Book Review: Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

I learned about Xiran Jay Zhao through their excellent takedowns/analyses of the Mulan movies on YouTube and find them to be just hilarious and wonderfully nerdy. I consequently put their first book, Iron Widow, on my to-read list immediately. I bought it in January when Barnes & Noble had their 25% off preorders sale, and read it for the trans rights readathon the third week of March. Book summary:

The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn't matter that the girls often die from the mental strain.

When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it's to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister's death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.​

To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia​. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.

Pacific Rim meets The Handmaid's Tale in this blend of Chinese history and mecha science fiction for YA readers.

WOW THIS FREAKING BOOK. It was so freaking good. This book is the embodiment of female rage and the phrase "I support women's rights and women's wrongs". I rooted for Zetian (who is very loosely based on the iconic empress of China) and her plans for revenge as a fellow sister-haver. I seethed with her when she encountered casual and violent sexism during the story and her life (in flashbacks). Zetian had her feet bound as a very small girl and consequently suffers chronic pain and difficulties walking. In the mecha animal suit she psychically links with, she is finally powerful and free of pain. Zetian is all about righting wrongs through violence and murder, and she's so valid.

Zetian is secretly in love with her friend Gao Yizhi, a rich boy a year or so older than her who secretly visits her in her village and taught her to read. She's angrily attracted to her forced pilot mate Li Shimin, who is a murderer/criminal a couple years older than her whose sentence got commuted since he's so psychically strong and therefore great at driving chrysalises. Ugh love triangles, right? WRONG! Spoiler, highlight to read: Zetian has two hands! and so do each of the boys!! Boo yeah. THIS is how you do love triangles. Mind you, I don't really like the term love triangle since the boys are never in love with or attracted to each other, just to the girl and sHe HaS tO cHoOsE. This is such a refreshing change from that.

Chrysalis pilots are basically superheroes and celebrities, so Zetian has to deal with all sorts of political machinations and publicity stuff on top of the sexism and attempts on her life. I was super into this book and then BAM, cliffhanger! And the second book isn't out for ages!! I am bereft. READ THIS THO.  Ooh, just learned (in googling the characters' names) that Xiran posted her face claims and descriptions of the characters!! Unfortunately I kept picturing Li Shimin as that villain who got airbending powers in The Legend of Korra :(  Godfrey Gao is SO much better.

Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Read in: March 22
From: Barnes & Noble
Status: keeping

See my aesthetics moodboard for Iron Widow!

Representation: main character with disability and chronic pain who uses mobility aids, bisexual side characters, nearsighted, glasses wearing character; all the characters are Chinese but this is SciFi/Fantasy Silkpunk China so idk if that counts

Cover notes: Perfect. My paperback has gorgeous metallic accents and I love it.

Trigger warnings: message me for these since Google got all puritanical 🙄

Rereads of March

In March I had issues with my electricity, so I unplugged my router and modem in case that was the issue and consequently had no internet, so I watched my DVD of The Last Unicorn, which I had never seen. This made me reread the book, of course. It's such a lovely, mysterious, sad and longing-filled book. The unicorn learning she is the last, the magician being unable to touch her, the prince being in love with her as a human, and of course Molly Crue. The older I get the more I identify with her. Like her I have long desired to see a unicorn, but for me it is impossible. I am hardened by living in this world, but books like this remind me of my longing to live in fairytales. Please read this wonderful book so we can have broken hearts together. 4.5 out of 5 stars, permanent collection. Trigger warnings: death, fantasy violence, a baby is left out in the cold to die (he doesn't), kidnapping and imprisonment, virginity mentions, that thing where a beautiful woman is the object of men's love and devotion and (subliminally) desire even though she doesn't want to be (because she's a unicorn) and it's all too reminiscent of how society still teaches that women exist for men and that whole male gaze/male fantasies thing and yeah

 

I reread Something That Will Shock and Discredit You by Daniel M. Lavery for the trans rights reading challenge, and enjoyed it again. Here's my short book review from last time I read it (funnily enough also in March):

I've loved Lavery's writing ever since the old The Toast days, and will read everything he writes. I loved all the Bible references which he used as descriptive parallels to his transitioning (Jacob wrestling with God and being given a new name, etc.). He also did several of his signature retellings/reimaginings of classical poetry and literature. This book was funny and poignant and I liked it very much. 4 out of 5 stars.
     Trigger warnings for this book: dysphoria, transphobia, Bible passages, depression and anxiety, I don't remember if he mentions his dad enabling a pedophile but if he does that's definitely one

 

 

I know this is supposed to be only rereads, but I decided to throw in my last read of March, a small book about the illuminated manuscripts of the Morgan Library & Museum. I went there during my Spring break trip to New York, and it was gorgeous (I only saw the library and historic rooms as admission for those was free). I love me a museum gift shop, and I bought this book there. I love illuminated manuscripts and book history and consequently enjoyed reading this book, but because of the book's small size, the images of the illuminated manuscript pages were tiny, and it was hard to see the details. They should have made this into a regular-sized or large book for that reason (I know those exist). 4 stars, keeping. Trigger warnings: flaying mention and (cartoony) illustration, martyrdom and deaths/murder depictions, Bible stories and characters, Christianity

Book Reviews: The Will Darling Adventures by K.J. Charles

I downloaded the ebook of Slippery Creatures because a bookstagrammer I follow shared a post (probably from the author) saying that it was free. I am not immune to free ebooks, especially if they're mysteries, about bookstores, and/or queer; this one was all of that! True to form, I forgot about it until I downloaded the Nook app (longtime readers* may remember my Nook usage and loyalty) to my phone in preparation for my trip to Mexico so I could have something to read without bringing physical books with me. I downloaded SC so I could read it and LOVED it so much I purchased the other two ebooks in the series, The Sugared Game and Subtle Blood. These books all have the tagline (?) "A 1920s m/m romance trilogy in the spirit of Golden Age pulp fiction." 

 
 

Slippery Creatures

Will Darling came back from the Great War with a few scars, a lot of medals, and no idea what to do next. Inheriting his uncle's chaotic second-hand bookshop is a blessing...until strange visitors start making threats. First a criminal gang, then the War Office, both telling Will to give them the information they want, or else.

Will has no idea what that information is, and nobody to turn to, until Kim Secretan--charming, cultured, oddly attractive--steps in to offer help. [...] Enemies are closing in on [Will] from all sides--and Kim is the only man who can help.

You all know how I feel about bookstores. I mean! Just that alone had me. Plus it's a mystery, plus it's queer? Come on. This was SUCH a good, suspenseful story, with lots of twists and turns. It felt grounded and lived in, and I learned some stuff about the period. I suppose it shouldn't surprise me given how we treat our veterans today, but in England after WWI there were no jobs for returning veterans, forcing tons of them to pawn even their medals and do menial jobs if they could find them and beg in the street if they couldn't. That makes no sense to me; so many men died in that war. Like in WWII, women stepped up (I'm sure) and then stepped back so the men could have their jobs back, but there weren't any? I'm sure it was the government's choices screwing them over. Will is so lucky to find his uncle and inherit the bookshop when he died. I liked him as a character; the war changed him, but he's a good and decent man. All three books in the trilogy are told from his POV. The love interest aspect of the book kind of jerks you around a bit, not so much "will they/won't they" but "will this become a real relationship? Can Kim be trusted?". In my reading log notes I wrote "interesting, exciting, and sexy", and that really sums this book up. I really enjoyed it.

 

 The Sugared Game

It's been two months since Will Darling saw Kim Secretan, and he doesn't expect to see him again. What do a rough and ready soldier-turned-bookseller and a disgraced shady aristocrat have to do with each other anyway? But when Will encounters a face from the past in a disreputable nightclub, Kim turns up, as shifty, unreliable, and irresistible as ever. And before Will knows it, he's been dragged back into Kim's shadowy world of secrets, criminal conspiracies, and underhand dealings. This time, though, things are underhanded even by Kim standards. This time, the danger is too close to home. And if Will and Kim can't find common ground against unseen enemies, they risk losing everything. 

I feel the same about this book as I did its predecessor. Maisie, Will's sensible best friend who is Black and a ray of sunshine, and Phoebe, Kim's best friend and beard fiance who could have stepped out of the Jeeves books, are back in this book too, and they're so fun. The bookstore comes into this story much less, but it can't be helped. All three books have danger that feels real, and the girls end up being threatened by the bad guys too. It makes sense historically, but it really bums me out that the bad guys' go-to to try to threaten the guys/control the outcome is to threaten to rape and murder Maisie and Phoebe. Nothing really bad happens to them, but it sucks. I also got a bit sick of reading the phrase "cut-glass accent" over and over again. Like I get it, Maisie has to pretend to be upper-class to fit in with Phoebe and Kim's crowd. Maybe use a different phrase sometimes though? The class differences between the characters are discussed and come up a lot, unsurprisingly. Working-class Will often pretends to be stupider than he is in order to be underestimated. It just struck me that Kim's last name has Secret in it, ugghghghhhh. To be fair, Will's last name has Daring in it (eyeroll). There is a lot of violence in all three books, as is expected when you come up against organized crime, and there's a good analysis of Will's enjoyment of and facility in killing. It makes sense that the war would make him feel it's the only thing he's good at.

 

 

Subtle Blood  (spoilers in book summary)

Will Darling is all right. His business is doing well, and so is his illicit** relationship with Kim Secretan--disgraced aristocrat, ex-spy, amateur book-dealer. It's starting to feel like he's got his life under control. And then a brutal murder in a gentleman's club plunges them back into the shadow world of crime, deception, and the power of privilege. Worse, it brings them up against Kim's noble, hostile family, and his upper-class life where Will can never belong. With old and new enemies against them, and secrets on every side, Will and Kim have to fight for each other harder than ever--or be torn apart for good. 

Kim's family SUUUUUUUUUUCKS. I hate them. The class differences/issues are even stronger here, unsurprisingly. It's more of the same, in mostly a good way (see my previous note about the girls in danger). Will and Kim's dynamic reminds me a bit of Holmes and Watson's, except Kim is not significantly smarter than Will and Will doesn't go around all "wowzers!!" all starry-eyed. Both men have their strengths and weaknesses that complement each other. Kim is better at smooth-talking and intrigue, while Will would rather choose violence, plus he's good at fighting and doing the right thing when Kim would rather take the easy way out. It made me sad to finish this book; I wanted more!! Psst KJ Charles, please write a companion trilogy from the girls' point of view, and/or a continuation trilogy set right after the boys' POV books. I want to hang out more with all the characters. Spoilers, highlight to read: unsurprisingly to me and my gay goggles, Maisie and Phoebe pair up together too, which made me happy. But they basically just tell the boys and the reader. I wanted more build-up, more details like the boys' relationship got!

Anyway, I loved this trilogy and wish it were a series of 45 books instead. Read them if you like the aforementioned genres and don't mind books with spice/s3x scenes.

Cover notes: I like the book covers, although I hate the (not even historically correct) sideburns the artist gave Kim. Lmao at Will holding his knife in each one. Very cool and perfect font. The Sugared Game's cover is my favorite.

Score: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Read in: February 19-23
From: Barnes & Noble (Nook)
Status: keeping

See my aesthetics moodboard for the Will Darling Adventures!

Representation: bisexual main character and side character, gay character/love interest, lesbian side character, Black side character, veteran with PTSD

Trigger warnings: murder, death, gore, violence, torture, gun violence, war-related violence, trench warfare mentions, kidnapping, rape threats, murder threats, veteran with PTSD, period-typical homophobia, period-typical racism, period-typical misogyny and sexism, a character self-harmed in the past, self-harm scars, drug mentions (heroin), suicide mentions, 1918 flu pandemic mentions, infectious disease bioweapon mention, emotional and physical abuse of child (past), homelessness mentions, poverty, hunger, miscarriage mention (past, vague), period-typical classism, vomiting, an elderly character died from a stroke off-page, probably other stuff. KJ Charles has kindly included lists of content warnings for her books on her website!

*do not exist

**it was literally illegal to be gay in 1920s England. Men could be sent to jail for having gay s3x. See Oscar Wilde's Wikipedia page. RIP Kim and Will you would have loved pride

HarperCollins and subsidiaries books of 2022

The HarperCollins strike is over, so I'm going to publish short book review blurbs about the HC books I read since the strike started. TBH, it's been a while, so I may not remember everything about the books.

 

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew (read in November) is the first Narnia book I ever read and as such I have a soft spot for it. Such a good story. Two English neighbor kids in 1900 set out to explore their townhouses and are forced into a magical experiment that will show them the end of one world and the beginning of another, setting in motion the rest of the series. To me it has some of the most creative and rich imagery. Uncle Andrew should be in jail and deserved a lasting comeuppance. More males acting stupidly again; Lewis's misogyny where?? lol One minor plot point I want to talk about: Aslan says Frank the cabbie and Helen his wife have not yet encountered grief, but they're totally OK with being yanked out of their world and never seeing anyone in it again? Don't they have families? If they don't have families, then haven't they known grief? Didn't they have friends they'd miss? If you don't have family or friends you know grief, in my opinion. 4.5 stars, permanent collection. Trigger warnings for this book: children used/forced to participate in magical/scientific experiments without their consent by adult, physical violence, an adult physically hurts/harms children repeatedly, threats of violence and death, animal abuse and cruelty (to a horse), sick/dying parent, verbal manipulation of children, off-page magical genocide, off-page magical immediate extinction of all living species, sexism, theft

 

A True Wonder: The Comic Book Hero Who Changed Everything (read in November) is a picture book biography about Wonder Woman and how her comics came to be, with an especial focus on the women who made her possible. It was written by Kirsten W. Larsen and illustrated by Katy Wu. I loved this book and learned a lot from it. A must-have for fans of Wonder Woman and comics! GIRL POWER! 5 stars, keeping.  Trigger warnings (that I remember): sexism towards real women and Wonder Woman, sexualization of Wonder Woman's outfit (wanting her to be more/less covered up)

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle (read in December) is indeed the last book of the series. I like it but at the same time it's depressing. Eustace and Jill are called back to Narnia to help its last king attempt to save his country's creatures and soul from forces outside and within. I found Shift's truth-bending and manipulation of religious belief for power to be prescient when I last re-read this series during the Bush administration, and I continue to find it prescient during this current era of fake news and Christofascism. My heart hurts for Tirian, the Narnians, and all the sad stuff that happens. Important to note that racism rears its head again, due to the part Calormenes play in this story. To go about undetected, Tirian and the kids put on brownface to impersonate Calormene soldiers. Tirian and other Narnians say racist things about Calormenes and their skin colors. This book's One Good Brown Person is Emeth; I can't go into his whole thing in the short paragraph I want this review to be (a good article; 'ware spoilers). Not to mention, the problem of Susan (ditto. all of his Narnia articles are so good)! There's a lot packed into this little book; you could say it's bigger on the inside, like the stable. 4.5 stars, permanent collection. Trigger warnings: war, battles, murder, death, physical violence, animal cruelty, cruelty to sentient creatures, slavery mentions, brownface, racism/colorism, child soldiers, hunger and thirst mentions, fantasy horror, sexism, heavy-handed Christian symbolism

Book Review: The Romantic Agenda by Claire Kann

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See my aesthetics moodboard for The Romantic Agenda!

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

Book Review: The Color Purple by Alice Walker

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rest of January books

The Library written by Sarah Stewart and illustrated by David Small (picture book) - read on January 6

This is a cute picture book about Elizabeth Brown, a book-obsessed lady who is literally never shown without her face in a book who eventually buys so many books that she ends up turning her house into a library (relatable). I liked the cute poem-story and slightly zany illustrations, but nothing much happens in the book. Elizabeth Brown was a real person, and she is my new hero. I bought this from Book Outlet before I learned about their antisemitism. 3.5 out of 5 stars, tentatively keeping but eventually giving away. 

Trigger warnings: claustrophobia due to the book-filled house

The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne with illustrations by Ernest A. Shepard (children's chapter book) - read on January 21)

It was Winnie the Pooh Day/A.A. Milne's birthday on January 18, so I read this book later that week to celebrate. This is of course a reread, and I'm always charmed by the stories and pleasantly surprised by just how dang funny this book is (Eeyore in particular). The ending suggests this is the last of the WtP books, as Christopher Robin tells Pooh he's being sent off to school. With what we know about English boarding schools, it's even sadder (and grim) to read that as an adult. 4 stars, permanent collection. 

Trigger warnings: characters get lost, characters get stuck in tall trees, a character's tree house falls down (no one is hurt), growing up (the last chapter)

Once Upon a More Enlightened Time by James Finn Garner (short stories for adults) - read January 29

You'll remember I read the companion books in this series earlier last year in order to get rid of them (Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, Politically Correct Holiday Stories). Like the others, this "politically correct" fairytale retellings were somewhat amusing, but you can't really tell if they're parodying the original patriarchal tales or political correctness itself. Maybe that's the point. A fun read, but not worth keeping. 3 stars, giving away.

Trigger warnings: inclusivity and political correctness mocked; depictions of misogyny, capitalism, sexism, and politics; children are abandoned in woods by father (Hansel & Gretel), baby girl is cursed to have a non-feminist view of men as saviors and completers, body horror via genetic manipulation, cities portrayed as dirty and crime-filled

Love Poems by various authors - read January 29

I've owned this nice Everyman's Library edition of love poetry for some years now. My goal was to read the poems I'd listed as my favorites on a post-it note inside the front cover after the first time I'd read the book, but then I just ended up reading them all. You get many of the classics, such as Neruda and Shakespeare, plus some lesser known poems as well. The poems, unsurprisingly, tend very old and Western, with a few Japanese and Chinese poems (translated into English) thrown in as well. There might be other countries represented; I'm not familiar with every poet included in this book. Recommended if you like poetry, as I do. Since I'm very short on space, I found and bookmarked all the poems I like online, then ended up finding the whole book on the Internet Archive. Go figure. I think I bought this one at my library's book sale or a thrift store. 4 stars, giving away.

Trigger warnings: poetic sensuality/sex descriptions, amatonormativity, heteronormativity, heartbreak, probably death mentions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~

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

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

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

Other random stuff I want to talk about: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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