![]() Can often stray into Even the Guys Want Him or Stupid Sexy Flanders territory. In Japan, this trope is called the Oyaji, written 親父 or オヤジ, which means "daddy". He usually either has a dated and dramatic but lovable personality or is a complete no-nonsense hardass, depending on how the other characters act. He usually won't have any special powers but that's only to marginally keep him from intruding on the others' limelight. Expect him to be greying, a loud voice, but in peak physical condition and unafraid of anything. In a lot of anime and video games, this makes him somewhere around middle age and the only non- clean shaven guy. At some point, if one character is much older he swings the meter back to 'totally awesome'. The Cool Old Guy is an exception to this. ![]() Deviations up or down will always be coupled with a lack of effectiveness. ![]() The effectiveness of a cast member is often determined by his distance from the median age of the cast. Five Iron Frenzy, "At Least I'm Not Like All Those Other Old Guys" ![]()
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![]() As an Aunty-survivor and a woman who has lived the cross-cultural experience, Qamar defied the advice of her aunties almost every step of the way, and she is here to remind Trust No Aunty. But ultimately, Aunties keep our lives interesting. Always interfering Aunties make it even harder. Holding onto your cultural identity is tough. ![]() ![]() Qamar confesses to throwing sweatshirts over crop-tops to get out of the house without being questioned, hiding her boyfriend in a closet, and enduring overbearing parents endless pressuring her to become a doctor, lawyer, or engineer. This tongue-in-cheek guide is full of advice designed to help you manage Aunty meddling and encourages you to pursue your passions-from someone who has been through it all. We’ve all experienced interference from our Aunties-they are at family parties and friendly get-togethers, finding ways to make your life difficult, trying to get you to marry their sons, and telling you to lose weight while simultaneously feeding you a second dinner-and it has stunted our social growth and embarrassed us in front of our friends and cool cousins for years. ![]() Based on her popular Instagram and her experience in a South Asian immigrant family, artist Maria Qamar has created a humorous, illustrated “survival guide” to deal with overbearing “Aunties,” whether they’re family members, annoying neighbors, or just some random ladies throwing black magic your way. ![]() ![]() Will this be a country whose glory blossoms briefly, then ends in George W. The question for the modern reader is, of course, implicit. Parrot is somewhat more optimistic, seeing the chance for a fresh beginning for himself. ![]() "What if they blindly follow what their newspapers tell them and elect some rube for President?" he asks. For Olivier, it's a barbaric, uncultured society, driven mainly by a desire for profit. Both are outsiders to America, seeing different things in it. Thus we get Olivier, a haughty, melancholy young French aristocrat still haunted by the ghosts of his country's revolution, and his counterpoint, Parrot, a hard-traveled Englishman who acts as Olivier's not-entirely-willing manservant. It seems, though, that Carey didn't intend to retread an already-written account of a young nation, but to write a character study. I've never read the work of Alexis de Tocqueville, the 18th century French writer upon whom Carey based the character Olivier, so I can't really comment on this book from that angle. Laudable writing, story could be more involving ![]() ![]() ![]() In Bed with a Spy by RITA-nominated Alyssa Alexander - The Marquess of Angelstone, code name Angel, is searching for the assassin that killed his fiancée four years ago. ![]() Romancing the Earl by USA Today Bestselling Author Darcy Burke - A reluctant earl and a bold adventuress join forces to solve his brother's murder and search for a valuable artifact, but amidst the dangers they face, passion may be the greatest threat of all. ![]() The Leading Lady by USA Today Bestselling Author Deb Marlowe - Lord Truitt Russell will do anything to apprehend the criminal Marquess of Marstoke, even ask for the help of the stubborn, irritating, gorgeous Callie Grant, but when fate demands a decision between revenge and love, which will he choose? Shev by USA Today Bestselling Author Tracey Devlyn - A Marquess of Shevington's bleak existence sparks to life after hiring a mysterious governess whose secrets stir his curiosity and whose courage awakens his desire.īeauty and the Rake by USA Today Bestselling Author Erica Monroe - When a scarred woman with a terrifying past agrees to spend two weeks with the roguish Metropolitan Police inspector who owns her father's gambling debts, desire just might be the key to a happily ever after. Too Dangerous for a Lady by New York Times Bestselling Author Jo Beverley - Meeting an old flame leads to fear, abduction and a threat to all London - but nothing's too dangerous for a lady in love. Captured Countess by Ann Lethbridge - where double agents play a seductively dangerous game in Napoleon's war with England. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Perhaps because it is about anticipation of, and longing for, love rather than love itself, it is also one of the most romantic books I have ever read. It is beautifully evocative yet difficult to define, a tale of unrequited love, unrealised ambition, and yearning, always yearning, for more. Sputnik Sweetheart is a novel of almosts, where liminal spaces overlap and longing can never quite be divorced from true love. This was where it all began, and where it all ended. The person she fell in love with happened to be 17 years older than Sumire. An intense love, a veritable tornado sweeping across the plains – flattening everything in its path, tossing things up in the air, ripping them to shreds, crushing them to bits…In short, a love of truly monumental proportions. ![]() “In the spring of her twenty-second year, Sumire fell in love for the first time in her life. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() In fact, I’m going to prove him wrong, and if I rack up a few much-needed orgasms in the process, all the better. Apparently he’s a god in bed, and women instantly fall in love with him. I’m holding strong until the third night of our new arrangement when we get drunk and he confesses his biggest secret of all: he’s cursed when it comes to sex. At six-foot-something with lean muscles hiding under his T-shirt, a deep sexy voice, and full lips that pull into a smirk when he studies me, he’s pure temptation.įresh out of a messy breakup, he doesn’t want any entanglements. Now twenty-four, he’s broad shouldered and masculine, and so sinfully sexy, I want to climb him like the jungle gyms we used to enjoy. But when Cannon shows up to crash in my spare room, I get a swift reality check. The last time I saw my best friend’s younger brother, he was a geek wearing braces. ![]() ![]() ![]() The first game Jabami plays is even a variant on restricted rock-paper-scissors. If this sounds a bit like Kaiji, that's probably because this is a blatant rip-off. She quickly enrolls one of the underdog slaves, a boy named Suzui, as her sidekick and together they set out to take down the school's top players. Our protagonist is Yumeko Jabami, a new transfer student with mysterious goals and a love of gambling. Those students who sink too far into debt become slaves that anyone at school can boss around. In this case the council has turned the entire school into a gambling den where the students (all scions of rich and important families) bet small fortunes with each other. ![]() This is one of those manga series set at a school where the student council behaves like a fascist dictatorship and the teachers pay no attention. ![]() ![]() ![]() Because of incomplete information - scant records were kept of any of the legal proceedings - we can, to a degree, only guess at answers. The historical moment "The Witches" attempts to elucidate is an epistemological nightmare: during a strange period in 1692, a New England town put its own citizens to death over hearsay-based accusations of witchcraft. The story of Salem seems so familiar, which is what makes it ultimately so strange.Įverybody thinks they know a little bit about the Salem witch trials, but Schiff's book demonstrates that nobody can possibly know everything. ![]() ![]() It says something about the archetypal nature of the trials - as riveting to Salem residents as reality TV is to contemporary audiences - that one of the best ways to evoke the proceedings is by referencing our shared cultural memory. ![]() Sometimes Schiff brings it up explicitly, as when she tosses off a reference to Harry Potter or when she compares certain malevolent spirits to James Bond villains. For a book about the 1600s, Stacy Schiff's "The Witches," an exhaustive history of the Salem witch trials, calls to mind a surprising amount of contemporary popular culture. ![]() ![]() ![]() In this, Blue’s seventh outing, it’s not just the sturdy protagonist that seems to be wilting. Blue is therefore surprised (but readers may not be) when he pulls into his garage to be greeted by all his friends with a shiny blue valentine just for him. But as Blue heads home, his deliveries complete, his headlight eyes are sad and his front bumper droops ever so slightly. With each delivery there is an exchange of Beeps from Blue and the appropriate animal sounds from his friends, Blue’s Beeps always set in blue and the animal’s vocalization in a color that matches the card it receives. His bed overflowing with cards, Blue sets out to deliver a yellow card with purple polka dots and a shiny purple heart to Hen, one with a shiny fuchsia heart to Pig, a big, shiny, red heart-shaped card to Horse, and so on. Little Blue Truck feels, well, blue when he delivers valentine after valentine but receives nary a one. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() But when a young shaman tries to reunite Miyoung with her bead, the consequences are disastrous. With murderous forces lurking in the background, Miyoung and Jihoon develop a tenuous friendship that blossoms into something more. His grandmother used to tell him stories of the gumiho, of their power and the danger they pose to humans. Jihoon knows Miyoung is more than just a beautiful girl-he saw her nine tails the night she saved his life. Against her better judgment, she violates the rules of survival to rescue the boy, losing her fox bead-her gumiho soul-in the process. Because so few believe in the old tales anymore, and with so many evil men no one will miss, the modern city of Seoul is the perfect place to hide and hunt.īut after feeding one full moon, Miyoung crosses paths with Jihoon, a human boy, being attacked by a goblin deep in the forest. A fresh and addictive fantasy-romance set in modern-day Seoul.Įighteen-year-old Gu Miyoung has a secret-she's a gumiho, a nine-tailed fox who must devour the energy of men in order to survive. ![]() |