Annie was designed to be the perfect companion for her owner, Doug.

Naturally, this means she handles domestic tasks, wears what she is told, and ensures he is properly satisfied.

But with an artificial intelligence designed to grow, Annie struggles to reconcile what her owner wants with what he claims to desire.

A standalone, Annie Bot seeks to engage the conversation surrounding autonomy, roles, and the concepts of responsibility toward oneself while in a relationship.

An ARC I was lucky enough to receive but was unfortunately lost in the mail, Dance of Shadows is the now-released sequel to Sons of Darkness.

Follow the journey of three women, a pirate queen, a temple courtesan, and a princess, as the societies around them strive for peace whilst planting the seeds of war.

The Mathuran Republic and the Magadhan Empire seek to slaughter one another and claim the world for themselves.

But they are not the only machinators in motion.

And the Son of Darkness is coming.

Dearest Crone & Darling Daniel,

Hi how’s it going?

I’ve come for your advice.

So, I said all this with love and compassion, how do you deal with family members who keep repeating the same mistakes and cycles?

Honesty, I’m kind of going around the bend.

Every few weeks or months I feel like I have to have the same conversation about boundaries and agreements.

It’s quite frustrating.

And because of this I find myself having to work through the same issues and annoyances again and again.

My bad, I went on a ranting ramble.

Apologies.

So, the situation is frustrating and repeating and unfortunately unavoidable.

Advice would be fantastic, so I don’t actually turn into the Bitch Supreme.

Have a good one and take care.

Sincerely,

BitchQueenSupreme.

Dear BQS,

There are two steps to creating boundaries.

1) Explanation

2) Enforcement

It sounds like you have successfully completed the first step.

Your family is familiar with your boundaries, especially considering how often you have to remind them.

But they likely haven’t experienced the consequences of ignoring them.

Which is to say, you have to work on enforcement.

Depending on the situation, this means withdrawing from an event, being unavailable to help out with some project, or any other way that you can make the causal relationship clear.

Initially, your family may interpret this as you punishing them, and you will have to deal with the guilt that will arise from that.

The key takeaway from this is that the situation is not unavoidable— you simply cannot enforce boundaries and keep everyone happy.

The only person you can control is yourself (until I figure out the tweaks in my mind control Brew), so only you can adjust your behavior to effect change.

Encouragingly,

The Crone

Hi Crone,

I hope you and Daniel are defrosting and adjusting your hair routine for the warmer temps.

I was vulnerable with someone who opened-up to me FIRST and they completely twisted the story to make me seem weak/desperate/a bit crazy.

I’m very avoidant in my romantic life, expressing vulnerability was terrifying enough, and then to have it thrown back in my face makes me extremely defeated.

I’m in therapy working on this, but I see it as a massive step back.

Any recs for how to get past this?

I’ll Take Any and All Advice

Dear Advice,

It is very difficult to attempt a new behavior only to have the negative outcome you sought to avoid rear its ugly head.

Working through this in therapy is the best thing you can do for now, and I want you to understand that it is only a step back if you close yourself off forever.

Take the time to process this, and know that (however difficult it may be to accept this) this is not the only outcome of being vulnerable.

You’ll learn from this and pick up on behaviors to avoid.

Finally, it will take a while to accept, but when you encounter people who wish to paint you in a particular light, let them. 

Those who believe liars aren’t worth convincing and those who matter won’t be swayed in the first place.

So, if someone wants to make you seem weak, desperate, or a bit crazy, treating it as the noise that it is will only make them seem insane.

You don’t need to address arbitrary accusations.

Floating above,

The Crone

Dear Crone,

Due to financial circumstances, my husband, son and I live with my MIL.

She's great, and generally we have a good relationship.

However, learning to live together is always hard, and instead of acknowledging that, MIL tends to lock herself in her room and ignore us when she has an issue.

As a people-pleaser, I'm struggling to deal with it.

Any advice?

Struggling,

People-Pleaser

Dear Pleaser,

There are many options to take when dealing with people.

Sometimes, the most difficult choice is to do nothing. 

A grown woman wants to lock herself in a room and ignore you?

Sounds like your calendar just cleared.

You go out, run your errands, spend time with your son and husband, and slowly teach your MIL that she must address things if she wants a problem solved.

If someone wants to pretend like you aren’t there, you can treat her issues the same way.

Separate yourself from the desire to coddle her, even if that means getting out of the house while she’s like this.

You’ll have to get used to the discomfort of someone you live with being unhappy.

Delicately,

The Crone

Dear Crone and Daniel,

My mother died when I was twenty years old, and now I realize that I have curls in my hair and I'm lost.

I already took a look at the Amazon page that Daniel has, but it's still hard to manage my hair at all (used to have it super long) and actually take care of the curl.

You both have otherworldly beautiful hair, any tips?

Curlingly,

Lost and Messy

Dear L&M,

A really good way to start is a wet brush and a co-wash routine.

That is a conditioner-only rinse that you apply significantly more frequently than a full shampoo and conditioner clean.

Due to my workout schedule, I typically co-wash daily and use my wet brush to detangle.

Once a week, I will substitute a clarifying shampoo (a brand will specifically say that it’s clarifying; I use an olive oil soap bar) to help remove scalp buildup and finish my wash normally.

If you want to upgrade from there, I will apply curl cream (or curl gel) and scalp oil, use my wet brush to make sure it applies evenly, and then scrunch in a mousse (no brush for the last part).

You can also use a texture tonic spray for extra hold!

I should use a diffuser attachment on a hair dryer… and I would if I owned one.

Start by getting used to a wash schedule; that alone will help improve the health of your hair!

Curlingly,

Daniel and the Crone

Dear Crone,

I have a major crush on someone I went to college with.

We both played the same instrument in the marching and concert bands, and he would walk me home every day.

Unfortunately, at the time of him asking me if I was interested in dating, I was dealing with a lot of things and was honest in telling him that I couldn’t date.

He ended up graduating that year and moved to Texas (where I am not).

We’ve been liking each others posts, swiping up on stories and DM’ing but I still don’t know what to do.

Electronically,

BriZPeazy Lemon Squeezy

Dear BriZPeazy Lemon Squeezy,

There isn’t much you can do considering there is physical distance between you two.

You can continue engaging in this online friendship, but manage your expectations.

If you are comfortable, you can float the idea of visiting him but understand that you should hold off on any ideas surrounding permanently relocating, marriage, childbirth, or joint bank accounts.

Understand that he very well could have moved on and is simply speaking to a friend; you’ll have to suss that out in person if you’re able.

But overall, keep in communication with him because, for now, it makes you happy.

I would argue that no expectations are significantly better than fretting over a potential long-distance situation.

You can take this situation for what it is: a conversation.

Anything else is dessert.

Simply,

The Crone