u/corvid-claws

So, I’m a big fan of villain/hero love stories, but I seem to be quite picky about the kind that I enjoy. So I consistently find myself endlessly looking for something that fits my tastes. 😅 

To give you an idea of my tastes, here three relationships that I enjoy, though most are not from strictly romance books: 

— Hannibal Lecter x Clarice Starling (books and movies. Honestly an all time OTP.)

— Francis Dolarhyde x Reba McClane (Red Dragon, book and movie.) 

— Erik x Christine Daae (from Phantom of the Opera. I ship them in the novel and in most adaptations.)

Here are some villain/hero romance books I tried that didn’t do it for me:

— There Are No Saints by Sophie Lark. DNF’d when >!there was a non-consensual tattoo scene. I also remember being generally annoyed by the villain love interest.!<

— Vicious by A.J. Merlin. Finished this, but I just didn’t find the leads interesting or believable.

— Born, Darkly by Trisha Wolfe. DNF’d because I was pretty meh on the villain character. I might be willing to give this a try again, though. 

One villain/hero series that sort of worked for me: Some of the Magpie Rhyme books by Louise Collins, but I ended up not finishing the series >!because the villain ended up trying to kill the hero character kinda out of nowhere in the third book, which, imo, didn’t make sense with their relationship dynamic up to that point.!<

So, yeah. I’m in a bind because I’m so damn picky. 😅 Does anyone have any recs for a villain/hero book I might like? Recs don’t even have to be romance — they can be thrillers or horror novels with a romance subplot. I’ll even take recs without a HEA, though, per the sub rules, do note if a rec doesn’t have an HEA. :)

Het and queer recs are equally welcome! I’m mostly looking for modern settings with this request, but since it’s so niche, I’m fine with fantasy, scifi, and historical recs if you think they fit. :)

Hard nos are outright noncon between the leads. Some dubcob is fine. Books focusing heavily on pregnancy are very uncomfortable for me, so I would prefer to avoid those. 

Thank you in advance!

So, yesterday I finished Spread Me by Sarah Gailey and find myself hungry for more romantic or sexual/erotic horror. This is a pretty niche subgenre, so I’m not really sure where to start looking for more! 😅 

I’ll take recommendations for books that are horror with romance or eroticism, or romance books with horror elements. Since this isn’t a romance sub, I welcome recs that have a happy ending, as well as those with tragic endings. 

Here are some other pieces of horror media (books and movies) with romantic or erotic elements to give you an idea of what I’ve enjoyed before: 

— Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal (books and movies. Honestly, Hannibal x Clarice is one of my favorite villain/hero ships).

— Hellraiser (1987), and the novella it is based on, The Hellbound Heart.

— Nosferatu (2024).

— Warm Bodies (book and movie). 

— Exquisite Corpse. 

Other preferences: 

— I’m happy for recs that are het or queer!!

— The antagonistic force can be a human, a monster, an alien, or some crazy eldritch thing. I’m a monster romance enjoyer, so I enjoy a wide range of horror characters and creatures. :P

— Given that I enjoyed Exquisite Corpse, I am open to recs that get weird, uncomfortable, and that explore taboos, but I’m not really interested in books that are primarily just wall to wall abuse, rape, etc. So, I’m definitely not looking for something like Dead Inside. 😅 (I have not read it, but I listened enough of a recap to know it’s not for me.)

— Things that focus heavily on pregnancy border on triggering for me, but I can enjoy things that have a weird pregnancy metaphor, like the Alien movies (which is one of my fav franchises).

Apologies if this was too long or confusing. 🙏 Just wanted to cover my bases so no one accidentally recs something I wouldn’t like!

Quick disclaimer: I have absolutely no issues with standards of care increasing for reptiles. I think it’s great that more people in the reptile world are moving toward larger, naturalistic enclosures, and I think that’s what the reptile community should continue to move towards. I’m also not saying people should strive to just meet the bare minimum. 

And I’m not trying to stir up an online fight. I’m just interested in discussion. 🙂

Okay, so now to actually get into the post: So, last year, I was looking at the care guides for the species I keep since it had been a bit since I looked at them, and I wanted to see if anything had changed. I saw that the recommended enclosure sizes for bearded dragons and crested geckos had changed. After some thought and research, I upgraded my crestie’s enclosure. I’m glad I did! The new tank matches my other PVC enclosures, looks nicer than the old glass one, and my crestie seems somehow more confident in it. 

However, I’m not able to upgrade my beardie from 4x2x2 to the new 6x2x2 recommendation. I literally don’t have room to do so. Some might argue that this means I should rehome him, but I really disagree with that. I live in the U.S. in a state that has low welfare standards for animals overall. If I rehomed him, he would realistically end up in a smaller, more sterile tank than the one he is currently in. Am I a perfect beardie keeper? No, there are things I struggle with, like keeping his substrate bioactive and keeping his plants alive. But I work at improving the things I’m not perfect with. I think I’m a pretty good keeper. 

I’m willing to bet there are other people in the reptile community who are in a similar position to me, which leads me to ask the difficult question: What do you do when recommended minimum tank sizes continue to increase, but your average person can’t provide the new tank size? It’s honestly hard to get a lot of U.S. beardie owners to go from a 40 gallon glass tank to a 4x2x2 PVC tank. It would be even harder to convince someone to get a 6x2x2.

I don’t think pets are an inherent right, especially not exotic pets. But yeah, I don’t know, I guess I feel like the recommended minimum versus what is realistic for your average person who is otherwise providing good care is going to be an issue we might start running into more often as a reptile community. Again, I’m not against the community increasing its standards of care! And it’s great if someone can give their reptiles HUGE tanks. But I’m still interested in having a discussion about this topic.