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276 reviews
Critical Role: Tusk Love by Critical Role, Thea Guanzon
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-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? Yes
5.0
The fact that I, as a lesbian who usually cannot stand M/F ‘she’s so small and he’s so big 🥺’ tropey romantasy just binge read this book in basically two sittings?
Says a lot.
Y’all. This was good and I can’t even be mad about it lol. Did not want to put it down. I think what I loved most is that even if these two characters had 0 romantic tension between them I would still care deeply for both.
UGH. I can’t wait for this to come out, y’all are gonna love it!!!!! Even if you have never seen an episode of Critical Role or rolled a d20, this is literally a perfect, light read that still gives plenty of high stakes and angsty character backstories to chew on.
All opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own, based on an early e-galley.
Says a lot.
Y’all. This was good and I can’t even be mad about it lol. Did not want to put it down. I think what I loved most is that even if these two characters had 0 romantic tension between them I would still care deeply for both.
UGH. I can’t wait for this to come out, y’all are gonna love it!!!!! Even if you have never seen an episode of Critical Role or rolled a d20, this is literally a perfect, light read that still gives plenty of high stakes and angsty character backstories to chew on.
All opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own, based on an early e-galley.
The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish: Canji Baojun de Zhangxin Yu Chong (Novel) Vol. 1 by Xue Shan Fei Hu
What the fuck did I just read?? lol
I Wanna Be Your Girl Vol. 1 by Umi Takase
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A super cute manga about a high school girl helping her newly out trans best friend navigate her new school life as an out girl while grappling with her own jealousy and romantic feelings towards her—and also maybe her own feelings about gender also?
It was a quick, cute read, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the manga! I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was from the point of view from the trans friend, but I don’t necessarily think the story suffers from it—just my own personal preference!
I also loved the authors note at the beginning about wanting more manga for middle and high schoolers. I really hope this manga finds who it needs to find, because I truely think that this would have been something that would have been so formative for me if I’d read it when I was a baby queer.
Disclaimer: This review is based on an early e-ARC of this title recieved via my professional Edelweiss account.
It was a quick, cute read, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the manga! I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was from the point of view from the trans friend, but I don’t necessarily think the story suffers from it—just my own personal preference!
I also loved the authors note at the beginning about wanting more manga for middle and high schoolers. I really hope this manga finds who it needs to find, because I truely think that this would have been something that would have been so formative for me if I’d read it when I was a baby queer.
Disclaimer: This review is based on an early e-ARC of this title recieved via my professional Edelweiss account.
My Story by Chris Stewart, Elizabeth Smart
Did not finish book. Stopped at 3%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 3%.
Read by the author and unfortunately it is clear she is not a trained voice actor/audiobook narrator.
Sometimes read by the author works but in this case I just couldn't do it. Hopefully I’ll read the book someday instead.
Sometimes read by the author works but in this case I just couldn't do it. Hopefully I’ll read the book someday instead.
Sacred And Terrible Air by Robert Kurvitz
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I still need to gather all my thoughts, because reading the final 40% of the novel was a total fever dream—like the narrative was both falling apart and desperately trying to hold itself together at the same time.
I don’t know how I feel, but I’m glad I read it. I could see a lot of narrative building blocks that formed Disco Elysium, not just in terms of setting and theme but in small scenes or character moments—though DE is a more cohesive experience.
I don’t know how I feel, but I’m glad I read it. I could see a lot of narrative building blocks that formed Disco Elysium, not just in terms of setting and theme but in small scenes or character moments—though DE is a more cohesive experience.
The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet by Lindz McLeod
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was a cute, sweet regency-era romance, which I’m genuinely (but pleasantly) surprised I enjoyed so much!
I have a bit of a poor track record with Regency-era romances, particularly those inspired by or adapting Pride and Prejudice—before this, I had only read two and disliked both greatly. I really only started this one on a whim, since it had been offered to me as a pre-approved widget and I was stuck on the subway with nothing to read.
And I genuinely enjoyed it! I found myself pulling my phone out to read it even when I wasn’t on my way to or from work, simply because I wanted to know what would happen next. Charlotte’s struggles with compulsory heterosexuality, class, and her family are just as important as her blossoming romance with Mary, and her platonic and familial relationships are certainly not the main focus but they never disappear from Charlotte’s mind.
Because of those struggles with compulsory heterosexuality, and the fact that the author took care to make Charlotte’s struggles with entering queer community, navigating her first ever actually romantic relationship, and struggling self-esteem issues part of her character and not merely angst points in the romance, Charlotte’s character is genuinely likable and deeply relatable. I adored her, and frankly, her characterization is why The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet was such an enjoyable read—yes, I wanted to see how Mary and Charlotte’s relationship progressed, but more than anything I wanted to see how Charlotte changed.
Charlotte’s struggles with compulsory heterosexuality, societal pressure, low self-esteem, and her newness to queer community is what smoothed over what would normally be a huge pet peeve, which is thethird act breakup . I don’t even read romance that often, and this narrative beat is a part of it—so often the third act breakup is completely unnecessary and eye-rollingly contrived. In this case, while it still did feel contrived—Charlotte does it to herself for really no good reason beyond assumptions she has very little logical reason to have—her struggles with self-esteem and her newness to queerness make the breakup make at least a little sense, so I am willing to forgive.
McLeod has such a beautiful touch on the regency-romance prose style and her side characters were all treats, so, frankly, I’d love to read sequels to this novel following some of the original characters introduced (particularly Miss Brodie). I know it probably won’t happen, but still. A lesbian can dream.
All of that said, there are elements endemic to the Regency-era queer romance genre that I’m simply never going to gel with, which, I think, is going to always prevent me from ever falling truly in love with any as a matter of taste. (Which goes to show how excellent of a specimen The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet is—or maybe it’s just a reflection of my taste. Who knows.)
Thank you to the publisher for reaching out and providing an e-ARC via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
I have a bit of a poor track record with Regency-era romances, particularly those inspired by or adapting Pride and Prejudice—before this, I had only read two and disliked both greatly. I really only started this one on a whim, since it had been offered to me as a pre-approved widget and I was stuck on the subway with nothing to read.
And I genuinely enjoyed it! I found myself pulling my phone out to read it even when I wasn’t on my way to or from work, simply because I wanted to know what would happen next. Charlotte’s struggles with compulsory heterosexuality, class, and her family are just as important as her blossoming romance with Mary, and her platonic and familial relationships are certainly not the main focus but they never disappear from Charlotte’s mind.
Because of those struggles with compulsory heterosexuality, and the fact that the author took care to make Charlotte’s struggles with entering queer community, navigating her first ever actually romantic relationship, and struggling self-esteem issues part of her character and not merely angst points in the romance, Charlotte’s character is genuinely likable and deeply relatable. I adored her, and frankly, her characterization is why The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet was such an enjoyable read—yes, I wanted to see how Mary and Charlotte’s relationship progressed, but more than anything I wanted to see how Charlotte changed.
Charlotte’s struggles with compulsory heterosexuality, societal pressure, low self-esteem, and her newness to queer community is what smoothed over what would normally be a huge pet peeve, which is the
McLeod has such a beautiful touch on the regency-romance prose style and her side characters were all treats, so, frankly, I’d love to read sequels to this novel following some of the original characters introduced (particularly Miss Brodie). I know it probably won’t happen, but still. A lesbian can dream.
All of that said, there are elements endemic to the Regency-era queer romance genre that I’m simply never going to gel with, which, I think, is going to always prevent me from ever falling truly in love with any as a matter of taste. (Which goes to show how excellent of a specimen The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet is—or maybe it’s just a reflection of my taste. Who knows.)
Thank you to the publisher for reaching out and providing an e-ARC via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
Private Rites by Julia Armfield
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Julia Armfield is back at it again with sad ocean lesbianism, this time with 100% more apocalypse and x3 times the lesbians.
Private Rites follows three sisters—all lesbians—as they navigate the death of their architect father, the ghosts of their childhood, and their complex relationships with each other and their lovers. Meanwhile, the flood has come; their city is mostly underwater thanks to global warming, and the constant rain only wears the city down more and more. People cram themselves into smaller and smaller spaces, ride boats to get to work, and business close when the rain stops.
I once described Armfield’s previous novel, Our Wives Under the Sea, as quintessential lesbian tragedy, and I would say that Private Rites falls into that category as well, though in this case ‘tragedy’ works in the classical sense as well.
Evidently it is a King Lear retelling, which I didn’t fully know until about 15% in. I haven’t read King Lear, so I am not sure how it compares or what elements the novel pulls—I definitely want to read King Lear and give Private Rites a reread in the future so I can more fully understand how Armfield adapts and comments upon the source material.
I absolutely loved this novel. Armfield’s prose, appropriately, is oceanic—melancholy as an empty sea, wrathful as storm-lashed waters, and able to calm or rough in the blink of an eye. For some reason, Private Rites in particular reminded me a bit of Disco Elysium, in the sense that there is this sad, struggling world impacted by uncontrollable, inevitable disaster caused by human action, and despite this terrible pressure mundanity continues on. (The sections of PR wherethe city speaks helps this as well, of course. I’m a sucker for a perhaps-sentient city zeitgeist narrator. )
(Non-specific discussion of the ending below, spoilers for Our Wives Under the Sea)
The main aspect of this novel that keeps me from giving a full five stars is the execution of the ending—something which, on reflection, was also present in Our Wives Under the Sea as well. The ending of PR feels very sudden and has a major tonal shift. It does not come out of nowhere, per say—the elements are certainly built and foreshadowed plenty—but there is just something about how extremely suddenly the narrative swerves into an ending that just felt slightly out of place with the rest of the books in terms of pacing and tone. For some reason, to me—despite it having all the same characters and the same setting and the same themes—it feels like the ending to a genre novel, not a literary one.
And don’t get me wrong, I love a genre novel! I’m a huge genre fan! But when the book is a slow character study and the ending is almost an action movie, it just leaves me feeling like “…huh?”
Like I said, this was present in Our Wives Under the Sea as well. We have this grief-filled, wonderfully weird, quiet tragedy of a character study between Miri and Leah, and a beautifully tragic ending of letting Leah go, into the sea. But then there’s also the ending plot point of Miri maybe joining forces with another person who lost a loved one to the sea expedition to investigate and eventually take down this corporation, which feels more like the beginning to a genre sci-fi than the end to a literary novel with sci-fi/horror elements.
I don’t necessarily dislike the ending to either plot-wise. The endings just didn’t have room to breathe or settle, especially in the case of Private Rites—like the narrative realized it only had one more chapter to wrap things up so it had to jam everything into way too small a space. It just felt a little unsatisfying.
I’m already looking forward to the next Armfield book—there are elements I’ve noticed in both her novels so far, both in terms of broad thematics, images, and major/minor plot elements (@ me if you want to talk about the role play forums), and I’m desperate to pattern-seek in whatever she writes next.
Overall this is another win for the weird oceanic lesbian literature lovers !! Julia Armfield thank you for my life !!!!
thank you to the publisher for providing an e-ARC via NetGalley. all opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Private Rites follows three sisters—all lesbians—as they navigate the death of their architect father, the ghosts of their childhood, and their complex relationships with each other and their lovers. Meanwhile, the flood has come; their city is mostly underwater thanks to global warming, and the constant rain only wears the city down more and more. People cram themselves into smaller and smaller spaces, ride boats to get to work, and business close when the rain stops.
I once described Armfield’s previous novel, Our Wives Under the Sea, as quintessential lesbian tragedy, and I would say that Private Rites falls into that category as well, though in this case ‘tragedy’ works in the classical sense as well.
Evidently it is a King Lear retelling, which I didn’t fully know until about 15% in. I haven’t read King Lear, so I am not sure how it compares or what elements the novel pulls—I definitely want to read King Lear and give Private Rites a reread in the future so I can more fully understand how Armfield adapts and comments upon the source material.
I absolutely loved this novel. Armfield’s prose, appropriately, is oceanic—melancholy as an empty sea, wrathful as storm-lashed waters, and able to calm or rough in the blink of an eye. For some reason, Private Rites in particular reminded me a bit of Disco Elysium, in the sense that there is this sad, struggling world impacted by uncontrollable, inevitable disaster caused by human action, and despite this terrible pressure mundanity continues on. (The sections of PR where
(Non-specific discussion of the ending below, spoilers for Our Wives Under the Sea)
And don’t get me wrong, I love a genre novel! I’m a huge genre fan! But when the book is a slow character study and the ending is almost an action movie, it just leaves me feeling like “…huh?”
Like I said, this was present in Our Wives Under the Sea as well. We have this grief-filled, wonderfully weird, quiet tragedy of a character study between Miri and Leah, and a beautifully tragic ending of letting Leah go, into the sea. But then there’s also the ending plot point of Miri maybe joining forces with another person who lost a loved one to the sea expedition to investigate and eventually take down this corporation, which feels more like the beginning to a genre sci-fi than the end to a literary novel with sci-fi/horror elements.
I don’t necessarily dislike the ending to either plot-wise. The endings just didn’t have room to breathe or settle, especially in the case of Private Rites—like the narrative realized it only had one more chapter to wrap things up so it had to jam everything into way too small a space. It just felt a little unsatisfying.
I’m already looking forward to the next Armfield book—there are elements I’ve noticed in both her novels so far, both in terms of broad thematics, images, and major/minor plot elements (@ me if you want to talk about the role play forums), and I’m desperate to pattern-seek in whatever she writes next.
Overall this is another win for the weird oceanic lesbian literature lovers !! Julia Armfield thank you for my life !!!!
thank you to the publisher for providing an e-ARC via NetGalley. all opinions expressed in this review are my own.
The Shining by Stephen King
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
the movie was better
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - audiobook, the narrator was excellent and really improved the experience
⭐️⭐️ - book/story, couldn’t take it seriously. yall think this is scary? 😭
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - audiobook, the narrator was excellent and really improved the experience
⭐️⭐️ - book/story, couldn’t take it seriously. yall think this is scary? 😭
Murder in the Dressing Room by Holly Stars
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Read this on audio while I worked (capitalist type of work, not drag type of work. Unfortunately.).
It was easy murder mystery reading—not one that will go down forever in my books as something I’ll want to reread, but pretty fun for what it is and entertaining enough.
(All opinions expressed in this review are my own.)
It was easy murder mystery reading—not one that will go down forever in my books as something I’ll want to reread, but pretty fun for what it is and entertaining enough.
(All opinions expressed in this review are my own.)