This is a book about love and found family and being comfortable with people.

Silas and Dino are wonderful characters, vivid and engaging and obviously perfect for each other. The rest of the characters, queer friends and natural families alike, are well-drawn, even if they only appear for a short time. The romance is beautifully paced.

Silas's family are mostly terrible, but the angst is minimal and his pain is not the point of the book.

I'm a bit meh about this book. I didn't connect with Tristan as a character, although I appreciate that he's not a one-note jock.

The tension fell flat about a third of the way through; I was about to DNF, but then it picked back up again. I ended up enjoying it more than I expected at the end.

The teacher/student power difference is handled well -- the relationship doesn't start until the class is over.

I'm currently reading Sidney Bell's Bad Judgment. It reminds me completely of alternate universe Inception fanfic, and I am here for it 100%.

I don't have a lot to say about this book. The characters' chemistry was great and the sex scenes were very well done, but as a whole it didn't drag me in and refuse to let me go.

I'm not sure how to say anything I haven't already said about the rest of this series. It's a glittery pink jewel with a tangled core of emotion. The writing is lovely, the pacing is excellent, and the characters are deep and real.

At first I wasn't sure I was going to continue reading (I had a hard time getting past the royals' names), but this book got great reviews from people with similar tastes to mine, so I kept reading.

Once the romance got started, I enjoyed it. The characters shine a little larger than life in a way that's fun. The conflict felt real (although I question some of the author's assumptions) and the ending is satisfying.

Warning: Pair outed by media

Another beautifully written, luxurious world from Naomi Novik, with fully-realized characters and a deep appreciation for folklore.

Unfortunately I found it a bit difficult to follow which of the five or six first-person narrators was talking at any given moment, especially if I'd put the book down for more than a day. I also found one of the character endings unsatisfying, but that's purely subjective, anyway.

An excellent ending to the Ravenswood series. I love Rae and how she interacts with everyone else. As always, Talia writes fantastic chemistry between her characters.

I normally don't post about DNFs, but this one I found so distasteful that... Well.

There is so much thoughtless ableism, misogyny and slut shaming in this book, even from the heroine who is a sex researcher and who is herself sensitive to slut shaming. If I had any clue that the author did it on purpose and that time characters would change I would have stuck it out, but nope.

Plus, the author has no idea how academia works.

I love this book so much. Nya and Johan are so wonderfully real, with all their faults and virtues. Their conflicts are believable and their love and attraction feel natural.

I think this might be my favorite of the series.

This is a delightful book. The heroine is as grumpy and private as any hero, leading to snarky, funny banter when the hero learns to give as good as he gets.

Excellent own voices autism rep.

Why am I only just now reading this delightful book?

I devoured this series. It's full of delightful characters and unexpected twists and I wanted it to never end.

I haven't been this delighted by a YA series in ever.

Rereading The Honey Month for February. Amal's work is so evocative, so rich. Even the descriptions of the honey she's inspired by are poetry.

*contented sigh*

Just as good as Act Like It.

Image from Lucy Parker's website.

On the one hand, I love the anthropological bent of this collection, and the deeper dive into the world building of her novels is fascinating. On the other hand, a couple of the stories are brutal to read back to back.

I'm glad I read it, but I'm not sure I will again.

Finally, a review of the actual book!

This is a quick, fun read. It's got history, ornithology, psychology, mythology, jokes, gore, and ghosts.

The second fantastic novella that's not in the database is Talia Hibbert's Merry Inkmas. Super hot, funny, and incredibly quotable.

I've managed to read two excellent novellas this week, neither of which are in the database.

The first is Tikka Chance on Me, by Suleikha Snyder, which is funny and sweet and easy to read.

Delightful. I did have to put it down for a while because Courtney's depression caught me in a bad moment, but the climax is everything good and right in this world.

All my favourite tropes in one book, so skillfully applied that they seem fresh and new.

Yeesh, it's been a while. Between DNFs, general busyness, and boring reading for research, I haven't had anything to post. But now I do and I'll try to keep up better.

I've always suspected audiobooks aren't for me, even aside from my audio processing disorder. But I've discovered that if I'm doing something else while listening I tune out the book and if I'm not doing anything else I fall asleep.

This is a beautiful book with a good narrator, and very soothing, it seems!

I devoured this book. Portia is so much more than she seemed in the first book, and Tav is delightfully grumpy. The conflict is realistic and unforced and the resolution is very satisfying.

This book. OMG this book. I love every woman in it. I love Elma and Nathaniel's marriage. I love the level of detail, the humour, the pain, the anxiety, the grief. Even when I wasn't reading it I was thinking about it. It's beautiful.

Brb going to the moon

My migraine meds always leave me wobbly and unable to concentrate, so I go back to my childhood favourites. I swear three quarters of my vocabulary came from Trixie Belden books.

Not my favourite of Cat's books, but delightful all the same. Found families will always make me happy.

Such a satisfying book, a book about healing, about family and found family, and about the connection between memory and self.

Next up: one I've waited too long to get to. My sister gave me the companion book for Christmas years ago, but I didn't tell her I hadn't read this one yet.

A book about sisterhood and friendship and lovers, all of whom know how to use their words.

Also it has kick-ass superheroics and it's FUNNY.

Definite reread potential.

What a delightful book! A truly clever interpretation of Holmes, even beyond the gender switch, and the reveal of Watson is brilliant.

Thomas fully explores the changes necessary to make Holmes and Watson women, highlighting the difficulty they would have in finding the freedom to be detectives.

The mysteries and the supporting characters are just as engaging as the mains.

Only 36 pages in and this is already the best Victorian era novel I've ever read.

I love this book. Grumpy bisexual hero, lively, witty non-binary hero(ine), and the most suspenseful trip to the happy ever after I've ever read.

Incredibly immersive, with an engaging cast of characters and a not always predictable plot.

Now reading, a hella good novella.