordan (12:02):
I just have so many follow ups.
Christina (12:06):
I just read the stories, okay?
I don't think too much into it.
Oh,
Jordan (12:15):
No, I'm not really.
I don't really want to ruinthem.
Christina (12:18):
Okay, so there's that one.
Here's another one.
It's called Frozen Eclipse bySithElle.
This one is a Darkling and Alinastory from Shadow and Bone.
If you thought that Darkwing andAlina should have ended up
together like I always did.
Jordan (12:32):
never read Shadow and Bone, so I don't know these
characters and I have noopinion.
Christina (12:37):
well, bummer.
Well, the Darkwing is the badguy, and Alina is this girl who
gets sun powers, and he has darkpowers, and I mean, come
Jordan (12:43):
Oh, yeah.
Naturally.
Christina (12:44):
ends up with her childhood best friend.
Jordan (12:46):
Boring.
Christina (12:47):
I know.
Ugh.
He's got this tragic backstory,and he's evil, and she tries to
turn him, and whatever.
Not a point.
But anywho, so this is if shethey were able to get together,
and this is her first ever sex,and it's with him, and
Jordan (13:01):
The first ever set of I can't even
Christina (13:09):
wow, Jordan, I sweet.
Jordan (13:13):
This is her first ever sex.
Christina (13:16):
Should've said it separately.
Well,
Jordan (13:21):
Okay.
Christina (13:22):
sexual experience.
How about that?
Jordan (13:24):
No, it's her first sex.
Christina (13:26):
It's her first sex.
Yes.
And it's with a shadow wielder.
And it's just great.
But it's like actually a sweetlittle, like she's timid and
young, and you know, he's 200years old, and I don't know,
it's sweet.
I
Jordan (13:37):
sounds creepy.
You lost me.
Christina (13:42):
Okay, if you don't read a face story of an 18 year
old girl and a 500 year old guy,what are you doing?
Jordan (13:46):
I was just thinking that.
Christina (13:51):
Jordan, I give up on you.
Jordan (13:54):
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Christina (13:56):
Okay.
Jordan (13:57):
tell me about how sweet this is.
I
Christina (14:00):
It is sweet.
You know, they're together, andthey're in she's going to get,
well, you don't understand, butshe's going to get her collar
put on.
Not the way you're thinking,Jordan!
Jordan (14:09):
didn't say anything this time.
Christina (14:11):
Okay.
Anywho,
Jordan (14:12):
thinking it, I did not.
Christina (14:14):
she gets this power collar, so he's going with her
to get the power collar, andshe's really timid, and they're
in the carriage, and he givesher first orgasm, and then later
on after, Yeah, well, have youever read, freaking, Bridgerton?
Yeah,
Jordan (14:29):
the finger banging.
Christina (14:31):
Jordan! Okay, and then later that night they have
sex.
Okay, that's it.
End of story.
This next one will intrigue youat least, okay?
Jordan (14:40):
No, I'm intrigued.
I'm sure it's wonderful.
Wait, how long is that one?
Christina (14:43):
That one's short, it's only two chapters.
That one's a short little quickone,
Jordan (14:47):
okay, it's a
Christina (14:48):
This one is six chapters, but it's alternating
POVs from three people.
It's for the ACOTAR girlies.
It's the deleted chapter, thankyou, that Sarah's publisher made
her take out.
Jordan (15:02):
Is did she have it written?
Christina (15:04):
I don't know, I was told the publisher made it, I
don't know.
Well, either way, it's the notwritten chapter, unfortunately,
but here it is written.
It's called The Song of Sands byChaotic Wallflower.
Jordan (15:15):
Is it well written?
Christina (15:17):
Yes, it is so good.
Jordan (15:20):
Okay, wait, say it again.
I'm sorry.
Christina (15:21):
The Song of the Sands by the Chaotic Wallflowers.
So it takes place in the SummerCourt.
They're going there for SummerSolstice for a visit.
And that's why it's called TheSong of the Sands.
But, yes, so Nest is in her roomwith Cassian.
And then,
Jordan (15:36):
to Run?
I'm thinking too much about it.
Christina (15:38):
hopefully there's no more blood rubies.
I don't know.
Anywho, they're there.
And Azrael comes in to just givea debrief of what's going on in
the day, you know?
He's doing his little shadowsinger stuff.
And he, and then Nest is makingeyes at him.
That's how it starts.
Oh my god.
I don't want to give too muchaway.
You can already imagine it, butwe're talking wing play.
(15:59):
And we're talking Azrael'storturing.
I mean, yes, I know.
Jordan (16:06):
You know, I think I would actually read this.
Just I would be curious.
I think the fact that SarahJanet Mass It's said that this
was going to be a thing or atleast she considered it at the
very least she was consideringit and planning it at one point
to make this threesome happen.
I think that right there is allthe proof you need that Az is
(16:28):
not going to end up with ElaineDon't see her.
Having one of them have sex withtwo sisters.
Christina (16:36):
Yeah,
Jordan (16:37):
that does not feel like her style.
Does it happen in other series?
Yeah, and it's not a big deal.
Would I see her ever, thisauthor specifically doing that?
Christina (16:48):
and Azriel doing that.
Yeah, because it's like out ofhis character.
He's
Jordan (16:52):
Well, as is a freak.
She said, as is the freakiest.
She has said that.
It's on record.
He is the nastiest and I'm soexcited.
Christina (17:02):
see that.
Jordan's let me see the freak.
I love it because it's threePOVs.
So you get Nesta's POV, you getCassian's POV of how he's
experiencing this, and then youget Azriel's POV.
I mean, it's I know, I love it.
It's only six chapters.
So it goes through each of theirPOVs twice.
And then it ends there.
So it's like a short kind offluffy story.
They're not very long, butthey're really well written.
(17:22):
I really liked this one.
And it kind of puts a nod intoSarah's books, too, because you
even have Azriel saying Is thiswhat you were imagining when you
were watching us train?
Because that is what she wasimagining! The nod is there.
I just love it, and it's reallywell written, and I feel like
the details are really good.
You know, it's not Someridiculous smut scene.
It actually seems like superrealistic of not that I know,
(17:44):
but what two guys would be doinghere at the one time.
Jordan (17:46):
That was one of the questions I was going to ask is.
I feel like if I were reading afanfic about books already
written, books specifically forme, it takes me out if the style
is different.
If I can definitely tell thateven if it's well written, if
it's a totally differentfeeling, I feel like that would
take me out.
Do you ever experience that whenyou start reading?
(18:07):
You're like, oh, this justdoesn't feel like it fits.
Just focused on just extracontent that you don't even it
doesn't cross your
Christina (18:14):
I think it could be both ways.
I really like to focus on thecharacter.
So if it's something super outof character that might make me
pause when I'm like, but a lotof times it's like retellings or
it'll be like an AU, which meansalternate universe.
So it could be Make sense withthat character in that universe,
in that place kind of thing.
But I feel like this one reallywas well written.
(18:34):
It's not exactly Sarah's style.
I mean, Sarah's got a uniquekind of way of writing.
But it's super well written andit does feel like it flowed
really well.
I really liked it.
I was like kicking my littlefeet reading it.
I'm like,
Jordan (18:44):
oh, good.
Okay.
I'm excited to check it out.
Because today I did try to findone to read just to kind of get
in the groove.
And it was a From Blood and Ashone.
Christina (18:54):
Oh, okay.
Jordan (18:55):
And I just couldn't fully commit to it, and I think
maybe it's because It's such adistinct story that I like read.
I mean, is it the greatest workof literature ever?
No, but it's, I don't know.
It's enjoyable to me.
I know it's a love or hateseries.
(19:15):
It was like a threesome.
But to me, it was just like too,it just didn't seem true enough
to the characters.
Maybe that's what it was.
And the way they talked feltdifferent.
But need to give try other ones,I think.
Or maybe say Look for ones thatyou you're talking about, where
it's kind of like an alternateuniverse type thing.
Christina (19:33):
I know it is hard, especially like I suggested to
you, you know, Zodiac Academy,but you love Zodiac Academy.
So I think if you read somethingthat you didn't like, you would
absolutely despise it and hateit.
Jordan (19:43):
I, you know.
Because I've read so much ofthat author's work, too, that
anything in another voice almost
Christina (19:50):
And I can understand that's, I get it.
I just love certain charactersreading other things about them,
it's so fun.
I love Legolas, and I loveimagining Legolas with another
elf, or another character weknow.
But there's this short story Iread, and it's Legolas and Gimli
falling in love.
And I'm like, aww, right?
And that was different, but Iloved it
Jordan (20:09):
love that.
Christina (20:11):
Cause they were like the ultimate enemies to lovers.
Jordan (20:14):
Yes! No, I love it!
Christina (20:16):
I know.
So that's fun too completelyrandom things like you wouldn't
expect.
Like I said, I love a good WillTurner story, but then I read
like a Captain Jack Sparrow andWill Turner, thought I wouldn't
love it, but loved it.
Really loved it.
So I think there's ones likethat too, where you're just
like, it's not something in thestory and it was never ever even
hinted at in the story.
But if you want to imaginethings your own way, because
(20:37):
sometimes a lot of older books,like 80s, 90s and movies and
stuff, weren't really diverse.
And this is a way to bringdiversity in.
So I love that.
Jordan (20:48):
okay.
Yeah.
I love it too.
That's a great way to look atit.
I like it.
And I think it's just also,something with that big of a
catalog, I feel like you'regonna have to wade through stuff
before you kind of find reallywhat you enjoy.
Christina (21:02):
Yeah, definitely.
Jordan (21:04):
Then you've had almost 20 years of going through so I
was just on the site and it saidit's been up for 15 years.
Christina (21:12):
So I read fanfic.
net first, which was the firstpage.
Yeah, fanfic.
Jordan (21:18):
OG bitch, okay.
Christina (21:20):
Yes, so I was fanfic.
net and then switched to AO3.
So fanfic.
net is yeah, it's kind of likeMySpace, you know, nowadays.
It's it's a bit old.
Jordan (21:28):
Hey, I was on Zanga even before Myspace.
I was
Christina (21:32):
Yeah, I was World of Warcraft, you know, way back
then.
The olden
Jordan (21:36):
it was the wild west back then on social media.
Let me tell you, let me tellyou,
Christina (21:40):
The
Jordan (21:40):
Zanga was like the original memes, but they called
it, we call them stickers andthey were just like said sassy
things.
And you could post, it wasbasically like a fancy blog post
that everyone had and you couldfriend blogs and follow them.
But cyber bullying wasn'tconsidered a thing back then.
It was, looking back, absolutelyhorrible.
(22:00):
It was just a different world.
Christina (22:02):
Yeah.
I had Beebo, I don't know if youremember Beebo.
I had Beebo, which was like thattoo.
Was before MySpace.
Yeah.
Jordan (22:08):
I don't remember
Christina (22:09):
Do you remember like html, HTML
Jordan (22:12):
Oh yeah I could code the shit out of all of those.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Or the chain, follow
Christina (22:18):
were dripping on our pages.
Jordan (22:19):
Yeah, oh man, mine was so cool.
And the pictures, you know howmany pictures I would take?
Duck face, and Way differentstuff.
My digital camera.
Oh, so good.
I think the last one I had, Iremember distinctly it's my
share was short and it was socute.
And I was like blowing a bubblelike a really big pink
Christina (22:38):
Was your quote blow me?
Jordan (22:41):
It should have been but it was so big it covered the
bottom half of my face and Ihave really big eyes It's like
my big eyes like looking out ontop of the public
Christina (22:51):
So those day and age that's when I wrote fanfiction
It's that brain.
Jordan (22:55):
a bitch online and you were now if I saw anyone acting
like my middle school self Iwould be appalled and I would
call them out.
You know people grow people
Christina (23:04):
middle school
Jordan (23:07):
It's rough out
Christina (23:08):
The trends change the kids do not
Jordan (23:11):
Yeah, that's it.
That's the content you signed upfor today.
Christina (23:17):
Welcome to Teacher Talk.
Jordan (23:18):
Oh my god, wWE Smackdown.
Elementary school style.
Christina (23:25):
Anywho here we go.
I'm going to list some of myhonorable mentions, kay?
Jordan (23:29):
Okay, honorable mentions.
Okay,
Christina (23:33):
Jack and Will Turner.
It's called, here's the title,Captain Jack Sparrow's List of
Reasons Why One Will TurnerShould Not Leave a Perfectly
Decent Life Behind and TurnPirate, by, I want to say this
right, Dangling Dingle.
So that's a male retelling.
Sorry, that was just the titlecracked me out.
I know, but I loved it.
Anything, if you watch UmbrellaAcademy, anything with Ben
(23:53):
Hargreaves, if you know, youknow, he has the tentacle
powers.
Anything with Legolas, anythingwith Raylo, especially Omega
Verse, anything with Geralt ofRivia, and Rowan Whitethorne.
And Aelin happily ever afterstories.
I love those.
You're like, this is opening
Jordan (24:08):
even think about that.
Christina (24:10):
Oh, yeah Especially when you're imagining Geralt and
not the new Geralt, you know
Jordan (24:15):
Ugh.
God, no one's imagining that.
Christina (24:17):
we're imagining the Geralt and we're like He's like
mine And we're like, yes
Jordan (24:24):
I would even, I imagine the video game Geralt before I
imagine the new live action.
And
Christina (24:32):
Yeah.
But yes, those are some of myfavorites.
I'll read other things too, butlike I said, if I want a good
Omegaverse, I am going on toAO3, and you are going to find
the dirtiest, Sexiest, best,ever omega you're gonna find is
on AO3.
Jordan (24:49):
I assume that if you have an odd kink or preference,
you can find it there.
I assume that you will be ableto find it.
Christina (25:02):
you can do a search.
Here are some of my favoritehashtags you can search by.
These are my personal favorites.
I went through my list and sawthe ones I had the most of,
okay?
Daddy kink, Orgasm denial,
Jordan (25:17):
we're
Christina (25:17):
porn without plot, knotting, breeding kink, bratty
sub, food is a love language,dead dove do not eat, and plot,
what plot?
Jordan (25:28):
Dead Dove Do Not Eat?
Christina (25:32):
If you see that, that hashtag, what that means is some
bad shit's gonna be happening inthat story.
It's like the dark trope and itmeans ex, yes,
Jordan (25:45):
I know, it sounds so familiar.
Christina (25:46):
because it's from the like thing where if you open up
the bridge and you see it saysdead dove inside do not eat and
you look inside and it'sactually a dead dove so like you
should have
Jordan (25:53):
Oh! It was on Sunny, it's always, not, it's always
Sunny not Modern Family.
Arrested Development.
It was on Arrested Development.
There was a whole scene with,okay, there was an actual dead
dove, okay.
Yep, that's where I
Christina (26:05):
So that's where that phone comes from.
So it's don't open thisexpecting something it's not.
We're telling you specificallythis is what it is.
This is not good.
Read the quotes.
Read the little warnings you'rein for in that story.
So those are some of myfavorites.
But porn without a plot, or whenthey say plot, what plot, that
just means it's just smut.
It's just porn.
I love those ones.
So those are some of myfavorites.
(26:26):
You can search by those.
What I love about AO3 is you cansearch by so many things.
So you can just like type inHarry Potter, right?
Or if, Draco Malfoy, right?
And then you pull down, Yes, andthen it gives you 11, 000,
right?
You don't want to look through11, 000 works.
So you can click down.
Jordan (26:42):
Yes, that would be great for people who want more Harry
Potter, but don't want tosupport Harry
Christina (26:47):
certain authors Yes, so you could click like Draco
Malfoy Then you could click downand you could click like only
completed works if you don'twant to wait around for authors
to finish or maybe they neverwill because sometimes you find
one that was started in 2021 andthey haven't updated since 2022
and they probably aren't goingto.
We don't know what happened tothem or if they got kicked out
of their account or if they'reno longer with us or no longer
(27:08):
writing.
We don't know.
You can click completed worksonly.
You can click by popularity.
You could sort by kudos, whichis like someone gives a kudo,
which is like a, yay, you didit.
You've written, this is a reallygood book or by comments.
So you can sort by all sorts ofdifferent things and then you
can sort by language.
So it's super great if you'relearning another language and
you want to be reading a storyin another language to challenge
you.
Or if you only want to read inEnglish, cause sometimes I'll be
(27:30):
like, Ooh, this looks exciting,but it's not in English and I
can't understand it.
So I always forget to exclude.
Yeah, so I love doing that andyou can search by so many
different things and then if youtype in Draco Malfoy and then
it'll pop up all these thingsand you could do click the
Hermione if you only want to seethose stories or like whatever.
Draco and you because sometimespeople put an and you so it's
like you the reader areimagining you're in that story.
(27:52):
That's what the and you is.
Those are great ones too.
But you can click by couple, youcan click by characters
included, characters excluded.
So if you definitely don't wantVoldemort in a story, you
wouldn't check his box, youknow.
So there's so many differentways to search.
And that's just great because,yeah, if you just know what you
want to read.
Or if you don't know, then youcan just go through 11, 000.
Jordan (28:12):
I mean, it's more comprehensive than Goodreads
when you're trying to find abook.
Christina (28:18):
it's true.
There's so many ways.
It's really cool.
Jordan (28:21):
Wow.
Do you have any are there anyauthors on there that you
recognize?
Are you like, know you like,you've read multiple works by
them?
Or is
Christina (28:32):
I'd have to go back and re look.
Yeah, I just kind of go by titleor by character.
But there's, a lot of times whatI really love about the authors
though is so many of them arelike, they're just like you and
me.
So they live for the validationlike we all do.
Unlike, you can really loveSarah J.
Maas work and you can write hera letter and you're probably
never gonna get a response.
But these ones, you comment andthey always comment back.
(28:54):
They're so sweet and they're sogreat and they just love, you
know, how much validation wegive them.
I mean, they don't comment onthe trolls, but they'll comment
on any of us and I'll getmessages in my inbox thank you
for liking my work, you know,and I'm like, oh, thank you for
writing it.
I love that.
It's so great that we have thisnetwork of authors and they
don't have to be publishedauthors to be great authors and
(29:15):
to have their work celebratedand I love that.
And there's so much diversityand you hardly ever see like
trolls and negative commentslike you do on a lot of BookTalk
or Bookstagram.
You see a lot of people that arenegative all the time and I
don't see that very often atall.
on AO3.
It's just a positive place toread and no one's gonna kink
shame you.
No one's here to call you out.
(29:36):
They know the things you likebecause they like them too.
And we're all here for it.
Mmhmm.
Mmhmm.
Mmhmm.
Jordan (29:42):
so much.
And I, This is the positivity ofit.
And I feel like there's so manyauthors now that we've heard got
their start just posting theirstuff.
It's something that they enjoyedand they did it in their spare
time and just threw it out therefor fun.
And they got so much positivefeedback that it then became
something that they workedtowards.
And now they're attempting tomake a living out of it.
(30:05):
And so I love that youmentioned.
That because you can reallyvalidate someone's Dream or just
make their day and after theymade yours It's so it's not like
you're doing this out of thekindness of your heart.
You're getting something out ofit.
They put time and effort intothis too and it's so great and
(30:26):
because this book community hasgotten so big overall it's such
a positive and amazing place andfull of great people like the
trolls are crazy right now idon't know if you're following
any you follow anything onthreads but i've been really big
on threads lately and followingeverything but people are going
direct to authors Pages in theircomment section and telling them
(30:48):
what they hated about their book
Christina (30:50):
Ooh.
Jordan (30:51):
them out and saying all this stuff And
Christina (30:54):
it's not something
Jordan (30:54):
not
Christina (30:55):
say to someone's
Jordan (30:55):
do that.
That's not the place to do that.
And why is that necessary?
Why that's why I love ourpodcast because there's three of
us all have different opinionsabout the same book, or we all
have different preferences.
And we all respect that even ifI don't like it, someone else is
going to enjoy it.
(31:16):
And we're not here to talk shitbecause that's not what this
community is about.
And it's just about enjoying thethings that you enjoy.
And so I do love that about AO3.
And I feel like you can justfind something to get behind.
Christina (31:33):
Yeah, definitely.
I love that too.
If, and if something, like yousaid, you start reading it and
you're like this isn't for me,press backspace, go back a page
and look through the next one.
Like you can always findsomething different and you
don't have to, you know, leave acomment like, I hate your story
Jordan (31:46):
Yeah, why?
That's not necessary.
Just move on.
Christina (31:49):
I know.
But I also love because there'slittle like author notes often
at the end of chapters.
It's crazy because the person'ssorry, I haven't updated in a
while.
You know, like I was called infor surgery and you're like,
this person is a surgeon orsomething crazy insane.
Or they would like, sorry, youknow, like my mom passed away.
I haven't been able to update.
And you're like, Oh my gosh,these people are just living
normal lives.
(32:09):
And you're just like, Oh my goshthank you for even coming on
here and sharing with the world.
You're your amazing stories Ijust love it.
I just love the comments,reading through people's
comments.
I love reading, the authornotes.
I love reading, like I said, thethe little tags.
They they crack me up a lot oftimes.
People will write the craziest,most unhinged tags, and they
(32:30):
make me giggle, and it's that'swhy I'll read their story,
because they're so unique.
I just love the unique premises,new worlds you can visit, new
ideas.
It's my favorite.
Jordan (32:40):
So fun.
If you are a listener and youpost on AO3, I want you to slide
into our DMs, and I want you totell us how to find it.
Because we want to read it.
I mean, maybe we don't, but wewant to read it! We would never
tell you, we don't give negativereviews, we don't say anything
negative, but we will read it.
(33:02):
We don't promote anything thatwe ourselves do.
I want to read it.
If you are a listener and youpost on there, give it
Christina (33:07):
Or if you posted when you were 14 and want us to read
it someone.
Jordan (33:11):
For, just for giggles, please.
Christina (33:13):
Share it with the world.
We were all 14 months.
Jordan (33:16):
All right.
Thank you so much for listeningto us ramble about AO3 and
Christina's favorite stories.
If you're looking for moreRomance Recs.
Please be sure to follow us onInstagram and TikTok at
romancerecspod.
You can find our favorite bookracks from our favorite episodes
(33:37):
as well as behind the scenescontent.
Another way to support us isplease make sure that you are
subscribed wherever you get yourpodcast.
Again, that's at romancerecspod.
So make sure to give us a followand we'll be back with another
episode.
Christina (33:53):
Bye!
Jordan (33:54):
Bye.
Welcome to Romance Recs, where book besties explore
the world of romance novels andencourage you to expand your
TBR.
Join us as we dive into thehottest releases and hidden gems
of the genre.
You can find us on Instagram andTikTok at Romance Recs Pod.
Hi, I'm Christina, and I'mcurrently reading Phantasma by
(00:25):
Kayleigh Smith!
Jordan (00:26):
Ooh,
Christina (00:28):
I know, exciting!
Jordan (00:30):
And hello, I'm Jordan, and I am currently reading
Snowed In by Nevessa Allen.
And I'm also reading, yeah, Iknow, brr, chilly, it's getting
cold in here.
I am also reading Sleigh Bellsand Slaughter by Alina Jacobs.
Christina (00:49):
Wow!
Jordan (00:50):
Yeah, I'm not lis yeah, I am not listening to anything
new right now.
I'm actually just re listeningto Zodiac Academy the entire
series.
I'm on like book four, I think.
Yeah, I'm on The Reckoning.
Just because I've been doinghouse projects, and I just
needed it
Christina (01:08):
And right now, we need that extra love in our
life.
Jordan (01:12):
Yeah, we need the extra comfort.
So buckle up for some bookishbanter, because It's just the
two of us unfortunately, we aremissing our other book bestie,
Dev.
She's just got a lot going on inlife right now, and she is
Christina (01:26):
for her.
Jordan (01:28):
I mean, Christina had to take a break.
She had a lot of family stuffgoing on.
Big moves.
And It's Dev's turn to have alot going on.
Christina (01:36):
Life.
Jordan (01:37):
It is so today after we do our quotes here in a moment,
we, this is all aboutChristina's first love.
Okay.
This is all about AO3.
Christina is going to lead thechat on this one.
I'm here as just her spiritguide make sure we don't rant.
And I will have some questionsfor her because I know next to
(02:00):
nothing.
I mean, I'm a very entry levelAO3
Christina (02:03):
We all start somewhere.
I started at 14, diving deep.
Jordan (02:07):
Hey, we will get there.
We will get there.
And I'm so excited to hear aboutit.
Let's do our quotes before weforget, because otherwise I
will, you want to start us offsince this is all about you?
Yeah.
Christina (02:16):
Okay, so I just read this re this book recently
called Quicksilver, you may haveheard of it, by Callie Hart.
I gave it farce.
Well, I cannot talk.
I gave it five stars.
Jordan (02:28):
She's so excited about this book,
Christina (02:30):
I really am.
I like will go on a whole raveabout this book.
I really love this book.
Anywho, this is my favoritequote of the book.
Okay, next series.
This is from the male characterto the female main character.
Nobody will ever fuck you theway I'm about to fuck you,
Sarah's Fane.
I'm about to introduce you toall seven gods.
When you meet them, don't forgetto tell them I'm the one you
(02:50):
worship on your knees.
Oooo! I know, I was like, oh,thank you.
Jordan (02:55):
can't see it, but she is blushing.
Miss inappropriate herself.
She is the most inappropriate.
She can say the nastiest thingswith a straight face, but that
quote is making her blush.
Her whole face is
Christina (03:09):
know!
Jordan (03:09):
red.
Christina (03:10):
It's because this main fan character, he can back
up what he says.
Jordan (03:15):
Oh,
Christina (03:16):
Oh, we love it, I know.
I know.
All right, Jordan, what's youryours?
Jordan (03:20):
Perfect.
All right, so mine is from TheKings of Kearney by Nevessa
Allen.
I've actually been going throughNevessa Allen's backlog ever
since I read Lights Out.
And I loved this one too.
It's an
Christina (03:32):
I've been wanting to read that one.
Jordan (03:33):
It's an MC romance.
It's so good.
I didn't think I'd be into MC,but so here we are.
You know, I'm starting to worryabout where you fall on the
psychopath scale.
In answer, he tipped his glassesdown and shot me the most
deranged expression I had everseen.
Turns you on, doesn't it?
Despite myself, I laughed.
(03:55):
I was going straight to hellwhen I died.
Because it actually did.
Christina (04:00):
girl's aim.
Jordan (04:01):
This man this man, I am officially in my blonde MMC era,
and
Christina (04:09):
oh, surprising.
Jordan (04:11):
all because of this character.
Christina (04:13):
Nice.
Jordan (04:15):
I mean, and just can't you just picture a giant,
muscly, tatted, Blonde enforcerof a motorcycle gang constantly
just pull his aviators down andlook at you over them, saying
Oh,
Christina (04:30):
Now I am imagining it.
Jordan (04:32):
Oh, I know.
Yeah.
Alright, so we both had our ownderanged, if men said it in real
life, we'd both be concernedquotes, but in fiction, it's
great.
Christina (04:45):
Yeah, it's hot in fiction, not in real life.
Jordan (04:48):
Yeah, amen.
But that's what we love.
So
Christina (04:52):
We love men written by women.
Jordan (04:54):
Yes, we do.
We love it.
We'd love to see it.
Love to hear it.
But it's the task at hand, a Othree Of our own.
Christina (05:02):
yes, ma'am.
Jordan (05:03):
Yes.
Just for the uninitiated, willyou just tell us what it is to
start?
Christina (05:10):
Sure, so it is fanfiction.
So it is anything you can dreamof whether it's something that's
already established like yourfavorite Marvel character or
whether it's somethingcompletely new that someone's
making up their own story whichlike a very famous author Sarah
J Maas started with her storiesthis.
(05:30):
So it's just where anybody canwrite a story, a poem, a song,
and publish it on this web pagefor everyone else to enjoy.
Jordan (05:40):
Yeah, so just to do a little research, I did go on AO3
today and I was like, let's lookat all the fandoms.
Because you can search byfandom, so that was interesting.
I mean, there's stuff writtenabout video games, theater,
bands,
Christina (06:01):
Rollercoaster Tycoon has a few.
I'm not joking.
I listed some of the fandomshere.
I
Jordan (06:09):
Okay, yeah let's hear it yeah.
Christina (06:11):
Minecraft, Venom, World War Z, Mothman the Star
Wars Lego movie, the Batman Legomovie, and the Lego
Jordan (06:20):
Ew.
Christina (06:21):
Bridge to Terabithia.
Jordan (06:23):
so these are like usually dirty, but not always.
They're just like fanfic.
They
Christina (06:27):
could be anything, yeah.
Jordan (06:29):
in my mind
Christina (06:29):
British Bake Off,
Jordan (06:32):
Okay, I actually would be into that.
I feel like I want a dirty likewhat happens when the cameras go
down?
Christina (06:40):
exactly, when you just gotta, you know, use up
some of those ingredients.
Power Rangers, StrawberryShortcake.
The Backyardigans,
Jordan (06:50):
No! Do you think there's Teletubbies?
Christina (06:55):
probably.
Ted Lasso, who I would be allover.
Jordan (06:59):
Oh!
Christina (06:59):
And for you, Jordan, I looked him up specifically.
Plenty of Zodiac Academyfanfics.
Lots.
Jordan (07:06):
no!
Christina (07:07):
Yes, there's something for everyone,
including you.
I looked him up.
There's some there's Lance'sPOV.
For some of them I was looking
Jordan (07:14):
Oh, they write alternate people To be fair, I mean, at
this point, Peckham and Valentihave put out so much bonus
content that they've almost doneevery alternate POV.
So I feel like it's going to begetting difficult at this point.
Christina (07:31):
But there's always new stories to have fun.
I don't know.
There's just so much.
That's what I love about Ao3.
Like it doesn't matter whatyou're into even if it's
characters that like originallyweren't together and you want to
experience that fun.
So
Jordan (07:44):
yeah.
I guess, what do you look for?
Like, when you're searching fora story, is it you're going for
a specific fandom trope?
Are you ever just, you know,Scrolling along what do you look
for in a fanfic?
Christina (08:00):
me personally, I love looking by like a character that
I'm into or specifically thetrope I really love on Ao3 that
I think you cannot top like nomatter what authors I've read,
Omegaverse.
I feel like Omegaverse haswritten the absolute best on
AO3.
I've read Omegaverse books, andthey just don't come anywhere
(08:20):
close to what you read online.
But I love looking by characterI love literally anything with
Legolas.
He was
Jordan (08:27):
Yeah, give it to us.
Dola.
I love this.
Yeah.
Christina (08:30):
Will Turner from Pirates of the Caribbean.
Jordan (08:32):
Oh my god, I remember that from our first episode.
Christina (08:34):
Sure enough, way back when I was 14, I wrote some Will
Turner fanfic.
Mmm.
Jordan (08:39):
You know what?
I don't think that's on our Getto Know Us episode.
I think that was on our episodezero that never aired.
Christina (08:45):
That's a real bummer because you made me read it and
then made fun of me.
Jordan (08:49):
Oh my god.
No, it was great.
What was,
Christina (08:53):
looking for it.
No, don't go looking for it.
Jordan (08:56):
Christina, when she
Christina (08:57):
was a Pirates of the Caribbean.
Yeah,
Jordan (08:59):
wrote and posted, it was Harry Potter and, Pirates of the
Caribbean fanfic.
Christina (09:04):
Don't look that up.
Jordan (09:05):
He went, yeah, Will Turner went to Hogwarts or
something like that.
Christina (09:12):
yeah, the whole The whole ship got sucked into a
storm and then popped up in thelake at Hogwarts.
Jordan (09:17):
You know, it was pretty good for looking back at your
high school self.
It was pretty good.
Christina (09:24):
Yeah, and I also wrote a Will Turner and I can't
remember the name of the song.
Hold on.
Mr.
Brightside.
Sorry, I just popped up in myhead.
Will Turner, Mr.
Brightside story.
Yeah at the end of Pirates ofthe Caribbean 2, I think it is,
when Will Turner sees Elizabeth,kiss Jack Sparrow, it makes him
commit suicide.
Jordan (09:44):
Oh my God, that's right.
You did tell us about that.
Oh my God.
Oh my God.
Christina (09:50):
The ramblings of a 14 year old.
Anywho, AO3 is sometimes writtenby 14 year olds, often
Jordan (09:56):
Have you written since high school and
Christina (09:59):
No, I have not been brave enough.
Jordan (10:02):
Will you?
You don't have to is thatsomething you'd be interested
in?
I need this in my life.
I need to, or maybe I don't needto see the inner workings of
your brain.
I don't know, but I think it'dbe great.
Okay.
Christina (10:15):
yeah.
Jordan (10:16):
Okay.
Why don't you give us, can weget your recs?
Some of your favorites?
Let's get into some of yourfavorites before we get too
nitty gritty on the
Christina (10:25):
As I've told you guys before, and I think I've said 9
out of 10 of my, every of myfavorites are Ralo, because I'm
a huge Star Wars fan.
So my first one is a Ralo story,but it's actually really fun.
funny.
It's called Age of Kings byDisoriented Scribbler.
It's a time traveling retellingof Star Wars with Rey and Kylo.
(10:46):
They get sent back in time tothe prequels.
it's Ray's being trained by ObiWan, and Kylo's meeting his
grandma and grandpa, Anakin andPadme.
It's so funny hilarity ensues.
It's 34 chapters, but it's Iliterally went on this long rant
once on three years ago when Ifirst read this to my husband on
(11:06):
our anniversary.
For the full anniversary, that'sall I was like, no, Russ, you
gotta hear it, not like readingin verbatim these chapters.
Jordan (11:14):
It's listen, we've been married like 12 years It's time
to really test you and see howmuch you really love me.
Stop and listen to me for thenext two hours
Christina (11:24):
exactly, that's what it was, and it was perfect.
I love this story.
It gives us a happily everafter, so it's great.
You know, it just, it gives us ahappily ever after, not only for
Rey and Kylo, but like you goback in time and you fix the
problems of the Jedi, you goback and fix the problems that
Anakin and Padme had,
Jordan (11:41):
So it makes everything else irrelevant
Christina (11:44):
yes, but it's, I don't know, it's
Jordan (11:47):
So then are they born?
Like how does that work?
Time travel is so weird
Christina (11:53):
yeah, I know, but Padme was already pregnant with
the twins at the time, so shewas already pregnant with Leia,
but Leia still met Han somehow.
I don't know, don't ask me!
Jordan (12:02):
I just have so many follow ups.
Christina (12:06):
I just read the stories, okay?
I don't think too much into it.
Oh,
Jordan (12:15):
No, I'm not really.
I don't really want to ruinthem.
Christina (12:18):
Okay, so there's that one.
Here's another one.
It's called Frozen Eclipse bySithElle.
This one is a Darkling and Alinastory from Shadow and Bone.
If you thought that Darkwing andAlina should have ended up
together like I always did.
Jordan (12:32):
never read Shadow and Bone, so I don't know these
characters and I have noopinion.
Christina (12:37):
well, bummer.
Well, the Darkwing is the badguy, and Alina is this girl who
gets sun powers, and he has darkpowers, and I mean, come
Jordan (12:43):
Oh, yeah.
Naturally.
Christina (12:44):
ends up with her childhood best friend.
Jordan (12:46):
Boring.
Christina (12:47):
I know.
Ugh.
He's got this tragic backstory,and he's evil, and she tries to
turn him, and whatever.
Not a point.
But anywho, so this is if shethey were able to get together,
and this is her first ever sex,and it's with him, and
Jordan (13:01):
The first ever set of I can't even
Christina (13:09):
wow, Jordan, I sweet.
Jordan (13:13):
This is her first ever sex.
Christina (13:16):
Should've said it separately.
Well,
Jordan (13:21):
Okay.
Christina (13:22):
sexual experience.
How about that?
Jordan (13:24):
No, it's her first sex.
Christina (13:26):
It's her first sex.
Yes.
And it's with a shadow wielder.
And it's just great.
But it's like actually a sweetlittle, like she's timid and
young, and you know, he's 200years old, and I don't know,
it's sweet.
I
Jordan (13:37):
sounds creepy.
You lost me.
Christina (13:42):
Okay, if you don't read a face story of an 18 year
old girl and a 500 year old guy,what are you doing?
Jordan (13:46):
I was just thinking that.
Christina (13:51):
Jordan, I give up on you.
Jordan (13:54):
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Christina (13:56):
Okay.
Jordan (13:57):
tell me about how sweet this is.
I
Christina (14:00):
It is sweet.
You know, they're together, andthey're in she's going to get,
well, you don't understand, butshe's going to get her collar
put on.
Not the way you're thinking,Jordan!
Jordan (14:09):
didn't say anything this time.
Christina (14:11):
Okay.
Anywho,
Jordan (14:12):
thinking it, I did not.
Christina (14:14):
she gets this power collar, so he's going with her
to get the power collar, andshe's really timid, and they're
in the carriage, and he givesher first orgasm, and then later
on after, Yeah, well, have youever read, freaking, Bridgerton?
Yeah,
Jordan (14:29):
the finger banging.
Christina (14:31):
Jordan! Okay, and then later that night they have
sex.
Okay, that's it.
End of story.
This next one will intrigue youat least, okay?
Jordan (14:40):
No, I'm intrigued.
I'm sure it's wonderful.
Wait, how long is that one?
Christina (14:43):
That one's short, it's only two chapters.
That one's a short little quickone,
Jordan (14:47):
okay, it's a
Christina (14:48):
This one is six chapters, but it's alternating
POVs from three people.
It's for the ACOTAR girlies.
It's the deleted chapter, thankyou, that Sarah's publisher made
her take out.
Jordan (15:02):
Is did she have it written?
Christina (15:04):
I don't know, I was told the publisher made it, I
don't know.
Well, either way, it's the notwritten chapter, unfortunately,
but here it is written.
It's called The Song of Sands byChaotic Wallflower.
Jordan (15:15):
Is it well written?
Christina (15:17):
Yes, it is so good.
Jordan (15:20):
Okay, wait, say it again.
I'm sorry.
Christina (15:21):
The Song of the Sands by the Chaotic Wallflowers.
So it takes place in the SummerCourt.
They're going there for SummerSolstice for a visit.
And that's why it's called TheSong of the Sands.
But, yes, so Nest is in her roomwith Cassian.
And then,
Jordan (15:36):
to Run?
I'm thinking too much about it.
Christina (15:38):
hopefully there's no more blood rubies.
I don't know.
Anywho, they're there.
And Azrael comes in to just givea debrief of what's going on in
the day, you know?
He's doing his little shadowsinger stuff.
And he, and then Nest is makingeyes at him.
That's how it starts.
Oh my god.
I don't want to give too muchaway.
You can already imagine it, butwe're talking wing play.
(15:59):
And we're talking Azrael'storturing.
I mean, yes, I know.
Jordan (16:06):
You know, I think I would actually read this.
Just I would be curious.
I think the fact that SarahJanet Mass It's said that this
was going to be a thing or atleast she considered it at the
very least she was consideringit and planning it at one point
to make this threesome happen.
I think that right there is allthe proof you need that Az is
(16:28):
not going to end up with ElaineDon't see her.
Having one of them have sex withtwo sisters.
Christina (16:36):
Yeah,
Jordan (16:37):
that does not feel like her style.
Does it happen in other series?
Yeah, and it's not a big deal.
Would I see her ever, thisauthor specifically doing that?
Christina (16:48):
and Azriel doing that.
Yeah, because it's like out ofhis character.
He's
Jordan (16:52):
Well, as is a freak.
She said, as is the freakiest.
She has said that.
It's on record.
He is the nastiest and I'm soexcited.
Christina (17:02):
see that.
Jordan's let me see the freak.
I love it because it's threePOVs.
So you get Nesta's POV, you getCassian's POV of how he's
experiencing this, and then youget Azriel's POV.
I mean, it's I know, I love it.
It's only six chapters.
So it goes through each of theirPOVs twice.
And then it ends there.
So it's like a short kind offluffy story.
They're not very long, butthey're really well written.
(17:22):
I really liked this one.
And it kind of puts a nod intoSarah's books, too, because you
even have Azriel saying Is thiswhat you were imagining when you
were watching us train?
Because that is what she wasimagining! The nod is there.
I just love it, and it's reallywell written, and I feel like
the details are really good.
You know, it's not Someridiculous smut scene.
It actually seems like superrealistic of not that I know,
(17:44):
but what two guys would be doinghere at the one time.
Jordan (17:46):
That was one of the questions I was going to ask is.
I feel like if I were reading afanfic about books already
written, books specifically forme, it takes me out if the style
is different.
If I can definitely tell thateven if it's well written, if
it's a totally differentfeeling, I feel like that would
take me out.
Do you ever experience that whenyou start reading?
(18:07):
You're like, oh, this justdoesn't feel like it fits.
Just focused on just extracontent that you don't even it
doesn't cross your
Christina (18:14):
I think it could be both ways.
I really like to focus on thecharacter.
So if it's something super outof character that might make me
pause when I'm like, but a lotof times it's like retellings or
it'll be like an AU, which meansalternate universe.
So it could be Make sense withthat character in that universe,
in that place kind of thing.
But I feel like this one reallywas well written.
(18:34):
It's not exactly Sarah's style.
I mean, Sarah's got a uniquekind of way of writing.
But it's super well written andit does feel like it flowed
really well.
I really liked it.
I was like kicking my littlefeet reading it.
I'm like,
Jordan (18:44):
oh, good.
Okay.
I'm excited to check it out.
Because today I did try to findone to read just to kind of get
in the groove.
And it was a From Blood and Ashone.
Christina (18:54):
Oh, okay.
Jordan (18:55):
And I just couldn't fully commit to it, and I think
maybe it's because It's such adistinct story that I like read.
I mean, is it the greatest workof literature ever?
No, but it's, I don't know.
It's enjoyable to me.
I know it's a love or hateseries.
(19:15):
It was like a threesome.
But to me, it was just like too,it just didn't seem true enough
to the characters.
Maybe that's what it was.
And the way they talked feltdifferent.
But need to give try other ones,I think.
Or maybe say Look for ones thatyou you're talking about, where
it's kind of like an alternateuniverse type thing.
Christina (19:33):
I know it is hard, especially like I suggested to
you, you know, Zodiac Academy,but you love Zodiac Academy.
So I think if you read somethingthat you didn't like, you would
absolutely despise it and hateit.
Jordan (19:43):
I, you know.
Because I've read so much ofthat author's work, too, that
anything in another voice almost
Christina (19:50):
And I can understand that's, I get it.
I just love certain charactersreading other things about them,
it's so fun.
I love Legolas, and I loveimagining Legolas with another
elf, or another character weknow.
But there's this short story Iread, and it's Legolas and Gimli
falling in love.
And I'm like, aww, right?
And that was different, but Iloved it
Jordan (20:09):
love that.
Christina (20:11):
Cause they were like the ultimate enemies to lovers.
Jordan (20:14):
Yes! No, I love it!
Christina (20:16):
I know.
So that's fun too completelyrandom things like you wouldn't
expect.
Like I said, I love a good WillTurner story, but then I read
like a Captain Jack Sparrow andWill Turner, thought I wouldn't
love it, but loved it.
Really loved it.
So I think there's ones likethat too, where you're just
like, it's not something in thestory and it was never ever even
hinted at in the story.
But if you want to imaginethings your own way, because
(20:37):
sometimes a lot of older books,like 80s, 90s and movies and
stuff, weren't really diverse.
And this is a way to bringdiversity in.
So I love that.
Jordan (20:48):
okay.
Yeah.
I love it too.
That's a great way to look atit.
I like it.
And I think it's just also,something with that big of a
catalog, I feel like you'regonna have to wade through stuff
before you kind of find reallywhat you enjoy.
Christina (21:02):
Yeah, definitely.
Jordan (21:04):
Then you've had almost 20 years of going through so I
was just on the site and it saidit's been up for 15 years.
Christina (21:12):
So I read fanfic.
net first, which was the firstpage.
Yeah, fanfic.
Jordan (21:18):
OG bitch, okay.
Christina (21:20):
Yes, so I was fanfic.
net and then switched to AO3.
So fanfic.
net is yeah, it's kind of likeMySpace, you know, nowadays.
It's it's a bit old.
Jordan (21:28):
Hey, I was on Zanga even before Myspace.
I was
Christina (21:32):
Yeah, I was World of Warcraft, you know, way back
then.
The olden
Jordan (21:36):
it was the wild west back then on social media.
Let me tell you, let me tellyou,
Christina (21:40):
The
Jordan (21:40):
Zanga was like the original memes, but they called
it, we call them stickers andthey were just like said sassy
things.
And you could post, it wasbasically like a fancy blog post
that everyone had and you couldfriend blogs and follow them.
But cyber bullying wasn'tconsidered a thing back then.
It was, looking back, absolutelyhorrible.
(22:00):
It was just a different world.
Christina (22:02):
Yeah.
I had Beebo, I don't know if youremember Beebo.
I had Beebo, which was like thattoo.
Was before MySpace.
Yeah.
Jordan (22:08):
I don't remember
Christina (22:09):
Do you remember like html, HTML
Jordan (22:12):
Oh yeah I could code the shit out of all of those.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Or the chain, follow
Christina (22:18):
were dripping on our pages.
Jordan (22:19):
Yeah, oh man, mine was so cool.
And the pictures, you know howmany pictures I would take?
Duck face, and Way differentstuff.
My digital camera.
Oh, so good.
I think the last one I had, Iremember distinctly it's my
share was short and it was socute.
And I was like blowing a bubblelike a really big pink
Christina (22:38):
Was your quote blow me?
Jordan (22:41):
It should have been but it was so big it covered the
bottom half of my face and Ihave really big eyes It's like
my big eyes like looking out ontop of the public
Christina (22:51):
So those day and age that's when I wrote fanfiction
It's that brain.
Jordan (22:55):
a bitch online and you were now if I saw anyone acting
like my middle school self Iwould be appalled and I would
call them out.
You know people grow people
Christina (23:04):
middle school
Jordan (23:07):
It's rough out
Christina (23:08):
The trends change the kids do not
Jordan (23:11):
Yeah, that's it.
That's the content you signed upfor today.
Christina (23:17):
Welcome to Teacher Talk.
Jordan (23:18):
Oh my god, wWE Smackdown.
Elementary school style.
Christina (23:25):
Anywho here we go.
I'm going to list some of myhonorable mentions, kay?
Jordan (23:29):
Okay, honorable mentions.
Okay,
Christina (23:33):
Jack and Will Turner.
It's called, here's the title,Captain Jack Sparrow's List of
Reasons Why One Will TurnerShould Not Leave a Perfectly
Decent Life Behind and TurnPirate, by, I want to say this
right, Dangling Dingle.
So that's a male retelling.
Sorry, that was just the titlecracked me out.
I know, but I loved it.
Anything, if you watch UmbrellaAcademy, anything with Ben
(23:53):
Hargreaves, if you know, youknow, he has the tentacle
powers.
Anything with Legolas, anythingwith Raylo, especially Omega
Verse, anything with Geralt ofRivia, and Rowan Whitethorne.
And Aelin happily ever afterstories.
I love those.
You're like, this is opening
Jordan (24:08):
even think about that.
Christina (24:10):
Oh, yeah Especially when you're imagining Geralt and
not the new Geralt, you know
Jordan (24:15):
Ugh.
God, no one's imagining that.
Christina (24:17):
we're imagining the Geralt and we're like He's like
mine And we're like, yes
Jordan (24:24):
I would even, I imagine the video game Geralt before I
imagine the new live action.
And
Christina (24:32):
Yeah.
But yes, those are some of myfavorites.
I'll read other things too, butlike I said, if I want a good
Omegaverse, I am going on toAO3, and you are going to find
the dirtiest, Sexiest, best,ever omega you're gonna find is
on AO3.
Jordan (24:49):
I assume that if you have an odd kink or preference,
you can find it there.
I assume that you will be ableto find it.
Christina (25:02):
you can do a search.
Here are some of my favoritehashtags you can search by.
These are my personal favorites.
I went through my list and sawthe ones I had the most of,
okay?
Daddy kink, Orgasm denial,
Jordan (25:17):
we're
Christina (25:17):
porn without plot, knotting, breeding kink, bratty
sub, food is a love language,dead dove do not eat, and plot,
what plot?
Jordan (25:28):
Dead Dove Do Not Eat?
Christina (25:32):
If you see that, that hashtag, what that means is some
bad shit's gonna be happening inthat story.
It's like the dark trope and itmeans ex, yes,
Jordan (25:45):
I know, it sounds so familiar.
Christina (25:46):
because it's from the like thing where if you open up
the bridge and you see it saysdead dove inside do not eat and
you look inside and it'sactually a dead dove so like you
should have
Jordan (25:53):
Oh! It was on Sunny, it's always, not, it's always
Sunny not Modern Family.
Arrested Development.
It was on Arrested Development.
There was a whole scene with,okay, there was an actual dead
dove, okay.
Yep, that's where I
Christina (26:05):
So that's where that phone comes from.
So it's don't open thisexpecting something it's not.
We're telling you specificallythis is what it is.
This is not good.
Read the quotes.
Read the little warnings you'rein for in that story.
So those are some of myfavorites.
But porn without a plot, or whenthey say plot, what plot, that
just means it's just smut.
It's just porn.
I love those ones.
So those are some of myfavorites.
(26:26):
You can search by those.
What I love about AO3 is you cansearch by so many things.
So you can just like type inHarry Potter, right?
Or if, Draco Malfoy, right?
And then you pull down, Yes, andthen it gives you 11, 000,
right?
You don't want to look through11, 000 works.
So you can click down.
Jordan (26:42):
Yes, that would be great for people who want more Harry
Potter, but don't want tosupport Harry
Christina (26:47):
certain authors Yes, so you could click like Draco
Malfoy Then you could click downand you could click like only
completed works if you don'twant to wait around for authors
to finish or maybe they neverwill because sometimes you find
one that was started in 2021 andthey haven't updated since 2022
and they probably aren't goingto.
We don't know what happened tothem or if they got kicked out
of their account or if they'reno longer with us or no longer
(27:08):
writing.
We don't know.
You can click completed worksonly.
You can click by popularity.
You could sort by kudos, whichis like someone gives a kudo,
which is like a, yay, you didit.
You've written, this is a reallygood book or by comments.
So you can sort by all sorts ofdifferent things and then you
can sort by language.
So it's super great if you'relearning another language and
you want to be reading a storyin another language to challenge
you.
Or if you only want to read inEnglish, cause sometimes I'll be
(27:30):
like, Ooh, this looks exciting,but it's not in English and I
can't understand it.
So I always forget to exclude.
Yeah, so I love doing that andyou can search by so many
different things and then if youtype in Draco Malfoy and then
it'll pop up all these thingsand you could do click the
Hermione if you only want to seethose stories or like whatever.
Draco and you because sometimespeople put an and you so it's
like you the reader areimagining you're in that story.
(27:52):
That's what the and you is.
Those are great ones too.
But you can click by couple, youcan click by characters
included, characters excluded.
So if you definitely don't wantVoldemort in a story, you
wouldn't check his box, youknow.
So there's so many differentways to search.
And that's just great because,yeah, if you just know what you
want to read.
Or if you don't know, then youcan just go through 11, 000.
Jordan (28:12):
I mean, it's more comprehensive than Goodreads
when you're trying to find abook.
Christina (28:18):
it's true.
There's so many ways.
It's really cool.
Jordan (28:21):
Wow.
Do you have any are there anyauthors on there that you
recognize?
Are you like, know you like,you've read multiple works by
them?
Or is
Christina (28:32):
I'd have to go back and re look.
Yeah, I just kind of go by titleor by character.
But there's, a lot of times whatI really love about the authors
though is so many of them arelike, they're just like you and
me.
So they live for the validationlike we all do.
Unlike, you can really loveSarah J.
Maas work and you can write hera letter and you're probably
never gonna get a response.
But these ones, you comment andthey always comment back.
(28:54):
They're so sweet and they're sogreat and they just love, you
know, how much validation wegive them.
I mean, they don't comment onthe trolls, but they'll comment
on any of us and I'll getmessages in my inbox thank you
for liking my work, you know,and I'm like, oh, thank you for
writing it.
I love that.
It's so great that we have thisnetwork of authors and they
don't have to be publishedauthors to be great authors and
(29:15):
to have their work celebratedand I love that.
And there's so much diversityand you hardly ever see like
trolls and negative commentslike you do on a lot of BookTalk
or Bookstagram.
You see a lot of people that arenegative all the time and I
don't see that very often atall.
on AO3.
It's just a positive place toread and no one's gonna kink
shame you.
No one's here to call you out.
(29:36):
They know the things you likebecause they like them too.
And we're all here for it.
Mmhmm.
Mmhmm.
Mmhmm.
Jordan (29:42):
so much.
And I, This is the positivity ofit.
And I feel like there's so manyauthors now that we've heard got
their start just posting theirstuff.
It's something that they enjoyedand they did it in their spare
time and just threw it out therefor fun.
And they got so much positivefeedback that it then became
something that they workedtowards.
And now they're attempting tomake a living out of it.
(30:05):
And so I love that youmentioned.
That because you can reallyvalidate someone's Dream or just
make their day and after theymade yours It's so it's not like
you're doing this out of thekindness of your heart.
You're getting something out ofit.
They put time and effort intothis too and it's so great and
(30:26):
because this book community hasgotten so big overall it's such
a positive and amazing place andfull of great people like the
trolls are crazy right now idon't know if you're following
any you follow anything onthreads but i've been really big
on threads lately and followingeverything but people are going
direct to authors Pages in theircomment section and telling them
(30:48):
what they hated about their book
Christina (30:50):
Ooh.
Jordan (30:51):
them out and saying all this stuff And
Christina (30:54):
it's not something
Jordan (30:54):
not
Christina (30:55):
say to someone's
Jordan (30:55):
do that.
That's not the place to do that.
And why is that necessary?
Why that's why I love ourpodcast because there's three of
us all have different opinionsabout the same book, or we all
have different preferences.
And we all respect that even ifI don't like it, someone else is
going to enjoy it.
(31:16):
And we're not here to talk shitbecause that's not what this
community is about.
And it's just about enjoying thethings that you enjoy.
And so I do love that about AO3.
And I feel like you can justfind something to get behind.
Christina (31:33):
Yeah, definitely.
I love that too.
If, and if something, like yousaid, you start reading it and
you're like this isn't for me,press backspace, go back a page
and look through the next one.
Like you can always findsomething different and you
don't have to, you know, leave acomment like, I hate your story
Jordan (31:46):
Yeah, why?
That's not necessary.
Just move on.
Christina (31:49):
I know.
But I also love because there'slittle like author notes often
at the end of chapters.
It's crazy because the person'ssorry, I haven't updated in a
while.
You know, like I was called infor surgery and you're like,
this person is a surgeon orsomething crazy insane.
Or they would like, sorry, youknow, like my mom passed away.
I haven't been able to update.
And you're like, Oh my gosh,these people are just living
normal lives.
(32:09):
And you're just like, Oh my goshthank you for even coming on
here and sharing with the world.
You're your amazing stories Ijust love it.
I just love the comments,reading through people's
comments.
I love reading, the authornotes.
I love reading, like I said, thethe little tags.
They they crack me up a lot oftimes.
People will write the craziest,most unhinged tags, and they
(32:30):
make me giggle, and it's that'swhy I'll read their story,
because they're so unique.
I just love the unique premises,new worlds you can visit, new
ideas.
It's my favorite.
Jordan (32:40):
So fun.
If you are a listener and youpost on AO3, I want you to slide
into our DMs, and I want you totell us how to find it.
Because we want to read it.
I mean, maybe we don't, but wewant to read it! We would never
tell you, we don't give negativereviews, we don't say anything
negative, but we will read it.
(33:02):
We don't promote anything thatwe ourselves do.
I want to read it.
If you are a listener and youpost on there, give it
Christina (33:07):
Or if you posted when you were 14 and want us to read
it someone.
Jordan (33:11):
For, just for giggles, please.
Christina (33:13):
Share it with the world.
We were all 14 months.
Jordan (33:16):
All right.
Thank you so much for listeningto us ramble about AO3 and
Christina's favorite stories.
If you're looking for moreRomance Recs.
Please be sure to follow us onInstagram and TikTok at
romancerecspod.
You can find our favorite bookracks from our favorite episodes
(33:37):
as well as behind the scenescontent.
Another way to support us isplease make sure that you are
subscribed wherever you get yourpodcast.
Again, that's at romancerecspod.
So make sure to give us a followand we'll be back with another
episode.
Christina (33:53):
Bye!
Jordan (33:54):
Bye.
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!