FF Friday

The marketing that I've seen for this book has been fairly buzzword-heavy, which I think does both it and potential readers a disservice. It's not a vibes-forward romance with "dark academia" aesthetics as the taglines imply, but rather a surprisingly grounded deep dive into the head of a brilliant, passionate, overworked and above all overproud educator -- three doors over from the hubris of Greek tragedy if anything, and firmly rooted in the complexities of being a person. As someone who loves an immersive POV, this was very much fine by me, but someone going in looking for, say, a love story might be a little disappointed: our bisexual protagonist does dally with a couple of characters and there is an endgame couple, but this is very much not the main focus. She probably spends more time thinking about pedagogy than about paramours (and I love that for her, because that's who she is).

Overall, I found The Incandescent a compelling read with a cast of engaging characters, interesting modern worldbuilding, and a very strong sense of self (heh), albeit a little oddly paced in a way I can't quite put my finger on. My recommendation is to ignore all marketing and just give it a sneak-peek read to see if it feels like your cup of tea.

rarefemslashexchange creator reveals are coming later today, so I thought I'd rec out some of my favorites from the collection! No matter which way I sliced it I couldn't decide on four, so here are five SFW fics which delighted me and may perhaps delight you as well (amusingly, I didn't notice so many of them were AUs until I started writing this post):


Do You Love It Love It? (The Good Place, Tahani/Eleanor, ~2.1k)
What if Tahani invited Eleanor to stay with her in Australia? An entertaining AU depicting the comical tribulations of a courtship between social worlds.

Five Views of Two Rabbits (Disney Mulan, Mulan/fem!Shang, ~1.6k)
What if Shang was in the same boat as Mulan? The different character POVs employed to depict their romance not only flesh out minor characters but create a beautifully grounded mosaic portrait of the couple's facets.

Memento Mori (Interlude) (DS9, Jadzia/Lenara, ~2.4k)
What if Lenara had come back to Jadzia? A sweet and introspective contemplation of what a more permanent union might have meant to them, full of love and loss.

a question and answer (A League of Their Own, Carson/Max, ~900)
Okay, this one's not an AU, but it's quite likely to be retroactively rendered AU by the next season of ALOTO if/when we get one, so I'm counting it. Max and Carson in canon had a wonderfully understated dynamic which here bears the fruit of a quiet, inevitable romance.

Vervain (original, Boisterous Bard/Wicked Queen, ~6.4k)
A fun, fast-paced fantasy adventure that hints at more heart than the opening lets on -- and carries a hidden knife too.