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intertidalkendy's review
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
What a beautiful book and story! I loved it
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Death, Deadnaming, Animal death, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
ariqua's review
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Thanks to Net Galley for an e-Arc!
This was great! If you like queer historical fiction, mythology, fantasy, and romance, this is the one for you! However, the fantasy elements are barely there, so it's mostly a historical fiction queer romance. Bonus, it takes place, mostly, in Canada!
TLDR: Two queer kids fall in love in the late 1930's on a farm in Ontario and stuff happens. The story follows them over a span of about 20 years and how being queer during the war in Canada may have looked like. Also, one of them might be a changeling or a descendant of a selkie. Expect some death (I mean it's set during WWII) some mild homophobia, and oppressive gender roles.
Our MC is Kit, Kathleen, who is the epitome of a tom boy living on a farm in rural Canada. She hates dresses and loves horses. She also might be a changeling due to the fact that she almost drowned in a river when she was young and her mother did some dark magic ritual stuff to bring her back. Plus she also hears the voices of water spirits, which is how she almost drowned in the first place. Throughout the story, we see her become more herself and less of who everyone expects her to be. Kit is the middle child, with one older and one younger brother. The older one is also pursuing Rebekah, which poses some family conflict as you would expect.
Our second MC is Rebekah: A big town girl with a German born father who had to move to the country when things in the city were becoming a struggle due to Germany's part in WWII. She meets Kit as a boy, but is not put off when she realizes Kit is a girl. They develop a friendship and so much more.
Neither of our characters are given an explicit orientation in the story, however Kit is very much trans and probably non-binary. They use all sorts of pronouns and are romantically and sexually interested in multiple genders. Rebekah is a cis-female, but has romantic/sexual attraction to male, female, and enby presenting characters.
If you are wondering, all sex scenes (of which there are very few) are fade to black. Just a few details so you know what's going to happen, and then it leaves it up to your own imagination.
It's a beautifully written, sometimes heartbreaking story about love, family, and figuring out oneself.
This was great! If you like queer historical fiction, mythology, fantasy, and romance, this is the one for you! However, the fantasy elements are barely there, so it's mostly a historical fiction queer romance. Bonus, it takes place, mostly, in Canada!
TLDR: Two queer kids fall in love in the late 1930's on a farm in Ontario and stuff happens. The story follows them over a span of about 20 years and how being queer during the war in Canada may have looked like. Also, one of them might be a changeling or a descendant of a selkie. Expect some death (I mean it's set during WWII) some mild homophobia, and oppressive gender roles.
Our MC is Kit, Kathleen, who is the epitome of a tom boy living on a farm in rural Canada. She hates dresses and loves horses. She also might be a changeling due to the fact that she almost drowned in a river when she was young and her mother did some dark magic ritual stuff to bring her back. Plus she also hears the voices of water spirits, which is how she almost drowned in the first place. Throughout the story, we see her become more herself and less of who everyone expects her to be. Kit is the middle child, with one older and one younger brother. The older one is also pursuing Rebekah, which poses some family conflict as you would expect.
Our second MC is Rebekah: A big town girl with a German born father who had to move to the country when things in the city were becoming a struggle due to Germany's part in WWII. She meets Kit as a boy, but is not put off when she realizes Kit is a girl. They develop a friendship and so much more.
Neither of our characters are given an explicit orientation in the story, however Kit is very much trans and probably non-binary. They use all sorts of pronouns and are romantically and sexually interested in multiple genders. Rebekah is a cis-female, but has romantic/sexual attraction to male, female, and enby presenting characters.
If you are wondering, all sex scenes (of which there are very few) are fade to black. Just a few details so you know what's going to happen, and then it leaves it up to your own imagination.
It's a beautifully written, sometimes heartbreaking story about love, family, and figuring out oneself.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Misogyny, Body horror, Pregnancy, Deadnaming, Homophobia, War, and Violence
Minor: Death of parent, Bullying, Medical trauma, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Grief, Sexual harassment, and Mental illness
hmatt's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This is such an original and compelling story. I read the entire second half of the book in one sitting. The changeling/nonbinary narrative was handled thoughtfully within its historical (and magical) contexts, and the main characters in particular were nuanced and well-written.
If I were to nitpick: I didn't get the sense of a long period of time passing in the first part of the book. I mostly only noticed this in contrast to the middle/war sections of the book and because, later on in the book, this time is referred to as if it were several formative years (and I think it was actually just a few months). The very end of the book(from when Landon came back) felt a little forced for the sake of the plot, as well. I completely understand the author's choices with wrapping everything up, but I think I would have been equally satisfied if Landon had stayed AWOL and we just did a little fade-to-black on the farm house with Kit, Rebekah, Adelaide, and Caroline .
There are definitely other queer WWII history novels out there, but I enjoyed the uniqueness of this Canadian take with its magical elements.
If I were to nitpick: I didn't get the sense of a long period of time passing in the first part of the book. I mostly only noticed this in contrast to the middle/war sections of the book and because, later on in the book, this time is referred to as if it were several formative years (and I think it was actually just a few months). The very end of the book
There are definitely other queer WWII history novels out there, but I enjoyed the uniqueness of this Canadian take with its magical elements.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, War, Violence, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Death, and Cursing
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Sexism
Minor: Classism and Sexual content
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