From the first line this was glorious and beautifully tender. A lyrical Gothic tale with strong fairytale elements about loneliness and love, and how From the first line this was glorious and beautifully tender. A lyrical Gothic tale with strong fairytale elements about loneliness and love, and how the two intertwine.
"Loneliness can be something other people do to us, and something we do to ourselves."...more
Kat Delacorte really went 'I am going to write a book filled with so many hot people'
Set in the remote Italian hilltop city of Castello, a place soakeKat Delacorte really went 'I am going to write a book filled with so many hot people'
Set in the remote Italian hilltop city of Castello, a place soaked in history and isolated from modern society, With Fire in Their Blood is a decadent Gothic tale about discovering your past to unlock your future . . . and falling in love with many beautiful people.
(I mean, that scene in the bathtub? iykyk but oh my god I am aggressively Team Liza. Sorry Christian and Nico. I love you both too.)
(rep: bisexual heroine; both M/F & F/F relationships)...more
I am emotionally WRECKED - Lies enchanted me through and through, and beyond being without a doubt one of my favourite reads of This book. This book!!
I am emotionally WRECKED - Lies enchanted me through and through, and beyond being without a doubt one of my favourite reads of the year, I think it'll stick with me for a long time. The writing style and narrative voice alone has me enthralled, and I thought it an accomplished debut.
It's also left me epically depressed but in a very poignant and bittersweet way so that's fine <33 I will now look at daffodils and cry <333
Taking the narrative thread of Penelope's twelve hanged maids and weaving a new story set generations later (so, not a retelling of The Odyssey), Lies is about balances of power and how a curse borne of grief and anger can echo through centuries, creating cycles of sorrow. There is also romance, and there is love and desire, and there is a beautifully tragic man and two wrathful women!! There is bisexual rep!! I am truly in love with this book, and I will be pushing it everywhere.
� 5 stars �
"We are more than our actions," said Leto. "We are the way we love others, and the way they love us back."
Just to say that I am the Lord Under's #1 most loyal and devoted fan, before other people get ideas. I am the chief of the Lord Under Legion Just to say that I am the Lord Under's #1 most loyal and devoted fan, before other people get ideas. I am the chief of the Lord Under Legion ...more
I loved this. I've really been craving a light YA rom-com book, and this fit the bill exactly. I flew through it in twenty-four hours and had a reallyI loved this. I've really been craving a light YA rom-com book, and this fit the bill exactly. I flew through it in twenty-four hours and had a really good time doing so. Sugiura's writing style is really engaging, and I loved how the fake dating trope was subverted? I also loved the slow buildup of the relationship between Nozomi and her love interest, and became quite invested in the two of them. Sugiura also engages with cultural attitudes to queerness in a really interesting and thought-provoking way.
Would definitely recommend if you're looking for a YA sapphic novel featuring the fake dating trope.
> 4 stars
Thank you to the publishers for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review!...more
This is such a gloriously atmospheric book, complete with old creaking houses perching on towering cliffs over damp seas, squabbling werewolf familiesThis is such a gloriously atmospheric book, complete with old creaking houses perching on towering cliffs over damp seas, squabbling werewolf families and the looming threat of something stranger and older.
Having just run away from boarding school, heroine Eleanor returns home to her strange family and their grand old house tucked away in thick forests on the coast of Maine. Going into the book, I assumed it was a contemporary fantasy, but I believe it's actually historical? It's hard to place, but there are indications that it is set somewhere in the middle of the 20th century.
Eleanor's family are strange, and not always easily understandable or easy to love on the readers' part. They're werewolves (though the word werewolves is never used in the text, they're referred to just as wolves) and do act sometimes more like a squabbling pack of dogs than people. But part of the charm of this book is the strangeness of it all, and how that strangeness translates into something darkly enchanting. Admittedly there are parts of this book that are very ambiguous, and this will be alienating to some readers. But personally, I loved the journey of this one - from the dark gothic atmosphere to the way Eleanor's relatives all joined together over the course of the novel to become something resembling a rough-edged family. It is, in the way of traditional gothic novels, more focused on the humans at it's core than anything else.
Would definitely recommend to fans of novels that are deeply atmospheric, those who like werewolf books, and those who enjoy novels that offer a different perspective of 'monsters'.
> 4.2 stars
(p.s. it's not a red riding hood retelling, as I've seen a few people say)
*
werewolves in maine, huh . . . I'm listening...more
This is a light and quick contemporary YA featuring sapphic horse girls that's a great summer read. I really liked the whole idea behind this one and This is a light and quick contemporary YA featuring sapphic horse girls that's a great summer read. I really liked the whole idea behind this one and it did feature some key rom-com tropes. Plus I quite liked the two narrators, Piper and Kat.
For those thinking this is a YA rom-com, it's not really - it's more a YA contemporary. There are rom-com tropes like misunderstandings and I'm-going-to-set-you-up-except-now-this-has-backfired-because-I-have-feelings-instead, but for most almost half the book, the characters are focused on different people. There's light-level yearning but it's not sapphic yearning (or it is in theory, but it's not the exquisitely classic top-tier sapphic yearning that goes on absolutely forever).
I did notice, however, that a large portion of the supporting wlw characters are rather . . . intent when it comes to intimacy, and it feels like it could be tied into the negative stereotypes about queer people being promiscuous and players. And Kat thinks she could be demiromantic (which is great, yay for demi rep!), but there was some casual acephobia from some characters. Furthermore, Kat's thoughts about being demi do seem to discarded in the latter half the book.
Overall I did enjoy this one, because it was about horse girls and it fits really nicely into that little horse book niche whilst also adding a little LGBTQ+ rep. It's nothing necessarily amazing or impactful, but it's light and I sped through it quickly. It's a good companion to the horsey books I read when I was in my early teens.
Look, at the end of the day . . . publishing, if you start releasing more sapphic horse girl YAs (riders falling in love on the show circuit! girl falling in love with cute stable girl at her new colorado riding retreat! rivals to lovers cowgirls trying to save their ranch from being bought out! equestrian sapphics competing for the olympics! sapphics at boarding school doing equestrian extracurricular! heartland but gayer! etc!) I will read.
rep: lesbian heroine; demiromantic lesbian love interest; lgbtq+ side characters
*
finally . . . representation for sapphic horse girls
Thank you to the publisher for a copy in exchange for a honest review!...more
more facts about the book! - it's upper YA (the MC is 18 and in her first year of uni) - Ava considers idark academia novels really have the best titles
more facts about the book! - it's upper YA (the MC is 18 and in her first year of uni) - Ava considers it a 'true' romance book - it's set in a secondary fantasy world based on mid 20th-century England/Wales and influenced by Welsh mythology f*ck yeah welsh mythology on the rise - it fits in the dark academia subgenre - the journey to writing this book began with an interest in anti-Stratfordian theory (basically the theory that Shakespeare was a fraud) - and "I wrote this one for survivors - for the people who aren’t believed, who don’t have ownership over their own narrative, who tell themselves stories in order to cope."
Despite intending to start a different book, something compelled me to pick up Not My Problem instead and I was hooked very quickly. NMP has been compDespite intending to start a different book, something compelled me to pick up Not My Problem instead and I was hooked very quickly. NMP has been compared to the TV programme Derry Girls, and it's a really accurate comparison - it's just as funny and filled with teen-related hijinks, but with an additional deeper underlayer that characterises Smyth's books.
Aideen is a heroine you love almost immediately - her narrative voice gripped me with it's humorous tone and compelled me to finish the book in under 24 hours. And the story itself is really heartwarming, with her going from an almost-loner to amassing a group of assorted friends through her little troubleshooter/favour-for-favour system. She's witty and sarcastic, but she also has a lot of heart and is always willing to help - even people she doesn't know. She's a really good egg.
Aideen's relationship with love interest Meabh is equally wonderful, building up slowly over the course of the novel over bickering text messages and ill-formed plans. Meabh, actually, is a character who is a stiff, high-strung overachiever . . . until you learn more about about her through Aideen's eyes and become really fond of her. She's not a 'perfect' character, but this meant I only liked her more because she felt genuine. Things that others would consider flaws were things Aideen really liked about her, which was really sweet and very much how it often goes in real life too.
Kavi is the second character who makes up the third member of their little trip, and he is THE cinnamon roll of this book! He's really darn cute and I love him, and the sense of warmth and joy and love he emanated throughout the book was priceless. He goes on spiels and you can really imagine him just saying all these massive speeches without stopping to breathe, and <33 I love him
Also, Ms Devlin!! Her dry humour and the way she interacted with Aideen was really wholesome to me. She really reminded me of Sister Michael from Derry Girls, except maybe slightly younger and also not a nun? Either way, one of my fave YA teachers.
Then there's side characters like Orla and Angela . . . all of the characters in this book were excellent and unique and brought something to the story. You get where I'm going - I'm just super fond of the cast here, down to the supporting characters.
Something that added a bit of a backbone of levity to a book filled with ill-formed plans was the fact that Aideen's mother is a struggling alcoholic. This is something that has seriously affected Aideen's home life and it means Aideen considers carefully how she gets by every day. This book also examines poverty in a thoughtful way. There's also the fact Aideen has anxiety, and although it's not diagnosed, the symptoms are really similar to what I've experienced. Then another tenet of this book is relationships: Aideen doesn't tell people about her problems at home, which means her relationships are never equal because she doesn't want to tell people about her problems and rely on them too much. But this book really does explore what friendships actually mean and how they should be equal, and how you should be able to rely on your friends and how they should be able to rely on you.
I enjoyed Ciara Smyth's debut The Falling In Love Montage, but on a personal level I connected to this one much more and found it much funnier so it's by far my favourite of Smyth's two books so far. Definitely recommend.
(I'll likely polish and extend this review later, but wanted to jot down some quick thoughts first.)
> 4.5 stars
rep: lesbian mc; lesbian polish-irish love interest...more
Generally very much enjoyed - had a lot of potential and could've been expanded into a duology so things felt more developed (like interpersonal rtc!
Generally very much enjoyed - had a lot of potential and could've been expanded into a duology so things felt more developed (like interpersonal character dynamics, mainly), but it also works well as a standalone. Also incredibly, casually queer.
rep: pansexual heroine, lesbian love interest, non-binary main character (who's also implied to be on the ace spectrum I think?), and many more LGBTQ+ folks across the whole cast.
*
"A pansexual bloodmage reluctantly teams up with an undead spirit to start a rebellion among the living and the dead."
This pitch has such insanely chaotic energy
this is also the third book I've read in a row that has something to do with the undead . . . hm
Thank you to the publisher & Pride Book Tours for providing me with a review copy!!...more
Somehow this lovely little book eluded me until a friend of mine mentioned it incorporated Welsh lore and - well. I ran. Nabbed myself a copy and begaSomehow this lovely little book eluded me until a friend of mine mentioned it incorporated Welsh lore and - well. I ran. Nabbed myself a copy and began reading it, rather appropriately, in Wales. Welsh lore is rich in inspiration but somewhat scarce in (sff) literature, so whenever I find it I snap it up immediately and hope the writer treats the well of folklore and mythology that they draw from with tenderness and love.
The Bone Houses carries the bones (ha ha) of pre-2000s early UK children's fantasy literature - think Diana Wynne Jones and Susan Cooper. (Alternately, the The Chronicles of Prydain, which Lloyd-Jones cites as an influence.) It is a evocative standalone set in a fantasy world that closely parallels medieval Wales. There are lovespoons (I have a rather zealous fondness for the tradition of lovespoons), and heaps of references to Welsh lore. Also, the best literary goat companion ever.
Following Ryn (Aderyn) and Ellis, the two quest to Castell Sidi, previously home to the Otherking Arawn, in the hope of breaking the curse that is motivating the bone houses - risen corpses. The Bone Houses is a charming novel that feels intimate and warm in the smaller scale of its worldbuilding, which stretches from the town of Colbren to the surrounding forest and the mountains of Annwvyn that hide Castell Sidi. This allows it to focus even more strongly on the novel's beating heart: for all that it is a story about the risen dead, it is also a story about the enduring capability of love.
Ryn and Ellis are excellent narrators over dual POVs. I was very fond of them both - axe-wielding gravedigger Aderyn and tender-hearted mapmaker Ellis (who has chronic pain which was very thoughtfully done) - and they complimented each other well. Their relationship was built steadily and tenderly over the course of the novel, and the novel itself I completed over the course of a few hours in one sitting. The narrative is rather straightforward, but in this case it serves the book well - allowing the emotional beats to flourish and contributing back that nostalgic feeling of old British literature.
Truly, I just find myself very fond of this book. The longer I linger on it, the more it feels like a little pocket of home - but I grew up in the rolling green vales of Wales and was raised on this folklore, so I'm a little biased.
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