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. ★★★★   🌶🌶

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: Trans Rights Readathon books

The Trans Rights Readathon is March 17-31, and I've tried to read at least a couple of books for it each year ever since I heard about it. There's a bingo with prompts you can follow, but I didn't really look at them. Here are my TRR books for this year. Still no cover images as Google/Blogger continues to be stupid and act like they can't add cover by url when they could just fine last month.

 

George/Melissa by Alex Gino - earlier middle grade, thrifted paperback. Own Voices (trans author)

George is a closeted trans girl who hates when people refer to her as a boy. Her fourth grade class has read and is putting on a play of Charlotte's Web, and George desperately wants to be Charlotte—but only girls can try out for the part. The way George is able to be true to herself and come out to the people closest to her as Melissa made me so happy! I used both her names in my review as the book refers to her as George for most of it; the book was originally titled George (as my copy is), but it has recently been re-released with the title Melissa. TW for transphobia (including from Melissa's mother, who eventually comes around), dysphoria, bullying, and sexism/gender roles stuff. ★★★★

Both Can Be True by Jules Machias - later middle grade, thrifted paperback. Own Voices (trans author)

Ash has recently had to switch middle schools after getting bullied for being genderqueer. They're in girl mode but feel nervous about their impending boy mode: will people understand and accept them? Is their dad right about how they should pick a side? Daniel is dealing with his parents' separation and criticism from his family for being an overly emotional boy who cries at everything. He impulsively steals a dog that was supposed to be put down at the vet's office where he volunteers and turns to his photography class classmate, Ash, for help taking care of the dog and finding it a home. The 13 year olds like-like each other, but as Ash drifts into boy mode, will Daniel still like them? I felt for and rooted for these kids, and was so happy for them as they learned to embrace the things other people criticized them for. I wish I could punch Ash's dad, though. TW for transphobia, bullying (including physical), dysphoria, terrible parents, sick animals, animal death mentions, and sexism/gender roles stuff. ★★★★

 

Julián Is a Mermaid by and illustrated by Jessica Love - picture book borrowed from my library

I was at work thinking about what to read next for the TRR, and remembered my work library has this picture book (I had previously used it in a book display for Latine Heritage Month). Julián is a small child (fiveish?) who goes with their abuela on the subway and sees some women dressed up as mermaids. They imagine themselves being underwater with colorful fish as a beautiful mermaid with long hair. At home, they grab things from around the house to dress up, and tell their abuela, "I am a mermaid!" She gives Julián a necklace for their costume and takes them to the ocean-themed parade, where they march among the other mermaids and sea creatures. This book has lovely, colorful art and Afrolatine rep. I was happy that Abuela accepted Julián, but found it hard to believe that a latina abuela wouldn't lecture their grandchild about making a mess in the house, especially ripping the fronds out of a fern and pulling a curtain down (maybe it happened off-page lol). Given the art, Julián seems like a trans girl to me, although no terminology is used; I've used they/them pronouns for this reason. I'm not sure if this book is OwnVoices, as there is little personal information in the author's bio. ★★★★

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?  ★★★★  🌶🌶🌶

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. ★★★★ 

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

Flash book reviews for the last three months

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

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

Women's Hotel by Daniel M. Lavery

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

Book Review: Murder By Memory by Olivia Waite

A mind is a terrible thing to erase...

Welcome to the HMS Fairweather, Her Majesty's most luxurious interstellar passenger liner! Room and board are included, new bodies are graciously provided upon request, and should you desire a rest between lifetimes, your mind shall be most carefully preserved in glass in the Library, shielded from every danger.

Near the topmost deck of an interstellar generation ship, Dorothy Gentleman wakes up in a body that isn’t hers—just as someone else is found murdered. As one of the ship’s detectives, Dorothy usually delights in unraveling the schemes on board the Fairweather, but when she finds that someone is not only killing bodies but purposefully deleting minds from the Library, she realizes something even more sinister is afoot.

Dorothy suspects her misfortune is partly the fault of her feckless nephew Ruthie who, despite his brilliance as a programmer, leaves chaos in his cheerful wake. Or perhaps the sultry yarn store proprietor—and ex-girlfriend of the [person whose] body Dorothy is currently inhabiting—knows more than she’s letting on. Whatever it is, Dorothy intends to solve this case. Because someone has done the impossible and found a way to make murder on the Fairweather a very permanent state indeed. A mastermind may be at work—and if so, they’ve had three hundred years to perfect their schemes...

I discovered this book on Libby while looking through their Pride Month featured books. It sounded fascinating, so I joined the holds list and read it when it became available. 

Listen: this book is so freaking good! You already know I love mysteries, especially cozy and/or classic British mysteries, and this book is just that, only with a futuristic sci-fi setting. We're on a generation ship going from Earth to some far-off distant planet that humanity will live on several hundred years from now. They've figured out how to store people's consciousnesses or minds in "books", like documents in a hard drive, and you can just get a new body when your current one gets old and is no longer up to living. Consequently, everyone on the generation ship is functionally immortal. The generation ship is huge and high-tech, with lots of residential neighborhoods and businesses that people can run as they are interested; capitalism is no more, although there is mention of "posh" apartment complexes, so it sounds like there's still a little income inequality and class differences for some reason. The "Her Majesty's ship" thing makes me think this ship is English, which would I guess provide a reason for that, plus the whole "we're going to find a new planet to live on" which is colonization in a sci-fi way.

I was a bit confused at first, as the book just throws you into what is happening (Dorothy waking up in someone else's body), but that's actually perfect because Dorothy is confused as to what has happened to her, and it makes you feel her confusion. Dorothy has been offline for many years, her consciousness preserved in her "book". Unbeknownst to Dorothy, her nephew Ruthie (very Bertie Wooster-ish, if Bertie was also a software & mechanical engineering genius) wrote a program into the ship's computer that any ship's detective (which Dorothy is) whose book is destroyed gets their consciousness immediately put into the nearest available body. The thing is? Somebody was murdered right before this happened, and the murderer may have been the person whose body Dorothy is in... The chatty ship's computer is offline due to an electrical storm, so Dorothy has to figure out what's going on without any help or her detective status to get her places. Dorothy herself is one of those very practical British aunts who solves mysteries and knits, and she's queer! She's attracted to her accidental host's lovely ex-girlfriend (a fellow knitter who owns a yarn shop), but the ex-girlfriend hates her (ex's) guts and may have had something to do with the murder...

I'm going to stop there as I don't want to spoil it for you, but I really enjoyed this book and wished it was longer! The worldbuilding was very interesting, and I thought it was fascinating how they drank beverages that let them experience memories (a summer rainstorm, for example). I naturally loved the Library, where all the consciousness books are kept. There were lots of little mentions/analyses of human nature, and we meet interesting characters I hope we get to know better in future books (this is the first of a series). I cannot wait for future books!

Score: ★★★★.5 out of 5 stars (half star off for being too short lol)
Spice score: 1 instance of sexual attraction but otherwise zero
Read in: June 20
From: my public library - borrowed via Libby, read in the Kindle app

Genres/classification: mystery, science fiction, futuristic sci-fi, classic British mystery a la Agatha Christie (especially with the aunt element)

Representation: sapphic/wlw (possibly lesbian) main character, several sapphic secondary characters, several canon sapphic couples, gay couple, 1 queer male character of color (Asian, I think), 1 Black woman minor character. As this is a near-utopian future there is no homophobia or transphobia or racism

Trigger warnings: murder, drowning death, toxic relationship where one partner is constantly lying to and manipulating the other (possibly cheating as well), putting someone's mind/consciousness into someone else's body without the consent of either party, financial fraud, distrust of police mention

Book Review: The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields

Twenty-one-year-old Marigold Claude has always preferred the company of the spirits of the meadow to any of the suitors who've tried to woo her. So when her grandmother whisks her away to the family cottage on the tiny Isle of Innisfree with an offer to train her as the next Honey Witch, she accepts immediately. But her newfound magic and independence come with a price: No one can fall in love with the Honey Witch.

When Lottie Burke, a notoriously grumpy skeptic who doesn't believe in magic, shows up on her doorstep, Marigold can't resist the challenge to prove to her that magic is real. But soon, Marigold begins to care for Lottie in ways she never expected. And when darker magic awakens and threatens to destroy her home, she must fight for much more than her new home--at the risk of losing her magic and her heart.

I was able to read this ebook by borrowing it from my public library via Libby, and read it in the Kindle app since that's how Libby works. I'm always here for queer cozy romantasy, and was excited to read this. Overall, I'd describe this book as Chalice by Robin McKinley meets Bridgerton, but gayer. I'd recommend Chalice to people who enjoyed the honey magic and cottagecore stuff of this book, although its romance is heterosexual. 

The good: Shields writes beautifully most of the time, and I really enjoyed the Claudes' slice of life stuff, the cottagecore vibes, the lovely setting with the plants and bees, the magic, and the fact that it's gay. The yearning and chemistry between Marigold and Lottie is good, even if both are really slow to cotton on as to why they feel the way they do about the other girl. I liked the relationships between Marigold and her family (apart from her mother) and the friendships as well.

We're told this book is set in the 1830s, and the Isle of Innisfree is a real place (though uninhabited if Wikipedia is correct), but since the early Victorian norms are only vaguely held, and the fashion and hairstyles don't seem to add up (we're told Marigold's ballgown is huge and poofy, which would not have been the case in our 1830s, and that her hair was pulled back super tightly from her face, which ditto), then I don't see the point in giving the book a time setting if you're going to ignore the conventions and just go off vibes. This just confused me, especially since sometimes the language used is jarringly modern. People say "okay" and stuff. We're also told a lot, rather than being shown. Marigold has a lot of beliefs and sayings that she holds and says without telling us why or how she knows/believes them. 

I also got annoyed at the repetitiveness throughout the book. Marigold laments that she'll never be able to fall in love and have a partner because of the curse her family is under what felt like thousands of times, which, we get it. It's especially annoying because you just know what's going to happen. 

Stuff I want to complain about that is spoilery (highlight to read): the thing with tattoos that kind of goes nowhere. Like sure, having Lottie tattoo Mari with her clothes off is super sexual tension-y, but if there's such a huge taboo against tattoos then why would Mari get tattoos and let Lottie get into a situation where someone would see her tattoos and blackmail her for them? Marigold was able to resolve that by magically erasing the blackmailer's memory, but like. What was the point.

re: the anachronisms that were jarringly modern to me: I cannot believe that people in the Victorian era went around saying "good girl" to each other in bed. I just refuse to believe it, and it took me out of the book to read that. 

Also the whole "cursed to never fall in love" thing, but Marigold still falls in love with Lottie, and it's obvious that Lottie falls in love with her too. Although supposedly Lottie couldn't feel it until the curse was broken, but their connection felt like more than lust to me, so then what was the difference? My denseness and borderline-aromanticism rear their heads again. The girls screaming in pain for each other during the third-act breakup also seemed really dramatic to me. Per usual in these things, Marigold's reason for breaking up with Lottie made no sense. 

It was super obvious to me who Lottie was going to turn out to be: the evil ash witch's granddaughter. Not to be constantly comparing Chalice to The Honey Witch, but the romance in that book is also between a honey-magic-user and a fire-magic-user.  Once Marigold saw that something (obviously her good magic's evil counterpart) was turning the isle's magical guardians evil, the first thing she should have thought to do was check the magical honey wards around the island and see if any of them had been removed, but she didn't think to do that! Hello??? What a stupid way to lose against an evil enemy. I was really sad that the cottage and its library burned down, and that so many bees died. :( Overall the magical battle was too uneven and catastrophic for my liking. The first 3/4ths of the book is so cozy and sweet and slow-paced, so the violent heartbreaking climax is jarring to read after that, rather atonal. We're told (telling again) that Marigold is a powerful honey witch, yet she's no match for the immortal ash witch. It made no sense to me that the evil ash witch was destroyed by fire. Hello, she's an ash witch??? It would have made more sense to draw her out of the house then drown her in the river. But whatever, we get a happy ending for the girls.

Quick last complaint: Marigold's best friend and her little brother are soulmates, but they're 22? and 18 so I felt a bit uncomfy at the age gap. 

Overall, I guess I did mostly like this book despite everything I've complained about above, and would recommend it to anyone interested in sapphic cottagecore cozy romantasy with spice and dramatic stakes. Check it out from the library though. 

Score: ★★★.5 out of 5 stars (Blogger, return to me the half star special character! 😠)
Spice score: 🌶🌶/🌶 
Read in: June 11
From: my public library - borrowed via Libby, read in Kindle app

Spoilers past this point

Tropes: forbidden romance, star-crossed lovers, "we can never be together" stuff, grumpy x sunshine, character who can never fall in love does so anyway, character with a family x orphan, only one bed, third act breakup, a character has mysterious origins that turn out to be very important to the plot, characters don't recognize that they're into each other leading to this song from Wicked, enemies to lovers in a way, that Romeo & Juliet thing where two families are historical enemies but the kids from those families fall in love

Representation: bisexual/pansexual fmc and lesbian (I think) fmc in sapphic relationship, side mlm/achillean couple (one of which is also bi I think), queernorm society, I don't remember if everyone is white (British isles) or if it's also a race-blind society

Trigger warnings: murder, death, a child is burned severely all over her body (past), gore, magical degloving injury leading to lots of blood, violence, kidnapping, a character is imprisoned and starved, manipulation, memory loss (both magical and trauma-related), orphaned character with trauma, bees death, controlling parent who withholds information (out of fear rather than just sucking)

Book Review: Adrift in Starlight by Mindi Briar

When set adrift in the universe, some things are worth holding onto.

Titan Valentino has been offered a job they can't refuse.

Tai, a gender-neutral courtesan, receives a scandalous proposition: seduce an actor's virgin fiancée. The money is enough to pay off Tai's crushing medical debt, a tantalizing prospect. 

Too bad Aisha Malik isn't the easy target they expect.

A standoffish historian who hates to be touched, she's laser-focused on her career, and completely unaware that her marriage has been arranged behind her back. This could be the one instance where Tai's charm and charisma fail them.

Then an accidental heist throws them together as partners in crime.

Fleeing from the authorities, they're dragged into one adventure after another: alien planets, pirate duels, and narrow escapes from the law. As Tai and Aisha open up to each other, deeper feelings kindle between them. But that reward money still hangs over Tai's head. Telling Aisha the truth could ruin everything… 

Their freedom, their career, and their blossoming love all hang in the balance. To save one might mean sacrificing the rest.

I bought this ebook during one of those stuff your ereader sales last year. The premise sounded interesting, although the book is not as scandalous as the premise makes it sound. The setting is in the distant future, where many different planets are known about and colonized. The POV trades off between Tai and Aisha, who could not be more different: Tai is white, nonbinary, a cyborg, an orphan, in debt, and a sex worker who can charm anyone; Aisha is Black, asexual, touch-averse, an archeologist/historian, and an heiress who has been fighting against her ultra-rich and controlling parents to live the life she wants. Aisha's father arranged her marriage without telling her to a famous actor, the one who hires Tai to try to 'find out what she likes' and seduce her. The 'fiance' chooses Tai because they're a cyborg whose brain implant lets them read other people's moods and body language. Tai accepts the job despite their misgivings because it will pay off their medical debt: the shady doctor who saved Tai from the car crash that killed their parents and critically injured them when they were a child used the opportunity to implant the unregulated technology that saved their life, but also kept them chained to the doctor (who probably programmed the implant to malfunction every couple of years to keep the money rolling in), and no one stepped in because Tai was an orphan. This debt drove Tai to go into sex work when their parents' money dried up, mid-high school. So fucked up.

The story really takes off at Aisha's big museum exhibit of fossils from an ancient, presumed extinct ant-like alien culture. Aisha, her colleague Jimin (a nice Korean guy), a pilot named Hue who discovered an alien fossil in the exhibit, and Tai somehow figure out how to get an ancient piece of alien technology working, and it brings the fossilized alien to life! The ant-like creature takes back the alien technology and starts trying to escape, killing a security guard in the progress. Hue is able to communicate with the alien thanks to the dragon she's bonded with (dragons are aliens that can teleport and communicate telepathically, sort of eldila-like). The humans all help get the alien onto Hue's ship so they can get it back to its own people. From the outside, however, it looks like the four humans stole a valuable alien fossil and killed a security guard in the process, and they are now considered criminals on the run. 

They go to several different planets, all very different and interesting: a lush jungle-y planet with no sentient life, where they leave the alien; a pirate port planet named Tortuga after the pirate stronghold!, and Jimin's home planet Halcyon, a peaceful farming community watched over by dragons. All sorts of crazy stuff goes down, and Tai and Aisha grow closer throughout it all and fall in love, but Tai knows the lies will ruin everything between them. In my opinion, it was stupid of Tai to think that Aisha's 'fiance' would still be willing to pay them for seducing Aisha after they became fugitives from the law. In what world would that business transaction be kept? Tai should have realized this and just owned up on like day 2 or 3 when they realized they liked Aisha as a friend. Aisha was rejected in the past for being asexual, and it broke her heart; you can guess what happens when the truth is found out. More wild stuff goes down, and our lovebirds save each other and find a happy ending. I really enjoyed this book and the world it was set in, even though I hated how sexism, classism, and capitalism were still a thing. I'd be down to read more books in this series. 

Score: ★★★★ out of 5 stars
Spice score: 🌶
Read in: April 6
From: Barnes & Noble Nook

moodboard for Adrift in Starlight

Genres/classification: science fiction with some romance and borderline-fantasy elements

Tropes: opposites attract, sex worker x virgin (sorry), flirt x shy/standoffish, presumed criminals on the run, "this other person hired me to trick/date/bed you without you knowing I was hired to do so but now we're falling in love and I know it'll break your heart if you find out but I can't bring myself to tell you because I don't want you to be upset/break up with me" but she finds out anyway and leaves/breaks up with them but the liar apologizes and affirms they do love the lie-ee for real and they end up together anyway. You know the drill

Representation: Black ace female MC, nonbinary femme sex worker MC with they/them pronouns, straight? Korean male SC, Vietnamese bi or pan middle-aged female SC. Queernorm society, no homophobia or transphobia from what I remember

Trigger warnings: violence, death, suicide (very minor character, past), a character is drugged and imprisoned, medical abuse of a non-consenting patient since they were a child, a character began sex work as an underage teenager (all off-page), abusive/controlling parents, a character is shot with a future!gun, orphaned character whose parents died in a car crash (past), drugs and tripping/being high mentions, alcohol mentions, vomiting mentions, allergic reaction, gender dysphoria

Book Reviews: the Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune series by K.J. Charles

I loved K.J. Charles' Will Darling trilogy and A Charm of Magpies series, and my love for Regency romances is well-documented on this blog, so when I saw that KJC had written gay Regency romance novels, I snapped up the ebooks when they were on sale.  I read the two books in the Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune series by K.J. Charles back to back in one day. They're set in the same world (well obviously all Regency romance novels are set in Regency-era England, but, you know, the characters have mutual friends and eventually interact etc.) but you don't really have to read them in order. Both ebooks are from B&N/Nook.

 

The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting

Robin Loxleigh and his sister Marianne are the hit of the Season, so attractive and delightful that nobody looks behind their pretty faces.

Until Robin sets his sights on Sir John Hartlebury's heiress niece. The notoriously graceless baronet isn't impressed by good looks or fooled by false charm. He's sure Robin is a liar, a fortune hunter, and a heartless, greedy fraud -- and he'll protect his niece, whatever it takes.

Then, just when Hart thinks he has Robin at his mercy, things take a sharp left turn. And as the grumpy baronet and the glib fortune hunter start to understand each other, they also find themselves starting to care -- more than either of them thought possible.

But Robin's cheated and lied and let people down for money. Can a professional rogue earn an honest happy ever after?

Gold-digging scammer siblings + an autistic-coded baronet who is not taken in by their charm + paying off a gambling debt by ~creative means~ 👀 They start catching feelings during what is supposed to be strictly a ~physical~ arrangement!! 😱 Both Robin and Hart are forced to come face to face with their parent wounds/childhood trauma, and decide whether they can let themselves be loved as they truly are. Marianne is dead-set on marrying a titled noble so she'll be rich for the rest of her life, but Hart's non-rich, non-titled friend is in love with her, and she might be falling for him... Also there's the math genius niece and card games. I liked this a lot and found it interesting to read about all the ways the Loxleigh siblings acted to achieve their desired results and manipulations. Hart and Robin gave me Roy x Jamie from Ted Lasso vibes. There's also a little KJC name punning going on.  ★★★★, 🌶🌶🌶

 

The Duke at Hazard 

The Duke of Severn is one of the greatest men in Britain.

He's also short, quiet, and unimpressive. And now he's been robbed, after indulging in one rash night with a strange man who stole the heirloom Severn ring from his finger. The Duke has to get it back, and he can't let anyone know how he lost it. So when his cousin bets that he couldn't survive without his privilege and title, the Duke grasps the opportunity to hunt down his ring--incognito.

Life as an ordinary person is terrifying... until the anonymous Duke meets Daizell Charnage, a disgraced gentleman, and hires him to help. Racing across the country in search of the thief, the Duke and Daizell fall into scrapes, into trouble--and in love.

Daizell has been excluded from polite society, his name tainted by his father's crimes and his own misbehaviour. Now he dares to dream of a life somewhere out of sight with the quiet gentleman who's stolen his heart. He doesn't know that his lover is a hugely rich public figure with half a dozen titles. And when he finds out, it will risk everything they have...

Poor sheltered Sev (the Duke of Severn) just wanted to have one anonymous hookup, but gets plied with alcohol and robbed while unconscious. His well-meaning relations basically run his life and are always impressing the Grandeur and Importance of his title, so they can't know his ring was stolen; no one can know, as gay hookups are illegal. It was actually stressful reading about Sev (going by Cassian, one of his many names) trying to get around by himself when he has no idea what he's doing. Luckily he stumbles on Charnage, who was a few years above him at Eton, and hires him to help him look for the guy who robbed him. Their adventures have both highs (sightseeing, There Was Only One Bed) and lows (having to ride in a public coach that packs in smelly people like sardines, being in a horrible coach crash with casualties, getting kidnapped), but overall Sev/Cassian finds the freedom exhilarating. He and Charnage also keep running into a young lady hell-bent on eloping and evading her awful guardian, and try to help her. Charnage's deal was sad; I hated how he was cast out from society because his dad committed a crime he had nothing to do with. The fact that Sev/Cassian has been lying to him this whole time doesn't help. Overall this was a wild ride, and I loved reading how Sev came into his own as a Duke and how he used his position to make things right with Charnage and his friends and fix their issues.  ★★★★, 🌶🌶🌶  DM me for TWs (I believe both books have them listed at the beginning)

unorganized moodboard for the Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune series

Book Review: Until the Last Petal Falls by Viano Oniomoh

When Eru was eleven years old, he met an unforgettable boy.

Only a few weeks after, he forgot all about that boy.

Ten years later, after his parents’ sudden deaths, all Eru wants is to find a way out of the village he was supposed to leave behind, and escape the abuse of his grieving grandmother. When he receives a summons from Able Mummy, the wife of the High Chief, it seems all of his prayers have been answered.

Able Mummy needs his help. But she and the High Chief have a secret.

Once Eru uncovers the truth, he finds that the fate of the village, and that of the boy he’d been made to forget, could lie solely in his hands.

Cosy, sweet, and intimate, Until the Last Petal Falls is a character-driven Nigerian queerplatonic retelling of Beauty and the Beast.

 

Of all the genres I love fantasy the most; of all the fantasy stories I love fairytales the most; of all the fairytales I love Beauty and the Beast the most, and of all the retellings out there I love diverse and LGBTQ+ retellings the most, so I added this book to my TBR list with a quickness. I heard about Until the Last Petal Falls through Bookstagram, and bought the ebook during a stuff-your-kindle sale. I broke my "no shopping on Amazon" rule to buy this as it's not available anywhere else. 

I really liked this book. The setting (modern-day Nigeria but with gods and witch doctor magic) was very interesting to read about, as was the way Oniomoh reinvents the tale as old as time. Like all* Beautys, Eru hands over his life and future to help someone else; like some other Beasts, Esioghene goes from angry and closed-off to open and loving. Both men are aromantic, and the queerplatonic relationship that develops between them is very sweet and tender. Most of the general BatB characteristics are there: big palace/house hidden by magic, roses with petals falling counting the days, curses, etc. I would consider this book to be cozy despite the difficult things the characters go through (both are abused).

Score: ★★★★⯨ out of 5 stars
Spice score: 0
Read in: February 21
From: Amazon

Genres/classification: fantasy, cozy fantasy, fairytale retelling, modern retelling, not quite fabulism but close, adult book I think, monster romance only without the romance

Tropes: forced proximity, magically bound to each other, found family, love conquers all, true love breaks the curse, love saves the day (all platonic love btw)

Representation: aromantic (both MMCs), gay queerplatonic relationship, all the characters are Nigerian as the book is set in Nigeria, ace vibes as well imo; author is (as far as I can tell) a Nigerian LGBTQ+ woman

Trigger warnings: child abuse, child neglect, domestic abuse, physical & verbal abuse, abusive & controlling parents and grandparent, depression, grief, parental loss (I think it was due to a car accident but I may be wrong), manipulation/deceit, memories magically erased

*ok probably not all

Book review: A Sorceress and Scones by Allie Leigh

The rumours should have been enough to send her running, but when the opportunity to study magic under the Lady Elliane presents itself, Korinne can't say no. Even if people do think the lady sorceress has terrifying fangs, fearsome claws, and a tendency to eat hearts.

She'd planned to focus upon her studies, but life at the sorceress's castle isn't what she'd expected. Though she hides herself away, Elliane doesn't live alone. There's Arycelle, a spirited girl from beyond the valley, and Wick, a demon who seems more interested in performances and pastries than any sort of eldritch pact. Along with living shadows, poetic statues, and an opinionated stove, Korinne isn't sure what to make of the strange world she's stumbled into.

But when Elliane, Arycelle, and Wick learn of her feelings for Ninette—a sweet baker and her dearest friend—they decide to take responsibility for ensuring she gets a happily ever after, and Korinne finds she has much more than magic on her mind.

I downloaded this book from B&N Nook for free late last year, and decided to read it for Black History Month as the girl (Korinne) on the cover is Black; however, the author is white and Canadian, which I didn't realize, so I don't think this counts. 

This book was less cozy than suggested by the summary, although it's cozy enough that I don't really feel I was tricked. The fantasy world this book is set in is race- and queer-normative, although social classes are a thing and Korinne's bastard birth status dictates her life and what she can wear. The pain Korinne feels at being shunned by her father (as if she chose to be born! screw that dude) is a big part of her character, even indirectly driving some of the plot. Elliane's outsider status is also painful to her, and Korinne, Elliane, Arycelle, and Wick (a demon child with no evil but plenty of rambunctiousness) form a found family. 

Korinne's struggles with her magical studies take up a large part of the book. The castle with its sentient statues and oven has Beauty and the Beast vibes, while the living shadows made me think of soot sprites. The part about the friends trying to get Korinne  together with Ninette is smaller than it sounds, but still sweet. What I wouldn't give to eat some of her pastries. There's some really cool magic towards the end that I really liked but won't talk about because it's a spoiler.

Overall, I really liked this book despite the sad/angry-making stuff and I do recommend it. I can't wait to read the (unpublished) sequel, which sounds like it deals with Arycelle's and Wick's story. The cover is beautiful, although for some reason isn't showing up right now.

Score: ★★★★ out of 5 stars
Spice score: 0
Read in: February 2
From: B&N Nook

Tropes: their friends ship them and try to get them to confess/date, being sent on an errand specifically so they'll run into their crush, etc., magical castle with sentient objects/appliances & invisible/non-human servants

Representation: sapphic pairing, Korinne appears to be Black, Arycelle? appears to be a woman/girl of color (the world is fairly colorblind/race neutral), background LGBTQ+ characters

Trigger warnings: manipulation, betrayal, implied psychological torture through dreams, terminal illness, emotional trauma and pain, othering, sick fantasy animal

Book Review: More to Love by Georgina Kiersten

An Unexpected Love

For Jamir Cunningham, a relationship is the last thing on his mind.  After inheriting his grandparents' bookstore, Jamir has been completely focused on running the business. And if he's lonely, that was between him and the books. Yet, from the moment Emmy Park walked into his life, Jamir was immediately captivated by the plus-size Korean.

A Fresh Start

After his recent divorce, former Olympic wrestler Emerson "Emmy" Park moved to Texas to get a fresh start. After taking a job as an assistant wrestling coach at a nearby university, he stumbles across Jamir's bookstore. Emmy is instantly attracted to Jamir.  Unfortunately, he is big and burly with a resting bitch face and thinks he has zero chance with the gorgeous Black man. However, when a sudden encounter shows them how good they can be together. Is the simmering attraction between them enough for them to see past their differences and finally give in to their desires?

This was my first read of February. As it's Black History Month no matter what anybody says, I specifically tried to choose books with Black characters. I bought this ebook during one of those "stuff your ereader" sales last year. 

The leads meet because Emmy likes to sit in Jamir's bookstore and read during his lunch hour. Jamir is instantly attracted to Emmy and kind of follows him around the bookstore trying-to-be-stealthily; Emmy thinks Jamir stares at him because he's a big, tall Korean. I found the manner in which they get to talking rather contrived; Emmy forgets his beloved copy of Pride & Prejudice at Jamir's bookstore (he really takes his own book to read at a bookstore? ok...) so he goes there during a rainstorm (just wait til the next day??) and Jamir urges him to dry off  in his apartment above the store, sparks fly, etc. 

I found the romance cute, and I liked the relationships the men had with their family and friends. Both men have their own problems to deal with in their jobs and personal lives, but there really wasn't much in the way of an obstacle to their relationship apart from some silly contrived drama towards the end. 

Weirdly, I found the non-romance writing to be kind of awkward while the ~romantic~ writing wasn't; usually it's the other way around. There were also several editing errors and typos in my ebook (and in the summary, which I had to fix). The line in the summary calling Emmy a plus-size Korean, plus the way Jamir's attraction to Emmy's size was described (slightly/borderline chaser-y), made me a bit uncomfortable; those sensitive to how fat characters are described may not like it. No fatphobia though.

Sometimes you just want a simple fluffy romance book, and the fact that there's a bookstore is the icing on the cake. Overall I liked this.

Score: ★★★½ out of 5 stars
Spice score: 🌶🌶🌶 out of 5 chilies
Read in: February 1
From: B&N Nook

Tropes: idk what it's called but that whole "the weather makes the romance/encounter" happen, forced proximity, close proximity, "he's probably staring at me because I look strange/my odd looks", athlete x nerd, "no, [family member], I'm giving up on YOUR dream", the ex tries to get them back in the third act

Representation: Black man MC, Korean man MC, fat MC, I think both are bisexual so bi4bi

Trigger warnings: the author has a list at the beginning of the book so I'll just redirect you to what I wrote in the second to last paragraph about the way the fat MMC was talked about, also I didn't like how Emmy's boss was such a jerk and yelled all the time