Fictional mums and dads can be excruciatingly embarrassing to their children. Here are some of the best examples.

 

 

Read more here.

Maybe this is something very common among slash writers, but I usually feel that there are people I don't want to read my stories, at all. It may be old-fashioned, immature or even unnecessary or it could be completely understandable - I don't know that many slash writers personally.

 

Anyway, here goes:

 

I don't want guys to read my stories. There. I've said it. A few actually have, and I haven't had any negative reaction so far, but also not a very positive one. Tactful is probably the word. They were curious, they were allowed to read a story. They probably didn't like it, but knew they'd asked for it and were polite. Fair enough. It just doesn't encourage me to show them any more stories.

 

One guy I know would probably like to read everything I've written eventually. He's nice. I like him. He is a graduate of gender studies. That probably means he has an interest beyond that of most 'ordinary' straight guys. I still don't want him to read them all, because you know, that would show him a pattern. Me writing slash stories more than 50 % of the time. It would feel a bit embarrassing. But as Janet Evanovich says about writing sex stories and letting someone know you read them: "Yes, it is embarrassing, get over it."

 

In fact, I try not to tell any guys I write slash stories, because you know - they usually wouldn't be interested. I had a gay friend who was slightly interested - he was mainly interested in his own business - not mine - but slash stories were at least mildly interesting to him, even written by a straight female. I suspect most gay guys wouldn't be, because we write slash 'by women for women' and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. With a close friend who's gay, I'd like to expect an understanding. "Sure, it's cool that you write those stories, for other women. Great idea, but it's not for me." You know, that sort of thing. More than that, just wouldn't be fair to expect.

This one may be so natural that everyone agrees with it: I don't want my mom to read any of my more 'adult' stories. Not that she's the least bit curious. If I've written a 'serious' story (that is, not adult) I will have to ask her nicely if she wants to read it, and then she usually does. That is, if she's not afraid it might be too upsetting, which of course is possible, even with a 'non-adult' story.

 

This reminds me of someone I got to know online, in fan fiction/slash circles. She worked as a web designer, that is made web pages for clients. That meant some clients wanted to see her own personal page (this was a long time ago). Also, her husband was very proud of her and told everyone he knew about his clever wife and her wonderful web pages and entusiastically handed out her URL to all his friends, without having read the stories on the page himself... So I told her we have another 'big' home page (the vegan one, but back then there was also a lot about many other things, that were totally unrelated). She thought that was a good idea, so maybe she made another web page, one that she could show to anyone, without being embarrassed. Not that anyone ever asks to see my homepages these days.

 

Of course, deep down, I'm not ashamed or really embarrassed. I don't see anything wrong with writing (good) stories about slash and/or straight sex. It's just like everything else - if you're interested in it and you do it reasonably well, why not? (Because you know, writing anything really badly, would be embarrassing in itself). But superficially, it does tend to get embarrassing when you run into people who don't understand at all.

 

If you write slash stories and/or 'het adult' stories, how do you feel about this? Would you show your stories to anyone who's interested? Or do you have a preference?

The third book in this hilarious series about a girl with a superembarrassing dad.

Though I have to say that she doesn't always handle stuff right either. Of course that is the goal of the book, to have a little girl overreact to her dad's things. Well, overreact... at times she did overreact, but generally I was totally agreeing with her on her dad. The things he does, the plans he makes. I do wonder about his brains at times. Not even thinking that something like that would be embarrassing to people, not even thinking about the consequences, but instead just doing what he thinks is good.

But in this one we also see a side of Nathalia I didn't like. I don't mind her being embarrassed, I love the punishments she gives her dad, I love how she tries to fit in, but the whole fame thing? I just wanted to shake that girl and get her back to her senses. At first she just did it for normal(ish) reasons, but that quickly changed and you saw that she changed to a fairly normal girl, to one with so much fame on her brain that it made her annoying.
Her friend Penny tried to tell her and show her that something wasn't right, but instead Nathalia waved her away and acted like Penny was the one being at fault. Instead Nathalia just plainly dumped Penny and went off with the popular crowd. A crowd she didn't even like that much, well, only for the obvious reason of climbing the social ladder.

Nathalia's way to fame was funny, really, nothing goes right. But, again, that is to be expected when you trust on Darius and your dad. Knowing full well how those 2 are, especially together. The one one who can handle those 2 is Nathalia's mom.

While she isn't around much, I really liked Nathalia's mom. I love how she can just glare at people and people will do whatever she wants. :) It is amazing.

There were lots of funny moments, and there is also a lesson that can be learned in this book. Don't let fame get to your head. See what is beyond that.

The animal house sounded like a place from hell. Especially with Simba around. But it fitted with Darius who was right at home. Poor Darius though, his family situation just sucks, and I can imagine why he ended up being the way he is now.

All in all, I am hoping there will be more books in this series, as I don't want this one to end. It is a fun series, and while at times a bit predictable, it is a series I will keep following. And I would recommend it to everyone.

Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/

Thanks again to Harper Collins Kids! I won this lovely book through a competition on Twitter. :)

4.5 stars out of 5.

This was just a wonderful book. It is about Nathalia and her very embarrassing dad.

Now I can hear you say this: Doesn't everyone have an embarrassing dad? Sure, but does your dad ride in a beat-down van, wear a clowns outfit to school, tell all the teachers (till they go crazy) about how pretty, awesome and wonderful you are, and makes decisions for you about things. And did I tell you about that birthday party, where everything went apocalyptic wrong? Or that one time you ended up in a tree? Or Belgium? Or his embarrassing act while he is djing?
Well say hello to Nathalia's dad. He is all that and way way more. You will cringe your way through this book.

At times I was just so sorry for Nathalia, and she tried her best to send hints to her dad, but to no avail, he would just laugh, see the sunny side to things and then continue with the demolition course he set. :)

Nathalia doesn't only have her dad to worry about, her last name is also a cause for concern. Yeah, Bumole, which if you look at spells almost Bumhole. A very embarrassing name to have for one who is in school (though I am sure later at work there will be laughter about it too).

Nathalia was a really great kid, though at times I was wondering about her intelligence, she didn't seem that smart and made some pretty dumb remarks I wouldn't expect a kid of that age to say.
I did love how she tried to make friends, she tried to ditch the terror of the school, but no matter what she tries she likes being with him the best. Yes, even if he picks his nose, talks about poo, like poetry about poo and is a general terror to everything. Of course she wants some girls as friends too, and luckily she finds someone.

That dad, my gosh, I was truly cringing, laughing and shaking my head at the things he did. But I still liked the dad. He was honest and hardworking and did his best for Nathalia (even though he destroyed more than he did right).

The whole book is a rollercoaster of fun, bums, puns and hilarious situations. There are also some illustrations that make the book way more fun.

And what did I see at the last part? We will get more Nathalia books? Yes, yes, and more yes please!

Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/

"Embarrassing True Stories" is a collection of different experiences, from different people around the world. The topics vary as do the messages from those stories.

The short topics are well edited and well written. Some are funny, while others border on poor toilet humor, or worse. It is definitely adult-themed. Interspersed are hand-drawn comics intended to lighten the mood of the reading.

In exchange for my honest opinion, I received a free copy of this book.