Book review: A Chance at Love by Beverly Jenkins

Loreli Winters never imagined she'd end up a "mail-order bride" in middle-of-nowhere Kansas -- until the two adorable orphan nieces of a dusky dream named Jake Reed beg her to be their new "mama." And one look at the dark, devastatingly handsome man is enough to entice her to abandon her California plans and stay put for a while in this one-horse frontier town.

Strong, sensible Jake was hoping for a wife to help him raise his girls, but Loreli may be more than he can handle. He can't stop wondering what it would be like to hold the fiery enchantress close and kiss her deeply. Surely he could never compete with the sophisticated gents she has known, yet he intends to try. But will his honest passion be enough to take a chance on a long-shot called love?

This was another ebook downloaded during the shocking B&N free ebook dump of last year. I had read of Beverly Jenkins, an iconic Black historical romance novel author, in an article about the historical romance genre, so I was pleased to nab this book. I read it in late February for Black History Month. 

Loreli is your typical Headstrong Tempestuous Heroine™ who is independent and doesn't need a man. She's stunningly gorgeous and turns heads wherever she goes, all the men want her, etc. Jake is your typical Good Steady Man hero who is also kind of a stick in the mud and Disapproves of the heroine's behavior. Loreli ends up in this farming community (which sounds like it's mostly Black?) because the train she's on took mail-order brides there (she decidedly isn't one but is happy for the women she befriended, who've all made good matches). She plans to go on to California for the adventure but then meets two adorable 9 year old twin girls who ask her to be their mama. They're orphaned and being raised by their single uncle Jake, a hog farmer-slash-unofficial vet who is single and gorgeous. 

Loreli has no plans of being tied down, but the adorable girls win her heart. Jake doesn't think Loreli is wife material (she makes her living by gambling and wears flashy fashions, plus the headstrong thing), but the girls love her and they really do need a mama. Loreli and Jake agree to marry and mother for a year, until he finds a more suitable wife. What with divorce not being a thing, I don't know why they thought getting married would be a good idea if it was only supposed to be temporary, but whatever. L&J are super attracted to each other (Loreli is the experienced one, while Jake has never been with a woman). They learn about and start to respect each other, reluctantly falling in love as their arrangement is supposed to be temporary and love isn't supposed to come into it. Then disaster strikes on their wedding day...

The story and characters are tropey, but I liked this book. It's a very solid example of its genre and achieves what it sets out to do. I liked that Loreli is 35 and Jake is perhaps a little younger; it's a nice change from the "18 year old girl + mid-thirties man" pairing you get a lot in this genre (looking at you, Georgette Heyer). Both characters are settled into who they are, but they help each other grow. Jenkins is a skilled writer and I'd definitely read more by her. A friend who read a different BJ book told me she was a librarian, so that's probably why she's such a good writer. Her setting felt researched and rooted in history. Jake is a union man, and has to deal with both political parties giving African Americans the runaround despite promises made during/right after the Civil War (this book is set in 1884). Jenkins includes some of the history she mentions in the story in her author's note, as well as suggested sources for further reading on the topic of labor unions and African Americans. Love that! Hell yeah unions and librarians. 

Overall, this is a good, interesting and steamy historical romance novel about two people learning to parent and overcome their childhood wounds. I recommend it for anyone who likes this genre. 

Score: ★★★★ out of 5 stars
Spice score: 🌶🌶
Read in: February 25
From: B&N Nook

Genres/classification: historical romance

Representation: African American/Black, poor, Loreli is biracial (Black and white), rural Midwestern; Black female author

Tropes (spoiler-y): that thing I already mentioned where she's headstrong and tempestuous and he's like >:( about it, opposites attract, experienced heroine, virgin hero; one of them's uninhibited about sex and the other's repressed, good man who keeps his word (she finds that hot), marriage of convenience, "it's only a temporary arrangement", catching feelings during a practical arrangement, instant family (kinda), "I'm just here for the children", that Maria/Captain Von Trapp vibe. you know what I mean, "I can't fall in love with them because this is a temporary arrangement/he's going to find someone else", this house needs a woman's touch, that thing where a rich person solves everyone else's problems with money, someone from a character's past appears, someone objects during the wedding after "speak now or forever hold your peace", "I must leave in order to protect those I love, because while I'm with them, they're in danger", surprise pregnancy trope. This pairing has Taming of the Shrew vibes but luckily she's never tamed, he just gets over himself and goes along with her

Trigger warnings: racism, murder, kidnapping, sex shaming/whorephobia, a character was raped as a young teen (past, not described), extortion/ransom, past parent death, trauma, a character has a phobia of horses due to seeing someone be killed by a horse, an adult verbally abuses children and threatens them with corporal/physical punishment, sexism, terrible judgy pastor, religious abuse, past financial abuse if you squint, infidelity mentions, betrayal, corruption

Book review: Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston brings us Black America’s folklore as only she can, putting the oral history on the written page with grace and understanding. This new edition of Mules and Men features a new cover and a P.S. section which includes insights, interviews, and more.

For the student of cultural history, Mules and Men is a treasury of Black America’s folklore as collected by Zora Neale Hurston, the storyteller and anthropologist who grew up hearing the songs and sermons, sayings and tall tales that have formed and oral history of the South since the time of slavery. Set intimately within the social context of Black life, the stories, “big old lies,” songs, voodoo customs, and superstitions recorded in these pages capture the imagination and bring back to life the humor and wisdom that is the unique heritage of Black Americans. 

I had downloaded Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston last year when Barnes & Noble decided to drop a staggering amount of legit, popular free ebooks. I loved Hurston's writing in Their Eyes Were Watching God, and I'm always interested in folklore, so this was a no-brainer. I read this book for Black History Month, reading it slowly during my family's Mexico trip.

I was sort of expecting a straightforward telling of the folklore tales, like in Cuentos: Tales from the Hispanic Southwest, but the book is actually Hurston's account of her sponsored travels to Florida and Louisiana to collect the folklore and hoodoo knowledge. She relates how she goes back home (she'd been up north for college) to her hometown and then other Florida cities' African American communities, and the parties and get-togethers where the tales and 'lies' are told and songs are sung. I do think keeping the conversations and activity details was a good idea, as it keeps the context the stories were told in. The tone is narrative and casual rather than scholarly, as one might expect from a work of anthropology. There are footnotes for many (not all) of the slang and dialect terms and names, and glossaries in the back; it was very tedious to tap on the hypertext footnote numbers (I usually had to blow up the text size) and then tap back. This is the ebook formatting's fault, though, obviously. 

The folklore tales include stories of how things came to be (e.g. why cats and dogs don't get along), stories from slavery times, and more mythological stories involving God, the devil, angels, etc. Many stories are about an everyman named John who often outsmarts the slavemaster or the devil, but not always. The overall vibe is that these stories aren't true, but they're entertaining (even when things don't end happily for the characters). 'Lies' are things like, "I heard about land so fertile that when the farmer buried a dead donkey, a new one grew up out of the ground." These are often told by different people in quick succession on the same theme, to one-up each other and make everyone laugh. 

The speech is written in dialect, which is a bit difficult to read. How much you'll understand depends on what you know, as, as I mentioned, not all of the slang and dialect terms are translated in footnotes. It took me a second to realize that 'pail' in a food context meant a lunchpail, i.e., the lunch you pack to take to work or school. The term jookhouse* is never explained to my satisfaction; it's maybe like a brothel and a party house where jazz is played and dances are held all at once. The ballad of John Henry is given in full in the back of the book, but not the children's play songs. Sometimes historians omit things because they think they're common knowledge, and then future readers/scholars don't know what they are. :/

Hurston then goes to Louisiana to study hoodoo (also known, incorrectly, as voodoo) practices. She is initiated by and becomes an acolyte to at least three different hoodoo practitioners. This part took me longer to read because it freaked me out and I didn't want to read it at night (I'm a wuss when it comes to scary stuff). Besides being scared, I didn't like this part so much because some of the hoodoo practices involved killing animals in what felt like cruel ways (boiling or burying a cat alive, etc.). I thought it was kind of odd that Hurston begs her friends not to kill a venomous snake they find sleeping in her room when she's in Florida, sparing its life, but she's fine with the hoodoo animal sacrifices when those animals weren't a danger to anyone. There are lists of hoodoo practices and tools/ingredients in the back of the book. The ceremonies she observes and participates in are shared in detail, which I think is rather irresponsible (one is to bring about someone's death). Did the hoodoo practitioners, and their customers, know Hurston was going to write and share all of what they did and how they did it? Hurston says that hoodoo's whole thing is secrecy, then she shares all the secrets she learns. Ah well. 

Overall, this was a very interesting book. Hurston is an engaging and talented writer, and I enjoyed reading about her experiences. 

Score: ★★★.75 out of 5 stars (StoryGraph has opened my mind to the concept of quarter stars)
Read in: February 8-16
From: Barnes & Noble Nook

Genres/classification: nonfiction, folklore, fables, travelogue

Representation: African American/Black, poor, Southeastern American; Black female author

Trigger warnings: racism, slavery, beatings mentions, animal murder, animal cruelty, frequent period-typical N-word usage, sexism/misogynoir, violence, guns I think, alcohol

*had a sudden lightbulb moment and realized that this probably has the same root word as jukebox! See the Wikipedia entry's second paragraph. 

January books

The first two books I read in January were picture books, which I decided to count in my reading log spreadsheet (adapted from BookRiot's; it is last year's so I had to change the dates etc.) but not in my StoryGraph (follow/friend me!). I bought both of them during Barnes & Noble's half-off books sale in late December. 

A Piñata in a Pine Tree: A Latino Twelve Days of Christmas by Pat Mora, illustrated by Magaly Morales 

This is a cute latine take on the Twelve Days of Christmas song, with stuff like tamalitos and farolitos taking the place of the birds and people of various professions in the original song. Pat Mora has written tons of Hispanic books for children and is very influential in the field, while the artist's first name is the same as one of my relatives. Behind the little girl cavorting with her stuff, we see her parents prepare, greet the visiting abuelita, leave (abuelita is babysitting), and come back with the final Christmas gift: a new baby sibling. Very cute, although the Spanglish may bother some (i.e. my dad and by extension me). I do recommend this. ★★★★½

Jan Brett's The Nutcracker, written and illustrated by Jan Brett

Jan Brett has been known for decades for her beautifully illustrated, richly detailed children's books. I was given her The Twelve Days of Christmas mini picture book in kindergarten by my teacher as a Christmas gift and reread it every year. This one is similarly lovely; I love the details of animals playing musical instruments on each page. I also recommend this one. ★★★★½

 

It feels like everyone I follow/whose posts I'm forced to view despite not following them online is obsessed with the TV show Heated Rivalry. I am not immune to FOMO; I would have watched it, but my brother cancelled his HBO Max account. 😢 The next best thing? The books the show is based on. As a stickler for series book order, I read Game Changer, the first book in the series, then Heated Rivalry, the second, through my public library and Libby (both ebooks). 

 

Game Changer by Rachel Reid

This is a famous athlete x normal person romance, where the famous athlete is a professional hockey player named Scott and the normal person is a service worker named Kip. They meet-cute at the smoothie shop Kip works at; after drinking Kip's recommended blueberry smoothie, Scott breaks his losing streak, to everyone's delight. Obviously that means he has to keep coming back before every game to buy another blueberry smoothie--just to keep winning games, definitely not to see the cute smoothie barista... Kip and Scott fall in love, but being famous in a bro-y sport means Scott is closeted, and Kip isn't sure being back in the closet is worth it. I liked this book a lot and found it both sweet and spicy. The characters' issues with self-worth and being in the closet felt realistic, and I rooted for things to work out for them. ★★★★ 🌶🌶🌶🌶

 

Heated Rivalry (Game Changer #2) by Rachel Reid

Reid's mlm hockey series seems to be loosely interconnected, and you don't really have to read GC first or else you're lost (although it does provide nice background context for That One Scene that Scott & Kip show up in). Shane is a Canadian good boy and does everything by the book; Ilya is a Russian bad boy and is always up in everyone's faces being a jerk. As the two best players in the entire hockey league, they have been in a ~heated rivalry~ since their rookie seasons--and have been secretly hooking up since then. I want to say this book takes place over 10 years? They wish they could quit each other (Brokeback Mountain reference) but can't. Can they open their hearts to love and be themselves without sacrificing the sport they love? I also liked this book a lot and recommend it to fans of the "rivals to lovers" trope. ★★★★ 🌶🌶🌶🌶

Weirdly enough, I was on the waiting list for a couple of weeks for the first book (which I expected), was shockingly able to read Heated Rivalry immediately with no wait, and am now on the waiting list for the third book... which is over 10 weeks long. Why.

The final ebook in S.T. Lynn's Black trans fairytales series became free last month, and I happily snapped it up. I enjoyed Lynn's takes on The Little Mermaid and Cinderella and was really looking forward to this one, as Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairytales. Beauty's Beast is very similar to most BatB takes that I've read; like Mer Made, it's based on the Disney movie (the servants were enchanted into furniture/furnishings). The Beast has antlers and communicates using sign language, which I thought was interesting. This novella is quite short, and I wished for more character development (especially for the relationship between Beauty and the Beast), but I liked the world the writer created. Their relationship felt more like friendship than romance, which is not IMO a bad thing. There were some writing issues and errors (I swear STL made Gaston blond in their book, but in his last description he has black hair??), which took me out of the story. Ultimately I did enjoy this, but the errors made me glad I waited to get this when it was free. There is a little transphobia, and some violence and blood/wounds. ★★★½ 

I bought two books from my friends at Something Novel Books during their pop-up last month, and I shockingly (for me) read one of them within days of buying it! I had watched and enjoyed The Thursday Murder Club movie on Netflix (the cast is excellent, especially Helen Mirren), so I was excited to read the book. I enjoyed the book even more than the movie! Four senior citizens at an English retirement village that used to be a nunnery get together to solve cold case murders in the Thursday Murder Club. To their shock and excitement, they all of a sudden have 2 new (and 1 old) murders to solve! In the process of sleuthing, they uncover the secrets of some of their community members. There is a lot that happens in this book, and a lot to keep track of. We often spend a chapter in various characters' heads, but the story is mainly told from Joyce's diary entries and Elizabeth's perspective. This book is also deeply funny; I was chortling at the reference desk reading it. I loved all the main characters and can't wait to read the rest of the books! This book is a bit too sad and violent to truly count as cozy mystery, but it's pretty close. Trigger warnings for the usual things you expect in a murder mystery (murder, blood, violence, nice police characters, etc.) as well as suicide, grief, and slight xenophobia. ★★★★ 

Rest of the year reads

November and December were pretty decent reading months. I don't feel like writing proper reviews so here we are.

November 

3 Agatha Christie books, all excellent mysteries that kept me guessing per usual:

• The Mystery of the Blue Train (Hercule Poirot) - classic murder on a train, locked room mystery. Murderer/s ended up being something out of left field that I feel was not set up well enough for the readers to have guessed it; it felt like cheating a bit. ★★★½

• The Seven Dials Mystery (Superintendent Battle, a new guy to me. He's a police super and looks big and wooden and dumb but is actually very smart.) Young people keep getting murdered, and a secret society called the Seven Dials might be behind it... The biggest twist ending of all of them! Some Jeeves books vibes with the Bright Young Things friend group. Very exciting. ★★★★

• Cards on the Table (both Hercule Poirot AND Superintendent Battle! glad I read T7DM first) A dinner party that is half murderers, half detectives/police results in a murder, naturally. Still is very twisty. Got wlw vibes from the two roommate bestie girls, but sadly no (not that I actually thought AC would go there). ★★★★

These were all ebooks. I usually try to stick to reading AC books in physical form since that fits the books' vibes better, but B&N did this weird thing where they had a ton of excellent legit ebooks (rather than the usual self-published stuff) for free, so I downloaded a bunch (including the above 3) before they changed their minds. 

I also read an excellent and relevant nonfiction book suggested by my therapist, but I overshare enough on this blog as it is, so I'm not telling you what it is. :P

December

I usually go ham on SimonTeen's 25 free reads of December, but this year I was very busy in December and/or wasn't feeling most of the books. There were some great ones I definitely was interested in and would have read under different circumstances, but alas. The only one I managed to read was Love at Second Sight by F.T. Lukens, whose book Otherwordly I read last year as it was part of SimonTeen's offerings for the 2024 25 free reads of December. This one is also a gay YA fantasy book, but this one is set in a world where witches and vampires and werewolves, etc. exist and live alongside humans. 15-year-old human Cam's plans for a normal sophomore year with his nonbinary witch bestie Al are derailed when he has a very scary premonition about the violent death of a young woman, and it turns out he's a clairvoyant with rare abilities whose alliance is desired by every supernatural group in town. Cam has to deal with the sudden popularity, the supernatural society politics he hasn't grown up with, his parents' anti-supernatural bigotry, and his popular werewolf crush noticing him. Oh, and he has to figure out how to stop the murder from happening.  I liked this book and found the mystery most compelling; the romance was cute but felt a bit underdeveloped. There was a lot going on in this book, though. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes this sort of thing (urban fantasy, I guess?). ★★★★

I had plans to finally read some of my Christmas romance ebooks I've downloaded over the years during this holiday season, but for some reason instead I reread The Pilgrim's Regress by C.S. Lewis because I found the copy I had left at my parents' house (I have one at mine, obvs). It's basically CSL doing a take on The Pilgrim's Progress (a heavily Christian allegory about conversion and the Christian walk, etc.) but with his own spiritual life and conversion. This was not particularly easy to read, despite the chapters being fairly short; it's very philosophical and uses lots of academic language and quotes in Greek, Latin, and French that are not translated. I can kind of suss out the latter two depending on how similar the words are to Spanish, but this is not ideal. It's one of CSL's weirdest and weakest, I feel. Also it's racist and sexist ("brown girls" are a metaphor for lust 🤮). Not recommended unless you're studying him and his works academically or something. ★★★

I reread Christmas with Anne and Other Holiday Stories by L.M. Montgomery, as I do every holiday season. The Christmas stories are much better and generally happier than the New Year's stories.  

 

I decided to read a couple of children's books I had bought and hadn't read yet. It's my reading log and I'll count picture books if I want to :P 

Frida Kahlo y Sus Animalitos by Monica Brown, translated into Spanish by F. Isabel Campoy, and illustrated by John Parra, is a biographical nonfiction picture book about Frida and her pets. I didn't add it to my LibraryThing and there's no record of it in my order emails, so I must have bought it in person at a local indie bookstore, probably Cellar Door Books. The art style is very colorful, bold, and naive, which suits the subject matter. The book makes it sound like Frida had a lot of these pets as a child, when she actually had them as an adult (I'm pretty sure; I'm also sure she did have pets as a kid but don't remember having read about them). It's a cute book that's worth buying if you're a big a fan of Frida Kahlo as I am. ★★★★ 

 

Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller by Breanna J. McDaniel, illustrated by April Harrison, is a picture book biography of a very important Black librarian who knew the power of stories to let people know what is possible and how to rise up. Ms. Baker curated book lists of books with good African American representation (as well as writing her own) and went on to be the coordinator of children's services for the entire New York Public Library system (the first Black person to do so) and was hugely influential. This was an excellent book with bright, vivid, interesting mixed-media art, and I highly recommend it. I also enjoyed the author's story about the impact of her own childhood librarian. ★★★★½

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

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!

Book Review: Dragonwings by Laurence Yep

Moon Shadow only knows two things about his father, Windrider: he lives in San Francisco and used to craft beautiful kites. One day shortly after his eighth birthday, Cousin Hand Clap arrives with a letter from Windrider asking Moon Shadow to join him in San Francisco. When Moon Rider arrives in America he learns that his father makes a living doing laundry and dreams of building a flying machine just like the Wright Brothers. But making this fantastical dream a reality proves to be no easy task, as intolerance, poverty, and even an earthquake stand in their way.

Inspired by the story of a Chinese immigrant who created a flying machine in 1909, Dragonwings touches on the struggles and dreams of Chinese immigrants navigating opportunity and prejudice in San Francisco.

I think I was in the fourth grade when I first read Dragonwings, as that's when California public elementary schools teach California history, and I loved the book. I was captivated by the fantasy aspect of it, even though Windrider's dream is such a small part of the book, and I remember drawing the King of Dragons with lots of tiny detailed scales (complimented by my classmate as "cool"). The writing is simultaneously gorgeous and detailed as well as believable as a child's voice. I bought this library binding school edition of Dragonwings with complementary readings from a thrift store. 

As I read the book, I re-remembered parts of it that I hadn't thought of in years. The parts I remembered best were the dragon dream, the white lady and her granddaughter, their house's stained glass window of St. George fighting the dragon, and the plane's flight. It was like reconnecting with an elementary school friend you remembered well, but find they're different than you thought since it's been 25 years since you've seen them.

I hadn't remembered the extent of the hardship Moon Shadow and his family face; the first night he's in the Lee laundry house, Chinatown is hit by a window-smashing white mob. There's frank mentions of hate crimes against Chinese immigrants; Moon Shadow's own grandfather, who had moved to America to help build the railroads, was lynched. There's threats within the Chinese community as well: the rival gangs and Black Dog, a "cousin" who's addicted to opium and prone to theft and violence against his own people and family. Trouble with Black Dog's gang prompts Windrider and Moon Shadow to move out of Chinatown into a boarding house's garage, which brings them into contact with the kindly old landlady and her headstrong granddaughter. They all become friends and teach each other about their respective cultures.

Windrider becomes obsessed with creating a flying machine like the Wrights brothers' in order to live up to his previous life as a dragon. The characters all experience the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and the subsequent fires, which were harrowing to read about. This book taught me more about the circumstances of Chinese immigrants in the early 20th century and what it was like to live through the devastating days during and after the earthquake than anything my textbook had. This is why historical fiction is so important; it helps children and adults experience the time and circumstances through the eyes of the characters, and cultivates empathy. It's radically important, and I'm glad Yep wrote this book.

To be honest, I mostly skimmed the related readings. One was a Ray Bradbury play of an Orientalist caricature emperor who executes a man who flies in a giant kite-inspired flying machine because the people must not be tempted to dream, or something. Typical Bradbury stuff. The depiction of the emperor is silly and stereotypical (he strikes a gong after every sentence he says), but I think Bradbury is making fun of the stereotypical & Orientalist way Chinese people are depicted in the early to mid-twentieth century. The poems were fine, and I skipped the "'The Chinese Must Go'" essay. There was an eyewitness essay about the San Fran earthquake that I also skimmed; I found it interesting that Jack London focused on the positives and made it sound like everyone only helped each other and no one did anything bad. I know Dragonwings is not an eyewitness account, but it's frank in depicting looters, including among the police and US military dispatched for public "safety". Unsurprisingly, the Chinese immigrants are forced out of the park where homeless survivors have been sent and dragged around San Francisco (not literally) due to racism and xenophobia. 

Overall, a sad yet very good book. An excellent read for Asian American Heritage Month. Do they still teach this book in elementary school? Let me know.

Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Read in: May 23
From: the thrift store
Status: selling

See my aesthetics moodboard for Dragonwings.

Representation: Chinese, immigrant, poor/lower class/low socioeconomic level characters who experience poverty/economic hardship, minor disabled character with 1 hand, minor/secondary elderly characters, opium addict is the violent antagonist, natural disasters survivors

Cover notes: The copy I read all those years ago had the exact same illustration of Moon Shadow and his father with the kite. This school copy is fine, although I don't like the yellow circle. I think mine had an image of the Newbery Honor Award the book won.

Trigger warnings: murder, lynching, hate crimes, death, racism, xenophobia, a child is beat unconscious by an adult, misogyny/violence against sex workers (off-page), buildings collapse during earthquake killing the people inside, secondary character cuts his own hand off with a cleaver, drug addiction, poverty, physical violence, racist bullying by older child, blood, child labor, people in shock due to earthquakes, hunger, sudden disaster-based homelessness, gambling addiction, theft

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 🙄

Book Review: The Romantic Agenda by Claire Kann

Joy is in love with Malcolm.
But Malcolm really likes Summer.
Summer is in love with love.
And Fox is Summer’s ex-boyfriend.
 
Thirty, flirty, and asexual Joy is secretly in love with her best friend Malcolm, but she’s never been brave enough to say so. When he unexpectedly announces that he's met the love of his life—and no, it's not Joy—she's heartbroken. Malcolm invites her on a weekend getaway, and Joy decides it’s her last chance to show him exactly what he’s overlooking. But maybe Joy is the one missing something…or someone…and his name is Fox.
 
Fox sees a kindred spirit in Joy—and decides to help her. He proposes they pretend to fall for each other on the weekend trip to make Malcolm jealous. But spending time with Fox shows Joy what it’s like to not be the third wheel, and there’s no mistaking the way he makes her feel. Could Fox be the romantic partner she’s always deserved?

You all know of my quest to read every asexual book, and Claire Kann's books have been on my radar ever since I read Let's Talk About Love. You can tell how the book is going to be like and how it's going to end just by reading the synopsis (the tropes are strong with this one), but it's kept from being formulaic by Joy and Malcolm being ace and having a really deep friendship that veers into queerplatonic relationship territory. However, their (kinda codependent) best friendship doesn't keep Joy from feeling the pain of unrequited love and seeing Malcolm date other women. I felt that Malcolm took her for granted and asked too much of her, on top of being too bossy. Who makes a weekend trip agenda planned down to the minute for three other people and doesn't give it to them ahead of time, keeping every aspect of it a secret until each event occurs? Who sulks when someone wants to go grocery shopping because tHaT's NoT iN tHe AgEnDa? An uptight jerk unworthy of #carefreeblackgirl Joy, that's who. He just expected her to pull out the trampoline every time he said jump. Anyway that's where the title comes from (agenda).

I'm not sure if this is also in other "make him jealous by fake dating the other guy" books, but Summer was not a jealous bitch like I suspected and was actually a rather rounded character who did genuinely want to befriend Joy, even if she went about it a weird way. Fox is a typical Brooding Hunk™ who's the Grumpy to Joy's Sunshine; their dynamic was overall rather formulaic but still fun to read because Claire Kann incorporates discussions of consent and asexuality. I like the way asexuality was handled in this book a bit better, as it felt a little less didactic. It also helps that all the characters are all about 30 years old, lol. The characters did feel a bit stock character-y, but I still enjoyed the book. This is definitely a "kicking my heels and giggling" kind of romance book, and would make such a fun beach read.

Spoilery comments because that's who I am as a person: we learn that Malcolm is really intense as a partner and has been in love with Joy the whole time, yet he never pulled out the stops to try to woo her or even just tell her how he feels? Joy doing everything for him and being devoted while in (she thinks) unrequited love with him really made me feel for her, as I went through something somewhat similar in the past. I understood Joy's reluctance to let go because what if that's the best she ever gets, what with being asexual? What's the point of having Joy and Malcolm be in mutual perceived-unrequited love and then confess it if they end up with their respective partners? I hated Malcolm's ex-fiance for being such a bitch to Joy and blaming her for trying to "steal her man"; it wasn't Joy's fault that Malcolm refused to own up to his feelings and continually chose Joy over her (although it's not like Joy chose to get sick the same night as Whatsherface's big work party). I didn't love how both Summer and Malcolm wanted to get married for the sake of getting married; I feel it caused them to overlook each other's faults and settle, kinda. It's not a healthy mentality to have. Apropos of nothing, but I feel like Claire Kann has a k!nk for men who cook, based on these two books of hers that I've read. Fair. Oh also, one of the pairs sort of make out and caress partially unclothed, but there isn't any actual sex.

I recommend this book for people who want to read trope-y romance novels that aren't so cishet, and/or who want a romance novel with asexual characters. I don't think you'll like this book if you don't like romance. 

Cover notes: This book cover is cute and sums up the vibe, although I don't love how cartoony it is. The heart dotting the i seems to be made by one of those skywriting planes, which makes no sense because they never ride a plane, only helicopters.

Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Read in: February 13
From: Book Outlet (before I found out they're antisemitic)
Status: keeping

See my aesthetics moodboard for The Romantic Agenda!

Trigger warnings: mentions of past partners expecting/demanding sex from asexual character, discussion of aphobia (homophobia against asexual people), acrophobic character made to fly in helicopter, character outed without her consent, online harassment, past off-page death (I want to say car accident?), grief, alcohol mentions (various), drunkenness, female character objectified mentions, unrequited love, emotional labor taken for granted

Book Review: The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Summary from Barnes & Noble for a different version than my copy:

A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early twentieth-century rural Georgia. Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time, distance and silence. Through a series of letters spanning twenty years, first from Celie to God, then the sisters to each other despite the unknown, the novel draws readers into its rich and memorable portrayals of Celie, Nettie, Shug Avery and Sofia and their experience. The Color Purple broke the silence around domestic and sexual abuse, narrating the lives of women through their pain and struggle, companionship and growth, resilience and bravery. Deeply compassionate and beautifully imagined, Alice Walker's epic carries readers on a spirit-affirming journey towards redemption and love.

 I'd picked up The Color Purple from the thrift store. I'd of course heard of it before as it's a classic, but it was (unsurprisingly) the queer relationship plot line that piqued my interest. Also, purple is my favorite color. As is usual when reading when reading Black/African American stories from before the 1980s, I steeled myself for a super sad story, and was right to do so. Celie goes through so much abuse from her father and husband, as well as the systemic racism and misogynoir of her time. Major, major trigger warnings for rape and abuse (the full list is of course at the end of this post). I felt for her and was so glad that she got to be in a loving relationship and eventually became a respected member of her married-into family. Even her relationship with her husband Albert developed from abuser/abusee to friends, which was nice to read, although I would have been fine with reading that he died in a fire or something. The scene where Celie stands up for herself and calls Albert well-deserved names made me cheer! Almost all of the men suck in this book, unsurprisingly, but it is clearly due to the sexist, misogynistic culture they live in and the way they are brought up. Even the one character (Sofia, Celie's step-daughter in law) who seemingly is unaffected by and does not buy into misogynoir and racism is severely punished for it. There are so many heartbreaking family estrangements in this book: Celie and Nettie, Celie and her children, Sofia and her family, etc. Nettie has her own story that is fascinating to read. I did find it interesting how the family included mistresses and everyone helped raise everyone else's babies.

It's Shug Avery who first gives Celie the ability to dream. Celie finds her photograph (Shug is a famous singer and "bad girl") and falls in love with her immediately. They meet because Shug and Albert were in love and have an on-again, off-again thing, and he brings her home because she is very sick, making Celie take care of her. Celie and Shug become friends and then more, and Celie is inspired by Shug's openness about sexuality and spirituality. I think it's pretty clear that Celie is a lesbian and Shug is bisexual, although of course those terms aren't used. Surprisingly little to no homophobia; heteronormativity is of course there but everyone just accepts Celie and Shug's relationship. That they are able to make a home together in Celie's abusive 'father's' house after he dies is beautifully symbolic. I'm so glad Celie got to have the love she deserved.

This book was so sad and hard to read but so necessary, and Celie gets her happy ending. This is a very important book that I think most people should read, but if you cannot read about rape or abuse or incest, do not read this. 

Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Read in: February 9
From: thrift store
Status: giving away

Trigger warnings: rape, rape of a child/teen, parental rape, spousal rape, parental abuse, spousal abuse, domestic abuse, physical abuse, incest, misogyny, misogynoir, racism, hate crimes, off-page lynching in the past, murder, death, a character is beaten severely for being "uppity" to whites and fighting back, verbal abuse, teen forced into marriage/slavery, character's children from rape taken away from her without her consent, a character is imprisoned, prison, a jail-connected official rapes a character as payment for getting the imprisoned character out of jail, said jailed character is forced to work for free for a white family (slavery again), adult man forcibly kisses and pursues/stalks a teen girl, imperialism, colonialism, Christian missionaries, xenophobia, non-Western customs and culture looked down on and tried to change by missionaries, African tribe forcibly displaced by English colonizers, religious abuse via promoting white supremacy, slut-shaming, and ignoring domestic violence; physical fights, sex/slut-shaming, illness

Book Review: How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love With the Universe by Rachel Vasquez Gilliland

When her twin sister reaches social media stardom, Moon Fuentez accepts her fate as the ugly, unwanted sister hidden in the background, destined to be nothing more than her sister’s camerawoman. But this summer, Moon also takes a job as the “merch girl” on a tour bus full of beautiful influencers and her fate begins to shift in the best way possible.

Most notable is her bunkmate and new nemesis, Santiago Phillips, who is grumpy, combative, and also the hottest guy Moon has ever seen.

Moon is certain she hates Santiago and that he hates her back. But as chance and destiny (and maybe, probably, close proximity) bring the two of them in each other’s perpetual paths, Moon starts to wonder if that’s really true. She even starts to question her destiny as the unnoticed, unloved wallflower she always thought she was.

Could this summer change Moon’s life as she knows it?

My friend S gave me this book for Christmas (we have a habit of accidentally giving each other gifts way after the events they were for), so I read it a week or so after I got it. I mentally put every latine kids' and young adult book in my to read list, so I was happy to receive this book. It's so great how there's so much more latine representation now than there was when I was a teen. I only remember one or two YA books with latine protagonists, and one was about undocumented immigration and the other may have been about gangs. I feel like nearly everything else that I read had white protagonists. I was on board for body positivity and tsundere pairings, but this book really blew me away. 

Non-spoilery summary: Moon overcomes her trauma and low self-esteem to come out from her sister's shadow and let herself find love with a hot guy who does the same. This book celebrates food, spirituality, art, and finding the beauty in the world and in yourself. I very much enjoyed reading this book and highly recommend it.

~

Spoilers below, because I'm incapable of talking about a book without talking about everything. For trigger warnings, see the list at the end of this post.

Moon and Star are fraternal twins who were raised by their narcissistic, fatphobic, ashamed of her heritage, looks-obsessed, militant Catholic, religiously, verbally, and physically abusive mother. True to narcissistic parent form, thin, beautiful, white-passing Star is the favorite/golden child, and plus-size, brown-skinned Moon is the scapegoat. (Weird theme to have for January, right? I swear it's accidental.) Strangers ignoring Moon to gawk at and beg Star for her signature/a selfie cements Moon's low self-esteem. Seeking the love she doesn't get at home from boys, Moon accidentally acquires a Reputation and incurs the wrath of her mother. Moon and Star are close, but when Moon begins to be seen and acknowledged for her art while on the influencer tour, Star cannot handle not being the only one in the spotlight and sabotages her. There is a happy ending, but it's realistic. I loved Moon, felt for her, and rooted for her. I'm glad she was able to get everything she deserved.

On to the love interest. Santiago is a really hot buff guy a year or so older than Moon, whose grumpy demeanor and chip on his shoulder instantly annoy her. A misheard conversation makes him 'dislike' her. Lots of attraction, "nooo I'm supposed to hate him!!" thirsting, fun cute flirty banter, and cooking and sharing meals together (Santiago is a world-class cook) take them from enemies to lovers. This was very fun to read, even if I wanted to smack them in the beginning. Moon and Santiago's insecurities are similar and cause them to withdraw from/get mad at the other at various times, usually also due to misunderstandings. Santiago's older brother is the inventor of the Instagram-like app that Star and the influencers create content on, and is also very attractive and rich. Consequently, Santiago is used to people overlooking him or using him to get to his brother. Santiago is missing a hand and is used to dealing with microaggressions and ableism from people; that is his source of low self-esteem. He and Moon bond over the "in their more famous siblings' shadows" thing and over their similar trauma from losing a loved one in a car accident. Oh, and also delicious food (which Santiago is a snob about). Like yes, their relationship is very YA-ish, but it's also realistic and wonderful because they have to deal with and overcome their insecurities and traumas in order to let themselves fall in love.

Other random stuff I want to talk about: 

Star's type of influencing is being a "religious model". Wut. Like she'd post pictures of herself with a bible verse. It makes no sense and is kind of hilarious because one of the first scenes we meet her in, she's in a bikini at the beach to take pictures for her account. Much Christian so spiritual wow. At one point she's blessing her fans and putting her hands on their heads like the pope?? LMAO

Moon loves flowers and does flower/plant/rock art, which she photographs and turns into tarot cards, something she keeps from her mother because she knows she wouldn't approve (Christians consider tarot cards to be demonic). Thanks to influence from her bruja-y aunt, she's getting more into pre-Christian/pre-Columbus types of spirituality and belief from her LatAm indigenous heritage. It's understandable that she would, as her mother's traditional Catholicism is used to shame and abuse. Even their priest is a huge judgy bitch to Moon. I did like how Moon pushes back as best she can against the shitty stuff she's been taught, and stands up to people when they're inappropriate or racist to others. She's working on standing up for herself too.

The women in Moon and Star's family are subject to a curse called La Raiz: after the first time they've had sex, flying insects are drawn to and surround/cover them. Moon is distressed by and ashamed of this, as she sees it as a physical manifestation of her "sluttiness" and failings (plus, yikes, bugs). This isn't really addressed, but I think it's not necessarily a curse. Moon says that sometimes the insects come when she's by herself out in nature creating her art, and the bugs surrounded her when she's engrossed in it. Also, when Moon sees Star making out with fellow influencer Bella, fireflies surround them too (Star says she hasn't had sex, but it's not stated whether she slept with Bella. I'm leaning on the side of she didn't). I believe the so-called "curse" is actually drawn to love, and the reason Mrs. Fuentez says she trapped the curse in a jar and is therefore immune is because she is a psychopath incapable of love, so it never happened to her. In my opinion, the "curse" is a manifestation of the immense spiritual power and magic that the women in Moon and Star's family are capable of. Moon knows how to use tarot cards and do obsidian mirror divination from her aunt, and she starts selling her tarot card decks. La Raiz and Moon's abilities give this book a magical realism label, in my opinion.

Did your jaw drop, spoilers reader, when you saw that Star kisses a girl? Mine did! It's kind of satisfying and funny because Star spends the entire book being this super-Christian little goody two-shoes Catholic, all judging Moon for having slept with guys, and it turns out she's queer! Bella is a makeup influencer, and she and Star met at a different influencer event the previous year; they clearly had a fling that didn't end well (my money is on Star having freaked out due to internalized homophobia). Because Star gets all weird when Bella is mentioned, Moon assumes they're nemeses. lol  This isn't delved into as much as my Christian queer ass would have liked, but that makes sense since this is Moon's story, not Star's. I would actually love a companion book with Star's point of view, since I want to really delve into how she dealt with her attraction to Bella and falling in love with her as a conservative Catholic. We get the idea from this book that Star was in denial about being queer/in love with Bella and chose to ignore it until the kiss. I felt for her, despite her repeated bitchiness, and it's clear being the golden/favorite child did not inoculate her from her mother's abuse and expectations. 

Moon has body image issues due to her mother's constant fatphobic verbal abuse. It's clear that much of the mother's hatred and abuse of Moon is because she looks like her (brown skin, tendency towards curviness). Moon is a size 16, which, lack of size standardization in the fashion industry aside, is just barely the first size in plus-sizing. That's only one size bigger than I am. It also turns out that Moon is not fat and ugly but rather curvy and beautiful (and has low self-esteem). That's... kind of a pet peeve for me, and I'm not even in the fat community. See the fourth paragraph in this other book review to see what I think about that. Obviously people can be and are fatphobic to size 16 individuals, and we are always more critical about ourselves than others are of us, but like... sigh. 

Anyway, fantastic book that broke my heart and inspired me and will stay with me for a long time. Highly recommended. Rachel Vasquez Gilliland, turn this book into a series so I can keep hanging out with Moon?

Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Read in: January 19
From: Christmas gift from a friend
Status: keeping tentatively

See my aesthetics moodboard for How Moon Fuentes Feel in Love with the Universe!

Cover notes: I like the purple, flowers and moon on the cover, of course. I think it's dreamy and fine for the book. Not sure about the lavender background with the circle of night sky at the top, suggesting she's inside of a lavender cone for some reason? The illustration more or less depicts how I see Moon.

Trigger warnings: parental abuse, physical abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, religious abuse, parent throws knives at teenaged child, controlling parent, narcissistic parent, neglect, off-page past suicide, off-page past death from car accident, off-page past loss of limb from car accident, slut-shaming, bullying, creepy adult man gropes teenage girl, creepy adult men hit on teenage girls, street harassment, racism, xenophobia, colorism, fatphobia, abusive parent controls/restricts what her children eat, mental illness, ableism, sexism, linked aquaphobia and gephyrophobia due to past trauma, parental favoritism, insects and bugs show up in this book a lot, internalized homophobia, on-page sex scenes, underage sex, bad sex, a character experiences hunger, food restriction, lovingly detailed descriptions of food and eating

Book Review: Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania—derailing the War Between the States and changing the nation forever.

In this new America, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Education Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead.

But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It's a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations.

But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston's School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose.

But when families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies. 

And the restless dead, it would seem, are the least of her problems.

I read this book for Halloween, as it has zombies. This one was purchased from the thrift store a while back. Bookstagram informed me that a side character is ace, which made me happy. Part of the reason I picked this book above my other spooky reads was because I wasn't ready to let Ace Week go. 

Anyway, WHEW THIS BOOK. It was so gory and horrifying and suspenseful and amazing. While it does take place in an alternate timeline, the racism and inequality of the Reconstruction South feels like it rang true (obviously I was not alive then but I'm guessing it was like that). It's really saying something when the racism is scarier than the zombies. The zombies themselves are pretty standard; the only unique qualities are that their eyes turn yellow, and the newly turned are faster and stronger than the longer-undead ones. I don't consume a lot of zombie media, but that was new to me. There was a line in the book about white people claiming certain people of color had been bitten in order to enslave them, in an echo of the 13th amendment loophole. There were parts of this that were hard to read and very sad (zombies attacking children etc., the kind of racism that you already know to expect).

I liked Jane, although I found her impulsivity and inability to keep her mouth shut annoying. You'd think a Black girl raised in the mid- to late-1800s would know when not to mouth off, even if she was raised by a white mother who coddled her and didn't believe in corporate punishment for Black workers. She was pretty badass though. Katherine, Jane's classmate in the finishing school, begins as an annoying tattling prig, but due to circumstances that bring them together, grows on Jane and us. She's the ace character, and due to her lack of interest in relationships, I read her as aroace. There's a fun surprise as to another character's LGBTQ+ identity. There's also a Black smoothtalking conman and nice white scientist for Jane to have sparks with. One of the more interesting characters was Mr. Redfern, a Native American badass and morally gray character who is only in the first half of the book. I hope we see him again in the sequel, which I can't wait to read. 

Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Read in: October 31
From: Savers thrift store
Status: giving away eventually

Cover notes: I really like this cover. "Jane" with her sickles in front of the American flag? Perfection. My only quibble is that she seems to be wearing an Edwardian dress and the book clearly takes place in 1880 or so.

Trigger warnings: murder, gore, zombies attacking/eating children and other people, attempted murder of infant, attempted murder of child, attempted drowning of child by adult, white supremacy, racism, death/murder by shooting (multiple instances), racial slurs, violence, Black character struck and flogged by white men, use of Black servant as zombie bait in medical experiment, police brutality, evil sheriff character, starvation, enforced hunger, imprisonment, internalized white supremacy in Black characters who betray their own, the Bible/religion/Christianity used to support racism, segregation and slavery; corrupt preacher character, sexism, misogynoir, whorephobia (prejudice against sex workers)