I received my first vaccination two days before I found out I was pregnant and my second shot in the middle of my pregnancy. My vaccine-hesitant father (he’s since had one shot) was horrified that would put myself and my baby at risk that way, but he had the decency to only express those feelings to other family…

Not just you. I’ve been wondering for a while if the ownership is trying to quietly sweep Jez under the rug while still running their more profitable/less controversial sites (AV Club)

My then-best friend who helped plan and execute our big-but-casual wedding just a week before Covid lockdowns began threw a tantrum during the reception and tried to give me an ultimatum (twice) about one of the other attendees. I told her we would talk about it later as I wasn’t discussing her drama while I was…

Hey Megan! I’ve noticed that a few Dirt Bag roundups, including this one, have been missing the tag, which makes them harder to find for us die-hard readers. I didn’t complain when the site header link for the column was removed (you do you, Jez) but having them tagged properly means I can find with a simple search.…

If the Instagram account @siblingsordating has taught me anything, it’s that the more blood-related a couple looks, the stronger their bond is. The fiance looks like Grande’s double so I think they’re in it for the long-haul.

I remember one winter where the heating went kaput on one side of the hallway so they cranked the heat up on the other side. The pipes were groaning and moaning. My side was tropical, with everyone in t-shirts, while the other was still frozen. RIP ancient school wing!

I think it might be the school on Knight St, near 49th, where they just built a new structure. There’s a wooden school building, a multistory brick school building (that reminds me of the school from Matilda) and then the brand new school. I always wondered if they used the wooden building for classes or if it…

This drives me bonkers because I read the morning and evening DBs together using the tag. I hate having to hunt down my celebrity trash news!

Jenny Slate came out with her first literary collection this year (which was fairly well-received) so there are actresses getting into fiction and not just the inevitable celebrity memoir.

She and Kunis had oodles of chemistry in Black Swan!

For those of you that think this isn’t a big deal, it is. Amazon has publishers over a barrel and demands such deep discounts and ridiculous shipping terms, it’s like a hostage situation. I worked for a book distributor previously; the books were being sold to Amazon basically at cost and then you got fined if you…

Is there a reason why the evening Dirtbags are no longer getting tagged as such? It makes searching for my double-dose of gossip round-ups in the morning way easier when that gets done!

I love how their friendship is depicted! In fact, all the female relationships in Spindle’s End are beautifully written, to the point that the romances definitely come second. All the women love each other so deeply, whether in the maternal ways of Aunt and Katriona for Rosie, or the bond between Rosie and Peony.…

Any word on if/when this is available in Canada? Hulu doesn’t stream here without a VPN.

Don’t forget the fire witch, Shiara, in book four!

Spindle’s End was my favourite of hers too! But then I was always a sucker for witchy protagonists, like Aunt and Katriona.

The Improper Princess sub-genre was my bread and butter as a preteen/teen: Tamora Pierce, Robin McKinley (Spindle’s End was always my favourite of her fairytales), Patricia Wrede, Gail Carson Levine, and on and on. I wrote many of my own (poorly-written) fairytale retellings too, although it was usually the witchy…

My summer reinvention was a reluctant and failed one.

Me too! My partner took over my stick and seems to be having no issues but I got the lumps badly!

Just read it at your suggestion and it was fantastic. Overnight train travel really sounds like a suspension of reality!