#the queer principles of kit webb series

[chadsuke]

Books Read in 2023:

Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman (2019)

Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling (1996)

The Last Sun by K.D. Edwards (2018)

The Little Book of Lykke by Meik Wiking (2017)

American Cozy by Stephanie Pederson (2018)

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian (2021)

The Conscious Closet by Elizabeth L. Cline (2019)

My Happy Marriage Vol. 1 by Akumi Agitogi (2019)

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (1962)

[ID: Covers of the aforementioned books. End ID.]

[the-dust-jacket]

Heyer but gayer!

In honor of KJ Charles' new books The Duke At Hazard, a twist on one of Georgette Heyer's most delightfully ridiculous novels, The Foundling, we present to the tonne a selection of queer romance sorted by a few favorites from the queen of Regency Romance.

(Mostly Regency, a few earlier, and occasionally creeping all the way up to Victorian, and please note that most of these are steamy enough to make a Heyer heroine collapse on the fainting couch clutching her vinagraitte!)

Sylvester, or the Wicked Uncle:

Band Sinister

Wanted, a Gentleman

Something Fabulous

Infamous

The Masqueraders:

The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting

The Perks of Loving a Wallflower

Frederica:

It Takes Two to Tumble

Unmasked by the Marquess

Her Lady to Love

Cotillion:

Infamous

Venetia

Band Sinister

The Ruin of a Rake

Faro's Daughter

The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting

The Hellion's Waltz

The Society of Gentleman series

Beauvallet:

Valiant Ladies

Brethren

These Old Shades

The Society of Gentleman series

Unmasked by the Marquess

Devil's Cub:

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue

Her Morning Star

The Corinthian:

The Perks of Loving a Wallflower

Wanted, a Gentleman

A Civil Contract

A Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics

The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows

The Society of Gentlemen series

Friday's Child

Band Sinister

The Talisman Ring:

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb

A Thief In the Night

Something Fabulous

The Reluctant Widow:

Trouble

The Lawrence Browne Affair

The Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel

Arabella:

Unmasked by the Marquess

An Island Princess Starts a Scandal

Her Lady to Love

The Unknown Ajax:

The Secret Lives of Country Gentleman and The Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel

What are your favorites?

[erlie]

Replying "publicly", in case someone else is interested too! @mokolat

And I am more than happy to share my book recs!

Concerning historical M/M, anything by KJ Charles is good, but I recently enjoyed these: Band Sinister Slippery Creatures Both Doomsday books Cat Sebastian is also always reliable: The Queer Principles of Kit Webb We Could Be So Good All of the Seducing the Sedgwicks series

Also some other authors: A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske (this has magic in the mix) The Scottish Boy by Alex de Campi

All these books contain adult themes or straight up smut. They also have some period typical homophobia, but it is never particularly heavy and I can't remember any slurs being flung around, with the exception of "The Scottish Boy". It is heaviest of the bunch and I wouldn't categorize it as a romance book, but it is SO GOOD.

Also, none of these authors believe in Bury Your Gays or some such, so happy endings for all!

Let me know if you want or need some other recs!

[mermaidsirennikita]

Can you recommend a few books with amazing Fellatio scenes?

For sure!

Thief of Shadows by Elizabeth Hoyt probably still has my favorite historical BJ scene. He cries because it was his first orgasm with another person and that's a Lot; she cries because she's emotional and also because like, you know, gag reflex stuff. They're super close to being caught by people. It's GREAT. Tbh though, Elizabeth Hoyt writes generally solid to great ones.

I mean, let us also not forget the scene in Duke of Pleasure wherein the hero is like "oh no the bad guys are about to catch us" so she just starts blowing him to make it look like she's a street wench or whatever they're trying for, and once the guys leave he's like "okay you can stop". And she. Does. Not.

New Camelot by Sierra Simone has several of my favorite BJ scenes. Most likely the "blindfold 'im with a novelty Mount Rushmore tie and go down on him to express your *eternal* gratitude" blow job is the best one, but I also really love the "the mighty Maxen Colchester has a gag reflex" [*cut to the mighty Maxen Colchester glaring balefully*] scene.

Naturally, Sierra's Salt Kiss has great scene in this context, and her Thornchapel series has some of the most "this is sinning" fellatio scenes I'e ever read. Like. The one where they're spit-roasting a priest is honestly not the most sinful BJ in that series. And speaking of that, her book Saint has an amazing scene in which ex-boyfriends, one of whom is a current monk, act out a "I'm a naughty monk and you're tempting me" fantasy BJ in like, the great outdoors lmao.

Mila Finelli's Kings of Italy has great ones. Like, full "you look so pretty like this" scenes, smudged makeup, love it.

Act Your Age by Eve Dangerfield literally begins with the heroine blowing her boss while calling him daddy without realizing that it is, in fact, her boss.

Give Me More by Sara Cate is an MMF romance with a couple of truly iconic blow job scenes, including hits like "giving my best friend head in the dark" and "my best friend goes down on me after his wife decks my dick out with whipped cream".

All of the Mackenzie brother books by Jennifer Ashley have good ones, but Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage probably has my favorite in the series because Mac is a Whiny Squirmy Hero.

Kennedy Ryan writes great ones in her All the King's Men duology--including one with the thing we don't see enough of in m/f romance novels (heroes getting their asses fingered).

Oh SPEAKING of that there's an amazing BJ scene in Kristen Callihan's The Friend Zone that includes the same thing. The man almost like, dies.

Cate Sebastian's The Queer Principles of Kit Webb has one of my favorite BJ scenes because Percy is a throat goat who happens to be going down on a man who's afraid of hurting him so he has to be like "YOU UNDERESTIMATE MY POWER" about it.

Grace Callaway's books are generally great in this regard. I once compared an enthusiastic but inexperienced Grace Callaway heroine trying to go down on her hero to someone attempting the chubby bunny challenge. And I'm correct there, and boy do their heroes love it (while also being like, "she's objectively kinda bad at this").

Joanna Shupe's books usually have good fellatio scenes (oh, and she's also Mila Finelli). The Duke Gets Even and The Devil of Downtown especially win out in this regard.

[cartograffiti]

Books that get funky with bisexual mains

...and one movie.

Hi, I'm bisexual and I read a lot! There are a lot of bi characters of sensational quality in books, but this is not a compilation of all the bi characters I have encountered, or even all the ones in books I recommend! Instead, this post is about books (and one movie) that I think do interesting things with writing about bisexuality, whether that's depicting nuanced experiences, or structuring entire plots that wouldn't be possible without a bi main.

I'm also not trying to claim these are higher quality than "bi the way" representation, but I think it's fun to do a roundup of books that go deeper. Some of these write-ups contain spoilers, but I didn't include anything I feel I personally would be disappointed to know going in.

Spotlight on: you know what that is? growth.

These are all books that make me think about bisexuality's journey in popular fiction, as well as being about personal journeys.

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan. This is a very fun YA book that explores, pokes, and sends up tropes of both high fantasy and contemporary coming-of-age stories. It follows Elliot throughout his teen years, including relationships with girls and boys, and growing into his aesthetic tastes and moral compass.

It's funny and heartfelt, and included here because it's unusual both to have a book where such a young person knows he's bisexual before the book begins (Elliot is initially thirteen and has had a crush on a boy before), and where the reader gets to follow a character through the maturation of their queer identity. A lot of YA stories are only about coming out, or only about one relationship, but this is a book about growing into yourself in many ways.

Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner. This is a 1987 cult classic of tremendous influence on the current fantasy scene. GRR Martin, Neil Gaiman, and Megan Whalen Turner are among the authors I know have praised it. It's a fundamental text of the fantasy of manners subgenre, and a great example of the subgenre I wish would coin a name--historical fiction for places that don't exist.

Two of its four core characters are also bi men. One has a variety of relationships, and is our window into the setting's high society, and the other is a professional duelist whose love for a disgraced scholar forces him into a dramatic series of power plays. It's a teacup rose of a book, lots of detail on a small scale, centered on personal stakes. This is a great choice if you want to remember bi representation isn't uber-new, and read about how queerness can be influenced by class.

Slippery Creatures by K.J. Charles. This is the start of a romantic spy thriller trilogy about WWI vet Will Darling, who inherits an antiquarian bookshop and discovers that somewhere in it is hidden a formula that both the government and a criminal organization want.

Will only has one love interest in the trilogy, the warm but secretive Lord Arthur "Kim" Secretan, but the fact that he's bi is never an afterthought. His best friend Maisie is a former girlfriend of his, and he expresses attraction in passing to everyone from Kim's platonic fiancee Phoebe to real world fashion designer Edward Molyneux. Some of his close friends are also bi, which makes for lovely conversations about vintage terminology. "We're ambidextrous." "I think she meant ambisexual."

Spotlight on: Cat Sebastian

Cat Sebastian gets a whole section to herself because she writes many bisexual characters. I'm inevitably going to read one of hers I haven't gotten to yet and wish I'd talked about it here. These three are highlights. Even if you pick up a different one of hers, it'll be great: she's one of very few historical romance writers who does not equate being high on the class ladder with being happier or safer, and in fact some of her characters consider it a moral deal-breaker.

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb. This is a duology with the book shown beside it, a pair of books about a set of posh best friends who fall in love with a set of former highwaymen best friends. Kit would never have turned to crime if he hadn't first been widowed, so the fact that he had a beloved wife once is as loadbearing to the plot of this romance as the fact that he's attracted to men, and Percy in particular.

A lot of romance books shy away from letting their mains have been in love before, ever. Whether it's through having characters think they've "never felt this so deeply before" or giving them ex-lovers who turned evil, they like to play up the present relationship at the expense of past ones, and this book doesn't do that. Because it allows Kit to have experienced romantic love for multiple genders in a way the text values and depends on, it does something I think is really special.

The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes. Sequel-companion to the above, can be read in either order but slightly better second. Marian and Rob are both bisexual, and in this book it doesn't affected plot events, but hugely affects their relationship with each other.

Marian has been married once and is a mother. Pregnancy was difficult for her, and she is afraid of dying if she goes through it again. She will not have sex that has a risk of conception, and cannot trust a partner who isn't fully on board with that. Neither of them had to be bi for them to work it out believably, but because they're bi, it lets them talk on terms of shared experience and trust while discussing the ways their histories shaped their relationships with their own bodies and specific acts. Very few books so explicitly address how your orientation can form your opinions about sex and parenthood well before they become relevant.

Unmasked by the Marquess. I haven't read the other two Regency Imposters books, but I think they're all about queer couples who can pass as m/f on paper? This one certainly is. Alistair is a grumpy bisexual nobleman who just wants to be debt-free and never be embarrassed in his life. Robin is...well, she's a nonbinary schemer disguised as her dead first love so she can help his sister find a husband. Also she went to Oxford.

Robin is only interested in men, but because Alistair is bi, they become interested in each other when he only knows her as a man. Neither of them has the vocabulary for the way she feels about her gender, but they work it out in a way I found believable and sensitive. Alistair was probably written as bi to wrap around Robin's arc, because his desire to be with her doesn't change as he learns about her, it just puts legal marriage on the table. Much more important to this book's inclusion in this post is that before Alistair can feel loved and supported enough to be open about his legally accepted relationship, he first has to hear from his family that they support Alistair's queerness. So often bisexuality is portrayed as only needing to be embraced if you're in a (perceived) "opposite sex" relationship; it's refreshing.

Spotlight on: Nonbinary love interests

Obviously, you don't have to be bi to date nonbinary people, but these two communities have a...twirls hair...special relationship!

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey. This is the start of a duology about, uh, hippo cowboys in 1890s Louisiana. It's alternate history inspired by a real proposition once made by the US government, and it's all about a revenge caper to steal a bunch of hippos.

The leader of the heist team is Winslow Houndstooth, a British-Chinese rancher, and he's our bi protagonist. He talks about his exes, has one very plot-important former hookup, and is in love with Hero, the crew's explosives expert. They're black and nonbinary, and the two of them have very moving synergy. A getting-to-know-you conversation has Winslow bracing himself to be asked "So, where are you from?" and Hero bracing themself to be asked "So, what are you?" and neither question ever comes.

Book Boyfriend by Kris Ripper. PK is an aspiring novelist who's hopelessly in love with his best friend Art, whether or not it's reciprocated. To process his feelings, he writes a romance inspired by the two of them, and tries to work out whether there's a way for bookseller Art to figure out it's a declaration of love without having to talk about it. Haha.

Art comes out as nonbinary about halfway through the book, which means there's a very unusual and skillful portrayal of a character in close first person adjusting to the new pronouns of someone he cares about. More pertinently, PK and another man in his social circle talk about how being bisexual/pansexual means sometimes people who are fine with the idea of being gay are awful to them for their actual sexualities. They go on a fake date so this friend can protect his (also bi/pan) girlfriend from scrutiny, it's great.

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix. A spectacular start to a new urban fantasy series by the author of Sabriel and The Keys to the Kingdom. I love this book, it's so engaging and deft. Alternate 1980s, layered magic and mundane worlds, folklore references--if you like Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London, try this.

Art student Susan Arkshaw is looking for her biological father and instead runs smack into the gorgeous and talented Merlin, a left-handed warrior from an extended family of magical booksellers. He's also figuring out some gender stuff, and considering transition. I would not be surprised if a later book has Merlin come out as a trans woman, but as of book one, I think he's probably nonbinary. Susan is gender nonconforming in her own way, and, like Unmasked by the Marquess, this is a great dovetailing of bi identity with gender exploration--Susan and Merlin know they'll still be into each other however things develop. (This book also has the fastest introduction of transness in anything I've ever read that wasn't primarily about it. Nix emotionally grounds this book in queerness and familial love.)

Spotlight on: it's not straight if it's queer

Bi people deserve happy m/f relationships too!

Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall. The start of a romance series about contestants on a fictional equivalent of The Great British Bake Off. Rosaline is competing to better her and her daughter's financial situation, and earns self-confidence as she goes.

That she's bisexual is very important to her, and creates a lot of plot. She faces significant biphobia from her parents and various people she interacts with, and in many ways biphobia is the chief obstacle of her arc. An ex girlfriend of hers is an important supporting (and supportive) character, and Rosaline has two men as love interests, who have very different attitudes to her sexuality. This is the one to grab if you want to scream in recognition and know a happy ending is coming.

A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone. This is SUCH a good book. It's brand new, read it over Christmas if you celebrate. After all, it's a book set at Christmas, during the filming of a parody Hallmark Channel Christmas movie. Bee Hobbes (alias Bianca von Honey) and Nolan Kowalczk (alias Nolan Shaw) are, respectively, a very successful fat porn star trying to expand her casting and an ex-boy band singer trying to keep his star from burning out. They have massive unattainable celebrity crushes on each other, and now they're starring as love interests! What could possibly happen!

Both Bee and Nolan are bisexual and out professionally. They have wonderful conversations about it throughout the book, including talking about how bi stereotypes about men and women differ, how bi people being seen as sexually provocative or edgy has both helped and hurt their careers, and a sweet conversation that put me on the ground, because Nolan was one of Bee's bi icons when she was a wee teen fan. This is a heartwarming pick, but not sicky-sweet.

All the Feels by Olivia Dade. [EDIT 11/7/22: Thanks to e-b-reads, I took a second look at this book and discovered I had misinterpreted something early in the book and spent the rest of it projecting. Alex is not canonically bi, somehow. I’m not deleting my comments on it because I don’t think it would help anyone if I did, but lol this is the funniest thing I’ve ever done, how did I manage this?]

I didn't read the first book in this series and didn't need to. Lauren Chandra Clegg worked as an ER therapist until she burned out, and now she has a temporary gig babysitting impulsive actor Alexander Woodroe out of doing stuff that the tabloids can spin into bad PR for the last season of the Game of Thrones parody he stars in. They hang out and go on a road trip and annoy each other, it's very charming.

Lauren is straight and Alex is bi. It's somewhat unusual in itself to see a story where a bisexual man has a woman love interest, and more so when she isn't also queer. This book makes reference to his bisexuality regularly, but it's all of a piece with his entertaining personality. He has ADHD and a too-big heart and loves attention. I know guys like this and you probably do too. I love them, Lauren loves this one, ya love to see it, folks. This one's a pretty restful read on the bi angle. It's not a source of tension, just affection. These characters are also in their late 30s, making them the oldest in this post!

Spotlight on: you gotta have friends

Community support my beloved.

The Last Sun and its sequels by K.D. Edwards. I'm pretty sure the protagonist of this series, Rune St. John, is gay, but his queerplatonic partner (Brand) and romantic partner (Addam) are both explicitly bisexual. This is an edgy and tremendously inventive urban fantasy set among New Atlantean noble houses and their power struggles. Rune and Brand do detective and mercenary work that puts them in the path of the undead, time magic, schemes, escapes, a dinosaur... They're very cool and the magic is smart as hell.

It's very important to long-running themes of this series (3 books out of 9 planned) that the central cast has the diversity of sexual identities that it does. A major plotline focuses on Rune's revenge quest against his rapists, and the trio and their allies repeatedly invest in protecting other young people from sexual abuse and exploitation. It's a good example of being able to have a variety of orientations among nasty characters and villains without the text making any villainous implications itself. The core group members co-parent, cook food, pick on each other. They're loved and relatable, and it gives the narrative freedom.

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows. This is a lush fantasy-mystery-romance about a political marriage between noblemen from neighboring countries just exiting a long rivalry. They're trying to get to know each other, heal after acts of violence, and also figure out who keeps trying to commit murders in the family home--and also eat the most delicious-sounding food I've read in fantasy recently.

Velasin is gay, and his country is a queerphobic environment. He's moved to live with his bisexual husband Caethari and his family in their very open society. A significant part of both men's lives is queer community. Velasin had boyfriends and queer friends even when he had to be closeted, and he and Caethari consider the support of his queer friends and family crucial in navigating their marriage. There's a lot of emphasis on the interconnected nature of queer identities. Their personal growths relied on kinship and affection with trans people in their lives, and the fact Cae and Velasin have distinct sexual identities from each other is explored to a lesser, but still valuable extent. This is also an m/m book that actively ensures women are visible and active in their lives--a surprising number let women become merely incidental.

Bedrooms and Hallways (1998). Here's the one movie! Why is this in a post about books? Well, because it's my blog, and also because when I was selecting books, I kept comparing them to this movie. This is a romantic comedy about a group of friends, and what happens when one of them meets his brother's friends and the two social groups collide.

In particular, it's a story about a few people in their late 20s and early 30s questioning their sexual orientations. I'm not going to tell you who in it turns out to be bi or anything else, because I didn't know, and it was a complete roller coaster working out over 92 minutes who was going to end up together. It's one of the greatest queer romcoms ever made, that's all you need to know.

Last thoughts:

There are some really glaring shortcomings in the assortment here. Romance and gritty genres have always featured queer characters more prominently, and my exposure to bisexual characters is limited by commercial biases. There are fewer published characters of color in romantic relationships than white characters, fewer queer characters of color, fewer f/f relationships than m/m and especially m/f. It may only be because I'm nonbinary and seek out books with nonbinary characters with effort that I could think of four...and none of those have been well-publicized for the fact.

I thought of quite a few bi characters of color and/or bi women in relationships with women in books I considered including but ultimately didn't, because they just didn't do very much with exploring bisexuality. They're about queerness more broadly, address bi identity only in passing, or feature these characters as secondary friends to (often gay white men) protagonists. This is all ~good representation~ a lot of the time, but it shows me two things. One is that the publishing industry needs to take more risks in portrayals of women's sexuality and the sexuality of characters of color, by including more depth and nuance. The other is that I as an individual reader need to put more effort into seeking out what already exists.

[disasterpirate]

Top 9 people you want to get to know better

@beefsteakclub tagged me 900 years ago, thank you so much!

Favorite Color: Orange. And pink.

Currently reading: The queer principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian, a cute adventure/romance featuring a highwayman turned coffeehouse owner turned highwayman again

Last song: The Butterfly Effect - Before You Exit

Last series: if we're talking books it's the Cesare Aldo series by DV Bishop (murder mysteries set in renaissance Florence, with a gay MC, so bloody good). TV-wise i had my heart broken recently by Good Omens 2

Last movie: Asteroid City

Sweet/Savory/Spicy: Spicy! Though I do have a sweet thooth too...

Currently working on: well, I've looked at my novel (a lesbian regency espionage extravaganza) today, so that totally counts as working on it, right? Right??!

Tagging: @andrasta14 @saltybenchday @silenea @beeschaos @thefairylights @saltsprite @cheesybadgers @zwergenmaedchen @urisarang and anyone else who wants to play!

[triviareads]

HR with criminal heroes please

Sure, with a couple criminal heroines added in for good measure:

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian: I'm halfway through this book and I'm in love with Kit and Percy; Kit used to be a notorious highwayman and Percy tries to hire him for a heist except Kit can't do it anymore, so he decides to teach Percy how to pull it off instead

The Last Crimes of Peregrine Hind by Sierra Simone: Another highwayman hero; Peregrine is out for *revenge* against the Duke of Jarell except he accidentally kidnaps the duke's younger brother Alexander..... who is very much into this entire kidnapping situation, and Peregrine.

Earl of Every Sin by Scarlett Scott: Sandy aka Alessandro aka EL CORAZON OSCURO is a Spanish guerrillero during the Napoleonic wars and deeefinitely a war criminal based on what some of the other heroes in this series say about his activities during the Peninsular War.

Her Wanton Wager by Grace Callaway: Gavin Hunt is a gaming hell owner with criminal beginnings and a lot of criminal goons so I think he qualifies; he is trying to find the heroine Percy's brother to make him pay his debts, but Percy negotiates with him to hold off by agreeing to a bet that he'll leave her brother alone if she can't be seduced. This is one of my favorites by Grace and I'd highly recommend.

Devil of Downtown by Joanna Shupe: The hero in this book is notorious kingpin/gentleman gangster Jack Mulligan who falls HARD for do-gooder/rich girl/wannabe cop Justine. Immaculate bad boy/good girl vibes.

Sarah MacLean's Bareknuckle Bastards series has 3 siblings all of whom jointly run a criminal enterprise out of Covent Garden. They're all stellar (and super hot) but Brazen and the Beast is by far my favorite— he's the king of the underworld and she's a kickass businesswoman who accidentally meets the hero while he's tied up in her carriage. Spoiler alert, this isn't the last time he's tied up in this book 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas: We're veering into mostly "used to be a criminal" territory here; Derek used to be a criminal as well as a prostitute at some point in the past and he used that money as capital for his gaming hell. He's one of those heroes who is painfully aware of his background which is why he thinks he isn't good enough for Sarah Fielding (and Lily Lawson for that matter).

The entire Scoundrels of St. James Series by Lorraine Heath consists of heroes/a heroine who used to be pickpockets/street urchin criminals. Here are my favorites in the series:

Surrender to the Devil by Lorraine Heath: One of my all time favorites by Lorraine; Frannie used to be a pickpocket before she was taken in by her friend's noble grandfather. The hero Sterling is immediately drawn to her despite her past (or perhaps in part because of it) and despite the instant chemistry, she really makes him work for it, which I so appreciate.

Between the Devil and Desire by Lorraine Heath: Another former criminal/thief, Jack Dodger someone ends up being named guardian to a young duke and basically has to co-parent with the dowager duchess Olivia. This has another variation on the class-difference trope— Olivia haaaaaates how attracted she is to Jack and Jack thinks she's a stuck-up prude, and yet they really can't help themselves.

Also! Lorraine's The Duke and the Lady in Red features a heroine who is a con artist and tries to pull one over on the hero, except he ends up offering her a looooot of money to sleep with him for a week.

I keep saying I'm going to reread this because the last time I had pandemic brain, but Scandalous Desires by Elizabeth Hoyt has a (river) pirate hero!

[burningdarkfire]

books i read in may 2023

[these are all short + casual reviews - feel free to ask about individual ones if u want my full thoughts or ask for my goodreads!!] 

this month i gave myself a challenge that i could only get one bbt per book that i finished and, as u can see, i really fucking love bbt

ancillary justice - ann leckie ★★★★★ (scifi)

guys can u believe the venn diagram of love vs. grief is just a circle ... the emotional core of this book drove me INSANE. the only book i’ve given 5 stars to so far this year!!

magpie muders - anthony horowitz ★★★★☆ (mystery)

absolute delight of a mystery that is so wonderfully constructed and interesting. i wish it had cohered just ever so slightly more into something bigger picture, but it really is one of the best mysteries i’ve read recently

yellowface - r.f. kuang ★★★★☆ (thriller)

i listened to r.f. kuang speak on this book and unsurprisingly, she delivers the novel with no hesitation. unfortunately the POV of this book doesn’t play to her strengths, so it’s good but it’s not lifechanging like a lot of her other books have been for me

lost in the moment and found - seanan mcguire ★★★★☆ (children’s fantasy)

another solid installment. sometimes reading the eighth book in a series is just like, yep, that’s what it is

the honjin murders - seishi yokomizo ★★★☆☆ (mystery)

fast and fun. the details of the solution were extremely goofy but the set up was well written and enjoyable to read

the queer principles of kit webb - cat sebastian ★★★☆☆ (historical romance)

my friend pointed out to me that this is basically just drarry fanfic and she is so correct

peeps - scott westerfield ★★★☆☆ (YA urban fantasy)

the plot itself is pretty generic but it hits beats that i personally like and i sure did learn a lot. scott westerfield is good at knowing when to dig deep into worldbuilding and when to let loose

grit - silas denver melvin ★★★☆☆ (poetry)

i didn’t quite connect on the personal level but i actually think it’s quite good poetry

happy place - emily henry ★★★☆☆ (romance)

way too much reliance on miscommunication/the lack of communication. the friendships in this book were also much more interesting than the romance

my year of rest and relaxation - ottessa moshfegh ★★★☆☆ (contemporary)

it’s unfair to compare this book to a bunch of books that came after but i really just have read so many of these unlikeable women books in recent months that they all blur tediously together. it’s good for what it is!

xeni - rebekah weatherspoon ★★★☆☆ (romance)

the characters and plot were extremely shallow but the smut was a lot of fun

serious concerns - wendy cope ★★★☆☆ (poetry)

“the orange” is a modern classic but the rest of the collection was mostly a miss. i lack the whimsy to appreciate silly poetry

what kind of woman - kate baer ★★☆☆☆ (poetry)

didn’t relate to it and didn’t think it was good 🤷‍♂️

inward - yung pueblo ★★☆☆☆ (poetry)

65% of this is trite self-help and the other 35% is woowoo bullshit

[corniebooks]

2021 Pretend Nominees

As a fun practice, I wanted to make a list of the books I’ve read that were released in 2021 and pretend they were the books nominated for the awards. It’s very clearly not the case as a lot of these are the guilty pleasure books that you read for the fun of it and not because of their intellectual value. Seeing as I didn’t set out to read award winning books from 2021, this is just a fun experiment to try out the surveying method. Let me know what books you might’ve also read and I’ll leave a space for you to nominate your own best book of 2021 that I might read later.

Romance

If This Gets Out (YA) by Sophie Gonzales

Read Between the Lines by Rachel Lacey

The Geek Who Saved Christmas by Annabeth Albert

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

Out of Character (Stand-alone Sequel #2) by Annabeth Albert

Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun (YA) by Jonny Garza Villa

Meet Cute Diary (YA) by Emery Lee

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian

The Lords of Bucknall Club series by J.A. Rock

The Necromancer's Light by Tavia Lark

The Paladin's Shadow (Stand-alone Sequel #2) by Tavia Lark

Fantasy

A Marvelous Light by Freya Marske

Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune

A Spindle Splintered (YA) by Alix E. Harrow

In Deeper Waters (YA) by F.T. Lukens

Paladin’s Strength (Stand-alone Sequel #2) by T. Kingfisher

Paladin’s Hope (Stand-alone Sequel #3) by T. Kingfisher

Flash Fire (YA/Sequel #2) by T.J. Klune

Infinity Reaper (YA/Sequel #2) by Adam Silvera

Science Fiction

The Darkness Outside Us (YA) by Eliot Schrefer

Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell

Graphic Novel/Comic

Other Boys by Damian Alexander

Cheer Up: Love and Pompoms by Crystal Frasier

The Shadow Threat by Claudia Gray

Inkblot #1 by Emma Kubert

Heartstopper Volume 4 (Sequel) by Alice Oseman

I will leave it open for responses until Christmas Day.

Survey link again.

[amphiptere]

I've been having a lot of fun with the Wisteria Society for Lady Scoundrels series but it's pretty much the epitome of "this would be so much better if it were queer." anyway that's what A Lady for a Duke and The Queer Principles of Kit Webb are for, I guess.

[kelliealtogether]

14 & 18!

Thank you, Nura! 😘

14. do you ever mark/dog ear books you own?

I do not dog ear books. That's blasphemy. I have a collection of bookmarks for a reason. 😂 I typically don't annotate, either, but I started annotating The Raven Cycle recently and it's been fun. Basically just me screaming in the margins, highlighting things, and writing GAY all over the place. 

18. do you like historical books? which time period?

Historical books are *chef's kiss*. Really cannot get another of them. And I am indiscriminate about time period. I just finished The Queer Principles of Kit Webb, which was in the 1700s, and the Page & Sommers series (love love love love love cannot speak highly enough about those books) was post-war 1940s. In Memoriam which is my favorite book I've read this year is WWI. Give me alllll the historical fiction. (And everyone should go read books by Cat Sebastian because she is wonderful.)

[Book asks] 

[smalltownfae]

Title: The Queer Principles of Kit Webb

Series: London Highwaymen #1

Author: Cat Sebastian

Narrator: Joel Leslie

Pages: 335 (9h12)

Rating: 3/5 ⭐

I decided to try a historical romance novel with a thief because I thought that would be the only way I could enjoy a romance novel and I was sort of right. I do need to have a plot besides the romance and it's better if the characters aren't extremelly good people. They need to be a thief, backstabber or something along those lines in order to work for me. This was fun even if not exactly what I was looking for. Not really angsty.

The story starts with a lord, Percy, trying to hire Kit, a coffee shop owner that used to be a thief, to steal a book from his father. After insisting for some time, Kit agrees to teach Percy how to steal it instead.

I must say this book doesn't feel the same as reading an historical fiction novel. Everything seemed too modern even though the description of the garments were not. I am used to historical fiction having a more old timey writing style. This feels contemporary but in a painted historical background. I am fine with it, but it might not work for some readers. However, I think this is common in modern historical romances from what I've seen and heard.

The characters weren't super complex, but they were fun and made me laugh a few times. I also appreciate that one of the main characters is disabled and has a cane.

There are some sex scenes in this book and as always some of them don't happen at the most convenient times.

The plot suffers from convenient moments that have the objective of bringing the characters together so that the romance can develop. This seems to be common in romances though.

The ending certainly leaves some parts of the plot in the open, which explains why there's a sequel. I already tried to listen to it, but I was bored by the exchange of letters and I am not that invested in those characters.

I am not certain if this book will bring any novelty to someone used to reading romance, but I thought it was fun. I listened to the audiobook and some voices the narrator used were odd, but overall it was a really good work.

[andrewologist]

February Reads!

Reviews/more info under the cut.

Before the coffee gets cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi - Fiction/Fantasy

Before the coffee gets cold is a cozy little book about a coffee shop that allows you to go back in time for a couple of minutes. Very charming! 6/10

2. Under Fortunate Stars by Ren Hutchings - Sci-Fi (Queer)

Under Fortunate Stars is a mind-fucky scifi novel about a group of unlikely heroes. It gave me a little bit of hope about people. Also a solidly diverse cast of characters! 8/10

3. Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas - Fantasy YA (Queer)

I read Cemetery Boys for a book club and I loved it! Some of the better ftm rep I've read in recent years, and also just wonderfully sweet. 9/10

4. Slippery Creatures by KJ Charles - HistFic Romance (Queer)

Slippery Creatures is such a fun M/M romance! It felt like so many genres in one, but it didn't feel crowded. I very quickly grabbed the next two in the series and I'm very excited to read them. The smut in this one is also very nice lol. 9/10

5. The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel - Fiction

Felt weird reading The Glass Hotel after Sea of Tranquility, but I really loved it! I feel like jumping around in the time line of a story can easily be done poorly, but Mandel does it very well. Loved this one almost as much as Sea of Tranquility. 9/10

6. The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian - HistFic Romance (Queer)

Another nice M/M romance! I really liked the themes explored in this one and thought they were handled really well. The romance was very cute. Also hella gay sex in here lmao. 9/10

[readtilyoudie]

No Good Duke Goes Unpunished by Sarah MacLean

Not The Kind of Earl You Marry by Kate Pembrooke

Notorious Ladies of London by Scarlett Scott

Once A Gunslinger by Diana Bold

Once Upon A Promise by Nicola Davidson

One Good Earl Deserves A Lover by Sarah MacLean

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian

Pennyroyal Green Series by Julie Anne Long

A Pirate Romance Duology by Opal Reyne

Potent Pleasures by Eloisa James

Pride and Pleasure by Sylvia Day

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian

Rebel Rising by Beth Revis

Regency Christmas Brides by Aileen Fish

The Regency Rogues Series by Amalie Howard

Rogues Rush In by Tessa Dare, Christi Caldwell

Romancing the Inventor by Gail Carriger

Rules of an Engagement by Suzanne Enoch

The Rules of Scoundrels by Sarah MacLean

Scandal and Scoundrel by Sarah MacLean

The Scandalous, Dissolute, No-Good Mr. Wright by Tessa Dare

Scandals With Bite Series by Brookyln Ann

Secrets, Scandals, and Spies Series by Maddison Michaels

She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

Silk Is For Seduction by Loretta Chase

Sinful Suitors by Sabrina Jeffries

Spindle Cove Series by Tessa Dare

Sunflower Season Anthology

Surrey SFS Series by Nicola Davidson

Tartans and Titans Series by Amalie Howard

Temptation’s Darling by Johanna Lindsey

Ten Ways to be Adored When Landing a Lord by Sarah MacLean

To Taste Temptation by Elizabeth Hoyt

The Townsends by Lily Maxton

The Unbinding of Mary Reade by Miriam McNamara

Unfit to Print by K.J. Charles

Villain I’d Like To F... Anthology

What I Did For A Duke by Julie Anne Long

When Beauty Tamed The Beast by Eloisa James

When She Was Naughty by Tessa Dare

Wicked Husbands Series by Scarlett Scott

The Widow’s Auction by Sabrina Jeffries

The Wild Wynchesters Series by Erica Ridley

Worth of a Lady by Tarah Scott

[mermaidsirennikita]

hello! i'm slowly working my way through your recs and i'm having a wonderful time, you really do have amazing taste, and was wondering if you could rec any stories similar to the Victorian Prizefighters series by Alice Coldbreath? Thank you so much <3

I'm glad you're enjoying the books, thank you!

So here's the truth lol: I haven't read those books yet! I will try 'em out eventually, but for noooow I'm going to try to go off of some books with fighters!

The Bastard by S.M. LaViolette. John is a former fighter who has made his way up in the world and is seeking revenge against his biological father (a duke). In the process, he becomes obsessed with Cordelia, his father's sister-in-law (so his aunt by marriage I guess; whatever, she's younger than him, they're not related by blood, I don't care) a sweet, innocent woman who's ~too pure for him. Nonetheless, when he actually financially ruins the family, she comes to him basically offering to marry him in order to save them. It's GREAT. Pretty dark in terms of backstory, but the romance is actually quite sweet and John is a big believer in getting women off. Which. Good for him!

No Good Duke Goes Unpunished by Sarah MacLean is another one where he's a fighter, albeit with a very different scenario. He was suspected of murdering the heroine, his father's fiancee, years ago. She actually faked her death (framing him was unintentional but she didn't come back to fix it). Anyway, he finds out she's still alive later and the tension is QUITE a bit.

Obviously, Sarah MacLean's Bareknuckle Bastards series involves QUITE a bit of fighting activity, especially the second one (Brazen and The Beast). Would ABSOLUTELY recommend.

You may also want to try Seduce Me at Sunrise by Lisa Kleypas, The Prince of Broadway by Joanna Shupe, and The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian!

[overflowingshelf]

Review: The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb was so delightful and unexpected! Such a charming romance with a great cast of characters - plus it makes a good audiobook. Check out my full thoughts on the blog:

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb Cat Sebastian Publisher: Avon Books Publication Date: June 8, 2021 Series or Standalone: London Highwaymen #1 Links: Amazon – Barnes & Noble – Goodreads Rating: MY REVIEW CW: Gun violence; death; blood; homophobia; death of a child; death of a parent The Queer Principles of Kit Webb was so fun and so unexpected! Not only did I love the romance, but these…