Timothy M.

I love the shoebox scene. And Bauer now knows and trusts Wini enough to ask her directly for the long cherished wish of a joint photo. The baseball card explanation does indeed shed a much nicer light on Bauer's uncle. Mr. McIntyre may turn out to be a good dad for those times. Mr. May is a wonderful man, he asks Wini to stay. I hadn't thought about the importance of electric lights, but now it's obvious. The scene with the Union Man was wonderful, the mutual respect is something we could all learn from.

I applaud yoor kind readers for trying to find excuses for Constance. But to me she has no redeeming qualities. I bet she holds his parentage against Bauer - as if it's his fault his mother got pregnant. But then I wonder - did Mr. McIntyre tell her about his sister? Would he really want to expose her to the scorn of a narrow-minded sister-in-law. Wini was not nearly hard enough on that b... - she should have said: "Well, that's assuming this particular woman has enough kindness and heart in her to create such a home. Otherwise perhaps we should rather have pity for the poor man marrying her - and any children as well." And then smiled gently at mr. McIntyre. At least this should convince her Bauer should never be saddled with that dreadful woman. Let her finish baling those plans, please. The one she did come up with regarding the photos was a good one.

It will be such a relief to be over the rush and the other ridiculous frat stuff, so Corbin and we can try to sort out his fucked up love life. Although I do enjoy Dom getting fucked over by the pretend-submissive power-bottom. I can see my predictions from ch.31 more or less came true. Corbin did break Nick's heart, but at least PEP (Pete the English Penishead) didn't worm his way back into Corbin's good graces. Who does he think he is to make such an unfounded accusation? I'm not surprised Corbin was furious and hurt, and I hope he does manage to stay away from PEP and ignore him, even though he had doubts even as he walked away. Or at least makes him grovel and apologize and admit he's the jealous one, before he even considers speaking to him again. I miss Mike...

I suppose Wini did her best to make up for the disappointment by giving Bauer a picture of herself as well as the postcard. It surprised me she did not see the request coming but even more that she didn't honor it after Bauer 'owned up.' Was this because she didn't think it proper to pose with the child when she wasn't a relative? Or was it because she worried about planting ideas in his head, such ideas as she has barely formed in her own mind yet? I hope Bauer will get his wish fulfilled at a later time. Interesting to see how women at that time feared their thirtieth birthday as much as it is the case today too. Even a successful and clever woman like Wini doesn't like to be reminded and certainly doesn't want any teasing. I head this story once of a woman who were bemoaning her wrinkles, and her five-year-old son was the only male to hear. He did not try to flasely assure her, she hardly had any wrinkles at all. Instead he said: "But, Mummy, I love your wrinkles." Now that's a real compliment. The store tales shape in our heads along with the story. We feel the tension and the mixed regret / relief at the postponed opening. So do we feel about the upcoming excursion where Wini will once more come face to face with the gnarly prune and his sour lemon.

I guess Darlene is nicer than Jade but she still another pushy girl making Dorian's mind up for him. If Wes prefers Dorian with long hair, then Dorian might regret his haircut. Oh well, at least it grows back out. And what's this with Dorian always shouting or shrieking whenever someone suggest something he finds outrageous? I thought he didn't like to call attention to himself. I'm glad Dorian has found someone caring to be his mother(-in-law).

How cool - you managed to post this on Sammy's birthday ! Was that planned or luck? Somehow I have the feeling Oli and Boris live in the same world as Bay, Kieran and those guys.

LOL, I wondered where that came from too, Gary. Perhaps Dark took a peek into the COTT forum at the wrong moment and got caught up in the craziness. And I'll have to go back and check: did I really spell shifter without an H ? - I can't wait till we can edit reviews.

Oh man, Parker will get his ass kicked when Jacob gets hold of him.

So now we know what disappeared meant. Very cool, even if Jacob didn't quite think things through. I wonder if he's not the first escaped boy the taxi driver has picked up. He'll be surprised when he arrives and finds Josh and the others waiting for him.

Tillykke med fødselsdagen ! Happy waving of Danish birthday flags (How are your twins doing? Mine are yelling for attention...)

At first I was all at Robbie drinking so much beer, but it actually turned out to be a good idea to get drunk in relation to Fran. It made her protective and motherly, which is a better look on her than bitchy and vindictive. Of course, the payback will be coming, and I'm not only talking about the hang-over.

Hmm, so Tobyn hates change - and the chapter title is Nothing's Written in Stone. No wonder the poor guy is reeling. He meets a guy and is instantly attracted, and now his girlfriend gives him the Talk. Tobyn had it all planned out: he would go on a lonely quest, come back with the perfect cure to the Malaise, marry Tilly, and father lots of children. Was he prepared for all those plans to be blown up? Nope, and if he's as stubborn as Adelin says, he's going to have a hard time adjusting. Kellar is told by Adelin to be prepared fot Tobyn to be upset, and of course he wonder what that means. My gut feeling was Tilly has very kindly told him what Adelin hinted at: that Tobyn's feelings for Kellar are pretty obvious and she loves him like a sister. I bet he wasn't prepared to hear that. Oh and a guess at the unhead words Tilly said to Kellar: "Please take good care of him." Now that can be written in stone already.

The more I think about the title Collars the more ominous it seems. Not only because of the scary story from the past about shifters being collared by silver, but because it might apply to the present too. Tobyn and Kellar are wearing collars, some made by Fate / the Eart Mother and some of their own making or that of people around them. Here's a list, hope I get all of them: Earth mates - and that comes with an invisible leash binding them together according to Sybil. Trying to be apart may choke them. Healing ability - and this only got tighter with Kellar knowing his heritage. Duty to the pack - Tobyn carries two of those, one being the task they have given him to find answers and one of his (and Tilly's) making about having children. Tobyn's 'engagement' to Tilly, although it's more of a mutual agreement right now, and not formal as far as I can see. Friendship and respect and honesty. They are both doing their best, but at times those collars are hard to wear. Sexual attraction - here the analogy gets a bit far-fetched, but neither of them can help imagining making love. Would Tobyn even be able to be with Tilly without thinking of Kellar? The Malaise - this one impacts everyone together with the fear and the isolation the pack has chosen for safety's sake. Now the game faces were pretty much on during all of their interactions, so there's no need to elaborate. Yet, this game they are playing is bloody serious. It's about Life and Love and Loss (of Liberty). Let's hope they win in the end.

Time to get caught up with my reviewing. So, Questions and Revelations are the main themes of this chapter. Of course, the most interesting part is the earth mates discussion and the way Sybil and Kellar soon reach a mutual understanding on this topic. I wonder if Tobyn would have taken Kellar to visit the seer if he knew what their main topic of conversation was going to be. Something he doesn't believe in may be about to kick him in the balls. Anyway, there's been lots of comments about this topic, so I'm going to focus somewhere else. First, the revelation about the healer blodline. Not surprising I guess, since such abilities rarely come out of nowhere. I think Kellar will have to comtemplate this matter a lot more, when he doesn't have so much on his mind in relation to Tobyn. I wonder if he asked the question about humans as mates because he's thinks one of his parent might have been one? Perhaps not so likely, since there were no records of either of them. Or perhaps it's related to the problem of inbreeding which I'm sure he has as one theory for the Malaise and Sybil's observations tended the same way. Another thing was Sybil trusting him with the story of her lost earth mate. It's obviously not well-known in the pack, perhaps because Sybil prefers not to revisit the pain without good cause. Or maybe, they don't want to hear about what they cannot have, and particularly with such a tragic outcome. One question Kellar might have asked was whether her ability as a seer manifested soon after her loss? It's also interesting how she suddenly feels a stirring in her powers after being in his presence. I wonder if she'll get a vision and what? And finally, Kellar told her he would keep searching for answers (for all those questions) and since that's what Tobyn is doing too, they might as well help each other. Particularly when being apart might be harder than they thought... That revelation points ahead, eh?

Yup, that was pure Leo. Nice to see he has the power to force Avery's hand. So now Dorian should stop whining about not wanting to use his connections and his name, because he just did and the results were good. I would be pleased if Dorian starts spending his free time sitting at Wes' bedside rather than with Jade and his other pushy friends. Even if Wes seems to be somewhat silly too with his pretend boyfriend. He and Dorian can be silly and sappy together.

Uhm, Ginny invites him for Christmas dinner and David accepts? She must care as little for his family and Christmas traditions as he does. Or will he be done with the family celebration of Christmas Day by 3 pm? So what if David had sex with Donny? Twoey has had sex with Eric, so now neither of them are virgins. Doesn't prevent them from recognizing their love or becoming boyfriends, if David ever gets his shit together. A big IF, though... After his stupid alcohol stunt, I don't care if Donny gets his heart broken. Plus it shows he does not care about David as a person, only his own needs. And he got what he wanted, so that should be enough. The one thing I didn't like was David's thought after sex: Clearly I had just experienced the most intense feeling of my life! No, Stupid, that was when you met Twoey and fell in love.

LOL, dragon, I was wondering if anyone would mention our favorite hate-and-rant person from TW. I'm still trying to decide whether the balls of steel namesake was a compliment.

From this description of the Card brothers it's pretty clear why Cory went missing at Christmas. His stupid middle brothers happened then Connor took Cory's side, and the family split down the middle, Especially if Cory's dad turns out to be the person jt thinks he is from the cat comment. So perhaps Cory is with Connor? That would be better than him being on his own. But Efrain may freak out when he comes back to college and doesn't find him.

Thanks, AC. Yeah, Nelson can do anything for the boyfriend he's happy and proud to be with. LOL, Eugene may be young compared to us, but he's a few years older than Nelson. I think your observation about Pat is spot on. She was pleased to see Eugene's immediate and natural greeting of his team mate.

Tillykke med fødselsdagen ! Frantic waving of Danish birthday flags and a dragon SATW

I feel such sadness for all of them. Ryan, Luke, Elliot - and for Luke's family. I know why people have a hard time accepting Ryan's death and may not forgive you for it, but storywise it makes sense. Alexis didn't hesitate to shoot the cops because he had already stepped over the line and committed murder. But guess what: I think Ryan would prefer this outcome to one where Luke didn't survive. Still devasting when we were all hoping for a better outcome Many of us like Ryan better than Luke (and some of us like Simon better too), and I'm not the least bit surprised about Luke's reaction and his feelings of guilt. Unlike Simon, who was a victim, Luke has indeed been a coward and not a good friend to Ryan. However, some of the blame resides with his parents who in spite of being caring and loving have failed to instill trust and belief in their sons enough for them to come out to their family. In a wider sense the blame rest squarely on bigots like Ryan's father and the principal and a society where teens cannot be open about their preferences without facing harassment and hate. The worst part is Luke pushing Elliot away and he will probably go into depression. I wonder whether his parents will have learned from Simon's struggles and get him a therapist. At least in Luke's case it's pretty obvious he has had a traumatic experience, so perhaps they'll be sensible. Else Simon hopefully kicks their butts. And I hope Luke's guilt over his brother will mean he cannot shut Simon out. Now of course there are still lots of unanswered questions: What did the papers write? When will the police interview Luke and will his parents be there? Will he tell the truth about being gay or will he lie and say Ryan came out and Alexis mistakenly accused his best friend due to this? Will he tell his parents and / or Simon the same tale? What about Ryan's grandparents? Of course further ahead I wonder what will happen when he goes back to school? And will he realize Elliot is the one person who is able to understand him and the loss he has suffered?

Hmm, I'm wondering if Doug did it to make amends for all his years of bullying. Perhaps he's finally ashamed of who he had become, not because it was Neil, but simply because he's had to face the fact he was like Josh and everyone thought that guy was nasty. It was a shame Doug left before Neil could alert Ty, I think he deserved to get the approval of the brat - who might also have understood what it's like to face up to some uncomfortable truths about yourself and struggle with changing your behavior and the way people see you. Interesting how Ross never realised that Andrew would be terrified about being approached by Wu and his girlfriend. If Lauren had convinced Wu about her theory of if she had decided to talk to Ross and say anything, he would have reacted the same way first. But it all turned out for the best and I liked how Ross is passing the good deed of the Leopards forward. He's seen the benefit of a support system of people who know his secret and he's extending his hand to Andrew, even if he doesn't tell him the whole reason why. I was also very pleased with Deon's suggestion and I hope it will happen. It was fun to see Ollie and Zach challenge the class mates of Neil and Liam on the matter of not approving of them kissing. Very subtle

awww, thanks glittery On the positive side, someone posted a suggestion on Facebook to take a plastic bag with you when you Poké-Go in nature, and pick up rubbish at the same time. That way you're doing something useful too.

Jay, I agree David didn't tell Emily about Rain letting it slip, but I'm seeing that as more of an omission to be kind to both Rain and Mike. He wants Mike to feel he was successful with the surprise, and for Rain to stop feeling bad about his faux-pas. In any case, doing the party doesn't make up for not getting in touch with David after the job interview to hear how it went, or come home as promised and that was what David was upset about. I think it was a tactical error by Mike not to tell David about the party, because then he would not have expected them to go out and celebrate in the evening, and he would have been less upset and drunk, but he would still have felt ignored and disrespected and that was what he was talking to her about.

I finally caught up with this story after you posted chapter 8. I think I initially shied away from reading because jealousy is probably the one human feeling I cannot relate to at all. But so far it has not really been of importance, except for Mike lashing out at the party, so I'm enjoying this well-written love story. However, I wish I hadn't read the prologue, and I'm doing my best to forget about it. I think it gives the story too much of a pessimistic tone. Without it this would be a story about relationship problems due to lack of communication. Mike and David are both making mistakes, but they do love each other and want to be a couple, and indeed they are good together. So I would prefer to be able to hope they can sort things out. Anyway, I found it interesting to read all the reviews before mine and the subtle shifts in opinions about David and Mike. I don't think David is being unreasonable at all. We see his honest reactions and thoughts, including the times he chides himself for maybe getting or doing things wrong. But even if he whines in his own head, he is outwardly supportive of Mike. On the other hand, I certainly don't believe Mike is cheating or ignoring David on purpose. He is simply under huge pressure at work and he won't admit how badly it's affecting his relationship. That's why I think he needed the wake-up call of David's outburst to get his mind set right. I honestly believe Mike wants to give love priority over his career if he has to choose, but so far he hasn't understood the danger. Contrary to most readers I also found Vicky's relationship advice and comments about Rain spot on. David needs to talk about these issues, and without Brady there he's floundering. Vicky is doing her best to guide David through the potential scenarios, which I think is helpfu even if also painful. Even admitting he's attracted to Rain is better than denial; I noticed how it lead to an immediate avowal of his love for Mike, and Vicky's delight in his reaction. She is not trying to stir up trouble, and if she is the one to say the 'bad' stuff, David gets to refute it - which is harder if he's the one painting matters black. Her point about it being a bad sign that David does not know what's going on with Mike's work, I saw as a subtle criticism of David not asking and showing enough concern in the past months (of course he was also dealing with being laid off), and less as her saying Mike is hiding something. And as everyone else have said, her advice of talking with Mike was solid gold. I don't think Rain is deliberately trying to get in between David and Mike. I bet Rain feels lonely and homesick and perhaps a bit trapped in his current relationship, which he doesn't want to give up, since his new circle of friends has come via his girlfriend. He is envious of their relationship as compared to his own shaky one. I bet he's bi and loves to flirt (especially when alcohol has loosened him up), but at first he pays attention to both men in equal measure. If they had been in a good place (which I think he assumed was the case until ch. 8), they would probably have had fun talking about how attractive Rain is and how it's sort of nice to be hit on by a guy like him. They would then have made love and confirmed their mutual affection was better than anything Rain could offer. Instead, David feels upset and guilty about how he reacts to Rain in spite of the fact he has never even entertained the idea of doing anything about it. I noticed he didn't jump on the chance to play racketball with Rain, he has done nothing to follow up on the offer to met to practise Estonian, he likes seeing Mike and Rain bond over comics, and he's uncomfortable with Rain's flirting. If David ever got together with Rain, it would only happen after Mike had killed their love and relationship with distrust and jealousy. You cannot help your feelings (of attraction), but you can decide what to do about it. So far all David's decisions have been focused on how to work things out with Mike and deal with his anxiety. OK, enough for now, I shall endeavor to leave chapter reviews from now on.