Chris or Cooper
Minutes after finishing reading this book, I declared it a new all time favorite of mine. As someone who loved Fast and Furious, but always wished it was queer, this book was the perfect match to my desire. I loved the characters, the relationship, the unfolding mystery. It was full of incredible queer rep throughout.
The main draw is the relationship between Sam and Andrew. if you love Fast Saga like me, this is the what if story of Dom and Brian your heart is likely clamoring for. If you've never seen the Saga, you will still enjoy the dynamic. It is a beautifully realized exploration of a complicated and wonderful love.
The found family is also pitch perfect. It's impossible not to become enthralled with the dynamic of their little group, the way they care for each other.
The mystery is breathtaking. It kept me turning the pages as I waited to see what came next.
Going a bit deeper, the themes of classism, homophobia–both external and internalized, and the dangers of clingy to grief were exquisitely realized throughout the story. This book was beautiful, start to finish.
Truly one of the best books I've read all year! I could not put it down (ended up reading the first hundred pages in a single day). The characters are so brilliant, I was captivated by all of them. The writing is gorgeous, with a haunting lyrical quality. It was creepy in a way that wove through the atmosphere of the story. I would recommend this story to anyone!
This book is incredible, start to finish! It managed to be so many different things but weave them together without every breaking stride. It's part road trip story, part multigenerational narrative, part thriller at times and each part feels like it adds to the whole. Every character was gloriously realized. I cannot recommend this book enough!
This book is so incredible! I read it and immediately started reading it again. I have not stopped telling other people to read it (and they have all loved it too). This story is a gorgeous, character driven mlm urban fantasy romace. Magen Cubed immerses her readers immediately in the tension–and mutual pining–of her main characters. Dorian was one of the best written characters with anxiety I have ever read and Cash's quiet, kind soul radiated off the page. I could not put the book down, I was so desperate to see what happens next. I cannot wait for the sequel!
This was a really sweet mlm love story! It hit the dramatic beats well, there were a lot of sweet moments. You could feel the ache of longing, you can feel the anxiety of competition, and yes, you can feel the joyful moments too. La Sala is masterful at evoking emotion. If you are looking for lovers to enemies to lovers story, look no further.
I would have loved the convention setting to be more fully realized. There was very little of that aspect of it despite being the central focus. It would have been fun to see more of it. I also felt at time the overall story hit the tropes of a YA romance pretty hard, there was not much here I had not seen before. The ending also felt a little easy after the conflict it set up.
However, overall, it was a fun journey. If you are looking for a romance with a more dramatic tint, you will enjoy this.
The audiobook was wonderful! The narrator put so much pathos in his performance!
I adore Sam Maggs' writing and full disclosure, worked with her as a consultant on a different book. She is a caring and inclusive feminist. This book was fun and lovely. For newcomers to fandom, there's a lot of useful entryways to the world of fan culture and how to connect with it. I think if you are a long timer to fandom, there won't be too much new here, but if there is even one area of fandom life that you are wanting to break into, skipping to that bit will teach you things you didn't know. It also includes an interesting 101 look at the way fangirl culture interacts with feminism and inclusivity that I loved. I would have liked some nuance in places during this section, but it's an effective primer.
Overall, really sweet and interesting book, good for entry level discussions.
This book was absolutely stunning! One of my favorite reads of the year Sarwat Chadda crafted a beautiful tale of a Muslim American teenager, struggling with loss of his brother and intense responsibility he feels to be there for his parents. The story is gorgeous and captivating! I never wanted to put it down. It carried me from emotion to emotion, and left me with a deep warmth. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone
Black Sun is a gorgeous, devastating book. It is always challenging to write an ensemble cast story where each perspective character is equally interesting, and Rebecca Roanhorse pulled it off with a flourish. I was so invested in each character's lives and struggles. I did not want to put the book down. It was high tension, high stakes story, which made the moments of lightness that much more powerful. Beautiful weaving of Indigenous culture into a fantasy world. So many queer and gender diverse characters! I will not stop thinking about it until the next one comes out!
Did not finish at 10%. The book was fairy tale satire along the lines of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles or Heroes Guide to Saving the Kingdom. It did well with being arch, but unlike the other books I mentioned, it did not balance it out with any heart. The characters were good for punchlines, but not interesting as characters. It made everything feel like a joke carried on too long. Getting the balance right in this kind of novel is hard, and this one did not succeed at it.
Part helpful guide, part memoir, this graphic novel is a wonderful exploration of asexuality, OCD, and the feeling of not fitting in. It is rare for me to feel represented as an ace woman, more rare still to see representation of both my asexuality and my OCD in one person, and it made be feel seen to a degree I was not expecting. This is a beautiful little book that everyone should read.
Boyfriend Material was honestly one of the best and most fun books I have read all year. It is a clever, hilarious, and moving slow burn queer romance full of delightful banter. It made me genuinely laugh out loud with no one around. The main characters are fully realized and incredibly lovable. Perfect for fans of Red, White, and Royal Blue.
I am in love with this story. I will be singing its praises to anyone who will listen. Victories Greater than Death is a cozy scifi, hopepunk adventure about found family, learning your identity, and the harmful legacies we inherit. It is full of brilliantly realized queer representation (including bi, pan, trans, nonbinary, and polyamorous). It is smart, funny, and sweet. It made me cry and feel safe. I absolutely cannot say enough about how good this novel is.
This is an alternate history infused with magic that vividly realized the past. But more than that and at its core, this is a story about friendship and ideals. It's about how friendship and ideals can clash in ways both powerful and devastating, and how the choices of a few powerful men can change the lives of many.
Overall, I think this book is strong. It was often fun, definitely interesting, and a read I think people can talk about over drinks with friends. The characters were so richly drawn that I found myself deeply invested in them even when I didn't agree with them, which is a fascinating balance.
It wasn't entirely successful. The middle lulls quite a bit in connecting the beginning which was fun and full of youthful excitement and the end which was full of important consequences. The lull was hard to get through but the end was worth it.
I think the author was also balancing a lot of threads. To write a story about abolition that doesn't read like a white savior novel and to inject magic into the past without absolving very human evil. It was delicately handled, and I think overall worked though it was the part I found myself wanting to talk over with others. I would be curious how other people took these considerations.
Overall, I really liked this book. The beginning as I said was fun, the ending meaningful. If you enjoy a historical fantasy, along the lines of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, I would give it a go! I'm certainly going to read the authors work again in the future.
Full disclosure, Aliza is my friend so my opinion is hardly unbiased. However, I feel so fortunate to have a talented friend who writes the kind of things I want to read!
This book is every good Halloween feeling carried year round. It is spooky in a fun, lighthearted way. The story of friendship and lovely queer romance is so gorgeous. The dynamics in this book are flawless. The overall vibe is so good. It's a cozy, comfort read worth curling up with a cup of tea to! I love it with my whole heart
This book is a debut novel, which means there is a lot of room for author Tiffany Rosenhan to grow. Unfortunately, this first one did not hit the mark.
I love the idea of a thriller aimed at a YA audience. It seems like there are not enough of those, and there were some interesting concepts toward the end of the book. It was also a relatively fast read.
However, there were a number of problems. First, the book had a hard time striking the tone of thriller. The action could be messy and the pacing was off, making it less thrilling than it could have been. The YA teen romance elements often did not mesh well with the intrigue, spy adventuring.
The characterization was also lacking. The main character's personality seemed to be mainly that she has lived many places. She frequently corrected people and talked excessively about herself, which would be fine if that was a character point. However, everyone around her acted as if this was charming rather than frustrating in the way it when people act like this. Unfortunately, it felt like the book was unaware of the character's problems and people around her treated her like she was absolutely the best person. The character also was written as if someone as well educated and traveled as her would have no idea about the most basic American concepts. For example, a scene where she doesn't understand eating hamburgers even though those are wildly available throughout Europe as well.
The main problem though is that this book tackles some heavy topics, terrorism, gun usage, and PTSD specifically. Both of them were not handled with the care necessary. It is challenging to write an effective plot about international terrorism, however, this read at times as offensive. To make the villains in her story one dimensional Islamic extremists is problematic. The author's choice to use a name similar to a real terrorist organization from that area (the Caucasian Front), but just never mention that they are Islamic extremists does not make it read as less problematic (it just made a lot of the choices read as dog whistles). I am not suggesting this was the author's intention. I do not know the authors intention, but writing a book like this means having to carefully think through the optics of one's choices. This book did not do that. Instead, it settled for a fairly basic anti-terrorism plot that read like something from the 80s without the nuance something like this requires.
The book is also explicitly glorifying violence and gun use in a way that always reads poorly for me, but especially in a novel where the protagonists are teenagers.
Finally, the PTSD depiction was wildly inconsistent. Early in the book everything about all of Europe was a trigger. That kind of generalization of PTSD trigger is not something we see in the mental health field and made her read as xenophobic at times. However, it was inconsistent, because other times she loved everything European.
Overall, I do not think the author did not have bad intentions, but a lot of these things felt like they were not thought out.
This deserves to be an instant classic of children's literature. The story is so fun, the scenes full of an Alice in Wonderland like surreal beauty, and the characters so fully realized. On top of that, it layers subtle things that are so important to learn—messages of understanding and honoring our emotions, of identity being more than what people see, of inequality and unfairness being something to fight against. I love how deep and meaningful everything is. I can't wait for the sequel!
I absolutely adore this story! It is such a positive and thoughtful tale of people coming together, protesting, and refusing to back down before a difference is made. It's incredibly challenging to get an ensemble cast this vast to work, but the author does. Each character feels real and lived in, as if they are all people you know. It is full of amazing representation of different races and sexualities. I absolutely would recommend this book to anyone!
This was an interesting, timely urban fantasy about being Black and the power of a voice told through mythological creatures (like sirens). This book is a powerful tale involving the current Black Lives Matter moment with fantasy elements. The creatures are interesting. The magic is definitely something I want to know more about.
The pacing was a bit off in places, especially at the beginning. I was also occasionally confused about how the magic worked in this world.
Overall it's a good story and one well worth supporting! Pick it up