Book Review: The Unspoken Name (The Serpent Gates #1) by A.K. Larkwood

The secret of greatness is to know when you should risk the wrath of god.

The Unspoken Name,
A.K. Larkwood

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

At 14 years old, Csorwe was the chosen bride of the Unspoken One, and had lived her life in preparation for sacrificing herself to her religion’s god. As she walks into the tunnels that lead to the shrine, a wizard named Belthandros Sethennai asks her to run away with him and be his apprentice as he seeks to regain control of his home. Csorwe chooses life, and runs away with him, and as she grows up he trains her to be his right hand, and tasks her with finding a magical relic that will help secure his power. As she embarks on this quest, she meets people who force her to examine what she actually wants for herself.

I had a bit of a rough start with this one—the first few chapters were really intriguing, but there’s a time jump that skips over a lot of Csorwe’s training and sends her directly on a mission that was not all that interesting. This section dragged some, but I was still into the fantasy atmosphere of it all and I was having a good time. After this section, there is yet another time jump, which made the novel seem rather disconnected up to this point—like a collection of stories as opposed to one novel. However, after this point I really started enjoying it so much more! The action picks up and our cast of characters grows to include many interesting characters, solving the central problem with this book: Csorwe, for most of the book, is boring.

The reason for this, of course, is that for the first 24 years of her life, Csorwe dedicates herself entirely to others and their desires. She’s raised to die for the Unspoken One, and then she takes that loyalty and places it onto Sethennai. After her decision to live, every choice she makes is for him, never for herself, and all she wants throughout is his approval. This is completely understandable for her character, but doesn’t really make for an interesting main character. Fortunately, she definitely undergoes some development in this area, and it’s incredibly satisfying when she starts questioning what she wants for herself. By the end of the book, Csorwe had really grown on me.

This does not sound like a four star review so far but I promise I really liked this book!

The other characters were really great. Shuthmilli is an interesting parallel to Csorwe; she was also raised to give up her life for her god. She’s powerful with magic, is really interested in her studies, and funny. I loved following her on her journey with Csorwe, and their romance was pretty sweet. Oranna is a powerful necromancer and her motivations and abilities made for a complex antagonist. My favorite character was Tal Charossa; he’s an asshole who doesn’t want people to know he cares about things and also really funny. I enjoyed his antagonistic relationship with Csorwe. They absolutely despise each other but for a good portion of the book, are the closest either of them has to a friend, and I loved the dynamic.

The world-building was really well done. The world consists of several different worlds, connected to each other by a series of gates that can be traveled through via airship. Several of them are visited throughout the course of the novel—dead worlds, dying worlds, as well as thriving worlds. Each world has a different god that is worshipped, with its own mythology and history, and the gods are the sources of magic. I was really interested in all of this, and the fact that there were different types of magic. There’s also a world of giant snakes!

I had a lot of fun reading this, despite it’s problems. Maybe it’s because I was just really in the mood for fantasy, but I think the world, the characters and the second half of the book really make up for the problems I had. It’s also really funny, especially during Tal’s POV chapters. I look forward to reading the next one!

Book Review: Bonds of Brass (The Bloodright Trilogy #1) by Emily Skrutskie

But no empire is worth it if I don’t have him too.

Bonds of Brass, Emily Skrutskie

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

When Ettian Nassun was a child, the Umber empire took over his home planet Rana; 7 years later, Ettian has put that behind him and joined the Umber military academy, where he’s be training to fly an Umber military ship. His best friend and roommate (Oh my god, they were roommates) Gal Veres is not as good of a pilot but is adept at diplomacy. He’s also something of a pacifist, frequently going off course in his classes to tear down the Umber empire’s violent military strategies, to the chagrin of his teachers.

During one of their flying drills, their classmates attempt to assassinate Gal, forcing him to reveal to Ettian that he is the Umber heir. It’s not long until Gal will be expected to take the throne, and Ettian believes he’s their best chance at creating a more peaceful empire. As Ettian works to keep Gal safe, he uncovers a rebellion against the Umber empire led by people from his home, and finds himself at a crossroad: does he continue to help the boy he loves, or does he help the rebellion take back his home?

I have really been looking forward to this book since it was announced, and it was frequently being talked up as a balm to the dashed hopes of FinnPoe shippers. And it definitely was! Bonds of Brass is an action-packed space adventure with plenty of flying scenes and a romance featuring fake dating and there is only one bed, aka, a book designed specifically with me in mind.

I loved every moment of Bonds of Brass. It drew me in immediately, and between the characters, the action, and the plot, it never let me go. It is fast paced but with a ton of character building moments as well, and I loved the three main characters. They were all so different and came from different, interesting backgrounds but they worked well as an ensemble, and Emily Skrutskie deftly handled the evolving dynamics between the three of them. All three of them were really likable while having believable flaws: Wen Iffan is reckless and surprisingly cavalier with her own safety (and by extension, the safety of others), but her story, her relationship with Ettian, and the fact that she is a lot of fun make her a great character; Gal is charming, funny, and critical of his family’s violent ways, but is frustratingly blind to the evils of the Umber empire that are less violent in nature, and has a ruthless streak that frightens Ettian; and Ettian himself has a soft heart that makes him so lovable but gets him into trouble, and frequently takes care of others over himself, to the point where I desperately wanted him to consider his own desires for once!

The romance is handled perfectly as well. It is not a quick and easy get together-Gal and Ettian both struggle with how they feel and how a relationship will affect their plans. Ettian in particular struggles with the knowledge of who Gal really is and what Ettian’s role would be in his life, and as the novel is narrated from Ettian’s point of view, his struggles are heartbreaking and compelling. The second book is narrated from Gal’s point of view, and I’m really excited to see the relationship from his eyes.

Bonds of Brass is a short, page-turning read that is so much fun, and I am eager to read the next one.

Feb/March 2020 Wrap-up

I have not had a lot of energy to write up any posts recently. I have had some time but I have been choosing to spend that time watching way, way too much Bravo. I have not even had any quarantine time, because my job is (questionably) considered essential. And now that my sister is doing online school work, I’ve had to share my computer more often, which I’m happy to do but she has the same annoying knack for needing it at the exact same time I need it that many younger siblings have.

But I’ve finally made time for this, so here we are! I read quite a bit for me these two months:

February

A Fire Story by Brian Fies

I started off February with a graphic novel about one family’s experience during the northern California wildfires in 2017. It was a really moving account of how one family dealt with this hardship, and it also included short excerpts from other people who lost their homes during the fires.

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

I really loved this book. Hendrix knows how to walk the line between scary and funny really well, which makes for a really fun and creepy reading experience.

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

I listened to the audiobook of this, which I think that hampered my enjoyment of it a little bit, because I got tired of listening to it after only a few hours. I liked it well enough, it’s a good depiction of grief and discovering sexuality, but it didn’t really feel like anything was happening.

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

When I finished this, my prevailing thought was that I did not feel very strongly about it. Time hasn’t made any feeling any clearer-it was a solid book plot-wise, but everything else was just alright. Definitely look into trigger warnings for this book before reading if you know that you need that sort of thing.

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey

This novella takes place in an alternate history where the US imported hippos into Louisiana as an alternate source of meat, and now the bayou is overrun by feral hippos, which is something I never knew I needed in my life but I absolutely did. It features some of my favorite things: queer cowboys, romance, knife skills, and a heist.

The Remaking by Clay McLeod Chapman

I was really looking forward to this horror novel, about a haunting during the shooting of a horror movie. Unfortunately it was not really well written and bounced between third and first person points of views and was just kind of a mess. And worst of all, it was not scary!

Batman, Vol 1: I Am Gotham by Tom King

I have so many Batman trades to catch up on because I got overzealous during the Comixology Black Friday sale. Unfortunately this wasn’t really that interesting! But the art was nice.

Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Louise Simonson

This is a graphic novel adaption of Leigh Bardugo’s novel, and I really enjoyed it! There were great characters, a lot of action, and a little romance, and I had a good time.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

I requested the audiobook of this from Libby on a whim, not realizing that Donna Tartt herself was the narrator. She has a soothing Holly Hunter-esque voice that does not match her protagonist from California but was pleasant to listen to anyway. I always knew I would like this book when I eventually read it because I love drama, and what is more dramatic than murdering your classmate. It even has a one up on Bravo reality shows by actually including a gay character in the main cast!

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

I requested this a long time ago on the recommendation of my friend Gabby, who then went on to make predictions about how I would feel about it, and got almost all of them correct. It was good enough to overcome my disinterest in both straight people and love triangles but I can’t think about this book for long though otherwise I am overcome with rage about being gay Luke and Leia’d by Kemmerer.

March

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

I listened to the audiobook of this while I was at work, and the narrator was really great. I love reading Sarah Waters books because she always delivers really good lesbian content and also really well-developed plot and characters.

Luna: Moon Rising by Ian McDonald

I have been meaning to read this for so long, because it’s the final book in one of my favorite series, and I’ve mentioned it several times on this blog. I finally dedicated some time to it and it was every bit as wild as the previous books! I’m going to miss this series, and I need Ian McDonald to write up a little novella about Ariel and Marina because I can’t live with that cliffhanger for the rest of my life!

Finding Home, Vol 1: The Traveller by Hari Conner

This is a really beautiful fantasy graphic novel, with a slow-burn queer romantic relationship developing at the center of it. The art is truly magical and I really enjoyed the world. I purchased it on Comixology but you can read it for free on Tapas.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

I did not realize that I didn’t actually get the audibook from the library, I got the BBC Radio dramatized version of it. So it was sort of book- slash-play, with narration and also different voice actors for the characters. And it was a lot of fun! And I was really emotional listening to it, because I love the movies and the characters.

What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter

I received an ARC of this in a Goodreads giveaway, and I was really excited to read it. It ended up being just okay but there were some good things in it, like the Jewish rep and the main character’s little brother.

Batman: Night of the Monster Men by Steve Orlando

I’m trying so hard to get through all of these Batman trades I have stacked up on Comixology but it has not helped at all that they are incredibly BORING. But the art is really nice!!

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Two Towers is my favorite of the LOTR movies, and it ended up being my favorite of the BBC Radio adaptations. Faramir, Eowyn, the battle, the ents, Sam and Frodo getting increasingly gayer…I love it.

And there we have it, all of the books I read in the last two months, just a little late. But better late than never!

Book Review: What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

After many, many years of entering Goodreads Giveaways, I have finally won! I really was starting to believe it would never happen to me, and I was really glad it was an ARC of What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter, a book I heard about many months before on Twitter. I was drawn in by the description of the book as being about a girl named Kels, a book blogger who likes to bake, as I am a girl named Kels, a hobby book blogger who likes to bake. Throw in a romance and I was really excited to get to a chance to read it.

Halle Levitt is a YA book blogger-she runs a blog called One True Pastry, where she reviews books and pairs covers with cupcakes. She has built a brand and a life online as Kels, complete with group chats and a best friend, Nash, who has an ongoing online comic. She likes keeping her personal life separate from her online life, until she moves in with her grandfather and ends up at the same school as Nash. Thus begins what I can only describe as an outrageous catfishing tale.

I really wanted to love this book, but I didn’t end up enjoying it as much as I thought I would. There were some parts I really liked! Halle and her family are Jewish, as well as several other characters, and there are a lot of Jewish traditions and holidays sprinkled throughout the book. I think that it handled grief really well, and showed how different people deal with grief. I really liked Halle’s younger brother, Ollie, and I wish we had gotten to see more of his life other than occasional updates when Halle remembered to care about what was going on with him. It also seemed like a good depiction of how much work it takes to maintain a book blog and a book Instagram, especially when one is hoping to make a career out of it.

Besides those things, most of the book fell flat for me. The romance had potential to be cute, but Halle hides the truth about Kels for almost an entire school year, including at least several weeks after she entered a relationship with Nash. The reader also finds out that not only is Halle lying to Nash, but she’s been lying to him as Kels as well. She hasn’t told him anything true about her family, or where she lives, which is why he’s unable to recognize anything in her life when they meet. There was little buildup to their irl relationship as well. For the first part of the book, Halle would be nice to Nash and then incredibly mean when she remembered that she was trying to keep him for Kels, and she kept writing this off as being socially awkward instead of a deliberate choice she was making to act this way. They had one or two cute moments before getting together, and I might have been able to be more invested in it if it were not for the catfishing, and how long Halle lets it go on.

But what I find worse than Halle’s catfishing, from a storytelling standpoint, is that Nash is completely oblivious to the fact that Kels is hiding something. I used to watch a lot of MTV’s Catfish-and I mean a lot-so I know that people can be blind to things that are obvious to everyone else, but usually the person involved is aware enough to know that something is off. Nash has no such awareness. He’s been best friends with Kels for three years and has never seen a single picture of her. Not even a snapchat! She is cagey every time he asks to meet up with her, they’ve obviously never video chatted, or sent each other postcards or anything because they don’t know where each other lives. All of this seems incredibly unrealistic to me! I know that romance books often require some suspension of disbelief but someone in his life should have been emailing Nev and Max.

One of the biggest blogging plot points was when an author made a few comments about not considering her books to be only for teens, and loving her teen readers but hoping adults liked her books, too. Everyone in the book had a weird hangup about adults reading YA, and the character reactions seemed out of proportion with what was actually said. This, at least, is an incredibly realistic depiction of online discourse. Much is made about whether or not Kels will see the movie adaptation of the book written by the aforementioned author, but…I just did not care! As I said, it seemed like an overreaction to the actual comments.

I’m struggling a bit with how to rate this. I feel a lot stronger about the things I didn’t like than the things I did like, but it’s easy to read and there are cute moments. The Jewish rep is important and seemed well done to me. I think the general premise has potential to be really interesting, but I just can’t get over the extent of the lying or Nash’s complete obliviousness to it. However, if a love triangle that’s actually a line and a look into the life of a teen book blogger interest you then I think it’s worth a read, even if your complete disbelief and sometimes rage at the actions of the main character is what fuels you to finish it.

Book Review: Ninth House (Alex Stern #1) by Leigh Bardugo

Magic had almost killed him, but in the end it had saved him.

Ninth House, Leigh Bardugo

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Leigh Bardugo is generally on my insta-buy list, as I’m sure she is for many. I love Six of Crows and while King of Scars wasn’t my favorite, I still really liked it (Nikolai is my favorite, of course). I was planning on buying Ninth House when it came out, but there was all the discussion over the content of the book and trigger warnings that I was afraid I wasn’t going to like it. So I requested it from the library, and was in spot 38, and four months later here we are. And I’m glad that I didn’t buy it because it was…fine. Just fine!

Galaxy “Alex” Stern can see ghosts, which has earned her a spot in Lethe House, monitoring the magical activities of Yale’s secret societies. This is a chance for her to leave her past behind her-in LA she was a drug addict and the sole survivor of a violent homicide. But things are not going to plan, as she’s struggling to keep up in her classes, her mentor is missing, and there’s been a murder in New Haven that the Dean of her house is clearly trying to sweep under the rug.

The book alternates between three timelines: it starts in Early Spring/Spring, which is the most current timeline; Last Fall, when Alex arrived at Yale; and Winter, which explains the events leading up to Spring. I actually really liked the timelines and didn’t find it confusing, because it was fairly straightforward-something would happen in Winter, then the next chapter would flash back to Last Fall or another time in Alex’s life to explain what just happened. It was somewhat formulaic and I began to expect the timeline changes, but I didn’t think that detracted from the book.

I am very familiar with Leigh Bardugo’s work, so I know that she writes both plot and characters really well. With Ninth House, the plot was intriguing and kept me interested throughout, but the characters mostly fell flat.

Bardugo sets the atmosphere really well (it reminded me a lot of The Magicians, the TV show not the book), and while many people complained about the pacing, I personally never found it to be slow, though it is true that much of the action takes place in the last 100 pages. I really liked the concept of magical secret societies at Yale, and how it played into the dominant theme of privilege in the novel. The societies are full of rich people, many of whom are white men, and the wealth that the houses have allow them to throw their money around to get them out of trouble. The rich, white men in this novel get away with a lot, as there is only Alex to hold them accountable in her own way, and it is truly horrifying to read.

Speaking of horrifying to read, I actually expected this novel to be a lot darker given the drama over the content and trigger warnings. And some of it is absolutely awful; there’s several depictions of sexual assault, one extremely violent and against a child. But outside of these moments, I found it to be pretty mild, which sort of makes me think that these moments really were just added to make it darker and “more adult.” This includes the infamous forced poop-eating scene, which shocked many when people first began to read it. It wasn’t very graphic and to be honest, it was well-deserved!

Alex has experienced a lot of trauma-she was raped by a ghost as a child, and was only able to block out the ghosts by turning to drugs, which led her to be a drug addict and in an abusive relationship with her dealer at 15. This is a lot for one person to handle, and it’s one of the reasons that she is a fish out of water at Yale. But beyond this, she has very little substance. She delivers a lot of one liners. There are glimpes of an interesting character-she cares about her friends, and will protect them in her own way, and she is dedicated to her own survival. But for most of the book, her point of view is not particularly interesting, as she tends to only respond with anger or not respond at all.

I had some hope with Darlington, Alex’s missing mentor. But he was in so little of the book that I lost interest in him, and didn’t even really care if they ever found him. This is the only time I think the structure of the timelines hurt the story-because we spent so little time with Darlington before he disappeared, when the actual event happened I was just like, well, there he goes!

I did really like Dawes, the Lethe House researcher who spends her days in over-sized sweatshirts and headphones among a stack of books. She’s a bit anti-social, but lets down her guard enough to help Alex when she needs it, and her grief over Darlington was the most moving aspect of Darlington’s disappearance. I also liked the Bridegroom, a ghost who makes a deal with Alex to solve the murder of his wife, and Turner, reluctant Lethe House ambassador to the local police, grew on me. Bardugo always writes good secondary characters-all of my favorite characters from the Grisha series are secondary characters (Tamar! Genya! David!).

I can’t say that I was necessarily disappointed, as I didn’t really have any expectations going in. As I was reading, I realized that I wasn’t really looking forward to finishing it, but I wasn’t dreading it either. It was a decent novel, with a solid plot but I really just do not have very strong feelings about it either way. I was trying to puzzle it out with this review but ultimately it just comes down to the fact that the characters were mostly uninteresting to me. I wish that, considering how long this novel is, Bardugo had done more character development, especially with regard to Alex. I wouldn’t really recommend it to anyone, but I also wouldn’t discourage them from reading it; however, I definitely recommend looking into content warnings prior to reading.

As forgettable as I found this book to be, I’m sure I’ll be reading the next one (I cannot guarantee that if Bardugo gets to write five, I will stick around for five. But at least one more.). But next time I’ll be requesting much earlier!

Book Review: Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

She didn’t expect life to be fair, but did it have to be so relentless?

Horrorstör, Grady Hendrix

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

This is only the second book by Grady Hendrix that I have read so this may be a little premature in our relationship of me to say but I feel like he just gets me. His novel My Best Friend’s Exorcism was one of my top 5 reads in 2019, and I loved this one even more.

Amy works for Orsk, a Scandinavian furniture store that is a blatant Ikea ripoff. She’s a floor worker and a directionless college dropout, who is trying to transfer to a store in another town because she believes her boss, Basil, has it out for her. Basil is a model employee, and shows a dedication to the store that Amy just doesn’t understand.

Due to a series of overnight furniture vandalizations, Basil asks Amy and her coworker Ruth Anne to stay the night in the store, patrolling the floor to watch out for any vandals. Basil promises to approve Amy’s transfer and give her overtime pay in cash at the end of the night, and so Amy agrees to help him. The empty store is creepy and things quickly get creepier, as the group discovers the history of the land the store was built on.

I really enjoy horror comedy, and Hendrix really hits the mark in this genre. The dialogue in Horrorstör is witty and frequently had me laughing, while the more action packed scenes were intense. It was not super scary, but Hendrix builds a sufficiently creepy and anxiety inducing atmosphere, making you question what is hiding in the dark parts of the store, and what is the character seeing out of the corner of their eye? Each chapter begins with an ad for furniture sold by the store, and as the book gets darker, the advertisements become increasingly threatening, in both a funny and terrifying way.

“Stop saying A&E,” Matt said. “We’re aiming higher than that. Trinity wants us to be the first ghost hunters on Bravo.”

The cast of characters really rounded out Horrorstör. Amy, our protagonist, is faced with hard choices throughout the book, something she has avoided in her life up to this point. Any attempts she has made to improve her life have failed, and she has learned that it’s better not to try. Ruth Anne is a sweet older woman who is unafraid to call Amy out when she needs it. Trinity is a rich kid with the dream of becoming the first ghost hunter on Bravo (also a dream of mine) and unlike the other characters, she truly believes in ghosts. Her sort-of-boyfriend Matt does not believe, though he pretends to for her sake. And then there’s Basil, my favorite character after Amy. He’s super dedicated to the store but also to his family and his employees. Hendrix writes strong, believable relationships between characters and I really loved the dynamic that develops between Basil and Amy. (It is not canon romance at all but in my head…romance!)

I have thought a lot about this book since I finished reading it, and I really enjoyed it! It’s a great horror comedy that manages to deliver on both counts. I think I might go through the rest of his books now. I’m definitely excited for his next book coming out in April: The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires.

January Wrap Up

I’m a little late with the wrap up this month due to traveling for work and just generally being tired but it’s alright because it is finally here! I got off to a rocky start with reading in January. I DNF’d the very first book I read, did not really like the second one I read, read a really good one, and then DNF’d another. But I have ended the month on a high note! Here we go:

Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta

I really, really wanted to enjoy this but I just could not get into it. I was so confused, and I didn’t like Finnikin or the romance, and eventually I gave up. I honestly don’t even know how to describe it for a synopsis. Please forgive me, Melina Marchetta.

The Chai Factor by Farah Heron

This is a romance starring an engineer who goes home to finish her thesis for her Master’s degree, only to find that her family has rented her space to a barbershop quartet. Amira finds herself drawn into the quartet’s drama while clashing with the group’s baritone, Duncan, which ultimately develops into attraction. I had really high hopes for this, but it didn’t live up to them. It was an alright read that was misleadingly marketed as a romantic comedy, but it wasn’t really a comedy. I almost DNF’d it but I have a harder time DNFing books that I actually bought, even though I only paid like $5 for it! (Review)

The Institute by Stephen King

My first Stephen King book! Kids with various abilities across the US are kidnapped and taken to the Institute, a facility in Maine that experiments on them. Luke Ellis, the most recently taken and the main protagonist, is desperate to escape and save his friends from Back Half, the place where kids go when the Institute is seemingly done experimenting on them. I reviewed it here, but the gist is that it was really good and probably prevented me from entering a reading slump. (Review)

The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott

I picked this book because I wanted to read the top 10 nominees in the Goodreads Awards Best Debut category, and I was really interested in the premise. During the Cold War, two secretaries for the CIA are turned into spies in order to smuggle the book Doctor Zhivago out of the USSR. Unfortunately, I could not get past the first few chapters and had to DNF.

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

My second romance of the month that I also bought because my library was taking way too long with it. After a near-death experience, Chloe Brown makes a list of tasks that she thinks will help her “Get a life”. She recruits Red, her apartment’s hot, tattooed, motorcycle driving handyman to help her complete the list and I’m sure you know how it goes from there! This wasn’t as good as I thought it might be but I had a pretty good time overall. The romance was cute but the sex scenes were pretty graphic and didn’t mesh with the rest of the book. But I’m going to read the sequel! (Review)

The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White

I read this King Arthur retelling with a friend, which may be the only reason that I finished it. The premise was really interesting-a changling is sent to marry King Arthur in Guinevere’s place in order to protect him. But in execution, it wasn’t all that exciting, and the book took such a roundabout way to reach conclusions that were presented as “twists” but were frustratingly obvious that I couldn’t really enjoy them. (Review)

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

This was another Goodreads Awards Best Debut nominee, and I really enjoyed it! Korede’s sister, Ayoola, keeps killing her boyfriends and claiming self-defense. Korede cleans up after her, until Ayoola sets her sights on the man that Korede has feelings for, and Korede must choose between him and her sister. It was dark, and the relationships were complex, and it was interesting to see how it all played out. (Review)

Would Like to Meet by Rachel Winters

My third romance of the year already! And the first true romantic comedy, that was actually romantic and comedic. Evie Summers is an assistant at a film agency, where she hopes to soon become an actual agent. But her company’s future relies on star writer Ezra Chester writing a romantic comedy, and he admits to Evie that he doesn’t believe romantic comedies are realistic enough for him to waste time writing. Determined to prove that romantic comedies can happen in real life, Evie sets out to reenact movie meet-cutes until she falls in love. Romance and shenanigans ensue! I had a pretty good time with this, it was really cute and funny and the romance was sweet. (Review)

The Disasters by M.K. England

A group of teenagers are rejected from a space academy just moments before the academy is attacked by a terrorist organization that is against space colonization. They escape on a shuttle into deep space, and are then framed for the crime. In order to clear their names they must embark on an adventure involving space ship chases, rescue missions, and heists! It’s kind of like a space Fast and Furious-fun, fast, heists, found family. I read this book at the perfect time, when I was desperate for a fun space adventure with a gay romance, and this book was recommended to me via the LGBTQ Reads patreon. It was a lot of fun and I wish there was a sequel! Franchise this book! (This author does have another book, Spellhacker, that just came out that I’m excited to read.) (Review)

I don’t really know how I managed to read 7 books in January-that’s a lot for me! I didn’t read any comic trades like I said I would, which means to catch up on that goal I’ll have to read more of them next month. I need to figure out how to hold myself to that.

I hope you all had good reading months!

Book Review: The Disasters by M.K. England

Yeah, I know, I’m a bit of a disaster. But hey, aren’t we all? Doesn’t mean we can’t fly.

The Disasters, M.K. England

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Nasir “Nax” Hall has wanted to be a pilot all of his life. He trained via simulations at school and in cars on his family’s goat farm in North Carolina which, in combination with his great-but-reckless approach to piloting, made me think of the scene in Star Trek (2009) when young Jim Kirk nearly drives off a cliff. By which I mean, I loved him immediately.

In order to get his pilot’s license, Nax must graduate from the Ellis Station Academy; unfortunately for him, things don’t go to plan and he does not make it through the admission process. Nax and the other rejected students’ trip back home is interrupted by a terrorist attack on the station. They escape in the shuttle, but are subsequently framed for the crime. Cue space ship chases, rescue missions, heists, and my favorite, a found family.

Sometimes, you get the right book at just the right time. I had a bit of a difficult start to reading this year and haven’t had a ton of fun even though I read 6 books prior to this one. But I asked the LGBTQ Reads Patreon for a gay space adventure and as usual they delivered! I had so much fun reading this book, and it made me happy, and I needed that. Hence the very high rating! Also, that cover is pretty amazing. I love all the purple.

I loved the characters. Nax’s voice was really interesting and funny and I liked being inside his head for the novel. Nax is a disaster bi, and he gets sweet and fun romantic moments with both Case and Rion. My favorite thing about the characters was the way they bonded; they helped each other through anxiety attacks, family issues, crises of self-doubt, and of course, being framed for intergalactic crimes. The development of their relationship was maybe a little fast, but all of them are people who really care about other people and they’re in pretty intense situations, so it was all right with me. Also, as I’ve said like 100 times already, it was fun! So it’s all good here.

The dialogue made me laugh, and I loved all of the action scenes. It was fast paced and intense, and kept me intrigued the entire time. Of course, there were more serious scenes as well. Nax had several family issues that he had to work out, as did the other characters, and they brought some balance to the plot.

Again, I just really enjoyed reading this from beginning to end. It’s a standalone, but could easily be a series and I really wish it was. I would read so many books of these kids and their hi-jinks. While there’s no plans for a sequel, M.K. England does have another book out recently. It’s called Spellhacker, and it’s a fantasy involving heists and an f/nb romance and if my library takes any longer to get it to me I just might lose it. But kindly because I know they’re doing their best and I like my librarians.

I Have Watched That

I thought I was going to watch a lot of movies in January, but it turned out my “five movies in four days” pace that I started the year with was unsustainable. I only watched one more movie after that! One of my goals this year is to watch 100 movies that are new to me, and I’ll need to watch 8-9 movies a month to do that (excluding rewatches). I’m only at five now, so I have some catching up to do! But here is what I have watched so far.

Top 5 Anticipated Books for 2020

Top 5 Tuesday is hosted by Shanah at Bionic Book Worm! This weeks topic is top 5 Anticipated Books for 2020.

1. Bonds of Brass by Emily Skrutskie

I have been waiting for this book since around November, I believe. Emily Skrutskie came out of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and started writing a space gays novel because she knew that Disney would never give it to us. It comes out in April, and I can’t wait for it to fill that Finn/Poe shaped hole in my heart!

2. The Worst of All Possible Words by Alex White

This is the final book in my current favorite trilogy, a sci-fi/fantasy series set in space and featuring heists! It was originally supposed to be released in March, then it got pushed to May, and now it’s been pushed to July. If it gets pushed back another time I do not know how I will survive.

3. Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

I loved Gideon the Ninth so much, and I love Harrowhark Nonagesimus and her perfect name so much, and I love the amazing cover for this book so much. June has never seemed so far as it does when I think about how long I have to wait for this book.

4. The Falling in Love Montage by Clara Smyth

I have been excited about this book for so long it seems! I love romantic comedy tropes, and I am always looking for more f/f romances. This is the best of both worlds!

5. The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper

This is a space-adjacent YA m/m romance involving the sons of astronauts. It seems really sweet and adorable and pre-ordering gets you a signed bookplate that has been to space! I can’t wait to read it. Fortunately it comes out next month!

There are so many books I am anticipating in 2020 but these are the 5 that I feel like I have been waiting the longest for, and that I will definitely get to as soon as I possibly can. What books are you anticipating this year?