/wes/ - Western & Alternative Style

This was pretty big on tumblr back in 2015, but Andrew x Neil from All For The Game! The author is a fujoshi, and I think it's pretty interesting in that these two have an unconventional dynamic but we're still able to fall into a relationship. The plot just serves as background to allow everything to happen, but I'm okay with it in this case. It's a shame her new series includes gendies (they're background characters but still she makes one of the POV characters be unable to clock him despite not knowing about transgenderism), and so I've held off on it for now. I'm wondering if anyone here liked The Raven Cycle, Simon Snow, Captive Prince?

obligatory the secret history rec posting–it's my favorite. i haven't interacted with the fandom at all because they seem straight-up retarded, but the entire friend group in the novel is a bit sleazy and incestuous (lol). there is a canonical gay character but also everyone is essentially bisexual. otp is richard -> henry
even beyond this, it's a great read about a group of pretentious kids at an elite college who end up committing a murder. literally every other author who has tried replicate this same atmosphere has failed.

>>1405
i read captive prince back when it was free on livejournal, and i recently bought the published versions a few months ago. haven't had time to read them again, but i'm interested to see how they've been edited, if at all, for the market lol.

>>1405
I read the first book of the Raven Cycle and found it pretty boring, it felt like yet another YA series without much to it, though I can see the fujo appeal as most of the characters are male.
Carry On is pretty good, I had fun reading it, but I didn't feel like reading the sequel. It's basically just knockoff Drarry though.
>>1406
I read it a while ago but one of the things I remember about the Secret History is the writing style reminded me of classic novels, which I love. My fav scene was when the MC almost dies of hypothermia and gets saved by his friend, really tickled the whump lover in me.

Anyone here a fan of Ford/Arthur from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? I've been getting back into the ship lately, it was one of my first non-anime M/M ships. Unfortunately the fandom seems pretty much dead, I've been trawling through livejournal to find old fics. (I forgot how much I loved Ford as a character, he's so fun.)

Also, completely unrelated, but are there any recent book series coming out that captured your interest (not necessarily in a fujo way)? When I was younger I remember a ton like Percy Jackson, Artemis Fowl, Cassandra Clare, Six of Crows etc but I haven't heard of any big new series/authors lately. I feel like the only thing I see nowadays is het romance slop :/ .

>>1406
Ooo if you notice any differences please post it here! Considering the series already starts off with the tanned MC being enlarged + children working as prostitutes, I'm sure it may have been even less sanitized. But I would say it doesn't really seem woke and it doesn't feel like any of the issues are dealt with kiddy gloves on.
>>1410
That's fair kek, I know I struggled to get through it but the MC actually having a backbone and the promise of m/m got me through it.. and now one of the gays has his own series.
>but I didn't feel like reading the sequel
Oh Nona there's been a third book now, so I'm sure you'd like that even less. But me too! I liked the first book a lot, in general chosen one stories where the MC is fucked up about it are great. But yeah it is basically Drarry, but I don't like the direction the series takes with Simon's issues in the next two books. Book one implies Simon's issues are different than how they're explored in book 2 +3, and they decide to do some random character pairings then too that I felt were unnecessary.
>>1411
Dark Heir by CS Pacat was one I liked (by the author of Captive Prince) though the final book has yet to come out. I think "they both die at the end" got a m/m sequel but I can't attest to the quality of it (I also did not like the og book). TJ Klune has his werewolf series that some of my tumblr moots like ( I believe last year a new book came out focusing on one of the bg characters?) But yeah you're right for the most part i end up reading older m/m books because now they al have gendies or are written by self-hating fujos/fudans who feel the need to make it incredible realistic and sanitized.

>>1411
>Anyone here a fan of Ford/Arthur from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?
I used to ship them back when I read the series but I haven't thought of the books for years. Good luck uncovering buried fandom treasure!

When I was younger I was really into Darren Shan/Cirque Du Freak and I still think that is peak YA BL content. Good Omens was also one of my favorites, and I've been too afraid to watch the adaptation for fear of them messing with my beloved source material. As for recent stuff, admittedly the only things I really read nowadays are classics. Modern literary scene just doesn't have a lot that appeals to me. Fight Club is probably the most recently released thing I've read in the past year, it did have some underlying romantic tension, but YMMV.

>>1412
>Book one implies Simon's issues are different than how they're explored in book 2 +3
nta but could you elaborate more on that? I love the entire series and yeah I also don’t care for and basically just ignore all the side romances haha. I never cared for any Harry Potter ships funny enough. There’s so many HP inspired stories that I don’t really relate the two and Baz is definitely better than Draco imo