Pam's bookshelf: read en-US Mon, 12 May 2025 18:32:19 -0700 60 Pam's bookshelf: read 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Between Friends & Lovers 201771735 “An absolute joy to read....Obuobi’s perfect balance of humor and wisdom made this one a true standout.� �Emily Henry, #1 NYT bestselling author

Kennedy Ryan meets Carley Fortune in this swoon-worthy story of love and friendship in the age of social media—where what you see might not be all you get.Ěý

To thousands of Instagram followers Josephine Boateng is the dazzling Dr. Jojo, and her opinions on health and self-love matter. Her be smart, be significant, and do not put up with foolish men.

Off-camera, Jo’s story is more complicated. She's grappling with depression and the pressures of her career, and her love life is nonexistent thanks to a longtime unrequited crush on her best friend, romcom heartthrob Ezra Adelman. But when Ezra shows up to his thirtieth birthday party with her childhood bully on his arm, Jo realizes enough is enough. It’s time to take her own advice and prioritize herself.

No one is more shocked than Malcolm Waters when his debut novel turns him into a literary darling, the type who gets invited to a swanky penthouse party to discuss film opportunities. Rubbing elbows with the elite of entertainment will be great for his career—except he's terrible with people, and even worse at networking.

Just when Malcolm is ready to throw in the towel, he’s rescued by none other than Dr. Jojo. He’s been following her on social media for years, and she’s even more impressive in real life. And to his bewilderment, the feeling is mutual.

But Jo, Ezra, and Malcolm exist in a world where the line between private and public is as blurred as the line between friendship and love. The question is, can they risk defining those lines to create something real?]]> 364 Shirlene Obuobi 0063307332 Pam 2 4.07 2024 Between Friends & Lovers
author: Shirlene Obuobi
name: Pam
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/10/24
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: authors-black, library-fl, mf-romance, read-2024
review:
This is objectively a well-written book, and also I hated it??? I know I was planning on giving this 3 stars out of objectivity, but every time I scroll past it on my GR shelves I physically flinch away from my computer in memory of how much these characters pissed me off by the end. Every. single. time. It may be a 3-star book, but it's a 2-star romance based on my personal preferences.
]]> <![CDATA[The Wedding Date (The Wedding Date, #1)]]> 33815781 A groomsman and his last-minute guest are about to discover if a fake date can go the distance in a fun and flirty debut novel.

Agreeing to go to a wedding with a guy she gets stuck with in an elevator is something Alexa Monroe wouldn't normally do. But there's something about Drew Nichols that's too hard to resist.

On the eve of his ex's wedding festivities, Drew is minus a plus one. Until a power outage strands him with the perfect candidate for a fake girlfriend...

After Alexa and Drew have more fun than they ever thought possible, Drew has to fly back to Los Angeles and his job as a pediatric surgeon, and Alexa heads home to Berkeley, where she's the mayor's chief of staff. Too bad they can't stop thinking about the other...

They're just two high-powered professionals on a collision course toward the long distance dating disaster of the century--or closing the gap between what they think they need and what they truly want...]]> 317 Jasmine Guillory Pam 3
I loved the beginning of this book when they were fake dating during his ex's wedding weekend, and every time they were together -- which is a lot, thankfully -- I continued to love them as a couple. But Drew turned into an immature douchebag every time he was on his own.

His internal POV when thinking about their relationship and its inevitable end date was jarring when he and Alexa were between their weekends together. There was no connection between those thoughts and how he behaved/felt when they were together. And he's presented as this wonderfully compassionate pediatric surgeon who then acts like a pre-teen throwing a tantrum whenever he doesn't agree with his friend's opinions. It was kind of bizarre.

But every time I was on the verge of writing him off as a lost cause, he and Alexa would meet up again (they live in different cities, so they're long-distance for the majority of the book) and he'd once again be an amazing boyfriend/person to be dating and staying with all weekend (they were pointedly not using the boyfriend label). But he was AMAZING! He practically worshipped her. He thought *she* was amazing. And then whoever had made the trip for the weekend would go back home and his thought process would have zero connection to reality/his behavior.

I still thoroughly enjoyed every second when they were together, but it's made me decide this is a one and done author for me. Plus, everyone was way too hung up on physical appearances. We were repeatedly told how hot, hot, HOT Drew is, how he's objectively this insanely attractive dude that can pick up any woman he wants (PUKE), and I get that this is supposed to be in service of a body positivity message because Alexa is a curvaceous black woman whose body doesn't fit society's conventional beauty standards, but Drew is also constantly thinking about how hot she is, how great her body looks in this amazing dress her personal stylist best friend picked out for her, etc. Everyone in this book is beautiful and physically attractive and so much time is spent telling us that, I feel like it would do the opposite for me if I was actually in need of a body positivity message. Instead I just felt annoyed by how incredibly shallow these characters sounded.

Mostly enjoyed it, but can't say I'd recommend it.]]> 3.56 2018 The Wedding Date (The Wedding Date, #1)
author: Jasmine Guillory
name: Pam
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/15
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: mf-romance, authors-black, library-tn, read-2025
review:
2.75 stars

I loved the beginning of this book when they were fake dating during his ex's wedding weekend, and every time they were together -- which is a lot, thankfully -- I continued to love them as a couple. But Drew turned into an immature douchebag every time he was on his own.

His internal POV when thinking about their relationship and its inevitable end date was jarring when he and Alexa were between their weekends together. There was no connection between those thoughts and how he behaved/felt when they were together. And he's presented as this wonderfully compassionate pediatric surgeon who then acts like a pre-teen throwing a tantrum whenever he doesn't agree with his friend's opinions. It was kind of bizarre.

But every time I was on the verge of writing him off as a lost cause, he and Alexa would meet up again (they live in different cities, so they're long-distance for the majority of the book) and he'd once again be an amazing boyfriend/person to be dating and staying with all weekend (they were pointedly not using the boyfriend label). But he was AMAZING! He practically worshipped her. He thought *she* was amazing. And then whoever had made the trip for the weekend would go back home and his thought process would have zero connection to reality/his behavior.

I still thoroughly enjoyed every second when they were together, but it's made me decide this is a one and done author for me. Plus, everyone was way too hung up on physical appearances. We were repeatedly told how hot, hot, HOT Drew is, how he's objectively this insanely attractive dude that can pick up any woman he wants (PUKE), and I get that this is supposed to be in service of a body positivity message because Alexa is a curvaceous black woman whose body doesn't fit society's conventional beauty standards, but Drew is also constantly thinking about how hot she is, how great her body looks in this amazing dress her personal stylist best friend picked out for her, etc. Everyone in this book is beautiful and physically attractive and so much time is spent telling us that, I feel like it would do the opposite for me if I was actually in need of a body positivity message. Instead I just felt annoyed by how incredibly shallow these characters sounded.

Mostly enjoyed it, but can't say I'd recommend it.
]]> Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry 53401676 Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by debut author Joya Goffney is the story of an overly enthusiastic list maker who is blackmailed into completing a to-do list of all her worst fears. It’s a heartfelt, tortured, contemporary YA high school romance with epistolary elements. Fans of Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and Kristina Forest’s debut I Wanna Be Where You Are will love the juicy secrets, leap-off-the-page sexual tension and the enemy-to-lover romantic arc.

Quinn keeps lists of everything—from the days she’s ugly cried, to “Things That I Would Never Admit Out Loud,� to all the boys she’d like to kiss. Her lists keep her sane. By writing her fears on paper, she never has to face them in real life. That is, until her journal goes missing�

An anonymous account posts one of her lists on Instagram for the whole school to see and blackmails her into facing seven of her greatest fears, or else her entire journal will go public. Quinn doesn’t know who to trust. Desperate, she teams up with Carter Bennett—the last known person to have her journal—in a race against time to track down the blackmailer.

Together, they journey through everything Quinn’s been too afraid to face, and along the way, Quinn finds the courage to be honest, to live in the moment, and to fall in love.]]> 368 Joya Goffney 0063024810 Pam 4
Quinn is one of five black students at her private school in Austin, Texas, and of the three we meet she's the only one whose family is (extremely) well-off financially. She has been occupying a very uncomfortable space with some white friends for a long time and has just stepped away from that situation when the book starts. And fair warning: You will want to throat-punch some teenagers while reading this!!! Hoo buddy. The way they casually throw out these very cutting, ignorantly racist remarks is devastating.

Quinn is a great character, and the story is about her facing her fears head-on and learning that expressing your emotions is healthy, and it's all really excellent.

I especially loved how respectful the love interest is of her boundaries and giving her the space she needs to process once they get together. He went from someone I understood but didn't love to maybe my favorite part of the book with that beautiful display of emotional maturity.

I really wanted a little more insight into her father, and I felt like there was a loose end that should have at least been acknowledged with one of her friends, but those are just nit-picks.

From a personal enjoyment standpoint, this is more like 3 stars, just because the characters are very real-feeling teenagers and therefore a little too far behind where I am in life right now, but I can't give this less than 4 stars. And the writing style perfectly hits that line of YA that absolutely works for adults.

Go buy it for any teenager you know who reads romance. Seriously.]]> 4.06 2021 Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry
author: Joya Goffney
name: Pam
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/07
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: mf-romance, library-fl, ya, authors-black, read-2023
review:
What a great YA contemporary romance. Really nicely done.

Quinn is one of five black students at her private school in Austin, Texas, and of the three we meet she's the only one whose family is (extremely) well-off financially. She has been occupying a very uncomfortable space with some white friends for a long time and has just stepped away from that situation when the book starts. And fair warning: You will want to throat-punch some teenagers while reading this!!! Hoo buddy. The way they casually throw out these very cutting, ignorantly racist remarks is devastating.

Quinn is a great character, and the story is about her facing her fears head-on and learning that expressing your emotions is healthy, and it's all really excellent.

I especially loved how respectful the love interest is of her boundaries and giving her the space she needs to process once they get together. He went from someone I understood but didn't love to maybe my favorite part of the book with that beautiful display of emotional maturity.

I really wanted a little more insight into her father, and I felt like there was a loose end that should have at least been acknowledged with one of her friends, but those are just nit-picks.

From a personal enjoyment standpoint, this is more like 3 stars, just because the characters are very real-feeling teenagers and therefore a little too far behind where I am in life right now, but I can't give this less than 4 stars. And the writing style perfectly hits that line of YA that absolutely works for adults.

Go buy it for any teenager you know who reads romance. Seriously.
]]> <![CDATA[Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute]]> 61843206 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER •ĚýFrom the bestselling author of the Brown Sisters trilogy, comes a laugh-out-loud story about a quirky content creator and a clean-cut athlete testing their abilities to survive the great outdoors—and each other.

Bradley Graeme is pretty much perfect. He’s a star football player, manages his OCD well (enough), and comes out on top in all his classes . . . except the ones he shares with his ex-best friend, Celine.
Ěý
Celine Bangura is conspiracy-theory-obsessed. Social media followers eat up her takes on everything from UFOs to holiday overconsumption—yet, she’s still not cool enough for the popular kids� table. Which is why Brad abandoned her for the in-crowd years ago. (At least, that’s how Celine sees it.)

These days, there’s nothing between them other than petty insults and academic rivalry. So when Celine signs up for a survival course in the woods, she’s surprised to find Brad right beside her.

Forced to work as a team for the chance to win a grand prize, these two teens must trudge through not just mud and dirt but their messy past. And as this adventure brings them closer together, they begin to remember the good bits of their history. But has too much time passed . . . or just enough to spark a whole new kind of relationship?]]> 320 Talia Hibbert 0593482344 Pam 4
It's been a while since I've had this much fun with a contemporary YA romance. I'm glad I was too stubborn to give them up completely.

There were moments where the main characters were probably a little too clever for their ages, but they were so very entertaining I couldn't really care too much. And there were certainly times they made up for it by acting annoyingly their age, which was slightly harder to brush off, but I really liked the way the author used the fallout these former best friends had in their early teens to examine all kinds of aspects of the human psyche. I just love self-aware, hyper-analytical characters.

I didn't have as much success with the adult romance I read by this author a few years ago, and I was planning to give her another try after enjoying this one so much.... but the ending wavered just a little. Not much, I'd still recommend this, but now it's making me wonder if I need to wait until she decides to tackle YA again. I really hate the way mainstream contemporary romances all think they have to do the formulaic, slightly OTT endings, and this was just a little too similar for comfort...]]> 3.88 2023 Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute
author: Talia Hibbert
name: Pam
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/13
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: mf-romance, ya, read-2023, authors-black
review:
3.5 stars

It's been a while since I've had this much fun with a contemporary YA romance. I'm glad I was too stubborn to give them up completely.

There were moments where the main characters were probably a little too clever for their ages, but they were so very entertaining I couldn't really care too much. And there were certainly times they made up for it by acting annoyingly their age, which was slightly harder to brush off, but I really liked the way the author used the fallout these former best friends had in their early teens to examine all kinds of aspects of the human psyche. I just love self-aware, hyper-analytical characters.

I didn't have as much success with the adult romance I read by this author a few years ago, and I was planning to give her another try after enjoying this one so much.... but the ending wavered just a little. Not much, I'd still recommend this, but now it's making me wonder if I need to wait until she decides to tackle YA again. I really hate the way mainstream contemporary romances all think they have to do the formulaic, slightly OTT endings, and this was just a little too similar for comfort...
]]> A Brother's Price 8366851 In a world where male children are rare, a man is a valuable commodity—to be sold to the highest bidderâ€� Ěý It isn’t easy being the oldest boy in a house run by women—especially for Jerin Whistler. The grand-matriarchs of his clan are descended from soldiers, spies, and thieves. That’s partly what’s kept their family alive in the wilderness. But it also means Jerin’s doomed to marry the girls next door—a fate he’s convinced is worse than death. But Jerin gets in even worse trouble when, in the process of a daring rescue, he falls in love with a royal princess who’s as high above his station as it’s possible to be. Ěý Ren knows that Jerin is too far below her class to be an appropriate match for her and her royal sisters. But then she hears rumors of a long-held Whistler family secret—one that might provide a way for them to finally be together. Unfortunately, she still has four sisters to convince. And that’s before Jerin even comes to the capital—where simmering political tensions will threaten not just their love, but all their lives...“Don’t plan on getting anything else done if you start a Wen Spencer novel; they are exceedingly hard to put down!”â€�Nebula Award-Winning AuthorĚýCatherine Asaro]]> 310 Wen Spencer 1101190396 Pam 3 4.22 2005 A Brother's Price
author: Wen Spencer
name: Pam
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 2022/10/27
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: mf-romance, poly, read-2022, fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Artek (Seven Brides for Seven Alien Brothers, #1)]]> 61395038
None of the human females in the small town on the other side of the mountains appeal to him except for the shopkeeper’s daughter. She’s smart, sensible - and disturbingly attractive despite her shapeless clothes and brusque manner.

Although Nelly is rapidly turning into the town spinster, she’d rather be alone than married to one of the local bumpkins. But when one of the mysterious aliens who have taken up residence in the mountains behind the town proposes a union, she sees the chance for a new future. He’s big and gruff - but he treats her as if she’s precious.

But a whirlwind courtship and a hasty marriage are only the beginning. Can two people who know nothing about each other possibly find happiness together?

Each book in the Seven Brides series features a different couple and may be read as a standalone, but the books do link together. This sweet and steamy series is intended for mature readers.]]> 152 Honey Phillips Pam 2 4.03 2022 Artek (Seven Brides for Seven Alien Brothers, #1)
author: Honey Phillips
name: Pam
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/16
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: ku, mf-romance, read-2024, scifi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Heiress Effect (Brothers Sinister, #2)]]> 18193059
And that’s precisely what she wants. She’ll do anything, even risk humiliation, if it means she can stay unmarried and keep her sister safe.

Mr. Oliver Marshall has to do everything right. He’s the bastard son of a duke, raised in humble circumstances—and he intends to give voice and power to the common people. If he makes one false step, he’ll never get the chance to accomplish anything. He doesn’t need to come to the rescue of the wrong woman. He certainly doesn’t need to fall in love with her. But there’s something about the lovely, courageous Jane that he can’t resist…even though it could mean the ruin of them both.]]> 344 Courtney Milan Pam 3
I was starting to think I needed to give up on MF historicals altogether -- which was really depressing me -- and now I know for sure that there really are some out there that will work for me and I'm not wasting my time if I keep trying them out. That's a big ask for one romance novel, but she did it, and it was such a huge relief to me.

It's only 3 stars because I have a personal preference against the conflict she used as the driving force keeping these two apart, but it's not MF specific, and it didn't keep me from enjoying the book. It just kept me slightly less invested in the feels. I will very happily try more from her.]]> 4.04 2013 The Heiress Effect (Brothers Sinister, #2)
author: Courtney Milan
name: Pam
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2021/04/11
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: mf-romance, historical, read-2021, authors-poc
review:
Mostly I just want to thank Courtney Milan for a positive experience reading an MF historical!! Historical romances are the ultimate comfort read for me, but trying to find my way back to reading the occasional MF romance after reading MM for so long has been a bit tricky.

I was starting to think I needed to give up on MF historicals altogether -- which was really depressing me -- and now I know for sure that there really are some out there that will work for me and I'm not wasting my time if I keep trying them out. That's a big ask for one romance novel, but she did it, and it was such a huge relief to me.

It's only 3 stars because I have a personal preference against the conflict she used as the driving force keeping these two apart, but it's not MF specific, and it didn't keep me from enjoying the book. It just kept me slightly less invested in the feels. I will very happily try more from her.
]]> Woke Up Like This 125931167 273 Amy Lea 1662511698 Pam 0 4.04 2023 Woke Up Like This
author: Amy Lea
name: Pam
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2023/12/22
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: ku, mf-romance, ya, read-2023, authors-poc
review:

]]> How to End a Love Story 63247365
“Emotional, relatable and binge-worthy." –Tessa Bailey

“I’ll read anything she writes. An absolute star." –Emily Henry

“I was hooked on the very first page. Don't miss this one!" � Carley Fortune

Two writers with a complicated history end up working on the same TV show. Can they write themselves a new ending? A sexy and emotional enemies-to-lovers romance guaranteed to pull on your heartstrings and give you a book hangover from brilliant new voice Yulin Kuang

Helen Zhang hasn’t seen Grant Shepard once in the thirteen years since the tragic accident that bound their lives together forever.

Now a bestselling author, Helen pours everything into her career. She’s even scored a coveted spot in the writers� room of the TV adaptation of her popular young adult novels, and if she can hide her imposter syndrome and overcome her writer’s block, surely the rest of her life will fall into place too. LA is the fresh start she needs. After all, no one knows her there. Except�

Grant has done everything in his power to move on from the past, including building a life across the country. And while the panic attacks have never quite gone away, he’s well liked around town as a screenwriter. He knows he shouldn’t have taken the job on Helen’s show, but it will open doors to developing his own projects that he just can’t pass up.

Grant’s exactly as Helen remembers him—charming, funny, popular, and lovable in ways that she’s never been. And Helen’s exactly as Grant remembers too—brilliant, beautiful, closed off. But working together is messy, and electrifying, and Helen’s parents, who have never forgiven Grant, have no idea he’s in the picture at all.

When secrets come to light, they must reckon with the fact that theirs was never meant to be any kind of love story. And yet� the key to making peace with their past—and themselves—might just lie in holding on to each other in the present.]]> 384 Yulin Kuang Pam 4 3.61 2024 How to End a Love Story
author: Yulin Kuang
name: Pam
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/12
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: mf-romance, library-tn, read-2024, favorites-2024, authors-poc
review:

]]> Unmarriageable 39926661 In this one-of-a-kind retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in modern-day Pakistan, Alys Binat has sworn never to marry—until an encounter with one Mr. Darsee at a wedding makes her reconsider.

A scandal and vicious rumor concerning the Binat family have destroyed their fortune and prospects for desirable marriages, but Alys, the second and most practical of the five Binat daughters, has found happiness teaching English literature to schoolgirls. Knowing that many of her students won’t make it to graduation before dropping out to marry and have children, Alys teaches them about Jane Austen and her other literary heroes and hopes to inspire the girls to dream of more.

When an invitation arrives to the biggest wedding their small town has seen in years, Mrs. Binat, certain that their luck is about to change, excitedly sets to work preparing her daughters to fish for rich, eligible bachelors. On the first night of the festivities, Alys’s lovely older sister, Jena, catches the eye of Fahad “Bungles� Bingla, the wildly successful—and single—entrepreneur. But Bungles’s friend Valentine Darsee is clearly unimpressed by the Binat family. Alys accidentally overhears his unflattering assessment of her and quickly dismisses him and his snobbish ways. As the days of lavish wedding parties unfold, the Binats wait breathlessly to see if Jena will land a proposal—and Alys begins to realize that Darsee’s brusque manner may be hiding a very different man from the one she saw at first glance.

Told with wry wit and colorful prose, Unmarriageable is a charming update on Jane Austen’s beloved novel and an exhilarating exploration of love, marriage, class, and sisterhood.

]]> 352 Soniah Kamal 1524799726 Pam 3 3.73 2019 Unmarriageable
author: Soniah Kamal
name: Pam
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/15
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: mf-romance, library-fl, read-2024, authors-poc
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Heart Principle (The Kiss Quotient, #3)]]> 49490550 A woman struggling with burnout learns to embrace the unexpected—and the man she enlists to help her—in this new New York Times bestselling romance by Helen Hoang.

When violinist Anna Sun accidentally achieves career success with a viral YouTube video, she finds herself incapacitated and burned out from her attempts to replicate that moment. And when her longtime boyfriend announces he wants an open relationship before making a final commitment, a hurt and angry Anna decides that if he wants an open relationship, then she does, too. Translation: She’s going to embark on a string of one-night stands. The more unacceptable the men, the better.

That’s where tattooed, motorcycle-riding Quan Diep comes in. Their first attempt at a one-night stand fails, as does their second, and their third, because being with Quan is more than sex—he accepts Anna on an unconditional level that she herself has just started to understand. However, when tragedy strikes Anna’s family she takes on a role that she is ill-suited for, until the burden of expectations threatens to destroy her. Anna and Quan have to fight for their chance at love, but to do that, they also have to fight for themselves.]]> 351 Helen Hoang 0451490851 Pam 0
I was very much enjoying the romance until the MC's family issues began. At that point the focus shifts to caretaking and the way the MC's family doesn't understand how completely she's losing herself and all sense of hope to the overwhelming, heartbreaking, and in this case completely unfair in many ways situation. Immaculately written, horrifying to read and unexpectedly triggering for me personally.

The romance is shoved so far into the background -- which is part of the point the book is making -- that I don't think you should really think of this as a Romance. It's a book with romantic elements for sure, but...

I also didn't love the final beats of the romance storyline, but they were pretty much in line with what annoys me about the genre in general. Certainly nowhere near as strong as what I needed to make the rest of worthwhile, though.

I would not read this if the topic has potential to be triggering for you. Otherwise, it definitely packs a punch.]]> 4.08 2021 The Heart Principle (The Kiss Quotient, #3)
author: Helen Hoang
name: Pam
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2022/02/07
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: library-fl, library-tn, mf-romance, read-2022, authors-poc
review:
I can't rate this very well-written book because it triggered me so hard it sent me into a mild depression that I had to work my ass off to crawl back out of over the next couple of days.

I was very much enjoying the romance until the MC's family issues began. At that point the focus shifts to caretaking and the way the MC's family doesn't understand how completely she's losing herself and all sense of hope to the overwhelming, heartbreaking, and in this case completely unfair in many ways situation. Immaculately written, horrifying to read and unexpectedly triggering for me personally.

The romance is shoved so far into the background -- which is part of the point the book is making -- that I don't think you should really think of this as a Romance. It's a book with romantic elements for sure, but...

I also didn't love the final beats of the romance storyline, but they were pretty much in line with what annoys me about the genre in general. Certainly nowhere near as strong as what I needed to make the rest of worthwhile, though.

I would not read this if the topic has potential to be triggering for you. Otherwise, it definitely packs a punch.
]]> <![CDATA[The Kiss Quotient (The Kiss Quotient, #1)]]> 36199084 A heartwarming and refreshing debut novel that proves one thing: there's not enough data in the world to predict what will make your heart tick.

Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases—a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.

It doesn't help that Stella has Asperger's and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice—with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can't afford to turn down Stella's offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan—from foreplay to more-than-missionary position...

Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but to crave all the other things he's making her feel. Soon, their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic...]]> 323 Helen Hoang 0451490819 Pam 3 3.88 2018 The Kiss Quotient (The Kiss Quotient, #1)
author: Helen Hoang
name: Pam
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2022/11/07
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: mf-romance, read-2022, authors-poc
review:

]]> Thirty Day Boyfriend 36135940 I should've never agreed to this arrangement...

Thirty days ago, my boss—Mr. Wolf of Wall Street, came to me with an offer I couldn’t refuse: Sign my name on the dotted line and pretend to be his fiancée for one month. If I agreed, he would let me out of my employment contract with a “very generous� severance package.

The rules were pretty simple: No intimate kissing, no actual sex. Just pretend to love each other for the press, even though I’ve secretly wanted to knock that sexy smirk off his face since the first day we met.

I definitely didn’t need to think twice about this. I signed my name and started counting down the seconds to when I would never have to deal with his special brand of ass-holery again.

I only made it to one minute...

We argued the entire four-hour flight to his hometown, failed to make a convincing impression with the welcoming press, and right when I was about to knock that arrogant look off his face in real life? He purposely dropped his bath towel in front of me, distracting me with his nine-inch cock to "show me who the bigger person was" in our relationship. Then he gave me his trademark smirk once again and asked if I wanted to consummate our marriage.

Tragically, this is only day one.
We still have 29 more days to go...]]> 119 Whitney G. Pam 2 3.88 2017 Thirty Day Boyfriend
author: Whitney G.
name: Pam
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2017
rating: 2
read at: 2024/09/30
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: ku, mf-romance, read-2024, authors-black
review:

]]> <![CDATA[First Time for Everything (Cafe Titas, #1)]]> 175417340
That night looked like a rejection, but Victor was never mad at Sabrina about it. They’d known each other for a long time, and if anything had happened he would have failed a relationship anyway. He was already everything to everyone, from keeping the family business running, to being the reliable eldest son while the world was seemingly on fire. No time to fall in love, even with one of his favorite people.

Two years later, Victor gets a call from Sabrina who asks if they could possibly try again. Which part? Everything.]]> 140 Mina V. Esguerra Pam 0 3.89 2023 First Time for Everything (Cafe Titas, #1)
author: Mina V. Esguerra
name: Pam
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2023/10/11
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: mf-romance, scribd, read-2023, authors-poc
review:

]]> Radiance (Wraith Kings, #1) 24473763 The Prince of no value
Brishen Khaskem, prince of the Kai, has lived content as the nonessential spare heir to a throne secured many times over. A trade and political alliance between the human kingdom of Gaur and the Kai kingdom of Bast-Haradis requires that he marry a Gauri woman to seal the treaty. Always a dutiful son, Brishen agrees to the marriage and discovers his bride is as ugly as he expected and more beautiful than he could have imagined.

The noblewoman of no importance
Ildiko, niece of the Gauri king, has always known her only worth to the royal family lay in a strategic marriage. Resigned to her fate, she is horrified to learn that her intended groom isn’t just a foreign aristocrat but the younger prince of a people neither familiar nor human. Bound to her new husband, Ildiko will leave behind all she’s known to embrace a man shrouded in darkness but with a soul forged by light.

Two people brought together by the trappings of duty and politics will discover they are destined for each other, even as the powers of a hostile kingdom scheme to tear them apart.]]> 297 Grace Draven Pam 3
The MCs are both relieved to find themselves paired with a kind-hearted companion in this arranged marriage and are committed to developing a true friendship in order to make this arrangement as pleasant as possible. I loved the progression of their relationship and all the creativity and thought put into the melding of these different species.

There were a few strange choices with the chronology in the narrative that killed the momentum several times, but at most that made a half-star difference. I know three stars is a bad rating for a lot of people, but I genuinely liked it. It made for a very enjoyable read.

But I also don't feel the need to continue with the series, so I'm just treating it like a standalone. I didn't even realize it was a series until I got to the epilogue. This one has a complete story arc, no cliff-hanger, and a satisfying conclusion, and then the epilogue flashes over to Brishen's mother (the queen) who is setting certain things into motion that are setting up Book 2, which looks to be a completely different kind of book. It's going in a direction that I didn't find to be a particular strength of this book, so I'm just sticking with Book 1. But this is still a 3-star read that I would happily recommend.]]> 3.98 2015 Radiance (Wraith Kings, #1)
author: Grace Draven
name: Pam
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2020/04/08
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: library-fl, mf-romance, read-2020, fantasy
review:
I LOL'd many, many times today thanks to this book. The humor between the MCs was an absolute delight. Brishen's descriptions of human eyes are hilarious, and the author did a great job creating a species that is both humanoid and a little freaky at first sight.

The MCs are both relieved to find themselves paired with a kind-hearted companion in this arranged marriage and are committed to developing a true friendship in order to make this arrangement as pleasant as possible. I loved the progression of their relationship and all the creativity and thought put into the melding of these different species.

There were a few strange choices with the chronology in the narrative that killed the momentum several times, but at most that made a half-star difference. I know three stars is a bad rating for a lot of people, but I genuinely liked it. It made for a very enjoyable read.

But I also don't feel the need to continue with the series, so I'm just treating it like a standalone. I didn't even realize it was a series until I got to the epilogue. This one has a complete story arc, no cliff-hanger, and a satisfying conclusion, and then the epilogue flashes over to Brishen's mother (the queen) who is setting certain things into motion that are setting up Book 2, which looks to be a completely different kind of book. It's going in a direction that I didn't find to be a particular strength of this book, so I'm just sticking with Book 1. But this is still a 3-star read that I would happily recommend.
]]> <![CDATA[Married to the Alien Cowboy (Cowboy Colony Mail-Order Brides, #1)]]> 215352175 A quiet alien cowboy, a human woman on the run, and one very messy marriage of convenience. What could possibly go wrong?

In debt and on the run from a crime lord whose nose I may or may not have broken, I take the first ticket off-world that comes my way. It's an all-expenses-paid, one-way trip to an isolated ranching outpost.

The only catch?
I have to marry an alien cowboy.

My plan is simple enough. Shack up with my groom Silar and convince him to keep me during the first month of our marriage. As long as he doesn't decide to send me packing after the thirty-day trial period, I'll be safe.

But maybe my plan isn’t so great after all. Silar talks more to his animals than he does to me, seems perplexed by every wifely duty I try to perform for him, and goes to offensively great lengths to avoid touching me.

Other than his eyes glowing bright white every time he looks at me, I have no idea what's going on in my new husband’s head. Meanwhile, he shows me in subtle, wordless ways just how good a man he can be when he thinks that no one's watching.

Yup. My plan officially sucks. Because now, it's not just my life at risk if Silar sends me away after thirty days�

It’s my stupid human heart.

Welcome to the cowboy colony planet, where men outnumber women ten to one and cattle outnumber them all...]]> 276 Ursa Dax Pam 2 4.15 2024 Married to the Alien Cowboy (Cowboy Colony Mail-Order Brides, #1)
author: Ursa Dax
name: Pam
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/09/05
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: ku, mf-romance, read-2024, scifi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Moon Called (Mercy Thompson, #1)]]> 6354356 Moon Called is the novel that introduced Patricia Briggs’s Mercy Thompson to the world and launched a #1 bestselling phenomenon...

Mercy Thompson is a shapeshifter, and while she was raised by werewolves, she can never be one of them, especially after the pack ran her off for having a forbidden love affair. So she’s turned her talent for fixing cars into a business and now runs a one-woman mechanic shop in the Tri-Cities area of Washington State.

But Mercy’s two worlds are colliding. A half-starved teenage boy arrives at her shop looking for work, only to reveal that he’s a newly changed werewolf—on the run and desperately trying to control his animal instincts. Mercy asks her neighbor Adam Hauptman, the Alpha of the local werewolf pack, for assistance.

But Mercy’s act of kindness has unexpected consequences that leave her no choice but to seek help from those she once considered family—the werewolves who abandoned her...]]> 298 Patricia Briggs 1101208430 Pam 2 4.27 2006 Moon Called (Mercy Thompson, #1)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Pam
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2006
rating: 2
read at: 2022/11/03
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: mf-romance, read-2022, urban-fantasy
review:

]]> The Ministry of Time 199897956
In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats� from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.

She is tasked with working as a “bridge�: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as �1847� or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machine,� “Spotify,� and “the collapse of the British Empire.� But he adjusts quickly; he is, after all, an explorer by trade. Soon, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a seriously uncomfortable housemate dynamic, evolves into something much more. Over the course of an unprecedented year, Gore and the bridge fall haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences they never could have imagined.

Supported by a chaotic and charming cast of characters—including a 17th-century cinephile who can’t get enough of Tinder, a painfully shy World War I captain, and a former spy with an ever-changing series of cosmetic surgery alterations and a belligerent attitude to HR—the bridge will be forced to confront the past that shaped her choices, and the choices that will shape the future.

An exquisitely original and feverishly fun fusion of genres and ideas, The Ministry of Time asks the universal What happens if you put a disaffected millennial and a Victorian polar explorer in a house together?]]> 344 Kaliane Bradley Pam 3 3.87 2024 The Ministry of Time
author: Kaliane Bradley
name: Pam
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/08
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: notmm, mf-romance, library-fl, read-2024, scifi
review:

]]> Wildfire (Hidden Legacy, #3) 27422533
Rogan faces his own challenges, too, as Nevada’s magical rank has made her a desirable match for other Primes. Controlling his immense powers is child’s play next to controlling his conflicting emotions. And now he and Nevada are confronted by a new threat within her own family. Can they face this together? Or is their world about to go up in smoke?]]> 391 Ilona Andrews 0062289276 Pam 3 4.44 2017 Wildfire (Hidden Legacy, #3)
author: Ilona Andrews
name: Pam
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2022/10/30
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: mf-romance, read-2022, urban-fantasy, fantasy
review:

]]> White Hot (Hidden Legacy, #2) 22303684
Rogan is a billionaire Prime—the highest rank of magic user—and as unreadable as ever, despite Nevada's "talent." But there's no hiding the sparks between them. Now that the stakes are even higher, both professionally and personally, and their foes are unimaginably powerful, Rogan and Nevada will find that nothing burns like ice . . .]]> 389 Ilona Andrews 006228925X Pam 3 4.40 2017 White Hot (Hidden Legacy, #2)
author: Ilona Andrews
name: Pam
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2022/10/29
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: mf-romance, read-2022, fantasy, urban-fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Burn for Me (Hidden Legacy, #1)]]> 20705702
Then she's kidnapped by Connor "Mad" Rogan—a darkly tempting billionaire with equally devastating powers. Torn between wanting to run or surrender to their overwhelming attraction, Nevada must join forces with Rogan to stay alive.

Rogan's after the same target, so he needs Nevada. But she's getting under his skin, making him care about someone other than himself for a change. And, as Rogan has learned, love can be as perilous as death, especially in the magic world.]]> 382 Ilona Andrews 0062289241 Pam 3 4.27 2014 Burn for Me (Hidden Legacy, #1)
author: Ilona Andrews
name: Pam
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2022/10/28
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: mf-romance, read-2022, urban-fantasy, fantasy
review:

]]> Moonlight (Pact Arcanum, #3) 17252063 The Magician

Washington, D. C., 2042. Toby Jameson is accustomed to being overshadowed by his brother Nick, but he doesn’t have to like it. While attending the funeral of the First Lady of the United States, he finds a kindred spirit in Andrea Daniels, the President’s daughter. When Nick discovers Andrea’s supernatural destiny as a latent leader of the Sentinel race, Toby is happy to accept a secret assignment to protect her as she leaves the Armistice Zone, if only to gain a little distance from his relationship with his lover, Layla.

The Daywalker

Layla, the leader of the Daywalker race, has had three thousand years to earn her reputation as the Prince of Wrath. Her romance with the strong-willed young Sentinel has been contentious at best, but neither is willing to walk away nor give voice to a deeper commitment. When her protective overtures go awry prior to Toby’s departure, provoking them both into frank combat, it seems their relationship is finally doomed. Then a shocking discovery changes everything, casting the very nature of Sentinels and Daywalkers into question.

The Wind

In the wake of her mother’s death, Andrea returns to England to escape the watchful eye of her estranged father. When Toby shows up on her doorstep unannounced, she knows he has a secret agenda, but is willing to overlook his secrets in the spirit of friendship that kindled between them at their last meeting. But nothing stays secret forever, and it’s only a matter of time before they find themselves fighting for their lives against both the enemy they know, and a new menace that has emerged from within the virtual world.]]> 322 Arshad Ahsanuddin 1927528127 Pam 3 3.5 stars 4.31 2011 Moonlight (Pact Arcanum, #3)
author: Arshad Ahsanuddin
name: Pam
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2021/06/15
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: authors-ownvoices, mf-romance, read-2021, gb-19q3-24q4, fantasy, authors-poc
review:
3.5 stars
]]> <![CDATA[Playing Around (Rough Play #1)]]> 44438158
But being away from home means discovering freedom Logan and Christian have never had before, and their journey of finding who they really want to be—and how they want to fit into each other’s lives—is a messy one.

When a double date with their girlfriends turns into a new, erotic experience, both Logan and Christian are shaken by it. Suddenly, they can’t continue to see each other in a platonic light. Exploring their curiosity feels dangerous even when their girlfriends aren’t an issue, but ignoring their changing feelings is impossible.]]> 321 Suzanne Clay 1950412466 Pam 4 CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FOR FREE at . (No longer free, but still on sale) I had never heard of it or the author, but the reviews were positive and That Cover, yes please :) And I am now obsessed. Freebie for the win!!!! I have already purchased and devoured the sequel (also on sale, though not free) and eagerly anticipate the third book. I highly recommend it if you can handle:

>An explicit-ish m/f sex scene
>Girlfriends that stick around for longer than expected
>"Ethical non-monogamy" (AKA no cheating, even though there are multiple sexual partners)

I have recently discovered a love of romances with ethical non-monogamy (although I didn't know the all-encompassing term for it; thank you, book -- and Charlotte the most kick-ass GF you will ever read about in an m/m romance!) but I had no idea that's what I was getting coming into this story.

Ironically, I picked it up because I was in need of my comfort trope, which for me means the reliable formula of College Boys + Bisexual Discovery/Exploration = Unexpected True Love Forever. But there is nothing formulaic about this. If you need the tried and true traditional romance formula, this is not for you. At one point, I genuinely had NO IDEA where this story was going, and I'm so glad I went into it with zero expectations.

The writing's pretty raw, but so are the MCs. They are so specific and real, and I think it was a great idea to make this a trilogy. Both MCs are hiding a lot of insecurity under false bravado due to their strange hometown situation -- they were the only two black kids in their small, rural Georgia town and were both raised by white parents -- but being literal teenagers, they aren't really self-aware of how much this has affected their behavioral patterns.

They don't have the best communication skills, but I think it's a fantastically realistic representation of what that environment would breed. And that just doesn't get fixed in one semester, no matter how liberal and welcoming your new environment.

I also appreciated the accuracy of their long-term friendship not being able to turn on a dime just because they discovered a sexual attraction. There are lifelong patterns at work there that don't disappear overnight. The unhealthy communication patterns don't really get addressed until the sequel, but don't worry, it's coming :)

There's also a secondary trans character who gets a much bigger role in Book 2. There's just great representation all over the place with this series.

You may want to read the spoiler-y blurb for Book 2 if the "ethical non-monogamy" has you worried. But if it doesn't, I highly recommend just going along for the ride. And also ignoring this: [spoilers removed]]]> 3.92 2019 Playing Around (Rough Play #1)
author: Suzanne Clay
name: Pam
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2020/03/27
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: own-freebies, college-romance, read-2020, authors-black, reread
review:
First: This book is CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FOR FREE at . (No longer free, but still on sale) I had never heard of it or the author, but the reviews were positive and That Cover, yes please :) And I am now obsessed. Freebie for the win!!!! I have already purchased and devoured the sequel (also on sale, though not free) and eagerly anticipate the third book. I highly recommend it if you can handle:

>An explicit-ish m/f sex scene
>Girlfriends that stick around for longer than expected
>"Ethical non-monogamy" (AKA no cheating, even though there are multiple sexual partners)

I have recently discovered a love of romances with ethical non-monogamy (although I didn't know the all-encompassing term for it; thank you, book -- and Charlotte the most kick-ass GF you will ever read about in an m/m romance!) but I had no idea that's what I was getting coming into this story.

Ironically, I picked it up because I was in need of my comfort trope, which for me means the reliable formula of College Boys + Bisexual Discovery/Exploration = Unexpected True Love Forever. But there is nothing formulaic about this. If you need the tried and true traditional romance formula, this is not for you. At one point, I genuinely had NO IDEA where this story was going, and I'm so glad I went into it with zero expectations.

The writing's pretty raw, but so are the MCs. They are so specific and real, and I think it was a great idea to make this a trilogy. Both MCs are hiding a lot of insecurity under false bravado due to their strange hometown situation -- they were the only two black kids in their small, rural Georgia town and were both raised by white parents -- but being literal teenagers, they aren't really self-aware of how much this has affected their behavioral patterns.

They don't have the best communication skills, but I think it's a fantastically realistic representation of what that environment would breed. And that just doesn't get fixed in one semester, no matter how liberal and welcoming your new environment.

I also appreciated the accuracy of their long-term friendship not being able to turn on a dime just because they discovered a sexual attraction. There are lifelong patterns at work there that don't disappear overnight. The unhealthy communication patterns don't really get addressed until the sequel, but don't worry, it's coming :)

There's also a secondary trans character who gets a much bigger role in Book 2. There's just great representation all over the place with this series.

You may want to read the spoiler-y blurb for Book 2 if the "ethical non-monogamy" has you worried. But if it doesn't, I highly recommend just going along for the ride. And also ignoring this: [spoilers removed]
]]> Playing House (Rough Play #2) 52162775
Christian receives an opportunity to pursue one of his greatest unfulfilled passions: acting. It’s a chance to explore a talent his parents crushed before he could dream of spending his life studying it—but is he up to the challenge? Is it worth taking the risk, knowing his family won’t support him?

Logan struggles with his attachment to Christian and his fears of being left behind. If Christian’s career on the stage takes off, will he abandon Logan and replace him with far better lovers? And how can Logan be so hypocritical when another man has caught his eye? Or has that man perhaps captured Christian’s attention as well?

Their relationship will be tested far beyond their imagination—but love always has room to grow, even in the face of fear.]]> Suzanne Clay 1951880757 Pam 4
I love these two so much, and Noah is a fantastic addition. Book 2 finds Logan and Christian in love and moving in together and realizing they have some unhealthy communication issues to work on, among other things.

I was so relieved to see these issues addressed, and the author continues her commitment to realism as they fumble through this transition from best friends to boyfriends. The emotions are raw and not always pretty, but they are committed to each other and to figuring it out, and their utter devotion to each other's happiness is ultimately a thing of beauty.

They are continuing to pull away from their parents' narrow-minded expectations and starting to thrive outside the confines of their conservative town. Christian more so than Logan, which is where some other issues come to light.

Noah was a key source of Logan's insight into his and Christian's relationship dynamic in Book 1, and he becomes an even larger part of Logan's day-to-day life in this new chapter. Since Logan and Christian are learning to talk to each other about anything and everything as it happens and not let things snowball or fester, Logan tells Christian when he realizes he's developed an attraction to their roommate, even though he is horrified that he's let this sneak up on him.

But Christian, being so beautifully schooled in all the different version of polyamory by ex-girlfriend Charlotte, is not bothered by this development. He knows he and Logan are in this for life and is confident their relationship can weather whatever that attraction leads to.

And where it leads is AWESOME. It's hot, it's sweet and it provides some fantastic trans rep to boot. Noah is a fascinating combination of shy but bold, and I love how firmly he addresses certain issues when they arise.

I have no idea where we're going from here, but I can't wait to find out. Suzanne Clay clearly has a firm handle on who these guys are and how they fit together, and I am all in for Book 3.]]> 4.20 2020 Playing House (Rough Play #2)
author: Suzanne Clay
name: Pam
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/03/27
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: poly, trans, favorites-2020, read-2020, reread, authors-black
review:
This series just gets better and better. I am so glad I stumbled on it through the current NineStar sales and freebies. (And I am already on pins and needles waiting for Book 3!!!)

I love these two so much, and Noah is a fantastic addition. Book 2 finds Logan and Christian in love and moving in together and realizing they have some unhealthy communication issues to work on, among other things.

I was so relieved to see these issues addressed, and the author continues her commitment to realism as they fumble through this transition from best friends to boyfriends. The emotions are raw and not always pretty, but they are committed to each other and to figuring it out, and their utter devotion to each other's happiness is ultimately a thing of beauty.

They are continuing to pull away from their parents' narrow-minded expectations and starting to thrive outside the confines of their conservative town. Christian more so than Logan, which is where some other issues come to light.

Noah was a key source of Logan's insight into his and Christian's relationship dynamic in Book 1, and he becomes an even larger part of Logan's day-to-day life in this new chapter. Since Logan and Christian are learning to talk to each other about anything and everything as it happens and not let things snowball or fester, Logan tells Christian when he realizes he's developed an attraction to their roommate, even though he is horrified that he's let this sneak up on him.

But Christian, being so beautifully schooled in all the different version of polyamory by ex-girlfriend Charlotte, is not bothered by this development. He knows he and Logan are in this for life and is confident their relationship can weather whatever that attraction leads to.

And where it leads is AWESOME. It's hot, it's sweet and it provides some fantastic trans rep to boot. Noah is a fascinating combination of shy but bold, and I love how firmly he addresses certain issues when they arise.

I have no idea where we're going from here, but I can't wait to find out. Suzanne Clay clearly has a firm handle on who these guys are and how they fit together, and I am all in for Book 3.
]]> Friday's Child 311178 376 Georgette Heyer 0099468042 Pam 4 3.92 1944 Friday's Child
author: Georgette Heyer
name: Pam
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1944
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/11
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: historical, mf-romance, favorites-2024, read-2024
review:

]]> Faro's Daughter 311163 288 Georgette Heyer 0099465590 Pam 0 Batch B 3.91 1941 Faro's Daughter
author: Georgette Heyer
name: Pam
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1941
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, historical, mf-romance, 1-nextup
review:
Batch B
]]> Sylvester or The Wicked Uncle 32105 410 Georgette Heyer 0373836082 Pam 3 4.11 1957 Sylvester or The Wicked Uncle
author: Georgette Heyer
name: Pam
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1957
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/25
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: historical, mf-romance, library-fl, read-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Dispossessed (Hainish Cycle, #6)]]> 54297097 From the brilliant and award-winning author Ursula K. Le Guin comes a classic tale of two planets torn apart by conflict and mistrust � and the man who risks everything to reunite them.

A bleak moon settled by utopian anarchists, Anarres has long been isolated from other worlds, including its mother planet, Urras—a civilization of warring nations, great poverty, and immense wealth. Now Shevek, a brilliant physicist, is determined to reunite the two planets, which have been divided by centuries of distrust. He will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and attempt to tear down the walls of hatred that have kept them apart.

To visit Urras—to learn, to teach, to share—will require great sacrifice and risks, which Shevek willingly accepts. But the ambitious scientist's gift is soon seen as a threat, and in the profound conflict that ensues, he must reexamine his beliefs even as he ignites the fires of change.

]]> 400 Ursula K. Le Guin Pam 3
I loved the MC Shevek and how clearly and consistently he understood himself and stuck to his principles. Which is why I can't believe there's a throwaway scene where he almost accidentally [spoilers removed] someone toward the end of the book. WTF??? I mean, he's experiencing alcohol for the first time and is EXTREMELY drunk and doesn't realize it, and the woman's odd behavior is definitely contributing to the confusion, but it's disturbing. And then he passes out and it's never addressed again. It's so strange and unnecessary, and the scene stands out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the book.

Other than that, I enjoyed the experience, especially once the momentum picked up about a third of the way in, but I feel more of a sense of accomplishment having read it than anything else. I've had Le Guin at the very top of my "authors to try this year" list for several years, and this was a good intro I think. I'll definitely try A Wizard of Earthsea next, and then see how I feel from there.]]> 4.32 1974 The Dispossessed (Hainish Cycle, #6)
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Pam
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1974
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/26
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: library-fl, notmm, scifi, read-2023
review:
This is a hard book to rate. On the one hand, I'm blown away by the society she created from scratch. The level of detail is mind-boggling and also very interesting in how this anarchist world functions from day to day and year to year. It's so incredibly different from anything I've ever heard of, and she has such a clear grasp on it from all angles -- strengths, weaknesses, how it would evolve over time, what the barriers to that evolvement could be, the various ways individuals would find to express their varying levels of commitment to the founding ideals of the society and how that would play out through good times and bad. Fascinating, both anthropologically and philosophically.

I loved the MC Shevek and how clearly and consistently he understood himself and stuck to his principles. Which is why I can't believe there's a throwaway scene where he almost accidentally [spoilers removed] someone toward the end of the book. WTF??? I mean, he's experiencing alcohol for the first time and is EXTREMELY drunk and doesn't realize it, and the woman's odd behavior is definitely contributing to the confusion, but it's disturbing. And then he passes out and it's never addressed again. It's so strange and unnecessary, and the scene stands out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the book.

Other than that, I enjoyed the experience, especially once the momentum picked up about a third of the way in, but I feel more of a sense of accomplishment having read it than anything else. I've had Le Guin at the very top of my "authors to try this year" list for several years, and this was a good intro I think. I'll definitely try A Wizard of Earthsea next, and then see how I feel from there.
]]> <![CDATA[A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)]]> 16029682 210 Ursula K. Le Guin 0544084373 Pam 3
PS: This has nothing to do with my rating, but I'm so glad I read some of the negative reviews of Le Guin before I finally started reading her this year. Otherwise I would have been completely unprepared for how male-driven her stories are.]]> 4.04 1968 A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Pam
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1968
rating: 3
read at: 2023/11/07
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: library-fl, notmm, fantasy, read-2023
review:
The world-building was fantastic, and I loved the point of the plot (although I'm not sure I would have really understood what she was saying as a teenager). But I have realized that my favorite books make me feel like I've embodied the characters -- and the epic scope of this story, told within a very contained length, combined with the slightly distancing storytelling style meant that doesn't happen here. So I liked it, but I'm not going to continue with the series.

PS: This has nothing to do with my rating, but I'm so glad I read some of the negative reviews of Le Guin before I finally started reading her this year. Otherwise I would have been completely unprepared for how male-driven her stories are.
]]> North and South 156538
In North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell skillfully fuses individual feeling with social concern, and in Margaret Hale creates one of the most original heroines of Victorian literature.]]> 521 Elizabeth Gaskell 0140620192 Pam 4 3.5 stars 4.14 1855 North and South
author: Elizabeth Gaskell
name: Pam
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1855
rating: 4
read at: 2023/10/31
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: historical, mf-romance, read-2023
review:
3.5 stars
]]> I Leave It Up to You 214269353 From the award-winning author of Flux comes a dazzling novel about love, family, and the art of sushi that asks: What if you could return to the point of a fateful choice, wiser than before, and find the courage to forge a new path?

A coma can change a man, but the world Jack Jr. awakens to is one he barely recognizes. His advertising job is history, his Manhattan apartment is gone, and the love of his life has left him behind. He’s been asleep for two years; with no one to turn to, he realizes it’s been ten years since he last saw his family.Ěý

Lost and disoriented, he makes a reluctant homecoming back to the bustling Korean American enclave of Fort Lee, New Jersey; back into the waiting arms of his parents, who are operating under the illusion he never left; and back to Joja, their ever-struggling sushi restaurant that he was set to inherit before he ran away from it all. As he steps back into the life he abandoned—learning his Appa’s life lessons over crates of tuna on bleary-eyed 4 AM fish runs, doling out amberjack behind the omakase counter while his Umma tallies the night's pitiful number of customers, and sparring with his recovering alcoholic brother, James—he embraces new roles, That of romantic interest to the male nurse who took care of him throughout, and that of sage (but underqualified) uncle to his gangly teenage nephew.

There is value in the joyous rhythms of this once-abandoned life. But second chances are an even messier business than running a restaurant, and the lure of a self-determined path might, once again, prove too hard to resist.

Why do we run from those we love, and why do we still love those who run from us? A highly entertaining and poignant story about second chances and self-discovery, I Leave It Up to You pilots through the loss, love, and absurdity of finding one’s footing after the ground gives way.]]> 311 Jinwoo Chong 0593727053 Pam 0 3.97 2025 I Leave It Up to You
author: Jinwoo Chong
name: Pam
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: to-read, library-fl, authors-poc
review:

]]> The Remains of the Day 28921 Librarian's note: See alternate cover edition of ISBN 0571225381 here.

In the summer of 1956, Stevens, a long-serving butler at Darlington Hall, decides to take a motoring trip through the West Country. The six-day excursion becomes a journey into the past of Stevens and England, a past that takes in fascism, two world wars, and an unrealised love between the butler and his housekeeper.]]> 258 Kazuo Ishiguro Pam 0 4.14 1989 The Remains of the Day
author: Kazuo Ishiguro
name: Pam
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1989
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, historical, notmm, own-physical, authors-poc
review:

]]> Sisters in the Wind 225699546 From the instant New York Times bestselling author of Firekeeper’s Daughter and Warrior Girl Unearthed comes a daring new mystery about a foster teen claiming her heritage on her own terms.

Ever since Lucy Smith’s father died five years ago, “home� has been more of an idea than a place. She knows being on the run is better than anything waiting for her as a “ward of the state.� But when the sharp-eyed and kind Mr. Jameson with an interest in her case comes looking for her, Lucy wonders if hiding from her past will ever truly keep her safe.

Five years in the foster system has taught her to be cautious and smart. But she wants to believe Mr. Jameson and his “friend-not-friend,� a tall and fierce-looking woman who say they want to look after her.

They also tell Lucy the truth her father hid from her: She is Ojibwe; she has � had � a sister, and more siblings; a grandmother who’d look after her and a home where she would be loved.

But Lucy is being followed. The past has destroyed any chance of normal she has had, and now the secrets she’s hiding will swallow her whole and take away the future she always dreamed of.]]> 384 Angeline Boulley 1250328535 Pam 0 4.50 2025 Sisters in the Wind
author: Angeline Boulley
name: Pam
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: wanttoread-ztobereleased, authors-poc, ya
review:

]]> Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic 26135825
Distant and exacting, Bruce Bechdel was an English teacher and director of the town funeral home, which Alison and her family referred to as the Fun Home. It was not until college that Alison, who had recently come out as a lesbian, discovered that her father was also gay. A few weeks after this revelation, he was dead, leaving a legacy of mystery for his daughter to resolve.]]> 232 Alison Bechdel 0618871713 Pam 5
Wow. I can definitely understand why this is so highly regarded. It's a fascinating, deeply analytical, well-executed family portrait and well worth its spot on PBT's Top 100 NonFiction list.

Highly recommended. I'm so glad I read it.]]> 4.07 2006 Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
author: Alison Bechdel
name: Pam
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/13
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: graphic-novels, library-fl, notmm, read-2023, favorites-2023, authors-ownvoices
review:
4.5 stars

Wow. I can definitely understand why this is so highly regarded. It's a fascinating, deeply analytical, well-executed family portrait and well worth its spot on PBT's Top 100 NonFiction list.

Highly recommended. I'm so glad I read it.
]]> Warrior Girl Unearthed 61675933
Thankfully she has the other outcasts of the summer program, Team Misfit Toys, and even her twin sister Pauline. Together they ace obstacle courses, plan vigils for missing women in the community, and make sure summer doesn’t feel so lost after all.

But when she attends a meeting at a local university, Perry learns about the “Warrior Girl�, an ancestor whose bones and knife are stored in the museum archives, and everything changes. Perry has to return Warrior Girl to her tribe. Determined to help, she learns all she can about NAGPRA, the federal law that allows tribes to request the return of ancestral remains and sacred items. The university has been using legal loopholes to hold onto Warrior Girl and twelve other Anishinaabe ancestors� remains, and Perry and the Misfits won’t let it go on any longer.

Using all of their skills and resources, the Misfits realize a heist is the only way to bring back the stolen artifacts and remains for good. But there is more to this repatriation than meets the eye as more women disappear and Pauline’s perfectionism takes a turn for the worse. As secrets and mysteries unfurl, Perry and the Misfits must fight to find a way to make things right � for the ancestors and for their community.]]> 396 Angeline Boulley 1250766583 Pam 0 4.31 2023 Warrior Girl Unearthed
author: Angeline Boulley
name: Pam
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2023/06/07
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: notmm, ya, library-fl, read-2023, authors-poc
review:

]]> Firekeeper's Daughter 50762972
After Daunis witnesses a shocking murder that thrusts her into a criminal investigation, she agrees to go undercover. But the deceptions—and deaths—keep piling up and soon the threat strikes too close to home. How far will she go to protect her community if it means tearing apart the only world she’s ever known?]]> 496 Angeline Boulley Pam 3 3.5 stars 4.39 2021 Firekeeper's Daughter
author: Angeline Boulley
name: Pam
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2021/11/25
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: notmm, library-fl, read-2021, ku, authors-poc
review:
3.5 stars
]]> The Scourge Between Stars 61441582
Faced with constant threats of starvation and destruction in the treacherous minefield of interstellar space, Jacklyn's crew has reached their breaking point. As unrest begins to spread throughout the ship’s Wards, a new threat emerges, picking off crew members in grim, bloody fashion.

Jacklyn and her team must hunt down the ship’s unknown intruder if they have any hope of making it back to their solar system alive.]]> 176 Ness Brown Pam 0 3.64 2023 The Scourge Between Stars
author: Ness Brown
name: Pam
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2023/06/01
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: scifi, notmm, library-fl, read-2023, authors-poc
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water]]> 53100320
A bandit walks into a coffeehouse, and it all goes downhill from there. Guet Imm, a young votary of the Order of the Pure Moon, joins up with an eclectic group of thieves (whether they like it or not) in order to protect a sacred object, and finds herself in a far more complicated situation than she could have ever imagined.]]> 160 Zen Cho Pam 3
ThisĚýwuxia fantasy beginsĚýwhen a ragtag group of bandits crosses paths with a displaced nun who decides she's joining them on the next part of their journey.

It took a little while to feel like this was going somewhere, but once the plot kicked in around 25% I really enjoyed it.Ěý

Both main characters were intriguing, and I really liked the way the spiritual aspects were incorporated into the story, especially how the mechanics of their belief system and the inner workings of the Order were described. I could feel both the soothing/calming/meditative aspects and the awe/majesty at the same time. In fact, I'm bumping the rating up a half star more than I was originally intending because I can still feel that sense of tranquility just writing about it, and that's pretty impressive five weeks/19 books later.Ěý

The writing takes a much lighter tone than I was expecting, which is definitely not a complaint, but combined with the short, novella length it did leave me wanting more. Mostly that's a sign of how intrigued I was by where these characters were headed, though. And now I'm going to go add one of this author's full-lengthĚýnovels to my TBR since I've realized how much more this has stuck with me than I was expecting it to.

One smallĚýwarning: I am almost positive this is not a translation, but it kind of feels like it is? To the extent that I think it must be intentional, which I don't hate, but there were moments when it was rough enough to pull me out of the story a little.]]> 3.86 2020 The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water
author: Zen Cho
name: Pam
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2023/02/23
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: notmm, library-fl, read-2023, fantasy, ff, trans, authors-poc
review:
3.5 stars

ThisĚýwuxia fantasy beginsĚýwhen a ragtag group of bandits crosses paths with a displaced nun who decides she's joining them on the next part of their journey.

It took a little while to feel like this was going somewhere, but once the plot kicked in around 25% I really enjoyed it.Ěý

Both main characters were intriguing, and I really liked the way the spiritual aspects were incorporated into the story, especially how the mechanics of their belief system and the inner workings of the Order were described. I could feel both the soothing/calming/meditative aspects and the awe/majesty at the same time. In fact, I'm bumping the rating up a half star more than I was originally intending because I can still feel that sense of tranquility just writing about it, and that's pretty impressive five weeks/19 books later.Ěý

The writing takes a much lighter tone than I was expecting, which is definitely not a complaint, but combined with the short, novella length it did leave me wanting more. Mostly that's a sign of how intrigued I was by where these characters were headed, though. And now I'm going to go add one of this author's full-lengthĚýnovels to my TBR since I've realized how much more this has stuck with me than I was expecting it to.

One smallĚýwarning: I am almost positive this is not a translation, but it kind of feels like it is? To the extent that I think it must be intentional, which I don't hate, but there were moments when it was rough enough to pull me out of the story a little.
]]> Exit West 31578016 From the internationally bestselling author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, a love story that unfolds in a world being irrevocably transformed by migration.
Ěý
In a country teetering on the brink of civil war, two young people meet—sensual, fiercely independent Nadia and gentle, restrained Saeed. They embark on a furtive love affair, thrust into premature intimacy by the unrest roiling their city. When it explodes, turning familiar streets into a patchwork of checkpoints and bomb blasts, they begin to hear whispers about doors—doors that can whisk people far away, if perilously and for a price. As violence and the threat of violence escalate, Nadia and Saeed decide that they no longer have a choice. Leaving their homeland and their old lives behind, they find a door and step through Ěý. . .

Exit West is an epic compressed into a slender page-turner—both completely of our time and for all time, Mohsin Hamid’s most ambitious and electrifying novel yet.]]> 240 Mohsin Hamid 073521218X Pam 3
And that relationship story is a bit of a downer. I tend to avoid stories that revolve around a disintegrating romantic relationship, regardless of the reasons or how well they're written, and this one was much stronger in the first half. The second half feels more like an outline that's still waiting for theĚýdetails to be filled in. It startsĚýto meander with no real plot, and I spent the last 20% ready to get to the ending that we already knew was coming by that point.Ěý

The portal phenomenon was also interesting at first, but the story neverĚýtakes full advantage of the idea, and I'm not sure I buy how non-violently things were settled in the end, even though I was happy to get out of that stressful bit of the story with minimum trauma.Ěý

I'm happy to have finally read a book I've owned for five years, but I'm not sure that I got much out of it. It may just be a case of preaching to the choir, though. I've always thought people should be able to move in and out of countries however they choose -- and was very happy to see it acknowledged that some people would use the portals in unexpected directions -- but I also know that's just not likely to ever happen. I don't know why I was expecting this book to have some kind of solution to that.]]> 3.88 2017 Exit West
author: Mohsin Hamid
name: Pam
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/10
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: notmm, own-physical, read-2023, authors-poc
review:
For me, this is a story full of potentialĚýthat never fully delivers. I was expecting something a little more... ambitious, I guess? More about the big pictureĚýof immigration politics, when it's really the story of two individuals and how their relationship is shaped and defined by their refugee experience.Ěý

And that relationship story is a bit of a downer. I tend to avoid stories that revolve around a disintegrating romantic relationship, regardless of the reasons or how well they're written, and this one was much stronger in the first half. The second half feels more like an outline that's still waiting for theĚýdetails to be filled in. It startsĚýto meander with no real plot, and I spent the last 20% ready to get to the ending that we already knew was coming by that point.Ěý

The portal phenomenon was also interesting at first, but the story neverĚýtakes full advantage of the idea, and I'm not sure I buy how non-violently things were settled in the end, even though I was happy to get out of that stressful bit of the story with minimum trauma.Ěý

I'm happy to have finally read a book I've owned for five years, but I'm not sure that I got much out of it. It may just be a case of preaching to the choir, though. I've always thought people should be able to move in and out of countries however they choose -- and was very happy to see it acknowledged that some people would use the portals in unexpected directions -- but I also know that's just not likely to ever happen. I don't know why I was expecting this book to have some kind of solution to that.
]]> <![CDATA[Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations]]> 38338730 A witty, heartfelt graphic memoir about what it truly means to be an American family--Aziz Ansari's Master of None meets Alison Bechdel's Fun Home

Mira Jacob's touching, often humorous, and utterly unique graphic memoir takes readers on her journey as a first-generation American. At an increasingly fraught time for immigrants and their families, Good Talk delves into the difficult conversations about race, sex, love, and family that seem to be unavoidable these days.

Inspired by her popular BuzzFeed piece "37 Difficult Questions from My Mixed-Raced Son," here are Jacob's responses to her six-year-old, Zakir, who asks if the new president hates brown boys like him; uncomfortable relationship advice from her parents, who came to the United States from India one month into their arranged marriage; and the imaginary therapy sessions she has with celebrities from Bill Murray to Madonna. Jacob also investigates her own past, from her memories of being the only non-white fifth grader to win a Daughters of the American Revolution essay contest to how it felt to be a brown-skinned New Yorker on 9/11. As earnest and moving as they are sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, these are the stories that have formed one American life.]]> 368 Mira Jacob 0399589058 Pam 0 4.47 2019 Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations
author: Mira Jacob
name: Pam
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2023/12/12
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: graphic-novels, notmm, library-fl, read-2023, authors-poc
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Those Beyond the Wall (The Space Between Worlds, #2)]]> 58257069
Scales is the best at what she does. She is an enforcer who keeps the peace in Ashtown; a rough, climate-ravaged desert town. But that fragile peace is fractured when a woman is mangled and killed within Ash's borders, right in front of Scales's eyes. Even more incomprehensible is that there was seemingly no murderer.

When more mutilated bodies start to turn up, both in Ashtown and in the wealthier, walled-off Wiley City, Scales is tasked with finding the cause—and putting an end to it. She teams up with a frustratingly by-the-books partner and a brusque-but-brilliant scientist in order to uncover the truth, delving into both worlds to track down the invisible killer. But what they find points to something biggerĚýand more corrupt than they could've ever foreseen—and it could spell doom for the entire world.]]> 384 Micaiah Johnson 0593497511 Pam 4 4.01 2024 Those Beyond the Wall (The Space Between Worlds, #2)
author: Micaiah Johnson
name: Pam
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/30
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: notmm, scifi, library-fl, read-2024, favorites-2024, authors-black
review:

]]> <![CDATA[I'm Waiting for You and Other Stories]]> 54427135 Two worlds, four stories, infinite possibilitiesĚý

In this mind-expanding work of speculative fiction, available in English for the first time, one of South Korea’s most treasured writers explores the driving forces of humanity—love, hope, creation, destruction, and the very meaning of existence—in two pairs of thematically interconnected stories.

In “I’m Waiting for You� and “On My Way,� an engaged couple coordinate their separate missions to distant corners of the galaxy to ensure—through relativity—they can arrive back on Earth simultaneously to make it down the aisle. But small incidents wreak havoc on space and time, driving their wedding date further away. As centuries on Earth pass and the land and climate change, one thing is constant: the desire of the lovers to be together. In two separate yet linked stories, Kim Bo-Young cleverly demonstrate the idea love that is timeless and hope springs eternal, despite seemingly insurmountable challenges and the deepest despair.

In “The Prophet of Corruption� and “That One Life,� humanity is viewed through the eyes of its creators: godlike beings for which everything on Earth—from the richest woman to a speck of dirt—is an extension of their will. When one of the creations questions the righteousness of this arrangement, it is deemed a perversion—a disease—that must be excised and cured. Yet the Prophet Naban, whose “child� is rebelling, isn’t sure the rebellion is bad. What if that which is considered criminal is instead the natural order—and those who condemn it corrupt? Exploring the dichotomy between the philosophical and the corporeal, Kim ponders the fate of free-will, as she considers the most basic of questions: who am I?]]> 321 Kim Bo-young 0062951467 Pam 0 3.73 2021 I'm Waiting for You and Other Stories
author: Kim Bo-young
name: Pam
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2023/04/18
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: notmm, scifi, library-fl, read-2023, authors-poc
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire, #1)]]> 29503206
Cheris’s best hope is to ally with the undead tactician Shuos Jedao. The good news is that Jedao has never lost a battle, and he may be the only one who can figure out how to successfully besiege the fortress. The bad news is that Jedao went mad in his first life and massacred two armies, one of them his own.

As the siege wears on, Cheris must decide how far she can trust Jedao � because she might be his next victim.]]> 265 Yoon Ha Lee Pam 3 3.96 2016 Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire, #1)
author: Yoon Ha Lee
name: Pam
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2022/09/26
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: scifi, notmm, read-2022, authors-poc
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Love Beyond Body, Space, and Time]]> 31687523 Love Beyond Body, Space, and Time is a collection of indigenous science fiction and urban fantasy focusing on LGBT and two-spirit characters. These stories range from a transgender woman undergoing an experimental transition process to young lovers separated through decades and meeting in their own far future. These are stories of machines and magic, love and self-love.

Stories featured are by an all-star cast of writers including:
Cherie Dimaline (The Girl Who Grew a Galaxy, Red Rooms)
Gwen Benaway (Ceremonies for the Dead)
David Robertson (Betty: The Helen Betty Osborne Story, Tales From Big Spirit)
Richard Van Camp (The Lesser Blessed, Three Feathers)
Nathan Adler (Wrist)
Daniel Heath Justice (The Way of Thorn and Thunder: The Kynship Chronicles)
Darcie Little Badger (Nkásht íí, The Sea Under Texas)
Cleo Keahna]]> 121 Hope Nicholson Pam 0 3.81 2016 Love Beyond Body, Space, and Time
author: Hope Nicholson
name: Pam
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/31
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: ku, notmm, nonbinary-gq, trans, anthology, scifi, read-2024, authors-poc
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Infomocracy (The Centenal Cycle, #1)]]> 26114433
With power comes corruption. For Ken, this is his chance to do right by the idealistic Policy1st party and get a steady job in the big leagues. For Domaine, the election represents another staging ground in his ongoing struggle against the pax democratica. For Mishima, a dangerous Information operative, the whole situation is a puzzle: how do you keep the wheels running on the biggest political experiment of all time, when so many have so much to gain?

Infomocracy is Malka Older's debut novel.]]> 380 Malka Ann Older 0765385155 Pam 0 3.57 2016 Infomocracy (The Centenal Cycle, #1)
author: Malka Ann Older
name: Pam
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2023/12/10
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: notmm, scifi, read-2023, authors-poc
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam]]> 61484899 American Born Chinese and The Best We Could Do!

Thien's first memory isn't a sight or a sound. It's the sweetness of watermelon and the saltiness of fish. It's the taste of the foods he ate while adrift at sea as his family fled Vietnam.

After the Pham family arrives at a refugee camp in Thailand, they struggle to survive. Things don't get much easier once they resettle in California. And through each chapter of their lives, food takes on a new meaning. Strawberries come to signify struggle as Thien's mom and dad look for work. Potato chips are an indulgence that bring Thien so much joy that they become a necessity.

Behind every cut of steak and inside every croissant lies a story. And for Thien Pham, that story is about a search—for belonging, for happiness, for the American dream.]]> 240 Thien Pham 1250809711 Pam 0 4.27 2023 Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam
author: Thien Pham
name: Pam
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/13
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: graphic-novels, notmm, library-tn, read-2025, authors-poc
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Persepolis. The story of a childhood (Persepolis, #1)]]> 9516
Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran and of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life. Marjane’s child’s-eye view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does the history of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary family. Intensely personal, profoundly political, and wholly original, Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a reminder of the human cost of war and political repression. It shows how we carry on, with laughter and tears, in the face of absurdity. And, finally, it introduces us to an irresistible little girl with whom we cannot help but fall in love.]]> 153 Marjane Satrapi 037571457X Pam 4
I did not stop to google some things that I should have because I trusted that it would all make sense eventually, and then I got myself confused by a time shift that I didn't clock -- which was mostly on me because it should have been obvious...but clearly it wasn't that obvious, so maybe it's not just on me??

Regardless, by the halfway point I was settled in, and by the end I kinda wished I had the sequel. And I was right about googling being optional since in the end my tenuous hold on certain aspects of the history did not lessen the impact of what this is really trying to do.

It's effective and powerful enough to shift your perspective in ways you never realized had formed to begin with. I was born a year after the revolution this is detailing, so this has always been the Iran of my consciousness. It was nothing short of mind-blowing to see the shift in real time, and understanding what preceded it is necessary to get the full effect.

But there's a lot of history to sum up for us Americans. I don't disagree with the decision to limit that to the parts she chose, but I do think if you have absolutely no knowledge of that history going in you will find yourself as off-kilter as I was at the beginning, and I highly recommend stopping each time you feel out of your depth to reorient yourself to the timeframe she's describing.

I don't even have any context for what she glosses over here, it's so far outside my scope of experience, and even though she's clearly written it with the expectation that you will be ignorant of her country's history, I think it's still overestimating us just a smidge! Which is a little eye-opening in and of itself.]]> 4.27 2003 Persepolis. The story of a childhood (Persepolis, #1)
author: Marjane Satrapi
name: Pam
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/09
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: graphic-novels, notmm, own-physical, read-2023, favorites-2023, authors-poc
review:
I have to admit that I was not super impressed with this graphic memoir at first. I cannot overstate how little I know about this region, from any time period, and at first, the lack of context just made me feel incredibly dumb!

I did not stop to google some things that I should have because I trusted that it would all make sense eventually, and then I got myself confused by a time shift that I didn't clock -- which was mostly on me because it should have been obvious...but clearly it wasn't that obvious, so maybe it's not just on me??

Regardless, by the halfway point I was settled in, and by the end I kinda wished I had the sequel. And I was right about googling being optional since in the end my tenuous hold on certain aspects of the history did not lessen the impact of what this is really trying to do.

It's effective and powerful enough to shift your perspective in ways you never realized had formed to begin with. I was born a year after the revolution this is detailing, so this has always been the Iran of my consciousness. It was nothing short of mind-blowing to see the shift in real time, and understanding what preceded it is necessary to get the full effect.

But there's a lot of history to sum up for us Americans. I don't disagree with the decision to limit that to the parts she chose, but I do think if you have absolutely no knowledge of that history going in you will find yourself as off-kilter as I was at the beginning, and I highly recommend stopping each time you feel out of your depth to reorient yourself to the timeframe she's describing.

I don't even have any context for what she glosses over here, it's so far outside my scope of experience, and even though she's clearly written it with the expectation that you will be ignorant of her country's history, I think it's still overestimating us just a smidge! Which is a little eye-opening in and of itself.
]]> Never Been Better 174156447
Is she falling in love, or falling apart?

Dee, Misa, and Matt were the "three musketeers" of the psych ward. A year after discharge, Dee is eager to convince everyone that she’s finally turning things around. But Matt and Misa are tying the knot in Turks and Caicos, surrounded by guests who have no idea where they met, and the secrecy isn’t sitting well with Dee, who has been hopelessly in love with Matt since before she got kicked out of the hospital.

So, when Dee arrives at the swanky resort with her high-voltage sister, Tilley, it’s now or never to confess how she feels. But disrupting her best friends� nuptials would jeopardize the entire support system that holds the trio together. When it comes to happily ever afters, how is a girl supposed to choose between love and recovery?

Introducing a sparkling new voice in commercial fiction, Never Been Better revels in the heartache and hilarity of falling in love when you haven’t quite figured out how to live with yourself.]]> 288 Leanne Toshiko Simpson 0593714784 Pam 3 3.52 2024 Never Been Better
author: Leanne Toshiko Simpson
name: Pam
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/18
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: notmm, library-fl, read-2024, authors-poc
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Empress of Salt and Fortune (The Singing Hills Cycle, #1)]]> 51190882
Rabbit, a handmaiden, sold by her parents to the palace for the lack of five baskets of dye, befriends the emperor's lonely new wife and gets more than she bargained for.

At once feminist high fantasy and an indictment of monarchy, this evocative debut follows the rise of the empress In-yo, who has few resources and fewer friends. She's a northern daughter in a mage-made summer exile, but she will bend history to her will and bring down her enemies, piece by piece.

Librarian Note: Older cover of B07VH6Y4JD.]]> 119 Nghi Vo Pam 3 3.91 2020 The Empress of Salt and Fortune (The Singing Hills Cycle, #1)
author: Nghi Vo
name: Pam
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/22
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: notmm, nonbinary-gq, fantasy, read-2024, authors-poc
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Two Old Women: An Alaskan Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival]]> 127810
Though these women have been known to complain more than contribute, they now must either survive on their own or die trying. In simple but vivid detail, Velma Wallis depicts a landscape and way of life that are at once merciless and starkly beautiful. In her old women, she has created two heroines of steely determination whose story of betrayal, friendship, community and forgiveness "speaks straight to the heart with clarity, sweetness and wisdom" (Ursula K. Le Guin).]]> 140 Velma Wallis 0060723521 Pam 4
This was unexpectedly lovely. A tale of winter and survival and new beginnings ended up being the perfect New Year's Day read.

It was pretty short, and I could have happily read much more, but I really enjoyed the addition of the illustrations.]]> 4.04 1993 Two Old Women: An Alaskan Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival
author: Velma Wallis
name: Pam
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/01
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: library-fl, notmm, read-2024, authors-poc
review:
3.5. stars

This was unexpectedly lovely. A tale of winter and survival and new beginnings ended up being the perfect New Year's Day read.

It was pretty short, and I could have happily read much more, but I really enjoyed the addition of the illustrations.
]]> <![CDATA[The Hidden Moon (The Pingkang Li Mysteries, #3)]]> 54876998
Impetuous and well-educated, young Lady Bai has always been the forgotten daughter between two favored sons. However, when Wei-wei's older brother is tasked with investigating a high-profile assassination, he turns to his clever younger sister for assistance.

Gao is a street-wise scoundrel with a checkered past and a shady reputation. He knows better than to set his sights on the high-born Lady Bai, but when she asks for his help, he can't refuse.

As the unlikely pair chase down a conspiracy that reaches from the gutters of the capital to the imperial palace, Wei-wei is intent on seeing justice done, while Gao is determined to solve the mystery just for her � even if the attraction between them can never be more than a moment's longing.]]> 340 Jeannie Lin Pam 0 4.00 2020 The Hidden Moon (The Pingkang Li Mysteries, #3)
author: Jeannie Lin
name: Pam
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: mf-romance, historical, wanttoread-notmm, challenge-pmc, library-fl, authors-poc
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Take a Hint, Dani Brown (The Brown Sisters, #2)]]> 49976087 Talia Hibbert returns with another charming romantic comedy about a young woman who agrees to fake date her friend after a video of him “rescuing� her from their office building goes viral...

Danika Brown knows what she wants: professional success, academic renown, and an occasional roll in the hay to relieve all that career-driven tension. But romance? Been there, done that, burned the T-shirt. Romantic partners, whatever their gender, are a distraction at best and a drain at worst. So Dani asks the universe for the perfect friend-with-benefits—someone who knows the score and knows their way around the bedroom.

When brooding security guard Zafir Ansari rescues Dani from a workplace fire drill gone wrong, it’s an obvious sign: PhD student Dani and ex-rugby player Zaf are destined to sleep together. But before she can explain that fact, a video of the heroic rescue goes viral. Now half the internet is shipping #DrRugbae—and Zaf is begging Dani to play along. Turns out, his sports charity for kids could really use the publicity. Lying to help children? Who on earth would refuse?

Dani’s plan is simple: fake a relationship in public, seduce Zaf behind the scenes. The trouble is, grumpy Zaf’s secretly a hopeless romantic—and he’s determined to corrupt Dani’s stone-cold realism. Before long, he’s tackling her fears into the dirt. But the former sports star has issues of his own, and the walls around his heart are as thick as his... um, thighs.

Suddenly, the easy lay Dani dreamed of is more complex than her thesis. Has her wish backfired? Is her focus being tested? Or is the universe just waiting for her to take a hint?]]> 400 Talia Hibbert 0062941259 Pam 0 3.98 2020 Take a Hint, Dani Brown (The Brown Sisters, #2)
author: Talia Hibbert
name: Pam
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, mf-romance, challenge-pmc, authors-black
review:

]]> Kaikeyi 57127277 “I was born on the full moon under an auspicious constellation, the holiest of positions—much good it did me.�

So begins Kaikeyi’s story. The only daughter of the kingdom of Kekaya, she is raised on tales about the might and benevolence of the gods: how they churned the vast ocean to obtain the nectar of immortality, how they vanquish evil and ensure the land of Bharat prospers, and how they offer powerful boons to the worthy. Yet she watches as her father unceremoniously banishes her mother, listens as her own worth is reduced to the marriage alliance she can secure. And when she calls upon the gods for help, they never seem to hear.

Desperate for independence, she turns to the texts she once read with her mother and discovers a magic that is hers alone. With it, Kaikeyi transforms herself from an overlooked princess into a warrior, diplomat, and most favored queen.

But as the evil from her childhood stories threatens the cosmic order, the path she has forged clashes with the destiny the gods have chosen for her family. And Kaikeyi must decide if resistance is worth the destruction it will wreak—and what legacy she intends to leave behind.

The unforgettable tale of a woman determined to leave her mark in a world gods and men dictate the shape of things to come. "Patel's mesmerizing debut shines a brilliant light on the vilified queen from the Ramayana"
(Publishers Weekly, starred review).]]> 478 Vaishnavi Patel 0759557330 Pam 0 4.18 2022 Kaikeyi
author: Vaishnavi Patel
name: Pam
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, notmm, fantasy, library-tn, authors-poc
review:

]]> A Magical Girl Retires 197448796 A millennial turned magical girl must combat climate change and credit card debt in this delightful, witty, and wildly imaginative ode to magical girl manga.

Twenty-nine, depressed, and drowning in credit card debt after losing her job during the pandemic, a millennial woman decides to end her troubles by jumping off Seoul’s Mapo Bridge.

But her suicide attempt is interrupted by a girl dressed all in white—her guardian angel. Ah Roa is a clairvoyant magical girl on a mission to find the greatest magical girl of all time. And our protagonist just may be that special someone.

But the young woman’s initial excitement turns to frustration when she learns being a magical girl in real life is much different than how it’s portrayed in stories. It isn’t just destiny—it’s work. Magical girls go to job fairs, join trade unions, attend classes. And for this magical girl there are no special powers and no great perks, and despite being magical, she still battles with low self-esteem. Her magic wand . . . is a credit card—which she must use to defeat a terrifying threat that isn’t a monster or an intergalactic war. It’s global climate change. Because magical girls need to think about sustainability, too.

Park Seolyeon reimagines classic fantasy tropes in a novel that explores real-world challenges that are both deeply personal and universal: the search for meaning and the desire to do good in a world that feels like it’s ending. A fun, fast-paced, and enchanting narrative that sparkles thanks to award-nominated translator Anton Hur, A Magical Girl Retires reminds us that we are all magical girls—that fighting evil by moonlight and winning love by daylight can be anyone's game.

Translated from the Korean by Anton Hur.]]> 160 Park Seolyeon 0063373262 Pam 0 3.57 2022 A Magical Girl Retires
author: Park Seolyeon
name: Pam
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, notmm, fantasy, own-physical, authors-poc
review:

]]> The Teller of Small Fortunes 207611551 A wandering fortune teller finds an unexpected family in this warm and wonderful debut fantasy, perfect for readers of Travis Baldree and Sangu Mandanna.

Tao is an immigrant fortune teller, traveling between villages with just her trusty mule for company. She only tells "small" fortunes: whether it will hail next week; which boy the barmaid will kiss; when the cow will calve. She knows from bitter experience that big fortunes come with big consequences�

Even if it’s a lonely life, it’s better than the one she left behind. But a small fortune unexpectedly becomes something more when a (semi) reformed thief and an ex-mercenary recruit her into their desperate search for a lost child. Soon, they’re joined by a baker with a knead for adventure, and—of course—a slightly magical cat.

Tao sets down a new path with companions as big-hearted as her fortunes are small. But as she lowers her walls, the shadows of her past are closing in—and she’ll have to decide whether to risk everything to preserve the family she never thought she could have.]]> 336 Julie Leong 0593815912 Pam 0 3.81 2024 The Teller of Small Fortunes
author: Julie Leong
name: Pam
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, fantasy, notmm, own-physical, authors-poc
review:

]]> The City in Glass 209431009 In this new standalone, Hugo Award-winning author Nghi Vo introduces a beguiling fantasy city in the tradition of Calvino, Mieville, and Le Guin.

A demon. An angel. A city that burns at the heart of the world.

The demon Vitrine—immortal, powerful, and capricious—loves the dazzling city of Azril. She has mothered, married, and maddened the city and its people for generations, and built it into a place of joy and desire, revelry and riot.

And then the angels come, and the city falls.

Vitrine is left with nothing but memories and a book containing the names of those she has lost—and an angel, now bound by her mad, grief-stricken curse to haunt the city he burned.

She mourns her dead and rages against the angel she longs to destroy. Made to be each other’s devastation, angel and demon are destined for eternal battle. Instead, they find themselves locked in a devouring fascination that will change them both forever.

Together, they unearth the past of the lost city and begin to shape its future. But when war threatens Azril and everything they have built, Vitrine and her angel must decide whether they will let the city fall again.

The City in Glass is both a brilliantly constructed history and an epic love story, of death and resurrection, memory and transformation, redemption and desire strong enough to burn a world to ashes and build it anew.]]> 224 Nghi Vo 1250348285 Pam 0 3.93 2024 The City in Glass
author: Nghi Vo
name: Pam
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, fantasy, library-fl, library-tn, 1-nextup, authors-poc
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Art of Prophecy (War Arts, #1)]]> 58409712 An epic fantasy ode to martial arts and magic—the story of a spoiled hero, an exacting grandmaster, and an immortal god-king from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lives of Tao.

It has been foretold: A child will rise to defeat the Eternal Khan, a cruel immortal god-king, and save the kingdom.

The hero: Jian, who has been raised since birth in luxury and splendor, celebrated before he has won a single battle.

But the prophecy was wrong.

Because when Taishi, the greatest war artist of her generation, arrives to evaluate the prophesied hero, she finds a spoiled brat unprepared to face his destiny.

But the only force more powerful than fate is Taishi herself. Possessed of an iron will, a sharp tongue—and an unexpectedly soft heart—Taishi will find a way to forge Jian into the weapon and leader he needs to be in order to fulfill his legend.

What follows is a journey more wondrous than any prophecy can foresee: a story of master and student, assassin and revolutionary, of fallen gods and broken prophecies, and of a war between kingdoms, and love and friendship between deadly rivals.]]> 533 Wesley Chu 0593237633 Pam 0 4.04 2022 The Art of Prophecy (War Arts, #1)
author: Wesley Chu
name: Pam
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, fantasy, library-tn, notmm, authors-poc
review:

]]> Luminous 214151232 A highly anticipated, sweeping debut set in a unified Korea that tells the story of three estranged siblings—two human, one robot—as they collide against the backdrop of a murder investigation to settle old scores and make sense of their shattered childhood, perfect for fans of Klara and the Sun and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves.

In a reunified Korea of the future, robots have been integrated into society as surrogates, servants, children, and even lovers. Though boundaries between bionic and organic frequently blur, these robots are decidedly second-class citizens. Jun and Morgan, two siblings estranged for many years, are haunted by the memory of their lost brother, Yoyo, who was warm, sensitive, and very nearly human.

Jun, a war veteran turned detective of the lowly Robot Crimes Unit in Seoul, becomes consumed by an investigation that reconnects him with his sister Morgan, now a prominent robot designer working for a top firm, who is, embarrassingly, dating one of her creations in secret.

On the other side of Seoul in a junkyard filled with abandoned robots, eleven-year-old Ruijie sifts through scraps looking for robotic parts that might support her failing body. When she discovers a robot boy named Yoyo among the piles of trash, an unlikely bond is formed since Yoyo is so lifelike, he’s unlike anything she’s seen before.

While Morgan prepares to launch the most advanced robot-boy of her career, Jun’s investigation sparks a journey through the underbelly of Seoul, unearthing deeper mysteries about the history of their country and their family. The three siblings must find their way back to each other to reckon with their pasts and the future ahead of them in this poignant and remarkable exploration of what it really means to be human.]]> 391 Silvia Park 1668021668 Pam 0 3.77 2025 Luminous
author: Silvia Park
name: Pam
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, scifi, notmm, authors-poc
review:

]]> A Stranger in Olondria 12814333
In desperation, Jevick seeks the aid of Olondrian priests and quickly becomes a pawn in the struggle between the empire's two most powerful cults. Yet even as the country shimmers on the cusp of war, he must face his ghost and learn her story before he has any chance of becoming free by setting her free: an ordeal that challenges his understanding of art and life, home and exile, and the limits of that seductive necromancy, reading.

A Stranger in Olondria is a skillful and immersive debut fantasy novel that pulls the reader in deeper and deeper with twists and turns reminiscent of George R. R. Martin and Joe Hill.

Sofia Samatar is an American of Somali and Swiss German Mennonite background. She wrote A Stranger in Olondria in Yambio, south Sudan, where she worked as an English teacher. She has worked in Egypt and is pursuing a PhD in African languages and literature at the University of Madison, Wisconsin.]]> 299 Sofia Samatar 1931520763 Pam 0 3.70 2013 A Stranger in Olondria
author: Sofia Samatar
name: Pam
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, fantasy, notmm, authors-poc
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday]]> 43459662
Melek Ahmar, decidido a conquistar la ciudad y la gloria, tan solo contará con la ayuda de un antiguo soldado gurja adicto a los pistachos, y ReGi, una djinn adolescente que tiene un próspero negocio en el Jardín de los Sueños.

Este extraño trío de inadaptados se internará en el corazón de Katmandú, desenterrando los oscuros secretos sobre los que se construyó el paraíso.]]> 167 Saad Z. Hossain 1250209110 Pam 0 4.04 2019 The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday
author: Saad Z. Hossain
name: Pam
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, fantasy, notmm, authors-poc
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Mountain Crown (The Crowns of Ishia, #1)]]> 207299293 MĂ©ka must capture a king dragon, or die trying.

War between the island states of Kattaka and Mazemoor has left no one unscathed. Méka’s nomadic people, the Ba’Suon, were driven from their homeland by the Kattakans. Those who remained were forced to live under the Kattakan yoke, to serve their greed for gold alongside the dragons with whom the Ba’Suon share an empathic connection.

A decade later and under a fragile truce, Méka returns home from her exile for an ancient, necessary rite: gathering a king dragon of the Crown Mountains to maintain balance in the wild country. But Méka’s act of compassion toward an imprisoned dragon and Lilley, a Kattakan veteran of the war, soon draws the ire of the imperialistic authorities. They order the unwelcome addition of an enigmatic Ba’Suon traitor named Raka to accompany Méka and Lilley to the mountains.

The journey is filled with dangers both within and without. As conflict threatens to reignite, the survival of the Ba’Suon people, their dragons, and the land itself will depend on the decisions � defiant or compliant � that Méka and her companions choose to make. But not even Méka, kin to the great dragons of the North, can anticipate the depth of the consequences to her world.]]> 150 Karin Lowachee 1837862397 Pam 0 3.83 2024 The Mountain Crown (The Crowns of Ishia, #1)
author: Karin Lowachee
name: Pam
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, fantasy, notmm, authors-poc
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Javelin Program (Time to Orbit: Unknown, #1)]]> 218145543
Aspen wasn't trained for any of this. But if they can't keep themselves alive, get the ship in working order, and find out what went wrong by unravelling a chain of mysteries leading all the way back to distant Earth, then neither Aspen nor the five thousand sleeping passengers in their care will ever see a planet again.]]> 582 Derin Edala Pam 0 4.62 The Javelin Program (Time to Orbit: Unknown, #1)
author: Derin Edala
name: Pam
average rating: 4.62
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, notmm, scribd, scifi, nonbinary-gq
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Traitor Son (Empire of the Stars, #1)]]> 218333744 A battle-scarred knight who dreams of peace. A secret princess who knows the Empire’s darkest truths. And a marriage written in blood and betrayal.



After seven years of brutal war, Remin of Andelin has become the Empire’s greatest hero—and its most feared general. His reward may be more dangerous than any war. After a campaign he was never meant to survive, his prize is a ravaged duchy and the hand of a princess no one’s ever heard of.



Princess Ophele Agnephus has spent her life in an exile prison, the illegitimate child of the divine Emperor and a disgrace to the sacred stars. She never asked to be wed to a brutal conqueror, or to leave behind the only home she’s ever known for a cottage on a dangerous frontier. Trapped by her father’s bloody legacy, she can only choose whether she will protect secrets that could shatter the Empire—or step out of the shadows she’s lived in all her life.



Remin wants no crown, no glory. Only a home for his knights, and a future built on something better than vengeance. But in the Andelin valley, where devils stalk through the ruins of bloody conquest, even peace is a battle.



Epic in scope and intimate in heart, Traitor Son is a romantic fantasy about love in the ruins of a century of war—and the impossible dream of peace. Perfect for fans of The Witcher’s monsters, Game of Thronesâ€� high-stakes strategy, and °żłÜłŮ±ô˛ą˛Ô»ĺ±đ°ů’s sweeping history and unforgettable romance.



Begin an epic journey with Traitor Son—and witness the beginning of a love that could redeem an Empire.]]> 394 Melissa J. Cave Pam 0 4.03 Traitor Son (Empire of the Stars, #1)
author: Melissa J. Cave
name: Pam
average rating: 4.03
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, fantasy, ku, notmm, mf-romance
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fire Logic (Elemental Logic, #1)]]> 644341
These elements have sustained the peaceful people of Shaftal for generations, with their subtle powers of healing, truth, joy, and intuition.

But now, Shaftal is dying.

The earth witch who ruled Shaftal is dead, leaving no heir. Shaftal's ruling house has been scattered by the invading Sainnites. The Shaftali have mobilized a guerrilla army against these marauders, but every year the cost of resistance grows, leaving Shaftal's fate in the hands of three people: Emil, scholar and reluctant warrior; Zanja, the sole survivor of a slaughtered tribe; and Karis the metalsmith, a half-blood giant whose earth powers can heal, but only when she can muster the strength to hold off her addiction to a deadly drug.

Separately, all they can do is watch as Shaftal falls from prosperity into lawlessness and famine. But if they can find a way to work together, they just may change the course of history.]]> 359 Laurie J. Marks 081256653X Pam 0 3.87 2002 Fire Logic (Elemental Logic, #1)
author: Laurie J. Marks
name: Pam
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/11
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, fantasy, ff, notmm
review:

]]> The Color of Distance 466371 472 Amy Thomson 0441006329 Pam 0 4.27 1995 The Color of Distance
author: Amy Thomson
name: Pam
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/11
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, internet-archive, notmm, scifi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Angel with the Sword (Merovingen Nights, #0)]]> 57081 304 C.J. Cherryh 0886771439 Pam 0 3.83 1985 Angel with the Sword (Merovingen Nights, #0)
author: C.J. Cherryh
name: Pam
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1985
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/11
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, notmm, internet-archive
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rendezvous with Rama (Rama, #1)]]> 112537 243 Arthur C. Clarke 1857231589 Pam 0 4.12 1973 Rendezvous with Rama (Rama, #1)
author: Arthur C. Clarke
name: Pam
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1973
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/11
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, notmm, scifi
review:

]]> Earth Abides 93269 345 George R. Stewart 0345487133 Pam 0 notmm, scifi, ku, zz-dnf-2025 3.94 1949 Earth Abides
author: George R. Stewart
name: Pam
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1949
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/10
shelves: notmm, scifi, ku, zz-dnf-2025
review:

]]> Cranford 182381
Cranford depicts the lives and preoccupations of the inhabitants of a small village - their petty snobberies, appetite for gossip, and loyal support for each other in times of need This is a community that runs on cooperation and gossip, at the very heart of which are the daughters of the former rector: Miss Deborah Jenkyns and her sister Miss Matty, But domestic peace is constantly threatened in the form of financial disaster, imagined burglaries, tragic accidents, and the reapparance of long-lost relatives. to Lady Glenmire, who shocks everyone by marrying the doctor. When men do appear, such as 'modern' Captain Brown or Matty's suitor from the past, they bring disruption and excitement to the everyday life of Cranford.

In her introduction, Patricia Ingham places the novel in its literary and historical context, and discusses the theme of female friendship and Gaskell's narrative technique. This edition also contains an account of Gaskell's childhood in Knutsford, on which Cranford is based, appendices on fashion and domestic duties supplemented by illustrations, a chronology of Gaskell's life and works, suggestions for further reading, and explanatory notes.]]> 257 Elizabeth Gaskell 0141439882 Pam 0 3.85 1853 Cranford
author: Elizabeth Gaskell
name: Pam
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1853
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/10
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, historical, notmm, 1-nextup
review:

]]> The Kraken Wakes 91092 240 John Wyndham 0140010750 Pam 0 3.76 1953 The Kraken Wakes
author: John Wyndham
name: Pam
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1953
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/10
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, notmm, scifi, 1-nextup
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Light Years (Cazalet Chronicles, #1)]]> 931447 434 Elizabeth Jane Howard 0671527932 Pam 0 3.98 1990 The Light Years (Cazalet Chronicles, #1)
author: Elizabeth Jane Howard
name: Pam
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1990
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/09
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, historical, notmm
review:

]]> The Fallen Fruit 199743692 Combining history and fantasy, a sweeping multi-generational epic in the vein of Kindred and The Time Traveler's Wife about a woman who travels through time to end a family curse that has plagued her ancestors for generations.

On a rainy day in May 1964, history professor Cecily Bridge-Davis begins to search for the sixty-five acres of land she inherited from her father’s family. The quest leads her to uncover a dark secret: In every generation, one offspring from each Bridge family unit vanishes—and is mysteriously whisked back in time. Rules have been established that must be followed to prevent dire consequences:

Never interfere with past events.

Always carry your free Negro papers.

Search for the survival family packs in the orchard and surrounding forest. The ribbon on the pack designates the decade the pack was made to orient you in time.

Do not speak to strangers unless absolutely necessary.

With only a family Bible and a map marked with the locations of mysterious containers to aid her, Cecily heads to the library, hoping to discover the truth of how this curse began, and how it might be ended. As she moves through time, she encounters a circle of ancestors, including Sabrina Humbles, a free Black woman who must find the courage to seize an opportunity—or lose her heart; Luke Bridge, who traverses battlefields, slavery, and time itself to reunite with his family; Rebecca Bridge, a mother tested by an ominous threat; and Amelia Bridge, a young woman burdened with survivor's guilt who will face the challenge of a lifetime—and change Cecily's life forever. It is a race through time and against the clock to find the answers that will free her family forever.

Shawntelle Madison’s historical fiction debut is an enthralling, page-turning family saga about the inevitability of fate, the invincibility of love, and the indelible bonds of family.]]> 437 Shawntelle Madison 0063290596 Pam 0 3.63 2024 The Fallen Fruit
author: Shawntelle Madison
name: Pam
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/09
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, fantasy, historical, library-fl, notmm, authors-black
review:

]]> Lud-in-the-Mist 73574
]]> 239 Hope Mirrlees 1593600410 Pam 0 3.86 1926 Lud-in-the-Mist
author: Hope Mirrlees
name: Pam
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1926
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/09
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, fantasy, ku, notmm
review:

]]> Boys Weekend 63249715 The Nib, a hilarious trans-"final girl" horror graphic novel about a bachelor party gone very, very wrong.

Newly-out trans artist’s assistant Sammie is invited to an old friend’s bachelor weekend in El Campo, a hedonistic wonderland of a city floating in the Atlantic Ocean's international waters—think Las Vegas with even fewer rules. Though they have not identified as a man for over a year, Sammie’s college buddies haven't quite gotten the message—as evidenced byĚýtheir formerly closest friend Adam asking them to be his “best man.â€�

Arriving at the swanky hotel, Sammie immediately questions their decision to come. Bad enough that they have to suffer through a torrent of passive-aggressive comments from the groom's pals—all met with zero pushback from supposed "nice guy" Adam. But also, they seem to be the only one who's noticed the mysterious cult that's also staying at the hotel, and is ritually dismembering guests and demanding fealty to their bloodthirsty god.

Part satire, part horror, Boys Weekend explores what it’s like to exist as a transfemme person in a man’s world, the difficulty of maintaining friendships through transition, and the more cult-like effects of masculinity, “hustle� culture, and capitalism—all through the vibrant lens of a surreal, scary, and immensely imaginative romp.]]> 232 Mattie Lubchansky 0593316711 Pam 0 4.00 2023 Boys Weekend
author: Mattie Lubchansky
name: Pam
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/05/09
shelves: graphic-novels, nonbinary-gq, library-tn, read-2025, notmm
review:

]]> <![CDATA[True Letters from a Fictional Life]]> 24485772
But whenever James sits down at his desk to write, he tells a different story. As he fills his drawers with letters to the people in his world -- letters he never intends to send -- he spills the truth: he’s trying hard, but he just isn’t into Theresa. It’s a boy who lingers in his thoughts.

He feels trapped by his parents, his teammates, and the lies they've helped him tell, and he has no idea how to escape. Is he destined to live a life of fiction?]]> 326 Kenneth Logan 0062380257 Pam 0 3.92 2016 True Letters from a Fictional Life
author: Kenneth Logan
name: Pam
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2025/05/08
date added: 2025/05/09
shelves: ya, library-fl, own-physical, read-2025
review:

]]> Vampires Don't Play Hockey 221142048
That’s what Johnny Harker tells himself, anyway. All the weird things he notices about his teammate Dima - his weird sleep schedule, his perpetually cold skin, his apparent lack of a reflection - don’t mean Dima’s an undead creature of the night.

Dima’s just his hot, slightly weird teammate. Right?]]> 146 A.L. Heard Pam 0 3.60 Vampires Don't Play Hockey
author: A.L. Heard
name: Pam
average rating: 3.60
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/08
shelves: athletes, ku, paranormal, zz-dnf-2025
review:

]]> More Than Enough 36327532
Petra, the manor's gardener, is interested more in trees and flowers than rumors. In his three years as the building's sole caretaker, he has not once encountered the missing prince. Surely Fier is dead and gone.

But Fier isn't dead, and neither is he a monster. He's trapped in the gilded cage of his country home, alone and afraid.

There is a beast, but it's not Fier.]]> 245 Elizabeth Wambheim Pam 0 4.09 2017 More Than Enough
author: Elizabeth Wambheim
name: Pam
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/08
shelves: ace, fantasy, scribd, zz-dnf-2025
review:

]]> Homecoming for Beginners 223238432
So it’s kind of a downer when a very hungover, mostly naked man about Ollie’s age answers the door and tells him old man Morris kicked the bucket.

Tyler Morris left town at sixteen as a pariah. Since then, he’s built a good life for himself as an EMT. But even in death, his father has to get in one final Ty can either return to his hometown and act as executor of the family fortune, or let it all go to a hate group.

Between an unexpected job offer and unexpected roommates, coming home doesn’t go the way Ty expects. But Ollie and Theo bring the cold, lonely mansion to life, and golden-boy Ollie provides good cover for the town’s scorn. The only problem is, Ty’s falling head over heels for the world’s sweetest and most stubbornly independent single dad, and if he wants to keep Ollie around, he’ll have to convince him to let Ty help.]]> 300 Ashlyn Kane 1641088044 Pam 0 ku, read-2025 4.09 Homecoming for Beginners
author: Ashlyn Kane
name: Pam
average rating: 4.09
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2025/05/08
date added: 2025/05/08
shelves: ku, read-2025
review:

]]> Stuck With You 63221933
Stuck With You is a story of Queer joy and a playful teen romance, following two frenemies as they fall for each other while stuck in adjacent seats on a day-long train trip.

Ben is on a train back to Ottawa after a visit with his dad in Toronto when he runs into the last person he wanted to see: Caleb, the handsome, confident boy who recently and accidentally broke Ben’s phone. Preoccupied by worrying about whether he should take a gap year, Ben has little time for Caleb’s jibes.

But when the two start talking, not only does Ben find himself won over by Caleb’s roguish charm, but he also learns his seatmate is bisexual.

Stuck With You discusses important issues facing teens as they contemplate their futures within the context of a light-hearted romance plot with witty dialogue and charming interplay, almost all taking place within the space of a single long train trip.]]> 176 'Nathan Burgoine 1459417275 Pam 0 4.24 Stuck With You
author: 'Nathan Burgoine
name: Pam
average rating: 4.24
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/07
shelves: to-read, ya, 1-nextup, check-for-library
review:

]]> Muscling Through 11045338 The bigger they come, the harder they fall... in love.

Cambridge art professor Larry Morton takes one, alcohol-glazed look at the huge, tattooed man looming in a dark alley, and assumes he’s done for. Moments later he finds himself disarmed—literally and figuratively. And, the next morning, he can’t rest until he offers an apology to the man who turned out to be more gentle than giant.

Larry's intrigued to find there's more to Al Fletcher than meets the eye; he possesses a natural artistic talent that shines through untutored technique. Unfortunately, no one else seems to see the sensitive soul beneath Al’s imposing, scarred, undeniably sexy exterior. Least of all Larry's class-conscious family, who would like nothing better than to split up this mismatched pair.

Is it physical? Oh, yes, it’s deliciously physical, and so much more—which makes Larry’s next task so daunting. Not just convincing his colleagues, friends and family that their relationship is more than skin deep. It’s convincing Al.

Contains comic misunderstandings, misuse of art materials, and unexpected poignancy.]]> 116 J.L. Merrow 1609285018 Pam 0 Original 2019 rating: 5 stars 3.94 2011 Muscling Through
author: J.L. Merrow
name: Pam
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2025/05/07
date added: 2025/05/07
shelves: favorites-2019, own, read-2019, read-2025
review:
Original 2019 rating: 5 stars
]]> Glitterland (Spires, #1) 39332293
Once the golden boy of the English literary scene, now a clinically depressed writer of pulp crime fiction, Ash Winters has given up on love, hope, happiness, and � most of all � himself. He lives his life between the cycles of his illness, haunted by the ghosts of other people’s expectations.

Then a chance encounter at a stag party throws him into the arms of Essex boy Darian Taylor, an aspiring model who lives in a world of hair gel, fake tans, and fashion shows. By his own admission, Darian isn’t the crispest lettuce in the fridge, but he cooks a mean cottage pie and makes Ash laugh, reminding him of what it’s like to step beyond the boundaries of anxiety.

But Ash has been living in his own shadow for so long that he can’t see past the glitter to the light. Can a man who doesn’t trust himself ever trust in happiness? And how can a man who doesn’t believe in happiness ever fight for his own?]]> 286 Alexis Hall 1912688905 Pam 0 Original 2019 rating: 4 stars 4.07 2013 Glitterland (Spires, #1)
author: Alexis Hall
name: Pam
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at: 2025/05/06
date added: 2025/05/07
shelves: favorites-2019, own, read-2019, read-2025
review:
Original 2019 rating: 4 stars
]]> Faux Ho Ho 48747601 139 'Nathan Burgoine 1635557593 Pam 4 4.11 2019 Faux Ho Ho
author: 'Nathan Burgoine
name: Pam
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/06
date added: 2025/05/07
shelves: christmas, nonexplicit, read-2019, read-2025
review:
Original 2019 review: Frickin' adorable. I loved these two. The fake boyfriend plot is hard to make realistic, but this is much more a friends-to-lovers with one doing a favor to be supportive of the other, and there's not one second that doesn't feel like real, adult people. Their friendship was beautiful. And it was awesome to get a little snippet of Nick and Ru from Silas' perspective as well! I really like this author. (I'm glad someone mentioned the months being in the chapter headers, though, because I think I would have missed that at first. It blended in too much to catch my attention enough without knowing to look for it.)
]]> Adulting 101 39352021
Nick Stahlnecker is eighteen and not ready to grow up yet. He has a summer job, a case of existential panic, and a hopeless crush on the unattainable Jai Hazenbrook. Except how do you know that your coworker’s unattainable unless you ask to blow him in the porta-potty?

That’s probably not what Dad meant when he said Nick should act more like an adult.

Twenty-five-year-old Jai is back in his hometown of Franklin, Ohio, just long enough to earn the money to get the hell out again. His long-term goal of seeing more of the world is worth the short-term pain of living in his mother’s basement, but only barely.

Meeting Nick doesn’t fit in with Jai’s plans at all, but, as Jai soon learns, you don’t have to travel halfway around the world to have the adventure of a lifetime.

This is not a summer romance. This is a summer friendship-with-benefits. It’s got pizza with disgusting toppings, Netflix and chill, and accidental exhibitionism. That’s all. There are no feelings here. None. Shut up.]]> 220 Lisa Henry Pam 4 4.22 2016 Adulting 101
author: Lisa Henry
name: Pam
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2019/09/28
date added: 2025/05/07
shelves: favorites-2019, ya, read-2019, reread
review:

]]> Bone Rider 18619542
Together, they embark on a road trip from hell, made all the more exciting by the government troops and mob enforcers hot on their trail. Misha is determined to win Riley back and willing to do whatever it takes to keep him safe. When hitman and alien join forces, they discover their impressive combined potential for death and destruction. It will take everything Riley has to steer them through the mess they create.]]> 310 J. Fally 1627982108 Pam 3
The emotions are there, from Misha’s end anyway � the secondary premise for the whole action setup is the consuming need Misha has to find Riley and do whatever it takes to get him back, and that’s done very well; I felt like Misha was the only other character, besides McClane, that I had a complete picture of � but they spend very little on-page time together, and most of that is spent running for their lives, so not a whole lot of chitchat happening there. And Riley spends most of the book trying very hard *not* to think about Misha, which makes perfect sense, but it also takes away from the sense of connection from his end.

There’s just too much time spent with the Army characters chasing them that I would have preferred to spend with Riley and Misha and Riley, Misha and McClane all three especially. I really loved the way Riley and McClane interacted and wanted to see that capitalized on more once other people were part of the equation.

I think it was important to have the Army’s perspective, but since that was bouncing around from the POVs of three different characters, none of whom there was any need to get invested in, it just kept pulling me out of the Riley/McClane/Misha stuff that I was really enjoying. And we were constantly changing perspectives from chapter to chapter � with one thrown in from Misha’s sister and a few from his right-hand man � so it was just really hard to settle in to the story. I would guess we spend an equal time in the random Army people’s POVs as we do in the MCs, which was frustrating since the MCs were fantastic. (I did feel like there was a missing link with Riley, which I kept expecting to get filled in by the big reunion scene with Misha, which....never came. Or I guess started but got interrupted by the Army and then finished off-page. Presumably.)

It did make it a good choice for these past few days of holiday preparations and travel, though, because I found it very easy to put down when it was time to be productive or social and just dip in and out of it as needed. There is definitely a time and place for that, but in this case it was a little harder for me to let go and enjoy instead of focusing on how close this comes to being awesome without quite hitting it.]]> 4.27 2013 Bone Rider
author: J. Fally
name: Pam
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2019/12/26
date added: 2025/05/07
shelves: library-fl, gb-19q3-24q4, read-2019, reread
review:
This was good. The concept is great, and I absolutely loved McClane � which I thought was going to be tricky to pull off but was hands down the best part for me. But this is much more an action story than anything else, and I guess I wanted more from the romance.

The emotions are there, from Misha’s end anyway � the secondary premise for the whole action setup is the consuming need Misha has to find Riley and do whatever it takes to get him back, and that’s done very well; I felt like Misha was the only other character, besides McClane, that I had a complete picture of � but they spend very little on-page time together, and most of that is spent running for their lives, so not a whole lot of chitchat happening there. And Riley spends most of the book trying very hard *not* to think about Misha, which makes perfect sense, but it also takes away from the sense of connection from his end.

There’s just too much time spent with the Army characters chasing them that I would have preferred to spend with Riley and Misha and Riley, Misha and McClane all three especially. I really loved the way Riley and McClane interacted and wanted to see that capitalized on more once other people were part of the equation.

I think it was important to have the Army’s perspective, but since that was bouncing around from the POVs of three different characters, none of whom there was any need to get invested in, it just kept pulling me out of the Riley/McClane/Misha stuff that I was really enjoying. And we were constantly changing perspectives from chapter to chapter � with one thrown in from Misha’s sister and a few from his right-hand man � so it was just really hard to settle in to the story. I would guess we spend an equal time in the random Army people’s POVs as we do in the MCs, which was frustrating since the MCs were fantastic. (I did feel like there was a missing link with Riley, which I kept expecting to get filled in by the big reunion scene with Misha, which....never came. Or I guess started but got interrupted by the Army and then finished off-page. Presumably.)

It did make it a good choice for these past few days of holiday preparations and travel, though, because I found it very easy to put down when it was time to be productive or social and just dip in and out of it as needed. There is definitely a time and place for that, but in this case it was a little harder for me to let go and enjoy instead of focusing on how close this comes to being awesome without quite hitting it.
]]> <![CDATA[The 5th Gender (Tinkered Stars)]]> 44554614 A species that has no word for murder, has a murderer aboard their spaceship.

ALIEN

Tristol lives in exile. But he’s built a life for himself aboard a human space station. He’s even begun to understand the complex nuances of human courting rituals.

Detective Hastion is finally flirting back!

MURDER

Except that Tristol’s beloved space station is unexpectedly contacted by the galoi � a xenophobic species with five genders, purple skin, and serious attitude. They need the help of a human detective because there’s a murderer aboard their spaceship. Murder is so rare, the galoi don’t even have a word for it.

Tristol knows this because he is galoi.

ROMANCE

Which means that he and Detective Hastion are on the case� together.

Delicate Sensibilities?

Contains men who love other men in graphic detail, regardless of gender, biology, or skin color... and lots of emotively sexy tentacle hair.

New York Times best selling author Gail Carriger (writing as G.L. Carriger) brings you a light-hearted romantic cozy mystery featuring an adorable lavender alien and his human crush.]]> 236 G.L. Carriger 1944751262 Pam 5
Pretty sure this book just made my heart grow two sizes :)

I absolutely loved Tris and his fantastically emotive hair and his preference for single color palettes.

I always love getting a POV from another species on the strangeness of human culture. This just amuses me to no end. We are WEIRD. And Tris is such a sweetheart, so perfect a cultural attache, that even his POV is objective in its humorous insights.

And the fun with linguistics! I think anyone who liked this about Claimings, Tails, and Other Alien Artifacts will enjoy this one, too. I really loved seeing Tris in his professional role. He was so good at all the nuances.

It wasn't quite what I was expecting from the gender conversation, but to me it just used the alien genders as a way of exploring "other"ness in general and how harmful it is to force your expectations of emotions and actions on someone else.

The three alien species mentioned here all have different kinds of gender options, and I think the whole point is that, as with anything, there are as many different options as there are people in this world. Nothing is ever as neat and tidy as either/or (or either/or/or/or/or). We do not fit in boxes. I'm not "wrong" just because I'm different than you. You don't have to understand someone's life choice to respect it.

Tris and Drey found so much about the other alien and confusing, but they're both so open-minded that even the rare instance the strangeness was initially horrifying, they realized pretty quickly that it didn't change what they liked about each other. And that's the whole point, right?

I do have to deduct half a point for all the insta-ness :) The most insta- in the whole universe. But I loved it anyway. The quickest way to get me to forgive insta-love is to show the couple connecting outside of sex. I need to see that they like each other for who they are, not because they're confusing chemistry and lust with love. And these guys are just so adorable together. They are beautifully compatible and just genuinely find the other to be awesome. I probably could have forgiven it completely if it weren't for the wedding talk. But weddings came up A LOT. Way too soon, gentlemen, I don't care how perfect you are!!!

I was impressed with Carriger's ability to create something so different from the human experience. I would love to see more in this universe. Especially if it's more Tris and Drey :)]]> 4.11 2019 The 5th Gender (Tinkered Stars)
author: G.L. Carriger
name: Pam
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/10/23
date added: 2025/05/07
shelves: gb-19q3-24q4, favorites-2019, tentacles-interspecies, read-2019, reread
review:
4.5 stars

Pretty sure this book just made my heart grow two sizes :)

I absolutely loved Tris and his fantastically emotive hair and his preference for single color palettes.

I always love getting a POV from another species on the strangeness of human culture. This just amuses me to no end. We are WEIRD. And Tris is such a sweetheart, so perfect a cultural attache, that even his POV is objective in its humorous insights.

And the fun with linguistics! I think anyone who liked this about Claimings, Tails, and Other Alien Artifacts will enjoy this one, too. I really loved seeing Tris in his professional role. He was so good at all the nuances.

It wasn't quite what I was expecting from the gender conversation, but to me it just used the alien genders as a way of exploring "other"ness in general and how harmful it is to force your expectations of emotions and actions on someone else.

The three alien species mentioned here all have different kinds of gender options, and I think the whole point is that, as with anything, there are as many different options as there are people in this world. Nothing is ever as neat and tidy as either/or (or either/or/or/or/or). We do not fit in boxes. I'm not "wrong" just because I'm different than you. You don't have to understand someone's life choice to respect it.

Tris and Drey found so much about the other alien and confusing, but they're both so open-minded that even the rare instance the strangeness was initially horrifying, they realized pretty quickly that it didn't change what they liked about each other. And that's the whole point, right?

I do have to deduct half a point for all the insta-ness :) The most insta- in the whole universe. But I loved it anyway. The quickest way to get me to forgive insta-love is to show the couple connecting outside of sex. I need to see that they like each other for who they are, not because they're confusing chemistry and lust with love. And these guys are just so adorable together. They are beautifully compatible and just genuinely find the other to be awesome. I probably could have forgiven it completely if it weren't for the wedding talk. But weddings came up A LOT. Way too soon, gentlemen, I don't care how perfect you are!!!

I was impressed with Carriger's ability to create something so different from the human experience. I would love to see more in this universe. Especially if it's more Tris and Drey :)
]]> Carry On (Simon Snow, #1) 32768522
That's what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he's probably right.

Half the time, Simon can't even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor's avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there's a magic-eating monster running around, wearing Simon's face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here � it's their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon's infuriating nemesis didn't even bother to show up.

Carry On - The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow is a ghost story, a love story and a mystery. It has just as much kissing and talking as you'd expect from a Rainbow Rowell story - but far, far more monsters.]]> 522 Rainbow Rowell 1250135028 Pam 5 2021 Re-Read:

I'm gonna leave the original 5-star rating because why not? I loved it. (Ok fine, it would have been 4.5 stars if I'm being completely honest, but that's just because I seem to incapable of 5 full stars these days. I mean, it's officially been over a year since I rated something 5 stars -- this is obviously at least partially a me problem ]]> 4.17 2015 Carry On (Simon Snow, #1)
author: Rainbow Rowell
name: Pam
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2021/07/30
date added: 2025/05/07
shelves: ya, read-2021, favorites-2021, fantasy, read-2018, reread
review:
2021 Re-Read:

I'm gonna leave the original 5-star rating because why not? I loved it. (Ok fine, it would have been 4.5 stars if I'm being completely honest, but that's just because I seem to incapable of 5 full stars these days. I mean, it's officially been over a year since I rated something 5 stars -- this is obviously at least partially a me problem
]]> Somadina 216412645 From the National Book Award finalist and author of Pet comes a novel set in a magical West African world, about a teen girl who must save her missing twin while learning to navigate her own terrifying new powers.

Somadina and her twin brother, Jayaike, are practically the same person: they finish each other's sentences and make each other whole. When the twins come of age, their magical gifts begin to develop, but while Jayaike's powers enchant, Somadina's cause fear to ripple through her town.

Always an outsider, Somadina now faces blatant--and dangerous--hostility. And things go from bad to worse when her brother—the one person she trusted—vanishes. Somadina knows that no matter the dangers, she must track him down. Even if it means entering the Sacred Forest. Even if it means grueling, otherworldly travel she may not survive. Even if it means finding the hidden places where those closest to the spirit world don't dare to go. Does Somadina have the strength --within both her body and her soul -- for the trying journey ahead?

National Book Award finalist Akwaeke Emezi masterfully weaves a tale of family, identity, and the power of the past, in a world where the extraordinary is ordinary.]]> 300 Akwaeke Emezi 0593309073 Pam 0 4.23 2025 Somadina
author: Akwaeke Emezi
name: Pam
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/05
shelves: fantasy, notmm, library-fl, ya, currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Same Old Bobby: A MM Best Friend's Brother Secret Romance]]> 210826073
Evan upends Bobby's familiar - frustrating - routine. Pete's older brother is confident, successful, and painfully hot. When he's not working out in his bedroom gym, he has no qualms about wearing the bare minimum around the house. Terrified of outing himself, Bobby thinks he has a handle on his stolen glances and simmering right up until Evan offers his services as a personal trainer.

As the sweat drips and with little to hide his physical reaction to Evan's teasing proximity, Bobby knows his attraction must be obvious. Far from being furious, though, Evan is equally interested, though reluctant to put a name to his sexual preferences. Chasing a secret summer fling under their families' noses is hard enough, but as his addiction to Evan grows, Bobby realizes he feels more than just lust for his best friend's brother - a complication he's not sure Evan would even acknowledge, much less admit the same.

Same Old Bobby is a high-spice m/m romance from the author of Jock Auction and The Hitchhiker. ]]> 383 Alex Pendragon Pam 0 smuts, read-2025 4.40 Same Old Bobby: A MM Best Friend's Brother Secret Romance
author: Alex Pendragon
name: Pam
average rating: 4.40
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2025/05/01
date added: 2025/05/05
shelves: smuts, read-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[We Were Never Lovers (Contested Possession)]]> 222008196 He knows they were friends
He knows they were enemies
But were they ever lovers?

Aboriginal footballer and rising superstar Sean Hiller wakes up in hospital, missing the last two years of his life. The first thing he sees is the good-for-nothing white boy he hates—his teammate, Jack Reaver. And the last thing he remembers is an altercation with Jack in the locker room.

Jack must’ve put him here. Except Jack didn’t cause his accident because he’s now Sean’s best friend and roommate. Jack will be taking Sean home to care for him while he recovers. Sean can’t believe it. Letting Jack back in means confronting what happened between them when they were seventeen, and Sean can’t do that.

But when he discovers Jack strung out in their kitchen at 2:00 AM, Sean takes care of him in a way he’d never dreamed possible. And Jack refuses to tell him exactly what that means. As Sean stares down the prospect of being medically retired at twenty-seven, the pain of not knowing who they are to each other hurts him more than the loss of his career.

He knows they could’ve been friends, could’ve been more. He knows they became enemies instead. But were they ever lovers?
]]> 325 Sasha Avice Pam 0 athletes, ku, tty, read-2025 3.99 We Were Never Lovers (Contested Possession)
author: Sasha Avice
name: Pam
average rating: 3.99
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/30
date added: 2025/05/05
shelves: athletes, ku, tty, read-2025
review:

]]> The Mutt (Peeta's Games, #3) 96174592 333 igsygrace Pam 0 notmm, read-2025 4.44 The Mutt (Peeta's Games, #3)
author: igsygrace
name: Pam
average rating: 4.44
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/29
date added: 2025/05/05
shelves: notmm, read-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Back to Twelve (Peeta’s Games, #4)]]> 123844828 340 igsygrace Pam 0 notmm, read-2025 4.19 Back to Twelve (Peeta’s Games, #4)
author: igsygrace
name: Pam
average rating: 4.19
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/29
date added: 2025/05/05
shelves: notmm, read-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Throwing Sparks (Peeta's Games, #2)]]> 96174562 326 igsygrace Pam 0 notmm, read-2025 4.51 Throwing Sparks (Peeta's Games, #2)
author: igsygrace
name: Pam
average rating: 4.51
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/27
date added: 2025/05/05
shelves: notmm, read-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Price of a Thousand Blessings Volume 1]]> 223924181
The streets are thronged with cheering crowds, and the grand procession shimmers with spells. Film stars and government ministers claim the best seats in the stands. And most exciting of all, the legendary Wraiths of Saigrath promise to attend this Spring Exhibition after centuries of absence from the world.
Cymin can’t wait to meet them.

But when disaster strikes the celebrations, Cymin risks his own life and destroys a priceless artifact to prevent a massacre. His action not only plunge him into the battle between foreign provocateurs and his own nation’s spies, but captures the attention of the mythical Wraiths--one of whom has been searching for him in secret for hundreds of years.]]> 469 Ginn Hale 1956422137 Pam 0 x-unfinished-series 4.65 Price of a Thousand Blessings Volume 1
author: Ginn Hale
name: Pam
average rating: 4.65
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/04
shelves: x-unfinished-series
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Wedding Party (The Wedding Date, #3)]]> 42455873
1. Alexa is their best friend

2. They hate each other

After an “Oops, we made a mistake� kiss, neither one can stop thinking about the other. With Alexa’s wedding rapidly approaching, Maddie and Theo both share bridal party responsibilities that require more interaction with each other than they’re comfortable with. Underneath the sharp barbs they toss at each other is a simmering attraction that won’t fade. It builds until they find themselves sneaking off together to release some tension when Alexa isn’t looking.

But as with any engagement with a nemesis, there are unspoken rules that must be abided by. First and foremost, don’t fall in love.]]> 351 Jasmine Guillory 1984802208 Pam 0 3.77 2019 The Wedding Party (The Wedding Date, #3)
author: Jasmine Guillory
name: Pam
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/04
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, authors-black, mf-romance
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Raven Scholar (Eternal Path Trilogy, #1)]]> 217182392 From an electrifying new voice in epic fantasy comes The Raven Scholar, a masterfully woven and playfully inventive tale of imperial intrigue, cutthroat competition, and one scholar’s quest to uncover the truth.

Let us fly now to the empire of Orrun, where after twenty-four years of peace, Bersun the Brusque must end his reign. In the dizzying heat of mid-summer, seven contenders compete to replace him. They are exceptional warriors, thinkers, strategists—the best of the best.

Then one of them is murdered.

It falls to Neema Kraa, the emperor’s brilliant, idiosyncratic High Scholar, to find the killer before the trials end. To do so, she must untangle a web of deadly secrets that stretches back generations, all while competing against six warriors with their own dark histories and fierce ambitions. Neema believes she is alone. But we are here to help; all she has to do is let us in.

If she succeeds, she will win the throne. If she fails, death awaits her. But we won’t let that happen.

We are the Raven, and we are magnificent.]]> 672 Antonia Hodgson 0316577227 Pam 0 4.60 2025 The Raven Scholar (Eternal Path Trilogy, #1)
author: Antonia Hodgson
name: Pam
average rating: 4.60
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/03
shelves: fantasy, notmm, library-fl, x-unfinished-series
review:

]]> Where the Axe Is Buried 211934965 All systems fail. All societies crumble. All worlds end.

In the authoritarian Federation, there is a plot to assassinate and replace the President, a man who has downloaded his mind to a succession of new bodies to maintain his grip on power. Meanwhile, on the fringes of a Western Europe that has renounced human governance in favor of ostensibly more efficient, objective, and peaceful AI Prime Ministers, an experimental artificial mind is malfunctioning, threatening to set off a chain of events that may spell the end of the Western world.

As the Federation and the West both start to crumble, Lilia, the brilliant scientist whose invention may be central to bringing down the seemingly immortal President, goes on the run, trying to break out from a near-impenetrable web of Federation surveillance. Her fate is bound up with a worldwide group of others fighting against the global status quo: Palmer, the man Lilia left behind in London, desperate to solve the mystery of her disappearance; Zoya, a veteran activist imprisoned in the taiga, whose book has inspired a revolutionary movement; Nikolai, the President’s personal physician, who has been forced into more and more harrowing decisions as he navigates the Federation’s palace politics; and Nurlan, the hapless parliamentary staffer whose attempt to save his Republic goes terribly awry. And then there is Krotov, head of the Federation’s security services, whose plots, agents, and assassins are everywhere.

Following the success of his debut novel, The Mountain in the Sea, Ray Nayler launches readers into a thrilling near-future world of geopolitical espionage. A cybernetic novel of political intrigue, Where the Axe is Buried combines the story of a near-impossible revolutionary operation with a blistering indictment of the many forms of authoritarianism that suffocate human freedom.]]> 336 Ray Nayler 0374615365 Pam 0 4.02 2025 Where the Axe Is Buried
author: Ray Nayler
name: Pam
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/02
shelves: wanttoread-notmm, notmm, scifi, library-fl
review:

]]> When the Tides Held the Moon 213075628 In Coney Island, true love rises to the surface. With lush illustrations and buoyant prose, Venessa Vida Kelley forges an unforgettable New York fairytale.

Benigno “Benny� Caldera knows an orphaned Boricua blacksmith in 1910s New York City can’t call himself an artist. But the ironwork tank he creates for famed Coney Island playground, Luna Park, astounds the eccentric sideshow proprietor who commissioned it. He invites Benny to join the show’s eclectic cast and share in their shocking secret: the tank will cage their newest exhibit, a live merman stolen from the salty banks of the East River.

More than a mythic marvel, Benny soon comes to know the merman Río as a kindred spirit, wise and more compassionate than any human he’s ever met. Despite their different worlds, what begins as a friendship of necessity deepens to love, leading Benny’s heart into uncharted waters where he can no longer ignore the agonizing truth of Río’s captivity—and his own.

Releasing Río could mean losing his found family, his new home, and his soulmate forever. Yet Benny’s courageous choice may just reveal a love strong enough to free them both.]]> 464 Venessa Vida Kelley 1645661539 Pam 0 4.41 2025 When the Tides Held the Moon
author: Venessa Vida Kelley
name: Pam
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/30
shelves: fantasy, historical, to-read, library-tn
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Full Speed to a Crash Landing (Chaotic Orbits, #1)]]> 203914630 A high octane sexy space heist from New York Times-bestselling author Beth Revis, the first in a novella trilogy.

Ada Lamarr may have gotten to the spaceship wreck first, but looter’s rights won’t get her far when she’s got a hole in the side of her ship and her spacesuit is almost out of air. Fortunately for her, help arrives in the form of a government salvage crew—and while they reluctantly rescue her from certain death, they are not pleased to have an unexpected passenger along on their classified mission.

But Ada doesn’t care—all that matters to her is enjoying their fine food and sweet, sweet oxygen—until Rian White, the government agent in charge, starts to suspect that there’s more to Ada than meets the eye. He’s not wrong—but he’s so pretty that Ada is perfectly happy to keep him paying attention to her—at least until she can complete the job she was sent to pull off. But as quick as Ada is, Rian might be quicker—and she may not be entirely sure who’s manipulating who until it’s too late�

A phenomenally fun novella that kicks off a trilogy of sexy space heists and romantic tension, Full Speed to a Crash Landing is packed with great characters and full of twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the end.]]> 181 Beth Revis 0756419468 Pam 0 library-fl, zz-dnf-2025 3.83 2024 Full Speed to a Crash Landing (Chaotic Orbits, #1)
author: Beth Revis
name: Pam
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/30
shelves: library-fl, zz-dnf-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Girl Whose Luck Ran Out (Ben Ames Case Files, #1)]]> 60693978
Seven years ago, criminologist Ben Ames thought he’d change a big city police force from the inside. He failed. Now he’s a private detective trailing insurance frauds and cheating spouses through the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Like police work, the job would be easier if he didn’t have a conscience.

When university student Kimberly Moy goes missing, her sister begs Ben to take the case. But before Ben can follow up on any leads—What does the Fibonacci series have to do with Kim’s disappearance? What do her disaffected friends know? And where is her car?—chance and bad timing drop his unexpected ex, Jesse, into the mix.

Ben doesn’t have time to train Jesse into the junior PI he seems determined to become. Amateur sleuths are always trouble. Unfortunately, this is turning out to be the kind of case that requires backup, and his intuition is telling him Kim’s story may not have a happy ending....]]> 220 Gayleen Froese 1641083832 Pam 0 4.12 2022 The Girl Whose Luck Ran Out (Ben Ames Case Files, #1)
author: Gayleen Froese
name: Pam
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/27
shelves: to-read, mystery, challenge-pifm, ku
review:

]]> Surreal Estate 42631626 271 Jesi Lea Ryan 1626498547 Pam 0 3.96 2018 Surreal Estate
author: Jesi Lea Ryan
name: Pam
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/27
shelves: to-read, paranormal, ku, challenge-pifm
review:

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