Welcome to Litsy!

Finishing The Black Flamingo and hopefully Midnight in Chernobyl this weekend. MC is pretty hefty and I have things to do this weekend that—horrors—don‘t include reading.

#weekendreads

Literally the only thing I like about winter is the way the sky glows on cloudy nights. I read with the house lights off and the drapes open so I can gaze at it.

Tonight‘s glowy-sky read is KJ Charles‘s latest, which I‘m very much enjoying for its hardcore gothicness. Hoping to log some more time with it before I pass out tonight, though I might switch to bed (which has no sky view) because reading on an iPad really is a pain.

Reading while my kids celebrate the end of finals.

Loved the setting (queer Paris! art! indulgence!) but Cora‘s portrayal as a ruthless businesswoman didn‘t hold up—some of her choices didn‘t quite match that image. The romance leaned heavily on lust, and I wanted more emotional depth. Still, Herrera‘s celebration of queer history shines through. Glad this book exists. #SapphicRomance #HistoricalRomance ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is easily one of my favorite reads of 2025. The first 40 pages are a rollercoaster of crazy, and that's just the prologue. Vera is a beautifully realized character with a brilliant arc. Quirky, horrifying, philosophical, mysterious, fast-paced, I got a similar enjoyment reading this that I did with Chuck Palahniuk's early work. There is a fun nod to his novella Straight at the end.

Sapphic tension, dragons, matriarchal power struggles—yes please. I devoured this in one sitting, captivated by the gender-bending emissary and the guarded queen. But the twist was easy to guess, and the ending felt a bit rushed. Still, I appreciated how Yang explored the clash between belief systems and the power of myth. Thought-provoking, but not quite as fiery as I‘d hoped. 🔥🐉🏳️‍🌈 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ #SapphicRomance

#CurrentListen after finishing The Busybody Book Club and bailing on The Unwedding (a Reese pick not beloved on Litsy.

This is the 5th in the #TitaRosieKitchenMystery series and I‘ve enjoyed books 1-4, so here goes!

I knew a little of Caster Semenya‘s story, as it was in the news when she was competing in the Olympics: controversy over her gender and whether she should be allowed to compete. In her memoir she shares much more to that history than I was aware of. By the end of the book she is still trying to fight the discriminatory rules, for other girls if not for herself. It could have been shorter. I loved the story of her relationship with her wife.

At 45%, I‘m cutting my losses and bailing. It started off so strong that I was sure it would be one of my favorites of the year and then it just became a slog. What should have been a warm hug of found family cozy fantasy (even with the underlying theme of grief) just became…something else. It‘s giving dull and icky vibes. (Pardon Tasha‘s dragon carcass in the background 💀🐉)