#yes i did say friendship trumps romance but cute and funny romance with dorky boys is good can't help it

[magicalyaku]

May was so busy, no time to read. D: But the few books that I did read, were good at least! (Not talking about “Serpentine” and my difficult feelings on the “Book of Dust” trilogy.) My favourite? Every Bird A Prince! The theme of the month was something like "variations on a theme" like in music.

Last month I read At the Edge of the Universe by SD Hutchinson and it shares quite a bit with its predecessor We are the Ants, both in the dark places and the wild ones. Though “We are the Ants” felt darker, because the bad shit is actually happening to the main character instead of a friend, and in “At the Edge of the Universe” the main character at least had good friends. Makes a world of difference. Speaking of friends, in all these LGBT+ contemporary YA books, there is usually some friendship drama, right? Except when the friend is nonbinary or genderqueer? Like Devin (”Meet Cute Diary”): Angel. Sunil (”Loveless”): Best Senpai. Lua (”At the Edge of the Universe”): Going on a road trip? Let's go together! And then this month, I wish you all the Best by Mason Deaver - Ben: Went through some horrible stuff, but is nice even in their selfishness. And their best friend Mariam? Didn't get a message by Ben for a whole week and is totally fine with it. Like how?! That's not how I know my books! 8D Nicest people around! And friends actually getting along is so much better than the drama. (I really liked the book btw. heartbreaking, but nice.) Last month I listened to The Ghosts we keep also by Mason Deaver, and yes, friendship drama (among others), and it went the whole other direction. Variations on a theme. u_u Next up: The Whispers by Greg Howard, more loss and grieve and suppressing, like “The Ants” and “At The Edge”, just make it Middlegrade. The one moment that made me tear up though was when at the end Riley’s friend showed up at the funeral after their dispute. Friendship, as proven, is better than romance. Which leads directly to my last book of the month. Every Bird a Prince by Jenn Reese. When I found this while procrastinating it didn't even take me three minutes to decide that I needed it in my life. Cute cover, magic, Middlegrade, aromantic heroine?! And omg, it's so adorable. The birds! The birds!!! The chapters have illustrations of the birds with their little crowns and swords! Do I need to say more?! The story is cute, too. It's nice and short and pretty on point both on the aromantic and the growing into one’s own person stuff. I'll write about it more in-depth at a later time! uAub

And as a final note, I just noticed, the German publisher for Boyfriend Material changed the cover. But WHY? Yes, it’s more like the original now (except pink and lightblue instead of red and blue? which is weird, but well), but the illustration of the guys actually looked good before! Why am I even waiting for the German edition now, when the cover is not good anymore?! I’m crying a litte here. 8D