Arrowmount Books series, books 1 & 2

I bought these ebooks during one of those free/on sale [genre] ebooks blowout sales that I hear about on bookstagram every so often. These two books are cozy fantasy stories set in a cute, closely-knit seaside town in a sort of D&D universe with lots of different fantasy races plus humans. They are both by J.A. Collignon.

A Second Story

After falling for one another as adventurers, Arileas Damaris and Finnean Goldmark begin a life together traveling around the realm. Almost a year later, they decide to take a vacation in a town called Arrowmount, where the sea and sun calls to them. Once there, they fall in love with the place and its people. Ari and Finn take a leap together and buy the local bookstore and start a life amidst the sun-soaked cobblestones. From water damage and renovations to Finn's old life haunting them, life in Arrowmount is not quite as calm as they thought. However, with some help from the locals, Ari and Finn might just find their place along the sea.

Michelle buys a book about a bookstore; water is wet. We get a bit of Arileas and Finn as adventurers, where they are in love with each other unknowingly but don't think the other person does/could ever love them. Then we skip ahead to when they are an established couple, enter Arrowmount and fall in love with the town and decide to buy the bookstore. The book is mainly them meeting the various townspeople and renovating the bookstore with local artisans/craftspeople's help. It's very slow-paced, and the only tension is the couple's fear that the king will realize Finn, his shadow assassin, faked his death and is still alive, plus an argument about adventuring vs. settling down. Finn and Arileas are cute together, but I couldn't help but wish we got more of their "getting together" story. Also, with how nice and sunny Finn is, I couldn't connect that with his previous life as an assassin for a corrupt king. Wouldn't that affect him, harden him? I felt that we swept past that and the method Finn used to fake his death (which affected Arileas) fairly quickly. That stuff didn't really mesh well with the otherwise cozy, nice story. Not being familiar with D&D and their fantasy races, I struggled to picture what some of the people in this book looked like. I liked this book, though, and would recommend it to people who like cozy books where not a whole lot happens. ★★★⯪ (3.5 stars)/🌶 (don't remember much if any spice)

 

A Little Luck

After the biggest job of her life goes sideways, magical artifact thief Lottie Luck is out of, well, luck. With no job on the horizon and only the clothes on her back, she makes a snap decision to head to Arrowmount, where her estranged sister lives, to regroup and figure out where she's going next.
Kirandir Dulra, a favored Arrowmount town bard, is happy enough with the way her life is. By day, she's a dishwasher for the local bar, and by night she performs for the regular townsfolk who frequent the Old 'n Narrow. The routine works, but she dreams of more: a life in arcane lights with crowds calling her name.
However, everything is turned upside down when these two strangers get thrown together to organize the entertainment for an upcoming festival as emergency replacements one month out.
As the two try and find a rhythm together, Lottie unearths truths about herself and Kir's dream starts to become more realistic. In a story full of chilly autumnal nights and the golden glow of lantern light, these two women might just find more in each other than they bargained for.

This one had that romantic "getting together" story that I like, plus much more action. Lottie and Kir are instantly attracted to each other, but Kir's shy and Lottie isn't planning on staying. She also has someone after her due to an artifact she stole, and she's not sure how she's going to wiggle out of that one. Kir's not sure how to tell her family she wants to leave and travel the world as a bard, and isn't sure if Lottie actually likes her or is just flirting. Lottie also has to find a way to make up with her sister after not talking to her for 10 years. Oh, and some old ladies corralled the two of them into being in charge of the autumn festival's entertainment, which means spending a lot of time together... This story was also soft and cozy even though way more happened. We see Arileas and Finn again, plus a lot of the townspeople from the first book (duh, same town). I enjoyed this one even though we barely saw the bookstore. ★★★⯪/🌶 (kissing and sex mentions)

Book Review: Breeze Spells & Bridegrooms by Sarah Wallace & S.O. Callahan

Fae and humans alike are returning to London for the Season, but the excitement is marred by the growing poverty rate among humans with low magical scores.

Tenacious Roger Barnes proposes a new rubric for testing magic to the Council, hoping to resolve the predicament for his fellow humans. But when he is paired with Wyndham Wrenwhistle, a dashing fae who has disliked him since childhood, the project seems destined to fail. Even after reaching a tentative truce, their fragile partnership crumbles due to malicious lies.

Adding to the disarray, a popular gossip column unexpectedly announces that Roger and Wyn are engaged. Obliged to go along with the falsehood to save their families from scandal, they are forced to reconcile their differences for the sake of the rubric — and for their impending marriage. As the project bleeds into their wedding plans, the pressure to flawlessly execute both mounts even higher.

Together, they have the chance to solve a crisis decades in the making — but they'll need more than magic to succeed.

One of this book's co-authors wrote the Meddle & Mend series, which I adored, so I snapped this book up when it went on sale for 99 cents.  It's set in a similar universe as the Meddle & Mend series (Regency England but magical & queernorm as well as non-racist) but with the addition of a fae population probably around the same size as the human population. They coexist fairly well, but rarely intermarry. Magical ability is very important, and inheritance goes to the child with the highest magical score rather than going to the oldest son (oh yeah, the society is non-sexist too). Humans with low magical scores are usually ignored by suitors and passed over for jobs. Low-magic humans are sometimes kicked out to starve by their parents as soon as they reach adulthood. This is very sad and pretty jarring for an otherwise-cozy fantasy book. Roger is trying to change this by implementing a new scoring rubric so children are less likely to score low, but to me it's the society that needs to change. They should stop caring how people score on a hugely important magic test they take once at age twelve that determines the rest of their lives. Roger scored low because he was nervous, and to me the test and its grading are hugely unfair. It was kind of whiplash-y to read about such a prejudiced society and then have the rest of the book basically be like "anyhoo, on to the cute romance!!"

Roger is paired with former classmate Wyndham Wrenwhistle, a fae who also scored rather low on the fae magic test, which is supposed to be similar/analogous to the human test, hence why they have to work together. They don't like each other, mostly because Wyn is and has been a huge jerk to Roger, but Wyn's grandma (who is on the fae-human relations council with Roger's dad) makes him do it. It's obvious that she did that because she thinks Wyn's into Roger. They're trying to work on the rubric but keep clashing, and in their anger both write disparaging letters about the other to the gossip paper. The editor of the paper is like, you know what would be hilarious? and posts that the two are engaged. They of course visit the editor to demand they retract the engagement announcement, but they're like "no + deal with it + you two are cute together :)"

Since it's Regency England, the two dummies can't say they aren't engaged because Wyn made the huge mistake of gifting Roger a nice teapot since he only has one non-cracked one, and you can't bring gifts to boys you're not engaged to, the scandal!!! Also almost everyone is super into them being together because a fae-human marriage is So Good For Our Society since historically fae-human marriages were/kinda still are frowned upon. Imagine being forced to marry your childhood bully (sort of) because It Will Change Society For the Better. Yikes. Don't worry, they start falling in love for real! 

I dislike the "it's okay when people set you up/force you to spend time together with someone because they think you like each other/would be cute together and because they think it's in your best interest" sentiment of this book. It also showed up in Wallace's latest book The Spellmaster of Tutting-on-Cress, where everyone kept trying to set up the heroine with this guy she obviously liked even though she explicitly asked them all to not do that and respect her wishes re: not being set up because it's cringey and embarrassing. The whole "it's for your own good! otherwise you'd be single forever!" excuses being used to ignore said wishes just felt gross. It's the lack of respect and ignoring of consent for me. 😠 The lack of apology and/or realization that the setting-up was being pushed on people without their consent is very annoying to me. And the whole smug "see? I was right!" thing when the couples invariably ended up together used to justify it! Ugh. It's not cute or funny, and it smacks of amatonormativity. Not everyone needs to be paired up, and single people aren't tragic!

Anyway, I really enjoyed this book and found the romance to be very sweet. They're very gentle and kind to each other (even Wyn once he mellows out). Sarah Wallace is an insta-buy author for me, and I'll have to check out more of what S.O. Callahan has written. 

Score: ★★★★ out of 5 stars
Spice score: 🌶🌶 out of 5 chilies
Read in: October 24-25
From: B&N Nook

Tropes: close proximity, betrothed against their will/we have to get engaged to avoid scandal, assigned engaged by gossip column (is that a trope?), fake dating (sort of), "we have to sell this relationship/act like we're in love", rivals to lovers, rivals to friends to lovers, childhood bully romance (sort of), opposites attract, everyone ships them, family/friends meddling, being meddled into a relationship, slow burn, height difference (smol & tol), I'll Take Care of You, socialite x academic, fashionista x academic, popular x nerd, flirty x flustered, whatever it's called when they knew each other since childhood and one or both of them kinda liked the other ever since then, the magic of love/love makes magic stronger or whatever

Representation: gay MMCs, demisexual MMC, nonbinary character who uses they/them pronouns, sapphic minor character, neurodivergent MC (both ADHD and autistic vibes imo), anxiety rep, Roger looks Hispanic to me but that might be due to his passing resemblance to Harvey Guillen, I think there's other side characters of color but the physical descriptions are a bit lacking, aesthetic attraction is mentioned

Trigger warnings: prejudice built into the unequal system that leads to othering & poverty, a prejudiced character is vocally negative about a human and fae marrying, mild stalking by an ex

August ebooks

It is bugging me, but I can never figure out how to capitalize ebook/s. Ebook looks too boomerish, and eBook seems pretentious. Ah well.

After that fantastic reading month, I naturally reverted back to my normal "not reading, and when I do, it's ebooks" status. 

Making Waves by Joane Rock (summary) ★★★  🌶🌶🌶/🌶

Has this happened to you? You download a free romance novel ebook that promises to be steamy, but instead you're forced to read about the two leads bickering and having relationship drama for basically the entire book. Typical dramatic lustiness, and the characters were little more than cardboard. They used to date when she was 20 and he was 25 or 26, which skeeved me out. Not only was everyone in their lives was okay with this, they all actively thought they were perfect together and should get married, but then he dumped her out of the blue without telling her why (it was to go into the army as it was the 2000s). There's one scene where they go at it in a first class airplane sleeper room which makes no sense to me because I think first-class sleeper sections of airplanes aren't enclosed? Like they're not sleeper cars in a train? I have no real idea; my only knowledge of flying first class is watching Crazy Rich Asians. The hero also has some sexist alpha-ness, which is typical for the genre (not as much as others though) and always annoying. Is anyone else sick of reading about contemporary romance novel heroines who are simultaneously virginal and sexy, girlish and a mature woman? I am. I think I need to stop reading contemporary het romances. Trigger warnings: trauma involving a family member kidnapped by terrorists in I think Afghanistan (past), army veteran hero, the aforementioned age gap, that's it I think

Cinder Ella by S.T Lynn (summary) ★★★.5 

I really enjoyed this author's The Little Mermaid retelling, so I was excited to buy this ebook on sale. Like that one, this retelling has a Black trans woman as the lead. There are some Brandy Cinderella vibes. The beginning is as usual, with the step-family's awfulness and abuse including transphobia towards Ella. The ball invite comes from the princess herself, who likes Ella's dog and chats with her for a while. It's very cute. The fairy godmother is a mysterious dress seller whose dress shop-carriage is bigger on the inside. For some reason there's no magic to make her unfamiliar to her step-family at the ball, and, enraged at "him" for "his" transgressions, they drag Ella out, kick her out of the house and drop her off at the farthest part of town. Why not encourage Ella's interest in the princess so they can be in-laws with the royal family? The step-family is so stupid. The whole "whichever woman can fit into this shoe" thing makes sense in this telling as the princess first met Ella when she was presenting as a man, and she was presenting as a woman at the ball. Ella grows roses, which is nice but also a bit out of the Cinderella lane; they are important to the plot. There's this whole thing about Ella working for/as a baker and making a life for herself that felt like it was starting to go somewhere, but then it didn't, which was, like, 'why, then?' to me. The ending is a bit rushed and fairy godmother ex machina, but it's a nice little retelling that I enjoyed. I'll probably end up buying the other book in this series later.  Trigger warnings: transphobia, transmisogyny, physical and verbal abuse, forced servitude/slavery as is usual in Cinderella

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 KJ 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.

Book Review: Bookshop Cinderella by Laura Lee Guhrke

Evie Harlow runs a quaint little bookshop in London, which is the biggest adventure an unmarried woman with no prospects could hope for. Until Maximillian Shaw, Duke of Westbourne, saunters into her shop with a proposition: to win a bet with his friends, he’ll turn her into the diamond of the season. The duke might be devilishly attractive, but Evie has no intention of accepting his ludicrous offer. When disaster strikes her shop, however, she’s left with little choice but to let herself be whisked into his high-society world.
Always happy to help a lady in distress, Max thinks he’s saving Evie from her dull spinster’s life. He’ll help her find a husband and congratulate himself on a job well done. But as shy Evie becomes the shining star he always knew she could be, she somehow steals his heart. And when her reputation is threatened, can Max convince her to choose a glittering, aristocratic life with him over the cozy comfort of her bookshop?

I bought this book very obviously for the title from Something Novel Booksellers. I find it kind of on the nose (they couldn't come up with something more creative?) but it worked on me, so. After reading this book, however, I regret to inform you that the title is a lie. This book is almost nothing like Cinderella and much more like My Fair Lady, only with the h0rny straight duke instead of two gay guys. With historical romance novels you kind of always know how it's going to go; for instance, if a guy is to help a girl find a husband, you just know they're going to fall in love. Also, he has to give her dancing lessons so she can fit into society 👀 This book, despite the duke's lusting, has more plot than spice. I liked how Evie is no-nonsense and sensible and has no patience for annoying men.

Overall I enjoyed this, although the bookshop didn't come into the story much and a huge jerk who does an awful thing towards the end doesn't get a comeuppance. In my head Evie told the duke about it and he forks the jerk up. I leave you with this meme I made to share when talking about the book on my IG:

Score: ★★★½ out of 5 stars
Spice score: 🌶🌶🌶🌶 out of 5 chilies (spicy)
Read in: May 31
From: Something Novel Booksellers 

Trigger warnings: period-typical misogyny/sexism and classism, jerk seduces a young woman & uses her to get information etc., sex shaming, sex negativity (also period-typical)

short book reviews for ebooks I read in May

The Case of Barton Manor by Emily Queen, read on May 9

This is a murder mystery set in England in the 1920s. Rosemary Lilywhite used to help her late husband run his private investigator business, but she decides to put that all behind her now that he's gone. However, an old classmate comes to her for help after her father receives a death threat. In order to help her, Rosemary must reenter society, putting up with her mostly annoying family and everyone's scrutinizing eyes. She has help from her best friend, a scandalous flapper, and the detective in charge of the investigation for the murders, a friend of Rosemary's and her late husband's who is secretly in love with her. Additional motivation to solve the murders comes in the form of Rosemary's brother being the main suspect! I enjoyed this freebook (free ebook) and it really helped pass the time at the reference desk. I liked Rosemary and her flapper bestie and found the 1920s high society stuff interesting, but the author would jump from Rosemary's POV into a side character's head in order to tell us what they were thinking in a jarring way that is telling rather than showing. I would read the rest of the books in this series if the ebooks are free. 3.5 out of 5 stars. Trigger warnings for murder, blood, violence, attempted kidnapping, guns, sexism, alcohol and drunkenness/blacking out, classism

 

Dirt-Stained Hands, Thorn-Pierced Skin by Tabitha O'Connell, read on May 28

This novella is a Beauty and the Beast retelling with a nonbinary protagonist. The storyline closely follows the first half of the Disney Beauty and the Beast movie, except that "Belle" is dating "Gaston", and the inventor father is now the inventor mother. You can read the book summary here. The castle from the story is now the fabled castle of mythic mages, who are still talked about in fables told to children. No one even knew the castle existed. Worried about eir mother being trapped there with an injury, Heron leaves to go to her. The castle is just as cool and mysterious as other tellings' castles have been. Instead of the original (?) invisible servants or their floating hands (or Disney's anthropomorphized furnishings), there are automaton servants built by the mages. The "Beast" is the mysterious Theomer, who is not a beast or a mage but a quiet man hiding behind a cape and a wild mane of hair. The curse is hinted at in the title. Heron gets a job at the castle working as a gardener so ey can make some money to help eir mom and have time and space to think about what to do about eir partner Thiel, who keeps pushing em to move in with him. However, Heron and Theomer grow closer, and Theomer draws em in more than Thiel ever did... Overall, I enjoyed this book very much, but it left me wanting more. I wish the author had written a full-length novel instead of a novella so the relationship between Heron and Theomer as well as the curse could be fleshed out and dwelled on more. I highly recommend this book! 4 out of 5 stars; 1 chili pepper 🌶 for spice simply because there are off-page sex mentions and some kissing. Nonbinary (with neopronouns), queer, and gay representation. Trigger warnings for body horror, blood, uneven/controlling relationship dynamics, characters refusing to have adult conversations and running away from their problems

Book Review: Most Ardently: A Pride & Prejudice Remix by Gabe Cole Novoa

Oliver Bennet feels trapped. Not just by the endless corsets, petticoats and skirts he's forced to wear on a daily basis, but also by society's expectations. The world—and the vast majority of his family and friends—think Oliver is a girl named Elizabeth. He is therefore expected to mingle at balls wearing a pretty dress, entertain suitors regardless of his interest in them, and ultimately become someone's wife.

But Oliver can't bear the thought of such a fate. He finds solace in the few times he can sneak out of his family's home and explore the city rightfully dressed as a young gentleman. It's during one such excursion when Oliver becomes acquainted with Darcy, a sulky young man who had been rude to "Elizabeth" at a recent social function. But in the comfort of being out of the public eye, Oliver comes to find that Darcy is actually a sweet, intelligent boy with a warm heart. And not to mention incredibly attractive.

As Oliver is able to spend more time as his true self, often with Darcy, part of him dares begin to hope that his dream of love and life as a man could be possible. But suitors are growing bolder—and even threatening—and his mother is growing more desperate to see him settled into an engagement. Oliver will have to choose: settle for safety, security, and a life of pretending to be something he's not, or risk it all for a slim chance at freedom, love, and a life that can be truly, honestly his own.

 You already know Jane Austen adaptations and remakes are my jam, especially if they're LGBTQ+. That the author is latino is also a bonus. I bought the ebook when it went on sale, and read it on my Europe trip a few weeks ago. I really liked this book. I liked all the OG P&P references, but Novoa played around with them in a way that felt interesting and fresh; I didn't always know what was going to happen, in other words. For some reason the characters are all aged down; Oliver is 17 instead of 20, so his sisters are all aged down the same amount. I'm not sure why; maybe it's to appeal more to teenagers? (This book is YA.) This makes marriage less urgent for the Bennet girls, although Mrs. Bennet is just as frantic, if not more, about getting the girls married as she is in the original book for some reason. I think Darcy is 17 or 18. Oliver is only out to Jane and Charlotte Lucas, who is a lesbian and has a girlfriend!!! Said girlfriend (an original character) is married for the stability and because people are less focused on/more trusting of married women; this theme of marriage = necessary stability for queer people is one that Charlotte believes in and lectures Oliver about. Obviously Oliver hates the idea of being a wife, because he is not a woman. He's not sure the stability of that life would be worth it.

There are many, many instances of Oliver feeling dysphoric and triggered by wearing female clothing and people treating him and talking about/to him like he's a girl. It makes sense that this would happen, as he has to live like his assigned gender at birth 99% of the time. Charlotte has his boy clothes stashed at her house, so he says he's going to hang out with Charlotte, walks to her house, changes into his male clothes, and spends time as his real self. He becomes friends with Bingley and Darcy as his real self, and of course clashes with Darcy as a "girl". There's one scene where Bingley & Darcy invite Oliver into a gentlemen's club (think Holmes and Wooster, not today's meaning) and I was so concerned for him because he just had his long hair tucked into a top hat so he wouldn't be able to take it off without outing himself, but apparently this was not an issue? I didn't think gentlemen were allowed to just wear top hats indoors. I like how Oliver and Darcy bond over books. There was an interesting element in the concept of molly houses (which I knew to be brothels with male sex workers) as gay clubs?? Not sure if this is true, but it makes sense queer people would hang out there to be safe/gay with each other. 

SPOILERS thoughts, highlight to read: Wickham would so totally out Darcy for being gay. Because all the characters are aged down, Wickham doesn't groom Lydia into running off with him (although he does try it with Georgiana, who is the same age as in the book.) He sets his sights on Oliver instead. I thought it was kind of weird that Darcy is gay, Wickham and Oliver know he's gay, and Darcy likes reading books by/about gay men and hangs out at molly houses to do so, yet has a closeted gay freakout when he and Oliver kiss?? That makes little sense. I don't think Mr. Collins would actually think a trans son would be a legal threat to his inheritance. Oliver comes out to his dad and he's super accepting, which made me so happy :')  The rest of his family accepts him too!

In all, I really liked this P&P retelling, and will have to read more from this author. I recommend it to people who like their classics retellings queer and to Austen fans who don't mind reading retellings that deviate from the original. 

Score: ★★★★½ out of 5 stars
Spice score: 1 out of 5 chilies (kissing, sex mentions)
Read in: May 6
From: Barnes & Noble/Nook

Representation: gay trans man main character, cis gay man character, cis lesbian side characters

Trigger warnings: transphobia, dysphoria, homophobia, a character outs a queer character (to, unbeknownst to him, another queer character, but still), closeted trans and queer characters (period-typical), misgendering (usually unintentionally), lesbian characters in heterosexual marriages, an attempt is made to force a trans man character to marry and live as a woman, period-typical sexism, blackmail in the form of threatened outing. Gabe Cole Novoa has a list of trigger warnings in the beginning of the book

Book Review: Fatalities and Folios by ACF Bookens

Who knew that finding a rare book would also involve running for her life? 

When Poe Baxter fled her job as an English professor, she was thrilled to be launching into her career as an antiquarian book dealer with a trip to Edinburgh. But she soon finds that her queries into a particular book's provenance are drawing some less desirable attention to her and her best friend Beattie. Not everyone is interested in sharing this particular story. 

Will the women be able to discover the book's origins without bringing about their own ends?

This was a free ebook that I downloaded for obvious reasons. Bookish mysteries are my kryptonite. I was hyped for the rare books angle, which was interesting enough, and enjoyed reading about Edinburgh (I really want to visit it now). I liked the fabulism angle with the Scottish folklore book making its owner see sea monsters in every reflective surface and liquid, but it wasn't delved into much. Overall, I found the mystery only serviceable, the villain kind of obvious, and the reason for murder kind of stupid. The only characters I actually liked were Beattie (who actually has common sense and is fashionable, cool, and trans) and Poe's rare books librarian love interest (smart and nice if rather boring). I like that Poe and Beattie are middle-aged, but Poe acts like a steampunk-obsessed teenager. Why did she think it was a good idea to wear Victorian men's cosplay to her flight to Scotland? Why is she clumsy and always blurting out things she shouldn't? She feels like every female protagonist in a mediocre-ly written independently published mystery (I've read several, due to my love of free ebooks). Poe doesn't seem to know much about antiquarian book dealing, which she's only doing because her rich uncle hired her to do the book dealing for him. For instance, Poe doesn't know that books above a certain age (1800s? and older) have sewn pages, not glued. Being an English professor does not make you an expert in rare books. Poe has a pet hamster she ascribes a diva personality to which is not at all annoying to read about (sarcasm), and she takes him everywhere, which is a little weird (but not as weird as saying that the hamster's giving her judgy looks). Poe's librarian love interest's brother is Beattie's love interest. Their relationships (insta-attraction, wouldn't you know) are not interesting and don't really add anything to the story. You could have gotten the rare books librarian involved just out of his professional interest, rather than making him and Poe an item. The mystery should have been dwelled on more; the plots are kind of not enough.

Overall, this was a mostly fun way to while away time at the reference desk. I'm not mad I read it and wouldn't mind reading more books in the Poe Baxton series if they are all free and about rare books. I wouldn't spend money on them though. The FaF ebook is still free as of this posting. I really like the cover for this book; I wish the book were that good.

Score: ★★★ out of 5 stars
Spice score: 0 out of 5 chilies (just kissing)
Read in: April 25
From: Barnes & Noble/Nook

Representation: trans woman secondary character, middle-aged characters

Trigger warnings: murder, blood, guns, being held at gunpoint, past transphobia mention, nice cop character

What my nearly 2 year old nephew calls his family members and why, second nephew edition

my first post on my first nephew

his mom: mami

his dad: papi

The difference having an older sibling makes. Nephew M has been listening to his brother talk for most of his life, so his pronunciation is arguably better than his brother's was at that age. If you don't feel like clicking through to my previous post, Nephew C (the oldest) said mama and dada at this age. I know it's 1 letter off, but mami and papi are the correct words.

his brother (3 years): Cistian (he cannot pronounce Rs very well yet)

his maternal grandmother (my mom): mom (in a Spanish accent). This is because whenever my mom is around him, he's always hearing me, my siblings, and his parents call my mom Mom. It's hilarious. My family has more or less given up on getting the kids to call my mom anything other than Mom, plus their paternal grandparents have usurped the abuelito/abuelita titles (although they do add their first names to them).

his maternal grandfather (my dad): Lito, sometimes 'ito (see previous post for explanation)

his aunt (me): Tia Amy. Readers of my first post in this series will remember that my older nephew C called me Tia and called all his other aunts Otra Tia (other aunt) at this age. Karmatically, M will only ever call me by his other maternal aunt's name (my sister-in-law). This is because there is a Lovevery book where the child protagonist goes to the doctor and the nurse is called Nurse Amy, and also because Amy is easier for him to say than Michelle. He fully 100% means me. (In case you're wondering, my older nephew C will only call me Michelle these days, despite calling his other aunts Tia [name]. I like to think it is because of our bond.)

I have not heard M address or talk about his other aunts or any of his uncles (my brothers live out of state and are not around much), so no idea for those. Ditto for his other grandparents. He calls his cousins by name. He is so cute and smart like his brother, but with a mischievous streak. I love those kids.

Antique book poem by Emily Dickinson

I was going to post a poem I came across while reading my old book of Emily Dickinson's poetry, but another Blogspot posted it and wrote (or shared) a commentary on the poem. I encourage you to read it here:

http://bloggingdickinson.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-precious-mouldering-pleasure-tis.html

 

Side note: I remember buying my copy of Emily Dickinson's poems from the Scholastic Book Fair when I was in elementary school, like I specifically have the distinct memory of being 7 or 8 or 9 at the Scholastic Book Fair and browsing the shelves, being drawn to Emily's face and picking the book up, but I just checked the copyright page and this is a small paperback from 2002. I was in the ninth grade in 2002; perhaps because I was homeschooled that year, I was able to go to my younger siblings' SBF and buy the book then? I have no memory of that, but I definitely would have gone then. I'd go today. I miss the SBF.

Book Review: An Infamous Army by Georgette Heyer

On the eve of battle, passions are running high... In the summer of 1815, with Napolean Bonaparte marching down from the north, Brussels is a whirlwind of parties, balls and soirees. In the swirling social scene surrounding the Duke of Wellington and his noble aides de camp, no one attracts more attention than the beautiful, outrageous young widow Lady Barbara Childe. On their first meeting, dashing Colonel Charles Audley proposes to her, but even their betrothal doesn't calm her wild behavior. Finally, with the Battle of Waterloo raging just miles away, civilians fleeing and the wounded pouring back into the town, Lady Barbara discovers where her heart really lies, and like a true noblewoman, she rises to the occasion, and to the demands of love, life and war...

This is the second book I've read from Georgette Heyer (here's the first), and I've found her to be a writer of solid historical Regency romances. I've just found out by looking this book up that An Infamous Army is the third book in a trilogy, which is not mentioned at all in my 1970s copy. To be fair I skim or ignore everything before chapter one. The title comes from a phrase the Duke of Wellington wrote in a letter complaining about how ill-prepared and -uniformed his army was. 

Basically this book is Barbieheimer, if the Barbie part were a historical Regency romance novel and the Oppenheimer part were a dry, grim Napoleonic war novel. Actually, I just remembered the heroine's name is actually Barbara so that works perfectly! She's a young widow who is so beautiful and bewitching that she's constantly surrounded by enthralled lovesick men. She's scandalous because she flirts with all of them and paints her toenails gold like a Parisian prostitute!! Quel horreur!!! Alexa, play "Maneater" (either version works fine). The hero is Colonel Audrey, a dashing handsome man who is boring sensible and respectable; this is contradicted in the text by him falling in love with Barbara at first sight and proposing like the second time they meet, as well as him being stupid enough to think Barbara will stop being such a scandalous flirt after they're engaged, despite her telling him straight to his face that she won't stop and will keep doing whatever she wants. He's like "no you won't" and then gets all surprised Pikachu face when she does. Who could have foreseen this??? I don't get why he had to be so much older than her (about ten years). GH really had a thing for older male love interests; in The Nonesuch her hero was like 35 (like Audrey) and her heroine was 28. The gendered double standards re: aging are annoying to me.

The war half of this book is about the Duke of Wellington planning/preparing for war, which mostly seems to consist of him writing letters during the day and then going to balls and dances at night. He's basically the third main character of this book. Audrey is one of his aides, and other aids and their love interests are side characters. This part of the book is very dry and boring; when we get to the Battle of Waterloo it's very violent and sad with all the deaths and injuries. The injured survivors basically crawl to the town where the civilians are staying and the ladies bind up wounds etc. as best they can. The two halves of the book are very inharmonious and the nonexistent transitions between the two are jarring. It'll be like: "Her eyes flashing, Barbara bounded away. [paragraph break] The Duke of Wellington sat down to write a letter..." Heyer really did her research (she has a bibliography in the back of the book; take note, nonfiction writers) and did her best to write about the Duke of Wellington and the Battle of Waterloo in an accurate way, but it would have been better if she'd split the two books up. Pick a lane, Heyer. Don't go chasing war-terfalls; stick to the rivers and the balls that you're used to. Barbarloo was not fun; at least Barbieheimer was two different films so you could choose to skip one. Oh, and the ending was so abrupt I turned the page and was shocked to find it blank. Did they lose a page? Or did Heyer really think the best way to end the book was to have, you guessed it, the Duke of Wellington sit down to write a letter? 

Score: 3 out of 5 stars
Spice score: 0.5 out of 5 chilies 🌶 (just kissing)
Read in: March 30-31
From: a used bookstore called Griffeys' Book Emporium

Trigger warnings: death, dismemberment, limb loss, war, violence, fighting, animal (horses) death, period-typical sexism, period-typical sex shaming, teenage girl forced to marry much older man (past, off-page), infidelity I think

Book Review: The Thread that Binds by Cedar McCloud

At the Eternal Library, books are more than the paper, ink, and thread they're made from--they're full of spirits. Only a handful of people will ever be invited to the Bindery to learn the craft of Illumination: the magical creation of intricate illustrated manuscripts, bound with a secret that will make them last forever.

Tabby is a dreamwalker, a witch who escapes into the stories of sleep to avoid a birth family that's never loved em enough. Amane is a cartomancer, a medium who speaks for the Unseen, but doesn't know how to speak her own needs. Rhiannon is a psychic, an archivist who can See into the past, but only has eyes on the future.

Their stories intertwine as they discover the secrets of Illumination, the Library's archives, and those of their mentors--the three of whom are competing to be the next Head Librarian, the Speaker for all the books. How do you know who's truly worth being part of your family? Sometimes we must forge connections in order to heal; other times, those bonds must be broken...

I bought this ebook from Nook/Barnes & Noble when they were having a sale. You know I'm a sucker for any kind of book about a library and/or books, and this one sounded really interesting. I read it for the Trans Rights Readathon. 

The world this story is set in is a queernorm one, with LGBTQ+-ness being completely normal and most people not having a gender at all. Eir/em pronouns are used for a lot of characters, which takes a bit of getting used to. Just about every letter in the acronym is represented, including aroace rep. The worldbuilding is very well done, with fairytales and folklore from the countries being a theme. The world felt real and lived-in, and I really want to visit the Eternal Library. The magic system is varied and interesting, and the idea of magical books is so cool. You know I enjoyed all the bookbinding etc. stuff. 

Trust, healing, and relationships (especially found family) are big themes in this book. While it deals with some heavy topics, it still feels somewhat cozy. Overall I really enjoyed this book, and would definitely read more books by this author, especially if they were set in the same world.

Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Spice score: 0.5 out of 5 chilies 🌶 (just kissing)
Read in: March 29
From: Barnes & Noble/Nook  

Representation: just about every letter in the QuILTBAG, nonbinary, asexual, aroace, polyamory, Black characters, queerplatonic relationship, racial and body diversity

Trigger warnings: domestic abuse, abusive parents, controlling parents, emotional manipulation, magical torture, that's all I can think of. Cedar McCloud has a list of trigger warnings in the beginning of the book

Book Review: Mer Made by S.T. Lynn

Erika, who has to hide being a trans woman, sneaks on deck in her mother's dress in the dead of night and a superstitious deckhand throws her overboard from the ship. But drowning at sea isn't how Erika plans to die. She cuts a deal with a sea witch for more than her life--for the first time, she is transformed into the woman she's always known was inside. Her dress becomes a mermaid tail, and all it took was her voice.

However, the witch is on the hunt for the undersea throne, the seat of power. Ariel, the last daughter of the king, must marry in three days or the first place Erika has ever called home will be destroyed. The magic of true love is the only thing that can save them now.

This was an ebook that I downloaded for free and read on the Nook app. As you know, I am a sucker for any and all kinds of fairytale retellings, especially LGBTQ+ ones. Obviously this is a The Little Mermaid retelling, but specifically a retelling of the Disney version of the story (Erika = Eric). I read it for the Trans Rights Readathon in late March.

I thought it was well-written, although there were some errors (shined used instead of shone. I myself had to add several commas to the summary above). While I understand that the sailor throwing Erika overboard needed to happen so the story could happen, I thought it was kind of ridiculous. Obviously I know about the superstition that a woman on board a ship is bad luck, but for a sailor to be so superstitious that he sees a woman on board, grabs her, and throws her overboard??? No one would do that. He would be in such big trouble for drowning a passenger, especially one connected to the governor (Erika's transphobic dad). Sailors might be superstitious but they are practical. I liked Atlantis (that's what the merpeople city was called, right?) and thought the worldbuilding was well done; I want to visit it.

The problems were all solved kind of quickly and through magic: Erika is saved from drowning by Ursula who turns her into a mermaid (fair), Erika's voice being stolen from her by Ursula is solved by Ariel magically copying and pasting her knowledge of sign language into Erika's brain, plus the big issue at the end of the book that I won't spoil for you. I did like how diverse Atlantis is; there's tons of physical diversity, so Erika (who is Black with dark skin) fits right in, and there are enough deaf merpeople that everyone learns sign language by default, which is cool. It's also a queer-norm society, so I'm not sure why the Rule/Prophecy or whatever specified that Ariel needed a husband. I thought Erika and Ariel's friendship and then mutual pining was cute; the whole thing about them falling in love while trying to find Ariel a husband in three days for The Big Issue was a bit silly and done before. Overall, though, I did enjoy this short cute retelling of The Little Mermaid and would recommend it. S.T. Lynn has written at least one more Black trans fairytale retelling that I'd like to check out. 

Mer Made aesthetics moodboard

Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Spice score: 0.5 out of 5 chilies 🌶 (just kissing)
Read in: March 27
From: Barnes & Noble/Nook  

Representation: Transgender, trans woman, Black, character with dark skin, sapphic (lesbian, bi/pan/omni etc. women), mute character, sign language usage, mentioned deaf rep (no named characters)

Trigger warnings: transphobia, near-drowning, misogyny, sexism, mentioned past physical abuse, abusive parent, parent death, grief, instead of having Erika agree to sign away her voice for a pair of legs mermaid tail, Ursula just took it without asking, which, hello, consent!

Short books update for February through now

 I don't feel like writing up reviews for them, but the other books I read in February include Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, and The Great Divorce (all by C.S. Lewis, of course). I have now finished my CSL class but I feel like rereading Til We Have Faces (the grad student-only read that I skipped as I enrolled in the class as an undergrad), which I only read once at least ten years ago. We'll see if I get around to it. 

I have still not finished reading bell hook's All About Love: New Visions, which I started back in early February. She writes so well, beautifully as well as straightforward, and I am interested in the topic, but I keep dragging myself through one chapter at a time and then not reading again for days if not weeks. I don't know what the issue is. I will say I tend to have this problem with nonfiction over fiction, even if the book topic interests me (remember how I started reading that nonfiction book about the linguistics of/on the Internet right before the pandemic, and never finished it?). I don't want to abandon it; maybe now that I've finished my CSL class I can finish this book. 

I dread going to my [none of your business] doctor for obvious reasons, but I also love it when I have an appointment, because just a block or so away from the building there is a quiet little street that has a cute trendy indie coffee shop where I buy an oat milk latte (mocha or chai or seasonal but always sweet) and then go across that street to an Assistance League thrift store and browse for a while. It's heaven. I bought a khaki mini-skort, two half-priced scarves, and three books, all five dollars or less. The books were 50 cents each (!); one was a Pike Place Market cookbook that I gave my sister (she used to live near Seattle and we visited there once), and the other two were for me: The Eyre Affair and The Daughters of Artemis. I had heard of the Thursday Next series (of which The Eyre Affair is the first) from back when I was reading author blogs (remember blogs?), but I never started it because it felt daunting or something. It's a bookish series that is maybe mysteries and maybe fantastical; I'm not really sure. It being bookish is enough to recommend itself to me. The other one sounds like a thriller mystery book, and judging by the title and summary, I suspect it is sapphic.

This online indie bookstore started by two of my college friends had an International Women's Day sale on their female authored books, so I bought two: Tanglewreck by Jeanette Winterton, who I've read and liked before, and Bookshop Cinderella, a romance novel that is also a Cinderella retelling set in a bookstore. I find the title kind of obvious, but it worked on me, so. Tanglewreck looks like a time travel sci fi book. 

The March Disneybound challenge has been taking up all my free time, so I haven't posted anything about books since February. Also, me reading nothing but C.S. Lewis has been uninspiring for bookstagram posts, even though I love him. Ah well.

Book reviews: C.S. Lewis's Space/Ransom trilogy

The Space Trilogy (or Ransom Trilogy) is C.S. Lewis' only other fantasy (under the guise of science fiction/scientifiction) series, and when I read them the first few times, I loved them so much that I listed them among my favorite books. I've reread them now for my C.S. Lewis class, and my feelings about the books have changed. 

 

Out of the Silent Planet (description) - The first book in the trilogy remains my favorite. The fascinating planet and its inhabitants, their language and Ransom's learning of it, and the way Lewis marries science fiction with fantasy and Christianity makes this book so enjoyable to me. The opinions CSL promotes in this book are of the "we should not colonize other planets/don't be obsessed with furthering the human race to the point that we lose our humanity" variety, which is slightly surprising until you remember he's Irish. On the whole I agree with him; I think I enjoyed the other books in the trilogy less because I don't agree with the beliefs he endorses there. A couple things I found funny are that Dr. Ransom (a philologist) is based on J.R.R. Tolkien, and the space travel science is completely silly. Anyway, I really liked this book but I don't think I count it a favorite anymore. 4.5 out of 5 stars, permanent collection. Trigger warnings: everything you should expect from a male-written 1940s sci fi book, murder, death, animal abuse and killing mention, ableism, kidnapping, guns/shooting death, colonialist genocide mentions

Aesthetics moodboard for Out of the Silent Planet

Perelandra (description) leans almost completely outside of the science and into fantasy. The medieval cosmology he folded into his science fantasy is much more dwelled on, and I love the mythological references Lewis added to the story. Perelandra is new, lush, and beautiful, and I enjoyed spending time in it. I did not enjoy the spiritual horror that threatened it through one of the antagonists from OotSP. I also wasn't crazy about traditional/old fashioned gender beliefs being shoehorned into the story through the planet gods. Lewis was nonplussed that most people didn't pick up on the Christianity in the first space book, so he really hammered it in here. I gave this one 4 stars. Trigger warnings: murder, death, violence, cosmic/spiritual/supernatural horror (demonic forces), demonic possession, body horror, zombie if you squint, animal abuse and murder, blood, gun, a huge bug-like creature shows up for a bit

Aesthetics moodboard for Perelandra

That Hideous Strength is the last book in the trilogy and takes place entirely on earth. Ransom is no longer the main character/focus; instead, we have alternating POVs from Jane and Mark, a young married couple who are bored with their lives and each other. Jane's dreams of the future bring her into Ransom's circle, and Mark's desire to be in the inner ring/popular & intellectual group brings him further into a shadowy organization (ironically called N.I.C.E.) that wants to control the universe. There's an exciting subplot with Arthurian fantasy and more medieval cosmology planetary influence stuff that I really enjoyed. There's also spiritual/supernatural horror in this book, albeit less direct that in Perelandra, but still creepy because an organization like N.I.C.E. could really exist and take over cities with police control and make bad people evil. There's a so-bad-it's-almost-funny butch lesbian cop stereotype who is written to be monstrous and evil. Lewis hammers in even more nonsense about gender roles and how it's an "erotic necessity" for the woman to obey her husband, which, like, your k!nks are not universal, babe. Just because you feel that way doesn't mean it's a natural law. Jane is not a very likeable character (Lewis is famous for being sexist, at least until he met his wife), but almost all the men are dicks to her in this book. It's not her fault her husband sucks and neglects her by eating all his meals at the university and then ditching her for weeks and weeks to live at the Institute. Jane never asked to get future dream visions or (spoiler, highlight to read: be part of a bloodline that was supposed to end with her birthing a future warrior for God or something, which no one told her about!) Justice for Jane! One thing I did find kind of funny is that Lewis posits there are seven genders because of the seven heavens/planets. Kind of based? 3.5 stars. Trigger warnings: murder, animal attack + massacre, gore, rape, torture, body horror, cosmic/spiritual/supernatural horror, police violence, town placed under police control and people driven from their homes, mob violence, animal abuse and experimentation (vivisection), guns and shooting deaths, eugenics and ableism mentions, genocide mentions, homophobia, homophobic stereotype character, misogyny and sexism, gender roles, homelessness, sex mentions

Aesthetics moodboard for That Hideous Strength

January books

 January felt so long but also like wow, it's over already? Time is weird.

My first read of 2024 was a book from the Sister Fidelma mysteries series, Suffer Little Children (summary here). I got this one, as I got the other first four books, from the free books rack in my library. As usual, this was an interesting murder mystery where I didn't see the twist coming. Peter Tremayne surprisingly limited himself to only one mention of Fidelma's "rebellious red strands of hair snaking out of her headdress", and then only right at the beginning. I did not enjoy this one because there were multiple instances where children (and adults etc.) were massacred in cold blood. Just way too sad. I gave it 3.5 stars. Trigger warnings: murder, children murdered, graphic depictions of corpses including blood, bodies burned, assassination mention, death, sexism.

 

I'm auditing a C.S. Lewis class for fun this quarter, and I'm really enjoying the class and rereading Lewis's books again. The professor lived in and ran the Kilns (CSL's home) for several years and is friends with lots of CSL-related people, including his stepson, so she has tons of fascinating insight to share. So far I've reread the first two Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian. Those are the only two Chronicles we're reading in the class, so I may reread the others at some point later this year. 

I also reread Surprised By Joy: The Shape of My Early Life, which is his memoir of his life up to becoming a Christian, and how the Joy/longing/sehnsuct he felt at nature and fairytales and mythology primed him for God despite being an atheist. Unsurprisingly, Lewis also talks about his schooling, and there was just so much physical abuse and bullying throughout his childhood and adolescent schools that it's a surprise he was able to learn anything. I think I maybe last read this book in my early twenties, and of course bring different views/opinions/etc. to the reading now as an adult in my mid-thirties. Lewis's account of how he felt he had to play a certain role with his father instead of being himself I had completely forgotten; his annoyance at having to forgo his alone time and reading in order to play the dutiful son was just too real. I think his father had ADHD, given Lewis's depictions of the way he thought and acted. Some of the stuff, such as his dad's quick, confusing way of thinking and him making his sons be/sit with him constantly out of some idea of family is so much like my mom. So often during my adolescence and young adulthood I'd be holed up in my room reading and hear my mom call out, "Michelle! Come be with your family!" and it was so annoying. Justice for introverted bookish children of extroverted ADHD parents! The sheer amount of everything he read and all the languages he learned is staggering; I especially enjoyed reading about his time studying with his uber-logical tutor. 4 stars, not sure how to rate this spice-wise because while there are frank depictions of "immorality", they are just written frankly in an academic/general way and not meant to titillate. Trigger warnings: physical abuse/punishment of children, starvation of children, neglect, bullying, passive suicidal ideation, loss of parent, mentions of sexual relationships between minors/teenage boys, war mentions, bugs/insects mentions (Lewis had a phobia at least as a boy)

I'm really enjoying all the readings, and am currently making my way slowly through Mere Christianity and Out of the Silent Planet.

Books Read in 2023

I'm literally so late with this but here are my reading stats for last year!

• Total books read during this year: 54
• Total books that I started to read but didn't finish: 1 (a women's devotional my mom bought me)
  
• physical books read: 38
  
• digital/ebooks read: 17
  
• physical books started but unfinished: 1
  
• ebooks started but unfinished: 0
  
• Library books read: 4
• Library books started but unfinished: 0
  
• Books I loved: 19
• Books I liked: 28
• Books I felt neutral about: 3
  
• Books I disliked or found meh: 3
  
• Books I hated: 0
  
• Books I felt strongly about but can't classify as love or hate: 1
  
• Books purchased: 64 😐
• #1 most loved book this year (not counting my rereads):
• most loved general fiction: How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe
  
• most loved fantasy: The Girl Who Drank the Moon
  
• most loved mysteries: The Will Darling Adventures
• most loved young adult book/s: Ophelia After All, Loveless
  
• most loved children's book/s: The Library of Ever and Rebel in TLoE
  
• most loved nonfiction: How to Be Ace, Sounds Fake But Okay

I'm honestly shocked I read so much. Last year I read 45 books, and the years before that I was reading 20-some books a year (not counting my 1st pandemic year reading slump). Shoutout to my Reference Desk shifts for giving me set times to read every week.

I felt embarrassed about how many books I'd bought this last year, but in 2022 I had bought 116, so I'd say I'm doing pretty well! It helps that I'm only letting myself buy books from thrift stores and independent bookstores (with the occasional Bookshop.org deal and cheap Nook ebook). Back then I was buying books from Book Outlet a couple times a month. As it is, I've only bought 9 more books than I've read! I sold several books (a couple boxes' worth) but didn't keep track of how many, so I've eliminated the "# of books sold" bullet point.

Here are some of the charts from my amazing reading log spreadsheet created by Tirzah Price.

Fantasy remains my most-read genre, but the percentage amount has gone down slightly. In 2022 General Fiction was the third-most read genre, while in 2023 it is the second-most read. Last (last) year's second most read genre, Memoir/Bio, was barely read this (last) year (3 books). My third-most read genre this year, Romance, has nearly quadrupled in percentage from last year. The free romance novel ebooks I've downloaded from Barnes & Noble are to blame.

In terms of form, 81.8% of the books I read were prose, while the rest of the pie was tiny slivers of 3-1 books each. 

[A.N.: I had the "books read by month" chart here, but it's inaccurate so I deleted it and the commentary. Some stats don't translate to the charts for some reason.]

Click to enbiggen

Author/Artist Gender: My percentage of female authors has gone up from 2022's 50% to 54.2%. The nonbinary authors percentage has quadrupled from 2.1% to 8.5%! Thusly, male authors have gone down from 43.8% to 35.6%.

Nation of Origin: The US percentage went down slightly, while the UK percentage went up a bit (I think this was the year I reread The Chronicles of Narnia). The Canada slice is due to the L.M. Montgomery collection, Christmas with Anne, that I read every holiday season. The New Zealand slice is due to a very bad and not even fun romance novel free ebook I don't want to talk about.

POC Authors (should be Authors of Color) vs. White Authors: The amount of white authors went up over 10 percent, so the amount of authors of color I read lowered the same amount :(

POC Protagonists (should be Protagonists of Color) books vs. White Protagonist books: How did this come out the same as the previous chart when they were different in 2022??

I'm tired of doing screenshots, so I'm going to write out the rest of my reading data in a list.

- Nearly 30% of the books I read in 2023 were by queer/LGBTQ+ authors and/or artists. Last year (2022) it was only 18.2%! What a jump!

- 31.5% of the books I read had queer/LGBTQ+ protagonists. Last year this was 25%. Yay for progress!

- I think the chart for trans authors is broken like the 2022 chart's was. Counting from the spreadsheet, I read 5 trans and nonbinary authors in 2023. Last year it was only 2 nonbinary authors!

- I read 2 books with trans/nonbinary protagonists this year, 3 if you count Nimona (and I kinda do). I can think of at least 1 other book with a nonbinary side character. Last year none of my books had a trans protagonist. Yay for progress!

- 18.5% of my books had disability representation, up from last year's 4.5%!!

- 3 of my books were translated, up from last year's 2 translated books. One of the poetry books I read had both born-English and translated poetry, so I counted it as translated. 

- I read significantly less nonfiction this year, 12.7% (a little under half of last year's percentage). The rest was fiction.

- Very different, almost flipped, percentages for age range. Over half of the books I read were for adults, 25.5% for young adults, and 21.8% were for children. 

- Nearly 15% of the books I read were published in 2023 (8, I think). In 2022 the percentage was only 4.3%. Clearly, the SimonTeen free digital read of the day was responsible for this percentage. 

- I read 26.8% of the books I bought in 2023. Some were gifts, so. Last year I read 21% of my purchased books.

What a ride! I really have to try reading more authors of color and books about people of color. I also need to read the books I keep buying.