u/SqueamishOssifrage42

Several series I'm absolutely feral for have new releases later this year. As a kid, I'd simply attend the midnight release in my balaclava. Now, though, I'm finding the logistics more complicated.

Plan A is always ARC access - I've been embedded with the author's street team for eighteen months under a cover identity. The operation was unfortunately burned when my handler recognized my handwriting in a Goodreads review.

Plan B is preordering the audiobook for midnight access, but for my favorite series I strongly prefer reading over listening, and prefer hard copies to digital, so I've had to go deeper.

Plan C is a black bag job at the author's residence. I'm not proud of it but I've done the reconnaissance and she keeps the manuscript on an air-gapped laptop in a home office with a surprisingly good lock but only a three-pin tumbler so honestly at this point it would be rude not to. The exfil was going smoothly until I noticed she had a different unreleased title open in another window and had to make a judgment call about the mission parameters.

Some details I'm currently running down through field assets:

• What time do Hoopla & Libby upload new titles? My contact inside the Overdrive data center says "in the morning" but has gone dark. Assume he's been made.
• What time for Audible & Kindle? Either 9pm or midnight PST. I have someone watching the servers but she keeps getting distracted reading the actual books.
• Will retailers have big releases already on shelves at opening? B&N doesn't open until 10am. I've been in the ceiling since Thursday.

I just finished Throne of Glass (book 1) and rated it 2 stars. My throat closed up during the prologue but I pushed through because I'd heard the series was life-changing. By chapter 3 I had developed a full-body rash and my roommate was asking if I needed to go to urgent care. I told her I just needed to get to the part where it gets good.

I have read ACOTAR and only experienced mild anaphylaxis, so I think my SJM tolerance is higher than average. My allergist disagrees but she DNF'd Crown of Midnight at 40% so I don't think she has the full picture.

I almost stopped around chapter 15 when my vision went blurry, but I had just bought the whole series in a beautiful boxset and I feel like that changes things. Also people keep telling me Celaena becomes a completely different character by book 4 and I want to see that for myself.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with book 1? Did the symptoms improve as the series went on, or did you find a way to manage them? I really want to give it a fair shot before I decide anything.

Convince Me to read Fourth Wing

Okay so I've been putting it off FOREVER and I'm scared that I've gone so deep into romantasy that the book won't work on me anymore 😭

For reference my faves are The Ashen series, The Ever Seas series, TOG, and Plated Prisoner.

UPDATE: I started it last night

UPDATE 2: I can see colors I couldn't see before

UPDATE 3: My posture has corrected itself. I'm standing like a woman who rides dragons.

UPDATE 4: I went to the dentist this morning for a routine cleaning and she said my enamel has "never looked better" and asked what I was doing differently. I said "Xaden Riorson" and she nodded like she understood.

UPDATE 5: I finished it. A dragon egg appeared in my apartment. It has since hatched. She's in the bathtub for now. My roommate is being SO weird about this. I told her this is just what happens when you finish Fourth Wing and she said that's not a real thing and I said maybe she should read it then and now we're not speaking. Anyway her name is Violet.

FINAL UPDATE: I no longer experience time linearly. I exist only in the moment Violet and Xaden first- anyway. 12/5 stars. Start it tonight. Your mitochondria are waiting.

TLDR- why do you think most women are so obsessed with their 'book milkmen'?

For context, I'm new to the whole romantasy genre and honestly started listening to some audiobooks after some similar content popped up on my instagram feed and all the obsession about 'book milkmen' made me curious.

A thought that came to my mind recently that maybe this genre is so popular with most women is because these book milkmen seem to be manically obsessed with the female leads, are so loving and dreamlike and generally 'take care' of her in more ways than one. They are almost too good to be true and are really tapping into this need of being cherished and dare I say, worshipped. And don't even get me started on the urgent special deliveries.

Few of us in real life get that from our milkmen and life happens and you're in the daily grind wondering where the 'spark' went! But voila your book milkman is right there ready to go to any lengths just to make you happy 😜 I also don't know if it sets unreal standards for real milkmen if you start measuring them against these seemingly perfect imaginary guys.

I'd love to hear others' takes on this too! Thanks for reading if you made it to the end! 🫶🏻