Lou
I picked this book up because of the beautiful cover and because I'm facinated by the interwar period in europe. The highlight for me was Hrabal's stream of consciousness writing style, which conveys motion in an an exaggerated, almost comical manner. I'm sure the translator is also owed some credit here. This is a page turner and I finished it in under a week. For anyone that loves hotels, it's definitely worth a read.
PIcked this up while visiting Leeds because it was written by a local author. I found the writing style compelling, with an interesting blend of realistic settings and speculative futures. My only critique would be that a lot of the stories ended quite abruptly with no apparent point to them. I don't typically read short stories though, so this may just be my lack of appreciation for the format.
I also wasn't a fan of Richard from the other books of the series, but somehow this ended up being my favourite one of them. Maybe it's because Cyprian is so much fun! The pacing was great, the sex scenes were sexy, and it tied up the series nicely.
I liked it even more than the first book in this series. The way it continues the same mystery while centring a different couple was executed so well, and makes me excited to read book three. It's an enemies to lovers story, which is excellent for building tension.
I read this series as a kid and absolutely devoured it. I couldn't believe it wasn't more popular! Definitely too old for it now, but perfect for younger readers.
A fun Christmas romp by my favourite romance author with an associated Spotify playlist. The main characters were somewhat forgettable compared to her other books, but definetly still worth the read if you've read the Lilywhite Boys series. I liked how much historical research was clearly done for the victorian Christmas traditions.
I really enjoyed this one. I was looking to read a book set somewhere I know basically nothing about, and this was a great pick for that. It was really beautifully written and all the characters were funny and instantly likeable. While it dragged a little in the first half, the second half hit me like a ton of bricks. I was not expecting to feel so sad for these characters. I agree with the others that the ending was a little unrealistic, but it's not like it ruins the book. I've suspended my disbelief for greater things.
KJ Charles is an amazing author, so the three stars is relative to her other books and not an objective rating. That said, having read almost every book she has every published, this one is firmly my least favourite. Maybe I'm biased because it's her only straight romance, but I found that Susan's "practical" personality frustrating rather than endearing and the constant focus on the gender dynamics of the relationship prevented me from getting swept up in the romance. Plus the main characters seem to have foot fetishes, which wasn't sexy to me and struck me as an odd choice. I know people made similar criticisms about KJ Charles' female characters in Proper English, but that one at least had a good mystery plot. Which leads me to my other criticism, that I didn't really enjoy the mystery in this one either. The pacing was a little odd and there were no twists. It all resolved exactly as you would expect. This book is still an enjoyable read because of KJ Charles' usual fast-paced and witty writing style, but this is the only book of hers that I considered not finishing.
This was my first Agatha Christie book, and I found it okay. The mystery was interesting and I liked that it was a classic "murder in a house" plot. The female characters were all bafflingly useless and don't feel like full human beings, which is the main reason I didn't love it. Poirot was a bit unlikable, but I'm willing to believe he's better in other books.
A cute little asexual romance between a trans woman music hall singer and a well meaning but awkward fence. A very enjoyable read, though as a trans person myself, I was a bit disappointed by the trans character. Not that there was anything wrong with her characterization per se, just that it lacked a more profound understanding of the trans experience. Miss Christiana felt pretty cookie-cutter, which surprised me since KJ Charles' gay male characters are all so diverse and fleshed out.
4 stars for how much I actually enjoyed reading the book, but 5 stars for the impact it had on me as a young gay transmasculine person. I'm so glad books like this exist!
Absolutely peak KJ Charles. I devoured this book and my only complaint is that it ended. It'll make more sense if you've read the Charm of Magpies series (which I highly recommend), but can be read as a standalone too.
I have mixed thoughts about this one. It felt like it was written specifically and only for other trans women, meaning even I, as a trans man, feel like I was missing some vital piece of the puzzle to understanding it. That isn't necessarily a bad thing.
The writing style was pretty mediocre, and though I was expecting it to spend more time on the repercussions of cis-people having to decide which hormones to take, no time was actually spent exploring this premise. Our knowledge of what happened in society after the infection spread is limited to a couple of throwaway lines at best and a pretty generic dystopian setting, leaving most of the questions I had going into this novella unanswered.
Instead, the point of this novella seems to relate to trans women's anger, and what would happen if they gave into their worse impulses. So it isn't what the infection actually does to people that's important, so much as the fact that Lexi decided to unleash it on the world, playing out her revenge-fantasy. I think it's good that this novella isn't written for cis audiences to understand, but even I don't think a really “got it.” Personally I find this an instance of a good premise wasted, but if you're a trans woman, then maybe this novella will speak to you in some way it didn't speak to me.
I thoughroughly enjoyed this book, though the main romance had less turmoil, and therefore less payoff than some of KJ Charles' other works. I especially liked the portrayal of Clem's autism (though it's not explicitly called that in the book, it's pretty obviously autism) and how it affects his romantic relationship. It's rare to see an autistic romance novel protagonist, far less a gay one, and Clem felt very true to life to me. The mystery was also compelling and the focus on Victotian taxidermy was interesting.
This book felt a lot like The Secret History, but I enjoyed it much, much more. It involves murder, wealthy Oxford students, and gay pining. It's primarily a mystery, not a romance, but there is a romance subplot. Definitely read it!
I really wanted to like it. The themes appeal to me and after fishing it, I read some interpretations that really tempted me to give it an extra star. It might be interesting to analyse for a university class, but none of that changes that I did not enjoy myself at all while reading this book. The way Kafka writes women makes me uncomfortable. I know all the characters are absurd, but he didn't have to make them ALL desperate to fuck the protagonist. Also, Joseph K is completely unrelatable, which may be the point, but it still made reading this quite frustrating, since he never responds to his situation how you think he should. Maybe I'd have liked it more if Kafka had actually finished the book, but as it stands it's unfortunately 2 stars.
I'm a huge Neil Gaiman fan, but this one just didn't do it for me. Maybe because I just can't get into classic fantasy. The main character was fairly two-dimensional and unlikable, with hardly any redeeming qualities, the female characters were treated so badly and were so flat and stereotypical, and the plot just wasn't that interesting. I also found the setting pretty weird and wasn't really able to buy into it. This isn't a critique of Neil Gaiman generally, since I absolutely adore some of his other works, but this one wasn't for me.