Books read in July

Everyone and their mother had been raving about the movie Project Hail Mary, so I impulsively bought a half-price-Tuesday ticket and saw it one day in June after work. Reader, I loved it. It's so good, interesting and sad and beautiful and hopeful. PHM is streaming on Amazon Prime; if you haven't watched it, do. I then obviously signed up to read the ebook on Libby, and because the movie and consequently the book were so popular, the ebook wasn't available to read for like 16 weeks. I also really like the book. If you haven't heard of it, a middle school science teacher wakes up on a spaceship with no memories. He has to figure out why he's there and how to keep an extraterrestrial virus from dimming the sun. The book is much more technical and scientific than the movie, which I liked, but it is sadder because it goes more into what they did to the earth to try to stave off global cooling (even a few degrees cooler can cause famines and therefore mass death). Ryland is such a genius and has such staggering leaps of logic; I never would have come up with half of the ideas he thought of. The writing felt like an older middle grade/younger young adult novel about adventure or survival or something for boys. The science was above my knowledge (which is low; I'm a humanities major) but not too much; it was mostly followable. I feel like the book and the movie are really good companion pieces; reading the book makes me want to see the movie, and vice versa. Trigger warnings for injuries and blood and an instance of consent being ignored (nonsexual but it's a spoiler so I can't get into it). ★★★★ 

 

I was at my parents' home a lot for family reasons, so out of boredom I picked up and read one of my little brother's favorite books when he was a kid, Flat Stanley. I remember that we used to love reading about his adventures as a two-dimensional child. Upon rereading it, I was surprised by how proper and old-fashioned the writing felt. When I looked up the publication date, I found it was actually first published in 1964! That explains the language. The illustrations are modern (at the time of publication in the nineties), so I never picked up on that. It's a fun story, but there is one instance of sexism (Stanley is disgusted at having to dress up as a girl for plot reasons), and of course the medical inaccuracies (a child will not become flat after a bulletin board falls on him). My copy's illustrations had probably zero people of color, so it was clearly published before people cared about that. ★★★½

 

My last completed read of July was Mooncakes, an adorable YA graphic novel I picked up at the thrift store. Former childhood friends (one a deaf witch, one a nonbinary werewolf) reconnect as teens and have to figure out what is haunting the woods and how to defeat it, while figuring out how to be in each other's lives again. This was very cute and cozy, rather Ghibli-esque, but scarier (to my wuss sensibilities) than it first appeared. There is also a couple of adorable grandmothers. I recommend this to anyone who likes fantasy and graphic novels. The witch girl is Asian, Jewish, biracial I think, and a hearing aid user, while the werewolf kid uses they/them pronouns. TW for kidnapping and forced demonic possession, ableism mentions, and a few instances of wrong pronouns usage, if memory serves. ★★★★

Books read in June

 Pride month, we barely knew ye. I had a massive book hangover from rereading all of the Murderbot Diaries in May, so I didn't read as much this month. As always, DM me for trigger warnings. 

 

I was delighted to find that the second Dorothy Gentleman book available to check out on Libby, so I did so immediately. I adored the first book, Murder by Memory, so much that I bought it. I love what the author, Olivia Waite, has created with this series (queernorm retrofuturistic murder mystery). In this book, a baby in a basket has turned up on Dorothy's nephew Ruthie's and his husband's doorstep, which is especially mysterious because everyone on the ship is supposed to be sterile until they get to the planet they're heading to in a few hundred years. Dorothy investigates and starts to suspect foul play when the mother turns up in a new body with no memory of the baby. This story was very interesting and gave us even more details about the ship's culture; everything seems much more 1930s than I originally noticed. Dorothy's pocket watch is a smartwatch, but she has to write out paperwork by hand?? Come on. Also the cover confused me, as the people are all dressed like Victorians (1890s) for some reason? I didn't enjoy this book as much as the first one (it also suffers from Being Too Short), but I'm looking forward to reading the next book when it comes out.  ★★★★

During my last probably-unnecessary trip to the thrift store, I found and bought God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships by Matthew Vines (along with a huge stack of books). I was excited to get this as it'd been on my to-read list for ages. Vines is best known for his viral video where he gives a presentation that would become this book. He goes over the clobber verses (the ones Christians use to reject gay people) and their scriptural, historical, and cultural context, which I expected, but he also uses theological arguments as to why Christians should accept gay people, which I found interesting. While not a Biblical scholar (officially, as far as I can tell), Vines has thoroughly studied this issue, including people who take the opposite stance as him, and has tons of meticulous endnote citations (dozens per chapter). I did find it a bit naive for Vines to use the argument that even though the Bible reflects the deeply misogynistic cultures of its writers, surely no one today would actually think that women have no value (and therefore we mustn't think the same of gay people etc.). There are tons of Christians to whom the Bible's low view and treatment of women is a feature, not a bug. The book was written in 2014, though, and we had yet to see the virulent misogyny the rest of the 2010s would bring about. This book is very firmly for Christians; this would be a great book for LGBTQ+ people (themselves Christians or not) to give to their Christian parents to try to get them on board. I do recommend this, although I did find it slightly surprising Vines didn't use David and Jonathan as an example of a gay commitment ceremony in the Bible (he probably understandably didn't want to push it). ★★★★, lots of references to sex and sexual assault but that is not what chili ratings are for

 

The same day I finished G&tGC, I read Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong. I had bought this book during Bookshop.org's pride month sale, but I stupidly forgot to apply the coupon code; to add insult to injury, Bookshop.org had a free shipping weekend during The Evil Smile's sale event after I made my purchase. Ah well. I'd come across Ocean Vuong's poetry online and found it beautiful and impactful, but it was "Someday I'll Love Ocean Vuong" that pushed me over the edge to buy this book. This is an excellent poetry collection: beautiful and painful and nostalgic and raw and loving. I meant to savor it, but I just had to keep reading. May I one day write a fraction as wonderfully. ★★★★   🌶🌶

Murderbot May

I reread all of The Murderbot Diaries (TMBD) series by Martha Wells in order to prepare for the newest book, Platform Decay, coming out on May 5. I read them all last year and have been obsessed with them ever since. I made a "Michelle's guide to the Murderbot Diaries" Canva carousel and posted it on my bookstagram in lieu of a May wrap-up, as the only books I read that month were TMBD series. You can see it here. I am tempted to post all the slides here in this blog entry, or replicate the information on the slides, but I'll hold off. The IG post has general information about the series, such as genres, themes, and reading orders (for which I relied heavily on Book Series in Order but also made my own suggested reading order list). The last slide is my Murderbot moodboard; you can see the Pinterest board here. 

You can read my general summary for the series in my TMBD guide slides. Here are my flash summaries of each book; flash reviews would be useless because they'd all be "I love this book and Murderbot" etc. I've given each book 4 stars. No chili peppers as there's no spice, although some references to sex are made. 

BOOKS

The books are Murderbot's personal logs and are in first person POV. 

All Systems Red (TMBD #1) - We meet Murderbot, a SecUnit (security construct that is part human, part robot, completely sentient) that hacked its 'governor module' so that it is no longer forced to follow orders and is free! ...to continue pretending to be a regular governed SecUnit, since it can't figure out how to escape or what to do with its life. At least it can watch as much television as it wants. Murderbot is on a planet guarding an environmental survey group called PresAux, who are all nice to Murderbot (very weird, after having been treated like property for so long), when suddenly they're all thrown into danger... 

Artificial Condition (TMBD #2) - Murderbot is on its own for the first time and on a mission to find out the truth behind a tragedy it was in... or behind. To get to the planet where it happened, Murderbot hitches a ride on an unmanned cargo ship, whose bot pilot turns out to be very different than it expected. With guidance from its new friend ART, Murderbot takes a job protecting some humans while they attempt to get some stolen work back from their ruthless ex-boss on that planet. Can Murderbot pass as an augmented human, keep its clients safe, and find out the truth?

 

Rogue Protocol (TMBD #3) - Its own fact-finding mission over, Murderbot decides to travel to an abandoned mining station to find out what GrayCris, the company behind the murders in All Systems Red, was doing there, hoping that that information can help its PresAux humans. It gets roped into helping a different survey team there, which consists of more humans (some nice, some with unknown intentions) and a human-form "pet" bot that might be able to see through Murderbot's "human security consultant" cover story. 

 

Exit Strategy (TMBD #4) - Murderbot learns that Dr. Mensah, the PresAux leader and its favorite human, has been kidnapped by GrayCris. It travels to the planet where she's being held prisoner and reunites with some of the other PresAux humans in order to help free Dr. Mensah and get them all off that planet safely. 

 

Network Effect (TMBD #5) - Murderbot is helping its PresAux humans on a mission when a big transport vessel shows up out of nowhere and kidnaps Murderbot and Dr. Mensah's teenage daughter Amena. The people on the ship don't seem quite human and have strange, unhackable tech, while the ship seems really familiar... Can Murderbot keep Amena safe and figure out how to help ART and its crew?

 

Fugitive Telemetry (TMBD #6) - This book takes place before book 5, on Preservation station (the space station above Preservation, the planet the PresAux humans are from). There's been a murder, and detective Murderbot is on the case! This means having to work with Station Security, who suspect it of the murder and limit its technological access, and having to talk to humans and bots (ugh). Can Murderbot solve the case? Will the Station Security humans finally trust it?

System Collapse (TMBD #7) - This book takes place right after Network Effect, on the same planet where everything goes down in book 5. Murderbot, ART's crew, and the PresAux humans are trying to help the planet's human colony, as a corporation called Barish-Estranza is trying to use their ignorance of capitalism to trick the humans into entering corporate slavery. Murderbot is also dealing with PTSD after the events of book 5. Can Murderbot, ART, and their humans figure out how to save the colonists from corporate slavery, and themselves from Barish-Estranza's retaliation?

Platform Decay (TMBD #8) - Murderbot must rescue and lead 3 kidnapped members of Dr. Mensah's family through a huge Corporation Rim space station to safety. The mission is made even more complicated by the addition of another kidnapped family to protect and wrangle. Murderbot must keep its humans safe while navigating the huge space station ring, all of the various corporations that own parts of it, the lack of consistent  transport, air pirates, corporate warfare, and clingy children. All while posing as an augmented human, of course.

    This is the only one I'm bothering to do a review for as it's new. I really enjoyed this book, while also not enjoying it because it was so suspenseful the whole time. Even so, I read it twice, basically back to back. This is similar to Network Effect in that Murderbot is entrusted with Mensah's family members who don't even like it but it has to keep them safe. Farai is nice but struggling to understand SecUnit and her wife's bond with it, and Naja (her grandmother, I think) is one of my favorite things in the world, a badass old lady. The third family member is Mensah and Farai's daughter Sofi, whose age isn't given (Murderbot refers to all children and teens as juveniles), but I think she's a tween, somewhere between 9 and 14 years old. Murderbot's growth is really shown in this book; it's actually installed a mental health program (!) and does frequent emotion checks (!!), and its main reason to avoid giving its humans a gun is because it's afraid shooting people will give them trauma! What a change from its previous reason for withholding guns from humans (because it was afraid of being shot by them)! It's also making a real effort to incapacitate instead of kill. I'm so proud of Murderbot :')  ★★★★

 

Martha Wells said in an interview that she's on contract to write one more book, which may be the last one in the series 😭

SHORT STORIES

"Compulsory" - published on Wired.com - This is a TMBD prequel that takes place before book 1. Newly rogue Murderbot decides to disobey its orders and save a human worker.

 

"Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory" - This short story takes place on Preservation after Exit Strategy and is told from Dr. Mensah's point of view. Mensah is struggling with PTSD after having been kidnapped, and takes comfort in knowing Murderbot is there for her and will protect her.

 

"Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy" - This short story takes place after Artificial Condition (book 2), but we don't meet most of the characters until book 5. It's told from Iris (ART's "sister" and favorite human)'s point of view. ART's crew is on a mission on a planet undergoing a hostile corporate takeover. Iris notices ART is acting unusually, moping like it misses someone...

 

"Obsolescence" - published in an anthology called Take Us to a Better Place (free on most ebook platforms) - I kind of hesitate to add this one, as none of TMBD characters are in this, but it does take place in TMBD universe, only way earlier (still hundreds of years in the future for us). In one of the later books, Murderbot mentions having started watching a historical TV show about rovers exploring and terraforming planets, and this short story centers rovers (which are like cyborgs I guess). This does have a lot of overlap with TMBD books and stories: human/bot hybrids, augmented humans, precocious children, murder mystery, the themes of capitalism exploiting humans and treating them like things, what it means to be human, etc. This was very sad and rather horrifying and I did not enjoy reading it, but it's very thought-provoking. 

 ~

Trigger warnings for this series: violence, murder, death, gore, corpses, blood, body horror, torture, slavery, kidnapping, that thing of constructs being forced to obey by being electric-shocked by their governor modules and forced to hurt and kill (SecUnits) or have sex with humans (ComfortUnits), Murderbot makes references to having been forced to record humans having sex in the past, inferred threat of gendered sexual violence (Platform Decay only; Murderbot stops it), PTSD, anxiety, depression, trauma, capitalism, constructs and bots not having full sentient person rights and being treated like things/property

~

TELEVISION SHOW - Murderbot

I don't think I've ever talked about the TV show, only that I wanted to watch it! I broke down and paid for 6 months of Apple TV+ (they had a pretty good deal for Black Friday) and have probably watched it 3 times at this point. It's a fairly faithful adaptation, although they trimmed down the PresAux crew and kind of dumbed down/simplified everybody a bit. Like show!Pin-Lee is way less confident than books!Pin-Lee, and they made Ratthi a himbo. Casting Alexander Skarsgard as Murderbot feels a little uninspired, but he's actually so good in the role; he constantly looks like he's seconds away from vomiting from anxiety, which is perfect. The first (and currently only) season adapted All Systems Red (book 1), and it's a pretty decent adaptation. They added and changed things unnecessarily, of course (I wish we could read the feed stuff that pops up better as it's a little too translucent, and the cubicle's design is ridiculous to the point that it's not a cubicle anymore, and don't get me started on Labeebee), but I really like it. They've greenlit a second season, which will adapt books 2-4!! They're novellas, and all part of a story arc, so it makes sense to do them all at once. I can't wait. Murderbot and ART's friendship is so important to me, and I hope the show does it justice. 

Book review: The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

I started rereading The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) by J.R.R. Tolkien back in February (!) and read it with the usual characteristic slow reading and frequent (often weeks- or months-long) breaks I do/take with very long, thick books, even ones I like and want to read (look how long it took me to reread JS&MN). I had downloaded the ebook from Nook during their shocking free ebooks drop last year; it is 1,371 pages long! I finally finished this book on May 13; it took me 85 days to read. Part of it (this time) is that the endnotes system Nook ebooks have is very tedious and annoying; I usually have to enlarge the text every time I want to tap on a superscript number or symbol, and half the time it just takes me to an endnote that's just like "*page 146". Which A) is not helpful, and B) I know that if I click on that secondary hyperlink, I won't be able to get back to my place in the book. Ugh. I confess I skimmed the appendices, only really reading what interested me, and skipped the indexes. There are family trees, and past histories that didn't make it into the text of the story. JRRT 1000% has to have been autistic. 

The first time I read the series I was in college, before I had this blog or probably tracked my reading. I read this mass-market paperback trilogy set that did not have foot- or endnotes (that I can remember), and I only discovered after I'd finished the whole LOTR story that there was a lot of useful information about the characters and places and whatnot in the appendices and indexes in the back/end of The Return of the King. I actually gave away that LOTR set; I had no intention of ever rereading the book/s, until I downloaded the ebook. Shelf space is at a premium in my house, and every public library has the books anyway. Maybe I'll reread this in another 15 years.

I realize I haven't given a summary, so here it is: a young hobbit learns that a family heirloom is really a magical ring of immense, evil power, and that it must be destroyed before its maker, an immortal evil entity, can use it to take over and destroy the world. The quest to destroy the One Ring is joined or allied by many other people from different fantasy races (including humans), and it all culminates in war. It's a wonderful story, so magical and fantastical yet so, so, SO grounded (JRRT basically created the world, history, and languages of the books before writing the stories, so at times it feels like you're reading a book of history rather than fantasy fiction). The writing/language is so beautiful, and there's a solemnity you don't really get anymore from fantasy stories. Sincerity is also endangered, I feel; there's a tendency to wink at or mock everything nowadays, and this story takes itself and its values as seriously as the grave. I really do understand why it is so beloved and enduring, although I still think it's still too unnecessarily long. The Hobbit has been one of my favorite books since I was seven or eight years old (!), but it took me until college (!!) to be able to actually finish LOTR (there's just so much fucking walking, and SO many characters to keep track of). I do better at reading sprints than I do reading marathons. Everyone who likes fantasy at all needs to read LOTR at least once; its influence on the genre is still felt to this day, although most of it is thrice (or more) removed; influenced by those influenced by those influenced by LOTR, etc. 

It has its issues, of course; there are so few named female characters, and even fewer who are actually important (basically just Eowen and Galadriel. My memory of the films was stronger than my memory of the books, so I was surprised to see that Arwen is hardly even mentioned at all). I feel like all the time JRRT spent talking about Numenor (which doesn't even come into the story and isn't particularly important to it) could have been spent developing some more female characters. There is, interestingly enough, plenty to see with shippers' eyes; I was shocked and delighted to read JRRT himself comparing Sam's defense of Frodo during Shelob's attack to any small animal defending its mate (!!!) against a much-larger predator's attack. Gandalf's interactions with Saruman and Denethor can be viewed through a "toxic old man yaoi" lens, if desired, and of course there's Legolas and Gimli. No yuri due to the aforementioned lack of speaking, named female characters who interact. I don't have the time or energy to get into the hierarchical class structure or racism/xenophobia; better minds than mine have already written about them. This was written during the 1930s (and before?) and it shows. Still, recommended. Just know what you're getting into. 

Some of the best LOTR quotes and excerpts

Score: ★★★★ out of 5 stars
Read in: February 18-May 13
From: B&N Nook

Genres/classification: fantasy, high fantasy, epic fantasy, classic fantasy, classics, swords-and-sorcery

Representation: not really. Sam is described as having 'brown hands' which suggests brown skin, plus he's working class and very important to the story 

Tropes: ordinary person thrust into a starring role in something much bigger and important than themselves, fire-forged friends, hereditary enemies become friends, a woman dresses up as a man to fight in the battle, prophecy bypass/no man of woman born, the rightful king returns and set everything to rights, immortal person giving up their immortality to be with a mortal/human (Arwen and Aragorn in the appendices)

Trigger warnings: murder, gore, violence, kidnapping, death and dead bodies, racism and xenophobia (the human villains are all men of color that are described racistly while the human heroes are all white men, plus having evil/good fantasy races), sexism, classism, Grima Wormtongue creeping on Eowyn (no actual actions but def. creepy vibes)

Books I read in April: singles

I probably could have put all the books I read in April in one post, but it felt too long with just four; hence, the split. These books were chosen for Autism Awareness Month (MZGTG), Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) Heritage Month (TIHYLTTW), and Lesbian Visibility Week (both).

 

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone - science fiction - hardcover, my library (TBR)

I bought this book nearly five years ago and finally read it; please clap. The premise of this book is that there's a Time War being fought between two factions, and two soldiers, one from each side, chase each other across timelines and eras, leaving behind letters for each other that are taunting and then passionate as they fall in love. Both soldiers are women, although I don't really think the people from the deeply futuristic? factions are human or possibly ever were. This is definitely science fiction, but it's also partially epistolary and very poetic, rather genre-bending. The writing is so beautiful; this is such a lovely, puzzling, fascinating, romantic book. When I finished it I felt the impulse to immediately flip to the beginning and start again, something that rarely happens. I have so far been able to resist the impulse, although I keep thinking of this book. Highly recommended. ★★★★¼  TW for violence, gore, body horror

 

Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl by Sara Waxelbaum and Briana R. Shrum - young adult contemporary romance - ebook, Libby/my public library

I realized I hadn't read anything with autistic rep this month, so I looked up books with both autistic and lesbian rep (TIHYLTTW's rep is unspecified sapphic) and found this book available on Libby. Popular straight-A student Margo realizes she's a lesbian during a fateful spin-the-bottle game at a party. She's used to using her autistic hyperfocus to study things until she's an expert, but she has no idea where to start with the gay stuff. Margo marches up to Abbie, an out bisexual girl, after their swim practice and asks her for lessons on how to be gay. Skater girl Abbie is failing US history and desperately needs to get her grade up in order to keep her admission at the college she wants to go to after she graduates. Thus, the girls strike up a partnership: Margo will tutor Abbie in US history, and Abbie will tutor Margo in Gay 101. No, not like that! Well... 👀 Margo has to deal with her newfound identity (is she too femme to be gay? etc.) and how it conflicts with the persona she's crafted for herself, and Abbie has to deal with her terrible neglectful parents, biphobic friends, and realizing she has ADHD. This book was so good and funny, although some of the Gen Z girls' jokes and pop cultural references were suspiciously Gen X/older millennial. It was also kind of sad due to Abbie's home situation, but the girls get a happy ending. Lesbian, bisexual, autistic, Jewish (both girls), and some ADHD rep. ★★★★, 🌶½ (spicier than most YA books)  TW for some homophobia, biphobia, parental neglect & emotionally immature parents 

Books I read in April: series

I read quite a few books this month! I finished the two series I've been reading on Libby thanks to my public library, and will write about the other books I read in another post. As always, DM me for trigger warnings.

 

Role Model (Game Changer #5) by Rachel Reid

Remember how there were some jerks on Ryan's hockey team who were mean to him? The main one is accused of serial sexual assault, and his second in command, Troy, wakes up to what a bad dude his best friend is and how bad he's being as well. Someone leaks a video where Troy yells in his ex-best friend's face, calling him a rapist, and Troy's team lets him go because the league cares more about protecting their star players than the fact that they have been accused of sexual assault. Ugh. Troy is now a pariah with a reputation for being a sexist, homophobic jerk, and the only team that wants him is the worst one in the league, the Centaurs. Oh, and he's secretly gay and has just been dumped by his secret boyfriend, and he can't talk to anyone about it. Luckily the Centaurs have a very nice coach, our boy Ilya, and Harris, a super friendly, out and proud social media manager. Harris is basically the opposite of Troy in every way, but he helps Troy come out of his shell, and they're drawn to each other. The main romance in this is very sweet, but the real highlight of this book for me was how much time we got to hang out with Ilya! He's the star player of the Centaurs, obvs, and they get better under his captaincy. There's also an adorable puppy that Ilya spends 90% of his time in the book playing with. ★★★★  🌶🌶🌶

The Last Devil to Die (The Thursday Murder Club #4) by Richard Osman

The nice antique dealer friend of Stephen's who helped track down some rare books to reveal who their buyer/Elizabeth's blackmailer was back in book 2 is murdered over a package of drugs he hid, and naturally the Thursday Murder Club wants to find out who did it and bring them to justice. Drug dealers and art forgers and academics, oh my! Also one of their friends (not the fab four) is getting scammed by a love-frauder, so they need to sort that as well. SPOILERS, highlight to read: Ibrahim comes out to a new friend (maybe the rest of the TMC already knew? It's not really stated) who seems like a potential new love interest! Took the series long enough; I already knew that since Ibrahim (played by the incomparable Sir Ben Kingsley) introduces himself as a "confirmed bachelor" in the TMC movie, and that's old people-speak for gay. Not sure why Osman dragged this out, but a lot is always happening in every book, to be fair. I hope Ibrahim does get a boyfriend and is happy; he deserves it! Ron also got a girlfriend a book or so ago but I care much less about that. Poor Stephen finally realizes he has Alzheimer's, and ends his own life via lethal injection (that seems to happen a lot in this series). Poor Elizabeth, she loves him so much :( Anyway, excellent and funny and fascinating as always.  ★★★★

 

The Long Game (Game Changer #6) by Rachel Reid

We return to the most famous and beloved couple in the series, Shane and Ilya! This book basically takes place throughout books 4 and 5, but from Ilya's and Shane's points of view. They struggle with being closeted and not being able to share one of the most important parts of their lives with anyone, Ilya especially. Both men deal with their own mental health struggles in this book. SPOILERS: Ilya hates that they're out to Shane's parents and best friends, but he has no one who knows about him/them :( He comes out to Svetlana and I think one of the other hockey boys (Troy?) :) Our boys are outed, Shane's worst fear :( The commissioner is a jerk, and I cannot wait for his comeuppance! >:( Shane's team is actually pissed that he's with his/their rival?!?!? literally who cares, grow up 🙄 Shane's friends are mad he didn't tell them :( Shane gets to join Ilya at the Centaurs, the allyest/gayest hockey team there ever was! :) Shane and Ilya get married!! <3 At least our boys get a happy ending! To be honest, my favorite books are the ones that are about or have a healthy dose of Ilya & Shane; they're my favorites :) The next book in this series is also going to be about them but isn't coming out until June 2027 :(  ★★★★  🌶🌶🌶

 

The Impossible Fortune (The Thursday Murder Club #5) by Richard Osman

This book is different in taking place a year after the one before, instead of right afterwards or after a month or two. Joyce's daughter gets married, and the best man pulls Elizabeth aside to ask for help: he thinks someone is trying to kill him over a huge Bitcoin fortune. He disappears, and the fab four look into his business partner (who shared the fortune with him) and Joyce's own new son-in-law. Ron has to take in his grandson after his daughter's husband disappears after years of abusing her, with a grudge against the whole family. Ibrahim's favorite client, drug queenpin Connie, is out of prison, and is trying to follow his advice about giving back by influencing a young criminal... So much happens in this book, but all is resolved mostly satisfactorily. I hope Osman writes more books in this series; I love these old people so much. ★★★★

March reads: series books

Wow it's been so long since I wrote any book reviews lol. 

I was able to read these ebooks via the Libby app and my public library. No cover images as Blogger's insert image by url tool is refusing to work. DM me for trigger warnings. 

Tough Guy (Game Changer #3) by Rachel Reid

Ryan is the enforcer on his and Scott's (from Game Changer, book 1 of the series) hockey team, which means he has to fight and physically keep other hockey players away from the scorers. It is wild to me that these professional athletes are actually expected to straight-up punch each other?! Ryan has near-debilitating anxiety, especially on planes. He happens to run into Fabian, an out and proud, femme musician whose family Ryan lived with for a while as a teen for hockey reasons, and they reconnect. They're attracted to each other, and it turns out they both had crushes on the other when they were teens. They start dating, but Fabian hates hockey and the fact that Ryan has to fight for a living and wants him to quit. Ryan also has to deal with his homophobic teammates/hockey culture and injuries on top of the anxiety. I enjoyed this book, although it bothered me that Fabian was pressuring Ryan to quit his whole career just because he didn't like the idea of him fighting, which is basically his whole job. And they'd only been dating like a couple of weeks at this point!  ★★★★  🌶🌶🌶

 

The Man Who Died Twice (The Thursday Murder Club #2) by Richard Osman

I adored the first book in this series, and was chuffed to borrow this and the next book via Libby. Someone from Elizabeth's past shows up and asks her for help: he is accused of having stolen diamonds from a dangerous man who was holding them for the American mafia, and they're both out for his blood. Ibrahim was attacked and mugged (he's ok!! considering), and the Thursday Murder Club (and everyone who knows them) is plotting revenge. The TMC's favorite police duo are having trouble closing in on a local drug kingpin (queenpin?). Bodies start piling up, and where could those diamonds be? The way all of these plots weave together is excellent, and I couldn't put this down.  ★★★★ 

 

The Bullet That Missed (The Thursday Murder Club #3) by Richard Osman

Shockingly, the third book in this series was available right away in Libby. The Thursday Murder Club are focusing on a decade-old cold case: the murder of a young journalist who was about to blow a big corruption case wide open. Elizabeth is kidnapped and blackmailed by an dangerous man: she must kill the former head of the KGB, or Joyce will be killed. The TMC meets television personalities, acquire an adorable dog, dig up clues (well, the police do; the TMC are septuagenarians), and make new, dangerous friends. I also couldn't put this down, although reading both TMC books back to back means I keep confusing which plot points belong to which book.  ★★★★

 

Common Goal  (Game Changer #4) by Rachel Reid

Recently divorced Eric is the oldest player on his and Scott's hockey team, and is contemplating both retiring and dating men for the first time (he's bi). 25 year old Kyle works and is friends with Kip (you'll recall Kip and Scott got together in the first book, Game Changers; now they're engaged!); they meet at the gay bar where K&K work and are instantly attracted to each other, and Kyle offers Eric gay lessons 👀 It's supposed to be temporary and no strings attached, as they both consider the age gap between them to disqualify them from dating... but the heart wants what it wants. I enjoyed this, although the big issue is just solved by them deciding they don't care about the age gap since they're in love with each other (they're still 16 years apart, lol). It's like, what was the point of all the angst and drama, then? Also I hate Reid's choice of short K names. Kip is bad enough, but what 25 year old is named Kyle?  ★★★★  🌶🌶🌶

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

Halloween reads from my work library

When looking up books with "ghost stories" in the title in my work's library catalog, I stumbled on this book called Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff, which I had remembered one of my Bookstagram friends having read and mentioned on Instagram. It's a middle grade book that won or was nominated for a whole bunch of book awards, such as the Newbery and Stonewall Book Award, so I knew it would be good. The story is about a kid named Bug who lives in a haunted house (not the attraction; their house is literally haunted) and is struggling with trying to fit in with their girly-girl friends, the looming specter of middle school (it's the summer before they start; also, pun intended), and, most of all, the loss of their beloved uncle, who may or may not be haunting them... Poor Bug goes through so much in this book, but there's a happy ending, thankfully. I was genuinely freaked out by all the ghost stuff (I'm a wuss when it comes to horror) and was rooting for them the whole way. I highly recommend this book, as long as the reader can handle a little scary stuff. You don't have to be questioning your gender to enjoy this book or get anything out of it; Bug's feelings about not being a girl the right way and struggling to fit in with the boy-crazy girls in their friend group reminded me of my similar experiences at that age (ah, neurodivergence). ★★★★

I also decided to reread Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (last read and reviewed here) during yesterday's evening ref desk shift. Carmilla predates Dracula, believe it or not. JSLF does a good job of setting the tone and building atmosphere in this Gothic story. [Spoilers for a book from 1872 I guess]  I had forgotten a lot of the details (all the young women in a like 30 mile radius kept dying off-screen, obviously because Carmilla was killing them) but remembered the gist (like how gay it was). What Carmilla does to get victims is basically a scam that she runs over and over again: her "mother" (possibly also a vampire, since she's described as pale and good-looking) gets some nobleman with a young adult/late teens daughter to agree to take her invalid daughter (Carmilla, under an anagram of her name such as Mircalla or Millarca) into their home while she, the mother, has to run off on an important/emergency trip that she can't bring her daughter on or tell them about. The nobleman and his daughter agree (him, because of chivalry and gentlemen being bound to assist ladies who ask for their help, and her, because she's lonely and wants a friend), and Carmilla/Mircalla/Millarca befriends/seduces the daughter and slowly drains her of life, while finishing off all the other young women in the surrounding area. She's gone by the time the daughter dies and people realize what has happened. Carmilla and her mother run this scam for Laura (the protagonist/narrator/victim) and her father by actually staging a carriage crash right in front of them! That's commitment, I guess, although vampires can only be killed in a specific way, so. Carmilla is killed in this book because the previous victim's father is a friend of Laura's father and goes and tells him about it, and they find Carmilla's grave and kill her before she can kill Laura. Too bad Carmilla can't lez out without killing the object of her affections, although probably for her the two pleasures are bound up together or something. The way the bloodthirsty vampire only preys on women when there's just as many men around (and let's be real, they're easier targets) suggests she gets pleasure from drinking blood and therefore only wants to experience that from/with women. My library's copy had a few scholarly essays about the book that I skimmed; they were about the usual "fear of the other" stuff that academics like to discuss about vampire books, but with an Irish focus as I guess the book was put together for Irish studies (I was confused about this until I realized that). I think the author of Carmilla was Irish. ★★★.5, not really spicy enough to earn a chili pepper

Reading slump + reading update

I've been on a reading slump lately that lasted over a month. I think it started because I wanted to read one of my many unread books with latine protagonists for Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month, and I think just the concept of "having to" read a specific type of book triggered my brain's ADHD* mental block against reading in general.

 

I did actually read one book (very slowly) during this time: this cute little book about historical and designer purses, which was actually very interesting and informative. I've always loved purses and fashion history, so this was a fun and interesting book to read. It was originally published in 2001, so the book only has purses up to that point, and has kind of a gap for the 1990s (too soon ago at the time to be considered historical). The writing is very similar to fashion editorials like they have in Vogue; lots of glowing praise for the fashion designers' creativity. My only quibble is that I wish she'd put the prices for the designer handbags. I don't remember if she put a works referenced list in the back of the book (another usual quibble of mine when it comes to nonfiction books). I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes purses and fashion history. ★★★★

 

In desperation, I decided to actually bring a physical book with me (safe in its padded book sleeve) to work, where surely the boredom of working the Thursday night shift would force me to reach for the book and read it, thereby breaking my reading slump. It didn't, but it did make me start reading an ebook on my Nook app (my second, sneakier reason for bringing a physical book to read)!

That book was A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by K.J. Charles, a sequel to The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen (flash-reviewed here). This book is about brand new earl Rufus d'Aumnesty, whose hostile formerly-estranged family is fighting tooth and nail against this "interloper", taking any and every reason to question his legitimacy as earl, which brings us to the other lead, Luke Doomsday, whose mother may or may not have married Rufus' ho dad before he married Rufus' mom. Luke was a very young teenager during the events of TSLoCG (he's the smuggler chief's nephew), and he grew up to be a secretary (Gareth the baronet from the first book gave him an education). Rufus needs help sorting out the truth, his office, and the family books (which are all as fucked up as the estates and the family), so he hires Luke as his secretary. They're both super attracted to each other, fight it a bit due to the whole boss/employee thing, and fall in love. Luke helps Rufus with being an earl and dealing with his family, but he has secrets of his own, and his own agenda for being at the estate... This book was excellent, with a bit of a Gothic flair towards the end, and actually settled a mystery that began in the first book. ANG2SaS has the same themes of healing from childhood trauma as its predecessor. Luke has a facial disfigurement (scar from an attack), and Rufus is demisexual and dyslexic. ★★★★ 🌶🌶🌶  DM me for trigger warnings

As is usually the case, this broke me out of my reading slump and I started reading again like it was going out of style. As it was still Ace Week (my reason for picking the above book), I decided to finally start on the Murderbot Diaries, which I had bought (along with several other Martha Wells ebooks) during a charity bundle purchase thing. I'd been wanting to read the Murderbot Diaries ever since I first heard about them, and I'd really been looking forward to reading them ever since the trailer for the Murderbot Apple TV+ series came out (it looks so good. I need to get a free month of Apple TV+ code or get someone I know who has Apple TV+ to let me watch it). I love stories about sentient robots making friends. I was going to start reading them through Libby, but my public library doesn't have them on ebook :((( I started reading these books on Friday afternoon, and as of writing this (Sunday evening), I've read the first six books in the series plus a short story, and that's that I couldn't read for most of Saturday. I lied when I told you I was reading like it's going out of style; it's more than that: I've INHALED them. I am obsessed. They are so freaking good, and I love Murderbot (it/its pronouns). It's anxious and depressed and autistic (hates eye contact etc.) and aroace and nonbinary (duh, it's a robot) and deeply funny and sarcastic. Murderbot (Murderbot is its private name; to others it goes by SecUnit, which is somewhere between a human being going by "Human" and going by their occupation title instead of a name) dislikes humans but also can't stop caring about them. It'll be deeply annoyed by them then be like, "Is anyone else gonna protect these stupid humans and keep them alive?" and not wait for an answer. When its friends make it experience an emotion, it has to turn and face a wall. I love it so much. I need eleventy thousand more books in this series; I'm preemptively mourning running out of them. I recommend this series to anyone who likes sci fi action stories with a touch of mystery, and stories about robots gaining sentience and friends and dealing with what it means to be a person.  ★★★★ DM me for trigger warnings 

I'm writing this blog post instead of reading them because the epub ebooks are all on my computer, and Apple Books didn't transfer them over to my Apple Books app on my iPhone. Ugh. I'm counting down the minutes of this ref shift until I can go home and keep reading the series. This is basically me right now:

 Update: I made some Murderbot memes and posted them to my Instagram (I forgot to include the one above tho). My IG handle is in my Social Media note. 

*undiagnosed, but like let's be real

ARC Book Review: Cleaning Spells Before Courtship by Sarah Wallace and S.O. Callahan

The authors put out a call for ARC (advanced reader copy) readers for their upcoming book earlier this month, and I jumped at the chance. I was chosen to receive a digital ARC (the first 100 to sign up got accepted), which is so exciting and makes me feel like a real bookstagrammer/book blogger! 🤩

Official book summary:

To look at someone and to truly see them were entirely different.

Summer 1814: Moody fae Sage Ravenwing is on his way to the country estate of Wyndham and Roger Wrenwhistle - and very confused as to why he was even invited.

Still pining after Wyndham and nursing a grudge against Roger, Sage reluctantly joins the raucous house party, which soon adds a mysterious guest to their number.

Conrad Moore has come a long way from the docks of Bristol. Armed with a humble education, middling magical skill, and a great deal of audacity, he journeys to the Wrenwhistle estate to inquire about the open position on the Council.

Thrown together in the only remaining available room, the surly fae and cheerful human establish a tentative acquaintanceship. As they learn surprising lessons from each other - riding, swimming, and mending a broken heart - a tender friendship blooms and an explosive magical connection forms.

But just as Sage starts to yearn for a new future with Conrad, he discovers that the hardest lesson of all will lie in atoning for his mistakes and scrubbing his messy past clean.

The Fae & Human Relations series is one where you absolutely have to read every book in order, as each one builds on the one that came before. Cleaning Spells Before Courtship is the fourth and last book in the series (😭), but its establishing events took place in the first book. Sage and Wyn were fuck buddies, but Sage was in love with Wyn (without Wyn knowing) and took Wyn and Roger's whirlwind romance really badly (leading to the "light stalking by an ex" in my review's trigger warnings list for BSaBG). Sage said some really mean things to Roger and Wyn told Sage that unless he apologized to Roger, they wouldn't be in each other's lives anymore. I'm going off of what was recapped in the book, because it's been a while since I read the first one and I've kind of already forgotten  what went down between Sage and Roger. In the second and third books of the FaHR series, Sage is randomly mentioned in the Torquil Tribune gossip paper as having attended parties and events and sneaked off with various random men, which gives him a reputation. From these brief mentions, it was obvious that Sage was trying to make Wyn jealous and get over him, and I was sad for him and hoped that he would find happiness and love, so I was glad to see that this book is just that.

 

Anyway, Roger invites Sage to his and Wyn's country estate, ostensibly for a weeks-long house party they're having with their friends, but mostly so Sage can help Roger plan Wyn's surprise 30th birthday party and hopefully reconcile with him. The reason Roger gives for this is because if Wyn saw/knew Roger was meeting one on one with one of their friends, Wyn would suspect Roger of planning a surprise party for his birthday. I understand Roger wanting his husband to reconcile with one of his oldest ex-friends, but asking the man who is still heartbroken and pining after Wyn to plan his birthday party is kind of callous. Sage reluctantly accepts. 

 

The house party consists mostly of Roger's friends that we met in book one and then kind of never spent time with again, apart from mentions in the gossip column (understandably, since the romantic leads in books two and three didn't know them). Speaking of, Torquil and Emrys and Silas and Keelan are part of the party too, and the friends are all having a great time... while Sage watches from the sidelines. Luckily he doesn't have to be the sole single person for long, because Conrad Moore arrives. 

 

Conrad is a dockworker who learned about the open position on the Council for Fae and Human Relations (which Wyn, Roger, Torquil, and I think Silas are all on), and decided to travel to meet with Roger and Wyn to hopefully be allowed to interview for the position. Like, he doesn't know anyone, doesn't write a letter of introduction, just shows up. Pretty ballsy. He's a friendly and eager to please person, and Roger and Wyn are nice, so they invite him to stay with them and join their house party, only, wouldn't you know it? All of their rooms are filled up, so he'll just have to room with Sage. What a surprising coinkidink. You'll be shocked, just shocked, to learn that there's only one bed!!! Sage is pissed at this turn of events, then pleasantly surprised to see that Conrad is hot and ripped, then pissed again as his hints to hook up just go winging over Conrad's smiling head. 

 

The couples (and one throuple) at the house party start to do the whole wink-wink, nudge-nudge, jokey-jokey thing at the two of them, so Conrad and Sage decide to fake-date to get them off their backs. I think you can gather what happens after this decision is made. 

 

Besides the couple machinations and Roger and Conrad doing magic, this book consists of the friends just hanging out, eating, and having fun together. It was a nice change from the last book, which was all "working on magic at & for the Council" and stressful due to Keelan's unwanted engagement. It was sweet to see how our two leads become close and fall in love, with Sage learning to trust and be vulnerable and Conrad enjoying taking care of and protecting Sage. Sage also slowly befriends everyone and apologizes to Roger (hopefully that's not a spoiler since "atoning for his mistakes" is in the summary). 

 

I'm sad the series is over, but I've really enjoyed visiting this world and cheering on its couples. I highly recommend this series to anyone who likes Regency romances and queer love stories. Cleaning Spells Before Courtship comes out on October 4.

 

Score: ★★★★.5 out of 5 stars
Spice score: 🌶🌶
Read in: September 12
From: digital ARC

aesthetics moodboard for CSBC

Genres/classification: romantasy, cozy fantasy, Regency romance

Representation: gay MMC who is a man of color, asexual MMC, 2 nonbinary side characters who use they/them pronouns, a side sapphic character who is masc/butch (wears men's clothes), 1 poly triad, queernorm and racially diverse society with lots of queer side and minor characters, Roger has anxiety

Spoilers past this point

Tropes: close proximity, and they were roommates, only one bed, waking up wrapped around each other, rich x poor, grumpy x sunshine, morning person x night person, height difference (smol & tol), fake dating, they already think we're dating/fucking so we may as well pretend, catching real feelings while fake dating, found family

Trigger warnings: a character had hookups to feel wanted/avoid negative emotions and was not treated with respect (past), a character struggles with low self-esteem and feeling unwanted, unrequited love, past sex-shaming, food instability mentions, poverty mentions, amatonormativity