Fortune's Flower by Anthea Lawson - ebook, historical romance ★★★⯪ πΆπΆπΆ
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? π 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.