“You silly, delightful man. There is nothing to be sorry for. You fought for us.” - Arthur, THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA by TJ Klune
Here is my contribution to Our Favorite Scene Zine latest edition, which compiled over 20 artists’ interpretations of the reunion scene from THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA. This book was my first inroad to TJ’s staggering body of work, and remains one of my comfort books at times when my faith in humanity is challenged, or when parenting two smarty-pants gets particularly hard. 😅 From the outset, I wanted to focus on the kids’ reactions to Arthur and Linus’s reunion, because love is something that children inherit from their grownups, and that joy multiplies as they grow up in safe and accepting spaces. I hope you like how it came out. 💕
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Hello happy pride month, here are some sweet and relatively low-stakes queer reads for you:
Cursed Cocktails by SL Rowland - a blood mage retires after decades of fighting to protect his people, and moves to a small coastal town where the heat will be good for his chronic pain. He opens a cocktail bar and maybe falls in love with his business partner.
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune - case worker has to investigate a group home of very powerful magical orphans. One of them is the antichrist. He tries not to lose his mind. Finds love (platonic and romantic) along the way
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree - badass orc barbarian decides to retire from her life of fighting and opens a cafe in a town where no one has heard of coffee before. Finds a family along the way.
A Rival Most Vial by RK Ashwick - two rival potion shop owners who hate everything about each other find out they have to work together on a potion for the mayor. Find out that maybe they don't hate each other that much after all. Oh and there's a found family in there somewhere.
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I am obsessed with the way that 'home' has such a heavy emphasis in TJ Klune's books. It's finding a home or creating a home and having that home be your found family.
The House in the Cerulean Sea had that titular house in the sea but it became Linus's home with his magical family.
Under the Whispering Door had its tea shop where Wallace found a place to be.
In the Lives of Puppets has literal tree houses and an odd little family of robots and their human.
Green Creek found home in a pack and I could go on.
Each book is just so full of home and family and I love it.
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List of queer books I read, loved & recommend!
(There isn't any particular order, I wrote these as I remembered them)
Master Of One - Jaida Jones & Dani Bennett (mlm, fantasy, very cool worldbuilding and magic system, funny, cool characters)
Legends & Lattes - Travis Baldree (wlw, fantasy, very soft & chill vibes)
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)
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)
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