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Review : American Queen by Sierra Simone (audiobook)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 STARS

If you haven't listened to the new full cast recording of American Queen by Sierra Simone yet, what are you waiting for? It's unbelievably good. Only available on Audiobrary by Julia Whelan, aka Sophie Eastlake as Greer, who voice acts alongside the incredible Teddy Hamilton as Embry and Rex Rhys as Ash. I'm obsessed. 😍

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Type Maps for the Lyonesse Trilogy by Sierra Simone 🖤

Tristan – words from Salt Kiss Isolde – words from Salt in the Wound & Honey Cut Mark Trevena – words from Honey Cut

I can't get enough of this series and them.

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Type Map for Donut Summer by Anita Kelly 🍩

Penny makes a grand gesture that includes a gorgeous bouquet of flowers...”peonies and purple asters, dahlias and cornflowers, blooms that somehow remind me of them.”

These are also some of my favorite flowers and I just had to draw them!

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Type Maps for Donut Summer by Anita Kelly 🍩

Happy Pub Week to this wonderful book! Easily one of my favorite reads of the year, this is a charming, heartfelt YA romance about Penny & Mateo who work in their town's Delicious Donuts shop for the summer! Anita's first YA romance between these bi & non-binary teens is really special. I loved it.

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Review : Ladies in Hating by Alexandra Vasti

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 Stars

The third and final book in the Belvoir’s Library series, which I’m a bit sad about because I could easily read more! I love this world and everyone in it. Ladies in Hating is a sapphic Regency rom-com about one of Selina’s besties Georgiana, her dog Francis Bacon and her former teen crush Catriona, who used to work for her family–we meet Selina in Ne’er Duke Well and Georgiana in Earl Crush so it’s great fun to see them all again. 

Georgie & Cat are rival Gothic novelists who discover their books have similar storylines and character names and they start off miffed and hating eachother and it’s such a funny idea! I really liked how charming and clever this story was.

OUT: SEPT 23, 2025

Some trope highlights are enemies-to-lovers, only-one-castle, a matchmaking lesbian Ghost (!)  and there’s also a class difference that causes tension, but the fact that it’s inspired by actual historical events makes it that much more fun! Vasti’s knowledge of Romance History and British Literature really comes through in highlighting historical queer romances and how these women lived. Don’t forget to read the Author’s Note when you finish so you can learn where her inspirations came from.

Belvoir’s is a Library I would most definitely be a member of, especially its Venus Catalog of erotic novels and self-help books. I adore this setting so much and loved the creativity and depth of feeling Vasti has brought to this series.

If you like Regency romance or Sapphic romance I can’t recommend this book enough!

••Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin’s Griffin for the ARC••

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JUNE READS 💙

June had some highly anticipated books coming out that I was really looking forward to and they did not disappoint. 

ATMOSPHERE by Taylor Jenkins Reid (an auto-buy author for me) was suspenseful, technical, romantic and ultimately a feminist stoy. It was also fun to be behind the scenes of NASA in the 80s.

BURY OUR BONES IN THE MIDNIGHT SOIL is also a feminist story about female rage told through intertwining lesbian vampire stories. I finished last night and am rendered speechless. VE Schwab's prose in this book is as lush and sweeping and epic as in her book The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and I absolutely loved it. Both of these writers know how to create a sense of time and place, it's a true talent.

You've seen me talk about PRIEST on here a bunch so I will just say that I'm very late to this one and Lordy is it spicy, as it breaks all the rules and vows.

Finally, if you're a fan of figure skating, and especially ice dancing, THE FAVORITES is a must read. Inspired by real life Olympic gold medal winning ice dancers, the drama and love triangle makes it a perfect summer beach read. I couldn't put it down.

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Quote from The Dark Mirror by Samantha Shannon ❤️

Only Paige could perfectly describe the MOOD that is this series.

@sshannonauthor

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Type Map for Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by VE Schwab 🥀

A portrait of Sabine, the alluring and highly toxic lesbian vampire running amok across Centuries in this glorious epic book. With her shock of red hair, collection of necklaces and the ruby given to her by Andréas. I fell in love with her ruthless desire to be a free woman.

@veschwab

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Type Maps for Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood ⛸️⛸️

Portraits of Rue Siebert and Eli Killgore surrounded by words and quotes from their book. I love them so much, and I love this book!

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Type Maps for Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood ☀️

Portraits of Maya Kilgore, Eli's 23-year old sister, and her crush Conor Harkness, the brooding 38-year old who is Eli's business partner and best friend. Stuck in an Italian Villa for Eli & Rue's wedding you say? They are so destined to be together! I loved this sequel to Not in Love so much!

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Type Maps for Harvest of Sighs by Sierra Simone 🥀

“I have another gift for you... Saint carefully unties the bow of the ribbon and unwinds it from the bundle. The silk falls open to reveal a ring, which gleams like a circle of moonlight in his palm... Auden knows what he’ll see engraved into the silver. The ornate capital G with a thorn-studded vine coiled around its outer curve. G for Guest. Thorns for Thornchapel.”

A portrait of Saint wearing the ring Auden gives him for his birthday, a ring that belonged to his grandfather. I wanted to draw the monogram imagined as a William Morris-inspired piece of art with rose buds and bluebells. 🥰

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Book Aesthetic for Door of Bruises by Sierra Simone

Book 4 of the Thornchapel series brings this thrilling story to a very satisfying end with a gorgeous new cover. It’s gothic. It’s sexy. It’s angsty. There’s so much drama, a sprinkling of magic realism and it’s WILD what happens.

🖤 Old British Manor 🖤 Dark Academia Vibes 🖤 Secrets in the Library 🖤 Equinox Rituals & Sacrifices 🖤 FF + MMF 🖤 Enemies-to-Lovers 🖤 Second Chance 🖤 Light Incest

𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗨𝗘𝗦𝗗𝗔𝗬 𝗝𝗨𝗡𝗘 𝟯𝗿𝗱 !!!

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Type Map for Door of Bruises by Sierra Simone 🌹

"When one of us hurts, we all hurt. And when one of us needs, we all need. We are all of us bound together by thorns. We are all of us a family like the world has never seen."

Auden, Saint, Poe, Beckett, Rebecca and Delphine as the roses they are, in rose colors that I feel represent them best. 🥰

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Type Map for When the Tides Held the Moon by Vanessa Vida Kelley

I would never claim to be able to draw Río as beautifully as the author/artist themself, but he is so soulful and striking that I wanted to create a portrait that’s all flowy watery vibes. Río is surrounded by my favorite words and quotes from this book (there are too many to choose from!) No wonder Benny is so smitten 🥰

Also, Happy #Mermay to all who celebrate 🧜‍♀️

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Type Maps for The Dark Mirror by Samantha Shannon 💜🤍❤️

One of my favorite details in The Bone Season books is the use of floriography: the meaning of flowers from Victorian times. So I thought I'd combine these in a post. :-)

Top: The 4 Aster flowers used for medicinal purposes surrounded by their psychoactive properties and effects.

Bottom: Paige's white poppies and floorboards in her bleached Dreamscape with a few petals turning red as Arcturus restores her memories.

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@sshannonauthor

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April Reads 🖤

So many amazing books this month! I’ve been reading a lot of 5 Star books lately and I’ve been lucky to get advanced copies from some of my favorite authors!

I loved WHEN THE TIDES HELD THE MOON so much that I had to feature Vanessa Kelley's gorgeous pre-order incentive artwork of their 2 MCs Benny & Rio for this post. This book is magical and I would recommend it to anyone who loves historical romance.

Since SWEET OBSESSION is Book 8 of a 10 book series I wasn’t sure if I would like it? I didn’t love 6 & 7 as much as some of the earlier books. Surprisingly it’s Katee’s first M|M romance and I really loved it! Poseidon & Icarus are sweet together. And it sucked me right back into the series for the highly anticipated Book 9 coming out later this year.

SAY YOU’LL REMEMBER ME and DONUT SUMMER are both fantastic. I think the new Abby Jimenez may be my favorite of hers out of the 5 I’ve now read? Such incredible chemistry and funny banter. And the upcoming Anita Kelly is a must read if you like their other books. I can’t wait to read it again.

But the highlight of April had to be getting approved for the ONCE A VILLAIN Arc which I gobbled up after rereading NEVER A HERO. I really didn’t want it to be over because I love this world so much. There are SO MANY surprises, twists and turns it’s a wild ride. She really nailed the ending!

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Type Maps for The Dark Mirror by Samantha Shannon 😻

Both of these portraits of Paige & Arcturus are scenes from their time in Orvieto, Italy, and are from the bonus chapter "AUBADE" included in the Waterstones exclusive edition of The Dark Mirror. Paige is eating a margherita pizza for the first time, and Arcturus speaks gloss to a stray cat who falls in love with him! It's so cute!!

[edit: reorganized TDM art into two posts]

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@sshannonauthor