Favorite OTP Aesthetic: Dorina Basarab/Louis-Cesare de Bourbon
Favorite OTP Aesthetic: Dorina Basarab/Louis-Cesare de Bourbon
The Basarab Family
[Top]Dorina Basarab Appreciation Week – Free Day
The Basarab Family
Nobody ever said the family didn’t know how to hold a grudge.
Goddess by Comsat Angels
[Top]Chanceverse Graphics Request – Cassie + Song Lyrics for @windsurfingthroughhell
Goddess by Comsat Angels
And I fall every time
Goddess
She’s staring at the sky
Goddess
Almost a sacrifice
Goddess
Got nature on her side
Goddess
CtD, ch18-20
Time for another cvgr speed commentary, body swap edition. The body swap is definitely my favourite part of this book and possibly one of my all time favourite sequences in the entire series. I’d pay big money for Pritkin’s POV while he was in Cassie’s body (if only Karen was on Patreon or something …) because this whole thing is just so funny, so messed up and touching and weirdly sexy at times. Pretty much typical Cassie Palmer right?
– chapter eighteen – Cassie’s initial reaction to Pritkin in her body is pretty hysterical. “I sounded like a very pissed off little girl.” Pritkin’s reaction to being in the wrong body is probably close to what mine would be like – shocked, appalled etc. His accent staying more or less the same makes sense I guess? Accents aren’t necessarily ingrained at a muscle memory level, we can change them very easily. Him keeping any metaphysical abilities he has, like good shields etc also makes sense because we know they’re a mental manipulation of the body’s magic.
– chapter nineteen – much and all as I love that Pritkin kicks ass even when in Cassie’s body – why is it so hot when he shoots people?? I definitely have issues – I would question the fact that his hand-eye coordination seems to have transferred along with his spirit. Cassie’s aim is far to bad to take that many people out with that kind of precision, right? I guess they were in close enough quarters that it didn’t matter. Anyway, I like our introduction to Jonas Marsden. It’s appropriately off key. I also like the way KC prepares the way for important introductions like this long before they ever happen – in Jonas’ case, we’ve already heard about him back in CbS. This is why I never trust what seems like random rambling, or irrelevant details in these books because they always, always come back in some way. This chapter also features the usual top Casskin banter – their arguments about the coffee and the training sessions are so fricking married, like for real, get a room.
– chapter twenty – more Casskin marriedness, their every interaction kills me. Cassie rubbing Pritkin’s back while he gets sick is just so weirdly cute? I mean I know it’s a pretty gross situation, but that’s what makes it so couple-y, that rather than being grossed out at all by Pritkin throwing up, Cassie’s instinct is to take care of him. Everything they do HURTS ME. ALSO ALSO I am not the only one who thinks they’re acting like a couple because Jonas very obviously thinks they’re together, see how surprised he is when Cassie doesn’t want to share a bed with Pritkin. More reasons to love the body swap – the classic line, “No Miss Palmer, what is bizarre is that I currently have a vagina.” I’ve been laughing at that comment since 2009. But great and all as that moment is, nothing but NOTHING will ever top Cassie waking up in Pritkin’s body with a hard on. Her panic at the whole situation is so completely believable and entirely hilarious, but at that the same time, it’s a weirdly erotic scene. She’s just so aware of his body, it brings out her latent attraction to him: “He’d be strong” is so hot I might evaporate. Also, we should start doing a group read drinking game – take a sip every time Cassie describes Pritkin’s hands, take a shot every time she talks about how green his eyes are and finish your drink if she mentions his hair being soft and/or terrible. Or maybe we should not play that game, because it sounds like a quick route to alcohol poisoning. For real though, Cassie has SUCH a crush, it’s killing me. And to top it all off, Pritkin knows exactly what she’s suffering and he thinks it’s hilarious. What a little bastard, I love him.
Ok, SO I know you are in love with Pritkin. I get that. I’m all for anyone who connects with the story in any way. But I have a little bit of a different read on all this. SO rather than assume that everyone knows whats going on in my head, I’m gonna spell it out.
Cassie is a young woman. And despite the fact that she is pretty kick ass even from the beginning she hasn’t had a lot of experience with men. Remember, that her very first sexual experience is IN Louis-Caesar. and he was already, um, well very engaged in the sex act. The geis has made sure that she’s married and has to have a three way with two people- I just said that sentence three times and it still doesn’t sound right, before she has had a chance to find her sexual feet.
And Cassie didn’t start off in the “easy” dating pool-oh no she had to go for the biggest, baddest, most combustible men- First there’s Tomas, although he is pretty tame by comparison to the later love interests, he is a first level vamp, who was strong enough to play human for Cassie for 6 months and challenge the CONSUL of THE LATIN AMERICAN SENATE. And he is her first sexual partner, although its rushed and co-opted by Apollo. Then, there’s Mircea Basarab who has been the right arm of the Consul for a very long time-and it goes back to when he was a Prince in Romania. And if you read Masks, he trained to become a great lover of vampires.
And, John Pritkin is half incubus too. And he has had lots of experience before Rossier got his hands on her. SO for Cassie, this body swap is in many ways a revelation. It’s the first time that she has a sexual experience that is free of the heavyweights that are in her bed. She doesn’t even get to masturbate without participation with Mircea via his mind skills. And suddenly, shes in a male body. And she gets to explore it, without anyone else rushing her,
But even that gets ruined by Pritkin’s knowing smile and interruption. SO I look at it as more about Cassie. And damn does she deserve the time to learn about pleasure- although from inside one of the men is a little bit weird but hey it’s a pythia thing! And what I loved most about the whole body swap was the whole thing AFTER they got back to Dante’s. When Mircea kisses Cassie in Pritkin’s body….and the whole battle confusion and the run through the wild west and the way the body swap fucks Saunders up…
So that’s my two cents. Sorry if you don’t like it. Tell me where I’m wrong, ok?
[Top]Some Thoughts on Cassie
So, I got two of my friends who read the same kind of stuff that I do to start the Karen Chance books. And they, of course love them…But, they are working their way slowly though them. They have almost caught up to the reread. They obviously don’t compulsively read like I do. I swear to g-d text to speech was an evil invention. I used to have to put the book down to do things like brush my teeth, wash my hair, or cook. Now, I have headphones or a stupid bluetooth speaker. Although it does allow my children to get more regular meals that DO NOT revolve around Laurell K Hamilton or Karen Chance’s publishing schedule…
So, I keep getting these hysterical texts as things happen in the Cassie Palmer world. From random questions to OMG. And of late, I’ve been getting a lot of the OMG variety. They have gotten to the geis and the trip to Fairie. And then to the final duel with Dracula. And I found myself laughing last night at the following text:
OMG Bram Stoker was a Human Servant! WTF! Then, awww so the incubus waited all that time for Dracula? How sweet
My response to the last was Have you ever read Dracula? OK, not sure where I was going with all that…Just chalk it up to my random tangent
But back to my original message, or at least thought. Cassie is not a victim. Sometimes, we forget that she ran away at 14 and returned, of her own volition, to make Tony pay. And then lived in a house with Vampires while she worked tirelessly to destroy what Tony loved most: his money. And hid it. And then ran with government protection. She survived the death of her governess. and then ran successfully for three years. I gotta say, she’s got some chops. That’s at the beginning.
She’s got a voice and she learns to use it. Everyone wants control of her, but somehow, she ends up with a family that includes everyone from the crazy incubus Cassanova to Marco to Pritkin to, yes, Mircea! She takes the guards who come to her and makes them HERS. Cassie is never going to be Agnes. Agnes was raised in the system and a part of it. And her life was compartmentalized, even though she fell in love with her body guard, Jonas. and oh what a love that must have been- Ley line racing and trips though time. But when we see Agnes in other times, she’s alone. And a secret pregnancy to boot! Cassie knows how to hide. She knows how to run. She knows how to win.
Yes, she sometimes gets buffeted by the strong winds of the personalities around her. And remember, we are in her head. And sometimes we get her insecurities bleeding through. But no matter what comes, she copes as best she can. And that’s better than 99% of the population! She learns, she quietly assimilates. She fucking conquers! Her life is messy. I can’t see her making her life fit in boxes. I can’t see her without Mircea’s family, which is becoming hers. I have this image in my head of some of the mansions in Vegas. The really awesome ones that have every possible luxury and themed bedrooms. Almost like an MTV tricked out house for Real World. But I can’t see Cassie, Tami and the kids from the schools living quietly in the suburbs with a mixed security force of vamps and mages. I don’t know where I see her, but…
[Top]
[Top]Cassie Palmer Appreciation Week – Favorite Relationship
Cassie and Billy Joe
I call Billy Joe my guardian spirit, but that isn’t entirely accurate. He’s more of a pain in the ass who occasionally turns out to be useful
[Top]Just started a Cassie Palmer blog and need to know who I should be following. If you post a lot of Cassie Palmer content, like or reblog this so I can follow you!
[Top]John Pritkin Appreciation Week – Free Day
Pritkin + Aesthetic
“Pritkin might be a hostile son of a bitch, but he was a damn good guy to have in a fight.”