Blurb: Rags is a thief - an excellent one. He’s stolen into nobles’ coffers, picked soldiers’ pockets, and even liberated a ring or two off the fingers of passersby...until he’s caught by the Queensguard and forced to find an ancient fae relic for a sadistic royal sorcerer. But Rags could never have guessed that this relic would actually be a fae himself - a distractingly handsome, annoyingly perfect, ancient fae prince called Shining Talon. Good thing Rags can think on his toes, because things just get stranger from there.
"The difficultly Somhairle often felt in speaking to his mother was that she was responding to a different son: the one she wanted rather than the one she had.
The birds weren't insignificant to him. Perhaps Guaire had been trying to spare him the embarrassment of bringing his small concerns before their mother, whose kingdom consisted primarily of actual people, not doves and starlings."
My latest heartbreak is Somhairle sending letters of the dying doves to his family. The idea that, in a land barren of real company, he'd come to treat the birds as his citizens—that he treated their illness with the care one would reserve for friends and family.
And to have his family belittle him for showing such sensitivity to their passing. Them, viewing it as childish affection, taking for granted the faces and conversation they get to pass every day; whereas Somhairle's only familiar faces were the beaks buried in his backyard.
To make fun of him for finding companionship in the only company he'd been allowed to have. What a cruel reminder that he exists so far at the edges of their thoughts that they couldn't extend any sympathy to the reality of his conditions, any understanding to his exile.
The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon (wlw, high fantasy, cool worldbuilding, kinda reminds me of LOTR but with more dragons and feminism and lesbians)
Even Though I Knew The End - C.L. Polk (wlw, supernatural noir, cool 1930s detective story with angels & demons, I loved this one!)
The Love Interest - Cale Dietrich (mlm, science fiction, very cool concept)
The Darkest Part Of The Forest - Holly Black (side mlm, fantasy, cool fae lore)
The Weight Of The Stars - K. Ancrum (wlw, not quite science fiction but space stuff is involved, lovely and complex characters)
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz (mlm, fiction, very nice in general, there is also a sequel)
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue - Mackenzi Lee (mlm, historical and vaguely fantasy, nice story but I preferred the sequel honestly)
The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy - Mackenzi Lee (wlw, the sequel to the one before, more fantasy elements than the first, asexual main character!!)
Gallant - V.E. Schwab (no romance, but in the background one of the characters(?) uses they/them pronouns, very cool dark fantasy vibe)
Stranger Than Fanfiction - Chris Colfer (gay main character, trans main character, coming-of-age, nice book)
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (yes it's the Love, Simon book, mlm, fiction, pretty nice)
They Both Die At The End - Adam Silvera (mlm, sci-fi ish but mostly fiction, cool ideas, but the ending is sad! Very amazing book though, I haven't read the prequel yet)
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid (wlw, bi main character, historical fiction, cool story, just a neat book in general)
This Is How You Lose The Time War - Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (wlw, sci-fi, very cool time travel stuff!! and very beautiful, it felt like reading poetry most of the time)
One Last Stop - Casey McQuinston (wlw, background trans & pan & queer characters, sci-fi or fantasy idk, but time travel, I loooved this book, great)
The House In The Cerulean Sea - TJ Klune (mlm, fantasy, THIS BOOK oh my gosh you should read it!!, just cute and lovely and good)
Under The Whispering Door - TJ Klune (mlm, fantasy, this book is also sooo amazing, great character development and awesome relationships and stuff, it's been a while since I read it but it was so good)
In the Lives of Puppets - TJ Klune (mlm, ace main character!!, sci-fi, now THIS is found family, oughh feelings. argh, tj klune you’ve done it again, a human and his family of funky robots… I love them)
And They Lived... - Steven Salvatore (nblm, fiction, about gender identity and learning to love yourself, read it a while ago but it was very nice)
I Wish You All The Best - Mason Deaver (nblm, fiction, about finding your identity and people who care about you, very cute and sweet)
The Song Of Achilles - Madeleine Miller (mlm, historical, very good in general)
Carry On - Rainbow Rowell (mlm, background wlw in the third book, fantasy, it's a trilogy, basically Harry Potter if it was gay and also better)
Silver In The Wood - Emily Tesh (mlm, fantasy, very pretty, lots of fae stuff and lovely descriptions, it has a really good sequel too)
Pretty much anything by Alice Oseman (all cute and lovely and great, though I've only read Radio Silence so far I hear only good things, Solitaire is on my to-read list)
I Kissed Shara Wheeler - Casey McQuinston (wlw, fiction, it's been a while but I liked this book)
The Falling In Love Montage - Ciara Smyth (wlw, fiction, this book was so cute and funny and deeply emotional it made me Feel way too many things, I'd definitely recommend it)
What Big Teeth - Rose Szabo (a bit of queerness all around, fantasy, werewolves and monsters, this one was pretty cool!, lots of original ideas for the world/character building)
His Quiet Agent - Ada Maria Soto (mlm, asexual, fiction, about like spies but this book was so gentle and sweet I wanted to cry in the best way possible)
Some By Virtue Fall - Alexandra Rowland (wlw, historical fiction(?), theatre drama!! rival romance!! duels!!, a very good read in general)
Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend - Emma R. Alban (wlw, historical fiction, I’m not usually one for regency romances, but I really liked this!!, very cute and lots of drama, and there’s a sequel coming out soon!)
(I want to try and do these posts more frequently because I DEARLY miss yelling about books, txitter is [poop emoji]-ing, and bluesky is promising but I don't have much of an audience there yet)
ok! stuff freya has read recently and enjoyed:
A FIRE BORN OF EXILE by aliette de bodard -- did you enjoy nirvana in fire? this is for YOU. it's a revenge story set in aliette's xuya space opera universe, with a pile of complicated characters with mixed or obscured motives, a sapphic romance, and just really incredible use of worldbuilding and politics.
THE SLEEPING SOLDIER by aster glenn gray -- I am an enormous sucker for aster's historical m/m romances, and this one was incredible. a union soldier goes to sleep in 1865 and wakes up in 1965, and his new college roommate has a series of gay crises about it. sweet, exuberant, well researched. both a wonderful romance and an absolutely fascinating examination of male friendships and homosexuality in two different historical time periods.
A DEADLY EDUCATION by naomi novik -- doing a reread of the first two scholomance books before I dive into the third. these books are so disgustingly tailored to ME, a huge fan of magical academia stories with a truly deliciously unnecessary level of worldbuilding detail about how the magic works (and how the school is trying to kill you).
BATH HAUS by p.j. vernon -- a man goes to a gay bathhouse, cheating on his partner, and narrowly escapes being murdered. things get worse from there. I can only recommend this to you if you enjoy thrillers that STRESS YOU THE FUCK OUT, which I normally don't; I nearly put it down a couple of times, but I HAD to know what was going on. it's a masterclass in propulsive tension and does some really cool things with unreliable narration.
HAVEMERCY by jaida jones and danielle bennett -- seven hundred years late to this party, but OH MY GOD. this is the completely gay political/military fantasy of my dreams (the YEARNING), plus there are magical-mechanical dragons. I will be devouring the other books in this series in short order.
EVERY VERSION OF YOU by grace chan -- a beautiful and fascinating literary scifi book about humanity and family and love, and being given the choice to upload your consciousness to a digital paradise as the planet dies around you. unsurprisingly it deals with some heavy stuff, but it's fantastic. and australian!
A THIEF AND A GENTLEMAN by arden powell -- another m/m romance in arden's flos magicae series. the title alone is probably enough to tell you why I enjoyed it, but I especially liked the way it kept subverting my expectations in favour of more chewy emotional honesty and complexity.
STRONG FEMALE CHARACTER by fern brady -- a memoir by a scottish comedian about being diagnosed with autism in her thirties, and her life up to that point. funny and chaotic and an all-around amazing read. I loved fern on taskmaster and I love her even more now.
Do you know of any queer fiction involving the fae? I’m not too concerned about the specific identities or even if there is or isn’t a romance plot line but I’m having a surprisingly hard time finding fae focused fantasy and would love some recs!
Sure, here you go:
YA
The Halfling Saga by Melissa Blair
The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon
Master of One by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett
Ash by Malinda Lo
A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz
A Dark and Hollow Star by Ashley Shuttlesworth
Adult
Broken Wings by L.-J Baker
Tales of the Fae by L.J. Hamlin
A Queen of Blood and Glitter by Benjamin Kissell
The Faerie Hounds of York by Arden Powell
Lava Red Feather Blue by Molly RIngle
Shatterproof by Xen Sanders
The Fae Queen’s Captive by Sierra Simone
Close Quarter by Anna Zabo
You can always find these here: https://lgbtqreads.com/sff/paranormal-sff-by-protags/
Long time no see! I have been busy the past few months but finally had time to get started on my urchins specials project.
What is this you might ask? :D
I've always wanted to try to bind a fanfic to look like a Penguin Classic. when I got some brilliant orange bookcloth in a mystery box order from Ratchfords I was even more intent on making this happen so I researched Penguin Classics designs through time and eventually came up with my own design which is not a direct copy of an existing design but nonetheless looks like it could've come out of a Penguin catalogue.
I combined design features of the vertical designs (vertical coloured stripes, prominent title, black vertical line, the publisher and imprint names in colour) and the horizontal designs (Gill Sans with letterspacing in three weights, bold, regular, and light with a rule below the title in colour). Further, just as the Pelican imprint has its own logo, I created a new logo for the series. the Penguin Specials series was a specialised non-fiction line separate, but part of, the great Penguin Classics imprint.
All of these inspirations culminated in my urchin classics (lowercase intentional).
“I left the medic room with ash on my hands and grease on my mouth and my heart clamped round with iron wire, the sort they used to keep urchins out of the shops in Molly.”
—Havemercy, Jaida Jones & Danielle Bennett
the first three urchins are A6 sized bound in turquoise or yellow bookcloth (the orange will be reserved for A5 sized urchins), self-ended, and printed on 80gsm Xerox Cream. the cover paper and the dustjacket is 160gsm Canaletto Cream.
urchin no. 1 - The Constellations of Touch by what_alchemy (Daredevil, Matt/Foggy)
urchin no. 2 - In the City of Blinding Lights by Mizzy (Daredevil, Matt/Foggy)
urchin no. 3 - Something Dumb to Do by poisonivory (Daredevil, Matt/Foggy)
I need to do some finetuning on the jackets as the first three didn't come out right (the margins on the flap text aren't correct on any of them) but so far I'm really happy with how these came out. :D
P.S. here is a video on tiktok for those who want to see these in action.
attempting to rank all my 2023 reads, because i dont really give ratings anymore, but still want to try to make sense of everything i read this year. there were a lot of great books, and this was really hard! this order doesn't speak to the objective quality of the books, but rather my personal enjoyment of them.
(5 stars)
1. Ariah by B.R. Sanders
2. A Book of Tongues by Gemma Files (reread)
3. Leech by Hiron Ennes
4. Point of Dreams by Melissa Scott
5. Point of Hopes by Melissa Scott
6. Ocean's Blood by Thelma Mantey
(~4 stars)
7. Point of Sighs by Melissa Scott
8. The Stone Prince by Fiona Patton
9. The First Stone by Mark Anthony
10. Kissing Carrion by Gemma Files
11. Point of Knives by Melissa Scott
12. Fair's Point by Melissa Scott
13. Silent Reading by Priest
14. The Door into Shadow by Diane Duane
15. Aleksey's Kingdom by John Wiltshire
16. Obsidian Island by Arden Powell
17. Bound in Flesh: An Anthology of Trans Body Horror edited by Lor Gislason
18. Spring in Siberia by Artem Mozgovoy
(~3 stars)
19. The Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts
20. Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee
21. The Master of Samar by Melissa Scott
22. Master of One by Dani Bennett and Jaida Jones
23. The Painter Knight by Fiona Patton
24. Chasing Cold by Stephen Graham King
25. Resistance by B.R. Sanders
(~2 stars)
26. A Million Quiet Revolutions by Robin Gow
27. The Trans Space Octopus Congregation by Bogi Takács
28. Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling
29. Dreamer by Steven Harper
30. The Stark Divide by J. Scott Coatsworth
31. Steal the Sky by Megan E. O'Keefe
32. Fiorenzo by Sebastian Nothwell
DNFs:
Seven Blades in Black by Sam Sykes
The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer
Made a A7, 8-pages folded zine! I had miscalculate on the paper a little, and still finding out the correct way so the pages fell more or less squarely together.
These are a peek of two fandoms from which I compile my fanart. My Havemercy (RookThom) doodles from Volstovic cycle series by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett. And Lucemond from House of the Dragon series by GRRM.
In the future I also want to make comics inthis format... I hope I could commit to practicing drawing more!!
I've just updated my complete list of LGBT+ novels ever read (as far as I can remember). Not including short story collections, comics, non-fiction, or things I've completely forgotten.
I'm not including books where a main character's sexuality was only implied (it's got to be clear on the page), and this list contains queer main and secondary characters only, not background characters that play little part in the story.
I don't read a lot of Young Adult, so assume these are all adult-oriented unless otherwise stated.
I'm not judging nor rating nor recommending any of these; it's purely a list of books I've finished.
True Colors #1: Conventionally Yours, by Annabeth Albert
gay male main characters, romance, happy ending
The Geek Who Saved Christmas, by Annabeth Albert
gay male main characters, romance, happy ending
Perfect Harmony #2: Love Me Tenor, by Annabeth Albert
gay male main character, gay male side characters, romance, happy ending
Knit, Purl, a Baby and a Girl, by Hettie Bell
bisexual female main character, lesbian main character, romance, happy ending
Master of One, by Dani Bennett and Jaida Jones
gay male main characters, trans woman side character, high fantasy, unfinished series
Cesare Aldo #1: City of Vengeance, by D. V. Bishop
Cesare Aldo #2: The Darkest Sin, by D. V. Bishop
gay male main character, gay male side characters, mystery, historical, unfinished series
The Crow: The Lazarus Heart, by Poppy Z. Brite
gay male main character, trans woman main character, horror, unhappy ending - it's The Crow
Exquisite Corpse, by Poppy Z. Brite
gay male main characters, horror, unhappy ending
Lost Souls, by Poppy Z. Brite
gay male main characters, horror, I don't remember the ending
The Black Magician #2: The Novice, by Trudi Canavan
The Black Magician #3: The High Lord, by Trudi Canavan
gay male side characters, high fantasy, happy ending for the gay characters
The Hours, by Michael Cunningham
lesbian main characters, bisexual female main characters, general fiction, I don't remember the ending
Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand, by Samuel R. Delany
gay male main characters, science fiction, unfinished series
The High King's Golden Tongue, by Megan Derr
gay male main characters, romance, high fantasy, happy ending
Nightrunner Books #1: Luck in the Shadows, by Lynn Flewelling
Nightrunner Books #2: Stalking Darkness, by Lynn Flewelling
Nightrunner Books #3: Traitor's Moon, by Lynn Flewelling
gay male main characters, high fantasy, everyone is alive and well as of book 3, I haven't read the rest of the series
Reforged, by Seth Haddon
gay male main characters, high fantasy, happy ending
The Well of Loneliness, by Radclyffe Hall
lesbian main character, historical classic, unhappy ending
Princesses #1: The Stepsister Scheme, by Jim C. Hines
Princesses #2: The Mermaid's Madness, by Jim C. Hines
Princesses #3: Red Hood's Revenge, by Jim C. Hines
lesbian main character, fantasy, fairy tale, everyone is alive and well as of book 3, I haven't read book 4 yet
Blood & Smoke #1 - Blood Books #1: Blood Price, by Tanya Huff
Blood & Smoke #2 - Blood Books #2: Blood Trail, by Tanya Huff
Blood & Smoke #3 - Blood Books #3: Blood Lines, by Tanya Huff
Blood & Smoke #4 - Blood Books #4: Blood Pact, by Tanya Huff
Blood & Smoke #5 - Blood Books #5: Blood Debt, by Tanya Huff
Blood & Smoke #6 - Smoke Series #1: Smoke and Shadows, by Tanya Huff
Blood & Smoke #7 - Smoke Series #2: Smoke and Mirrors, by Tanya Huff
Blood & Smoke #8 - Smoke Series #3: Smoke and Ashes, by Tanya Huff
bisexual male main character, gay male side character (main in the Smoke Books), low fantasy, humour, mostly happy ending
Torin Kerr #1: Confederation #1: Valor's Choice, by Tanya Huff
Torin Kerr #2: Confederation #2: The Better Part of Valor, by Tanya Huff
Torin Kerr #3: Confederation #3: The Heart of Valor, by Tanya Huff
Torin Kerr #4: Confederation #4: Valor's Trial, by Tanya Huff
Torin Kerr #5: Confederation #5: The Truth of Valor, by Tanya Huff
Torin Kerr #6: Peacekeeper #1: An Ancient Peace, by Tanya Huff
Torin Kerr #7: Peacekeeper #2: A Peace Divided, by Tanya Huff
Torin Kerr #8: Peacekeeper #3: The Privilege of Peace, by Tanya Huff
bisexual main characters, bisexual side characters, military space opera, humour, some queer characters survive, others do not - it's set during a war
Gale Girls #1: The Enchantment Emporium, by Tanya Huff
Gale Girls #2: The Wild Ways, by Tanya Huff
Gale Girls #3: The Future Falls, by Tanya Huff
bisexual main characters, bisexual side characters, low fantasy, humour, happy ending
Keeper's Chronicles #1: Summon the Keeper, by Tanya Huff
Keeper's Chronicles #2: The Second Summoning, by Tanya Huff
Keeper's Chronicles #3: Long Hot Summoning, by Tanya Huff
lesbian background character in books 1 & 2 becomes main in book 3, low fantasy, humour, happy ending
Quarters #1: Sing The Four Quarters, by Tanya Huff
Quarters #2: Fifth Quarter, by Tanya Huff
Quarters #3: No Quarter, by Tanya Huff
Quarters #4: The Quartered Sea, by Tanya Huff
bisexual main characters, bisexual side characters, high fantasy, humour, happy endings
The Fire's Stone, by Tanya Huff
gay male main character, bisexual male main character, asexual female main character, poly relationship, high fantasy, happy ending
The Silvered, by Tanya Huff
I don't remember, but considering it's Tanya Huff, probably everyone's bisexual, high fantasy, happy ending
Into the Broken Lands, by Tanya Huff
gay male main character, bisexual side characters, high fantasy, horror elements, mostly happy ending
The House in the Cerulean Sea, by T. J. Klune
gay male main characters, fairy tale, fantasy, happy ending
Angels in America, by Tony Kushner (play)
gay male main characters, play, drama, happy ending
The Last Herald-Mage #1: Magic's Pawn, by Mercedes Lackey
The Last Herald-Mage #2: Magic's Promise, by Mercedes Lackey
The Last Herald-Mage #3: Magic's Price, by Mercedes Lackey
gay male main characters, high fantasy, unhappy ending?
Bergman Brothers #5: Everything For You, by Chloe Liese
gay male main characters, sports romance, happy ending
Ash, by Malinda Lo
lesbian main character, fairy tale, young adult, I don't remember the ending
So This is Ever After, by F.T. Lukens
gay male main characters, young adult, romance, high fantasy, happy ending
Winter's Orbit, by Everina Maxwell
gay male main characters, science fiction, unfinished series
Lindsay Gordon Crime Series #6: Hostage to Murder, by V. L. McDermid (Val McDermid)
lesbian main character, mystery, happy ending, I haven't read the rest of the series
Trick of the Dark, by Val McDermid
lesbian main characters, lesbian side characters, mystery, I don't remember the ending
Iron Council, by China Miéville
gay male side character, dystopian fantasy, I don't remember the ending
Hero, by Perry Moore
gay male main characters, superheroes, young adult, happy ending
A Land Fit for Heroes #1: The Steel Remains, Richard K. Morgan
gay male main character, lesbian main character, high fantasy, I don't remember the ending and I haven't read the sequel
Love & Luck #5: Two Men and a Baby, by Isla Olsen
gay male main characters, gale male side characters, romance, happy ending
Captive Prince Series #1: Captive Prince, by C. S. Pacat
Captive Prince Series #2: Prince's Gambit, by C. S. Pacat
Captive Prince Series #3: Kings Rising, by C. S. Pacat
bisexual male main character, gay male main character, bisexual side characters, high fantasy/romance, happy ending
The Monkey's Mask, by Dorothy Porter
lesbian main character, bisexual female side character, poetry, mystery, complicated but satisfying ending
Wild Surmise, by Dorothy Porter
bisexual female main character, poetry, general fiction, I don't remember the ending
She Drives Me Crazy, by Kelly Quindlen
lesbian main characters, lesbian side characters, romance, young adult, happy ending
Cry to Heaven, by Anne Rice
bisexual male main character, historical, revenge story, happy ending
The Wolf Gift, by Anne Rice
gay male side character, low fantasy, happy ending
The Love Study #2: The Hate Project, by Kris Ripper
gay male main characters, gay male side character, genderqueer side character, romance, happy ending
Carry On Series #1: Carry On, by Rainbow Rowell
Carry On Series #2: Wayward Son, by Rainbow Rowell
bisexual male main character, gay male main character, low fantasy, young adult, everyone is alive and well as of book 2, I haven't read book 3 yet
Get Over It!, by Phillip Scott
gay male main characters, mystery, humour, I don't remember the ending
Christopher Marlowe Spy Thriller #1: The Queen's Gold, by Steven Veerapen
gay male main character, mystery, spy thriller, historical, unfinished series
Fingersmith, by Sarah Waters
lesbian main characters, historical, heist story, happy ending
Tipping the Velvet, by Sarah Waters
lesbian main characters, historical, happy ending
Running With Lions, by Julian Winters
gay male main characters, gay male side characters, young adult, sports romance, happy ending
The Stone Gods, by Jeanette Winterson
lesbian main characters, gay male main characters, ostensibly general fiction but actually more like speculative fiction, implied happy ending
Orlando, by Virginia Woolf
bisexual genderqueer main character, historical, I don't remember the ending
hi u asked for book recs and I could not stop the gremlin in me from jumping at the chance so here are a list of books I lovedddd they're all standalones and I absolutely adored all of them
life/people/relationships
-the kite runner by khaled hosseini: such a moving story about amir and his childhood friend hassan who live in afghanistan and their lives as children and then into adulthood its such an amazing story but it is also very heavy and deals with tough things so just keep that in mind
-tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by gabrielle zevin: 2 people who are super smart making a game together and their lives from children to adults
-sea of tranquility by emily mandel: multiple people over a few hundred yrs experience the same thing at a specifc spot and this guy is sent through time to investigate it
-station eleven by emily mandel: set in a dystopian future after the world is ravaged by a flu, it follows the experience of a travelling theater group and they way they live their lives
-lessons in chemistry by bonnie garmus: set in the 1960s, it follows elizabeth zott a chemist who works in a very sexist environment, who a few years later ends up the star of a cooking show
romance
-book lovers by emily henry: romance story about an editor who goes to a picturesque little town for a getaway with her sister and keeps running into a an editor she def does not like,,,, unless?
-the seven husbands of evelyn hugo by taylor jenkins reid - what the title says, its a rlly good book i love it
fantasy
-master of one by jaida jones - this one is technically not a standalone, as it is supposed to be part of a series, but its been a while now and theres no second book or even any plans for one so u can treat it as a standalone, its about a thief who gets caught and is hired by the crown to steal a precious artefact which turns out to be a whole fae prince
-babel - sososo good i absolutely love it, its a fantasy book set in a world where translations are basically magic and make things happen, and it follows robin, a young boy who is "saved" by a white professor and raised to enter oxford and his experience and his life
anyways ik this is a lot 😭😭 but if you ever end up reading any of them I'd love to hear ur thoughts
the way you named like four of my favourite books in this rec list............ station eleven is my favourite book of All Time!!! and sea of tranquility is also a belter!!! i also loved the kite runner a lot khaled hosseini doesn't know how to miss. he is physically incapable of such an act
thank you so much tho i'll be sure to check the rest out :')
also fun fact about babel. i went to the same university at the same time as the author and she said in the author's note of babel that she was inspired to add the scene with a tower of oysters after attending a college ball and seeing one there........ i was at the ball she's talking about. isnt that crazy. she was taking notes to transform the situation into a commentary on elite institutions and i was there getting drunk
I read an obscene number of books during my weeks travelling in the USA, so here are some highlights!
A GENTLEMAN UNDONE by cecilia grant - I actually read all three in this excellent series, but this is the highlight. a tense, engrossing regency romance between a gentleman desperate to make money in gambling halls and the woman who teaches him to count cards, who unfortunately happens to be someone else's mistress. extremely horny and very smart.
SHADOW MAGIC by jaida jones & danielle bennett - after HAVEMERCY I desperately needed the rest of the series, and happily I had dinner with jaida and dani and was given them! this one is classic political fantasy: assassins, ambassadors, a devoted bodyguard and his beautiful prince, and a flamboyant little chaos magician who wonders why nobody else in his delegation is enjoying the beautiful local Fashion Robes. this book has never had a heterosexual thought in its entire life.
AMERICAN QUEEN by sierra simone - okay, this is a rec for the entire series (AMERICAN PRINCE & AMERICAN KING follow), a modern arthur-lancelot-guinevere retelling where they're american politicians and they're all in love and kinky and fucked up about it. mostly smut, lots of angst, occasional plot. maybe the hottest thing I've ever read in my life?? damn, sierra simone knows what she's doing.
THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS by robert a. heinlein - what if we were a moon colony and we decided to stage a revolutionary war and we asked a bored AI computer to run the logistics for us? I'm such a sucker for logistics, and heinlein delivers in spades. very funny, great worldbuilding, fun characters. has aged surprisingly well, I think.
10 THINGS THAT NEVER HAPPENED by alexis hall - a pure shot of gay grumpy/sunshine delivered via FAKE AMNESIA TROPE and a plot lovingly and lampshadily borrowed from the classic sandra bullock vehicle while you were sleeping. alexis hall's protagonists and glorious supporting casts always grab me, and this was no exception.
THE FALL THAT SAVED US by tamara jerée - do you like the good omens setup of bookshop angel vs. snarky demon, destined to be enemies but oh no we're in love, and you'd like to add some recovery from family trauma + sex scenes + also they're sapphic? yes. good. enjoy.
CHAIN-GANG ALL-STARS by nana kwame adjei-brenyah - holy shit!! finished this one yesterday and will be thinking about it for a long time. premise: criminals can choose to compete in deadly televised gladiator matches instead of remaining in prison. this is an absolutely brutal examination of the prison industrial complex and the violent commodification of bodies (especially bodies of colour) under our capitalist hellscape. lyrical, wonderful, cutting. very queer and very angry. I flew through it. what a fantastic book.