genre : sapphic romance intrigue pairing : ice queen (f, white) + soft butch (f, white) POV : single 3rd-person limited location: New York City (Ma
genre : sapphic romance intrigue pairing : ice queen (f, white) + soft butch (f, white) POV : single 3rd-person limited location: New York City (Manhattan & South Bronx), USA indie? : yes
4.25 – 4.5-ish rounded up.
This is my fifth book by Winter. My first one was The Brutal Truth that I read last year, and I love that Felicity got her own story in The Awkward Truth. We also got to see some more of Elena and Maddie.
Soon to be acting COO of the Bartell Corp, Felicity Simmons (36, bi) received one last assignment: investigate in the financial situations of Living Ruff, a charity helping homeless people’s pets. Felicity wants to get everything done as soon as possible so that she can go back to advancing her career and being surrounded by corporate people like her. But then there is Dr. Sandy Cooper, the strong soft butch head vet of Living Ruff that Felicity can’t seem to get enough of (nor does Cooper’s dog, Brittany, seem to get enough of Felicity). Not that she’d admit it, of course.
Can we take a moment to appreciate Living Ruff (I suppose it’s a play on words of “living rough”)? The staff, their passion, how they made do under the society’s unfriendliness toward homeless people and them having pets, and their clients and pets. I love that we can see the journalist in Winter where a lot of the fictional setting and situations are backed by real-world information and data. They’re one of the most thrilling parts to read.
At first, I was skeptical about whether Felicity and Cooper’s relationship would last. Felicity seemed to need a lot of work, and while she was open to learning—which is something, I guess—she still felt too... judgy for Cooper. I wondered if Cooper’s affection for Felicity was going to last for only a short moment. But then we see Felicity’s character arc, which honestly also really hit home and helped me analyze my career, and suddenly, I could see that she really is trying. She probably wasn’t really ready for a relationship, but I understood that it could work between Felicity and Cooper since they’ve picked apart Felicity’s insecurities and her ways of dealing with emotions. Felicity is on her way to free herself.
What’s beautiful is that not only Felicity’s character progressed into a better place, so did Living Ruff. I love the programs they’re running and the pure-hearted characters. It is very difficult to mention anything about the story since there were a few plot twists throughout, but Living Ruff does get even better by the end of the book. I also like that Felicity gradually didn’t think about her interactions with Living Ruff’s clients as an act of “saving” them. I think Winter handled the topic of homelessness and their pets sensibly, too.
And gosh, for someone who is so good at finding evidence and legal loopholes, Felicity is just so clueless sometimes! It’s kind of endearing though. Elena and Cooper melting Felicity’s brain is also one of the best things in the story.
The Awkward Truth made me laugh out loud countless times and also sobbed for an hour. Reading it has been an emotional and satisfying experience. Winter has done it again!
And isn’t Brittany awesome on the cover?
content warnings: homelessness (including LGBTQ youth), alcohol (recreational), pet abuse/murder (past), graphic sex, scam, fatphobia (later apologized), racial microaggression (called out), classism (called out), accidental pet negligence, disowning (minor character), f slur, parental death (past)
I received a digital review copy from Ylva Publishing and am voluntarily leaving a review....more
The Tell Tale is a historical fiction with many awesome queer reps, and it is the quality mystery we need!
The year is 1971 and Beth Griffiths (~38) haThe Tell Tale is a historical fiction with many awesome queer reps, and it is the quality mystery we need!
The year is 1971 and Beth Griffiths (~38) has returned to the village of Foel with her daughter Nia at the same time people start getting anonymous notes that reveal secrets of their past. Lady Sophie Melling (~38), who recently inherited a manor from her late father Lord Melling, is also back in the village. And the villagers are pointing fingers, desperate to find out who is the tell tale as more and more details about what happened in Foel twenty years ago begins to unveil.
Now, where to begin.
It is almost impossible to talk about any of the characters, their relationships and identities without spoiling something about the story. I can only say that reading The Tell Tale was quite an emotional ride, and the storyline definitely kept me on the edge of my seat.
While it is set in Wales in the 1970s, the story reflects so much of the world today. The many themes of injustice (including queerphobia, misogyny, homelessness, class segregation in social settings, mistreatment of the working class, racism, etc.), of toxic masculinity, of queer representations are spread throughout the scenes. None felt like checking diversity and inclusion boxes but were deeply woven into the storyline. Through the characters’ interactions with each other, we learn about the village of Foel, the characters themselves, and the overall world.
There is a lot of misogyny. And by “a lot” I mean it is literally what the story is based on and set in. Many of the characters are completely repulsive, twisting the truths and people’s words to serve themselves. At many occasions, I could feel my blood boiling and I just wanted to scream. I felt helpless as a reader seeing the scenes unfurl, but I trust that the story is going somewhere and it would not end on a painful note. And the ending was so satisfying!
At first, I had trouble remembering who’s who. But as the story progressed, we get to know all of the characters—the lovely ones and the despicable ones—and deeply feel all their dynamics, their motivations and drives and loves and fears. At no point did the story lull. Throughout the almost-400-page book, the village of Foel came to life and I felt all sorts of emotions—anger, repulsiveness, sadness, softness, and happiness.
And the writing, the warmth of Ashton’s words, the little descriptions in the story, and the flow of the sentences. Ashton writes so well I felt everything taking place around me—the details of a space, the thoughts and feelings of the character; I can see them happening.
I love the queerness of the story, both in the sense of weirdness and the queer characters. I especially appreciate the ace rep and genderqueer rep, and seeing them makes my gay heart so happy! Also, I love that Welsh is incorporated into the dialogues. It infuses so much life to the story and setting.
While a sense of sadness and foreboding permeates through the book, The Tell Tale is a very satisfying mystery that ends on a wholesome note. Queer folks have always existed, and thank you, Ashton, for writing this story for us.
content warnings: misogyny/sexism, discrimination/hate against LGBTQ+ people, hate crime, domestic abuse, gun, hunting, blood, bones, alcohol (recreational & abuse), death, loss of loved one, homelessness, mental illness, trauma, non-consensual drug use, drug withdrawal, injury, violent attack, outing of queer people, cheating (minor character), racism
Buddy read with Gabriella! Check out her review here!
I received a digital review copy from the author and am voluntarily leaving a review....more
Because Laura loved the previous version of this book (her review), I couldn’t wait for this rerelease of Spirits Abroad. Just when I was going to preBecause Laura loved the previous version of this book (her review), I couldn’t wait for this rerelease of Spirits Abroad. Just when I was going to preorder it, I found out that the audiobook is narrated by Emily Woo Zeller. THE Emily Woo Zeller who narrated Last Night at the Telegraph Club (my review). So I had to listen to the audiobook.
And yes, this short story collection is magnificent.
I don’t know how to review this book because there are 19 stories in it, but I’m going to talk about a few of my favorites and their hidden meanings. If you’re here for a review, I’m sorry to say this “review” would probably be more of an analysis.
“The Fish Bowl” Okay, I admit this is not one of my faves, but it’s about Su Yin, a girl studying for entrance exams, and her three wishes granted by a magical koi. This combination is so clever. In Chinese, 鯉魚躍龍門 (lǐ-yú-yuè-lóng-mén), which directly translates to “koi jumps over the dragon gate,” is an idiom for acing imperial exams and getting job promotions. While set in modern times, Su Yin here is also preparing for exams that are like the historical imperial exams. I think it is safe to say that we can see the connection between Su Yin and the koi from the idiom.
“The Terracotta Bride” This one is exceptionally clever. Again. At first I didn’t know why the terracotta bride and then the terracotta warriors showed up. For those who don’t know what terracotta warriors are, they are funerary sculptures designed to be buried with Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇), the first emperor of China, around 210 BC. Yes, you read that right, BC. There are thousands of these sculptures (warriors, horses, etc.) in the mausoleum that you can actually still see in Xi’an, Shangxi, China. The terracotta warriors immediately provided context to this mysterious terracotta bride. Also know that this story is originally part of a lesbian steampunk anthology. At the end of the story (I don’t think this is super spoilery), being reincarnated and reborn as a baby is described as literally falling from the sky. In Chinese, 呱呱墜地 (gū-gū-zhuì-dì), literally “waah waah falls to the ground,” is an idiom that means being born. I love how Cho took the phrase literally in this story.
“The Four Generations of Chang E” (you can read it here) This is a story about immigrant identities in the guise of a sci-fi/fantasy story. We know that Chang E flew to the moon after consuming the elixir of life, and the fact that Chang E immigrated to the moon in this story is a play on the famous folklore. Of course, rabbits are on the moon, too. In this piece, Chang E is more like a race, a human line, than the woman Chang E. We see how the identities of the four generations of immigrants evolve from mothers to daughters.
“If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again” (you can read it here) I just find this story incredibly adorable. It also made me choke up a little. The main character is a murderous imugi (이무기, a lesser dragon before it becomes a dragon) and the story is sapphic. I loved this one.
“The Guest” (you can read it here) I listed this story because it’s available online and it’s queer (all links above to the stories are found on Zen Cho’s official website). If you like cats and magic and sapphics, you might like this story.
“The House of Aunts” (you can read it here) This story has one trans character and it’s so wholesome in an unsettling way. There are Pontianaks, if Southeast Asian vampires are your thing. Note that this was originally published in 2011.
Cho is one of the main reasons why I’m aiming to read more queer Asian literature. I hadn’t known that reading something originally written in English could still make me feel so connected to my experience and language and culture (by “my language,” I mean Mandarin and Hokkien). Like Laura mentioned in her review, the dialect Manglish (thanks to Laura for pointing that out; I didn’t know it was a thing) in the dialogues is so precious! Listening to it narrated by the wonderful Emily Woo Zeller made me feel like those sentences were uttered in Mandarin and I just love it so much! Highly recommend the audiobook so there is no chance of botching the pronunciation of the Mandarin or Hokkien or Malaysian names and phrases.
5th read/listen: August 24, 2022 This never gets old. My first #Naudiobook truly was a good one.
4th read/listen: March 6, 2022 Got mAUDIOBOOK REVIEW
5th read/listen: August 24, 2022 This never gets old. My first #Naudiobook truly was a good one.
4th read/listen: March 6, 2022 Got misty-eyed three times during my fourth listen... Naudus’s narration is perfection. Favorite character in OLS? Niko.
3rd read/listen: July 10, 2021 This is the first book I’ve ever annotated! I scribbled and doodled on my paperback as I listen to Naudus’ narration, and everything is just as beautiful. OLS makes me so happy and this is definitely one of my go-to comfort reads. Buddy read with Gabriella! Check out her review here!
2nd read/listen: May 31, 2021 OLS makes my heart soft and is 100% feel-good. I still cried multiple times the second listen. Everything is perfect from CMQ’s writing to Naudus’ narration. <3
1st read/listen: May 7, 2021 tl;dr: 23yo disaster bi + 24yo chinese american displaced from the 1970s; a lot of chaotic, mostly queer 20-somethings in nyc
One Last Stop is pure joy. CMQ has crafted a beautiful romance with a full cast of the loveliest characters ever existed. It is a perfect story of love, found family, connecting to one’s heritage, and finding oneself.
August Landry (23, bisexual) grew up trying to solve the missing person mystery of her uncle with her mom. At 23, she moves to NYC for college, hoping to finally find a home, only to end up in a sketchy apartment. But soon, she finds out that her roommates are incredibly friendly. Automatic friends. When she meets Jane Su (24, Chinese American) on the Q train her first day of school, she couldn’t get the friendly hot butch in a leather jacket and ripped jeans out of her head. And when she finds out Jane is stuck on the subway without much memory of her past, August decides to help Jane piece out the mystery and maybe send her back to the 1970s. But as they spend more time together, August isn’t sure she wants Jane to disappear in time again.
The story opens with August moving to a new city and her encountering with potential roommate Niko (24, trans, Latino), a tattooed young man with one dangling earring and a toothpick in his mouth, asking if he could touch her, but not in a weird way. He is a psychic and wants to read August’s energy. August doesn’t believe in that but lets him anyway. And that’s all it takes for them to become roommates.
It was a perfect opening for a story about the space-time anomaly that is Jane. Not only are we introduced to supernatural elements in the first chapter, we also get to meet the quirky roommates. So when August has a meet cute with the mysterious Jane on the Q train, the scene and feels are already perfectly set up. I also love that this is a new adult romance and that August is a complete disaster because, yes, that is very relatable.
Every single character in this book is wonderful. It’s wholesome and chaotic and amazing. There are no villains, only the sci-fi glitch that had Jane stuck on the Q train. Told entirely in August’s point-of-view, we have an unobstructed view of her thoughts. She is very dramatic and an absolute disaster. Set in 2020 and a world without the pandemic, Jane, always looking cool and forever kind, brings in pieces of historical fiction elements, the good and the bad of the past, the fights for queer rights, etc.
CMQ is unbelievably good at creating important, lovable, and delightful secondary characters: Niko the psychic, Myla (Black, with a Chinese adoptive mother) the sculptor with a degree in electrical engineering (as someone who also has degrees in EE, I am so happy to see this), Wes the brooding tattooist and architecture school dropout, and Isaiah/Annie the drag queen who is an accountant.
One Last Stop is the book that feels like drag shows and pride parades, where everyone is comfortable in their own skin, having fun, and mostly happy. The beautiful found family in which August finally feels she belongs in makes my heart soft.
I love everything about the mundane things the characters—not just August but also her flatmates—want for life. The little descriptions, the hope, the smallest dreams of wanting, of wanting to belong, of wanting love. It is these thoughts and comments that make the story so utterly pure. They live for joy, Niko and his psychic abilities, Myla and her obscure sculptures, Wes and his art. August started out as a non-believer of supernatural events and also cynical person who is socially awkward and doesn’t have friends. She probably didn’t even believes in friendship. But the queer found family she has of her roommates makes her believe again. It makes her believe that she deserves something nice, too, that she deserves love.
And places play important parts in the book, too. It isn’t just the big city of New York, but also the more personal locations, like the Q train, Pancake Billy’s House of Pancakes, the Brooklyn apartment above a Popeye’s where August, Niko, Myla, and Wes live. There is a heavy emphasis on space, time, people in the story, and every single one of the elements is vividly presented throughout the writing.
Even though One Last Stop is mainly a romance between August and Jane, there are so many other important relationships, too: August and her mom Suzette, Suzette and her brother Auggie, Jane and her family, Wes and his estranged rich family, Niko and Myla, Wes and Isaiah, the employees at Billy’s, etc. All of them are complicated and real and intertwined.
I laughed so many times while listening to the audiobook and teared up from happiness. But most of the time, I just smiled as I listen to everything playing out. Everything is so cute and I badly wished these characters were real. And there is August and Jane. I love their dynamics of being tender yet passionate and playful, too. Oh, and the yearning. Fuck.
The incorporation of Jane’s Chinese heritage was very well done as far as I could tell. There are brief mentions of having fah sung thong during the new year, congee for breakfast, Chinese zodiacs, and a throwaway joke that makes sense in Chinese. Having all these details made Jane’s character even more solid, and I love everything about that.
Naudus did a superb job of bringing the story to life. For me, audiobooks are like movies but several hours long, played in the head however you wanted it to be played. And this audiobook built gorgeous scenes, each tiny detail registered, every hitch of breath audible.
One Last Stop has made me feel more alive than ever, to be here, now, tethered to this world. There are so much hope and dreams and it’s just beautiful from the beginning to the end. The love between August and Jane is phenomenal—it transcends time and space—and I want Niko and Myla to unofficially adopt me, too. It is a tribute to all the gay rights activists, queer disasters, and everyone in between. It is about feeling stuck and gathering the courage of getting unstuck, the process of slowly figuring things out, one step at a time, and it’s okay if nothing is certain, it’s okay if the present is the only thing you have. One Last Stop is so full of life and everyone has the purest soul. And one last warning: the Q train will never feel the same again after reading this story.
Content warnings: manipulation, sexual assault, blood, bullying, racism, drugs, alcohol (recreational), graphic sex
You know the kind of romance that iContent warnings: manipulation, sexual assault, blood, bullying, racism, drugs, alcohol (recreational), graphic sex
You know the kind of romance that is so cute and beautiful that you could weep reading about it? That you just smile the whole way through while trying not to tear up? Nadine and Bella have that.
Ex-lawyer Nadine Bayani (40, Filipino) was involved in a political scandal during the US presidential election that left her a public enemy even after serving her two-year term in prison. Struggling to find a job, she cannot afford to lose the one she just got at Overstock Oasis, no matter how terrible the managers treat her. Bella Clarke (30, lesbian, fat) has been stuck working at the same store for ten years ever since failing her first year of college. When Nadine starts her job at the store, she recognizes her immediately. Though she hated Nadine two years ago, there is something different about seeing the woman in person, and she realizes that she just might be the only friend Nadine can possibly have.
Nadine and Bella are better with each other, and it is always beautiful to see that in a romantic relationship. They both have their insecurities, with Nadine being an ex-con and having a complicated life under the public eye and Bella, having failed college and struggles to keep little things in her life together, considers herself unattractive and not smart. It takes the other person for them to see their own kind heart, beauty, and potential.
Nadine couldn’t figure out why the honest, friendly, and talented Bella would want to do with an ex-con like herself, and Bella doesn’t think a law school graduate like Nadine would love a high school graduate like her. But there is more to a person’s value than what the society imposed on them. There is also more to Nadine’s crime than what meets the eye.
Ivins addressed a lot of social issues in Worthy of Love, mainly racism, including immigration. And since Nadine is an ex-con, there are also mentions of how the system works against formerly incarcerated people who just want to find a job, that they often serve an eternal sentence in the society after finishing their prison sentence. Another important thing in Worthy of Love is how undiagnosed ADHD strongly impacts a person’s life, how inattentive ADHD is often overlooked and that some resources are not available for people who need it.
Worth of Love is a wonderful romance intrigue. I love the chemistry between Nadine and Bella as well as the commentaries on many social issues. That Ivins brought Nadine’s Filipino culture and family into the story is well done, too. The gradual reveal of the political scandal also had me on the edge of my seat (I read the book in one sitting). After loving Ivins debut Love Factor (my review) last year, I’ve been waiting for more stories from her, and this amazing sophomore novel has secured her as one of my favorite lesfic/wlw/sapphic romance authors. I am already excited for her next book and hopefully many more in the future.
I received a digital review copy from Ylva Publishing in exchange for an honest review....more
Sorrowland opens in the woods with the fifteen-year-old Vern—who is Black, albino (the term is used in text), and intersex—giving birth to twins Howling and Feral, the latter also has albinism. Vern grew up in the Blessed Acres of Cain, a religious compound that was supposed to be a Black utopia, but she had to escape because everything there seems to be a lie. Over the next several months and years, Vern’s body begins to change. She is both stronger and more vulnerable, and she starts to understand that the power of the past while struggling to raise the twins with the freedom she never had.
I used to wish for a book in contemporary settings that references history and beliefs while telling a brand new story deeply influenced by the past. And now I have found it in Sorrowland.
The main concept is the cycle of history, with great emphasis on the violence against Black and Indigenous peoples in America. It is disturbing, both in raw descriptions and the recurring horrors of history. Throughout the story, there are countless Biblical references as well as mentions of historical and modern events that pertains to racism. Despite the pain and lingering memories from the past, the theme of rebirth—which the book opens with—creates a hopeful tone.
Vern is hungry to live and to be free, like her endless hunger for food. She would do anything to keep her children safe and as innocent as possible. When she meets Bridget and Gogo (Lakota, winkte), they become her found family. All of these characters are beautiful and real and passionate, their drives raw and primal.
There were so many visceral sentences that were punches in the gut, thoughts so accurate and candid no one else dared think. A lot of the scenes were allusions to being intersex and/or trans, especially since the intersection of identities being an underlying theme of Sorrowland. We have an intersex lead, an Indigenous transwoman, he/him twins who are really genderless. Through memories from shared history and trauma as well as the hauntings, we also get snippets of stories from other unrelated yet interconnected people from the past.
While I did have minor issues with some parts that might be ARC issues (time inconsistency and wording), the overall story is too rich to not love. I definitely need to read a finished copy.
Sorrowland is a condensation of history told through weaving fantastical elements. At first, I didn’t understand the ending, thinking it was sudden and didn’t fit the tone. But after thinking through the message of the story and the opening scenes, the ending, for me, made Vern’s and her loved ones’ lives come full circle. The final scene ended exactly where it should, still a reference to the Bible, still a reference to history. It transcends genres and is a mix of sci-fi, fantasy, horror, romance (sapphic), and literary fiction. The dedication line, “To everyone I will ever be, and ever was,” might not make much sense at first glance, actually fits the central plot perfectly. This work of fiction is a must-read, beautiful and haunting.
I received a digital review copy from MCD via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Buddy read with E.! Check out her review here!...more
Content warnings: graphic sex, blood, d slur, homophobia/homomisia, child abuse, minor character drug addiction, mention of prostitution, recreationalContent warnings: graphic sex, blood, d slur, homophobia/homomisia, child abuse, minor character drug addiction, mention of prostitution, recreational drinking, uses of ableist language, hospitalization
Written in present tense, The Clinch is an incredibly vivid rivals-to-lovers sports romance, charged with immediacy.
Eden Bauer (27, gay) holds an undefeated record and is the reigning UFC featherweight championship. When newbie pro Brooklyn Shaw (22, biracial, Black) challenges Eden for a title match, Eden reluctantly agrees. Their rivalry is strong, but when post-match Brooklyn comes knocking on the door of Eden’s gym, will they be able to put aside their differences and work together?
I am already biased when I started this book because I love to read about martial arts (mainly wuxia novels). There is something sacred about the sport and beautiful about the relationships people form training together as well as the strong bond, often stronger than familial ones, between shifu and their disciples. But I didn’t know I was getting this when I heard that The Clinch is built around mixed-martial arts (MMA), something I’m not familiar reading about. Eden is trained in Taekwondo, and the discipline and honor she carries are probably not as prevalent as it would be in any other MMA storyline. I totally love that we got this in The Clinch—both her respect for the sport and unbreakable love for her found family paternal figure, Jin (I assume to be South Korean), founder of the dojang (Hanja: 道場) Emerald Tiger.
The story has a wonderful build and exciting climax, without a sudden conflict toward the end. We spend the first few chapters getting a feel of MMA training and fighting, and understanding what the sport means to Eden. We learn how important Jin is to her and that the Emerald Tiger is Eden’s home after Jin welcomed her into the establishment when she was younger and dealing with a neglecting if not abusive mother. The descriptions of rigorous training and high-stake matches help us respect the fighters, too. All the sport scenes were written with such intensity that Eden’s exhaustion was clear with all the muddled thoughts and I felt myself holding my breath in expectation of the next jab, hook, or kick.
The choice of having Eden as the first-person POV is sublime. The way we only see her side of the story makes The Clinch more intense since we are looking in from the relatively calm character on her relationship with the younger Brooklyn, who is still figuring out what she really wants in life. Brooklyn, who is a new UFC fighter with a legendary family of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu martial artists, plays mind games with Eden before their much anticipated title match, but we soon see that she is a tough-looking young woman with a very sweet heart and eager to prove to her father, Samson, that she can make the Shaws proud.
I love Eden for her huge heart and her confidence, focus, and passion when it comes to training and fighting. And Brooklyn is definitely a stunning goddess of an athlete. Her playfulness, insecurities, and sincerity make her an incredibly lovable character, too. The secondary characters are also amazing. I cannot remember all the times my insides go warm and soft because of the wonderful relationships they have. Jin, a man with firm principles and loving heart, and Laila (18), Eden’s former student and now colleague, both provide unconditional support for Eden. Then there is Mateo (12), whose life of being in an abusive household reminds Eden strongly of her own childhood and who worships both Eden and Brooklyn. For Brooklyn, there is Théo, her brother and coach, and their bond is stronger than sibling, stronger than close friends.
There is so much love radiating off the pages even before Eden and Brooklyn admit so to themselves. We never really know what Brooklyn is thinking, but she is a very relatable character and their love is embodied in everything that Eden would do for Brooklyn, their sparring a dance.
The Clinch is a tension-filled romance with heavy themes, and I definitely shed a tear or two while reading. This is undoubtedly a story I would revisit, for both the fierce love between Eden and Brooklyn and the beautiful relationships surrounding them.
I received an e-ARC from Bold Strokes Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is so cute and it makes me so happy! Sibling Dex (29, agender, they/them) and Splendid Speckled Mosscap (agender, it/its) are the only travel duoThis is so cute and it makes me so happy! Sibling Dex (29, agender, they/them) and Splendid Speckled Mosscap (agender, it/its) are the only travel duo I need, aka the burnt-out cleric and the impossibly inquisitive robot.
This novella reads like a prequel as we are introduced to the world Panga, a moon of planet Motan, as well as the human religion Sacred Six (Parent Gods: Bosh, God of the Cycle, Grylon, God of the Inanimate, Trikilli, God of the Threads; Child Gods: Samafar, Chal, Allalae). Chambers’ writing is very descriptive, and the world comes to life as Sibling Dex starts out as a garden monk, switches vocation to a tea monk, and decides to take a break altogether and embark on a journey to Hart’s Brow Mountain outside of human settlement.
Set after Transition, which was when people redivided the land use of the moon, the robots were given freedom to leave the humans, and since the signing of the Parting Promise, there were no contact between the two. Until Mosscap finds Dex in the middle of nowhere in their wagon.
Both Dex and Mosscap are incredibly relatable. Dex, a cleric who drinks, has sex, curses, and consumes meat, is trying to find the meaning of life, and Mosscap, a seven-foot-tall robot with a boxy head, wants to learn everything about humans, finding every tiny detail fascinating. The two started off as opposites, one dispassionate and the other passionate about life, and kept each other company during the trek in the wilderness while learning about their different world views. I adore Mosscap; it oozes curiosity and energy in every sentence, and I imagine it as a giant, perpetually wide-eyed metallic robot. I especially love that Mosscap signs, isn’t all logic, and loves the wonders in the world.
Chambers’ dedication line, “For anybody who could use a break,” ties to the story. A Psalm for the Wild-Built made me happy and satisfied, and even though there weren’t a lot of things going on, I am excited to see how the rest of the series go.
Both Chambers’ A Closed and Common Orbit, one of my favorite books I read in 2020, and A Psalm for the Wild-Built are focused on the interaction between human and robot/AI. I love seeing the conversations that brings us out of the human experience to see things from the outside; maybe the interest stems from me being an electrical engineer. This book is joyous and fun, without the intense sci-fi world building in the Wayfarer series. It is a short and light read that put a smile on my face, along with several chuckles along the way. This will be a go-to reread for me the next time I feel as unmotivated as Dex did.
content warnings: insects, blood, discussion of death
I received an e-ARC from Tordotcom via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
I love the writing, the way Hong weaves history and stories and personal experiences together to form a compelling narrative. An excellent nonfiction I love the writing, the way Hong weaves history and stories and personal experiences together to form a compelling narrative. An excellent nonfiction book with seven richly written essays on both her own identity of being an Asian American (Korean American) and the historical context of what it means to be Asian in America.
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Content warnings: incest, rape (including child sexual abuse), sexism, suicidal thoughts, infideli----background music: anything tango or candombe----
Content warnings: incest, rape (including child sexual abuse), sexism, suicidal thoughts, infidelity, murder, loss of close family member, loss of spouse, outing, urolagnia (nonconsensual), racism, graphic sex, gunshot, shaming sex workers, light BDSM, f slur, mention of pregnancy loss (stillborn), past abortion, mention of past physical abuse
Were De Robertis’ words the ocean, I would forever bathe in it.
I went into this book thinking it was about a young woman, Leda (17), who disguised herself as a man, Dante, to play the tango in Buenos Aires about a century ago. But to Leda/Dante, are wearing men’s clothes (of the dead husband), going to the barbershop for a haircut, chest-binding, and packing merely a tactic to enter the world of tango musicians, an occupation only suitable for men in 1913? Or is it also a venture into the realm of Dante’s previously unknown genderqueerness?
In the beginning, I tried not to read into the underlying gender dysphoria in Dante’s narrative, but it became clear that I was not imagining it. The descriptions were subtle and yet the confusion, excitement, and hopefulness were so raw and relatable I sometimes struggled to stay in the story because they hit a little too close to home.
By the time I reached the end of The Gods of Tango, I was crying both from the relief and happiness of Dante being truly seen and loved and for Dante’s struggles along the years. De Robertis has a way of creating characters so real that I wished Dante and the lover were real-life people I could worship.
There are grief and pain and ugliness of humanity in The Gods of Tango, but its beauty is so dazzling, the love Dante has for music and women so vivid, that upon finishing the story, all that lingered was unbounded joy.
First and foremost, I love how queer this book is! There are mentions of different gay cultures, discussions of safe sex, etc. It is written by a queer author for queer teens. Also, I love the friend group so much! The ever chaotic Nick (17, gay, ADHD), his hot boyfriend Seth (17, bisexual), Jazz (17), and Gibby (18, lesbian). I also love some new Extraordinaries, especially the drag queen Miss Conduct. She brings having super powers as an analogy for being queer to the next level.
Note that this book by a white author deals with the subject of police brutality as well as defunding the police. I cannot say if Klune did well on incorporating discussions of the police in Flash Fire (Nick’s dad, Aaron Bell, is a cop), but I am glad to see that he tried. Also note that there is at least one instance of cissexism where “female anatomy” is supposed to include vaginas. I’m hoping that is only in the ARC. There are also a few inappropriate jokes on child labor and war from Nick.
So, about this book. In the final scene in The Extraordinaries, it was revealed that (view spoiler)[Aaron has been keeping a huge secret from Nick, and that secret is that Nick’s mom, who passed away two years ago, was Guardian, a telekinetic Extraordinary, and that Nick’s Concentra, which was supposed to be his medication for ADHD, is a superpower suppressor. In Flash Fire, we see Team Pyro Storm navigates high school where Gibby is graduating and the aftermath of the McManus Bridge incident that ended with Shadow Star (Owen Burke, 17) being locked away. Seth is struggling with his dual identity of being a high schooler and Pyro Storm, and Nick is beginning to show some of his telekinesis when provoked. (hide spoiler)] There are also multiple scenes where Nick is confronted with his own privilege of being white and skewed view on the police since his loving father is a cop. I personally think it’s nice to have Nick learn and grow along the way.
And ew Simon Burke and Rebecca Firestone. They are just... no.
Again, the book ends with a short scene in Aaron’s POV. I don’t love revealing information in his scenes especially since some things were already alluded to in the story, but I guess they function as little cliffhangers.
Despite some of the imperfections that I hope are not in the final copy, the overall experience of reading Flash Fire was amazing, and I love seeing how awkward Nick and Seth are and how adorable Gibby and Jazz are (go sapphics!). The aspect of friendship and love and family is wonderful, and I love that all their parents (and Seth’s uncle and aunt) are loving and somewhat involved in their lives. I look forward to book three of the series and learn more about Guardian!
content warnings: blood, police brutality, racism, kidnapping, forced medication, panic attacks, jokes on child labor/war, cissexism, discussions of sex, conversion therapy (for Extraordinaries), fire
I received a digital review copy from Tor Teen via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review....more
You know when you hate someone so much you ended up knowing every tiny thing about them? Well, I don’t, but Lillian and Ivy do.
Dr. Lillian Lee (31) anYou know when you hate someone so much you ended up knowing every tiny thing about them? Well, I don’t, but Lillian and Ivy do.
Dr. Lillian Lee (31) and Dr. Ivy Holden have been archenemies throughout vet school, so when Ivy relocates to Seal Cove where Lillian is working, the latter is not pleased. To Lillian, Ivy is a spoiled rich kid who made her life hell. But what if she isn’t horrible anymore now?
I love books with wonderful imageries and great thematic choices. In Spindrift (my review here), I adored the opening and ending scenes of the dock, from boat to land, and here in Night Tide, the freedom on an isolated island with crashing waves, persistent and ever-growing vines of ivy, the somberness of Edgar Allen Poe references, etc. are as beautifully interwoven as I could have wished for.
The intense lust and hate were so well-balanced I couldn’t decide if Lillian and Ivy making out is a good idea or not. Even so, I rooted for them both to be together so hard, seeing the pain and insecurities and overwhelming feelings they have for each other, and yet I also know that there is a lot of their history that we don’t see, the hurt caused by each other back in vet school. There are a few flashbacks throughout the story, and we are gradually let in on parts of their past, scenes that surfaced because of certain events in the present. Yes, they were horrible to each other, and yes, it is easy to fall back to old patterns with people one has known for years, but I understand their choices both back then and now. Burke wrote everything in such a heartfelt and candid way that it is impossible not to love both Lillian and Ivy and see their growth and attempt at being better human beings.
“White guilt” is called out in the text, and a lot of the passing thoughts of both Lillian and Ivy serve as social commentaries, on privilege, capitalism, racism, etc. These narratives worked well for me but it might not be for everyone. Yet the fact that we get to see them in the characters thoughts, somehow makes them more relatable not just for the acknowledgment—which is better than nothing but not as good as actually doing something—but that these are topics that crosses our minds, too, things we talk about and experience in life. As an Asian person who grew up in Asia, I couldn’t say much about this, so take my thoughts as a grain of salt.
Oftentimes, romance is tender and loving and sweet, but in Night Tide, there is tension and passion and fierceness as lust overrides animosity. Most of the scenes involving Lillian and Ivy were either sex or sexually charged, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt the warmth in my stomach stretch throughout an entire book. Everything was deliciously dangerous. There is a lot of biting and physical pain regarding the intimate scenes, which is very on-brand for them. And despite the hate, how quickly they were to throw each other under the bus, Lillian and Ivy are incredibly cute together, allowing vulnerability and redemption and something more.
The writing and descriptions are truly awesome: details of the surroundings and Ivy’s chronic pain. As a non-disabled person, I don’t know much about the spoonie rep, but even though Ivy struggles to accept it as part of her life, I think it being recently diagnosed, makes a lot of sense. And like in Spindrift, the side characters are all wonderful. I love Lillian’s moms June and Daiyu, both of whom are precious and adorable. There is the constant cast of friends, including Morgan and Emilia, whose romance is featured in Spindrift, Angie, Stevie, Stormy, etc. We also get more scenes with Lillian’s dogs and are introduced to Ivy’s Jack Russell Terrier Darwin and 15-year-old dressage horse Freddie.
I admit I didn’t like the conflict—who likes conflicts when you can have perfect love—but the inevitability made it ever more believable for them to stay together in the long run. And oh how I couldn’t wait for them to get the happy ending they deserve! Also, there were a few odd sentences and statements which may or may not be an ARC issue that confused me, such as I couldn’t understand how they knew that a random bartender is “a cute transman” or why Daiyu would make Mid-Autumn Festival “moon cakes for the Lunar New Year,” but overall those parts didn’t affect the story.
Night Tide is a hate-to-love romance with a mix of pain and sadness and humor. Every scene is intense and charged and very Lillian and Ivy, making the romance all-consuming and worth savoring.
I received a digital review copy from Bywater Books via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review....more
She couldn’t find the right words for this dammed-up feeling inside, as if she were denying herself something absolutely vital, and she didn’t know why.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club is less about the romance between Lily and Kath but more about Lily trying to grasp her identity as a Chinese American lesbian in the 1950s.
In the prologue, four years before the main story (1950), thirteen-year-old Lily Hu (胡麗麗) and her childhood best friend Shirley Lum attend Miss Chinatown Contest with their families. I’d say this one chapter is the summary of the entire book in one way or another as we see Lily becoming aware of skin and bodies and the interactions between her and Shirley.
When Lily stumbles upon an ad for male impersonator Tommy Andrews’ performance at the Telegraph Club (1954), she is mesmerized, not quite understanding why. But she keeps the clip along with a few others in her copy of The Exploration of Space. All her dreams in one place, I think. As the new school year starts, there are only two girls left in Advanced Math—Lily herself and Kathleen Miller, who dreams of becoming a pilot. Their orbits never coincide until this very moment, and it makes all the difference.
Hearing the name “Kath” makes me sigh now, and that’s how much I love the character. She is sweet and loving and I desperately wish we were able to spend more time with her instead of with Shirley. But of course, it is the preciousness of the scenes that makes everything more delicious. Told through Lily’s third-person point-of-view, we watch how she and Kath first bond over mathematical and scientific endeavors—Lily wanting to pursue a career in space science and Kath wanting to be a pilot—and their friendship slowly grows into something neither could comprehend.
What if they were thinking of each other at the same time?
In-between each part, there are flashback chapters told through the POVs of the older generation—Lily’s mother, father, and aunt. These bring the historical stories of that generation into the plot, the generation plagued by wars and PROC overtaking China in 1949. The generation that couldn’t go back to their homeland if they wanted to. This part is a shared history with Taiwan because that was the war the Nationalist Party lost and came to the island. Even the then-First Lady of ROC Madam Chiang, someone we all learned in history textbooks in Taiwan, made a cameo.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a very introspective story where Lily talks little and she goes about mundane things while thinking and having random thoughts. It was very relatable for me and I acutely feel every breath Lily took and every panic that shot through her head. It’s amazing how much I could feel through Lily, through Lo’s words. The story is beautiful, telling a fictionalized generational history of queer Chinese American women, a group often erased in historical records, in the 1950s San Francisco through Lily Hu’s. In this book, Lo gave voice to people like Lily Hu, and all the people who came before us (as in queer people).
I absolutely love the Cantonese and Mandarin scattered throughout the story. In print, some of them were written in Traditional Chinese characters and not their romanized forms. I don’t think I’ve ever read any English books where I see Chinese characters in them. Zeller’s narration is also incredible. I love all the voices she gave the characters, the purposefully subtle accents for Joseph and Judy, Lily’s father and aunt, and how she slips seamlessly between languages. It was phenomenal.
The main romance is the most gripping for me, but there are also so many important elements in the book—Chinese American culture, anti-communism, queer gatherings, etc.—all in the 1950s. I love that the older gay women, despite treating Lily as an exotic novelty, are kindhearted and shared their experiences of what it means to be queer. The racism in the 1950s, still prevalent in 2021, is evident in everything Lily and her family go through. I wish I could say that Last Night at the Telegraph Club is very much a story in the history and the present world isn’t like that anymore but I couldn’t. It pains me how everything is still relevant now.
Lily and Kath. I don’t know what to say except that my heart weeps and sings for them. I imagine them staring into each other’s eyes whenever possible, unblinking with hope and love and tenderness.
Reading the title of the book still gives me an indescribable ache, like something physically pressing into my sternum, just as the name Kath makes me sigh. I wish we had gotten more at the ending but I also see the necessity of stopping where it did. There is hope and joy and yearning. Lily and Kath will live in my head where all their dreams become reality as they stay at each other’s side to this day, both reaching for the sky.
ZH-TW
與其說「電報夜店的最後一晚」(Last Night at the Telegraph Club) 是部關於胡麗麗與凱斯米勒 (Kathleen Miller) 的愛情故事，不如說是麗麗找尋身為華裔美人與女同志的雙重身份。
We was a cosmic conversation, before I even met you in this life.
I cannot write a review that does this book justice, so I am only going to share
We was a cosmic conversation, before I even met you in this life.
I cannot write a review that does this book justice, so I am only going to share my scattered thoughts. For an actual review of this story, I encourage you to check out lauraღ’s, who is Trini.
The things that stood out the most to me were the prose, which reflected the slangs and dialects spoken by Trinis and Black Americans, and the imageries. Oh how I love beautiful written languages and rich thematic choices. The Stars and the Blackness Between Them dealt with the heavy and very real topics of terminal illness and wrongful incarceration. Despite knowing that this book is somewhat magical realism, nothing had prepared me for the ending, which I deeply adore. I love how we got to see hope and freedom through Audre’s point of view and how wonderfully constructed it was so that it is open for all interpretations, magical or otherwise.
Throughout reading, I never expected all the little scenes, the reminiscing, to make me have all the feels. Some romance books don’t even achieve that in 200+ pages, and Petrus did it in one page, multiple times. Most of the characters are so amazing I feel my heart melt just for the pureness and innate joy of them all: Audre (~16), Neri, Mabel (16), Queenie, Audre’s father, Mabel’s entire family, Jazzy, and Ursa. I was surprised that there is a third main character, Afua (~50), a man on the death row who was sentenced for a crime he did not commit: killing his best friend. I love Afua as much as I did Audre and Mabel; I love the parallel of death sentences—one of injustice and the other medical (also unfair).
Take your feelings and hold them with softness, but also with power.
There are many moments of WOCs supporting WOCs in TSATBBT and I will never not feel pure joy and empowerment whenever I read about them. The main imageries of water (ocean, sea, lake, rain) and horticulture (flowers, garden, caterpillars, butterflies) made the chapters (astrological seasons) and scenes in the book incredibly interconnected. I adore fictional writing with deeply rooted imageries so this was fully up my alley. As another islander, I feel emotionally connected with the ocean as Audre did, and I, too, love standing in the rain, simply because it feels free and weirdly private, like Mabel did once.
TSATBBTM reads like the murmur of the waves, the ever-glowing moon, and the blossoms of the prettiest flowers. It is a story about life, history, and hope.
This is not a book for everyone. See content warnings below.
Madden’s parents struggled with addiction since she was a child. She grew up in Boca RatonThis is not a book for everyone. See content warnings below.
Madden’s parents struggled with addiction since she was a child. She grew up in Boca Raton, FL, and had a twisted sense of love and sex as a tween and teen. This book is only suitable for mature audience, because it was not directly mentioned that some of her childhood values were wrong, that being the target of sex from older boys and men does not mean that you are beautiful or wanted or loved. It is for the readers to infer and understand that it was written in the thoughts of her past self, without judgement.
I listened to the audiobook which Madden narrated. She sounded detached, and it suited the storytelling so well. I love the writing, each story centering around a theme, and rather than telling every scene in chronological order, they were like puzzle pieces that connected through a person, an event, and together made up the bigger picture of Madden’s life, how everything is connected and related and made an impact on her life.
Madden is Hawaiian, Chinese, half-white, queer (with a wife), and Steve Madden’s niece (whom she sold shoes for as a teen).
content warnings: rape, child grooming, pedophilia, exhibitionism, gun, mentions of suicidal tendencies, overdosing, alcohol abuse, addiction (drug & alcohol), mention of semi-public sex, masturbation, racism (against AAPI), racial slurs, teen pregnancy, infidelity, blood, death of family member, homophobia, biphobia, DUI (drug & alcohol), vehicular accident (not DUI)...more
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