Flash book reviews for the last three months

 I am soooo behind on book reviews ugh. Comment or DM me for trigger warnings and more info.

 

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen - K.J. Charles is an insta-buy author for me, so I snapped up this ebook when it went on sale. This is a Regency historical romance with plenty of action and suspense, and I couldn't put it down. A baron who recently inherited his title and estate in Kent learns that the local smuggler chief was his anonymous hookup back in London. There's a lot of friction between them as they parted on bad terms, and the baron almost testifies that he saw the smuggler chief's sister smuggling, but they can't stay away from each other. They go on cute bug-finding dates in the marsh and have to team up to save each other's families from bad men. While not related to KJC's other regency romance series, the theme of healing from childhood trauma is also present. I thought it was interesting that the smuggler chief's grandpa was a formerly enslaved man from the US.  ★★★★  🌶🌶🌶

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibberts - I've had this author's books on my mental to-read list for a while since a lot of bookstagrammers said they were really good. Despite my initial surprise that the book is set in England and consequently all of the characters are English, I was sucked in and devoured this book.  Chloe goes through a near-death experience (a car almost hits her on her hot girl walk) and she consequently decides to change up her whole life, since when it flashed before her eyes, it was really boring. She makes a list of things to do, like camping and 'meaningless but thoroughly enjoyable sex'. After her apartment building's hot super, Red, helps her get out of a tree while rescuing a cat, she enlists him to help her go through her list 👀 He's down bad for her so he agrees. Chloe is chronically ill, hence not having done many things in her life, and Red has trauma from his last rich upper-class girlfriend (which Chloe is, uh-oh) being horrible and classist to him. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a romance novel this much! This is definitely a kicking-your-feet-and-giggling book, but with a good amount of depth. I need to read the rest of the books in this series, which are about Chloe's sisters. ★★★★.5  🌶🌶🌶

 

I reread How to Keep House While Drowning since, well, guess. It's just as good and helpful as ever. I last flash-reviewed it here. 

I also reread The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet by Bernie Su and Kate Rorick since I rewatched the webseries for the first time in a decade. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it! The webseries (really a transmedia series, as the characters also tweeted and used various social media to add to the story) is a really fun modern retelling of Pride & Prejudice. This book is the book version of that webseries, as Lizzie's actual diary, and it goes through the same stories as the webseries, with more behind-the-scenes stuff that didn't make it into the YouTube videos. For instance, Lizzie's tour of San Francisco with William and Gigi Darcy is described. It's such a great retelling that left me with a warm and fuzzy feeling, but I suspect someone who's never seen the TSDoLB webseries wouldn't be getting the same story out of it. I still recommend it, though. ★★★★

Queerly Beloved by Susie Dumond - I got this book from the thrift store. It's set in Oklahoma in 2013 (aka before gay marriage equality). Amy is a lesbian and a baker who is in the closet at her Christian baker job. Somebody outs her and she gets fired, so she starts working as a bridesmaid-for-hire since she loves wedding romcoms and is great at problem-solving. She also meets this cute lesbian engineer, Charley, but their dates are really sporadic due to Charley's demanding job, and Amy isn't sure where they stand. There's also friend drama and ex drama, and Amy struggles with her people-pleasing tendencies, being closeted at one job while bartending at the queer bar as her second job, and being true to herself. This book was not as fluffy as it looked, and there is tension with Amy having to go through lots of straight wedding drama while being unable to marry herself (hang in there Amy! 2015 is so close!). I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it. ★★★★  🌶🌶

Women's Hotel by Daniel M. Lavery

I bought this during Barnes & Noble's half-off sale since I had a giftcard. Here's the summary; this book is about the residents of a women's hotel, the Biedermeier, in New York in the 1960s. There's not much plot, and the chapters are loosely connected. Lavery has that retro chatty informative tone down perfectly, and he's an excellent writer. While I enjoyed this, a lot of the women's stories were anywhere from a little to very sad, and the last story is rather horrible (the epilogue softens it). I'd recommend this to anyone who likes reading slice of life stories, mid-twentieth-century books, and how New York was in the past. I'll give this away due to lack of shelf space. ★★★★

Book Review: Oathbound by Tracy Deonn

 my book reviews for books 1 & 2 in this series

If you have not read the first two books DO NOT read this review, it's spoilery

Severed from the Legendborn. Oathbound to a monster.

Bree Matthews is alone. She exiled herself from the Legendborn Order, cut her ancestral connections, and turned away from the friends who can’t understand the impossible cost of her powers. This is the only way to keep herself—and those she loves—safe.

But Bree’s decision has come with a terrible price: an unbreakable bargain with the Shadow King himself, a shapeshifter who can move between humanity, the demon underworld, and the Legendborn secret society. In exchange for training to wield her unprecedented abilities, Bree has put her future in the Shadow King’s hands—and unwittingly bound herself to do his bidding as his new protégé.

Meanwhile, the other Scions must face war while their Round Table is fractured, leaderless, and missing its Kingsmage, as Selwyn has also disappeared. When Nick invokes an ancient law that requires the High Council of Regents to grant him an audience, the Order’s Merlins imprison him. No one knows what he will demand of the Regents…or what secrets he has kept hidden from the Table.

As a string of mysterious kidnappings escalates and Merlins are found dead, it becomes clear that no matter how hard Bree runs from who she is, the past will always find her.

I was thoroughly sucked in by the first two books in this series (reviews linked at the top) so obviously I had to read the next book when it came out. My Libby request for the Oathbound ebook was finally granted half a month after it came out, and I read it in a day. Literally why did I think this was going to be a trilogy? Basically nothing is wrapped up or resolved! This series is going to kill me. This book differs from the first two in that it's told from alternating points of view, not just Bree's POV.

Oathbound picks up immediately where Bloodmarked ended: Bree has stupidly just made a bargain with the Shadow King (who is also pretending to be a very high-up Merlin in the Legendborn Order), and it turns out that she's bound to him AND he erased her memories of everyone living that she's ever known. Has this wench never read a single work of fantasy? You don't make deals with demons! My god.

Anyway, we meet some new characters, including cambion twins (a Black teen? trans girl and cis guy) Zoelle and Elijah, and Sel's mom???? who is trying to help her son, who if you recall is like nearly fully demon now after sucking up Bree's magic root (not a euphemism). Bree's friends are trying to find her. Nick, who has been imprisoned by the Order, makes them let him go on a quest. Bree has to go on a heist into another demon's mansion; this dovetails into Nick's quest and they meet up accidentally and have to pretend to be an engaged couple who are guests at the demon's auction event party. Bree doesn't remember Nick but he obviously does and they have to share a bed and there's tons of sexual tension. Oh and there's missing Black girls who have root powers; naturally the authorities don't care but Bree knows she needs to find them and save them from whoever is probably stealing their root. And of course Bree has to figure out how to get herself free from the Shadow King and get her memories back.

Some spoilery stuff I want to talk about (highlight to read): 

Sel's mom runs into Bree (she of course does not recognize her), and just from her standing 2 feet away from her, Sel is able to get a whiff of Bree's scent off his mom and goes ferallllll. reaction gif  I was initially not fully on board with this ship (I hate love triangles) but like JFC I am living

Remember the Only One Bed stuff? Once they're done with the quest/out of the demon's house and back with Bree's friends who have the magical underground railroad safety house, Bree and Nick end up hooking up (I think?) on the roof of that house. Girl and guy. You were just in a really swanky mansion room with an expensive king bed. I know you weren't *there* yet mentally but that would have been way better then doing sex stuff on the roof of your friends' house. Yikes. 

Poor Alice :(((( She's my favorite besides Bree and Valec, and I picture her like if Paris and Lane from Gilmore Girls were one person. In Bloodmarked she was struck hard by King Arthur!Bree (he possessed her) and was like on the brink of death, and Bree let the Shadow King kill Alice to get her (Bree's) memories back DDDD: my shaylaaaaa 😭😭😭 I hope she doesn't actually die; I love her and Bree has lost too many people already!

That ending! Sel is the son of the Shadow King??????? He (SK) must have pretended to be/took over Sel's human father's body! WTFFF

Also how do we think the love triangle is going to play out. I know that's not the most important thing (Bree's health and safety is) but I have no idea. I feel like Nick is endgame, but Bree x Sel is so compelling. idk.

Anyway, read this series and scream about it with me. I am not okay lol

Score: ★★★★ out of 5 stars  (like still really good but too sad and scary for more stars)
Spice score: 🌶 I guess? maybe half a chili
Read in: April 15
From: Amazon via Libby via my public library

Tropes: all the previous tropes I listed, evenly matched battle couple fighting each other, there's only one bed, that's all I can think of for now

Representation: secondary/minor Black trans girl character, same as listed before

Trigger warnings, which of course are spoilery: past rape mentions, murder, physical violence, death, blood and gore, racism, kidnapping and imprisonment of teens, slavery mentions, grief, parental loss, fantasy violence, supernatural horror, memories are wiped/manipulated magically, spirit possession (past)

Book Reviews: Legendborn and Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn

I had bought these two Legendborn series ebooks by Tracy Deonn last year because they were on sale and I had heard good things about them, and finally read them this February for Black History Month.

Legendborn (first book)'s summary, which gives away quite a lot of the plot:

After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus.

A flying demon feeding on human energies.

A secret society of so called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down.

And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw.

The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates.

She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets—and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight.

WOW HOLY SHIT THIS BOOK!!! Run, don't walk!! This book is so so so good! It combines the typical teen chosen one learning about a secret magical society story with Arthurian legend and the Southern Black American experience, creating something so amazing and unique. Fascinating and exciting and magical and scary, grounded with history, grief and pain; I'm going to be thinking about these books forever. 

Bree is grieving and angry and flawed; I felt for her and rooted for her all the way. I loved learning about the magic and the Legendborn stuff, even if the groups and titles and hierarchy were confusing. There's a chart explaining them all at the end, which of course I didn't realize until I finished the book, but it was not formatted for ebook so it wasn't really readable anyway. 

There's also a touch of folklore that was folded in; I'm not precisely sure whether to categorize it as Southern, American, or Black; it may be 2 or all of the above. I liked all the representation (lots of side/minor LGBTQ+ characters) and found it funny that there's an in-world explanation as to why they're all teenagers/in their early 20s. As if Bree doesn't have enough on her plate, there's a cute teen boy love interest (or 2). I personally would be way too busy and stressed out to crush/flirt/fall in love, but book teenagers will be teenagers. It's basically inevitable.

I decided to put all the representation, tropes, and trigger warnings for these books at the end of this post, so scroll down for those.

Score: ★★★★★ out of 5 stars (yes, all five! That hasn't happened in ages)
Spice score: 0
Read in: February 9-10
From: B&N Nook

Bloodmarked (second book)'s summary, which is rather spoilery:

All Bree wanted was to uncover the truth behind her mother’s death. So she infiltrated the Legendborn Order, a secret society descended from King Arthur’s knights—only to discover her own ancestral power. Now, Bree has become someone new:

A Medium. A Bloodcrafter. A Scion.

But the ancient war between demons and the Order is rising to a deadly peak. And Nick, the Legendborn boy Bree fell in love with, has been kidnapped.

Bree wants to fight, but the Regents who rule the Order won’t let her. To them, she is an unknown girl with unheard-of power, and as the living anchor for the spell that preserves the Legendborn cycle, she must be protected.

When the Regents reveal they will do whatever it takes to hide the war, Bree and her friends must go on the run to rescue Nick themselves. But enemies are everywhere, Bree’s powers are unpredictable and dangerous, and she can’t escape her growing attraction to Selwyn, the mage sworn to protect Nick until death.

If Bree has any hope of saving herself and the people she loves, she must learn to control her powers from the ancestors who wielded them first—without losing herself in the process.

This is a continuation from the first book (which doesn't end on a cliffhanger but is definitely not resolved), so most of my feelings and thoughts are the same. This one adds to the series' demonology, which I found interesting, and there are some new characters. Kind of more horrifying in how Bree is treated by the society. This book stressed me out so much I developed stomach pain, lol. Worth it. I loved these books so much I don't even care about there being a love triangle. You blew my fucking mind; sure you can have a little cliché love triangle as a treat.

The third book doesn't come out until March 4 which I am so impatient for despite that not being much of a wait. Still tho! I'm going to try to borrow it from the public library but there'll probably be a huge waiting list for it, which I'm a bit worried about (I don't want to waaaaaaaait).

Score: ★★★★⯨ out of 5 stars  (I took half a star off for being too sad)
Spice score: 0
Read in: February 18
From: B&N Nook

Tropes: young protagonist loses a parent then learns they have magic, "I had no idea magical power ran in our family", chosen one, "we'd never thought YOU could be our chosen one", secret magical society that hides themselves and the truth about magic/magical creatures etc. from regular people, typical straight love triangle, girl is torn between blond nice boy and dark-haired bad boy, "this magic/power is unlike anything we've ever seen", battle teens, oppressive highly structured hierarchical institution/organization, snarky demon with golden eyes (well it's a trope to me)

Representation: Black/African American (specifically being Black and Southern), Asian lesbian side character, nonbinary side character, white-passing biracial Hispanic & white side character, several side characters are LGBTQ+ including one teen/college-age lesbian couple and one nonbinary teen whose pronouns are always respected

Trigger warnings, which of course are spoilery: past rape (it's clearly rape and named as such but not described), murder, slavery, physical violence, death, blood and gore, teen is imprisoned, drugged, and interrogated; racism, newborn baby is abandoned to die (it lives), kidnapping, grief, parental loss, fantasy violence, supernatural horror, memories are wiped/manipulated magically, spirit possession, police encounter (no one is hurt), childbirth

Flash Fiction Reviews for November and December

Fortune's Flower by Anthea Lawson - ebook, historical romance  ★★★⯪   🌶🌶🌶

A botanical illustrator and a poor adventurer try not to fall in love (and fail) while looking for a rare flower in Tunisia. I want to say this was maybe the 1830s or '40s? Definitely in the Victorian era. She's looking down the barrel of an arranged marriage to a rich snob to avoid spinsterdom once the trip is over while he needs to find the flower to win his grandfather's inheritance before his jerk cousin does. The setting and trip were interesting and at times exciting (I want to visit Tunisia now), but I felt that the villain didn't get nearly enough comeuppance. Still, a good read. I actually read this one as part of a free historical romance omnibus ebook.  Trigger warnings: adult man flirts with a teenage girl to get her to fall in love with him so he can use her in his nefarious plan and forcibly kisses her, forced marriage threat, period-typical sexism, Orientalism & racism

Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl - paperback, middle grade, low fantasy   ★★★⯪

This one is an old childhood favorite. I was so into the Roald Dahl books. I just had to reread my childhood copy after watching the Fantastic Mr. Fox movie by Wes Anderson (good but its own thing, not necessarily a good adaptation even though some lines are lifted verbatim from the book). A fox constantly steals poultry from three local farmers and it enrages them to the point that they sink tons of time and money into trying to kill him. How Mr. Fox gets himself, his family, and their burrowing animals community out of that situation is still very fun to read. I was shocked to see how short the book is; it's practically a short story! It was over so soon. I feel like I spent hours in that book as a kid. Oh well. Great story but Dahl's usual fatphobia and lookism rears its head: it is possible to make villains that aren't fat or ugly or super skinny or whatever, you know. One of the villains is a Little Person, which is also problematic; Dahl focuses way more on the other farmers' appearance though. Trigger warnings: animal mutilation, hunting/attempted murder of animals, starvation, the word dwarf is used for a Little Person, fatphobia, lookism

The No-Girlfriend Rule by Christen Randall - ebook, YA, coming of age/romance   ★★★★⯪

Hollis, a quiet, overlooked fat girl, joins an all-girls' Dungeons & Dragons (called Swords & Sorcery in this book) group in an attempt to get closer to her loser boyfriend because he and his even worse friends won't let her join their group due to their no-girlfriend rule. The way the boys overlooked and treated her made my blood boil, but she and the girls in the S&S group (most of whom are LGBTQ+ and/or neurodivergent or mentally ill) become fast friends, and she gains self-esteem and blossoms. She and one of her friends, Aini, start shipping their characters and flirting in-game as their characters, but it's just for the game, right? 👀 I loved this book so much, but I felt like the awful boys didn't get the comeuppance they deserved, hence the half star. Highly recommended! Trigger warnings: homophobia, transphobia, fatphobia, on-page anxiety attack, ableism, internalized ableism, sexism, bad boyfriend (ask me for specifics)

Christmas Crime in Kingfisher Falls by Phillipa Nefri Clark - ebook, mystery, adult  ★★★⯪

Charlotte moves to Kingfisher Falls, a small Australian town, to work in a bookshop she will eventually take over when the owner retires. She witnesses the first in a string of Christmas tree thefts and falls afoul of the corrupt sheriff, who suspects her and starts stalking her. A solid and twisty mystery, but the small town drama and decades-long grudges, plus the corruption of the sheriff and town governance, made me angry. Weird writing style that felt sort of careful and old-fashioned and didn't work for a modern-day mystery, I felt. Charlotte is in her early? forties and feels simultaneously like an old lady and an older teenager (not letting herself date a guy she's attracted to, which kept being brought up for some reason). I did not enjoy this. Trigger warnings: stalking, a woman is nearly choked to death by a man, police intimidation, police corruption, smash and grab-type theft, bullying and scapegoating, poverty, asshole Karens

Otherworldly by F.T. Lukens - ebook, YA, fantasy, romance  ★★★★

Ellery, along with their cousin and her girlfriend, gets swept into the orbit of Knox, a magical immortal teen guy that Ellery accidentally saved from wraiths, in a land that is always winter but never Christmas. They have to figure out how to stay safe from supernatural beings, keep them from dragging Knox back to the Other World, and figure out why it's stayed winter for five years. This book is set in a world much like ours (malls and smartphones) but also has gods and goddesses in a way that feels kind of like Greek and Roman mythology; very American Gods vibes. The latter fourth of the book also has Orpheus and Eurydice vibes. Despite all that supernatural drama, teens stay teen-ing crush-wise. I liked this a lot! Trigger warnings: stabbing death, magical and physical violence, magical murder, religious trauma

Finally Fitz by Marissa Kanter - ebook, YA, romance  ★★★★

Influencer Fitz is psyched to follow her girlfriend Dani to New York for a fashion designer workshop and to be with her in NYC, but Dani dumps her for focusing on her content creation instead of Dani. Heartbroken, Fitz stumbles into Levi, her estranged childhood best friend, on the subway. Levi is kind of in the same boat, so Fitz suggests faking a relationship to get back at both their exes. Fitz and Levi are having fun going all over NYC on cute 'dates', but Fitz is struggling to come up with project ideas for her fashion workshop. This book also deals with mental health, burnout, social media obsession, sibling relationships, "Jewish feelings" (direct quote), estranged childhood best friend who stopped talking to you feelings, etc. Levi is such a cinnamon roll. Also there was a character named Em Rojas, which is basically M. Rojas. I liked this bi4bi romance very much. Trigger warnings: depression, burnout, mental illness, feeling like you're not enough

Make My Wish Come True by Rachel Lippincott & Alyson Derrick - ebook, YA, romance, Christmas

Cute sapphic Hallmark Christmas movie with fake dating romcom on the outside, more estranged childhood best friends feelings plus they've been in love with each other the whole time and one of them is a neglected and abused teen actress AKA super sad on the inside. Whew. I did not expect the sad stuff so I was unprepared. I liked the small Hallmark Christmas movie-y town and the cute holidates though, and the happy ending. The horrible [spoiler] should have been thrown in jail though. Spoiler-y trigger warnings: neglect, an adult controls, isolates, and manipulates a vulnerable, neglected teen; adult gives teen alcohol & drugs or at least just facilitates their underage alcohol and drug use

I also reread Christmas with Anne and Other Holiday Stories by L.M. Montgomery and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, as is my custom every holiday season.

Flash reviews for books I read last month

Bookshop.org had a summer reading challenge where you could win a contest if you read for at least 28 days straight, so I read the unheard-of amount of 15 books!!!! Forget pre-pandemic reading levels, that is junior high reading behavior!!! Anyway, I don't really want to write out full reviews for all of them, so I'm just writing flash reviews. 

The Maid and the Mansion: A Mysterious Murder (book 1? of series) by Fiona Grace - ebook - another murder mystery where a maid does the investigating. Enjoyed this although I read "the men are coming back from war so there's no jobs for women" and assumed it was World War I and not II, leading me to be confused over several things including how she was able to run and fight in long skirts (nope, at/below the knee skirts). Trigger warning for sexual harassment from boss at work (he dies, yay!!) plus the usual stuff (murder, blood). 3.5 stars, would read the rest of the series if they're free

Endpapers by Jennifer Savran Kelly - ebook - absolutely amazing, one of my favorite reads this year. So sad and hard to read at times but so important, with the internal plot mirroring thoughts I've had re: coming out and balancing authenticity with safety, etc. Also there's cool book restoration/making stuff. Genderqueer, queer and lesbian rep. Lots of trigger warnings including homophobic hate crime attacks, transphobia (also internalized), homophobia (also internalized). 4 stars, 2 chili peppers

How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis - hardcover book - I follow her on IG and bought the book at McNally Jackson bookstore in NYC to support her and because I need it. This book is for people who struggle with keeping up with housework--ADHD havers, depressed people, chronically ill people, etc. The non-shaming gentle parenting around cleaning that I never got, and lots of useful tips. She gets us because she's one of us. Highly recommended. 4.5 stars.

Recipe for Confidence by Samantha Picaro - ebook - I think I follow this author on IG as well. Her book was promoted by bookstagrammers I follow, and I bought it on sale because the main character is aroace. The teenage MC is autistic as well and feels like she always has to mask and act happy to please everyone around her. I'm afraid I did not enjoy this book; the writing wasn't very good and neither were the parents, and there was stuff that made me angry. I think I need to stop reading books about and for teenagers. 3.5 stars. 

The Meddle & Mend series by Sarah Wallace - ebooks - This is a cozy found family fantasy series set in a magical, queernorm Regency England where racial diversity is also the norm. I ADORED this series! I downloaded the first one because it was free and one of the bookstagrammers that I follow is always promoting the series, and it was so good I downloaded the next one to read immediately, doing that for each book. I inhaled the whole series in like a week. One of the books, The Education of Pip, is about a character who is groomed into an unequal relationship that turns into forced sex work, so trigger warnings for that (there is a happy ending for him).  DM me if you want more info. There is representation for just about every letter of the queer alphabet, plus anxiety and PTSD rep. There are also characters of color (the society is also non-racist). I highly recommend these books and cannot wait for the next one. 3.5 (affectionate)-4 stars varying, amount of spice varies by book but it's usually just kissing or off-page (some Pip stuff does bleed into other books)

A Charm of Magpies series by K.J. Charles - ebooks - I loved this author's Will Darling Adventures trilogy and downloaded their other free ebooks a while back but never got around to reading them. These books are set in a magical gaslamp Victorian England and are about a tattooed duke with strong magical ancestry and a short magician who fall in love, fight magical crimes, and have extremely adult activities. They have to hide their relationship because it's illegal to be gay in Victorian England. The duke and his manservant lived most of their lives in China (which apparently was fine with gay people back then? That sounds wrong but I don't know enough to dispute it, plus KJC probably did their research).  The magical crimes (which are mostly grisly murders) make this series horror in my opinion; they were far too scary for me  but I couldn't stop reading them because they were so good. 3.5 stars (but a high 3.5) and probably 4.5 out of 5 chilis (very spicy).

I reread Lady Susan because it was the Enchanted Book Club pick for July, enjoyed it per usual, and had a lot of fun discussing the book with other book club members over Zoom. I also rewatched Love & Friendship afterwards, naturally. 

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev - paperback book - I bought this ages ago (not sure from where) but didn't get around to reading it. This was a really interesting loose retelling of P&P (duh) where the heroine is an Indian American brain surgeon and the hero is a Somali-Indian British chef, and both leads took on different aspects of both Lizzy and Darcy. It was really good but really sad, with the Wickham-Georgiana storyline being really dark. To be honest, I didn't get why the hero would really come around to being in love with the heroine when she was kind of an awful mess. Understandable, though, when her family was so terrible to her. I do recommend this book even though it made me sad (and hungry, the food sounded so amazing). Trigger warnings for a character being drugged and raped (past), cancer/terminal illness, police racial profiling, racism, xenophobia, miscarriage (past), manipulation, classism. 3.5 stars, 2 chilis due to a rather unnecessary scene at the end

What an Heiress Wants by Gemma Blackwood - ebook - This is part of a Regency romance series, of which I read one previously and liked it. The heroine wants to get back at this guy who led her on, so she concocts a fake flirting/courtship/engagement with her best friend's brother. You already know where this is going. This book has low spice (only kissing and lustful thoughts) and I enjoyed it, even though it got a bit dramatic at the end. 3.5 stars, 0.5 chili

Whew. I truly cannot believe I read so much. So many great reads this month as well!

Book Reviews: The Flowers and Keyboards series by Emmy Engberts

I read the first and third books in the Flowers and Keyboards series by Emmy Engberts as my first two reads of June. I think I saw the free ebook (for Pride month) being advertised on bookstagram. Colour Her is the first one I read, and it turned out to be the third in the series, which is slightly annoying to me since I prefer to read series books in series order. The Flowers and Keyboards series is a trio of books about a neurodiverse and queer group of teen friends in the Netherlands who like makeup and/or gaming and/or cosplay. Each book in the series focuses on each couple in the friend group.

Colour Her is about two girls who meet in a makeup store and bond over a pride month collection from their favorite brand. Amber is a semi-famous makeup influencer YouTuber and Mya is a fan of hers, but she doesn't know how to tell Amber (who she has a crush on) that she watches her YouTube channel and sent her a gift of a big box of makeup because she doesn't want to come across as stalkerish. Amber agrees to tutor Mya (or maybe it's the other way around?) and they become close. The slight deception around the YouTube/fan thing is built up in the book summary as being a big thing that could keep them apart, but it's resolved pretty quickly. Amber is autistic and feels shame about this, not wanting anyone to know; Mya has ADHD, if I remember correctly, and her other friends are neurodiverse. Their main issues in the book is them struggling to let the other in while dealing with their neurodiversity; it's pretty internal. They don't deal with any homophobia, not even internal despite I think Amber not having dated a girl before. The author herself is Dutch, and while her English writing is very good, there's still some jerkiness/weirdness to the language/word usage that took me out of it throughout the book (probably due to mental translation of Dutch terms to English). For instance, a teen girl would never refer to a girl she liked as her lover (they had perhaps barely held hands at that point). In terms of pacing, there was almost no transition from both girls liking the other but not sure where she stood to them holding hands and making out. Each girl narrates alternating chapters (Amber/Mya/Amber/Mya etc.) but I found it almost impossible to distinguish which one was which; their voices were basically identical. I did find it interesting that each chapter started with a makeup item and its definition. Overall, however, I enjoyed this book and the neurodiverse rep. I think also one of them may have been on the ace spectrum? 3.5 stars. Trigger warnings for off-page ableism, internalized ableism, anxiety

Her Elysium (the first book in this series) is about two girls who meet and start to fall for one another while playing a MMORPG (online video game where people play together). However, because Alex's name is gender neutral and her avatar is male and has a strong fighting role, Fleur thinks that her online friend is a boy. I found their conversations to be very perfunctory/basic and not at all flirty, so I couldn't really get why they were blushing and giggling about it when it was shit like this: A--thanks for healing us. F--sure, no problem. 🥱 When they meet at a local gamer meetup, Fleur is surprised and disappointed, and Alex is devastated that the girl she likes thought she was a boy. Luckily they get over this pretty quickly. Unlike Colour Her, Her Elysium has much stronger and external issues. Fleur's parents are classist and make her be friends with the daughters of their society friends because they're "the right kind of people", scolding her and giving her a hard time when she doesn't want to hang out with them. They hate that she plays video games and are also controlling because Fleur has ADHD. This made me angry, per usual. Alex (who also has ADHD) had an ex who denied being not-straight and was really homophobic to her, I think outing her to their classmates. Because of this, she has trauma and is terrified to be another straight girl's experiment and get her heart broken because of this again. Fleur hadn't fallen for a girl before, so Alex has to deal with that fear. Spoiler, highlight to read: Fleur tells her 'friends' that her parents make her hang out with about her new girlfriend, and despite being okay with it, one of them immediately blabs this to her parents, who unsurprisingly immediately call Fleur's and the other friend's parents about it. Fleur's parents are homophobic and freak out. Alex's mom is a child therapist and she reads them the riot act, thankfully. Alex breaks up with Fleur because she doesn't want to experience the heartbreak (obviously, heartbreak happens anyway for both of them because of this). Luckily all is resolved. This book had the same issues re: writing and word usage, but because of the more external and pressing issues, I was more invested. The girls also alternate chapter POVs, and each chapter starts with a video game concept definition which was interesting. 3.5 stars. Trigger warnings: homophobia, ableism, controlling parents, characters are outed, classism

The second book in the series is about the other couple in the group, a genderqueer boy and queer and/or neurodiverse girl who both do cosplay and also play the MMORPG, but since their ebook wasn't free, I didn't download it.

On another note, Blogger stopped letting me add photos via url for some stupid reason. Ugh. If you think I'm going to download online photos just to upload them for my blog posts, think again. Fix this, Google.

Rest of December books

 I did my usual Christmas and New Year's rereading of Christmas with Anne. I also read The Nutcracker, Alexandre Dumas's version, as I was bored at my parents' house for Christmas. It was interesting and weird. 

I also read a couple of cheap or free ebooks I had downloaded.  

First up was Murder at Merisham Lodge by Celina Grace, the first book from a historical mystery series called Miss Hart and Miss Hunter Investigate. The premise is that it's the 1930s and both girls are working as servants/staff in a big country mansion for a rich family, and murder starts happening. Both girls are bright and feel there's more to the mystery than the police are seeing, and decide to keep their eyes and ears open for clues. It's sort of like Downton Abbey meets Agatha Christie, and I liked it.  Of course as a murder mystery it's pretty violent and sad. I'd read more mysteries from this series. 4/5 stars, no spice although there is mention of infidelity and extra-marital relations. Trigger warnings: murder, gore, blood, corpses, violence, sexual assault mentions, abortion mention (a girl gets pregnant out of wedlock), sexism, classism.

 

Next was I Was Born For This, which I snapped up because it's by Alice Oseman and I love her books and the ebook was cheap. I didn't really know what it was about, but it somehow also wasn't what I was expecting. Angel (who goes by the English version of her Arabic name) is a huge fan of a diverse boyband called The Ark, and would rather talk about the boys and their music than think about her future. She meets up with an online friend and fellow The Ark fan in London to attend the band's concert, and all sorts of stuff goes down. One of the boys from The Ark, Jimmy, finds almost every single aspect of fame and being in a boyband excruciatingly difficult and anxiety-inducing. He runs away from an important interview, and that is how he and Angel meet. A sort of weird friendship springs up between them, as Angel (who knows everything about Jimmy, yet is a stranger to him) helps Jimmy through a panic attack and running away to go back home. This book is a fascinating look at fandom, fame, friendship, and mental illness, and while it made me very sad at times, I cared for all the characters and rooted for them to be happy. The fandom stuff was interesting to me, as a decade-long user of tumblr (I was never a mega-fan of any musician/musical group, but was aware of the climate). I liked all the Christian/Biblical references and Joan of Arc quotes, etc. in the book. 4/5 stars, 2 chilis due to a little bit of (mostly mentioned) sexual content and talk. Trigger warnings: suicidal ideation, depression, panic attacks, OCD, blood, serious injuries, anxiety, alcohol, obsessive/stalking fans, transphobia, racism mentions, parental neglect, a character is kicked out by their parents, a guy lies to a girl to get her interested in him, drugs mention, knife

 

I think I forgot to mention this earlier, but I also read (not in December) The Screwtape Letters through one of those emailed enewsletters via substack. After the smash hit of Dracula Daily, a lot of other books (especially public domain books) got the email treatment. As an epistolary book, TSL works great for this, and it was fun to get an email in my inbox with the day's Screwtape letter. 4/5 stars. Trigger warnings for mentions of death, war, sins such as adultery and the damned being tortured/eaten etc. Nothing explicit

SimonTeen's free December ebooks

SimonTeen (the teen books arm of publisher Simon & Schuster) did a fun promotion where every day from December 1-25, they had a book you could read for free digitally if you made an account on their website. Being my parents' daughter, I love free stuff; naturally, I had to avail myself of the opportunity. I read so many good books due to this promotion; here they are. 

 

Pride & Prejudice & Pittsburgh by Rachael Lippincott ★★★★ (December 10) Aesthetics moodboard for P&P&P

Rather than being a lesbian Pride & Prejudice retelling, as the title suggests, it's about a 21st century girl who somehow time-travels to Regency England. Audrey, who had been trying to rediscover her spark for art, needs to figure out how to get back to her time and home in Pittsburgh. Lucy, the young lady whose backyard Audrey ends up in, is being forced into marriage by her domineering father. Can they figure out how to get Audrey home and Lucy out of getting married, and figure out their feelings for each other??? This book was so good and I really enjoyed it, even if the title feels like a placeholder they never got around to replacing. The story is not P&P enough to justify the title. No spice, just kissing. Trigger warnings: controlling & abusive father forces daughter into engagement/marriage and threatens to kick her out of the house, internalized and societal homophobia, a girl is tied up and locked in a room, semi-controlling boyfriend/codependent relationship (past)

Rana Joon and the One and Only Now by Shideh Etaat ★★★★ / 🌶🌶🌶 (December 12)

Go read the book description at the link above and then come back, because it's hard to sum this book up succinctly. Rana is so full of grief at the loss of her best friend and angry at her mother's unequal and sexist treatment: her mom will nag her to diet and be more girly while pampering Rana's brother and letting him do whatever he wants because he's a boy. Their dad visits once a year because he lives in Iran, and the family frays under the weight of pretending to be one happy family. Rana wants to enter a rap battle in her friend's memory as it was his dream, and in starting to practice and gain confidence, she befriends and starts to fall for a fellow Iranian American girl. I really rooted for Rana and wanted her to have every happiness. I gave it 3 chilis because of a couple of sex scenes and explicit language. Trigger warnings: car accident death that may have been suicide, lesbian has sex with a guy which could be seen as self-harming, depression, mental illness, homophobia, bullying, anxiety, controlling parents, fatphobia and diet culture, drug use, underage drinking, sexism, infidelity, partying, sexism

Miles Morales: Suspended by Jason Reynolds and Zeke Peïa ★★★★ (December 14)

I loved both Miles Morales Spider-Man movies, so I was excited to read this one even though I don't usually read comics-based middle-grade novels. This one reads like Miles is writing in his diary or talking to you and includes poetry by Miles that moves the plot along. It's a sequel to MM: Spider-Man; you don't have to have read it to get what's going on here as it's summed up, but MM: Suspended is a continuation of that story. Miles is suspended for standing up to his racist teacher, and something is not quite right at school... I feel that Reynolds really captured Miles's voice, and I enjoyed being along for the ride, even though the villain/threat is creepy. Reynolds deftly folds Miles' personal and superhero dilemmas with the current racist book-banning issue in an age-appropriate way, and with such economy of language, all in a 14 year old AfroLatino boy's voice! I was really impressed by his writing and will have to check out more of what he's written. Peïa's art is dynamic and fun but never distracting. It's not illustrated enough to be a graphic novel, but it's got way more illustrations than your typical middle-grade novel (Miles should always have art). There's a librarian character I found very intriguing. Highly recommended. Trigger warnings: insects/bugs, violence/fighting (if your kid watches superhero movies it's probably fine), racism, racist/unsupportive school and teachers, lying to teachers (see prev. so it's fine)

A British Girl's Guide to Hurricanes and Heartache by Laura Taylor Namey ★★★.5 (December 17)

This is the sequel to a book I asked for for a couple of birthdays ago and still haven't read, A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow. I hate reading series books out of order, but ABGG2HaH was only available one day, so I read it anyway. It seems to be a reverse of the first book, which was about a Cuban girl going to England after suffering loss; this one's about an English girl going to Miami after suffering loss. Flora has just lost her mum and has hurt her family with her grief and anger, so she runs away to stay with her friend Lila (first book girl)'s family. Her best friend Gordon, who had just confessed his feelings before she ran, follows her to Miami, just after she's met Baz, a Cuban cutie who's part of a famous photographer dynasty. Flora goes to cool places I'm dying to visit, deals with the Cuban chisme grind, and tries to figure out where her heart lies, all while continuing to throw herself into photography. I enjoyed this book a lot as a Cuban American, even though I know nothing of Miami. I'm not from England either but I'm not sure how true Flora's Englishness rang. The right words are there, but idk. Still, a great read! I def want to read the first one now. No spice, just kissing. Trigger warnings: death, early onset dementia, grief, hurricane/natural disaster

Book Review: Northranger by Rey Terciero and Bre Indigo

Cade has always loved to escape into the world of a good horror movie. After all, horror movies are scary—but to Cade, a closeted queer Latino teen growing up in rural Texas—real life can be way scarier.

When Cade is sent to spend the summer working as a ranch hand to help earn extra money for his family, he is horrified. Cade hates everything about the ranch, from the early mornings to the mountains of horse poop he has to clean up. The only silver lining is the company of the two teens who live there—in particular, the ruggedly handsome and enigmatic Henry.

But as unexpected sparks begin to fly between Cade and Henry, things get… complicated. Henry is reluctant to share the details of his mother’s death, and Cade begins to wonder what else he might be hiding. 

I had heard about this book on (surprise, surprise) Bookstagram and immediately added it to my to-read list. A gay Jane Austen retelling starring a latino character? Hell yeah, this was made for me. I bought this from a local-ish comic book store booth at my local pride.

This graphic novel retelling of the usually overlooked Northanger Abbey follows its source material pretty closely. Gothic novel fan Catherine is now horror movie-obsessed Cade, who feels alienated from his family and community for being gay. The book summary pretty clearly lays out how he feels about having to work at the ranch; Cade, who already sticks out for being latino in a rural, white area, also hides his gay identity for obvious reasons. This is difficult because he's falling for sweet and hunky Henry (same first name as Northanger Abbey's love interest). Henry Tilney is one of my favorite Austen leading men because he's so witty and funny; Northranger!Henry is nice but not that funny, probably because it's draining to be a closeted gay Christian in the South who's endured familial loss. Due to (mostly unintentional) eavesdropping and ominous accusations made by a disgruntled farm hand, Cade gets the idea that something terrible happened at Henry's family's lake house, maybe even murder. Is Cade living in a horror movie? Could he be falling in love with a serial killer?? If you've read Northanger Abbey, you know where that line of thinking is going, but it's a wild ride anyway. 

This is a fantastic book, both as a Northanger Abbey adaptation and as an exploration of being gay and closeted in the heteronormative, Christian South. I can't say I enjoyed the book, as it's always harrowing to read about homophobia, racism and xenophobia, plus I'm a wuss when it comes to scary stories, but I'm so glad I bought and read it. 

Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Spice score: 0.5 out of 5 chilies 🌶 (just kissing)
Read in: September 19
From: 4 Color Fantasies pride booth
Status: keeping for now

Aesthetics moodboard for Northranger 

Representation: gay, second/third generation Hispanic/Latino American (I think Cade is Mexican American?), anxiety (not explicitly stated), step-/blended family, queer Christian

Trigger warnings: homophobia, racism, ethnic/racial slurs, xenophobia, sexism, alcoholism, suicide (voluntary euthanasia), terminal illness, cancer, conversion therapy mention, being closeted, horror/suspense themes, mental illness, animal abuse, family struggling financially, alcoholic character is racist & homophobic antagonist (demonization of alcoholism)

Ace Week books

I read these books back to back at the end of Ace Week, which is the third week of October. 

 

Loveless by Alice Oseman

This is one of the big ace books that are touted around bookstagram. I'd bought it at Target during a sale as I loved the Heartstopper show on Netflix, which is an adaptation of Oseman's series of the same name. This book has a very similar feel as the show, and it's set in the same universe (the characters go to the same high schools as the Heartstopper characters). Georgia starts university and struggles with society's and her expectations of finding and wanting love and sex. (More expanded summary) The way she's an introvert and loves fictional love and fanfiction but finds herself recoiling when faced with the prospect of PDA is so relatable. Some of her thoughts and decision-making during dating mirrors my own. Her confusion and despair were sad to read about. She also deals with friend drama, some of which she contributes to. Pip, James, Rooney and Sunil are mostly well-rounded, dynamic characters and I enjoyed spending time with them as well. Pip, a butch latina, and Sunil, Georgia's college and asexuality mentor and beautiful cinnamon roll (too good for this world, too pure) are my favorites. The love they all have for each other warmed my heart. Friendship love truly is so important. I wish I had had this book when I was in high school or college. 

4.5 out of 5 stars, 2 out of 5 chili peppers. Keeping. 

Aesthetics moodboard for Loveless

Representation: asexual, aromantic, aroace, pansexual, lesbian, Hispanic/Latine British, femme, butch/masc, South Asian British, gay (homoromantic), nonbinary, character with multiple pronouns, depression, anxiety (I don't remember if it's specifically mentioned but Georgia has it)

Trigger warnings: binge drinking, alcohol, partying, sex, depression, past toxic & controlling relationships, inferred past rape, anxiety, fire/burn accidents & minor injuries, low self-esteem, a character uses sex to make herself feel better/wanted

How to Be Ace: A Memoir of Growing Up Asexual by Rebecca Burgess

I'd seen this book around ace bookstagram a lot too before finding it at Big Gay Comic's booth at my local Pride. Rebecca Burgess writes about their experiences growing up uninterested in crushes and dating, and is in distress about being abnormal and broken, etc. due to society's messages. They find out about asexuality and write about their struggles getting others to accept and understand them, as well as dealing with anxiety and OCD. Society's pressure about dating and having sex as markers of adulthood are dwelled on a lot in this book. (Read the book summary here) Rebecca tries dating, but they hate the physical contact that is expected. You can't help but to root for Burgess as they come to understand and accept themself and find a relationship that works for them. There are a lot of similar themes to Loveless, like the aforementioned topics as well as going through college and making friends. Maybe I shouldn't have read these two books back to back in order to fully appreciate the differences, but oh well. I loved the Good Omens shout-out in this book; Burgess says they see their own asexual relationship reflected in Aziraphale's and Crowley's. I think the intended audience for this book is young adult and older, based on the mentions of sex. The drawing style is a very 'childish' style and makes the book seem younger than it is. The page where it depicts various ace approaches to sex actually has illustrations of couples engaging in these activities, and with the cutesy cartoony drawing style it kind of takes you aback. Burgess does not, as far as I can tell, also identify as aromantic, but I think it applies as they have no interest in other people or dating for a long time (and they seem to only date people they like as friends). Overall, this was a valuable book and I'm glad I read it. This is also a book I wish I'd had in high school.

4 out of 5 stars, 3 out of 5 chili peppers due to the sex mentions/illustrations. Keeping for now.

Representation: asexual, aromantic in the beginning at least, anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, sapphic relationship, possible biromanticism, protagonist is diagnosed with endometriosis towards the end of the book but it doesn't come up much

Trigger warnings: rape mention, corrective rape mention, OCD spiraling thoughts, panic attacks, anxiety, eating issues due to OCD, depression, aphobia, homophobia, ableism, poverty, going hungry, economic issues, being out of work, unhelpful therapist, sex mentions, amatonormativity, low self-esteem

Book Review: Ophelia After All by Racquel Marie

Ophelia Rojas knows what she likes: her best friends, Cuban food, rose gardening, and boys – way too many boys. Her friends and parents make fun of her endless stream of crushes, but Ophelia is a romantic at heart. She couldn’t change, even if she wanted to.

So when she finds herself thinking more about cute, quiet Talia Sanchez than the loss of a perfect prom with her ex-boyfriend, seeds of doubt take root in Ophelia’s firm image of herself. Add to that the impending end of high school and the fracturing of her once-solid friend group, and things are spiraling a little out of control. But the course of love—and sexuality—never did run smooth. As her secrets begin to unravel, Ophelia must make a choice between clinging to the fantasy version of herself she’s always imagined or upending everyone’s expectations to rediscover who she really is, after all.

I put off reading Ophelia After All because I immediately knew, upon reading the synopsis, that the book would be very important to me. Ophelia is half Cuban like me and has the same last name as me (her dad even has the exact same name as my dad!), and she's always crushing on boys and longing for romance and Love™.  In the book Ophelia struggles with her crush on a girl, ignoring or excusing away her past attraction to girls, and resenting the childish and heteronormative image her loved ones have of her, fearing they'll no longer love her if/when she breaks out of that box. Honestly so real. Ophelia's freaking out about her not-straightness is probably how I would have handled it at her age. 

Ophelia has a big diverse group of friends, whom I mostly all liked at varying levels. Each friend had a different dynamic with Ophelia; she develops closer friendships with Talia (Afro-Puerto Rican) and Wesley (Korean American). I especially liked the latina amiga bonding between Talia and Ophelia. There's a love triangle within the friend group that is very dramatic, and it's annoying for the friends outside of it. There's also drama about who's asking who to prom. I thought it was really sweet that Ophelia made corsages and boutonnieres out of her roses for all her friends and their dates for prom. Ophelia was too prone to avoidance when it came to her problems, which was relatable and understandable, but obviously made things worse and was annoying to read.

Spoilers, highlight to read: I was shocked when Ophelia didn't end up with Talia. I really felt that Talia liked her back. It was honestly such a twist for me, because we're seeing it through Ophelia's romcom lens so it felt that way. I love that very few of her friends ended up being straight, and I like that 1 friend was asexual and 1 friend was aromantic. I know aroace people exist, but I think it helped differentiate the two identities (especially for those new to the concepts). I wish I'd had a group of friends that tight-knit (and queer lol) in high school, and I wish I had an LGBTQ+ center near me like the one in the book. The main/only thing I disliked in the book (well, the teenage dating drama got a bit much sometimes) was that, when Ophelia's mom hears that her daughter dumped her drink on one of her (male) students, she immediately demands an explanation (fair) and wants Ophelia to apologize to the guy without knowing what happened (unfair!!). Like, obviously when a girl dumps her drink on a guy she doesn't know, it's because he said or did something inappropriate to her! But Ophelia's mom was immediately #teamdouchebagstudent and acted like Ophelia's action could jeopardize her job or something. I could see the apprehension if the guy had been like the son of the department chair or something, but he was just some guy, and Mom should have been on her daughter's side anyway. Why did she just assume the worst of Ophelia? Supposedly they had been really close, but the mom's behavior wasn't characteristic of that. It disappointed me. I did love that Wesley's parents were so supportive of him that they proudly displayed ace flags in their home and offices!!

I liked Ophelia as a character and think it's adorable that every item of clothing she owns has flowers on it. I liked the story despite finding some parts of it challenging, and would recommend it to anyone who identifies with any part of the story. I wish I'd had this book in high school. I'm so glad I bought and read this story, and even if Ophelia Rojas isn't exactly like Michelle Rojas, she's a part of me now.

Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Read in: June 20
From: Bookshop.org
Status: keeping

See my aesthetics moodboard for Ophelia After All!

Representation: Cuban American, 2nd generation American (children of immigrants), questioning, queer, sapphic, biracial (dad is Cuban, mom is Irish American), bisexual, Afrolatina, Puerto Rican, masculine of center female character, Pakistani American, asexual, Korean American, aromantic, Black, fat, tbh Ophelia gives me neurodivergent vibes with her roses and romance obsessions

Cover notes: I love this cover; it is perfect. I feel like it perfectly captures Ophelia, down to her adorable freckles. 

Trigger warnings: homophobia, internalized homophobia, a character's homophobic family rejects her, closeted character fears rejection, a very minor character makes racist, sexist and homophobic remarks (including the D slur); a character kisses another character without asking/checking for consent first, mood outburst from teen male character that scares his female BFF (not actually violent), exhausting "straight" love triangle

Book Review: Huntress by Malinda Lo

I loved Ash and consequently put Malinda Lo on my must-read authors list. Huntress is a sort of prequel to Ash, set hundreds of years before. 

Nature is out of balance in the human kingdom. The sun hasn't shone in years, and crops are failing. Worse yet, strange and hostile creatures have begun to appear. And the people's survival hangs in the balance.

To solve the crisis, the oracle stones are cast, and Kaede and Taisin, two seventeen-year-old girls, are picked to go on a dangerous and unheard-of journey to Tanlili, the city of the Fairy Queen. Taisin is a sage, thrumming with magic, and Kaede is of the earth, without a speck of the otherworldly. And yet the two girls' destinies are drawn together during the mission. As members of their party succumb to unearthly attacks and fairy tricks, the two come to rely on each other and even begin to fall in love. But the Kingdom needs only one huntress to save it, and what it takes could tear Kaede and Taisin apart forever.

I really liked this book, which felt spiritually similar to Ash as it is set in the same world. At first I thought that Huntress told the real version of the fairytale Kaisa tells Ash, but upon rereading my Ash review I saw it was actually a story about a huntress falling in love with the fairy queen (if my memory was correct), which is not what happens in this book. Kaede does end up having a sort of connection to the fairy queen as a result of what happens in the book, but it's not romantic or long-lived.  Maybe the fairytale mixed stuff up? Inaccuracies can happen in old stories. Or maybe it was a different fairytale altogether.

The magic system and culture are more closely inspired by Chinese culture; the book summary says Huntress is "overflowing with lush Chinese influences and details inspired by the I Ching". I've never read a fairytale-inspired book with the traditional fae and changelings etc. with a Chinese influence, and it felt fresh and interesting. The fae stuff in the forest was really creepy to the point of being horror, and also fascinating to read. Some of the magical creatures preying on humans were Chinese-inspired, such as the fox-lady best known to me as a kitsune. The humanoid Fae were the same kind of creepy and attractive as the fairy prince in Ash. 

I like reading about Kaede learning to fight with different weapons and Taisin learning to use her magic. I liked the other members of their party as well, and was saddened when bad stuff happened to them. There was this weird thing throughout the book where we'd switch from the perspective of the main 2 girls to another character, and it was jarring and felt like telling rather than showing. I wish Lo had kept the omniscient third person narrator to just the 2 girls. The economic inequality and desperate poverty the common people live with made me angry. The love aspect of the story was made interesting by Taisin having a future vision that she would lose Kaede while being in love with her. Naturally she fights her attraction to Kaede in order to keep Kaede and herself from being hurt. Spoilers, highlight to read: IDK if it's that much of a spoiler since the book summary literally says they fall in love, but it bummed me out that they parted ways despite loving each other so much. Taisin wants to be a sage, and sages cannot marry or have romantic entanglements. It is a common story ending though. There is no homophobia in this world, which is nice. Kaede becomes the first Huntress. I found the ending rather abrupt and sad. My copy, which I bought at The Strand in NY, includes a short story set not long after Huntress where Kaede grapples with her grief and a kitsune. It was interesting but didn't really add anything. Are all of Lo's books and stories this soaked with grief?

I read this book in the JFK airport as my flight kept being pushed back and my gate kept being changed, and reading Huntress really helped keep me sane. Thanks Malinda!

Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Read in: March 22
From: The Strand at Columbus
Status: keeping

See my aesthetics moodboard for Huntress!

Representation: lesbian mc, sapphic mc (no other love interests so can't confirm if she's a lesbian), butch minor character?, all the characters are Chinese/Eurasian but idk if that counts

Cover notes: Love it. I thought Kaede was holding a sword but it's actually a bow. A king's guard teaches her how to shoot with a bow and arrows.

Trigger warnings: murder, death, dead bodies, not-really-a-baby death (a changeling is killed in monster form but reverts to baby form after it dies), horror, gore, blood, imprisonment of sentient magical creatures, enchantments/spells to control/endanger/kill humans, economic inequality with rich people hoarding the food/resources, sad ending where they don't end up together. "The Fox" short story: magical dubious/non-consensual s3x (a monster magically disguises herself as Taisin and initiates s3x with Kaede to feed from her)

Book Review: Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

I learned about Xiran Jay Zhao through their excellent takedowns/analyses of the Mulan movies on YouTube and find them to be just hilarious and wonderfully nerdy. I consequently put their first book, Iron Widow, on my to-read list immediately. I bought it in January when Barnes & Noble had their 25% off preorders sale, and read it for the trans rights readathon the third week of March. Book summary:

The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn't matter that the girls often die from the mental strain.

When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it's to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister's death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.​

To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia​. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.

Pacific Rim meets The Handmaid's Tale in this blend of Chinese history and mecha science fiction for YA readers.

WOW THIS FREAKING BOOK. It was so freaking good. This book is the embodiment of female rage and the phrase "I support women's rights and women's wrongs". I rooted for Zetian (who is very loosely based on the iconic empress of China) and her plans for revenge as a fellow sister-haver. I seethed with her when she encountered casual and violent sexism during the story and her life (in flashbacks). Zetian had her feet bound as a very small girl and consequently suffers chronic pain and difficulties walking. In the mecha animal suit she psychically links with, she is finally powerful and free of pain. Zetian is all about righting wrongs through violence and murder, and she's so valid.

Zetian is secretly in love with her friend Gao Yizhi, a rich boy a year or so older than her who secretly visits her in her village and taught her to read. She's angrily attracted to her forced pilot mate Li Shimin, who is a murderer/criminal a couple years older than her whose sentence got commuted since he's so psychically strong and therefore great at driving chrysalises. Ugh love triangles, right? WRONG! Spoiler, highlight to read: Zetian has two hands! and so do each of the boys!! Boo yeah. THIS is how you do love triangles. Mind you, I don't really like the term love triangle since the boys are never in love with or attracted to each other, just to the girl and sHe HaS tO cHoOsE. This is such a refreshing change from that.

Chrysalis pilots are basically superheroes and celebrities, so Zetian has to deal with all sorts of political machinations and publicity stuff on top of the sexism and attempts on her life. I was super into this book and then BAM, cliffhanger! And the second book isn't out for ages!! I am bereft. READ THIS THO.  Ooh, just learned (in googling the characters' names) that Xiran posted her face claims and descriptions of the characters!! Unfortunately I kept picturing Li Shimin as that villain who got airbending powers in The Legend of Korra :(  Godfrey Gao is SO much better.

Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Read in: March 22
From: Barnes & Noble
Status: keeping

See my aesthetics moodboard for Iron Widow!

Representation: main character with disability and chronic pain who uses mobility aids, bisexual side characters, nearsighted, glasses wearing character; all the characters are Chinese but this is SciFi/Fantasy Silkpunk China so idk if that counts

Cover notes: Perfect. My paperback has gorgeous metallic accents and I love it.

Trigger warnings: message me for these since Google got all puritanical 🙄