moonyreadsbystarlight's reviews
576 reviews

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

dark mysterious reflective tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

 I was fairly excited about this when it came out -- the promise of queer spooky shit that reviewers I trust were raving about. But I was concerned because this isn't a genre I frequently read. It absolutely did not disappoint. 

The first couple of hours, I was undecided. The characters seemed brash and unlikable (and the cheesy, wavering southern accent from the audiobook reader did not help). But at a certain point, the depth of the characters and the layers that were created in the story started to show and I was completely hooked. 

This is a spooky southern dark academia, certainly. But I didn't expect such rich things happening with the characters and other parts of the story. This is full of messy people making questionable decisions. That raw vulnerability of messy queers in lit fic was absolutely here, and more than that, it was tied in thematically. The specter is what you discover it is through the lore, but it is also very much the ghost of permanently unrequited love -- a shadow, the result of (of course) death, but also of the unspoken, the unlived -- the fear and dissociation of homophobia by way of toxic masculinity. 

This hits on other themes as well through the story, looking at corruption in academia and of wealth that is accumulated through death -- the (tied) legacies of white supremacy looking at old wealthy families and university. There is so much more I'm sure I could unpack given the time. 

Looking at the characters, while they were certainly unlikable, they were complex and that built as the story goes on. I ended up really loving them and wanting to dig more into their characters and know what makes them tick (which often resulted in me pausing to speculate on what their birth charts probably looked like). 

This is absolutely a book I intend on rereading and annotating, so maybe I'll wind up with an essay about it eventually, but this should be more than enough until then. This was such an incredible read and definitely surpassed my expectations. 

UPDATE: Reread
 I listened to the audiobook at the beginning of the year and then reread it in physical form. I fucking love this book. To see my initial thoughts, I do have a review up for the audiobook specifcially (Though I will copy/paste so that the reviews are visble on both editions).
 
 Upon reread, I was able to really dig into things that I didn't notice on my first read. I knew it was really queer then, but I really got a good look at how the queerness is woven into everything: into Andrew's perspective and so many themes.

The relationship between Eddie and Andrew is queer all the way down; not just queer as in not heterosexual, but queer as in defying labels -- ineffable -- both before and especially now that Eddie is a ghost. Looking at the haunting and lore around the curse, there is a lot (from my perspective - though I am not an expert on the genre) that gets turned on its head in a very queer way. Andrew is brought into the curse through his connection with Eddie, not through marriage or blood relation, but through a horrific twist on the idea of a curse passed on through bloodline. Another queer element is the blending of so many lines (making Andrew's surname - Blur - more than apt). Lines of relationships, of living and dead, of Andrew and Eddie themselves, of the themes of haunting and heartbreak and desire and suppression, of dream and wake -- I could probably go on but I will stop there.

 
 
 There's so much about this that is devastatingly tender while also being raw and terrifying and unsettling as hell. There are so many details about this that I don't know how to articulate. But I am so glad that I did a reread and I already have other things that I plan on looking for when I reread it again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, and Vomit

Moderate: Child abuse, Homophobia, and Racism

Minor: Cancer

She of the Mountains by Vivek Shraya

emotional reflective

4.0

Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers

emotional funny hopeful reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I appreciated a lot about this. I liked the premise of the romance and the role that friendship played. There was a lot of complexity here. However, there were parts of the writing and dialogue that felt clunky. 

I also felt more frustrated with certain parts of the story. I didn't really understand why some of the conflict was a conflict. Like, why astronomy was a "bad" degree to get,

why teaching would be worse than a research job, or what person would be disappointed in a kid for not getting a job IMMEDIATELY.

Maybe this is just me missing something, but it felt like an over-inflated part of the conflict.

With that being said, it was still a pretty solid debut. I think some of my own personal emotions got in the way of my enjoyment of it, so I should probably revisit it when I am further away from being in a quarter life crisis as well.

Taste of Marrow by Sarah Gailey

3.5

The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need by Joanna Martine Woolfolk

4.0

Nature Poem by Tommy Pico

emotional funny reflective

4.5

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey

adventurous

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

A queer Western with hippos and impeccable atmosphere. A bit cheesey, but in the best possible way. An engaging and fun read!

Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian

emotional funny

4.0

This had a lot of the cheese and charm of YA in a lot of it, some things a bit too convenient and themes that could've been tied together more neatly but I still really enjoyed it. 

I loved the historical background in particular. The events they went to are ones that really happened (and you can see footage of in films like United in Anger). There may have been some liberties taken, but there are also a lot of real details (like the chants and even the guy who went to the protests dressed like Jesus). 

I do wish they'd have gone back to talking about how Art handles or used his anger. I loved the discussion that was there, but it seemed to taper off without being addressed again. I think there was interesting thematic things that could have been done I regarding anger and love but instead I think the love angle was pushed in front, which made it dangerously close to some more "love is love" flattened neolib rhetoric that I don't like much. I think more comprehensive discussion including the anger and other emotions would have been cool. But that's maybe more my prerogative and thinking a lot into things.

Saturn Return Survival Guide by Lisa Stardust

informative

3.75

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

adventurous fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25